Suppressing the River Pirates
Before departure, Dang Un-sang summoned the Hwamangdae, Dang Su-jeong, and the Hwamangdae commander.
“Is everyone assembled?”
Three hundred strong, the Hwamangdae were the elite of the elite among the Sichuan Dang Family—their martial power surpassed even the Dokwadae that Hui-yeom so often brought with him. Dang Un-sang had simply sliced off half their number, one hundred and fifty men, and handed them over to his son.
At the riverside pier near the State-run Ironworks, standing before the merchant vessels about to leave the foundry behind, he began his address. Many eyes had gathered to watch.
“What is the house law of our Sichuan Dang Family?”
“Never forget kindness or enmity!”
The Hwamangdae answered in a single thunderous voice to Dang Un-sang’s dignified command. Satisfied by a roar that sounded like gunpowder detonating, he nodded and continued.
“For long years—truly long years—we have reigned as the masters of Sichuan. Even when our family’s fortunes rose like the morning sun, we never left the Sichuan we governed to push into the Central Plains. That was the benevolence of our ancestors, who knew how to be content with what they held. There was no need to advance into the Central Plains and spill blood with the local powers and sects there. Sichuan’s earth was rich enough.
“But.”
The smile left his face, replaced by something sharp and cold.
“They touched us.”
Behind him, green inner energy surged like a flood of muddy yellow water and took the form of a colossal flood dragon. The creature reared its head toward the heavens as if preparing to ascend as a true dragon, then lowered its gaze to look down upon the Hwamangdae.
“We said never forget kindness or enmity. That is the single iron rule that makes our Dang Family what it is.”
When Dang Un-sang swept his hand, the poison qi that had taken solid form behind him shot forth like a living serpent, passed over their heads, and smashed into the towering riverside cliff at their backs.
KWA-AAAAANG!! A searing crackle followed.
His internal energy, refined and formidable in his late forties, shattered the cliff face and carved the character for Exterminate into the stone. As the rock sizzled and boiled under the poison qi, the onlookers forgot to breathe and shuddered. Dang Un-sang’s eyes blazed with a green light like a dragon’s, and he made his declaration.
WAAAAAAAH—!!!
As the roar of the Hwamangdae and the Dang clansmen shook heaven and earth, Dang Un-sang turned his eyes to Dang Su-jeong.
“Su-jeong. I entrust the Young Master to you.”
“Yes, Gaju.”
Her face was so clear and youthful it was hard to believe she had entered her late thirties. Yet she was already a martial artist who had stepped into the Transcendental Peak realm—and, after Dang Un-sang himself, one of the strongest the family could claim. She met his gaze with fierce intensity and struck her own chest twice, hard.
“Until this heart stops, no one will lay so much as a fingertip on the Young Master.”
“Having you here is a true comfort.”
At last Dang Un-sang looked at Hui-yeom.
“My son.”
“Father.”
“As always, I place my trust in you.”
Hui-yeom smiled.
“By every means at my disposal, I shall erase the Eighteen River Strongholds of the Yangtze from this world.”
The warriors of the Sichuan Dang Family boarded merchant vessels that the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s office had prepared and refitted for them. The journey down the Min River to Chongqing was an ordinary water voyage. But once they left Chongqing and the ships truly entered the Yangtze, tension settled over the faces of the Hwamangdae men.
There were five ships in all. Hui-yeom had stationed thirty warriors on each.
“We have no way of knowing when the enemy will strike, so we stand watch in rotation.”
The Hwamangdae commander divided them into groups of ten and set three watches of two shifts each to cover every direction.
“The enemy are nothing more than river pirates. On land their martial skill would not even qualify as opposition. So they will certainly try some trick against the ships and drag us under the water.”
They split into teams covering the bow, both sides amidships, and the stern, and made certain that each team included at least three men with exceptional eyesight. Warriors of the Sichuan Dang Family, trained in throwing weapons and hidden arms, already possessed sharper vision than ordinary martial artists.
“Watch the water carefully. The Cheon-gyeong-suroe are limited in number, so do not throw them unless you are certain. Use the wire nets and lead weights instead.”
