Chapter 303: The Ambition of Goryeo

Yonghui City, fifteen li to the east.

A Jurchen force of over a thousand was advancing rapidly; besides mostly cavalry, it included several hundred infantry escorting grain and supplies.

The cargo on these carts was varied: common military livestock like cattle and sheep, domesticated pigs, ducks, chickens, and geese, as well as carts loaded with an assortment of coarse grains.

Yet the quantity of these supplies was insufficient; sustaining a force of a thousand men had already become a desperate struggle.

Some carts even held a dozen or so young women, their clothes tattered and torn, exposing much skin, their faces streaked with bruises.

Had the weather not warmed, these women in the carts would surely have frozen to death long ago.

These supplies and women looked nothing like what a regular army would carry—they clearly had been looted along the way.

Under the protection of a group of fierce and loyal Jurchen personal guards, Dong Shan and Li Li Manzhu, commanders of the Jurchen Left and Central Guards, rode at the head of the column.

Dong Shan was tall and robust, in the prime of his early thirties, but months of defeat and flight had left him physically and mentally exhausted, his face weathered and worn.

The overwhelming power of Zhou's firearms at the Yafu Pass had left an indelible shadow on the Jurchens.

Whenever this strange Zhou army caught up and pressed against the rear of the Jurchen column,

yet these last hopes were quickly shattered beyond repair.

The lives that vanished in flashes of fire and flying flesh were unlike the terror of blade or spear—now nightmares haunting the minds of these once-fierce Jurchen warriors.

Dong Shan, still in his prime, would remain combat-capable for another fifteen years.

Li Li Manzhu, already over fifty and the eldest among the three guard commanders, had aged drastically in these months of flight and slaughter; his hair had turned largely white.

As long as the Three Guards still possessed this final surge of courage, only ten years would be needed for the Jurchen clans to recover their strength, and at most fifteen years before they could once again dominate Liaodong.

Once the remnants of the Three Guards exceeded two thousand men again, and half of them were battle-hardened veterans, these would be the Jurchens' last elite—the most formidable among them.

Neither Dong Shan nor Li Li Manzhu had let their ambitions sink after such a crushing defeat; this new force of over a thousand fresh warriors had reignited their hope.

…

As they fled, passing through Jurchen villages along the way, they ruthlessly plundered food and supplies, and forcibly conscripted every last able-bodied young man from the scattered Jurchen clans.

But he had no time to catch his breath before the Zhou army split into three columns and launched a relentless pursuit and slaughter, gradually driving them into a corner.

For the Jurchens all knew well: the power of firearms could not be easily countered by their swift horses and curved blades.

By then, the aging Li Li Manzhu might not live to see it, but he still had descendants to inherit his glory.

Somehow, they had regrouped over a thousand new fighters, replenishing the shattered remnants of the Jurchen Three Guards with precious new blood.

During battle, the collapse of morale was inevitable; the Jurchen column could only flee on horseback to escape the devastating firepower of the Zhou troops.

For they had never expected that among the several Zhou columns pursuing them, there would emerge such a formidable and relentless adversary.

This Zhou force possessed extraordinary insight, seemingly able to track their movements with pinpoint accuracy, relentlessly chasing and hammering them without pause.

What troubled and terrified Dong Shan and Li Li Manzhu most was that this pursuing force consisted entirely of elite Zhou firearm troops.

As soon as the two sides clashed, the thunder of musket fire and the explosions of porcelain bombs would cause Jurchen soldiers to break and flee instantly.

Since their catastrophic defeat at Yafu Pass, most of the Jurchen elite had been wiped out; the commander of the Right Guard, Fanercha, had been slain on the spot, and Dong Shan and Li Li Manzhu had fled with only a thousand cavalry.

Along the way, Zhou firearm troops and Jurchen remnants constantly chased and fought each other; occasionally, the Jurchen column also encountered the other two Zhou columns.

The thousand or so new recruits forcibly conscripted along the route were gradually worn down in these repeated battles, almost entirely annihilated by Zhou firearms and blades.

…

This nearly drove Dong Shan and Li Li Manzhu to tear their chests in grief and rage; they had planned to lead the last of the Jurchen fighting spirit to Yonghui City, hold it firmly, and plan for the future.

But no one had anticipated that their flight would be so devastatingly crippled by Zhou firearms; with only a thousand remaining veterans, they could no longer hold Yonghui City for long.

Finally, Li Li Manzhu, ever cunning, took advantage of the Jurchen column drawing the attention of the Zhou Right Army, secretly dispatching elite scouts and envoys to secretly cross the Yalujiang and seek aid from the Goryeo King, Lord Limyuan.

Since Lord Limyuan's ascension, Goryeo's power had steadily grown, and its ambition to expand eastward across the Yalujiang had steadily intensified.

Previously, the Zhou's establishment of the Three Jurchen Guards had indirectly blocked Goryeo's eastern expansion.

Goryeo had shut down Qiu Qingyuan Market, severing the Jurchens' supply routes—a strategy akin to using two peaches to kill three men—and this was the very reason the Jurchens raided southward.

Now that the Zhou and Jurchens were locked in a life-or-death struggle, Lord Limyuan was content to watch from the sidelines.

But if the Zhou annihilated the Jurchens entirely, they would surely abandon their former policy of indirect control over Liaodong and instead station officials and large garrisons.

