Will It End Before I Die of Old Age?

April 13. The Sui army camp on the Daehan–Joseon border.

CRASH!

"What did you say?!"

"Well, you see... they're grilling meat right in front of our walls."

"Iik! Send soldiers out and wipe them off the face of the earth!"

The enraged Sui commander brought his fist down and split his desk clean in half. Even that much of an outburst was a luxury — the Sui food situation was so dire that their soldiers were down to a single meal a day.

And now, as if deliberately rubbing salt in the wound, the enemy was roasting meat before their very eyes and letting the aroma drift over the walls. Could the provocation get any more insulting?

"They're positioned right against the walls, so we'd need a full-scale offensive to deal with them. What should we do?"

It was an absurd demand. Send even an elite detachment, and they'd simply be shot full of holes and turned into a pincushion. Ruining the enemy's dinner party would require a massive assault — but throwing starving soldiers who could barely stand into a charge would be lucky to end with anything worse than them turning around and stabbing their own commander.

"Ugh..."

"Might I suggest another approach, sir?"

"Such as what?!"

"What if we had our soldiers surrender?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

SHING!

The commander drew his blade in a single motion, his eyes terrifying enough to suggest he'd take the man's head then and there. The aide hurried on with his explanation, his words tumbling out at breakneck speed — his neck might well depend on it.

"What if we had them surrender and become prisoners, so they'd eat away the enemy's food stores instead of ours!"

"..."

"..."

The commander turned the idea over in his mind, while the aide stood frozen solid, the sword tip resting a hair's breadth from his throat.

"The supply fleet never came, and for some reason troops keep being pulled up from the south, no?"

They knew nothing of what was happening at sea, but the returning black whales kept being fed into the Daehan Sea one after another — the count already surpassed 320. The Sui fleet, once some 4,000 ships strong, had been shrinking by the day ever since losing 660 vessels on April 5th and 8th. Far from a supply fleet ever setting out, the ports could barely defend themselves; with the supply lines severed, the main force up north assumed things were better where they were, and so they kept converging there.

"But would that even accomplish anything?"

"Well, it's not as if we have food to feed them here ourselves, is it?"

One way or another, wouldn't they wander off on their own even without being sent?

A restless hubbub of voices.

"Ugh, those bastards are loud as hell."

"How many of them are in there, anyway?"

"No idea. Never bothered to count."

A Sui prisoner-of-war camp, thrown together out of wooden palisades on a makeshift site. Hundreds more prisoners were being added every single day. Sooner or later, they'd need to stack on more fencing or expand the whole thing.

"Hm. What do I do with these people?"

"There is a place we could send them..."

"Where?"

"How about sending them to the mines?"

"Those are all open-pit operations. Way too hard to guard."

The legion commander knew that most of the iron ore Daehan extracted came from surface mining. "No, not those. The ones that go underground."

"Ah!"

Come to think of it, there were deposits that had to be mined below ground — places that had been discovered but never entered, still considered too dangerous.

"Good. That works out nicely. They were becoming a headache anyway — lock them up underground and they can't run off anywhere, can they?"

"Cave-ins are a bit of a worry, but it'll work out somehow, right?"

Truly an age of barbarism. Nobody cared whether prisoners lived or died. And blissfully unaware of their fate, the Sui prisoners were laughing merrily inside the palisade, wolfing down rice porridge and calling it a feast.

"Won't be seeing much sunlight from here on out, I'd wager?"

"They'll fence off the entrance area at least, so there should be a little open ground."

"Is that so? Sounds almost livable, then."

The Sui prisoners were in for a world of trouble. Starving to death might have been the kinder fate.

Once the floodgate cracked open, Sui soldiers began surrendering unit by whole unit. Daehan was being handed a bottomless supply of labor without so much as lifting a finger. For a good while yet, mineral resources would come gushing out of Daehan — and anything piled up in a mountain was bound to find a use somewhere.

"Hm? What's this? First time I've seen this in ages?"

"What is it?"

"Is this really our troop count?"

Is this right? They didn't just slap an extra zero onto the number, did they?

"Pfft. It's correct."

"..."

"My apologies..."

Whew... it's wartime, so I'll let that one slide. Better to cut down the casualties here, at least.

