Crouching Dragon: The Journey of Zhuge Liang sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

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The vast lands of China were once ravaged by a war that lasted for almost a century: it began with the disaffection of the people with corrupt officials, and at its end, the imperial line was once again the dominant force in the land, though things would never be the same again.

In the west of the country, a few years before the end of that long conflict, a small contingent of soldiers from the northern state of Wei completed a tiring march across the humid, uneven terrain, having just completed a stealth infiltration through the near-unsurpassable mountains. They had already scored minor victories against the unprepared forces of the western state of Shu: now another city lay ahead.

The leader of those brave and tenacious soldiers was a man whose family name was Deng, and whose given name was Ai: he was a highly talented and highly respected figure in the state of Wei, and he was now, potentially, a few days away from becoming the man that would subjugate the Shu Emperor and leave nothing but the Empire of Eastern Wu as an obstacle to a reunified China. Deng Ai had brought his eldest son Chong with him on the expedition, so that he might share the glory of his famous father, who would soon be spoken of as a man whose talent equalled the likes of the man that had once been a pillar - and founding father - of the state of Shu: the strategist, politician, philosopher and inventor, Zhuge Liang.

The state of Shu had been founded by men who claimed either lineage or unflagging loyalty to the collapsed Empire of the Han: many called the state Shu Han, or even Han, as acknowledgement of this. The Han had - after many years of being weakened by internal power struggles and widespread corruption - been supplanted by Wei almost 40 years ago, and the north of China had accepted this: only the rulers of the independent states in the south and west refused to accept this for reasons of their own.

The state of Shu had maintained a stubborn defence and launched relentless attacks against Wei for more than those 40 years, and the rulers of Wei - and in particular, its Prime Minister - knew that the fall of Shu and the final removal of any chance of a revival of the Han was essential if the Wei Empire was to be accepted by all.

“Commander Deng, defences in the capital city of Mianzhu are unreadable,” a captain of the army of Wei reported.
Deng Ai surveyed the Mianzhu terrain and frowned thoughtfully. Mianzhu County had once been a part of an independent province that had resisted the future Shu rulers, and even claimed the life of one of Shu’s greatest minds: but now, in a twist of fate, it was to be a last great bastion that protected Shu from ruin.
“Well,” Deng Ai replied, “advance anyway… Shu has no more capable men.”
The captain saluted Deng Ai and retreated to issue the orders.
“Father,” Ai’s son, General Deng Zhong, said nervously, “isn’t Mianzhu defended by Zhuge Zhan, son of the legendary strategist Zhuge Liang…?”
“Why should that matter…?” Deng Ai replied. “Zhuge Liang is gone. Their main forces are trapped in the north, and nobody expected that anyone could get into their heartland through those mountains, so they didn’t even bother to defend them: a mistake that great strategist - or any that had truly learned from him - would not have made.”
“If Zhuge Zhan knows even half of his father’s tricks,” Deng Zhong protested, “we might have walked into a trap.”
Before Deng Ai could answer, a messenger urged his presence at the newly developing battlefront.

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