Chapter 826: These Are Not Northern Bandits — These Are Soldiers of Heaven

Along the southern riverbank, the shouts of battle continued until evening. Wang Jing's force, numbering only around five thousand, erupted with astonishing fighting strength.

With a small portion of their troops they fiercely charged the remnants of the Korean Yu Jing's force, and several times routed the Korean troops that Jiang Gongzhen sent to reinforce them.

Only when Huangfu Zhao had safely escorted Wang Zhao back to the main camp and led two thousand cavalry back to rejoin the battle did Wang Jing sound the gongs to withdraw, halting the assault on Jiang Gongzhen's reinforcements.

In such chaotic moments, the shock power and mobility of cavalry were formidable weapons — so much so that even against trash cavalry like the Koreans', Wang Jing did not dare take the risk.

Even so, the results were still utterly brilliant. With five thousand men, Wang Jing beheaded the Korean vanguard Troop Commander Yu Jing, killed or wounded over eight thousand, and those who died outright on the battlefield numbered at least two thousand, possibly even three thousand.

Jiang Gongzhen was somewhat hesitant. He had finally grasped the source of that faint unease in his heart.

Setting everything else aside, just the ferocity of these several thousand men before him — if they had attacked the western capital Pyongyang with full force, they would have taken it long ago. They would never have waited until now.

Jiang Gongzhen decided to go find Huangfu Zhao. He was quite clear about who in the entire army truly had ability.

Unlike second-generation men like Yu Jing, who had not seen much of the battlefield, Huangfu Zhao had climbed up step by step from the lowest ranks.

As if by unspoken understanding, Huangfu Zhao also came looking for Jiang Gongzhen. Behind Huangfu Zhao followed a group of routed cavalrymen.

Among the escort cavalry in Yu Jing's force just now, a portion had been Red Guard knights under Huangfu Zhao's command.

"Supreme General, this is Ping Zhen, a cavalry lieutenant of the Red Guard knights, a son of the Ping clan of Zhenzhou."

Seeing Jiang Gongzhen approach with several personal retainers, Huangfu Zhao hastily pulled a cavalry lieutenant from behind him — a junior officer roughly equivalent to a camp inspector under Zhang Zhou — to the front, then gave him a shove.

"Tell the Supreme General what you discovered."

Ping Zhen immediately dropped to one knee and cupped his hands, saying to Jiang Gongzhen: "Supreme General, the cavalry that fought the northern bandits yesterday and those who previously tangled with our army are absolutely not the same group.

The earlier cavalry used tactics typical of the steppe — rapid shooting from horseback bows, mainly tearing back and forth — and from their speech, most had steppe accents.

But yesterday's cavalry are by no means comparable to those steppe cavalry of before!

They wore fine iron armor that steppe men could absolutely never afford, seemingly improved from Central Plains infantry armor, and their bows were also of superior quality.

Their fighting style was fiercer and swifter — often they would charge into melee after firing only two or three arrows, and they used cavalry lances more than sabers.

In my youth I accompanied an envoy mission to the Central Plains and saw the imperial guard cavalry of the later Great Tang dynasty. They were exactly this fierce and valiant. Moreover, yesterday the enemy riders' charging and killing commands were all given in Tang speech."

Jiang Gongzhen's gray-white eyebrows twitched. The situation was developing in the worst possible direction. He looked at Huangfu Zhao, unwilling to believe it.

"Young Huangfu, are you saying these are not some Tuyuhun northern bandits, but that the great Central Plains dynasty has come to campaign against us again?"

Huangfu Zhao slowly shook his head, then gently nodded. "The opposing force is indeed mostly Tuyuhun, but they do not appear to have fallen out with the great Central Plains dynasty.

On the contrary, this Tuyuhun Great King is the favorite adopted son of the great dynasty's Shaoming Son of Heaven. His mother is an imperial noble consort, and his aunt is the empress herself."

Jiang Gongzhen drew a deep breath and asked in a trembling voice: "Is this matter truly confirmed?"

Huangfu Zhao waved the surrounding soldiers away, and only when they had moved off did he draw near Jiang Gongzhen and say: "The day before yesterday I made a surprise attack on a northern bandit grain convoy and captured a number of Khitans. That is what they said.

