Li Zhu's Audience Hall - Zhaoge

[Big Grizzy]

Jin Kai smiled at the demeanor of the young lady. "I have not spoken much to either since Lord Xiong stepped down. He found a lady friend amongst the women of Xiangguo, and refuses to do much outside the city now. General Zhang has been most quiet of late. I wish I knew their minds, as governance is a difficult thing, most especially when men such as they are silent on the matter."

"Anyway, I came to speak to your father about the situation in Jibei. His support of Wu Chen and his wife is disconcerting, given their respective treacherous pasts. Last month I sent my other brother, Zhang Mai, here to speak with him, but he was instead met by the Regent Marshall who told him that he would not stop warring with Yan, under any conditions. I came personally to see if this was indeed the case, or if cooler heads could prevail in this conflict."

[AaronH229]

Li Zan looks at his brother with something approaching amusement. Reaching into a pocket he pulls open a crumpled parchment. He turns it around and explains.

"I read your name on the proclamation the lady Xia put out concerning her father. I only knew of one Li Zhu so here I am."

[RuffRydeR]

"Anyway, I came to speak to your father about the situation in Jibei. His support of Wu Chen and his wife is disconcerting, given their respective treacherous pasts. Last month I sent my other brother, Zhang Mai, here to speak with him, but he was instead met by the Regent Marshall who told him that he would not stop warring with Yan, under any conditions. I came personally to see if this was indeed the case, or if cooler heads could prevail in this conflict."

Liangyu frowns, then anxiously asks,

"And exactly what is wrong with Lady Lu being married? She has been one of my dearest friends since she kept me safe in my first journey around Zhao province. Especially now that I must strive to find a husband who can aid me as the heir to the throne of Zhao, how can I deny her the happiness of marriage and yet ask her to come to my own? I don't know why you would think her treacherous, but she has always been a great assistance to me, personally."

But she halts, and sighs,

"I suppose that isn't the most pressing matter at hand. This whole...Yan conflict is. I don't even know why we're at war. But Father had decided so, and Commander Li says it must be so. Still...I liked what the Yan coalition stood for. Freedom from Qin barbarity, and the reunification of an old realm of the Seven States Ascendant. I've met a fair number of their officers, good people all. Maybe even more upstanding than my own. But it dismays that both they, and my own headstrong regent, are squabbling over rightful Qi territory. Only someone willing to acquiesce to the Qi lord should be acting with any legal authority in Jibei...Don't you agree? Or are you of this barbarous Qin mentality of expansionist aggression as well?"

[Royalspork]

Li Zan looks at his brother with something approaching amusement. Reaching into a pocket he pulls open a crumpled parchment. He turns it around and explains.

"I read your name on the proclamation the lady Xia put out concerning her father. I only knew of one Li Zhu so here I am."

Li Zhu was rather joyous, he exclaimed happily, "Good brother, we are united once more, we will have a lot of catching up to do, but I will make sure not to leave you ever again!"

Li Zan joins Li Zhu's kingdom, yo

[Big Grizzy]

Liangyu frowns, then anxiously asks,

"And exactly what is wrong with Lady Lu being married? She has been one of my dearest friends since she kept me safe in my first journey around Zhao province. Especially now that I must strive to find a husband who can aid me as the heir to the throne of Zhao, how can I deny her the happiness of marriage and yet ask her to come to my own? I don't know why you would think her treacherous, but she has always been a great assistance to me, personally."

But she halts, and sighs,

"I suppose that isn't the most pressing matter at hand. This whole...Yan conflict is. I don't even know why we're at war. But Father had decided so, and Commander Li says it must be so. Still...I liked what the Yan coalition stood for. Freedom from Qin barbarity, and the reunification of an old realm of the Seven States Ascendant. I've met a fair number of their officers, good people all. Maybe even more upstanding than my own. But it dismays that both they, and my own headstrong regent, are squabbling over rightful Qi territory. Only someone willing to acquiesce to the Qi lord should be acting with any legal authority in Jibei...Don't you agree? Or are you of this barbarous Qin mentality of expansionist aggression as well?"

