Chapter 328. Another March
As Youngwoo set out on the road again, he found himself strangely exhilarated by a sense of freedom.
When he had first left, regret and loneliness had weighed on him, so the feeling came as a surprise.
The command tents behind him, the councils, the drinking tables, and the endless words of other people gradually faded into the distance.
Even the hand holding the reins felt lighter, and for a little while the weight pressing against his chest loosened.
It was not freedom he had actively won for himself.
It was merely a brief space in which he had stepped away from every relationship.
There was no one before him whose orders he had to receive.
No one he had to persuade.
No one waiting for an answer.
There were only the sound of hoofbeats, the wind, and the darkness stretching across the distant plain.
Youngwoo drew a deep breath.
Cold air entered all the way into his chest.
Something that had been compressed inside him for a long time seemed to open slightly.
They said such moments were actually good for those who cultivated themselves.
A time to step away from other people's words and gazes and listen to the sound of one's own heart.
Was that why the immortals sought freedom by leaving for places without people?
Was that why his master remained in the mountains, and why Immortal Oryang preferred quiet places to the center of the world?
Two thousand Balhae soldiers traveled with him on the road from Hubodagang to Liaoyang.
At first, both sides were cautious.
The Balhae soldiers observed the Goryeo commander, while Youngwoo silently examined their formations, equipment, and the condition of their horses.
But the road brought people close quickly.
When men endured the same wind, drank the same water, and sat beside the same fire, conversation eventually came.
After several days, more and more people began approaching Youngwoo with questions.
At first it was commanders serving beside Go Hoewon and Go Youngchang.
Later, even soldiers repairing armor and men caring for the horses came to him.
They found Youngwoo intimidating, yet curiosity overcame their hesitation.
The way he had organized an army at Hubodagang was unfamiliar to them—and desperately appealing.
One day, the column halted briefly.
The wagons at the front were searching for a suitable place to cross a waterway, while soldiers farther back watered their horses.
A Balhae soldier cautiously approached Youngwoo.
He wore several iron plates fastened over leather armor.
Even those plates were of different sizes, leaving his shoulder exposed and barely covering one side of his chest.
"Commander Yi."
Youngwoo turned.
"Yes?"
"How does the Jin army make its armor?"
Youngwoo glanced around.
He had left almost everything behind and carried little with him.
Still, he noticed several iron plates in one of the Balhae soldiers' repair bundles.
He picked them up.
They were flat, elongated lamellar plates.
Some had holes pierced through them.
Others were chipped at one corner.
"If you throw this away, it is only scrap iron. Lace it together, and it becomes armor."
He borrowed a leather cord.
Youngwoo laid two plates so that their edges overlapped, aligned the holes, and threaded the cord through them.
One plate covered part of the edge of the next, and then he laid another plate over that.
His fingers moved slowly but precisely.
Once several plates formed a row, he held them against the chest of the soldier's old leather armor.
"You overlap them like this. When a sword strikes, the first plate takes the blow, and the plate behind it supports the first. An arrow cannot immediately reach the flesh either.
"If one plate breaks, you do not throw away the entire suit of armor. You remove the broken piece and replace it with another."
The Balhae soldiers gathered closer.
Some bent their knees.
Others craned their necks to watch Youngwoo's fingertips.
Go Youngchang watched from a short distance away with his arms folded.
Go Hoewon held his horse's reins and nodded.
"Ah."
The soldier who had first asked the question murmured in admiration.
"So when it breaks, you only repair that part."
"Yes. The leather cords are important too. No matter how good the iron plates are, if the cords rot, the armor comes apart. After they get wet, dry them. If a cord breaks, replace it immediately.
"Checking your armor before battle is no different from sharpening your sword."
Another soldier looked down at his own chest.
His armor consisted of layers of thick leather.
There were several marks where it had stopped sword blows, but one deep cut had split the material all the way through.
"I wish we could do that too. It would be far better than wrapping ourselves in nothing but leather."
Youngwoo nodded.
"You can.
