The Beginning (1)
Mountain Kingdom – Southeast of Ming Kingdom
The people are preparing for war. Countless villagers are moving around, trying to provide the needs for the soldiers who are going to war. In the middle of the bustling activities, two girls sneakily walked among them.
"Princess Kuina, where are we going?" one of the girls asked with a worried tone.
"Of course we're going to the wall. Father said that we will soon be fighting the Ming Kingdom. I want to see the soldiers."
"But Princess…"
Wu Kuina, the princess of Mountain Kingdom, ignored her servants' nagging and continued her steps towards the wall. Her steps are quick but somewhat graceful from her training as a princess. Normally, people wouldn't miss noticing her identity, but with the ruckus from the coming war, they didn't pay attention to her.
Kuina slipped in easily because she is very familiar with the place. In a matter of minutes, she arrived at the top and saw the view of thousands of the soldiers preparing for war. Kuina's heart wavered for a bit, but she didn't stop looking.
*cough* "Princess… you're not allowed to be here," a middle age man said in an exasperated tone. From his outfit and his big body, people could easily recognize him as one of the generals in Mountain Kingdom, General Hen.
Kuina didn't bother to turn around. "General Hen, with this amount of soldiers, do you think we have any chance to win?"
"Princess Kuina, according to our intelligence about the Ming Kingdom, the soldiers stationed in the border of Southeast are highly proficient in war. It's unknown whether we could win the war or not."
"Then why are you going for war in the first place?" the girl, who is barely 20 years old, has eyes filled with rage. She was against this war from the very start, but her father didn't listen to her and only listened to the other officials by his side. He told her, a girl shouldn't involve herself in the matters of war and all.
General Hen felt defeated. This princess is a headstrong princess who doesn't care about rules at all and always does things as she thinks fit. If not for that, how could she reach the age of 20 without being married away? There is no man capable enough to tame this wild princess.
"We already promised and created that alliance. The Ming Kingdom has produced excellent generals and to avoid them getting their hands on us, we need to destroy them first."
Kuina's eyes turned red. She hated the war, for the previous war had killed her only brother. Her father is still the same, thinking that they are still the powerful kingdom of the past when he was still a child.
"You can't win this war. You're just wasting your soldiers' lives like this," Kuina said with a hoarse voice. Why should they start a war? She doesn't want her people dying meaninglessly like this. With heavy feelings, Kuina turned her eyes towards the palace. Those officials, she will show them who will win in the end!
"Princess, we need to go soon. Please return to the palace."
Kuina stared at the general's back and said slowly. "Just by seeing alone, you can already know how meaningless this war is. You better not fight a meaningless fight."
With that, Kuina walked away. General Hen watched the fleeting figure of Princess Kuina with helpless feelings. Most of the time, Kuina is correct, the girl has wisdom far exceeding ordinary people. What a pity that she was born a woman and no one bothered to listen to her all these years.
General Hen looked towards his soldiers and toughened up his heart. He will do his best to gain victory.
…
Jun Hua kept on reading the records during her journey to the southeast border of the Ming Kingdom. Her grandfather kept nagging her and she only managed to slip out after an hour. To reach her destination faster, she used horses while she tasked Xia to come by carriage. It's to keep the pretence of sending 'Jun Hua' to the town owned by the Jun family.
Reading the report, she discovered that in this coming war it's all of the big kingdoms around Ming kingdom that are planning to attack. If it's only a small kingdom, her uncle wouldn't have called her back to deal with them.
Ming Kingdom is located in the middle of the four big kingdoms. On the southeast, there's Mountain Kingdom. Jun Hua feels a headache coming. If the four kingdoms were to attack Ming Kingdom at the same time, it's unsure who will win and who will lose. First of all, she needed to reach the border as quickly as possible to rearrange her soldiers. Given that the distance towards the border is truly far, she will require around a week to reach it.
If it was only the Mountain Kingdom, Jun Hua is confident that she could win the battle easily. But now that 4 kingdoms are attacking, she's unsure about the situation in the other places. She can protect her border, but it's not necessarily the same with the northeast-oh wait, Soujin is there so it should be fine. Then there's the northwest and southwest. The Lan and Fan family are going for a tough battle too over there.
…
Jun Hua is not the only one who felt a headache, the emperor is feeling the same way. How could the four kingdoms just suddenly decide to attack Ming Kingdom at almost the same time? He is suspecting that there is a shady dealing behind this situation, but this is not the time to think about it.
From the war report, he knew that the battle is going to break out first in the southeast, followed by the northwest, southwest and lastly northeast. But the time frame is too close so it's highly impossible to send one general to two places altogether. Not to mention that the battle might last longer.
The four princes of the kingdom are all called to the meeting. The first and the second prince have been competing on offering strategies while the third and the fourth princes are just sitting idly. Yan has no intention on helping his father because he knows that there is no alternative good strategy. He's wondering whether he should use his identity as Young Noble Han to save himself or not.
"All of you claimed that you were the best in this kingdom and yet, you can't even give me a single decent strategy?"
The emperor felt infuriated. If not for the fact that his usual strategist is away due to some matters, he would've surely called him back to the palace. The only thing he could do now is depend on the rest of the officials.
Nanglong Souka stared at the map which pointed out the current situation. The borders are in danger because the enemies are coming to attack them together. Ming Kingdom is neither the biggest one nor the strongest one, at least previously. After the rise of the few young talented generals, the military power rose a lot. So It seems that even the biggest kingdom is eyeing them now.
The small kingdoms around the areas won't give them much of a threat, but it will be a hassle if they join the attack too. Because of that, they still need to spare some soldiers to guard those borders too.
"There is no other way than negotiation," Nanglong Souka said. As a prime minister, he's one of the officials who could have their saying in this matter. Despite him not being a military officer, his family has more people capable in battle than those who are in talking.
"What do you think you can offer to them?" the emperor asked.
"I'm not entirely sure about what we could give because we don't know who initiated this war or what they have promised each other. But at least we need to try," Nanglong Souka said. Three kingdoms are far better than four kingdoms. If they can reduce the number of kingdoms attacking them, their chance of winning will rise.
"Then, what do you suggest?"