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Chapter 4: Right Intention
Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
-Gautama Buddha
Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
-Gautama Buddha
The officers of the White Lotus Army crowd around a hastily drawn map. Their voices rise and fall like tides. They explode in debate, argue and rant about this or that idea, then settle into uneasy consensus. Han Lin'er sits in the back of the room, silent. His gang of peasant leaders have been honed into martial men, and he trusts them to draw up their plans without him. Lin'er fears his emotions could get in the way. The meeting with Yuanzhang still has him fuming. He spends his enery trying to empty his mind.
The officers have but two instructions: The merits of a march on the capital are not up for discussion, only how best to do it. And the timeline is not up for discussion either. They march before autumn. And so the Dadu Campaign begins.*
The officers decide to commit as few men as possible to the siege of Dadu and concentrate the main army on the coast. Neither the Yuan nor the Song have any navy, so independent merchants can supply the troops via the Yellow Sea, for the right price of course. The hostile winter will prevent any Yuan attack from the north. “The only threat,” an officer warns Lin'er, “is an attack from the west. The northern winters are fierce, and we'll be too weak to survive any battle until our sieges are won.”
“I think our good friend Zhu Yuanzhang will be more than happy to defend us.” Lin'er smirks, a habit he's been picking up, but not one he's too fond of. “He doesn't want us expanding to the west. I have a feeling the fool will move his armies between us and the Yuan just to curb our growth.”
Lin'er's armies begin marching north in July and arrive in enemy territory in September. Just as that spy had promised, the Yuan interior is totally defenseless. Lin'er sends three thousand men to siege the Great Capital and takes the bulk of his army to secure the coast. He eventually finds the shadowy man; or, rather, the man finds him. Lin'er hires him as a spymaster to recruit and train more in his profession.
The merchant ships in the Yellow Sea are more than happy to deliver mail to the army, for a nominal fee. So for the first time since the beginning of the war, Lin'er receives news from the outside world. The Tibetan holy man, Wangdue Sengge, sends innumerable reports from the Song capital that could be summed up, “All is well.” Jibi Zhenghu has defended the Yue rebels from minor Yuan incursions, and now assists the Song vassal He Zhen in expanding his territory. Tongling has been officially annexed, linking Song together as one realm. Lin'er's most treasured letter, however, comes from his wife. In delicate calligraphy, she tells him of their child, now a year old. A boy. His name is Kaiwang: “Triumphant prince.”
November 10, 1358.
Short entry today. Buried another twenty dead. Every time I see my men, I know this was a mistake. The winter is more brutal than I had thought it would be. It will only get worse. The merchant ships bring supplies, but it is not enough. They cannot change the seasons.
The snow and temperature, not the Yuan, are our greatest foes. It is difficult to believe the horror the cold has wrought. Men go to sleep, shivering and miserable, and never wake. The rare days when temperatures rise above freezing, everything melts into mud and slime, then disease spreads throughout the corps and fells men as surely as arrows or spears. Last week, I watched an officer use his knife to hack off a man's festering leg in the hopes it would save his life. It did not. This morning, I helped carve blankets off of frozen corpses, that they might keep warm those who still survive. My hands trembled, my lips quivered, when it came time to do the work. The other men did their jobs quickly and without speaking. Seasoned veterans all.
Twenty two thousand men marched behind me to Dadu. Ten thousand are now dead. Their blood is on my hands as surely as if I had cut their throats myself. I see now where Yuanzhang is wrong. He treats his people as instruments, as tools. I do the same. I now understand the terrifying consequences. Yet I still do it, and that makes me even worse than him. I know I must continue the fight, I know this is for the good of the Han people. But every day, doing my duty grows more difficult.
I know that if we win this war, the people will declare me a hero. I cannot possibly imagine an indictment more damning.
But while Lin'er loses faith in the war's higher purpose, it proceeds just the same.
Yuanzhang does just as Lin'er predicted, moving troops north to cut off Song expansion. The Yuan armies march to defend their capital, and the weakened Ming are the only obstacle in their path. Reports reach Lin'er saying the Yuan outnumber them two to one. He doesn't know how to respond, or even whether he should.
