As Prophet - Chapter 188



Only Noblemtl

Episode 188. The First Ambush

Dalcheon jumped like a monkey. He went down through the trees and took a spot where he could see well. He took a position where he could shoot anything right away while having a good enough view.

I looked far to the right, but there was no sign of the navy coming. The enemy moved quickly, but the thought of my own army being slow made my mouth water. If I could just reduce the number by half before reaching Hanyangseong, the subsequent battle would be much easier… … .

If someone who has never done an ambush before tries to do it, it seems a bit awkward. It seems like it would be easy to be noticed. Then it would be a complete waste. If there is even a hint of Dalcheon, he will run away.

I prepared several stones and wooden spears that were good for throwing, and then I put the bowstring that I had let go. I pulled the empty bowstring and bounced it, then I grabbed the barrel and the arrow.

Long ago, I read in a book that if you reduce your breathing and your breath, you will become like an inanimate object. Not only will the darkness obscure them, but since they ride horses, their visibility will be limited. Dalcheon thought that if he could find them, it would be no problem to get rid of them.

A group of vanguards came running. There were about twenty of them, but they stumbled over the obstacle in front of them. They fell off their horses with a thud. Those who were thrown by the sharp wooden fence died instantly.

“It’s an obstacle!”

“Clear it!”

“yes.”

“Call as directed! There’s an obstacle, so come slowly.”

“Loyalty!”

Dalcheon threw a small stone towards the place where the two guys were running backwards. It is impossible to eliminate the gap. When they passed the mountain ridge where the road turns, the two guys fell off their horses. There was a stone the size of a thumbnail embedded in their temples.

Dalcheon was about to leave them alone, but he quickly got up and ran to push them down the road. The two horses had run away.

When I returned to my original position, the men were in chaos. I fell into a sledgehammer while trying to clear an obstacle, and my body was impaled on a sharp wooden spear. My piercing scream tore through the dark night sky. Those who ran to help fell in the same way and screamed.

As wounded men appeared here and there, the vanguard ordered everyone to stop at their current location. I lowered my posture and felt below, and there was a rope. I pulled on it, wondering what it was, and a bent tree branch flew out and hit me in the face. It was a trap.

“evil!”

“Ahh!”

“Don’t do anything! Just stay still.”

A dozen or so people who were still healthy were waiting for Ming. Cries for help could be heard from the left and right, and a dozen or so groans could be heard loudly. It seemed as if they would die soon, but people do not die so easily. They die only when the listener’s heart is completely exhausted.

“Walk backwards. Be careful! Don’t touch anything!”

“debriefing!”

The guys shivered and pulled away. It was a mistake for the vanguard not to even hold a torch.

Dalcheon, standing far away, let out a deep breath. It was a human life. Should I say they were enemies? So, is it okay to kill them without feeling anything? The cruelest thing in the world is war. This kind of thing should not happen… … .

Dalcheon hid himself and waited for them to pass. But they didn’t go straight. They went down to the side of the road, went around, and dragged out a few of them. They dragged their stabbed and broken bodies back, and back again, and then put them on their horses. It was probably the best they could do.

Since they were the ones who tried to kill others, it may be natural that they would die. They must have been prepared for this when they picked up the knife. I truly felt that I too was in the same frame of causality.

They set up a warning sign and even put up a hazard sign, then ran back the way they came.

He went down the road dripping with blood, pulled out the flags the men had left behind, and threw them into the grass. After a while, a group of soldiers came and began to dismantle the trap. Dalcheon waited patiently in hiding.

The engineers, who were like sappers, lit torches and dismantled the traps. They cut the ropes and straightened the bent branches. They filled the deep pits with dirt. Several more were injured while dismantling the traps, but they did not stop working. One group came down to the side of the road and made a new path.

When it was almost time to turn back, the vanguard of the men arrived. The sound of millions of horse hooves filled the road. As the sound became familiar, a four-column formation appeared, moving in an orderly manner.

