Advance Along Three Roads

The Office of the Duke of Yue in Mingzhou.

Its master was away. A young clerk burst into the empty study and cried out in haste.

“Marshal! A letter from our lord!”

“Bring it here.”

Lim Pyeong tore open the red outer wrapper that marked an urgent order and read it through at speed. His narrow eyes drew tight. Brush, ink, and paper were always kept ready; with them he wrote a reply at once, sealed it in another red wrapper together with the orders An Hyeon had enclosed, and stamped the packet with his official seal.

“Dispatch the fastest courier boat to Quzhou. It must reach Great General Kagetora as quickly as possible. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Marshal!”

The young clerk ran. The letter would go up the Qiantang aboard a naval courier boat, bound for Quzhou.

Lim Pyeong had just settled the urgent business and sunk into thought when Song Han-gi, late to the news, came hurrying in.

“I—I heard our lord sent an urgent message?”

“Yes. It arrived just now.”

“What on earth is it? Don’t tell me something serious has—”

Lim Pyeong handed the letter to Song Han-gi, whose face had gone tight with strain. Song Han-gi read it and frowned.

“How long has it even been since we pacified Fuzhou, and already another great battle? This… he isn’t going to take the field himself again, is he?”

“Most likely he will. He says the fight is of the utmost importance to settling Fujian.”

Lim Pyeong looked no better pleased. His fingers tapped the desk.

“That our lord won a great victory at sea and took Fuzhou Castle in a single stroke is glad news. Even so, I cannot for the life of me see why he must court danger in such haste.”

Song Han-gi dropped into a chair and let out a sigh.

Thirty great cannon, bought at enormous cost. Six thousand rounds fired from them—more than fifty thousand jin by weight. Gunpowder for the cannon alone, ten thousand jin. What the Tiger Hunting Army’s matchlocks and the swivel guns had burned was no small sum either. Yet the stores laid by were ample, and expenditure on that scale could still be borne.

What mattered was the absence itself: the absence of the ruler of Zhedong, the man who was in all but name their sovereign. And the fact that this sovereign, at the slightest pretext, stood on the front line and ranged the battlefield.

“Shouldn’t we send more troops?”

“Our lord has already said we must not. If Zhang Shicheng or Zhu Yuanzhang were to entertain vain ambitions, we would be in trouble.”

At that, Song Han-gi’s shoulders sagged.

The armies under the Office of the Duke of Yue numbered one hundred and sixty-eight thousand in all. Of those, fifty-two thousand were Patrol Army troops, holding the circuits, prefectures, and counties and keeping the peace. Unless the crisis were the very worst, they were not men to be thrown elsewhere. Since the wars inside Zhedong had ended and the bandits had been swept clean, a Patrol Army that had once reached sixty thousand was being pared down by degrees, and the surplus folded into the regulars.

In the end, the force that could actually be mobilized—Tiger Hunting Army, Akuto, navy, and Garrison Army together—came to one hundred and sixteen thousand.

On the northern front, facing Zhang Shicheng, who had spun intrigue against them more than once, four divisions of the Tiger Hunting Army under Great General Lee Dae-nam formed the main strength: thirty-two thousand men in all, holding Qingyuan, Shaoxing, Hangzhou, and Jiaxing. On the western front, facing Zhu Yuanzhang in Jiangdong and Chen Youliang in Jiangxi, Great General Kagetora and Great General Jin Gun-sang held the Zhedong interior fast with Akuto and Garrison Army combined, eight divisions. Take away the two Garrison Army divisions on the southern front, guarding Chuzhou and Wenzhou, and the troops to spare were a bare thirty thousand.

Their lord, An Hyeon, was leading those thirty thousand in person to pacify Fujian.

“Still, it’s a mercy he means to draw the men from elsewhere…”

“Has the intelligence on Zhang Shicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang been confirmed?”

At Lim Pyeong’s question, Song Han-gi nodded.

“Zhang Shicheng won’t move—not unless Keun-nomi’s Tiger Hunting Army leaves its posts. Every elite he has, he’s sent north of the Yangtze to his younger brother Zhang Shide, and he’s pouring his strength into the conquest of Huaixi.”

“And Zhu Yuanzhang?”

“He’s locked in a brutal fight with Chen Youliang and hasn’t the mind to turn this way. Even in the busy farming season he mobilized the people, rebuilt the fallen walls of Taiping, and stiffened the defenses. At Anqing, on the foremost line, the fighting goes back and forth without end.”

Lim Pyeong had been listening in silence. As if something had just occurred to him, he asked.