But then, on November 15th, one message renews Han Lin'er's will to fight. The Yuan army is under the command of Toghun Temur: the Zhizheng Emperor himself. “At that moment,” Lin'er later writes. “I realized my error. I'd begun to view the Ming as my enemies, when in reality they were but my competition. And no matter what they did to slight me, it was my duty to fight by their side.” And so Lin'er gathers seven thousand men, the most he can muster without abandoning his sieges, and the White Lotus Army rides to join the Battle of Baoding.
In Baoding, the Ming army is nearly destroyed. Their morale is almost crushed. But just as Yuan victory seems assured, Song cavalry pour over the hills and charge into the fray.
"The Great Song at Baoding," 15th century.
Zhizheng has no idea how to react as the White Lotus tear his armies apart. He pulls back to regroup, but the rebels will win the day. Fresh Song troops fill out the line and let the battered Ming pull back, and when they attack, their victory is decisive.
The combined Ming and Song forces pursue the retreating Yuan and wipe their army off the map. The Zhizheng Emperor manages to escape before he can be captured. After the battle, Lin'er rides to the Ming camp and is hailed as their savior. He accepts their praise as graciously as he can, then asks to be taken to Yuanzhang.
The Ming general looks at him in disbelief. “Sir, you haven't heard? Our lord quit the campaign.”
“What? Where is he?”
“Our capital. Tending to affairs of state, I presume, but no one's really sure why he left...”
The next year goes by without a single battle. The Emperor's attack seems to have been a move of desperation, and without their capital, the Yuan are crippled. The Little Merchant of Zhou, as Lin'er calls him, declares war and invades Yuan days after Zhizheng's army is annihilated. Song partisans, acting without orders, land on Mongol-controlled Jeju and claim the Korean island in Lin'er's name. Provinces under Song occupation are put under state control and officially annexed. Dadu falls on April 6th. The White Lotus Army marches into the city to great fanfare; soldiers work together with city residents to burn the Yuan palaces to the ground.
Then, one week later, something happens that Han Lin'er thought impossible: Zhizheng accepts a negotiated peace from the Great Ming.
“We're moving south,” Lin'er tells his aide when he hears the news. He doesn't speak with the same spirit he used to. The winter, the war... struggles have made him weary. “With Ming gone, we need to secure our border. Zhou occupies the area around Dadu, the Mongols won't be able to retake it. Send a diplomat to Nanjing. Get him an audience with Yuanzhang and find out what the hell's going on.”
The White Lotus Army besieges and occupies Nanyang by September, putting Song's western border on a line with Ming's. More than half of China proper lies in rebel hands. Scouts report the Yuan building a new army on the steppes, but it will take months for them to replenish their manpower reserves. Lin'er camps in Nanyang and plans his next move. And, just like he did a year ago, Zhu Yuanzhang arrives to pay him a visit.
Lin'er exits his tent to see a retainer helping Yuanzhang down from his horse. Although the Ming faction won a clear victory in the war, the man himself looks defeated. His robes hang loosely on his frame. He shuffles when he walks. His face is gaunt, his cheeks hollow, arms dangling by his side.
Lin'er frowns. Although it's only been a year, his opinion of the man has changed radically. Before, he thought Yuanzhang a strong but inscrutable leader, a person to be respected. But since Dadu, when he saw the man waste most of his army just to box Song in, that respect has vanished.
“What are you here for? I thought your war was over.”
Yuanzhang nods. “It is. I'm merely responding to your diplomat.”
“A letter would have sufficed.”
“You sound unhappy to see me.”
“No,” Lin'er says, narrowing his eyes. “I'm wary of what you call 'guile' but I call 'duplicity.'”
“You can relax. No more tricks, no more scheming.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because...” Yuanzhang stops, takes a breath. He smiles wistfully. “Because, Lin'er. I'm dying.”
The two men stand facing each other in silence.
“I always thought...” he continues, “I always thought there would be more than this. You know better than most how I plotted. I honestly believed it would be me: me who would unite the Middle Kingdom, me who be Emperor of China, me. But... well, I suppose it is not Heaven's will.
“Lin'er... I don't think any of us are long for this world. We four rebels are not destined to unite China... not in our lifetimes. Our children, our grandchildren, they'll be the ones to carry on the fight. We can't...”
Lin'er puts a hand on Yuanzhang's shoulder. “Why don't we play a game of weiqi? For old times' sake.”
