Tangmunjeon - Chapter 373



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Tangmunjeon Episode 373

carrier pigeon

The party’s delegation visited four lawmakers who were scheduled to return to the southern coast, near Gwangju.

However, the actual lawmakers showed a bewildered reaction.

“Yes? You want me to give you a souvenir?”

“···Didn’t you hear? That’s why I asked you to delay departure a little.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”

Dang Mu-jin thought that the members of the National Assembly would have heard the whole story through Chusam, but surprisingly, the members of the National Assembly did not know why Dang Mu-jin had told them to wait.

Dang Mu-jin vaguely understood Chu-sam’s intentions.

Chusam once said that there are two ways to get the best response from someone when giving a gift.

First, I will give a gift that exceeds expectations.

Second, it will be given at unexpected times.

It is always happier to receive a gift suddenly than to receive it after hearing a promise.

And the fact that the person receiving the gift is happier means that the person giving the gift also feels more rewarded. Chusam is considerate of Dangmujin in his own way.

So instead of explaining in detail, Dang Mu-jin immediately held out four Yuncheol needles.

“Take it.”

The mouths of the lawmakers who saw the Yuncheol needle opened involuntarily.

“···Are you really going to give this to us?”

“Yes. Since it’s made of iron, it won’t rust or break easily.”

“Good luck!”

The members of the National Assembly had never heard of anything other than a weapon made by Yun Cheol-ro. Even a needle this thin.

It felt strange to see lawmakers, some in their forties and some in their sixties, each holding a needle smaller than a reed leaf and making a fuss.

But the iron needle that Dang Mu-jin made was worth it.

The lawmakers chattered among themselves for a moment, then belatedly bowed to the party leadership.

“I know that fortune telling is not usually a valuable item. Can we accept such a valuable item…”

“Even if you say it’s a fortune, it’s not a lot. I’d like to make you two or three wraps, but I don’t have enough time or ingredients… I hope you’ll think of it as a souvenir and accept it. I hope you don’t feel like it’s lacking.”

“Oh my! There’s more than enough.”

To place a needle, you need to use at least five or six needles at the same time, and at most twenty or more. This means that you need at least two wraps of needles to be able to use them practically.

But the needle that Dang Mu-jin gave was worth it alone.

The members imagined themselves pulling out a needle and pretending not to know anything in front of patients and even other members.

It was thrilling to think about. No one would know that the needle was made of iron, but no one would fail to see that it was clearly different from other needles.

People will surely ask where the needle came from, and the doctors will be able to proudly say that they learned medicine from all the way to the distant land of Sacheon.

The four members thought so.

‘It was a good thing I came to Danggajang.’

Even the most affluent merchants rarely travel more than three hundred li from their hometown. The distance from the southeastern coast of the Central Plains to Sacheon is a vague concept to most people.

When the four members of the National Assembly said that they would go to the distant land of Sacheon to study medicine, the other members of the National Assembly and the villagers told them the same thing.

Even though you are capable of earning a living, why do you volunteer for such a dangerous and difficult job?

It wasn’t a wrong statement. There were many lawmakers who left their hometowns and traveled thousands of miles to Sichuan Province only to be harmed or have their property stolen.

But the lawmakers gathered at the party headquarters despite anticipating such danger.

They were people who were not satisfied with making a living by selling their small talents. They were people who were ready to take risks and hardships in order to cure a little more illness.

This Yuncheol needle was the favor and recognition of the best member of the National Assembly for the attitude of such members. The hands of the members who received the Yuncheol needle trembled with joy.

One day, people may judge a member of parliament by whether he or she has the fortune teller’s needle.

But the excitement of the lawmakers reached its peak in the next moment.

The party secretary spoke to the lawmakers.

“Oh, and make sure to bring a needle with your name on it so you don’t get mixed up.”

“What’s your name?”

The members squinted their eyes. But three of the four members could not find their own names. Not because they were blind, but because they were old.

But one relatively young member of parliament found his name engraved on the flat handle of the spit.

“There it is, there it is. Hak-hyo-un! Sir. Give it to me. I’ll give each of you one.”

Each needle that Dang Mu-jin made had an owner.

How many times in a lifetime do you get the chance to enjoy such luxury? The congressmen were on the verge of tears.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know how I can repay this favor…”

The response was much greater than expected, and Dang Mu-jin felt happy. Dang Mu-jin smiled faintly and said.

