The Dark Strike Unit was born from the experiences of past wars.
During the previous great war with Ming, Joseon overwhelmed Ming in various fields. The Joseon army’s capabilities in pitched battles where large forces properly engaged were remarkable, but there were others who made Ming commanders tremble even more.
Among these, the most famous were the ‘Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad.’
Armed with specialized long guns and specialized ammunition produced at Area 51’s armory—later adopted as standard ammunition for military long rifles—the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad infiltrated the Liaodong region and Tianshan Mountains in pairs or groups of four.
These infiltrated squads faithfully performed reconnaissance, scouting, and sniping missions.
As a result, many Ming commanders lost their lives to bullets whose origins they couldn’t trace, despite not being on the front lines.
Having tasted success with the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad, the Imperial Army steadily enhanced their equipment.
First, they replaced the vernier sights with monocular telescopes.
Though still limited in performance and nearly as long as the barrel itself, the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad’s capabilities became even more lethal.
Despite this success, the Imperial Army still felt something was lacking.
“It would be nice to have a unit that could operate deeper behind enemy lines…”
“The Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad has a maximum of four members even when fully deployed. We need a unit that can move in larger numbers.”
—A unit that could move stealthily like the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad, but penetrate deeper into enemy territory and operate in larger groups.
This was what the Imperial Army desired.
The ‘Dark Strike Unit’ was born as a force that, while small overall, could operate in larger numbers than the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad.
Living up to its name meaning “move in stealth to deliver lethal strikes,” the Dark Strike Unit required rigorous selection procedures from the start.
They recruited from soldiers with at least Jin-mu rank (equivalent to modern sergeant or staff sergeant) who excelled in intelligence, physical fitness, endurance, and combat ability.
The most important part of selecting optimal candidates was training conducted by the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad.
Since the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad was supreme in stealth movement, the army’s upper echelons handed candidates over to them. These candidates had to complete the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad’s training program.
Training by the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad, originally hunters who hunted tigers—East Asia’s most formidable predators—was harsh, and instructors ruthlessly weeded out unsuitable personnel.
The instructors acted this way due to both their pride and the reward offered by the army’s high command.
The army promised that one-fourth of those who passed training would be assigned to the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad.
Being able to secure suitable talent for their unit’s nature was no loss to the Tiger-Hunting Rifle Squad either.
The Imperial Army, preparing to deploy these newly formed Dark Strike Units in actual operations, soon realized a problem.
—We need silent weapons!
Whether sniper rifles or military long guns, as long as they used gunpowder, they couldn’t escape the chains of thunderous noise.
The joke-but-not-a-joke that “fire one shot and everyone within five li (about 2km) knows it” circulated because gunshots were so loud.
Of course, Hyang had a solution for this.
It was the silent guns used by the secret service.
However, the silent guns used by the secret service could only fire a single shot.
Due to the nature of the secret service organization, the purpose was to inflict maximum fatal damage with minimum sound at maximum close range.
As a result, the secret service’s silent guns didn’t look like guns at all, and their firing sound was extremely quiet. The price for achieving such performance was an extremely complex reloading process, making them single-shot weapons.
Therefore, Hyang developed a 5-round silent rifle by modifying military rifles to use hand cannon ammunition.
It looked similar to the De Lisle Carbine that Britain developed and used effectively during World War II.
“A most pleasing item. However…”
While deciding on official adoption, the army remained greedy.
“Though the Type A Silent Gun is excellent, its range doesn’t exceed 20 jang (about 60m). And to properly exert its power, one must get within 10 jang. We need something with a longer range.”
At the army’s reaction of demanding “just a little more,” Hyang became slightly irritated and turned the homework back on them.
“Then you try making one.”
‘I make it for them and they still whine and complain!’
Having been given this homework, the army soon gathered renowned talents to find an answer.
After much deliberation, these gathered talents came up with ‘bow’ as their answer. More precisely, the composite bow.
“It’s small in size, flies far, and with arrow guides it’s even more fearsome. Isn’t that good?”
“Indeed!”
The talents who found their answer reported to higher command.
The upper echelons who received the answer wore troubled expressions.
“Composite bow? Yes, that’s fine… But surely you all know why His Majesty opposed the Liaodong campaign?”
“Ah…”
When Choe Yeong decided on the Liaodong campaign, one of Taejo’s (Yi Seong-gye’s) reasons for opposition was ‘the bow problem.’
—The campaign period coincides with the rainy season. This will cause bows to absorb moisture and become unusable!
“That’s true, but right now bows are the only answer.”
“That is so…”
Eventually, the army’s upper command had no choice but to seek help from Hyang.
In response to the army’s request, Hyang produced the ‘compound bow.’
“What problems could there be making bows from steel?”
The bowyers of Area 51 who received Hyang’s question scratched their heads.
“Iron bows aren’t unfamiliar, but the shape is strange.”