“There was movement inside Chen Youliang’s camp, wasn’t there?”

“Yes. After he assassinated the false emperor Xu Shouhui, the generals in the various regions have been quarreling a good deal. Ming Yuzhen, who conquered Sichuan, sent a letter rebuking him over the rumor of Xu Shouhui’s death—how, he demanded, could a man commit treason and murder his own lord?”

“Hmm.”

“Ming Yuzhen has posted troops and sealed Qutang Gorge, the last gate of the Three Gorges. He raised a shrine to Xu Shouhui, offered sacrifice to Heaven, and styled himself Prince of Longshu.”

Chen Youliang had suffered a great defeat at Zhu Yuanzhang’s hands, yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the foundation of his power and the strength of his armies remained overwhelming. Even so, the vast dominion that had once centered on Hubei and reached across Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Henan was creaking, unable to bring its full weight to bear. However nominal that emperor had been, while the warlords kept him at their side and commanded the lords in his name, they had held their breath and watched. After Xu Shouhui’s murder, and then Chen Youliang’s great defeat, they had begun to stir.

“The generals holding Raozhou Circuit in Jiangxi rose in revolt, and Chen Youliang put them down. The rebels fled into neighboring Huizhou and swore loyalty to Zhu Yuanzhang…”

“The struggle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang will only grow fiercer. Drawing troops out of the Zhedong interior should pose no particular problem.”

“Neither of them will have the leisure to pick a quarrel with us.”

Song Han-gi stepped aside, studied the map of Fujian drawn on the board, and tilted his head.

“But this plan of our lord’s. Will it really be all right? To my eye it looks rather dangerous…”

“Why do you say so?”

When Lim Pyeong came over, Song Han-gi took up the chalk brought from Busanpo and drew lines across the map.

“Three bodies of troops move at once from different regions and strike the enemy together. The roads are hard, and we have no choice but to draw men from elsewhere, but it will be difficult for them to stay in proper communication with one another.”

He frowned at the map.

“If anything goes wrong…”

Advance along three roads: the army divides into three routes and moves forward at the same time. Divide, advance, and strike as one: several columns gather on Jianning and attack the enemy together. It looked simple enough. But could armies pushing along harsh mountain tracks and narrow waterways truly meet their moment?

“The Art of War says: mass our own force as one, divide the enemy into ten, and so attack the one with the strength of ten. What if the enemy throws his whole strength against our divided columns and smashes them?”

Song Han-gi was no Liu Ji, but he was learned in his own right and well versed in military strategy. At the objection, Lim Pyeong narrowed his eyes on the map. He was their lord’s deputy, the second man of the military office. But did he have the skill to question An Hyeon’s strategy?

“I will report your misgivings to our lord—the misgivings of his kinsman by marriage. And I will tell him, at the very least, to refrain from taking the field himself.”

“That would be best. He is, in all but name, a sovereign now. Why must he insist on stepping forward himself…”

Lim Pyeong and Song Han-gi sighed together at the frustration of it.

Longquan County, famed for its Longquan celadon. The Garrison Army’s 2nd Division, guarding the southern border of Chuzhou.

“What in the world is this? Why have they suddenly—”

Division Commander Hu Shen could only stare, dumbfounded, at the riverbank and the water crowded with countless riverboats.

The Longquan Creek linked Lishui County, the seat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Chuzhou, with Longquan. Boats laden with porcelain, tea, and timber out of Longquan, deep in the mountains, kept that waterway busy without end. Today, what the boats carried were thousands of soldiers, banners streaming in the wind.

“Commander Hu! There you are.”

“Is that you, Commander Wu? What business brings you here, when you ought to be in Wenzhou? Have you brought the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whole division?”

Hu Shen was forty-five. Aside from Fang Guozhen, he had led troops longer than any of them, and he stood as second among the commanders of the Garrison Army. He looked at the young division commander who had dragged his men here without so much as a word of warning.

Wu Zhide, a young general of thirty-two, hastily drew a letter from his breast and held it out.

“Our lord has given orders to you and to me. The matter was urgent, so I couldn’t send word ahead. I brought the troops at once.”

“Hmm.”

Hu Shen opened the letter—the red wrapper bore the Duke of Yue’s formal seal—and began to read.

“Our lord means to relieve Jianning himself? Our 2nd and 4th Divisions are to approach from the east of Jianning…”

“They say two more divisions will come over the mountains from the north. After that, the main body under our lord and the armies on both flanks will link up and strike the enemy besieging Jianning together.”

