World Conquest Online

Dom, Subutai, Xun You and the Masked Gan Ning entered the temporary Headquarters, where Sun Quan and all of his Commanders were currently stood, including Sun Ce who had a large grin on his face. Everyone was there except for a few junior officers who manned the walls or were dealing with the Navy. Dom had left his new recruits with Tomoe and Tomyris at their temporary residence where they were preparing the forces for departure back to the fortress back in the lands of Sun Quan as agreed.

Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and Su Fei had all been tasked with speaking with their own men to see if they wished to join their commanders in returning to Riverside. Su Fei had already confirmed that he would be bringing a large number of Sailors, and Zhao Yun was confident that his Cavalry would also join. Huang Zhong’s had also promised a large number of his Archers and Swordsmen, but would also reach out to some of the other quality warriors that had surrendered as he was a respected General under Liu Biao’s authority.

"I have heard that enemy reinforcements were heading towards us, however they have now stopped around three miles north of us and are making no further progress forwards towards us." Zhou Yu explained to the large group of gathered commanders. Dom was glad to see that all of those he had seen the day before departure from the camp had survived the battle. "Our scouts estimate that there should be between fifteen and twenty thousand enemies, however with both our navy, military and new recruits we outnumber them and have the defensive position. I expect that they will decide to pull back and regroup."

"Our objective was to remove Huang Zu and weaken Liu Biao’s forces, we have done that successfully." Sun Quan stated, with a cheer rising from his Generals. With the young Gan Ning getting the most praise from Sun Quan as it was his idea and original plan that had forced this conflict in the first instance. Dom did however notice that there was a bit of a change in the room from when they departed, with some of the Generals seemingly gathered in smaller groups. He wasn’t sure why this was, but he suspected it was due to his own impacts and Sun Ce’s return.

"I am proposing that we return home and abandon Jiangxia that we have just captured." Zhou Yu stated, causing a commotion by loads of the Generals in the room, who shouted at the young Strategist, blaming his inexperience.

"Shut up and listen!" Sun Ce bellowed, defending his friend who seemed to still struggle to direct the older more experienced Generals at times.

"I am proposing this as Liu Biao will strike back to reclaim this town and we will take unnecessary losses defending the place. We haven’t brought enough forces to strike further in to the province as they are still reclaiming our own land. We remove the towns population, resources and ships." Zhou Yu explained as he put his hands up asking for silence, "Meaning that he has lost not only his navy which we can now call our own, but also his defences against us invading further in the future."

"I know it will surprise everyone, but I agree with Zhou Yu." Zhang Zhao stated, the statesman having arrived in the morning on a fast boat with an update for Sun Quan from their home province. "The objectives have been met, and we need to finish looking inwards first. When we return in the future, this land will fall much easier."

"I have also spoken with my brother." Sun Quan declared, taking over from his two main advisors. "The political landscape at the moment is on the edge of a knife, let’s pull back for now and reap the benefits in the near future."

The room went silent as the different Generals reacted in different ways, some whispered where as others nodded their head in agreement. Dom was happy to see that those that he had ear marked at joining Riverside seemed to be in agreement with the retreat, perhaps in their mind having already made a decision.

"It will take several days to pull everything out, and as per our agreement before this battle, we will not force any of the Jiangxia residents to come with us." Zhou Yu stated, "However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t be persuasive. It would be much better for them to return with us than stay in a city that will see more bloodshed in the future. They may also be accused of being traitors, and they wouldn’t wish to stay with that label."

"Liu Biao will not trust in residents that remain, with the potential for infighting in the future, it would be safer for the residents to leave." Zhang Zhao agreed. "I will write some proclamations and have them posted across the city."

"What is the timeframe?" Lu Su asked, a strategist that hadn’t joined for long but was well respected by Zhang Zhao, Zhou Yu and Sun Quan.

"I intend to return today with a small portion of our naval forces, all those that have been captured and have agreed to join us, as well as the majority of the officers." Zhou Yu replied, "This is so that we can best prepare for the next stages of our campaign. We have decided to leave behind two Generals, as a thank you for their valiant performances in the battle."

"Gan Ning, for coming up with the plan and leading the main forces I will leave you in charge of the task of emptying the city." Sun Quan declared, "Lu Meng, for your courage during the battle I will task you with defending the city until Gan Ning has completed his task. I expect this to take no longer than two weeks, as by then I suspect an Army will be on route."

Both Generals bowed in gratitude at his order, both were junior in comparison to the others but had performed well in the Naval battle, not that Dom had seen much of it. Dom however was grateful as neither of these were on his recruitment list. He already had Gan Ning and wasn’t sure what would happen if they met, as his stood awkwardly behind him with his mask.

