Ch.16Tartar (4)

“So… you’re an envoy from Goryeo who came from Solongos?”

“Y-yes, I am.”

The man answered in fluent Mongolian.

This man’s identity was none other than an envoy from Goryeo.

“Why is a Goryeo envoy here?”

When I glared at him while asking this, the Goryeo envoy was startled.

His eyes were fixed on my forearm, which was covered in blood.

I had no choice but to see blood while capturing Megujin-se’uldu.

To be precise, it wasn’t Megujin-se’uldu’s blood but a horse’s blood,

but it would be difficult for the Goryeo envoy held captive here to realize this.

“The Khan of the Borjigin Kiyat is asking you. Answer him!”

Temujin’s threat.

Startled by the threat, the Goryeo envoy stared at me blankly before beginning to bow.

“I apologize! Great Khan of the Kiyat. Please forgive my disrespectful behavior with your generous heart.”

“I don’t need formalities. I’ll ask again. Why are you here?”

The Goryeo envoy raised his head and looked at me.

Seeing his pupils darting around, it seemed he had already organized his thoughts to some extent.

Whatever his intentions were, I needed the Goryeo envoy to get information about the letter obtained from Megujin-se’uldu’s tent.

So I listened carefully to what he would say, maintaining as much patience as possible.

“Actually, I was on my way to the Jin Dynasty…”

Thus began the Goryeo envoy’s explanation.

He said he was heading to pay respects to the Emperor of Jin while also conducting trade.

During his journey, he was suddenly kidnapped by Megujin-se’uldu’s soldiers,

and consequently, he claimed he was naturally imprisoned here.

“Can you swear there isn’t a shred of falsehood in your claim?”

“Y-yes. P-please just spare my life, Khan.”

The Goryeo envoy delivered these words while trembling.

I stood up and approached Temujin.

“Temujin.”

“Command me, Khan.”

“Kill this man, cut him into pieces, and feed him to the wolves.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Temujin raised his knife high.

Surprised by this, the Goryeo envoy began screaming and begging for mercy.

“S-spare me! Please spare me! Khan!”

“Why should I spare someone who lies as easily as breathing?”

“I-I only told the truth.”

“Really? Then why are you lying to me about Megujin-se’uldu capturing you?”

“…W-what do you mean?”

“The Khan of the Tatars betrayed the Jin Dynasty. I punished him at the request of the Jin Khagan, but you’re speaking as if you already knew Megujin-se’uldu was dead, aren’t you?”

“Th-that’s not… I-I mean… since the Khan of the Borjigin Kiyat is in the Tatar Khan’s tent… I naturally thought…”

“How did you know this was the Tatar Khan’s tent?”

“H-hiccup.”

The Goryeo envoy kept lying.

At this, I grabbed him by the collar and shouted loudly.

“You! You spout lies every time you open your mouth!”

“H-hieek!”

“This won’t do. I’ll tear off your arms so you can never lie again!”

I grabbed his reed-like arm.

When I applied pressure, he began screaming as if he were about to die.

“Spare me! Spare me! I-I’ll tell you everything! I’ll tell you everything!”

His desperate cry.

At this, I threw him to the ground and glared at him.

“You’d better speak properly, envoy from Solongos.”

The envoy nodded at my piercing gaze.

Then, in a trembling voice, he began to explain again why he was here.

* * *

The man looked at the shabbily dressed Goryeo envoy before him.

He wore a red official robe and a winged official hat with long sides.

The Emperor of Song, Emperor Xiaozong.

The supreme ruler of the Song Dynasty wore an expression that questioned whether the beggar-like man before him was really an envoy from Goryeo.

To confirm his thoughts, the emperor turned to look at Duke Guo, Chen Kangbo.

“What does the Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs think?”

Chen Kangbo stepped forward.

After paying proper respects to the emperor, he answered the emperor’s question.

“Though his appearance is poor, he is indeed an envoy from Goryeo. I hear he was captured by the Khan of the Tatars and suffered hardships.”

“Captured by the Khan of the Tatars? Wasn’t he our ally?”

Emperor Xiaozong’s question.

In response, Chen Kangbo looked at the Goryeo envoy and asked him to answer.

“W-well… Megujin-se’uldu noticed the plans between Song and Goryeo.”

The Goryeo envoy referred to Megujin-se’uldu using Chinese characters.

Being in the presence of the Song Emperor, the Goryeo envoy observed the appropriate etiquette.

“To think that a lowly nomad could notice our plans… how strange.”

Emperor Xiaozong stroked his chin beard while looking at the Goryeo envoy with suspicious eyes.

This made the Goryeo envoy flinch.

Again, it was the Goryeo envoy who had intentionally leaked information to the Jin Dynasty.

Moreover, it was an action taken unilaterally by Goryeo without any consultation with the Song Dynasty.

If they had moved after consulting with Song, it was clear that Song would have shifted the blame as if it were Goryeo’s initiative.

In that case, Goryeo would have been at risk of attack from the Jin Dynasty.

Not wanting this, Goryeo took the initiative to leak information suggesting that Song and the Tatars were plotting such actions.

In other words, Goryeo had essentially manipulated the situation to make Song attack first.

Although Goryeo was an ally of Song, this alliance was clearly formed to counter the Jin Dynasty, their common enemy.

Given this, from Goryeo’s perspective, they had no choice but to act this way to minimize damage to their country.

Anyway, the Goryeo envoy looked at Emperor Xiaozong, who wore a suspicious expression.

