Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 269

Episode 269: Battle of the Songhua River. (8)

“Sing! “Bangshi (防矢)!”

As soon as the commander’s command was issued, the spearmen at the front of the Joseon army camp all held their upright spears tightly against their right shoulders.

The posture in which he held the spear was very unusual. His right arm, folded in an ‘L’ shape, was firmly holding the middle part of the spear, and his left arm, raised to face level, was holding the upper part of the spear, covering his face.

The shouts of military officers and veterans came out from among the soldiers in that posture.

“Just look straight ahead! “Don’t get stuck in your eyes looking up at the sky just to see the arrow!”

“How much is the gap between the left arm and the helmet? You can barely see the outside! If you’re nervous, just put your left arm right under the visor! “Don’t be blinded by a sloppy, blind arrow!”

“Trust in armor and helmet! “There’s a reason everything is so fucking heavy!”

While the shouts of commanders and old soldiers were echoing from all directions, arrows fired by Huligai cavalrymen began to rain down from the sky.

Ta-da-dak! Perfect! visor! Squeak!

The arrows that fell like rain caught on the upright spears and bounced in all directions with a loud noise.

The spearman gritted his teeth and gripped the handle even more strongly due to the vibration felt through the handle of the spear.

The noise and vibration made by the arrows hitting the spear was scary, but the vibration and noise made by the arrows hitting the helmet and armor and bouncing off – especially the sound of the green cotton covering the armor being torn – was even more scary.

“Ouch! “My eyes!”

As I was blocking the rain of arrows with my body, a scream that I did not want to hear came out.

“You bastard! So I told you to cover it properly! Take this kid away. “Fill up the space!”

Fortunately for the other spearmen, few of them were so injured that they retreated.

“Small! If I survive this battlefield, I will have to bow to the East Palace three times a day! May the crown prince live long and strong!”

They were spearmen nodding their heads without realizing it at the shout of an old soldier coming from one side.

* * *

The armor worn by the commanders, cavalrymen, and swordsmen of the Land Guard Army was, of course, Hyang’s work.

Thanks to the ‘greatest trick in the history of 21st century memory’, the production cost of plate armor became very cheap with the introduction of the pressing technique.

The problem of supply and demand of steel, the main material, was solved with the creation of a large steel mill in Anju, and mass production of armor gradually accelerated.

The overall design followed Western plate armor, but only one part was significantly different.

It was a pitch.

Western-style helmets that covered the entire head were not suitable for the Joseon climate.

This was because the summers in Joseon were damn hot and the winters were damn cold.

Of course, Europe did not have summer and winter, but it was not like Joseon. He could have used various methods by borrowing the methods of the Europeans, but Hyang, who had memories of doing military service in the 21st century, shook his head.

“Soldiers hate troublesome work at the genetic level, so are you asking us to create more work? “There won’t be any soldiers who can do it properly, right?”

Therefore, Hyang created a new helmet based on Cheomju (a helmet with a thin visor).

The overall size of the visor was increased, and although there was a gorget made through sheet metal work, rims were added to cover the left and right sides and back of the head.

Of course, we did not forget to secure protective power by fixing iron pieces at the top inside the dream.

The awning of the beam blocked the strong sunlight in the summer, and by tying the curtains on the left and right upwards, some amount of heat could be discharged.

Also, since the helmet and hat were large enough, in winter, you could protect your head from the cold by wearing a hat made of cotton and wrapping it carefully with the hat.

* * *

“Damn it!”

The Huligai cavalrymen, who were firing arrows at the Joseon spearmen, were all swearing at the same time.

This was because they saw with their own eyes that the arrows they shot with all their might did not cause any significant damage.

Some of the Joseon spearmen standing like scarecrows fell, but their positions were soon filled. And Joseon’s spearmen steadfastly guarded the defense line.

The Huligai cavalrymen, who saw that the Joseon spearmen’s defense line was solid, glanced back.