These, too, were traditional weapons the Cheol-u-jeon had forged specifically against river pirates—small things, but effective. Preparations were complete, discipline was strict, morale was high, and the moment was ripe. A fight they could not possibly lose awaited them. Carrying the Dang Family’s warriors, the ships drifted calmly down the Yangtze—
—until, at last, the alligators of the Yangtze spotted them.
“Chief. Merchant ships approaching.”
“Let’s have a look.”
At the scout’s report, Yi Chae-jun, chief of the Flood Dragon Stronghold on the Yangtze, came out of the water fort himself and spotted the merchant vessels winding their way down the river in the distance. The ships flew green banners marked “Sichuan,” declaring that they were on official business for the Sichuan Provincial Administration Commissioner. Under ordinary circumstances, mere river pirates would never dare attack merchant ships carrying government property…
“Been quiet for a while.”
“Well, they’re not idiots. After getting hit a few times they’d start being careful.”
Yi Chae-jun studied the ships in silence, then the corner of his mouth curled upward.
“Look at these brats. They’ve been playing games.”
“Games, sir?”
“Look how deep the hulls are sitting.” He pointed. “They’re riding higher than the usual merchant ships that come out of the Sichuan Provincial Office. That means they’re carrying less heavy steel.”
“So they deliberately loaded less cargo? To split the load and make sure at least some of it gets through?”
“That’s not it, you idiot. They loaded less cargo and put soldiers on board instead. People are lighter than iron, so the ships sit higher. Get the boys ready.”
“Should we set them on fire with flaming arrows like last time?”
“Use the head you’ve got and think. Who do you suppose is riding those ships?”
“Uh… government troops?”
Yi Chae-jun gave his subordinate a look of pure exasperation and let out a long-suffering sigh.
“If Sichuan government troops crawled all the way out here it would be overstepping their authority, you fool. Do you think the Sichuan Provincial Office is the only place we’ve hit?”
Understanding finally dawned. The subordinate’s eyes went wide.
“The Dang Family?!”
“That’s right. The Dang Family. Those people specialize in throwing hidden weapons. You want to lob a few flaming arrows at them and get a dagger planted in your skull?”
Watching Yi Chae-jun speak so casually about refusing a long-range duel with the Dang Family, the subordinate stammered in alarm.
“W-why would the Dang Family come here?!”
“They’re famous for having stomachs the size of a minnow’s and never forgetting even the smallest grudge. Of course they’d come.”
“Th-then this isn’t something to take so lightly, is it? It’s that Dang Family. One of the Nine Great Noble Families—the same Dang Family that held back the Demon Cult’s rampage forty years ago! We can’t possibly win in a straight fight!”
At the man’s whining, Yi Chae-jun seized him by the collar and snarled.
“Listen carefully. This is the Yangtze. We are members of the Eighteen River Strongholds of the Yangtze. And I am Yi Chae-jun, chief of the Flood Dragon Stronghold.”
“Th-that… ug… f-forgive me…”
“On the Yangtze I am the Murim Alliance Leader and the Bodhidharma himself, understand? Don’t get scared. Just do what you’re told.”
When the subordinate managed a shaky nod, Yi Chae-jun released him and barked at the coughing man.
“Pick the ones with high attainment in water arts and start by punching holes in the bottoms of those ships. Anyone who can’t manage it—I’ll cut their heads off myself and feed them to the Yangtze alligators.”
“…Understood.”
The pirate underling left with an uneasy expression.
A person cannot live in a state of tension for twenty-four hours a day. So it was only natural that the vigilance of the Hwamangdae, who had been staring at the flowing river for days on end, had begun to loosen.
“Senior, do you really think those bastards will go after the merchant ships again?”
One Hwamangdae warrior asked a comrade on the same watch. The man called senior shrugged.
“Who knows. That’s why we’re here—in case they do.”
“Hmm. Looking at the weapons we brought, the Young Master seems absolutely certain they’ll come after us this time too…”
The mere fact that all one hundred and fifty Hwamangdae had each been issued five of the new hidden weapons called Cheon-gyeong-suroe was enough to show how seriously Hui-yeom was taking this operation.
