As Prophet - Chapter 153



Only Noblemtl

Episode 153. Battle of Unjongga

Those who received orders from Yu Seok-do were busy preparing for the expedition. Yu Seok-do called the Gyeonggi governor.

“The soldiers of Gyeonggi Gamyeong, who know the geography of this place well, should be in charge of the enemies who are going to detour to the north.”

The game inspector said the numbers first before Yoo Seok-do could continue speaking.

“If you give me 500, I won’t let a single one come down.”

“Okay. Okay, then.”

It is better to send someone who is willing to do it. Because he has the will. Yuseokdo divided all the people who came forward into four directions and advanced the vanguard. Then he gave another request to the commander-in-chief.

“You shouldn’t go too deep. It’s important to bring them closer.”

“Please leave it to me.”

Yoo Seok-do swallowed hard. He said he would do whatever he wanted. Dal-cheon approached Yoo Seok-do and pulled his collar.

“Just leave it. Why are you trying to discourage it?”

“Ugh.”

The vanguard, led by the commander-in-chief, advanced forward. The two armies, standing hundreds of feet apart, advanced forward. As they advanced, one foot hitting the ground, it felt as if the very axis of the earth was shaking. Their hearts pounded and the drums rang loudly in time with them.

“Forward!”

Dozens of shields with the image of a fearsome nobleman were advancing like waves. Well-trained soldiers advanced in line like machines. Drums were beaten to match the soldiers’ footsteps, and hundreds of them followed suit, seemingly pushing the ends of the earth.

The commander-in-chief was an experienced general. He hurriedly claimed to be the vanguard, but the army did not move hastily. He blocked the vanguard with two layers of bulwarks and surrounded it with three layers of long spears with spears standing vertically. Behind them were the swordsmen and archers, each carrying two or three lances. They secured a frontal view from horseback, and used a small number of cavalry as messengers to provide support on the left and right. Since the wide road was completely blocked, the front and back were thin in a way.

The main gates of the government offices lined up on both sides were firmly shut as if by appointment, and none of the many waves of white clothes were visible. There was not a single old man riding a donkey, and no one could see a yoke of wooden loads piled up like a mountain.

Meanwhile, the rebel formation stood shoulder to shoulder, swords drawn, like the Japanese. Three or four groups stood with their heads pointed, waiting for the order to charge. After reading a long speech-like reason for the uprising, the general dressed in black gave the order to charge.

The commander of the Western Army was in command because the leaders of the Southern and Central armies had fallen into Dalcheon’s hands. Although the memory of seeing Dalcheon’s inaction still dominated his mind, he thought it was a good idea and immediately gave the order to charge.

“They are nothing more than a peasant army. Except for the palace guards, they have taken up swords with the same hands that were cutting grass and planting rice seedlings yesterday. What is there to fear? Run right now and cut off the enemy general’s head, and drag down the king who killed his brothers and pushed his parents away from the throne. Charge!”

I trained a lot, and I believed that since each and every one of them had the upper hand, I could finish them off right away if I got in. That’s how I trained. I trained for years, focusing on attacks that would terribly cut down any enemy I faced.

“Attack! Strike!”

The signal for an attack was raised. A firecracker flew high into the sky and exploded with a thud, followed by an additional pop pop pop pop sound, scattering bright flames in all directions. Their goal is for the East and West armies to attack their flanks and separate them from the palace. If they attack from the left and right, the formation in front of Gwanghwamun will easily collapse.

Thinking that raising a signal was not enough, he sent messengers to order a simultaneous attack. A group of messengers ran east along the Pimat Road.

A strange thing happened when they charged and reached a distance of about fifty feet from the enemy. A bright red flame burst out in front of the charging formation. The flames rose from the empty ground where there was nothing to ride, and covered the soldiers like a hellish calamity.

“Ahhhh!”

Those who had charged first stopped and retreated, and those who had rushed behind them tangled with them, creating a scene of chaos. As they collided and were pushed back, arrows rained down on them. Hundreds of arrows struck the soldiers, and hundreds of screams erupted. The wide road quickly turned into a battlefield of chaos.

The advance was crushed by the rain of arrows following the sound of the horn. Still, we must charge. We do not have weapons like theirs. We can only win if we fight in close combat. There is no way we can do anything from a distance. The enemy commander advanced his archers.

“Archers, forward! Fire!”

They also had archers, though not many. They ran to the front and shot arrows. Arrows from both sides rained down, but the royalist army did not easily collapse. They did not fall even when they were hit by arrows. Their armor was thick and they were protected by shields.

“charge!”

As the archers began to return fire, the soldiers charged again. Once again, a large flame engulfed them. The startled soldiers retreated in fear. In the meantime, hundreds of arrows rained down and the enemy’s vanguard advanced.

Yoo Seok-do asked Dal-cheon.

“What is that flame?”

“It’s a fake fire. It will burn, but it won’t harm people. We need to rain arrows down on those who hesitate at the sight of the fire.”

“Loyalty!”

“Welcome. They’ll figure it out soon enough.”

The flames gushing out from the places where a talisman was attached and stuck to the stick were an illusion created by the Taoists. Yu Seok-do ordered the vanguard not to advance any further. He told them to hold their current position and retreat little by little, leading to a firefight.

The commander-in-chief opened his mouth to hear the order.

“What did you say?”

The liaison officer asked firmly.

“He told me to come back after hearing the definitive answer.”

“I got it! I said I got it!”

“debriefing!”

