Chapter 2:
002. Meeting Anryu
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I beat the jeongo (war drum). The massive drum hanging in the hall of the inner palace of Winaamseong Fortress. As I beat it like a madman, the rhythm and pitch began to shift erratically.
"Your Royal Highness, please stop!"
"You could bring disaster upon yourself!" The royal court officials were thrown into confusion. They were terrified because I was beating the war drum, which was only supposed to be struck in a national emergency.
"Is it an attack? Have the rebels arrived?"
"For goodness' sake, please give us a reason!"
Damn it! Will explaining the reason let me meet Yeon-woo? The reason I'm doing this crazy thing is because I've been forbidden from entering the Taewangjeon (Hall of the Great King). That vixen Wu has wrapped Yeon-woo in her arms and is blocking me, his brother, from visiting.
Boom-boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom!
The tempo grew faster. Even if a telephone pole were stuck in Yeon-woo's ear, he'd have to hear this from the inner palace, even with the doors sealed. Let's see if he doesn't come out and keep acting stubborn.
"We will not just stand by either," said one of the older-looking officials.
Go ahead and try. I have the ultimate trump card. As Yeon-un, who was blocking the entrance to the pavilion where the drum was hung, glared at them while gripping a pair of axes, the officials paled in terror. How could these scribes from the Yeonna-bu, whom the Wu family had brought, possibly withstand the killing intent of Yeon-un, who was not part of the Nam-mu royal guard?
"I will kill anyone who disrespects my lord."
The words Yeon-un spat out were so menacing it sent a chill down my spine. The officials, who had drawn their spears and swords, hesitated and only glanced around nervously.
But, they were not a group of fools. Perhaps they had contacted the inner palace's detached quarters, because a squad of the royal guard came rushing in. About 50 men, each wearing different styles of armor, were clearly no ordinary soldiers. They were the Jwa-sik-ja, one of Goguryeo's most elite warrior groups.
"Among the great houses within the country, those who do not farm are the Jwa-sik-ja (those who sit and eat), numbering over ten thousand, and the Haho (commoners) bring them rice, meat, and salt from afar. - Weilüe, Records of the Three Kingdoms"
A gang of brawlers and layabouts. A warrior caste that had spent their entire lives mastering only the art of fighting. Furthermore, they wore armor bearing the emblem of the Yeonna-bu.
"Damn it! Are the Yeonna-bu's Jwa-sik-ja trying to kill me, the Gochuga (a high-ranking official) of the northern region!"
I roared. A warrior with the Yeonna-bu emblem engraved on his armor is famous for being the best of the best among the Jwa-sik-ja, a human weapon. Similar Jwa-sik-ja existed in the other five bu (tribal clans), and they were not to be trifled with, even for Yeon-un, as they did not fear death.
"Everyone, stand down!"
"Do not make a mistake with His Royal Highness," shouted the man who appeared to be the leader of the Jwa-sik-ja.
There are only two Gochuga in all of Goguryeo. Balgi of the western region and I, Gyesu, who is in charge of the northern region, are supreme beings who command thousands of central troops.
"The fate of Goguryeo is hanging by a thread! If trouble befalls the nation and it begins to fall, will you take responsibility for it!"
I, who have studied countless ancient texts as a historian, can't I win an argument against you lot whose heads are filled with nothing but muscle! Ever since my school days, I've been a master of schemes, known as a modern-day Kim Seon-dal.
But then, the strength suddenly drained from the fingers holding the drumstick. It was probably because I had lost a lot of blood from being stabbed, and this body had died and been brought back to life.
Yeon-woo! Please, just hurry up and come out!
Muttering this, I continued to beat the drum.
"Did you really mean what you just said?" A voice boomed through the night sky. Everyone turned their heads. They saw a middle-aged man emerge from the shadows of the building. He was wearing archaic armor and a hwan-do (ring-pommel sword), and his appearance was extraordinary.
Just as one would expect. People shouted out in unison.
"It's Lord Anryu!"
"What brings the Daesaja (Grand Emissary) here?"
The newcomer was Anryu, the late Nam-mu's most trusted aide and the Daesaja.
『In the 13th year of King Gogukcheon's reign (191 AD), after suppressing the rebellion of Eobiryu and Jwagaryeo, the five bu (tribal clans) of Goguryeo jointly recommended him for a new talent recruitment policy. However, he declined and instead recommended Eulpa-so, for which he was granted the title of Daesaja (Grand Emissary). - Samguk Sagi』
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When Nam-mu, who had no heir, died and fraternal succession was decided, Anryu was horrified. By the will left by the queen and the fact that the third son, Yeon-woo, would become Taewang (Great King). The shockwave didn't end there. The Lady Wu had become the sister-in-law's wife and been enthroned as empress before her late husband's body was even cold. It was an unbelievable shock, an aftershock that shook the very foundations of his lifelong belief in serving Goguryeo.
"His late Majesty never intended to pass the throne to the indecisive Yeon-woo! What is this absurdity!" Anryu lamented in a place where no one could see. Here was the complaint of an old man who had once checked the power of the five noble clans and had earned the trust of King Gogukcheon for recommending people like Eulpa-so to strengthen royal authority.
And yet, as the saying goes, "roasting beans on a lightning bolt," the royal succession and enthronement ceremony were carried out in the blink of an eye. As soon as Yeon-woo ascended the throne, Anryu took to his bed. If the enraged Balgi had not started a rebellion and laid waste to Hwando-seong Fortress, he would never have set foot in the royal court again.
"I will never let that damned bastard Balgi get away with this."
His own youngest son had also been a victim of the Hwando-seong incident. Balgi, believing he had been robbed of the throne that was rightfully his, had indiscriminately massacred the Yeonna-bu and Yeon-woo's faction. Anryu's third son, being related by marriage to a man of the Yeonna-bu, was attacked while visiting a feast. A spark flew in Anryu's eyes, who had always disliked Balgi's arrogance.
—I must avenge my son, or I am not Anryu.
The man who had hated the tyranny of Queen Wu and her maternal relatives had been changed by his son's death. He had supported Yeon-woo's succession and argued strongly that Balgi must be captured and killed.
However, the people did not move easily. Besides fearing his title as Goguryeo's foremost warrior, they feared his position as Gochuga of the Oryeol-hol eastern region. But the biggest reason was perhaps that they did not want to suffer irreparable damage by sacrificing the private soldiers of the five noble clans.
Disappointed with the royal court's inaction, Anryu wandered the inner fortress alone, gazing at the night sky and thinking of his youngest son.
Boom-boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom!
Just as he was containing his sorrow in the silent space, the jeongo suddenly sounded.
"Has Balgi attacked!" Startled, he grabbed the hwan-do at his waist and ran. He wanted to avenge his youngest son with his own hands.
Before long, he arrived at the hall, the source of the war drum.
"Damn it! Are the Yeonna-bu's Jwa-sik-ja trying to kill me, the Gochuga of the northern region!"
A familiar voice reached Anryu's ears. Starting with the opening curse, there was only one person who would call himself the Gochuga of the northern region.
"No! That man is the fourth prince, Gyesu, is it not? What is his reason for fighting with Lady Wu's private soldiers?"
Just then, he noticed the Jwa-sik-ja of the Wu clan, who had mobilized because of the jeongo (war drum). And also, the content of his shouting.
"The fate of Goguryeo is hanging by a thread! If trouble befalls the nation and it begins to fall, will you take responsibility