East of the River: Home of the Sun Clan sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

“I understand matters very well, General,” Sun Jian replied. “I shall say no more: Dong Zhuo isn’t my problem, after all, he’s-”
“I suggest further that you need to rethink yourself!” Zhou Shen chortled. “Your reputation as a wild tiger is going to your head, methinks, Mister Sun Jian! Dong Zhuo is a respected general of the empire, and showing him such groundless contempt is not something that a cultured man should be doing!”
Sun Jian glared silently.
“…And such a reckless man that does not understand basic protocol cannot be a good adviser, surely,” Zhou Shen scoffed. “How can you expect me to listen to you when you act like a mistakenly-elevated peasant and suggest random, knee-jerk solutions to matters that you don’t fully understand…? You were sent here to proffer your supposed knowledge of barbarian warfare in the absence of other proven figures like Qu Yi… not give direction on how to deal with political matters that you, as a man from the south, cannot fully comprehend.”
“…Yes, General,” Sun Jian replied through gritted teeth. “As I said, I understand matters fully. I shall stick to giving military advice, as is my remit.”
“That will hopefully be better thought-out than your political advice,” Zhou Shen chortled. “So, to begin with, let us discuss the…”

Sun Jian returned to his command tent later that day as an emotionally-battered man; Zu Mao was sat near the host seat, and Cheng Pu was sat at one side of the tent with a bandage around his right arm.
“…Nothing’ll be done, then,” Zu Mao snickered.
“No,” Sun Jian said angrily. He then turned to Cheng Pu, and asked, “How are you, Demou…?”
“It isn’t serious, but I won’t be able to march,” Cheng Pu replied. “I’m sorry about Dong Zhuo; are you in danger?”
“If he tries to confront me, I’ll kill him,” Sun Jian said with rage. “I don’t care what rank he is, Demou, not when the matter is personal.”

“If he’s as cowardly as I’ve heard, won’t he send an assassin?” Cheng Pu retorted.
“…They’re all fools,” Sun Jian decided. “All of the men of the court, they’re all cowards, thieves and fools; our three leaders are two of them fools, and one of them a selfish, corrupt coward. Such men can’t win battles, not without a lot of luck. We’re going to lose.”
“So why are we still here?” Zu Mao said gruffly.
“Because we have to follow their orders,” Sun Jian replied.
“What about Dong Zhuo?” Cheng Pu asked impatiently. “What if he-”
“I’ve done what I’ve done,” Sun Jian interrupted.
Cheng Pu conceded and said no more.

For the next two months, little changed in Liang Province; each side would occasionally challenge the other to battle, have a brief exchange of words or weapons, and withdraw.
One night, as Sun Jian and Zu Mao wandered the Mei County camp and periodically stared upward at the starlit night sky, something strange and almost unbelievable happened.
“LOOK!” a soldier cried suddenly.
“Oh, my…!” Zu Mao said as he turned toward the west, and caught sight of the trail of a shooting star. “That… that just…!”
“That looked like that fell on the enemy’s camp at Longxi!” Sun Jian said excitedly. “That’s an auspicious sign if ever there was one!”
Zu Mao watched the chaos that was erupting around him and said, “We’d better get back, Mister Sun Jian; I reckon we might be ordered to march.”
“I’d be surprised if we weren’t, Mister Zu!” Sun Jian replied as he started to run back to his tent.

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