Chapter 230
Chapter 230
Iron Emperor — Chapter 230
The Gauri-South Roselin allied expedition against North Roselin ended with the fall of the capital, Partean. On the surface, they appeared frantic after the North Roselin royal family fled, but they soon solidified their defenses and began securing the occupied territories.
The Northern Region, having heard of the defeat of the capital relief force by Yeon Hwi-garam's detached unit and the flight of King Cadel and his household, made no move beyond reinforcing the border near the secured capital.
It turned out exactly as Hwi-garam had predicted.
"Now that we've established a reasonable defense, it's time to begin clearing the remnants in the yet-to-be-occupied areas."
King Alsein, weary but cheerful, approached the group gathered by the lakeside—Go Jin-cheon among them, fishing rods in hand—and spoke.
"You'll scare the fish away."
"Oh—my apologies."
When Jin-cheon replied curtly, his brow deeply furrowed, King Alsein made an exaggerated gesture. Victory had given him a great deal of leisure.
"Oh my! That's a whopper!"
"Are these fish blind? I hooked another one."
Eulji Buru and Yeon Hwi-garam each snatched up their rods in quick succession, cheering. The furrow in Jin-cheon's brow deepened further.
"Heh."
"Ahem."
"Hmm, hm-hm."
King Alsein caught sight of Jin-cheon's empty basket and let out an involuntary laugh, only to feign indifference when he heard Jin-cheon's disgruntled voice. Everyone else's baskets held several fish; Jin-cheon's alone was completely empty.
Twang!
"Hm!"
Thwaaang!
"Hmph—a bite!"
Jin-cheon's float and Samdopyo's float signaled at the same instant. Jin-cheon, suddenly serious, hauled his rod up forcefully. At the same time, Dupyo also raised his rod.
"Whoa!"
Flap-flap!
The lines on Jin-cheon's brow smoothed and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. A silvery fish, smaller than the palm of his hand, glittered at the end of the line, wriggling.
Is this why people fish?
The thrilling sensation of the strike filled Jin-cheon with happiness, and he opened his mouth to speak.
"At last...."
"What—just a bit bigger than your hand?"
A voice shattered Jin-cheon's happiness into a thousand pieces.
"Hmph, don't mock me."
"Hehehe, a mountain of a man like you—what's that? Let it go. You call that a fish?"
"Uh, General Gye..."
Buyeo Gi-yul tried to intervene with a worried voice as Dupyo grumbled and Gye Ung-sam teased him.
"Heheh, Giyul, he says this is a fish. A minnow, no less. A giant of a man and all he gets is a little thing barely bigger than his hand... but sure, it's a fish. Yes! Fish aren't judged by size—they compete on taste. Or wait—the little ones always taste better anyway!"
"I think it's too late."
"...."
Mong Ryu-hwa, who had been right beside Jin-cheon, quietly informed Ung-sam—who had shifted his words midway into an impromptu ode to small fish—that it was too late.
Ung-sam saw it.
Jin-cheon was letting the tiny fish go, a murderous aura rolling off him.
While the party rested, the Gauri soldiers who had marched with them on the campaign also recovered their full vitality.
"It's about time we headed back," Go Jin-cheon remarked as he watched the troops packing up the encampment. Yeon Hwi-garam answered with his customary smile.
"This campaign has been a long one as well."
"Still, the fact that it isn't truly over bothers me."
"Indeed."
What bothered him, of course, was the Holy Empire. No matter how powerful Gauri's army was or how proudly it boasted of being undefeated, taking on one of the three great empires such as the Holy Empire head-on was another matter entirely.
As long as they kept winning, it didn't matter; but if they were ever defeated even once, the aftermath would come crashing down all at once. That was what always drove Jin-cheon to lead from the front, and what forced him to show cruelty in the battles that followed.
"Once we return, we need to reinforce our defenses more thoroughly and strengthen our ties with Roselin. And King Haian seems to have his own ideas as well...."
"In any case, all we can do is give it everything we've got."
"Giving everything isn't enough. We have to produce results."
"That is true."
There were already too many people gathered under the name of Gauri to simply accept an outcome with the excuse that they had done their best. No one understood the weight of that better than Jin-cheon, and it made his shoulders feel all the heavier.
"On the way back, we'll need to gather what's ours, too."
"Indeed. The war expenditures were enormous."
"Are the serfs we'll be taking ready?"
