It’s no exaggeration to say that the Heavenly Demon Cult’s victory in that battle was thanks to that administrator.
It was because he delivered supplies at exactly the right time.
In recognition, the Heavenly Demon Cult’s Leader personally granted him the title Demon Lord of Ten Thousand Routes, meaning that everything within the cult would pass through him.
At that moment, he revealed the meaning behind his name, and it became widely known throughout the world. I knew it as well.
I asked the boy, half in disbelief,
“Did you name yourself Seok Il-song because you saw a pine tree growing atop the ruins of a foundation stone and wished to become someone just as steadfast?”
“Huh? Yes, that’s exactly why. How’d you know?”
I was speechless.
A body unsuitable for martial arts.
And the meaning of the name… exactly as I just said.
This was truly Seok Il-song.
I stared wide-eyed at the boy—no, at Seok Il-song—and said,
“Just… had a feeling.”
What in the world happened in my previous life?
What happened that led a boy like this to end up joining the Heavenly Demon Cult and bringing terror to the Central Plains?
Thank the heavens I found him before he devoted himself to the Heavenly Demon Cult.
His talents should be used for building and creating a hopeful future, not for slaughter and destruction.
“We’re from Hubei. Which means you’ll have to come with us back to Hubei. Are you okay with that?”
“Of course.”
“We run a merchant group. Hiring you means you’ll need to help with the work.”
“As long as it’s nothing illegal, I don’t care what it is.”
I didn’t even have to think about where to use Seok Il-song.
Now that we were selected as official salt retailers, the workload was only going to increase.
On top of that, I’d just become Deputy Merchant Lord.
As Deputy, I couldn’t serve as Assistant Clerk to Chief Administrator Yu anymore.
Which meant Yu needed a sharp clerk of his own.
Chief Administrator Yu had never kept an assistant before, probably because he’s naturally distrustful of people.
But Seok Il-song would be perfect to break through that distrust.
He’s young, driven, and sharp.
I could just take him to Yu and tell him to raise him well.
“You’ll stay here until we return to Hubei. Then you’ll come with us.”
“Does that mean… you’re really hiring me?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you! I’ll do my best!”
The problem was… this kid was thirteen. Leaving him alone at an inn wasn’t exactly ideal.
Palgap must’ve noticed my hesitation because he quickly spoke up.
“Young Master, I’ll stay here with this lad at the inn.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks. Use this money to buy yourselves something tasty too.”
I handed Palgap a generous amount of silver.
Now it was really time to return to Merchant Lord Jin’s residence.
It was getting late, and the fatigue was catching up.
.
.
.
Two days passed.
All twenty-three merchant groups had finally gathered at Merchant Lord Jin U-rim’s residence.
The representatives held a meeting, and from the documents Father brought back, I could more or less piece together what was discussed.
The salt retailers would be organized under the name Salt Guild (鹽幇), and it was agreed that they’d hold regular meetings twice a year.
They also settled on detailed matters like the salt prices, the maximum amount of salt allowed to be sold at one time, and other specific regulations.
As I read through it, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘The Emperor’s really going all in on this.’
Makes sense. After all, the ones who’d suffered most because of the salt prices were the common people. Pushing this through strongly would earn their support.
Plus, it’d refill the royal treasury while he’s at it.
The next day.
We finally headed to the imperial palace to meet the Emperor.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The sound of carriage wheels rolling over the stone-paved roads echoed steadily.
I glanced at Father.
It was obvious how nervous he was.
Well… we were on our way to meet the Emperor.
A single gesture or glance from him could make or break a merchant group like ours. We could be blown away like dust in the wind.
But I wasn’t particularly nervous.
Because I knew the Emperor had summoned us mainly for appearances.
All we had to do was go in, hear “Do well from now on. I’ll be watching,” reply, “We’ll do our best,” then step out of the audience hall. That was it.
Ah, right. We also had to present the incense burner we brought as tribute.
It was just Father and me in the carriage. Jeong-ho wasn’t with us.
He wasn’t on the audience list.
According to the roster the eunuch had brought, only the representative from each merchant group could attend. The only exception was… me.
Because the Emperor specifically asked for me to come. That’s why I made the trip to Beijing.
He probably just wanted to thank me for saving Merchant Lord Jin U-rim.
Jeong-ho seemed a little disappointed.
Though, honestly, there was no reason for him to be.
When a merchant group reached the top five under heaven, they’d occasionally receive imperial summons like this.
Back then, when Jeong-ho was the Merchant Lord, he visited the imperial palace several times.
The carriage came to a stop.
“From here, everyone must proceed on foot. Please step down.”
Following the eunuch who was guiding us, we disembarked.
In the distance, I could see a grand palace with a golden roof shining brightly.
A road paved with smooth stones stretched out before us. In other words… there was no shade.
I glanced up at the scorching sun and sighed softly.
It didn’t bother me since I practiced Ice Qi techniques.
But the others were already showing signs of struggling with the heat. Especially Merchant Lord In Jun, who was well over seventy.
They really expected him to walk all that way in this heat?
If Jeong-ho, who hated hot weather, were here, I could already hear him grumbling.
Thinking about him reminded me of something he once said about visiting the imperial palace in my past life.
“The road to the Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿) is long and blistering hot. I was worried, but the eunuchs carried curved canopies to shade us the whole way. It was actually quite pleasant.”
A curved canopy was a kind of portable shade, usually mounted on carriages.
When carriages couldn’t be used, servants would carry them by hand to provide shade.
For the imperial palace to provide curved canopies… it meant the guest was being treated with exceptional honor.