Excitement was plain on Wu Zhide’s face. Hu Shen listened, and read the rest of the orders.

Hu Shen closed his eyes. At last, the chance had come. A chance for a fighting man to win real merit.

He was a man of letters who had cultivated learning in his own way. He might have followed his senior brother, Zhang Yi, down the civil path, but he had chosen the way of arms. By the sword, I will do my part to settle a troubled age. A man who has set his will on something does not abandon it until it is done.

“I’ve heard the mountains of Fujian are harsh. Linking our movements with the other armies will not be easy…”

Excitement and unease were tangled together on Wu Zhide’s face.

“And they say the enemy around Jianning numbers forty or fifty thousand. If they turn on us in force and we mishandle it, we could be cut off and beaten, couldn’t we?”

Hu Shen soothed the younger officer, who had neither his years nor his experience.

“I have guarded my home of Longquan for a long time, and in hunting bandits I have more than once crossed the border to fight. I know the ground hereabouts.”

“Y-you do?”

“The road we advance on is steep, and the way is narrow. However great their numbers, they will find it hard to bring their strength to bear. Hold the choke points, raise palisades, and post a few men in ambush on every side path, and standing against a great host will not be difficult.”

Hu Shen called to mind the country running from Longquan to Songxi, and on to Jianning, and in his head he drew where the supply line should be laid and where the strongpoints seized.

After his utter rout at the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang’s army, Hu Shen had joined the Garrison Army and spent the time since nursing the wound, grinding his teeth. From the first days of recruit training he had shared hardship and ease with the soldiers of the 2nd Division, and he had labored to forge them into elites. The loyalty of the officers. The plenty of the supplies. A proper organization, and the posting and training of the officers besides. Even if they met Zhu Yuanzhang’s army again, he had a measure of confidence now.

“This campaign is a chance to win merit. Let the two of us join our strength properly this time, and carry out our lord’s command.”

“To be honest, I’m afraid of making a mistake. It’s the first time I’ve had a hand in a fight this large…”

Wu Zhide had backbone enough, but he had never borne a charge so important. Hu Shen clapped the younger man’s shoulder.

“A man who knows what he lacks makes fewer mistakes. Trust me, and follow. I will trust you in turn, Commander Wu.”

“Understood. I’ll do my utmost—no. I’ll give it everything I have, even if it kills me.”

The army under Hu Shen and Wu Zhide began its march south.

The foremost line guarding the Zhedong interior was Xinzhou at the western edge, and Jiande to the north. Headquarters of the western front, which oversaw them all, lay at Quzhou.

The great general charged by his lord with holding that front set down on the desk the letter brought by courier boat up the Qiantang.

Great General Jin Gun-sang spoke to Kagetora, who had fallen into thought.

“Our lord left the choice of who marches entirely to you, Great General. Whom will you…”

“I mean to go myself.”

“What? You, Great General? But then who holds this place…”

Kagetora looked at Jin Gun-sang’s round-eyed face and smiled.

“Are you not here, Great General Jin?”

“What? But I…”

Jin Gun-sang broke into a cold sweat and floundered. He had risen to the excessive rank of great general and commanded the Garrison Army, yet beside Lee Dae-nam of the Tiger Hunting Army, or the Kagetora before his eyes—men of the same rank—he felt endlessly shabby. The countless merits won ranging the field at their lord’s side, and the ability to lead a great host in truth: Jin Gun-sang did not think himself fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with those two. And so he had never pushed himself forward, and had kept, as always, to the place of quiet support.

“Our lord trusted you, Great General Jin, and gave you the Garrison Army. You took righteous armies that were nothing but a rabble and tempered them well into the Garrison Army’s elite…”

“…”

“If I leave my post, who but you can hold this place and govern the commanders?”

There was belief in Kagetora’s eyes. Jin Gun-sang’s throat tightened, and he bowed his head.

“I trust our lord’s eye. And I trust your diligence and your caution, Great General Jin.”

“Understood. This lesser general will answer your faith.”

Kagetora left the rear to Jin Gun-sang and, for the first time in a long while, armed himself completely.

“Taisho! The troops are all assembled.”

“Good. We go.”

Kagetora mounted. Around him the red-armored demons closed in—the Akaoni, the Red Oni.

“Send a messenger to Jiro in Xinzhou. Have the baggage train for two divisions made ready at Fenshui Pass.”

“Yes, Taisho!”

“Good! We march!”

On white cloth, a character meaning Evil snapped in the wind, red as blood. The red demons, quiet for a time, began their march—toward the place their master called them.