Chapter 64 : The End of War
Episode 64: The End of War
As with the original history, the conflict between Northern Zhou and Goguryeo over dominance in Liaoxi ended in Goguryeo's victory.
The enemies were crushed at the Battle of Baesan, unable to even set foot in Goguryeo's mainland. But just because the battle was won didn't mean it was over.
In truth, what follows a battle is often more important than the battle itself. Especially in the East.
As one can see from the records of Eastern military history, the battle descriptions are usually just "so-and-so won," or "so-and-so went somewhere and lost." What truly matters is how things are handled after the battle.
The idea that war is merely an extension of politics is common sense in the East and doesn’t even need to be stated.
Thus, the first thing to be done was to deal with the remnants.
Following the victory at Baesan, the Goguryeo army pursued the remaining enemies.
The Northern Zhou army led by Dugu Huang had occupied a small fortress in Liaoxi, originally belonging to Northern Qi, and used it as a strategic point.
However, with their main forces already defeated, taking the fortress wasn't difficult.
"We have driven out the Northern Zhou and taken back Sukgun Fortress."
Sukgun Fortress means "Fortress where soldiers stay."
There is no fortress without soldiers, so it was quite a half-hearted name.
Generally, names like this imply that the fortress is not very important. Truly significant fortresses have names like Liaodong Fortress or Ansi Fortress that sound more proper.
Indeed, Sukgun Fortress wasn’t large.
It was something between a small and medium-sized fortress—mediocre at best. It served more as a waypoint than a strategic stronghold.
But—
"At last, we've reclaimed Sukgun Fortress...!"
The people of Goguryeo couldn't hide their joy at reclaiming this small fortress. Some even shed tears. It's not because Goguryeo people are a nation that finds happiness in little things.
"Because Sukgun Fortress... is the legacy of King Gwanggaeto."
King Gwanggaeto had led three victorious wars against the mortal enemy Murong Xianbei, who once took Goguryeo's capital, securing Liaodong and even crossing the Liao River to take part of Liaoxi.
Sukgun Fortress was one of those gains.
However, King Gwanggaeto soon abandoned Sukgun.
"At that time, the southern front was more urgent than Liaoxi."
During this period, King Asin of Baekje was persistently waging war against Goguryeo, so King Gwanggaeto, satisfied with gaining Liaodong, boldly gave up Sukgun Fortress and redirected his army south.
Since then, Sukgun Fortress had passed to Murong, then to Northern Wei who destroyed Murong, was briefly taken by the Khitan during Northern Wei's decline, and eventually ended up in Northern Qi's hands.
With this victory, Sukgun Fortress returned to Goguryeo after 200 years.
"Oh great King Gwanggaeto... Are you watching? At last, Sukgun Fortress is once again under our control!"
Go Yangseong, moved, knelt before the gates of the fortress. At this moment, its actual military value was irrelevant.
Just like practical items of antiquity becoming treasures in the 21st century, a fortress abandoned 200 years ago now became a gem.
"Sukgun Fortress is the fortress King Gwanggaeto claimed after defeating Murong and achieving revenge... a symbol of Goguryeo's emergence from darkness."
Recently, Goguryeo had not been in good shape.
There were internal noble conflicts just like during King Sosurim's time.
They lost the Han River basin to Silla and Baekje.
And in the Western Land, a unified empire was about to rise again.
In the midst of this, regaining Sukgun Fortress, a symbol of King Gwanggaeto's resurgence and revival—
It wasn't just a military outpost.
It was proof that all their efforts hadn't been in vain. It was hope—hope that they could rise again.
"It was a long night. A long night... But now, the sun rises again. Ah, Heavenly Emperor!"
Tears streamed down Go Yangseong's face.
The Go Yangseong I knew was a king skilled in theatrics, but that didn't seem like acting.
His officials also wiped away tears.
"O Grand King..."
"Long live Goguryeo! Long live Goguryeo!"
People cheered.
Of course, the world remained dark, and the path ahead would be steep.
But at least today, we had seen a glimmer of light. That, more than anything, was Goguryeo's greatest gain from this victory.
---
Even after reclaiming Sukgun Fortress, we systematically wiped out the roaming Northern Zhou forces.
"Please spare me!"
"I don’t speak Western Land language!"
The already defeated enemies offered little resistance. It was more of a harvest than a battle.
Didn't we come lightly equipped for mobility? Sure.
Still, there are some things you can't do without.
"Hey, is this a Celestial Blood Horse?"
"Really? It is!"
