Chapter 23 The Jianchang War

Chapter 23: The Jianchang War

As usual, the sun rose and the day dawned.

“Ugh! I’m exhausted.”

He stepped outside shirtless, as he always did to wash up.

“Eeek!”

As if watching from somewhere, the cleaning lady let out a high-pitched scream.

“How many times have I told you not to take your clothes off inside?! And with Soso here, too!”

Hearing that, Myohyang burst out of the kitchen.

‘It’s my house…’

And anyway, 500 years from now, Beijing bikinis will be all the rage, and Chinese men will be walking around shirtless.

But unaware of such distant future events, the two unleashed a storm of nagging from the morning.

“I really can’t live like this!”

“That’s right, sis. Jin Gongzi deserves more scolding.”

The two, perfectly in sync, cornered me.

Watching them display a relationship as solid as the US-Korea alliance, I couldn’t help but regret the past.

‘I should have stopped Myaohyang from working with the cleaning service.’

Not long ago, Cheongso, who opened a clinic in one corner of the courtyard, posted a job opening.

But there was one thing neither she nor I had considered: the workplace—our house—was right in the heart of Heuksa, the worst security area in Guryongseong.

In the end, the recruitment closed without a single applicant. Just as Cheongso was at a loss for not being able to hire a nurse, Myohyang appeared.

Quickly approaching her, the clinic owner said,

‘Four nyang a month!’

And so, the two became employer and employee publicly, but privately, they were like sisters, teaming up to attack me.

“We have to open soon, so eat quickly!”

Listening to Myohyang’s voice, which grew sharper the further she went, I thought.

Something was going terribly wrong.

***

Arriving at headquarters, I saw a bustling scene.

Team leaders were moving busily, and team members were opening the armory to inspect weapons.

Even for me, in my second year of field duty, this was a sight I’d never seen before.

I grabbed a passing team member and asked.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s chaos right now. Well, the Namcheongung bastards have surrounded Jeomchangsan, you know?! So the supply route to Jeomchangsan has been cut off.“

”…!”

I was stunned by the completely unexpected news.

What kind of place was Jeomchangsan?

Although forced to relocate by Namcheongung, wasn’t it the place where the spirit of Myeongryongdang resided?

That’s why the Moksryongdang’s elite forces were always stationed at the Jomchangsan front.

No matter how weak the Moksryongdang’s influence might be within Guryongseong, that was only within the city walls.

Viewed across the entire martial world, it was undeniably a powerful force comprised of a small, elite group.

And now, Jomchangsan was surrounded.

Even if the enemy was Namcheongung, called the conqueror of the southern lands, this was unimaginable.

To hear the details, I headed straight for the Deputy Leader’s office.

“You’re here?”

“Deputy Leader! What on earth…?”

And there, I witnessed a figure I never expected to find here.

“Mu, Mun Sang!”

It was none other than Mun Sang, the CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) of Guryongseong.

Unlike me, a mere team leader at an insignificant subsidiary called Oedang, he was one of the executives who ran the entire Nine Dragons City.

“Courtesy is forbidden in wartime.”

‘Wartime?!’

The single word ‘wartime’ that came from Mun Sang’s mouth struck me like thunder.

He turned to look at the Chief and said.

“Then, please relay this to the Chief.”

“Understood.”

Creak.

With that, Mun Sang exited.

Simultaneously, the Head of the Division gave me an order.

“Well, this is perfect timing. Seventeenth Division Leader, fetch the Head of the Division immediately.”

“Yes.”

Was it because of the emergency?

Instead of his usual easygoing demeanor, the Deputy Leader had reverted to a single, sharp, peak-level master.

His command, as cold as ice, forced me to step outside only to return immediately.

“But where is the Leader?”

He should at least tell me where he is.

***

The place I found North Palace Baek was an inn in the outer city.

Spotting him peacefully drinking away since early morning, I rushed straight over.

“Huh? What’s the matter so early?”

“It’s bad news. Nantian Palace has surrounded Jianchang Mountain.”

“What does that have to do with us?”

