Monopolizing Fortunes (222)
Monopolizing Fortunes (222)
Do Tong-dal wiped off his sweat and asked Hwang Byeong-seon, who had just arrived.
"How many soldiers are in Heuksu Fortress?"
"They say it's roughly sixty thousand at present."
"Then that makes one hundred eighty thousand."
It was an enormous army, but given his experiences so far, it was not a number sufficient to stop the northern barbarians.
"Where is the Provincial Commander?"
"He likely went to meet the commanders of the troops that have joined us."
"Bring the Provincial Commander and the newly appointed commanders to the command tent......."
Just then, rough shouting came from the direction of the south gate.
"This son of a bitch puts on one little hat and suddenly can't see straight! You fucking prick! Since when were you a Provincial Commander that you dare ignore me! We dragged in a bastard who was groveling in the Southern Barbarians, gave him good water, and instead of being grateful he talks to me like we're equals, and now he's even giving orders? This is why bastards who couldn't pass the civil exam should never be promoted above squad leader!"
Do Tong-dal frowned, and Hwang Byeong-seon spoke with a flustered expression.
"I'll go see."
"No, let's go together."
"I-it's probably nothing."
Hwang Byeong-seon could roughly guess what was going on, and Do Tong-dal was a man who could rival anyone in the world when it came to reading a situation.
Through the murmuring soldiers, No Song-guk and a warrior in his mid-fifties came into view.
"Who is that?"
"That is Nam Gyeong-jung, a Commandant attached to the Left Army Command."
"Seeing how plump and soft he is, he's not someone who's been hardened by the battlefield."
"He mainly handled administration, and his father was the Provincial Commander of Hunan Province in the Front Army Command."
"I get the picture."
Even after hearing such harsh words, No Song-guk's expression remained composed.
"Past rank doesn't matter. Right now I am the Provincial Commander and you are a Commandant, so naturally you must follow my orders."
"Ptui!"
The spit Nam Gyeong-jung launched landed on the toe of No Song-guk's shoe.
"I'd rather shove my face in dishwater and drown than take orders from an incompetent bastard like you!"
Do Tong-dal pushed through the soldiers and stepped forward. No Song-guk, spotting Do Tong-dal, gave a light greeting of "Have you arrived?"
Because his father's backing was so strong, Nam Gyeong-jung had never feared anything in his life. So the moment he saw Do Tong-dal, he addressed him as an equal.
"And what are you?"
The man was fifty-three years old, yet he seemed like an eight-year-old child. With someone like that serving as a senior third-rank Commandant, there was no way the army could function properly.
Do Tong-dal looked around and asked Hwang Byeong-seon.
"Is there no Military Inspectorate officer here?"
The Military Inspectorate was the organ responsible for military law and prisons. At Do Tong-dal's words, a middle-aged man came running over.
"I am Won Min-hyeon, an Assistant Commander attached to the Military Inspectorate."
Under Do Tong-dal's silent stare, Won Min-hyeon's head gradually lowered. By the time his chin was digging into his chest, Do Tong-dal's voice dropped.
"What is the punishment for insubordination on the battlefield?"
"Pardon?"
"Are you deaf?"
"Ah....... No! It is death!"
"Where are we right now?"
"The battlefield!"
"Then what is it I'm seeing right now?"
"Th-that is......."
Suddenly Do Tong-dal slapped Won Min-hyeon across the face. With a sharp crack, Won Min-hyeon toppled over, and three molars flew out of his mouth.
"An inspector whose job is to maintain military discipline just stands there watching insubordination on the battlefield! Are you still calling yourself an inspector!"
Won Min-hyeon scrambled to his feet and bowed deeply.
"I apologize!"
"What did I say insubordination on the battlefield is?"
"Death!"
"Then if you know that, why aren't you carrying it out?"
Won Min-hyeon swallowed hard, glanced at Nam Gyeong-jung, and asked.
"But killing Commander Nam over something like this seems a bit...... wrong. Commander Nam aside, his father's influence in the military is......."
Do Tong-dal cut Won Min-hyeon off.
"Commander Hwang."
Do Tong-dal's voice as he called Hwang Byeong-seon was cold, like thin ice. Goosebumps rose on Hwang Byeong-seon's skin, and he bowed.
"Give your orders."
"Demote this bastard to a common soldier and put him at the very front of the battlefield. And is there another inspector?"
