Chapter 255 — Persuading the Junior General and the Junior Officer 2
Yeongu spoke again.
"Yelü Zhangnu knows this. He is of the imperial clan, he came to the Jin camp as an envoy, and he knows the situation at the front. He will take the vanguard under Emperor Tianzuo's command. But what happens if he loses? Will Emperor Tianzuo say, 'It was my fault'? Zhangnu will take the blame."
The junior general said quietly,
"You came to shake General Zhangnu."
"Wrong. I did not come to shake him. I came to show him. If he stays still, he becomes a defeated general. If he moves, he may become a loyal minister who saved Great Liao."
"Isn't that the same thing? Are you speaking of deposition?"
Yeongu frowned.
"Let's kill that bastard first and start over. Talking with him is impossible."
"No. I was wrong."
Yeongu emphasized it once more.
"I did not say that word first. It came from your mouth."
The junior general bit his lip.
Yeongu did not miss the opening.
"Deposition can be treason, or it can be holding up the state. The difference is one thing. For whom is it done? If it is done for your own greed, it is treason. If it is done to save Great Liao, it is loyalty."
The junior officer cautiously asked,
"Then why are you trying to draw in the Balhae people?"
Yeongu looked at the junior officer.
It was a better question than he had expected.
"The Balhae people are not frontier rabble of Great Liao. The reason Great Liao became a great country was not that it had only Khitans. It became a great country because it embraced Balhae, Han Chinese, Xi people, and many tribes. If that vessel breaks, the empire breaks too. So this is what you must say to Balhae officers."
He spoke slowly, as if making them memorize it.
"Do not abandon Great Liao. Make Great Liao become an empire again. The Balhae people are not a burden on Great Liao. They are one pillar that makes up Great Liao. If Emperor Tianzuo has lost that vessel, then Balhae too must have a name in the work of raising a new vessel."
Several Balhae jailers looked at one another.
Yeongu did not miss that look either.
"To the people of Zhongjing, you must say it differently. While the emperor in Shangjing hunts, the young men, horses, and grain of Zhongjing are being dragged out. If this battle is lost again, Zhongjing will lose its soldiers, lose its grain, and later even bear the blame. Zhongjing moving is not abandoning Great Liao. It is saving Great Liao."
The junior general asked quietly,
"What result do you want?"
Yeongu answered at once.
"First, send my letter upward. Second, make it reach Yelü Zhangnu. Third, make the same words circulate among Balhae officers and the people of Zhongjing. Fourth, make Emperor Tianzuo's personal campaign army look not only forward, but left and right. How did things come to this? It is obvious. Tyranny."
The junior officer asked blankly,
"Make them look back?"
"Yes."
The junior general swallowed.
"Then the army may split, and Jin may win."
"That may happen."
"You are helping Jin."
"I am a Goryeo soldier. Naturally, I help Jin. You rose up because of Liao's tyranny. I judged that helping them accords with righteousness. What I want to say to you is this. Before you lose to Jin, Liao may collapse from within. So look first at your own country."
The junior general said nothing for a long while.
The junior officer glanced around without realizing it.
Yeongu raised a finger toward the junior officer.
"You."
The junior officer flinched.
"Yes."
"What was the most important thing I just said?"
The junior officer's eyes darted about.
If he failed to find the right answer, he did not know what might happen.
"It is not that we should abandon Great Liao... but that we should save Great Liao."
Yeongu nodded.
"Good. You, junior general."
The junior general answered with a stiff face.
"Speak."
"What must you tell General Zhangnu?"
The junior general was silent for a moment, then said,
"If this battle is lost, responsibility will fall on the vanguard and the generals. If he stays still, he becomes a defeated general. If he moves, he may become a loyal minister who saved the state."
Yeongu gave a satisfied nod.
"Yes. That is exactly it."
He looked at the soldiers kneeling behind them.
"What must you say to Balhae officers?"
One soldier stammered,
"The Balhae people are not frontier rabble of Great Liao... they are one pillar that makes up Great Liao."
"Good."
He asked another man.
"What must you say to the people of Zhongjing?"
"For Zhongjing to move is not abandoning Great Liao... it is saving Great Liao."
"Good."
Yeongu slowly rose from his seat.
The people in the yard remained kneeling.
The same men who had come in to beat him moments earlier were now memorizing his words.
Yeongu said,
"I did not tell you to like Jin. I did not tell you to hate Liao either. I told you to separate the fear of Emperor Tianzuo from the love of Great Liao. If those two walk the same road, serve him. If they walk different roads, look first to the state."
The junior general quietly asked,
"If I send those words upward, my own neck will also be in danger."
"That is why you send it in writing. Say, 'The prisoner said this.' Let those above judge. If you bury it, it is your responsibility. If you send it up, it becomes theirs."
The junior general remained silent for a long time.
At last, he looked at the junior officer.
"Call the clerk. And copy this letter again and send it upward. Seal the original and send it above."
The junior officer answered quickly.
"Loyalty."
Yeongu added,
"And bring me some food. If an empire talks about saving Great Liao but cannot even feed a prisoner, how will it keep its dignity?"
The junior officer answered before he realized it.
"Yes. I will bring it at once."
Only after answering did the junior officer realize that his tone had become far too polite.
But it was already too late.
The junior general did not point it out either.
Everyone in the yard was thinking the same thing.
Such an absurd thing was possible because this army was not a Khitan imperial guard.
It was an empire made of many tribes.
There were Khitans among these soldiers, but most had been drawn from various tribal forces.
Their loyalty might appear weak.
Or rather, the direction of their loyalty was different.
This was a prison, so there were no people passing in and out, and he had subdued everyone there. That was why Yeongu could reign like a king.
But would it last?
The moment this place broke apart, they would turn back.
As if he did not know that truth, Yeongu kept speaking with spittle flying from his mouth.
He was forcing them to keep doing what they did not want to do.
For those who had suddenly become prisoners, it was torture.
Whether Yeongu knew it or not, he explained with all his heat and sincerity something that was unlikely to work.
He educated them the way he had educated the Balhae soldiers.
The difference was that he had punished the Balhae soldiers, while these men had suffered direct violence.
He harassed them until even their last shred of human pride was crushed.
It would never work like this.
But a fool thinks forcing a thing will make it happen.
One man groaned in pain.
When Yeongu raised his voice and repeated his claim, the man's "Uuugh" interrupted the explanation like an unwanted variation.
Yeongu threw whatever was in reach.
It was a small piece of wood, shaped like a little wooden pillow used when lying down.
The rectangular block flew through the air and struck the man's forehead.
"Aaagh!"
"You bastard. I'm talking, and you're adding variations."
"I'm sorry."
Then Yeongu threw something else.
Whatever he threw struck the man's forehead.
He hit him again and again, always the exact same spot.
The forehead swelled up badly.