Chapter 382-1
The Flow That Would Not Stop
On the day they pursued Zhu Yuanzhang's retreating army, drunk on victory,
Chen Youliang's eyes burned like those of a king who already held a third of the realm in his grasp.
Watching the enemy's backs as they fled, he became certain the contest was over.
That certainty bled into the judgment of his generals.
"They are running.
Once we push past Nanjing, Zhu Yuanzhang's spine is broken."
The commanders were swept along by his momentum.
The flow of the battlefield tilted forward, faster and faster.
Park Seong-jin and the Goryeo troops remained at a distance.
He believed the pursuit would soon halt—
that it would end at a reasonable line, without overreaching.
But the Han army's main force pressed deeper and deeper into Ming territory.
The charge did not slow.
If anything, it accelerated.
Victory raced ahead of judgment.
"Shouldn't we stop them?"
Park asked Jonghui, the captain beside him.
"Pressing a routed enemy is only natural," Jonghui replied.
"They'll turn back once it's enough."
A strange sensation stirred in Park Seong-jin's chest.
The phrase reading Heaven's design surfaced in his mind.
They were standing on a current that would not stop at that point.
It was not a vague unease.
It had direction—
as if he had briefly glimpsed a path already drawn in the sky.
A subtle pressure tapped at his upper dantian.
Park pressed the feeling aside and turned away.
It was not yet something he could speak aloud.
Then—
From the south of Nanjing, an exhausted courier galloped in.
"General!
Commander Jiang Wucai of Zhu Yuanzhang's forces seeks to submit to His Majesty!"
The words set fire to the heart of the pursuing army.
The expressions of the generals shifted all at once.
The entire formation leaned forward.
Jiang Wucai had once shared sworn loyalty with Chen Youliang.
Rumors had long circulated of his deep dissatisfaction with Zhu Yuanzhang's rule.
Chen Youliang rose in a single motion.
"At last.
Heaven favors me."
Only the strategist Zhang Hui spoke cautiously.
"Your Majesty, the timing is too convenient.
This may be a net they have already laid."
An enemy in full retreat suddenly offering submission—
the timing aligning too perfectly.
The doubt had weight.
But it never reached Chen Youliang's ears.
"An old friend would not deceive me.
The gates of Nanjing are opening."
The momentum of victory had already sealed his sight and hearing.
Chapter 382-2
Dragon Bay
Dragon Bay.
A place where the river narrowed, constricting like a throat.
Through the night, Chen Youliang drove his elite cavalry southeast of Nanjing,
toward Dragon Bay at the mouth of the Qinhuai River.
Cliffs rose steeply on both sides.
The river below churned deep and fast.
Once inside, it was difficult to change the flow.
Zhang Hui spoke low.
"Your Majesty.
Once entered, this terrain locks the movement completely."
But the vanguard cavalry was already racing toward the end of the gorge.
The horses' heads had lost the angle to turn back.
Under the moonlight, nameless banners fluttered across the river.
"Jiang Wucai."
Chen Youliang spurred his horse forward.
That instant—
Boom!
Black banners flipped beneath red torchlight.
Two white characters were revealed.
Great Ming.
Across the river stood a general in scaled armor.
It was Feng Sheng.
Beside him, Tang He rode forward.
Feng Sheng laughed softly.
"Chen Youliang.
Do you see His Majesty Zhu's will now?"
Behind him, Jiang Wucai appeared.
"Did you truly think old bonds still mattered?
You realized too late, Youliang."
The blood drained from Chen Youliang's face.
"You used me."
Jiang Wucai replied calmly.
"The realm belongs to Zhu Yuanzhang.
You were merely the bait to open this place."
At that moment, fire flared simultaneously atop both cliffs.
Whoooosh!
Thousands—tens of thousands—of flaming arrows rose into the sky.
Tang He shouted, arms sweeping wide.
"You who entered this narrow throat of your own will—
this is your end."
Feng Sheng's war drum thundered.
Boom!
Ming archers along both cliffs drew in unison.
The first volley fell.
Flaming arrows covered the sky like rain.
Horses collapsed first—
chests and throats pierced, screaming as they pitched forward.
Riders were thrown headlong.
The formation behind tangled instantly.
As front horses fell, those behind halted,
only to be crushed by those still charging.
The second volley followed—
this time aimed not at horses, but men.
Arrows slipped into armor seams, armpits, throats.
Riders tumbled.
The formation split.
Into that gap rushed fear.
"Turn back! Retreat!"
The order was shouted, but the flow was already fixed.
Ahead lay unending arrow fire.
To either side, sheer cliffs.
Behind, a narrow passage choked with bodies.
The third volley descended—
lower angles from above.
Arrows stacked atop movements meant to evade.
Men trampled one another.
Those who fell were crushed.
Horses and bodies tumbled together into the river.
Those who fell into the water had no time to swim.
Armor dragged them down.
As they surfaced, arrows struck again.
"Help—!"
The screams vanished beneath the water.
Blood spread through the river, staining the Qinhuai red downstream.
Chen Youliang tried to force his way forward—
a desperate attempt to break through.
But the surge of soldiers behind shoved even his horse aside.
It staggered.
His guards barely caught the reins and steadied him.
"Hold formation! Hold your ground!"
The command rang out—
but there were no ears left to hear it.
Fear ran faster than horses.
Then, drums thundered from below the gorge.
Tang He ordered the charge.
Feng Sheng's cavalry poured into the mouth of the valley.
Disciplined riders carved through the scattered troops.
Horses collided.
Spears and blades swung without direction.
This was no longer battle.
It was pulverization.
Those who fled were cut down.
Those who stopped were trampled.
From dawn until darkness returned, the slaughter continued.
Dragon Bay and the Qinhuai filled with bodies.
The river never regained its clear color.
Chen Youliang escaped the gorge with only a handful of guards.
From horseback, his eyes shook—
empty, like a child waking from a long dream.
"…So this is how it collapses."
A blood-soaked aide asked,
"Your Majesty.
Do we continue toward Nanjing?"
Chen Youliang looked up at the sky.
Moonlight trembled over the red-stained river.
"…We withdraw.
Now is the time to accept defeat."
That night, for the first time,
the Han army bowed deeply before Zhu Yuanzhang.
The dream of a giant who had contested the realm
was shattered—
quietly, but completely—
within the narrow gorge of Dragon Bay.