I Became the Crown Prince of a Ruined Country

56 – Peace?

After finishing the ensemble with Jung, I headed to the reception room to meet Imok.

And what I saw there was a girl who was completely different from what I had originally thought.

‘If Li Mu subdued the Xiongnu 10 years ago, shouldn’t he be middle-aged now?’

Even though he was in his 20s at the time of the subjugation of the Xiongnu, he was well over 30 and looked forward to turning 40.

But the girl sitting in the drawing room in front of me and facing me looked nothing more than a mid-teen.

No matter how much this world is, it is a world where there are characters who have changed gender to the extent that I myself call it Yeon-hee, but it does not mean that it does not age. Even Shinneung-gun, who still looked like he was in his 20s at the age of 30, was not at this level.

However, since there is a possibility that I was wrong or that it was really far beyond my common sense, I respectfully asked.

“Are you Imok?”

“Huh? Me?”

The girl questioned herself, pointing her finger at herself as if she had heard a really unbelievable sound.

When I nodded, the girl smiled rather cynically.

“That can’t be the case. I’m Mr. Lee Mok. That man is already 40 years old.”

Yes. Even thinking about it myself, it was a bit of a stupid question. But wasn’t it the one who first identified himself as Imok? It was a bit unfair, but I held it in and asked again.

“Uncle, then you are the niece of General Lee Mok?”

“Well, it’s similar, but it’s not a nephew with blood ties. Wouldn’t it be more like a teacher-teacher relationship?”

Teacher-teacher relationship? As for Lee Mok, I only know his name and birthplace as a Gijeonpamok, but did he have disciples?

I introduced myself in the hopes of finding out more about the girl. As long as the other side came to visit me, they must already know who I am, but there is also politeness.

“It’s called Young master Xidan of Yan. Can you hear the name?”

“Hmm, that’s polite. I would have taught you even if it wasn’t so formal.”

Still, the girl, like me, made her own name by politely performing her polite karate.

“My name is Sima Sang. I came here following the orders of An Wen and Li Mu, the guardians of the dynasty.”

“Sama-san…?”

I tried to say the name with only her lips moving slightly so that the girl, Sima-san, could not hear it.

Mr. Sima, there are so many famous people that I felt somewhat familiar. Samaui, the final victor of the Three Kingdoms, Samaheun, who appears as a supporting character with a lot of weight in Chohanji, and Samacheon, who wrote a masterpiece called Sagi, and so on.

However, it was the first time that the name Sama-Sang was mentioned.

“You don’t have to try to think of it. It’s an unknown name.”

Sama-san added, apparently noticing that I was forcibly squeezing out memories. I coughed out of shame as if I tried to pretend to know somehow and failed.

“Keuheum, hmm. By the way, did you name Lee Mok?”

“Since no one will know if it’s just Sama-san, shouldn’t we be able to see his face if we sell his name?”

Did you sell your name to get attention?

However, it is subtle to say that he was impersonating without permission, since he said he came to see me after being ordered by Imok.

“And.”

Sima Xiang, assuming there was another reason for naming Li Mo, was again out of luck.

Sama-san’s eyes looking at me were shining like a hunter who caught his prey.

“It was also a confirmation of whoever had the seal of Pyeongwongun.”

“Ah…”

I realized too late that I was overreacting to the name Imok.

In the letter I sent to Lee Mok, I put the seal of Pyeongwon-gun, but I did not write my name. In other words, on the surface, I was a perfect man who had never met or talked to Lee Mok.

In common sense, would I jump out in response to the name of Imok with whom I have no acquaintance? Although Lee Mok was a general who played an active role in the north, he did not have the reputation of Pyeongwongun or Yeompa.

But I stopped what I was doing with the name Imok and ran out.

Still, if it was this far, I could have done it. Although Imok is not as famous as Yeompa in the world, his reputation was considerable within the country of Jo. If you make an excuse that you were envying such attention, there’s nothing you can’t do.

The problem was that I was so caught up in it that I panicked.

Even with this amount of circumstantial evidence, you can’t take it out or beat it.

Seeing that Sama-san came out like that, it seems that Imok has been caught from the beginning. Moreover, he had no intention of continuing to hide. If I had really made up my mind and concealed my identity, I wouldn’t have used Zhang Yi, an important executive in my company, as an errand boy.

Yeompa and Imok. If the Qin Dynasty took a step toward unifying the world, they were the only beings who could stop it.

