Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 668 Outside Incheon City, a long line of people and vehicles

The next morning, as the first rays of light appeared on the horizon, Li Liting, the governor of Incheon, arrived with his full retinue and a host of officials and gentry, including Zhang Ning'en, the prefectural judge; Lin Chengye, the military commander; Hu Huaiyong, the naval commander; Jin Dadian, the city's garrison commander; and Cui Zhongyuan, the chief sergeant, at a viewing pavilion five miles from the west gate of Incheon, near the main road.

Li Liting's face was very unnatural, looking both listless and distorted, and he would twitch from time to time. This was not only because he had barely slept the night before, but also because these heartless people around him insisted on waking him up and taking control. Before this, Li Liting had never imagined that his endurance was so good, that he could withstand seven needles with sheer willpower.

"Damn it! Not a single one of them can handle anything, they're all fucking cowards! Shiba!"

Just as Li Liting was cursing his colleagues in his heart again and plotting revenge, a wisp of dust kicked up by a horse's hooves, carrying the pale orange morning light, rolled swiftly from a distance.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Guocheng, the captain of the cavalry sentry detachment under the Second Cavalry Battalion of the Fourth Shenji Battalion, led nearly twenty cavalrymen to a fork in the road about sixty paces from the viewing pavilion.

"What does it say on there?" Zhang Guocheng squinted and pointed to a black flag with white characters that was difficult to decipher under the viewing pavilion.

“It seems to be ‘Wangfeng Pavilion,’ the ‘feng’ in maple tree.” Liu, the squad leader next to Zhang Guocheng, thought he was referring to the plaque of the pavilion.

At this moment, this unassuming viewing pavilion is still called Wangfeng Pavilion. But soon, Wangfeng Pavilion will be renamed Yanghua Pavilion and recorded as a historical landmark in the Incheon Gazetteer and even in the annals of Korean history.

“‘Maple’ my ass! I asked about the flag!” Zhang Guocheng raised his hand and slapped Liu Wuchang’s helmet with the character “勇” on it.

"Oh! That's the 'Incheon Protectorate'!" Corporal Liu said with a sheepish grin, shrinking back. "It's the flag from yesterday!"

"As expected." Zhang Guocheng nodded slightly, then turned to Luo Rengui and gestured as he said, "Take your men and go ask. Be careful, if things don't look right, turn back immediately."

"There's no need to be so cautious," Luo Rengui said with a light laugh.

“That’s right,” Liu, the sergeant, chimed in. “They’re just some Korean barbarians; they wouldn’t dare do anything to us.”

"Where did all this nonsense come from! I'm just trying to be helpful, is that wrong?" Zhang Guocheng cursed first, then glared at Luo Rengui. "Go on then! What are you standing there for?"

"Yes." Luo Rengui smiled, raised his hand and lightly flicked the reins, leading his men straight towards the viewing pavilion.

"Judge Zhang, how have you been?" Before long, Luo Rengui's voice, accompanied by the sound of rapid hoofbeats, reached Zhang Ning'en's ears.

"Greetings, General Luo," Zhang Ning'en bowed to the horse's head as it came to a sudden stop, then waved to introduce Li Liting beside him: "This is Li Gongliting, the commander of my Incheon Protectorate."

"Prefect Li." Luo Rengui bowed respectfully to Li Liting, showing no intention of dismounting.

"Your Excellency, this is General Luo, whom I mentioned to you yesterday, who is fluent in our language." Zhang Ning'en had never mentioned the insignificant Luo Rengui to anyone. His words were a blatant lie, but they did indeed touch a nerve with Luo Rengui.

Luo Rengui proudly raised his head, his eyes showing even more pride and goodwill as he looked at Zhang Ning'en.

General Luo, Li Liting, subconsciously raised his hands and clasped his hands in a fist salute, but the moment his palms and the backs of his hands touched, a piercing, throbbing pain struck him.

Well points connect to the meridians, and the meridians are connected to the flow of qi and blood. Although the acupuncture did not leave any obvious wounds, the throbbing, tingling, and numb sensation that pierces the heart still remains on his hands to this day.

Luo Rengui keenly noticed Li Liting's unusual behavior, but didn't think much of it. "Prefect Li, General Shen sent us to ask you whether the gates of Incheon should be opened or closed?"

Li Liting lowered his hands and looked at Luo Rengui in silence for a while. "General Luo, we have come here to welcome Admiral Shen in the suburbs."

"So, the gates of Incheon are currently open?" Luo Rengui insisted on asking directly.

"Yes, it's open. The heavenly soldiers can enter the city at any time," Li Liting could only reply.

"Very good!" Luo Rengui nodded with a smile, then asked, "How far is it from here to Incheon City?"

“Five more li,” Li Liting replied.

“Very good. You can wait here. The army will arrive soon.” Luo Rengui was not good at etiquette. After a moment’s thought, he felt there was nothing more to ask, so he gently pulled the reins, signaling the horse to turn around.

