A Beginning's Continuation

by Tony Tran

  Lavish parties were held, and a festive mood flourished within Dark Sea city and the few towns and villages that neared it.

  Many people firmly believed that the southern invasion would be called off due to the outcome of the naval battle that took place.

  While the few you suggested for the city’s defenses to be furthered strengthened and for the guards to be more alert, were completely ignored.

  People were too lost in joy and optimism clouded their vision too much for them to see the possible impending danger.

  Even if Zhang was truly defeated and Aurora lost roughly a fourth of its army, it could still set its sight for the Dark Sea Province. The only thing that would essentially change was that they would first capture the Dark Sea Province and then sweep westward.

  Although this would mean they could not take over the entire southern region in one fell swoop, it would only be a matter of time before the banners of Aurora fluttered stop every city wall in the southern region.

  Of course, most people failed to see the possibility of this happening or perhaps they did not want to admit that such a thing was possible.

  It is also true that the southern regions were now united, but that did not mean they would stay united.

  Perhaps once they find out what Zhuge Liang had done, the southern alliance would crumble.

  But in the meant time within the confines of Dark Sea City, within the largest brothel the city had, an extremely extravagant party was being held night and day. Beautiful women appeared on after the other and exquisite food was served without end.

  The hosts of this party were of course, Liu Biao’s two sons, Liu Han and Liu Yuan. The two brothers rarely saw eye to eye unless it in regards to matters that involved enjoyment.

  Using the new of Zhuge Liang’s victory as an excuse they took massive funds from the provincial treasury and used it to host this extravagant party.

  Although their father somewhat disapproved of this, he did not stop them because he too was swept up in joy due to the news that Zhuge Liang’s messenger had brought.

  So, without their father’s interference, the two Liu brothers spent lavishly to entertain their friends while they each secretly tried to recruit people to their respective political camps.

  “Where is Brother Xu?” Liu Han asked after taking a sip of wine.

  “Yea where is Brother Xu? He was really close to Brother Zhuge Liang, he should be one of the happiest people right now.” Liu Yuan said.

  The two brothers were currently surrounded by beautiful women and seated at a large table crowded with people, while the rest of the room was partying away. Everyone currently seated at their table could be considered an influential power within a Dark Sea City, sons of aristocrats, high government officials and mighty generals could be seen all around.

  “Yes, where is Brother Xiao also.” A few people asked.

  Many people who were Zhuge Liang’s openly known supporters had gone into hiding the moment his messenger returned. A series of scenarios had been planned out beforehand and they were to act accordingly depending on what kind of news the messenger brought back.

  While his openly known, supporters went into hiding, his secret supports went to work, keeping people distracted. Perhaps they were the ones to instill the festive mood over Dark Sea City.

  “Who cares if they aren't here, there's more for the rest of us to enjoy.” One young man said as he kissed a beautiful woman who was sitting on his lap.

  “Hahaha, you are right” Liu Han laughed as he offered everyone a toast.

  As bottle after bottle of wine was drunken and the days turned to nights, no one would be prepared for the news that would soon arrive.

  “My lord's! My lords! Your father requests your audience immediately!” A soldier said as he ran into the brothel frantically.

  “What does father want with us?” Liu Yuan asked.

  “Tell him we are in the midst of entertaining guests.” Liu Shan laughed.

  “My lords, your father said if you don't not return instantly, you will be judged by military law for insubordination.” The soldier said.

  Hearing this, Liu Shan and Liu Yuan instantly got up and returned to the provincial lord’s mansion.

  Within a large hall, an elderly man could be seen sitting on a golden throne while a small group of soldiers with dirt clad armor could be seen kneeling below.

  “Father what's wrong l?” Liu Shan asked with a hint of worry in his tone. For his father to threaten them with military law, meant that something disastrous had happened.

  “You, tell them what happened.” Liu Biao said with a grim expression on his face.”

  “My lords, Blue Wind City had fallen to the forces of Aurora and by the time we found out they had arrived at the Clear Tide City and encircled us. Before we could even send word for reinforcements, defectors opened the city gates and allowed the enemy inside. Many of our soldiers instantly surrender while those who were loyal were rounded up. Only a few of us managed to make escape.” One soldier with bloodstained armor said.

  “We believe that Blue Wind City and Clear Tide City were not the only cities to fall to the forces of Aurora, judging by the direction they came from, the cities in that run along the western coast might have fallen too.” The soldier added.

  “What!? How could that be? Weren't the forces of Aurora wiped out by Zhuge Liang? What happen to him and his soldiers!?” Liu Shan yelled in disbelief.

  “A few of those who managed to escape have confirmed that they saw lord Zhuge Liang amidst the enemy soldiers who entered Clear Tide City.” The soldier said.

