Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 566

566. Disconnection (5)

The morale of the Liaodong army plummeted after witnessing the massacre-like casualties suffered by their allies at Insan Fortress and the Yalu River.

“What do we do? What do we do?”

Though they gripped their weapons and moved according to the orders of their commanders, the eyes of the Liaodong soldiers darted about, filled with anxiety.

Just then, someone shouted from the rear of the soldiers.

“The rear is collapsing! Run away!”

“The rear is collapsing!”

As shouts of ‘The rear is collapsing!’ erupted from everywhere, the Liaodong army’s main camp crumbled in an instant.

“Run away!”

“I have to live!”

Screaming as if in agony, the soldiers abandoned their positions and dashed backward.

Once it began to collapse, the Liaodong army’s main camp crumbled rapidly.

“Damn it! Even retreat requires a plan!”

Watching this scene from the hill, Jo Byeong-deok, frustrated, ordered his aide.

“Immediately take the reserve troops and control those fools! Lead them back! Make it a retreat, not a rout!”

“Yes, sir!”

At Jo Byeong-deok’s command, the aides quickly turned their horses. Their descent from the hill with their bodyguards was more desperate than ever before.

However, their actions were not to command an orderly retreat as ordered by Jo Byeong-deok, but rather a desperate struggle to escape a death trap.

“Those people…”

Jo Byeong-deok, wearing a bitter smile at the blatant display, ordered the bodyguards around him.

“You all go down too.”

“We must protect the General.”

“I will be down soon as well. I am only staying to see if the Joseon bastards will cross the Yalu River or not.”

“It is dangerous.”

“Don’t worry. I know the value of my life.”

“But…”

“Go down now!”

At Jo Byeong-deok’s command, the bodyguards also descended the hill. However, some remained until the end; these were Jo Byeong-deok’s household soldiers.

“You all go down as well.”

“We will stay and protect our lord until the end.”

At the resolute answer of his household soldiers, Jo Byeong-deok silently turned his head and looked at the Yalu River.

Staring blankly at the Yalu River, Jo Byeong-deok murmured to himself.

“I was drunk…”

He had become intoxicated with the heavy responsibility he suddenly shouldered upon coming to Liaodong with the Crown Prince.

He had become intoxicated with the numbers, having hundreds of thousands of soldiers in his hands.

He had become intoxicated with the hwaryongpo [a type of Korean rocket launcher], and then with the cannons he had only seen before.

Finally, he had become intoxicated with the ambition of ascending to the highest position in the nation after annexing Joseon.

“It’s time to wake up from this fleeting dream…”

As the Liaodong army completely retreated from the riverbank and the Joseon soldiers began to occupy the area, Jo Byeong-deok drew his sword.

“Ha!”

Jo Byeong-deok raised his sword high and began to charge towards the Joseon soldiers. Following him, his household soldiers also charged towards the Joseon soldiers.

“Enemy!”

“Fire! Fire!”

Tatatatang!

That was the end of Jo Byeong-deok.

* * *

The aides who had descended from the hill under Jo Byeong-deok’s command began to control the fleeing soldiers with desperate efforts.

Their desperate efforts were not solely to carry out Jo Byeong-deok’s orders.

It was because their chances of safely escaping the death trap increased with those soldiers present.

However, the aides’ attempts did not easily succeed.

First, controlling soldiers who had lost their reason and were fleeing was not easy in itself.

Second, there was the relentless attack of the Joseon navy and cavalry.

Due to the sheer size of the army, many soldiers were still within the firing range of the cannons fired by the Joseon navy.

Every time a cannonball fired by the Joseon navy fell, the soldiers scattered in all directions, and the barely restored chain of command collapsed.

The attacks of the Joseon cavalry were the same.

The Joseon navy tenaciously clung to the wounds of the Liaodong army like a shark.

Each time they clung on, the wounds of the Liaodong army grew larger and deeper, and the entire formation swayed.

And each time it swayed like this, the Liaodong army continued its disorderly retreat, and the aides had to struggle even more desperately.

* * *

While the main camp was retreating, the area in front of the Insan Fortress was entering the cleanup phase. Thanks to being the first to collapse, many Liaodong soldiers had either died resisting meaninglessly or surrendered. And even more soldiers had lost their lives crossing the Yalu River again, attacked by the Eulshik hwacha [another type of Korean rocket launcher].

“Begin battlefield cleanup and send a communication to the rear. Tell them it’s safe to cross.”

“Yes, sir!”

After confirming the retreat of the Liaodong army, Lee Jing-ok used a signal fire to send a message to the rear.

Choi Yun-deok’s main force, which had already advanced to within 5 li (approximately 2 kilometers or 1.2 miles) of the rear of Insan Fortress, began to advance immediately upon confirming the signal.

At the same time, preparations for the Joseon army’s crossing of the Yalu River began.

First, the Joseon cavalry, which had been wreaking havoc on the Liaodong army, split into two.

One part of the divided cavalry harassed the retreating Liaodong army, while the other part began to defend the expected crossing points.

While the Joseon cavalry moved in this way, the Joseon navy’s panokseon [a type of Korean warship] also moved.

“Turn the engines!”

“Push! Push!”

“Pull! Pull!”

The sailors who had disembarked from the panokseon, which had been deliberately run aground on the riverbank, pushed and pulled to get the panokseon back into the river, and the steam engines reversed the propellers.

To get one ship back in, the sailors from the surrounding panokseon all clung to it, pushing and pulling repeatedly. Once one ship was afloat again, the soldiers immediately clung to another ship. In this way, the panokseon were floated back into the river one by one.

The panokseon that floated on the river again took on soldiers and sailed up the Yalu River.

