Chapter 8

◈ The Sambyeolcho in South America (6)

The reconnaissance fleet returned and reported.

To the west and northeast, long beaches stretched out.

The length was truly great, extending for several hundred li (里).

If you traveled more than three hundred li to the west, there was a fairly large river.

Beyond that, to the west, there were two large rivers at a wide bay (actually a river mouth), both very broad with substantial flow, making it difficult to estimate their length.

To the north, there were several lagoons and lakes, some of which were extremely large.

Jungson decided to move the camp westward.

The soldiers, who had taken a considerable amount of rest and personal maintenance time, were in high spirits, and the withdrawal speed was quite fast.

However, not everyone went.

About a hundred people, who were sick or weak and thus useless, were left behind.

The camp was a very vulnerable space to epidemics, so the Sambyeolcho leadership had no reason to take any risks.

Still, to be considered weak and left behind...

Seongmin felt a pang of sympathy and clicked his tongue, but he didn't do anything.

This was a medieval land where there were no dreams or hopes.

After four days of sailing along the coast without a single stop, the fleet finally reached their destination.

A fairly wide river had a small sedimentary island at its mouth.

The Sambyeolcho could now build a port inside the river, allowing large ships to dock.

The worry about wave surges was now gone.

Since the last river they saw was the Yeongsan River (榮山江), this river was named the Soyeong River (小榮江).

Traveling further up the Soyeong River, the Sambyeolcho found a suitable plain and decided to build a fortified base, not just a camp, for a long-term stay.

They cleared the dense weeds, reeds, and trees along the riverbank and laid out the foundation on the wide land.

Finding strategic high ground, such as hills or mountains, was extremely difficult.

Typically, Goryeo castles were built on plains, with a city and a mountain fortress behind it to form a strategic position.

From an attacking perspective, it was impossible to attack one side without the other fortress causing trouble.

However, there were no mountains or even slightly elevated hills here, making it impossible to build a rear mountain fortress.

To gain a slight defensive advantage, they found a relatively higher ground and started building the city along the river, which could serve as a natural moat.

The people seemed somewhat relieved to see the temporary wooden palisade, but they would later have to tear it down and build a high wall with their own labor.

Without a mountain fortress, the wall had to be built high.

The wall had to be high because there were no mountain fortresses.

—

A week had passed since they arrived at the base.

It was almost lunchtime, and after finishing his duties, Seongmin noticed that the armed men of the Shinui Army had caught another strange animal.

People were gathered around a bonfire, discussing the scene.

'What is this?'

The animal, which resembled a giant rat, was somewhat familiar but hard to place.

It looked like a beaver?

"Are you really going to eat that?"

"If you don't want to, don't eat it."

Several commanders unconsciously showed expressions of disgust.

This giant rat was at least dozens of times larger than those seen in Goryeo, and naturally, much heavier.

Rats, common enemies of human history, naturally evoke a hostile and repulsive feeling, as they gnaw on crops and spread diseases.

Of course, the people of this era wouldn't know that rats were the culprits of the plague.

The animal looked like a large rat, and there was a fundamental aversion to it.

It was too small to be worth the effort to catch and eat.

In the Song Dynasty (宋), it was a familiar meat, but not in Goryeo.

The armed men, who had lived through the terrible wars and had to catch and eat rats to survive, were surprised by its size but showed little reaction.

Especially in this situation, where the strict rationing system left people severely lacking in protein, even a small rat would be eaten to supplement their nutrition.

Seongmin gave a brief instruction.

"It's best to cook it thoroughly."

Seongmin himself would rather starve than eat it.

The leader of the successful hunt, Hwangsa, began to skin and disassemble the animal with a familiar knife.

Seongmin watched the scene intently.

"The fur is quite soft."

One of the armed men examined the fur, which was still dripping with blood.

An idea popped into Seongmin's head.

'Right, nutria.'

He had seen it on YouTube before going to bed.

He didn't know how he ended up watching it, but he remembered that the original habitat of nutria was South America.

After roughly cutting out the internal organs and washing the meat, they started to cook it over the fire. The smell of the roasting meat spread deliciously in all directions.

The shape of the roasting meat was frankly bizarre, but with their empty stomachs, it suddenly seemed very appetizing.

Naturally, the strict rationing system applied to everyone, including the common people, soldiers, and even the commanders, so Seongmin couldn't eat as much as he wanted.

Moreover, he came from a culture where three meals a day were the norm.

Two meals a day with small portions.

Rice was one thing, but protein was extremely scarce, and the fish they caught always disappeared somewhere.

Goryeo did have livestock.

