Yu-baek
Emperor Sungui frowned as he looked down at Minister of War Pi Jae-hyeon, who lay prostrate before him.
Sending troops when foreign enemies invaded was only natural.
The problem was that the provincial forces of Sichuan and Yunnan were not exactly being pressed by the enemy at present.
On the contrary, according to the reports relayed through Baek Beon, they had already seized advantageous terrain in advance and were using obstacles and modern weapons for interception, forcing maximum losses upon the enemy at minimal cost to themselves.
Moving a great army incurred enormous expense, yet Pi was insisting on dispatching the central army even though the provincial forces were not yet in peril. His intent was painfully obvious.
He means to plant the Ministry of War’s influence in Yunnan and Sichuan, where its breath has always been weak.
He intended to lead troops obedient to the Pi clan, expand his sway over the provincial armies, and thereby tighten his grip. Though he could not leave central troops permanently stationed in the provinces, he could place the regional commanders in his debt, flaunt his power, and weave all manner of schemes to draw them into his faction.
And under the pretext of requisitioning wartime supplies, he could harass the Sichuan Dang Family as well—bleed their wealth, ruin the Caffa plantations they had so painstakingly cultivated in Yunnan, or even wreck the railways with the excuse that troop movements left him no choice.
“Denied! The central army has its mission, and the provincial armies have theirs. The provincial forces are neither endangered nor defeated; yet you would move a great host and torment the people’s livelihood?
Do not disparage the provincial armies with idle talk.”
Yet Pi Jae-hyeon did not withdraw so easily.
“Your Majesty, the Yunnan Regional Military Commission commands one hundred thousand men, yet unlike the harsh northern frontiers, Yunnan has rarely faced foreign invasion. Its soldiers are little more than farmers who till the soil.
The enemy’s host, however, is said to number three hundred thousand cavalry. Clearly this is too much for Yunnan’s forces alone to hold.
Will Your Majesty move the central army only after Yunnan and Sichuan have already fallen? Considering the time required simply to reach Yunnan, even if we dispatch troops in haste now, we may or may not arrive in time.
I beg Your Majesty’s discernment!!”
“Have you not heard the Eastern Depot’s report that those three hundred thousand cavalry are pinned at the Nu River? The powder weapons the Sichuan Dang Family offered to Us, together with the outposts they built in advance, stand firm as a host of heavenly soldiers. Why, then, do you begin by fretting that Yunnan and Sichuan will be trampled?”
“In the handling of armies, optimistic expectations alone are poison, Your Majesty! I beg Your Majesty’s discernment!”
Growing irritated, Emperor Sungui turned to the man beside him.
He addressed Minister of Revenue Bang Un-taek, the official responsible for the empire’s finances.
“Minister of Revenue, explain to the Minister of War the cost of dispatching the central army all the way to Yunnan, and the harm it would bring.”
The Emperor fully expected the man to side with him and oppose the dispatch, given the massive outlays involved.
Instead, Minister Bang Un-taek delivered an unexpected answer.
“Your Majesty, it is with the utmost reverence that I speak, yet this servant also concurs with the dispatch of the central army.”
“Even you, Minister of Revenue? What is the meaning of this…?”
Sparks leapt in Emperor Sungui’s eyes. He suspected this filthy member of the Eight Great Families was once again colluding to rein in the throne.
But the words that followed left both the Emperor and the momentarily brightening Pi Jae-hyeon staring blankly.
“However, the place to which the central army ought to be sent is neither Yunnan nor Sichuan, but Qinghai Province, in this servant’s judgment.”
“…Qinghai?”
Suddenly?
Though no one spoke it aloud, everyone could hear the three syllables that would follow.
While the entire court reeled in confusion, one man stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, this servant, Sama Seung, Vice Minister of Revenue, dares to offer a word. Grant me leave to speak.”
Sama Seung was a senior figure of the Sama clan—Hui-yeom’s marital house, and a family the Emperor trusted.
Only then did Sungui realize the Minister of Revenue’s remarks must be connected to the Sama clan, and he nodded.
“Granted.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Dang Hui-yeom, who is currently checking the enemy chieftain in Yunnan, not only repelled a large-scale offensive at the Nu River but also intercepted and crushed a separate force of one hundred thousand that attempted to detour through Liangshan.”
“What?”
That intelligence had come after Baek Beon’s departure, so even the Emperor had not known of it; his eyes widened.
Thanks to the Sama clan’s falcon network spread across the entire Central Plains, Sama Seung was more thoroughly informed of the situation in Yunnan than anyone present. He now laid out Hui-yeom’s assessment for the Emperor.
After listening, Sungui murmured as if to himself.
“Using the rugged terrain of Yunnan and Sichuan as a shield, they hold fast… so rather than force a breakthrough, the enemy will merely pretend to attack, buying time while they cross the Kunlun Mountains of Qinghai…”
The court officials stirred at what sounded like an absurd claim.
The Emperor pondered in silence, then turned to Pi Jae-hyeon.
“Minister of War, what is your view?”
Pi Jae-hyeon’s mind raced furiously.
By common sense, cavalry crossing the Kunlun range was hard to imagine—yet if asked whether it was absolutely impossible, he could not say so.
His true purpose in moving the central army to Sichuan and Yunnan had been to wreck the Sichuan Dang Family’s foundations there and expand his own influence.
But to send troops to Qinghai of all places—what was there to gain by stationing an army in that barren frontier wilderness?
Still… the situation has turned thoroughly filthy.
If he flatly declared “That will never happen” and blocked the troop movement, only for those Mongol horse-brained bastards to go mad and actually cross the Kunlun—then he would be handing his own neck to Sungui on a platter.
