316.
The Yangzhou Conference
Fifteen days after the battle of Chizhou ended,
Zhang Shicheng arrived at the South Gate Pavilion of Yangzhou, leading his delegation.
Above the city gate, the banners of Goryeo and Chen Youliang fluttered side by side.
The spring wind was warm, yet inside the conference hall the air was taut with strain.
A broad map lay spread across the center of the table.
Ink strokes layered over the river lines.
In these rivers flowed not water, but human desire.
Yoon Dam, having returned in haste from Chizhou, presided over the meeting.
With his brush, he traced the course of the river.
The line stopped at Yangzhou.
His voice was low and composed.
"Whoever connects the rivers gains Jiangnan.
All the waterways of Jiangnan ultimately converge here.
Therefore, this place belongs to no single power—
it is a gate that must be guarded together."
At the carefully chosen word together, Zhang Shicheng smiled.
The smile was not gentle.
Calculation surfaced before courtesy.
"Fine words," he said.
"But this city was built with my blood and my taxes."
He tapped Yangzhou on the map.
"If you merely borrowed it for a time, then return it now.
If Yangzhou is not returned, there will be no negotiations."
He was a merchant.
One who weighs gain and loss before principle is a merchant.
One who changes his claims as circumstances shift is a merchant.
One whose nature differs in hardship and in advantage is a merchant.
Chen Youliang rose slowly.
His voice was low, but firm.
"We cannot return it.
Chizhou was reclaimed with our blood,
and Yangzhou is ground where Goryeo blood has already hardened.
If you insist on Yangzhou, then we must reconsider this alliance."
Zhang Shicheng's face stiffened.
"You begin an alliance with threats?"
Chen answered at once.
"Not a threat. A warning."
Yoon Dam raised a hand.
"We cannot afford to widen the front."
Silence followed.
They were already fighting Zhu Yuanzhang.
Another war was impossible.
Everyone knew it.
People always know—
and still press forward.
Yoon Dam swallowed a quiet sigh.
The papers stirred in the breeze.
Zhang Shicheng remained silent for a long moment.
It was the silence of a man who calculates—
one who measures the world not in words, but in price.
Yoon Dam rotated a teacup and spoke.
"Lord Zhang, you said this river was built with your taxes.
But the blood spilled here belonged to the people.
Blood recognizes no borders."
Zhang Shicheng's eyes wavered slightly.
Yoon Dam lowered his voice further, softened it.
"Yangzhou is now the gate of the river.
If this place becomes a battlefield, Zhu Yuanzhang's armies will march south again.
Your caravans, your people—
all will be swept up in that current."
His fingertip traced the river on the map.
"If we guard it together, the river will carry your ships.
If you try to reclaim it,
that same river will swallow you."
Zhang cut him off.
"If cooperation is desired, something sweet must be offered.
Return Yangzhou."
Chen answered without hesitation.
"If Yangzhou is handed over, the Goryeo army will have nowhere to stand."
Zhang did not reply.
He looked at Chen.
Chen looked back.
Their gazes did not meet as allies,
but as future enemies.
Chen laid out the situation.
His explanation was long, but the point was sharp.
"Because Zhu Yuanzhang once aided you,
he fears the east less and struck us first.
Days ago he sent Chang Yuchun against Chizhou.
We killed him and reclaimed the city.
Now he will strike again—
this time with Xu Da."
He watched Zhang's reaction carefully.
"Xu Da and Chang Yuchun are his core commanders.
The fact that he does not yet treat you as an immediate threat
means he sees you as an easy opponent."
Zhang scowled.
"Are you saying I am to be underestimated?"
Chen did not retreat an inch.
"One does not seek cooperation from those one can afford to ignore.
Zhu Yuanzhang can afford to ignore you—for now."
Then he drove the nail in.
"We propose cooperation until Zhu Yuanzhang is broken first.
Yangzhou is Goryeo territory.
I have no authority to demand its surrender."
Zhang cut him short.
"Yangzhou is non-negotiable."
Chen pressed again.
"I wish to avoid offending Goryeo as well.
If we seek alliance with you only to lose alliance with them,
that future is unacceptable.
So the matter of Yangzhou ends here."
Zhang suddenly turned to Yoon Dam.
"How did you come to serve as strategist for the Goryeo army?"
Yoon Dam answered evenly.
"I saw their sincerity.
Their wish for peace, and their lack of greed for this land.
I saw their intent to bring peace to Jiangnan, and chose to move."
Zhang sneered.
"For a man like you to be so easily deceived."
Yoon Dam did not avert his gaze.
"With time, results reveal themselves.
Goryeo does not differ between front and back."
Zhang's temper flared.
"Then are you saying I do?"
Yoon Dam bowed at once.
"I beg forgiveness.
That was not my meaning."
Zhang narrowed his eyes.
"Then you could serve as my strategist instead."
Yoon Dam replied briefly.
"I ask pardon that fate does not allow it."
For over an hour they argued—
refining words, cutting prices, weighing lives.
At last, Zhang Shicheng released a long breath.
"Very well.
Yangzhou will, for now, be guarded by the Goryeo army."
He raised a finger, setting terms.
"But the grain and taxes of the city will be mine."
Chen laughed shortly.
"So we borrow the land, and you take the harvest.
If Jiangnan's first peace must be struck as such a bargain,
then so be it.
I will cover the taxes myself."
Yoon Dam lifted his cup.
"May the river forget war, at least for as long as this cup remains full."
The three cups met.
Outside the window, spring rain began to fall.
That day, atop the pavilion in Yangzhou, the three clasped hands.
Yet beneath those hands, the roads had already divided.
The river was calm for the moment—
and all of them knew the calm would not last.