-Qin/Gerudo Border-
The Dragon Knight stood atop the high wall overlooking the border. Not far in the distance, just barely out of arrow range, was a second wall. While the wall he stood upon bore the flag of Qin flapping high in the winds, the opposing wall had the symbol of Gerudo etched deep into its towers. It was close enough he could see the men and women atop its bastion and the many tents behind it as the border army was stationed there. In turn, his own army was stationed on his wall. The area between was desolate and barren, devoid of any plantlife or rock from which either side might hide and lurk. It was an eternal stalemate. It had gone on for years before him, and knowing how sturdy these lands were with their walls, it would last hundreds more.
It was a marvel to him, a man from the west, how easily walls were constructed in the east, and how cheaply. He was used to stone and stone quarries, but these lands had ingeniously learned that the most common item in its history could erect walls almost overnight. Rice. They ate it. They drank its wine. And after every meal, the liquid boiled from it could be dried into a paste with other things like straw to make walls taller, thicker, and sturdier than any he had ever known. Their ability and speed to erect walls was, literally, equivalent to how well they were fed.
The largest cities could repair their walls from the rice-water overnight, and surround themselves on all sides with a proper fortification in a year.
"No wonder the Chancellor found concrete not worth it, they already had something just as good." He mused.
"Sir?"
Jeffrey turned to note an officer approach, and had heard him. He chuckled, "Never mind the ramblings, I'm just pondering some things. No less than how this stalemate will ever end. Now, what can I do for you?"
Rather than answer, the officer produced a scroll. Jeffrey took it, unraveled it, and read its contents. General Renpa had been employed by Termina.
"Damnit..." He sighed.
"My lord?"
Jeffrey pinched his nose in frustration and sighed. "Have you ever heard of General Renpa?"
"A few times, yes. Isn't he the leader of an army of bandits?"
"Mercenaries, actually, but yes. He was the high general of Zhao until he was forced to retire as part of a temporary peace-deal with Zhao. Since then he has sold his services as a mercenary."
"Such is a common practice, sir. What makes him special?"
Jeffrey closed his eyes. Even now he could still remember that battle vividly despite it being so many years ago. "While he was yet high-general, high-general Ouki and myself marched to battle him. He avoided us skillfully, but we were able to corner him after a long chase. Ouki positioned his men, and Renpa did the same. Then Ouki repositioned, and Renpa countered. This went on for two days. No side engaged the other. It was just a constant period of marching, repositioning, and scouting information. Finally we stepped out to meet him personally." Jeffrey chuckled. "And rather than exchange blows, with both armies watching, we sat down, drank wine and tea, and played a game of Go. That game lasted two more days where neither man moved from their chair and faced the board with the same intensity and focus one might expect from any battle."
"Were they negotiating for something?" The officer wondered, bewildered.
"In a sense. Ouki lost the game, but just barely, and as the loser he agreed for us to return home. We marched back to Qin. Along the way, Ouki reflected to me that he perceived Renpa to be a tactician who cared for his men dearly and took war seriously, and so would avoid battle until he knew for certain he was in the winning position. With us being on the offensive, in hostile territory, we were at the disadvantage an so had to force his hand. So Ouki compromised and changed the form of war. Only then would the battle be made for us to bring it to conclusion."
"So... no one died?" The man blinked in surprise. "No soldiers fought?"
"At most I think a dozen died from the heat, standing under the sun in their armor at full attention as they did while watching the game play out, but this is a far cry from the many thousands and thousands that would have died in full combat."
Jeffrey chuckled. "Between us, I think Ouki also made a friend." The Dragon Knight's composure turned sour. "Unfortunately, King Ao would not stand for it. He found the way of war with Ouki to be unacceptable and sent us back to fight for real. This time was different. General Renpa evaded us as before, but it was different this second time. Beneath him he had an officer who was skilled in espionage as any Sheikah, as unconventional as a Ki, and as efficient as a Mitagi. We found our command structure buckling as officers were found dead, and no battle was ever waged. Finally Ouki had to force the battle on General Renpa, and in this that same young officer did the impossible. With only five-hundred men he pierced Ouki's stratagem and made it all the way to Ouki himself. I still remember being shocked at how young the man was."
