The Allied Forces
A man with bloodshot eyes stared blankly into the empty air.
The specialty product of the Valley of Sin.
Moksok.
Its effects were nothing short of absolute.
Even standing perfectly still, the savage hammering of his own heart seemed to punch straight up through the crown of his skull.
It no longer mattered who stood against him.
A certainty that he could never lose—no, a soaring exhilaration that he could beat any man to death with a single blow—flooded every inch of his body.
“Uwaaaaaaah…!”
And so he planted himself directly in the path of the massive boulder that came screaming through the air.
With a crash that was closer to an explosion, a plume of dust billowed skyward.
Shattered fragments of a human body flew in every direction, and a spray of blood blossomed faintly through the haze.
“Yes!”
A roar of triumph erupted from Yeon So-hyeon’s artillery lines.
“A clean hit at point-blank range!”
In the distance, through the thick cloud of dirt, the fortified building that had dominated the upper reaches of the Valley of Sin collapsed in a thunderous avalanche of stone.
“You smashed the whole damn thing!”
The artillery squad leader bellowed with pure delight.
“You bastards did good! When this is over, I’m slaughtering a whole pig for you!”
The cheers from the gun crews grew even louder. The squad leader’s voice cracked like a whip across the line.
“Maintain elevation! Load another round!”
Black-faced artillerymen, sweat pouring down their cheeks, grinned as they hurried through the reloading drill.
“Just like training. The body remembers every motion.”
“Hell, we’ve been doing this for years—you think we’d forget?”
None of them had spent enough time together to become true comrades, yet their hands and feet moved in uncanny unison.
They were all former combat engineers who had fought in the northern wars.
“True enough.”
One of the men hauling on a pulley rope gave a short laugh.
“I signed up for day-labor construction work and somehow ended up building and firing catapults right in the middle of Luoyang.”
“Never in my wildest dreams,” agreed the man pulling beside him.
“I used to think being dragged off to war never did a man a single bit of good.”
“And now we’re drawing combat pay on top of it. Who’s complaining?”
In Luoyang, as long as the money was good, even the carts piled with severed heads were pulled by the teeming poor.
“Checks complete!”
“Loaded and ready!”
The generous combat allowance promised by Mercy Hall had produced an overwhelming turnout of laborers from the slums.
“Long live Mercy Hall!”
Hearing the shout, the squad leader flashed a fierce grin and roared back:
“Show those parasitic scum of Luoyang the taste of Lady Medicine Fairy’s merciful rocks!”
Rooftop of Yeon So-hyeon’s operational headquarters.
One after another, enormous boulders arced through the sky.
Wherever they struck the upper valley, fresh explosions of dust and thunder rose into the air.
“This isn’t even a proper army… this is absurd…”
One of the members of Yeon So-hyeon’s newly allied families muttered the words, but no one answered him.
They simply stood gripping the rooftop rail, staring in stunned silence as the fortified upper reaches of the Valley of Sin were systematically battered by catapult fire.
“Better than I expected. Excellent work.”
Behind them, Yeon So-hyeon stood with his hands clasped behind his back and offered quiet praise.
“I merely selected men whose records were clean and reorganized them into a proper formation,” the old man at his side reported in a low voice.
“They hardly needed any grand training.”
“You are being far too modest, No-gunsa.”
Elder Yeom’s military advisory group—the War Advisory Group. The reason their veteran strategist No-gunsa had remained in the Valley of Sin all this time instead of at Elder Yeom’s side was precisely to prepare for this day.
“The materials for the catapults were brought in under the pretext of rebuilding the Valley of Sin.”
In their raw state, after all, there was little difference between building materials and siege engines.
“Precision parts were quietly sourced from the workshops of Luoyang.”
The business division of Mercy Hall—Daseonrang—had handled the logistics flawlessly.
“Honestly, all I did was stand around with my hands behind my back and grumble.”
He called it grumbling, yet Yeon So-hyeon knew perfectly well that shouldering full responsibility and supervision was the hardest task of all.
“A real engagement has not even begun yet. I will accept praise only after the battle is finished.”
Even as he claimed the fighting had not started, his tone already assumed victory.
