Chapter 796

Episode 796: Bloody fight in the jungle (2)

The subordinate officer continued.

“If you listen to the words of Chogwan and other natives, they say that there are more than one tribe that grinds their teeth when they see those bastards who are either Aztec or Mesica.”

“Are you saying it’s not just the tribe of Shit and his companions?”

“That’s right. “If we can properly work with them, we can receive great help in supplying troops and maintaining supply routes.”

“Hmm... it’s okay. That’s plausible. But not everything goes as expected. “Let’s check the plan assuming that we are moving independently, rather than just by the tribe and our fellow tribesmen.”

“yes.”

Lee Jing-ok, who was giving orders to his subordinate officers, seemed to suddenly remember another problem and pointed out another problem.

“ah! And that’s it. Are we properly informing people of the ‘prohibited use of profanity’?”

“...yes.”

Lee Jing-ok grumbled at the sight of his subordinate officer stuttering his answer.

“How on earth... why did they choose a name like that...”

* * *

In the process of returning to Shinji, some of the defected natives took on imperial-style names.

Among the natives with such names, most of them recognized as their names the titles they called themselves during the process of escaping with the imperial army, such as ‘Seong’.

Thanks to this, a tacit agreement was reached between the imperial forces on the ship returning to Shinji.

-Do not use profanity that natives use as names.

And this agreement was immediately written into a report and sent to the township.

After checking the report, Hyang immediately gave an answer.

“The military must not use the profanity on this list.”

Jinpyeong, who was watching Hyang’s decision from the side, immediately pointed out the problem.

“Swearing is something that comes out without thinking, so wouldn’t it be better to just ban swearing? “Words are what show a person’s class, so why not take this opportunity to ban the use of profanity?”

Hyang responded to Jinpyeong’s words with a sour expression.

“You don’t swear?”

“How could a nobleman be so lowly....”

“Do you know that there are one or two reports that say you are the person with the harshest mouth in the field?”

“....”

“And why did you say that the nobleman was swearing so vulgarly? If you think like that, Tae Sang-tae is not a gentleman?”

“Huh!”

Jinpyeong’s face turned white at Hyang’s point.

When King Sejong got angry, he swore profanity without even realizing it. No, it wasn’t just Sejong. Taejong was also good at swearing. In particular, in the case of King Taejo, who lived most of his life on the battlefield, half of what he said in private was swearing.

Fortunately, in the case of King Sejong, he changed his habit by clicking his tongue instead of swearing. However, there was not a single person who did not know the curse hidden in that tongue-clicking sound.

That’s why Jinpyeong’s face turned white. If there was even the slightest misunderstanding of what Jinpyeong had just said, it would immediately become an insult to Tae Sang-tae.

“I was mistaken in my convictions!”

Jinpyeong immediately bowed his head and admitted his mistake, and Hyang responded by clicking his tongue.

“Tsk!”

* * *

Hyang’s orders were the same for the conquering army. In order to prevent unexpected mistakes, the conquering army had to become familiar with this from the time they received training at the headquarters.

-(Strategy) For this reason, the use of the profanity listed above is prohibited. If you are caught using the above abusive language, your salary will be reduced.

Among the soldiers who read the orders posted on the bulletin board, those who were not from the same clan made an expression that it was no big deal or actually laughed.

“Well, it’s no big deal... That’s not the only swear word...”

“It seems like the unit that fought in the south of Shinji only had surprisingly calm friends? Even the kids who go to the social school in our neighborhood use harsher swear words than that.”

Funnily enough, those who received the most pay cuts over time were soldiers from the gentry.

Those who graduated from the gentry lived a life that was far from swearing.

The place where they encountered swearing was mainly at social democratic schools. This was because, in accordance with the philosophy of ‘social equality,’ the academy held classes in one place without class distinction.

“yes?”

“The troops will continue to arrive, but this land is hotter and more humid than expected. If you do it wrong, there is a high chance that you will get tired or get sick before you even fight. So, you need to secure enough space in advance. And since the jungle blocks your eyes, you may be surprised. So, we need to push it as much as possible to reduce our weaknesses and utilize our strengths.”

All subordinate officers nodded at Lee Jing-ok’s explanation.

“I’ll do it right away.”

Soon, all the soldiers except those in charge of security left the beachhead, carrying logging blades and saw axes.

“Why did they say they were sending a lot of logging blades and axes and saws...”

“Did I come to fight or to cut wood?...”

The soldiers began to push out the jungle, one by one, while grumbling.

Afterwards, Hyang read the message sent by Lee Jing-ok and shuddered slightly.

“The division commander said, ‘Move that mountain.’ When he did this, the mountain moved.... Ugh~. I suddenly get goosebumps....”

* * *

It had been about a month and ten days since the units that had left the bridgehead returned.

Behind the returning troops were dozens of indigenous warriors armed with macuahuitl.

Lee Jing-ok, who was watching the scene from the watchtower, smiled slightly.

“I think it went well.”

Judging that things seemed to have gone well, Lee Jing-ok came down from the watchtower and greeted the returning troops.

“insect!”

“Good work! Let the soldiers rest and you come and report!”

“yes!”

After dispersing the soldiers, the commander led the indigenous warriors with Seong and visited Lee Jing-ok.

“Again, thank you for your hard work. “I was a little worried because it took longer than expected, but I’m glad to see that most of them returned safely.”

“thank you.”

“Okay, report it.”

“yes.”

The commander began reporting to Lee Jing-ok.

The commander’s report was summarized as follows.

-The tribe of Sseong hid in a deeper jungle than where they originally lived.

– After hearing the attack on the Aztecs, the tribe promised full cooperation. The hostility they have toward the Aztecs is beyond imagination.

-The tribe plans to move the entire tribe to the vicinity of the beachhead. This is to ensure the safety of the tribe and increase the efficiency of joint operations.

-They are requesting weapons for battle. The weapon they most want is a logging sword.

“Even logging?”

Lee Jing-ok, who was a little skeptical about wanting a ‘logging sword’, quickly nodded when he saw the macuahuitl held by the indigenous warriors.

“Indeed...”

Compared to the wooden sword made of obsidian, the logging sword was a weapon with much superior performance. Additionally, the logging sword was a weapon that they could use right away without any special training.

“They weren’t thoughtless. “I thought you would definitely ask for a long gun, but...”

Lee Jing-ok muttered softly and answered his subordinate commander and Seong.

“As soon as the operation begins in earnest, we will issue logging maps. “Is there anything else?”

The commander answered Lee Jing-ok’s question right away.

“They say the Aztecs are cursed.”

“curse?”

“yes. “When I listen to what they say, I feel like I have a pox.”

“pock? how?”

Lee Jing-ok asked with a look on his face that said he couldn’t understand.

Smallpox was a disease that had almost disappeared, regardless of whether it was native or new. One of the first things the natives living in newly developed areas did whenever they returned home was to inoculate themselves with cowpox.

That’s why Lee Jing-ok looked like he couldn’t understand the word ‘smallpox’ that suddenly appeared.