The Warring States, Books 1-3

by Greg Strandberg

  Hui stared at Zhai for several moments as the man’s eyes took their fill of him. Hui was surprised the old man was still around; he’d been old when his father came to power nearly twenty years before, and at that time he’d already served his grandfather for nearly his entire reign. Would he live to serve another Marquis? Hui wondered as he looked at the man.

  “No one can ever be fully ready to assume the mantle of power that comes with leading a state,” Hui said evenly, his eyes going from Zhai back to his father and then up to Zhai again. “Although with the present state that Wei is in, I don’t anticipate any real problems.”

  “There are problems on all sides of us and have been for many years.”

  Hui’s brows knitted in thought as he stared at Zhai. “The Seven?’

  Zhai nodded. “They’re preparing for war as we speak, have been for years now. They’re just waiting for the first move to be made, for some new ruler to come to power and give them the excuse they’ve been waiting for.” His eyes narrowed as he seemed to look right through Hui. “Is it you they’ve been waiting for?”

  Hui shook his head and looked back down at his father. “I’ll not be the first to break the peace, old man. Not when there is a way to ensure that Zhao will first.”

  “Oh?” Zhai asked in mock surprise. “And how is that?”

  Hui motioned behind him toward Pang and Pang came forward. “Zhai Huang I don’t think you’ve ever met my leading general, Pang Juan. Pang, this is my father’s, and my grandfather before him, Minister of War, Zhai Huang.”

  Pang nodded his head deferentially toward the older man on the other side of the bed. “It is an honor, sir.”

  Zhai directed his hard gaze at Pang, studying him. “You’ve risen quickly, more quickly than is common in the Army of Wei. Most generals have to serve twice as long in the lower ranks as you did before attaining such a position.”

  “Pang is quite deserving of his station, I assure you,” Hui said, “and it is his idea about Zhao which may ensure that we can lure Zhao into attacking us first.”

  Zhai looked from Hui back to Pang. “Is it now?”

  “It all centers on Wey,” Pang began. “If we can just draw them into–”

  Pang stopped as Zhai held up his hand. The Minister of War for two marquis’ shook his head and turned away from them to head toward one of the heavily curtained windows. Pang looked to Hui but he just frowned and shook his head. Both turned and watched as Zhai reached the window and stared out a small slit between the curtain and the wall. Finally, without turning back to them, he spoke.

  “I often wondered when your father came to the throne if I would serve you one day as well, Hui. For the past year and a half that’s looked likely, with your father taking ill. At the time I said to myself that I’d serve you as I served your father and grandfather before you, that is if you would have me.” He turned back from the window to look at the two men still standing beside the bed. “I realize now that I cannot do that. I can see now, Hui, that you are convinced you can start this war without any of the consequences inherent in such a choice. To believe that is madness, for it will surely bring about Wei’s downfall, and I cannot be a part of that. For my whole life I have helped lift Wei up, I can’t sit by and watch it fall.”

  “But if you would just hear me out,” Pang began, but Hui put a hand on his arm to stop him. He stared at Zhai for several moments before nodding his head.

  “You’ve served Wei faithfully, Zhai, and if it’s a dismissal from service that you’re asking for than you shall have it, with the full benefits of a retirement fitting your station.”

  Zhai nodded. “If you mean to move against Zhao, even if you convince yourselves that they are in fact making the first move, then yes, I’m afraid I will have to take you up on your offer.”

  “The drums of war are beating, Zhai, and Wei cannot sit by idly and listen to them pound. We are the most powerful of the Seven States and we will have a leading role in the fight to come.”

  “Then I wish you well in that endeavor, Shangdi knows you’ll need it.”

