The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 142

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Red Dragon Martial Emperor, Chapter 142

Chapter 142 – Crisis (3)

Upon returning to the Military Encampment, Yi Hwan sought out Gwa Chung-mu at once. Gwa Chung-mu, who had been atop the Watchtower, hurried down.
“I’m grateful you’re safe, Grand Prince!”
“What is the situation?”
“As you predicted, the enemy’s main force is advancing. I was about to send reinforcements to support our Vanguard when you sent word—I cannot express how fortuitous that is.”
“Have you assessed the enemy’s numbers?”
Gwa Chung-mu answered Yi Hwan’s question with a grave expression.
“The Seonam King is commanding the force himself—some two hundred thousand troops.”
Yi Hwan was startled inwardly.
So the Seonam King had come here in person.
‘Was the Crown Prince Jo Gwang truly so important?’
Otherwise, there was no reason for the Seonam King to have come himself.
“How much time do we have?”
“The dense Mountainous Terrain ahead will slow their advance considerably—at least half a day, I’d estimate. Thanks to you, we’ve prevented their forces from fragmenting, but given that their numbers so vastly exceed ours, what comes next…” He trailed off.
Even Gwa Chung-mu, legendary for his composure before armies numbering in the millions, found himself at a loss for words.
Yi Hwan spoke with quiet resolve.
“With the geographical advantage on our side, if we commit fully to Defense, we can hold back even two hundred thousand troops. First, let me see the Map.”
“Understood.”
Yi Hwan was heading toward the Command Center with Gwa Chung-mu when a general came running up.
“An envoy from the Zhao Kingdom has arrived!”

* * *

Yi Hwan received the envoy in the Command Center.
Gwa Chung-mu sat at his side.
Not recognizing Yi Hwan, the envoy turned to Gwa Chung-mu with an imperious air and opened his mouth.
“The Seonam King, sovereign of my nation, has instructed me to say thus: surrender the Crown Prince Jo Gwang, and he will show you mercy.”
“Address yourself to the Grand Prince.”
……
Only then did the Zhao envoy fix his gaze on Yi Hwan. He had taken him for Gwa Chung-mu’s adjutant.
“There is nothing more to add.”
Yi Hwan brought the Tea Cup to his lips with an indifferent expression.
Clink.
“Go back and tell him plainly: the Crown Prince Jo Gwang is not here. And tell him that we fear not those who dance at the whim of a blind, power-mad old fox.”
“How insolent! You speak to the man who shall be emperor—show proper decorum!”
“Lower your voice, unless you wish to return as a ghost.”
……!
“Fix your expression as well. And your gaze.”
……!
Cowed by the force of Yi Hwan’s presence, the envoy found himself straightening his posture and averting his eyes without quite meaning to.
Yi Hwan took another sip of tea.
Clink.
“Be on your way before I change my mind.”
……!
The flustered envoy turned back to Gwa Chung-mu.
Gwa Chung-mu spoke with stern finality.
“Are your ears deaf? Our Grand Prince has told you to leave.”
“There is no precedent in history for treating an envoy thus! You will surely regret—Ugh!”
Crack!
The envoy’s head snapped to the side as if his neck might break.
Yi Hwan had struck him across the face using Force Projection. Blood poured freely from the envoy’s split lip.
“I told you to lower your voice, didn’t I?”
“I—this—”
“And I don’t care for that look in your eyes either.”
Whoosh.
When Yi Hwan raised his hand, the envoy flinched and shrank back, hastily turning his head.
“You’d do well to leave before you finish that tea. We’re holding back only for the Crown Prince’s dignity right now.”
Clang!
The envoy shot to his feet, knocking his chair backward. He righted it in a panic and fled the Command Center like a man pursued.
Gwa Chung-mu smiled faintly.
“I confess I’m curious to see how the Seonam King’s face will change. Well done, Grand Prince.”
“Let’s examine the map.”
“Yes.”
Gwa Chung-mu’s aide unfolded a map across the table.
Yi Hwan studied it closely, contemplating troop placements. Gwa Chung-mu waited in silence.
He already had a strategy worked out in his mind. But he could not override Yi Hwan with unilateral decisions—nor did he wish to. He was genuinely curious what plan Yi Hwan would propose.
After a moment, Yi Hwan straightened and turned to Gwa Chung-mu.
“Let’s hear the Crown Prince’s strategy first.”
“The commander’s thoughts are…….”
Gwa Chung-mu laid out his plan. The explanation consumed barely a moment.
Yi Hwan nodded steadily.
It aligned closely with his own thinking. But he marked one point for revision.
“I’ll take this position myself.”
“That’s the sector that may face the heaviest enemy concentration.”
“Precisely why I’m taking it. In return, assign General Jeong Cheon’s unit to my command.”
Gwa Chung-mu saw the firm resolve in Yi Hwan’s eyes. There was no choice but to defer to him.
“Understood. I’ll assign additional Martial Artists to support you.”
Yi Hwan shook his head.
“The enemy will target the Crown Prince first. If the Crown Prince falls, the Northern Military Unit collapses. Post the bulk of our Martial Artists in his vicinity.”
“……Understood.”
Once the consultation ended, Yi Hwan drank cold water. Gwa Chung-mu watched and smiled again.
“How I wish we’d enlisted you sooner. Having you with us, Grand Prince—I’ve never felt such peace of mind. Your officers surely share the sentiment.”
“I’m relieved to hear it, then. At least I’m not a burden. Come—let’s go.”
“Yes, Grand Prince.”
Yi Hwan stepped outside.
Generals were gathered beyond the Command Center doors.
Yi Hwan addressed them all briefly.
“Concentrate entirely on defense. No one attacks without explicit orders—not under any circumstance. Understand?”
“Yes, Grand Prince!”
Yi Hwan’s gaze fixed on one general, and he smiled faintly. It was Jeong Cheon, who’d come north with ten thousand elite troops from the Southern Military Unit. Jeong Cheon smiled back.