The panokseon, which had joined the panokseon crossing the Yalu River, lined up in a row.

“Lower the sails and drop the anchors!”

Following the orders of the captains, the panokseon folded their sails and masts to the side and dropped their anchors.

Ropes soon flew between the panokseon that had taken their positions, and the panokseon were securely fixed together, interlocked with each other.

Lee Jing-ok, watching the scene from the walls of Insan Fortress, murmured to himself.

“Is this the chained ships of Red Cliff…? If someone throws a firebrand, it’ll be over in one go.”

However, the situation on the Yalu River now was very different from the situation at Red Cliff.

The Joseon army controlled both sides of the riverbank and was heavily guarded.

“The engineering corps has arrived!”

“Is that so?”

At the aide’s shout, Lee Jing-ok looked behind Insan Fortress.

Several columns of black smoke billowed up, and the Joseon army’s engineering corps arrived at Insan Fortress.

* * *

The engineering corps that arrived at Insan Fortress immediately began work.

The first thing they did was to dig huge pits, using excavators, in places quite far from the Insan Fortress.

Beeeep!

In response to the signals sent by soldiers with whistles in their mouths, waving flags, the excavators dug several large pits.

Once the pits were completed, Liaodong soldiers who had been taken prisoner carried the bodies of dead Liaodong soldiers to the pits.

Under the strict supervision of the Joseon soldiers, the Liaodong soldiers, carrying the bodies of their comrades, stared at the huge excavators with terrified faces.

The large size, which seemed to be several thatched houses, and the large shovel blade, which could easily accommodate three or four grown men at the same time, were enough to make anyone’s legs tremble just by looking at them.

* * *

While the battlefield cleanup was being carried out on one side, work for crossing the Yalu River was in full swing.

Beeeep! Beeeep!

In response to the whistle signal, the geojunggi [a type of crane] installed on the panokseon lifted the wooden bridge.

The sailors and engineering corps soldiers pushed the bridge, which was floating in the air, from side to side to position it.

“Good! Lower it! Lower it!”

In response to the signal, the wooden bridge slowly came down. At both ends of the bridge were steel hooks, and those hooks firmly grabbed the bulwarks of the panokseon.

If placed properly, a solid bridge connecting the two panokseon would be created.

Two days later, the main force of the Joseon army crossed the Yalu River.

This was what had happened while Heo Hu was staying in Beijing.

* * *

Listening to Kim Jong-seo’s explanation, Heo Hu counted on his fingers and muttered.

“By now, the news must have reached Beijing. The Emperor’s expression must have been a sight to behold. Or rather, has my head been chopped off?”

Muttering to himself, he entered the Seungwhadang conference room, where a heated debate was taking place among the ministers.

“We have gained justification, and since we have already crossed the Yalu River, let’s cross the Liao River as well!”

“The Liao River is not allowed! Then it will become a full-scale war, not a local war!”

“Didn’t you see the Emperor’s edict earlier! He said he would hold us accountable! Either way, a full-scale war is unavoidable!”

Amid the fierce debate over expansion, Hyang asked Jo Mal-saeng.

“I would like to hear the opinion of the Minister of National Defense.”

At Hyang’s request, Jo Mal-saeng immediately replied.

“The military’s opinion is the same as before. With our current capabilities, Liaodong is the limit. If we cross the Great Wall, there will be problems with supply.”

“What about using the navy?”

At Hwang Hee’s question, Jo Mal-saeng shook his head.

“Even if we mobilize all the Dojeonja-class battleships [a type of Joseon warship] and civilian merchant ships, it will be severely lacking. As I have said repeatedly, neither Ming nor we have the ability to invade each other’s mainland. In the end, we must settle everything in Liaodong.”

“If the military says so…”

“It’s a bit disappointing…”

The expansionists could not hide their disappointment. However, they could not help it. It was a situation where the military, the main player in the war, was saying it was impossible.

As if knowing the feelings of such expansionists, Jo Mal-saeng added.

“If I had my way, I would like to charge into the Forbidden City and grab the Emperor by the collar and shake him, but considering the amount of supplies consumed in this battle and the amount that will be consumed in the future…”

Jo Mal-saeng glanced at Kim Jeom and the Minister of Finance and trailed off.

The ammunition and supplies consumed by the Joseon army in this battle were equivalent to the amount consumed by the entire army for two months of training.

That was just the amount consumed at Insan Fortress, excluding the supplies used by the navy and cavalry.

The mobilization of reservists had already begun throughout Joseon. The supplies they would consume were certain to be even greater than what they had experienced so far.

Jo Mal-saeng, who had trailed off, continued.

“Therefore, completely seizing Liaodong is the best we can do for now. Let’s leave the venting of our anger over the Emperor’s insidious schemes to the navy.”

“Hmm… that’s not bad either.”

“It looks good. What do you think, Your Highness?”

At Hwang Hee’s words, Hyang also nodded.

“I think it’s reasonable.”

‘If I had my way, I would like to ride my horse all the way to the Forbidden City… but it’s more profitable to just destroy all the ports. It can significantly reduce Ming’s market dominance….’

As Hyang sided with Jo Mal-saeng, the future direction was decided. Then, Kim Jeom opened his mouth.

“No matter what anyone says, we must get Musan! Musan at least!”

At Kim Jeom’s cry, Hyang and the ministers all nodded.

According to information obtained from the prisoners, the minerals used to make the Liaodong army’s weapons, starting with the hwaryongpo, all came from Musan.

“Open-pit mine? If you dig in a little, iron, copper, and coal all come out?”

After receiving the report, Kim Jeom immediately ran to Hyang and shouted.

“We must get Musan at least!”