Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 582

582. Shattered Dreams (5)

The main camp of the Joseon army was situated approximately 2 li (about 2 kilometers) from Liaodong Fortress.

Choi Yun-deok, mounted on his horse, gazed at Liaodong Fortress in the distance, his heart a complex mix of emotions.

“So, we’ve finally come this far…”

Muttering to himself, Choi Yun-deok turned to survey his surroundings.

He observed the hundreds of thousands of soldiers preparing for battle, the Bigu [a type of surveillance airship] floating in the sky constantly relaying battlefield information, and the cavalrymen dashing around, continuously scouting the area.

“Hoo-eup!”

Choi Yun-deok took a deep breath and straightened his posture.

He was 72 years old this year. It had been two years since King Sejong and Hyang had personally celebrated his 70th birthday.

In the history before Hyang’s intervention, he was destined to die already, but Choi Yun-deok was one of those whose fate had been altered by Hyang’s involvement.

“Hoo-eup!”

Taking another deep breath and straightening his body, Choi Yun-deok exuded the same imposing aura he had when he commanded the northern regions in the past.

With his back straight, Choi Yun-deok turned his horse.

He headed towards the gathering place of Yi Jing-ok and all the major commanders of the Joseon land defense forces.

“Has the time come to drop the ‘defense’ designation?”

Muttering to himself, Choi Yun-deok raised his voice to address the commanders.

“Commanders, I address you! This is finally Liaodong! What kind of place is Liaodong? It was once the territory of the ancient Samhan [ancient Korean tribal confederacies], and the location of Balhae, the Northern Dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period [a Korean kingdom that existed from the late 7th to early 10th century]! This Liaodong is the place we have dreamed of recovering since the fall of the Northern Dynasty! And now, finally!”

Pausing for a moment, Choi Yun-deok clenched his right fist and extended it upwards, shouting loudly.

“We have returned! We have finally returned!”

“Uwaaaa!”

The commanders responded to Choi Yun-deok’s declaration with a roar. As their shouts subsided, Choi Yun-deok issued an order.

“Now, let us plant the Hwangtaegeukgi [Yellow Taegeuk Flag], the new symbol of Joseon, on the highest point of that Liaodong Fortress!”

“We will plant it without fail!”

“Then prepare for battle!”

“Chung [Loyalty]!”

The commanders saluted Choi Yun-deok’s command and hurried back to the units they commanded.

With the commanders who would lead the units on the front lines gone, Choi Yun-deok returned to the main camp’s military tent with his staff officers.

* * *

Upon entering the military tent, Choi Yun-deok opened a box placed on one side. Taking out a silk cloth neatly wrapped inside, he unwrapped it.

“Attach this flag to the flagpole and raise it high!”

A young officer who received the yellow flag inside the cloth immediately left the military tent, and Choi Yun-deok followed behind him.

Soon after, the Taegeukgi with a yellow background rose in the center of the Jwadokgi [commander’s flag] and various military flags, fluttering in the wind.

The yellow color of the flag’s background symbolized gold, the emblem of the emperor, and in the center was the Samtaegeuk [three-way swirl], which the Korean people had used since ancient times. And the Bagua [eight trigrams] surrounding the Samtaegeuk symbolized heaven, earth, and all things.

Combining all of this, it meant that Joseon was the country of the emperor and the center of everything in the world, an arrogant declaration.

The only difference from the Jwadokgi was that the background cloth was yellow instead of black.

* * *

Both the Hwangtaegeukgi and the Jwadokgi were newly made.

“The Royal Standard and the Jwadokgi were all received from Ming, so we must change them this time!”

“Yes. It is certain that a conflict with Ming will occur in the future, so it would not be good to have the flags given by Ming at the forefront.”

“It will become a laughingstock to the world.”

King Sejong and his ministers all agreed with Hyang’s proposal, and accordingly, new Royal Standards and Jwadokgi were created.

