BES: Chapter 16

Gangwhasong Fortress was a massive complex. Three layers of walls surrounded a fortified central palace complex that was in turn built atop a hill. The outer layer was thickest and tallest, with multiple watchtowers and a double gate. We had spent the intervening time after landing systematically bombarding this outer wall, trying to force a breach. Of course, to do so, we had to suppress the guard towers first. The stone constructions mounted batteries of triple bow ballistae that had been purchased from the Song Dynasty. These weapons had the range that the crude cannons used by the Goryeo Forces did not, and could effectively fire back at our own artillery with ballista bolts mounting black powder charges as payloads, lit with slow-burning matchcord for fuses. After the first time that one of these explosive ballista bolts had taken out a trio of cannons, I had the Artillery switch targets to the towers from the walls.

Eventually, however, we had managed to suppress the guard towers and their Song Triple Bow Ballistae through systematic bombardment. That had taken a few days, however, and we were forced to offload several cannons from the fleet to make up for guns lost to bombardments from explosive ballista bolts. Fortunately, it wasn't long before we received Word that General Chang Wen was on his way to Gwangmu Island, having blitzed his way through Gyodong Island thanks to the Gyodong In Clan pulling their troops out to reinforce the Royal Army of Goryeo during the battle of Samsan. It was on the eighth day of bombardment, just a few hours after we had suppressed the last of the Guard Towers and begun bombarding the Outer Walls of the Gangwhasong Fortress, that General Chang Wen's fleet finally appeared offshore. An hour later, his forces made landfall, and the General immediately summoned me.

As I entered his tent, I saw that General Chang Wen had been wounded. A bandage was wrapped around his head underneath his helmet, and covered his left eye. Had he had his eye destroyed? It seemed so, as he was looking like an Asian version of Jan Ziska right now. It was all very Xiahou Dun of him to be sitting there, one eye bandaged up, with his face set into a grimace. Of course, it could just be the loss of his eye that was causing him consternation, but I wasn't so sure. After all, aside from that, we were doing well, seemingly ready to accomplish something that even Ogedei Khan couldn't accomplish. That was a feat that should have made the General happy, not one that would have made the General frown like this. Something had to be up, and I'd like to know what, before it surprised me with an arrow in the back when I least expected it.

"Why so grim, General?" I questioned.

"You haven't heard?" Queried General Chang Wen.

"Heard what?" I asked.

"Batu Khan has gone North, without being ordered to by the Great Khan." Intoned General Chang Wen.

"Against Perm?" I questioned.

"And the Volga Bulgars around Kazan. He seems to want his domain to stretch from the frozen seas of the North to the shores of the Kipchak Sea." Nodded General Chang Wen.

"So why is that bad?" I queried.

"Because while Batu Khan is in the North, someone else has taken over the running of his lands. Someone who is not friendly to your father." Informed General Chang Wen.

"Ariq Boke?" I asked.

"Indeed. He has used this temporary stewardship of Batu Khan's lands to begin building alliances. The Jochids are behind him, and he has begun speaking with various others, such as Buryats, Neiman, Kirghiz, Tuvans, and Telengids. Your father has been forced to stay home to counter Ariq Boke's schemes." Explained General Chang Wen.

"So then what is happening with the Dali Kingdom?" I questioned.

"Your brother, Dorji, has been sent in your father's stead to bring the Dali to heel." Intoned General Chang Wen.

"Dorji isn't robust enough to command troops. Why would my father send him to do the job?" I queried.

"Likely because he felt that a personal touch was required as an example." Shrugged General Chang Wen.

I frowned at that. My brother made no bones about how he was completely different from me in just about every way. He was less rugged, more fragile, more given to contemplation over action, and so on. Unfortunately, he was also somewhat more easily led about by advisors, as well as being more jealous by nature than I was. In short, his flaws were perfect for Ariq Boke to get his claws into. Mind you, Ariq Boke would despise my Brother's willingness to assimilate into conquered populations wholeheartedly, but if he wanted Dorji's support, I had little doubt that Ariq Boke would stoop to lies and flattery as deception. If Dorji could conquer Dali before I took care of Goryeo, that would be the sign Ariq Boke needed to reach out and try to manipulate Dorji. It would prove my brother would be a useful political tool.

"How goes the siege so far?" Asked General Chang Wen, drawing me out of my thoughts.

"We've suppressed the Guard Towers and have begun bombarding the Outer Walls. Once we have made breaches, we can assault." I informed.

"Casualties?" Questioned General Chang Wen.

"Twelve cannons and several of their crews to Ballistae. We have taken guns and crews from the fleet to make up the difference." I answered.

"Have you thought of simply blowing down the gates?" Queried General Chang Wen.

"That would only provide a single point of entry, making it easier to defend against our attack. I haven't ruled it out for the middle and inner gates, however." I refuted.

