Of the days Joohyun spent in Seungwan’s house, little could be said, for it was not long after that the government sent out calls for a general muster, rousing all of the soldiery and nobility to action. Shortly after, grave tidings swept from the northeast to the south, telling of a great rebellion — not of the Pure Realm sect, but of the commander of Temur’s Fall, Kwon Yuri. For decades the Niuche people who lived in the plains and rivers northeast of the great fortress had been gathering their strength under a new leader, King Mohe, who united the many Niuche tribes into a single state formed along Sindeok lines. There had been fears that Mohe would become another Taibuga in time, but Mundeok had never taken these concerns seriously, for the fortress of Temur’s Fall, possessing a deep moat and trenches, bristling with hundreds of cannon and guns, and manned by one thousand of the most savage and stoic soldiers of the royal army, could keep all one hundred thousand of Mohe’s warriors east of the Liao River until the barbarian king died of old age. Yet, Mundeok, always beholding the big picture and never scrutinising the small details, had left a fatal flaw in the defence of the fortress unchecked: Kwon Yuri herself. Believing that familial ties in Anju were sufficient to command Yuri’s loyalty to the crown, Mundeok had long rejected calls to replace Yuri for other generals of stronger moral fortitude. Yet, when Yuri entered into quarrels with the local Prefect regarding a certain concubine, Mohe fanned the flames of conflict and sent men to aid Yuri in her private war with the Prefect, allowing her to rescue her concubine. In return, Yuri submitted to Mohe and handed over Temur’s Fall to the Niuche armies, and by extension, let the barbarians through the gates into the northeast of Nanwian. 

Joohyun and Seulgi were rapidly swept up in the great haste with which the government mustered its vast armies, becoming but a drop in an ocean of swords and horses flowing in the northeasterly direction; there was no time to find Joohyun’s companions. The government poured 1.6 million silver pieces into organising, equipping, and feeding the 60,000 men marching towards Lyaosi, as well as strengthening the defenses of Wiwon, for all of the lands past the royal border had been overrun by the Niuche. Joohyun, being a noble, was expected to provide for herself and her servant in the way of arms and clothing, but unfortunately she came to rely on the commissioners for even the most basic necessities, inevitably indebting herself so deeply with them that she resorted to selling her horse and diminished herself into becoming a mere foot soldier, long before she had reached Wiwon at all. This was the fate of many little nobles, who became no better than base mercenaries on campaign and often joined their ranks for a regular salary and easier opportunities for booty which they would not come to have otherwise. Still, Joohyun held off on selling her services to a mercenary company, for she, perhaps stubbornly, held out hope that her moment in the sun might still come yet. Thus, she received her daily grain from the commissioners just like the lowly feudal levies, and became the subject of much ridicule from even the commoners because of Seulgi. “Look!” they would say, “Our country is in such dire straits, that even a noble will let herself be served by a roach! Will the King then accept the homage of barbarians now?”

The campaigning season came and went, and by autumn, Joohyun and Seulgi were finally in Wiwon, which was bursting at the rims to accommodate the sudden influx of soldiers. As the Niuche had not yet breached the royal borders thanks to the incessant efforts of the Governor of Wiwon, the reinforcements were divided up among the fortresses, and the remainder were organised under General Lee Jinki, recently appointed as the Bearer of the Royal Mace for saving the King from the assassination attempt in Anju, and charged with the grave duty of preventing Mohe from invading Nanwian. 

Jinki, who in actuality possessed little military talent but was an accomplished mathematician and student of geography, surveyed the royal border once he reached Wiwon to identify ground that would be suitable for bringing Mohe to battle — for the ministers and eunuchs were pressuring him to take decisive action against the Niuche armies even though the military establishment knew well that a battle on the open plains beyond the royal border would only benefit the Niuche. Unfortunately, Jinki was at no liberty to decide upon his own strategies, and could only resign himself to eking out some victory or more likely a draw with strategem, treachery, or a of divine luck. But before he could even draw up his forces for a battle, Jinki was faced with the impossible task of rebuilding the army in Wiwon to anything resembling a fighting force, for years of neglect and corruption, from the common soldiery to the highest military officials, had broken the back of the army in Wiwon. Up to 50% of the army in Wiwon were untrained peasants forced into the military life by their debtors, wielding weapons one day and going back to tend the fields the next. Many more had deserted due to scarcity of pay and supplies, while those that remained were old, feeble, and cowardly. The few soldiers left — a paltry one in twenty of the arquebusier and artillery units — who were still battle-ready and keen, were not sufficient to mount any meaningful defense against Mohe’s hordes of cavalry. The troops of the general muster, numbering 10,000 after deducting those sent to the fortresses, were fierce and powerful, but questionable with regards to their loyalty to Jinki and, like always, were considered to be as unreliable as Datar auxiliaries. Furthermore, the weapons issued to the troops were defective and had long been wanting for repairs, while the commissioners of supplies and powder had resorted to filling their storehouses with sacks of dirt and sand, deceiving the inspectors into reporting that the stores were healthy and well-stocked. 