Accordingly, the design of the Samtaegeuk was also changed to a more familiar one. The Royal Standard was also made with a yellow background instead of a red one, and the Luo River Scroll [a mythical scroll] on the Jwadokgi also disappeared.

This was also due to Hyang’s strong insistence.

“Why should we worship the ancestor of the Central Plains!”

On the day the new Royal Standard and Jwadokgi were created, King Sejong, admiring the new flags, turned to Hyang.

“Will I be able to see these flags fluttering before I pass away?”

To Sejong’s question, Hyang replied firmly.

“I will make it so without fail!”

At Hyang’s answer, Sejong smiled and patted Hyang on the shoulder.

“I trust only you.”

And, not long after, Hyang realized.

“The homework has increased! Aww!”

* * *

As the oversized Hwangtaegeukgi fluttered in the main camp, the Hwangtaegeukgi began to flutter in the major camps of the Joseon army.

“What flag is that?”

As soldiers, curious about the newly raised flag, whispered among themselves, the commanders stepped forward to explain its meaning.

“Through the victory of this battle, our Joseon will become an empire! No longer will there be a suzerain state above us!”

At the commander’s declaration, the soldiers looked at their comrades around them and whispered.

One of those soldiers, Gap-dol, asked his companion next to him.

“We’re becoming an empire? What does that mean?”

“What do you mean? It means that from now on, our Joseon will become the country of the Son of Heaven [the emperor].”

“Huh? Then does that mean His Majesty will become the Son of Heaven?”

“That’s right!”

“Then does that mean we don’t have to pay those damn tributes anymore? And the tribute women are gone too?”

At Gap-dol’s words, the soldier next to him gave him a dumbfounded look.

“It’s been so long since we stopped paying tributes, why are you still talking about tributes? And tribute women too? Are there still villages causing a fuss about receiving tributes?”

As the soldier said, the issues of tributes and tribute women had disappeared after Hyang and Emperor Xuanzong’s negotiations.

However, Gap-dol, who mentioned the tributes, asked back with a bright face.

“Anyway, does that mean we don’t have to pay them?”

“That’s right! If we just win, we don’t have to pay!”

“Then we have to win!”

Gap-dol was burning with fighting spirit in a strange area.

This kind of reaction was happening all over the Joseon army camp. The main group of young soldiers in their teens to twenties were talking about a faraway story, but to the soldiers over 30 who were interspersed among them, ‘tributes,’ ‘tribute women,’ and ‘suzerain state’ were symbols of pain.

“We must win to avoid experiencing those damn things again!”

“Amen!”

The veteran soldiers were burning with even more fighting spirit than the young soldiers.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside Liaodong Fortress, the commanders of the Liaodong army were desperately trying to maintain the morale of their soldiers.

“The walls of this Liaodong Fortress are as strong as those Joseon bastards’ walls!”

“Trust the walls!”

“Reinforcements will be here soon! If we just hold out, we will win!”

The commanders shouted to the soldiers that reinforcements would be coming. This was partly to maintain the soldiers’ morale, but it was also self-hypnosis.

The current garrison defending Liaodong Fortress numbered 100,000. And most of them were soldiers from the Ming army who had retreated from the Battle of Sinuiju and Ming soldiers who had rushed in from nearby garrisons.
The rest were Jurchens who had already been sinicized [culturally assimilated into Han Chinese society].

* * *

In the process of retreating, most of the Jurchen soldiers and a considerable number of Han Chinese soldiers had deserted. As a result, the morale of the soldiers who returned to Liaodong Fortress was at rock bottom.

Seeing that, Zhou Qi-zhen wore a hollow expression.

“Defeat? Defeat, you say? Where is Zhao Bingde?”

“The general has fallen in battle.”

At the answer of the most senior general among those who had barely returned, Zhou Qi-zhen slumped down in his chair.

“Fallen in battle, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Huh….”

Seeing Zhou Qi-zhen completely넋이 나가버린 [넋이 나가버린 is a Korean idiom that means ‘to be in a daze’ or ‘to be completely out of it’], Wang Chong stepped forward.

