350
The generals' faces hardened.
Missing in action was the word most hated in war.
If a man died, one could report his death.
But when no one knew where he was, fear remained.
Fear fed on absence.
Liu Bowen continued.
"All the bodies bear the same blade marks.
The edge passed through armor, flesh, and bone without the slightest tremor.
It appears to be the work of one person—no… of a single blade."
The air inside the tent sank heavily.
Zhu Yuanzhang slowly stepped forward.
He ordered two corpses dragged into the center of the council chamber.
Blood-soaked, dirt-caked bodies lay in the middle of the tent.
Zhu Yuanzhang traced the severed neck with his finger.
"No wavering.
A single cut."
Liu Bowen nodded.
"Yes.
Only a master with an exceptional inner method could strike like this."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes narrowed.
"An inner method…"
One general clenched his fist.
"General, we must press a frontal advance harder.
If we pull back the scouts like this, we'll lose the front."
Another immediately objected.
"That master is waiting for advancing troops.
If we push forward, he'll cut straight into our ranks first."
"Nonsense.
If we send numbers in an organized fashion, he won't endure.
He's merely picking people off."
"The seventy-three we lost today say otherwise.
How can you speak so lightly?"
Shouts flew back and forth.
Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table.
"Enough."
The tent fell silent at once.
Liu Bowen stepped forward.
"The most terrifying thing on any battlefield is not a great army,
but an unseen enemy."
He touched the corpse's neck again.
"This cut leaves fear behind.
Now the soldiers will flee if even a blade of grass stirs.
A battle line collapses not by numbers, but by hearts."
Someone muttered softly.
"…Then how do we deal with such a man?"
Liu Bowen answered.
"There are six methods.
"First, fire.
Burn the reed beds and brush, leaving him nowhere to hide.
"Second, traps.
Dig the chokepoints, plant stakes in shallow waters, and break the flow.
"Third, dense crossbow formations.
Layered volleys to sever his momentum.
"Fourth, scatter sand and lime.
Expose footprints and presence—make the invisible visible.
"Fifth, reduce mobility and move in large formations.
Eliminate the structure that allows small groups to vanish.
"Sixth, convert reconnaissance to heavily armed company-sized units.
They must always keep one another within sight."
The generals murmured.
"You're saying we must change our tactics because of a single master?"
Liu Bowen replied.
"Yes.
Because that one man has blinded our entire army."
Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent for a long time.
He stared at the bodies, studying the necks—
the cut, the angle, the flow.
A low voice escaped his lips.
"This is not a battle."
He pushed the corpses aside and stood.
"This is a hunt.
That man is hunting us."
The generals' faces went pale.
Zhu Yuanzhang made his decision.
"From now on, never deploy scouts in small numbers."
"Pull the probing lines farther back—ten li, twenty li from the river."
"Until countermeasures are prepared, suspend all night reconnaissance."
He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
"If we do not capture that master first,
the initiative of this war will fall into his hands."
Those words meant that a single martial man
had grown powerful enough to shake Zhu Yuanzhang's entire army.
The board of the war was quietly changing.
After the generals had all withdrawn,
Liu Bowen spoke to Zhu Yuanzhang alone.
"General, that master is no ordinary warrior."
"What do you mean?"
Liu Bowen answered carefully.
"He reads the battlefield.
He does not swing a blade—he moves momentum itself.
The moment we engage him,
we are no longer fighting a war, but fear."
Zhu Yuanzhang murmured softly.
"…Then we must find where he came from."
In his eyes, alongside caution, another flame burned—
not fear, but a fierce will to contest.
"Identify him.
Do not stop at assuming he is Goryeo.
Gather intelligence from the enemy camp.
His name.
His inner method.
The one who taught him.
Everything—
everything about him."