Chapter 197 — On the Road to Oryang Mountain 2
Yeongu changed the subject again.
"What do you think of the youngest?"
"She is intelligent."
"Right?"
"She has the limitation of having been born a woman."
"What should we do?"
"Even so, she should be taught. Leaving her at home is not the best course."
"What should she be taught?"
"If she cannot be sent to a school, a teacher can be invited."
"That will cost a great deal."
"It is worth it."
Yeongu tilted his head.
"Perhaps I should teach her martial arts instead. In that field, there is not much distinction between men and women."
Dorogan shook his head.
"It is difficult for a woman to reach the highest level in martial arts. Her body is different from a man's."
"I am not asking for the highest level."
Dorogan offered a suggestion.
"Then why not try teaching her once?"
"Me?"
"Then who else?"
"Oh, I have no talent. I am a man with no ability to do anything well, who has endured all these years on sheer spite and stubbornness."
"Her cleverness surpasses ordinary understanding."
"How such a child came out of our household, I do not know."
"Place a sword in her hand and see what happens."
"That requires desire. It is not enough to simply be good."
Dorogan asked, "What kind of desire?"
"I struggled desperately to live, to survive. In doing so, I grew stronger. But the highest methods, the later stages, are blocked by something mental. I am stopped there."
"That is true. Martial arts require intelligence as well."
"Tch. Why do you think the youngest will be good at martial arts?"
"She does everything well. Better than others."
Yeongu said firmly, "Doing something well does not make a person happy."
"It is no different for women. They do not pursue happiness alone. Though much of social success is blocked to them, personal achievement is a very noble matter. I wished to say that women are the same in that regard."
His words were difficult.
Yeongu wondered whether this man was truly a slave.
Dorogan had gone the long way around to say that although society closed many doors, the desire for self-realization remained the same.
"How is Mother's health?"
"I do not know the details, but after taking the medicine from Liaodong, she has improved greatly."
"Medicine?"
"Yes. Medicinal ingredients arrived from Liaodong, marked as being for your mother."
"This… They even sent medicine."
Yeongu felt his chest swell at the care shown by the people of Liaodong.
The thought that he should not be here doing this while leaving such people behind brought up a sadness he could not put into words.
"It was prepared medicine. It seemed to contain wild ginseng, fleeceflower root, deer antler, and every good thing one could name."
"Would that make her better?"
"She was not ill in the sense of having a disease. Her vitality had weakened. When someone's back hurts, trying to fix only the back is not always the answer. Restoring the body's strength can be more important."
"How did those people know anything about her condition…"
"In any case, your mother improved. It seems she had grown weak from years of poor nourishment rather than from an illness. It was care. Because they cared, they knew even from far away."
This time, Yeongu asked, "Phew… In such a case, how should I repay the favor?"
Dorogan glanced at Yeongu's face.
That question was tied to doubts about Dorogan's current position.
If he was a spy sent by the Jurchen, he would take the Jurchen side.
If he was not, he would explain things from Yeongu's position.
After going through messy struggles with political men, Yeongu had become fairly mature in political matters.
It was the classic attitude of a slick man who acted simple on the surface while keeping his true thoughts in hand.
"Could you not simply accept their sincerity? Consider what you have done for them all this time, Commander Jungnang."
"You know?"
"Everyone knows. Only Goryeo does not. Do you not know how much your strength has contributed to the success of the Jurchen?"
"I do not."
"You may simply accept it. If it had been another tribal chief, he would have demanded even more. Because of distance and circumstances, they likely could not send things properly. If spoils were divided fairly, it should have been several times what came."
"Goryeo prices are high, you know."
"Even taking that into account, it is so. Therefore, you may accept it."
Yeongu quietly looked at Dorogan.
The Balhae people and the Xi, together with the Khitan, were major peoples of Liao.
The reason Liao absorbed Balhae's advanced systems early was that it actively employed Balhae people.
It received the legacy of antiquity directly, and the people there spoke of themselves in terms such as Joseon, Goguryeo, and Buyeo.
If a country were founded in Liaodong, one could not speak of tradition while leaving out those three lines of inheritance.
In truth, the place where the Eight Prohibitions of Joseon were best preserved was not among the Jurchen, but in Liao.
That was less because they had inherited the traditions of an ancient empire and more because those were the cultural traditions of that land.
It was difficult to know in detail what role the Balhae people played there.
What was clear was that many Balhae people, along with the Xi, had been absorbed into the ruling stratum of Liao.
"How were you captured?"
"I was taken in the battle of Yeonggangju."
"And then?"
"Lady O Geol-mae persuaded me."
"What did she say?"
"She said there was a very important general, and asked me to manage his household."
"And if you managed it?"
"She said she would spare my life."
"And for that, you came all the way to a foreign land to work as a slave?"
"A prisoner of war is naturally a slave. One enters battle prepared for that."
"And coming to Goryeo, to our house?"
"Is it not better than being a slave? Rather than digging through barren land, I am the chief steward of an estate here."
"An estate? Hahaha. That collapsing house is an estate?"
"She told me to raise it up. She said I would be rewarded accordingly."
"Who did? Lady O Geol-mae?"
"Yes."
"Mm. And your family?"
Dorogan's gaze narrowed.
"They were in Buyeobu."
"That is past tense."
"I never wish to experience such a war again. In an isolated fortress, some lack or another turns into chaos. I lost them in that chaos."
"You found none of them?"
"I found some. Lady O Geol-mae did. They are living well in Buyeobu."
"Then Lady O Geol-mae must have said she would look after your family."
"Something like that."
"Phew."
Dorogan asked, "Why do you ask such things?"
"I was always worried about home. I became a soldier so young because of this house. Yet when I came back, I found that you had done many things."
"There are few things money cannot solve. Besides, sable fur fetches any price one asks."
"That is why I was going to tell you to bring your family here as well. But if they are living well in Buyeobu, then…"
"To this house?"
"I do not know how large an estate of this size truly is, but is it not enough to support even your family?"
"Of course it is."
"Think about it and tell me. Or else—"
"Or else?"
"Or else, when the time is right, I will send you back. You can decide for yourself."
"Ah! Heavens."
Dorogan was startled by the words that Yeongu would send him back.
"Why are you treating me so well?"
"Because you have done well. In any case, think it over and tell me. Either you go, or you bring your family here. Of course, neither choice will be perfect. If you go, I do not know what Uncle O Geol-mae will do, and if they come here, this place is still difficult. There are many strange people here."
"It is the same there."
"Family should be together."
The word family felt distant.
Dorogan's gaze turned far away, beyond the northern mountains.
"Tell me when you have decided."
"Are you saying you will release me?"
"If you wish…"
"Ah… Do you have no need of me?"
"I need you. But I cannot use a Xi general as a mere slave."
"..."
Dorogan said nothing.
It was not a denial.