Episode 19. You’ll be so surprised you’ll be running away
As if to confirm, Hwang Yeo-myeong, the poisonous snake, asked back.
“Ah! So all I have to do is get the leader?”
“If we can just bring the Archbishop forward, the fight is as good as over.”
With those words, Gumilbokgyeom Simyanggak shut his mouth tightly like a clam.
Chaeju Poongyeoncho said with an awkward smile.
“Did you all hear? Don’t be afraid. If they come, close the gate and hold out. As for what happens next… .”
Without saying anything, Poongyeoncho glanced at Yeonjeokha.
Yeonjeokha nodded.
“Yeon-ah will solve it! We will win!”
“Wow!”
The bandits’ cries echoed throughout Mt. Obong.
***
When the meeting was over, the bandits dispersed in groups of three or four.
Gumilbokgyeom Sim Yanggak, Muyeongshintu Baek Gyo, Doksimnangin Hwang Yomyeong, Yeom Sawoong, and Cheon Ilbo entered the same prison. The atmosphere was strange, perhaps because they were all people who had broken up with Yeonjeokha.
As soon as he entered the room, Huang Yeoming asked in a very low voice.
“Brother Shim, are you really okay with this?”
“what?”
“I’m talking about Namyangsangbang. They say it’s 890 years old, but is it okay to stay like this…?”
“What if it’s not okay? Are you saying we should run away?”
“… … .”
Huang Yeoming stared at Simyanggak as if trying to determine the truth.
Baek-gyo, who lost his front teeth after being hit by Yeon-jeok-ha about a month ago, chimed in with a broken pronunciation.
“What Brother Shim said is true. There are many enemies, but there is no need to worry too much. If you really think it won’t work out, you can just run away. If it’s not the leader, there’s no one who will follow our footsteps, so why worry?”
“I see, that’s true.”
Only then did Huang Yeomyeong’s face regain color, as if she felt relieved.
The servants Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo also nodded as if they were confident in their ability to run.
Sim Yang-gak turned his gaze and looked at Baek-gyo.
His nose was sunken and his front teeth were all missing, making his face look utterly ugly.
“Brother Baek, are you planning to back out like this?”
“Haa! There is no way.”
“It’s not like there’s no way… … .”
Sim Yang-gak trailed off with an ambiguous expression on his face.
“Do you have a number?”
At Baek-gyo’s question, Sim Yang-gak’s eyes turned to Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo.
“Being strong doesn’t just mean being excellent at martial arts. What about you? Do you plan on taking a guy with a cold head as your older brother?”
Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo shook their heads.
“No. I only have two older brothers.”
“So do i.”
Perhaps because of their commonality of having been broken by Yeonjeokha, the five of them were forming a sense of solidarity of their own.
After hearing the answer, Sim Yang-gak took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his bosom and threw it in front of Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo.
“What is this?”
Sim Yang-gak answered Yeom Sa-ung’s question with an indifferent expression.
“San-gong-bun.”
Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo blinked.
Sankongbun is a powder that dissipates energy even if you eat just a little bit, and is a favorite item of Sapha masters. But why is such an item here?
“… … ?”
“Hehe. If used at the right time, it works better than the formless poison. Feed it to Aesong before the fight with Imoo-ryang begins. If he and Imoo-ryang get into a two-way fight (both sides suffer losses without gaining anything), we will move in to resolve it.”
“ah…….”
Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo just rolled their eyes diligently and didn’t pick up the paper. They felt uncomfortable using their hands against Yeon Jeok-ha.
He was young, but once he got into a rage, he didn’t discriminate between men, women, or children. The face of Nomadoo Baekgyo, who was horribly destroyed, is proof of that. It wasn’t easy to pick up the mountain spirit with living evidence right in front of you.
Yeom Sa-ung and Cheon Il-bo glanced at each other.
It was like two mice trying to bell a cat. One of them has to do the job, and neither one of them looks like they want to do it.
Baek-gyo, who had been watching the two’s battle of wits, pushed the paper away with the tip of his foot.
