1270AD – Jiaodong, China
The wind was gentle, and the waves were steady on the shores of Kumasi Bay. Yang Zan always loved looking out at the bay from his office's balcony. When the day became mundane with signing parcels about banana shipments or meeting officials from the capital, he would often turn in his chair and mentally retreat to the bay, marveling in all its serenity. The morning was especially beautiful; the combination of the soft warmth from the recently risen sun and the slight breeze off the coast nearly demanded the early riser to open their windows and experience the tranquil nature.
A knock on Zan's door averted his attention from the bay and towards the front where a short Chinese female sheepishly walked in, hoping not to disturb him. She held a tray in her hands with a saucepot and two brown tea bowls.
"Tea, Mr. Yang?" She checked.
"Of course, set it down. Thank you, Lan." Zan urged as he propped himself up in his chair. Lan set the tray in front of Zan, bowed, and exited the room. This was one of his favorite parts of being the lieutenant governor of Jiaodong: the near endless supply of the best tea his city produced. Jiaodong was never a production-heavy city; the land was mostly fertile grassland with some jungle to the north that provided the main source of materials needed to build. One of the main reasons the Chinese government decided to settle there was the abundance of tea shrubs around the grassland, making the city-province early money and aiding with medical developments that became Chinese mainstays.
Zan poured the tea left by his handler into his cup and slowly sipped, satisfied with this current moment of peace. Zan knew to cherish these small moments, as they can be interrupted by official business at any time.
"ZAN!" A voice bellowed from beyond the door. "GOVERNOR TALK!"
'Well, that ends that.' Zan thought as he stood to leave. A short walk through a hallway later, Zan reached the governor's office. He smiled and bowed his head to Lan standing outside the office, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
The office was roomy and wide, fit for a leader. A long wooden desk stretched itself across the east end of the room, accompanied by a grand wooden chair behind it. There were bookshelves organized with mostly Chinese material: Chinese law, building guidelines, ledgers, etc. A couple of shelves housed foreign books: German production manuals shared space with American poetry and commentaries on Scythian military strategies. In front of the shelves, the governor of Jiaodong, Yu Huang, paced back and forth, periodically looking at scattered pieces of paper on his desk.
Nothing about Huang's appearance would denote anything out of the ordinary: fair complexion, average build, good-looking young Chinese man. Underneath that appearance, however, was a passion not many Chinese had seen in abundance.
"Did you read the latest council notes from Guangzhou?" Huang asked as he grabbed the tea pot from his desk and poured a cup with great speed.
"Good morning." Zan said as he moved towards his governor. "I assume there's something in it that you don't like."
"It's not what's in it, it's what's not in it. Look at them," Huang turned a folder of papers over to Zan's direction. "Just ridiculous."
Zan picked up the folder and started skimming through the pages, half to see what the capital was up to and half to kill time before Huang spilled his gripes.
"Looks like normal council notes to me."
"That's the problem: they're just normal. Normal build orders about increasing food production, normal reports about how many ships came to Guangzhou Harbor, it's all the same thing we've been doing for the past five meetings!" Huang animated his arms so that some of his tea spilled onto the floor.
"You really shouldn't pace and drink at the same time. You're going to waste tea." Zan pulled up a chair on the guest side of the desk.
"You think I care about tea right now?!"
"Sir, calm down, it was just a joke. Come, let's sit down and talk about this." Huang sighed as he reluctantly sat down in his seat across from Zan. "I'm seeing a lot of good things about Jiaodong in these notes. Financial reports are strong, more population growth since the last meeting, rave reviews for a certain governor on city performance; I don't see a problem here."
Huang looked at his lieutenant governor and sighed. "Zan, do you remember what our promise to the people was when we got this job?"
"I ran with you, of course I do. To make Jiaodong the best city on the continent of Columbia."
"And to make China great again!" Huang stood up and stepped to the tall window in the office overlooking the bay. "Every day it's the same thing: we wake up, go to work, sign parcels, bring in tea and pat ourselves on the back because we're still breathing and not being attacked. We're just existing. We're nobodies on the world stage; no nation takes us seriously! We don't go after great wonders or strive for excellence anymore; just complacent to build up yields, and it's been like that for decades."
Zan watched as his governor sighed and stared out the window. Yu Huang was always an idealistic man: a lover of everything Chinese, his great pride for his country and big ideas to turn China into a world power won him a lot of support when he put his name in for the new governor of Jiaodong. Indeed, his enthusiasm and passion are what drew Zan to run with him for the job. But this passion also led him to be very worrisome when things were not happening. Zan soon had to fall into the role of the level-headed colleague to his eager boss.
