Chương 249: Chapter 244 — The Shadow of Betrayal 2

Under the pretext of training, Yeongu made them maintain their mounted posture and repeat after him. The men, suddenly wide awake, repeated one sentence at a time.

"Prince of Wei, Yelü Chun, was an alternative that had already existed. The late emperor once looked to him, and the elders of the court know his weight. The person who can correct a young emperor who shakes the country with hunting and amusements already exists within the imperial clan." When it was done as punishment, they managed to repeat even fairly long sentences. After making them repeat it several times and testing them, he moved on to the next sentence.

"The emperor personally takes the field and gathers hundreds of thousands. But if he loses, will the emperor take responsibility? If deposition and enthronement take place, the commanders who would have borne responsibility for defeat disappear, and meritorious men who saved Great Liao remain. Look at the commanders who have lost until now." Among the men groaning in pain, those who recited it exactly, as if doing homework, were spared punishment for a little while.

Once a few were separated out, the remaining men recited with all their strength.

"Great Liao became a great country because it was not a country of Khitans alone. It became great because it embraced Balhae people, Han people, the Xi, and many tribes. The present court is losing that great vessel. We Balhae people are not frontier slaves of Great Liao. We are people who make up Great Liao. Therefore, we must make Great Liao recover the vessel of an empire again." They memorized it, but it was still too long. Yeongu spoke calmly, as if persuading the Balhae soldiers.

"Worry about Great Liao. Say that Great Liao is too precious to lose. Say that a country that endured for two hundred years must not collapse because of one emperor's hunting and negligence. That kind of word enters their hearts." Heulseongnyeol spoke.

"You mean we must seem like people worried about Great Liao, not people stirring up rebellion." Yeongu nodded.

"What we want is not to make them like Jin. It is to make them unable to trust the emperor. It is enough if the emperor suspects his commanders, the commanders fear the emperor, and the people of Balhae and Zhongjing think of Yelü Chun's name. From that moment, the army of Liao cannot move only forward. It will look behind."

"Do not speak too largely from the start. At first, ask.

'Would things have come to this if the Prince of Wei had been there?'

'Why did the late emperor look to him?'

'Why do the elders of the court still speak his name?' Say it that way. Do not force the alternative into their hands. Make them recall a name they already knew."

"What you must do is not curse Liao." The Balhae soldiers looked at one another. Yeongu continued.

"If you tell them to betray Liao, no one will listen. They consider themselves people of Liao. Especially Balhae officers and the righteous troops of Zhongjing are more so. They do not want to become people who sell out their own country. So you must not say it that way." He pointed at the ground with his finger.

"Separate Great Liao from Tianzuo. Say that protecting one emperor and protecting the state are not always the same thing. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Say that if Tianzuo cannot preserve the country, a loyal subject must look first to the state." In the end, it was the same thing. It was a matter of repeating the same words. Repetition did not make things happen on its own.

Yeongu divided the Balhae soldiers into several groups and made each group memorize the words and logic they were assigned on the spot. One group was given the task of cautiously letting the name Yelü Chun slip. Another was made to learn the words that responsibility for defeat would fall on them. Another group memorized the words that Balhae people, too, were one pillar of Great Liao. They repeated and repeated again. Yeongu would pass by and suddenly ask.

"How do you separate Tianzuo from Great Liao?" When one Balhae soldier stammered out an answer, he immediately called another.

"You say it." If that man trailed off, he called another.

"That will get you killed if you say it in a military tent. Again." He drove the men relentlessly. He separated the words to be said at a relay station, the words to be leaked by a fire, the words that had to reach Zhangnu's close aides, and the words to be passed to Balhae officers. The same content had to be spoken, but not from the same mouth. If many words came from one mouth, it became a plot. If similar words came from many mouths in slightly different ways, it sounded like rumor spreading through the world.

To drive that one thing into their bodies, Yeongu did not stop. One hour passed. Two hours passed. The men's eyes began to glaze over. The Balhae soldiers were men who would charge if told to go to battle, but they were not used to memorizing the order of words and repeating the meaning without distortion. A sword has weight when held in the hand, but words scatter the moment they leave the mouth. Trying to hold those scattered words in place left every face looking half dead.

Then Agolsan cautiously raised his hand.

"Let us eat first." Yeongu glared at him. They cannot even do it properly, and they think of eating first. That thought rose first. But soon he pressed it down himself. No. However badly they did, however difficult it was, food had to be given. Mealtime had to be respected. Just because a man failed at work did not mean he lost the right to eat. Loyalty and cause could not be forced into the mouth of a hungry man. Yeongu waved his hand.

"Fine. Whether it works or not, let us eat. Eat first, then continue." Agolsan sprang to his feet.

"Loyalty!" A cheer immediately burst from among the men.

"Waaa!" The tedious time had ended. The Balhae soldiers stretched their arms out at once. Some yawned, some twisted their backs, and others clutched their necks and groaned. A few squatted like frogs and let out deep sighs of relief. They looked more exhausted than men who had just finished combat training. The party settled down here and there in groups of three and five. They had not moved for even an hour, so they had not gone thirty li from Hoeryeong. Small fires rose like a campsite.

Someone gathered dry wood, someone took out dried meat, and someone passed around a waterskin. As the fire came alive, smoke settled low, and the smell of lean meat spread through the scent of grass. Watching them, Yeongu once again felt deeply that he was not someone suited for this sort of work. Going into another army and telling commanders what to do was completely different from making lower-ranking warriors memorize words that would not stick in their mouths.

If they did not understand, their faces showed they did not understand. If they did not want to do it, their faces showed they did not want to do it. If they were hungry, their faces showed hunger. As hard as it was for the Balhae soldiers, it was hard for Yeongu too. He lay back on the grass. When his body touched the ground, a little of the tension loosened. The heart-guarding armor under his clothes pressed hard against his chest, but even that now felt like a familiar weight.

It was a broad field with no one coming or going. Far away, horses grazed, and a low wind stirred the tips of the grass. White clouds drifted slowly across the sky where grass insects flew. The blue sky was clear and clean, with no end in sight. Heaven and earth are this wide, so why do people tear at one another over narrow castles, roads, and warehouses? Yeongu narrowed his eyes as he lay there. Even if I lay here all day, no one would come or go. No one would disturb me. No one would order me around.

No one would tell me to kill anyone. Yet people cannot rest until they devour one another. In the name of the country. In the name of loyalty. In the name of revenge, cause, and livelihood, they aim at one another's throats. When this war is over, I will surely come back to this place. Then I will put down the sword, take off the armor, and make no one memorize anyone's words. From morning to evening, I will lie here all day and sleep.

I will watch where the clouds go, listen to the grass insects, grill meat when hungry, and sleep again when drowsy. Thinking that, Yeongu closed his eyes. The sound of someone laughing by a fire reached him. The Balhae soldiers regained life little by little as they ate. A little later, they would have to repeat the same foolish thing all over again. Worry about Great Liao. Separate Tianzuo from the state. Make them recall Yelü Chun's name. Make them ask where responsibility for defeat will go.

Yeongu let out a small sigh. Then he muttered very quietly.

"Let us eat first, he says. What a wise fellow."