Chapter 79 - Black Plague (2)

And Lee Jasong appeared to have already chosen the latter. That choice could lead to several different outcomes, but none of that mattered to Dong Bongsu.

What mattered to him now was heading for Guishui. Had Lee Jasong chosen the former...

Dong Bongsu would have killed every mercenary here and headed for Guishui alone if necessary. That would have given him at least a thread more of a chance of surviving.

Nowhere on these plains offered refuge from the shadow of the Black Death anymore. What, then, was he to do?

Wasn't it obvious?

Dong Bongsu would dispel that shadow himself. And so he headed for Guishui.

Every day and night, hundreds died. ... Before long, the entire land would be covered in graves. I, Agnolo di Tura, buried five of my own children with my own hands. ... Witnessing these countless deaths, people believed the end of the world had come.

— Agnolo De Tura, medieval chronicler

At the adjutants' orders, all the whirlwind catapult crews pulled the traction ropes—the ropes that triggered the catapults—with all their strength. The upper ends of the throwing arms—the beams that launched the projectiles—rose, hurling the rocks.

BOOM!

KA-BOOM!

The rocks hurtled through the air and pounded mercilessly against Guishui's walls and gates.

RATTLE...

A small section of the wall chipped, scattering stone dust. But the damage was minuscule. Taken as a whole, Guishui Fortress still stood unmoving, like a massive boulder that had weathered a thousand years.

The gates were even less affected. Made of steel plates over three chi thick, they remained intact in every respect. This was partly because Guishui was a fortress built across both level ground and hillside, with part of it perched on a rise that made it difficult for the catapults' stones to reach.

"General! At this rate, there's no telling when we'll break through the gates."

"Keep firing! Even a lump of iron must break eventually."

"But General! The epidemic is already spreading throughout the camp. Even now, if you would turn the army back..."

"Turn back? Did you just say turn back? Where? Where, exactly, are we supposed to go?"

Adjutant Dang fell silent.

Lee Jasong was right. They had already lost the place they could return to.

Several days earlier, during the assault on Liangcheng, roughly twenty thousand cavalry had appeared near the rear of Lee Jasong's main force. At first, he had assumed they were reinforcements coming to relieve Liangcheng. He had temporarily lifted the siege and reorganized his troops into a formation suited to fighting cavalry.

But the moment his army had finished preparing for battle, the cavalry abruptly wheeled southeast and vanished.

There was no question that they were following the very route Lee Jasong and his fifty thousand troops had taken to get here.

And at the end of that road?

Datong, of course. It required neither thought nor explanation. In other words, the enemy had headed for the Datong General Administration.

Seeing this, several adjutants had feared that their supplies and rear support would be cut off, and that Datong itself might ultimately fall. Some commanders had therefore petitioned Lee Jasong to retreat immediately.

But Lee Jasong had rejected the proposal out of hand. Though only farmer-soldiers remained to defend the General Administration, Datong was the greatest stronghold in the north and would not fall easily. Besides, turning back now would amount to admitting his own failure, making retreat all the more impossible.

This was the one and only chance he would be given. Turning back meant throwing that chance away. Returning to Datong, in other words, would be a decision no different from putting a blade to his own throat.

And so Lee Jasong had pressed ahead with the attack on Liangcheng and finally succeeded in taking it.

That very success was now tightening its grip around the throat of the entire expeditionary army.

After occupying Liangcheng, they had discovered a severe epidemic raging within. Before they could do anything, it had spread to the occupying troops.

The adjutants had once again recommended retreat, but Lee Jasong had ignored them then as well. Instead, he had gathered every remaining soldier and marched on Guishui.

A week later...

They had arrived at their present predicament.

Had everything gone according to the plan laid out at the start of the expedition, they could have taken their time besieging Guishui Fortress. Now, however, much had changed.

According to news brought by a messenger, the Datong General Administration was already completely surrounded by twenty thousand enemy cavalry and stood on the brink of falling. In short, the expeditionary army was at risk of losing its main base.

Even so, they could not withdraw. With the epidemic raging so fiercely through the camp, there was no telling how many soldiers would make it back to Datong alive. If Timur Khan opened Guishui's gates and struck their retreating rear, the cavalry besieging Datong could swiftly move to block their front at the same time. If that happened...

