The Guardians of Baoshan County
The most remote city in Yunnan Province is Baoshan.
Baoshan is a superb strategic hub linking Tibet to the Chinese interior. The southern route of the Silk Road runs north-south through it, while the Tea Horse Road crosses east-west. As the outermost city of Yunnan and a border stronghold of the Gyeong Empire, it had originally been fortified with proper walls and a standing watch.
These days, however, no one could honestly call the local garrison’s defenses airtight. The Central Plains had almost never been attacked through this corridor. When the Mongols invaded, they struck south from the steppes, breached the Great Wall, and drove straight into the northern plains. When the Jurchen rose, they poured through Manchuria into Liaoning and Hubei. Yunnan might sit at the western edge of the empire, but its mountains made it poor cavalry country.
That did not mean there was no road at all. Anyone willing to swing around the Kunlun range and ride south would eventually reach Baoshan—and from there could smash through Lijiang and Dali on the way to Kunming, the provincial capital.
On the advice of Hwi-yeom, the Yunnan Provincial Commander had ordered the garrison commander at Baoshan to transfer every Musinpo and smoothbore cannon the Dang Family had produced. The result was even fewer troops left to hold the walls.
“Honestly, who’s crazy enough to think horse-riders would come through here?”
“Right? As if those bastards even know what an army is. Ridiculous.”
The sentries’ tempers were foul for good reason. Because of the cannon-hauling detail, they had been dragged out on what should have been their day off. One of them yawned, dumped his loosely worn helmet on the ground, and stretched out in the shade beside the battlement.
“I’m gonna sleep for a bit. Wake me if anyone important shows up.”
They were not professional soldiers, so there was no modern rank structure—just neighborhood men who still observed the rough hierarchy of age. A-chil, the youngest on the shift, seethed inside at the sin of having been born later than everyone else, yet he had no choice but to stand watch alone while the older brothers from the village loafed.
Then a group of men approached the gate he was guarding.
“Who goes there!”
“Hey, tough work, huh? It’s just us.”
Down below, young men in Noksan uniforms waved. Among them A-chil recognized a face he had greeted that morning.
“Hang on a second!”
He could not open the main gate alone, but a side door existed for ordinary traffic. Militarily it was an obvious disaster waiting to happen, yet given how slack security consciousness had become in the field, it was hardly rare. The Noksan employees felt a twinge of Is this really okay?, but the convenience was too useful to complain about. Raising a fuss would only make their commute worse.
“Yi Sang-chun and twenty others of Noksan Baoshan First Outer Outpost Duty Team A, returning from shift.”
“Appreciate the hard work.”
“Heh, you take it easy too, Guard Captain. Here—if you get bored on watch, chew on these.”
Yi Sang-chun handed A-chil a small pouch. Inside were thin slices of dried sweet potato. A-chil’s face brightened for the first time all day.
“Nothing happening out there?”
“Ugh, nothing at all. What a waste of time. Every day I go out, stare at empty wilderness, and come back. Some days I can’t tell if I’m a sentry or a damn farmer.”
That was when it happened.
—Fweeeee… bang!!—
Far beyond the walls of Baoshan, from a hidden ledge high on a cliff between two mountains, a single rocket streaked into the sky and burst with a series of sharp reports—seven explosions in rapid succession.
A-chil cocked his head in puzzlement. The smile vanished from Yi Sang-chun’s face.
“Red Seven-Link?! God damn it…!!”
He lunged at A-chil and roared,
“Sound the alarm now!”
“W-what?”
“I said sound the alarm, you idiot! The horse-riders are coming!!”
Not long after Deputy Director Yi Sang-chun had gone off shift, Director Jo Deok finished the handover, set down his beloved wolf-fang staff, and began inspecting the trench network.
“—? What’s that dust cloud?”
On the far horizon a rising plume of dust caught his eye. Years of bandit life had sharpened his instincts. Something felt wrong. He dropped flat and pressed an ear to the ground.
—Thududududududududu…!!!
It was the sound of hundreds—thousands—of warhorses galloping in formation, like a steel plate being hammered by a cloudburst. Every hair on Jo Deok’s body stood on end. He gathered his inner energy and bellowed,
“This is not a drill! Enemy cavalry assault! Fire the Red Seven-Link!!!”
In the jianghu his cultivation was only First-rate, but his natural lung power carried the shout all the way to the outpost. Confused murmuring rose from the post; Jo Deok ground his teeth and roared again.
“You useless bastards! Light the emergency rocket now!!”
Only then did a streak of fire whistle skyward with a sharp fweee!!
Jo Deok wheeled on the men who had been inspecting the trenches with him.
“Move the horse-barrier spears and pull the wheels!”
“Yes, sir!”
The men who understood the situation moved with crisp efficiency. The Baoshan First Outer Outpost sat in a triple trench system between two mountains. Leaving the coiled barbed-wire zones alone, they dragged the wheeled cross-shaped horse-barrier spears onto the central road, yanked the wheels free, and planted the ten-pointed iron spikes so they bit deep into the earth. Once set, any charge from any direction only drove the opposite ends deeper into the ground, locking the barrier solid.
“Faster!”
The dust cloud was closer now; the thunder of hooves shook the very air. As soon as the last barrier was in place across the road that pierced the triple trenches, the Noksan men sprinted back. Their outpost was not beside the trenches but built into a ledge halfway up the adjoining cliff. They climbed by a hidden path ordinary eyes would never find.
“Everyone up?”