  The two men looked at one another for a moment longer before Zhai nodded and turned away from the window and toward the door. Hui kept his gaze locked on his father breathing shallowly as Zhai left, but Pang watched him leave the room, his brows furrowing. Men like Zhai were sought after all throughout the Seven States, their years of knowledge and experience looked upon as just as essential as well-trained and equipped troops. For all of his talk of serving Wei for his whole life, Pang wasn’t so sure how far the man’s loyalty went. He claimed his affairs were in order, and Pang knew that Hui would give him his due for those years of service, but Pang suspected things greater than money and well-being motivated Zhai. He most likely had grown accustomed to the power that comes from having the ruler of one of the leading state’s ears. Would he try and find another ruler that would listen to his counsel, one that Wei would perhaps have to fight in the near future?

  Pang was shaken from his thoughts by Hui’s hand on his shoulder.

  “Gather together the highest ranking commanders currently in the city, Pang. I want to have a council tonight on where things stand in the Seven States. My father’s declaration that Zhao has moved its capital was unknown to me, and I mean for that to be the last surprise before things heat up.”

  Pang nodded. “They’ll be assembled and waiting.”

  ELEVEN

  The dark green frog was barely discernable sitting on the lily pad of nearly the same color. Its large bulbous eyes seemed to be staring at everything and nothing as its vocal sack grew and compressed with its steady breathing. If it wasn’t for that continual in-and-out movement the frog would have been as good as invisible, but Si Wei knew what to look for when he was hunting frogs.

  On his stomach, he crept closer and closer to the edge of the pond as silently as he could. He was out of the frogs view, coming at it from behind, but he knew from experience that frogs had eyes on the back of their heads. How else would they have thwarted his silent approaches so often in the past?

  Si Wei’s dark brown eyes stayed locked on the frog as he brought his hands out to his sides and slowly began to move them forward. He would have only one chance at it, he knew, and he had to make the most of it. The frog was small, barely larger than one of his small hands, and if he didn’t slap both of his hands down together at the same instant the frog would get away from him. Si’s tongue came out of his mouth as he licked his lips in anticipation. Just a few more inches and he’d be in place for the lunge.

  Now! All at once Si shot his hands forward and down onto the frog. The small amphibian made a valiant attempt at escape, nearly hopping off of the lily pad and into the water just in time, but just nearly. Si’s hands came down together at the exact same moment and caught the frog in their grasp. A look of shock and surprise appeared for a moment on Si’s face before being replaced by a huge smile. He did it! He could feel the frog squirming in his hands, and as he brought his catch closer to his face he loosened his grip just enough to get a look and make sure that there actually was a frog hidden inside his hands. The peek almost cost him, for the frog nearly jumped free, but Si was faster and had been expecting such a move. He quickly tightened his grip, but not too tight; he didn’t want to harm the creature, after all.

  Pulling his arms back he placed his elbows on the grass below him and pushed himself up, getting one knee and then a foot up. He turned and began to run.

  “Mother, I –”

  Si was stopped from his mad dash toward wherever his mother was in the palace gardens by a man standing in front of him. The sudden appearance of a strange man where there shouldn’t be one sent a sudden fright into Si and his hands loosened enough for the frog to leap free. The small creature took two hops on the grass and then a giant leap into the pond, but Si didn’t take notice of any of it, so focused was he on the man before him.

  “That was a good catch,” the man said. “Although I remember the frogs being
a bit larger when I was your age.”

  Si narrowed his eyes at the comment. Who was this man that knew about palace frogs when he was supposedly a boy?

  “And when I was your age I fashioned a net together, too,” the man continued. “It made it a lot easier to catch the larger ones that liked to sit out toward the middle of the pond, and even came in handy with butterflies and dragonflies as well.”

  Si watched as the stranger now narrowed his eyes at him and gave him a sly, knowing look. “Do you have a net, Si?”

  “No,” Si said slowly, not at all surprised that a stranger would know his name. He was the youngest member of the Wei Royal Family, after all; people all over the state knew his name.

  “Well, we shall have to head down to the docks some day and secure some old fishing nets and a good pole. Then you can really wreak some havoc in these gardens.”

  Si smiled at that, and pointed back at the pond. “There’s a real big bullfrog that lives out in the middle of the pond that I’ve been wanting to catch forever. I call him Wen, after my grandfather.”

