World Conquest Online

Dom headed straight for his own camp, passing many Warriors who watched him in awe, the word already spreading that he had married the elder daughter of the Sun family and was one of the main contributors of the Victory in Jiangxia. He decided to head to his own camp first before doing anything else, to check on the progress of his small fleet and his warriors, before heading to meet with Sun Quan at his headquarters.

"Young Lord Lazarus, please wait!" A voice called from behind him, as he saw Zhang Zhao heading towards him, walking a brisk pace and followed by a couple of guards. Dom halted at the sight of him, seeing that he had tired eyes and had obviously not had much sleep. "Are you heading to your camp?"

"I am Zhang Zhao, is there anything that you need?" Dom asked, as Zhang Zhao began walking towards Dom’s camp with him.

"I am heading there to speak with erm," He said, before whispering to Dom, "Gan Ning."

"To discuss the Trireme plans?" Dom asked him with a knowing smile, the Sun family knew that Dom would be leaving shortly and were trying to get as much information as possible. Those that knew of Gan Ning’s existence had kept it quiet, even if the situation confused them as much as Sun Ce’s survival.

"That is definitely one of the reasons!" He smiled in response, "However, I am also trying to get some basic information on the developments over the next couple of years, I am hoping they will help us be better prepared, especially as you are taking some of our commanders."

"You have recruited some new ones though!" Dom replied with a laugh, "However, I know what you mean, we will do what we can."

"I appreciate that, thank you!" Zhang Zhao said seriously, "Our new recruits can not compare to Cheng Pu, but if you can give us some direction then it shouldn’t matter who has left."

"You seem rather panicked?" Dom asked him realising that he seemed overly eager to get this done.

"Sun Ce has mentioned something to Zhou Yu." He explained, looking at Dom seriously. "I do not know what he has said, but Zhou Yu has been acting strange all morning. I need to know what the changes are, Zhou Yu is young, but he has shown he is capable many times."

"Come, let’s head to the camp and look at the Trireme’s for now, we can talk about the rest later." Dom replied in a reassuring tone, which Zhang Zhao seemed to appreciate.

Dom happily escorted Zhang Zhao to the camp, where he headed directly to the Calypso, where a large group of Sun Generals, Ship Builders and Gan Ning were stood and chatting as Gan Ning gave them a tour and showed them some drawings. Su Fei and Ling Tong were also with them, but learning about the ship for their own knowledge, rather than the reasons the others were there.

After arriving, Dom headed in to his own headquarters, where Subutai and Xun You were sat with Tomyris and having a discussion of their own. Dom was surprised that less Generals were here but assumed they were preparing things for departure. This was the first time that they had time to prepare at the end of a quest, as they knew they were leaving, or at least assumed so.

"Good morning Lord Lazarus, how was your evening with your new bride?" Subutai asked in a teasing tone, whilst Xun You rolled his eyes and Tomyris smiled.

"It was great, thanks." Dom replied, trying to move the conversation on, "Where is everyone?"

"Our Naval Officers are at the Calypso giving a tour." Xun you explained, before continuing. "Liao Hua and Tomoe are with Cheng Pu, they are trying to negotiate who is coming with us and who is staying here out of Cheng Pu’s forces, they have been given the option and there is negotiation about families amongst the many complexities. Huang Zhong is being rather cruel, but I didn’t disagree with him, he is putting all of our forces together that are definitely coming with us and taking them for a morning run outside of the camp."

"That explains why the place feels so empty, does that include the Cavalry as well?" Dom asked with a raised eyebrow, having seen some horses tied up but no Horse Archers.

"Yeah, Banas was grumbling after she drank a lot last night, but the Cavalry are currently foot soldiers. He said he doesn’t care if they are man or woman, but they would be running this morning." Subutai laughed from the side. "I think we have our new head of training."

"He is a force to be reckoned with." Tomyris laughed, "I thought he was going to ask me to do it as well."

"He wouldn’t dare." Xun You countered with a laugh, Tomyris was extremely fit and hard her own daily training regime, before continuing. "Zhao Yun is on Civilian Duty, he is currently going through the different Civilians who are coming with us and assigning them a ship to join, we have been given a few more transport ships from the Sun Family."

"What about the additional ships they promised us?" Dom asked, happy that everything was progressing well so far.

"The ones that were part of your marriage deal?" Subutai asked with a grin.

"Yes those ones!" Dom replied, shaking his head with a smile.

"They will be arriving later, supposedly there has been some disagreements internally. Sun Ce visited us this morning and said there was nothing to worry about, if anything it was in our favour." Xun You explained.

"I will have to trust in him then!" Dom said as took a seat. "It’s been a busy few days."

"I agree, I think we will need a rest before we decide to do another quest. Especially with our upcoming decision of Plataea and Mycale." Xun You agreed, "I have arranged for us to meet with Lord Sun Quan in around three hours. I expect the meeting will take another hour or so on top of it."

"There will be less in attendance than planned, the Sun Family and their chief Generals will attend, whilst we will take a smaller number as we have lots to prepare still if we want to maximise everything we can take." Subutai explained, "We just need to agree who we take."

"You, Xun You, Gan Ning and myself then." Dom replied to Subutai, "I will leave Tomyris in charge as she is the most senior in command after you two."

"I’ll make sure that everything is in place before we leave." Tomyris agreed as she stretched herself and went to leave the tent. "Lucius and Shang Yang are not going to know what to do when we return."

