Ch.128Middle Path (3)

Munglig’s muscle evangelism spread without limits.

Thanks to him, most of the servants at my lodgings had begun to worship muscles.

“Oh, mighty muscles…!”

“Bestow upon my body the essence of the Four Heavenly Kings…!”

“…”

It was almost like a religion.

I sighed as I looked at Munglig.

“It’s good, but this is too much.”

“I didn’t expect it to spread this far either, brother.”

The muscle worship had spread faster than expected.

The background for this rapid spread was the Taoism that the servants already believed in.

To reiterate, the Four Heavenly Kings were guardian deities created from a fusion of Buddhism and Taoism.

For Taoists, the prospect of attaining a godlike physique was something they desperately desired.

The main reason Taoists practiced their faith was largely to become immortals.

However, becoming an immortal often meant turning away from the secular world.

Above all, unlike the path to immortality, strength training produced visible changes—bigger muscles and a stronger body.

Given these tangible results, it was no wonder that people showed great interest in strength training as a way to accumulate merit without leaving the secular world.

“Still, fortunately, we were able to gather all the information we wanted, weren’t we?”

“That’s true.”

Having the servants, who had essentially been our watchers, become our allies brought many advantages.

The greatest benefit was our increased freedom of movement.

Thanks to this, Munglig could easily scout Zhongdu Daxingfu.

“Anyway, after cross-checking the information, it’s confirmed that the Jin Dynasty has indeed suffered flooding, and recovery work is currently underway.”

“Recovery work, huh. How long it takes will depend on the scale of the damage.”

From our perspective, the longer it took, the better.

“Based on the information I’ve gathered, it will take at least three years.”

I was greatly surprised by Munglig’s words.

The recovery was taking longer than I had expected.

But as mentioned earlier, considering the scale of the Yellow River, this was perhaps only natural.

Three years.

A time that was both short and long, depending on how you looked at it.

* * *

About two weeks had passed since we arrived in Zhongdu Daxingfu, the capital of the Jin Dynasty.

After this, the Emperor could no longer delay and finally summoned me to the imperial palace.

I entered the palace under the guidance of Minister Zhang Hao.

We headed toward the court hall where the officials were gathered.

Upon arrival, I saw numerous officials standing, with the Jin Emperor seated above them.

I looked at him and paid my respects.

“I greet Your Majesty, Emperor of Jin.”

The Emperor smiled with apparent pleasure.

Emperor Shizong of Jin.

The man before me was one of those who had established the greatest golden age in Jin history.

He had restored the depleted Jin treasury during the reign of Prince Hailing.

Based on this, he had examined the internal affairs of the country and increased the Jin population from just 20 million to 30 million.

Since national power often correlated with labor force in those days, it was immediately evident how well he had governed Jin.

Moreover, the Emperor himself was very frugal.

This was because he had personally witnessed the extravagant Emperor Hailing.

For this reason, the Emperor lived a frugal life and demanded the same from the nobles, which allowed the chronically deficit-ridden treasury to recover for the first time during Shizong’s reign.

Of course, despite the Emperor’s efforts, the nobles’ extravagance continued, which was a drawback.

Additionally, as he claimed to be the Emperor of the Jurchen people, he extracted enormous taxes from the Han people, who constituted the absolute majority, to restore the collapsed finances.

Because of this, the Han people within Jin harbored considerable resentment toward Jin rule.

Thus, Shizong’s rule had both advantages and disadvantages, like two sides of a coin.

However, overall, his reign was evaluated so positively that it was called the era of Yao and Shun, which was extremely favorable.

Because of who Shizong was, I had no choice but to comply with Jin’s demand for tribute.

Otherwise, the Ulus would have had to risk the entire nation to win a war against Jin.

That’s how formidable the Jin Emperor was.

“Khagan of the steppes, I thank you for answering my summons.”

I did not bother to respond to the Emperor’s words.

After performing three bows, I looked at him.

If I had been a mere envoy, I would have had to prostrate myself in a position close to kowtowing.

But as the leader of a nation, I did not need to show such extreme courtesy.

So I performed the ceremonial courtesy shown to the Khagan of the Jurchen Gurun.

The Emperor raised his hand to accept my courtesy.

Then he addressed me.

“As the Minister said, you have an impressive physique.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“With someone like you as the master of the Mongol Ulus, I can tell without seeing directly that your people are living in peace.”

The Emperor did not spare his praise.

From his behavior, I sensed immediately that he was trying to win me over.

But I had no intention of falling for his persuasion.

So instead of responding to his praise, I simply expressed my gratitude.

“Khagan of Mongolia.”

“I await your command.”

“Would you be willing to discuss state affairs with me?”

At the Emperor’s words, I looked around.

Sensing the unfavorable gazes of the surrounding officials, I shook my head.

“It would be improper for me, a foreigner, to intrude on discussions of another nation’s affairs.”