* * *

Yi Hwan and Jeong Cheon stood side by side.
“How does the Crown Prince fare?”
“He’s lost sleep over his concern for you, Grand Prince. If anything happened to you, he was ready to march straight on the Imperial Palace.”
Yi Hwan smiled, picturing Peng Wu-wei’s rugged face.
“So he’s grown distant from the Third Prince, then.”
“They’re merely reserved with each other. The Third Prince speaks so little that the Crown Prince and the others tread carefully around him.”
Jeong Cheon continued.
“I apologize. Ideally I should have brought more troops…….”
“If we strip too many soldiers away, Zhao Kingdom will exploit the weakness. This is sufficient.”
Yi Hwan placed a hand on Jeong Cheon’s shoulder.
“Be careful.”
“And you as well, Grand Prince. I’ll return to my position now.”
Jeong Cheon departed to his post. Yi Hwan watched his receding figure and thought again of Peng Wu-wei.
‘It couldn’t have been easy to spare ten thousand elite soldiers with the Third Prince present.’
Gratitude welled up in him.
These were troops sent wholly for his sake.
He drew a long breath.
Yi Hwan steadied himself and turned around.
Cheol Mu-ok and the others stood in the distance. But Hwa-ryeong was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is she?”
“Performing Qi Regulation. The strain of fighting before reaching full stability seems to have affected her. I know her location, so she’ll rejoin us when she’s done.”
Yi Hwan nodded quietly and looked toward Song Cheon-mu and Cha Jung-gyeong.
Both men bore the clear marks of considerable tension.
In truth, it would have been stranger if they hadn’t felt uneasy—the enemy forces they now faced dwarfed anything they’d encountered in the Southern Military Unit.
“Once the fighting begins, I may not be able to watch over you. So you must never lose focus—keep your eyes on our movements at all times.”
“Yes, Grand Prince. We shall do so.”
“Understood.”
Yi Hwan pressed ahead.
His position lay at the westernmost defense line of the Northern Military Unit—elevated terrain with steep slopes, yet the approach itself opened wide, making it the enemy’s most probable avenue of main attack.
Depending on how events unfolded, he might find himself in direct confrontation with the Seonam King.
Whoosh!
The rain grew steadily more violent.
‘At this rate, the weather works in our favor.’
When Yi Hwan reached the defense line shortly after, he ordered his men to strip away every last blade of grass from the steeper sections.
It would make the ground as slippery as possible when the enemy advanced.
He also commanded them to gather as many loose rocks and logs as they could find.
Rumble!
Crack!
Thunder and lightning intensified with each passing moment.
Whenever lightning flashed across the sky, Yi Hwan’s face went pale, then returned to its natural color.
How much time passed this way?
The sound of a drum drifted faintly across the hills. In its wake, the forest ahead began to shudder.
“Phew.”
Song Cheon-mu exhaled sharply.
Cha Jung-gyeong’s face tightened as he stared intently at the trembling forest. Song Cheon-mu turned to look at him.
“Are you afraid?”
“I’m terrified out of my mind.”
Cha Jung-gyeong made no attempt to hide his feelings. He had fought countless battles against Yen during his time in the Black Tiger Unit of Zhao, but never had he faced a battle of this magnitude.
And the enemy commander was none other than the Seonam King—the man who effectively ruled Zhao itself.
Song Cheon-mu asked again.
“What manner of man is the Seonam King of Zhao?”
“Think of him as a mad tiger. They say that ever since childhood, once he loses his temper, no one can restrain him. Because of that temperament, the emperor appointed him King of the West to protect the Crown Prince—essentially banishing him.”
“If he’s come here, surely the martial artists accompanying him must be formidable masters?”
“Without question.”
Song Cheon-mu glanced back at Yi Hwan.
The aura surrounding Yi Hwan as he watched the forest ahead seemed distinctly different from what Song Cheon-mu had known before.
Until now, no matter the circumstance, Yi Hwan had never abandoned his characteristic composure. Yet today, even his gaze had changed.
Seeing him like that only deepened Song Cheon-mu’s own unease.
Slap-slap!
Song Cheon-mu struck his own cheeks, steeling himself with self-hypnosis.
‘I’m not afraid. Not afraid. Not afraid.’

