Chapter 309
The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company Chapter 308
Chapter 308. The Seeds of a Peasant Revolt (2)
Anyway, that's not important right now.
Well, it is important.
Because that young man was the leader of a large peasant revolt in his previous life.
His name is Kyung-in-juk.
Born as the son of a tenant farmer, he became a vagrant after his parents fell out of favor with the landlord.
He then joined a rebel group and rose through the ranks by repeatedly carrying out strategies that caught the government troops off guard.
However, his reign lasted only three years.
The emperor, angered by the successive defeats, sent an outstanding general and an army of 50,000 soldiers, and the rebels were completely defeated.
Kyung-in-juk, the leader of the rebels, was also killed, and his body was beheaded in Beijing and left to be eaten by crows.
Although he was the leader of a peasant uprising, it was a shame that his talents were wasted. If someone else had noticed him earlier and given him a chance to show his talents, he would not have met such a tragic end.
And if he was capable of becoming the leader of such a large group, he could have lived a life of recognition elsewhere.
But... I never thought that person would be me.
In any case, if there is a mastermind behind this, we must not let our guard down during these negotiations.
“Come in. I am Sun Daeseok, the owner of this mountain keep.”
We sent a message tied to an arrow in advance, informing them that we would come to negotiate.
That must be why they came to greet us.
They sure came in force.
Perhaps their intention is to intimidate us by surrounding us.
But that is what ordinary people would think.
Even a single master swordsman can easily handle a hundred third-rate or second-rate warriors.
“I am Kwak Myeong-hyun of the Changin Escort Agency.”
“I am Eun Seo-ho of the Eunhae Trading Company.”
We introduced ourselves as well.
“Are you the ones who came for negotiations?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Come this way.”
The place they had prepared for negotiations was not inside the mountain keep, but outside, with a makeshift table and chairs.
By not letting us inside the mountain keep, they were letting us know that they had no intention of revealing their circumstances.
I don't know who they are, but they are clever.
It was probably Kyung-in-juk's idea.
They were roughly cut pieces of wood, but as I looked at them, Boss Soon-dae said.
“Please sit down. Are the chairs too shabby for your highness?”
Then he looked at my silk clothes and said.
“Are you worried that your silk clothes will get ruined?”
“No, why would I?”
What a childish excuse.
I sat down heavily on the wooden chair and said,
“I'm just touched by your thoughtfulness in making a table and chairs. It must have taken a lot of effort to make these.”
“Well, yes, it did. Hmm.”
“And don't worry about my clothes. I have plenty of clothes like this.”
My words left Sun Chae-joo speechless.
My master also sat down on a chair.
“Please sit down.”
“Hmm, yes.”
Sun Chae-joo sat down alone without calling anyone else. Come to think of it, wasn't Sun Chae-joo's personality described as a little arrogant?
That is why Kyung-in-juk was unable to stand out, but when Soon-chae-ju died, Kyung-in-juk came to the forefront, and from that moment on, he was able to show his true colors.
I looked at Kyung-in-juk standing behind him.
He had been fidgeting since earlier.
My master spoke first.
“Our Changin Escort Agency wanted to pay you for the goods you took and get them back. However, I think those goods have already been consumed.”
“That's right. We ate all of it. Thanks to you, we had a good meal.”
He said that to me.
“If you enjoyed your meal, you have to pay us.”
“Pay?”
“You may not know this since you're not a real Green Forest Bandit, but if you can't return the goods or are unable to do so, there's only one thing the escort agency and the Trading Company can do.”
I exchanged glances with Boss Soon.
“It's all-out war. We'll wipe out your mountain keep.”
Bang!
He slammed his fist on the table and shouted.
“You want to do it now? Fine! Let's do it!”
He was probably trying to intimidate us, but neither Master nor I batted an eye.
“You have a quick temper. Please sit down. We haven't finished talking yet.”
“Why should I listen to you? Do you know what I can do? With just one word from me, you all...”
This is why you died young in your previous life.
I sent telepathy to Seo Woo.
- Please shut him up.
In response to my telepathy, Seo Woo drew his sword and swung it at the trees beside him.
Swoosh.
With just one light swing of his sword, a dozen trees were cut down and fell to the ground.
“...
”What did you say?“
”Nothing."
Sun Cha-ju hesitated and fell silent.
At that moment, Kyung-in-juk, who was behind him, shouted.
“But why did you come so late for negotiations? Were you waiting for us to use up all the rice and medicine?”
Hearing this, Boss Soon quickly replied.
“Now that you mention it, that is suspicious! As that man said, this can only be intentional.”
“That is not the case.”
I did not lose my smile.
“To be honest, we didn't think you would eat everything as soon as you took the goods. This is because ordinary Green Forest Bandits would wait quietly for our sign of goodwill.”
I raised my head and looked at the people behind me and said,
“And we don't chase after those who run away and injure them. We know very well that if someone dies, it won't be resolved simply by exchanging money.”
At my words, some of them bowed their heads in shame.
“Something seemed strange, so I looked into you. You are not ordinary Green Forest Bandits, but vagabonds pretending to be Green Forest Bandits.”
“...”
“Actually, there were many opinions that we should mobilize our soldiers and raid this place right now, but...”
I deliberately paused for a moment, then looked at Captain Soon and continued.
“The head of our Eunhae Trading Company is a kind and benevolent man. He heard about your unfortunate situation and has a proposal for you.”
“What is that suggestion?”
“Our Eunhae Trading Company has recently purchased some farmland. We will let you lease that farmland.”
“...!”
Their eyes widened.
Even I could see that it was an unprecedented offer, so they were also surprised.