"It is difficult to make good armor from the beginning. But if you gather broken iron plates, strip usable lamellae from discarded armor, and make proper leather cords, you can improve it little by little.
"If you cannot complete an entire suit, protect the chest first.
"Then the shoulders.
"Then the waist.
"You have to survive before you can fight the next battle."
Something changed in the faces of the Balhae soldiers.
It was not merely envy of an army with better equipment.
What reached them was the realization that they too could improve what they already possessed.
The embarrassment they had felt toward their worn equipment gradually disappeared.
Instead, they began studying the iron plates and cords in their hands.
Youngwoo looked at them and continued.
"When we enter Liaoyang, gather metal first.
"Broken spearheads, cracked cooking pots, nails, iron fittings from wagons—anything can be used.
"Establish smithies.
"Assign people specifically to repairing armor.
"An army cannot survive on fighting men alone.
"It lasts only when there are people who can repair what breaks."
The Balhae soldiers listened quietly.
On the road home to Liaoyang, talk of gathering iron, lacing armor, feeding horses, and establishing military camps felt more tangible than vague dreams of restoration.
Another soldier brought him tea.
Even the autumn grass had dried completely, leaving the plain desolate.
Dry winds drove dust across the land, and even boiling a single pot of water required fuel and time.
Yet the soldier had found a low rise that blocked the wind, hung a small pot, boiled water, and carefully brought the tea to Youngwoo.
At first, Youngwoo assumed it was kumis or some thin broth.
But when he accepted the cup, he realized it was different.
The color was delicate.
The fragrance was clear.
It was tea prepared in the style of the Central Plains.
The moment it touched his tongue, a grassy fragrance and mild bitterness spread through his mouth, followed by warmth flowing down his throat.
Youngwoo's eyes widened slightly.
"Oh. This is much cleaner."
The soldier who had brought the tea smiled.
"There is a great deal of this in Liaoyang. Goods and customs from Song arrive almost immediately."
Youngwoo looked down at the cup.
Whenever he imagined a city in Liaodong, the first things that came to mind were walls, military camps, horses, and spears.
But Liaoyang, they told him, received tea, silk, books, medicines, merchants, craftsmen, and even the newest goods from Song.
For some reason, that fascinated him.
"I am curious. I have traveled through Liaodong many times, but I have never actually entered Liaoyang."
The soldier smiled brightly.
"Then allow me to welcome you in advance. Hahaha."
The Balhae soldiers nearby laughed with him.
They had already heard that Youngwoo was helping them without conditions.
The caution in their eyes was gradually disappearing.
They now looked upon him with genuine warmth.
The people of Jin possessed a rough and passionate strength.
The Balhae people carried something different.
Memories of an old kingdom, the urban culture of Liaodong, the civilization of the Central Plains, and the scent of horses from the northern lands seemed to mingle within them.
Surrounded by that unfamiliar charm, Youngwoo gradually began imagining the city called Liaoyang.
There were also men who asked him about swordsmanship.
One was a relatively young warrior among the Balhae soldiers.
During another brief halt in the march, he approached Youngwoo.
An old hwando hung from his waist, and the cord around its hilt showed signs of having been replaced many times.
"I want to learn the complete form of the sword method."
Youngwoo looked at him.
"Would you like me to teach you?"
The young warrior immediately bowed.
"Please."
Youngwoo drew his sword and asked,
"I heard this was originally a sword art of the northern lands."
A bitter expression crossed the warrior's face.
"We have lost part of the original form."
Several Balhae soldiers nearby naturally moved closer.
One approached while still holding his horse's reins.
Another stopped repairing his armor.
To them, the words we have lost part of it did not refer only to a sword art.
Youngwoo chose an open stretch of ground.
First, he demonstrated several basic sequences built from the twenty-four forms of the sword method.
The blade opened low.
His waist turned first.
His foot moved half a beat ahead and claimed the proper ground.
The sword rose upward, descended diagonally, then swept beside his waist and circled outward again.
"This is the usual way the movements are connected."
He quickly demonstrated all twenty-four forms.
