3 – Hostage
How can there be no deviation from what I was concerned about?
Jo Nara was brazen enough to move as me and Hankyung expected.
Since you all brought something, you don’t have to give more support, right? This will be turned into munitions, so take care of it with the money you brought with you, and if you still can’t live properly, the practitioners come to see you.
To describe the position of Jo Nara, who notified us while reducing support again, it was roughly like that.
The hostage of the Qin Dynasty, which has the strongest national power among the seven national heroes and borders the Zhao Dynasty, was treated in poverty to the extent that life was almost impossible. How hot the fire soared in the mug.
If Hankyung hadn’t been grappling, I would have put a pear-bread first on that arrogantly plump pear bag.
Of course, a 9-year-old kid’s punch wouldn’t have been able to pierce that heavy weight belly and do damage.
“Damn them. Now I understand why they chewed up the Cho Nara so much in their home country.”
“Ha… it was the home country that hit the back of the head.”
“No, if Young master said that, you shouldn’t! If that’s the case, then when attacking Qi, Zhao, who was able to enlist sooner than promised, comes first!”
Among the countries living in the Age of Warring States, where can there be no resentment between each other?
It’s like a disgusting chaotic world that repeats war and peace.
To be honest, it was as if we were living a more comfortable life than others just by being able to live our lives right now and openly complain.
The life of real people is that even if they farm, they are deprived of grain by usury merchants and tax collectors and starved, and when there is a war, they are forcibly dragged to death and injured.
Even in a parallel world, the Age of Warring States was the Age of Warring States.
Rather, it might be a more terrible world in that women are also conscripted as soldiers. It means a world filled with far more deaths than the world in my previous life where only men were mobilized.
Living in such an era, I just want to live a normal life. Just, in moderation in the line of keeping my ethics and morality.
Even though he was sent as a hostage, he was not dissatisfied with being born as the king’s son, and it was in that context.
You must have been born as the son of a commoner or a slave. How will I live tomorrow like now? It’s not that I’m worried, I’m going to die today – I must have been in despair.
Honestly, is it surprising that modern people who enjoyed material abundance and natural human rights in a civilized country in the 21st century adapt to the ancient wars and jump into it? Anyone who could do that would be insane, obviously.
In that sense, I just hoped for a simple daily life. I had no intention of actively advocating equality for all people, nor of becoming a war hero and going down in history.
If you have any aspirations, it’s to the extent that you shouldn’t become a tyrant even if you’re not a good ruler so that the people won’t suffer too much if you become the king of Yan later on.
However, even such a country has a sense of responsibility to take care of its people.
“Get ready to go out. I need to meet King Jo.”
“Should I call a teacher?”
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“All right. Just two attendants follow me.”
Hankyung was left in contact with the home country just in case. You can’t just leave everything to Hankyung and wait in the corner of the room.
Accompanied by two attendants, I headed for the Handan Palace.
“I’m going to have an audience with Your Majesty.”
“I’m sorry, but His Majesty the King is currently busy with government affairs and is not accepting audiences.”
A eunuch who answers as if it was pre-determined even before asking inside.
I narrowed my eyes at the behavior that made me doubt whether that statement was true.
“If you do, I’ll have to see you at least. Gunsin-gun will be there.”
Sangbang (相邦) was a position later referred to as Sangguk, and was the highest ranking position at the apex of many officials. Although it is also called prime minister, prime minister is a title used for other dignitaries, and Sangbang was the highest among them.
By the way, the reason why it is changed to Sangguk is because an emperor who uses Bang (邦) as his name will appear in the future. Born as a lower-class citizen, he was born into a positional figure who truly established a unified empire that encompassed the whole world.
‘Because the post-war period is Chohanji, it seems like an accurate age estimation can be made by looking at the birth of breasts. Is your place of birth Takhyun? Oh, that’s Ubi. Tsk, not only the three kingdoms, but also Chohanji and the map of the nations.’
I don’t know if I’ll be able to visit Yubang’s hometown just because I know it, but at least it would have been possible to send someone. If the time of breast birth and my lifespan overlapped, he could easily get a great talent to entrust the future. And with Liu Bang and Soha, a famous minister of the rare era who is a person from his country.
Unfortunately, the age of survival of the breast and my lifespan may overlap. Right now, eating and living was more important than that.
Cho Na-ra’s superior, who currently holds our leash, was a man named Gunsin-gun. Kunshin-gun was favored by the king for his handsome appearance and rose to the upper chamber. Although his own abilities were not very good, he accepted the advice of the people around him and performed the role of the upper chamber fairly well. He actively accepts the words of the diners, so of course people gathered around him.