“If you have the chance in the future, please come visit Danggajang again. Even if it’s ten or twenty years. If the situation is not favorable, you may send your children.”

The members understood what the party leadership meant. They wanted to share not only the experiences they have accumulated so far, but also the experiences they will accumulate in the future.

Dang Mu-jin’s thoughts went beyond the glory of individuals and families and reached a higher level. The members of the council felt overwhelmed and each took a needle from the needle box and left.

*

As lawmakers streamed out like an ebb tide over the next few days, the mood in the party hall became noticeably more relaxed.

Jang Il-nam, as usual, walked around the Danggajang area carrying or holding the children, and Mok Wan-ah sat in a sunny spot and dozed off like a cat.

As time passed and the weather got warmer, it became difficult to get some sunlight, so Mokwan-ah wanted to enjoy as much sunlight as possible now that the weather was nice.

Around that time, rumors spread widely within the Tang family that there was a strange atmosphere between Sam-an-bul and Hwa-yeon-shin-ni.

Some people said they saw Sam-an-bul and Hwa-yeon-shin-ni smiling at each other, while others said they saw the two secretly holding hands.

The relationship between the two men, who were once monks, felt very delicate, but no one spoke to them. Regardless of their past, weren’t they now halfway to turning their backs on life as monks?

Besides, it took a lot of courage to talk about the relationship between two people. Everyone has only one life.

The Tang family tried hard to keep their mouths shut to prevent this rumor from leaking out.

After the lawmakers left, the person whose life changed the most was definitely Dan Seol-yeong.

After Dang Mu-jin returned, Dan Seol-yeong led the merchant Wang for almost half a year, and finally succeeded in passing on a significant portion of the work to Wang.

It wasn’t that it took a long time because Mr. Wang didn’t understand the job. It just took about half a year to gain confidence that Mr. Wang was a trustworthy person.

In the end, Danseolyeong gave Wang a passing grade.

That day, Dan Seol-yeong came to see Dang Mu-jin and said.

“I think I should give your Majesty a hat or something.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“From now on, Your Majesty the King will have to talk about money with outsiders. It will be a bit difficult if there is no such thing. Since everyone knows that I am married to you, there would be no problem even if there was no such thing···”

After putting their heads together and thinking hard, Danseolyeong and Dangmujin decided to give Wang a suitable hat.

The head of the Tang family.

The day when he was first called General Wang by Dang Mu-jin, Mr. Wang smiled happily.

“General… That’s good. I really like it.”

Mr. Wang seemed very pleased with his new position.

In any family, the general is a high position that can be counted among the top five.

For Wang, who had been born a peddler and had made a fortune through self-sufficiency but had never achieved fame, the position of General of the Tang family was very satisfying.

Thanks to dumping so much work on General Wang, Danseolyeong finally found some free time.

However, Danseolyeong did not spend her time leisurely basking in the sun like Mokwana.

If you used to be busy doing things that needed to be done, now you’re just busy delving into your hobbies.

Danseolyoung showed the results of her work to Dangmujin.

“···What is this?”

“It’s an improved version of the Odokshinsa. I made it with Wan-ah’s help.”

Improving the poisoned sand, Odokshinsa, was only the beginning.

Danseolyeong began to make all sorts of things by roasting the wild animals. Nets with hooks, weapons that were scattered on the ground, weapons that were thrown or shot, etc.

Even Danseolyeong started learning how to work at the night market.

Bringing a woman into a blacksmith shop was almost taboo, but Danseolyeong was an exception.

Dan Seol-yeong’s dexterity was not much beyond the average, but no one could match his creative and unique ideas.

Danseolyeong was bound to monopolize the attention of curious field workers, as he was able to easily design complex objects that no one had ever imagined.

Among the items that Danseolyeong and the other craftsmen had made, the one that Dangmujin found most fascinating was a blade that looked like two small flying wheels intersecting each other. From a distance, its shape looked like a butterfly made of steel.

“Seolyoung-ah. How do you use this?”

“Well, why don’t you just throw it?”

“···What if the person who created it doesn’t know what it’s for?”

Although Dang Mu-jin spoke as if he was astonished, Dan Seol-yeong paid no attention.

“You don’t have to be confident to make it. You can throw a wheel and move it around, right? Try using this in a similar way. If it seems promising, improve it, and if it doesn’t seem to work, just throw it away. Right?”

