Han Roleplay Thread

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Big Grizzy
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Re: Han Roleplay Thread

Post by Big Grizzy »

Jin Sui spoke from the back of the room once Baocen Peng had finished. "Men of no loyalty do not deserve what life they have, but undeserving as this fool may be, Great King, a tool of this magnitude is not to be simply thrown away. I would suggest that he be ransomed back to the traitors, but that the ransom be steep. His own admission to disloyalty will break him from the usurper sooner rather than later, I believe."
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Re: Han Roleplay Thread

Post by Lionheart »

Ping Xin spoke up next softly: "I think that we should ransom him, King Liu, and split the profits between our two administrations--with the lion's share going to your Majesty's coffers, of course."
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Phailak
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Re: Han Roleplay Thread

Post by Phailak »

General Luo Jian and Supreme Commander Cang Hu are released once a coffer with 500 gold arrives. After having been inspected, both officers are given horses and supplies for the trip home. King Baocen however remains prisoner, though comfortably, raising questions as to what Liu Bang is trying to accomplish exactly.

OOC: The two officers under Shen Feng are released. Baocen Peng's fate to be decided sometime today.
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Re: Han Roleplay Thread

Post by Phailak »

A few days after having released the prisoner, after some secret agreement between the Kings, Baocen Peng is released to go home. No one but Liu Bang and his prisoner are aware of the terms, including if there was any ransom money exchanged.
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Re: Han Roleplay Thread

Post by Li Dao Wen »

Sorry, I had to start something. I'm very bored waiting!


The Battle of Han, 205 AD

The Battle for the kingdom of Han saw the death of more than a hundred thousand men, with the vast majority coming from the ranks of the king of Han, now toppled from his smug, idle throne. Much larger than the battle for Chu, it was no less decisive as well, with the entire domain of Liu Bang ending up under the direct scope of Ma Dieu's fledgling kingdom. Despite boasting the abilities of many renowned men such as Han Xin and Guan Ying, the army of Liu Bang crumbled like a pack of cards against the might of Ma Dieu's veteran armies.

Chu scouts had been sent ahead of the Grand Army weeks before the invasion started. With thorough cunning tucked under their belts, they managed to elude Han's strict security regimens and examine the strengths and weaknesses of its army. With alacrity they procured the necessary information and brought them home just as the armies of Chu were unleashed on the warpath. The newly crowned Protector of the Emperor, determined to bring the renegade Liu Bang under his heels, was pleased to no end with the results. Apparently the rumors of the king of Han's idleness weren't entirely unfounded; while his army boasted of terrific numbers -more than 130,000 men at arms, with ready allies located nearby- their combat efficiency and experience was far below that of their veteran Chu counterparts, despite having recently seen battle against Shen Feng and Baocen Peng. As such, details regarding the mobility and efficiency of the enemy army were already distributed to the chief commanders by the time they had set foot on the verdant hills of the mountain region.

The command center was set-up on a plateau hidden by a quadrant of coniferous forest, conveniently bordering a tributary of the Yellow River. To guard against the tiny possibilities of a siege, Ma Dieu quickly sent his engineers to work, producing earthworks and wooden forts, as well as diverting the river to form a moat around the area on short notice. On a clearing located some two miles away, the Grand Army of Chu set-up camp. The hilly terrain was definitely not suitable for exploiting the maximum effectiveness of cavalry and chariot mobility, but Ma Dieu's tacticians chose their spot carefully, pointing out that the steepness would provide a great boost to the ferocity of their blitzes.

From their vantage point the Chu scouts were easily able to spot the markings of the giant Han army that had positioned itself some five miles away from their own camp, blocking a narrow pass which was sheathed into the bosom of a series of gorges. Liu Bang's most treasured commander, Duke Han Xin, was definitely no fool when it comes to pushing advantages, and he quickly demonstrated this ability. Their men were much more accustomed to the general terrain of the region, and his choice spot for a camp almost mirrored that of Ma Dieu's, with a fresh supply of water easily obtainable from an easily defensible position. As a testament to the engineering prowess of Han's scholars, they were able to quickly raise a series of powerful stone forts that barred entry into the narrow pass leading to Han's hidden cities. The impressive castle towered above the valley, giving a good scope for their scouts to survey any approaching intruder. Thus the plateau which they occupied thus looked more like a grim fortress rather than the patch of forest which it had been only a few weeks prior. Thus the two armies positioned themselves to fight it out in the shallow valley which separated them from each other.

