Liu Jin's Audience Hall - Shou Yang

[SituJinrong]

Jin listened attentively and replied

"I see the descendent of a family who have served and worked for the court, the people. A worthy lineage indeed. Master Zhuge, in my younger days, when I was searching for a capable liege to serve, I met a lot of honeyed words. Words that turned out to be lies. I think you are more than intelligent enough than to take anothers words at its face values. Although the sages said that a ruler liege words are worth their weight in gold, I found reality to far from that. In fact, if anything deceit and lies seem to be the norm over honext words and values. I rather let my actions speak for themselves.

Over the last few months, we have avoided any offensive actions. The attack on Shangdang was after the commoners pled for slavation, the annexation for the various cities in Wei is solely due to the decay and ineptness of the previous Qin empire. Even Dai was merged with us without any unnecessary bloodshed. I have have lots of opportunities in the past to seek battles while their commanders are distracted by major theatres of war, but instead I sent my armies to hunt down lawless ruffians and enfore law and order within my province.

Perhaps our ongoing offensive may be regarded as the first signs of aggression, but then this is after months od subversive actions on their part, and I pleed mitigation on this account.

Surely these would have been good evidence that I am not a mindless warmonger, but rather one who does at least consider the wellbeing of the masses."

Jin paused a little, before adding "I practice meritocracy in this realm, efforts and results will be met by rewards. It actually is a slight modification of the Mohist ideals that I found widely appealing. I believe the caste based systemi s obselete, and should be done away or at least toned down a little. "

"I value your self claimed skills in the art of war. In chaotic times like this, ideals must be backed by steel. However, I will need to appraise your competency myself, and will not put you in command immediately. I will rather have you work with the masses for a couple of months, to build rapport with the common folk, during this period we will slowly phase in increasing military responsibilities until you prove your worth to the soldiers as one who can lead them.

I realise that you have yet to decide if I am indeed worthy to end your services, however, I honestly believe that such appraisals simply cannot be made via audiences alone. You need to work with the person itself. After all, everything I said may be but lies, and everything you heard may be but good propaganda work by my ministers. Do you not agree?"

[DotN]

Zhuge Ze laughed heartedly after Liu Jin's finished speaking.

"Well then Master Liu, if words serve little purpose to you then what are we doing wasting our breath here? You clearly seem to have the same desire as I. I desire to discover your worth, whereas you seem to wish the same of me. I must confess, I do not hold the common folk in the same regard as you so my appointment as a minister must be a temporary one. My main passion is battle; if I wanted to serve the people, I would have remained in my previous post. What say you that I be under your employ for three months? When these are through, I withhold the right to resign from your services. Do these terms seem acceptable?"

[SituJinrong]

"If your skills are as you have claimed, you will be given a miltary assignement soon. For now, an internship would be acceptable, besides I am confident that you will find Wei to be a place to host your talents. Lastly you will have to realise, until you pledge your loyalty to us, you cannot expect me to entrust you with the command of an army."

OOC: Zhuge recruited (for now at least). Please post OI and PH acess will be granted shortly.

[Castilho]

Zhuge Jia entered the gates of Shou Yang alongside the dawn of a new day, he was walking, he left everything he had but his equipment and some money at his old house in Changshan. He had no longer his army besides him, he was just a lone men for the moment, who only wished to become a general once again.

Zhuge wondered if this was the right choice, after all he had received many invitations in a short period of time, he just went after the one whose letter showed more greatness, after all a leader without greatness is just a fool that orders some people around. He had to make sure Lord Liu Jin was a great man.

Zhuge Jia finally arrived at the Audience Hall and, with the posture of a Lord of War, he stated...

"Greetings, I am Zhuge Jia. I have received an invitation from your Lord, here is the letter."

Zhuge Jia handed the letter to one of the guards and awaited.

[OOC: Just to speed things up a little, Jia will agreed to any searches, and will surrender his old spear.]

[SituJinrong]

Zhuge Jia:

The sergeant at the gate promptly sent a runner to the inner halls to inform the inner halls of a pending visit. The guards at the gate examined the wax seal on the letter carefully, still not quite sure if the seal is indeed genuine, decided to give Jia the benefit of doubt. After the (blah blah blah) security search...... (OOC: Since you want to speed things up )

"A guest of the king! Sir, please follow the 2 soldiers, they will lead you to the hall. The king will be there."