"A salient point, however, time is of the essence. Your Brother's forces will descend on Dali from two directions, after all." Warned General Chang Wen.

"When will he breach the borders of the Kingdom?" I asked.

"By the thirty-eighth day of the Campaign, once his Tibetans are in position." Explained General Chang Wen.

"I see. I still believe we should do things this way, however." I mused.

"Very well, My Prince. I will defer to your judgment here. After all, Dorji's success or failure affects you more than I." Affirmed General Chang Wen.

The meeting broke up shortly afterward, as General Chang Wen began supervising the setup of his own guns and disposition of his own forces. By the twelfth day of the siege, we had made our first breach. By the fourteenth, two others had been made. By the twenty-ninth day of the Goryeo Campaign, we blew the outer gate, making a trio of breaches. That was good enough to assault into the outer ward of the Gangwhasong Fortress. I had Yi Hwŏn and Xiao Namur lead the attack into the Outer Ward from two of the breaches with their Korean Swordsmen and Khitan Great Dao Troops, while I took the gate breach with a mix of Chinese Infantry under Jing Dan and Dismounted Mongol Troops. The Gate Breach would be the most difficult to assault through, after all, and I refused to force my troops to do something I was unwilling to do myself. General Chang Wen would have the reserves bring up guns to blow the gate in the Middle Walls once we had cleared the Outer Ward.

As I formed up alongside Jing Dan, our troops readying themselves for battle, I frowned, looking through the destroyed gates. The enemy was there, all right. The best of the remnants of the Gyodong In Clan under the command of In Ch'ŏl were holding the Outer Ward, and they had built barricades in the streets of the small town that had grown up in the Outer Ward to service the Goryeo Royal Court. I could see the banners of In Ch'ŏl flying from a large, fortified tea house in the center of the Outer Ward. That had to be our target. We just had to fight our way through the gates and past the block of enemy troops forming up in the streets around the makeshift barricades to get there. As I grit my teeth and drew my Dao, I pointed it at the broken gates, busted open by black powder charges and yawning open like the cracked and scorched fangs of some slain mythic beast.

"In there! We take this Fortress, and we can end the War! Who will come with me to storm these gates? I will not stop until this Fortress is mine, after all!" I called out.

"We're with you, Prince Dalai!" Exclaimed Jing Dan.

A chorus of affirmative cheers rang out from my men at that, clearly following the script I had laid down for a successful pre-battle speech. Jing Dan was grinning, and the men seemed confident enough. My charisma seemed to be working here, thankfully. I nodded at the cheers and raised my Dao to the sky as if beseeching Tengri to watch over us and make our assault successful.

"Then, with Tengri as witness, I vow to bring glory to us this day! Now! Attack!" I shouted, pointing my Dao at the open gates one last time before charging in.

The Men followed after me, and so began the initial assault on the Gangwhasong Fortress. As we entered the broken-open gates, however, several of my men were scythed down by arrow fire from above, smashed to the ground with rocks, or splashed with boiling oil. Murder holes took their toll on our forces, even as I exhorted the men to power through. As we did so, an arrow skipped off my right Lamellar Pauldron, bruising my shoulder, even as I avoided a splash of boiling oil by tucking into a shoulder roll on my left shoulder, tumbling past the hissing, sloshing, oil even as the man behind me, a Bearded Chinese Spearman, was splashed right in the face, burned to death by scalding oil. As I came up, a Goryeo Swordsman tried to strike out at me with his Geom, only for me to parry the cut and riposte with a whirling slash that took his head clean off. Nearby, Jing Dan thrust his Jian into the armpit of another Goryeo Swordsman.

We cut our way through the thin line of Central Army troops holding the gates, with me cutting down a second Goryeo Soldier with my Dao, picking up a thin cut to the meat of my left thigh, more of a scratch, really, as I did so, cleaving his sword arm off as the man was too slow to recover. Jing Dan did something Similar after being smashed in the armor by a Central Army Trooper with a ball-headed Iron Mace, bruising his ribs slightly through his armor before thrusting his Jian through the Offending Soldier's face. The rest of the line of Goryeo Central Army Troops were dealt with by our men, and we exited onto the streets of the Outer Ward. We had taken a decent chunk of casualties to do so from the murder holes, and as we made it into the Outer Ward, I turned to Jing Dan, nodding and gesturing to the red-lacquered, bronze-studded door set into the wall.

"Take the gatehouse and let the rest of our forces pass through unmolested!" I commanded.

"On it, My Prince!" Confirmed Jing Dan, quickly gathering up a handful of Chinese Infantry and leading them up into the gatehouse.

