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

“What that means in the end, Heaven only knows… but when the government keeps relying on nasty beggars like Dong Zhuo and idiots like Zhou Shen to be their spokesmen, it can only get worse. All I wonder, is… well…”
“…Whether we should be helping the government…?” Hang Dang snickered.
“Forget I spoke,” Zu Mao pleaded.
“S’alright; I wonder the same, from time to time,” Han Dang said as he studied the expression on Sun Jian’s face. “Makes me wonder if we need to strike out on our own, sometimes… make the south a place of its own. All we need’s a leader, and there he is, right there.”
“That’d suit me fine,” Zu Mao agreed. “Mister Sun Jian is a hero and a statesman, just the sort of man you need at a time like this, and people’re flocking to him. I mean, look at the new man, Zhu Zhi.”
“A smart one, and no mistake,” Han Dang murmured.
“Yeah, and he sees it same as we do; Mister Sun Jian is the future,” Zu Mao suggested. “You’re right, I’m right, we’re both right; Mister Sun is going to make the south a place to be proud of, a place to be respected, and we’re gonna help him… makes you feel proud, doesn’t it…?”
“…But we need more good men, even more than we have already,” Han Dang supposed. “We need good men like they were all that there was, to do something like that… still, if it’s possible, Sun Wentai is the man to do it!”

The battles continued over the following days.
“Well, here they come again,” Cheng Pu sighed as he watched the rebels advance on the city from his vantage point on the high walls of Changsha’s capital.
“This time, we end it,” Sun Jian decided.
“Not an option,” Zhu Zhi said with regret, “but we can give them something to think about. We’ll let them set up their ladders and whatnot, and settle in; are Huang Gai and Han Dang ready…?”
“As they’ll ever be,” Cheng Pu replied.

“Yeah, and so am I,” Zu Mao said impatiently. “I can’t wait to get out there.”
“…And again, they bring no method of assault that really threatens us,” Zhu Zhi said as he watched the rebel commanders issue the orders of the day. “Right; signallers at the ready…!”
The rebels began the siege; but as soon as the assault was underway, a hidden signal relay told Han Dang and Huang Gai - who had left the city under cover of darkness, and camped at a distance - that the time had come to spring a trap. Both officers led a force of men against the left and right sides of the rebel camp, throwing it into disarray; as the besiegers turned about to defend their leaders, Sun Jian and Zu Mao led a force out of the main gates and routed them as they fled.
“An excellent result, Mister Zhu Junli,” Wu Jing said as he watched the events from the city walls.
“I try,” Zhu Zhi replied humbly. “They’ll be back, though.”
Wu Jing nodded and said, “Yes, but I think we’ll win in the end.”

Sun Jian’s militia broke the siege of Changsha’s capital after weeks of solid defence and sporadic ground-based counterattacks. But almost as soon as Changsha was relieved, the neighbouring Lingling and Guiyang regions experienced similar outbreaks of civil defiance, and Sun Jian was forced to send forces to supress those as well; his stay in the central southern ‘counties’ was destined to be long and devoid of peaceful interludes, but that was a surprise to none. Sun Jian would be created a marquis for his efforts and allowed to remain as Magistrate of Changsha, and that is where he remained as a protector of the Han Empire until the next great disaster befell the country.

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