Conversely, if he said “It is possible” and Qinghai was never attacked, the original proposal had come from the Minister and Vice Minister of Revenue; he would merely have ridden along, so the burden would be far lighter.
Moreover, according to Sama Seung’s testimony, Yunnan’s forces had already shattered nearly forty thousand enemy cavalry at a cost of fewer than a thousand casualties—an astonishing military achievement.
There was no justification left for claiming a Yunnan crisis while abandoning Qinghai and sending troops only to Yunnan.
And having been the first to insist that troops must be sent to the provinces to defend the realm, he could hardly reverse himself with “Ah, since there’s nothing in it for me, perhaps we needn’t move the army after all. My apologies.”
In the end, Pi Jae-hyeon could only grit his teeth and concur.
“If the Vice Minister of Revenue’s intelligence is accurate, then troops ought to be sent to Qinghai. At the same time we must keep constant, deep watch over the situation in Yunnan, and if necessary consider immediately redirecting the Qinghai forces there as well.”
He would first dispatch troops to Qinghai, then—depending on developments—move that army on to Yunnan. That was the groundwork he laid.
Watching Pi’s complicated expression, Sama Seung allowed himself a bitter smile inwardly.
Even I, as Minister of Revenue, never imagined that level of force could so handily stop such a great host. As expected, that boy is something else.
Pi Jae-hyeon, meanwhile, was thinking something entirely different.
That mere provincial warlord rabble, those Jianghu thugs, managed to stop the enemy cavalry only because of former Military Commissioner Wang Yangming.
That man clearly did something. I must either eliminate him or bring him firmly under my control!
Having once used and discarded the man himself, Pi knew Wang Yangming’s military talent better than anyone; he ground his teeth.
And so it was decided: one hundred thousand central troops would be dispatched to Qinghai Province.
At that same moment, the special unit drawn from the Sichuan Dang Family’s estate guards was secretly making for Qinghai, each man carrying a wooden crate that held a Gatling gun.
One might have worried that this left the main house empty, yet the Dang Family headquarters still possessed several thousand flintlock muskets, Dabal-shinggi-jeon multiple rocket launchers, and the three great combat units of the clan standing guard.
They were racing through the northern mountain passes that screened Sichuan like a folding screen when the weary men finally halted for a brief rest.
That was when “he” appeared, rising out of the darkness as if from nowhere.
No one had sensed his approach until he stood before them.
Gyeong-jun, who had commanded the special assault unit Dokgyo since the estate-guard days, found his hand moving to his sword hilt of its own accord.
“Who goes there!”
The men who had been resting around the campfire all rose at once, staring at the figure with taut faces.
Though they far outnumbered him, none had detected his presence; for all they knew he might be an absolute master beyond their ability to handle.
“He” was a tall man.
Perhaps eight feet in height, his back hunched in a grotesque posture.
His arms were so long that the backs of his loosely hanging hands reached past his knees all the way to his shins.
His waist was slender, yet his chest was broad and solid, and his legs stood firm as stone pillars.
A bloodless, pure-white face; long white hair cascading down. A freakish figure.
His eyes glowed a bright green, just like those of Dang Family masters who cultivated the Green Dragon Divine Art.
The man opened his mouth.
“…Ye-eun’s scent.”
Ye-eun?
As everyone thought of Han Ye-eun, head of the Minjeongwon, the man raised his index finger and pointed at Gyeong-jun.
“But… no Dang Family crest. You… what are you?”
A man who knew Ye-eun’s name and possessed green eyes.
Gyeong-jun judged the odds high that this was not a hostile force. He released his sword hilt and offered a formal martial salute.
“We are Dokgyo, the secret unit of the great Sichuan Dang Family. Being a secret unit, we do not openly display the family crest—yet that crest is carved deep into our very souls.
May I ask who the venerable senior is, and from where? Do you hold any grudge against our house?”
“Ye-eun… you know her?”
“If you mean Secretary Han Ye-eun, she also serves as Director of our Minjeongwon!”
“Then… you know each other.”
The man’s voice was listless as he nodded.
The strange tension evaporated as if washed away. Gyeong-jun felt an involuntary twinge of relief and asked,
“Ah… and the senior is…?”
“I am Yu-baek.”
The man named Yu-baek spoke.
“You… a collateral of the Dang Family?”
“I would not dare claim even collateral status, yet I live by the Dang Family’s grace.”
“All of you?”
“Yes!”
“I see…”
As though he had lost interest, Yu-baek turned his head and muttered softly,
“Then… no hunting.”
With those words the man called Yu-baek vanished as if he had never been there at all.
Had they not all risen in combat readiness because of the uncanny pressure he radiated, they might have believed they had dreamed the entire encounter.
That very fact sent a chill down their necks.
If that presence had attacked them just now…?
“C-Commander, that just now was…”
“…I do not know from where the senior hails, yet at the least he is no enemy of our house. Looking at those eyes, he may even be of the direct bloodline.”
“Dang Yu-baek… I have never heard that name…”
They had memorized every direct and collateral member of the family, yet the name was new to them.
They could only feel relief that a being of such presumably terrifying martial prowess did not appear hostile to Ye-eun or the Dang Family.
After parting from those who carried Ye-eun’s scent, Yu-baek crossed the mountains and rivers of Qinghai at ghostly speed.
In a single bound he cleared rivers; he vaulted peaks; he raced like a gale—until his steps abruptly halted.
His handsome face tilted sideways at an almost grotesque angle.
As though he had witnessed a phenomenon beyond comprehension,
he scratched at his temple with fingertips tipped by long nails.
“That… what animal is that?”
There, carbide lamps blazing, a steam locomotive thundered along the mountain track, racing over the rails.