The man flashes his devilish smirk. “I accept. But I must warn you, you don't stand a chance.”
One month later, Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Kingdom of the Great Ming, is dead. But the House of Zhu is only beginning its rise to prominence.
The world in 1359.
-----
*(To avoid confusion, Dadu = Beiping = Beijing. “Dadu” was the Yuan name for the city, meaning “Great Capital.”)
I think that the designers of MEIOU have done a great job with this part of Chinese history. All I can say is fantastic progress! 
The Great Song are now ready to reunite China!
Great job with Yuanzhang's dialogue. It felt very real
Great job with Yuanzhang's dialogue. It felt very real
Loving the story. I was going to be angry with the Ming faction, but it looks like fate has evened things out. Can't help but wonder if Song's expansion into that crescent shape is going to leave the nation dangerously spread out. But you are quite limited in your expansion paths...
I also demand more go references (evil Japanese name, I know).
I also demand more go references (evil Japanese name, I know).
Awesome read so far. MEIOU gave you a cool setup and you've taken it great places! Looking forward to more.
Your campaign was selected as AAR Showcase of the Week by yours truly! Be proud, you deserve it!
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...of-Holland&p=13099420&viewfull=1#post13099420
As payment, I demand an update
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...of-Holland&p=13099420&viewfull=1#post13099420
As payment, I demand an update
Good progress and a nice, humanizing touch in the way you sent Yuanzhang off to meet his Maker.
Oh, and congrats on the Showcase award! Well deserved!
Oh, and congrats on the Showcase award! Well deserved!
Edit: Got distracted... finishing the images new, few mins. Also another milestone, my first retcon! Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang's family died in a flood when he was a kid. Not anymore! The game demands he has some adult relatives.
I should have an update up in an hour or so... (I'm really slow, but it's ~1/2 done). And I just want to say... if I mod leader names or kill rulers with events/console, I will post a disclaimer! (I'm in 1500 and I've only done it once so far.) I say that because... well, it appears the EU3 engine is a far better writer than I am, and without giving too much away, a few crazy coincidences/things to do with names will happen in a few of the updates. The sort of things that I wouldn't have even thought to do because they seem outrageous/forced, but EU3 gave me as like a "Dude, check THIS out." Not to overhype them, but yeah. Truth: stranger than fiction.
Also, the other day was officially the second time I've yelled "WHAT THE FK" at my game because it totally destroyed a planned story arc with a single random event. But I think it's a good thing! The best stories are the ones you don't expect, and I suppose the game must mete out both the random-awesome and the random-god-DAMN-it. (Although it is very frustrating when the game decides, "Y'know those things that would have been totally plausible for you to do over the next 20 years? NOT ANYMORE!")
@Milites: Well... not much longer, haha. I think every faction has cores on at least one of its neighbors, so we'll see some tension faaairly soon.
@PrawnStar: Thanks! I might have to start dropping the Chinese writing on the maps though. It looks cool, but with more countries emerging and non-Chinese countries becoming important, clarity will have to trump coolness.
@GregElSho: Thanks!
@Ashantai: I agree, they have. They really went the extra mile with cultures though; in vanilla, China proper is split into Han and Cantonese, both lumped into a giant "East Asian" group with Japanese, Korean, Manchu, Mongolian, etc. MEIOU gives China its own group with 12 cultures! (The notion of a "Han people" does exist at this time, and many of MEIOU's Chinese cultures are more along linguistic lines... something I'll def touch on later, considering how unique all the language stuff is.) The whole world gets the awesome culture treatment too though; eg gaelic and brythonic are separate, French oil and oc are seperate. It's pretty dope.
@mayorqw: Without spoiling too much... don't expect to see a united China in the immediate future. Besides the gameplay reason (uniting China would be hard, but once I did it, the game would become "so who do I effortlessly destroy with my 150k troops next?") I'll present (what I hope will be compelling!) reasons to tread a... different path.
@damienreave: Thank you!! I shall display my award with honor. Go references will come. And it's hard to tell without a zoomed out gameplay shot, but re: bad shape, literally every single one of my provinces is a border province.
@Bballman23: Thanks! And yes, I'm very fond of the MEIOU scenario. So much more satisfying than vanilla's "spend 100 years moving sliders, then crush everyone once you balance the factions."