"N-no, Commander. I was only giving practical advice!"
Won Min-hyeon's protest was cleanly ignored. Hwang Byeong-seon gestured toward one man. It was Jang Pyeong, a centurion in his mid-thirties who had been watching the scene from among the soldiers with his legs spread shoulder-width apart and his arms crossed.
Jang Pyeong ran out and bowed toward Hwang Byeong-seon.
"You called for me?"
"Greet the Lord Do."
"I am Centurion Jang Pyeong."
"He's the most resolute man in the Military Inspectorate."
Standing ramrod straight, Jang Pyeong did not avoid Do Tong-dal's gaze. In his tightly pressed lips and unwavering eyes, one could read a firm resolve.
"What is the highest rank in the Military Inspectorate?"
"Vice Commander."
Do Tong-dal asked No Song-guk.
"Provincial Commander. I'd like to make this man a Vice Commander. What do you think?"
"Huh? Yes, go ahead. From today, you are Vice Commander of the Military Inspectorate."
The startled Jang Pyeong quickly composed his expression and bowed.
"Thank you!"
Watching this, Nam Gyeong-jung suddenly bellowed.
"This army is a complete mess! A bastard who rolled around in the Southern Barbarian trash heap becomes Provincial Commander, and now some green young punk who doesn't know shit about war is handing out appointments as he pleases! Fuck! The head is garbage, so the stench reeks all the way down below! I'm leaving right now, so you'd better know that! I will absolutely not let this matter go!"
As Nam Gyeong-jung turned to leave, No Song-guk said.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"This bastard keeps talking to me like we're equals to the very end. You fucking prick, I have no desire to stay in a shitty camp like this! You're all going to lose your heads, you know that! You fucking bastards! Let's go!"
When Nam Gyeong-jung turned, the two adjutants guarding his sides turned with him. To have brought twenty thousand soldiers all the way here and then leave just because he was in a bad mood—that alone revealed Nam Gyeong-jung's character.
"I tried to end this nicely, since even a thorn can become a fond memory."
No Song-guk muttered, then called for Jang Pyeong.
"Vice Commander Jang."
"Yes, Provincial Commander!"
"Deal with that man according to the law of the battlefield."
"I receive your order! You there! Arrest that man immediately! If he resists, you may kill him!"
Three men burst from among the soldiers and advanced on Nam Gyeong-jung.
"You bastards! What do you think you're doing! You must be out of your minds, wanting to die!"
The two adjutants flanking Nam Gyeong-jung drew their swords. Seeing that, Do Tong-dal clicked his tongue.
"Those two really can't tell shit from soybean paste."
The three inspectors charged at the two adjutants. A fight broke out out of nowhere inside the camp.
The young inspectorate soldiers were brave, but they were no match for the adjutants Nam Gyeong-jung kept with him. So Jang Pyeong joined in as well.
Jang Pyeong's martial skill was considerable, and he fought the adjutants to a standstill. Then Nam Gyeong-jung shouted at his own soldiers behind him.
"Kill those bastards right now!"
At that command, about twenty soldiers drew their weapons in unison. Unable to watch any longer, Do Tong-dal moved to step in, but someone was faster.
Jang Yu-seom had appeared on the spot before anyone noticed. In an instant, Jang Yu-seom cut the throats of the two adjutants fighting the inspectors.
Then he leaped into the middle of the soldiers who had drawn their weapons. The clash of blades was barely heard even a few times.
There were twenty soldiers hardened by the battlefield, but before Jang Yu-seom they were no better than scarecrows standing in the middle of a field.
Jang Yu-seom's sword, dripping blood, pointed toward the twenty thousand soldiers Nam Gyeong-jung had brought.
"Is there anyone else who wants to try?"
"Kill him! Kill that bastard right now!"
Nam Gyeong-jung screamed at the top of his lungs, but the soldiers, cowed by Jang Yu-seom's presence, did not dare draw their weapons. And unless the soldiers were fools, there was no way they didn't know Nam Gyeong-jung's actions were wrong.
Only the dull ones who had tried to show excessive loyalty ended up pitifully, and dullness was not contagious.
Jang Pyeong approached Nam Gyeong-jung, whose face had flushed bright red.
"For refusing orders, insulting a superior, and even attempting rebellion, I sentence you to summary execution!"
