Warlords: Three Kingdoms

For VoShay

Lei went to what used to be Shen Feng’s offices and spoke to the guards outside the doors. “Greetings, I am Secretary Xu Lei. I need to speak with Guan Yin She. I have permission from the Prime Minister.”

The guards (probably) let him in and he approached Yin She and gave a curt bow. “Prefect Guan, I hope you feel comfortable in your new accommodations so far. I am Secretary Xu Lei, and I would like to talk about the current situation revolving around Qi.”

Guan Yin She sat in the corner of the room, eyeing it uneasily. A gilded cage was no more comfortable then a prison cell, in the long run. When the door opened, he wearily looked to the man who entered. "Yes, yes. I am Guan Yin She." He said with a grim smile. He seemed to have not been sleeping well. "It is hard to... adjust to the hospitality of Chu. I do not recall the same being done in Qi." He looked to the East, though he had no window facing east, and grimaced a little. "What do you wish to know, Secretary Xu?"

Cang Gui and his little retinue approached the massive military camp of the one known as Ma Su. It had been a hard journey from Jiaodong and their cousin's home, and the carriage had broken down multiple times, slowing their approach.

Gui knew the army of Ma Su was near to going to battle against the governor of Dingtao, and it somewhat worried him that he might get caught in a situation that he wasn't quite ready to cope with. Few of his family members were warriors, and Gui himself knew he was too frail and uncoordinated to make much of a soldier. He approached the camp, and demanded an officer, holding out the letter of invitation he had received from Ma Su as proof of his right to be there.

Zimmik wrote:Cang Gui and his little retinue approached the massive military camp of the one known as Ma Su. It had been a hard journey from Jiaodong and their cousin's home, and the carriage had broken down multiple times, slowing their approach.

Gui knew the army of Ma Su was near to going to battle against the governor of Dingtao, and it somewhat worried him that he might get caught in a situation that he wasn't quite ready to cope with. Few of his family members were warriors, and Gui himself knew he was too frail and uncoordinated to make much of a soldier. He approached the camp, and demanded an officer, holding out the letter of invitation he had received from Ma Su as proof of his right to be there.

((I'm gonna steer this RP a little to sync with the battle that was processed this afternoon))

The camp that Cang Gui approached, sadly for him, turned out not to be Ma Su's camp, but another officer's. The guard that received Cang Gui shook his head and replied "General Ma Su marched to Dingtao a few days ago... If you ride hard you should be able to catch him."

The soldier offered to give Cang Gui new horses and new wheels for his carriage if Cang Gui decided to head to Dingtao. And if he did he would find quite a sight.

The fields of Dingtao were torn up, much of the field stained red with blood from a recent battle. Though no bodies were to be found, there were a few large mounds here and there, as well as a few piles of burnt wood and other things, probably funeral pyres. The walls also had a few spots that were stained red, though workers could be seen throwing water over the walls in attempts to wash it off. A few large wooden spikes were still sticking out of the ground facing away from Dingtao, remains of defensive earthworks probably.

When Cang Gui arrived at the gates, he would encounter a large group of soldiers, all of whom looked quite gruesome; they obviously had not bathed in quite a while, and looked very tired, not to mention their blood stained clothing. The most intimidating looking one, probably the sergeant in charge of this detail, told the convoy to halt.

"No visitors are allowed into the city until three days from now, unless you have intimate business with Lord Ma Su."

Jin Shi wrote:

Zimmik wrote:Cang Gui and his little retinue approached the massive military camp of the one known as Ma Su. It had been a hard journey from Jiaodong and their cousin's home, and the carriage had broken down multiple times, slowing their approach.

Gui knew the army of Ma Su was near to going to battle against the governor of Dingtao, and it somewhat worried him that he might get caught in a situation that he wasn't quite ready to cope with. Few of his family members were warriors, and Gui himself knew he was too frail and uncoordinated to make much of a soldier. He approached the camp, and demanded an officer, holding out the letter of invitation he had received from Ma Su as proof of his right to be there.

((I'm gonna steer this RP a little to sync with the battle that was processed this afternoon))

The camp that Cang Gui approached, sadly for him, turned out not to be Ma Su's camp, but another officer's. The guard that received Cang Gui shook his head and replied "General Ma Su marched to Dingtao a few days ago... If you ride hard you should be able to catch him."

The soldier offered to give Cang Gui new horses and new wheels for his carriage if Cang Gui decided to head to Dingtao. And if he did he would find quite a sight.

The fields of Dingtao were torn up, much of the field stained red with blood from a recent battle. Though no bodies were to be found, there were a few large mounds here and there, as well as a few piles of burnt wood and other things, probably funeral pyres. The walls also had a few spots that were stained red, though workers could be seen throwing water over the walls in attempts to wash it off. A few large wooden spikes were still sticking out of the ground facing away from Dingtao, remains of defensive earthworks probably.

