Sitting back in the chair the Grand Young Master’s maid had pulled out for him, Mak Gu-ju, the Governor-General of Liaoning, wiped the sweat streaming down his face with his sleeve.
However, he had perspired so profusely in that short span that he resembled a drowned rat; his sleeve was instantly soaked through, rendered useless against the deluge.
“Please use this.”
“…Thank you.”
Accepting the handkerchief offered by a maid, Mak Gu-ju finished dabbing his face and opened his mouth to speak.
“Grand Young Master—no.”
Seeing Xianyu Hyeong-bi, the Governor-General of Jilin, gesture that his address was improper, he nodded to her and corrected himself. He addressed the Grand Young Master again.
“…My Liege.”
Leaning comfortably back in his chair, the Grand Young Master replied.
“What is it?”
It was completely casual speech, the tone one uses to treat a subordinate. Despite that, Mak Gu-ju dared not harbor any dissatisfaction. He asked politely.
“What should I do now…?”
He had sworn his loyalty. The Grand Young Master had promised the safety of Liaoning.
At his question, the Grand Young Master asked back with a mischievous smile.
“Do regarding what?”
Sipping the after-meal tea brought by the maid, he continued.
“If one has finished a meal, one must drink tea. That is the dining etiquette of the Central Plains.”
“My Liege…!”
As desperation exploded onto Mak Gu-ju’s face, the Grand Young Master burst into laughter.
“Do not worry.”
The Grand Young Master gestured for the two Governor-Generals and Moyong Woon-jeong to lift their tea as well.
“Sometimes, for certain things…”
He smiled as he watched them lift their delicate porcelain cups.
“…one must simply wait for the right time to come.”
***
Near the Imperial Capital. Level One Military Zone.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
In the darkness, a messenger and his escorting soldiers, torches in hand, were frantically sprinting up the steep fortress wall.
The gradient of the wall, stretching along the mountain ridge, was precipitous. The messenger and soldiers stumbled several times on the uneven stairs, but they had no time to delay.
“Make way!”
“Urgent Report from the Imperial Palace! Urgent!”
The soldiers standing guard hurriedly cleared the path, allowing the messenger to reach the Garrison Commander immediately.
“An urgent report from the Imperial Palace at this hour…?”
To the sleepy and irritable Garrison Commander, the messenger gasped.
“Verify it yourself.”
Panting for breath, the messenger held out a scroll instead of explaining. Under the flickering torchlight, the unusual silk scroll glistened with a crimson sheen.
…!
Even within the Imperial Palace, few possessed the authority to use such an ornate scroll. And fewer still could send that scroll to the person in charge of a Level One Military Zone.
Sleep vanished in an instant.
Fwip!
Unrolling the scroll and scanning the contents, the Garrison Commander’s face hardened like rock.
“Commander. Immediately…”
The messenger tried to deliver the verbal confirmation, but there was no need.
Bang!
The Commander had already kicked open the inner door and was rushing out.
“It is a Highest Priority Order, you bastards! Revive the embers immediately!”
The Commander’s voice thundered through the peaceful mountain air.
“Open the braziers!”
As the soldiers guarding the embers threw open the iron covers, sparks flew into the night.
Fwoosh!
“Open the warehouse! Open the warehouse!”
Soldiers carrying dried cow dung and bundles of straw cursed as they scrambled up the steep stairs.
“Firewood checked! Oil check complete!”
A soldier opened the furnace, confirming the stacked firewood was sufficiently soaked in oil. The officer compiling the reports shouted down to the Commander below.
“Preparations complete! Ready to fire!”
The Commander didn’t hesitate for a second.
“Ignite!”
From every chimney of the beacon tower, thick white smoke soared into the sky, illuminated by roaring flames.
***
Generally, beacon fires serve the role of quickly transmitting news of mishaps from the border regions to the center.
However, in the Central Plains Kingdom, there existed an Emergency Signal Fire System for the reverse direction—to transmit simple commands from the center out to the borders.
A Border Fortress in the Northern Region of the Central Plains.
“What the fuck?!”
The Fortress Commander, who had been awake all night, ran out in his undergarments and shouted.