Jeffrey looked up at the sky in remembrance while the officer by him stood gaping in wide-eyed shock. "Surely Ouki killed him! He stood before the great Ouki surrounded by your men!"
Jeffrey shook his head. "No. Ouki ordered us all to lower our weapons and stop fighting. Ouki said 'You win. I shall return home a retired man before this generation catches up so far as to finish me off.'"
It was the last time he stood by Ouki's side in battle... until the one where Ouki came out of retirement only to die as if to fulfil his own prophecy.
-Ouhon Mitagi-
Ouhon stood to the back and watched grimly as the discussion played out. Since the day he met the usurper he had been surrounded in nothing but trouble.
At the head table were the Mou Generals, to the side was a scribe scribbling away what was said, and before them were two parties. A few survivors from Ran Dou's military unit on one side and two officers of Link's unit, one particularly large man and another with half of his face tattoo'd, stood arguing about the events leading up to and about the Kourou Massacre.
The Kourou Massacre. Of course Link had to go and cause an incident that would be reaching the ears of the Qin palace and was echoing across the city.
Moubu pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and headache as the yells got particularly loud and Mouki stopped bothering to try and insert himself into it. While he had given his witness testimony, and he had spoken in support of Link, it didn't look like it would go well for him.
"That's enough." High General Mou Gou spoke up. The officers stopped yelling, though from the heated glares they could easily come to blows at a word. They had been stripped of their weapons but Ouhon would bet the big guy alone could kill half of the men in this room with his bare hands before anyone could stop him.
Mou Gou said, "You have spoken much about this, gentlemen, and though I do not condone the actions by Ran Dou nor his men, nor can I condone the actions by Link nor his men. Both sides have committed murder, treason, and more, no matter the underlying motivation. All sides shall face punishment."
Everyone collectively gulped, while Moubu simply closed his eyes. Ouhon also closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. The High General said, "Ran Dou's men would, normally, face the death sentence for slavery, rape, and murder, but the law only applies to your own citizens. There is no law for how to treat the enemy. As such, on my own judgement, they shall give up all rights to looting from this city."
The two from Link's units raised their voices, but were quickly quieted by Moubu's fist slamming on the table. Mou Gou barely paused from continueing despite the interruption, "And the punishment for Link's unit is the same. Only, as the men they murdered are citizens of Qin, the murders are protected by law and they shall face the full punishment. They shall all be tortured and branded with hot iron and executed by beheading or roped strangulation, which form of death is their own choice."
"Grandfather, it was all under Link's orders!" Mouki argued. The officers under Link paled in horror.
"Just as the head of the household is responsible for his house and punishments are handed down by the generations, so it is with officers and their orders. Be thankful I am cutting the punishments off at the immediate men involved in this massacre, and not extending it to their families."
And there it was, exactly as Ouhon expected. This was the law. The law said to execute the families going back a generation. Truly these generals were being merciful because of what Ran Dou did. If it was his own father handing out the punishment, his father wouldn't have hesitated to execute for two or three generations, maybe even four if there was anyone left in the household. Killing military officers in this time of war was not just unacceptable, it was paramount to treason and sabatage of the state.
Whether out of horror or surprise or acceptance or respect, or any combination, the officers under Link could say nothing and fell, weak in the knees. Soldiers picked them up by the arms and dragged them out of the room. The men from Ran Dou were not happy to have lost the right to pillage here, but they were pleased greatly with the punishment, or rather execution, of Link's entire unit.