When the liaison officer returned and relayed everything from “What did you say?” to “I said I knew,” Dalcheon laughed bashfully. The initial skirmish was a complete victory for the royalist army. They charged several times, but they retreated after losing troops. Hundreds of corpses were strewn along the street.

* * *

Meanwhile, the rebels’ friendly forces, who had returned to the side, encountered strong resistance before they could even get near Dongsipjagak. The relatively narrow road compared to the main street was the problem. The signal to attack came up to the friendly forces who were advancing while maintaining a distance of about shoulder to shoulder. Firecrackers that had risen high into the sky sprayed silver light, and as soon as they heard the sound of an explosion, they jumped out of the alley where they had been hiding, reorganized their ranks, and ran toward Gwanghwamun.

A rough-hewn pine fence blocked the front. Thin branches and thin boards were also woven together shabbily.

* Deer horns: Wooden obstacles shaped like deer antlers.

“Clear it and charge!”

There was a trap. When I approached to clear it, the floor suddenly caved in. It was an A-shaped sledgehammer. Those who fell into the sledgehammer, which was taller than a person, screamed. The floor below the sledgehammer was densely lined with antler spears and bamboo spears. Those who were stabbed could not die, but could only scream.

Arrows rained down on those who bypassed the hammaging. They struck straight up from close range, and arrows flew in a parabolic arc from behind. At first, they were able to dodge and block the arrows, but they were no longer able to dodge as the soldiers following them crowded together. The shouts of advancing were terrifying as they fell after being hit by arrows.

The ones in charge of the east are the three men of the training center. They were not very good at martial arts at the academy and were shaky, but they were soldiers who had learned the basics of strategy and tactics. They were also capable commanders who were selected by the country and raised for the future. They were in charge of the east, but since there were three people, they divided the troops into three and prepared for battle very efficiently. They took the initiative early on by shooting arrows at those who tried to trap them and clear them away. The fact that the road was narrow, unlike Gwanghwamun Avenue, also helped.

As the rebels advanced with difficulty, enduring damage from clearing away the antler trees, a wooden plank taller than a person blocked their way like a fence. They could only advance about thirty jang, but there was another defensive device. It seemed like the bastards had laid it down on the ground.

“what?”

The leader of the rebels tilted his head. He had never seen or known such a defense. At that moment, the middle of the wooden board opened like a door and a rain of arrows poured down. The trio faithfully followed the order to avoid close combat. The rebels, most of whom were lightly or unarmored, fell helplessly.

If the front collapses, they can push in the rear. They seemed to believe that if they pour out everything they had, they would eventually be able to fight the enemy. They pushed the army forward even though countless people were killed.

Those who rolled and crawled to the plank tried to push it down with force, but long spears came out through narrow holes between the planks and stabbed their stomachs. Those who advanced twisted their waists to avoid it, but the one behind them fell down holding his stomach. The spears that had been inserted popped out again. Dozens of spears came out through the holes and stabbed the enemy. Even in the midst of this, the enormous amount of arrows flying behind them could not be avoided or blocked.

Those who bravely approached struck the wooden board with their swords. They stabbed and pushed with the same long spears, and people were pushed back as if they were blocking them. It seemed to be some kind of shield. After striking and breaking and finally breaking the wooden board, the men ran away in a panic. The archer who had shot an arrow into the hole first had already run away. Peng Baesu threw down the wooden board and ran away.

“Chase him! Kill him!”

The rebels who had broken the wooden shields were chasing the enemy with great momentum, when they threw something. It was a slingshot. Dozens and hundreds of slingshots flew towards the pursuing rebels. The hard, thorny wooden slingshots fell to the ground with a thud. Sharp, iron slingshots flew over them and stuck in. They were thrown like children playing stone-throwing, but they pierced through the shoes of those who stepped on them.

The men who ran away quickly reorganized their formation and shot arrows, but they fell without any countermeasures because the direct shots were fired from less than a dozen yards away. They covered their front with ghost-shaped shields and used bows and spears when necessary, so the men suffered little damage, while hundreds of rebels were annihilated. It was more like a one-sided massacre than a battle.

Yet they retreated whenever necessary. Each time they faced a new, but not entirely new, siege defense. They were pushed back by the tide for twenty or thirty days, and in a short time they rebuilt their defensive formation. Each time, a huge amount of arrows rained down from the sky in a curved line.

Was it a mistake to train a warrior with strong martial arts? It was a mistake to think that it would be over if we just killed the king and the general. The only thing that can deal with an army is an army. It was inevitable that increasing the number of swordsmen would be tactically weak. Compared to the enemy, all we could do was use a long sword.

Above all, there was no other way to use it than to charge. I made the mistake of imagining a series of narrow-space urban battles. It is true that the number of long swords is the most important thing in urban battles. The problem was that they used each type of unit in an organized manner.

Dalcheon stopped by while the battle was in full swing.

“Oh ho ho! The trio are doing well too.”

The bloodshot eyes of the training center’s head officer got angry.

“It’s not the trio! The director is Park Geun-soo.”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Park Geun-su! You are very good at it.”

It’s annoying to talk to someone when they’re busy, and talking just seems like a way to get them to take advantage of something. If there’s a mercenary’s evil plan, it’s probably like this. They advance the soldiers by type of unit and retreat, efficiently dealing with the enemy.

“What about the enemy leader?”

“There’s a horse riding behind you. Do you see that head sticking out?”

“Oh ho ho, head! Ahaha! Good point. There it is. I can see it.”

“He is strong in martial arts. Even if you focus your fire, he can repel them all with his sword.”

“I came to catch that guy. Ahahaha.”