Whenever a curved canopy was used, an attendant from the Imperial Tent Office (司設監) always accompanied it.
The Imperial Tent Office was responsible for managing the tents, umbrellas, and other coverings used by the Emperor. Naturally, the curved canopies, symbols of honorable treatment, were managed there too.
Curious, I asked the eunuch who was guiding us.
“Excuse me… I was wondering, is there an attendant from the Imperial Tent Office here?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, our merchant group has a bit of interest in umbrellas and related goods.”
“Pfft… Merchants really are curious about everything, aren’t they? Tch tch… The eunuch over there is from the Imperial Tent Office.”
The eunuch snapped, clearly annoyed.
“Thank you for letting me know.”
Of course there’s someone from the Imperial Tent Office.
There had to be.
From the Emperor’s perspective, the salt retailers were far more important guests than even the top five merchant groups under heaven.
And yet… it was obvious the eunuchs didn’t view us favorably. Their attitude had been condescending from the start. The way they looked at us was as if they were looking down on bugs.
I knew exactly what those looks meant.
‘You greedy merchants should be grateful just to step foot inside the palace. No need for us to show you any special respect.’ That’s what their eyes were saying.
I’d seen that look plenty of times in my past life.
In any case, I understood the situation.
They were supposed to provide us with curved canopies. But they deliberately didn’t prepare them.
Some might wonder how they could dare defy the Emperor’s orders, but realistically, it’s hard to protest about something as trivial as a canopy. That’s why they did it.
The merchant lords gathered here weren’t from the top five merchant groups under heaven, so they probably didn’t even know curved canopies were supposed to be prepared.
It’s not like the Emperor could monitor every little thing himself.
This must be why the eunuchs formed their own secret cliques.
If they were smart, they’d be bowing low right now… because if memory serves me right, a bloody purge happens among the eunuchs in a few months.
They get caught collectively deceiving the Emperor. One of the biggest incidents was selling information about the new salt distribution law to other merchant groups in exchange for bribes.
It was also one of these eunuchs who leaked Merchant Lord Jin’s travel route to the Dong Merchant Group.
And now… they were probably acting rude to us because the merchant group they’d been favoring suffered losses, meaning less bribe money for themselves.
Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.
They’d grown arrogant, thinking the Emperor’s favor protected them. But they’d pay the price for it soon enough.
Back then, I felt a bit sorry for them. But seeing their filth firsthand now… serves them right.
“Move it!”
“Are you planning to keep the Emperor waiting?”
The eunuchs rushed us along. I wasn’t about to argue about the canopies now.
There’s no point. It’d only delay us and might even get us scolded by the Emperor.
Fine. I’d let this go for now.
I turned to Merchant Lord In Jun.
“Please, allow me to carry you on my back.”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
“The road ahead looks quite long. If you collapse from exhaustion before the Emperor, that would be a disaster. Besides, if your pace slows, these eunuchs will only scold you further.”
The eunuchs didn’t object.
Because they knew I was right.
“…”
“Just think of it like being carried by your grandson. Take it easy.”
“Well… then I’ll shamelessly trouble you.”
As soon as I carried Merchant Lord In on my back, a eunuch said,
“Then let’s go.”
We started walking again, and after a while, Merchant Lord In quietly murmured.
“Thank you. Honestly… I was wondering how I was going to make it all the way to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.”
“It’s no trouble at all.”
“Your body… feels quite cool.”
“It’s probably because my constitution runs cold.”
“I see.”
Then Merchant Lord In added,
“It’s obvious they deliberately didn’t prepare the canopies…”
So he noticed too.
As expected… old ginger is spicier.
“You figured it out too, huh? Feels rather humiliating.”
I whispered back,
“To be honest… I hold grudges for a long time.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“You’ll see. I’ll make sure to cool you down even more than this.”
After walking for quite a while, we finally arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
It was the main audience hall.
We straightened our attire and waited. Soon, a eunuch stepped out from inside and politely said,
“Please, enter.”
“Yes.”
We stepped inside one by one and knelt down.
“We humbly greet the Emperor! Ten thousand years of life, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years!” (TL Note: The original Chinese saying is: 萬歲！萬歲！萬萬歲!, which means “To live forever and ever.”)
“Raise your heads.”
“We are unworthy of Your Majesty’s boundless grace.”
I raised my head and looked at the Emperor.
The current Emperor was still in his forties, relatively young. But I could instantly tell he was no ordinary man.
It felt like being stared at by a white tiger, the king of the mountains, with a calm yet piercing gaze.
Standing beside him was Merchant Lord Jin U-rim.
He had left about two hours earlier than us. Seems he had matters to discuss with the Emperor.
“The reason I selected your merchant groups as salt retailers under the new distribution law…”
As expected, the Emperor said what I’d anticipated—basically, “I’ll be watching, so do your best.”
“We humbly receive Your Majesty’s sacred decree.”
Merchant Lord In Jun answered on our behalf, and we all bowed together.
“But I heard the Eunhae Merchant Group brought a gift?”
Father had told the eunuchs in advance, so the Emperor already knew.
Father replied,
“Yes. It’s a small item, but we prepared it with utmost sincerity.”
“Bring it.”
At his command, the eunuch received the item from Father and presented it to the Emperor.
The Emperor tilted his head slightly in curiosity.
Understandable. It was likely something he’d never seen before.
“What is this?”
“This is a crafted wind machine, called a Windcraft Fan (作風機). It’s an item newly developed by our merchant group.”
Father explained in detail how the Windcraft Fan worked, and the eunuch demonstrated it accordingly.
–TL Notes–
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