As the paper came towards him, Yeom Sa-ung swallowed dry saliva down his throat.
“Me, me?”
“Didn’t he do it first last time? So it’s only fair that you do it this time.”
Yeom Sa-ung didn’t dare to disobey and picked up the paper.
I regret not having done it a month ago if I had known this would happen.
***
The warriors of Nanyangsangbang arrived at Hagachon when the sun was setting. The warriors had to stay overnight at the Tojisinmyo at the entrance to Hagachon. This was because there was no house in Hagachon that could accommodate eighty people.
The patriarch and two great lords were seated inside the land god temple, and the rest were seated inside the wall.
Although it was the end of March, the nights were still chilly, so the two lords had to light a fire inside the shrine.
As the flames rose, the three took out some beef jerky from the bags they were carrying and ate it.
Kyungcheon-dae Daeju Sogunpyeong, who was chewing on the beef jerky in his mouth, glanced at Pungun-dae Daeju Wang In-geol.
“Your Majesty, I’m talking about a young thief who is good at using a sword.”
“yes?”
The two men, both in their early forties, addressed each other politely.
Wang In-geol was from Cheongungwan and So Gun-pyeong was from Hongbang, so they kept their distance from each other. Cheongungwan and Hongbang were fighting invisibly to monopolize the escort of Namyangsangbang.
“Isn’t that a little strange?”
“What?”
“His name is mentioned as often as the Gumilbokgeom or the Muyeongshintu. Has Your Majesty the King ever seen that young thief?”
“no.”
A bitter smile appeared on Wang In-geol’s face. He was surprised by the arrow attack and voluntarily paid the toll. Naturally, he had no time to even mix hands with the young thieves who had recently emerged.
“Is it true that the island sword master Kang Dae-ju was attacked?”
“Well, if that’s true, there must have been some reason that others don’t know about.”
It is an open secret that ‘Mansu Sangbang’s Baekrangdae Daeju Seomjeongeom Kang Mu-deok was defeated by a young bandit.’ Of course, there are not many people who take that rumor at face value.
Sogunpyeong, who had been nodding, turned his gaze to the Gyeongcheon swordsman, Lee Mu-ryang.
“What does your lord think?”
“What does it mean?”
Imoo-ryang looked into Sogunpyeong’s eyes with a piece of jerky in his mouth.
“I’m talking about the young thief from Obongsanchae who is good at wielding a sword. Is he really as great as his reputation suggests?”
“When I was training at the Volcano Sect, there was a saying that I heard so many times it was ingrained in my ears: Tangma Myeolsa.”
“… … .”
Wang In-geol and So Gun-pyeong were silent for a moment.
Certainly, the leader of the sect, as a lay disciple of the Hwasanpa, had different thoughts.
“Our goal is to destroy the bandits of Mt. Obong. What does age mean when dealing with an enemy? If the enemy stands before us with a sword, we can just cut them down.”
Sogunpyeong felt that his question was meaningless and changed the subject.
“By the way, Mt. Obong is right in front of us. How do you plan to deploy your soldiers?”
“The terrain is narrow, so it will be difficult to maintain formation. Let’s all advance together, but let Pungun-dae take the left, and Gyeongcheon-dae the right. I will guard the center with the warriors of the generals.”
“What do you think the masters of Cheongungwan will do?”
“I told them to stay in the center if possible. It won’t help much though.”
The leader of the clan, Lee Mu-ryang, also believed that the warriors of Nanyang Sangbang alone were enough to fight, just like Bangju.
Wang In-geol nodded and asked.
“I heard from Ha-ga-chon that there are more than thirty bandits. I’m a little worried because there seem to be more of them than I thought.”
“They say there are many, but most of them are from the Hwajeon tribe. How many of them have mastered internal and external martial arts like Gumilbokgeom or Muyeongshintu? If we rush in and fire a few arrows, they will be surprised and run away.”
“indeed!”
“I guess so.”
