The Warring States, Books 1-3

by Greg Strandberg

  “Thank you for this opportunity, sir,” Hui said quietly.

  Wen clapped Hui on the back and smiled, then turned to Ximen before the engineer could reply to Hui.

  “It’s settled then,” he said. “Hui will report to you early in the morning. Now,” Wen continued as he sat back in his chair, “I imagine you’re tired and ready to get some sleep before your long journey.”

  “Yes,” Ximen said, barely managing to get that much out as his mind swirled with all the ramifications of what had just transpired within a few short minutes.

  “You’ve done a remarkable job here, Ximen Bao,” Wen said. “The State of Wei owes you a great debt.”

  Ximen bowed low at the compliment, rose and met Wen’s eyes once more, then turned and stepped out of the tent, giving a great sigh of relief as he did so.

  “I think that went well, don’t you?” Marquis Wen said a minute after the engineer had left.

  “About as well as could be expected, I suppose,” Wu replied.

  Marquis Wen’s son emerged from behind the curtained portion of the tent that contained Wen’s bed and walked over to a small table to fill a cup of tea.

  “You didn’t think that he would refuse, did you?” he asked as he turned back to his father and son.

  “Of course not,” Wen replied as his son walked to him and handed him the steaming cup.

  Wu folded his arms behind his back and stood facing his father.

  “I still think it’s a bad idea,” he said.

  “I’d be surprised if you didn’t, the way you’ve raised the boy,” Wen replied after taking a small sip of his tea. “I doubt that he’s known a moment of real discipline in his life.”

  “He’s spent three years in the army,” Wu said sarcastically. “Where else can he find more discipline?”

  “Oh, come now,” Wen said, putting his cup down on the table next to him. “We both know that no commander with a shred of common sense would punish Hui.”

  “And Ximen will be different?” Wu asked.

  Wen stroked his beard for a moment as he thought.

  “I doubt it,” he said at last. “But it makes little difference now. Working on the canal day-in and day-out will be punishment enough.”

  Hui stood passively at Wen’s side, his head down, and his eyes on the floor. His father and grandfather talked of him like he was a thousand miles away already and not in the tent beside them. Neither had even glanced at him since Ximen had gone, and he wondered if they would. He’d had no knowledge of what his grandfather was going to do when he’d been summoned to the tent just minutes before Ximen Bao had arrived. Upon entering he’d seen his father slumped in the large chair that his grandfather usually sat in, his head propped up with his hand. Hui had been about to open his mouth to speak when his grandfather had stepped out from behind the curtained area at the back of the tent.

  “We’re sending you away to work on Ximen’s canal,” he’d said as he moved up beside his son.

  Hui was still fearful of the old man. He’d been bruised for days after the beating he’d taken from Wen after he’d killed Duke Wu, something he didn’t think would have been possible from a man of his age. Even after a few weeks his jaw still hurt when he ate. The cut that his grandfather’s ring had made on his upper lip had sheared away part of his mustache and left a noticeable red scar. No matter how much ointment he rubbed into it, it wouldn’t go away.

  “Father?” he had managed to say quietly, looking to the heir to the State of Wei. Surely he would have some say in the decision.

  “It has been decided, Hui,” Wu had said sullenly, his eyes not rising to meet those of his son. “You will leave tomorrow morning.”

  “Ximen will be arriving in a few moments to learn the news himself, so don’t blame him,” Wen had said. “This decision is mine alone. I just hope that it isn’t too late to make you think of your actions in the future. You may still rule this state one day, so you better learn to act like a ruler.”

  “But I–” Hui had begun, but his grandfather had cut him off with an upraised hand.

  “There’ll not be another word from you tonight, am I clear?”

  Hui had nodded meekly and then walked over to stand beside his father as Wen directed him. Wu had gotten up to stand behind the curtain and Ximen had entered a few moments later. Now his fate was decided, and Hui felt miserable.

