Chapter 3 (Updated)
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters.
Yang Jin POV
As he looked over the city from the governor's mansion and watch dawn, he went over some of my plans for the future. According to reports he received, Ei Sei was born just a couple of days ago. He has big goals for the future and Ei Sei is a big part of them. In order to achieve those goals he had several ways which he can choose from. He can either plant myself firmly with his father Sou Jou's political camp and work together with Ryo Fui on bringing him back from Zhao and making him the King Of Qin. Or he can side with Ei Sei when he is back from Zhao and help him become King of Qin. Ei Sei and his parents are currently still held hostage in Zhao. After the lose at Battle of Chouhei, Zhao will release Sou Jou with some manipulation from Ryo Fui.
He had been receiving regular updates on the campaign against Zhao and so far it looks good for Qin. The Six Great Generals of Qin made short work of Zhao and the time for Battle of Chouhei is quickly approaching. As he continued his musings he was interrupted by the arrival of a two individuals.
"What are you doing out here so early in the morning Jin?" asked first person in a questioning tone.
"Our lord is probably thinking over his plans for the future, something that is a totally foreign concept to a brute like you." said second one in a mocking tone
"What?! I dare you to say that again to my face you girly looking bastard!" raged first one.
"Ma Cong, Zhu Fa. I see that you two are in high spirits today, good you're going to need them soon." he said in a cold tone without looking back at them.
"Has something happened lord Jin?" asked Zhu Fa, looking at me with concerned eyes.
Flashback – 4 Years
Zhu Fa POV
Zhu Fa was a smart and handsome ,almost feminine, looking boy. He had black hair and hazel eyes that he inherited from his mother. He was currently looking through the window on the studies of the governor's son and tried to learn while taking down some notes on the ground. He was still astounded that a 6 year old was studying and seemingly easily grasping the complex material that was taught to him by his tutors. Even Zhu Fa who was his senior by 5 years and had trouble comprehending some of the concepts that were being taught.
He still remembered how A year ago Zhu Fa lost his parents to a bandit attack when they were on their way to Kwan.
Mini Flashback – 1 Year
His parents were merchants and this afforded him to have a good education and comfortable life style up until that point. Zhu Fa was hidden by his father in a grove and he told him: "Zhu Fa, listen to me, after bandits go away go towards Kwan and alert the garrison to bandit attack. If me and your mother don't make it just remember that we love you. I also want you to promise me that you will make something of yourself in the future." "F-f-father?" "Promise me!" "I promise." "Good, now hide and don't come out until you're sure that bandits are gone."
Mini Flashback over
After that Zhu Fa was living in Kwan city and making a living as a chore boy at the inn near the governor's mansion. Whenever he had free time he would sneak into the governor's mansion and look at the studies of the governor's young son. He was trying to learn what he could in order to fulfill his promise to his father.
While he was trying to learn he suddenly felt a strong hand grab the back if his neck.
"H-hey!" said Zhu Fa in a panicked tone.
"I knew I saw something, what are you doing in the governor's mansion boy?" asked guard in a demanding tone.
"What's going on?" asked governor's son, as he heard the commotion and looked through the window.
"Sorry for interrupting your studies young master, I caught this boy sneaking around, I think he might be a thief." said guard with a bow.
"What? No, I'm just trying to study I swear I wasn't going to steal anything, I swear." desperately pleaded Zhu Fa while looking at the governor's son.
"Thank you for your diligence, but you can let the boy go, I see some notes on the ground so he's probably telling the truth." said governor's son in an emotionless tone.
"If you say so young master, do you want me to escort him outside?" asked guard.
"No, leave him be." He looked towards Zhu Fa with narrowed eyes and asked "So you say you want to study? Well then come, you can study with me."
"Huh? A-a-are you sure? I mean not that I don't appreciate the offer, but are you really sure?" asked Zhu Fa while looking at governor's son with wide eyes.
"I wouldn't be asking you if I wasn't, now come, sunlight is being wasted and there is only so much of it in a day." confidently said governor's son with demanding tone.
After the tutor finished the lecture, governor's son suddenly turned to him and asked "So what's you name?"
"Z-z-zhu Fa young master." said Zhu Fa with a stutter. While not a fan of addressing someone so much younger than him with such respect, it was a given regardless since he feared offending him.
"Zhu Fa, my name is Yang Jin, from your answers during the lecture I can say that you have a lot of potential, I can use that potential in the future. From now on come every day at down. You will study together with me." said Yang Jin in a tone that offered no room for refusal.
"T-t-thank you so much young master, I promise I won't disappoint you." said grateful Zhu Fa.
From that day on Zhu Fa studied together with Yang Jin and was even more impressed by him the more he got to know him.
