As she spoke, she turned to look at Murong Xue.
You sleep right in the middle.
Murong Xue gripped the whip tighter in her hand.
"Say it again?"
"I'm talking about forces! Forces!"
Zhen Meili shrank further into the bed.
"You have a stable chassis and can handle it well; that's a compliment!"
Gu Moran took the handkerchief off her face and looked at the girl kneeling on the bed making the quilt and muttering force analysis. She couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The people in this room are all masters of pretense.
That's really stupid.
The laughter hadn't even subsided.
The window creaked open from the outside.
A small figure climbed in through the window, and when it landed, it stepped on the woodworking ruler that Zhen Meili had thrown on the ground. Its foot slipped, and it almost fell on its backside.
Yun Shuyue steadied herself by holding onto the corner of the table, with half a half-eaten sesame seed cake still dangling from her mouth.
The people in the room all looked at her.
Yun Shuyue took the sesame seed cake out of her mouth, not bothering to wipe her mouth, and pulled a letter out of her bosom.
The envelope was damp in one corner, with white salt stains on the edge, and a fishy smell could be detected if you got close.
"Your Highness."
She handed over the letter, panting.
"The express messenger from Dengzhou just arrived; two horses died from exhaustion."
Gu Moran took the letter and opened it.
There weren't many words on the paper, and the ink had blurred somewhat from being soaked in seawater.
He glanced at it and put the letter down.
" Busan in Goryeo was burned through."
No one spoke inside.
Zhen Meili knelt on the bed, still clutching the corner of the blanket in her hand.
Murong Xue untied the soft whip from her waist and held it in her hand.
Lin Qingdai pushed open the door and walked in.
Gu Moran the letter on the table and let the lamp shine on it.
"I'll read it to you."
He read it aloud, word by word.
" Busanpo fell, and the city was engulfed in flames for three days and three nights, destroying all the granaries in the port. Japanese ships came and went in an endless stream, empty when heading south and fully loaded when returning north."
Murong Xue frowned.
"Fully loaded with goods returning north? What's in them?"
"Grain."
Gu Moran pointed to the words "full load".
" The Wa have looted grain in Goryeo and are transporting it back ship by ship."
Yun Shuyue swallowed the last bite of the sesame seed cake and wiped her mouth.
"The messenger said that fishermen off the coast of Dengzhou have seen several groups of Japanese ships passing by in the distance these past few days. The ships are drafting very deep and moving slower than turtles."
"If the water is deep, you'll walk slowly."
Gu Moran repeated it.
Zhen Meili climbed off the bed and went to the table.
"A deep draft indicates heavy cargo, putting strain on the keel. Such boats are the most difficult to turn and will veer sideways when facing a headwind."
As she spoke, her eyes lit up.
"Your Highness, isn't this just a sitting duck delivered right to our doorstep?"
Gu Moran didn't reply.
He went over it in his mind.
A fleet of slow-moving ships laden with grain has appeared on the sea; these are the prey.
But prey is prey; to actually eat it, you need a boat that can go out to sea, soldiers who can fight, and guides who are familiar with the waterways.
He currently lacks none of these three things.
He had never seen what the Dengzhou Navy looked like.
Then let's not think about eating meat for now.
What else was written in the letter?
Lin Qingdai asked.
Gu Moran looked down.
"Contact has been lost along the southern coast of Goryeo, and no news has come from the capital."
Meng Jiuning stood to the side holding the basin, and then spoke.
"Your Highness, Goryeo and Wa were originally allies."
"I know."
"Having been bitten by an ally, the Goryeo capital is probably in complete chaos right now."
Meng Jiuning put the basin down very softly.
"The palace was like this when my father died."
The room was quiet for a while.
Murong Xue glanced at her, but didn't snort again.
Gu Moran folded the letter and tucked it into his pocket.
"Sleep."
"Ah?"
Zhen Meili was stunned.
"You're asleep already?"
Gu Moran down on the bed.
"We'll break camp first thing tomorrow morning and get some rest; that's called balancing work and rest."
"Huh?! What's going on? I'm taking Xiao Yun with me."
"What are you all standing there for? Come up here quickly..."
Goryeo Gyeongbok Hall, the royal city of Goryeo.
The white jade steps outside the hall were covered with mud stains.
There were traces left by officials fleeing into the city, the boots of messengers, and several drag marks of blood that stretched from the bottom of the steps all the way to the palace gate.
Park Roejang knelt outside the hall.
His forehead had been pounding against the cold bluestone slab for half an hour.
No one in the hall called him in.
Inside the palace, the King of Goryeo sat on his throne, clutching a bronze wine vessel in his hand.
He was in his fifties, with half-white hair and beard, sagging skin on his face, and dark circles under his eyes.
He hasn't slept for three days since the news from Busanpo arrived.
" Wa people..."
He spoke, his voice hoarse as if it had been ground by sand.
Last autumn, the Wa envoy came to the capital, knelt in this hall, and said that the two countries were of one mind and shared the Great Yan sea territory.
The ministers lowered their heads, and no one responded.
"I believe you."
The King of Goryeo raised his wine cup.
"I have lent them the outer ports of Busanpo and Gyeongju to moor their ships, and I am sending cartloads of grain and fodder to the ports."
His hands were shaking.
"Now that they've eaten their fill of the grain I gave them, they've turned around and are trying to bite me off!"
The wine vessel smashed against a pillar in the palace.
The bronze vessel struck the wood with a dull thud, splashing wine onto the court robes of several ministers in the front row.
Nobody dared to move.
Nobody dared to wipe it.
The hall was so quiet that you could hear the wind outside.
An old minister, his beard trembling, stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, we have lost all seven southern prefectures, and the Japanese army is still advancing northward. We must decide whether to fight or make peace as soon as possible..."
"And?"
The King of Goryeo stared at him.
"What can we offer in peace? My royal city?"
The old minister lowered his head even further.
"Then... war?"
What will we use to fight?
The King of Goryeo rose from his throne and pointed outside the palace.
"The eight hundred defenders of Busanpo were wiped out in half an hour! The soldiers in the south have either fled or scattered. Tell me, what are we going to fight with?!"
The courtiers remained silent.
Allies have turned into jackals robbing grain, with Goryeo caught in the middle, facing wolves in front and the sleeping tiger of Great Yan behind.
During this period, Goryeo helped Wa send poison to Great Yan and plant spies, doing countless wicked things, which everyone in the palace knows.
Should we seek the Great Yan now?
Why should they help?
At that very moment.
The beaded curtain in the side hall rustled.
A young woman walked out from inside.
She was dressed in a moon-white palace gown, her hair simply styled and adorned with a single white jade hairpin.
Her skirt trailed over the broken porcelain shards on the ground, from the teacup that the palace maid had just knocked over. The shards scraped against the silk, making a soft, shattering sound.
She neither stopped nor went around it.
The courtiers looked up and recognized her.
Princess Jin Kim Seon-a.
Happy National Day to all my darlings! Thank you all for the gifts. Lately, I've been getting reported for taking gifts and inflating my numbers!