“It’s a trap. It’s being dismantled.”

“Do something strange.”

“In front.”

“Many of the vanguards were injured and died, so we sent engineers.”

After a brief verification process, the soldiers came down to the side of the road and moved.

Dalcheon remembered the guy who had asked about the situation in the vanguard. He crossed the mountain ridge behind him and hung a baby sling in a place with good visibility. When the soldiers turned around in a semicircle and appeared under the moonlight, he saw the guy. He fired a bow without realizing it. The baby sling flew through the wind. An arrow pierced the end where Dalcheon’s gaze was directed.

“Huk.”

With a weary groan, the man’s upper body slumped forward and he fell off his horse.

“The enemy!”

“It’s an ambush!”

“Well-dressed* has died!”

* Jal-an-jang-gin: A brigadier general with four members in a class, who commands about 2,000 men under his command.

“Find the enemy!”

The long march stopped, and dozens of soldiers in the vanguard ran up the mountain. The nimble men jumped off their horses at the beginning of the steep slope and came up with their weapons drawn from their horsebacks.

Dalcheon looked far west. This was a great opportunity, but the Joseon navy was still nowhere to be seen. There must be a reason.

Dalcheon stood on the edge of a tree and held his breath. He swayed in the wind like a tree branch, so the ones who climbed up couldn’t find Dalcheon. They searched the inside of the forest, but there was no result. They heard voices saying, “There’s nothing!” from all over the place.

Niru Jang-gin*, who was in the vanguard, took the baton.

* Niru Jang-gin: There are 40 people in the first group, and about ten people under Jal-an Jang-gin. He is currently a colonel-level commander, and commands about 200 soldiers under him.

“Collect the body!”

“Loyalty!”

“Form your ranks and continue advancing.”

“Loyalty!”

“Those searching the mountain, catch the ambush attacker and then join us!”

“Loyalty!”

After a few orders were given, the vanguard of the Yeojin began to advance again. The torch-lit vanguard set the direction and planted torches in various places in the rough terrain. They were well-trained. They immediately sorted out the situation and moved forward.

There was a messenger walking behind me, so I tried to shoot again, but stopped. There were about a dozen people gathered under the tree.

“doesn’t exist.”

“This is a case of a ghost crying. It must have flown in from this side.”

“There’s nothing we can do. We’ll join after the vanguard passes.”

“Loyalty!”

Those who had gathered below scattered in all directions and went down the way they had come. Dalcheon carefully examined each and every one of the long rows. He strained his eyes and especially paid attention to those near the flag.

As the center passed, another Nirujanggin was found and shot dead. The entire army seemed to stagger, and everyone climbed up the mountain. Those who had been coming down ran along the same path, shouting and yelling for the assassin.

It was a dense broadleaf forest. The black leaves almost completely covered the bottom. Even if you knew it was above the trees, you wouldn’t be able to find it. Dalcheon looked into the distance and shook his head. The Joseon navy with torches lit on the bow was coming.

The Jurchen army, upon discovering the Joseon army, blew their horns and shouted.

“The enemy!”

“Dozens of enemy ships have appeared!”

“Get through quickly! Hurry up!”

Before even a few orders were given, the vanguard of the Yejin army, which had gone down the road, found its direction and passed through the intersection. Even if the navy came, it was too late. I wanted to shout to the men far away that it was already too late and that they should go to the next chokehold. There was nothing I could do. I had to blame the commander.

But a small stern quickly approached, checked the waterline, and turned its bow. Not long after, the ships of the navy that were coming upstream changed direction. The first route was already too late, so they would go to the second route. I thought Jo Dong-gil was a man who only talked a lot, but his judgment was quicker than I thought. I smiled happily and waited for the main force to arrive.

Before long, the vanguard of the main force arrived. As the man waiting at the crossroads explained the route, the vanguard dispersed without formation and went around the rough terrain far to get on the road.