@Stuyvesant: Thanks! I thought it was an appropriate reaction on his part.
I should have an update up in an hour or so... (I'm really slow, but it's ~1/2 done). And I just want to say... if I mod leader names or kill rulers with events/console, I will post a disclaimer! (I'm in 1500 and I've only done it once so far.) I say that because... well, it appears the EU3 engine is a far better writer than I am, and without giving too much away, a few crazy coincidences/things to do with names will happen in a few of the updates. The sort of things that I wouldn't have even thought to do because they seem outrageous/forced, but EU3 gave me as like a "Dude, check THIS out." Not to overhype them, but yeah. Truth: stranger than fiction.
Also, the other day was officially the second time I've yelled "WHAT THE FK" at my game because it totally destroyed a planned story arc with a single random event. But I think it's a good thing! The best stories are the ones you don't expect, and I suppose the game must mete out both the random-awesome and the random-god-DAMN-it. (Although it is very frustrating when the game decides, "Y'know those things that would have been totally plausible for you to do over the next 20 years? NOT ANYMORE!")
@Milites: Well... not much longer, haha. I think every faction has cores on at least one of its neighbors, so we'll see some tension faaairly soon.
@PrawnStar: Thanks! I might have to start dropping the Chinese writing on the maps though. It looks cool, but with more countries emerging and non-Chinese countries becoming important, clarity will have to trump coolness.
@GregElSho: Thanks!
@Ashantai: I agree, they have. They really went the extra mile with cultures though; in vanilla, China proper is split into Han and Cantonese, both lumped into a giant "East Asian" group with Japanese, Korean, Manchu, Mongolian, etc. MEIOU gives China its own group with 12 cultures! (The notion of a "Han people" does exist at this time, and many of MEIOU's Chinese cultures are more along linguistic lines... something I'll def touch on later, considering how unique all the language stuff is.) The whole world gets the awesome culture treatment too though; eg gaelic and brythonic are separate, French oil and oc are seperate. It's pretty dope.
@mayorqw: Without spoiling too much... don't expect to see a united China in the immediate future.
Besides the gameplay reason (uniting China would be hard, but once I did it, the game would become "so who do I effortlessly destroy with my 150k troops next?") I'll present (what I hope will be compelling!) reasons to tread a... different path.@damienreave: Thank you!! I shall display my award with honor. Go references will come.
And it's hard to tell without a zoomed out gameplay shot, but re: bad shape, literally every single one of my provinces is a border province.@Bballman23: Thanks! And yes, I'm very fond of the MEIOU scenario. So much more satisfying than vanilla's "spend 100 years moving sliders, then crush everyone once you balance the factions."
@Stuyvesant: Thanks! I thought it was an appropriate reaction on his part.
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Chapter 5: We Four Rebels
Perfect yourself, put your house in order, conquer the world.
-- Confucius
Perfect yourself, put your house in order, conquer the world.
-- Confucius
Despite Zhu Yuanzhang's knowledge of his illness, for reasons known only to himself he told no one but Han Lin'er. So when he dies in October of 1359, leaving behind only an infant son born to a minor consort,* his realm is thrown into chaos.
The moment he hears the news, Xu Shouhui, the founder of the Red Turbans and self-styled Emperor of Tianwan, publishes an edict praising Yuanzhang as “the most loyal and most capable of all my generals and governors” and pledging to “appoint a worthy successor to his legacy.” The edict never even hints that the Ming faction had left the Red Turban fold: Shouhui refers to it exclusively as an administrative district of the Tianwan Empire. His pretensions outrage the other rebel leaders.
“The independence of Yuanzhang's realm,” Lin'er writes to Shouhui, “is not even a question. It is a fact. You have as much control over or claim to it as does the Zhizheng Emperor, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous.” The leaders of Zhou, Dahan, and He Zhen enthusiastically agree to endorse the letter. Besides Lin'er, none of them have any personal interest in the fate of the Ming. But if it united with Tianwan, the resulting empire would be more powerful than all their realms combined. Shouhui responds in November by negotiating peace with the Yuan and moving his armies to the Song and Dahan borders. At the same time, the Little Merchant of Zhou makes peace as well, doubling his territory without having fought a single battle.