In other words, Kunsin County was famous for meeting various people without stopping anyone from coming.
But again, the eunuch shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but the superior also said he couldn’t accept guests because he was busy with government affairs.”
“Put in a message.”
“The superior…”
The eunuch repeated the same words like a broken machine.
Even though it came out like this, I wasn’t an idiot to the extent that I didn’t know the true meaning. They had no intention of meeting me in the first place.
‘It must mean that you’ll be satisfied with seeing him completely surrender.’
In addition to the defeat in the Great War of Jangpyeong, the country of Yan, which had been regarded as inferior, suffered an unexpected blow and even lost its land.
So, through me, a hostage sent by Yeon Na-ra, it was clear that he was going to save face to some extent.
‘It’s a shame because I’m an adult, doing these tricks with a 9-year-old kid. Aren’t you ashamed?’
I have no intention of actively advocating the caste system, and I still believe that the idea of equality for all people is right, but I am aware of my position.
No matter how hostage she may be, she cannot bow her head to eunuchs from other countries. Even if you bow your head, there is such a thing as the minimum level.
“I’ll be back.”
“Take a look.”
The face of the eunuch nodded roughly, and a mocking expression, ‘Let’s see how much longer you can hold out’, appeared vaguely.
Like that, I had to leave the palace without getting any harvest.
No, it doesn’t mean there is no harvest. At least I know that they are determined to break my head.
After leaving the palace and returning as a warrior, Hankyung, who had left first, was there to meet him.
“Young master.”
“Let’s go in and talk.”
Before talking about what I went through today, I asked Hankyung about the work he entrusted to me.
Hankyung shook his head with a heavy expression.
“It’s not easy. Whether it’s Jo Na-ra’s notice, or if she intended to use it as a throwaway card from the beginning, their reaction is lukewarm.”
Hankyung, who used to speak in a manner appropriate to his high status, spoke in a ferocious tone, as if he could not stand it this time.
Perhaps realizing that his emotions had intensified, Hankyung took a deep breath and calmed his heart.
“How was Gongja-nim?”
“It’s the same here. I haven’t even seen the face of King Jo, let alone his superior.”
“As expected…”
Hankyung couldn’t finish his words properly and bit his lips.
It’s because there are things I want to say, but I can’t put them into words.
Why our home country treats us as just children. It was because the high-ranking officials of the Yan Dynasty had long expected that the Zhao Dynasty would try to regain its crumpled face through us as it is now.
If we can’t bear it and bow our heads to Jo Nara, they first used us as discards so that their prestige would not suffer a great deal.
It is an era where the idea that having children again is enough. It was not an era in which the legitimacy of the deficit was very important, and it was common in the Age of Warring States for a bastard to succeed to the throne.
The king who ruled the Qin Dynasty, and the King of the Yeon Dynasty, who achieved the forefront of the Yan Dynasty, was also from the Seoga.
‘It’s the same as me in that King Yeonso used to live as a hostage in a foreign country.’
Anyway, in the Warring States Period, when ethics and morality collapsed and survival of the fittest became the ultimate value, the façade of the fittest did not become a shield to protect me.
If it entered the succession competition later, it would be a secondary weapon that could raise its approval rating, but now it was nothing more than a reverse edged sword that increased its value as a hostage.
If I hadn’t been a Jeok, someone other than me would have come to Cho Nara as a hostage.
Did you feel that there was no more hope? Hankyung simply hung his head in silence.
He was the one who said he would take good care of me when he came to Jo Nara. But in the end, I seemed to feel a sense of shame because I had to suffer disgrace in Jo Nara.
But it’s too early to despair and despair.
“There aren’t too many of them.”
Let’s say it while remembering the last move, Hankyung raised his head and asked urgently.
“Yes? There is no help from the home country, and even King Jo comes out like this. Is there a plan?”
“Even the King of Zhao has one person you can’t treat hastily, right?”
The ruler of the country of Jo is the King of Jo in name and reality. Sangbang Geonsingun, who was at the top of the bureaucrats of the Zhao Dynasty, was also able to rise to the position thanks to the King of Zhao’s favor.
However, even King Jo could not be treated carelessly, and there was a person in the country of Jo who could control the public sentiment and even make King Jo bend his will if he exerted his power.
“Four Commanders of the Warring States, Prince Pyeongwon.”
If the road is blocked, you have to get out by the side road.