And then he was found. He was approaching, standing in the center of the large hexagon where the Khan’s flag was raised. Dalcheon cocked his bow and released it without hesitation.

Pfft!

Was he in a hurry? Even though it was a baby, the sound was unusually loud. Dalcheon jumped down as soon as he put his bow down. He stepped on the end of a tree, jumped, and then ran towards the thing.

How many times did I jump? I saw the guy grab his neck and fall. I shouted in joy and suddenly approached him to confirm the kill, but something felt strange. The king, no, the khan was dead, but he didn’t seem to be shaken. Instead, the hexagonal formation surrounding him narrowed the gap and headed towards the direction where Dalcheon was flying.

Dalcheon suddenly slowed down. It was fake. He fell to the ground and quickly stepped back. Dozens of arrows flew and then increased to hundreds. While he hid in the forest, the forest became a field of arrows.

“Oh no, it was fake. That dirty bastard… … .”

After getting out of the arrow’s range, I crossed a small mountain and observed the long line of men from afar. Despite the chaos far ahead, the line was calm. Fake…

I found another line of cells and shot them with arrows, but this time it was fake. They didn’t seem to be bothered at all and just kept raining arrows down on the place where I thought Dalcheon was. I couldn’t believe it. I could kill them, but I couldn’t.

I don’t want things to go my way, but I can’t get past those who have already planned this out. I’ve seen a few more lines as I’ve gone back and forth, but they’re all fake.

Looking closely, there were no flags around Nirujanggin or Jal-anjanggin. It seemed to be to prevent anyone from knowing who the commander was. It was clear that they were moving with assassination in mind. Dal-cheon let out a disappointed sigh with a troubled expression.

But I didn’t give up and watched them closely. Tonight would be a sleepless night. It was a great choice to take a night march after resting at Yanggeun, but it would make the night even more difficult.

Dalcheon came out of the camp and caught a soldier doing his work, took his clothes, put them on, and then got on his horse. He followed the procession in the opposite direction, got a few flags, and pretended to show them the way, while disappearing into the crowd.

When he saw someone who looked out of place in the flow of the army, he would sneak up on them and stab them with his sword without making a sound. He would stab them while touching the blood and the blood vessels, and they would advance normally, but then suddenly fall off their horses. When chaos broke out in the army, Dalcheon was already gone.

The commander is a nobleman, and he is marked whether he knows it or not. He lowered the flag, but moved near the flag bearer. He threw small stones to kill him instantly, and secretly hit the vital points with tree branches before passing by. When he heard shouts of surprise and cries of someone dying from various places, Dalcheon looked for his next target.

Dalcheon, who was counting the number of commanders he had killed in his mind, pretended to plant a flag on the side of the road. Then he saw the guy. Eun-myeon came riding a horse. But he was also strange. There was another Eun-myeon behind Eun-myeon, and another one three or four meters away.

‘Huh, these guys are determined. It’s going to be tough today.’

I felt like I had to give up. A dozen or so Eunmyeons passed by, but I couldn’t tell the real Eunmyeons apart. Even if the real Eunmyeons were right in front of me, I wouldn’t know, so it was nearly impossible to tell the real one from among the many Eunmyeons. I tried to distinguish the presence, smell, and human energy I felt from him, but they all looked the same. I was sure that Eunmyeons were among them, but I couldn’t tell them apart.

Dalcheon opened his eyes wide. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just kill them all.

He snatched Yeojin’s spear and charged at their line. He spurred his horse and charged, and cut off the head of the man who looked back wondering what he was doing. With one stroke, his head was blown off. The surprised soldiers scattered in all directions, but Dalcheon swung his spear vigorously. The spear split through the waist and stomach of two men. The spear was inconvenient.

He threw his spear at Eunmyeon. It was obvious that it was fake since he didn’t block the way like before, but the spear flew with such force that it pierced the torso of the bastard. It flew three or four long feet from the horse and fell, causing three of his comrades around him to fall off their horses.