(OOC: Time/space warp into the hall, lets speed things up together! )

Liu Jin was seated on his throne when Jia was escorted into the hall. After the pleasantries were exchanged, and refreshments served, "Master Zhuge, I am glad you have decided to visit me in Wei. I was hoping to convince you to assist me in the routines of the court, my administration is crying out desperately for the lack of talents to see to each and every task. Is there anything that I can share with you to sway your talented self into serving the people of Wei and Dai?"

[Castilho]

With only one look at Liu Jin, Zhuge Jia reassured himself. *Not a Man of War, but a great man indeed* Zhuge thinks, probably getting ahead of himself.

"Lord Liu Jin, I do not think I am talented enough to make a King such as yourself bother too much when recruiting me. As you must know, I am a man whose life lies in the battlefield. And after stating such I have but one question, what is your goal?"

Zhuge Jia took a breath and awaited Liu Jin's answer.

[SituJinrong]

Jin smiled at the question, it is becoming very much of a staple question being asked to him these days.

"You are too humble, master Zhuge. I have little talents except for a honeyed tongue and the gift of putting people in the right jobs. I was asked the same question just a few days ago by someone who is apparently of great intellect. I will not bore you with the ideals and visions for a greater future, for such words have little value since it is hard to judge if they are the truth or honeyed lies in diguise. One can only judge for himself with a single seating of audience. I rather you judge me by my past acts and my future endevours.

What I can say is that I started as a mere commoner just a few months back. With kind fate and the help of many able men/women, I have been able to crave out a niche in this part of the world. In a bid to avoid senseless bloodshed, I have tried to avoid direct confrontation with many other warlords.

However we are currently in a campaign to secure the province of Di. Di was formally ruled by some shadowy organisation who also operated bandit bands in Wei in the past. These bandits caused much grief and suffering to the people of Wei. To ensure peace and prosperity in Wei, we marched an army there to root out their base of operations.

Right now, we are at a crossroad, the outcome of the looming battle in Di will greatly affect our plans and ability to install our ideals of a relative calm in the north west part of China. I was hoping that you can use your gift for organising men into fighting units, to help us prepare the support for this campaign. Once control of Di is secured and the region stabilised, we may then seriously try and improve the standard of living in Wei, Dai and Di."

Jin passed and sipped at his Longjin tea. "Nice tea, isn't it? It was a gift from an old acquaintence who operated a tea plantation. He sent me a small batch during the inauguration of this kingdom many months back."

[Castilho]

Zhuge Jia took another sip: "It is nice indeed, it has been a while since I had tea actually...or anything else but water for a couple years I think..." Zhuge Jia pondered about the situation fro a moment.

Zhuge Jia took yet another sip and said: "I apologise, it must be such a bother to answer the same question over and over. Truth is, there wasn't one answer that would satisfy me, the point of my questioning was to see if your thoughts go against my way of life. You see, I must be in the battlefield or else I won't be myself."

Zhuge Jia took another sip: "If you answered me that you want to only use the pen and not the sword, I would have to decline your invitation. This is enough for me, if you accept me, my Lord, I shall be the spear that will destroy your enemies." Jia states, while smiling.

[SituJinrong]

Jin was a happy man, a smart Zhuge and a warrior Zhuge, to bolster his ranks in a short 1 month! Fate is really good to Wei now.

"I believe your strength of your spear will multiple itself on OUR armies many thousand folds. On behalf of the rest of my brothers, I welcome you to Wei. Until your official residence is fully completed, I will have to temporary house you in the officer barracks. Tie Niu here will lead you to it, please bear with it for a while.

And oh yes, when you are settled in, please report to Supreme Commander Wu, he will introduce you to the key appoint holders of our army. You will be working closely with several of them in the near future."

OOC: Post OI and we will arrange PH access asap. Welcome!

[chandler_19]

Huang Zhao arrived in Shou Yang for an important mission. After the loss of Bei Di, he decided to join his mistress. Before approaching any guards at the halls, he waited for another friendly figure from Di.