There was not a shred of hesitation in Jang Pyeong's sword as he swung it at Nam Gyeong-jung. Dark red blood covered Nam Gyeong-jung's head as it rolled across the ground.
The smell of blood had not dried up since No Song-guk arrived, but Do Tong-dal thought it wasn't bad.
They had eliminated everyone from would-be rebels to the incompetent, and as a bonus, they had tightened military discipline. In peacetime it might have felt excessive, but war would break out tomorrow.
It was a time when discipline had to be enforced even by picking a fight, so it was like slapping someone who was already crying.
No Song-guk asked one of the soldiers who had followed Nam Gyeong-jung.
"Who is the highest-ranking commander remaining?"
The soldiers' gazes turned toward one man. A commander in his early forties stepped forward.
"I am Choe Jip-yeong, Assistant Commandant."
"Let the soldiers rest. We depart for Heuksu Fortress in one shichen."
"Understood."
No Song-guk summoned five Assistant Commandants and ordered them to prepare their respective units for departure. Then he said to Do Tong-dal.
"Now let us hold the strategy meeting."
Position makes the man, and No Song-guk was starting to carry himself like a Provincial Commander. They entered the largest tent.
The traces of yesterday's slaughter had been cleaned away without a trace. The faint smell of blood lingering inside was something only Do Tong-dal and Jang Yu-seom could detect.
A large map was spread across the table. The military map drawn around Heuksu Fortress was quite detailed.
Twenty-eight men, including No Song-guk, the Commandants, and the Vice Commanders, gathered in the tent. The table was wide enough for all of them to stand around.
"There are two things we must decide now. One is whether we defend here at Heuksu Fortress, or whether we meet the enemy and fight at Sapung Valley."
The only route the Mongol army could use to invade was from Liaoning Province through Sapung Valley. For the Mongols, a cavalry people, choosing a rugged mountain path would be tantamount to giving up half their strength.
The alternative was to pass through a long, long canyon carved through the middle of the mountains, but the risk of ambush was so great that no one had ever chosen it before.
The Mongol army would not deliberately choose such a difficult route. Moreover, this time they had an arrangement with Prince Yeongun, so the place they would come was clear.
Of course, knowing did not make it easy to stop them. The Mongol army was so strong that even knowing, they could not be stopped, which was why so much damage had been suffered until now.
Sapung Valley, situated between two rugged mountains, was fifty jang wide and two hundred jang long.
It would have been good to build a fortress in Sapung Valley, but Sapung Valley was Mongol territory, not the Central Plains.
So they had no choice but to build Heuksu Fortress on the open plain beyond Sapung Valley.
Hwang Byeong-seon spoke.
"Wouldn't it be best to first reorganize our ranks at Heuksu Fortress? Our army's preparations are insufficient to fight the Mongols tomorrow."
If they had trained properly in normal times, such words would never have come out. Including the soldiers already at Heuksu Fortress, it was a great army of one hundred eighty thousand, but most of them were nothing more than a rabble.
The majority were probably commoners who had been farming until a few days ago and then conscripted and dragged here.
The soldiers gathered in the camp were like that, and the soldiers yet to come would be the same. To keep three hundred thousand soldiers as elites at all times, half the national budget would have to be poured into the military.
Of the one hundred eighty thousand, only twenty or thirty thousand could actually fight, and if they clashed with the Mongol army with that kind of strength, they would lose ten times out of ten.
So Hwang Byeong-seon's opinion was realistic. But Heuksu Fortress had too many gaps.
If the enemy simply bypassed Heuksu Fortress, there was no way to stop them from the fortress. The only reason the enemy would bother to take the fortress was for the military supplies that followed behind, but the Mongols had no need for such things.
Their way of war was to carry what they needed for battle on horses and wagons and plunder their provisions.
Hwang Byeong-seon continued.
"What if we first lure the enemy past Heuksu Fortress, then surround and annihilate them from the front and rear?"
Even if they were a rabble, their numbers were vastly superior, so it wasn't a bad plan. Do Tong-dal asked.
"There are countless civilian homes between here and Heuksu Fortress. What about the damage to them?"
"Wouldn't we have to accept it?"
That kind of thinking might be familiar to the military establishment so far, but Do Tong-dal was not a man accustomed to that kind of damage.
Do Tong-dal said.
"Maybe it's because I come from the streets, but I can't stand it when someone I consider family gets so much as a finger hurt. When you think about it, aren't the people inside this fortress our family?"
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