126
Before Gaoyou — An Army Preparing for the Night
The walls were saturated with the heat of battle.Stone dust and the sharp stench of gunpowder clung to the air.Broken spears and bloodstained armor lay piled beneath the parapets.
Zhang Shicheng gripped the battlement with hardened hands and looked down.On the distant plain, yet another force was coming into view.
Their banners stood blue and upright.The cavalry formation was straight, their pace and spacing perfectly steady.
Zhang Shicheng narrowed his eyes and muttered,"That… is Goryeo's military banner."
A deputy at his side shouted urgently,"General! They say these are reinforcements requested by the Yuan!""And the Goryeo commander is said to be the fierce general who crushed Naghachu!"
Zhang Shicheng did not answer.
Below his gaze, three powers were entangled on a single battlefield.His own army held the city.Toqto'a's great host encircled it.And now, the Goryeo army was taking its place.
Drums thundered through the smoke.Arrows once again rose into the sky.
The interests and fates of three realms were meshing together on this narrow plain.
The Goryeo army established its camp at a distance from the city.It did not stray far from conventional encampment doctrine—a stable deployment, clearly prepared for a prolonged engagement.
Under torchlight, soldiers tended to their horses.Thin trails of smoke drifted quietly between the tents.
Park Seong-jin could feel the scale of the battlefield in his body.
The numbers were overwhelming.This battlefield moved like a single massive organism.The flow of banners, the rhythm of hooves, the beat of drums—a tide of men surged in unbroken sequence.
Separated by a single wall, great armies interlocked without a gap.
Arrows and stones crossed between sky and earth.The repetition of killing slowly erased individual faces.Everyone could feel the weight of this fight.
Yi In-jung dismounted and walked to the center of the camp.Issuing short, precise orders, he immediately convened a council.
Flames flickered inside the city.From afar, the drums of Toqto'a's camp pressed down like a low, constant weight.
"There are many of them," Yun Gyeong-bok said, and those gathered nodded.
Nangjang Jong Hui spoke first."There's no option but a frontal breakthrough.We must collapse part of the wall and force entry.Deploy a strike unit."
Another commander added,"The walls are solid."
Yun Gyeong-bok shook his head."The outer layer is brick, but the interior is rammed earth.Even after repeated hits from Huihui trebuchets, it keeps its shape.Even if it collapses, they fill it immediately."
"What about the gates?" someone asked.
Yun Gyeong-bok answered firmly."The gates are where defenses are concentrated.Traps are dense."
Yi In-jung drew lines in the dirt with his finger.
"We discard the front.Use the crossbowmen to draw attention to the battlements,and strike through a gap with the assault team."
"The northern water gate.Approach along the waterway.The ground is weak, and defensive density is low."
Without lifting his gaze, he continued.
"The crossbowmen will mix in fire arrows to intensify the flames on the walls.""At the same time, move the left-wing trebuchets to keep pressure on another sector."
Orders turned immediately into motion.
The crossbowmen assembled.Their long ranks lowered beneath the night.Archers checked bowstrings, fingers brushing resin.Fire arrows were already laid out in order.
Their expressions were calm—the composure forged by training.
The assault unit cloaked themselves in ash-gray garments.Ash smeared their faces.Ladders, hooks, and short axes were tightly bound to their bodies.
Yi In-jung spoke low.
"The moment crossbow fire begins, move in.""Set the ladders. Get as many up as possible in the first wave.""The signal is two drumbeats.One to aim.Two to charge."
Park Seong-jin tightened his grip on his saber.
The words spoken in training carried a different weight on the battlefield.His breathing sharpened, his heart racing ahead of the drums.
Barricades were raised.Ladders were assembled.The sound of hammers and nails set the rhythm of the night.
Crossbowmen organized their arrows.The assault unit finished preparing to melt into the darkness.
Yi In-jung swept his gaze over the camp one last time.
"When night deepens, we move.Hold your positions."
As the words fell, the air hardened.Within the tension, fighting spirit was tempered.
Park Seong-jin inhaled the scent of the battlefield deeply.
The fight was now only a matter of time.
Soon, they would strike.
Yi In-jung rode along a ridge far from the city.He kept his distance from the battlefield.
From afar, war revealed itself not as noise and blood,but as structure.
He always read war from one step back.War was decided not by blades, but by vision.
Gaoyou stood like a massive stone embedded in the plain.Its walls were tall, its edges sharp.Layers of brick and packed earth held their form.
Though months of assaults had battered it,the city still retained its skeleton.
Flames licked the battlements,but the city's breath continued.
Yi In-jung halted and widened his view.
First came the Yuan encirclement.Layered fortifications, each direction with a clear role.
To the north stood heavy infantry and trebuchets.To the east, cavalry reserves waited.The south handled supply and fire attacks.The west deployed battering rams and crossbow units.
The order was clear—too smooth.
Yi In-jung paused on that point.
The Yuan army was vast and experienced.Its movements followed regulation, straight and exact.When orders came, they moved.When orders ceased, formations froze.
Each unit executed its task precisely,but none intervened in another's gaps.
He looked to the trebuchets.
The Huihui engines struck the walls several times a day.The impact points rarely changed.Procedure mattered more than efficiency.
This was a siege that repeated plansbefore seeking collapse.
"The fighting continues, but pressure doesn't accumulate."
Yi In-jung muttered softly.
The Yuan infantry was brave.They advanced under shields, enduring arrows.When stones fell, they reformed.When fire spread, they adjusted formation.
They moved strictly within the bounds of their assignments.
Yi In-jung read the flow clearly.
They were consuming time.This was less a battle than continuous operations.
The nature of the fight was obvious.
To the Yuan, Gaoyou was a city to be dealt with—eventually.It did not need to fall today.
The encirclement was firm,but the blade was unhurried.
Yi In-jung shifted his gaze inside the walls.
Movement on the battlements was rough and fast.The defenders were exhausted, but their eyes were alive.They reacted instantly to even the smallest breach.When flames spread, they blocked them with their bodies.
The system was crude,but the resolve was solid.
"The side holding out inside is more desperate.And the desperate side wins."
"These troops were sent at Toqto'a's request.All they need to do is show their presence."
Yi In-jung nodded.
Only then did the position of the Goryeo army become clear.
Adding strength head-on would not change the battlefield's weight.The Yuan already possessed overwhelming numbers and firepower.Even with Goryeo's arrival, the balance of numbers would not shift.
The point of change lay in direction.
He turned his horse and looked again toward the northern water gate.
Where the waterway brushed the wall.The ground was weak.The encirclement thinner.
The Yuan did not consider it a priority.The gate was blocked, the garrison deemed sufficient.
But Yi In-jung's view was different.
War always changed directionat the point where people felt safe.
He rode back to camp.
By the time he completed a circuit of the battlefield,the outline of the fight was already complete in his mind.
This was not a contest of strength.
The Yuan trusted time.The city clung to will.
Standing between them,the Goryeo army had been given the role of changing the flow.
Yi In-jung lifted his head and looked at the city once more.
Even through smoke,the banner of Great Zhou still stood.
"Tonight," he said quietly,"we decide the direction of that banner."
Hoofbeats echoed lowas he left the battlefield behind.