The motions flowed without breaking, and the blade made a clear sound as it cut through the air.
More Balhae soldiers gathered around.
Some murmured in admiration.
Others applauded.
Youngwoo lowered the sword, then settled into another stance.
"When cultivating the art, however, you use it like this."
The sequence had changed only slightly.
But this time, internal power entered the blade.
The instant the sword point struck the empty air, a short sword cry rang out.
A clear, thin note spread across the dry plain.
The movements were the same twenty-four forms they had just seen.
Yet the way the sword was used during cultivation felt completely different.
Several Balhae soldiers tilted their heads.
To the eye, the forms appeared identical, yet the path of the blade and the way the body moved seemed different.
Seeing their expressions, Youngwoo paused.
"When an enemy thrusts with a spear, use it like this."
He lowered his body as though an invisible spearpoint were approaching his chest.
Assuming the enemy's spear was driving straight toward him, he stepped diagonally aside.
His body turned half a circle, escaping the line of the spear, while at the same time his sword dropped from above.
The blade passed exactly through the place where the enemy's neck would have been.
"The first form can be used this way."
Next came a downward sword strike.
Youngwoo called quietly,
"Second."
He entered diagonally, moving away from the enemy's front.
The sword fell from above his shoulder, changed direction at waist height, and cut through the place where the enemy's flank would have been.
His feet established the position first.
His waist led the blade.
Only at the final instant did his wrist set the angle.
"Third."
This time, he stepped in sharply.
The sword point rose from below toward the enemy's chin, then Youngwoo immediately twisted away to the side.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth followed.
The formal techniques of the sword method became exercises for dealing with spears, swords, fists, and even mounted thrusts.
He linked more than a dozen variations together.
"You practice them in combinations like this.
"Carve them into your body so that no matter how a bastard comes at you, you can deal with him.
"Practice two or three techniques together.
"The instant he moves, you must read the road he is taking and claim the place before he reaches it."
One soldier asked,
"How can we know how he will attack?"
Youngwoo lowered his sword and looked at him.
"There are signals before an attack.
"Your eyes notice them first.
"You must know where the other man is looking.
"Some men move their shoulders first.
"Some open the angle of their feet.
"Some draw in a breath.
"Not everyone reveals himself in the same way, but before an attack the body always speaks first.
"We call that a change.
"You learn to notice the change."
The Balhae soldiers listened in silence.
Youngwoo pointed in turn to his own eyes, shoulder, and toes.
"If you read those changes, you can estimate the timing and direction of the attack.
"You can prepare before it comes.
"Then fighting becomes much easier.
"You are not watching the sword.
"You are watching the man."
Someone murmured,
"So the eyes are important."
Youngwoo nodded.
"Of course.
"At first, you watch with your eyes and teach your body through repetition.
"When your cultivation grows deeper, there are ways to sense it through qi as well."
"Without seeing it?"
Youngwoo smiled.
"It sounds absurd when you put it that way.
"But before a person moves, his presence changes first.
"When you become skilled enough, you notice the breathing behind you, the way a foot presses against the ground, even the slightest tension in the air around you."
He repeated several training combinations and taught them again.
At first, only two or three men followed awkwardly.
Soon there were ten.
Then dozens of Balhae soldiers formed lines across the broad field.
Wearing mismatched armor and worn equipment, they moved their feet to the same rhythm.
Dozens of swords rose together.
Then descended diagonally together.
Across the dry grassland, dozens of flashes of steel moved at once.
Youngwoo called loudly,
"Do not think of it as doing this movement and then doing the next one separately.
"If the opponent punches, your body moves into his blind angle while you strike or thrust at his side at the same time.
"Evading and attacking must happen together.
"The body claims the position first.
"The sword follows the position your body has taken."
The Balhae soldiers moved again.
Their feet slipped diagonally aside.
Their waists turned.
Their sword points entered at the height of an enemy's flank.
At first, their rhythm wavered.
After several repetitions, however, their movements began to align like a military dance.
It was only a brief lesson during a long march.