It's not right. Ouhon clenched his fists. While he didn't condone the method in Link's response to what Ran Dou did, there needed to be a better way of going about it. There needed to be some law, some accountability for how they treated the enemy when they had surrendered. While Link's choice in how to go about dealing punishment was directly stupid, nor could Ouhon think there was any other way that any punishment could ever have been handed out. They needed more people like Link saying it was unnacceptable and holding the other officers accountable. While Ouhon knew it was reality, he never wanted it to be. He wanted the reality Link envisioned. There needed to be something to protect even their enemies otherwise this war would never end as it would be a never ending cycle of hatred and self-defense.
Self-defense.
"It was self-defense."
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Mou Gou and Moubu were on their way out of the room, but Moubu stopped half-way out and turned to look at him. Mouki's eyes widened from where he stood, knowing what Ouhon was doing. The officers under Link both collectively bulged their eyes and looked between everyone, uncertain what just happened. The Ran Dou men looked livid. Ouhon really didn't care, they could eat shit for all he cared.
"Say that again?" Moubu asked.
"What Link did was self-defense and it escalated from there, sir-general." Ouhon lied.
"Explain." Moubi said slowly, clearly skeptical.
Damn Link, bringing him into this mess. He really shouldn't have said anything. Now he might lose everything for lieing to a general while still not managing to accomplish anything.
Ouhon fabricated his lie, "Link walked to the steps overlooking the massacre of the Terminian's conducted by Ran Dou and his men. He begged Ran Dou to stop. Ran Dou refused and wounded the child. Link rushed down to aid the child and when he reached them, it was Ran Dou who struck first. Link managed to deflect the blow and deal him one back in turn. The Ran Dou men lined up to fight. I doubt they saw who struck the first blow as quick as it was while they were occupied with other... activies. Before they could rush Link then his own men came."
"Yet it was Link, under the testimony of my son, Officer Mouki, as well as his own men, and the Ran Dou men, who gave the order to kill them."
"A justifiable response to being attacked. Who doesn't declare 'kill them', 'get them', 'fight' when a battle starts? Nothing more than a rousing speech cut into a quick statement. One that you, yourself, tend to do, sir general."
Moubu nodded. It was true, he was known for being an aggressive general on the battlefield cursing and yelling for the deaths of his enemies. There was no refuting it.
Moubu turned an eye to his son and said, "Son, as the only other neutral party here, does the word of Ouhon Mitagi ring true?"
Moubu smiled and nervously rubbed his hair. "Well, father, it was a bit hard to see. I was further away than Ouhon was, but I do think I saw a flurry of action as Link rushed in. I will say this: Link did not have his spear extended until after he was already in reach of Ran Dou's sword."
Ouhon raised an eyebrow. A well crafted lie. No spear wielder would ever allow himself to be in range of a much shorter weapon if he was the aggressor. Ouhon had heard of the tricks of the holy weapon passed down from Rebellious Hero to Mitagi to Ouki to Link, and it could change its form and shape to a small degree, but there was no telling if this was known by the others. Ouhon only knew from rumors and off-handed remarks he heard from his father.
Moubu looked his son solidily in the eye, nodded, and turned to face his own father. "High general, does this change things?"
Mou Gou looked between them, almost sagely. He hummed in thought and said, "The punishment is as follows. Ran Dou will be punished for attacking a fellow officer. This punishment has been clearly dealt out already but must extend somewhat to his men. The remaining Ran Dou will be branded with hot iron and executed either by hanging or beheading for the massacre. And Link... while I understand Link's motiviation in reaching a hand out to a child, he should have chosen to de-escalate the situation rather than escalate it further into the massacre it became. Link and his unit shall not face execution. His men shall lose all rights to plunder and spoils from this city."
"And Link himself?" Mouki wondered.
Mou Gou looked at Ouhon, and he swore he could see in the old man's eyes that he was smarter than he looked. Ouhon felt sweat fall down his back. The old man knew it was a lie.
"My original punishment for Ran Dou, as I was given to believe it self-defense, and who had died instead, shall now be placed on Link, who did act in self-defense and chose to escalate the situation."
