Ch.338Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun (4)

The appearance of the armored cavalry caused the soldiers gathered near the Great Capital to burst into laughter.

They looked like stunt performers showing off horseback tricks at a village festival.

The sight of these riders charging forward boldly was beyond ridiculous.

“You call those cavalry?”

“What a joke.”

“They’re even Goryeo mongrels’ cavalry.”

The princes continued to mock the approaching cavalry unit flying the Goryeo flag.

Goryeo had traditionally weak cavalry forces.

From the Mongols’ perspective, these riders looked like amateurs pretending to be cavalry just because they happened to be on horseback.

Of course, these Goryeo cavalry weren’t actually from Goryeo.

They were all Jurchen tribesmen who had been subjugated after being defeated by Tolui Khan.

But those who didn’t know this fact simply assumed they were Goryeo cavalry.

“Look at those mounted performers charging! Show them the true valor of Mongol cavalry!”

“Like puppies who don’t fear tigers. Teach them fear!”

“Show those arrogant Goryeo dogs their place!”

With these shouts, the princes’ soldiers charged forward.

Since they followed different commanders, their formation was chaotic and disorganized.

The Goryeo cavalry seized this opportunity.

“The Mongol bumpkins are charging!”

“Don’t be afraid! We are elite Goryeo cavalry!”

“We are the Dragon-Catching Cavalry!”

“Dragon-Catching Cavalry” was the name given by their commander, Tolui Khan.

The Goryeo cavalry had been puzzled by this unusual name.

What Tolui Khan—or rather, Park Soo-hyun—had told them resonated deeply.

Dragon-Catching Cavalry.

The dragon here obviously referred to Mongolia.

After conquering China, Mongolia had adopted the dragon as their symbol.

As a result, the Khan’s dragon robe featured a majestic ascending dragon.

The Dragon-Catching Cavalry were meant to capture such dragons.

Of course, Park Soo-hyun hadn’t actually named them with this meaning in mind.

But what mattered was that it moved people’s hearts.

A mindset like this could have a significant impact in battle.

“Dragon-Catching Cavalry! Draw your pistols!”

At this command, the cavalry immediately drew their pistols.

Seeing this, the enemy cavalry burst into laughter.

“Look who brought toys to the battlefield.”

“Even passing dogs would laugh!”

“How do they expect to stop us with those pistols? Ha!”

Suddenly, the battlefield erupted with the sound of gunpowder explosions.

Screams followed immediately.

“Aaaagh!”

“Gurk.”

“Keuyk.”

Bullets struck the heads of some charging cavalrymen.

Their horses, losing guidance, stopped in their tracks.

This caused the following riders to crash into them.

Some horses were shot and collapsed.

When horses fell, their riders inevitably tumbled down as well.

Of course, some lucky cavalrymen avoided these two situations.

But even they couldn’t escape unscathed.

“Neeeigh!”

“C-calm down!”

“Steady!”

Even war horses accustomed to battlefield screams weren’t familiar with gunpowder sounds.

With their sensitive noses, they struggled with the acrid gunpowder smoke.

The horses became restless, affecting their riders.

“Damn it…”

“Kuk…”

With the vanguard halted, the commanders were bewildered.

The Goryeo cavalry they had expected to crumble easily were fighting surprisingly well.

Moreover…

“Move sideways!”

“Reload while moving and continue firing!”

They were as skilled on horseback as Mongol cavalry.

The proof was their lateral movement.

Horses naturally preferred to run straight ahead.

Moving sideways was unfamiliar, and they often refused such commands.

But the Goryeo cavalry were different.

They forced their horses to comply by applying pressure with their powerful inner thighs.

Some commanders were amazed at this sight.

“Controlling horses with inner thigh strength…”

“This is just like General Jadaran Elunka!”

General Jadaran Elunka was a famous field commander known as Yesugei’s left arm.

Legend had it that his exceptional thighs were as thick as a woman’s waist.

According to legend, he could control his horse like his own body using only his thighs.

The commanders had thought this legend was false, but now they were shocked to see all the Goryeo cavalry demonstrating such skill.

“This isn’t good. We need to retreat. If we continue, we’ll lose our cavalry forces.”

“Retreat! Retreat!”

When some commanders ordered retreat, others objected.

“Are you mad? Retreating now means showing our backs to the enemy!”

“Come back immediately! Return fire!”

“If you want to fight back, do it yourselves!”

“We have no reason to take unnecessary losses.”

As mentioned before, these were distinctly separate forces.