Meanwhile, I led our remaining troops against the block of Gyodong In Clan troops formed up in the streets. As I did so, a shower of arrows was fired at us from the enemy ranks. I took an arrow in the meat of my left bicep, though my armor meant it only penetrated shallowly. I was still bleeding, though, blood trickling down my arm. Thankfully, my Mongol Troops fired back after the initial volley from the Enemy scythed into us, and they were much more accurate and much quicker to fire than the archers of the Gyodong In Clan. More of the enemy were scythed down by our arrows than we were from theirs. As our charge picked up steam, the Gyodong In Clan Archers fell back behind a wall of Spearman just before our charge hit home. As I reached the row of spears, a Gyodong In Clan Spearman thrust for me, and I parried with my Dao, knocking his spear off course and slamming a textbook elbow strike into his throat, crushing his windpipe with a sickening crunch, blood welling up from my wounded arm from the motion.

He went down even as I lashed out with my Dao and carved through the arm of a second Gyodong In Clan Spearman, whose spear was out of position to parry. He went down, and I was forced to immediately cut an arrow out of the air as one of the Gyodong In Clan Archers fired at me. Fortunately, that Archer sprouted a Mongol Arrow from his face shortly after I cleaved his own fired arrow in twain as it hurtled toward me. I found myself smashed in the ribs by the Butt of a spear from a third Gyodong In Clan Spearman, bruising them and sending me staggering backward, pressed against one of the barricades. As he tried to thrust for my heart, however, I managed to Jank aside. His spear caught in the wood of the barricades instead of my chest, and I kicked out in a textbook Muay Thai-style push kick, knocking the Spearman Back and taking advantage of his stumble to cut his throat with a slash of my Dao. As I parried a thrust from another Spead, that Spearman found himself carved into by a Chinese Infantryman's Dao from behind as my men caught up.

Now that we were in among the barricades and the troops there, it didn't take long for the Gyodong In Clan Officer in his helmet that bore a pair of pheasant feathers as a crest, to call a retreat back to the teahouse. As it turned out, he wasn't the only Gyodong In Clan Officer to do so, as the ones facing Xiao Namur and Yi Hwŏn had both done likewise. About two hours into the assault, we had begun to besiege the Fortified Tea House. At the twenty-four-hour mark of the siege, we had managed to secure In Ch'ŏl's surrender. Twelve hours later, the outer Ward was secured. It had taken us a Minghan and a half of casualties, killed and wounded, to do so. As we blew the gates of the Middle Walls, however, I realized that this was only going to continue to be the case.

This time, the Middle Ward would be held by Wi Tae and the remnants of the Gwangmu Wi Clan. It proved similarly resistant, taking a further three days to clear the Middle Ward. I did not participate directly here. Instead, I delegated to Suike and Eje and their Manchu and Jurchen troops, giving our forces time to rest. They were joined by some of General Chang Wen's troops in the endeavor, and though they succeeded in taking the Middle Ward after three days of street-to-street fighting, they took another Minghan and a half of Casualties, though they succeeded in capturing that same number and killing five hundred in their assault on the Middle Ward. That just left the Inner Ward around the Fortified Palace Complex at the top of the Large Hill remaining before we had successfully won this battle.

Unfortunately, General Chang Wen insisted on taking this himself. Likewise, unfortunately, his assault bounced, as the fortified Palace Complex that formed the Inner Ward was the most heavily fortified place in the Islands and was garrisoned by three Minghan of the surviving Central Army, Pyŏlmuban, and Goryeo Royal Guard Troops. General Chang Wen's assault took three and a half Minghan of troops killed and wounded in his failed assault. Now, we prepared to settle in for another siege and bombardment, which lasted five days before we felt safe to assault the Inner Ward once again. This time, I would be leading my troops in the assault as well. Just to ensure that this time, we managed to win.

Ironically, just as we began our assault, we would be met by a party emerging from the smoking gates into the Inner Ward under a Flag of Parlay. It seemed that the remnants of the Goryeo Court wanted to talk terms of surrender. We stood down our forces temporarily to meet with them. If I didn't like what they had to say, however, they would be captured, and we would assault regardless.

As it would turn out, their proposal would wind up being both interesting and satisfactory. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. In it, we see the assaults leading up to the forty-second day of the Goryeo Campaign that I mentioned in the last chapter. Casualties for attacking the Gangwhasong Fortress have been heavy, but within parameters for a successful campaign, for the most part, and now the Goryeo Forces have been pushed back to the Inner Ward of the Gangwhasong Fortress, around the Fortified Palace Complex. At the same time, we see exactly what has been going on that resulted in Kublai changing his ribs and sending Dorji to subdue the Dali Kingdom instead of going himself.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an interlude giving a look at Dorji's assault on the Dali Kingdom, then we'll see another interlude with Batu Khan's invasion of Perm before returning to Dalai's POV for the Parlay with the remnants of the Goryeo Court.

Stay tuned. . .