Jin Kai, was somewhat taken aback by the fact that this young lady was friends with a woman about whom he had nothing good. "I do not mean to speak ill of your friend, My Lady, but both her and her husband have a history of being false, to those they serve, in one case, and to those to whom they have promised aid in another. I speak only what I hear, however. If you claim Lady Ying to be virtuous, I can not dispute it, as I do not know her personally."

"On the matter or your war win Yan, at the outset of it I sent my brothers to both sides to see if peace could be achieved. Wu Bei went to Yan, where then Marquis Fei Lak told him there was nothing that he could do but fight back if your people marched on him." Wu Bei nodded acknowledgment of these things. "My other brother Zhang Mai, who is not here, came here, where he was told by your regent that Fei Lak and all his kind were a barbarous plague that had to be purged. Needless to say this is not something to which I did not take kindly, seeing as I am from the same village as Master Fei and tutored him in his youth. I am no barbarian, thus his view is flawed."

"I do not subscribe to the philosophy of "all under heaven". The individual states did a fine enough job governing themselves. The problem is that I am not in the majority in this opinion. There is a reason that those states warred for so many years. Men are proud and ravenous people in general. All I can do is try my best to make these wars hurt the people less."

[RuffRydeR]

"I do not subscribe to the philosophy of "all under heaven". The individual states did a fine enough job governing themselves. The problem is that I am not in the majority in this opinion. There is a reason that those states warred for so many years. Men are proud and ravenous people in general. All I can do is try my best to make these wars hurt the people less."

"Odd that he would say that. He is a man who adores fermented milk, a truly barbaric drink...Not that I support consumption of alcohol in General. Still, I cannot deny the fact that, despite your village of origin being similar, unlike you, Duke Fei posseses a barbaric name. For no character I can think off can be pronounced as 'Lak'. If the good Duke wishes he not be mistaken for an uncivilized fellow, he should probably consider a change in his first name to a more orthodox character. Maybe it would be something well to advice him on, if you next meet him, or, well, maybe I could inform him myself. I do seek to reach some sort of agreement with him that would speed the process towards reestablishing the boundaries of the Seven States Ascendant."

She smiled, as he noted his opinion, and grinned,

"And so I do not subscribe to this 'rule of all under heaven' idea as well. How can one lord tend to the needs of the entirety of the Huaxia? One would need the wisdom of the ancient Emperors of legend! It seems I meet a kindred spirit here, finally. Someone who is happy to fully occupy the boundaries of the old land of Zhongshan and govern it as, say, a duke rightfully might. That sort of position is what I seek to organize among the northern states, but right now, I hold myriad pieces of the age old kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, Han, Qi and Yan in my realm. But before any such final reorganization can be done, peace needs to be negotiated first among all of us Northern neighbours. And after this reorganization, a united push to make the Qin return to their own ancestral lands in the barbaric west, and make certain they stay there, while sharing our peace with the Chu king in the reunifaction of his realm. A determination of the status of the Duchies of Song and Lu, and the states of Wu and Yue may be in order too..."

And a slight smile appears upon her pretty face, as she grins,

"And maybe poor Shu can be unfettered from the chains of the Qin. Goodness knows those barbarian upstarts need a good humbling. Still, let us focus on the first part. I'm not sure exactly what sort of concept I had in...Actually, I am sure. How silly of me, now that you have brought up the matter of Yan, it all seems so simple. The Yan coalition can be applied to a bigger scale. It's time is over. But now...a new Northern Coalition? That'd sure be something I'd consider being part of. It'd be a charming endeavour of equals and partners, wouldn't it? Though of course, I do not feel worthy. I am but a woman, nobility though I may be."

