World Conquest Online

Liao Hua listened as Guan Yu discussed some of the battles he had fought in since he joined forces with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, occasionally he mentioned other Generals who fought alongside him, with Liao Hua recognising some of the names from his own times as a Yellow Turban. He realised that the intimidating General was a genuine person and enjoyed listening to his stories.

Guan Yu occasionally cast a strange eye over Liao Hua as they talked, but never mentioned anything to him as to why, instead he stood with his Glaive in hand and continued to look towards Jiangxia as they spoke, as if waiting for a situation to arise.

Eventually, the situation did arise as a group of riders approached them at a fast speed. A thoughtful grin appeared on Guan Yu’s face, whilst Liao Hua also knew who was approaching. Around one hundred horsemen were running at full speed in their direction, with an older General at the front in heavy armour and a younger one beside him who seemed extremely anxious.

"General Guan Yu! It is great to see you!" The older General shouted in surprise as he saw Guan Yu and his men blocking the road, relief in his mind that an ally was there who could take him away.

"And you Huang Zu." Guan Yu replied politely as the party approached, slowing slightly as they did. The General Huang Zu seemed to look at Guan Yu with a deep look, before he looked around at Liao Hua and the Cavalry at the sides, he seemed to naturally drop his shoulders as he and the younger General approached them.

"We need to head to Liu Biao and let him know that Jiangxia has fallen, our Navy is lost and the Sun Clan have infiltrated our province. If we do not move soon, they could push further in to the province." General Huang Zu declared, frustration and sweat on his face as he approached. However his eyes looked at Guan Yu pleadingly, urging him to let them past.

"I understand." Guan Yu replied politely with a nod of his head, as he raised his Glaive quickly and swung it as the unsuspecting Huang Zu, taking his head straight from his shoulders. He then quickly roared and ordered to his men, "Surround and capture the rest!"

Guan Yu’s men quickly encircled Huang Zu’s small cavalry and the Young General, who fainted and fell from his horse. One of Guan Yu’s soldiers retrieved Huang Zu’s head and brought it to Guan Yu, who looked down at it with a saddened expression, before handing it to Liao Hua.

"You killed the enemy Commander and have gained merit." Guan Yu declared, as the enemy soldiers were disarmed. "Leave no witnesses, kill the rest of them."

Guan Yu’s men listened to his order, quickly killing all of the enemy riders who had dismounted and were unarmed, some with their throats sliced, where as others were stabbed through the chest by multiple people. Guan Yu then looked down at the unconscious younger General and turned to Liao Hua who watched on in silence.

"Do you want to execute him or shall I?" Guan Yu asked, but Liao Hua felt that it wasn’t a question but an order. In Liao Hua’s mind he could hear Guan Yu warning him that if you kill him, you agree with my story, but if you don’t then I may have to get rid of you as well.

"I’ll do it." Liao Hua replied as he climbed from his horse, handing his reigns to one of the Female Horse Archers who watched on in contemplating silence, the rest prepared to break free and back to Jiangxia if Guan Yu changed his stance.

"Please, don’t!" The young General shouted, quickly wakening and seeing the deaths around him. "The Battle of is over, you can let me live. Please General Guan Yu, we treated you well."

"Young Huang She, I am doing this for the people, it is not personal." Guan Yu replied, as Liao Hua raised his sword and swung it down, taking Huang She’s head. Guan Yu looked at him and smiled reassuringly. "You remind me of someone I know well, almost as if you are his younger brother. Take the heads and enjoy the Victory."

After Guan Yu said that, he signalled for his men to follow as they all turned and marched off in to the distance, leaving Liao Hua and his small detachment stunned at the last few minutes. Liao Hua didn’t understand why Guan Yu had done what he had, but Liao Hua would be the one who had to deal with it. He ordered one of the Sun Cavalry that was with him to grab the heads and then moved his own detachment back to Jiangxia. Still in confusion at Guan Yu’s actions.

.....

The sun had soon set by the time that Jiangxia was fully pacified, all enemy soldiers had now been found and captured, with the majority easily surrendering and avoiding a conflict. Zhou Yu had been working tirelessly on securing the remaining enemy navy both in the River and those that had been docked, causing him and Xun You to only just arrive ashore with Sun Quan.

Dom had passed on the information from Cai Mao that reinforcements had been requested and that a small detachment under a general called Wen Ping may be on route, so Lu Meng had been dispatched to defend the walls whilst they rested for the night. The Civilian populace had been fed and treated well, but a curfew had been put in place whilst the Sun Family and their allies made sure the city was fully secured and so their Warriors could rest.

Liao Hua had returned from the north with the heads of Huang Zu and Huang She, having explained the situation to Dom who was currently sat on his horse near a warehouse at the eastern wall. Sun Ce had found the large warehouse by the eastern wall, and had made it the Riverside headquarters for the night. The two Trireme under Gan Ning and Tomyris had also found space on the dock, with the Sun Family Navy treating them as heroes of the River Battle.

Dom’s Warriors were all currently resting in the warehouse, whilst some of the naval crews stayed on their ships and did some basic repairs. The Tigers and Horses were also stationed outside with a small group currently cleaning them, tending to wounds and feeding them. The four Titanaconda’s were in a smaller warehouse next door, where they were all being given care similar to the Cavalry.