Moreover, this Tuyuhun Great King Murong is the very man presiding over the campaign to exterminate the Khitans — a famed minister and great general of the old dynasty, like Xue Li and Su Dingfang."

The name Xue Li was truly carved into the very bones of the peninsula's people!

"Has the news been sealed off?" Jiang Gongzhen's head spun. If the great dynasty was coming, treating them as the old Goryeo had been treated and campaigning against them, then the problem would be enormous.

One had to know that in the Sui and Tang eras, to destroy Goguryeo, they had waged war continuously for over a hundred years, emptying the state treasuries without hesitation.

Even if you repelled them once, there would be a second and a third time. The present Goryeo simply could not endure such attrition.

"I have already killed all those Khitans, but I fear it cannot be concealed for long. Therefore I ask the Supreme General to come with me to see the king.

If the great dynasty comes to attack, Pyongyang certainly cannot be held. And since this land was originally the old territory of the great dynasty's four Han commanderies, it would be better to abandon it as a show of deference and sue the great dynasty for peace."

Jiang Gongzhen sighed with deep emotion, took Huangfu Zhao's hand, and said with feeling: "Of all the civil and military officials at court, none sees as clearly as you." But then suddenly, Jiang Gongzhen's expression changed drastically.

"No! If the great dynasty attacks, they will surely advance by both water and land. The fleet is in peril!"

Huangfu Zhao's face also suddenly went deathly pale. "Once the fleet is defeated, Ganghwa Bay loses its protection. Shaocheng County has only five hundred prefectural and county troops. Once it falls, the capital Kaijing's gates are thrown wide open!"

Shaocheng County would become extremely famous a thousand years later, because by then Shaocheng County would be called Incheon Prefecture.

At this thought, even an old general like Jiang Gongzhen was so frantic he was on the verge of tears.

"Living right beside the great dynasty's couch, instead of thinking how to preserve ourselves through deference, we went chasing after the memory of Goguryeo, which drew down heaven's thunder a hundred years ago. Now great calamity is upon us!"

Wang Zhao was furious, because this great battle had utterly humiliated him. Altogether more than twenty thousand troops, over five thousand armored soldiers, and yet they had been beaten so badly by five thousand northern bandits that they had shifted camp three times just to hold their ground. If the whole army had only this much fighting strength, how could they relieve the crisis at Pyongyang?

Seeing Jiang Gongzhen barge in with Huangfu Zhao, Wang Zhao's face first showed displeasure, but then he recalled that Jiang Gongzhen had always been respectful and was a veteran general — such urgent arrival might mean some plan to defeat the enemy — so a slight smile appeared on his face.

Jiang Gongzhen, however, had no mind to play at lord-and-minister harmony with Wang Zhao. This was damn near national annihilation and racial extinction.

So Jiang Gongzhen directly grabbed Wang Zhao by the hand and hauled him toward the inner tent, while signaling Huangfu Zhao to drive away the surrounding attendants.

Wang Zhao was so frightened his heart nearly leaped out of his throat. Jiang Gongzhen was the Chief Troop Commander of the field army, and Huangfu Zhao was the vanguard army Troop Commander — both held military power in their hands. If the two of them rebelled right now, Wang Zhao truly had no recourse for the moment.

Fortunately, once Jiang Gongzhen saw there was no one around, he immediately asked in a low voice: "Does Your Majesty know that the northern bandits across from us are very likely troops of the great dynasty, and that the great dynasty's Shaoming Son of Heaven intends to enfeoff his adopted son here in our Goryeo lands?"

Wang Zhao let out a long breath of relief. I thought it was you, old Jiang, rebelling. So it's not — it's just the small matter that the northern bandits across from us are troops of the great dynasty.

"Ah!" Wang Zhao jumped up. "What! The enemy across from us are not northern bandits from Liao, but the great dynasty's mighty soldiers? Is there proof?"

Jiang Gongzhen then recounted all the sources of information and his judgments, and when he finished he also mentioned the danger the fleet might face. Wang Zhao, upon hearing it, wished he could faint.

This was worse than Jiang Gongzhen rebelling. If Jiang Gongzhen rebelled, at worst it would just mean a different member of the Wang family became king.