Zhu Fa showed great promise in his studies, his wits and cunning were tempered by Yang Jin's wisdom and knowledge. Zhu Fa showed great promise as an adviser and strategist, especially since he got to know Yang Jin and earned his confidence. He still remembered that promise that he made to his father and he had a feeling that Yang Jin will go far in the future. After some time that he spent contemplating his position and future, he decided to throw his lot with Yang Jin and swore his loyalty to him.
Flashback End
Present
Normal POV
"Yes, I got some reports from one of the outposts that a number of Zhao soldiers were sighted and are planning to gather east of here and start raiding merchants coming and leaving the city. They're probably getting desperate and trying to disrupt the supply lines. We're going to go there and deal with them before they become a problem." said Yang Jin in a cold tone.
"Ohhh, so young lord is leading another battle, I can't wait to see what you'll do this time." said Ma Cong with a bloodthirsty grin.
Flashback – 2 Years
Ma Cong POV
Ma Cong was tough looking for a 16 years old boy, he had brown hair and brown eyes and was 6 ft. tall. He was once the best soldier in the whole garrison, that was until young lord Jin hired veteran soldiers from all over the warring states. He also hired all those master blacksmiths to craft new weapons and armors for the garrison, which were much better than the ones they had before, even if they were a little heavier. Young lord Jin's men also made sure that the garrison was trained in a different way of fighting and increased the discipline of the soldiers to a whole new level. Young lord Jin is a big figure for all the citizens of Kwan, not only being looked upon with respect for being a genius, but also loved for many of his endeavors to help citizens of Kwan. He invested into a lot of businesses, he was known for his fairness when judging criminals and he persuaded his father to lower taxes to attract more merchants. He recently built an orphanage with his families money and made sure that kids who go there not only clothed and fed but also educated. He also made sure that any kids that were in that orphanage received both civil and military training, so that in the future they can work for Kwan city, either as civil officials or military officers. Cong wished that he was born a little later, so that he could attend that orphanage, being an orphan himself and growing up on the streets he knew how valuable education was.
Ma Cong himself was not really sure what to think of young lord Jin, while the things he heard about him were all good, he wished to reserve his judgment until he met him in person. And that opportunity showed itself when young lord Jin decided to tour the villages surrounding the city of Kwan and inspect the future crops. Ma Cong was put in charge by the senior officers, was given 50 soldiers and was told that if something happened to young lord he will be held personally responsible. As you can guess that both made him puff out his chest in pride for being trusted with such important responsibility and become nervous at the prospect of failure.
When Ma Cong saw Yang Jin for the first time he was shocked, the boy was dressed in armor, had a huge halberd and was riding on a pure black steed. While the boy was barely eight years old, he had an emotionless face and had a piercing eyes. He also gave off heavy aura and that made him look much older and bigger than he really was. After Ma Cong greeted him he was further stunned when he looked in his eyes and felt like he was being looked at by a predator.
After several days of touring the surrounding villages Ma Cong was sure that while Yang Jin looked and spoke with little emotion and had scary eyes, he was indeed a great individual and most of the rumors he heard about him were true.
Several hours after they departed from the last village and were headed for Kwan, they encountered a fallen tree in the middle of the road that was blocking the way. As the soldiers were about to go ahead and remove it, they were interrupted by their young lord.
"Wait, something's wrong." said young lord Jin, as he looked around.
"What's wrong young lord?" asked Ma Cong in a concerned tone.
"There is only one tree that fell and we saw no other signs of any other trees falling, that means only one thing. Someone deliberately put it there. Ambush!" - screamed young lord Jin as they all heard a war cries coming from all around them.
"Orbem Formate! (Circular Formation!)" said young lord in a commanding tone.
"Orbem Formate! (Circular Formation!)" repeated Ma Cong, as he got into his position, hoping that the rest of the soldiers will make it to formation in time.
That was another thing that Yang Jin introduced, he personally made sure that all soldiers learned commands in Latin, so that enemies will not know what they are planning to do and counter it. Each of the commands meant different things, from holding position to taking a specific formation. Orbem Formate for example was a circular formation, with archers were in the middle and other infantryman gathered around them and formed a protective layer. Yang Jin explained that this was a formation used when soldiers were outnumbered and surrounded. It allowed them to either slowly decrease the number of their enemies until they could break through or wait for the reinforcements.
No sooner did the soldiers finish forming formation that a large number of enemies erupted from surrounding trees.
"Iacera Pila! (Throw Pila/Javelins!)" ordered Ma Cong.
"Haaa!" roared soldiers as they threw their javelins at approaching enemies. Around 30 enemies fell prey to javelins, while their allies were stunned for a second they renewed their assault with thirst for vengeance. This caused some of the soldiers to freeze due to still not having experience with blood lust.
"Ciringite Frontem! (Hold your positions!/Stand your ground!)" ordered young lord Jin in a calm tone. The calm tone with which the command was said reassured the soldiers and discipline that was drilled into them finally set in, they shaken off their fear and held their position.