[Big Grizzy]

"Odd that he would say that. He is a man who adores fermented milk, a truly barbaric drink...Not that I support consumption of alcohol in General. Still, I cannot deny the fact that, despite your village of origin being similar, unlike you, Duke Fei posseses a barbaric name. For no character I can think off can be pronounced as 'Lak'. If the good Duke wishes he not be mistaken for an uncivilized fellow, he should probably consider a change in his first name to a more orthodox character. Maybe it would be something well to advice him on, if you next meet him, or, well, maybe I could inform him myself. I do seek to reach some sort of agreement with him that would speed the process towards reestablishing the boundaries of the Seven States Ascendant."

She smiled, as he noted his opinion, and grinned,

"And so I do not subscribe to this 'rule of all under heaven' idea as well. How can one lord tend to the needs of the entirety of the Huaxia? One would need the wisdom of the ancient Emperors of legend! It seems I meet a kindred spirit here, finally. Someone who is happy to fully occupy the boundaries of the old land of Zhongshan and govern it as, say, a duke rightfully might. That sort of position is what I seek to organize among the northern states, but right now, I hold myriad pieces of the age old kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, Han, Qi and Yan in my realm. But before any such final reorganization can be done, peace needs to be negotiated first among all of us Northern neighbours. And after this reorganization, a united push to make the Qin return to their own ancestral lands in the barbaric west, and make certain they stay there, while sharing our peace with the Chu king in the reunifaction of his realm. A determination of the status of the Duchies of Song and Lu, and the states of Wu and Yue may be in order too..."

And a slight smile appears upon her pretty face, as she grins,

"And maybe poor Shu can be unfettered from the chains of the Qin. Goodness knows those barbarian upstarts need a good humbling. Still, let us focus on the first part. I'm not sure exactly what sort of concept I had in...Actually, I am sure. How silly of me, now that you have brought up the matter of Yan, it all seems so simple. The Yan coalition can be applied to a bigger scale. It's time is over. But now...a new Northern Coalition? That'd sure be something I'd consider being part of. It'd be a charming endeavour of equals and partners, wouldn't it? Though of course, I do not feel worthy. I am but a woman, nobility though I may be."

"Little Fei is most definitely not a barbarian. His father governed the village of my birth for many years, but was quite eccentric. Maybe it was this eccentricity that led to him giving his son a foreign name. When next I speak with him, I will, as I have done before, suggest he take for himself a style name and discard his former name.

I am saddened that though he is not a barbarian, he keeps some who are amongst his inner circle. His general Zhao Khan in particular is said to come from far to the west. I have heard from many tongues about his execution of a prisoner in a most peculiar method. Fei does not believe this event happened, and though I hear a thousand voices saying it did, I can't convince him without having witnessed it myself."

"I do not know about restoring the old boundaries. They were a fluid thing, subject to much change over the course of their existence. Establishing new boundaries would be a more logical solution. These new boundaries would have to be quite firm to minimize the problems that occurred in the old Warring States. I think that making the current provinces into independent states might turn out to be the best solution, maybe with the merger of some of the smaller ones."

"You give yourself entirely too little credit, my Lady. Though you are a woman, you have a more discerning mind than your Regent Marshall. You have just now given a much more well thought out point of view than his simple, misguided war against his countrymen. Do you think that a stable group of states could be formed using the powers already present, though? That is the central focus of your suggestion. Convincing men who love war to stop fighting has been beyond my abilities to this point."

[RuffRydeR]

"I do not know about restoring the old boundaries. They were a fluid thing, subject to much change over the course of their existence. Establishing new boundaries would be a more logical solution. These new boundaries would have to be quite firm to minimize the problems that occurred in the old Warring States. I think that making the current provinces into independent states might turn out to be the best solution, maybe with the merger of some of the smaller ones."

"You give yourself entirely too little credit, my Lady. Though you are a woman, you have a more discerning mind than your Regent Marshall. You have just now given a much more well thought out point of view than his simple, misguided war against his countrymen. Do you think that a stable group of states could be formed using the powers already present, though? That is the central focus of your suggestion. Convincing men who love war to stop fighting has been beyond my abilities to this point."