"It's 6.28 million?!"

"And that's not even counting the forces garrisoned in the cities..."

"Why is it so many?"

"Well, the walls are absurdly long, aren't they? 4.2 million are posted along them alone. And you need rotation forces on top of that."

Oh, right. Our border is ridiculously long.

"That's... a lot."

"So many people keep trying to sneak over the wall that we can't afford to thin them out."

These illegal immigrants. They slip across, discover that wolves, bears, and tigers make survival a nightmare, turn to banditry, then hide themselves away in the cities. We catch them and toss them into the coal mines, but it remains one of our eternal headaches.

"So around 1.3 million are going, then?"

"Yes. 800,000 combat troops with 500,000 logistics personnel now being readied."

"Our side will be taking the heavier losses, then."

"We intend to burn everything to the ground this time as well."

"Good."

Whether it was the Central Plains or the lands south of the river, farmland was the last thing we needed. With the World Tree on our side, occupying that territory would do nothing but add more eco-parks. This time too, it would all be burned and torn down.

"Let's make a super-sized zoo."

"Pardon? A... zoo?"

Huh, no concept of a zoo yet?

"Yeah. We just leave the animals be, let them all live together cozy and happy."

"Ooh... the hunters will love that, I imagine?"

Close enough to a giant hunting ground, I suppose.

"The Han refugees will handle it, right?"

"Yes. They say they're deeply grateful for the grace shown them."

"In exchange, every last one of them has to go."

"They couldn't go anywhere else anyway. They'll have to take the gap between the walls."

The refugees living in the autonomous zone had resolved to infiltrate the inner walled city of Sui and, once chaos erupted, found a nation of their own — for in their eyes, Sui was no longer a country of pure Han. This kind of fine nationalism was more than welcome. A few Sui troops would remain, but with the weapons already pressed into the refugees' hands, taking the city would be more than possible.

"Tell them to launch their attack and then move in — and let's give them a proper tour while we're at it."

"An excellent idea."

We ought to carve terror into them down to the marrow. Although... won't this slow the spread of gunpowder to a crawl? Gunpowder itself was being mixed all over the world, but the ones who actually turned it into weapons were these Chinese bastards. In the end, it was their tech getting jacked that spread it everywhere in the first place.

"Tell them to prepare thoroughly and take it slow."

"Yes!"

"Ten years is a short span for strangling their bloodline."

I won't be doing any ethnic cleansing, but we'll round up every last one of them and push them out. After that, even without us lifting a hand, they'll starve to death all on their own.

"We're planning this as an ultra-long-term campaign."

"And what did I say the most important thing was?"

"Supply lines! Rest assured. They say the mines are bursting at the seams with all the Sui prisoners pouring in."

Right — this is what happens when the supply lines get cut. Isn't the Sui army that marched into Joseon too busy surrendering to fight? We haven't touched a thing, and an enormous workforce is falling straight into our laps. Apparently all they do is eat a lot — but food is the least of our worries.

"So how far has the occupation legion gotten?"

"They've probably only just reached ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the gates by now?"

"Tell them to take it slow — that front is going to take forever no matter what."

This is exactly why the navy is the way to go. Advancing over land is genuinely, painfully slow. If the roads are bad, you have to build them as you go just to move your supplies. It's this slow even on Daehan's paved roads — once they cross the border, good grief...

"Tell them to tough it out."

"Hm..."

Hm? He says 'hm'? What kind of answer is 'hm'? Did we send some kind of weirdo?

"I'm a little worried he's a bit... impatient."

"Let him try anything funny and I'll hang him upside down and lock him away in the Temple prayer room — send a herald and tell him so!"

"Gasp..."

There are exactly two things these people fear: the Temple prayer room and the household newsletter. Finally cracked the code on how to control them. No need for me to lift a finger at all.

"I'll go dispatch a herald at once!"

"Yes, hurry along. You're going with him too, aren't you?"

"GAHK!"

And off he bolted, white as a sheet.

April 12. Near the autonomous zone's border with Sui. The Doraesol Legion, which had received its orders on April 2nd and marched out in full glory with banners streaming.