Intrigue in Nanjing, however, radically alters the relationships between the factions. Yuanzhang's widow sees Tianwan's diplomatic isolation as her chance to consolidate her power. She claims to have proof that Consort Li, the mother of Yuanzhang's only son, carried on affairs with “innumerable” men. Branding the boy “Child of Ten Thousand Fathers,” the woman declares herself the head of a new dynasty. But Consort Li manages to rally the support of Yuanzhang's brothers by comparing the woman to the infamous Empress Wu Zetian,** and they succeed in ousting her. Yuanzhang's widow is beheaded the following morning.
Consort Li proclaims her son the first ruler of the Ming Kingdom, making herself queen mother and the boy's regent. Xu Shouhui, however, continues to press his claims on the Ming lands. “What Nanjing needs,” he says, “is an emperor. Not a third-rank courtesan and her fatherless child.” Queen Li wastes little time planning her response: two days later, Shouhui is assassinated outside his palace. Li installs one of Yuanzhang's brothers on the Tianwan throne, reconstituting it as a kingdom under the House of Zhu.
Lin'er, disgusted with his “allies,” washes his hands of the matter. He sends a brief message to Wangdue Sengge, vesting full diplomatic authority in the monk, and heads north. By November, he's the only king still at war with the Zhizheng Emperor. The Yuan armies are weak and scattered, but they still exist. Lin'er vows not to stop until every last Yuan brigade is destroyed.
Lin'er moves to Dadu and links up with his forces there, battling the Yuan for the city. He then takes a small detachment of the White Lotus Army and chases them deep into the steppes. They spend the next two years in Mongolia. After the few initial battles, fighting is sporadic and rare. They live off the land, spending most of their time wandering the country with no real aim or destination. Mongol herders avoid them at first. They're all women, children, or elderly; the Yuan wasted an entire generation of men in battle. After a while, the nomads disappear entirely, as if they know where the army will be from hundreds of li away. Lin'er means them no harm, but they must have heard stories. He tries not to blame himself.
Lin'er finds the journey takes on almost holy undertones. After four, five years of warfare, intrigue, death, there's a certain appeal to just wandering. It refreshes the spirit. He does miss Hangzhou, though. And he misses his wife. He's never met his son. He tells his men they're free to return home whenever they'd like. Almost everyone declines.
They make their way to the far western edges of Yuan territory, then down toward the border with Tibet. Much of the countryside has risen in rebellion, though they have no one to fight against. Han people predominate in the region but practice the purer Buddhism of the Tibetans: untainted, in Lin'er's mind, by the corruption of Confucian thought or the superstitions of folk belief.
The western languages sound like nothing he's ever heard, but the local bureaucrats speak the eastern dialects adequately. They tell him of their hopes to form a pure Buddhist kingdom, run by Chinese, something that hasn't existed for almost eight hundred years. They would call it Xia. Lin'er pledges to win them their realm. They hold a great feast in his honor, and the next morning they lead Lin'er and his men to Geladandong Peak. The source of the mighty Yangtze, the river that feeds half of China. Here, they call it the Tongtian: “Passing Through Heaven.”
“Look, I can't do a damn thing about it. He Zhen is Song's vassal, not her slave. Tell him that if he wants those worthless islands, he can go to war over them. We won't intervene.”
“Your Eminence, forgive my ignorance, but I don't understand the wisdom in that. If the other kingdoms see we won't even defend our own vassal...”
Wangdue Sengge puts down his writing brush and turns to face the young bureaucrat. “Gao Wangwei wants us to demand He Zhen leave Hong Kong and Macau, islands the Yue do have legitimate claims on. Rather than rebuke him, we state our neutrality and let him think the decision is his. But his kingdom is only months old now, and we're the only ones who will have anything to do with him. So he'll be smart enough not to press the issue. Thus, He Zhen keeps the islands and the Yue think even more highly of us than before. A victory on two fronts.”
“I'm sorry to have doubted your brilliance, I ju--”
“Please. Spare me the flattery. I'm happy to explain the art of diplomacy to curious subordinates. All I expect is that you learn.”
“Of course. Thank you, your Eminence.” The young man bows low and leaves Wangdue's office.