Before the Song Emperor could delve deeper and realize that Goryeo had acted intentionally, the Goryeo envoy changed the subject.

“It seems that since Megujin-se’uldu had worked under the Jin Dynasty, he had connections there. More importantly, I have something to report to Your Majesty of the Great Song.”

“Something to report to me?”

“Yes. I believe Your Majesty is aware that after the disappearance of the Tatars, a significant gap has formed in the Song-Goryeo alliance aimed at overthrowing the Jin Dynasty.”

Emperor Xiaozong nodded in response.

Of course, from Song’s perspective, the Tatar vacuum wasn’t that significant. But the emperor concealed this thought and decided to listen to what the Goryeo envoy had to say.

“There is a Mongol Khan who rescued me when I was detained by the Tatar Khan.”

The Goryeo envoy began explaining about Yesugei to Emperor Xiaozong.

Yesugei, the Khan of the Borjigin Kiyat and the Khan of the Khamag Mongol.

He was a figure who had nearly been poisoned by the Tatars but revived and became the Khan leading the Khamag Mongol in just six months.

The Khamag Mongol had grown exponentially through his tremendous leadership and military talent.

Thanks to this, the Khamag Mongol were able to take revenge on the Tatars, who had been plundering them for a long time and were their mortal enemies.

The Goryeo envoy explained this part in detail,

highlighting how Yesugei had annihilated the Tatar forces with fewer troops to illustrate his extraordinary valor.

“The tribe led by Yesugei would more than replace the Tatars, and with them, even the Menggan and Mouke armies of the Jin Dynasty would not dare cross the Song border.”

The Goryeo envoy highly praised Yesugei.

After listening carefully, Emperor Xiaozong nodded.

“I understand. For now, you seem to have suffered greatly coming here, so go and rest.”

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

With that, the Goryeo envoy bowed and withdrew.

Once the Goryeo envoy disappeared, Emperor Xiaozong spoke to Hong Shi, the Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, who was on his right.

“I find it strangely concerning how highly the Goryeo envoy praises the Mongols.”

“I feel the same way, Your Majesty.”

A middle-aged man with a straight beard and thick eyebrows.

Hong Shi expressed agreement with the emperor’s words before sharing his thoughts.

“It seems that the reason he was able to safely travel from the Tatars to Lin’an was because he made some kind of deal with the Mongol Khan, Yesugei.”

The distance from the Mongolian steppe to Southern Song was about 4,000 li.

It was entirely reasonable for Hong Shi to make such a conjecture, considering the envoy had safely passed through the surveillance network of the Jin Dynasty, which controlled the northern regions.

“A deal with the Mongol Khan…”

“Yes. And separately, there’s something else that concerns me.”

“What is it?”

“It’s very suspicious that the Jin Dynasty noticed our plans with Goryeo in advance and had Yesugei attack the Tatars.”

“I think so too.”

There was a possibility that information had leaked from within the Song Dynasty.

However, the Song had already eliminated everyone associated with the Jin Dynasty during the process of punishing the treacherous minister Jin Hui, so the probability of this information leaking was very low.

This naturally led to the speculation that the information had leaked from Goryeo.

“It seems Goryeo is trying to benefit by going back and forth between us and the Jin Dynasty.”

Chen Kangbo clicked his tongue, not hiding his displeasure.

This was because it wasn’t the first time Goryeo had acted this way.

To be precise, Song had sent several requests to attack the Jin Dynasty.

But Goryeo had not responded to these requests.

Of course, Goryeo had its reasons:

When the Liao Dynasty invaded Goryeo in the past, Goryeo had requested help from Song three times, but Song had also refused these requests.

Anyway, due to these complicated reasons, the relationship between Song and Goryeo had already broken down during the reign of Emperor Gaozong.

Afterward, both sides had completely cut off exchanges, but after Emperor Xiaozong’s accession, Song realized that Goryeo’s help was essential for reclaiming their lost territories.

So Emperor Xiaozong sent a letter of reconciliation, and Goryeo also apologized for not responding to Song’s attack request during King Injong’s era, leading the two countries to join hands again.

They had no choice but to join hands again because of their common enemy, the Jin Dynasty.

As a result, even though decades had passed since the Jingkang Incident, they still distrusted each other.

“However, having just restored relations with Goryeo, mentioning this and damaging the relationship again would be dangerous, I believe.”

Hong Shi’s remark.

Emperor Xiaozong nodded, indicating he shared Hong Shi’s opinion.

“The Left Vice Director is right. Moreover, since the Tatar Khan is dead, there’s no way to verify if Goryeo’s claim is false.”

Chen Kangbo and Hong Shi bowed their heads, following the emperor’s decision.

“However, it’s true that Goryeo’s actions are very suspicious, so it’s clear that preparing for this in advance would be beneficial for our country.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Do you have any good suggestions, Duke Guo?”

The emperor asked Chen Kangbo for his opinion.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Kangbo answered the emperor’s question.

“Seeing how highly Goryeo praised Yesugei, it seems Goryeo intends to maintain a close relationship with him. Since the Mongol land ruled by Yesugei is close to the Jin Dynasty, this is natural from Goryeo’s perspective.”

The Duke Guo took a moment to catch his breath.

Then he continued with his opinion.

“In other words, now that we know Goryeo’s card is Yesugei, if our country supports Yesugei with more wealth than Goryeo and makes him our ally, Goryeo will gain nothing contrary to their plans.”