Deep in the bowels of their makeshift fortress, the Chu commanders convened for the best possible opportunity to give battle. The bloodthirsty but calculating Duke Xun Jiang, eager to earn even more glory in battle argued that directly engaging the Han troops would ensure victory, secretly hoping that it would be ended in the brutal fashion that he craved. In a way, Ma Dieu and Fei Lai both knew that a war of attrition would not be in their best interest, because the hardy folk of Han would defend every inch of their land to the last drop of blood. But while they agreed to the simple suggestions of their inexorable champion, they were far more subtle in their ways. Tactics involving the defilement and destruction of supplies, as well as weakening the enemy's will to fight were staple ingredients of their success, and they knew that this battle would be no exception.

Word quickly reached the Chu commanders of the impending threat posed by the Lord of Sai's army, which had turned back from their campaign against Lin Yue's holdings to the north. Knowing that a merge between the Han and Sai armies would be a difficult war machine to beat, King Ma issued the designated commanders their marching orders with haste. The battle plan was simple, and and everyone knew what they needed to do. They were to use everything in their arsenal to destroy Liu Bang's army before reinforcements can arrive.

King Ma Dieu divided his Grand Army of veterans into four divisions, with the mobile heavy cavalry and charioteer corps falling under his own responsibility. These positioned themselves behind the screen of heavily armed shock infantry troops led by Duke of Jiujiang Xian Long Rui, and Duke of Liang Ma Su. The support troops, tasked with safeguarding the supplies and the efficient distribution of provisions was headed by the Duke of Nanyang Fei Lai. Lastly, the sabotage corps, tasked with swift, lightning blitzes upon the enemy supplies and harassment tactics was left to Supreme Commanders Sun Chao and Tian Rong.

With the battle lines drawn and defenses secured, the hills of Han soon began to quake with the war chants and taunts being hurled by the opposing armies. As was customary, a duelist from Liu Bang's ranks, a general named Du Si rode out of the line, screaming his tired mockeries of the massive army facing them. With Ma Dieu nodding his empathic approval, the armor divided itself in a crisp, mechanical manner, and the hulking, metal-clad behemoth Xun Jiang broke out of the neatly arranged columns to answer the challenge. As each warrior sped towards one another, brandishing their blades for each other's blood, every soldier from both sides waited with bated breath as to the outcome of the duel.

As courageous as Du Si was, he was ultimately no match for the fearsome warrior known as the Black Ogre of Chu. Within the bat of an eye he was being towed back to Chu's cheering lines, unconscious and bloodied. With the 'pleasantries' and introductions settled, the horns of battle were sounded, and King Ma Dieu confidently led his troops into the fray atop a powerful steed. The bronze armor of his men glimmered in the sun like a heavenly host, and they thundered across the mountains with impunity, crashing in perfect formation against Liu Bang's cannonades, pitfall traps and earthworks. Though the deterrents proved effective, with many hundreds falling into gullies infested with wooden pikes, the vast majority of the army made it within engagement range, and the bloodbath began in earnest.

The heavy infantry bore the brunt of the Han army's attack during every first strike, promptly forming an immovable spearwall that engaged, crushed and skewered every charge that dared collide against it. Once the men stopped pouring against their well-placed defenses, Chu's battle lines disintegrated into the fray, engaging the Han troops in a lopsided hand-to-hand battle. The kingdom of Han's hastily-trained and inexperienced soldiers were no match for the roaring escapades of Chu's elite warriors, with Dukes Xun Jiang and Ma Su, and the tiger generals Pang Zhou and Zhang Ze wreaking havoc in the thick of the melee. The support troops of the Grand Army provided accurate arrow fire from elevated positions such as trees and freshly constructed siege towers, picking off officers and mounted units as priority targets.

For Tian Rong and his ravenous raiders, it was business as usual, just as it was in the Chu battle; within hours the fires of death and destruction were raging around Liu Bang's camps. Not surprisingly, Liu Bang's supplies were very well-guarded, and they had considerable success staving off the Duke of Qi's depredations. But the damage he wrought on their communication lines eventually took their toll as designed, and for the duration of the battle, the caravans and suppliers of Han had to go through a network of hellish patrols, raids and ambushes just to get food into the bellies of their comrades.

After several hours of gore and bloodshed, the retreat horns were sounded, and the tired men of both sides hurried back to their camps to survey their losses. Chu's generals convened once more, analyzing the results and changes which had to be made, if any. Finding that their battle plans have gone smoothly, Ma Dieu had his couriers distribute a fresh batch of food and provisions to the ecstatic Grand Army, bolstering their morale. Wine, however, was banned for its inebriating effects, knowing that the next day could be even bloodier. For their part, the Han troops were quiet during the night, but Chu did not immediately capitalize, its commanders fearing a trap. Duke Fei pointed out that it was no ruse, however, and cautioned everyone against impatience just as he always does, knowing that the enemy will not retreat after giving almost as good as they got. Han's soldiers had their confidence and hopes up, and had the luxury of resting behind stone walls. Their commanders having placed sentries to overlook watch duties, most of their tired fighting troops slept soundly through the night.

