Feint east, strike west to settle the outcome; the commander draws his blade and throws his own ranks into chaos

Shen Ling'er closed the medicine box, stood up, and placed the medicine bowl next to him; the medicine was still steaming.

I'm not talking about whether you talk a lot or a little.

She walked to the door, glancing back at him before lifting the curtain.

She didn't look at you much today.

The curtain fell down.

Gu Moran held the medicine bowl and stared at the dark, murky soup inside for a while.

He tilted his head back and chugged it down in one gulp.

It was so bitter it made his teeth ache.

The open sea.

As dusk fell, the main fleet anchored ten miles from the shore.

Mei Boqian stood at the bow of the landing Xiaochuan, his hands gripping the gunwale, his palms sweaty. The sweat mixed with seawater, making the planks so slippery that he could barely hold on.

Behind him, three thousand private soldiers from Luoyang were crammed onto a dozen Xiaochuan, the clanging of their armor echoing far across the sea.

"Shut the hell up! It's just seasickness? Take your medicine!"

Mei Boqian turned around and cursed, his voice low but loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear.

"Don't disgrace our Luoyang Army!"

The sound became quieter.

The waves pushed the boat toward the shore, and the hull scraped against the shallows with a dull creak.

Mei Boqian glanced at the silhouette of the shore in the distance.

The torches of the Vanishing Shadow Island watchtowers shone like a string of orange-red dots in the night, stretching along the coastline like a row of squinting eyes.

He swallowed hard and drew his sword.

"We've arrived, let's disembark!"

He leaped into the water, which was knee-deep and icy cold. His boots filled with water, and he nearly slipped and fell on the slippery rocks. He managed to steady himself by bracing himself against the gunwale and then waded ashore with his knife on his shoulder.

The soldiers behind him jumped into the water like dumplings being dropped into boiling water. Some fell, some cursed, and ladders and battering rams were carried over their heads and passed forward.

The torch on the distant watchtower suddenly flickered violently.

Someone was shouting; the sound was torn into pieces by the sea breeze and carried over, indistinct, but the meaning was clear.

They've been discovered.

The drums began to beat.

A dull, urgent sound spread outwards from the watchtower in all directions.

Mei Boqian gripped the knife hilt tightly; seawater was still dripping down his trousers. He raised the knife and roared behind him.

"Kill!"

Three thousand men roared and charged onto the beach.

On the other side.

Gu Moran's fleet did not stop.

The warships extinguished all their lights and, under the cover of night, set Vanishing Shadow Island, rounding two unnamed reef islands. Once inside the Goryeo, they quietly headed north along the peninsula's coast.

As dawn broke, the outline of Changkou Town finally emerged slowly from the morning mist.

Park Roejang stood at the bow of the ship, pointing to a rugged, dark reef on the left side of the harbor. "Go around from there. We'll have sentries on the right, and we'll stay close to the rocks; we won't be noticed."

Gu Moran slightly and raised his hand to signal to the helmsman.

The boat slowly turned, the helmsman pressed the rudder all the way down, and the hull slid past the edge of the reef, making a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

Ten boats darted through the crevices of the reefs, and three thousand elite soldiers slipped off the boats in batches, wading through waist-deep water to reach the shore.

There were no shouts of battle, no drumbeats, only the splashing of seawater and the soft clattering of armor plates.

Gu Moran among the last to reach the shore. He grabbed Kim Seon-a's wrist and pulled her off the diving board. Kim Seon-a slipped, but he used his other hand to support her waist and steady her.

Kim Seon-a's waist stiffened for a moment. She didn't say anything, and after regaining her balance, she withdrew her hand.

Gu Moran didn't notice this detail and looked up at the sky.

A grayish-white slit had already appeared on the eastern horizon.

"Quickly, take the port before dawn."

The garrison at Incheon was sparse.

When Tuoba Mang led his vanguard to the outside of the barracks, most of the people inside were still asleep. A few on night duty were dozing against the wall, their swords still sheathed.

Tuoba Mang kicked open the wooden door of the barracks. The wooden plank hit the wall and bounced back, but he slapped it shut with his palm. He stood at the door, took a breath, and roared.

"Stand up!

Your grandfather from Great Yan has come to save you!

The sound was like thunder, echoing three times in the barracks, startling several soldiers who were dreaming so much that they tumbled off their bunks.

When they saw that the person standing at the door was an iron tower wider than the door frame, and behind him was a dark mass of Great Yan wielding swords, their legs went weak and they all knelt down with a thud.