Ten days of marching, and they had just reached the gates. The tail end of the column would still need several more days to arrive.

"I never dreamed it would take this long."

The legion commander was utterly dumbfounded. Unlike the sea, advancing over land took an eternity. If merely moving within the country took this long, who knew how much worse it would get once they crossed over.

"Hah... will it even end before I die of old age?"

He had imagined it would all be over in a flash if they simply galloped out on horseback, and now he could only despair. A few li, perhaps — but beyond that, horses alone simply wouldn't carry it.

"And this dispatch, of all things..."

"I want to go home..."

The Sui gates loomed ahead, and battle demanded that the troops assemble. At least a full day to gather, then more days for preparation, and still more days for the advance. When he ran the numbers on the schedule, he felt faint. So that was why they said even ten years was too short...

Around April 18th, just as the first surrenders began trickling in from Joseon, Doraesol finished its preparations and commenced its advance. Only after a full day of marching did the enemy walls finally come into view.

"So that's the enemy at last! Prepare for a siege!"

"Sir!"

600,000 in the army and 200,000 in cavalry — there was no way they could all fight at once. Even merely formed up ten ranks deep, the line stretched four li. Spread out far enough apart to see one another's signals, only about 100,000 could actually join a single engagement.

"Assemble the ballistae and trebuchets first!"

"Sir!"

Messengers galloped out from the center toward both flanks — flags and shouting simply couldn't carry detailed orders that far.

And so the siege preparations began. Merely putting together the great ballistae and the trebuchets took four full days.

Hundreds of siege engines stood arrayed across the open plain.

At sea, the fleets of Daedo and Dongdo had long since joined the fight and were busy turning everything into fish food — while here on land, the army wouldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fire ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its first shot until May 11th. Had the legion commander known, he might well have built himself a boat on the spot and gone to sea instead.

"Shield bearers, get in alongside, quick! Advance!"

"Tight formation!"

Grrrrind...

Engines even larger than the ones used back in the days of Han were being hauled forward by sheer manpower. The terrain here sloped gently in the direction of the Sui Great Wall — but still, what terrifying strength.

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

The Sui had apparently improved their bows as well; even landing a good distance ahead, the arrows made a deeply unsettling sound.

"Huh? They only fly that far?"

"Looks that way, sir."

"Hey! Then forget moving up — let's shoot from right here."

"Think ours will reach that far?"

"No clue. Won't we find out by trying?"

This was their first time firing these weapons too. No dedicated siege corps existed yet, so shield soldiers, spearmen — everyone regardless of specialty — had simply been thrown into crews and set to pushing the engines.

"Load up first!"

"Bring the stones!"

Rocks. From this bare, open plain...

"Why'd I have to draw trebuchet duty, ugh."

"The loading-and-firing crew has it easy — what did we ever do to deserve this?"

Life, truly, was about picking the right line to stand in and drawing the right lot.

"Let's just gather up whatever rocks we can find. Where are we even supposed to get boulders?"

That was the trebuchet's great flaw — you had to haul your ammunition along with you. They'd brought a few stones, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but sooner or later they'd have to forage for the rest locally.

Creeeak-creak-creak...

"Wow, that sound is insane. If this thing snaps, aren't we all dead?"

"Not all of us. Whoever it lands on, though, is finished."

The trebuchet wound back, groaning out terrifying noises the whole way.

THUNK.

A single stone settled into the spoon-shaped head of the engine. The question was how far it would fly.

"What are you waiting for? Just fire. I don't know the first thing about aiming."

"Where was the arrow supposed to be pointing for maximum range again?"

Neither of them knew, so the two fussed with it at a middle draw, agonizing.

"It's one of the two positions..."

"Ah, whatever! Just fire the thing!"

And together they yanked the lever beside them.

KRA-KOOM — BAM — CLATTER.

The trebuchet snapped open and hurled the stone skyward, then briefly leapt clean off the ground from the recoil before settling back down with a rattle.

The stone sailed away toward the distant wall, and —

KR-BOOOM.

— slammed into it with a horrifying crack, burying itself deep in the stone.

"Well, would you look at that? Seems we can just shoot from right here."

"Right? Let's not bother going any closer."

This war's siege looked like it would be an easy one after all.