World Conquest Online

The group from Riverside chatted amongst themselves at the feast before Sun Quan and Zhou Yu joined them with some of the senior Generals. They all seemed in positive spirits and Dom was hoping that their plans were working.

"After seeing General Tomoe fight, we thought it would be worth spending a day tomorrow combining our forces." Zhou Yu put forwards, "We could learn about your ship tactics, whilst also seeing how our land forces can work with your Cavalry."

"That sounds like a great idea." Xun You replied, as chief strategist to chief strategist. "We have plenty to show you and it would definitely help if we to succeed."

"Will this not have any impacts on our time frames?" Subutai asked, feigning no knowledge of the earlier conversation.

"They shouldn’t be aware that we are intending to attack them tomorrow." Zhou Yu replied, "A day or two to postpone may be for the best so we can cement our tactics."

"Are all of your Generals as exceptional as General Tomoe?" Sun Quan asked seriously.

"Well you know your brothers fighting style already." Dom laughed, "But Tomyris, Liao Hua and our Masked General here are all talented fighters. General Subutai is an excellent archer and could probably show some of his skills."

"That would be excellent." Sun Quan beamed, the day going from good to better, before turning to Sun Ce, "It is a shame our Sister isn’t here, she has a huge passion for fighting and I am sure she would love to learn some skills from General Tomoe and General Tomyris. We do not usually have our women as our Generals."

"If you do not mind me saying it, but you are missing out on great potential there." Tomyris smiled politely.

"After watching General Tomoe, I can’t disagree." Sun Quan replied kindly, "However, it is hard to change the way things are done. One or two talented Generals aren’t going to change the way millions of people think."

"That is very true." Zhou Yu agreed. "I thought it best to let our Generals all meet each other in a relaxed manner like this, before meeting tomorrow morning for some initial tactics discussions?"

"I would completely agree." Dom smiled in response as he nodded towards his own to disperse and talk with those that had been brought by Sun Quan and Zhou Yu. He knew that they would target specific Generals that had been discussed earlier and Dom hoped that their plans to forge strong relationships and try to delay the launch of the battle were working.

Dom stayed with Sun Ce, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu whilst the rest dispersed as Subutai targeted Cheng Pu and Xun You targeted a young clerk called Lu Ji, after a brief discussion with Gan Ning and Sun Ce. Lu Ji himself was scholarly and Sun Ce said that he had an impressive mind even with such a young age that even Zhang Zhao struggled to keep up with. Gan Ning explained that he didn’t reach his potential whilst he was still here so they discussed trying to persuade him to join them as well. The other important factor was having the knowledge that his slightly older cousin, Lu Xun, was also a future key part of the Sun forces that hadn’t fully developed yet and would be subjugating lands near by as part of the wider Pacification project. If they could persuade Lu Ji then he may be able to persuade Lu Xun if he was one of the invited Generals, Officials or member of the Sun family.

Dom took a seat at the top of the table, beside Sun Ce, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu as they discussed the development of the lands that Sun Quan had claimed so far, Sun Ce listened on proudly, whilst Dom pointed out some flaws or gave some minor advice based on his own knowledge of either history or other kingdoms across history.

"Your key will be establishing strong allies as the north is growing at a fast rate." Dom explained, "However, the Rivers that separate you are a strong natural defence that you should prioritise."

"The Rivers are our home." Zhou Yu agreed, "We should establish forts across them and strengthen our internal affairs, we have much land left to pacify and that is taking up many talented generals times."

"But, it is also giving them an opportunity to grow, which is rare in times of peace." Sun Ce added.

"These lands are full of capable people, so as long as you nurture and grow them, you will be a force to be reckoned with." Dom replied seriously.

"I am sure that my brother has an eye on a few of them himself." Sun Quan teased in a friendly tone.

"I can’t deny it brother, but if any choose that future, then we will supplement them with good commanders that we will catch in the coming days." Sun Ce laughed in response.

"Are they not already ours?" Sun Quan asked, trying to pry some information out of Dom and Sun Ce, both of whom declined a reply, which caused Sun Quan and Zhou Yu to laugh.

"How are our brothers?" Sun Ce asked, whilst Dom listened in. Both of them already had an idea on what the future held for the other Sun siblings and Sun Ce wanted to drop some hints in to conversation to protect them if possible.

"Shibi is no longer with us." Sun Quan replied in a saddened tone, "I am still surprised you chose me as your heir over him. He was betrayed by some of his men, we lost a few good men due to this betrayal. His wife got revenge though and I am looking after her."

"Lady Xu is am impressive woman." Zhou Yu explained. "She planned behind their backs and caused their downfalls. Their son Sun Song is growing up amongst the younger generation of our family, and is showing talent even at a young age."

"If the opportunity comes, I will adopt him and take him with me." Sun Ce replied seriously, "If he is anything like our brother Sun Yi then I want him with me."

"Sun Yi was the most like you, we will see that it is done." Sun Quan agreed whole heartedly, firstly as it was one less descendant to compete with in the future and secondly as he knew how close Sun Ce and Sun Yi were. "Sun Shou is looking after their area now, he is doing well?"

"Already, he isn’t even twenty! I knew I should have adopted him, he always showed talent!" Sun Ce laughed back, happy with some positive news.

"You gave him the family name, that is enough." Sun Quan replied with a smile, before continuing. "Jizuo is doing well, he has a son now called Sun Tie with his wife, Cao Cao’s niece, like you arranged."