When Park Roejang found the garrison commander, the commander was putting on his boots, one foot already in the boot while the other was bare, holding a knife in his hand, his face full of morning grumpiness from being woken up.

Park Roejang took out the Goryeo King's dispatch token from his pocket and handed it over with both hands.

The garrison commander took the token and examined it twice, his expression shifting from shock to anger, finally settling on an indescribable look of dejection.

He stared at Park Roejang, his teeth grinding together.

"They're even handing over control of Incheon Port?"

Did you sell the capital to Great Yan?

Park Roejang did not respond.

He turned and left.

It was broad daylight.

Gu Moran stood on the city wall of Incheon Port, the sea breeze making the iron plates on his armor rattle.

He placed his hand on the hilt of the " Sea-Calming " sword, squinting as he looked towards the northeast.

In the direction of Hanseong, the fog had not yet lifted, and the distant mountains were shrouded in mist, indistinct and unclear.

Footsteps sounded behind him; it was Tuoba Mang.

"The port has been captured."

Gu Moran hummed in agreement and tapped his fingers twice on the hilt of his sword.

" Inukami Jusaburo."

He murmured the name, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Grandpa is coming to take you away."

Hanseong, the main camp of the Japanese army.

Inukami Jusaburo was sitting behind the desk, eating.

It was supposed to be a meal, but it was really just a bowl of brown rice porridge mixed with sand, served with two blackened salted dried fish that were so hard they could be used as knives.

He picked up his chopsticks, broke the salted fish in half, and stuffed a piece into his mouth. It was so salty that he frowned and had to drink a big mouthful of cold water to calm it down.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the tent.

Before he could put down his chopsticks, the curtain was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

A Japanese soldier stumbled in, his legs feeling like they were walking on cotton. He ran three steps from the commander's desk, but his knees buckled, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

"Sir! Everyone's saying there's a traitor in our army, and our supply lines have been blown up! We're going to have nothing to eat!"

Inukami Jusaburo had finished chewing the dried fish in his mouth, he slammed his chopsticks on the table with a "thud".

The porridge in the bowl sloshed around, and a few drops spilled out.

"What did you say?"

The Japanese soldier kowtowed, his voice trembling and breathless. "The supply lines were destroyed by the fire bombs of Great Yan, and the granaries were burned down."

Someone told the Great Yan people the location of the granary!

Inukami Jusaburo stood up with a "bang," knocking over the chair, its wooden legs bouncing twice on the ground.

How could the grain supply line have been blown up?

He walked around the desk, took two steps to stand in front of the Japanese soldier, and stared down at him.

Who told you that? Did you see it with your own eyes?

The Japanese soldiers hunched their shoulders.

"Yes, it was told by the brothers who evacuated along the grain route. Several people said they saw it; flames shot into the sky, and the rice in the granary was burned to charcoal..."

"Withdrawn?"

Inukami Jusaburo grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

"Where are they evacuating from? Who gave them permission to evacuate?"

The Japanese soldier, his toes barely touching the ground, his face flushed red, stammered, "No, no one ordered us to retreat. It was the grain transport team on the supply route that ran back on their own, saying that the people in front and behind were all from Great Yan..."

We're surrounded!

Inukami Jusaburo released his grip, and the Japanese soldier sat down heavily on the ground, too afraid to move.

The other generals in the main tent exchanged glances, but no one spoke.

Inukami Jusaburo walked back and forth twice, his boots rustling on the sand. He stopped abruptly on his third trip.

"Wrong."

He turned and glanced at the generals in the tent. "Only a few of us and three grain officers know the location of the granary. How could the Great Yan people possibly find it?"

No one answered.

Inukami Jusaburo's gaze swept across everyone's face. When he saw the second person, that person lowered their head. When he saw the fourth person, that person took a half step back.

"Did any of you do it?"

[Thanks to: Ranmo for the certification, White, Sanmu, Jill's Capsule, Mountain Range, Qianzhang's Urging Charm, Waiting for My Flowers x10, Chen Qing's Flowers x10, Milk Dragon, Zhao Gou, Fish Slices, Ailu's Milk Tea, Knight, Wu Huai, Qingqian's Likes, 5048 Blades, Greece, 4488, Rice, Light, Chicken Leg, Coffee, Greece's Flowers, Qingshu's Likes, Tongjia's Love Letter, Beast's Flowers x3, and everyone who has been consistently contributing for love~~]

[Don't nitpick the battle scenes, just get the gist of it =.= I'm still learning.]