To replace ox horn, the key material of composite bows, Joseon had tried various alternatives. Iron bows were one of them.
The problem was the shape.
After some trial and error, the compound bow revealed itself, and the army, greatly satisfied after testing it, immediately adopted and issued it to the Dark Strike Unit.
***
The Dark Strike Unit that entered the jungle under Lee Jing-ok’s orders was not part of the expedition force but an Imperial Army direct unit.
“Give me the Dark Strike Unit! All of them!”
“All of them is too much…”
Preparing for contingencies, Lee Jing-ok requested the Dark Strike Unit, and the Imperial Army detached one-third of the unit to give to Lee Jing-ok.
The Dark Strike Unit members who arrived in the New World received compound bows that Hyang had once again improved.
They were lighter and stronger compound bows.
The Dark Strike Unit members receiving the new equipment looked excited.
“When will we deploy? I hope we can deploy soon.”
Even after arriving at the bridgehead, the Dark Strike Unit wasn’t idle.
Under the pretext of ‘training,’ the Dark Strike Unit combed through the nearby jungles.
While combing through the jungle, Dark Strike Unit members occasionally encountered natives.
“Well, we can’t tell if they’re enemies or allies…”
Knowing that Ssyang and other natives had set out to bring their compatriots, the Dark Strike Unit members couldn’t immediately attack. There was a high possibility they were allies.
Eventually, Dark Strike Unit members who encountered natives quietly followed them.
“The best training!”
“Don’t forget. If we’re spotted, we immediately flee to the bridgehead.”
***
The native warriors who entered the jungle with the Dark Strike Unit gradually changed how they viewed them.
When first entering the jungle, seeing the Dark Strike Unit members carrying bows, the native warriors sneered.
“Using bows in that forest? They don’t know the jungle!”
“With such small bows, what could they possibly…”
The bows used by both natives and Mexica were larger than those used by the Dark Strike Unit. However, due to material limitations, they weren’t very powerful. Therefore, the native warriors looked down on the Dark Strike Unit’s bows.
But as time passed, the native warriors had to change their assessment.
“What the…”
The Dark Strike Unit members they thought would be unfamiliar with the jungle moved as familiarly as themselves.
The native warriors were superior at finding water sources.
Finding signs of enemy Mexica was roughly equal.
But the most frightening aspect of the Dark Strike Unit members was that once they hid, they were hard to find.
When Dark Strike Unit members seriously began moving stealthily, even the native warriors couldn’t find them properly. After looking around for a long time, they’d suddenly appear in completely unexpected places.
Such stealthily moving Dark Strike Units soon became the Mexica’s nightmare.
***
Swish!
“Kuk!”
A Mexica warrior moving to slow down the expedition force heading toward Tenochtitlan suddenly let out a short scream and collapsed.
Instantly, nearby Mexica warriors began covering themselves with shields and looking around.
“Wh-what!”
“How…”
The Mexica warriors scanning their surroundings couldn’t hide their panic. The warrior who had just died was positioned in the middle of their formation.
Not at the front, not at the rear, but in the middle, making it difficult to determine the enemy’s position.
Swish! Swish! Swi-swish!
“Kuk!”
Again, with the sound of wind splitting, several warriors simultaneously lost their lives.
The faces of surviving Mexica warriors were filled with terror.
This attack made them realize the enemy wasn’t just one or two. No, they could tell they were surrounded. But what was frightening was that they couldn’t see where the enemies were.
Even more terrifying was that the arrows these unknown enemies shot were powerful enough to pierce shields and take lives.
Unable to overcome their fear, the Mexica warriors began slowly backing away.
Swi-swi-swish!
Again, with the sound of cutting wind, comrades fell, and the surviving Mexica warriors immediately turned and ran.
“Aah! Aaah!”
“My foot! My foot!”
But they couldn’t even go 10-odd jang (about 30m) before the warriors clutched their feet and rolled on the ground, screaming again.
“Aah! Aaah!”
What made the fleeing Mexica warriors scream were caltrops the Dark Strike Unit members had scattered beforehand.
As they fell with caltrops piercing their feet, caltrops also embedded in other parts of their bodies, causing them to scream in pain.
The Mexica warriors whose feet were thus hobbled while fleeing lost their lives to pursuing native warriors.
***
Over time, the Mexica main force also began detecting anomalies.
“Something seems wrong.”
At Akon’s words, subordinate officers and Eagle Warriors nodded with serious faces.
About 100 ambush groups of ten-odd members each had entered the jungle to tie down the Great Han warriors.
These groups were supposed to withdraw immediately after successful ambushes and return to the main camp for resupply.
If those who went out didn’t return, it meant they had been defeated by the Great Han warriors.
When planning this operation, Akon had set the return rate extremely low.
However, their deaths would slow down the Great Han warriors, so it wasn’t a loss.
The problem was the reports scouts had been sending recently.
Despite the greatly reduced return rate of ambush groups, the Great Han warriors’ movement speed hadn’t decreased significantly.