The outcome would be all too clear.

Yet continuing this fruitless siege indefinitely was a burden as well.

Dozens died of the epidemic every day. Hundreds more lay bedridden, waiting only for death. Though they had fought no proper battles... plague, plague, and yet more plague was rendering their soldiers unfit to fight.

Naturally, morale throughout the army had hit rock bottom. Some soldiers had even begun deserting because of the epidemic.

Inevitably, Lee Jasong was left with no other path.

"Guishui! All we have to do is take Guishui!"

If he could bring down that fortress—just that fortress—he could save his own life and ultimately secure a foothold for his comeback!

THWIP! THWIP!

Even as he shouted, arrows rained down from Guishui Fortress, killing a dozen or more soldiers. Yet Lee Jasong only raised his voice further. His own life and success mattered tens of thousands of times more to him than the paltry lives of his soldiers. He could not possibly lower his voice.

The madness of the epidemic was already gnawing away not only at the soldiers' lives, but at Lee Jasong's entire body—and his mind.

"Fire! Keep firing!"

Under Lee Jasong's relentless orders, the attacks continued without pause, and the soldiers grew steadily more exhausted.

Guishui's mountain fortress still offered no particular response beyond shooting arrows at anyone who approached and at the whirlwind catapult crews. Was this what it felt like to try to build a dam across the vast Yellow River by throwing stones into it? Lee Jasong and his soldiers were wearing themselves out.

'He knew all along what was happening...'

Lee Jasong wondered whether Timur Khan had orchestrated all of this. The way things were unfolding certainly suggested it. Perhaps the reason they had dispatched twenty thousand cavalry without relieving either Liangcheng or Mount Manhan was that they had known about the epidemic from the start.

"Damn it!"

He muttered a curse to himself. It brought him no clever solution, but he felt he would go mad if he did not at least do that.

What in the world was he supposed to do? He was the one laying siege... yet somehow he was the one in danger!

It felt as though unseen enemies had surrounded him, ring upon ring.

"Goddamn it..."

By now, even his curses had little force left in them. Was that why? Though the entire army was attacking, every soldier looked listless.

Unless a miracle occurred, they were headed straight for annihilation.

It was just as Lee Jasong was about to give another order to attack that a voice interrupted him.

"Your Excellency, Governor. I am told the mercenaries are entering the camp."

A soldier approached and knelt before Lee Jasong, announcing Dong Bongsu's arrival.

For the first time in a long while, a gleam flashed in Lee Jasong's anxious eyes.

"Ear Ghost is here?"

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Ear Ghost had come. Yes, that man might—perhaps that man could...

"Bring him to the command post. I will meet him in person."

With that, Lee Jasong rode toward the command post.

Dong Bongsu was already there. He had walked without rest for the past several days to reach this place. Fortunately, the disease still seemed to be incubating, but no one could know when the symptoms would appear.

If he fell ill...

No one could predict what would happen here. Only one thing was certain: it would be a catastrophe for everyone present except Dong Bongsu.

RATTLE.

The screen hanging over the command post's entrance was swept aside, revealing Lee Jasong. As always, Adjutant Dang followed behind him.

Dong Bongsu's and Lee Jasong's gazes collided through Dong Bongsu's long hair. Yet Lee Jasong still had no idea what the man was thinking. It was not because he could not see his eyes.

He simply... simply could not tell.

"You must have heard enough to understand our situation here. I'll ask you plainly. What must I do?"

He had not asked, What should I do? Or, What would be best? His question was definitive: What must I do?

Dong Bongsu stared at him for a moment. There was something about that presence that seemed to constrict a person. In the end, Lee Jasong had no choice but to turn his head slightly. Again, he could not say why.

Then Dong Bongsu's flat voice lodged itself in his ears.

"Give me control of the stone-throwing engines."

He would probably never meet another in all his remaining years...

Was there anyone else in the world whom that manner of speaking suited so well? The thought passed through Lee Jasong's mind before the meaning of Dong Bongsu's words did.

"Stone-throwing engines? You mean the whirlwind catapults?"