His adjutants once again advised Li Zi-song to retreat, but even then, Li Zi-song dismissed their opinions. And just like that, he gathered all remaining forces and marched toward Guisui.
One week after that...
They had arrived at the current situation.
If things had flowed according to the plan when they first commenced the expedition, they would be leisurely besieging Guisui Castle by now, but many things had changed.
According to news sent by messengers, the Datong Military Command had already been completely surrounded by 20,000 enemy cavalry and was on the verge of falling. In other words, they might lose the expedition army's main camp.
Nevertheless, they couldn't withdraw from here. With the epidemic raging seriously within the encampment in this situation, there was no telling how many soldiers could return to Datong alive.
If in such circumstances Timur Khan opened Guisui's gates and struck at the rear of the retreating allied forces, while the cavalry surrounding Datong swiftly blocked the allied forces' front in timely fashion...
Then...
The result would be obvious without further consideration.
But continuing the siege in this manner without any gain was also burdensome.
Dozens died daily from the epidemic. Moreover, hundreds lay sick, only waiting for the day of death. Even though there had been no proper battles at all... soldiers were falling into combat incapacity just from epidemic, epidemic, and more epidemic.
Naturally, the morale of the entire army had hit rock bottom, and deserters fleeing due to the epidemic were even appearing.
Naturally, Li Zi-song had no other path remaining.
"Guisui! I just need to capture Guisui!"
If they could just topple that place, that castle, he could save his own life and ultimately even establish a foothold for recovery!
Aaaaaahhh!
Even as he shouted, arrows flew like rain from Guisui Castle, killing over a dozen soldiers. Yet Li Zi-song's voice only grew louder. To him, his own life and success were tens of thousands of times more important than the trivial lives of soldiers, so he absolutely couldn't lower his voice.
The madness of the epidemic was gnawing away not only at the soldiers' lives but already at Li Zi-song's entire body and even his mind.
"Fire! Keep firing!"
At Li Zi-song's continuously issuing orders, attacks continued endlessly and soldiers grew increasingly exhausted.
Still, from Guisui Mountain Castle, there was no particular response except shooting arrows at those approaching closely and at the Whirlwind Artillery Gunners.
Was this what it felt like to throw stones into the vast Yellow River trying to build a dam? Li Zi-song and the soldiers were exhausting themselves.
'He already knew about this entire situation...'
Li Zi-song thought that Timur Khan might have orchestrated all of this. The way things were going certainly seemed that way. Perhaps the reason they deployed 20,000 cavalry without relieving Liangcheng or Manhan Mountain was because they knew about the epidemic's outbreak?
"Damn it!"
He cursed to himself. It wasn't as if a sharp strategy would come to mind by doing so, but if he didn't do at least that, he felt like he'd go mad.
What should he do? He was the one laying siege... yet he was the one in crisis!
It felt as if he were surrounded in three or four layers by invisible enemies.
"This damn..."
Now even Li Zi-song's curses lacked much vitality. Was that why? Even though the entire army was attacking, all the troops looked powerless.
Unless a miracle occurred, they would head down the path of annihilation like this.
In that state, just as Li Zi-song was about to issue another attack order—
"Commander, the mercenaries are now entering the encampment."
A soldier approached, knelt before Li Zi-song, and informed him of Dong Bong-su's arrival.
A glimmer flickered in Li Zi-song's anxious eyes for the first time in a while.
"Ear Ghost has come?"
"Yes, Commander."
Ear Ghost had come. Yes, that man, perhaps that man...
"Bring him to the command post. I will personally meet him."
With those words, Li Zi-song spurred his horse toward the command post.
***
Dong Bong-su had already arrived at the command post. He had walked here without rest for the past several days. Fortunately, it seemed to still be the incubation period, but no one could know when it would manifest.
If it manifested in him...
No one could predict what would happen here. Except that the event would be a disaster for everyone present here, excluding Dong Bong-su...
That much was certain.
Shrrrk—
The curtain hanging at the command post entrance was pulled aside as Li Zi-song appeared. His face had become even more gaunt in just a few days, and deep shadows were cast beneath his eyes. As always, Adjutant Dang followed behind him.
Dong Bong-su and Li Zi-song's eyes collided with Dong Bong-su's long hair between them. But Li Zi-song still couldn't tell at all what he was thinking. Not because he couldn't see his eyes.
Just... he just couldn't tell.