If the great dynasty came and treated him like Goguryeo of over a hundred years ago, he would be lucky to end up dancing in submission at Weiyang Hall — if he even kept his life.

Still, this man did have some ability. After his face stayed deathly pale for a long while, he came back to his senses. He pulled Jiang Gongzhen and Huangfu Zhao over and said:

"If this matter is true, our great Goryeo nation is in peril. The Supreme General and the General of the Household are both meritorious ministers of the state. At this moment when all others are in confusion, are you willing to join me in weathering this crisis together?"

With Wang Zhao speaking like this, what could the two of them do? Besides, they were indeed among the rare members of Goryeo's great clans who supported royal authority.

Otherwise Jiang Gongzhen could never have become the Chief Troop Commander of the field army controlling the entire force, nor could Huangfu Zhao have held command of the elite Red Guard knights.

So without any consultation, the two immediately dropped to one knee. "Your servants dare not fail to devote heart and strength to the utmost!"

"Good!" Wang Zhao pulled the two to their feet. "Whether the enemy across from us are northern bandits or Central Plains troops cannot yet be fully confirmed. I will immediately send men to summon the fleet's fast riders to come and report.

At the same time, I intend to test once more whether the northern bandits across from us are truly troops of the great dynasty. This time we will issue swords and spears to the civilian laborers accompanying the army as well, and attack with fifty thousand men in one massive assault.

If they are northern bandits, they certainly will not be able to withstand it. If I still cannot take them, then the enemy are without doubt the great dynasty's soldiers.

Once the matter is confirmed, I ask General of the Household Huangfu to lead the Red Guard knights and escort me back to Kaijing. The Supreme General, please remain here to steady the situation and withdraw slowly. Ignore everything else, but you must bring back the palace guards protecting Kaijing."

Wang Zhao's arrangement was, in truth, rather ruthless.

The subtext was: if the other side really turned out to be soldiers from the Central Plains, then each family's retainers and armored troops would have to hold back the Central Plains army's assault here — or even wear them down on this spot.

Having said that, and fearing the two men would not cooperate, Wang Zhao quickly added, "As long as we get through this crisis, the queen shall come from the Jiang clan, a son of the Jiang shall be king, and he shall in turn marry a daughter of the Huangfu clan."

This broken peninsula, from ancient times all the way down to the later Joseon of the Yi clan, has always been cramped in land and dense in people. The pie was only ever so big, and all the great families intermarried. If you really traced it out, most of the powerful clans were relatives, until later it spiraled into matrilineal succession law.

So on the peninsula, which great clan could rise to prominence and dominate the court depended on which noble family's daughter could become queen, or even queen dowager.

To say they were a dead ringer for the Eastern Han in miniature is absolutely not wrong.

By making this declaration, Wang Zhao was offering the Jiang and Huangfu clans each at least thirty years of future power — provided the kingdom of Goryeo could be preserved.

To Jiang Gongzhen and Huangfu Zhao, this was an enormous temptation. Who does not love power and wealth? Even if they did not, the many clansmen behind them certainly would.

The two men exchanged a glance. Huangfu Zhao considered for a short while. His family's retainers were all around him now, and his uncle Huangfu Tigong was in Kaegyong as the acting defender, so he could slip away without any loss. He then spoke:

"Now the trade winds are gradually rising, and the waves at sea are quite rough. Even if the navy has turned, the Central Plains navy could not move south quickly.

Moreover, the waterways of Kanghwa Bay are complex. Without inside help, it would not be so easy for the Central Plains navy to enter the bay.

We can indeed probe once more whether these northern invaders are real or false. If they truly are Central Plains troops, your servant will escort the Great King south through the night, and we will still make it in time."

Jiang Gongzhen thought for a while. Wang Zhao's demand was somewhat too ruthless, but for the kingdom of Goryeo, it was beneficial.

With the Central Plains army pressing on the border, if Goryeo still lacked unified leadership, the only outcome would be the state ruined and the family destroyed. Compared to the survival of the great clans, Jiang Gongzhen was even more unwilling to see Goryeo annihilated.

So the old general deliberated for a long time, then nodded in agreement as well.

(End of Chapter)

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