War

As the day goes by, Jamal returned to the grand palace in Ningbo. He waltzes towards the pavilion to meet the queen. Smiling happily when she saw Jamal walking over, gently lifting the jug to pour out tea into cups and served them to Jamal. "How was your preparation?" She asked Jamal.

He sat opposite her and sip the cup of tea. "The preparation is good. I will assemble the troops to attack Huanghe the day after tomorrow."

"Do you have the confidence to win the war?" She asked.

"I will return with a triumphant," Jamal responded.

Queen Aliyah praised Jamal, "Just as I expected, you are truly wise and you have never let me down. I am glad to hear that. I will reward you handsomely."

Jamal drone on. "Guangxi and Huanghe always attack each other. It would be better to conquer both countries while they were weakened by the prolonged war"

In Ningbo fortress, several men beating the drum. The troops wearing their armour, riding on their horse, holding a spear, marching out when the enormous gate is opened. Villagers gathered along the street to look at the troops. "I thought the queen recruiting troops because we are under attack! But, we are going to attack the neighbouring country?" An old woman ranting in anger.

"What can we do? Queen Aliyah power was undeniable, her orders obeyed without questions." Another woman voice out. Sighed in frustration, they prayed for the men from their family to return home safe and sound.

In Guangxi, a horse galloping heading straight to the Imperial palace and screaming, "Urgent military news from the border!"

"Your royal majesty! Jamal lead 100,000 troops invading Guangxi." a minister reported to King Lee.

The king's face is frail. "Only a few days ago, he came to seek for political alliance. Now he comes to attack us?" He coughed, and spit out blood. In a trembling voice, he said, "The ginseng is not prolonging our life but deteriorating our health. It has poison. I should have realized from the beginning, he comes here with an ulterior motive."

In the watchtower at the military camps, the troop blow horn to alert them about the enemy is approaching. The troops looked at the weapon,"What happened to my crescent sword? It has turned blunt!"Another troop screamed, "My sword is blunt too! It has always been sharp!". They threw their swords to the ground. The blunt weapon has become useless.

As they ran to their stable, the horses galloped away from the military camp. "What happened to the horses? Why are the horses running away?"

As they arrived in the Guangxi fortress, Jamal used magic power to make the guards from Guangxi secretly open the gate. Jamal raised his flag and screamed, "ATTACK!" Army from Ningbo stridently entered the city. The troops fled in all directions and Guangxi troops were utterly defeated.

Watching the fire as it slowly burned down their houses. Dense of smokes soaring up the sky. Corpses mangled around everywhere. Blood flows like a river. Citizens trampled to death as they try to flee. "Guangxi has become a heap of rubble. Everything had turned into ashes."

King Lee lying on his bed, feeling unwell, left with no choice but to surrender. He summoned for the princes and instructed them to leave the palace from the secret tunnel beneath his chamber.

The princes knelled before the king, "Father, how can we leave you alone here in the palace?"

King Lee responded, "I was fooled by the enemy. I will not live long. They gave me ginseng, blinded by the greed, I consumed it without considering that it has poison. Leave now before they arrest all of you. Quick!"

They nodded and left the chamber through the secret tunnel.

In Huanghe military camp, a messenger appeared on a horse. He jumps down from the horse and ran towards the marshall's tent. "Urgent news, Sir. Ningbo attacked Guangxi. Guangxi has surrendered. I heard they will be attacking us soon."

The marshall quickly travelled to the Imperial Palace to report the news to King Chao. However, the attendant of the king informed the marshall, "The king is not feeling well. The imperial physician has given a piece of advice not to give him any stress. He may collapse."

The marshall looked at the attendant, "We are expecting a war. Ningbo will be attacking us. Are we going to sit and wait for the king to recover?"

"Is this for real? I will inform the king about this, please wait for a moment!" Shocked by the news, the attendant asked.

The marshall nodded to confirm. "We need his approval to gather all troops to fight back against the enemy."

The attendant walked into the chamber to inform King Chao about the news. "Your majesty, the grand marshall is here to present you an urgent military news." The king was not responding, he was coughing and barely have the strength to talk.

He left the chamber, frowning and looked at the marshall, "Lord, the king is still sick. He could not speak at all. Let us go to the crown prince."

They both rushed to meet the crown prince. The attendant barged into the eastern palace of Huanghe. "Your royal highness!"

Looking at the panic face of the attendant, "Why are you panic? Did something happened to my father?" The crown prince asked.

"Urgent news from the border! Marshall is here to report." The attendant spoke out.

The Crown prince nodded his head and summon for the Marshall. "Marshall, what is the matter?"

Marshall knelt towards the crown prince, "Guangxi has surrendered to Ningbo. Both troops from Guangxi and Ningbo are on their way to attack us!"

"I will join the troops to fight against the enemy." The crown prince gave his instruction. "Prepare the troops to defence for the country."

The marshall continued to elaborate on the situation. "Your highness, our troops are weak now. They seemed to be high on drug. The weapons are useless too. The kitchen knife that every housewife used is sharper than our sword!"

The crown prince laughed in disbelief. "Are you joking? We must fight back no matter what! It is your duty to protect the country!"

"In my view, we cant just sit back or wait for attack. We need to fight back." The attendant interrupted.

"Eunuch Hung, you have no experience with military. Easy for you to say." the crown prince spoke out. "Of course I want to fight back, but we are not in the position to fight now."

"Your highness, at this time if we fight back, we are just killing ourselves." the marshall responded to the crown prince. "Guangxi had a major military power, they have always won against us, now, Guangxi was defeated by Ningbo."

"We cant march forward or retreat. We can discuss about our return plan. First, we need to seek help from Shilla."

"It seem that you already had a plan. You are right. We need to plan for the long term. Sometimes we need to lose the small battles to win the war. I will travel to Shilla to ask for their help." the crown prince said.

"What should we do with the emperor?" The attendant asked.

"Please arrange a carriage and bring him to a rural village. Seclude him in the village and get a good physician to cure him." Crown Prince replied.

The attendant responded, "Noted, I will do it right away."

The troops from Ningbo is marching towards Huanghe, using the fastest route. It will take them two days to arrive. While the royal family left the palace to hide in a rural village. Crown Prince from Huanghe travelled to visit Shilla, they were looking for help for reinforcement.

When Ningbo troops arrived in Huanghe military camp, Jamal instructed them to capture the troops from Huanghe and have them executed. He was afraid the Huanghe troops would precipitate a revolt.

After King Lee surrendered and Guangxi came under Ningbo control, Jamal instructed the Guangxi troops to attack go around the Huanghe military camps to attack the troops. Whilst Jamal and the Ningbo troops make haste to the capital.

The marshall from Huanghe appeared with a royal edict from King Chao, "Please stop hurting the citizens and the troops from Huanghe."

Jamal raised his hand to give a signal to the troops from Ningbo to stop the attack. "Go get the royal edict from him," Jamal instructed his general.

The general ride on the horse towards the marshall. He took the royal edict from the marshall and passed it to Jamal. Jamal unfolded the royal edict and read, "War will only make the citizens miserable. We have decided to surrender.."

A messenger appeared in the Ningbo grand palace to inform the queen about the victory. "Your majesty, Lord Jamal had delivered a letter to inform the latest progress. They have clinch victory against Huanghe and Guangxi. Both countries have surrendered and now under command by us in Ningbo."

Queen Aliyah laughed happily.