Li Zhu's Audience Hall - Zhaoge

[Yen Ai]

Yen Ai

The attendant and guards were a bit annoyed at the amount of equipment being dropped off. But to the question posed, the attendant responded, "You can keep that." Assuming everything had been gathered, up, the attendant said, "Please, follow me."

The two were led into the audience complex, where they entered into a hall that was wide and narrow. Passing by a few guards and aides who seemed to be lingering for reasons unknown, they reached the end, which opened up into a massive room. Through the large gateway, they could see a guard stationed at either side of the doorway on the inside. By each side door to the room stood one guard. And two stairways at either end of the room led up to an elevated dais about 3 feet from the groud. Behind a large, full-fronted desk sat a skinny man in elaborate robes and a young, dainty-looking woman, who despite her physique, was fully armed. The attendant, having led them in a short ways, bowed to both people behind the desk individually, then moved slightly to the side and said, "King of Yin, Xia Gongzhu, announcing Chen Tan and Qiao Mi, here upon invitation of the Princess." He turned and gave a polite bow to the visitors, and drifted off a bit to the side.

Xia Xi looked at the two with a bit of curiosity, and wondered to himself if his daughter had invited them here with the intent of fighting them, too. At least one appeared to be female. He said, "Welcome to Zhaoge, guests. I hope your journey was without incident. I am not aware of the purpose of the visit, so I give the floor to you."

Tan was thankful that he didn't have to take off his gauntlet for once. A couple times he had simply refused to even meet with the person unless he got to keep it. Whatever was underneath it was something he was not willing to share.

He inclined his head towards his host as he was introduced, which was about as much recognition as anyone was ever going to get from him. Qiao Mi bowed properly at least. "The purpose of this visit." He paused, "Is that apparently your daughter would like me to enter your service. Though it wasn't stated, I assume this means my soldiers as well."

He wasn't one for too many words it seemed. Mi cleared her throat and spoke up, "We have met your daughter previously on the road under ill circumstances. I myself have seen her again since then." She sighed a bit inwardly. "I am not sure of Lady Xia's motive for asking us of all people, but that, I assume, is something you would need to ask her."[/quote]

[Kirin Rose]

Xiang Zhuang:

With a nod, Ridd Ler followed the attendant down the hall and into the room he had chosen for the politician. "You are most kind sir." He replied in turn, giving off a greatful nod and waiting for said robe to arrive. Within a matter of minutes a second attendant brought him a rather intricate robe. "Thank you." He simply said, quickly removing his wet robe and laying it across a chair with resided in the room. He then hastily put on the new robe, just in time I might add as the original attendant returned.

Ridd Ler followed behind the attendant, looking about the decorated hallways as they passed through the Administrative Complex. As they came to the main audience chamber he crossed his arms within his robe, walking formally as he stood before the King of Yin, Xai Xi and who he thought to be his daughter he had heard about, Xia Liangyu.

As the king spoke, Ridd Ler formally crotched onto one knee, bowing before him in ceremony as he was always taught. He gave off a charming smile as he slowly brought his gaze back to the Lord and his daughter. "Large things come in small packages my lord, when you are a man of principle and politics a king will always known, especially from someone such as me. I've heard of your excellent exploits dispite your small territory your liege, you are a man of honor and respect, and you have something not many people do not." He stated, taking a deep breath and pointing an open palmed hand to his daughter.

"A tight bound with your people and family, most lords these days only care about themselves, thinking only of gold and glory, but you, you are different, you care for the people of your lands and this is what makes you different from many kings, lords and men of ill-deserved titles." He added, standing up once again as he gave out a content sigh.

[Nash]

"Father's! Now, come on, I'm sure he would like to talk! Let's go..."

Liangyu hopped out of the carriage door, opened by a guard, and invited General Chang to follow her into the hall. She giggled and reminded him,

"Oh, do make sure to bring all your stuff! I'm having the carriage parked back in the stable now...Now, let's go!"

Liangyu giggled as she took a couple more steps into the building, quite eager to show the fellow to her father...

The much larger man slowly climbed out of the carriage, girding his sword back on and taking his spear off of the top rack of the vehicle. With the holster ofknives on his right hip and a bag of jerky on his right, he pretty much had everything he owned with him.

Chang: Okay...lets go, I guess...

He didn't seem very anxious to go through with this, but he followed Liangyu around, faithfully.

[Xiang Zhuang]

Yen Ai

"I see," he replied, nonchalantly. "Liangyu, perhaps you can elaborate a bit on this?"

<hr>
Kirin Rose

Zhenfeng enjoyed listening to the man speak about his royal majesty in such flattering terms, and it showed. At the end, he chuckled and said, "I appreciate that very much, but I would correct one thing. While my immediate family is here with me, much of the Xia clan has not moved to my side. There is a sense of improper haste that is felt toward my move upward that scares many. I imagine that there are plenty in the land who believe that I've gained too much power too quickly. And I'm certain that a fourth son attaining more power than the rest of the family combined is not sitting well with many of them. There weren't very high hopes for me, I believe."

He started to chuckle a bit, as if he enjoyed being discounted. "But enough about me. I'm curious about you and your upbringing. I know very little about you, except for the small detail you gave about your own abilities in the letter you sent."

[RuffRydeR]

Yen Ai

"I see," he replied, nonchalantly. "Liangyu, perhaps you can elaborate a bit on this?"