"How is that a better solution? Are we to accept this geographical tyranny? Changing borders, there have been, yes...but never any such permanent change. As an example, to deny that Jibei and Jiaodong have stayed more or less under Qi control, albeit incursions by a myriad of states, for eight centuries is foolhardy. And we are to accept the scribblings of Qin barbarians on the map, ones that have been in existence for less than two decades, as the foundation for state rule? How can anybody subscribe to the things the Qin emperor enforced on us, if we do not believe in his idea of rule of all?"

She frowned, then noted,

"I feel ashamed that I have sole claim as heiress to the title of Queen of Zhao...and yet possess only one city out of all their original lands. Is that not an embrassment? I would call myself Queen of Wei, based on the territory I possess...But I cannot do so, for I do not wish to offend King Liu of Wei. I really need to speak with him about swapping titles one of these days. Three of his cities lie in the old Zhao lands, and I feel he has a much more reasonable claim to the Zhao title than I do, while five of mine lie in what has traditionally been Wei. Curse those Qin magistrates attempting to confound things by giving such erroneous names to the provinces!"

Then, she shook her head,

"As temporary boundaries of truce, I suppose the current boundaries will do fine, with some minor city swapping occuring, I suppose. From there, I do not know how we may proceed with such a coalition. Either the states can all maintain their independence, but obviously, those lands that do not border a member of the coalition would need to be given adequate support so that the coalition can push south and west and bring peace to the other states around China. But such splitting breeds mistrust and betrayal, simply as no one can observe the plans of their allies. There would need to be some sort of formal ties formed. As of now, the provinces I expect to be part would be Yan, Changshan, Dai, Zhao, Jibei, Wei, Yin, Qi and Jiaodong...Obviously, the last four need to be the ones supported by the coalition armies, to the utmost of abilities."

Pausing, she curls her lips in disgust at the other option they may need to resort too, if this coalition could not survive with the current boundaries.

"The other route would be: the states can merge temporarily and form that hateful concept of...well, let's not call it Empire. It's such a horrible name. A federation may be more apt. Anyways, there would be a lot more flexibility with that, yes, but whoever ends up leading this coalition needs be trustworthy and shall immediately return power at the end to the various kings...and queens, of course. But I rather prefer the idea of the former, I think."

She has a maid grab a map and pull it open in front of her guest.

"As you can see, every state mentioned is either currently a border state, or one province away from reinforcing one in either defense or attack. With some minor city swapping to soothe some egos, I consider the current boundaries to be almost ideal. I suppose some people like my own regent, and Duke Fei may disagree, but I'm not sure it can be helped. I guess people would want to expand south, simply so they may be able to get directly into the action of warfare with non-Coalition members..."

[Big Grizzy]

"How is that a better solution? Are we to accept this geographical tyranny? Changing borders, there have been, yes...but never any such permanent change. As an example, to deny that Jibei and Jiaodong have stayed more or less under Qi control, albeit incursions by a myriad of states, for eight centuries is foolhardy. And we are to accept the scribblings of Qin barbarians on the map, ones that have been in existence for less than two decades, as the foundation for state rule? How can anybody subscribe to the things the Qin emperor enforced on us, if we do not believe in his idea of rule of all?"

She frowned, then noted,

"I feel ashamed that I have sole claim as heiress to the title of Queen of Zhao...and yet possess only one city out of all their original lands. Is that not an embrassment? I would call myself Queen of Wei, based on the territory I possess...But I cannot do so, for I do not wish to offend King Liu of Wei. I really need to speak with him about swapping titles one of these days. Three of his cities lie in the old Zhao lands, and I feel he has a much more reasonable claim to the Zhao title than I do, while five of mine lie in what has traditionally been Wei. Curse those Qin magistrates attempting to confound things by giving such erroneous names to the provinces!"