This was the reaction from a so-called commander? This is precisely why you shouldn’t assign seats based on martial prowess.

But what could be done? In the barbaric martial world, strength was justice, hierarchy, and virtue.

“I don’t know the details, but the Sect Leader visited the outer hall and has left.”

“That old man? Then it really is a big deal?”

I told you it was a big deal the moment I walked in, old man.

“Yes. That’s why the Deputy Sect Leader ordered us to fetch the Sect Leader. Let’s go.”

A short while later.

Returning with Baek, all the outer sect’s squad leaders were gathered.

“Gu! Ryong!”

“Quiet.”

The Deputy Sect Leader immediately began the briefing.

“Nancheongung has mobilized over ten tribes, mobilizing over ten thousand troops to besiege Jianchang Mountain.“

”!!!”

Ten thousand?

It was a number one might expect in a war between nations, and everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

Bukgung Baek was no exception.

Even he, who had been the unrivaled master of the martial world for decades and had seen it all, seemed startled. He spat the tea he was drinking back into his cup and asked.

“Ten thousand?! Is that true?”

“Yes, Lord Mun Sang personally informed us of this matter, so it cannot be wrong.”

The sheer shock of the number ten thousand left everyone in the conference room speechless.

Even if you gathered every martial artist from the Nine Sects of Guryongseong, you wouldn’t quite reach five thousand.

That was how unimaginably large a force of ten thousand was.

Of course, not all of them would be martial artists trained in the ways of the martial world.

If they were, they wouldn’t be called the Five Great Warlords of the World, but the Six Great Warlords.

At best, only the thousand from Nantian Palace were likely martial artists.

The problem lay in the number ten thousand.

The tribes of Nanman, living deep in the jungle and fighting all manner of beasts for survival, had long been renowned for their belligerence.

If ten thousand such people were armed, this was absolutely no trivial matter.

‘This is why when politics is a mess, the country gets plundered.’

Even if the state was half-ruined, the fact that ten thousand armed men roamed freely without any government restraint was staggering.

He felt sorry for Myohyang’s younger brother, who was studying for the civil service exams to save this rotten nation.

“All-out war?”

“Yes, that’s correct. His Excellency is considering all-out war.”

‘Well, he can’t abandon Jianchang Mountain…’

Losing Jianchang Mountain would mean losing influence over Yunnan Province.

Though barren, considering the Ten Ma Alliance that seized three entire provinces, it was absolutely unthinkable.

Just look at the War of the Stars – if your multi-unit numbers are outmatched, you’re bound to lose in the later team fights due to sheer numbers.

Moreover, considering the Moksryongdang, one of the pillars forming Guryongseong, abandoning Jeomchangsan was also impossible.

Ultimately, only one path remained: repelling the Nanman forces massed at Jeomchangsan.

Against this backdrop, the Deputy Commander continued the briefing.

“First, as an urgent measure, each faction will detach one hundred men to form a vanguard.”

The sole female squad leader among the squad leaders raised her hand and asked.

“If we engage the enemy with that number, the casualties will be significant, won’t they?”

“That is correct. Therefore, Lord Mun Sang is devising a strategy: while the vanguard buys time, elite masters will be dispatched urgently to sever the enemy’s supply lines. ”

Not a bad plan.

Of course, it wasn’t anything spectacular. It was the kind of strategy anyone from the modern era could have thought of.

It was just decent enough for people here, whose mindsets were as rigid as granite.

Still, people couldn’t help but marvel.

“Such an ingenious plan in such a short time! Truly, Lord Mun Sang.”

“As long as Lord Mun Sang exists, there will surely be no force in the world capable of threatening Gu Ryong Fortress.”

“He must be the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang.”

Well, that sort of thing.

After a brief period of praising Mun Sang, Bukgung Baek rose from his seat.

“I will go personally. Deputy Commander, activate the reserve order immediately and assemble the personnel.”

“I will obey your orders.”

***

The next day, before dawn, all members of the Outer Hall assembled.

Seventeen squads, totaling over a hundred men.

