139
The Guard's Last Stand
With Zhang Shicheng's name gone from the field, the guard did not scatter.Instead, they tightened their formation.
While ordinary soldiers wavered, the guard checked one another's positions and formed a half-circle.Shields overlapped low.Spearpoints did not tremble even an inch.
The lord they had protected was gone,but the way they had lived remained.
They did not retreat.They did not advance.
They fixed their feet at the heart of the city—the place where the most blood had already soaked the ground.
It was the posture of men who had accepted that this place was the end.
The Goryeo forces surged in.
The assault unit and martial warriors split the front line,while spearmen and armored infantry pressed in from behind.
The guard's first response was precise.
Shields rose.Spears thrust.The first two ranks collided at once.
Steel rang low.Swords bounced away.Spearpoints scraped armor.
The guard did not yield.The Goryeo warriors did not stop.
This was the point where strength met strength on equal ground.
Park Seong-jin saw the center.
There was no fear in their movements.Their eyes did not search for one another—only the enemy ahead.
There was no calculation of survival left in them.Only the resolve to hold to the end.
A guard officer shouted briefly.
"We hold here."
It was not an order.It was confirmation.
They had all already made the same choice.
Goryeo warriors drove in.
When one man opened a gap, two widened it.Blades slipped in.Shields split.Armor joints snapped.
Even as they fell, the guard did not abandon their ground.
When a body collapsed, another stepped into its place.
Blood covered the floor.
Yet the formation did not break at once.
The guard kicked fallen shields upright and withdrew one line at a time—even that retreat measured, deliberate.
Park Seong-jin stood at the front.
His blade struck a shield.The shock rang through his wrist.
The opponent met his gaze.
No words.
In those eyes, there was no flight, no resentment.
The swords moved again.
Two strokes—one shattered the shield,the other pierced precisely into the gap of armor.
The guard officer dropped to one knee.
Even then, his hand did not release the spear.
When he fell, the line behind him wavered.
That wavering did not recover.
The guard's cohesion unraveled at that point.
Those who remained did not scatter.Each met the end where he stood—
one holding a shield,another clutching a broken spear.
The last guard soldier still standing lifted his head.
The flames inside the city lit his face.
He no longer waited for orders.
He simply stepped forward.
The sword fell—short, exact.
In that instant, the heart of the city opened completely.
The guard's final resistance was swallowed by the noise of battle,and the last line they had held vanished on that spot.
The Battle Tilts
Dawn had not yet come.
The sky remained heavy with ash-gray,and only the fires of Gouwu Fortress burned through the night.
With the great hall collapsed and Zhang Shicheng gone,the tide of battle tilted visibly.
The White Lotus followers who had held on around him lost their center.
Across the city, voices of command fell silent.
Flames spread.Soldiers scattered.
Some swung spears at empty air, direction lost.
"Where is the general?""Fall back! Fall back!"
Orders tangled together, and no one followed them.
The White Lotus banner hanging on the wall tower tore loose in the wind and fell.
The soldiers gathered beneath it lost their will.
Only those moving to survive remained.
The western gate—the end of the battlefield.
Yi In-jung stood before it, command baton in hand.
His eyes were unchanged from the moment the battle began—cold, unwavering.
"Do not stop. Push forward."
The outcome was already decided.
It was a short command, and the judgment was complete.
"The command structure is gone.The moment Zhang Shicheng vanished, they ceased to be an army."
As the words fell, the Goryeo forces accelerated.
Spearmen and archers tightened their spacing, maintaining order.
Inside the shattered city, there was barely any ground left to hold.
Park Seong-jin moved toward the southern gate with Song Yi-sul.
Ahead of them, remnants of the White Lotus formed a final defensive line.
They fought on at its edge.
Blood stained their white robes,and red smoke rose slowly.
"So this is the White Lotus doctrine," Song Yi-sul clicked his tongue."Is that all? I wonder whose side Maitreya Buddha chose."
His blade flashed forward.
Two or three men blocking the way were knocked back and fell together.
Park Seong-jin swung his sword as well.
Each strike rang with metal.
The enemy formation visibly unraveled.
The initiative was already in Goryeo's hands.
Some of the Yuan troops that had entered through the gate followed inside.
But their movements did not match the flow of battle.
Rather than pressing the fight, they focused on occupying sections of the city—calculating shares instead of victory.
From a distant hill, Toqto'a watched the scene.
The reddened sky, collapsing walls,two armies driven by entirely different intentions.
An aide asked cautiously,"Has Zhang Shicheng been captured?"
"No."
Toqto'a's voice was low, deep.
"He vanished."
He stared at the city for a moment, then turned away.
"Then this fortress has served its purpose."
After a brief silence, he said,
"Withdraw."
The order spread at once.
Soon after, drums sounded.
Dudung— dudung-dung, dudung—
Not the drums of attack.
The signal for retreat.
Only then did the reason become clear—why this battle had been so burdensome.
The Yuan army had never intended to press to the end.
They left only a token force to preserve appearances,while the main body had already pulled back.
It was Goryeo that had truly fought.
And the Yuan feared Goryeo taking the credit more than they feared defeat.
Below the hill, Yuan cavalry turned away.
Armor caught the firelight and flowed backward like a tide.
Yi In-jung watched, brow tightening.
He ground his teeth.
"There it is again.Their hearts are set on dividing merit, not fighting."
Park Seong-jin stepped forward.
"Then we finish it."
"Yes."
Yi In-jung drew his sword and raised it toward the sky.
"All forces—advance!"
With the command, Goryeo troops spread through the city.
The remaining resistance was quickly cleared.
White Lotus leaders scattered.Soldiers threw down weapons or surrendered.
The flames burning throughout the city gradually died down.
The dawn wind swept over the walls, carrying the smoke away.
As the sky began to lighten,the banner of Goryeo was raised over Gouwu Fortress.
Park Seong-jin stood before the gate, sword planted in the ground.
Burned foundations, countless bodies, and blood-stained stone reflected the faint morning light.
Song Yi-sul approached.
"It's over."
Park Seong-jin did not answer immediately.
After a moment, he said quietly,
"The faces of the victors and the defeated are the same."
Without lifting his head, he added,
"Only those who return alive see tomorrow."
Song Yi-sul did not ask further.
Morning sunlight touched the distant battlements.
The smoke dispersed.The fortress grew quiet.
Yet at the center of that silence, something had not vanished.
He had escaped.
This place was not all he had.Other cities, other lands remained.
The hidden tunnel he fled through would have to be traced.
They had pushed too fast.
That was why he slipped away.
"Earlier—you mentioned a tracking specialist," Park Seong-jin asked."Who is it?"
Song Yi-sul laughed, grumbling.
"People who crouch in the dark.Those skilled at tracking."
"Are any here?"
"Hm. If you look, you'll find them.Some dig blood-paths. Some hide them.Others know how to read the traces.They all live by hunting one another—ha."
He shrugged.
"Could be Huaren. Could be bandits.Could be Mongols, or Merkits."
At that moment, Yi In-jung approached silently and spoke to Park Seong-jin.
"Tired? Rest a bit."
Park Seong-jin looked up.
"You should rest too, senior brother."
Yi In-jung cut him off.
"Soldiers like us—when the battle ends, we only get busier."
The battle was over.
But Yi In-jung's real fight was only beginning.