“Am I seeing this right?!”
In his field of vision, far in the distance along the ridges and peaks of the complex mountain range, he could clearly see signal fires rising in succession. They were gradually approaching him.
“It is the Emergency Command Signal Fire System from the Imperial Capital!”
Since complex orders could not be conveyed via signal fires connecting long distances, the message was simple. He could tell what the order was at a glance.
Nevertheless, to avoid any catastrophic mistake, the Fortress Commander grabbed the codebook, verified the meaning of the signal once more, and spat out a curse.
“Fuck!”
He was a capable man with experience fighting in the Northern War. But the current situation was something he couldn’t comprehend.
First, all contact from Heilongjiang Province cuts off, and now they are sending orders from the Capital to Heilongjiang in reverse?
“What the hell is going on?!”
To the Commander jumping up and down and shouting alone, his adjutant asked timidly.
“Th-Then. Shall we not connect the signal?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
At those words, the Fortress Commander jumped even higher.
“Light our beacons immediately!”
The direction of the signal fire was…
Heilongjiang Province.
***
Heilongjiang Province. Military Encampment near the Border with Haedong.
“Is there no contact from General Nam?!”
A fully armed general shouted with bloodshot eyes, but his adjutant shook his head silently, his expression dark.
“…”
The general asked the adjutant with an anxious face.
“What about General Gan?! If it’s him…”
“…I apologize, General.”
The adjutant crushed his hope.
“It seems there are almost no generals who have clearly decided their stance yet.”
“Yet?!”
Crash!
The helmet the general threw violently smashed a table to pieces.
“The Iron Armored Cavalry of Haedong are swarming in like a black tide, and they haven’t decided yet…?!”
Papers that had been on the broken table fluttered white in the air, reflecting the torchlight. All of them were reports from scouts confirming the movement of the Iron Armored Cavalry.
“Does that make any sense?!”
The general’s voice rang through the room, but what resided within it was not force, but fear and confusion.
“If we agreed to gather our wills and plan a great undertaking! Even if the Governor-General is dead, shouldn’t we unite like one body first?!”
Even as he shouted, the general knew well that his words were nothing but nonsense.
After the sudden assassination of the Governor-General, the generals of Heilongjiang who had plotted rebellion were undergoing immense chaos. Added to that was the invasion of Haedong. Gathering the wills of the generals seemed even more distant.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! This is f*cking…”
“General…!”
A military officer rushed in.
“What is it?!”
At the adjutant’s question, the officer panted and pointed outside the door.
“An u-urgent signal fire from the Imperial Capital…!”
“Move!”
Crash!
Pushing the officer aside and kicking the door open, the general ran out. What he saw in the distance was unmistakable.
Five clear columns of signal fire.
“…!”
The adjutant who rushed out after him interpreted the signal.
“G-General! It is the order for Total Retreat from the Capital!”
Total Retreat meant leaving the operational area of Heilongjiang Province and withdrawing completely to another province where the troops could be reorganized.
“General…!”
Both the adjutant and the officer called out to the general.
However, the general could not easily give the order. Their intent to rebel had been discovered. He and the other generals had already cut off contact with the Imperial Capital. To follow the Capital’s order now was logically contradictory.
“What will you do, General?”
***
The Imperial Palace.
“The signal fires were successfully lit, however…”
The eunuch spoke to the Head Eunuch with concern.
“Although the signal fire was certainly the fastest way to convey your will, Head Eunuch, they have no way of knowing who sent the signal.”
The Head Eunuch, who was receiving a touch-up on his face makeup, asked.
“So…?”
Had he offended him? The eunuch quickly bowed his head deeper.
“I am concerned whether the generals receiving the signal will be able to understand your deep intent, sir.”
“Hmph.”
The Head Eunuch snorted once and asked the subordinate eunuch.
“Then? In a situation where the Iron Armored Cavalry of Haedong is charging right in front of their eyes, are you saying they should have waited leisurely for the letter I sent to arrive?”
He had sent a letter with detailed contents. But by the time it arrived, the border region would have long been reduced to scorched earth.