"General Luo!" Li Liting called out urgently before Luo Rengui could turn the reins.

"Does Prefect Li have anything else to say?" Luo Rengui turned around and asked, supporting his horse's rump.

"May I ask how many troops you have?" Li Liting swallowed hard.

"I don't know, but it'll definitely be over ten thousand." Luo Rengui chuckled.

"Hiss!" Li Liting gasped, and the officials and gentry around him also stared wide-eyed.

"Does Prefect Li have anything else to say?" Luo Rengui asked.

"No, that's all." Li Liting shook his head, his eyes wide. For a moment, he even forgot about the throbbing pain in his six fingers and the seven acupoints on his feet.

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About half an hour after Luo Rengui left, Lieutenant General Shen Xun led the vanguard of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine Army to the vicinity of Wangfeng Pavilion.

"Admiral Shen, Admiral Shen is here!" Zhang Ning'en looked at Shen Xun from afar, so breathless he could hardly catch his breath.

"Who, who is it?" Li Liting also began to breathe heavily. The Ming army column that seemed to stretch on and on and was getting longer and longer was putting a lot of psychological pressure on him.

"That's the one!" Zhang Ning'en pointed.

"Don't point!" Li Liting once again forgot the throbbing pain in his hand and hurriedly pressed down on Zhang Ning'en's raised shoulder. "They'll say we're rude!"

"Oh!" Zhang Ning'en nodded blankly, then lowered her hand in a daze.

"Line up, line up quickly! Keep your order straight, don't mess it up!" Li Liting emphasized the order not to stand out, but because he was afraid that "Admiral Shen" would think they didn't know manners.

There is a clear hierarchy and distinction between the noble and the lowly; this is an important standard for distinguishing between the polite and the impolite, or rather, between the Chinese and the barbarians.

Half an hour later, Shen Xun, the adjutant of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine Army, wearing a blue battle robe embroidered with lions, finely forged fish-scale armor, a helmet with phoenix-winged ear guards, and a lion-headed willow-leaf sword at his waist, slowly approached the officials of Incheon, surrounded by a group of guards.

"Li Liting, the Prefect of Incheon, pays his respects to Admiral Shen!" Li Liting squeezed his lungs as hard as he could, as if he wanted to shout out all the air in his lungs.

"Greetings, Admiral Shen!" the other officials shouted in unison. "You've got it wrong. I'm not Admiral Shen, I'm Shen Xun, the Assistant Commander of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine Army." Shen Xun understood, because Li Liting and the other officials were shouting in Chinese.

"What is Admiral Shen saying?" Conversely, Li Liting couldn't understand Shen Xun's words. Although he was proficient in Chinese characters and could even write good calligraphy, his understanding of the Chinese language was only rudimentary, to the point of being almost completely ignorant.

The interpreter, Shen, who had been summoned to act as translator, was right behind Li Liting. He understood Shen Xun's words, and his expression had already changed. "General Shen said he's not a commander, but a lieutenant general—a lieutenant general of the Fourth Divine Machine Battalion!"

"Huh?" Li Liting was immediately shocked and looked sharply at Chen Ning'en beside him, his expression as if he had seen a ghost: "What's going on! Didn't you say this was that admiral?"

"This is General Shen?" Chen Ning'en was taken aback, but quickly realized that he hadn't heard the other party introduce himself yesterday. He had only seen a flag with the character "Shen" in the camp and had subjectively assumed that the other party was the Admiral Shen.

"What are they saying?" Shen Xun turned his head and asked the young military officer who had previously acted as his interpreter.

The young military officer wasn't wearing armor, only a blue uniform befitting a sixth-rank military officer. "It was too noisy around, I didn't hear you clearly, but judging from the looks of it, they seem to be holding you accountable for making a mistake."

“Tell them,” Shen Xun glanced at the familiar Chen Ning’en, ​​“that Admiral Shen’s central army is still behind and will be here later. Tell them to wait here.”

"Ahem." The young military officer cleared his throat with two light coughs. "Listen up! Admiral Shen's army is still behind you, so you can wait here."

"General, please forgive me! I beg your forgiveness!" Li Liting hurriedly bowed.

"General, please forgive us! We beg your forgiveness!" The other officials, especially Chen Ning'en, whose face was as red as blood, also followed suit and bowed.

“They are apologizing,” the young military officer in charge of translation explained simply.

"Hehe. I can tell." Shen Xun chuckled and nodded, then pulled on the reins and turned the horse around.

--------

Tens of thousands marched, forming a long line of people and vehicles.

The official roads around Incheon were not the wide avenues like those around Gyeonggi Province; they could only accommodate four people, two horses, and one cart abreast. With 12,000 men and their supplies, the total marching distance exceeded 20 li (approximately 10 kilometers). In other words, while the vanguard of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine Army had already arrived at the walls of Incheon and begun to assemble and set up camp, there were still fully equipped but not yet deployed troops at the port.