  “If-if that’s true the news we received of Zhuge Liang’s victory was false…” Liu Yuan said as he fell to his knees, realizing the severity of the situation.

  ==================================

  Zhang’s forces had marched relatively unopposed and wherever they went, many would surrender.

  Those who surrender of course, were Zhuge Liang’s supporters and subordinates. He had strategically scattered this people all across the Dark Sea Province.

  For the cities that refused to surrender, Zhuge Liang’s spies would go to work and open the city gates for Zhang’s armies to enter.

  Thanks to all of the preparations that Zhuge Liang had done beforehand, Zhang’s forces conquered a large portion of the Dark Sea Province at an unbelievable pace. Thanks to this unbelievably quick pace, by the time news of their conquest had reached the next city, they would have had arrived and encircled the surrounding area.

  By now Zhang’s forces were further bolstered by the defectors that followed Zhuge Liang causing Zhang’s army to swell in number. Many supply lines were also established, making it possible for Zhang to continue onward without worrying about supplies for his army.

  With established supplies lines and insider help, it was only a matter of before Zhang’s forces arrived at the gates of Dark Sea City.

  From the progress that was made over such a short span of time, anyone would be able to see how fearful Zhuge Liang was and how great an asset he is to have by your side. With that being said, Sima Yi has yet to have an opportunity to shine but in terms of intellect and cunning he stood neck and neck with Zhuge Liang.

  Chapter40: Ghost

  Atop the walls of Dark Sea City, thousands of men were stationed as guards along with hundreds of catapults to defend the city. Knowing it was only a matter of time before Zhang’s forces arrived, Liu Biao had village and town within a fifty-mile radius of Dark Sea City evacuated.

  All of the civilians were transported into Dark Sea City for their own protection. Once all of the civilians were gathered, the city gates were bolted by giant wooden beams and sealed by placing massive boulders behind them. This made it so it would be impossible for defectors to open the gates to let Zhang’s soldiers inside the city and would also make it many times harder to break into the city.

  Hundreds of thousands of civilians were then drafted to help defend the city, bolstering the Da
rk Sea Army’s numbers to a staggering eight hundred thousand soldiers. Although these soldiers lacked training and discipline, none of this mattered because of the advantage given to those who were defending a city from atop its walls. With their numerical advantage alone they would be able to keep Zhang’s soldiers at bay.

  Liu Biao also offered high pay to any high-level warrior or mage who were willing to help defend the city, allowing him to gather twenty level seven warriors and twenty level six mages.

  With the size of their army and the cultivators, they managed to recruit, Liu Biao’s generals were all feeling extremely confident in successfully defending the city. To them, this would be the perfect opportunity to gain merits because there was no possibility of defeat.

  “What can that little prince and his strategists do against the might of our forces? Maybe once he arrives we’ll be the ones to attack and stick his head on a pike.” Some of them laughed.

  While his men were feeling confident, Liu Biao was so worried that he could not even sleep at night. He knew the terror that men like Zhuge Liang could bring, to be able to kill thousands without suffering a single loss. Despite the size of his army and the experts that joined under his banner, Liu Biao did not feel confident at all. Rather he was busy coming up with possible plans to use to escape if Zhang’s forces manage to make it into the city.

  “What to do? What can I do?” He said over and over again trying to figure out a solution to his troubles.

  As Liu Biao was wracking his brain trying to come up with plans within his study, his sons walked in.

  “Father, what seems to be the problem.” Liu Han asked as he saw how distressed his father is.

  “If it’s regarding that traitorous bastard Zhuge Liang, then we will be fine. There is no way they could possibly make it past our army.” Liu Han added.

  “Fool, never underestimate the enemy. Do you think Zhuge Liang has not planned for the possibility of us holding up in the city? You can’t come close to possibly fathoming what goes on within the minds of people like him.” Liu Biao said angrily as he saw how confident his son sounded.

  “If you're worried father then how about we make it so they do not attack us.” Liu Biao’s other son, Liu Yuan said.

  “If I could do that then I wouldn’t be in the state I am in now…” Liu Biao said with a sigh.

  “The answer is simple, I heard the crown prince of Aurora loves wealth and women. If it’s wealth and women he wants, then we have plenty. We can offer him a large sum of gold and the most beautiful women our Dark Sea Province can offer if he chooses to accept our terms of returning our lands and withdrawing his forces from our province. When faced with the possibility of defeat and gaining nothing and the possibility of gaining something without having to even lift a single finger then I believe he will choose to accept our offer. If he doesn’t take the offer, then we can even offer to give him a fraction of our land.” Liu Yuan said.

  “But how much wealth can we possibly offer to satisfy a prince. As for women, I’m sure he has plenty, haven’t you heard the tales about the beauty of the four princesses of Aurora. I say we use our martial might to crush him.” Liu Han said, shooting down his brother’s plan.