“Th-That is not what I meant, I…”
“Enough.”
The Head Eunuch waved his hand as if annoyed.
“An incompetent general who cannot even deduce who sent the signal… has no use to me either.”
A chilling, giggling smile flowed from his lips.
“Rather, it might be more helpful if they just died cleanly right there?”
“H-How could…?”
Chill.
Goosebumps rose on the eunuch’s back.
A general is not just one individual. The lives of countless soldiers he leads depend on him. Did the Head Eunuch think of all those soldiers as nothing?
“M-My lord…!”
The Head Eunuch laughed once more.
“Do not worry about useless things.”
As the eunuchs applying his makeup withdrew, he looked at his own face in the mirror.
“When it comes to a pack of scared dogs, if just one—the one most terrified—starts to run… the whole pack tucks their tails and flees.”
***
“General!”
There was no time for long deliberation.
“The army of General Nam, who was in charge of the Left Wing, has begun to retreat!”
“What…?!”
“General!”
Before the startled general could respond, more news followed.
“The army of General Gan, who was in charge of the Right Wing, has also begun to retreat!”
A situation where the armies of both the left and right wings were retreating. There was nothing more to think about.
“Burn all the military provisions and supplies!”
The general shouted.
“We are retreating immediately as well!”
***
“What did you say…?!”
Grand Strategist Sima jumped up from his seat, threw his brush, and stormed outside.
“The generals of Heilongjiang are retreating all at once? What does that mean…?!”
“It is the signal fire! Grand Strategist!”
Namgung Du, responsible for the Third Young Master’s northern external network, answered urgently.
“Seeing the signal fire coming up from the Imperial Capital, they say all corps are retreating from Heilongjiang Province simultaneously!”
“…”
Grand Strategist Sima groaned deeply.
“What did you just say?!”
Immortal Master Taechong of the Wudang Sect, who used the neighboring quarters, stopped his breathing exercise and ran out to ask.
“How on earth did this happen? A signal fire?!”
The Dread King’s side had predicted that due to the assassination of the Heilongjiang Governor-General, they would face fronts against both the Grand Young Master’s side and Haedong in the mid-to-long term.
However, for the generals of Heilongjiang to start retreating in unison so quickly…
“…This was not in the calculations.”
The Sword Monarch of Mount Hua also appeared and clicked his tongue.
“If this happens, we must consider splitting the army to check Haedong’s movements, Grand Strategist Sima.”
Originally, he was supposed to use his connections to persuade the generals of Heilongjiang and draw them in as allies. But as the generals gave up resistance quickly, all that time was lost.
“Damn it…!”
Immortal Master Taechong shouted.
“A signal fire from the Capital?! Who in the Capital would do such a thing, and why?!”
“Haa…”
Had he realized everything?
Grand Strategist Sima sighed deeply, touched his forehead, and spoke as if to himself.
“…It is the work of the Head Eunuch.”
“The Head Eunuch?!”
Immortal Master Taechong jumped.
“Were not the Sixteen Imperial Families, including him, supporting the Dread King from behind?! Then why on earth would he do such a thing?!”
Recalling the face of the Head Eunuch he met some time ago, Grand Strategist Sima ground his teeth.
“I have realized it with this.”
Grind.
A chilling sound came from Grand Strategist Sima’s mouth.
“The most important thing for the Head Eunuch is that the ‘Grand Young Master fails’.”
No matter who dies or how many. No matter who gets into trouble. As long as the Grand Young Master fails, it is fine.
Even if the Grand Young Master wins the war against the Dread King, if Haedong occupies Heilongjiang Province, that merit turns into a fault. The Grand Young Master, having suffered massive losses in the war against the Dread King, cannot face Haedong.
And holding the Emperor responsible for that was the most important thing for the Head Eunuch.
“To the Head Eunuch, even we, including the Dread King…”
Grand Strategist Sima lowered the hand touching his forehead and addressed the assembly.
“…are merely targets to be checked in the long term.”
“How could…?!”
***
“With this…”
Receiving the report that the Heilongjiang generals were retreating, Grand Young Master Yeon So-hyeon smiled.
“The first preparation is complete.”