This is terrifying! Li Liting has lived for over fifty years and has seen the Ming army during the two Japanese pirate raids, but this is the first time he has ever seen such a large army advancing along an official road, with no end in sight.

Heaven's will is clear, and the king's army is mighty. Zhang Ning'en recalled the words he had seen on the proclamation. He had no doubt that if these heavenly soldiers and generals launched an attack on Hanyang, Hanyang would probably not be able to hold out for even a day.

Just as the officials and gentry were filled with fear, emotion, and admiration, two flying horses carrying two military officers dressed in sixth-rank official robes galloped to the steps of Wangfeng Pavilion.

"Are you all officials from Incheon Prefecture?" The military officer who spoke spoke in standard Korean Mandarin that was almost deliberate, which immediately reminded Zhang Ning'en of the young military officer who served as an interpreter for Shen Xun.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Lee Lee-jeong replied three times in a row. “We are all from Incheon.”

"Then please stay here. Admiral Shen will be here soon." The military officer said this and turned to leave without waiting for Li Liting's reply.

"Phew!" Li Liting let out a long breath, then took the lead and walked towards the fork in the road where he had knelt to greet Shen Xun. "Line up, keep in order, don't mess it up!"

About fifteen minutes later, Admiral Shen Yourong, wearing an iron-framed gilded helmet, gold-threaded armbands and a qilin armor, cloud-patterned iron mesh boots, a gold-embroidered spring knife bestowed by the emperor at his waist, and a black silk cloak over his shoulders, and Luo Yangxing, the Vice Commander of the Korean Branch of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, wearing a qilin-bestowed robe, stopped in front of the officials of Incheon Prefecture, surrounded by a group of elite soldiers and imperial guards.

Clothing reflects status. Even though Li Liting was not very familiar with the clothing system of the Ming Dynasty, he could still tell at a glance the difference in the military attire of the two Shen generals.

“I am Lee Ri-ting, the Prefect of Incheon. I pay my respects to Admiral Shen!” Lee Ri-ting knelt down, trembling, breathing heavily.

"Greetings, Admiral Shen!"

"Get up, everyone." Like the others, Shen Yourong showed no intention of dismounting.

"Your Excellency, Admiral Shen wants us to get up," the Korean interpreter whispered behind Li Liting.

"Thank you, Admiral!" Li Liting led everyone in bowing again and rising.

"Does Ambassador Li speak the language of our Celestial Empire?" Shen Yourong didn't hear the Korean interpreter's quiet reminder, so she subconsciously assumed that Li Liting could speak Chinese.

After listening to the translator, Li Liting bowed and apologized while giving the interpreter a meaningful look.

The interpreter understood and immediately said loudly, "Reporting to Admiral Shen, Prefect Li is literate, but his speech is not fluent."

Shen Yourong pondered in silence for a while before he roughly understood what the interpreter meant. Then, he turned to look at a Jinyiwei commander who had long served as Luo Yangxing's translator: "Commander Huang, thank you for your trouble."

"Admiral Shen, you're too kind." Commander Huang bowed and rode forward.

Shen Yourong originally wanted to exchange a few polite words with the officials of Incheon Prefecture, but the ones who spoke the most fluent Chinese had such strange and incomprehensible accents that he gave up on the pleasantries and simply said, "Commander Huang, could you please ask them if they have informed Hanyang of our army's landing?"

"Yes," Huang Baihu replied with a cupped hand, then turned and said, "Admiral Shen asked if you had sent anyone to inform Hanyang of our army's landing?"

"Heaven has given the order, and I dare not disobey." Li Liting replied smoothly with his head down, then beckoned to Lin Chengye. "Come here."

Lin Chengye was already stunned on the spot, almost in a state of mental breakdown, completely unaware that Li Liting was calling him.

"Come here!" Li Liting called out again, but Lin Chengye still did not respond.

“Commander Lin,” Hu Huaiyong, the naval commander, tugged at Lin Chengye’s sleeve. “Prefect Li is calling for you.”

"Ah!" Lin Chengye suddenly came to his senses and met Li Liting's unfriendly gaze.

“Admiral Shen,” Li Liting’s expression quickly changed, and he put on a fawning smile. “This Vice Envoy Lin is the person I sent to Hanyang to report on the Heavenly Army’s military situation, as ordered by the Admiral. If you have any questions, you can ask him directly.”

"Hehe." After hearing the translation, Shen Yourong immediately smiled, her eyes becoming subtle. "This Prefect Li is truly a remarkable person; he guessed that I had something to ask."

"Should we reprimand him?" Huang Baihu asked proactively.

"There's no need for that. Just praise him and then tell him to follow the group to the yamen to talk."

(End of this chapter)