Chapter 256 — Another Question
He had meant to slip in without sound or rumor and work as a spy, but that was already ruined.
Yeongu stood in the middle of the prison yard.
On the ground, the men who had been knocked down were kneeling in neat rows, repeating Yeongu's words one by one with beaten faces.
The junior officer repeated what he had heard with great effort, as if trying not to miss a single word, and those who could be called prisoners showed an excessive amount of agreement with their eyes and expressions.
A nod would have been enough, but they signaled that they understood with their whole bodies, as if their lives depended on it.
When he thought about it, these too were decent people.
They had rushed at him, beaten him, tied him, and locked him up only a short while ago, but they too were people who lived day by day under their own country's military law.
What we call an enemy is merely a name born when a political dispute grows into war.
The word enemy makes them seem distant, but up close, they were nothing special.
They watched their superiors' moods, moved when ordered, feared being beaten, and leaned toward any path that seemed to keep them alive.
When they stood facing him with blades in hand, they were enemies to be killed, but when they knelt and watched his expression, they were no different from soldiers in any army camp.
Who, then, was this war truly for?
Fear surely played a part, but the way they eagerly copied and repeated Yeongu's words also carried the desperate will to live.
If they said the words well, they could survive.
That urgency clung to every pair of eyes.
The deeper Yeongu's thoughts went, the more firmly he resolved that this coming battle had to end with the enemy's complete submission.
A half-hearted victory would only repeat the same thing.
Those who had fallen today would put on armor again tomorrow, and those who had trembled in fear today would receive orders again and lift their spears.
To end a war, breaking the army alone was not enough.
He had to shake even the pillar they trusted.
He knew this was likely useless, but he kept speaking because he thought of duty.
Could forcing these men make it happen?
The moment they left this place, they would change as if another soul had entered them.
Then another question suddenly came to him.
Who had told them he was coming?
These people had been waiting for him.
That was no coincidence.
Yeongu called the junior general.
"Hey, junior general."
The junior general immediately straightened his back.
"Yes?"
"How did you know I was coming?"
The junior general watched his expression for a moment before answering.
"This morning, an arrow was stuck in the gatepost. A piece of paper was tied to the arrow."
Yeongu's eyes narrowed.
"Someone shot it from far away?"
The junior general did not answer right away.
He had been beaten and forced to kneel only moments ago, but the look in his eyes as he gathered his thoughts was quite sharp.
He slowly shook his head.
"It may have been shot with a bow, or someone may have made it look that way."
Yeongu showed interest.
"Why? Why do you think so?"
"It is not easy to plant an arrow that precisely in a gatepost. And if paper is tied to it, the arrow's weight changes. Its path would also waver in flight. It may have been stuck there from close range."
As the junior general spoke, his eyes became clearer.
A moment ago he had seemed like a man who could barely read properly, but his instincts in this area were alive.
His face seemed to want to show that much.
Yeongu asked,
"What do you mean by making it look that way?"
"I mean someone wanted it to look as though it had been shot from far away, but in truth someone very close to this camp, someone we know, may have planted it there."
Yeongu thought for a moment.
"Then is that person a spy?"
The junior general started to nod, stopped, then shook his head.
"It could be a spy, or it could be a traitor."
Yeongu asked without thinking,
"What, the work has barely begun and there is already a traitor?"
The junior general's expression darkened a little.
"There are not a few such people. Many agree with what you said earlier about the path Liao should take."
Yeongu waved his hand.
"That is not what I mean. I want to know who sold me out inside the Jin camp. Is there no way to find him?"
The junior general pressed his lips together for a moment.
"The fastest way would be to catch the person who sent that letter here. But I have no clever method either. That was how the message came, and we did not suspect it much. We instructed the junior officer according to what was written on the paper. Someone would come. He was an enemy spy. Seize him. That was all. We doubted it, but then you truly came."
The junior officer, who was kneeling beside him, hurriedly nodded up and down.
Perhaps afraid he might make a mistake if he spoke, he used his whole body to prove the statement true.
Even his eyes were urgent.
Yeongu looked at the junior officer.
"Did you see the arrow too?"
The junior officer quickly answered.
"Yes. I saw it.
It was stuck in the gatepost, and paper was tied to it."
"Who found it first?"
The junior officer opened his mouth and closed it.
He searched his memory for a moment.
"The dawn gate guard. He reported it to the junior general."
Yeongu asked the junior general,
"Where is that gate guard now?"
The junior general's face hardened.
At that moment, the thought crossed both men's minds that the gate guard himself might be the culprit.
"He should have gone to rest after changing shifts."
"Call him."
The junior general looked at the junior officer.
The junior officer was about to leap to his feet, but after glancing at Yeongu, he carefully stood.
Yeongu added,
"And bring the arrow and the paper too. If someone threw them away, bring the man who threw them away as well."
The junior officer answered with force.
"Loyalty."
He was about to run out, nearly stepped on the men lying in the yard, and hurriedly picked his way around them.
Yeongu looked again at the junior general.
