The night deepened, yet sleep did not come.Inside the special unit's barracks, silence prevailed.In a stillness where even breathing failed to surface, it was impossible to tell who slept and who lay awake.Here, such distinctions were unnecessary.
Park Seong-jin lay with his eyes closed.His body was resting, yet his awareness remained clear at a low, steady level.The inner blade he had restrained sank deep into his lower abdomen, its pulse continuing only as a faint warmth.It was exactly the method he had learned in the mountains.On the battlefield, suppressing one's breath like this was survival itself.
Then, without reason, a single word surfaced.
Jiangnan.
The word he had heard earlier in the Sungui Army barracks.Oh Jin-cheol's lowered voice, his careful tone, the implication that nothing was yet certain.Too heavy a name to dismiss lightly.
Jiangnan.
Far beyond any distance Park could imagine.The name spread soundlessly through his mind.It felt less like a place than a season.Another sky, another color of water, another way of war overlapped within it.
Park slowly inhaled.The breath lingered at his chest and did not sink deeply.
Jiangnan…
A land entirely different in grain from the ground beneath him now.It was difficult to imagine why someone who was not even a mercenary would need to travel that far.
As the name Jiangnan lingered, the inner blade pressed deep in his lower abdomen responded faintly.Not a sharp, blade-like tension, but a trembling like water that had lost its direction.
Park did not clench his teeth.He did not force it back down.He felt the tremor as it was, then let his breath flow again.
Iwol-gun's voice surfaced in his mind.
Let it flow. Do not stop it.
But this time, the teaching was difficult to follow.To flow also meant entrusting oneself without knowing the destination.
Jiangnan.
The name was not yet decided.There were no orders, no maps, no dates.And yet, somewhere within his heart, a path had already opened.
Without opening his eyes, Park lay still, as though gazing into the darkness of the ceiling.Outside, even the wind did not stir.The night was excessively orderly.
Park knew it.
This was a night that would not return.Neither a mountain night, nor a Sungui Army night—but a night standing just before crossing fully into war.
He did not fall asleep until dawn, holding that name quietly within his chest.
Jiangnan.
Yi In-jung's Strategy Council — The Shape of the Jiangnan Expedition
Inside the command tent, the scent of old paper mingled with the smell of horsehide.The map bore the marks of having been folded and unfolded countless times.A single red ink line stretched long from Liaodong toward the south.
Yi In-jung traced the line silently with his finger.Where his fingertip stopped, two faint characters were written.
Changjiang (Yangtze River).
"This is the destination of this expedition."
At those words, the collective breath inside the tent dropped at once.
After a moment, someone asked carefully,"Jiangnan?"
Instead of answering, Yi In-jung folded the map.Cold air slipped into the tent.
"It is a demand from the Yuan.White Lotus remnants have risen again in the southern territories.They propose a joint suppression."
Hwang Hyun-pil clenched his teeth."The wounds of Liaodong haven't even healed. Another expedition?"
"The justification is sufficient.Restoring order. Suppressing rebellion. A joint operation.As a state, these are conditions we cannot refuse."
Silence followed.
With Baekin-gun withdrawn and Bu-wol gone, Yi In-jung now stood at the front.Their forces had dwindled, and their choices had sharpened.
Yi In-jung drew a slow line in the air with his finger.
"Jiangnan is different from Liaodong.This is not land, but water.Rivers are roads. Marshes are battlefields.The moment we forget why we are going, we become soldiers fighting someone else's war."
His gaze passed over the commanders.Silence settled.
The sense of defending one's nation thinned, and the scent of mercenary work seeped in.The edge of the tent fluttered slightly in the wind.
Hwang Hyun-pil spoke quietly."Then wouldn't it be right not to go?"
Yi In-jung slowly lifted his eyes.They were deep, reaching far.
"I thought the same."
After a brief pause, he continued in a low voice.
Without looking at the map, Yi In-jung stared into empty space.
"The White Lotus in Jiangnan has shed the shell of religion.It has already become the people themselves, sweeping across the region.They are different from the Red Turban White Lotus we faced in Liaodong.The steppe armies are being pushed back by popular will.That is why they called for us."
An old general asked cautiously,"What is the core objective of this expedition?"
Yi In-jung smiled briefly.His short answer cut through the tent.
"Coming back alive.This war is a vortex born of politics.Different rebellions interlock and grind each other down.That is why only a small force goes.In Jiangnan, movement itself is combat."
He unfolded the map again.Unlike Liaodong's mountain ranges, thick, slow rivers, branching waterways, and nameless marshes dotted the surface.
"Horses are useless. Large armies are useless.Formations that worked in Liaodong dissolve in water."
Hwang Hyun-pil asked,"Then how do we move?"
"We do not collide," Yi In-jung answered firmly.
"And what sustains the White Lotus?"
Yi In-jung nodded.
"The people."
The air changed.
"The White Lotus of Jiangnan are not bandits.They are villages, families, starving commoners.By day, they are peasants. By night, rebels."
Yi In-jung's eyes darkened.
"The most dangerous thing in Jiangnan is not the blade.It is belief.The White Lotus does not tell them to take up swords.'Endure.''It will open soon.''The suffering will end.'Those words become poison to the starving."
He continued.
"We do not define them as enemies.The moment we do, the entire countryside becomes a battlefield.If we must fight as enemies on their land, it will be exceedingly difficult."
He folded the map, concluding.
"That is why the force is small.This expedition is not about victory.It is about preserving justification, securing what we can, and returning alive."
Outside the tent, the wind stirred.It was the wind of Jiangnan—still not yet reached.
Yi In-jung added one final remark.
"They said they will approve the occupation of Liaoyang if we march.There's also talk of returning Ssangseong…"
It was dawn.
The drums of a new expedition toward Jiangnan thundered through the sky.
---**
White Lotus (백련, White Lotus Movement)
The White Lotus was not merely a rebel group, but a broad religious and social movement that repeatedly surfaced in Chinese history, especially during times of famine, corruption, and dynastic decline.It combined Buddhist and millenarian beliefs, promising salvation, renewal, and the end of suffering.
Importantly, White Lotus followers were often ordinary villagers by day and insurgents by night.This duality made suppression extremely difficult: attacking them meant attacking entire communities.In this story, the Jiangnan White Lotus has evolved beyond a secret sect into something closer to popular will itself.
Jiangnan (강남, South of the Yangtze)
Jiangnan refers to the fertile, water-rich region south of the Yangtze River.Unlike the dry plains and mountains of the north, Jiangnan is defined by rivers, canals, marshes, and wetlands.
Because of this terrain:
Large armies lose their advantage
Cavalry becomes ineffective
Movement itself becomes combat
Wars in Jiangnan are not decided by decisive clashes, but by endurance, navigation, and control of waterways.For northern soldiers, it is almost a foreign world.
Yuan Dynasty (원나라) and Joint Suppression
At this point in history, the Yuan Dynasty (founded by the Mongols) is weakening.Internal rebellions—especially those tied to the White Lotus—are spreading across southern China.
Unable to suppress these uprisings alone, the Yuan court seeks joint military action from allied or subordinate forces.Such alliances are politically coercive: refusal risks retaliation, while acceptance means being drawn into wars that primarily serve Yuan interests.
This tension—between national duty, political reality, and moral ambiguity—lies at the heart of the Jiangnan expedition.