POV: HANFU SONG - GENERAL OF THE IMPERIAL FORCES
LOCATION: SONG'S FAMILY MANOR AND THE CRANNIES
TIME: EARLY MORNING TILL THE NIGHT.
Early the next morning you mount your prized brown stallion at the head of over five hundred men and head towards the crannies with an unwavering anger and a desire to kill. You can see He Jin by your side who seems just as angry about the whole thing as you are as well as Zhu Jun who is quite non chalant about the entire affair.
"And are certain we will catch him off guard by this time Wenchu?" He asks He Jin for the sixteenth time
"I sort of feel as though we are riding into a trap"
"Would you relax Yizhen?" He Jin boomed
"The bastard prince is never awake at this time."
"And even if he is, do you think we have anything to fear from common farmers armed with sticks?" You add hotly
"If these 'farmers' killed your men then I have every reason to fear." Zhu Jun counters
Immediately you pull your horse to a stop and turn to Zhu Jun with your hand on your sword hilt and dark thoughts in your mind.
"Are you questioning the capability of my men?" Your voice turns dark
"What he is questioning is if you wish to alert our prey before we even have a chance to hunt?" He Jin boomed
"You better calm down He Jin. We are close enough for him to hear our voices."
"Then why are we still trotting?" You ask and set off to a mad gallop.
Seconds later the land begins to rumble as five hundred horses quickly follow your footsteps.
You ride faster and faster,
enjoying the fresh wind blowing in your face.
You round every conner,
the smell of blood becoming stronger.
You turn to your side,
your charging companions giving you strength.
You finally charge down the crannies...
and desperately pull your horse to a stop in order to avoid a firm and deadly row of spears and shields.
"I told you I felt a trap." Zhu Jun whispers fiercely to you
"Where is your leader?" You ask the red armoured men bearing the spears and shields.
The red armoured men did not answer you.
"I said where is your leader?" You cry
"I am right here He Jin." You turn to see the bastard prince behind another line of spears and shields which comes in through the only entrance that you just used.
They hid outside and waited for us to enter?
Smart
"Was this all you could muster He Jin?" The scorn in his voice galling on your nerves.
"I expected more?"
"Just as you expect your father to protect you?" He Jin counters
"It will not happen this time little one."
"Take a look at the situation He Jin." He responds with a wave of his hand
"Am I the one who looks in need of protection?"
Your eyes roams around the battle field and you quickly see what he means.
"Do you think your puny spears can stop my horses?" He Jin cries out in what you know to be false bravado
"I can charge them down if I wish."
"Can you?" He simply asks
"If you charge right now, your horses will not have enough momentum to break my shields and even you did your men will die in droves due to the spears pointed at them. Not to mention you will still need to watch your rear because I am sure the rest of my men will not stand back from the fight. Do you think any of you will survive a fight like that?"
"Where are my men?" You ask as you lose interest in their little squabble
The prince turns to one of his men and whisperes to him. The man then leaves and later returns with the dead bodies of your men neatly arranged and prepared for the burial rituals. You dismount from your horse to inspect them yourself and you quickly notice that all is complete about your men aside from on little thing.
"Where are their tongues?" You ask
He simply points towards a direction and when you look towards it, you see three different colored cubs feasting on something that was either roasted or cooked.
"You fed the tongues of my men to your dogs?" You cry
"How dare you!! How dare you!!!!"
You angrily draw your sword and the one hundred men follows suit.
"Your men came into my land and saw it fit to insult my people and you expect me to ignore that?" He yells back
"Show them death!!!"
Immediately the roofs that were between the two armies, roofs that you had hardly taken notice of becomes filled to the brim with archers aiming their deadly arrows at man and horse alike.
"You know if it was just He Jin who came here, I would have had no problems wiping him and his men off the face of the land." The prince declares boldly.
"However, the people views you as an upright man general Hanfu Song. It would be a grave error if I were to kill such a man."
He then walks forward from his wall of spears untill he is very close to you.
"We both know this will not end well for you Hanfu Song so why don't you take your men and go." He says gently
"Will you sacrifice all these men for your vengeance?"
You look from your living men to your dead men and the weight of the decision tells on your shoulders.
