Chương 300: Chapter 314: Prelude to the Great Battle 3

The Defection of the Balhae Troops — Go Hoewon Youngwoo rushed outside and vaulted onto his horse. The moment he pulled the reins, the horse sprang forward. He rode as though cutting through the wind.

"Hahahaha!" His laughter reached the open plain before he did. Still grinning broadly, he raced out of the Jin formation and past the forward outposts. Beyond them, the view opened wide. In the middle of that vast plain stood more than two thousand Balhae troops in ordered ranks. Wanyan Zonghan followed behind him. He still did not know the full circumstances. He only seemed determined to find out what had made Youngwoo so delighted, and he did not slow his horse.

Youngwoo pulled up before the front rank of the Balhae troops. His horse kicked up dirt as it stopped. Youngwoo shouted at once.

"Welcome, Elder!" His voice, strengthened with inner power, carried across the plain. He had actually projected the word Elder with internal energy. Every man could hear it. It was a strange word to hear across a military formation. Not only the officers in front, but even the soldiers in the rear heard him clearly. The tension that had hardened the Balhae soldiers' faces began to ease. At the head of the formation, Go Hoewon dismounted. He clasped his hands and bowed deeply.

Then he observed the formal rites of military submission. He removed his sword, held it horizontally in both hands, and raised it to the level of his eyebrows.

"I am Go Hoewon of Liaoyang. I pay my respects to Commander Lee Youngwoo of Goryeo." Youngwoo immediately jumped down from his horse. He stepped forward, took Go Hoewon by the arms, and raised him.

"Ah, there is no need for this. You have come a long way." Go Hoewon lifted his head. Fatigue and resolve mingled across his wind-darkened face.

"As you advised, we tried to avoid unnecessary movement. But then we received orders to proceed to Changchun Circuit. If we went there, we would eventually have to fight the Jin army. So we came directly here instead." Youngwoo gripped his arm once more.

"You did well. You did very well to come." At that moment, Okjeong stepped forward from beside Go Hoewon. Though a woman, she wore armor. A sword hung at her waist, and a short cloak rested over her shoulders. When she gave a military salute, her composed beauty and clear bearing stood out even at a distance.

"I pay my respects to Commander Lee." Youngwoo bowed his head with a welcoming smile.

"You came as well. Thank you. We were already troubled by how few troops we had." Okjeong's eyes shone calmly. The Balhae soldiers behind her now looked toward Youngwoo. They had arrived wearing the uniforms of the Liao, yet their eyes were no longer turned toward a commander of the Liao. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. They were looking at the man who had come out to welcome them. Go Hoewon called over a young officer standing nearby.

"This is a commander from a younger branch of my family. He is the officer in command of the troops I brought today." The young man stepped forward. He was not especially large, but his shoulders were solid and his gaze clear. He clasped his hands and bowed.

"My name is Go Yeongchang." Go Yeongchang (高永昌): Historically, a Balhae-descended military figure in the Liao dynasty's Eastern Capital, Liaoyang. In 1116, he rallied Balhae descendants, seized the Eastern Capital, and established the Great Balhae State. His attempt to revive Balhae more than two hundred years after its fall is particularly noteworthy. In this novel, he instead chooses to submit to the Jin. Youngwoo's gaze settled on him.

The moment the young commander's name was spoken across the plain, Youngwoo felt something strange. Go Hoewon had brought more than two thousand soldiers with him. Standing before Youngwoo was also the next generation of men ready to move once again under the name of Balhae. Go Yeongchang was still young. His body was built more for strength than size. His shoulders were broad, and his waist was straight with the posture of a man accustomed to long hours in the saddle.

A wind-burned face showed beneath his fur-lined Liao military cap. His cheekbones were distinct, his jaw firm, and his lips rested in the neat, closed line of a man who did not smile easily. His armor was well-worn lamellar. Each iron plate had been carefully oiled until it carried a dark bluish sheen, and the leather bindings bore the marks of repeated replacement. Scratches ran along the scabbard at his waist where it had struck the saddle, while road dust clung to his bow case.

His equipment belonged to the Liao military system, but his bearing carried the rough discipline of a Balhae officer from Liaodong. His eyes drew attention first. They were deep rather than large. When he looked at someone, his gaze swept quickly over them and then lingered where it mattered. He had lowered his head when greeting Youngwoo, but when he raised it again, his eyes were steady.