A few of the warriors whispered among themselves.
“Cheon-gyeong-suroe—Heaven-Shocking Water Thunder. How powerful can they really be?”
“No idea. But they say the Young Master developed them himself.”
“And they’re brand-new weapons. Gunpowder and fire that detonate even underwater…”
“Shh.”
The senior shot a warning look at the careless junior who was casually discussing classified information. The junior pouted.
“Come on, it’s just us on this deck. You’re being ridiculously careful. The only things around here are our ships, the water, and some floating logs…”
His voice trailed off. His expression hardened.
“…Senior. That log looks like it’s going upstream.”
At those words every gaze among the senior and the other Hwamangdae warriors locked onto the log. A withered yellow log was bobbing along. If they had not been watching the surroundings carefully they might have let it pass. But that log was moving against the current.
The senior bared his teeth.
“Doesn’t look like a Yangtze alligator. It’s a real log, though.”
“A log swimming upstream? They must think we’re complete idiots… Should I signal?”
“No. Quietly inform everyone. Act as if we haven’t noticed their approach.”
“Ahh, reverse the trap on them? Got it.”
The junior ran excitedly toward the stern. In an instant the information spread through the entire ship and was passed to the others (by throwing notes tied to throwing stars). The Hwamangdae, the true elite force of the Sichuan Dang Family, prepared for the pirates’ attack in the blink of an eye.
Just as the river pirates, who had been hiding beneath the logs and slowly closing in on the merchant ships, left the logs and began approaching underwater—
—Dang Su-jeong’s sleeve snapped open as she stared down at the water’s surface.
Shaaaaak!!
Instead of shooting the pirates with the Hagyeongchong she had lately grown so fond of, Dang Su-jeong hurled the wire nets Hui-yeom had just issued. Each wire net had a spearhead-like weight of lead at its center, connected by a web of wire that looked like a spider’s threads. The wires, stamped out on the same machines that made coiled barbed wire, had been woven into nets roughly one and a half meters on a side. Lead weights hung from the edges, and a large spearhead-shaped weight sat at the center. When thrown by that central weight it flew like a badminton shuttlecock; the moment it struck, inertia flung the wire net open and wrapped the target.
The truly lethal part was that the wire, like the coiled barbed wire, bristled with dense metal barbs. Shaped like a starfish and named Sea Star for that reason, the net was a simple yet utterly vicious killing weapon.
Splash!
The Sea Star’s weighted tip plunged into the water and punched straight through one pirate’s skull. The net attached to it wrapped around the corpse like a living monster and dragged it under. A fellow pirate who turned in shock to watch his comrade sink in an instant to become fish food soon had to spit out bubbles of his own in a strangled gasp.
—Bubble bubble?!
Three more Sea Stars thrown by the sharp-eyed Dang warriors landed nearby; there was nowhere to flee. Realizing he could not dodge the net that was flying toward him and unfurling, the pirate struck the metal weight with his short spear—
—but when the weight stopped under the impact, the net’s own inertia flung it forward and wrapped his body. No matter how well a river pirate had trained his water arts and how long he could hold his breath underwater, the moment he was entangled in wire tough enough to stop a cavalry charge and thick with barbs, he could only feel the spikes biting into every part of him as he sank alive toward the riverbed.
Damn it!
When approaching by diving, most projectile weapons—arrows, throwing knives—lost their force the instant they hit the water’s resistance and usually went wide. That was why the pirates had never been slaughtered so one-sidedly while still underwater. The nets the Dang Family kept throwing could not be cut even by a blade; instead they wrapped greedily around anyone who tried, and the pirates’ crude internal energy could not break them. In the space of a breath more than a dozen river pirates found themselves tangled in Sea Stars, sinking in despair toward the river bottom to wait for drowning.
But the pirates’ nightmare had only just begun.
“Within three jang! Throw the Cheon-gyeong-suroe!”
“Throw!”
Ting!
Dang Su-jeong pulled the safety pin from a Cheon-gyeong-suroe she had drawn from her sleeve. Inside, the sound of a clockwork spring unwinding began to rise.
Kiiiiiiing…
Then she hurled it with all her strength into the Yangtze.