BES: Chapter 17

They came out of the wreckage of the inner wall waving a banner of truce. Two armored Soldiers flanking a woman in clothing that, while dusty, was clearly well-made and well-tailored, marking her as a member of the court. We had been preparing to assault the inner ward of the Gangwhasong Fortress when they emerged, which was interesting to me. Interesting enough that I had Jing Dan usher them into my command post, a small tavern that I had taken for myself in the outer ward, the Red Heron Tavern. There was a chance that whatever it was this small delegation had to say would allow us to take the Gangwhasong Fortress without having to attack the Inner Ward in force and suffer further casualties, after all, and that was worth investigating.

As the small group entered the Red Heron, I offered the three-person delegation some of the stockpile of Makgeolli that the Tavern had and that we had been slowly drinking dry over the course of the five-day bombardment. Once everyone had drinks, we could begin the actual parlay. As we began, however, the woman spoke, rather than either of the military officers at her side. What she had to say revealed a fundamental weakness among the defenders that I could likely exploit in order to win the day, that being a brewing schism between the supporters of the Ch'oe regents and the Royal House of Wang.

"Thank you for agreeing to parlay." Spoke the Woman.

"Of course. If I can end this without further bloodshed, I would be happy to, though you would need to satisfy the requirements for peace." I nodded.

"I think we have come up with a proposal that will satisfy whatever requirements you or your Uncle, the Great Khan, might demand. My Mistress believes so, at any rate." Intoned the Woman.

"And just who is your mistress?" I questioned.

"I am An Nabi, Lady in Waiting to the Princess Suheung of the Royal Clan of Wang." Answered the Woman, An Nabi.

"I see. And the Princess wishes to discuss terms for the surrender of Goryeo?" I queried.

"She does. She has a proposal that we believe will satisfy you. With the Death of her brothers, whoever marries Princess Suehung will become the new King of Goryeo. She is offering her hand in marriage to you." Informed An Nabi.

"Which would bring the Kingdom under the Banner of the Khan while sidestepping the remainder of the war neatly, and preserving what remains of the property of the Goryeo Nobility at the same time." I mused.

"Just so." Agreed An Nabi.

It was a damn good plan, especially if the Princess had loyalists in the fortress of her own. After all, I couldn't imagine that Ch'oe Hang wouldn't know that in the aftermath of my crowning as King of Goryeo and the Goryeo Kingdom being brought into the Empire, I would immediately get rid of him. He had to understand that much. Something would definitely have to be done about Ch'oe Hang. Fortunately, his clan, though powerful, was very small and had a leadership crisis. Ch'oe Hang was the only member eligible for the position of Clan head, and with his son dead in the Battle of the Han River Estuary, the smaller branches would be paralyzed once the head had been cut off the snake, so to speak. I would be free to disband the Clan in the aftermath, by force if necessary.

"Does Ch'oe Hang know that the Princess is offering such terms? I cannot imagine he would be amenable to them if he did." I asked, wondering if the Princess had a plan to deal with the Regent as part of this.

"He does not. Princess Suehung has her own loyalists within the Fortress. They would stand down and allow you and your men to enter the Keep to remove the Regent." Explained An Nabi.

"So we would still have to fight a little, then." I mused, frowning as I did so.

"Regrettably, yes. The fact is that at this point, there is no path forward for either side where Regent Ch'oe Hang remains alive. He is very determined to go down fighting, even if it takes everyone else with him." Admitted An Nabi.

That was pretty much par for the course as far as these things were concerned. After all, we had killed his son, and Regent Ch'oe Hang clearly seemed to know we would get rid of him, too. It was just how these things tended to go, and An Nabi was right. There was no future for either us or the Princess where Ch'oe Hang remained alive. It was kill or be killed where he was concerned. Unfortunately, I couldn't make this decision on my own, Nephew of the Great Khan or no, I wasn't in overall command of the Invasion Force.

"You understand that I will have to confer about this with my superiors, yes? Even though I am the Prince, I am still not in overall command of this war." I cautioned.

"That much is well understood. You may be talented, but you are still very young, after all." Affirmed An Nabi.

"You will have my response when I have reached a decision and spoken to General Uriyangkidai via messenger." I intoned.

"My Mistress will await that response with interest." Bowed An Nabi.

And with that, the parlay had effectively ended. Over the course of the next few days, I sent a flurry of messages via courier and messenger bird back and forth to Uriyangkidai on the Mainland, and Admiral Sak Kong Tee on his Flagship out in the Harbor. Simultaneously, I was speaking to General Chang Wen, who had just arrived on Gwangmu Island. I was determined to see this plan be put into action and tried to make my arguments for it as sound as I could when speaking to my Superiors. I also mulled the idea over with my own subordinates. The plan to take Goryeo by marriage was somewhat controversial, depending on who I spoke to. Some had no reservations, others had reservations about various practical aspects, while still others had reservations based on emotion.

"Why are we even pondering this? We have them by the bollocks, now we just need to squeeze. There is no need for such politics!" Scowled Eje of the Uya Clan, clearly basing his objection on emotion.

"It is a rather neat solution." Mused Jing Dan, clearly on the side of taking the offer.

"It is neat, isn't it?" Questioned Yi Hwŏn, agreeing with Jing Dan.

"Too neat. What if it's a trap?" Queried Suike, worried about practicalities.

