441.Those Who Do Nothing Become the Center
The Strange Yi In-jung — Those Who Do Nothing Become the Center
While all of Jiangnan was washing away the stench of blood left by the war and cautiously measuring one another as a new order took shape, the Goryeo army did not move.
For several days, quite literally, nothing was done.
Yet that very stillness had already become a form of power.
Envoy missions from every side passed through the camps.
Congratulatory delegations sent by Zhang Shicheng came and went.
Jin Youliang's strategists arrived with proposals in hand, pausing at the gate to steady their breath.
All of these currents traced circles that revolved around the Goryeo forces.
Even without a single word from Goryeo, everyone acted with care.
They chose their words carefully, and even their steps.
Amid all this, the busiest man was Yi In-jung.
Once a general who wielded a blade, he was now producing documents at a pace that three civil officials together could scarcely match.
He submitted a victory report to the Goryeo court.
He reported that the original objective of the expedition had been achieved.
Whether that had truly been the only objective, he himself knew well.
Support for the Yuan, political display, diplomatic presence—
all of it had been mixed together, and he did not deny it.
But on paper, he reduced the purpose to a single line:
the war had ended, and balance had begun.
To Beiping and Dadu he sent notice of Jiangnan's unification and requested formal recognition.
He wrote that it should be acknowledged as a single state and that peaceful relations should be established.
To the Yuan court he addressed a memorandum urging reform.
Point by point, he listed policy failures as seen through the lens of Jiangnan's popular sentiment.
If the empire that held Dadu and the Central Plains wished to maintain its position, governance itself would have to change.
He also included a request to advance Nahaču's submission.
Only through that submission, he argued, could Liaodong achieve lasting stability and allow Goryeo and Liaodong to solidify as one axis of the tripartite order.
He did not omit the union of Jin Youliang and Zhang Shicheng.
He emphasized the weight of the fact that one of Jiangnan's defeated lords had entered Jin Youliang's camp without conditions.
The stacks of letters rose like small mountains.
Yi In-jung did not leave his seat all day, copying texts again and again, binding diplomatic dispatches.
Even with aides and clerks, there were never enough hands.
How many civil officials could there be in an expeditionary force that had marched with thousands of soldiers?
Inside the tent, what filled the air was not silence, but a breath-tightening bustle.
At some point—having little left to do—Park Seong-jin wandered over, peered inside, and asked casually,
"Senior brother, do generals normally write this much?"
Yi In-jung's eyes flashed up.
"Shut up and sit down."
"Yes."
Park Seong-jin did not add another word.
Outside, he was a master of hwagyeong, but before his senior he became as meek as a sack of barley.
He withdrew quietly from the tent.
A few days later, the reports reached the Goryeo court.
For a long while, the king could not close his mouth.
"Jiangnan has been unified."
"Zhu Yuanzhang is a prisoner."
"Jin Youliang has seized hegemony over the Central Plains."
The king set the documents down and drank water.
It took time, as though he were swallowing something lodged in his throat.
Then another document was presented.
Items That Must Be Corrected If the Yuan Is to Stand Properly.
The king's eyes widened.
"Who sent this?"
"Yi In-jung obtained Jin Youliang's seal and submitted it."
"…Audacious."
The king rose from his seat.
"The Yuan is Goryeo's in-law state, and the emperor is my father-in-law.
Must I be the one to tell the Yuan how to correct itself?"
But at the final sentence, his words stopped.
"If the Yuan continues as it is, the Central Plains will inevitably collapse.
If Goryeo is to live, the Yuan must stand upright."
At the end of the document was a red seal.
Seal of Jin Youliang.
That imprint added weight the words alone could not.
The king could no longer dismiss it lightly.
The greater problem lay to the north of Liaodong and east of the steppe: Nahaču.
The report stated plainly:
"If Nahaču submits, a triangular stability between the Yuan, Goryeo, and Jiangnan will be established."
The king set the letter down and clutched his head.
"Submission? Who submits to whom?"
The document was written not as a request, but as an order of things.
The king muttered inwardly,
"The Goryeo expeditionary force has crossed the line—and then some."
Yet now that the balance of Jiangnan had already shifted, any attempt to reverse it might leave an even deeper wound.
The king's face hardened.
As it hardened, reality itself settled into place.
Amid all that turmoil and calculation, Park Seong-jin remained quiet.
He was little different from when he had trained in a mountain hermitage.
He shaved dry branches into arrow shafts.
He sat by the pond watching fish, then looked down at his own hands.
He curled and uncurling his fingers, tilting his head.
A stillness clung to his back, as though the great turning of history were something far removed from him.
Yet Jin Youliang's advisers tread carefully around him.
"Shouldn't we at least send wine?"
"If we lead with ritual, it might misalign things."
"What about holding a banquet?"
"They value propriety first."
They acted as though, should Park Seong-jin change his mind, the whole world might shake again.
In the midst of this, Park Seong-jin splashed water with Oh Sun-gun and said,
"Politics is really complicated."
He laughed.
"But it's nice that it's quiet."
"True."
"It's been a while since things were this calm."
"We owe it to that."
The two sat side by side beneath the shade of a tree, listening to the sound of the wind.
Strangely, while Jiangnan's warlords and envoys came and went and diplomatic documents piled up, the Goryeo army alone did not move.
Because of that stillness, they became the axis of the tripartite order.
People began to say,
"Those who change the fate of the world move quietly."
"And only after everything is over do they finally breathe."