140
Escape Route and Fracture
Zhang Shicheng had prepared his escape route in advance, and in the end no one caught him.He fled through a hidden underground passage and slipped into the southern woods beyond the river.
Not long after his tracks vanished, Gouwu Fortress fell completely.At dawn, with smoke still clinging to the walls, the banner of Goryeo was raised over the ruined city.
A courier spurred his horse and raced toward Beiping.He carried only one line of news.
Gouwu Fortress captured.An unmistakable victory.
But before that news even reached Beiping, other words were already moving through court.
"Goryeo troops were merely auxiliary.""The main force of the siege was Yuan cavalry.""The command, too, followed Toqto'a's orders."
Those claims tried to shave down the victory.Yet in doing so, they made Goryeo's role even clearer.
Everyone knew who had opened the gate.
Two ominous signs sat beneath the victory.Beiping's court had not yet noticed, but those who had stood on the battlefield already felt them.
First—Mongol power was no longer what it had been.
The elite that once shook the world was gone.Only formality remained, tangled in offices and corruption.
The cavalry's speed had dulled.The arrows' trajectories had loosened.
Commanders remembered reports before they remembered the front.Their fighting resembled procedure for preserving rank more than decisions made with life at stake.
Standing on the wall, Park Seong-jin looked down on the city turned to ash and thought.
So this was the army of that Great Khan.They lost order over a single arrow, a single stone.
They wore the shape of soldiers,but inside they were already administrators.
Politics moved before the weight of war.
An army that does not think of its country or its empire cannot become strong.
Second—that army was bound more tightly to political logic than to the law of the battlefield.
Imperial interest and tribal prosperity remained only as slogans.What filled their minds was merit and seniority.
Who climbed the wall first.Who would report to the Khan first.
That competition covered the battlefield more densely than blood.
Watching from afar, Yi In-jung said,
"So the battlefield is no longer a place where men contend with blood.Now ink and seals replace blood."
Park Seong-jin nodded.
"A sheet of paper is more frightening than a man's sword."
Bitterness clung to Yi In-jung's tone.
"That's why we won.They lost their reason to fight.We still have something left to protect."
---*
The Chancellor's Summons
Toqto'a summoned Yi In-jung.A messenger would have been enough if it were only an order.
But this time was different.Courtesy toward a commander who had delivered victory was layered into the invitation.
No one could deny who had opened the gate, even if they tried.A fortress that had resisted for months had collapsed the moment they arrived.
Yi In-jung spoke first.
"You could have called sooner."
Toqto'a's gaze lingered briefly on Park Seong-jin at his side.
"I could have made it a problem."
Park Seong-jin understood at once.It meant the incident of cutting down the man who struck the retreat gong.
He said nothing.
Yi In-jung explained with calm certainty.
"He is my junior from the mountain.We are Goryeo's fighting men.Not merely soldiers—martial men who value loyalty and righteousness."
Toqto'a sat and tapped the small table lightly.
"If he is your junior, then are you of the same kind?"
Yi In-jung shook his head.
"I fall short, so I am closer to a soldier.I left the mountain early, and I have taken on too much of the world.But when a grave decision must be made, I act as a martial man."
Toqto'a said quietly,
"The retreat signal was not meant to steal your merit."
"So you say."
Yi In-jung's answer held no emotion.
Toqto'a continued.
"You may not believe this, but striking down a man like Zhang Shicheng is not, in itself, important.We can sweep such men away whenever we choose."
His eyes drifted for a moment.
"What the empire needs now is cohesion.Stability of hearts.We needed to show we remain strong."
Then he added, slower and lower,
"But Goryeo did it.You exposed our weaknesses."
After a pause, he finished.
"It looks bad."
Yi In-jung nodded, agreeing with what Toqto'a did not openly say.For one who stood beneath the Khan and above all others, appearance could outweigh even blood.
Yi In-jung asked,
"Then why let it pass.My officers and elite men died."
Toqto'a laughed briefly.
"Indeed.Why did I?"
He looked at Park Seong-jin.
"Perhaps my heart moved when I saw that boy."
Yi In-jung's gaze hardened.
"This can happen again.I must know the reason."
Toqto'a spoke slowly.
"Zhuge Liang once said this.A general's authority gains strength only when it touches the hearts of those who follow him."
Yi In-jung answered at once.
"It is from Jiangyuan (將苑).The appointment of a single general is a great affair of state, bound directly to the people's life and death."*An attributed text of Zhuge Liang.
Toqto'a nodded.
"So I wondered.Why did the King of Goryeo send a man like you."
A brief silence passed.
"Under Ming law, a commander who blocked a retreat order would be killed, even if it took force, to seal his mouth.But the battle ended as you intended."
His voice lowered.
"The King of Goryeo sent not a political soldier, but a true soldier who thinks only of the fight.So I did not make it a matter."
It was difficult to tell whether it was praise or warning.
Yi In-jung folded his hands.
"I thank the Chancellor for that judgment.If we had pulled back then, Goryeo losses would have been enormous."
Toqto'a said,
"A commander who cherishes his men is worthy of respect."
Then he turned to Park Seong-jin.
"I want to ask one thing."
Park Seong-jin straightened.
"Speak."
"You looked as if, if it came to it, you would have shot even me."
Silence fell.Any answer could twist the air.
Park Seong-jin chose the truth.
"I am a martial man.I likely would have."
He continued without forcing bravado.
"But after that, there was no further command.I had no other reason to act."
"And if the retreat order had continued."
"Even if it became a single throw of fate, I would have done my part.I could not allow our men trapped inside the gate to be slaughtered."
Toqto'a's eyes widened.
"Your age."
"Fifteen."
The words cut off.
Toqto'a exhaled slowly.It was the silence of a man facing both courage and recklessness at once.