Even if these two were not in the position of successors of Pyeongwongun, they were determined to form a friendly relationship somehow. I wondered what to do, but the inheritance of Pyeongwongun’s seal and the outbreak of the Yan-Jo war matched exquisitely.

‘Now that I think about it, there are many benefits from the Yan-Jo war.’

In the Court of Yan, I identified those who would be my allies and those I should stay away from, made my hostage life in Zhao more comfortable, and succeeded in forming a relationship with Yeompa and Imok, so it was three birds with one stone.

Rather than uglyly denying that I was caught, I said admiring Imok’s keen eye.

“I see. General Lee Mok’s eyes cannot be fooled.”

“Your insight is the best in Jo Nara. In order to defeat you, the deceased In Sang-bang will have to come back.”

Sama-sang’s In Sang-bang refers to Im Sang-yeo, one of the former chiefs.

Diplomacy is diplomacy, internal affairs is internal affairs, military strategy is military strategy, loyalty is loyalty. In fact, as befits the person who coined the word perfection, Impression Yeo was literally perfect.

It is no exaggeration to say that the only foreign character that King Jin So-yang, the former king of the Qin Dynasty, feared, was Impression-Yeo.

Comparing his attention to such a person was in itself a testament to how much Sama-Sang respected him.

“So. Why did General Lee Mok send Sama-Sang you to me? Did you have something to say to me?”

“Specifically? I have not been asked to convey anything. I have only received one command. To stand by Young master and see what kind of person he is.”

Having said that, Sama-Sang pushed forward an irrefutable justification, as if I wouldn’t even give her a chance to refuse.

“Oh, by the way, they said this was a reward for following Gongja’s request. Thinking about this, there wasn’t a message.”

At my request, Imok induced the Xiongnu to go to Yan. I would like to say that it is a win-win because I was able to avoid the war as Jo Nara, but honestly, from my point of view, Jo Nara made a huge concession.

If the war could not be stopped here, the only picture in my head would be a picture of Yan being unilaterally trampled on. Whether it’s Yeompa or Imok, if they were even called Yonggun Choijeong, they had the ability to do so.

Wasn’t Yeompa a truly unbelievable great man that he saw just a few days ago?

Letting Sama-sang go here will damage the relationship with Imok, which started positively at best.

‘It can’t be helped.’

It’s not like I’m in a situation where I can’t handle one member of my guest right now, and the place I’m staying at now has plenty of empty rooms because I’ve moved once. Since he was said to be like a disciple of Imok, Sama-sang would probably stay in moderation and return to Imok.

“Okay. I’ll give you a room to stay as a guest for a while.”

“I like it because it’s refreshing? Well, I don’t intend to just accept it.

“I don’t really intend to get it, but what are you going to do?”

“A person called Jang sent to you. He works in the guild. He’s the guild’s gong? I’m good at numbers, so I manage the guild’s warehouse.”

“Hmm…I think it’s a waste of talent to be used there? First of all, let’s find out about that problem later. First of all…Okay. Shall we start with the welcome ceremony?”

§

Tung… Tung….

In the room where Heidan left, the sound of giving orders echoes miserably. Originally, the clear sound of gold should have been added to this, but the gold was just quiet.

Her portrait contained her empty seat in Heedan, who was playing together opposite her, in her empty eyes. He had been with me until just now, so his empty seat touched me even more.

Tung… Tung….

The sound of a command reverberating alone.

From noble mtl dot com

To Young-jeong, it sounded like it was speaking on behalf of her situation.

And it wasn’t really that different.

The instruments the two of them played, the gold and the bunbu, are very different instruments.

There was a big difference not only in the classification of gold and silver string instruments, but also in their properties.

Gold is the most loved musical instrument. Many scholars who said they enjoyed rites and music loved gold. Therefore, many musical instruments go together in gold.

It is played in ensemble with wind instruments such as piri and hun, and harmonizes with the same string instrument, jeng. And the chords are so beautifully matched with seul, which is called a pair of souls, that it is said that gold seul is good, and it is even compared among married couples.

On the other hand, what about the command? It’s barely enough to say that it’s a suitable instrument. Among musicians, it is not even treated as a proper instrument.

Do musicians resemble the instruments they play? Otherwise, would he find an instrument that resembles himself and play it?

Yeongjeong recalled as she asked herself a question that no one would answer.

He knows that even though he is an important person to Heidan, he cannot be the only person.

‘But. Dan said he wanted me to do what I wanted to do, right?’

At first, Dan said he didn’t know.

It was late, but Yeongjeong conveyed her honest answer in her heart.

‘I want Dan to look after me.’