There was caution learned in the armies of the Liao, the tension of a man who had lived as Balhae under another state, and the resolve that had brought him down this road today. He stood behind Go Hoewon. Yet the soldiers behind him moved according to his hands. When he lowered his wrist, the cavalry in the front rank lowered their spearpoints. When he turned his head, the infantry behind them straightened their lines.

Even when his horse snorted white breath and pawed at the ground, a single tightening of the reins settled it. Despite his youth, he had already learned how to command both men and horses. Youngwoo studied him for a moment without speaking. A young Balhae commander in a Liao uniform stood before him. The exhaustion of the long march showed less strongly on his face than the resolve of a man choosing his own path. Youngwoo spoke almost in admiration.

"Oh. I have heard quite a bit about you. I had never heard your name, but from what I learned of the situation in the Eastern Capital of Liaoyang, I thought there must be someone there harboring great ambitions. So that man was you, Warrior Go." Go Hoewon said,"He is a distant relative." Youngwoo raised one hand and pointed in turn toward the Balhae troops, the Jin soldiers, and the Goryeo soldiers. Then he projected his voice with inner power so that it carried across the entire plain.

"We are all kin." Emotion surged through the Balhae soldiers who heard him. Some lowered their heads. Some pressed their lips tightly together. Others silently wiped at their eyes. For two hundred years, the name Balhae had been the name of a scattered people, a name they had often swallowed beneath the banners of other armies. Now a commander of Goryeo was standing before them and calling them kin. Go Yeongchang bowed deeply.

"Thank you." Youngwoo answered at once.

"I should be thanking you. You have come at the right time." Go Hoewon explained,"I told him what happened at Changchun Circuit. I told him how you faced hundreds of men alone and moved as though flying through the air. Yeongchang said that was the martial art of a Guryeo Seonin. He said that tradition also belongs to us. He believed that if a Guryeo Seonin fought beside us, we would win." Youngwoo smiled awkwardly.

"I am the only Joui Seonin here. My masters have gone back to Goryeo. They were here for a time, but while I was traveling back and forth to Goryeo and dealing with the matter of my resignation, they left." His voice trailed off slightly. Youngwoo himself did not know exactly where they had gone. Yet traces of what his masters had left behind could still be found throughout the camp. When Go Hoewon was introduced, Wanyan Zonghan was almost beside himself with delight.

He ordered a campsite prepared for the new arrivals and took Go Hoewon, Okjeong, and Yeongchang with him to meet the Khan. The moment he heard that Balhae troops had come over, the Khan came out in such haste that he seemed almost to have forgotten his shoes. For all practical purposes, this was the first major defection of Balhae troops to the Jin. Under Liao rule, the Xi and the Balhae had enjoyed relatively privileged status. They had functioned, in effect, as ruling peoples within the empire.

Balhae men had served throughout the administration and the army, and many had also taken responsibility for governing local populations. Their influence had helped sustain the Liao state. Balhae influence was also deeply visible in the Liao dynasty's adoption and development of Buddhism. The enormous Buddhist pagodas of the Liao that still dominated the landscape were one surviving mark of that tradition.

Many Liao pagodas were built around devotion to the Uṣṇīṣavijaya Dhāraṇī, the Buddhist cult of the Victorious Crown. They rose on high ground where they could be seen from all directions, serving as immense religious landmarks. Both this form of devotion and the tradition of constructing dhāraṇī halls can already be traced in Liaodong and Balhae before the rise of the Liao.

For that reason, the religious culture of Balhae—particularly Balhae traditions surrounding the Uṣṇīṣavijaya Dhāraṇī—can be seen as one of the important influences behind the great Buddhist towers of the Liao period. The defection of these Balhae troops therefore carried meaning far beyond the addition of two thousand soldiers. One of the peoples that had helped uphold the Liao state was beginning to move away from it. It was evidence that the upper structure of the Liao realm itself had begun to shake.

The Khan was genuinely delighted. He knew perfectly well that these men had come because of their relationship with Commander Lee Youngwoo. Even so, he immediately turned their arrival into propaganda. Word spread throughout the Jin camp that even the Balhae were abandoning the Liao. The Liao Empire, the Jin proclaimed, had begun to crumble from within.