Chapter 334. The Battle of Liaoyang 3
Oyeon Jik was a man of few words.
When given an order, he did not ask again. He moved immediately.
If he judged the direction of an order to be wrong, his face hardened on the spot.
Among the Balhae officers, people often said that he lacked flexibility.
That was precisely why Go Youngchang trusted him.
When entrusted with a small unit, he did not waste men carelessly.
When ordered to retreat, he brought out even the last soldier.
Oyeon Jik served under Go Youngchang as a junior officer.
It was not a high position, but whenever there was dangerous work to be done, he was the first man who came to mind.
He had been ordered to enter the city in advance and open the gate.
Merely hearing the words open the gate from inside a city filled with enemy soldiers was enough to weigh heavily on the chest.
His worries piled up like a mountain.
First, he went to inspect the hidden gate.
It was a place where few people normally passed.
Concealed within the shadows of overlapping walls, it was a spot that even the soldiers inside the city rarely paid much attention to.
But when he approached, he found that guards had been posted there as well.
There were normally none, he had been told.
But now that war had come, men had been assigned specifically to watch it.
A little more than ten soldiers took turns guarding the gate.
Oyeon Jik felt as though someone had somehow learned of his plan in advance.
He wandered around the area like a man with nothing better to do.
Sometimes he pretended to inspect the foot of the wall.
At other times he adjusted his belt and stole glances toward the hidden gate.
The guards never separated one by one.
They moved in groups of two or three.
There was no way he could quietly deal with more than ten soldiers by himself.
It was the night when the Balhae army had established itself before the city gate and settled in for the siege.
Oyeon Jik had spent the past several days carrying worries as heavy as a mountain, but tonight he had to move.
His comrades outside the walls would be waiting in silence.
After lingering around the hidden gate for days, Oyeon Jik finally came up with a scheme.
When it came to tempting soldiers, few things worked better than wine, women, and food.
Oyeon Jik went to a tavern inside the city.
Soldiers and merchants came and went there every night.
There were courtesans who poured wine, sang songs, and sat beside the customers.
He paid several of them and had them carry wine and food toward the gate.
Even hiring three or four women cost a considerable amount.
It was late at night, when the vigilance atop the walls had begun to loosen.
Bored soldiers swallowed yawns while torchlight trembled in the wind.
That was when the courtesans approached the hidden gate carrying wine jars and baskets of food.
Oyeon Jik followed some distance behind them, shoulders loose like a drunkard.
Five soldiers were guarding the gate.
Oyeon Jik first looked around.
It was dark beneath the wall.
Only the torches planted beside the gate flickered in the wind.
The soldiers' shoulders sagged from standing so long, and the points of their spears had gradually lowered.
Then the courtesans approached with their wine jars and baskets.
The first guard to notice them widened his eyes.
His gaze rose from the wine jar to the woman's face, and then he nudged the man beside him.
Two soldiers who had been standing silently turned their heads at the same time.
The atmosphere around the gate changed at once.
Men who had been swallowing yawns straightened their backs.
One hurriedly adjusted the strap beneath his helmet.
Another needlessly brushed dust from his chest.
Even the hands holding spears suddenly became more proper.
Faces dulled by tedious guard duty loosened the moment they smelled wine and perfume.
"What brings you here at this hour?"
Even his words carried an effort to sound dignified.
One of the courtesans smiled and lifted her basket slightly.
"We heard the gentlemen guarding the gate were suffering through the night, so we brought wine and food."
Every guard's mouth immediately spread into a smile.
One coughed to hide his amusement.
Another was already peering into the basket.
Their eyes lingered on the wine jars longer than on the gate, and followed the women's hands more closely than their spears.
Watching them, Oyeon Jik slowly reduced his pace.
The five men still stood at the hidden gate.
Their minds, however, had already left their posts and drifted toward the drinking table.
"A high-ranking gentleman gave us money and told us to bring food and wine to those working through the night."
The squad leader, who looked rather strict, shook his head.
"We are on duty."
The courtesan widened her eyes slightly.
As though unfairly disappointed, she glanced once at the wine jar and then back at him.
"We did not come only here. They must have sent people to the other gates as well."
The squad leader's eyebrows moved slightly.
"They did? The others too?"
The courtesan glared at him playfully.
"Yes, I told you. They went to the southern gate and the northern gate too. The gentleman said everyone guarding the gates was working hard."
The squad leader looked back at his men.
Several pairs of eyes were already fixed on the basket.
They tried to look cautious in front of the wine jar, but the moment the smell of food rose into the air, their throats moved.
The squad leader shook his head again.
"Wine is still out of the question."
The courtesan immediately nodded.
"Of course. Drinking while on duty would be troublesome. Then at least have some rice cakes."
She lifted the cloth covering the basket.
Inside were cooled rice cakes and thin slices of roasted meat.
The smell of oil spread through the night air.
"We have sliced roasted meat too. It was meant as something to eat with the wine, but it tastes good without drinking.
"Wine may be forbidden, but surely the food is all right?"
One soldier unconsciously stepped forward.
The squad leader glared at him, and he hurriedly readjusted his spear.
His eyes, however, never left the basket.
The courtesan did not miss the opening.
"It will not taste good once it gets cold.
"And this was a high-ranking gentleman's kindness. If we take everything back untouched, we will be the ones who get scolded."
The squad leader looked up at the wall with a troubled expression.
Between the battlements, soldiers continued their slow patrol.
Normally, he would not have cared about such movements.
Tonight, however, every slow step bothered him.
Once the smell of wine and food rose from below, even the soldiers on the wall could not simply pass by.
Some slowed as they walked.
Others leaned between the battlements and looked down.
Whenever the torchlight shifted, their faces appeared for a moment.
The night was already deep, yet the area before the hidden gate seemed strangely bright.
The torches beside the gate, the lanterns carried by the courtesans, even the white cloth covering the basket reflected one another's light.
The squad leader found that brightness even more troublesome.
There were too many eyes above to secretly take a rice cake or pretend not to see the women enter.
"So. Who sent you?"
The courtesan shrugged.
"A high-ranking gentleman, apparently.
"It seems he sent things here, there, and to the other gates too.
"What does it matter to women like us who he is?
"We sell wine, sell our bodies, and earn our money. That is all."
When she said our bodies, she turned her waist slightly.
Her skirt shifted in the firelight.
The soldiers' eyes followed the movement.
The squad leader looked up at the wall once more.
Faces were still peering down between the battlements, but they too were distracted by the wine and food below.
The squad leader clicked his tongue softly and called his men over.