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Beyond the drifting smoke, a single figure stood atop the walls, looking down at them.
A man wrapped in a long cloak.His body was still, as if locked in place, while only his gaze swept across the ground below.
It was Zhang Shicheng.
What entered his sight first was the army itself.The posture of the Yuan forces was already clear to him.Their numbers were great, their encirclement persistent—but their flow was slow.An army that would tire if resisted, and collapse if made to wait.
They were troops drawn from multiple provinces.They put on the appearance of fighting, but none wished to lose men in earnest.
The real problem lay with the force that appeared behind them.
The newly revealed formation emerged through the dust, its lines unbroken.The spacing between the cavalry was precise, and the banners held their direction even in the wind.
Zhang Shicheng judged at once.
That is a different army.
It was the Goryeo army.
The basis of his judgment was not numbers, but movement.Their formation carried no excess—only a refined, disciplined flow.When they advanced, their resolve was settled.When they halted, their purpose was clear.
This was an army accustomed to finishing wars.
Zhang Shicheng looked down at the city once more.
This was a fortress built to endure.There were people inside it. Families.There was nowhere left to retreat.
That condition alone had upheld their resistance until now.
Something felt different—difficult to name.
Zhang Shicheng clenched his hand inside his cloak.What gathered at his fingertips was not quite fear.It was the sharp intuition that brushed past only at moments when the tide of battle shifted.
A premonition.
Below the walls, the Yuan army surged forward again.Like waves, their attacks repeated endlessly.
They charged in, loosed arrows, then withdrew.Again and again, they brought up siege equipment.Rarely did it settle firmly against the walls before breaking apart midway.
And behind that 흐름, another direction had been added—sharp as a blade.
For the first time, Zhang Shicheng reached a single conclusion.
This battle may not last long.
Because of that different current.
Beyond the smoke, Goryeo commanders were looking up at the city.
They were formidable.In their eyes was neither rage nor hesitation, only decision.The gaze of men who had already made their choice.
At that moment, Zhang Shicheng felt it clearly.
This fight had entered a place where will pressed against will, all the way to the end.
Before Gaoyou, the war had already begun to move at a different speed.
The Shape of Gaoyou — As Seen Through Yi In-jung's Eyes
Yi In-jung reined in his horse and looked at the city.
Its impression came not from height, but from structure.More than strength, the conditions in which the city stood caught his eye first.
It was a fortress that could fall quickly—yet it still held its shape.
Gaoyou was a city half set upon water.It was not entirely encircled by rivers, but the nature of the land itself resembled water.Tributaries, canals, marshes, and rice fields stretched on without break.
Too soggy to unleash cavalry freely.Too treacherous to push siege engines forward with force.
"The terrain is helping the city," he murmured.
Yi In-jung calculated silently.
The north was accessible.That was why the Yuan army concentrated its encirclement there.
The south and east were lands that bound those who stood upon them.The more troops you gathered there, the more you trapped yourself.
This was not a siege meant to break through head-on,but a battle meant to shave time away.
He swept his gaze across the walls.
The thickness and materials were uneven.Here and there, signs of hasty reinforcement remained.Earth and timber had been layered on in places.
There were many points that could collapse.
But which parts to abandon, and which to hold—that choice belonged to those inside.
"Many weaknesses mean the initiative is inside the walls."
The situation within the city came into focus.
They would not have many soldiers.Weapons would be mismatched, training uneven.This was not a fortress held by a regular army.
And yet, it had endured.
The reason was clear.
There were people inside.A city held only by soldiers does not last long.A city where families remain is different.
There is no escape.Nothing can be abandoned.
Army, officials, and civilians are bound into a single mass.And so they fight to the end.
Zhang Shicheng understood that structure.That was why he forbade looting.Why he sealed away grain.Why he did not leave this city.
"That's not a fortress… it's a massive binding.""The reality of Jiangnan itself."
Yi In-jung turned his gaze to the Yuan encampment.
The encirclement was layered, but its density was uneven.The troops were many, the supply lines stretched long.
It was a formation where eating and sleeping consumed more strength than fighting.
Fire attacks were losing effect.The siege engines were exhausted.
Stones and arrows still flew in form,but they no longer changed the city—or the battle.
Fatigue had already seeped through everything.
This was a fight where the side that tired first would break,not the side that endured.
That was why Toqto'a waited.Why no decision had been reached.
And why the Goryeo army had been summoned here.
Yi In-jung gave a slight nod.
The Goryeo force was small.But its mobility was fast, its judgment sharp.An army accustomed to night assaults and breakthroughs.
Their role was not to break this city,but to end this war.
He knew it.
The moment this city was struck,what would shake first was not the walls.
It was order.
"The man inside isn't a bandit."
There was no excuse, no sentiment in those words.It was the judgment of a commander who had watched battlefields for a lifetime.
The ruler of this region, who held the people together.In other words—
The master.
All that remained now was the manner of the ending.
Yi In-jung looked up toward the battlements.
Through the smoke stood a single figure.A man wrapped in a cloak, standing with the bearing of one who would not flee.
Yi In-jung muttered quietly.
"This city will fall.""But the price won't be light."
In that moment, he realized one more thing.
Even if this war ended in victory,it would not remain purely just.
The word righteous lingered in his mind for a long time.