When Cang Gui arrived at the gates, he would encounter a large group of soldiers, all of whom looked quite gruesome; they obviously had not bathed in quite a while, and looked very tired, not to mention their blood stained clothing. The most intimidating looking one, probably the sergeant in charge of this detail, told the convoy to halt.

"No visitors are allowed into the city until three days from now, unless you have intimate business with Lord Ma Su."

Cang Gui was weary, and perhaps a little grumpy by the travel essentially back the way he had come. Still, he was not about to pick an argument with soldiers who had just seized a major city in Liang. He bowed to the guard, and presented Ma Su's letter of invitation.

"I am Cang Hui. I have arrived with my retainers at the behest of Ma Su. I request an audience whenever he is willing to speak with one such as I."

VoShay wrote:Guan Yin She sat in the corner of the room, eyeing it uneasily. A gilded cage was no more comfortable then a prison cell, in the long run. When the door opened, he wearily looked to the man who entered. "Yes, yes. I am Guan Yin She." He said with a grim smile. He seemed to have not been sleeping well. "It is hard to... adjust to the hospitality of Chu. I do not recall the same being done in Qi." He looked to the East, though he had no window facing east, and grimaced a little. "What do you wish to know, Secretary Xu?"

Lei looked over Guan Yin She's condition, and feigned concern.

"I am sorry that these accommodations do not compare to the extravagant luxury that you seem to enjoy in Qi. It is just that you put us in a very awkward position regarding the letter that you wrote against the King." Lei walked over to a table and took a seat beside it. He ordered one of the guards to fetch them something to eat, or at least some tea if Yin She wasn't hungry.

"To be honest, the thing about Qi that seems to interest me the most are the barbarians. I try to feign contempt for them with others from the court, so as to not be out of place. But I still have a certain curiosity about them. I have spent most of my life in Chu and never even seen a barbarian. Is it true that they are larger than us and stronger? Can they learn to speak and write our language? Do they follow our etiquette techniques when speaking or do they have other traditions? It seems odd that your lord, Zhefu, needs to bring in these men from so far away to instate order in Qi. Does not that bring up a conflict of interest when people who are not from Qi, or this land, say that they fight for it?"

Lei was actually genuinely curious about his questions.

Zimmik wrote: Cang Gui was weary, and perhaps a little grumpy by the travel essentially back the way he had come. Still, he was not about to pick an argument with soldiers who had just seized a major city in Liang. He bowed to the guard, and presented Ma Su's letter of invitation.

"I am Cang Hui. I have arrived with my retainers at the behest of Ma Su. I request an audience whenever he is willing to speak with one such as I."

The soldier took the letter, reading it over, and gave it back to Cang Gui. "Please follow me."

The gates were thrown open, and the guard in charge walked the path Cang Gui's carriage would follow. They went through the city streets up towards the palace, with soldiers marching throughout the city, each one with his own mission it seemed. Once they arrived at the palace, the many flag poles that had once adorned the palace had been torn down and left upon the ground in a pile, with a single Imperial flag flying from the palace. A guard detail was marching towards the pile with a few lit torches as the carriage was ordered to stop and Cang Gui and co. were led into the palace.

The palace inside was remarkably clean. A few decorative articles were missing from display stands and the walls, but for the most part the audience hall was in good condition. Cang Gui and co. were led through the lobby, full of guards, and the main doors of the audience chamber were opened, revealing a regally decorated room, with a massive wall rug of red and yellow which depicted a sun rising over the red plains. Below this rug was a throne, and sitting upon it could only be Ma Su. He was conferring with several officers who were pointing at maps and documents they held when Cang Gui's entourage arrived. Su looked up, and smiled a surprised smile. The guard spoke.

"Cang Gui, here to see you sir."
"Master Cang, good of you to come. Bring him and his friends refreshments." He gestured roughly to one of his officers, his attention now focused on Cang Gui. "I hope my guards have not been too rough with you?" He rose from the throne after a few moments and stepped down to Cang Gui's level in a motion of respect.

Xu Shu wrote:

VoShay wrote:Guan Yin She sat in the corner of the room, eyeing it uneasily. A gilded cage was no more comfortable then a prison cell, in the long run. When the door opened, he wearily looked to the man who entered. "Yes, yes. I am Guan Yin She." He said with a grim smile. He seemed to have not been sleeping well. "It is hard to... adjust to the hospitality of Chu. I do not recall the same being done in Qi." He looked to the East, though he had no window facing east, and grimaced a little. "What do you wish to know, Secretary Xu?"

