Meanwhile, preparations for defense began in Liaoyang Fortress.Special orders for siege defense were issued to the crossbowmen.That night, fierce winds swept across the ramparts as well.Snow melted and then froze again, wrapping itself around the bricks.The General stood atop the watchtower.From far away came the cry of a hawk.It was sharp, like the sound of approaching hooves from a great army.
"Starting tomorrow, we repair the walls in full."His words fell."Seal the West Gate and the South Gate, and build double barricades at the North Gate. Reconstruct the ballistae, and concentrate all bows and arrows inside the fortress.Inspect every iron arrow in the arsenal within a day."
Park Seong-jin went down beneath the collapsed wall with the crossbow unit.They had had a few days of respite, and now it was labor again.Each time he lifted cold stone, his fingertips froze stiff.Blood ran between numb fingers, but he did not stop working.Blacksmiths lit the forges once more.They repaired weapons and made weapons.In the round-built furnaces, bellows drove air as bright red flames writhed like a demon's tongue.Soon the iron glowed red-hot, and that firelight illuminated the soldiers' faces.The fire defeated the cold, but within it burned fear of a future not yet arrived.
Oh Jin-cheol muttered beside Seong-jin."War again.""Will this one be different?""How could war ever be different. It's all the same. Kill and be killed. Only the enemy changes."Seong-jin did not answer.The wind blowing from afar was cold, like someone's breath.
That night, torches flared along every section of Liaoyang's walls.It was as if a band of fire encircled the fortress, the light surging up and down in disorder with the soldiers' movements.He knew now.This fire could turn into the fire that lights a battlefield at any moment.He closed his eyes.Far away, from the edge of the steppe, he seemed to hear thunder-like hoofbeats.The winter of Liaoyang Fortress was not yet over.
The snow did not stop.The land was endlessly white, and over it hooves trampled.Hundreds of thousands of horses exhaled at once.Their cries echoed, and the reverberation returned from the far edge of the plains.Naghachu's army was on the move.
At the front spread light cavalry, and behind them followed orderly ranks of medium cavalry clad in iron armor.Frost clung to the horses' manes, and the riders' beards were frozen white like snow.Yet their eyes were not dim.
Overhead, a mass of great banners rippled like waves.A red sun on a blue field—the emblem called "the Heaven of the Great Khan."Each time the wind blew, the banners thundered.The sound of cloth striking air was low and heavy, like drums.And soon, the real drums sounded.Thud—Thud—Thud—
The steppe trembled.Horses moved in time with vibrations spreading a thousand li.At first they walked.Then they surged forward.When thousands of hooves struck the ground at once, the earth shook like a living beast.
The procession of the great army had no visible end.With a bit of exaggeration, they said it was a full day's distance from vanguard to rear.That long black line cut across the white snow and headed south—toward Liaoyang.Naghachu was astride his horse.
Snow brushed his face, but his gaze did not waver in the slightest.Ahead lay the white plain, and beyond it a fortress not yet visible—no, he was looking farther than that.
He raised his hand.Red silk fluttered through the air.It was a signal.From both flanks, mounted archers rose at once.Quivers rattled, bowstrings were drawn.Piiiiiiing—Thousands of arrows soared into the sky and then fell upon the snow-covered land.They were not arrows meant to hit.They were an oath, a declaration.There was no road back now.Naghachu spoke low.
"Heaven is with us."
As those words spread on the wind, the commanders behind him bowed their heads in unison."In the name of the Great Khan!"The drums sounded again.Thud—Thud—Thud—With each vibration, snow shook loose and fell.
The horses began to run.The vanguard moved, the flanks spread, the rear pressed forward.Faster than wind.Deeper than snow.The sky seemed to overturn.
Snow whirled like a storm, and within it iron, leather, and banners became a single mass.The great army of the Northern Yuan advanced south.Its surge was like a black wave crashing over a white sea.From horseback, Naghachu looked toward Liaoyang.There was no hesitation in his eyes."For the sake of a single fortress, the order of heaven cannot be defied."As he raised his whip, the vanguard cavalry roared in unison."Hoooooo—!"The shout split the steppe and rolled southward.On that dawn when the soldiers of Liaoyang were still asleep, the land itself had already awakened again.