Pearl Buck - The Living Reed

Because his son was in the city, Il-han began in his own way to take more cognizance of the changes in the times. He bade his servant go to the city now and then, not only to observe secretly, but also to see what was new and to listen to talk on the street and in teashops and gathering places. In this way he learned that the Tonghak rebels were growing in number and though they were repressed by the King and his forces, nevertheless they broke out here and there through the provinces with increasing success. At last their leader was caught and put in prison for execution, and this roused the landfolk to new frenzy and despair. By this time they had no trust in the government, for they saw how the foreign powers pressed upon the King, and they knew how the Queen plotted to keep the Chinese in power in the war that was about to break between China and Japan as in mutual anger these two nations quarreled in Korea.

In the early spring, in the third solar month of that year, while their young leader was still in prison, many Tonghak rebels gathered near the capital and they chose forty men from among them as their representatives, and those went to the King face to face to ask first that their leader be released and next for measures to better their hard lives. The King was wise enough to meet these Tonghak with courtesy and good promises, and so they returned peacefully to their homes. Yet the King had fresh troubles, for the foreign powers, whose envoys sat in the capital like vultures to watch all he did, were angry because he had received the Tonghak, for among the requests which they made was that he should set up an anti-foreign policy and expel all foreigners from the country. The King was caught between his people and the foreigners and so did nothing.

Months passed and when the Tonghak saw that the King did nothing, they rose in greater anger than ever. Twenty thousand came to the town of Poum pretending to make a religious festival there, but instead they demanded freedom from the corruption of their own yangban and oppression from foreign powers alike. Everywhere over the land cries were heard in one city and another. Alas, in the city of Kobu, in the area of Pyonggap, the magistrate outdid all other yangban in corruption, for here he compelled the landfolk to repair the walls of a great reservoir, whose waters were used for irrigating the fields. When these farmers had repaired the reservoir, he levied a heavy tax on the water, which they then used for their fields, and he kept the money for himself. This caused much fury and the landfolk tore down the dam they had repaired, and they stormed into the city and drove the magistrate away from his palace while they occupied the city.

The King and his cabinet then sent armies from the capital to rout the rebels, and hearing this from his servant, Il-han sent a man to follow the armies and watch all that took place. The man came back after many days to report that the government forces were overwhelmed and the Tonghak had moved on to conquer other cities. The King in distraction next begged for help from the Chinese, who sent their armies and only then did the rebels retreat against such force.

“And, master,” the man said when he had related all this to Il-han, “whom do you think I saw there in the battles?”

Il-han knew in his heart and could not speak. “I saw my young master, and he was with his tutor, who lived so many years in your house!” The servant turned away in pity when he saw Il-han’s face.

The times grew still worse. A Chinese army, fifteen hundred strong, with eight field guns, arrived at the Gulf of Asan and marched to the capital. When the Emperor in Japan heard this he sent an army of five thousand soldiers to meet them. There in the Korean capital they went into battle, Chinese and Japanese, and the treaties declaring the independence of Korea became dust. The greater numbers won. Japan drove out the Chinese and then attacked the rebels and put down the Tonghak. Not content with this, the Japanese soldiers dragged the Tonghak leader from his prison and put him to death and the rebels in dismay retired into hiding.

All this Il-han heard from his several men whom he regularly sent out to bring him news. They spoke no more of the tutor, and Yul-chun came home as usual and said nothing and Il-han said nothing, and in the frightful silence between them, he lived in dread. Now that the Tonghak leader was dead, he knew that indeed the Japanese were in power and the King was dependent upon them for his own place. But what of the Queen? It was of her he thought. She would never give up her love for the Chinese, and her hatred of the present confusion could only increase her love for them. She would not yield or bend her will. Her proud imperious heart was stubborn with love. Even Sunia grew afraid for her, and she paused near him one day on her way to some household task.

“I hope you will not think of the Queen,” she said. “Let her solve the troubles she has brought upon herself.”

He looked up at her quickly. “I am not thinking of the Queen,” he told her and knew he lied.

Indeed, why should he think of the Queen? He could not help her and he would only be blamed if he came out of exile and went to her now. Nor could he keep himself secret if he went. Where the Queen was, nothing was secret. Her every word, her every look, was seen and pondered. Spies surrounded her, and though she was reckless and did what she willed, he who was known as her adviser in the past, if he left his house would be killed somewhere in a side street of the city or in a secret corridor of the palace, and no one would know. He did not lack courage but must he die, he hoped that it could be for a worthy reason and with an effect that lived beyond his death.

He continued nevertheless in dread of what he would hear, for his private spies, now increased to eleven men, brought him further reports of the confusions which were taking place. China and Japan, these two, were in constant combat for the prize of his country, its trade, its central position in that part of the world, and the Japanese were carrying the war into China itself, and with every victory they seized new territory. Meanwhile they made this war an excuse for their armies to pour into Korea as reserves, and every day Il-han heard of fresh outrage against his people.

… “The strong have now become too strong,” Il-han’s wise old man servant told him.

The day was hot, in the midsummer of that year, and Il-han sat in his white undergarments under a persimmon tree in the garden. The fruit was small and green and the tree was overloaded so that some fruit fell to the ground, and his younger son was throwing the fruit against a target fixed on the trunk of the tree.

Il-han watched the game while he listened to his servant. “I have been waiting for some other nation to see it,” he now said. He clapped his hands as he spoke, for his son had struck the target in the middle. Then he went on speaking. “Yet there may be a benefit for us in the rising jealousy between the nations. None will want to see Japan grow too powerful.”

“Ah ha,” the servant said, “you have hit the target, too!” He came closer and made his voice low. “The Russian Czar today warned the Japanese Emperor through his envoy here that the territories newly seized from China must be restored.”

“Will it be so?” Il-han inquired.

“Is Japan strong enough to fight Russia?” the servant asked. “Some day yes, but not yet. That is what I hear said in the streets and in the shops. Japan must yield now but she will hate China the more, and this war will go on. As for Russia — perhaps war in another ten years.”

He waited for his master to speak. Instead Il-han cried out in sudden pain. His son, misjudging distance, had let fly a hard green fruit and it struck Il-han just below the left eye.