Ch.322The Sword Path (3)

The leader of the Black Society could only tilt his head in confusion.

They had started attacking from both sides, effectively surrounding the government troops.

In such a situation, it was puzzling to see the troops suddenly switch to a tight formation.

“The government troops have changed to a tight formation!”

“I have eyes too, you idiot.”

The leader pushed his subordinate’s head aside and stepped forward.

Then he double-checked to make sure what he was seeing was correct.

“It really is a tight formation. Are they insane?”

The Black Society could never defeat the government troops in terms of quality.

That’s why they always used their numerical advantage to attack and then flee.

From the perspective of an organized crime group, there was nothing to gain from a full-scale battle against government troops.

Additionally, they would only suffer more casualties, so they typically fought briefly before retreating to regroup.

But this time, the government troops had taken a seemingly submissive stance.

If the numerically superior Black Society attacked the tight formation, even the skilled government troops would eventually lose.

Of course, this was merely the shallow thinking of the Black Society leader.

Having failed the military service examination and becoming a gang leader, he was no match for real warriors who had passed the exam.

However, looking at the current situation, even to his untrained eye, it seemed doable.

So he began to think about taking over the entire Mount Surak region after dealing with the government troops.

“This could be an opportunity.”

Everyone looked at the leader when he said this.

They all knew that even if they defeated the government troops, more soldiers would come, and they would eventually be suppressed.

No one present was unaware of this fact.

“Why are you looking at me like that!”

“This just seems like revenge for failing the military exam…”

“Boss, even we think this is…”

“Tsk.”

With one sound from their leader, the subordinates had no choice but to shut their mouths.

He turned his head and gave the order once more.

“Charge! Let’s crush those government bastards!”

At the leader’s cry, the gangsters closed their eyes tightly and charged.

As if they had been waiting for this, the government troops in tight formation began to change their arrangement.

As the square formation changed to a horizontal line, the gangsters showed confused expressions.

“Is there something going on?”

“This looks dangerous…”

But with their leader barking orders from behind, they had no choice but to charge forward.

“Draw your swords!”

A youthful voice suddenly echoed across the battlefield.

At that sound, the government troops began to raise their swords in perfect order.

Though short, their swords were far sharper than the crude weapons the gangsters carried.

And with those swords, they began to deal with the moth-like Black Society members charging at them in a horizontal line.

“Arghhhh!”

“Gaaah!”

Though no one died, as they were cut by the sharp swords and fell, the momentum of the Black Society gradually diminished.

“H-hiiieek…”

“This isn’t working. We need to retreat.”

Although there had been only one direct confrontation, the Black Society showed a greatly intimidated appearance.

This was because the Black Society was an irregular army, commonly referred to as a rabble.

As such, proper combat was nearly impossible for them.

“Don’t retreat! Stand and fight!”

The leader tried to bark orders, but it was useless.

With just one battle breaking their spirit like this, the defeat of the Black Society was all but certain.

* * *

“That was brilliant command, Your Majesty.”

Go Yoon looked at me with intense eyes.

Seeing this made me think he really was just like Munglig.

Anyway, apart from that, my first battle naturally ended in victory.

As I said before, this was a battle I couldn’t lose.

First of all, although the enemy outnumbered us, they were clearly an irregular force.

Having never received proper formation training, when faced with systematic combat, the Black Society, which relied on individual prowess, was bound to be defeated.

Therefore, it was nearly impossible for the government troops to lose.

“Thank you.”

I said this while surveying the battlefield.

It seemed that forming a horizontal line with just sword troops to concentrate firepower made it difficult to deliver proper firepower.

“In the end, the key is musket troops.”

It was nonsensical for the infantry to serve as both anvil and hammer.

Therefore, to deliver firepower, musket troops had to be developed.

“What did you just say, Your Majesty?”

Go Yoon asked about my muttering.

I was about to tell him it was nothing, but then changed my mind.

“Do you feel there were any shortcomings in the tactics of this battle?”

“Shortcomings… do you mean not capturing all the enemies?”

Go Yoon’s point was valid.

The goal was to eliminate the Black Society, but we didn’t capture all of them.

This was unavoidable given our numerical disadvantage.

As a result, we missed a few key figures.

Not dealing with them was somewhat regrettable, but we had suppressed the group, so there wouldn’t be issues with public safety.

In other words, it wasn’t a critical matter.

“That part isn’t important. Although we missed some key figures, we’ve suppressed most of their forces, so it will take time for them to regroup.”

