Epiphany I

The day before the examination, Tae Yong was called in front of the king and some angry ministers. It had been just two days and Tae Yong’s twisted plan to eliminate the noble born from the examination, had worked perfectly. He had been ‘training’ the nobles on the verge of death. It was bullying but none of them could complain because they were the ones that had asked for the prince to train them. Also Nam Mu and Li Jie would train with them after instructing the others. Of the 50 noble born who were left after the first days, 30 had gone ‘missing’. They had actually fled in the middle of the night. The night guards had spotted them and had contacted Tae Yong.

Tae Yong had laughed and told the guards to ignore the fleeing Zhuhou. The other 20 were too weak to flee with rest, let alone participate the next day. The king gave a nod at the messenger indicating that he could start the meeting. “First Crown Prince, can you please explain to the King and the Outer Court the situation with the young Zhuhou?” Before he could give an explanation, one of the ministers asked another question. “First Crown Prince, can you first explain why all the young Zhuhou are injured?”

Tae Yong's brow went up, looking shocked. His father, King Tae Yang could see that he was faking it. He wanted to roll his eyes but he didn’t want the ministers and court officials to see it. ‘Crazy brat. He could have just dismissed them, why did he have to hurt them. Now I can’t even make an excuse for him.’ Tae Yang could feel a headache creeping up. Tae Yong gave Zang a sad look. “Lord Zhang, it was never my intention to hurt them. They were being trained by two other young masters…”

“You mean Lord Wei's son and a slave boy.” A flash of anger crossed Tae Yong’s face, nobody except Tae Yang saw this. Tae Yang wanted to put his head in his hands. ‘Poor Lord Zhang has summoned the demon.’ “The ‘slave’ boy, young master Nam Mu, is no slave... anymore. He’s been adopted by a noble from Goryeo. That makes him nobility. But what is more important is that Nam Mu has more talent than the rest. As I was saying, he was training them but they wanted to be trained by me. So I trained them, like I was trained.”

He looked around to make clear why he took over. “I was saddened to see that the young Zhuhou were not good at all because Nam Mu and Lord Wei's son have the same training regime.” He stopped to let his word sink in. “Are you saying that a slave boy is better than the young Zhuhou?” The other ministers were mumbling angrily after Zhang’s words. Tae Yong looked at Zhang but didn't give him a reply. The messenger cleared his throat “First Crown Prince, please answer Lord Zhang's question.” Tae Yong didn't like Zhang one bit.

When he was younger he didn't like Zhang and his children but Zhang became a real thorn in his side when Tae Yong was appointed First Crown Prince. Sadly Tae Yong hadn’t found a valid reason to have the king dismiss Zhang. Zang was a sly, sneaky and manipulative man, who would let others do his dirty work. The only method to get him to shut up for a while was to put him on the spot. Tae Yong glanced at his father, knowing exactly what his father was playing at.

‘Childish old man. You better have my back when Zhang explodes.’ “I’m again saddened to say that they were nowhere near Nam Mu and Lord Wei's son. Compared to them, the young Zhohou are like children playing with a sword and bow.” Zhang was of course not happy with Tae Yong’s answer.

Zhang had turned red with anger. “You keep on praising a slave, while torturing the Zhohou! As the next king you should know better than this.” The other ministers felt like Zhang had gone too far, with his last words. They looked uncomfortable. “Lord Zhang, are you implying that as king, we should neglect the working and lower class and only focus on the gentry (well-born)?” The ministers started to mumble again. They all knew that they wouldn’t be able to help Zhang get out of this. Zhang started to stammer. “That… That is… I mean... Of course, I don’t mean that.” Tae Yong crossed his arms waiting for Zhang’s explanation.

“What… What I was trying to say is that you should… The young Zhohou are the future… They need to be nurtured.” The ministers looked at Zhang with pity, while Tae Yong and Tae Yang wanted to laugh in Zhang's face. “So… me, the First Crown Prince giving them training is not nurturing… Should I just let them pass… What kind of message would I be sending out to the rest of the Kingdom, if I just give them free passes.”

Tae Yong looked at Zhang with a cold look in his eyes. “....'' The messenger cleared his toath. “Lord Zang, could you answer the First Crown Prince?” Zhang wanted to kick himself in the head. His usual cunning and composed manner was hard to find. Every time he thought about his sons, his blood would boil. Like many of the ministers, Zhang had a few sons, who were participating in the examination. Zhang's four sons had all joined. Two of them were sent home even before they left the gate.