“What does that matter? After all, you are my subject.”

At the Emperor’s words, I raised my head to look at him.

The Emperor smiled and gazed at me intently.

We were sizing each other up.

I looked at the Emperor, trying to discern what he was thinking.

But the Emperor seemed unwilling to reveal his true thoughts, merely continuing to smile.

It was the Emperor who broke this silence.

He looked at me, laughed loudly, and spoke.

“Haha! Truly you are the Gur Khagan. It seems the rumors circulating are true.”

“…”

“The one who destroyed Western Xia and Western Liao. And now the one eyeing the stronghold of Jin.”

The Emperor’s gaze changed.

He looked at me and murmured in a calm voice.

“Do I have any reason to let you live right now?”

An atmosphere thick with the threat of imminent death permeated the air.

Facing the Emperor’s voice filled with killing intent, I answered directly without evasion.

“If you had wanted to kill me, you would have made your move on the way here.”

The Emperor nodded at this.

Then, as if he had never exuded any killing intent, he adjusted his posture and smiled benevolently.

“Indeed. As you know, Jin’s situation is not favorable.”

Then he continued, as if he knew everything.

“You seem to put quite a bit of effort into gathering information.”

“…”

It seemed that Munglig’s information gathering had been discovered.

Indeed, with all his moving around, it would have been strange if he hadn’t been noticed.

“It doesn’t matter. The Mongols are also in no position to wage war right now.”

The Emperor also seemed to know that this peace would not last long.

However, it appeared he had demanded our tribute because he couldn’t attack the Ulus immediately.

“You could have sent an envoy and submitted tribute on paper without coming in person. But I, Yesugei, who spreads rumors, wanted to see for myself what kind of person my future enemy is.”

“Are you satisfied?”

“Yes, I am satisfied. And today, seeing you, I’ve realized something.”

The Emperor took a deep breath and continued slowly.

“You are a wolf. A wolf like my ancestor who established the Jurchen Gurun.”

“…”

“I have a feeling that in the not-too-distant future, I will regret not killing you here and now.”

I said nothing in response to the Emperor’s words.

I simply stared back at him.

A silence like walking on thin ice ensued.

It was Zhang Hao who broke this silence.

He stepped forward and advised the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, the Mongols have brought tribute.”

At the mention of tribute, the Emperor’s expression became seriously distorted.

This was because he had to bestow gifts in return for our tribute.

However, the Emperor quickly composed himself, as if familiar with such situations.

“Very well. It must be better than Goryeo. What have they brought?”

From the Emperor’s expression, it was clear that the Goryeo people had already “fleeced” him.

At that time, Goryeo’s specialty was ginseng.

Ginseng was one of the most precious medicinal herbs, so Jin must have made a significant expenditure.

I smiled inwardly at this.

The suzerain state had to bestow gifts in return for the tribute.

And not just equal value—three times the value.

I knew this fact better than anyone.

So I had deliberately brought the most expensive items.

“Clothes made from silk brought from Western Liao, gold ornaments from Western Xia, and…”

As the list of tribute items continued endlessly, Emperor Shizong’s face grew increasingly pale.

“You… you’ve brought quite a lot.”

The murderous expression that had been on the Emperor’s face moments ago had completely disappeared.

Instead, fear was rapidly spreading across his face.

“There’s still more.”

“M-more, you say?”

The Emperor asked me with trembling hands.

This was because the items being offered were already enough to exchange for two or three castles.

With even more items remaining, it was no wonder the Jin Emperor’s complexion had deteriorated.

“Yes. Items from the Great Jin brought by Sogdian merchants, and…”

After explaining all the items we had brought, I looked at the Jin Emperor.

The Emperor was covering his face with his hands, and Zhang Hao was at a loss for what to do.

Again, this wasn’t us coming to offer tribute directly.

We had come at Jin’s request, so Jin couldn’t refuse the tribute we were offering.

Therefore, they had to pay a value far exceeding Jin’s annual tax revenue.

As I’ve repeatedly mentioned, they had to give back more than three times what they received.

Of course, there was a way to refuse.

That would be to reject the tribute and immediately declare war on the Ulus.

However, if they chose that method, Jin’s diplomatic situation would inevitably fall into catastrophe.

This was because they would create an unprecedented record of starting a war because they couldn’t provide return gifts for tribute items.

This record would surely be prominently recorded by Han historians who opposed Jin rule.

Therefore, the Emperor had no choice but to bestow gifts in return for this tribute.

“I… I didn’t know that Mongolia would show such loyalty to Jin.”

The Emperor answered with a trembling voice.

Then he turned his head to look at Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao shook his head vigorously with an expression that seemed to say he’d rather die.

But the Emperor didn’t seem inclined to spare him.

“I will soon bestow gifts in return.”

“I am grateful for Your Majesty’s boundless grace.”

Jin was a good suzerain… no, a pushover.

Knowing this well, I could smile more happily than ever before.