Wangdue sighs. The veiled language and half-truths have infiltrated his daily speech. “'We're the only ones,' indeed,” he mutters to himself. The Dahan Emperor was found strangled to death last summer, presumably by one of his courtesans. Consort Li--Wangdue wouldn't deign to call that woman a queen--managed to put another of Zhu Yuanzhang's brothers on the Dahan throne. And a third brother now leads a rebel band just to the north of He Zhen. The woman also managed something none of the others could: an alliance with that slimy merchant in Zhou.
Zhu Yuanzhang's disease led to Consort Li, and after that, she killed two emperors in two years. The four rebels are down to one. Jibi Zhenghu's army secures strategically useful but economically worthless territory in the south. Lin'er does Heaven knows what up north. The House of Zhu now holds every advantage. Their alliances with Song remain in force, but it's only a matter of time until they begin to throw their weight around.
The other courtiers and bureaucrats are more optimistic. They can't imagine a war between the Chinese kingdoms for at least a few years. Wangdue doesn't see a war coming in years either: he knows it will only be months.
The Zhu and Song blocs in 1361.
Han Lin'er and the White Lotus Army return to the Song capital in November of 1361. They proceed up the main street to the courthouse, still serving as the kingdom's center of government. Crowds form and follow them, gawking and murmuring, unsure whether they should cheer for victory or bemoan an impending invasion. Lin'er turns to the throng of people. He hadn't wanted to make a spectacle, hadn't wanted any praise, but... these are his people. And it is his duty to lead them. No one else can.
“My people...” He clears his throat and musters the deepest voice he can find. “People of the Song Kingdom!” Smiles spread throughout the mass, faces turn to look at their neighbors, study their new countrymen. “The war is over, and the armies of the Great Yuan Empire are no more!” At that, the crowd explodes.
China after the war, 1361.
-----
* Since prehistoric times, emperors would generally have one empress consort and anywhere from several to hundreds of official concubines. They were often organized in complex hierarchies, and all of their children were considered legitimate. While most of the post-Yuan kingdoms in China continued this practice, it was abandoned in Song and Yue. This does not mean their kings were monogamous (although, notably, some were). Instead, it was intended to prevent courtly intrigue concerning succession by drastically limiting the number of “legitimate” sons.
** At the time, Wu Zetian was viewed not only as tyrant, but a warning about the dangers of letting a woman come to power. 10th century historian Liu Xu writes: “The year that Lady Wu declared herself regent [...] Heaven and earth became like a huge cage. [... Lady Wu's] willingness to crush her own flesh and blood showed how great her viciousness and vile nature was, although this is nothing more than what evil individuals and jealous women might do.” This view would persist until the 1470's, when “The Revised Book of Tang” transformed Wu Zetian into a celebrated (in fact, almost deified) ruler.
That really is fantastic progress. You and the other rebels have made major inroads. Pretty much the entire coast is yours now!
Personally I would prefer the maps to be all in one language, it looks funny to have half the map in Chinese and the other half in English. I don't understand why you couldn't just use Chinese names for Tibet, Xia, etc.
So, did you create Xia, or did you merely 'enable' it by destroying all the Yuan armies?
Song is making good progress, but it would be nice if you could get more defensible borders.
Song is making good progress, but it would be nice if you could get more defensible borders.
@Ashantai: I'll spare the suspense. Yuan has such high RR and WE at this point that rebels soon bring them to their knees, and they don't have any coast for much longer. The war is pretty much won... so now it's time for the kingdoms to fight each other!
@Tanzhang: Yeah, I was worried it'd look weird... while I could use Chinese names for Tibet and Xia, it will get harder and harder for readers to keep track of "minor" (or peripheral I guess) countries if their names aren't in English on the map. Like, if the map were unlabeled, I'd assume every reader could pick out Ming/Song/Yue, most would guess Tibet based on its shape/location, some would get Xia, none would get Dali (because I never mentioned them because they haven't been important at this point.) Plus as the scope zooms out to India/Japan faction/possibly Europe it gets kind of silly. And the primary purpose of the maps is to communicate information, natch. So I suppose I'll just do them all English from now on for that purpose.
@Stuyvesant: I made Yuan release it in our peace deal. I was going to keep marauding, but events in the next update made me go "Oh crap!" and sign a peace same-day just in case shit went down.
Edit: Oh yes, and hello everyone! Back from Thanksgiving vacation.
