Chapter 6: The Sleeping Dragon Reawakened

In the winter of 229, I've received news that Wu is losing ground on Xin Ye. Without the support of the Shu and continued counter-attacks from Wei cities, they could not hold on to Xin Ye. Lu Xun is making a last ditch naval patrol attempt off the river coast but that is only a delaying measure, they have no real options to counter attack. Once Xin Ye falls, the Wei army would surely cross the river into Xiang Yang to crush Zhuge Liang's meager 6,000 stronghold.

How can the Sleeping Dragon let this happen, I wonder. Or are his hands tied by the useless young monach, Liu Chan? Whatever the reason may be, I have to hurry up. If the Wei gains a foothold on the southern land, we may never be able to stop the flow of reinforcements coming from their central cities. The river is our first line of defense.


Archer turrets? But the only turrets are in....the north? Damn it! Those defensive construction projects has accidentally crossed the Wei borders. And relations to the Wei suffered as a result. Curses! I need to prepare Zi Tong for incoming attacks. I , King Meng Huo will marshall the forces in the north to hold off Wei, while Wu Tugu the Champion of Nan Man will lead the Yong An assault with Queen Zhu Rong and Zhu Bao's flame tower unit. The attack force numbered 35,000.

Ma Chao mustered his small Cavalry unit to stop us. But I've no time to mess around. I unleashed a fireball trap and the tower gets to work with incinerating him. Guan Suo attempts to aid him with a force of 2,000 spearmen came to nothing. Yong An is ours, but we can't stop yet.

The first Wei invasion against us is underway. But Zi Tong is more or less ready with a garrison of 50,000.

We let them take the first wall fortification without a fight. But from then on, nothing's given freely. Three archer turrets awaits them on a narrow pass.

Scout reports that they've decided to take another route to avoid being shot up. But the detour will cost them a few weeks. My forces will not meet them there, we'll respond once they're within a month's march from the city.

We've added the aging Wei Yan into our personnel list. He is a valuable asset with Chain attack skill.

Wu Tugu will lead the assault of Xiang Yang after they've finished re-supplying at Yong An. Zhu Bao and Zhu Rong will advance with him.

Zhu Bao remarked that they would probably cross Wu Border and enter Shu's within a month. If Wu respond to our attack on Xiang Yang, we would be in deep trouble.

We just have to be quick with switching border tiles then.


And to increase the urgency, Wei just landed a 10,000 invasion force north of Xiang Yang. It's a race for the last Shu stronghold! Meanwhile Zi Tong defense is proving too much for the Wei to handle. One by one their units fell since they cannot reach the city at the same time they succumb easily to focused fire.

Elsewhere, news of Cao Pi's passing away spread throughout China. Cao Rui will take up the throne. This does not really change things, but one less Cao in this world is always a good thing.

I contacted Ma Dai who is at Yong An with a abundant supply of gold to send a follow up transport to Xiang Yang containing food and additional troops to defend against counter attacks after we secured it. Also, he will travel to Wu to improve relations between both kingdoms with a tribute. The journey took a month, but Sun Quan accepted it with indifference.


Things in Xiang Yang is starting to heat up, but Shu continued to send small forces to delay us. What are they planning really? We're wasting time here with 22,000 strong Wei forces razing the outlying farmlands to the north. We captured Ma Su after neutralizing both units.

His unique skill is 'Focus' which causes his strategies to cost only 1 will! This is amazing since the simplest strategy 'Fire' cost 10 Will. With a full Will (100), he can deploy it 100 times! We take him prisoner and marched on towards Xiang Yang.

Our northern defense is doing well, and we've captured Xiahou Wei. Noticing that the Xiahou lineage is always loyal to the Caos, I did not think twice when executing him.

Our Xiang Ying invasion employs the Perturb tactic for the first time. Wang Ping successfully confused Sun Li's unit, making him unable to move. Zhu Bao set fire on the unit as Wu Tugu erected a Band platform to regenerate Willpower of nearby units.

Our continued efforts to improve relations are bearing fruit. The repeated battles against Wei in the north and Xiang Yang has improved our relations to 'Neutral' it still does not guarantee them not attacking Xiang Yang once we've taken it over but it's nice to know that we have a common enemy from now on.

The fighting was fierce, but we succeeded in capturing Xiang Yang first. Wu Tugu pushed past surrendering officials and shouted 'WHERE IS ZHUGE LIANG?!'

A small man walked past the crowd after being urged by the rest. And stammered. He looked so young. It can't be him.

"De-dear Sir, please don't be mad. I-I'm the lord of Shu..."

Wu Tugu said nothing and stabbed him in the stomach with his spear, killing the poor lad instantly. This dog is the Emperor of Shu? No wonder Shu is so easy to conquer, Tugu thought.
"I've no time to fool around! Wei's army marches on our northern gates and your former friends of Wu may come from the South! Where is Sleeping Dragon?!"

"You need not shout, here I am" a man emerges. The rest of the officers make way for him.

"And you did not have to kill him. He was no threat," he frowned and continued "But I suppose I can't be right all the time."

"Huh what do you mean?" Tugu was baffled. This man exudes calmness, seemingly oblivious to the carnage unfolding just to the north of the town.

"I foresaw your arrival. And the necessity of letting you rise to power," he calmly explained as he drew gasps by some officials. His trusted lieutenants nodded quietly, agreeing with him.

"What? Impossible!", his statement stunned Tugu.

"I could've stopped you before Cheng Du, but I chose not to and let Zhao Yun handle matters. I knew the Emperor of Shu is too clueless to see through my plan, even some of his intelligent officials could not see through the illusion I'm weaving", he paused as he fanned himself.

"What tricks? Did Zhao Yun not try to stop us. And failed?"

"Ahh, Champion of Nan Man. No, it was a test for you. To see whether you wish to rule through might or are you willing to work with your former foes. You sparing Bao Sanniang and almost all of our captured officers is proof of that you are a reasonable person to work with."

"You wish to work for us?" Tugu asked slowly, completely overwhelmed by this man.

"Yes my friend, I , Zhuge Liang will help Meng Huo's army achieve peace in these times of conflict. Shu needed a strong ruler like you, but now I serve Lord Meng Huo of the Nan Man", the scholar kow-towed and finished with this sentence:

-End of Chapter 6-