"Do you think he’ll amount to anything?" Sun Ce asked, having missed years of his siblings growth.

"I am doubtful." Zhou Yu explained openly, "But he is doing what he can to continue your families blood."

"So he likes spending time with his wife then?" Dom asked jokingly, which caused a laugh between the others.

"I would have to agree with that!" Sun Quan laughed, but Dom understood that he was most likely restricted from positions so that he couldn’t compete against Sun Quan if there was any family disputes. It was great having siblings, but when you were striving for power, if there was any potential for internal strife, it was best to reduce their power.

"What about Zao’an?" Sun Ce asked, already aware and saddened about Sun Yi, but happy to hear that his other full blood brother was doing well.

"Sun Lang has just turned eighteen and is learning in the north of our territory." Zhou Yu replied in Sun Quan’s place, the answer being clear that he was also pushed away to he couldn’t be a cause of internal strife. Sun Lang was born from a different mother than the other brothers and didn’t have the same blood hierarchy as them.

"Sun Shangxiang is still fighting against her role in life, she has two hundred trained female guards and is often duelling against someone in our home." Sun Quan laughed loudly, "Where as little Sun Xiao is still growing up, but we are trying to stop her from following her older sister."

"That would be for the best!" Sun Ce laughed in return. Dom wondered if Sun Shangxiang was a similar person in mind to Tomoe, but it was clear that the elder brothers doated on their sisters compared to their brothers.

The four continued to talk and laugh late in to the night, with the other officers avoiding them so as to not interrupt Sun Quan and Dom’s bonding.

"It feels great being with family again." Sun Ce smiled, "Lord Lazarus is like a long lost brother, and here I am with my actual brother and my sworn brother."

"Lord Lazarus does feel like a member of family, long removed but returned to us." Sun Quan agreed, a sense of alcohol in his words, before putting his hand on Dom’s shoulder. "It will be a shame when you leave, I feel like I have met a friend for life."

Dom appreciated the response and whole heartedly agreed with him. The Sun Generals so far had been very welcoming, but Sun Quan and Zhou Yu were both impressive people who he could imagine spending a lot of time with.

The night soon came to a close, with those from Riverside making their way back to their part of the camp. Escorted by their Batavi Guards who had remained watchful throughout the long night. A small wall had been built around their part of the camp, with some of the Hoplite crew having learnt the skills from the Legionaries.

It was an impressive tactic that had ben created, where the ship crews would build a temporary camp on land, similar to the ones the Legionaries build on campaign, however they could store most of the key materials in the ships. They had even discussed creating naval squadrons with one ship’s hold being dedicated to a roaming camp. Himilco had even discussed creating a mechanism that allowed them to transform a ship in to a mini fort.

Centurion Banas welcomed their return with a cheeky grin on her face when she saw the state of some of the Generals, specifically Dom, Sun Ce and Liao Hua who had definitely drank more than planned. The others were definitely in different forms of inebriation, but not at the same levels. Subutai laughed when he saw her face.

"Thanks for looking after the forces." Subutai thanked as he passed her.

"My pleasure!" She teased in response. "It seems like it was a good night."

"We performed our roles, tomorrow it is your turn." He replied, causing her to grin even more, she was excited to demonstrate how good her detachment was.

...

Dom awoke in his command tent, a slight pain in his head from the drinking the night before, but he felt it was worth it. Their tactic to build strong relations to slow down the pace of the battle seemed to have worked, as the day was now set as a collaborative training day, rather than a day to head towards the place of battle.

Dom quickly changed, with the help of his new head guard Actumerus, before heading towards out of the fort with his small escort to the hill that they had met the Sun Family greeting party the day earlier. Zhou Yu, Sun Quan, Xun You and Sun Ce were already waiting for him with some of the other Sun Officers, as they looked down at both the river in front of them and the open ground below the hill.

Tomoe, Liao Hua and Subutai had left with their Cavalry earlier in the morning to do some joint demonstrations with Cheng Pu, Lu Meng and several of the other commanders on the open ground. With the aim to see how the land forces of the Sun Family could incorporate some of the Riverside tactics in the coming battle. Centurion Banas had been given the instruction to go all out by Subutai and was out performing the Archers from the Sun Family.

The group watched on, with many praises were thrown towards the skills of the Horse Archers and Lancers that were being directed by Subutai and Liao Hua. There was also a lot of fear at how deadly the unit could be, especially as this was just a minor force. The biggest fears however were about the Sabre Tooth Cavalry that didn’t need to demonstrate their might and just performed some simple manoeuvres that caused the Sun Warriors that trained beside them to shy away in fear.

"If we had Cavalry like this, we could eventually expand to the central plains." Sun Quan exclaimed as he watched them, "I have heard of the Cavalry in the north and even they would struggle against a large force of these."

Tomoe was currently having a mock duel against Cheng Pu, as requested the day earlier by Subutai. She was letting the experienced General take the lead, but was making sure to keep him on the backfoot. Her martial talent was impressing all of the Sun Officers who wished that she could join them permanently.

After watching the Land forces, they soon switched to the River, where the Masked Gan Ning and Tomyris were showing the skills of the two adapted Trireme. They weren’t intending to cause damage to any of the Sun ships, however when a smaller Mengchong got too close, two Titanaconda’s quickly appeared and pushed the ship out of the way. The appearance of the two giant snakes caused panic across the Officers, but when Sun Ce, Dom and Xun You laughed, they realised that this was another of the hidden pieces from Riverside.