Yuan has such high RR and WE at this point that rebels soon bring them to their knees, and they don't have any coast for much longer. The war is pretty much won... so now it's time for the kingdoms to fight each other!@Tanzhang: Yeah, I was worried it'd look weird... while I could use Chinese names for Tibet and Xia, it will get harder and harder for readers to keep track of "minor" (or peripheral I guess) countries if their names aren't in English on the map. Like, if the map were unlabeled, I'd assume every reader could pick out Ming/Song/Yue, most would guess Tibet based on its shape/location, some would get Xia, none would get Dali (because I never mentioned them because they haven't been important at this point.) Plus as the scope zooms out to India/Japan faction/possibly Europe it gets kind of silly. And the primary purpose of the maps is to communicate information, natch. So I suppose I'll just do them all English from now on for that purpose.
@Stuyvesant: I made Yuan release it in our peace deal. I was going to keep marauding, but events in the next update made me go "Oh crap!" and sign a peace same-day just in case shit went down.
Edit: Oh yes, and hello everyone! Back from Thanksgiving vacation.
Chapter Six: Mindfulness
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness?
-The Dhammapada
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness?
-The Dhammapada
Mere hours after Lin'er's arrival in Hangzhou, Wangdue rushes to his side. The monk is furious about Lin'er's peace deal with the Yuan. He calls it a waste of paper, waste of ink. “In spite of your Buddhism,” he says, “rather, our Buddhism, we need to contain the Zhus' expansion westward, not liberate some dirt-farmers on the outskirts of China.” Lin'er shrugs him off. But he can't deny that Consort Li represents a very real threat to Song's existence. Wangdue makes the next move abundantly clear: either Lin'er must “forge more permanent ties” with Yue, or he must conquer them and annex their lands. The latter is totally out of the question. The former... the former is still a difficult choice to make, because it affects not him, but his son.
Han Kaiwang sits in his mother's lap, wrapping his arms around her for support. She runs her hand through the boy's hair and smiles at her husband. When Lin'er had first approached the child, he hid behind his mother's legs and had to be coaxed out just to look at him. But like any child, Kaiwang hungers for stories, and Lin'er is more than happy to tell them.
“...and they were good people, but the emperor was very, very mean to them. So I told the emperor he had to leave them alone.”
“Wow, Dad. What did the emperor say?”
Lin'er chuckles. “Well, he was mad. But he had to do what I said, because I was a lot stronger than him. So now the people in Xia have their own king who cares about them, and they're very happy, and the emperor can't be mean to them anymore.”
Kaiwang scrunches up his forehead. “So... if I'm strong, that means I can tell everybody what to do? And no one can stop me?”
“Well, it's more important to be nice and let everyone do what makes them happy. If you're mean, everyone will get together and make you stop.”
“But what if I'm stronger than all of them?”
Lin'er opens his mouth to reply, but a knock on the door cuts him off. One of his attendants enters. “I'm sorry, Sir. Wangdue Sengge requests your presence at the capitol immediately.”
“Tell him I'll be a minute.” The attendant bows in acknowledgment and backs out of the room. After the door closes, Lin'er says, “Ok, Dad has to go work now. Do you want to give me a hug?”
Kaiwang gasps and shrinks away. He clings to his mother and presses his face into her stomach. “It's ok, baby,” she says, petting the boy gently, “it's ok. You just met your dad. You need to get to know each other first, right?” The boy curls up tighter against his mother, half-nodding, half-quivering.
Lin'er reaches out to touch Kaiwang, but his wife takes his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Give him time,” she whispers.
“Very well,” he says, dejected. She's right, of course. But Lin'er can't stomach the idea that his own son fears him like a stranger. “We have to talk later.” He gestures meaningfully at Kaiwang. “In private.” He'd made his decision on the Yue question. He had Wangdue arrange the child's betrothal to the Yue king's eldest daughter. Before even meeting his son, he'd chosen his future wife.
Lin'er finds the monk sitting at a table with Jibi Zhenghu. The young man's face lights up when Lin'er enters the room. “Sir!” Discarding all sense of propriety, Zhenghu leaps out of his seat and embraces his king. “Sir, it's a relief to see you.”
Lin'er chuckles and musses the young officer's hair. “I heard of your exploits in the south. Very well done. You have a few new scars, too. Was the fighting hard?”