  “If working on a canal for several years is where you think the best place for the eventual heir of Wei to be is, then by all means send him there,” Wu said angrily, snapping Hui from his thoughts.

  “Sometimes a man can learn more from working the land next to the men he’ll one day rule than he could every possibly learn from sitting in comfortable chairs surrounded by the hot air of his advisors,” Wen countered. “I think that both of you will thank me when this is all over!”

  Wu just shook his head at that and Wen gave a slight smile.

  “Now, if you two would be so kind as to let an old man get his sleep I would be grateful.”

  Wu rose from the chair and headed to the tent flap, which he then held open before him.

  “Hui,” he said, looking at his son.

  Hui stepped toward his father who then exited the tent. Just as he was about to leave the tent he turned and looked back at his grandfather. Wen was staring after him and their eyes met. Hui held the gaze but neither said a word, and after several moments he stepped out into the cool night air. As the tent flap closed Wen sat back in his chair, knowing that he would never see his grandson again.

  TEN

  Two weeks passed without incident after Hui and Ximen headed south to work on the canal. In that time the city had been restored and began to function almost as well as it had before the siege had started. Life was returning to normal for the people of Zhongshan, and many were quietly saying that life under Wei wasn’t so bad after all.

  It had been nearly a month since the flooding of the city and Duke Wu’s death, and Marquis Wen was eager to head south himself, back to the capital of Anyi. He stood in his tent and sipped a steaming cup of tea while poring over a map of Northern Zhongshan, enjoying the early morning quiet and lack of bustle around him. Wu also held a cup of tea and stared down just as silently at the map as his father. Since his son had been sent away, Wu had spent nearly every moment of the day with Wen, going over maps of Zhongshan, inspecting the capital city, and planning its incorporation into Wei. His initial anger at the fate of his son had eased over the weeks and had now been replaced by a begrudging acceptance.

  Wu turned his head toward the tent flap as he heard swift footsteps approach outside, and a moment later Wen looked up as two sentries opened the flap.

  Zhai Huang strode quickly into the tent, his chest heaving with great intakes of breath, and a fine sheen of sweat noticeable on his brow. He met both men’s eyes before bending over to place his hands on his knees as if to steady himself.

  Wen quickly straightened and walked around the map table to stand closer to him.

  “What is it, Zhai?” he asked with concern.

  Seeing his Minister of War so out of sorts indicated that something had recently occurred, but Wen was at a loss as to what it could be. The city had been quiet all night and into the morning; surely if there’d been some kind of uprising he would have heard of it by now.

  “It’s Wu Qi,” Zhai said between breaths. “I ran all the way from the edge of camp to bring the news myself.”

  “You couldn’t have taken a chariot?” Wu asked with some impatience. It wouldn’t do to have the Minister of War running amidst the soldiers and causing them concern.

  Zhai shook his head and raised himself up once again.

  “He’s taken Xihe,” Zhai said, his eyes wide as if he himself was still surprised by the news which he’d run all the way with.

  Wen and Wu both looked from Zhai to each other, their eyes too going wide. Wen moved back around the table and picked up his cup of tea, blowing gently onto the hot liquid before taking
a sip.

  “All five cities?” Wu asked, turning back to Zhai.

  Zhai nodded. “All five cities.”

  Wu shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe it.”

  “He’s been fighting for three years,” Wen said. “Did you think he’d fail me?”

  “I’ve often had my doubts,” Wu replied.

  Wen scoffed. “You’ve had more than that,” he said before he turned back to Zhai. “This news just came to you?”

  Zhai nodded. “This morning, by bird. The message had originally been sent to Anyi, as that’s no doubt where the General expected I’d be. I received word from the capital just now.”

  Wen rubbed his beard and stared down at the map once again.

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “The message was brief, just informing me that that he’d taken all five cities,” Zhai replied.

  “He offered no suggestions as to who should be appointed to govern them?” Wen asked, his eyes still on the map.