Confirming the last man had arrived, Jo Deok swung his wolf-fang staff and smashed the prop holding a great boulder. The rock tumbled free with heavy thuds, yanking the ropes that supported the wooden stair they had just climbed. In an instant the stairs collapsed into a rolling mass of logs that crashed down the near-vertical slope. Anyone wanting to reach the outpost from below would now have to scale a sheer rock face. There was a rear path, but using it meant first passing the walls of Baoshan itself—so the enemy had effectively lost every approach.
A natural fortress if ever there was one.
“Drag every last Dabal-shinginjeon up here! Arrows, bows, Flintlock Muskets too!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Damn it all—of course this happens while the new weapons are being fetched….”
“…Chief.”
One subordinate stupidly used his old bandit title; Jo Deok ignored it.
“Look at those bastards—there’s a disgusting number of them.”
“Oh… Buddha, spirits, Primordial Heavenly Lord…. Damn it!”
The entire visible horizon had turned black. The Noksan men stirred with open fear.
“M-maybe we should just leave them alone and let them pass, yeah?”
“If we stay quiet they won’t even notice us!”
“Our job is road maintenance and collecting tolls, not dying for the country, right?”
The arguments were perfectly reasonable. Even Jo Deok felt the same instinct deep in his gut—yet he could not obey it. He turned to one trembling employee whose face was pale with dread.
“…Gaeddong.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Employee Jang Gae-dong jerked his head up at the summons.
“Your wife’s due any day now, isn’t she?”
“…Yes.”
Several faces darkened. Jo Deok continued, naming them one by one.
“Yu Jong. Sang-gyu. Byeong-cheol. Du-chil.”
Every man he called had settled here and married Yunnan women.
“If we just curl up and pretend we saw nothing, we’ll live. But… do you really think those parasites in Baoshan Fortress will do their jobs? When this is over and we go home… if our wives and children have been raped and murdered by those horse-riders, if they’re rotting with bloody tears still on their faces—will any of you be able to live with yourselves?”
They all knew exactly what condition the Baoshan garrison was in; they walked past those soldiers every day on their commute. Refusing to fight now would be the same as watching the slaughter happen.
The men who had been shouting for silence hung their heads. Jo Deok looked at each of them with bloodshot eyes and spat the words out.
“Fuck me. I never dreamed happiness would be the thing that trips me up—not gold, not treasure. The Young Master knew from the start, didn’t he? That absolute bastard. Son of a bitch!”
When that man had first said he would gather rotten-hearted bandits like Jo Deok and “recycle” them, Jo Deok had laughed inside. People never change. Take the Noksan salary in peacetime, then when something like this hits, just run and go back to the old life. Only an idiot dies for a few coins.
He was no idiot.
That was exactly why he would stake his life—not for the wages Noksan or the Dang Family paid, but for the wife and children still waiting for him in Baoshan County.
“Anyone without family doesn’t have to die with us. I won’t stop you. Take the rear path and go.”
“…….”
“If you want to leave, leave. I won’t say a word. Just survive and tell our story. Tell them what kind of hearts the men of Noksan had when they stayed. The Dang Family never forgets a grudge, right? Even if we turn to dirt here, make sure that damn Young Master knows—so he can take revenge for us.”
The employees glanced at one another. Then the most senior among them, a deputy, spat a long curse.
“Son of a biiiiitch. I really thought I was going to marry into a Caffa plantation and live like a king. Of course not—what was a guy like me thinking?”
“I heard things were going well with Old Man Jin’s daughter.”
“They were. I was going to seal the deal this year…. Damn it, her strict father never even let me touch her. Looks like I’m dying a virgin ghost. Serves me right for aiming too high.”
“It’s not too late. Run, grab the girl, and get out of Yunnan.”
“You think a Caffa plantation daughter is going to leave her family and the farm? Forget it. Who knows? Maybe if I go completely crazy and hold Baoshan, the old man will cry tears of repentance and welcome me with open arms.”
Laughter rippled through the men at the joke. Jo Deok’s face stayed grim.
“Stop talking tough and leave if you can. Do those horse-riders swarming down there look like a joke to you?”
“Chief. Who are we? Mountain men who live and die by loyalty, ain’t we? If we call each other brother when times are good and then grab our dicks and run when trouble comes, we never would’ve picked up a blade and gone into the mountains in the first place.”
“That’s right. Mountain men have honor.”
“Damn right!”
They were terrified, yet they still put on a show of bravado. Who would dare laugh and call that foolish or empty posturing? Whether they stayed because the mood swept them along, because they refused the stigma of traitor, or because of the bond with their comrades—they had chosen, of their own will, to remain and lay down their lives for others.
A sudden lump rose in Jo Deok’s throat. He gave his men a heartfelt, if rough, compliment.
“Crazy bastards.”
Everyone grinned like wolves.
“All right. Let’s show those horse-riding sons of bitches how terrifying the mountain lords of Yunnan can be.”
Thudududududu…!!!
The hooves were beginning to shake the earth. The Noksan men took their positions.
“Gaeddong—you take the rear path and report the situation. Understand? Get the civilians evacuating and make sure the Baoshan Guard Station is ready to fight. We already fired the Red Seven-Link, so Sang-chun will have done his part, but they won’t know the exact enemy numbers.”
“Ch-Chief….”
“Quit blubbering, kid. Who said we’re staying here to die? We’re staying here to live. Don’t waste water on tears—put it on your feet and run until they burn. Got it?”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Jang Gae-dong wiped his eyes and sprinted down the rear path. With his meager lightness skill and shallow inner energy, the nonstop dash to Baoshan Fortress would be pure torment. Yet he could not afford a single rest. Even if his heart burst, he had to fall only when he reached the gates of Baoshan.