“Of course, since you are guilty of stealing our goods and hurting our people, you must work for us for free for five years.”
Gyeong-in shouted at my words.
“Then what are we supposed to eat for five years?”
“That is a reasonable question. We will provide you with food for those five years.”
“You will provide us with food?”
Sun Boss was furious.
“What the hell! Why are we in this situation? That rotten landlord charged us high interest...”
“Of course, I understand. But we are not unscrupulous people. We will not charge you interest for five years of food and shelter.”
Even not charging interest was more than they deserved.
“And after five years, you can start paying us back slowly.”
Sun Cha-ju asked me about my proposal.
“What if we don't accept your proposal?”
“What other choice do you have? If you don't, the other Green Forest Bandits will look down on our trading company and escort agency...”
I smiled faintly.
“I think you know the answer to that.”
“...”
I stopped there and looked at my Master.
My Master shook his head quietly.
It meant he had nothing more to say.
We got up from our seats.
I spread three fingers and said, "I'll give you three days.
“I will give you three days. Think it over, and if you decide to accept our offer, hang a white flag on the mountain keep. If there is no white flag after three days, we will assume that you have rejected our offer.”
After walking a few steps, I turned around and said one last thing.
“Think about it carefully. Living as Green Forest Bandits is not an easy life.”
With that, we left.
“What will they do?”
I answered Master's question with confidence.
“They will have no choice but to accept our offer. Because they are not yet Green Forest Bandits.”
They were forced to become Green Forest Bandits due to a famine, but it was not their choice.
Therefore, given the right opportunity, it would not be difficult for them to return to being ordinary citizens or farmers.
Still, it is fortunate that Kyung-in-juk did not come forward, isn't it?
If he had come forward, we would have had to offer them more.
* * *
After Kwak Myeong-hyun and Eun Seo-ho left, silence enveloped the mountain keep.
However, opinions soon divided among them.
“What should we do?”
“I don't know.”
“But he said he would give us land.”
“He's just going to use us for free for five years.”
“At least he won't let us starve to death.”
“But can we trust him? He might just be saying that and actually treat us like slaves.”
“....”
As people argued back and forth, Kyung-in stepped forward and made a suggestion.
“We still have three days. How about we find out more about the Eunhae Trading Company?”
His position within the group had risen due to his previous expression of concern about Eun Seo-ho's plan.
Therefore, his opinion was immediately accepted. In fact, what he said made sense.
Soon, they selected ten people and sent them to Sungyang County, where Eunhae Trading Company was located, to investigate.
.
.
.
Those who arrived in Sungyang County with the mission of investigating the Eunhae Trading Company immediately began their investigation.
“What kind of place is the Eunhae Trading Company?”
“The Eunhae Trading Company? Why do you ask?”
“We want to farm on their land, but we heard that they exploit their tenant farmers, so we are asking.”
The man who was asked this question became angry.
“What kind of bastards are saying such things? Who are they? I'll have them killed right now!”
The investigators were taken aback by his violent reaction.
“I'll talk to him, so please calm down.”
Then, he asked in a gentle tone.
“Are you sure it's not true?”
“I can say with certainty that there is no landlord as good as Eunhae Trading Company. Don't landlords usually take half of the harvest and make the tenant farmers pay taxes on top of that?”
Originally, landlords were supposed to pay taxes, but not everyone in the world is so kind.
And good landlords are extremely rare.
“Not only that, but some even charge separately for seed and water.”
“That's right.”
Those words made them grind their teeth. They had become vagrants because of the landlords' atrocities.
“Eunhae Trading Company is not like that. They take a reasonable share of the harvest and pay the taxes themselves.”
“What about the seed money?”
“Of course, the Eunhae Trading Company pays for that.”
“....”
“That's not all. If there is a family emergency in a tenant farmer's household, the Eunhae Trading Company sends someone to help with the work. And if they don't have enough money to cover the expenses, they lend them money without charging interest.”
“....”
“Furthermore, if a tenant farmer is treated unfairly, a high-ranking member of the Trading Company will immediately go to meet the county magistrate. Thanks to this, there are many people who have been vindicated.”
“....”
The praise for the Eunhae Trading Company continued.
“No matter how good the Eunhae Trading Company is, what can you do if the middlemen abuse their power?”
“When a high-ranking member of the Trading Company conducts a surprise inspection, which servant would dare to deceive his master? He would be killed on the spot.”
“....”
If that was true, there was no better landlord in the world.
Just in case, he asked several people, but everyone praised Eunhae Trading Company.
“Eunhae Trading Company? Come to think of it, the third captain of Eunhae Trading Company distributed food throughout Sungyang County on his birthday.”
“Food?”
“Thanks to that, my son came back from the brink of death. That's why I continue to pray for the prosperity of Eunhae Trading Company.”
“To be honest, with such a severe famine, it is thanks to Eunhae Trading Company that no one has starved to death in Sungyang County.”
“Yes, that's right.”
The more they investigated, the more resentment they felt toward the landowners of their village.
And they saw hope that they too could live like human beings under the Eunhae Trading Company.
Soon, they returned to the mountain keep and reported what they had seen and heard.
* * *
Three days passed since the Eunhae Trading Company and the Changin Escort Agency gave the rebels three days to decide.
My master and I headed directly to their mountain keep.
We wanted to confirm their intentions with our own eyes.
Normally, it was certain that they would accept our proposal. However, nothing in this world is absolute.
If, by any chance, they rejected our proposal, there would be no other way.
Hoping that such a regrettable situation would not occur, my master said as we headed toward the mountain keep.
“Look over there.”