When Jinki conducted his first inspection of the royal troops of Wiwon, the result was pitiful and chilling: the arquebusiers could not hit their targets at even twenty paces, the horsemen were slow to charge and feared gunpowder and smoke, and the artillerymen, although giving good account of their drill and accuracy, were ultimately failed by their guns, which on more than one occasion blew up in their gunners’ faces, killing and maiming many throughout the day. In these trying conditions, Jinki was further beset by more decrees and missives from the royal court to venture forth and defeat Mohe. 

When autumn came, and there was still no action on Jinki’s part — from the point of view of the royal court, for they did not understand that all the requests from him for more funding and supplies were silent cries for salvation — the King became furious, and ordered Jinki to march out without delay on pain of death, unaware that his eunuchs were using this opportunity to remove Jinki for good. Thus, out of options, and with winter fast approaching, Jinki drew troops from the garrisons, sent his men to loot the warehouses and granaries of the towns and villages, and moved his army of 15,000 troops just south of the Tunhe, from where he planned to conduct a march into the frontier and back so that he could not be accused of inaction. This was not a plan to dither and vacillate however; Jinki knew that his army could not take on Mohe’s armies, but Mohe was eager to seek battle before the end of the campaigning season, for his own princes and warriors could only be kept appeased with ample plunder and glory. If Jinki could spurn all opportunities for Mohe to attack, the year would conclude unfavourably for the Niuche leader, and earn him the ire of ally and foe alike in his rear. 

Two months before the onset of winter, Jinki’s army set out past the Tunhe, its objective being the outlying garrison of Dadaejin, and then back to the Tunhe. Upon learning of Jinki’s march, and believing his enemy to have erred fatally, Mohe collected his armies and maruading bands and marched rapidly to meet Jinki on the field of battle. Unbeknownst to Mohe, Jinki had hazarded himself to expect an attack at the Yichang Plain, which he had surveyed before to be wide and accessible enough to convince Mohe to send his cavalry en masse against him, but was in actuality painfully temporising, in that Jinki could easily guard his route of retreat by occupying the sunny and hilly spots on the plain, and denying his enemy any high ground and leaving only the indefensible fields to him, but in exchange he could not mount any attack of his own for fear of being enticed far from his defenses and destroyed. Should Mohe mount an attack Jinki was also ready to meet it, although he would prefer if Mohe erred on the side of caution.

During the long and sleepless nights before the battle, Joohyun thought painfully and gloomily of the things to come. There was a heavy air of defeat among the royal troops, which was in contrast to the high spirits and constant mood of celebration among the nobles and levies, as if the battle had already been won and Mohe slain like a dog. Joohyun knew not what to think: whether to let her heart be lifted by good tidings, or be weighed down by the emptiness of the steppe and tears of home far away. She could only console herself with the single thought of Seungwan, who embodied the hidden strength of the Sindeok with her ambition and great power, although restrained by others. There were doubtlessly others like her, who would rise above petty avarice and squabbling and accomplish great deeds for the country. This ill-fated campaign, conducted so far from Nanwian and consisting of comparatively few men, was not indicative of the full might of the Sindeok. Though the forces of Mohe were considerable, though the war had begun favourably for him, it never crossed Joohyun’s mind that this conflict would last long, that a mere one hundred thousand barbarians could capture Anju itself and break the terrible power of the Sindeok. Joohyun was convinced that this was the disturbance that had been afflicting the common soldiery, and when it, like a wave, flowed on and on through Lyaosi, to the threshold of Nanwian, where it would be broken, then would come the end of anxiety and dread. Whether or not she died here, the end was easily foreseeable for Joohyun: the storm would not be lasting; it would pass, and calm would follow. 

In the preparations leading up to the battle at Yichang Plain, Jinki made his necessary calculations of strategy and force, leading him to dispatch the young general, Byun Baekhyun, to guard the Yan ford with 1,000 troops and give the impression that he was about to make a diversionary attack on Mohe’s rear. Jinki himself led the main army to occupy the high grounds of Yichang Plain, entrenching his men and guns so thoroughly that when Mohe reached the battlefield, he remarked in dismay, “These are earthworms: look how quickly they have worked the earth!” Still, anticipating that he might not get another chance to defeat his enemy before winter, Mohe arrayed his forces of 50,000 for battle. On the left and right wings of the Niuche army w