"Well, I just thought with all the things we were doing up North, that we needed more people, especially soldiers who already know what they are doing. I just remembered Lord Chen here, whom I've met with the soldiers, and Lady Qiao too...And well...umm... I think they would do nicely working here with us..."

She said, rather embarassed, though her reasons for them to come back were a fair bit more personal. But they were not the sort that should be related, were they? She couldn't just push Mei's death away completely...And the news was just so startling, so odd, back when he'd first said it. Now she'd actually had time to mull it over and think...

Nash

They got to the entrance, and she turned around, about to announce him, when she realized something was wrong...Oh dear! He still had his weapons. Father never let anyone into the hall with weapons! Well, except her. She related her distress...

"Oh! I forgot something...Father doesn't let anyone but myself see him carrying weapons of their own. I guess you could leave it here at the very door, where we can both see it...Or I could carry your stuff inside? What do you think? Father might not be too happy if he saw you carrying them...Though, maybe you're an exception? I dunno...What do you think?"

Liangyu ruffled her hair, wondering if he would agree...

[jiangbao]

Jiang Bao said "Oh! his rise in power is a contemporary topic? Then I supposs this must be heavily 'advertised' by our neighbour, Shang Dang. To be honest Great King, I joined him after his force has been established. His history is a little hazy and as his officer, it is really not my place to question his history. I am only aware of certain background information which I would be glad to share."

"What I am aware of is, that prior to him establishing control over Shou Yang, he has some intention to work as a vassel for certain lords. Their names I would prefer to keep secret at this time, but suffice to say, some of their letters outright demanded his surrender otherwise he would be crushed to pieces. He was rather surprised by this because these are the people who proclaim to help this country. He felt that if this people ever come to power, it would be Qin empire in another form. Therefore, rather than have certain people establish a second Qin Empire, he prefered to try to help the people as best as he could."

Shrugging, he continued "If he wanted to seek total conquest of Wei, he would siege Shang Dang immediately but he truely respected the lord of Shang Dang, who by the way also overthrew the prior lord in ways that I prefer not to discuss."

Thinking for a moment, he said "Actually as soon as he establish some control over Shou Yang, he also received even more threatening letters and he dispatched me to try to seek to minimise the fear that our neighbours might have. Unfortunately, some of our neighbours prefer to use 'aggressive negotiations' than diplomacy of any kind."

[Yen Ai]

Tan stared at Liangyu as she awkwardly tried to come up with a reason for summoning him. He had been a tad worried that she may not have gotten over it yet, but he wouldn't jump to any conclusions for now. Worst case scenario was not something he wanted to linger on, though he seriously doubted that it would happen that way.

"If you do not feel like discussing it, that is fine. I understand. It is not something I relish speaking about either." Tan seemed to suddenly have a bit of tact out of seemingly nowhere. Though how long that was going to last was yet to be seen.

He turned back to Xi, "I suppose I should stop wandering for a while anyhow. My main concern is for the men and women that follow me. They are desolate souls that deserve to have a purpose greater than mere impulse. If you can provide that for them, I believe I may be able to work something out with you." A small trickle of blood ran down the glass ball in his eye socket, likely from an old wound on the inside. He did not seem to notice this at all.

Qiao Mi cleared her throat (Again), "We have just over fifteen hundred troops following us at the moment and almost twice as many mounts and armor, in case you were wondering." She seemed a bit sheepish about it, which was strange since she voluntarily gave that information.

[Kirin Rose]

Xiang Zhuang:

Slowly stood up, crossing his arms once more and giving off a soft nod as he listened to the King of Yin's history. He was rather impressed as he took in his words, being the youngest out of four males and acquiring so much in so little time was a rather remarkable and amazing achievement, in that sense, it made Ridd Ler admire him even more.

"About myself you say? Well, there is not much to tell really. I grew up in a family of well known politicians who served under the former King of Zhao. They always pressured their teachings of politics and linguistic skills on me. At first I hated it, but looking back now I am thankful they did, or I would not be the person with my superb public speaking skills and knowledge of the world's politics and ideals." He stated boldly, giving off a charismatic smile, answering his question.

[Nash]

Nash

They got to the entrance, and she turned around, about to announce him, when she realized something was wrong...Oh dear! He still had his weapons. Father never let anyone into the hall with weapons! Well, except her. She related her distress...

"Oh! I forgot something...Father doesn't let anyone but myself see him carrying weapons of their own. I guess you could leave it here at the very door, where we can both see it...Or I could carry your stuff inside? What do you think? Father might not be too happy if he saw you carrying them...Though, maybe you're an exception? I dunno...What do you think?"

Liangyu ruffled her hair, wondering if he would agree...

The 'general' stopped mid-step and stared at the girl, blankly.

Chang: I think its gonna take more than one little girl to make me take off this sword, at least.

He raised an eyebrow, curiously.

Chang: If I was meeting with the King, himself, I could see your point. But something about bringing a warrior to meet with a militia commander who calls himself a prefect, and than asking him to disarm seems...well, it seems like the kind of assassination plot a Tian would drum up, to be honest. I suppose I'll trust you enough to compromise, though. Hold this...

He passed his spear to the girl with a tossing motion and started walking toward the entrace again.

[RuffRydeR]

"If you say so...Hopefully, Father won't get miffed..."

Liangyu followed him, and took him through the entrance, and asked,

"Father! Are you here?"

Spying him at the desk, she giggled, and added,

"Oh Father! I brought the General Chang I was talking about! He's here..."