Danseolyeong made all kinds of things with a slightly irresponsible attitude.

What’s interesting is that quite a few of the items made that way ended up being obtained.

Other people thought it was just luck, but Dang Mu-jin knew very well that it was not just luck.

*

One day, as spring deepened and the weather gradually became warmer.

A man came to the Tang family early in the morning and shouted loudly outside the gate.

“Are you there?”

Most of the people who come to see Danggajang at this awkward time are patients in urgent need.

At that moment, Dang Mu-jin was fiddling with the things Dan Seol-yeong had made in the yard, so he jumped up from his seat and opened the front door.

“Where does it hurt that you came here?”

But looking at the expression on the person standing outside the door, he didn’t seem to be a patient.

Even judging from his attire, he was clearly someone from the coffin chambers. He looked more like a janitor than an official.

The man seemed a little flustered, as if he hadn’t expected Dang Mu-jin to show up in person, and he lowered his posture and handed over a small note.

“I didn’t know that the head of the family would come out in person. I didn’t come because I was sick… Jeon Seo-gu arrived and came to deliver the message.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Rather than going where people tell them to go, the homing pigeons fly back and forth from place to place, taking advantage of the pigeons’ natural tendency to want to return home.

Of course, it was common for messengers to travel between government offices in various places, and the cost was also very expensive.

And now, there is only one person who is willing to pay such a high price to send a messenger to Dangmujin.

Dang Mu-jin unfolded the note.

On the small note were two lines of tiny letters written the size of a grain of rice.

The handwriting was clearly Namgung Myeong’s.

[Last day of the summer. Namgung Se-ga and Namgung Myeong are getting married. The head of the family is required to attend.]

It means the last day of June, so it means that the wedding is held on the last day of June.

The distance is not that far, so we should start off slowly so that we can reach Namgung Se-gae without any rush.

Dang Mu-jin smiled happily. The wedding was secondary, but the words Namgung Se-ga-ju Namgung Myeong left a strange impression. As expected, Namgung Myeong inherited the position of Namgung Se-ga-ju.

The main point of the letter was all in the first line, but it was the next line that really caught Dang Mu-jin’s interest.

[Jeongcheon Maengju Hyeon-gong, Gae-gong Gun-ta-ju Hong Ju-san, and Hoo-gae (later?) Wang Jin-cheong are expected to attend.]

The title of Jeongcheon Maengju in front of Hyeon-gong’s name sounded a little strange.

‘···Not the leader of the non-partisan faction, Hyeon-gong, but the leader of Jeongcheon?’

Jeongcheonmaeng was the name of an organization created by the Mudangpa by uniting several small sects nearby.

The now-defunct Taeui Geommun was the second largest sect in the Jeongcheon Alliance, so its influence was not great. To put it a bit sarcastically, the title of Jeongcheon Alliance Leader meant the leader of the alleys near Mt. Mudang.

‘Has Hyungong not yet ascended to the position of Jangmunin? Or is the position of Jeongcheon Maengju more important than the position of Jangmunin of the Mudang faction?’

There was no way to resolve the question.

But what was even more questionable was what followed.

‘Open-ended gunshot Hong Ju-san and later Wang Jin-cheong?’

It was expected that Wang Jinqing would ascend to the position of the eight-knot, or the next Dragon Head Archer.

The problem is that Honggeolgae was not a dragon’s head ark of openness, but a seven-knot gun dagger.

It’s certainly something to celebrate to have two more knots, but isn’t it a step below Wang Jinqing in terms of rank?

‘···Why are Hong Geol-gae and Wang Jin-cheong’s positions reversed? No, didn’t Hong Geol-gae go to inherit the Yongdubangju position? Could it be that Hwa-hwa-no-gae is holding out?’

No, that can’t be. If Hwahwanogae was being greedy and didn’t want to give up the Yongdubangju position, then Honggeolgae would have become the successor, not Wang Jincheong.

Even the word “Total Taju” was a little bigger than the other letters and was even underlined.

Dang Mu-jin sensed Namgung Myung’s playfulness in the writing.

‘There must be something going on… I guess I’ll find out once I go.’

Dang Mu-jin stretched, holding a small note in his hand.

As I thought about going on an outing for the first time in a long while, my steps naturally became lighter.