* * *

Seonam King Jo Yun gazed at the Northern Military Unit’s defense line, his eyes blazing like flickering flames.
“They’ve stripped away all the grass? A thoroughly classical approach.”
Severed branches lay stacked like mountains along the approach to the high ground.
“In this terrain, those logs will prove quite effective.”
“We’ll need to watch for the rocks as well, sir.”
Jo Yun nodded silently and continued.
“This is the widest approach route—naturally, General-in-Chief Gwa Chung-mu will be defending it.”
“That is also my assessment, sir.”
“I wonder how much skill this Gwa Chung-mu possesses—the one Yen boasts of so proudly.”
“Whom shall we send as vanguard, sir?”
“Leave it to me, my lord!”
A massive general stepped forward, his voice a grave rumble like a bear’s roar.
He was Han Seom, a veteran of countless campaigns who had stood beside Jo Yun his entire life—one of Zhao’s most formidable war commanders.
Jo Yun spoke.
“Gwa Chung-mu is no foe to be taken lightly. Do not grow overconfident. You must regard him as your superior and fight with all your strength.”
“Leave it to me, my lord!”
“Very well. Go.”
“Yes!”
“The central forces are to support the vanguard the moment the enemy’s defense weakens!”
“Yes, sir!”
A short while later, Han Seom led out thirty thousand elite troops first.
Jo Yun found high ground, unfurled a vast umbrella there, and gazed out toward what would become the battlefield.
His attendants took positions on either side. Among them was one who had gone as an envoy to the Northern Military Unit and returned with a slapped face from Yi Hwan.
As Jo Yun swept his gaze sharply across every corner of Yen’s defense line, his brow narrowed the moment he spotted Yi Hwan and his companions standing beneath a towering tree.
Jo Yun’s eyes fixed on Yi Hwan’s face.
‘Gwa Chung-mu couldn’t possibly be that young.’
He turned to those behind him and asked.
“Is the man who struck your cheek among them?”
“That’s him!”
The envoy who had gone to the Northern Military Unit and taken a blow to the face from Yi Hwan pointed at him with precision. Though the distance was considerable, he too had mastered Qi Regulation and could identify Yi Hwan’s face with accuracy.
“So that’s the puppet Grand Prince of Yen they speak of?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I took him for merely a brute who struck an envoy without restraint, but he shows considerable courage. He must have known this is the most perilous position—yet he came himself. Such courage would explain why he led the ambush operation directly as well.”
Jo Yun knew through reports that Yi Hwan had annihilated one of their defense positions during the ambush operation.
But there was something he did not know.
It was what Yi Hwan had said to the envoy.

A man who lets himself be played with by a greedy vixen means nothing to me—there’s nothing to fear.

This was the reason the envoy had not dared report it.
“Have you still heard nothing from the second son?”
“A messenger has been sent—he should bring word soon!”
Jo Yun’s eyes grew dim for the first time.
By the schedule, Jo Jeong-mu should have come down along the northwest of the Northern Military Unit by now.
‘Nothing should go wrong.’
Jo Yun, who possessed the heart of a beast.
Yet before his son, he was no different from any other father. Only no one knew the depths of what lay beneath.
“General Han appears ready to launch the attack soon.”
“Bring me wine.”
A drink tray was set before Jo Yun.
He raised the cup to his lips and waited for the battle about to begin.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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