Yet for them, it felt as though they had recovered a fragment of something they had lost.
Or rather, they had learned a method of training that transformed an old practice sword dance, once separate from actual combat, into something that could be used in battle.
Because of that, their departure was delayed slightly.
Go Hoewon and Okjeong waited not far away.
Go Hoewon held his horse's reins with a smile, while Okjeong stood with her arms folded, watching the Balhae soldiers practice the sword art they had just learned.
Youngwoo scratched the back of his head.
"I delayed us, didn't I? I apologize."
Go Hoewon laughed.
"Our people are very interested. Commander Yi is quite famous, after all."
Youngwoo blinked.
"Me?"
"Yes. We have heard that Commander Yi stands behind much of Jin's success. Please make us like that too."
Youngwoo waved both hands.
"Ah, you mean the military advisory group.
"That was not something I did alone.
"First there were fifty Goryeo soldiers, then a hundred, and later more than two hundred working together.
"They repaired armor, adjusted bows, counted horse fodder, and organized training methods.
"I was merely the one who made the most noise among them."
Okjeong asked Youngwoo,
"Do you not regret abandoning all those relationships? Relationships are also a kind of wealth."
Youngwoo walked silently for a while.
The low sound of hooves striking dry earth continued beside them.
"Rather than regret, I suppose I feel some sadness.
"When you meet people, work beside them, and cross the same battlefield, affection grows.
"But there are not many places where a person can remain forever.
"Sooner or later, a time comes when you must leave.
"That time might be today.
"It might be tomorrow.
"So I want to keep my heart light enough that I can leave whenever the time comes."
Okjeong immediately asked,
"Will you leave us like that too?"
Youngwoo smiled sadly.
"After living in many places, I have learned something.
"A person must know when it is time to leave.
"If you try too hard to hold on, affection turns into resentment, and kindness becomes heavy like a debt."
"Does that apply to us as well?"
Youngwoo could not answer immediately.
He looked toward the distant direction of Liaoyang.
"I do not know.
"Sometimes I think that one day I would like to leave like the wind.
"Without making much noise when I arrive.
"Without making much noise when I go."
Okjeong shook her head.
"Liaoyang is like an ancient homeland.
"You may be able to remain there for a long time."
Youngwoo gave a quiet laugh.
"Hmm."
He said nothing more.
The phrase like an ancient homeland touched something inside him.
Yet the word homeland was always warm and heavy at the same time.
It meant having somewhere to return to.
And it also meant having somewhere that would hurt even more when the day finally came to leave.
Go Youngchang approached.
"What pleasant conversation have the two of you been having?"
Youngwoo smiled awkwardly.
"Nothing much. Just various thoughts.
"We were talking about how difficult it is to leave."
Go Youngchang studied him.
Youngwoo often lowered himself by calling himself an ignorant martial man.
Yet when one actually listened to him, he did not speak like a simple warrior.
His thoughts wandered far, and his words often borrowed the images of plains, wind, and roads.
Rather than explain difficult ideas directly, he had a habit of speaking through the place where a man stood and the loneliness of the road he had to leave behind.
Youngwoo added, a little embarrassed,
"No matter how long a person wants to remain somewhere, eventually he has to leave.
"So I was saying that perhaps the heart should not be tied down too tightly.
"We should be able to think freely and walk freely."
Go Youngchang chuckled.
"The words are difficult, but I understand what you mean."
Youngwoo laughed too.
"Sometimes even I have trouble understanding what I am saying."
Okjeong snorted with amusement beside them.
Go Youngchang looked toward the road leading to Liaoyang.
"We should set out again."
Youngwoo adjusted his grip on the reins.
The two thousand cavalry resumed their march.
Hoofbeats stretched across the dry grasslands, while the worn banners of the Balhae soldiers fluttered low in the dawn wind.
Youngwoo traveled in silence for some time before asking Okjeong, who rode beside him,
"What kind of man is Xiao Baoxian, the Eastern Capital Regent?"
Okjeong adjusted her reins.
"He is the highest authority in the Eastern Capital, Liaoyang Prefecture.