  A slight smile appeared at the corners of the man’s mouth. “I do believe Wen was in this pond when I was your age. I think I might have even caught him once or twice.”

  “Really!” Si nearly shouted with amazement.

  “Big, dark green with yellow spots?”

  “That’s him!” Si yelled. “You really caught him?”

  “Once or twice, although to tell you the truth, it was more like he was catching me.”

  Si’s eyes became as large as plates at that and all he could do was stand and stare.

  “Si!” a woman’s voice called from the distance. “Si, where are you?”

  The boy’s eyes went even wider, and not from awe this time. “I’m here mother,” he called out.

  “You leave those frogs alone now, Si. I’ve told you a hundred times not to touch those filthy creatures.” The woman’s voice was louder and very near, and a moment later she appeared from behind some trees on the path that wound through the garden and bordered one edge of the pond. “And that water’s not any cleaner,” she continued before stopping suddenly when she caught sight of the man before her son.

  “Hui!”

  Hui smiled at how she said his name, full of surprise and with just a trace of fear.

  “Li-Hua,” Hui said in reply.

  Si looked from his mother to the man, not sure what to make of the sudden look that had come onto his mother’s face, or the man that was using her real name, something no one in the palace ever did except for his grandfather, who he hadn’t even seen in more than a year.

  “Mother?” he asked, confused as to what was going on.

  She came up behind Si and put her arms around him as she continued to stare at Hui. “It’s alright, Si. This is Hui Wei, your father.”

  Si’s eyes narrowed and he cocked his head to one side. “My father?”

  “That’s right, Si,” Hui said as he stepped forward and squatted down so that they were face-to-face, “back from battling the smaller states to the east.”

  Si didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just stared his wide-eyed stare at Hui. After a few moments his mother released her grip on him and nudged him forward.

  “Si, why don’t you run along and find Mistress Lin and get washed up before dinner.”

  The boy nodded with his wide-eyes still on Hui and ran off around the other side of the pond, vanishing behind some trees. Hui watched him go before turning back to Li-Hua.

  “He’s grown,” he said as he looked his wife up and down. Her long hair was so black in shone nearly purple in the light of the garden, and was a stark contrast to her pale white skin. Her brown eyes were large, her nose and mouth small and she didn’t look to have put on a single ounce of weight since Hui saw her last, five years before.

  “They do that, especially in the span of five years,” Li-Hua replied. Her eyes were still on the place in the trees where Si had disappeared, but she slowly turned them back to Hui. “You’ll be saying the same thing in another five years when we next see you.”

  Her tone was petulant and had a bite to it, something that Hui had expected.

  “I may not be leaving the palace so soon,” he said as he moved closer to the pond and stared down at the brown water for a moment before turning back to Li-Hua, her eyes still on him. “The smaller states have all been defeated, save for Wey, which Zhao is in the process of moving against as we speak.”

  “You’ll find someone to fight, you always do.”

  “That may be the case, but I won’t do the fighting, nor will I lead the effort in the field.” He took a few steps closer to her and watched as she held her head up defiantly. “My father won’t last much longer and then I’ll be Marquis. Pang is a capable general, and there are many more like him.” He glanced back to the edge of the pond where Si had run. “I think it might be time for me to attend my duties here at home.”

  Li-Hua looked at the ground and nodded. “Si needs a father at his age.”

  “And you need a husband.”

  Li-Hua’s head shot up, her eyes defiant. “But do you need a wife? From what I’ve heard you’ve had no problem finding a new woman every night.”

  Hui’s eyes narrowed. “Where have you heard such rumors?”

  Li-Hua scoffed and shook her head. “They’re not rumors, Hui.”

  They stared at one another for a few moments before Hui slowly nodded his head. “I’ve not been the best husband, Shangdi knows, but I hope that by being a good father to Si you’ll give me a chance to be a good husband to you.”