"What is the Princess like? Do we know if she is the type to bait a trap?" Asked Liau Tsi-Sing, who had put ashore to discuss the situation.

"I know of her from reputation. She's a politician, and a pretty damned good one, though she also is supposed to have a decent head on her shoulders. I don't think she would try to trick us like this. Not when there are still other forces besides our own in the field that could avenge Prince Dalai with interest." Mused Xiao Namur.

"In that case, I withdraw my objection." Offered Suike.

"I don't. We shouldn't need to try something like this to claim victory." Scoffed Eje.

"Your objection is noted, Eje. Rest assured, if this fails, I have no qualms letting you and your forces do whatever you want to the Court of Goryeo." I intoned.

That was the general mood among my subordinates. Most favored the plan, while some holdouts like Eje were still against it. They would follow orders, however. It was the opinions of my Superior Officers that I really had to worry about. Between Uriyangkidai, General Chang Wen, and Admiral Sak Kong Tee, they had the true power here to make or break any plan to end the war. The three of them conferred with me and each other over the course of the next few days, a flurry of meetings and messages coming and going like a storm. It seemed things were hotly debated among the trio of actual commanders.

Admiral Sak Kong Tee was for taking the Princess up on her offer. In his mind, anything that ended the war with minimal subsequent bloodshed was a good thing. General Chang Wen, on the other hand, seemed to want to stage one last grand assault with himself in command, likely to gather more reputation out of this invasion for himself before the end. He was therefore against such a surgical operation that he had no part in the planning of. Meanwhile, Uriyangkidai was on the fence about the whole thing. On the one hand, the southern forts around the coast were giving the Main Army trouble, and the Princess' plan would allow them to force those forts to stand down. On the other hand, Uriyangkidai noted that Princess Suehung was twenty-two years of age, around nine years older than I was, and a Confucian to boot. He had reservations about whether such a political match would be stable or not.

In the end, however, expediency won out. Word came back from Dorji's invasion of the Dali Kingdom. He had won a victory at a place called Luolan in the Jianchang Province of the Kingdom, which lay between the Yangtze and Yalong Rivers, against a large Dali Army. In the aftermath, his forces had crossed the Yangtze and Yalong to capture large swathes of the Northern half of the Dali Kingdom. The Dali Army, in disarray, had pulled back to the south and center of the Kingdom, hoping the fortifications and terrain would slow Dorji's forces. That didn't seem likely, however, given the casualty figures attached to the news. The Dali Kingdom didn't have so many men that it could afford to lose those numbers, garrison forts properly, and still have an army left to defend their capital with.

By now, it was likely that Dorji's forces were closing in on the Enemy Capital of Dali City. That wasn't great news for us, and if we did not wish to be left behind in terms of reputation because Dorji's force managed their conquest before we managed ours, we would have to agree to the Princess' plan. This was the news that had tipped the scales for Uriyangkidai in agreeing to Princess Suehung's plan. General Chang Wen wasn't happy with the idea, of course, but with two commanders against one, he was outvoted. At any rate, he knew better than to ignore the big picture and reluctantly agreed with the others.

We would begin the operation the day after everyone got on the same page regarding taking Princess Suehung up on her plan. We had to send a message to the Princess' forces beforehand, letting them know we were doing so, after all. That was not something that could be accomplished quickly, as it involved a dead-drop system and the cover of night. However, when we checked the dead drop in the morning, we received the confirmation that Princess Suehung and the Wang Clan Loyalists would be ready to turn their cloaks when the attack began.

When the moment of truth arrived, I found myself armored up in my Lamellar, with my Dao sharpened, oiled, and ready in its sheath. I was ready to finish this, hopefully before Dorji could capture Dali and, in so doing, conquer the Dali Kingdom. At the very least, I had one thing on him that he didn't have on me. I would be participating in the fall of Gangwhasong Fortress personally. My Brother's chronic illness meant that he would always have to command his own battles from afar. Hopefully, that would be enough to score me more points in the eyes of the Great Khan, even if my solution for ending the war took points away.

I couldn't think about that now, though. I had to actually finish the fight first. I marched to the front of the mass of assault troops, taking my place among them and nodding at Jing Dan and Yi Hwŏn, both of whom would be taking part in the initial attack. Then, as the sun rose high in the sky, I gave the order to begin the assault.

And the final fall of Gangwhasong Fortress began. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. It turns out that those of you who guessed that Princess Suehung was scheming behind Regent Ch'oe Hang's back to retain some semblance of a position even though the Regent was convinced to fight to the death were correct. Of course, only time will tell if the plot is successful or even if the Marriage that seals the Plot will last. As Uriyangkidai noted, there are some problems that could lead to the marriage being unstable and imploding if not handled with care. At the same time, Dorji, or rather, the commanders that Dorji is delegating his field commands to, are advancing across the Dali Kingdom, putting a time crunch on the conquest of Goryeo for Dalai.

Speaking of Dorji and the Dali Kingdom, the next chapter will be an interlude showing the Battle of Luolan and the aftermath from the perspective of Dorji and his forces. Then we'll return to Dalai's POV for the actual assault on Gangwhasong Fortress. That Dorji Interlude will be out tonight for Tip Jar Plus Members, though everyone else will have to wait till next week to see it.

Stay tuned. . .