"Fine." You finally reply
"We will leave for now but mark my words young prince we will return."
You watch your men carry your dead men and you turn your horse to leave.
"Are you really leaving like a coward Yizhen?" Hanfu Song asks
"Meet me in my home in six hours." You coldly reply
"I will show you why people who dare to challenge me do not live very long."
Before long the land rumbles again as you and your men speed down the way you came in order to arrive at the place you call home.
Your face was pale with grief
Your mind was red with vengeance
Your heart was black with death
The young prince better beware
..............................
Many hours later you are at the heart of your evening meal when your head servant approaches you.
"My lord, He Jin and Zhu Jun are here to see you."
"Let them in."
The servant leaves and returns with He Jin who bears an eager look and Zhu Jun who as usual is non challant about the affair
"We are all here because you said you had a plan to get rid of the bastard prince." He Jin begins
"Am I to assume that you called us here to tell us?"
"Yes." You say simply
"Please seat"
They take their seats and you order your servants to bring them tea.
Once the tea is brought you take a sip of it and begin to speak
"Brothers and friends upon my return from the crannies this morning, I realized that it would be the height of folly to attack the bastard prince with my own men."
"And why is that?" Zhu Jun asks with an obvious annoyance.
"The prince obviously has the emperor's favor does he not?" You ask them both
"Do you think the emperor will seat back and watch his favoured son be attacked?"
"So what now?" He Jin questions with suppressed anger
"You will just simply ignore the deaths of your men?"
"Did you hear me say that Wenchu?" You could feel your rising temper.
"I simply said that I will not attack the young prince WITH MY OWN MEN"
"Then have you found someone willing to attack the bastard prince in your stead?" Zhu Jun asks
You smile slyly and say
"Why find them when we can buy them?"
The two men glance at each other and their eyes widen in realization.
"Mercenaries?" They both echo
You shake your head and turn towards He Jin
"The emperor plans to send you against bandits dose he not?" You ask
"Who are they?"
"The white wave bandits that has been operating around the capital." He responds casually then his eyes widened
"Are you telling us that you hired the white wave bandits?"
You nod
"And come tonight all six thousand of their number will avenge my men and kill the bastard prince for me."
"And then?" Zhu Jun asks
"Then what?"
"How much will you be paying the bandits?" He continues
You break out a very cunning smile
"Who says I will be paying them?" You reply much to the confusion of the two men
"Are you sure that will be a wise decision Yizhen?" He Jin queries.
"Do you know what will happen when word of the bandit attack on the crannies spread?" You ask back
" The emperor would issue a call to arms to all his generals in order to save his son and since our guards are already prepared, then we will be the first to ride out in full force against whatever will be left of the bandits by the time they are done fighting against the bastard prince men. That way not only will we get rid of that poisonous swine but....."
"We will also gain the emperor's favor as well." He Jin completes with joy
"Ha ha ha!!! Well done Yizhen. Just what I expected from you."
"Impressive general. Very impressive." Zhu Jun admits as he sips his tea
"Though I just have one question for you. (He sips his tea again) When do you think the call to arms will come?"
You are about to answer him but your head servant interrupts when he walks up to the table and bows low to all of you.
"Apologies my lords but there is someone outside who wishes to see you."
"A messanger of the emperor?" You ask with a bright smile
"So he says my lord."
You turn to see the smiles on the faces of the others.
"Let him in" you command
Before long the servant returns with a short man who is dressed in an awkward manner and whose face was covered with a hood. He walks up to you in a supremely confident manner, pulls out a parchment scroll from his sleeve and begins to recite the famous words.
"General Hanfu Song, receive the words of the message."
You all fall to your knees and bow your heads and he hands you the scroll.
However when you bend down to open the scroll, you find much to your surprise that the scroll is totally empty.
"An empty scroll from the son of heaven?" Zhu Jun questions in suppressed fury
"Did you mean to insult the emperor?"
"Did I say that the message came from the emperor?" The messanger counters in a familiar tone.
"Take off your hood." You order
With a slight smile the short messanger took off his hood and you could see the youthfulness of his face, the cruelty in his eyes and that cunning smile that has been hunting you since the sight of your dead men earlier that morning.
"Gettings uncle song." He says gently
"Where you expecting some one else."