They served different princes and had only temporarily joined forces against the Goryeo army.

Each commander was leading troops on behalf of their prince.

In such a situation, even small losses were hard to accept.

If casualties increased, it could negatively affect their lords.

So they had no reason to be aggressive.

One by one, they began to withdraw.

Seeing this, other commanders also ordered retreat.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

“We can’t let others take advantage.”

The princes’ forces quickly disintegrated.

This boosted the Dragon-Catching Cavalry’s morale tremendously.

“We’ve won!”

“They weren’t much after all.”

Park Soo-hyun had dispatched 500 cavalry.

In contrast, the princes’ combined cavalry forces exceeded 50,000.

A 100-fold difference.

Goryeo had overcome this difference to achieve victory.

Of course, this was somewhat exaggerated.

The princes’ forces hadn’t actually suffered major casualties from Goryeo’s attack.

But it was undeniable that the Goryeo Dragon-Catching Cavalry’s attack had caused the princes’ forces to disintegrate.

Watching all this, the commander of Prince of Jenam’s forces clicked his tongue.

“They’re no ordinary force.”

He too had witnessed the Dragon-Catching Cavalry’s pistol fire.

It was quite powerful and more innovative than expected.

Traditionally, cavalry’s ranged weapon was the short composite bow.

While these bows had a higher rate of fire than pistols, they had clear limitations.

The biggest problem was the weight of arrows.

Due to this weight, a soldier could carry no more than 12 to 24 arrows, even with a saddle.

In contrast, the bullets used by the Dragon-Catching Cavalry were smaller and relatively lighter.

This made them easier to carry and reload.

One might argue that drawing arrows and nocking them is easier, but that only applied on the ground.

The more a rider moved, the higher the chance of falling off the horse. Even those with excellent horsemanship risked falling.

Anyway, based on these advantages, the Dragon-Catching Cavalry demonstrated powerful firepower in a short time.

Having witnessed this firsthand, the commander realized he needed to reconsider relations with Goryeo.

“We’re withdrawing.”

“Withdraw, sir?”

“If we return now, Prince of Jenam will…”

“Staying here to fight Goryeo is not advisable.”

“But…”

“I’ll take responsibility. Withdraw.”

At his firm command, his adjutants all nodded.

The Prince of Jenam’s forces gathered their soldiers and retreated before Goryeo noticed.

A few minutes after their forces disappeared, someone appeared on the hill.

“A flag indicating the Golden Clan…”

“Could Goryeo’s main force have arrived?”

Everyone present was using flags indicating the Golden Clan.

In contrast, the Goryeo forces weren’t using flags reserved for the Golden Clan.

In this situation, the sudden appearance of a Golden Clan flag meant that Goryeo’s main force had arrived.

Everyone looked toward the hill.

There, a young man on a white horse appeared.

With the setting sun at his back…

His appearance seemed to herald the arrival of a mythical being.

This thought spread like a disease among everyone.

Some commanders tried to deny it, but the overwhelming presence of the man standing on the hill prevented them from speaking up.

* * *

Having occupied the hill, I looked down below.

The princes’ soldiers were gathered in swarms below.

The scale seemed to be no more than 300,000.

“The princes are soft.”

“It appears so.”

Nurhachi agreed with me.

I turned my head to look at him.

“It seems we don’t need to fight them.”

Nurhachi laughed loudly.

“Hahaha. That’s right, Your Majesty.”

Hearing his laughter, the enemy commanders’ faces turned red and blue with anger.

But they didn’t move a muscle.

They knew better than anyone that moving now would result in severe consequences.

Of course, if the princes’ forces united, they could put up a fight.

But none of them wanted to take losses.

In this situation, we naturally held the initiative.

“Nurhachi.”

“Command me, Your Majesty.”

“Do you have the courage to follow me and stand before the enemy?”

Though infantry were behind the hill, effectively only 500 cavalry had been deployed to the battlefield.

In such a situation, riding into the middle of the battlefield with just 500 cavalry could be considered a life-risking action.

“I will follow you.”

Nurhachi answered immediately.

I responded with a smile.

I gripped the reins and charged forward.

Nurhachi followed behind me.

We arrived at the center of the battlefield.

Then, speaking loudly in Mongolian so everyone could hear, I declared:

“I am Tolui Khan, the rightful heir of the Great Mongol Ulus!”

My words caused a stir among the soldiers.

Their reaction wasn’t important to me, so I went straight to the point.

“The Great Capital is mine.”