This comprised all the warriors currently affiliated with the Outer Hall, and then some.

What do you mean?

Rumble.

“Senior Brothers! Please line up over here!”

“Senior Brothers! We’ll check your attire.”

“Those who have signed the roster, please proceed over there to receive your weapons. Those who brought personal weapons, please inform us separately, and we will provide protective gear instead!”

This was precisely because of the existence of the reserve force—no, the reserve warriors belonging to the Oedang.

Unlike other factions, the Oedang is an organization without its own means of livelihood.

In other words, it is an organization constantly strapped for cash.

Therefore, upon reaching a certain age, they are retired and paid one-fifth of the monthly stipend they received during active duty.

In a way, it resembles a civil servant pension, but it’s not free.

They bear the obligation to respond to mobilization orders when major events like the current one occur.

Furthermore, since it wasn’t free, they couldn’t act recklessly toward juniors like modern reservists might.

The number of such veterans was a whopping three hundred.

A relatively young hundred would depart for the front lines, while the rest would follow the commander’s orders to handle security in the outer city.

Once everyone had assembled, North Palace Baek appeared, radiating the aura of a division commander.

The active-duty Oedang warriors saluted him promptly.

“Gu! Ryong!”

“Gu Ryong.”

A salute that had somehow become standard even for North Palace Baek.

No matter how I looked at it, this might be the greatest achievement of my life in the Outer Court.

“Let’s go.”

With those words, everyone gathered began leaving the city.

The location of Guryong Fortress was directly above the city.

The distance to Jomchang Mountain was over a thousand li.

Even for martial artists, such a march placed a heavy burden on their stamina.

I decided to execute a project I had prepared long ago.

“We’ll sing a military song during the march. The military song is ‘Awesome Guryong Fortress!’”

Awesome!

Guryong Fortress!

That’s me!

That was the military song.

Thanks to the cooperation of the Deputy Commander and the Second Division Leader, I had prepared it in advance, so the men sang along readily.

The reserve warriors who came with us were bewildered at first, but soon, without being told, they sang along as if the song had become familiar to their ears.

I felt proud.

***

We marched and marched, arriving at the first assembly point just as the sun set.

The Outer Court had two main tasks in this war: reconnaissance and establishing supply bases.

So I began constructing simple temporary structures using the tools and materials I’d brought.

“Captain, the Lord is looking for you.”

The guard on duty for Lord Baek of the North Palace delivered the message.

‘At this timing?’

What could Bukgungbaek possibly need to see me about, right in the middle of planning operations?

Surely not to ask for the Black Lotus Armor back?

Thinking I’d just lie and say I left it at home, I headed to Bukgungbaek’s tent only to receive an unexpected order.

“Did I hear that wrong?”

“The messenger route is cut off. You must rush to Jomchang Mountain immediately and relay the news that reinforcements are coming.”

What utter bullshit.

How the hell was I supposed to climb Mount Jianchang, which was surrounded by ten thousand enemy troops?

“May I refuse?”

“Of course you may.”

“Then I refuse.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.”

Bukgung Baek flashed a smile and tossed a thick bundle of papers at me.

Thud.

“What is this?”

“It’s the statement of the owner of Geumhwaru, imprisoned in the Brain Prison on charges of human trafficking.”

“……”

The moment I saw it, I nearly screamed.

I was told it was destroyed by the Red Dragon Sect?

“There’s something interesting written there. An unknown young martial artist kidnapped him and fought the Golden Dragon Sect’s Yoyo Sword, who was pursuing them. As you know, he became a paraplegic from the injuries that day.”

“But why is that suddenly…”

“A young martial artist in his twenties defeated the Golden Dragon Sect’s peak master using only his bare hands. And that was on the Outer Sect’s territory. Thinking about it, only one person comes to mind. So, I was thinking of casually mentioning it to the Golden Dragon Sect Leader. What do you think?”

With North Palace Bai going this far, is there any way out?

Whether I die by the hands of the Southern Heaven Palace scum or by the Golden Dragon Sect, it’s all the same.

“Shall we depart immediately?”