Among the horses they rode, quite a few were Celestial Blood Horses. At least 500. Seeing one made Bucephalus smile contentedly. Yeah, it's about time for you to have a foal too.
Weapons and armor were also valuable. You can't fight a war without horses and weapons. And there was one more essential thing for war.
"Gather the enemy's severed heads separately."
Heads. You can't fight wars without heads, right? We diligently gathered the heads of the dead.
This was to construct a victory monument of this era, the skull tower called Gyeonggwan.
"Killing prisoners to build it is called Gengsal. Using heads of the dead soldiers is called Gyeonggwan. While Gengsal may be criticized, Gyeonggwan must be made. In this process, there must be no acts like those of Deng Ai of Cao Wei."
Deng Ai, the King of Mount Deng in Wei, had once inflated his merits after a battle with Shu by mixing the heads of Shu soldiers with dead Wei soldiers.
He was reviled for turning his fallen comrades into mere victory monuments without even compensating them.
"Would we ever bury our Goguryeo soldiers with such filth? That’s a deed without excuse, even in death."
"Exactly."
"Shall I bring the lime?"
We carefully piled the skulls and poured lime over them. The lime sizzled and quickly hardened.
"Hmm, not bad."
Since it was my first time making a Gyeonggwan, I had my worries. It is, after all, a rather brutal act.
But after having seen so many gruesome things lately, piling enemy heads into a tower didn’t really faze me.
"Move this corpse aside. It’s going to topple."
"Like this?"
"Yeah. This way it won’t fall..."
I guess I was a countryside kid after all, having handled cement and mortar in my youth.
It felt similar. Sprinkle lime, place the head. Sprinkle lime, place the head... Soon, a decent Gyeonggwan took shape.
It looked like a flower. The skull pile was like the pistil or stamen. The headless bodies around it were like petals.
To 21st-century people, "ergonomics" conjures up images of chairs that suit the human body, but that's an inconsistent term.
Petroleum engineering makes things from petroleum. Nuclear engineering harnesses nuclear energy.
So shouldn’t ergonomics mean making things out of human bodies?
With that in mind, this Gyeonggwan was the essence of Goguryeo's true ergonomics—a lost technology forgotten by 21st-century Koreans.
"Phew, it’s not collapsing."
I looked at the skull tower.
Though grotesque to modern eyes, by the standards of this era, it was a victory monument.
Like a 21st-century independence hall or triumphal arch in France.
Moreover, it served as a warning to the next wave of enemies. "Come and you'll end up like this."
It also had another purpose.
"Oh... Oh, this is...!"
Soon after the Gyeonggwan was completed, nearby Khitan tribes came to see it.
They were a branch of the Khitan people once attacked by Northern Zhou, and they introduced themselves as the Yoryeon clan.
They spat on the Gyeonggwan. After letting them vent, we called forth the clan leaders.
"I am Go Yangseong, Grand King of Goguryeo."
"I am Yoryeon Yangjwa, leader of the Yoryeon clan."
"I've heard of the Yoryeon. Among the Khitan, you are the most promising tribe, aren’t you?"
Go Yangseong spoke.
"But what will you do now? A hundred years ago, your Khitan and Northern Zhou's Yuwen shared the same roots under the name of the Wuhuan. Yet they have crushed you mercilessly."
"We never expected it to be this bad..."
The Khitan leaders replied.
I observed them quietly.
"...Khitan, you're in a delicate spot right now."
From what I knew, they were also called the "Kitai" and would one day found the Liao dynasty.
In Korean history too, they would leave a huge mark with the three Goguryeo-Khitan Wars.
They would become one of the greatest nomadic powers alongside the Mongols, Turks, and Xianbei.
But that was all in the future.
For now, they had been pushed to the edge of the steppe by the T'u-chüeh, the descendants of the Xiongnu.
To the east, it was Goguryeo; to the west, it was the Western Land. Sandwiched in between, they barely managed to survive.
Of course, as nomads, they attempted a few ‘risings’, but every single one ended in failure.
Taking advantage of Northern Wei's internal strife, they seized Sukgun Fortress and claimed supremacy over Liaoxi, only to be crushed by Northern Qi shortly after and forced to bow their heads once more.
A little earlier, they had raided Goguryeo and abducted 30,000 of its people, but unfortunately for them, it was during the reign of King Gwanggaeto—so they were instead subjugated in return.
Though they would one day become the strongest in the steppe, for now, they were being beaten here and there. Go Yangseong happened to bring this up.