“We fought bravely. But nothing compared to your campaign for Dadu, Sir.”
Wangdue clears his throat. “Not to interrupt,” he says, scowling, “but there are more important things to discuss.” He slides a sheet of paper across the table.
Lin'er's eyes widen. He sits down opposite the monk, never taking his gaze off the chit. “Wh... what is th--”
“What does it look like? Consort Li goaded Dahan into declaring war. She joined the Ming up under the pretense of supporting her ally, dragged Zhou into the fight, and now expects us to join in as well.”
“This bears the seal of Dahan, not Ming.”
“As if there's a difference. She carries Zhu Zhengde in her pocket.”
Lin'er tosses the paper back. He shrugs. “Naturally, we refuse. We must protect the Yue. Levy the troops and send out the declaration of war.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“That would be an incredibly stupid--”
Lin'er slams his fist on the table. “What right do you have to speak that way to me?” He leaps out of his seat, eyes aflame, blood rushing to his cheeks. He points a finger at the spindly monk. “I am your king! You will do as I say!”
Zhenghu looks back and forth between the two men, never having seen Lin'er in a rage. Wangdue simply lifts one of his eyebrows. He picks at a cuticle. “Very well. I'll send the declaration. Tianwan is still neutral, so we need them to join the war against us as quickly as possible, and--”
“Do you mock me, monk?”
“--and I'll levy our twenty thousand men immediately, so they may die to the seventy thousand the Zhus will raise against us. It's imperative we lead the Song Kingdom to ruin, so that--”
“Silence! You would abandon the Yue! You're no man! You're a snake, without honor!”
“That's right. I have no honor! All I care about is the preservation of this kingdom, and if that means I must throw away my dignity, so be it! I won't let you and your idealistic fantasies destroy everything we've built!”
Lin'er glares at the holy man. “So you would forsake them.”
“No. If Consort Li conquers Yue, she will crush us right after. But we need to rebuild our levies, assist from the sidelines, and keep Tianwan neutral. Joining the war right now is suicide.” Wangdue stands and walks toward the exit. “We'll discuss it after you've calmed down.”
Lin'er doesn't say anything back. He can't still his mind. He tries to recall his teachings from the monastery, the serenity of meditation, his father's voice before the Yuan choked the life out of him... Han Shantong sacrificed his life for the White Lotus cause. He died for a greater good. But... he had his son to take up his mantle. Lin'er has no one, not yet.
He tries to see the situation with clear eyes. Maybe Wangdue is right. Maybe Lin'er does need to sacrifice his ideals, work behind the scenes to engineer a favorable outcome rather than charging into the fray to defend what is good and right. Or maybe he isn't cut out to rule a kingdom. The waters are too murky, there is no black and white like there was versus the Yuan. But if he lowers himself to Consort Li's level, scheming and plotting for his own kingdom's benefit, there's no moral reason why the Song should rise above the Ming. If they're all the same, does it even matter who comes out on top?
“Zhenghu...”
“Sir?”
“I don't know what I ought to do.”
A little moral murkiness is always good to set a tone
And I see that the power plays between the Chinese states are escalating...
And I see that the power plays between the Chinese states are escalating...
That was a great update! The moral choices, the conflict between ruler and monk, the tension building up for war. It's all so interesting!
On another note I do find all the Chinese warlords a bit confusing, but you've made it much more understandable, much easier to read, so thank you!
On another note I do find all the Chinese warlords a bit confusing, but you've made it much more understandable, much easier to read, so thank you!
There's the rub: once you start compromising your ideals, you're on a slippery slope. But if you rigidly follow your ideals, you'll end up crushed by more powerful, less scrupulous, forces. A tricky issue to wrestle with, and I hope Lin'er can find the golden middle.
I was already having a good day, then I saw that you had updated--a good one too...the only problem is that mostly it just makes me eager for the next one!
Your characters are really engrossing. Looking forward to see how Lin'er decides to react. Hopefully Zhenghu can help him see a way to reconcile his ideals with the realities Wangdue has made so apparent...
Your characters are really engrossing. Looking forward to see how Lin'er decides to react. Hopefully Zhenghu can help him see a way to reconcile his ideals with the realities Wangdue has made so apparent...