Mugeoja — There Is No Useless Stone in the World
There is no useless stone in this world.
Placed where it belongs, it serves a purpose.
Refuse to move it, and friction arises.
It becomes an eyesore, complicating the terrain.
People are no different.
The Queen Dowager applied the experience of long years to governance.
She solved matters through placement rather than suppression.
She looked not at emotion but at circumstance, not at anxiety but at outcome.
Her judgment was not light; it was fitting for one who read the current of the times.
She did not overlook intelligence that another army was growing on the steppe.
When one side wanes, another rises—that was the logic of the plains.
With each changing season, the tribes that flourished and those that declined shifted.
Ga Teukrip had been defeated; others would lift their heads at the sight of the vacuum.
She understood the dynamics of the steppe precisely.
One might say she surpassed the previous emperor, but not that she fell short.
Her eye for the political climate was clear; she did not dismiss reports lightly.
She calculated who would rise and who would vanish as one calculates the seasons.
It was not that she was more capable, but that she observed without attaching unnecessary reasons.
She did not insert personal emotion or private judgment.
She looked at circumstances as they were and drew her conclusions from them.
Thus what she saw was distinct.
Jin Mugwang could not remain long in the capital.
And the barbarians had to be stopped by someone.
There were few moves that satisfied both conditions at once.
Entrusting him with the northern front was a natural choice.
To refuse what is natural invites difficulty.
Misalignment between position and person breeds unrest.
A choice that runs against circumstance creates trouble.
She knew this well.
She also harbored curiosity about the young general.
The tale of the youth who defeated Ga Teukrip did not circulate only within the Han army.
It had spread even among the defeated barbarians.
News of a boy who overturned the tide of battle traveled swiftly by word of mouth.
Jin Mugwang did not elaborate on that story.
He dismissed it as nothing more than rumor.
He answered briefly when asked, drawing a line that discouraged further inquiry.
He was wary of glory concentrating upon one individual.
Instead, he spoke of the tragedy at the Yu estate—
of a fallen household, of scattered people—
and requested support for its rebuilding.
He asked for aid in restoring people and land.
It was an effort to redirect the Queen Dowager's attention.
He judged that it was better for the truth—that the young general had been the one to topple three pillars of power—to remain unexposed.
Once connected to the upheaval within the palace, the story would take on a different hue.
The greater the merit, the harsher the gaze.
Jin Mugwang understood that weight.
He recommended Lee Hui for promotion.
One who had earned merit, he argued, should ascend to a fitting position.
It was a request to link battlefield achievement with the order of the court.
He then asked for expansion of the White Dragon Unit's military resources.
The core strength remained intact, but equipment and supplies were thin.
The troops were sharp, yet the foundation supporting them had weakened.
If they were to endure sustained campaigns, reorganization was necessary.
He also requested support for the defensive garrisons in Haran.
During the late emperor's disorderly governance, those garrisons had scattered.
Only their name remained; the substance was gone.
The chain of command and organization had collapsed.
Haran was land that must be reclaimed and rebuilt.
Scattered soldiers had to be gathered; broken systems mended.
If the garrisons stood, the region would stand.
If the region stood, the border would hold firm.
The White Dragon Unit's center had not broken.
But the defensive shield surrounding them had weakened.
Without strong supporting garrisons, a prolonged war would not endure.
Jin Mugwang made that point clearly in his request.
The Queen Dowager was certain: "They will descend again this winter."
It was not vague concern.
She appeared to have secured a new channel of intelligence from the steppe.
The reports were specific; her words held no hesitation.
Ga Teukrip's defeat would not quiet the plains, she said.
When one tribe falls, another rises.
By winter, the north would move again.