  “Fool, if I was certain we can defeat them on the battlefield then this conversation wouldn’t even happen!” Liu Biao broke out in rage at the idiocrasy of his youngest son.

  “Yuan, go have our men load thirty percent of the treasury into carts and find the three prettiest women within the city. No, the ten prettiest women within the city. If he chooses to attack our city despite the difference in the size of our armies, then we can only use your plan.” Liu Biao said to his eldest son.

  “Right away father. Also, wouldn’t it be more convenient to simply store away the gold into an interspatial ring?” Liu Yuan asked.

  “No, giving someone an interspatial ring with thirty percent of our treasury is one thing but showing someone thirty percent of our treasury loaded into carts is another thing.” Liu Biao said.

  Which is true, if one were to compare the enticement an interspatial ring filled with treasure versus the enticement hundreds of carts filled with treasure would bring, the hundreds of carts would certainly have a higher awe factor.

  “I understood father, I’ll go make the preparations.” Liu Yuan said.

  Back on atop the city gates, the Dark Sea Army’s soldiers were vigilantly keeping an eye out for enemy movements. All of the trees and cover within four miles of the city was cut down or demolished, making it impossible for anything to close up in the city without the guards knowing.

  “When do you think, they’ll get here.” One of the new recruits said nervously.

  “Ha, what are you so nervous about? Do you not see the size of our army? The number of experts that our lord has managed to gather? There’s nothing to worry about, the ones who should be worrying are those guys that came from Aurora.” Another soldier laughed.

  “The size of our army doesn’t matter because if they attack there’s still a chance that I’ll die. So, what do we outnumber them? It doesn’t mean that all of us will survive.” The new recruit said in a shaken voice. It was obvious that he did not want to be here but was drafted and forced to join the army.

  “Calm down, there’s a chance they won’t even come.” The other soldier said as he slapped the back of the new recruit’s head.

  However, just as he finished his words, one of the other sentries yelled, “Movement within the tree line towards the northwest!”

  Soon after another sentry cried out as his voice echoed across the city thanks to the use of a magical voice amplifier., “Movement within the tree line towards the southeast!

  After another dozen or so guards yelled out that the soldiers atop the walls realize that they were surrounded from three sides, with the last side being the ocean.

  From behind the tree line, an army of bones marched forth. A sea of undead skeletons slowly rattled their way from behind the trees and marched forth as the green mist rolled in behind them.

  “Wh-what is this!” One of the soldiers atop the walls screamed as the skeletal army inched ever closer to Dark Sea City. It was obvious that their numerical advantage was lost because there seemed to be no end to the skeletons that were coming out of the woods.

  After heaven knows how many skeletons marched out, hundreds of massive ghostly white spiders could be seen, followed by hundreds of thousands of soldiers either carrying a red banner or a black banner.

  “Inform our lord that the city has been surrounded and the enemy’s numbers vastly outnumber ours. Also, inform the masters that had joined under our lord’s banner that we are in need of their services.” One of the soldiers who was in a higher position than the others commanded.

  Mixed within the army of skeletons were hundreds of beautiful women with glowing green eyes. These women were the ones that Yuying and the others beauties had been training.

  Thanks to Yuying’s teachings, they too were now able to raise the dead. Of course, they could not control as many as Yuying nor were their undead physically as strong as hers, however since there were hundreds of them the number of undead that could be summoned was staggering.

  Although the number of skeletons along with the number of men within Zhang’s army vastly outnumbered the soldiers within Dark Sea City, if a fight broke out, there was still no telling what the outcome would be. This was in part due to how weak the undead are, especially during the day.

  Someone would need at most a single swing to defeat one of the undead who were swarming around Dark Sea City.

  Before word reached Liu Biao’s hears, the twenty level six mages and twenty level seven warriors arrived atop the walls. Each of them wore expensive looking gowns and gave off the air of a master, earning them the respect and awe everyone within Dark Sea City.

  These forty people were all given the best that Liu Biao could offer and were practically able to get whatever they wanted within the city. They were treated pretty muc
h like kings.

  “So, the enemy has arrived, I guess we will show ourselves and tell them to go away or face out wraith.” A middle-aged man with a large hairy build said.

  “I bet they’ll run away the moment they find out how high our cultivation is.” Another man who had long droopy eyebrows and long streaks of white in his hair laughed.

  “Of course, within the Warring States Region, it could be said that there isn’t another group who can rival ours.” A man with a white expressionless mask covering his face said.

  “Let’s get this done quick, I want to go back and drink some more wine and enjoy some more young men.” A young-looking woman in a revealing dress said.

  “Haha, when will you let me have a turn?” The large hairy man said with a laugh as he lecherous eyes scanned the woman’s body.