"Yes. They're prepared to relocate in family units, but a shortage of young men is unavoidable."
Just as in Gauri's early days, whenever they needed to make up for the lack of population, people were always among the spoils. That had been true in the old Gauri, and it hadn't changed as they built a new nation here.
"We can make up the shortfall as we pass through the yet-to-be-occupied territories. Whether it's able-bodied men or wealth."
"Exactly. We've already reached smooth agreement on that, and King Alsein was actually finding it difficult to manage anyway."
There were still many, many areas not yet occupied.
South Roselin's forces couldn't handle them one by one. Simply pinning down the border with the Holy Empire and the North Roselin remnants north of the capital was already straining their forces. Even stationing troops drawn from the south to guard key fortresses and occupy major domains—administering them—could barely be covered by reinforcements arriving from the rear.
"For us, it's simple—just raid, take what's worth taking, and go."
"It may be piecemeal, but when added up, it'll amount to quite a lot."
"Mm."
Many lords were surrendering one after another, but that wasn't the Gauri army's concern.
Those who surrendered obediently would be spared; those who resisted would be annihilated and stripped clean as usual. A single domain could field at most roughly one thousand to twelve hundred troops.
Most domains could only field about five hundred soldiers at best, so if they split the nearly forty-five thousand troops into groups of five thousand and swept them up while advancing, there would be almost no needless bloodshed. As for the people's hearts, they could be won simply by distributing some grain when they looted the lords' storehouses.
"So you were here."
"Hm?"
King Alsein appeared, accompanied by Duke Baikal, whose title had now been elevated to the kingdom's ducal rank. King Alsein had been coming to see Jin-cheon almost every day.
"Now that the war is over, and once things are settled to a certain degree, I'll have to bring over my elder sister...."
Flinch.
Princess Yunias and some others were still staying in Gauri. King Alsein had merely said something perfectly natural, but for some reason Jin-cheon's body noticeably stiffened. As if he'd caught on, King Alsein smiled faintly and broached the subject.
"I miss my sister very much. Don't you agree?"
"Ahem. It has been quite a long time."
"Speaking of which, shouldn't Your Majesty also think about producing an heir? Ah, right—perhaps the Yeolhu is... having a bit of a hard time...."
"...."
Jin-cheon was conspicuously silent.
"Now that I think about it, my sister's marriage has been delayed as well."
"That's true. It's been delayed a great deal."
"...."
Jin-cheon answered King Alsein's musing as if he had been waiting for it. For a moment, King Alsein and Duke Baikal turned silent gazes on Jin-cheon, who simply stared into empty space.
"Your Majesty Alsein, you need not worry about Princess Yunias. She has a fine match available, does she not?"
"Oh-ho, is that so?"
"Ahemm."
When Duke Baikal's words visibly brightened the king's expression, Jin-cheon abruptly cleared his throat and straightened his attire.
"There is Count Tanil, who distinguished himself in this war, and Baron Bels—though he's somewhat older, he is unmarried."
"Ah, I see."
Crack!
Crrrrack.
Before their conversation even ended, a perfectly intact tree suddenly came crashing down with a thunderous noise.
"Where is Gurajaengi?!"
"He is currently catching fish for the soldiers' evening meal...."
"Ahem. Tell him we need to make dried fish for the return journey as well, so he's to catch and bring in two hundred more today. And what are Samdopyo and the rest of the commanders doing that I can't even see their faces?!"
"A little while ago, Your Majesty sent them off to inspect the slaves we're taking and the warhorses, respectively...."
"...."
Hwi-garam's impeccably polite and precise answers were met with yet another awkward silence.
"Hwi, is there nothing to do?"
"As for me, I've already wrapped up everything you gave me."
"The number of wounded?"
"Two thousand fifteen. Of those, seven hundred twenty-six are to remain here, eight hundred seventy-four will return by wagon, and the rest are able to march on foot."
"...."
While an unknown aura radiated from Jin-cheon, King Alsein, Duke Baikal, and Hwi-garam alone wore meaningful smiles.
"I suppose I should go gather some firewood."
"Take care not to overexert yourself."
Leaving Hwi-garam's sly reply behind, Jin-cheon drew his Hwandudaedo in place of an axe, exuding an eerie heat as he strode toward the forest.
That night, the sounds of trees being smashed to pieces echoed through the woods until dawn.