Lei looked over Guan Yin She's condition, and feigned concern.

"I am sorry that these accommodations do not compare to the extravagant luxury that you seem to enjoy in Qi. It is just that you put us in a very awkward position regarding the letter that you wrote against the King." Lei walked over to a table and took a seat beside it. He ordered one of the guards to fetch them something to eat, or at least some tea if Yin She wasn't hungry.

"To be honest, the thing about Qi that seems to interest me the most are the barbarians. I try to feign contempt for them with others from the court, so as to not be out of place. But I still have a certain curiosity about them. I have spent most of my life in Chu and never even seen a barbarian. Is it true that they are larger than us and stronger? Can they learn to speak and write our language? Do they follow our etiquette techniques when speaking or do they have other traditions? It seems odd that your lord, Zhefu, needs to bring in these men from so far away to instate order in Qi. Does not that bring up a conflict of interest when people who are not from Qi, or this land, say that they fight for it?"

Lei was actually genuinely curious about his questions.

He almost glowered at the assumption that he had rode 'high on the hog'. "It is not the austerity of the quarters- I have lived in hovels- it is the fact I am prisioner and awaiting execution no matter what happens in Qi that makes the food sour in my throat and my bed unable to give me rest, Secretary." He rubbed his hands, a nervous habit that seemed to have left a redding mark on them- he must have been wringing them for some time. "I am a small man, though I ostensibly lead the family of Guan. I yearn for the ability and honor of my ancestor, but I cannot find it." He seemed preoccupied, but after a moment he spoke more of the barbarians. " The barbarians from Roma are not like the others, who are merely uneducated Chinese. They ar as different from us as a Tiger is from a Lion.. and yet they are still human. They can learn our language and speak it well if they try. They can manage our ettiquette but as they are putting it on as you or I would put on a shirt... it is not engrained. They make mistakes, or forget the proper procedure at times. They are bigger then us, of a build making them average the size of Xiang Yu, who is a giant among us. As for needing them... they were given to him, by a fellow who saved his life. They serve him.. but they are not more then a half dozen. Surely this is not a giant force?"

Lei listened to the reaction of Yin She, noticing the irritation caused by his insult. He felt a little sad at this man’s fearful state about his execution.

“Well what did you expect would happen when you so vilely demeaned the Hegemon King? You penned that letter and expected there to be no consequences? This Zhefu seems to value his own ambitions over his own family if you think he won’t do anything to stop your execution. Forgive me if I am being blunt. I learned to be more straightforward around the Prime Minister. You can personally see what kind of trouble lying and twisting words can get you into.”

The guards brought in the soup and set it on the table. Lei motioned for Yin She to sit at the table.

“Eat. You may yet still live. So these barbarians are just a few men who are employed to inspire and intimidate? They do not seem to be any threat then. There are Chinese that can do that as well.” Lei began eating his soup. “Tell me more of your lord, Zhefu. Why is he so keen on quickly consolidating Qi? Does he fear that others will do it before him? Does he wish to expand beyond its borders? The speed at which he is conquering is quite intimidating. I’m sure you can see why the state of Chu is concerned with another rival they may have to fight. Would it not be easier to work together? All that Marquis Zhefu has to do is slow down and stop appearing so dangerous. Then so much bloodshed may be avoided.”


(OOC: I thought the average Roman was pretty short, only 5’2 during these times. In some battles, archaeology stated that the average Roman legionnaire height was 4’8 -5’0. The Romans often said that Germans were giants, even though they only averaged 5’8. So is the average Chinese height 4’2 at this time?)

He ate a little soup. Perhaps the company had caused his paralyzing fear to depart, for now. "I wrote against the King, yes. It is hard not to harden one's heart, as one did against the Qin. The genocide visited upon the Qin was such that it appears the King would have the Chinese exterminated." He said slowly, sadness expressed on his face. "It is not conquering to see a half million murdered in a few days, and to see an entire place raped and pillaged. Part of why Zhefu wants to consolidate Qi so quickly is so that he had the resources to be more then nothing in this world. So he can give some tribute, and be left unmolested- because he has too many troops to be worth molesting lightly, but not so many that he is a real threat to Chu. And how could one small province be a threat to Chu, with it's hundreds of thousands? With it's hegemony? Zhefu does not challenge the King. It is merely my own worries, fear, and memory that causes me to reluctantly deal with Chu. If word did not come back to us that the handful of barbarians we had were being rumored as an invasion force of thousands, I would never have come to Chu." He sighed. What a better time that was.

(OOC: I didn't know Chinamen grew that tall! Research is hard to do, online, but appearently height in china is oft a factor of malnutrition. Anyone who ate right was appearantly about six feet tall. Cool beans. But life's more fun when you pretend the roman's are giants )