"It's certainly true that if you look back at the history of China, we're less relevant to the world than we were. But if I may play devil's advocate sir, some people would say that that's a good thing. Because of that, they have found peace and can live simple lives without regard for world politics or risk of invasion."
"Those are the people who are content with being mediocre their whole lives." Huang countered. "Never being first in anything, never striving to become the greatest at something. But when I look out at our land I see a different China; a China that is yearning to mean something in this world. A China that wants to be at the forefront of culture like our ancestors were. A China that was look upon as the 'nation of builders.'"
Huang turned to his colleague with passionate eyes. "We can be that nation again, Zan! We can be a nation that is active instead of passive. A nation that builds the greatest wonders the world has ever seen. A nation that people marvel at and enemies fear to cross. If we just wake up and do something radical, something bold, we'll be able to shake this world to its core!"
Zan would not let his face show it, but he was internally roused by his governor's words. If there's one thing the dreamer Yu Huang could do, it's inspire you with his words to do something a little extra than what you've been doing.
"And what is that something, sir?" Zan asked.
Huang paused, then plopped back in his chair. "I'm still working on that. I've been scouring some Chinese history books we received from Guangzhou on my request; maybe something our ancestors did will point us in the right direction."
Zan slightly smiled as he gathered the council notes in front of him and organized them into a neat pile. "I admire your passion sir. I'm sure we'll find something to - "
A knock suddenly came at the door of the governor's office. Huang announced permission to enter and Lan appeared at the door. "Governor Yu, one of the scouts in the horseman division requests an audience with you. He says it's urgent."
Huang and Zan looked at each other with peaked interests. "Send him in."
Lan moved aside as a slim-built soldier hurried himself into the office. His military uniform was without a scratch, but he was visibly out of breath, as if he had forgone the use of his horse and ran a long distance to the building. He fixed his crooked helmet hurriedly when he walked in the room, as if the room commanded that no piece of his uniform be out of place. He bowed while puffing heavily between his words.
"Governor Yu…Lieutenant Governor Yang…"
"Breathe, soldier. Take your time." Zan said as he and Huang moved toward him.
"Ma Shun, you look like you've run a marathon. What's troubling you? Do you want to sit? Tea?" Huang put a caring hand on his shoulder to steady the distressed soldier.
"Thank you, Governor, but I'm fine." Shun said, trying his best to regain his composure. "I have news from the borderlands. Indonesian movement."
"Troop movement?" Zan asked.
"Not troop movement. My party and I were doing our normal scouting rounds at the border and discovered a group of Indonesian settlers moving along the grasslands near the western tip of our borders."
"Settlers?" Huang asked with a high curiosity.
"Yes sir. It looked like they were moving south towards the coast. They've stopped since however and seem like they're resting a bit before they make their next move."
"South? Sounds like they're heading towards the coastline. Why would they be heading there?" Zan said.
"Or they're trying to settle on the last bit of Southern Columbia." Huang said as he moved back to his desk. His eyes were searching all over the room, as if the current revelation triggered something in his head.
"Those Indonesians already have most of Columbia's land, now they want to spite us and take more of it? The South is our only land we can go to for any type of expansion!" Zan said angrily. He looked at Huang to see his reaction, but Huang was speedily perusing through his bookshelves, frantically pulling books off the shelves, flipping through them, and putting them. "What are you looking for, sir?"
Huang seemed to ignore Zan as he continued with search through the shelves. He picked up another book from a shelf and flipped through it. Slowly his eyes lit up as he brought the book back to his desk and sat down. "Ma Shun, were there any military personnel with those settlers?"
"Not that we could see, sir." Shun reported. "In fact, it seemed like they were travelling alone with no escorts. No soldiers from further out in the grasslands were reported either."
Huang smiled like a child receiving a brand new toy. "Zan, I might have found that something you were looking for."
"What do you mean?" Zan asked.
"The opportunity to make our mark on the world. The opportunity to reclaim our lost glory." Huang turned the book to the two men standing before him. Zan took a step closer and looked at the book with intrigue while Shun stayed back.
Zan was silent as he read the page Huang was pointing to, then stopped and turned to Shun, "Mr. Ma, can you give us a moment, please?"
The command startled Shun a bit, but bowed nonetheless. "Of course, sir." He made his way out of the door.
Once the door shut completely, Zan searched Huang's eyes for his intent. "What are you thinking, sir?"