The two great lords nodded their heads at the words of Imoo-ryang, who had a lot of experience in suppressing bandits.
***
The day of the final battle has finally dawned.
Lee Mu-ryang, the leader of Namyang Sangbang, led a total of eighty-one soldiers, seventy soldiers from Sangbang and eleven soldiers from Cheongungwan, and headed to Mt. Obong.
But maybe it got halfway up?
The path in front of the mountain was blocked by dozens of logs, so we couldn’t go any further.
Soon the heads of the bandits rose above the densely piled logs.
“Where do the dogs from above come from?”
“You bastards! Why don’t you just get out of here!”
“From now on, Nanyang Sangbang will never be able to pass Mt. Obong!”
“Does the green forest look easy?”
From a position about 10 jang (about 30 meters) away, the leader of the group, Imoo-ryang, waved his hand.
As if they had been waiting, a dozen or so archers stepped forward.
Shhhhhh!
As the archers fired their arrows, the bandits’ heads sank downwards.
Still, the archers continued firing their arrows without stopping.
When the archers’ quivers were almost empty of arrows, Imoo-ryang shouted.
“Get over the log wall immediately! Wind and Cloud Corps take the lead! Kyungcheon Corps follow!”
“yes!”
The leader of the Pungun-dae, Wang In-geol, led about twenty of his subordinates and ran up the hill. About twenty of the Gyeongcheon-dae’s masters followed closely behind him.
At that moment, two or three arrows flew from inside the log. However, since they were not aiming and shooting, no one was hit by the blind arrows.
The wind chime that reached the log wall quickly climbed up.
The first one to reach the top was the king who had kicked the tree to climb up.
But Wang In-geol jumped up and flew backwards as fast as he could.
Three keki (a weapon with auxiliary blades in addition to the main blade) passed precariously under Wang In-geol’s feet.
Wang In-geol flipped over several times in the air before falling gracefully to the ground.
Following this, the warriors of the Wind and Cloud Corps climbed onto the log. However, it was impossible for the ordinary warriors to handle the long weapons that even the great lord Wang In-geol could not handle.
The warriors of the Wind and Cloud Army were pushed back by the extreme offensive and fell backwards.
As the number of wounded people increased due to being stabbed by the pole, Imoo-ryang ordered his warriors to retreat.
The angry king stood in front of the log wall and shouted.
“You were bragging about the green forest! You’re hiding like rats! How can you call yourself a man after doing that?”
After a while, the heads of the thieves rose one by one over the log.
Among the thieves, the third, Ma Hyeong-do, responded.
“What a bumper crop! Is that what you’re talking about when you’re coming in like a pack of dogs? You dog! You just bark there. Do you think we’ll get out of here just because you do that?”
“You shameless brats! What the hell are you talking about, coming all this way!”
“Get out you idiot! We’re not going out!”
“Hahaha! They think we’re such idiots.”
Unable to bear the bandits’ taunts any longer, Wang In-geol turned around helplessly.
Imoo-ryang, who was inspecting the surrounding mountains, called out to Sogunpyeong, the commander of Gyeongcheondaeju.
“Go to Hagachon and get some oil.”
“Ah, a fire attack?”
“Yeah. If I burn the logs, where will my guys hide?”
“All right.”
Sogunpyeong, who had come down the mountain with his men, returned around noon carrying three barrels of oil.
However, Imoo-ryang did not immediately enter the chemical industry.
Instead, he just pushed back the warriors, strengthened his guard, and wasted time doing nothing.
Wang In-geol, who had sent the five injured people down to Ha-ga-chon, asked with a frustrated look.
“Your Majesty, when do you plan to attack?”
“If we prepare for a fire attack in broad daylight like now, there may be a counterattack or preparation by the enemy. I plan to remove the logs under the cover of darkness, so don’t be too hasty.”
That is true. However, Wang In-geol was not at ease. It seemed that Cheongungwan’s position in Namyangsangbang was gradually diminishing due to the continued failures.
Wuxia,