The unshakable confidence of a man who had spent a lifetime on the battlefield drew a faint smile from Yeon So-hyeon.
“Very well.”
In the meantime the family heads of the new alliance had finally recovered from the shock of the catapults’ appearance.
“So the plan is to smash the key defensive strongpoints like this, then push through with government troops?”
An older family head muttered the question; this time someone answered.
“I’m not so sure…”
The speaker was the live-in son-in-law of the Seo clan.
“Destroying the obvious fortifications has certainly seized the initiative that looked like certain defeat… but…”
Among all the families present, only the Seo clan had any real connection to the military.
“Is there a problem?”
Naturally every eye and every question focused on the Seo contingent.
He frowned up at the upper valley and continued.
“Those narrow alleys and the steep grades are still there. Even if the government troops pay a terrible price in blood, how much chance of success will they actually have…?”
The Seo son-in-law was a field commander who had earned his reputation the hard way.
“So that’s how it is.”
“In other words, forcing a path with government troops alone is impossible.”
None of the other family heads bothered to contradict him.
“A terrible price in blood for the government troops, you say?”
A clear, ringing laugh reached their ears.
Every gaze turned toward the owner of that laugh—the First Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.
“This First Young Master has no intention of sacrificing hapless government soldiers.”
By rights the purge of the underworld was the duty of the authorities, yet Yeon So-hyeon had no desire to waste the lives of low-morale, poorly trained government troops in a futile meat grinder.
“You will not sacrifice the government troops?”
In place of her husband, whose face had flushed crimson at the public contradiction, the acting head of the Seo clan spoke up.
“Then do you mean to attack without a main assault force, my lord? Without troops to hold the front line, even the First Young Master’s armored carriages will be of little use.”
“Indeed—worthy of a military house. You are correct.”
To their surprise Yeon So-hyeon nodded readily.
“Armored carriages are little different from cavalry. Once they lose mobility, they simply stall.”
The acting head of the Seo clan could not help straightening her shoulders a little.
“However.”
Yeon So-hyeon’s words were not finished. He gave a casual shrug.
“When did this First Young Master ever claim he lacked a main force to hold the front line?”
“I have heard that a number of martial artists, including the nuns of the Ami Sect, follow the First Young Master…”
The Seo son-in-law, still smarting from earlier, found his voice again. Thorns edged every word.
“A handful of martial artists can hardly be called a main force, can they? The underworld has no shortage of martial artists of its own.”
“Of course not.”
Yeon So-hyeon lifted a hand. No-gunsa signaled the man standing in the rooftop watchtower.
“Is not the foundation of warfare simply numbers?”
As if answering him, a great red signal flag on the watchtower began to wave vigorously.
“Numbers, you say?”
Did the First Young Master of the Sword Family truly possess enough troops to fill out an army?
Far away, an equally large red flag rose over the mid-valley forward base that Yeon So-hyeon had previously reclaimed.
And then—
“Th-those troops—what in the world—?!”
From the forward base and from every side street around it, fully armed soldiers began pouring into the open square.
“Those are the troops who will form my front line and serve as the main assault force.”
Watching hundreds of men stream forth, Yeon So-hyeon spoke calmly to the family heads of his new alliance.
“Men armed with the purest faith and the most unshakable spiritual fortitude.”
Pure faith. Noble conviction. And sufficient numbers.
No one present was foolish enough to miss the implication.
“Mercy Hall?!”
Mid-reaches of the Valley of Sin, near Yeon So-hyeon’s forward base.
“These are the First Young Master’s orders! All Public Security constables are to stand by here until further notice!”
What greeted the government troops who had just arrived at the mid-valley was a holding order.
Even though a mere young master of the Sword Family was issuing commands to official constables, no one objected.
“…All of these men are the First Young Master’s forces?”
The sight of several hundred fully equipped soldiers was more than enough to empty every mind of lesser concerns.
“Senior… those troops are probably Mercy Hall’s self-defense corps…”
The junior constable trailed off and shook his head.
“But with gear of that quality, it almost feels insulting to call them a mere self-defense corps.”