In the barrage of fire bombs from the Joseon soldiers, the brothers from the tribe kept falling and running.

The cavalrymen who saw this gritted their teeth and looked ahead.

It was impossible to retreat.

The moment the horse turned its head, it became entangled with the brothers running behind it and became prey to those damn fire bullets.

There was only one answer.

He was prepared to die and charged in, sinking an arrow into the face of the Joseon soldier.

The only answer was not to fire a curveball from afar, but to make those faces covered in blood with direct fire from close range and then jump to the side.

If the camp was shaken like that, the brothers who followed would repay what had been suffered so far.

“Hiya! under!”

“Hey!”

The cavalry roared and spurred their horses.

* * *

“You’ll reach the range of a long gun in a little while.”

The spearman commanders, who were measuring the distance to the oncoming Huligai cavalry, shouted in unison.

“Sit on your knees! “Great margin!”

As soon as the commanders’ orders were given, the spearmen sat down with their right knees on the ground, held out their long spears diagonally forward, and shouted.

“Seongjin (成陣)!”

The long spear tips of the spearmen were aimed at the chest and head of the running horses.

The long spears held by the swordsmen were literal long spears with a length of one and five feet (approximately 4.5m).

The front line of the Joseon army camp had literally turned into a barrier full of thorns.

If the spearmen turned into a thorny barrier, the assault was handled by the musketeers.

“Row 1! Geochong (据銃)! aiming!”

As soon as the spearmen who had been blocking their view lowered their bodies and their view was opened, the commanders of the rifle corps shouted in unison.

At the same time as the commanders gave orders, the musketeers in the first line raised their guns and aimed.

“Bangpo!”

Ta-ta-tang!

With a loud noise, the first line of the rifle corps was engulfed in smoke. But the smoke was swept away by the rising wind.

And the riflemen, who received newly loaded rifles from their colleagues behind them, took aim at the target again.

“Bangpo!”

Ta-ta-tang!

* * *

Under heavy fire from the musketeers, the leading group of Huligai cavalrymen began to collapse.

Huligai cavalrymen who fell from their horses or jumped over their brothers who fell to the ground with their horses fell helplessly from the bullets that followed.

The continuous, concentrated fire broke the Huligai cavalry’s will to charge.

In the end, about 70 yards (about 200 meters) away from the Joseon army camp, the Huligai cavalry split into left and right.

The plan was to split to the left and right to avoid that attack and shoot arrows at the same time.

It was a tactic engraved like instinct in the history of struggles that lasted for a long time, from the Liao and Jin to the Mongols and Ming.

However, the Huligai cavalry had forgotten the presence of the Joseon cavalry located on the flanks.

* * *

As soon as the Huligai cavalry, split to the left and right, came within range, the Joseon army cavalrymen pulled out their long guns from their saddles.

“aiming! Bangpo!”

Ta-ta-tang!

The hill where they were located momentarily disappeared and reappeared in the smoke from the long guns fired by the cavalry.

After finishing firing, the cavalrymen took out the gun from the small pouch they were carrying, opened the bottom with their teeth, and poured the gunpowder into the barrel. Then, he started pushing the gun into the barrel with the loading rod.

The gunpowder contained both gunpowder and ammunition.

It was difficult to load ammunition that was just the right size to maximize the effect of the rifling, but the gun, made of wax paper soaked in soybean oil, made loading bullets easy.

The Joseon cavalrymen, who had finished reloading by changing the detonator with familiar hands, aimed at the Huligai cavalrymen and all had the same thought.

‘Now that I think about it… it’s not uncommon for people to continuously fire long guns against Jurchens on horseback, right?’

Usually, after firing a long gun, the general cavalry battle was to charge immediately with a cavalry spear or engage in a melee with a horse-drawn musket in one hand and a cavalry curved sword in the other.

It was rare to sit in the saddle and leisurely fire a long gun continuously.