  Zhai shook his head. “No, Sire. He only informed me of his victory.”

  “Very well,” Wen said, raising his head up once again. “I think that it’s obvious who should govern the new area, and that’s General Wu Qi himself.”

  “Father, please tell me that you’re not seriously considering such a notion!” Wu said irritably.

  Wen’s eyebrows rose at his son’s remarks. “And why shouldn’t I?”

  Wu looked flustered, his mouth trying to form words in an exasperated expression that said the answer was obvious.

  “Well, he’s…Qi!” he said at last.

  “And a man who’s faithfully served me for many years,” Wen said, not the slightest bit perturbed by his son’s remark.

  “And how do you know that he won’t deliver those five cities directly into Qi hands at the first opportunity,” Wu said loudly.

  Wen laughed. “Please, Wu. Listen to yourself. Do you really think that General Wu Qi would have served Wei for all of these years while at the same time still secretly holding allegiance to his state of birth?”

  Wen laughed again and a large smile spread across his face as he continued badgering his son.

  “That perhaps for years he’s been secretly plotting with members high in the Qi military to gain command of a Wei army, conquer territory for us, territory which lies on the opposite side of Qi, I might add, and then deliver it to them without any qualms at all? Come now, Wu, you don’t expect me to take such nonsense seriously, do you?”

  Wu clenched his teacup angrily and stared stonily at his father. “I think it not only possible, but highly likely.”

  Wen groaned loudly and threw his hands up in the air as he stalked away from the map table and toward the tent wall. Wu and Zhai fell silent and after a few moments he turned back to them, clearly annoyed.

  “I thought that you’d have gotten over your boyhood difficulties with Wu Qi by now, Wu,” Wen said as he stared at his son. “You cannot still be angry over what happened twenty years ago?”

  “How can I not be angry over what he did?” Wu said loudly, nearly shouting. “He humiliated me!”

  The incident came back to Wu as said the words to his father. Even though it was more than twenty years ago now, staring at his father in anger it suddenly felt like yesterday.

  He and Wu Qi had served together when both men had been slowly rising through the ranks of the Wei Army. It wasn’t unusual for the heir to the throne to serve alongside the common soldiers; in fact, it was encouraged, and there’d been a long tradition of it going back over the centuries. While most of the army was comprised of men of Wei, a great deal of the soldiers in all of the armies of the Seven States hailed from different states than those they served.

  Wu Qi had been one such young man, who, through either chance or circumstance, had found himself either unable or unwilling to serve his own state, so had traveled to another. Wei had been a magnet for many such men, and the state flourished under their strength and loyalty.

  It had quickly become apparent that the young soldier from Qi was quite capable, and he’d risen quickly through the ranks, eventually coming to serve alongside Wu Wei in a command position. Both men’d had their units sent north against the small state of Cao, and it was there that the troubles between them began.

  Both Wu Wei and Wu Qi were men of strong personalities and both sought to outdo the other, pressing their units hard in the fighting, each being rewarded handsomely for their efforts in both victories and recognition. When the state had finally fallen and their general met with the defeated duke, both Wu Wei and Wu Qi had been allowed to accompany him. It was at that meeting that both men first saw the duke’s daughter, and each had been immediately swept under her spell.

  She’d had hair of auburn and eyes that seemed to penetrate to the depths of their souls. Both men had sought to console her after her father was killed, and the professional rivalry that had existed between them turned more personal as they sought her favors. Both knew that she was turning the two against each other, but they didn’t care. The arguments that’d developed between them in the past no longer took place with just words, but with fists. They’d have eventually included swords if their general hadn’t learned of their quarrels and sent Wu Wei back to Anyi.

  Wu still bridled with anger as he remembered that disgrace and the way that his father had laughed at him when he’d heard the news.

  “A Cao whore?” he had laughed when Wu reported back to the royal palace. “Please tell me that this is a joke!”

  “I love her, father!” Wu had said through clenched teeth.