"An arrow stuck in the gatepost. If someone made it look as though it had been shot from far away, then the culprit is close. If he is close, he left traces. Ask who passed near the gate at dawn, who spoke with the gate guard, who told them not to pull out the arrow. Ask everything, and something will come out."
The junior general cautiously said,
"If the message came from the Jin side, searching only here may not reveal it."
"We still start here. Even if the words came from far away, the hand may have moved nearby, as you said."
The junior general nodded.
"That is so."
Yeongu sighed.
"I came to catch spies, got caught as a spy myself, and now I have to catch the spy who sold me. Things are going splendidly."
The junior general did not answer.
He thought he might get hit if he did.
Instead, he bowed his head very politely.
As expected, the junior officer did not bring the gate guard.
Instead, he came back with a great mass of soldiers.
The area around the prison filled with men in an instant.
Spear shafts rose above the wall, and archers formed ranks outside the yard.
Footsteps overlapped, and the sound of armor clashing rang along the prison walls.
Soon the junior officer's voice was heard.
"You are surrounded! Surrender and come out, and you will live. Resist, and you will die!"
Yeongu looked outside through a gap in the door.
The junior officer's face was swollen like a bruised gourd.
Even with that ridiculous face, his voice was booming.
Pride at having brought troops from the main camp spread across his expression.
He was like a dog that had run away after being beaten and returned with its master.
Yeongu looked at the junior general.
"What do you think of this betrayal?"
The junior general bit his lip.
His face showed shame and anger together.
"I trusted him and sent him, but he went and did something absurd. This is not something a person should do."
Yeongu tilted his head.
"He is just a Liao soldier."
The junior general was silent for a moment.
Outside, the junior officer shouted again.
"Did you hear me? Open the prison door and come out!"
The junior general heard that shout and spoke in a lower voice.
"Even so, for a short while in here, he heard the same words as we did. He knew the same danger and stood before the same judgment. Then the moment he went outside, he sold us out to save his own skin. If he acts like that, what happens to us? I believe I am doing the right thing, but my comrades' lives are hanging by a thread. That is why justice cannot be enough as a reason."
Yeongu waved his hand.
"Ah, not that sort of talk! We can judge his character later. Right now we need to think about how to catch the spy inside Jin."
The junior general quickly lowered his head.
"I am sorry. I went too far ahead."
Yeongu looked toward the door.
There were many soldiers outside.
If he opened the door and went out now, arrows would rain down.
The junior officer was timid, so he would keep them from closing in, and the more timid a man was, the more he chose to kill from a distance with certainty.
Yeongu asked,
"Are the arrow and paper still inside?"
The junior general shook his head.
"The junior officer took them out."
"I knew it."
Yeongu gave a short laugh.
"He may look like an idiot, but he is quick when his own life is involved."
The junior general said,
"Since the letter has gone outside, the higher-ups in the camp will soon know as well."
"Good. Then the board has grown bigger."
Yeongu looked around the inside of the prison.
The men who had been kneeling only moments ago were all holding their breath.
Outside were hundreds of men, and inside were only the beaten junior general and frightened officers.
Strangely, however, the board was not entirely bad.
At the very least, this matter could no longer be buried by one junior officer.
Yeongu said to the junior general,
"That bastard probably thinks he did well."
"He likely does."
"We need to confirm where that letter came from."
The junior general lifted his eyes.
"Do you suspect the junior officer?"
"No. If the junior officer were a spy, he would rather have helped me. It is not the junior officer. Hm. I suddenly think the junior officer may know who the culprit is."
"No. That one cannot even take care of himself. He cannot do spy work."
"Suspicion has already arisen. He saw the arrow, saw the paper, and took it out. And now he has brought soldiers. The first person to question is the junior officer. Hm. More than that, the price of betrayal should be paid."
The junior general thought for a moment, then nodded.
"That is true. To find the one who sent the letter, we must first seize the one who last held it."
Yeongu smiled with satisfaction.
"Now we understand each other."
Outside, the junior officer's voice rang out again.
"I will say it one last time! Open the door and come out!"
Yeongu shouted toward the door.
"Junior officer!"
Outside went quiet for a moment.
"Where did you put the paper that was tied to the arrow? The paper that the spy supposedly wrote."
The junior officer's voice shook.
"What paper?"
Yeongu laughed.
"The paper that was stuck in the gatepost this morning. It said I was coming, didn't it? You took that paper out with you. You wrote it, didn't you? You are the spy."
A murmur spread among the soldiers outside.
The junior officer hurriedly shouted,
"Nonsense!"
Yeongu spoke louder.
"If you want to catch a spy, you start by looking at the message the spy sent. Who hid that message?"
The murmuring grew louder.
Yeongu said quietly,
"See? Now he will look suspicious."
"That is true."
"What will you do now?"
"I wonder if there is a way."
"Escaping will be difficult."
"No, no. Not that. I mean, is there no way to persuade them?"
"Impossible."
Outside, they were still shouting for him to surrender.
When he glanced over the wall, archers were lined up, and a group of heavy cavalry was preparing to charge.