Then, she shook her head,

"As temporary boundaries of truce, I suppose the current boundaries will do fine, with some minor city swapping occuring, I suppose. From there, I do not know how we may proceed with such a coalition. Either the states can all maintain their independence, but obviously, those lands that do not border a member of the coalition would need to be given adequate support so that the coalition can push south and west and bring peace to the other states around China. But such splitting breeds mistrust and betrayal, simply as no one can observe the plans of their allies. There would need to be some sort of formal ties formed. As of now, the provinces I expect to be part would be Yan, Changshan, Dai, Zhao, Jibei, Wei, Yin, Qi and Jiaodong...Obviously, the last four need to be the ones supported by the coalition armies, to the utmost of abilities."

Pausing, she curls her lips in disgust at the other option they may need to resort too, if this coalition could not survive with the current boundaries.

"The other route would be: the states can merge temporarily and form that hateful concept of...well, let's not call it Empire. It's such a horrible name. A federation may be more apt. Anyways, there would be a lot more flexibility with that, yes, but whoever ends up leading this coalition needs be trustworthy and shall immediately return power at the end to the various kings...and queens, of course. But I rather prefer the idea of the former, I think."

She has a maid grab a map and pull it open in front of her guest.

"As you can see, every state mentioned is either currently a border state, or one province away from reinforcing one in either defense or attack. With some minor city swapping to soothe some egos, I consider the current boundaries to be almost ideal. I suppose some people like my own regent, and Duke Fei may disagree, but I'm not sure it can be helped. I guess people would want to expand south, simply so they may be able to get directly into the action of warfare with non-Coalition members..."

"We are of a similar mindset, but continue to squabble over technicalities. The main concern is not where the borders are, but that they are there. I do like your proposal of a grand coalition reestablishing the old states, but I doubt that it would last if there is not solid agreement by all involved on firm borders for the states. There needs to be no reason for border disputes."

"I would be willing to give up control of my territories if it resulted in peace amongst us. Zhongshan is not so major a territory that it would unbalance this plan if it were divided between Zhao and Yan. The formation of minor states alone might be good enough reason for men of war to practice their craft. Do you honestly feel the land would be well served having traditionally weak states like Lu and Zhou sit on the doorsteps of the old powers? Would this not give justification to the empire builders?"

"What I would suggest is that you ask your father to recall the Regent from his war on Yan. You should ask Madam Lu and her husband to do the same. I will go personally to Duke Fei and negotiate the distribution of Jibei and cessation of hostile actions on all fronts. There are other things that I need to discuss with him, notably his holding of Zhou Guo, so I will be going to see him anyway. After that we may discuss in greater detail this federation of yours. Do you believe you could do these things, my Lady?"

[RuffRydeR]

"Recall the Regent? You think I haven't tried that already? The man is on a personal desire for expansion, and unless we ourselves hurry with our actions, I fear peace will be enforced simply by the needless spilling of the blood of thousands, good men and women, soldiers all, that could be better served, that could be better off fighting for one purpose instead. I seek to speak to Duke Fei myself...a letter is on its way there, done wth some careful measure in quiet. I speak of it now, for I am sure it has already arrived."

She sighed, and nodded, "Alright, I agree about the old states of Zhou and Lu. We cannot keep all the legacies of Zhongyuan's civility alive, it seems. But Wei, Zhou, Yan, Qi, Chu and the resurgent Duchy of Song are all definitely states that seem ready of capable government. However, the provinces amidst the Northern heartlands, like Dai, Changshan, Jiaodong and especially Jibei, seem to have their fates constantly in doubt. I know Lady Lu deems herself deserving of a duchy in Jibei...and so do maybe five other people, it seems. I cannot call myself her friend if I will disagree that she has a right to the claim."

Leaning back, and rubbing her forehead, the troubled princess resignedly said,

"I will do my best. But we must conduct these meets quickly, swiftly, and bring the parties involved together into agreement as speedily as possible. I fear what both Yan and my Regent have planned for next month. Jibei is merely a symptom. The entire North will catch aflame if we do not hurry."