While the Huligai cavalrymen, who were shot from the front and sides, collapsed like sand castles washed away by the sea, infantrymen running at a deathly sprint approached the Joseon army camp.

The commander of the spear and sword corps, who was seeing this, sent a hand signal to the commander of the rifle corps.

The commander of the rifle corps confirmed the hand signal and shouted loudly.

“Stop firing!”

“Stop firing! “Lift the gun!”

At the shouts of commanders and middle- and lower-ranking military officers, the riflemen stopped shooting and set their guns aside.

As the riflemen stopped shooting and avoided the risk of friendly fire, the commanders of the spear corps gave orders to their subordinates.

“Everyone stand up!”

At the command of the commanders, the spearmen all stood up, leaning on their spears.

“Row 2! 3rd row! Strike the sword!”

At the command of the commanders, the spearmen in the second and third rows simultaneously drew their swords.

It was a true long sword whose length from the tip of the sword to the tip of the handle reached the chest of an adult male.

* * *

Hyang discovered an unusual book among the Western books brought by an early envoy seeking Western books from the Ming Dynasty.

“Why is this here?”

What Hyang discovered was a longsword swordsmanship book published in Germany.

Even the envoys who purchased the book did not know that it was a swordsmanship book. Because they had just done a shopping spree from a famous merchant.

“So… why is there a swordsmanship book compiled by this nameless swordsman in the Ming Dynasty…”

Hyang, who was looking through the book, was able to understand the reason after looking at the sentence written on the last page of the book.

-The swordsmanship of the monks is full of life, so it is not good for the capital. Therefore, the descendants of Sega should neither read nor learn this swordsmanship book.

“So… they sold it because they told us not to cook it? But SEGA? Could it be Namgung?”

Anyway, as soon as the swordsmanship book came in, Hyang immediately started practicing martial arts.

Hyang, who translated a book written in medieval German into Chinese characters as much as possible, looked for someone who was good at using a sword. And I found cilantro at the nearest place, and it was Naegeumwijang.

Naegeumwijang, who examined the swordsmanship book at Hyang’s request, gave an unexpected answer.

“If there is a sword suitable for this sword technique, I think it will be quite useful.”

“What would it be like to teach it to Naegumwi or Gapsa?”

Naegeumwijang, who thought for a moment about Hyang’s words, immediately nodded.

“I think it’ll be okay. “There are some who learned swordplay from a historic warrior or a famous teacher, but not all.”

In this way, Naegeumwijang and Hyang worked together to make longsword swordsmanship the Joseon military swordsmanship.

And the result was the long sword held by the spearmen.

* * *

“Ugeo-geom (right-hand sword)!”

The spearmen with their long swords drawn draped their swords over their right shoulders and glared ahead.

“Row 1! “Chung (衝)!”

“insect!”

At the command of the commander, the spearmen in the first line stretched out their long spears forward in unison and shouted loudly.

The commander, who checked the status of the first row, immediately shouted loudly.

“Advance!”

Damn it! Damn it!

With the sound of heavy footsteps, the spearmen maintained their formation and narrowed the distance to the Huligai infantry running in front.

The commanders of the rifle corps who were watching the scene from behind raised their voices.

“Mussils! Chongchaang (銃槍)!”

At the shouts of the commanders, the musketeers turned the gun holsters hanging on their left hindquarters upside down.

Due to gravity, the joint of the gun barrel contained in the gun holster was pushed into the left hand.

“Gyeol(結)!”

At the command of the commander, the riflemen pulled out their lances and turned the connector on the latch protruding from the muzzle of the long rifle.

The musketeers, equipped with long rifles and breech-loaders, raised their guns and shouted loudly.

“United!” (Note 1)

With this, the musketeers began to monitor the situation, preparing for possible close combat.

* * *

Note 1) If you would like to see this process on video, please watch the 1964 film ‘Zulu’.