Comparing the newcomers’ armament with their own, the government soldiers’ faces turned faintly sheepish.
“Where in Luoyang did they even find enough heavy equipment to outfit that many men?”
Short spears held upright, large shields, swords at their hips. Over thick leather armor they wore scale mail of interlocking iron plates.
The term “heavy infantry” fit Mercy Hall’s troops perfectly.
“…Judging by the condition, none of it looks brand-new,” Bak Po-kwae observed, eyes narrowed.
His junior frowned.
“If it’s not new, then where did used gear in those quantities come from?”
The questions kept multiplying.
“And even if it is surplus, you can’t just pick up that volume anywhere near Luoyang.”
The same questions were being asked by the family heads of the new alliance.
“They came from the North,” Yeon So-hyeon answered them himself this time.
“The North…?!”
The head of a merchant house with northern connections jerked upright.
“Of course! The North is still overflowing with arms released after the last war!”
“But a trading house large enough to move that volume in a single shipment…?”
Moreover, dealing in military equipment on that scale was an extremely sensitive matter.
“Those arms,” Yeon So-hyeon said lightly, “were sent by Dong Ga-hyu from the North.”
“Dong Ga-hyu…”
“I’ve heard that name somewhere…”
While the other family heads tilted their heads at the vaguely familiar name, the northern merchant’s eyes went wide.
“The War Merchant Magnate of the North?!”
The nickname alone was enough; recognition struck them all at once.
“The man who panning gold from rivers of blood?!”
“The Merchant of Death who appears wherever northern armies clash?!”
“First Young Master!”
The merchant head stared at Yeon So-hyeon in disbelief.
“You have a connection deep enough to conduct bulk trade with the War Merchant Magnate of the North?!”
Yeon So-hyeon gave a quiet snort of laughter. He was remembering the first—and last—time he had met Dong Ga-hyu.
“O great—heir of the Luoyang Sword Family, First—Young Master! Congratulations on the end of your seclusion! May your fortune forever flourish, may you enjoy boundless longevity, and may every endeavor under heaven—succeed for you—!”
The man who had arrived ready to offer up his own liver and gallbladder now held his life in Yeon So-hyeon’s hands as thoroughly as any mortgaged property.
“Or should I call him ‘Aruku Tai of the Ugurai tribe’?”
Yeon So-hyeon knew exactly who the man really was.
The moment Dong Ga-hyu reached the northern lands he had, on Yeon So-hyeon’s orders, shipped the massive consignment of arms.
“Of course we have a connection. That is why the trade took place.”
A meaningful smile curved Yeon So-hyeon’s lips.
“He and I enjoy a most excellent relationship.”
“My word… remarkable…”
The family heads murmured among themselves.
“Outfitting that many men in full heavy gear would have cost a fortune.”
“‘A fortune’ doesn’t begin to cover it. The sum required is truly enormous.”
“Does the First Young Master have some hidden source of funds we know nothing about? Secret backers, perhaps?”
They were not wrong. With countless other expenses already draining his coffers, equipping such a force would normally have been a crushing burden for Yeon So-hyeon.
Which is why I simply ‘borrowed’ every last piece of that equipment free of charge.
Borrowed—in name only. In reality it had been little short of outright seizure.
“As expected… the skill that seems so mismatched with his age was never mere rumor or exaggeration.”
“To think he had a connection with the War Merchant Magnate of the North…”
Reading the mood, they offered cautious admiration for Yeon So-hyeon’s resourcefulness.
Yet it was only surface agreement. Not everyone was fully convinced by the present situation or by Yeon So-hyeon’s confidence.
“This First Young Master already possesses all the military strength he requires.”
Yeon So-hyeon had said so clearly.
“And you would do well to recognize your place within this alliance.”
Words that bordered on arrogance.
Yet—
…Is it not still too early to call victory certain with only this?
Sensing the Seo son-in-law’s skeptical gaze, Yeon So-hyeon smiled as though he had read the man’s private thoughts.
“Well then.”
Every eye snapped to him at the sound of his voice.
“It appears the real fighting is about to begin.”
Yeon So-hyeon raised a hand and pointed toward the upper valley.