At that point, Zhou's influence in Liaodong would deepen further, and Liaodong would truly become part of the Zhou realm.

The land west of the Yalujiang would become entirely Zhou territory, and Goryeo's dream of eastern expansion would be shattered forever.

Thus, sheltering the last elite of the Jurchen Three Guards held long-term strategic significance for Lord Limyuan.

As long as this destabilizing force in Liaodong survived, and as long as the Jurchen clans clung fiercely to their ancestral homeland, one day they would surely return to reclaim Liaodong!

When that day came, the balance of power in Liaodong would be shattered anew, and Goryeo would once again find an opportunity to expand eastward.

Upon receiving Li Li Manzhu's plea, Lord Limyuan responded with the utmost speed, demonstrating his courage to snatch fire from the flames in the Liaodong conflict.

To avoid drawing Zhou attention, Lord Limyuan sent only a small Goryeo force to meet them on the eastern bank of the Yalujiang.

To avoid leaving evidence, the boats assembled were not military vessels, but various sizes of civilian boats.

Everything might have proceeded unseen and unheard—but Jia Cong had already sensed something amiss.

Had it not been for the thick fog that temporarily obscured the Jurchen column's movements, prompting him to accelerate his march and cut ahead of them,

had it not been for his unease near the Yalujiang, which drove him to study maps all night, simulate battle scenarios, and climb Qiu Qingyuan Mountain to scout the terrain,

Li Li Manzhu and Lord Limyuan might have succeeded.

Then, the last elite of the Jurchens would have escaped abroad, and perhaps years later, war would reignite in Liaodong because of it.

The lives of the fallen border soldiers, the slaughtered Han civilians—everything they died for would become meaningless…

…

Qiu Qingyuan Market, the sunset like blood.

Qiu Qingyuan Market's layout was simple: a wide road paved with stone, flanked by shops and houses, now all abandoned.

Once you passed through the center of the market and charged five hundred steps, you reached the western bank of the Yalujiang.

This once-bustling market had become a lifeless, ghostly wasteland.

Behind the houses on either side of the road stretched dense forests of tangled trees, descending from the foothills of Qiu Qingyuan Mountain.

Beneath the shadow of the setting sun, countless dark shapes could be faintly seen in the woods on both sides—but once the sun vanished, nothing could be discerned.

Jia Cong had dispatched multiple scouts to track the Jurchen column's movements; within half a day, he received definitive reports.

The thousand-odd remnants of the Jurchen Three Guards had evaded the Central Column led by Mobile Corps Commander Deng Hui near Yonghui City.

Instead of entering Yonghui City, they had detoured east of it and headed straight for Qiu Qingyuan Market—exactly as Jia Cong had predicted.

That morning, after surveying the terrain on Qiu Qingyuan Mountain, had he hesitated even slightly instead of immediately leading his troops to Qiu Qingyuan Market,

even with foreknowledge, he could not have arrived two hours ahead to set an ambush.

…

Only when the sun had fully sunk beyond the far bank of the Yalujiang and darkness swallowed the land did thunderous hoofbeats echo beneath Qiu Qingyuan Mountain.

A dozen Jurchen vanguard scouts rode in with torches, galloping swiftly through Qiu Qingyuan Market along the wide road.

They held their torches high, illuminating the abandoned shops and houses, their long blades glinting coldly in the firelight.

After a brief reconnaissance confirmed no danger, they swiftly returned to guide the main Jurchen force into Qiu Qingyuan Market.

These thousand Jurchen elite were hardened veterans of countless battles; after months of flight and repeated clashes, many bore wounds.

As supplies dwindled along the way, most of the beef and mutton had been consumed; by the time they neared Yonghui City, the Jurchens had begun rationing grain.

Each man received only one meager meal a day—thin gruel and wild greens—and even that was insufficient, compounded by the relentless long-distance marches that drained their strength.

Once-fierce veterans had lost most of their fighting spirit and edge.

Fortunately, as they neared Qiu Qingyuan Market, Li Li Manzhu and Dong Shan issued orders: the entire army would cross the Yalujiang into Goryeo, where Goryeo forces awaited on the other side.

This news rekindled the morale of the exhausted Jurchen troops.

Once inside Goryeo, they could escape the Zhou army's endless pursuit and finally save their lives.

Once inside Goryeo, they could eat their fill, live under tiled roofs, and even have warm, plump Goryeo women…

Even the vanguard scouts, after completing their routine inspection, could not wait to lead the entire force into Qiu Qingyuan Market.

Every Jurchen had endured months of flight and slaughter, watching countless comrades fall to the Zhou's unimaginably deadly firearms.

Every man's body and mind teetered on the brink of collapse—even Dong Shan and Li Li Manzhu, men of iron will, were nearing their breaking point.

All the Jurchens longed to sprout wings and fly across the Yalujiang, far from this land of crushing defeat and blood.

Under the protection of their personal guards, Dong Shan and Li Li Manzhu rode at the head of the column; by the time they had covered half the distance, the rear of the column had just entered Qiu Qingyuan Market.

Just as everyone rejoiced, believing they could soon see the emerald waters of the Yalujiang,

suddenly, countless gray-white shadows fell from the pitch-black sky into the tightly packed Jurchen column, and earth-shattering explosions erupted in an instant.

(End of Chapter)