"Based on our past experiences, Lucius will be overly excited at some new seeds or plants, whilst Shang Yang will stroke his chin and assign the work to someone else." Subutai replied as he also sat down, whilst Tomyris at the door, Xun You and Dom all laughed in agreement. "I do miss those two, what we are making feels like a real home."

"It is our home." Tomyris agreed with a slightly sad smile as she left the tent and closed the door.

"Is she ok?" Dom asked Xun You and Subutai, slightly worried.

"She has seen the happiness on Sun Ce and Xiao Qiao’s faces. Even Gan Ning has been excited at times." Xun You explained, "One of the other options was her quest. I think she is now regretting not fighting for the chance to go home."

"There was no guarantee it would be before either her husband or son died though." Subutai countered, "I have spoken with her, the most notable thing was her battles, and the biggest one was in revenge. They were both gone by then."

"She is well aware, that is why she didn’t put herself forward." Xun You stated, "She is an amazing warrior and an amazing person. I hope she finds happiness again."

Dom sat there in silence, the depth of the characters made him feel real emotions for them. Sometimes he wondered if this type of conversation was like a link to a side quest that he had to resolve, or a relationship improvement quest that could lead to other things. The others were also silent for a minute, thinking of their own circumstances. Xun You had his family with him, however Subutai had also left everything behind.

"Come, there is lots to smile about!" Subutai laughed, changing the subject, "Lord Lazarus now has two strong wives to deal with!"

"Thanks for the reminder!" Dom laughed back, happy with the decision he made but still worried about the aftermath.

"It will be fine!" Xun You reassured him.

After having a brief meeting about what they would discuss with Sun Quan and his family, including what information they could share in the future, they walked around the camp and directed certain things to happen, such as loading a ship with more goods or re-directing people to a different ship. As the morning continued, more and more carts arrived with different goods, gifts and even plants and trees.

Eventually, Huang Zhong returned with a large group of sweating Warriors, Banas was at the front and her face was flushed red, whilst beside her Centurion Chen Lu was in a similar state. Huang Zhong then directed them to grab wooden staffs and had them all training, regardless of rank within the forces, to toughen them up before they returned.

"I doubt Banas will ever return to Riverside if Huang Zhong is there." Subutai laughed at his senior Cavalry Officer.

"I wouldn’t say I blame her, I am tempted to not return myself!" Dom laughed, knowing that if Huang Zhong was in charge of training, he wouldn’t be able to escape himself either.

Suddenly, in the distance, the sight of a large Louchuan and it’s escort fleet of Mengchong and Doujian began to move towards the growing Riverside fleet. There were at least ten Mengchong and around twenty of the smaller Doujian. They stopped just behind the Trireme, with the transport ships already having left space for there arrival. Other Mengchong had arrived earlier in the day and their crews, mainly belonging to Ling Tong, had been helping load the transport ships. The Louchuan seemed to be in great condition and was covered in Crossbow’s, as well as a large Trebuchet on the top of it for attacking city walls. One hadn’t been needed at Jiangxia thankfully as the destruction could be high when the Trebuchet was released.

A smaller, fast Doujian left the fleet and headed towards the Docks where Gan Ning was still explaining things to the Sun Family about the Trireme’s construction from his limited knowledge of building the Galatea and others with Himilco. After the Doujian docked, Sun Ce appeared from it and headed down the wharf towards Dom, Subutai and Xun You had been watching with mouthes agape.

"What do you think of her, I think she’d make a great flagship for our River Fleet." Sun Ce grinned, "I persuaded my brother to give us one of the better ones, with her, we can dominate Tongpai Lake for the foreseeable future."

"She would be wasted there." Subutai grinned, "We could send her up the Calm River and attack any towns we come along, she could be the lead of our raiding fleet."

"Won’t the Louchuan be a bit slow for that?" Dom countered, also impressed by the towering ship.

"Who would dare chase with all of those crossbows!" Sun Ce grinned in response. "Is it time to see my brother yet? I have had a busy morning!"

"So I have heard, what is up with Zhou Yu? Zhang Zhao was worried." Dom asked Sun Ce in a worried tone.

"I may have drank a little too much last nigh celebrating my new brother in law." Sun Ce laughed, whilst Dom shook his head in realisation. "However, in my drunken state, I may have let it slip to Zhou Yu that he would be dead within the year if he stayed here. So just like me, neither of us saw the glorious future my brother built."

"It is true." Xun You replied in a more levelled tone, "But I am sure he could have found out in a different way."

"Very much so, Xiao Qiao had already tried to be persuasive to bring him with us, but he didn’t understand why she pushed so much. Obviously she is his wife, but his duty was here." Sun Ce explained, "But then I mentioned our miracle Doctors and how he could live to see his children grow if he came with us."

"So is he?" Dom asked with his mouth wide, Zhou Yu was there top target, most likely an S grade Military Hero like Xun You and Subutai. If he could get Zhou Yu, and he was an S Grade Hero, this would take him up to six, including Xun Yu and Shang Yang. Unlike Sun Ce who was of a lower grade, Zhou Yu was an excellent strategist and could work in both the Military and the Government.

"He is, which is why he is bringing his Louchuan!" Sun Ce grinned, before putting his arm around Dom’s shoulder. "So now I have both of my brother in laws with me! It feels like the best day ever."

"We should have taken Tomyris’s mission and not Gan Ning’s." Dom suddenly said, causing Sun Ce to let go and feign sadness, whilst Subutai and Xun You exploded in laughter, catching the eyes of many of the tired Warriors that had just returned, seemingly not laughing after their recent exercise.