As the enemies approached closer and closer Ma Cong wondered if they will be able to hold them back, but he immediately discarded the thought and focused on battle ahead. As enemies approached they were further picked off by archers. Soon they crushed into their formation and with a great roar the soldiers in the front held their line. The discipline that was drilled into the soldiers did not allow them to falter, it did not allow them to give up. The soldiers remembered their training and slowly chanted like a mantra words that were beaten into their bodies.
"Obsepio, ventilabis, pulso! Obsepio, ventilabis, pulso! (Block, push, strike! Block, push, strike!)
And as more and more enemies approached, they were all slowly slaughtered, the big shields held by the soldiers in the front did not allow their enemies so much as scratch the soldiers who held them. The same could not be said for their enemies who were unprotected and were slowly killed by the easily maneuverable and deadly short swords of the soldiers. As the number of enemies started to lessen, the enemy were extremely demoralized by the one sided slaughter.
"Contentide Vestra Sponte! (Give no accord!) No survivors!" ordered their young lord and charged as soon as he saw that the enemy was faltering.
Heading the command of their young lord the soldiers took an aggressive stance, Ma Cong took out war axe from his back, and they started to attack all enemies in sight. What followed couldn't even be called a slaughter, it was a target practice for the soldiers. The training that they underwent brought them to a whole new level compared to their enemies. Every time soldiers saw an enemy swing their weapons at them, soldiers realized just how slow their enemies were, or more like how fast they themselves were. They now understood why when they asked their instructors why they trained them so hard, they said: "You sweat in peace to save your blood in war."
Ma Cong saw the way in which their young lord fought. It was in a way that made use of his being on a horse back and used the deadly reach of his weapon to make sure that any enemy that came close to him did not live to regret it. His halberd was always moving, each time he swung it more enemies died. The sight of their young lord fighting and killing their enemies in droves, inspired them to fight with more vigor.
Ma Cong saw the enemy officer trying and failing to calm down his soldiers. He charged for him and easily dodged or cut down the enemies that tried to stop him. As soon as the enemy officer was in his range, he cut him in two with his war axe. After that the enemies simply started to run, it took more effort to chase down and kill all of them then it took killing them. As soon as the last enemy was cut down, they heard the voice of their young lord.
"Halt! Ma Cong, our casualties?" asked lord Jin while looking him straight in the eyes.
While stunned for a moment that lord Jin even remembered his name, he recovered and looked around, then answered "Only a few scratches here and there young lord."
"Good, how many enemies were there and who were they?" asked lord Jin.
After Ma Cong looked around for a couple of minutes, he was shocked by both numbers and who they were "Lord Jin, there were around 150 of them and they look like they're soldiers from Zhao."
"Hmmm, so Zhao plans to start a war, they're probably a scouting party that were ordered to wipe out patrols to help main army slip into Qin unnoticed." said lord Jin while narrowing his eyes.
"Young lord we should get back to Kwan and warn the others" - asked Ma Cong.
"Yes, you're right. Gather the men, tell them they have five minutes to take what they want from the dead, then gather the bodies and burn them. After that we're going back to Kwan." ordered lord Jin.
"Young lord, looting from the dead?" hesitantly asked Ma Cong.
"They're dead Ma Cong, they can't take those items with them to the afterlife, so better that our men use them instead. We give them all respect that they need by burning their bodies instead of leaving them for animals to feed on." said young lord Jin in a tone that left no room for argument.
"I understand lord Jin." said Ma Cong in a resigned tone.
After they got back to Kwan they alerted all the patrols about possible ambushes and told to watch out, they also sent out a letter to the capital to warn them about Zhao. Soon after Yang Jin and Ma Cong developed a friendship, Ma Cong became Yang Jin's go to man when he wanted something done outside the walls, or to relay orders to his superiors. Soon after Ma Cong learned of Yang Jin's ambition to become a famous general and Ma Cong, knowing that Yang Jin was capable of it, decided to swear his loyalty to him then and there, he did not regret that choice since.
Flashback End
Present
Normal POV
"I guess you will, anyway, I want both of you to make sure that we're as ready as we can be. Zhu Fa I expect all supplies to be in order, Ma Cong I expect new recruits to be properly introduced to our form of worship." said Yang Jin in a light tone, as if he was telling an inside joke.
"As you wish." said Ma Cong with a huge grin on his face.
"Worship lord Jin? I did not know that you worshipped anything." wondered Zhu Fa.
Yang Jin turned around to face him with a sinister looking smirk on his face "Don't you know Zhu Fa? Drill is worship, worship to the gods of war."
AN
Biggest chapter yet, please accept it as my thanks to all the people who read the story so far, especially thanks to people who reviewed, favorited and followed the story.
We're starting to get to the juicy parts, so expect lots of action in the next several chapters.
Please make sure to leave a review and let me know what you think.
