Book 15: Chapter 1: The Eldest Young Master's Meeting

Read it only at Nineheavens.org

===================

Part 1 - The Eldest Young Master's Meeting

"So..."

One of the generals, who stood up from his seat, was reporting while breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Currently, the issue is that the number of non-combatants accepted into the Great General's Headquarters is too large, holding us back."

"Non-combatants?"

The Eldest Young Master's voice interrupted his report.

"Are you speaking of the people of this land who believe in and follow His Imperial Majesty as non-combatants, like luggage?"

"T-That is...!"

The general did not dare to even lock eyes with Yeon So-hyeon and remained standing upright.

"Surely you are not referring to those people whom you have a duty to protect?"

"O-Of course not!"

A drop slid down.

Another stream of cold sweat flowed down from beneath the general's helmet.

Tap, tap.

"......"

Without the Eldest Young Master saying anything.

The time he spent simply tapping the desk with his finger felt like an eternity.

"......"

Just as the generals, who had been too tense to even breathe, were about to hold their breath no longer and inhale.

"Indeed, of course."

As if seizing that pulse.

The Eldest Young Master opened his mouth again.

"It naturally should not be."

"Y-Yes, indeed!"

The other people in the assembly, in their suddenly rising thirst all tried to tilt the kettles placed on the desk, but

"......"

There was no way water, which had already run out long ago, would come out.

So everyone had to at least apply saliva to their drying lips.

"You all, surely..."

Even while questioning the general the Eldest Young Master, who had spotted the behavior like a ghost, spoke to those who had tilted the empty water kettles.

"Are you waiting until someone with a thirstier throat fetches water? Or else," the Eldest Young Master's voice sank low, and his gaze flashed.

"now that you have become generals, are you saying you cannot even fetch water yourself in the military camp?"

A smirk hung on the corner of the Eldest Young Master's mouth.

"If you were to take an even higher position, you would probably wait until someone fetches water in white porcelain and carefully pours it into your mouth."

"N-No, it is not!"

At those words, several generals sprang up, grabbed the kettles, and dashed outside.

Trickle.

Only the sound of those who had refilled the kettles pouring water echoed.

"......"

Following the Eldest Young Master, who said nothing until all the water was poured, no one could say a word and in that inexplicably suffocating atmosphere, the hands of those tilting the kettles trembled finely without them realizing it.

"Is it hand tremors?"

Without fail a word from the Eldest Young Master followed.

"Can you even swing a sword properly on the battlefield with those trembling hands?"

"I will correct it!"

What exactly they were going to correct even those who shouted that reflexively probably did not know what they were saying.

Giving a low snort at that sight, the Eldest Young Master turned his gaze back to the general who had not even been able to break his upright posture.

"The Acting Great General's decision to accept the people who lost their homes is correct."

"W-We also know that it is the right thing to do, but—" the Eldest Young Master cut off the general's words, which squeezed out.

"I am not speaking only of the moral aspect right now."

The general, who was standing upright, looked at the Eldest Young Master, but the Eldest Young Master waited for half a breath instead of answering immediately.

"......"

"......"

That was the time needed for the people in the assembly, who had been distracted by the water kettles, to grasp the flow of the conversation they had missed and to focus.

"General Hu Tai, just as you said, they may appear to be non-combatants for now."

Tap, tap. The Eldest Young Master's fingers tapped the desk as his words continued.

"But when the post-war period comes, the situation will change greatly."

At those words, several people in the assembly who seemed to have eaten some ink understood his words and nodded.

"The Eldest Young Master's words are correct."

"Ultimately, the side with more women and children will recover its population quickly."

"Indeed."

The Eldest Young Master nodded at their words.

"Population is the foundation of everything. Whether it is agriculture, industry, or commerce, it is difficult to grow unless the population supports it."

His gaze turned toward General Hu Tai.

"Therefore, though they may look like a burden now, they are precious resources if we think of the future."

His hand pointed to Murong Un-jeong, who sat beside him.

"That is the strategy of the Acting Great General of the North looking into the future."

The generals nodded their heads as if they had realized it belatedly.

"I see..."

"Indeed. So that was what it meant..."

Watching that sight, Murong Ho clicked his tongue inwardly.

'Although my older sister drew a firm line for the Eldest Young Master...'

Being recognized by the veterans who had grown old on the frontlines was another matter.

That was not something someone else could do on behalf of the Eldest Young Master.

That was why, when the Eldest Young Master first brought up the format of the documents everyone had thought he would pick a fault to establish discipline.

However, as the Eldest Young Master turned his eyes, the person who met his gaze rushed over and took the document the Eldest Young Master handed out.

"Why are you just staring blankly instead of taking it?"

"E-Eldest Young Master. This is...?"

Holding the document whose ink had not even dried yet, he asked.

"Looking at the ledgers, there was a part where the numbers strangely did not add up. That document is an order commanding an investigation, so go in person and uncover the corruption through an actual audit."

Although the Eldest Young Master was rummaging through the pile of documents, no one had even thought that it was an action to actually grasp the contents.

It was only natural.

"Yes...?"

Yeon So-hyeon's thunderous command fell upon the blank-faced man.

"What are you doing instead of leaving right now?!"

"I-I will leave right now!"

Watching the man dash out as if his tail were on fire, the generals, who would normally have burst into laughter, did not even have the leisure for that and toward those generals, the Eldest Young Master's command fell.