Everything went as the cunning Duke Fei Lai had predicted. Before the crack of dawn, with the army fed and rested well enough, Ma Dieu had a few men sneak into the enemy camp disguised as Liu Bang soldiers. They scaled the walls and dug tunnels underneath the fortress wall, using the darkness to avoid direct confrontations. Their mission was again, simple: open the gates of the main fort so that the Chu army can finally dislodge their enemies from their positions. Meanwhile the Grand Chu army moved through the thick forestry undetected, save for a small patrol of men which was swiftly and silently annihilated on the spot before they could report.

With the aid of fatigue and a cloudy night which hid the intruders from view, the operation went flawlessly; they destroyed the chains that held the drawbridges and iron gates heavy explosives which they ignited simultaneously. As a signal for the attack, they threw down the gates of Liu Bang's massive, well-defended main entrance. With the sentries alerted, they immediately came upon the mission members in the guardhouse, preparing to flee. Fighting broke out, with the brave spies and saboteurs of Chu sacrificing their lives for the army's victory. Leading his forces back into the fight, King Ma and the cavalry charged ahead this time and caught the vast majority of the Han troops unprepared, pouring into the barricades and killing all who could be found. They brought torches upon the wooden buildings, setting them on fire and adding to the confusion of the Han soldiers. The tight ring of Han forts fell one by one when the main fort's battlement, which was linked to the others by curtain walls was secured for Chu. Then the infantry battalions followed up by scaling the unmanned walls and occupying the deserted parapets, paving the way for the siege engines that bombarded the more well-defended keep of the stronghold.

The results were devastating for the Han army; most of them were caught sleeping and nursing the wounded, and the thinning amount of supplies getting through to them contributed to the exhaustion and hunger they felt. Most of the sentries who managed to avoid being gutted while sleeping panicked upon waking, and a massacre ensued as they tried to regroup or flee. More than forty thousand Han soldiers were slain during the second day, and Liu Bang's main army was driven miles away from the ruins of its camp. Guan Ying was only able to muster about ten thousand survivors in preparation for a final battle against the rampaging Chu army.

By the time the sun rose, the reeling men of Liu Bang and Han Xin had been bolted into another demoralized army, this time with only ten thousand men remaining of the original seventy thousand. Trapped into a cliff side and pursued with a vengeance, there was little hope for escape, so the beleaguered men banded together and prepared to fight to the bitter end. King Liu and Duke Han calmly looked on while the hordes of Chu assembled themselves into another bristling spearwall, effectively surrounding them in the maw of Ma Dieu's barely dented juggernaut. They had thrown everything they could during the first day and had stood toe-to-toe with them; they knew that the massacre earlier in the day had been decisive. Had they been able to prevent the storming of their fortifications they might have held on until reinforcements from Sai arrived. Now only a miracle could save them, and Chu's strategists made sure there was going to be none.

Knowing it was urgent that they finally crush their opponents, Ma Dieu obliged them and ordered an all-out assault, engaging the remnants of the Han army in the blazing forests. Vastly outnumbered, the last pockets of resistance fought tenaciously, but were overwhelmed within an hour of vicious and desperate fighting. Having given up trying to direct tactics to his panicked commanders, Liu Bang was captured by a marauding band of raiders while trying to flee the field. The disheartened support army fled for their lives, having managed to find an alternate route out of Chu's vice grip courtesy of Han Xin's brilliance. The last survivors of Han's seventy-thousand man vanguard were not so lucky however, as they were surrounded and completely obliterated. Almost the entirety of Liu Bang's command chain, save for the wily Han Xin, was made prisoner, along with more than twenty thousand of their shellshocked troops.

Immediately the troops of Chu began to occupy the emptied cities of Liu Bang, bringing its people under the direct command of Emperor Kang of Chu. All remaining resistance was put down with impunity, but as with Chu's policy, the professional, well-trained and experienced Chu soldiers generally refused to harm or rob from the civilians. A few isolated cases were severely dealt with by means of summary execution for those found guilty. The dead were left to stew in the sun for but a few hours after the battle before a mass burial was made deep in the burnt-out forests of the battlefields.

Surveying the battle, the thoroughly satisfied Duke Xun smiled grimly. Once again, King Ma Dieu proved his superiority in battle against a willful, determined, but ultimately doomed opponent, and the hills of Han went red with the spilled blood and severed limbs of its own men. Emperor Kang of Chu's empire now stretched for thousands of miles through several provinces, and the silent, barren kingdom of Han, once ruled by its indolent king, ceased to exist as a political and military entity.
Shang Yu, strategist and miser

Formerly:

Xun Jiang the Black Ogre, King of Yan
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