Cai Xingzhe's Audience Hall - Donga

[Gailyn]

Cai Xingzhe listened with a keen interest in what this Ning the wandering scholar had to tell him about Huang Wei's cloudy past and the men that he had drawn to him. The description of affairs in Huang's camp given by T'ung Xia had largely agreed with Ning Shuzhi's views on the quality of those men but this didn't seem to phase the District Manager.

"I think, Master Ning, that if Master Huang decides to stay here, then you and I should converse again." he said eventually and rose from his seat. "In the meantime, I would like to meet Huang Wei and see if I can't convince him to stay with us here in Donga. Who knows, perhaps with training to instill some discipline, his men could be something more than scum on the surface of the stagnant pond."

Bowing once more, Shuzhi replies, "As you wish, lord Cai. He is waiting outside of town to the north with a handful of his men. They are visible from the gates, you can't miss them." Ning Shuzhi then waits to follow Cai Xingzhe and whatever escort he brings with him outside the city.

[Wokimo]

@Gailyn
Cai Xingzhe motioned for the four guards behind him on the dais, each one equiped with bronze armour and a halberd, to follow on behind them as Shuzhi led the way to Huang Wei. They were joined at the gates by T'ung Xia and another four guards who fell into formation at the rear of the procession, all of them on foot.

[Gailyn]

Huang Wei waited impatiently outside the city with a few of his more disciplined men. Disciplined, as Shuzhi constantly reminded him, was not a synonym for battle ready, however. Only that they feared him more than any opponent they might face, so followed orders quickly. He was uneasy being so close to Donga and its people. People who would stare at him; people who would make fun of him. Oh how he dreaded being out in the open like this.

A small bit of relief washed over him as he saw Ning Shuzhi and a small escort leading Cai Xingzhe through the gates in his direction. The relief didn't last long, as he fidgeted with his helmet. "On or off?" he grumbled to himself, finally deciding it really didn't matter. So as the governor of Donga approached, Wei left his helmet in one hand, while the other rested lightly on his axe which was tucked loosely in his belt.

Wei's appearance was disheveled...at best. His clothes were dirty, and well past the point where repair was possible. His hair fell from his head in clumps. A good head above the average man, Wei's most peculiar features were his face and eyes. His face because the left half was almost completely scarred over; his eyes because his right one glowed a murky yellow, while the left was merely an empty socket.

As the soldiers approached, Ning Shuzhi moved to stand beside Wei, to his right. The philosopher than spoke up, "Master Huang Wei, this is Lord Cai Xingzhe, governor of the city of Donga."

[Wokimo]

@Gailyn
Nothing could have prepared Haoqi for the shock of coming face-to-face with Huang Wei at last and he couldn't help but stare at the disfigurement of the man. However, shock quickly gave way to pity and then embarrassment, as the District Administrator realised that he had been looking at 'the Crocodile's' empty eye-socket un-ceasingly for a few moments now. Quickly, rallying his senses, Cai Xingzhe gave a salute to Huang and tried to make contact with his good eye.

"Forgive my rudeness, Master Huang. It is an honour to finally meet you in person." he said politely. "I hope you are not too uncomfortable so close to civilisation, Master Ning informed me that you have been in comparitive isolation for some time."

((Ooh! He sounds gruesome. ))

[Gailyn]

Wei's blood began to boil as the man stared at him. His grip on his axe tightened, as he waited for this Cai Xingzhe to mock him. Say one word, he thought to himself, and I'll have your head...even if it kills me. Taking the helmet he had been holding, he placed it atop his head, the whole time his yellow eye never leaving Cai Xingzhe. His helmet was a basic iron helm, though it had been modified somewhat clumsily. An iron plate had been attached that acted as a mask, stretching down the left side of his face effectively hiding Wei's scars. An eye was painted in red on the plate about where his left eye should have been. Wei could feel Shuzhi shifting to his right, the man was tense.

Finally, Wei responded to his host, "Civilization?" he asked in his peculiar, broken voice. "There is no civilization, only a lost people falling into decay. Until I discover how to fix them, I cannot live amongst them."

[Wokimo]

@Gailyn
Cai felt the tention rise and knew that he'd been responsible for causing that rise. A man who'd been so horribly scarred was bound to have insecurities and to stare wouldn't ausage them any. He'd already appollogized so it was for the best that he just got on with business.