"So Guan Yu killed them both?" Dom asked again, his voice feigning surprise whilst the other Generals around him listened. Subutai, Sun Ce, Tomoe, Tomyris and Gan Ning were all gathered as Xun You was currently aiding Zhou Yu. As well as the Riverside Generals, Zhao Yun, Su Fei and Huang Zhong were sat with them as well, whilst Cai Mao was still with them as a temporary prisoner. Dom needed to make a decision on what to do with Cai Mao, either free him as promised, give him to Sun Quan to weaken Liu Biao or contemplate recruiting him.

Sun Ce had jumped up when Liao Hua had entered, taking the heads from him and staring at them intently, mixed emotions flashing across his face as the news that he had helped get revenge for his dead father Sun Jian. He handed them back to Liao Hua as they were his gains and waited impatiently beside Dom.

"He did, he didn’t give an explanation as to why he did it, it surprised me and my cavalry." Liao Hua stated, "However, we didn’t lose anyone in what could have been a deadly clash, so I am grateful."

"As am I." Dom agreed, knowing that Guan Yu had done it for two reasons. His first reason was to weaken Liu Biao as suspected, where as the second was to free Zhao Yun from anything holding him back. Dom did look towards Zhao Yun who seemed to have a more relaxed look on his face after hearing Liao Hua’s explanation. "Let’s go take these to Sun Quan."

The others agreed and Dom, Liao Hua and Sun Ce quickly mounted there horses, whilst the Batavi Emperors Guards followed them. Subutai stated that he would stay behind and chat with the newcomers whilst Gan Ning and Tomyris were happy for the rest. Dom decided to leave Cai Mao behind for now and deal with that situation in the morning, which Cai Mao was grateful for. Part of him was hoping that Wen Ping would arrive soon and he could agree an accidental escape with Dom.

They soon arrived at a temporary headquarters that had been set up near the River. Dom was surprised they hadn’t set up in Huang Zu’s headquarters, but the building was currently being torn apart by the Warriors as they searched for documents and valuables. The Top floor had been left alone for now, with the promise they could search it in the morning.

"Are those what I think they are?" Sun Quan asked with wide eyes and a huge smile as he saw what was in Liao Hua’s hands.

"Brother, father can finally rest." Sun Ce replied with a smile, as he walked towards his brother and embraced him, with both brothers shedding a silent tear in happiness. Zhou Yu looked on with pride, whilst some of the other gathered Generals did the same thing. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Your father would be proud." Cheng Pu stated to them both as they left their embrace and Sun Quan bowed his head in gratitude to Dom first and then Liao Hua.

"General Liao Hua, if you was my General I would promote you in rank and reward you with land of two hundred households!" Sun Quan declared happily, before laughing, "I suppose I should be grateful you aren’t my General!"

All those in the room laughed at the comment, whilst Dom internally thought that if they could take that reward they would. Many of the other Generals praised Liao Hua whose face started to go red, however they had agreed amongst them that they would keep Guan Yu’s actions a secret. Sun Ce had happily agreed as he knew that his brother currently needed Liu Bei and his forces to get stronger, for now.

"It is getting late and we all need rest." Zhou Yu declared to the group, "I have arranged rotating guards on the walls, as well as patrols through out the city. Tonight we shall sleep and in the morning we shall gather and agree our next steps."

"And feast, tomorrow we will feast!" Sun Quan added, which received a cheer from the Generals in the room.

The Generals all left the room one by one, either heading to ships or buildings that had been temporarily taken over whilst the Sun forces were in Jiangxia. Sun Ce explained that he would stay behind, whilst Xun You joined Dom and Liao Hua on their return to their camp.

Dom could hear laughter from inside when they opened the door, as Su Fei and Gan Ning were telling tales of their youth when they first fought against the Sun forces themselves, and how Gan Ning had made some mistakes in his earlier pirate career when he was a young teen.

"If it wasn’t for me, he would still be a failure of a pirate!" Su Fei joked, with Subutai, Tomyris, Tomoe, Huang Zhong, Cai Mao and Zhao Yun laughing. The three new recruits had never met prior to this battle and it was a good opportunity for them to bond.

"Welcome back Lord Lazarus!" Tomyris laughed as they entered, before she got up and headed towards Xun You, giving him a hug and begging him to not have her do any more ship battles in the future.

"We didn’t bring any Infantry though!" Xun You laughed, "And you said you wanted to come."

"Next time tell me no!" She stated in a more serious tone, as Tomoe began laughing harder at her fellow Heroes tone.

"I’m not that brave." Xun You seceded, which caused the rest to laugh even more.

"I think I will stay in Noctus in the future and look after he north west." Tomyris said to herself, causing Tomoe and Gan Ning to both laugh.

"Before we get started, I would like to make some introductions." Dom announced as the group was all together apart from Sun Ce. "This is our Chief Strategist Xun You. Xun You, please meet three of our new recruits, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and Su Fei. The fourth is Cai Mao, Lord Liu Biao’s brother in law, who is currently our honoured guest."

The four all greeted Xun You, who returned the greetings. Whilst Cai Mao and Zhao Yun both looked at Xun You with deep looks.

"Did you work for Lord Yuan Shao and Lord Cao Cao?" Zhao Yun asked in a serious tone, having recognised the name and having a feeling of familiarity.

"That must be a relative of mine." Xun You replied with a slight lie, whist Gan Ning began to laugh. Liao Hua also shared a similar look as Zhao Yun had asked him a similar suspecting question earlier.

"When we return to your new home, you will understand everything." Dom added, as the four of them seemed to question what was taking place. Cai Mai listened on as part of the group, still hopefully that he would be able to leave soon. Subutai quickly changed the conversation away, celebrating the victory and new friends.