Eastern Wu: Realm of the Sun Clan sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

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“…Perhaps you don’t remember how this city came to be occupied by your lord, Major, but I do,” Yuan Yin retorted. “That man below, Sun Ce, on the orders of my - our - late lord, Yuan Shu, drove its previous master, old Lu Kang, to his grave with a relentless siege, and many a good man probably accompanied Lu’s miserable descent into the netherworld. There will be people in this city that remember it all too well… what do you think they’ll do if you order them to stand firm…?”
“…Your… your point is noted,” the officer said. “So you intend to secure your lord’s remains and flee northward, then?”
“If Sun Ce gets his hands on Lord Yuan’s coffin or any of his vassals or children, I cannot say what he will do to them,” Yuan Yin insisted. “I will risk the journey to the north: it would be better to do that than let the Suns have a victory.”
“And what of Yuan’s children, and Yang Hong…?” the officer asked.
“If it is permitted, free Yang Hong and allow the young lord and ladies to follow me,” Yuan Yin replied. “I shall get going now.”
The officer nodded, and Yuan Yin retreated from the wall.

“…What’s taking so long?” Bofu muttered as he stared at Huancheng with an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. “Please, gods, they don’t intend to say that they’re going to hold out…!”
“Stay calm,” Gongjin pleaded. “Liu Xun’s got a lot of good men to fight through before he stands a chance of getting back here.”

As soon as night fell, Yuan Yin used a skirmish at the eastern gates of Huancheng to cover his escape from the city: he and six other men carried no passengers on their ox-drawn cart, only pieces of valuable cargo, namely the lifeless corpse of Yuan Shu and most of Yuan’s remaining treasures. Two riders were sent after the cart, but when four of Yuan Yin’s men blocked the way and delayed the riders, any hope of capturing the convoy disappeared. The incident was immediately reported to Bofu’s command tent, and he was less than pleased.

“…Why didn’t we pursue?” Bofu asked of his officer Chen Wu.
“There was a risk of harming the troublemakers at the east gates,” the tall, charismatic Chen Wu replied. “I was most concerned with our actions being bloodless, as you ordered.”
“…Yeah, that’s right,” Bofu realised. “Sorry, Zilie, I’m having a go at you when you were doing what was right. It’s just that… well…”
“It might have been someone important,” Gongjin supposed. “It was a cart with some boxes on it, Bofu: that’ll be Yuan Shu’s coffin and some of his money at worst, and that wouldn’t get far, not with all the bandits.”
“…So who do we have in the city now…?” Bofu wondered.
“From the people that were staging that fight at the east gates, I’ve learned that Yuan Yin, Yang Hong, Zhang Xun and Yuan Shu’s children are ‘guests’ at Liu Xun’s pleasure,” Chen Wu reported. “It seems that Zhang Xun surrendered to Liu Xun and has accompanied him to Shangliao willingly, and-”
“What???” Bofu exclaimed. “He… why…?”
“Let him finish, Bofu,” Gongjin said. “Carry on, Zilie.”
“…Yang Hong is probably locked away, under some form of house arrest,” Chen Wu continued. “The young Yuans are alive and well, under a lesser form of house arrest; Yuan Yin also surrendered, but the people seemed to be hinting that he might have been one of the escapees…”
“…So we probably lost Yuan Yin,” Bofu sighed. “That’s… not so bad. And it sounds as though you’ve made friends with those troublemakers, Zilie.”

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