"We will discuss rewards upon our return, but for now we need to discuss our losses and gains from this battle." Zhou Yu stated as he began to list out their gains. "We have lost around fifty ships and around two thousand naval personnel. This was mainly in the initial parts of the battle. However once the Trireme’s from Lord Lazarus had completed their strike, the battle quickly fell in to our rhythm. From then, our losses were surprisingly small and we have captured around eighteen thousand naval personnel, as well as three hundred ships of varying size. This does include four damaged Louchuan which we will tow with us for repairs."

"That is incredible." Dong Xi exclaimed as he stood leaning against a post near where Sun Ce was. Beside him was Ling Tong and the two had been in deep conversation when Dom had arrived.

"It is incredible." Sun Quan agreed, as he turned back to Zhou Yu to continue.

"This will make us the most dominant naval force in the land, and gives us a powerful tool to defend ourselves with. We also lost around five hundred warriors in our infantry, across the multiple skirmishes they were involved in, however we have captured close to twelve thousand from the running battles to Jiangxia and the conquest itself. This is in part due to the Marines support in the city battle and the quick capture of the eastern wall." Zhou Yu continued with a smile as he looked over at Cheng Pu who had a proud look on his face.

"Xun You, do you have anything to add from your forces?" Sun Quan asked, knowing that he had been the pulling everything together for Dom.

"A similar story, we have also captured and recruited around six hundred naval personnel and around one and a half thousand warriors, either on foot or horse." He replied with a smile, "However, we can discuss this further upon our return."

"We definitely shall." Zhou Yu agreed in a positive mood, knowing that even though Dom had brought the smallest amount of units, their contribution had been huge. Dom was already happy with his current recruits and now had enough crew to fully crew the rest of his Trireme’s that were under resourced. He would be happy if he could acquire some more, but such a large jump would cause headaches upon their return. Especially as there was already a much higher male population due to the varying Warriors Halls.

"We have captured several junior officers, as well as a collection of senior officers that we have decided to recruit." Sun Quan continued with a smile, causing some shock in the room as most expected Sun Quan’s anger towards Huang Zu would push for executions.

"We are in trying times and commanders is something that are hard to come by." Zhou Yu continued, "They will be under the watchful eye of others until we are confident in their skills and loyalty."

"Who did we catch?" Sun Ce asked with a grin, knowing he had contributed to some of it.

"Zhang Shou, Deng Long, Chen Jiu, Zhang Yun and Cai Zhong." Zhou Yu stated as he began to list off their names. "Zhang Shou, Deng Long, Chen Jiu and Zhang Yun were all captured during the initial naval assault, where as Cai Zhong was defending the western gate when it fell."

"Isn’t Cai Zhong the cousin of Cai Mao, the brother in law of Liu Biao?" Zhang Zhao asked from the side, which drew Dom’s attention as Cai Mao hadn’t mentioned him.

"He is, however he has expressed his discontent with the current infighting in the Liu family." Sun Quan grinned in response, "He has shared a lot of information that has been quite interesting, and is some of the reasons for coming to this decision."

"What was the reason?" Zhang Zhao questioned, his interest peaked.

"Liu Biao is ill, each of his sons Liu Cong and Liu Qi have their camps fighting against each other, whilst his distant relative Liu Bei is also involved." Zhou Yu replied in Sun Quan’s place, whilst Zhang Zhao nodded his head in thought as he realised that the province would indeed self implode in the coming months.

"That definitely gives us a lot to think about." Zhang Zhao agreed, "However, if we are aware of this, I suspect Cao Cao is also aware to the north. It could get very busy soon."

"That is why we must return and plan." Lu Su stated from the side, as he stepped forwards in thought. "This could be our opportunity."

"We shall discuss more after we have returned and celebrated." Zhou Yu stated, before turning to Dom. "Lord Lazarus, did you have any success with captives?"

"We captured several, including Zhao Yun and Huang Zu, both seasoned Generals." Dom replied, "We unfortunately were unable to capture Liu Ping and he lost his life, however we did also capture Su Fei."

"Su Fei is one of Huang Zu’s best commanders." Sun Quan commented. "I am unsure how I feel about him being in your camp."

"Lord Sun Quan." The Young Gan Ning said suddenly, with Lu Meng grabbing his shoulder. "Su Fei is a good man and a friend, please spare him on merits from this battle."

"That will be the decision of Lord Lazarus, as his forces captured him." Sun Quan replied, giving Dom a chance to help both Sun Quan and Gan Ning.

"We will take him with us, he had already agreed to join us after seeing the might of our ships." Dom replied, as both Sun Quan and Gan Ning seemed to relax at the response.

"Thank you Lord Lazarus." Gan Ning exclaimed as he put his head low in respect. The other Generals nodded in similar thanks at seeing how Dom seemingly done Gan Ning a favour. Whilst Dom had just done what he needed to make sure he recruited Su Fei.

"Then those that have not been asked to stay can prepare their forces for the return journey. General Cheng Pu, please head south towards the area you were delivered and we will have transport ships ferry you across." Zhou Yu stated, "We will meet back at the camp in two days."