Why not? When you look into a deep well, you only see an empty darkness and can feel nothing, can you not? It was like looking down such a well, one that seemed to be thousands of meters deep.
"You must have heard and know well about the situation here. I'll ask directly. What should I do?"
Not 'what should I do?' or 'what would be good?' It was a question demanding a definitive answer of what he should do.
Dong Bong-su stared at Li Zi-song for a moment.
That inexplicably oppressive aura. Li Zi-song had no choice but to turn his head slightly. Still, he couldn't tell the cause.
Then Dong Bong-su's flat voice pierced his ear.
"Give me control of the catapults."
'Perhaps in what remains of my life, it will be hard to meet again...'
Could there be another person in the world to whom such a tone suits so well? Before the content of what Dong Bong-su said, such a thought flashed through Li Zi-song's mind.
"Catapults? You mean the Whirlwind Artillery?"
Whirlwind Artillery was a siege weapon used in the Central Plains for the past several hundred years. As equipment greatly developed from the primitive form used during the Spring and Autumn period, it was designed as a long-range weapon where a pillar called a sky-piercing column was driven into the ground to stabilize the whole, then main components were placed on top allowing it to rotate.
As one could tell from its ability to rotate, this artillery's advantage was that it could swiftly change firing direction. It also had the additional advantage of being very simple in structure and assembly, so one could carry just the components and easily assemble and use it whenever needed. For this reason, during large-scale expeditions, Whirlwind Artillery Gunner units that specialized in operating them were separately deployed. Of course, for this Guisui expedition as well, close to 5,000 Whirlwind Artillery Gunners had come along.
Right now, Dong Bong-su was asking to be allowed to freely operate that Whirlwind Artillery.
"That's right. And immediately withdraw the position here back to the Yellow River behind us."
Even just the matter of the Whirlwind Artillery was quite unreasonable, but Dong Bong-su's words didn't end there.
"Withdraw the position all the way back to the Yellow River in the south? Are you now telling me to prepare for retreat?"
"No. Only withdraw the position backward and kill or thoroughly wash all animals within the encampment. The soldiers are no exception. Kill all those confirmed to have contracted the disease and immediately have those not yet diseased wash their bodies clean in the Yellow River."
"..."
Li Zi-song couldn't tell at all why he was saying such things, but somehow he felt trust. Moreover, now the only lifeline Li Zi-song could grasp was Ear Ghost, Dong Bong-su. If there had been another rope, it would have been a consideration, but now he wasn't in a position to be selective.
He pretended to think for a moment, then answered that he would do all of it.
Dong Bong-su's words immediately continued.
"Lastly, don't bury or burn the corpses of soldiers who died from the epidemic in the ground, but move them all to the vicinity where the catapults are placed."
This time too, Li Zi-song said he understood.
'As expected...'
This eccentric was different. Seeing how he spoke all of this without hesitation as soon as meeting him, as if he'd been waiting—he must have thought about it beforehand!
What Dong Bong-su requested wasn't particularly difficult. It wasn't like he was asking to hand over command authority, just to hand over control of the catapults, and to move the position slightly backward.
When the conversation ended, Dong Bong-su walked past Li Zi-song toward the command tent's entrance.
Shrrrk—
It was strange. The sound of the curtain being drawn, which had sounded gloomy until just moments ago, now sounded quite cheerful. Li Zi-song perked up his ears and spoke toward Dong Bong-su's back as he was about to go outside.
"Are you confident?"
There was no need to explicitly state the subject or object of that question.
Halt.
Dong Bong-su's steps stopped.
The curtain strips that had risen while pushing against his face now swayed downward, tapping Dong Bong-su's cheek and chin. If Li Zi-song saw that sight as resembling how the Whirlwind Artillery projectiles had helplessly pounded Guisui's castle walls, would it be his imagination?
"It will be as you wish."
Not much different from the answer he'd heard when first meeting him in Datong before. Even then, he'd been like this.
[I merely gave the answer you desired.]
With those words as the last, Dong Bong-su disappeared from Li Zi-song's sight just as he had back then.
Rustle.
The curtain that had roughly struck Dong Bong-su's cheek now only noisily chattered amongst itself.
Li Zi-song remained still until the curtain strips completely stopped, then leaned his waist backward and smacked his lips as he spoke.
"Will it truly be as I wish...?"
And do you know the real answer I desire...?
His empty inner thoughts shattered against the curtain, unable to proceed further.