The Fire Winter

by ElGato44

An up-and-coming critic and chronicler seeks to better understand the events on the Yangtze in the winter of 208 A.D. He interviews eyewitnesses and contemporaries to try to paint a vivid picture of that battle of fire. In doing so, histories and pasts are revealed that lead up to the infamous Battle of Chi'Bi. Features multiple characters.

1. Introduction and Preface

Disclaimer: Chen Lao is my creation, but all characters belong to history and their likeness belongs to Koei.

---

To the interested reader,

I am Chen Lao, writer and critic. My goal is to gain knowledge of the events that took place on a winter night in 208 on the Yangtze. It may seem simplistic, dear reader, to record the events of what happened. But this was, as the fires of its legend, an explosion.

The Battle of Chi'Bi. It has been twelve years since that fateful day, and yet still villagers nearby are finding the debris of junk ships wash up on their shores. Those charred remains containing dark memories for many a soldier, and valiant memories for few.

To do any of that event justice, or even events beforehand, I only could write this the only way I know. I had to interview eyewitnesses; people present on that day and the days or even the years beforehand.

My goal was simple. But I found myself wanting to know more than just what happened in 208. I wanted to know more about the characters, the people involved.

I don't know if I had succeeded dear reader, but I placed my trust in those that I have interviewed to compile these records.

I was taken back before 208, before Wu was called Wu and before Cao Cao had placed himself in high ranks next to the Emperor, before Liu Bei had even found a homeland.

Because the past is where the fires started...