"No civilisation? Lost people you say? I beg your pardon, but Donga is not some barbarian camp where men swill wine and then rape women. Other parts of the empire may be full of death and distruction, but my city is experiencing a period of healing and of rebuilding." he rebuked Huang. "What is a civilisation but a group of people who band together to work for the common good of all? The people of Donga are pulling together under my leadership to rebuild their lives, shattered as they were under the Qin Emperor. Where is the decay in that?"

[Gailyn]

Wei grimaced at the mention of the Qin. "The Qin destroyed the Way!" he shouted suddenly, flashes of anger could be seen in his eye. "Their corruption ensured ancient Zhou would never bring about utopia!"

Letting himself calm down before he continued, a technique Shuzhi had been lecturing him on ever since he met him, he continued softly, "You have made a good start then, though I wonder if you and your people have the strength to bring tranquility. Moral and cultural excellence will only be brought about through change, and those unwilling to change must not be allowed to linger on the path. I am the scythe, to cut them from that path, though my hunt is still unclear to me."

Ning Shuzhi's lips were tight, as he watched Cai and his men closely. He had heard all of Wei's rhetoric before, and understood there was some philosophical base for it. Though it wasn't exactly nonsense, he couldn't blame people for shrugging it off as the babbling of a lonely hermit.

[Galagros]

A middle-aged man, obviously a diplomat by his dress, arrived at Donga at the head of twenty mounted soldiers. He was a good looking man with a glare of intelligence in his eyes. "I am District Official Yun Sima," he explained the the guards, "here to meet with the District Manager on behalf of the King of Qi." Sima smiled reassuringly. "My escort will gladly wait here for my return."

[Wokimo]

@Galagros
At first the sight of a party of armed horsemen approaching had caused some anxiety amongst the guards on duty at Donga's southern gate and it wasn't until the diplomat set their minds at ease that they began to relax again.

"Very well then, one of my boys will show you to the palace Master Yun." said the similarly aged captain and one of the soldiers under his command beconed for Yun to follow.

At the gates of the palace itself, guards came forward and accepted any obvious weapon the visitor might have on his person - a sword, a bow or spear for instance - and took them within the gates to a secure gate house, where they would be kept for the duration of the audience. Then a detatchment of three of the guards was summoned from inside to lead Yun Sima through the gates, into the courtyard and then the palace proper. Another dashed off ahead to inform the District Manager.

Once inside the doors of the actual palace, Chen Yun was given a thorough but relatively unintrusive search for concealed weapons by more guards. Only then, when they were satisfied that Chen posed no threat to Cai Xingzhe, was he lead through another set of doors into a large audience chamber, a description of which can be found here. The accompanying guards closed the doors behind them and awaited the conclussion of the meeting in the previous room and a moment later the Lord of Donga appeared from behind the screen at the far end of the room. Four guards followed him in and took station behind him on the dais.

"As you may have guessed, I am District Manager Cai. Welcome to Donga." he said by way of introduction and then sat on his chair.

From a side door a scribe appeared and sat at the foot of the dais, pen poised to record the details of this meeting. Word would no doubt get out that Cai Xingzhe had received a visit from Tian Dan's envoy and if Wu Chen took offence he needed to be able to prove what had really happened. A similar piece of furniture to the chair which Cai occupied was brought into the hall for the diplomat, also.

"So what does the King of Qi wish to discuss with me, Yun Sima?" he said after any introduction that the visitor might wish to give.


@Gailyn
Something in the words that Huang Wei spoke penetrated Cai Xingzhe and he smiled, believing that he understood something of the 'crocodile's' beliefs.

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." he said cryptically and awaited Huang's response.

[Galagros]

The envoy performed the correct niceties expected for a man of his rank when meeting a man of Cai Xingzhe's rank. "My King has sent me here because the bits and pieces of information we have been able to receive about Donga's new ruler have been few, and far between." Yun Sima grinned as he spoke again. "I'm sure you can understand how irritating it is to have a relatively unknown force on your border..."

"As you may know," Sima continued, "war has broke out between my King and Wu Chen. This war will spread to Wu Chen's vassals." He shrugged slightly, as if matters of war were not his area of expertise. "The Lady Lu Ying is your neighbor; what relations do you have with her?"