The court had horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens, but they couldn't be slaughtered until their numbers increased.

"Wow!"

Sai, who had taken the almost charred meat off the fire, took a bite and exclaimed in amazement. He then shared the cut meat with the surrounding armed men.

A piece was also offered to Seongmin.

It was too tempting to refuse.

His previous resolve melted away like snow in spring.

It felt like he hadn't eaten a piece of meat in years.

After a moment of hesitation, Seongmin closed his eyes and accepted it.

"...It's delicious?"

His mouth watered.

In the 21st century, he wouldn't have even glanced at this food.

A photo of him eating a disgusting meal might have circulated on the internet.

But the flavor of the meat entering his mouth at this moment was truly...

Delicious.

It tasted like pork and duck.

The piece was too small to properly evaluate the taste. Should he ask for a little more?

Suddenly, he noticed the armed men around him, who had hastily eaten the meat and were now holding only bones, looking at Sai.

When Sai shrugged, the armed men sighed and sucked the bones before throwing them away.

Then they lifted their rationed rice balls and put them in their mouths.

The taste of the dry and coarse rice balls filled their mouths.

It was strange how even with such hunger, the rice tasted bland.

This taste would always end in discomfort.

*Crunch*.

Seongmin muttered to himself, spitting out a grain of sand.

'Really, it's so tasteless.'

The feeling of having the joy of eating confiscated was truly disheartening.

—

After eating and returning to work, his unjust employer was looking at him with a smile from a distance. If his expression wasn't so fierce, it would have looked like he was about to scold him.

Seongmin had taken on additional administrative duties for the army, in addition to his regular duties.

The problem was that, in the current situation, which was like a military administration, he had to manage and supervise civilian affairs as well.

The workload was overwhelming.

Well, let's think positively.

It's better than the other units that have to rush to the屯田 (duntian) after work.

"You're here."

"Yes..."

"Let's go then."

Tongjeong went to the main camp with a somewhat cheerful look.

The building, though not elaborately constructed, was already full of people, having been completed before the main hall.

"The reconnaissance team has returned and caught some people with strange clothing and customs."

"Are they people who have lived here from the beginning?"

"It seems so."

Seongmin was curious.

The scouts who had ventured deep along the western coast reportedly encountered a group of people when they reached the mouth of a large river.

These people were tall, with red skin and were extremely fierce, immediately shooting arrows and raising their spears to fight the scouts.

The battle between twenty wild men and six Sambyeolcho ended in victory for the Sambyeolcho, who had superior individual combat skills, equipment, and horses, but one of them was seriously injured.

They killed eighteen of the enemy and brought back two captives.

When Tongjeong and Seongmin arrived, they saw the two captives tied up in the front yard of the main camp.

Though securely tied, they kept moving violently, and the surrounding soldiers had to hit them with spears several times to calm them down.

The soldiers around them were murmuring and staring at the captives in amazement.

Bae Jungson and the commanders came out of the camp building.

"Go rest or do your work."

After the commanders shouted a few times, the gathered soldiers dispersed.

"The appearance of these people is truly bizarre."

The leader who captured them, Lee Sun-gong, slowly examined their bows, spears, and stone slings.

"Their craftsmanship is far inferior to that of the Jurchens or Khitans who lived in the remote northern regions of Goryeo, or even the pirates."

This was a reasonable statement.

While the nomadic people were considered barbaric compared to the Central Plains, they were tribes with the potential to create great empires like the Liao (遼) and Jin (金).

The pirates also had their own civilization and occasionally raided the Goryeo coast.

There were also wild men living in the south of the Song Dynasty (宋朝), but they were similar.

"Even though they should be scouts, they didn't have horses."

They didn't even have armor.

They wore rough clothing made of animal skins, which offered no protection.

Their arrows were made of sharpened stones or bones, and their spearheads were the same.

To the eyes of the Goryeo people, who were skilled in archery, the bows didn't even look like bows.

The primitive stone slings seemed more dangerous than the bows.

One of the injured was hit by a stone.

The captive tied up was shouting loudly through the gag.

"Their skin color and facial features are similar to ours, but also alien. Is there anyone who understands their language?"

"..."

The commanders stared blankly at Jungson.

His mistake in expecting information.

Feeling frustrated and helpless, Jungson sighed deeply.

"Though we don't know their identity, the appearance of hostile people means we need to re-establish strict military discipline. Farming is important, but vigilance is the foundation of the army. Commanders, remember this."

"Yes, General."

"Imprison that person. Make sure they don't die."

"As you command."

After dispersing, Jungson entered the main camp building and put on the armor on the rack, straightening his posture.