580.
Ten ships were smashed.
The sea was wide.
From Seungju (昇州), Paeju (貝州), Damju (潭州), Haenamjin, all the way to the inland roads beneath Jirisan, the Japanese raiders slipped through every gap they could find.
On Haechil's deck, Park Seong-jin washed the blood from his curved blade.
He laid the sword along the flow of the water.
"This war will be long."
The image of the massive cannon he had seen at the Battle of Paryang Lake during the expedition rose in his mind.
With that power, enemy ships could be broken in a single blow.
Entire fleets could be shattered.
Technicians, hulls, gunpowder, maintenance—every problem piled up at once.
Dark thoughts rolled in like waves on a windless night.
Park Seong-jin's gaze drifted far away.
He was looking into the distance.
What hurt him most was the fact that reports of victory kept flowing to Gaegyeong.
As dispatches stacked up, the court would believe the war was turning.
The need for support would blur beneath the lamplight.
The Gaegyeong court was intoxicated with success.
"The pirates of the Maritime Circuit will soon be dealt with."
"A thousand cavalry will be enough."
Park Seong-jin's requests were buried somewhere beneath those voices.
"Ships can just be taken from the enemy," someone said first.
"Cannons are excessive ambition," another added.
Then came, "A navy isn't even necessary."
Victory had made them light.
The only one who clearly understood the reality was Yi In-jung.
He chose the moment when the king was with Queen Noguk, Princess Da-jang of the Yuan.
The moment he stepped inside, he spoke straight out.
"Your Majesty, Deputy Commander Park is in the greatest danger right now."
The king raised his eyes.
"He advances from victory to victory. What is there to worry about?"
Yi In-jung steadied his breath.
"Your Majesty, he is holding the line with nothing but a thousand cavalry.
There is no proper naval framework, the foundations of the ships are weak, and he is barely holding things together with methods he devised himself."
Queen Noguk lifted her head.
Her expression tightened, just slightly.
"What is it that you mean?"
Yi In-jung replied, "He needs support."
The king's face stiffened for a moment.
Yi In-jung continued.
"Lord Park is not a man who enjoys asking.
If something is lacking, he uses what there is.
If something hurts, he endures it.
He is a man who wrings everything possible out of the battlefield.
For such a man to speak of support means he is already standing at the edge of his limits.
He is not someone who complains of pain.
When he asks for help, it is because he has already reached that edge."
The king's head dipped, just a little.
Yi In-jung's gaze shifted to Queen Noguk.
She spoke softly.
"Your Majesty, you trusted Lord Park, did you not?"
The king nodded.
She continued.
"We must send the technicians and ships requested from Daehan."
The king exhaled slowly.
"And if Daehan refuses?"
Queen Noguk answered without hesitation.
"Then Goryeo will lose Lord Park."
The king's hand clenched the hem of his robe.
His breath deepened once more.
"Very well. Send envoys. By the fastest ship."
Yi In-jung bowed deeply.
"I shall carry out Your Majesty's will."
The king shook his head.
"It is our duty not to lose Lord Park's merit."
He continued issuing decisions.
Construction of ocean-going warships.
Requests to dispatch cannon and gunpowder specialists.
Formulation of strike plans aimed at the root.
A full mobilization order for the navy and Maritime Circuit forces.
At last, the king said,
"Do not let Deputy Commander Park shoulder the sea alone."
Queen Noguk nodded faintly.
Messengers set their course toward the dark-blue sea.
---*
When an envoy from Goryeo arrived at the Jiangnan capital, Chen Youliang had already lost men across many battlefields.
He had founded an empire, yet remnants of enemies still clung everywhere.
For a long while, he did not open the letter.
Only after night deepened and the ministers withdrew did he remain alone and slowly break the seal.
The first line caught his eye.
"The enemy comes from the sea. I cannot stop them with ships alone."
Chen Youliang read that line several times.
The mere fact that Park Seong-jin was asking for something weighed heavier than war itself.
He read to the end and then sat in silence for a long while.
Two forces collided within his heart.
Park Seong-jin had saved him in the Jiangnan war.
Without conditions, he had helped turn the tide in battles that reshaped the board.
Without that debt, Chen Youliang would not have reached this place.
By principle, he had to extend his hand.
Daehan was weak.
To the north, the remnants of Yuan pressed down, and there was still room for Zhu Yuanzhang's forces to stir.
The Yangtze navy was built for rivers and mudflats alone.
Cannons were insufficient, and the hulls of ships fit for the open sea were thin.
Park Seong-jin's request was a decision that risked everything.
If he helped, the bones of the state could shake.
If he did not, his own heart would break.
Chen Youliang muttered low,
"…Has Lord Park ever written, 'I cannot help but ask'?"
He had not.
Park Seong-jin always solved things himself.
That he was asking now meant the edge was near.
At dawn, Chen Youliang convened a secret council.
The commanders of the palace guard, naval chiefs, cannon craftsmen, and state ministers gathered.
He spoke without haste.
"Deputy Commander Park of Goryeo has requested naval support from us.
He asks us to open a path to annihilate the pirates with ships and cannons."
The room stirred.
Ministers spoke one after another.
"He is our benefactor. We must help."
"We have no ships fit for the open sea."
"What if Zhu Yuanzhang's remnants rise?"
"The moment we help, Daehan's foundation will shake."
Chen Youliang lightly tapped the table with his fingertips.
"Quiet."
Silence fell.
He spoke slowly.
"We must help.
The greater the hardship, the more we help.
Helping only with what remains when things are easy is not help."
Eyes widened around the room.
"I am a man before I am a king.
Lord Park saved my life, saved my country's breath, saved the paths of my brothers.
I, too, will sustain the breath of his country."
He did not dress it up.
"If we abandon righteousness, how can a state stand?
A state founded without righteousness cannot endure.
Who would offer loyalty?
Who would hold the people in their heart?"
Words vanished from the chamber.
Feeble arguments sank away, leaving only the weight of reality.
Chen Youliang knew that reality, and within it he drew a precise line for aid.
Five large junks (戎克) capable of being refitted for ocean use.
Sixty Yangtze cannons and forty gunpowder artisans.
Twelve naval tactical officers.
He concluded the decision with these words.
"Daehan will help with its own strength.
This fleet will not fight in Goryeo's place."
It was the line between assistance and national survival.
Chen Youliang whispered at last.
"Lord Park, I uphold righteousness."
That night, at a naval harbor on the lower Yangtze, refitted ships quietly rose onto the water.
Their sails were furled.
The oars moved like silence itself.
Five ships.
Sixty cannons.
Forty powder and metal craftsmen.
Twelve naval officers.
Two commanders.
They moved south along the river.
Before they entered the sea, Chen Youliang's final order was delivered.
"Go to wherever Lord Park desires.
Save him, and return."
At the camp in Nangju, Park Seong-jin stared at the night sea and murmured to himself.
"If they do not come, that too is fate."
At that moment, the wind changed.
It was a wind rising from the south, hot and mixed with the scent of metal.
Song I-jeong said,
"The wind has changed."
Park Seong-jin could not put the reason into words.
One side of his chest ached strangely.
He slowly turned his head toward the far edge of the sea.
"…They're coming."