“Report to Beijing.”

“To Beijing?”

“Yes. Haven’t you heard of ‘If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold [a Chinese proverb meaning that the loss of a strategic buffer endangers the core area]’? If Liaodong is gone, Beijing will also be in danger. Ask for help.”

“….”

Zhou Qi-zhen did not answer immediately and fell into thought. The generals were getting impatient.

“Your Highness. The Joseon army is coming here now. There is no time.”

“The number of soldiers is not good, and their morale is also not good. We need reinforcements.”

In the end, Zhou Qi-zhen, unable to withstand the pressure from the generals, wrote a letter requesting help and sent it to Beijing.

* * *

That night, Zhou Qi-zhen called Wang Chong separately and asked quietly.

“Did His Majesty think of this as well?”

“Yes? How could that be! You’re just speculating!”

Wang Chong strongly denied it, but Zhou Qi-zhen shook his head.

“No. When I think back, everything fits together. His Majesty once asked me who Ming’s main enemy was. When I answered that it was the Northern Yuan [a Mongol dynasty that succeeded the Yuan dynasty in China], he said no. Perhaps he had been thinking of attacking Joseon since then. But there was no justification. So, he sent me here. He must have offered the bait of ‘If you gain Joseon, I will allow you to call yourself emperor.’ He must have been sure that I would move if it were me, and I moved as he expected.”

“Your Highness is His Majesty’s legitimate son. How could he use you as bait?”

“Don’t you know His Majesty’s nature?”

At Zhou Qi-zhen’s question, Wang Chong closed his mouth. Zhou Qi-zhen filled a glass of wine placed on one side and emptied it, then continued.

“The most important thing to His Majesty is the country. If he does not properly make the country prosperous, he mercilessly abandons even the most loyal old ministers. Why would he be any different with his own children?”

“But, please consider the military funds and artisans he sent! His Majesty sincerely….”

Zhou Qi-zhen cut off Wang Chong’s words with a cynical expression.

“He must have sincerely wanted to attack Joseon. If I had been leisurely enjoying myself in Liaodong using those funds, he would have definitely pressured me in another way to make me attack Joseon. His Majesty is more than capable of doing that.”

“Your Highness….”

Wang Chong, with a desperate expression, tried to continue speaking, but Zhou Qi-zhen got up from his seat and turned his body.

“It may be a worse situation than His Majesty expected, but it will be as he wished. When my report arrives, he will immediately move the soldiers. Then there is only one thing for me to do. To defend this place until they come. His Majesty doesn’t have to worry about that part. Although I am His Majesty’s discarded stone, my pride will not allow me to end as a dead stone. You may leave now.”

At Zhou Qi-zhen’s order to leave, Wang Chong bowed respectfully and left the room.

Left alone in the room, Zhou Qi-zhen looked at the moon in the night sky and muttered.

“Was it all a fleeting dream?”

And, on the day the vanguard of the Joseon army appeared in front of Liaodong Fortress, a reply came from Beijing.

-I will send 800,000 troops. Defend Liaodong Fortress until the troops arrive.

* * *

With the appearance of the Hwangtaegeukgi, preparations for the start of the full-scale battle were complete.

“The victory or defeat of the battle depends on us! We are the true main force!”

The commanders leading the Joseon army’s artillery units shouted to their subordinates with faces full of pride.

The artillerymen nodded with faces full of pride at the commander’s shout.

The commander raised his baton and pointed to the red walls of Liaodong Fortress, continuing his speech.

“It’s a battle of pride to see whether those red brick walls are stronger, or our shells are more powerful! Are you confident?”

“We are confident!”

“Then prepare to fire!”

“Yes!”

Soon after, flags indicating that preparations were complete fluttered at every artillery position of the Joseon army.

The commanders of the artillery batteries swallowed dryly and looked at the Bigu floating in the sky.

Finally, the artillery battery commanders, confirming a flashing signal from the Bigu, shouted to the flagman holding the signal flag.

“Fire!”