  Li-Hua sucked in her cheek and stared at Hui for several moments. “It’s nearly time for dinner; I don’t want Si wondering where I’m at.” She began to move by him and then stopped. “Will you be eating with us?”

  Hui shook his head. “I’ve called a meeting together of all the army officers in the city.”

  “I thought all of our enemies were defeated.”

  “The smaller states were never our enemies, only our prey. The Seven are who we contend with now.”

  “But the peace,” Li-Hua said.

  “Words on paper, and old words at that. Two of the rulers are no longer even bound by them.”

  “I see,” Li-Hua said as she stared of into the distance, her face furrowed in thought.

  “Go before the food gets cold,” Hui said as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

  Li-Hua looked up at him with worry in her eyes and nodded before heading back toward the path from which she’d appeared. Hui watched her go, thinking all the while that she was more beautiful now than she’d ever been.

  TWELVE

  The room was full of army officers when Hui arrived, ranked all the way from lieutenants to generals. The hum of conversation died away almost immediately as he entered the room and all eyes fell upon him. He purposefully made his way to the end of the three long tables that stretched the length of the room and turned to face the men. He clasped his hands behind his back and scanned the faces for several moments.

  How many of these men would help lift Wei to victory over its enemies? How many would be dead before the year was up? And how many would defect to another state for one reason or the other? Hui asked himself those questions as he looked at the men, some not much older than boys it seemed, others older than his father. He looked for Zhai Huang, wondering if the Minister of War would have changed his mind, but that didn’t appear to be the case. Oh well, Hui thought, any one of these men could be named the new Minister of War, and would probably do just as fine a job. What did the Minister of War do, anyway? It was the troops in the field that did the actual fighting, the generals above them that made the real decisions.

  Hui cleared his throat and waited another moment, letting the anticipation build.

  “Men, in the past five years we’ve defeated the states of Song, Zheng, and Lu. There are no more small states left for us to fight.” He paused to let his words sink in. Many of these men
had spent their whole lives in the military, their fathers and grandfathers before them as well. They knew nothing else but fighting, and from the worried looks that crossed many of their faces, Hui knew that they didn’t like what they were hearing.

  “One small state remains in all of the Seven States,” Hui continued. “The small State of Wey will be attacked by Zhao in a matter of weeks, if not sooner. If Zhao was not moving against Wey then we would be. But unfortunately that is not the case.”

  Hui began pacing slowly in front of the tables, his eyes going to the floor and then to the men as he spoke. “For the past twenty years the Seven States have been at peace. Many think that they will remain at peace for another twenty years, perhaps longer.” He stopped his pacing for a moment to look at the men. “I do not.”

  He had the men’s rapt attention as he began moving once again.

  “The peace that was signed in Luoyang twenty years ago, a peace which my grandfather Marquis Wen was instrumental in bringing about, has seen its time come and go. The agreement was signed by the then rulers of the Seven States, prohibiting them or their sons from waging war against any of the other Seven for as long as they shall live.” He stopped again to look at the men. “The peace was a good thing and my grandfather was a wise man. For twenty years we’ve been able to focus our attention on the small states around us, enriching ourselves and expanding our borders in the process. But now there are no small states left. The only logical conclusion is that the Seven will begin fighting amongst themselves once again.”

  Hui noticed several men nod their heads in agreement as he began moving again.

  “Already there are two rulers that are no longer held by the peace: Marquis Wen of Han has seen both his grandfather and father pass away, as has Duke Xian of Qin.” Several men in the room snickered at the mention of Qin, but they were quickly stifled by a sharp glance from Hui. “Furthermore, the new rulers of Qi hailing from House Tian were never bound by the peace in the first place. Duke Fei of Qi is on his deathbed, so I’ve been told, and his son is proclaiming himself King Wei of Qi.” Several of the men grumbled at the mention of that, but Hui stilled them with a raise of his hand. “In the years to come we can expect to see many rulers come and go as the wages of war change, and many of them will proclaim themselves king. The title that was once only held by the rulers of Zhou does not seem to have the same importance attached to it among some of these lesser men.”