  His father had laughed even harder and was joined by those in attendance to the royal court at the time. Wu had stormed from the throne room in embarrassment more than anger. As time went by he’d realized how foolish he’d been about the woman, but his hatred for Wu Qi didn’t lessen. In fact, it only increased as the man continued to revel in the successes that his military prowess granted him until he was eventually appointed a general in his own right.

  Wen stared at his son, sensing that he was reliving the events of the past in his mind. He remembered well the reason his son had been sent back to Anyi from the State of Cao, and how he’d hid his own embarrassment with disdainful laughter.

  “It always comes down to a woman, doesn’t it?” Wen said quietly, and Wu’s eyes jerked up to him.

  “I loved her, father,” Wu said without pause.

  “Really? Then what was her name?”

  Wu was taken aback by the question, at first finding it laughable that he’d be asked something so easy, then realizing that it wasn’t so easy after all. He plumbed the depths of his memory as he stared back at his father, but the name would not come to him.

  Wen’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his son and watched him try to pull the name up from his memory. As he’d expected, his son couldn’t remember. She’d been nothing more than a desired thing in his young mind.

  “I…can’t seem to remember just now,” Wu stammered, his eyes on the floor of the tent. “It will come to me in a moment, if you just…”

  “Meilin,” Wen said before his son could embarrass himself further.

  Wen’s eyes jerked up at his father. “Yes, that’s right...”

  He immediately felt foolish for not having remembered the woman’s name, and he realized that his father had been right once again. It would have been foolish for him to pursue such a whim, and his father had been right to keep him from her.

  Wen waved his hand through the air as if to dismiss whole subject.

  “Bah! She never would’ve been an appropriate match, and besides, you’ve got a beautiful wife now, and a capable son.”

  “A son you hate,” Wu said quickly, more to hide his earlier embarrassment than to anger his father.

  Wen shook his head. “We’ll not get into that again.”

  “Besides, if I remember correctly, Wu Qi married that Cao whore,” Wen added. “Is she still with him, Zhai?”


  Zhai was startled to alertness by the question and quickly turned to Wen.

  “As far as I know, General Wu is…not married,” Zhai stammered.

  “See, there you have it,” Wen said. “The woman was either not to his liking and he got rid of her long ago, or she was never fit in the first place and has already died.”

  Wu folded his arms across his chest and stared down at his tea, saying nothing. Wen shook his head and turned back to Zhai.

  “Appoint General Wu Qi as governor of the new Xihe Prefecture,” he said. “I want him to oversee the incorporation of the area into Wei and subdue any further resistance that he may find.”

  “Is he to progress further into Qin?” Zhai asked.

  Wen shook his head. “No. The area west of Xihe is too formidable to invade. All the rest of the Qin territory lies ‘Within the Passes,’ and that is the only reason they’ve been able to survive for so long. No one would dare take the chance to invade such an area fraught with dangers, even against a state as weak as Qin.”

  Zhai nodded. “I agree. Qin is no threat to us and I doubt that we’ll see more than the occasional skirmish near the Guangzhong Plain.”

  Wen walked back to the map table and picked up his tea, draining the last of it as he walked over to Zhai.

  “I think that it’s time we headed back to Anyi,” he said as he put his arm around the Minister of War and walked him toward the tent flap. “Wei hasn’t had this many victories to celebrate in many years, and I want the people of the capital to rejoice at how powerful we’ve become.”

  “So you wish to depart sooner than the end of the month, which ends in five days?” Zhai asked as they neared the flap.

  “Tomorrow,” Wen replied.

  “Tomorrow?” Zhai said with surprise, turning to face Wen. “That’s just not possible! A serious amount of coordination needs to take place; the amount of supplies alone that’s required is immense.”

  Wen waved his hand. “You handle it, Zhai. We certainly don’t need much more than a few chariots as far as I’m concerned, but I’ll leave the details up to you, so long as we leave tomorrow morning at dawn.”