"He is harsh and cruel, and the Balhae people suffer under him. The History of Liao records his severity.
"Liaoyang is old Balhae territory, and Balhae people, Han people, Xi, and Jurchen groups all live there together.
"Liao did not believe such a place could be entrusted to a mild provincial governor.
"They believed they needed someone close to the imperial house, someone capable of suppressing the region through force.
"That is why Xiao Baoxian was sent there."
Youngwoo nodded at her refreshingly direct explanation.
"Oh. So he is what we would call a bad bastard."
Okjeong laughed briefly.
"He commits cruel acts without hesitation. Men who are strong only against the weak are usually of that sort."
Youngwoo immediately replied,
"We call people like that idiots."
Okjeong's eyes widened slightly.
"Ah. That is rather severe criticism."
Youngwoo scratched the back of his head.
"Forgive me. My words came out roughly."
Okjeong resumed her explanation.
"Xiao Baoxian conscripted Balhae soldiers and sent them to difficult outposts and dangerous roads along the Jurchen frontier.
"If a Han clerk made even a small mistake, he ordered entire household and tax registers rewritten.
"You know how exhausting such work is.
"Counting every person in every household.
"Recording fields and livestock.
"Searching even for hidden grain.
"He requisitioned civilian horses for military use and forcibly collected metal objects used in daily life to repair weapons and armor.
"He even took farming tools.
"From the outside, one might call it wartime administration.
"But his methods were far too brutal."
What Youngwoo wanted to understand was what had caused the present situation to arise.
"Oh? Then what was the greatest problem?"
"He did not trust the Balhae people.
"He saw them as subjects who still carried memories of a kingdom that had disappeared long ago.
"So he assigned more difficult and dangerous work to Balhae people and imposed heavier taxes and labor duties upon them.
"There was discrimination.
"Discrimination was the problem.
"If everyone had carried the same burden, resentment would not have gathered so heavily in one place.
"Xiao Baoxian used Balhae people while humiliating them.
"When he needed someone at the front, he pushed them forward.
"When something went wrong, he placed the blame upon them."
Youngwoo's face hardened.
"Oh. So that is the kind of bastard he is.
"I know men like that.
"What is his personality like?"
He remembered Park Cheolgu from long ago.
A coward who humiliated others, sent them into dangerous places first, and shifted the blame onto them when something went wrong.
Okjeong answered,
"He is sharp and dry.
"If a wagon arrives late, he has the wagoner beaten.
"If a ledger is wrong, he has the clerk beaten.
"He divides Han people and Balhae people and makes them hate each other.
"People know what he is doing, yet they still fall into it.
"When grain and military service are at stake, people begin resenting one another.
"They begin asking whose taxes are heavier.
"Whose son has been sent to the more dangerous outpost.
"Xiao Baoxian uses those differences to make Han people and Balhae people hate each other."
Youngwoo let out a long breath.
"Haa… How did a man like that ever rise all the way to Eastern Capital Regent?"
Okjeong hardly hesitated.
"Because there is a foolish man above him who mistakes that behavior for ability."
Youngwoo's eyes went round.
The words did not sound like a simple insult.
They sounded like an exact explanation.
For a moment, he felt as though his vision had cleared.
"You mean men like that rise because some fool above them believes that kind of behavior is competence?"
Okjeong nodded.
"Yes.
"There are people who believe silencing others through violence is ability.
"They think forcing numbers in a ledger to match through harsh rule is achievement.
"When men like that stand above, men like Xiao Baoxian rise beneath them.
"Do you think Goryeo is any different?
"Every country has such people."
Youngwoo remained silent for a long while.
He had sensed such things for years.
There were men who suppressed people until they became quiet.
Who frightened others into working.
Who turned the suffering of those beneath them into achievements for themselves.
Youngwoo had known the feeling.
He had simply never been able to put it into words.
Okjeong's explanation gave a name to something that had always remained vague inside him.
"Ah… yes.
"In the past, I could never express that feeling properly.
"Hearing you say it makes the thought clear."