When Zhang heard that they had been sent away because they refused to listen to the soldiers, he had been irritated but he knew that he couldn't complain because people were saying that his sons had no respect for authority. In the end he had to keep quiet but when his other two sons came back in the dead of the night covered in cuts and bruises, he couldn't stay still anymore. He had to make sure that the crown prince was punished for this. However his own anger was ruining the plan.

"I like to apologise to the First Crown Prince and the King. I've spoken out of order." Lord Zhang clenched his fists and bowed. He couldn't recover from this. He should just keep still and let the others try but nobody spoke. "I think the meeting is over. I have to go back to training. I hope you will all come tomorrow to see the participation. I'm sorry that none of the young Zhohou will be able to participate this time, on the other hand, the other participants are sure to show you a great display of talent."

Tae Yong bowed towards his father before leaving the hall. "Your Highness. This is just wrong! How can the First Crown Prince create an army full of slaves and commoners. He already has an army. He might have ill intent. We can't give him more power!" Zhang's close ally Lord Gwan finally spoke up. "This army will not be stationed in the capital. You don't have to worry."

Tae Yang stood up, dismissing the ministers. The ministers looked at each confused but left the hall also. "The First Crown Prince has gone too far. Compared to the other princes, he loathes the gentry and Zhohou but to hurt our sons is too much." Zhang, Gwan and his clique were complaining while walking towards the gates. They were talking loud making sure that everyone could hear what they were talking about. Zhang knew that the Empress was against Tae Yong because he was the son of the king and his second Imperial Concubine.

He wasn't even the first born son. When the king had announced that Tae Yong would be the First Crown Prince, the whole Inner and Outer Court was in turmoil, however to the dismay of the Outer Court and the harem, the other princes seemed relaxed and happy with the arrangements. Zhang and the other ministers had yet to find out why there was still peace among the princes.

The next day the king and the ministers went to the field to see the final phase of the examination. Zang and his group soon became disgruntled because of all the participants, Li Jie and Mo Yun were the only nobles born on the field. The rest were former slaves and commoners. Zang and his group had hoped that maybe one of their children would be able to still participate however it was now clear that there was no hope for them to control or infiltrate Tae Yong's new army.

Li Jie might be noble but everyone knew that his father had given him up and Mo Yun and his family were known to look down on everyone. Zhang and his group sat down with disappointment and anger. After five minutes Tae Yong and his soldier arrived. "My King, ministers. Thank you for coming. We'll start straight away. Just like the first day, Chungho walked to the group.

"We'll start with archery, then moving targets and then fighting. Nam Mu and Li Jie, you two will have a separate test. Nam Mu and Li Jie looked at each other but didn't ask why. After the test started Zhang noticed that Nam Mu and Li Jie were not participating. "Is that the slave boy? Why are they still standing there?" Tae Yong didn't look at Zhang. "They will be having a different test." Zhang looked unimpressed but didn't say a word.

He was thinking about how to ruin Tae Yong's plans of recruiting Nam Mu. After three hours, there was a group of 80 boys and men who had passed all the tests. "Thank you for participating! I'm proud to see that you all gave your best. For the ones who didn't pass, if you want you can apply for the national army. You'll be admitted straight away. Now...." Tae Yong frowns while looking at the sky.

"What... What is this! Didn't you check the date with the priests?" Everybody looked at the bright sky with their mouths open. The sky that was clear and cloudless a few seconds ago was now filled with streaks of light. Someone screamed. "Take cover!" People were beginning to panic, scared that it might be the end of the world. The Crown Prince turned to his father, wondering what he should do. He was planning on showing Nam Mu's talent but Tae Yang like the rest was still staring at the sky with their mouths open.

"My King... what should we do?" The lead eunuch looked at the king with a terrified look. The king slowly looked away from the skies. "Notify the priest. Tell them to come here in this instance." The eunuch nodded before running towards a young messenger. The king rose from his seat.

"Everyone calm down. The priests are on their way. Nobody moved until they arrived." He sat back down before looking back at the sky. Nobody moved and the king looked up. It took five minutes for the priest to arrive but for the people on the field, they each experienced it differently. For the ones who were scared, it felt like 10 years. For the others it felt like three seconds. Before Tae Yang could ask, the head priest already gave an answer.

"You Highness! We... we don't know what is going on!" Tae Yang looked shocked. "What! How could you not know! Have you been sleeping!" The head priest shook his head. "This is something we have never seen before!"

Tae Yang let out a deep sigh. "Is this good or bad?" The head priest shook his head again. "I... We can't... I have no idea." Before Tae Yang could reprimand the priest. He heard some yell Tae Yong's name. He turned to see Tae Yong on the ground. "What!" His head snapped to the field when Nam Mu's name was called. His eyes grew big when he saw Nam Mu also lying on the ground. "What the hell is going on!"