"The Jiaodong Initiative. This book contains some of the original declarations and decrees that our ancestors made concerning the founding of this city. This city was never meant to be just a coastal city on another continent away from the homeland. We were meant to be the capital of a newChinese empire on this continent. A new empire that would be fully realized once a certain nation was conquered."
Zan sat down in his chair, thinking intensely. Huang continued, "The Initiative called for the colonization of Columbia to establish the new empire after the Sino-Scythian War ended. In here, it mentions growth projections, settler plans… and war strategies. A group of settlers unprotected? Sounds like an opportunity to me."
"Are you suggesting we start a war against Indonesia?" Zan asked.
"All this time we've been sitting idle, content with gathering tea leaves and not knowing that we have a purpose that we need to live out. If Indonesia settles on the coast of Columbia, it'll be that much harder to keep our power on this continent. We won't have another opportunity like this."
Zan stood up and massaged his chin, pacing around the room and thinking. Huang continued on, "Ma Shun said there were no military escorts with or near the settlers, right? So, we have our horsemen capture them to let Indonesia know that the Chinese do not plan to share this continent with them any longer."
Zan shook his head. "This is too bold, sir! We can't just up and start a war; Guangzhou would never allow it! It would be a major breakdown of communication between our two nations."
"Indonesia already doesn't like us." Huang countered. "Trade broke down the moment they saw us doing well in the tea business. Our very presence is enough to make them sneer."
"But you're talking about a war, Governor. Even if there was a sure-fire chance of victory, which there certainly is not, the royal court would have to sign off on it and I'm not sure anyone in Guangzhou is ready for a conflict."
Huang took his lieutenant's words and thought on them. There were certainly a lot of factors that made this surprise war a bad idea: the strength of the Indonesian army, Guangzhou's laid-back attitude about nearly everything, and appealing to the Emperor were all very high walls to climb. But Huang still felt like this was an opportunity delivered from the heavens.
"Then we travel to Guangzhou and convince the Emperor to give us the okay." Huang said, determined.
Zan looked at his Governor up and down. "You want to travel all the way to Guangzhou? That's at least a three days' boat journey."
"Then we better head out now, right?" Huang started to gather several books into a sack.
"Sir," Zan said firmly. "I don't think you're fully thinking this through. You're talking about sailing up to Guangzhou and asking the royal court to authorize a capture mission that would surely spark a war between us and Indonesia. Even if you manage to convince the court, we would need to fortify our defenses immediately and train more citizens to become full-fledged warriors. The Indonesians would be roaring towards our borders at full force and our current city force can't take on the entire Indonesian army. We need to stop and think about this."
Huang stopped packing and looked at Zan. "Zan, we've been doing nothing as a people for decades. No major accolades, no big advancements, the world hardly knows we're here. Unescorted settlers are standing near our borders, ripe for the taking, and you think I'm going to sit here and muse about all the ways things can go wrong? We've been musing for too long! We muse about the past, muse about not being hurt again, and we end up doing nothing and calling it 'okay!' I'm not about to sit on an opportunity to finally do something meaningful and acquire more territory because we're not sure the court will agree to it! Sometimes you must be willing to take risks to achieve anything meaningful; now is that time! Are you with me?"
Zan was silent and attentive all the while Huang spoke. He looked his Governor in the eyes again for his intent and found nothing but raw determination.
Zan sighed. "You'll need someone with all the numbers to give to the court. And to keep you grounded. Of course I'm with you, sir. Always."
Huang smiled at his friend. "Lan!"
Lan immediately opened the door and stood attentively in the office awaiting orders. "Sir?"
"Notify the harbor, I need the fastest ship to Guangzhou ASAP. Have my guards pack their gear and meet on the ship. You too."
Lan bowed to her superior, then walked out of the office to do her job. Outside, Ma Shun found himself eavesdropping on Huang's orders to Lan and couldn't help but wonder what the big hurry was all about.
"Ma Shun!" Huang called out, acknowledging his presence in the hall.
Shun jumped at the call. "Yes sir!"
"Have the horsemen be on watch and ready to move on the settlers at a moment's notice. Tell the city garrison to prepare their materials as well. You should be receiving orders within the next week."
Shun was startled at the military direction, but nonetheless acknowledged the two men with individual bows before running off.
Huang looked at Zan and put a friendly hand on his shoulder as he smiled with anticipation. "It's time."
Zan looked at Huang with a smirk as he bowed and walked out to begin gathering his things. "We'll need to bring some tea with us. I can't drink the Guangzhou variants."