130.Advance… advance on Jin Manor.
The man answered reluctantly.
So-un, inexperienced, believed him.
Calmly, without a trace of suspicion, he let him go.
The commander ran out in a hurry without even grabbing a weapon.
Moments later, the soldiers who had filled the rear courtyard came rushing in.
But So-un was already gone, slipping out through a window.
The commander buried himself among his hundred subordinates.
Failing to find So-un, he rubbed his solar plexus and tilted his head in confusion.
After some time, he finally gave the order.
"Advance… advance on Jin Manor."
Though his voice had lost its strength from the blows he had taken, the soldiers from the capital obeyed and slowly filed out of the magistrate's office.
So-un climbed a tall tree from which he could clearly see the route of the Jin-euiwi.
He drew out his bow and slipped an arrow between his fingers.
He should have dealt with it earlier.
He should have ended it before they departed.
Trying to resolve it with words had been naïve.
Men always agree to anything when danger is not yet upon them.
With regret written on his face, So-un drew the bowstring.
The arrow cut through the air with a sharp whistle.
It flew too fast for the eye to follow.
It pierced straight through the commander's throat.
He clutched his neck and fell from his horse.
He died instantly, unable even to cry out.
The advancing soldiers dropped their stances and scanned the surroundings.
A restless murmur spread.
The attack had happened directly before the magistrate's office.
Another man tried to take command.
So-un loosed a second arrow.
The force infused within it could not be stopped.
It, too, pierced a throat.
The second officer fell from his horse.
The departing column dissolved into chaos.
An army without its commanders is nothing but a rabble.
The morning sun was rising over the high roof of the magistrate's hall.
After confirming that the soldiers, deprived of their leaders, could not proceed, So-un quietly withdrew.
The enemy had arrived, yet no attack came.
The head had been severed.
There was no one left to command.
Orders from above dissolved into nothing.
The one burdened most was the county magistrate.
More than several hundred soldiers crammed into the small confines of Anyang County could not remain quiet.
Men must be fed, housed, and allowed to relieve themselves.
Anyang was a modest county enclosed by a small outer wall.
Other cities grew and spread beyond their walls, adding outer fortifications as needed.
This place had never required such expansion.
Now imagine leaderless troops swarming within such narrow space.
It was disorder without end.
They defecated wherever they pleased and slept wherever they dropped.
The magistrate, unable to endure it, submitted a formal report.
An urgent courier was dispatched.
Ten days later, Provincial Commander So Gyeong-eun arrived.
What he saw was pitiable.
Despite the name Jin-euiwi, discipline had collapsed.
Armor lay unfastened.
Some men staggered drunk.
So Gyeong-eun immediately sent out scouts and reimposed order.
Combined with the county troops, more than five hundred soldiers marched out.
Only after half a day did he himself mount his horse.
He believed it would be simple.
A small clan estate—charge in and finish it.
Unless Jin Mu-gwang himself stood there, it would be nothing.
Reports said only household members and a few returning veterans remained.
Without hesitation, he advanced.
But the scouts did not return.
They had merely been told to go and observe.
Nothing extraordinary.
No deep infiltration.
No special intelligence required.
Yet they did not come back.
More men were sent.
They, too, failed to return.
Outside Anyang flowed a shallow stream, broader than a brook yet narrow in current.
Sandbanks stretched wider than the water.
A long bridge spanned it—absurdly long for such modest flow—
running dozens of paces from one end of the sandbar to the other.
The men sent ahead were found bound at the far end of that bridge.
Their armor stripped, hands and feet tied, whimpering.
So Gyeong-eun, enraged, rode forward.
He bent down to question one of them.
An arrow sank into his waist.
He screamed and fell from his horse.
Two officers rushed to support him, but the arrow had pierced clean through, its tip protruding from the other side.
He howled in agony.
Five hundred soldiers stood under the morning sun, watching their commander writhe and shriek.
An adjutant stepped forward.
"All units, fall back!"
"All units, fall back!"
"All units, fall back!"
The command rippled rearward.
Hidden in the riverside reeds, So-un lowered his bow.
---*