"Do you remember when the Grand King conquered you, and you bowed your heads to Goryeo?"
"We remember."
"At that time, you were beneath us. But now, how do things stand?"
Go Yangseong asked.
"Many among the Khitan sided with Northern Qi when Goryeo weakened. But now, Qi is in decline, and though Northern Zhou is your kin, they have attacked you. What do you intend to do?"
"Please accept us. From now on, we will call the one wearing the white crown our Khan."
"No."
Go Yangseong shook his head.
"The title of Khan belongs to the steppe, not to me. I am content with being the Grand King."
"Then we bow our heads to the Grand King."
Said Yoryeon Yangjwa.
"If Goryeo accepts us, we shall protect its borderlands with our own hands."
Not long after, the Malgal also arrived. They too had suffered a similar fate to the Khitan.
However, their damage was far greater. While the Khitan and Malgal might appear similar at a glance, their customs differed.
The Khitan were, at their core, nomads who roamed the steppe. Thus, their losses were limited to having their horses, sheep, and cattle stolen.
Of course, those horses and sheep were their homes, their meals, and the very basis of their livelihoods, so the loss couldn’t be considered minor… but it did mean many managed to escape in time.
However, the Malgal were different.
While the Khitan lived off the steppe, the Malgal lived in forests—farming, raising pigs, fishing, and hunting. They were semi-agrarian, semi-hunter folk.
Unlike the Khitan, who had no villages, the Malgal had settlements—but these were completely razed by Northern Zhou’s assaults and looting.
"You sons of bitches."
The Malgal rushed toward the watchtowers.
They wept aloud in front of them.
"I should have killed them. I should have… Those bastards. I should have… I should’ve killed them…."
They shed tears of blood.
Go Yangseong asked the same question.
"Unlike the southern Malgal, you had no ties to us."
"Yes. We lived in step with Northern Qi."
"But now, Northern Qi has faded. What do you intend to do?"
"What other path do we have?"
The Malgal prostrated themselves.
Then, Go Yangseong gathered the Khitan and Malgal chieftains and handed over the Northern Zhou prisoners.
"Make them your tomb guardians."
"…Understood."
Tomb guardians were an old custom in this region.
To have one’s enemies watch over the graves of those they killed.
The Khitan's Achilles tendons were severed. It was a punishment in East Asia known as yuehyeong.
"N-No, not there…! Please…!"
"What do you mean not there, you bastard? My son’s head was cut off by your lot!"
The Malgal went a step further.
After cutting off their ankles, they carved deep scars on the faces of the tomb guardians and sprinkled ash over them.
"You scum shall never escape, anywhere."
It was something Go Yangseong had heard somewhere—that tattooing was originally a Malgal custom. Said to date back to the Bronze Age.
Seeing both groups, Go Yangseong spoke.
"Are you satisfied with my gift?"
"It is the finest gift we've ever received. We shall respond in kind."
The Malgal chiefs and Khitan chieftains brought forth swords and bows. Go Yangseong accepted them.
"By my decree, you are now subjects of Goryeo."
"What shall we do?"
"Live as you always have. Hunt, ride. All I ask is one thing—every ten households must offer a single horse."
Ten households per horse. That was far cheaper than the main territory of Goguryeo, which taxed five seok and five po per household. And even that wasn’t collected annually, but once every three years.
But there was a reason for this.
"If a hundred households gather and offer ten horses, Goryeo shall dye the hides red and gift you a red dang."
It could be misunderstood, given that Goguryeo now lies in what would be modern-day North Korea, China, and Russia, but the red dang here didn’t mean becoming a communist revolutionary.
The dang in this context was the party (黨), and the dang (幢) referred to a military banner.
This was why lower commanders in Goguryeo were called the masters of banners—Dangju.
Go Yangseong spoke.
"Under the red dang, you shall gather in hundreds, unite as one, and march with the army of Goryeo in preparation for war. That is all I ask of you."
The hides became banners.
The banners became armies.
This was how Goguryeo expanded its reach.
A ghost was haunting our land—the ghost called Zhonghua.
All who cherished their homeland—Goryeo, the Malgal, the Khitan—banded together to form an alliance to hunt this ghost.
In other words, they now held dominion over Liaoxi. With the surrounding area secured and territory claimed, it was time to proceed to the next step.
"I shall now bestow rewards upon the meritorious."
Yes, merit evaluations.
And so, who had made the greatest contribution in the recent battle?
"Junior Commander, Garadal Ondal, step forward."
That would be me.