"Next."

"N-Next is...!"

The general whose turn was next sprang up from his seat as if stung by a hornet and began his report.

"......"

Those whose turns were drawing near had their complexions harden like death row convicts waiting for execution preparations, and those whose turns had passed, far from being relieved, did not know when the Eldest Young Master's sharp questions would fly at them again.

"Next!"

"Next!"

Everyone was burying their heads in the documents, straining their eyes to keep up with the meeting.

"Next!"

The generals' adjutants were running around in order to keep up with the frantically proceeding flow of the meeting.

"Oof!"

An adjutant who was running while checking documents collided with a servant and rolled on the floor, but no one could pay the slightest attention to such a minor accident.

"Next!"

'Not a single thing.'

Standing behind and watching the scene, Murong Ho swallowed dryly.

'He is not picking a fight for no reason. He is not being unreasonable. He is not pressing them down by rank to assert himself.'

Every command is logical and every question is rational.

And.

"Why are your actions so sluggish?! Are you waiting for the sun to set and the meeting to end?!"

"If you do not understand the work of your own area, why are you sitting there?!"

"Can you even swallow snacks at a time like this?!"

With the Eldest Young Master's scolding added like refrains in between, he was swaying the high-ranking officials of the Great General's Headquarters, leaving no room for resentment to creep in.

"We are sorry!"

"We will correct it!"

"Next!"

Murong Ho broke out in a cold sweat as he hurriedly presented the documents corresponding to the new agenda before Murong Un-jeong.

Having been born as a direct descendant of the Murong Family it was a speed that even he, who had received all kinds of education since childhood, found overwhelming to keep up with.

'From the beginning...'

He no longer had the leisure to marvel at it either.

'From the very beginning, the Eldest Young Master had no intention of blindly finding faults to establish discipline!'

Plop.

His sweat fell onto the documents, and the ink smudged.

'He didn't even have any need to do so in the first place...!'

He felt deeply to his bones why his older sister, the moment the Eldest Young Master arrived handed over the entire command authority to him.

"Next!"

* * *

One shichen.

Two double-hours passed and around the time the sunlight lay long, coloring the meeting room red, the last general, who had finished speaking, sank into his seat like a recruit exhausted by his first training.

"...That is all."

"Good."

"Is this the last of it?"

"Yes..."

As if going on a tour the Eldest Young Master had finally completed the reporting and verification for every general, every camp, and every stronghold.

"......"

"......"

If there was anything surprising it was that although the veteran officers clearly looked exhausted, their eyes were still vivid.

"Everyone followed along well. You have all worked hard."

That was all because the Eldest Young Master placed them on the palm of his hand exquisitely adjusting the intensity in real-time to test them, and ran the meeting precariously close to their limits.

"...No, Eldest Young Master."

"You are the one who worked hard, Eldest Young Master."

In that way just as they thought things were wrapping up warmly and everyone felt relieved inside, the hands of the generals, who were quietly organizing the documents, froze as if turned to stone, and their lost gazes wandered frantically in the air.

"Then, it is now time to point out a more fundamental problem."

"......!"

"......!"

"......"

As for the adjutants who were almost sitting on the floor, they wore expressions as if they were about to faint.

"Would anyone care to state the most fundamental problem here at the Northern Great General's Headquarters?"

Even after covering that long distance from Luoyang fighting a battle with the Terror King's envoy delegation and conducting a meeting that exhausted even the generals without a single trace of disarray, the gaze of the Eldest Young Master, who maintained an upright posture, swept over the assembly.

"Is there no one?"

While everyone looked at the Eldest Young Master as if looking at a monster rather than a human, as she opened her mouth in their stead, the generals exhaled sighs of relief overtly.

"...The most fundamental problem is" the Acting Great General of the North, Murong Un-jeong, who gave them a bitter smile, opened her mouth.

"the food shortage."

However, at her following words everyone's complexions hardened.

"The enemy is pillaging our tribes and villages. They are taking away young warriors and intentionally creating a large number of refugees."

"Are you saying it is part of a strategic action, rather than simple plundering?"

"Yes."

The Eldest Young Master stroked his chin and spoke.

"...It is the method the ancestors of the northern tribes used for sieges in the past."

There was no way Yeon So-hyeon, who was well-versed in the history of war throughout all times and places, would not know of it.

"It is a tactic of generating a large number of refugees to exhaust the defending army's food supplies."

Murong Un-jeong nodded heavily and opened her mouth again.

"Whether for humanitarian or practical reasons, as long as we keep accepting refugees, the current food shortage is bound to accelerate further in the future."

She bowed her head apologetically.

"Although you even sent Dong Ga-hyu, the northern war merchant, and I tried to manage somehow, it was a problem impossible to solve with my capabilities."

In fact it was not her capabilities that were the problem.

The merchants had been the first to back out.

The Murong Family, which should have silently supported the Great General's Headquarters, was in internal strife.

Most of the families in the north, fearing the Terror King, were merely watching to see how the wind blew.

The Northern Great General's Headquarters was currently as good as isolated on a lonely island without any allies.

"......"

"......"

The generals, and the adjutants all looked down at the floor.

"In that case," Yeon So-hyeon spoke nonchalantly.

"let us resolve the food issue first, starting right now."