Additionally, completely eliminating organized crime groups like the Black Society in one go was practically impossible.

So this level of achievement was satisfactory.

“Then…”

“When engaging the enemy, where do you think the main firepower came from?”

“The main firepower… wasn’t it the infantry, Your Majesty?”

“Yes. But those infantry also maintained a horizontal line to block the enemy.”

“That’s correct.”

“So they were both defending and attacking, which naturally made it difficult to exert proper combat power.”

“But the enemy was the Black Society. It was sufficient to deal with such people.”

“The magistrate is right. But what if the enemy had been Mongol cavalry?”

When the words “Mongol cavalry” were mentioned, Magistrate Go fell silent.

Even with the development of matchlock guns, Mongol cavalry remained a subject of fear.

Given that, if the enemy had been Mongol cavalry, the government troops would have inevitably been defeated.

“But we won’t be fighting Mongol cavalry.”

“That’s likely true. But what if there had been just five cavalry units among the enemies? How would things have changed?”

“…”

“The government troops would have been severely defeated.”

Magistrate Go had an expression like he wanted to argue with my words.

This was understandable, as I was explaining a hypothetical situation, not the current one, which could be frustrating.

Knowing this well, I focused on this point to ensure Go Yoon’s feelings weren’t hurt.

“What I want to say is not to criticize you by saying we would have been defeated if that had been the case.”

“Then…”

“It’s just to discuss the results from a tactical perspective. I mentioned that part to explain that when infantry take on two roles, it’s difficult to exert proper firepower.”

When I explained the details, Go Yoon’s expression improved considerably.

He seemed to understand that it wasn’t about his mistake but rather a tactical discussion, an intellectual exercise.

“Then how about deploying archers?”

“Archers are good, but I believe there are many difficulties in projecting firepower at the enemy using curved trajectory weapons when infantry are in front.”

The Mongol Empire also operated infantry called Kerik.

And they had separate archers for supplementary rear firepower.

Despite having such a regular army system, there was a reason why cavalry remained the main force of the Mongol army, overwhelming infantry.

The biggest reason was mobility.

Cavalry had overwhelmingly higher mobility than infantry.

Higher mobility naturally meant a wider range of tactical operations.

In other words, speed translated into firepower, making it difficult for infantry to defeat cavalry no matter how hard they tried.

This was reversed in the 16th century, entirely thanks to the emergence of matchlock guns.

Some scholars believed that cavalry, which had high maintenance costs and was difficult to train on a large scale, declined due to firepower that overwhelmed mobility.

Anyway, that wasn’t the important point now.

For infantry to defeat cavalry, firepower was needed. Overwhelming firepower, at that.

And archers were somewhat insufficient to supplement such firepower.

“Then which military branch do you think is appropriate?”

“I believe musket troops will replace archers.”

“Musket troops, or rather firearms, are weapons that haven’t yet stabilized in terms of reliability. It will cost a lot to operate such weapons on a large scale.”

“The cost can be covered with this.”

I pointed to the treasures left by the Black Society.

It would be right to return items stolen from the people, but the owners were unclear.

Originally, returning items obtained from suppressing thieves wasn’t an obligation.

Of course, returning them for moral reasons was one thing, but they typically became state property.

From the people’s perspective, the thieves had been driven away.

“These treasures belong to the people.”

“Do the treasures have name tags?”

“…”

“And aren’t they being returned for the sake of the country, not for my personal greed?”

When I mentioned “for the sake of the country,” Go Yoon’s eyes wavered greatly.

In fact, he probably knew too. That if this money went back to the government office, it would end up in the hands of corrupt officials.

Although the magistrate was a fairly high position, it wasn’t at the level of high officials living in Hanyang.

Reporting their corrupt actions wasn’t the role of the magistrate but of officials from the Ministry of Justice who had interests with those corrupt individuals.

So returning the treasures to the people was nearly impossible.

“I’m not suggesting we pocket it personally.”

I said this and handed over the paper I had received from Prince Anchang.

It stated that Prince Anchang would entrust me with the authority over the treasures obtained from suppressing the Black Society.

Although Prince Anchang wasn’t the emperor, he was a member of the imperial family.

With permission from such a figure, Go Yoon had no choice but to follow my words.

“If we had musket troops, we could suppress the Black Society more quickly. Then public safety would stabilize, and fewer people would suffer. Then the people would lose their property…”

“Less often.”

Go Yoon nodded as if he understood.

I looked at him and smiled.

This was how I planned to gradually make Go Yoon my ally.