Mountain Kingdom – Southeast of Ming Kingdom

The people are preparing for war. Countless villagers are moving around, trying to provide the need of the soldiers who are going to go to the war. In the middle of the bustling activities, two girls sneakily walk among them.

“Princess Kuina, where are we going?” one of the girls said with worried tone.

“Of course we’re going to the wall. Father said that we will soon fight the Ming Kingdom. I want to see the soldier.”

“Princess…”

Wu Kuina, the princess of Mountain Kingdom, ignored her servants nagging and continues with her steps towards the wall. Her steps are quick but somewhat graceful from her training as a princess. Normally, people wouldn’t miss noticing her identity, but with the ruckus from going to the war, they didn’t pay attention to the girl.

Kuina slipped in easily because she had been familiar with the way. In a matter of minutes, she arrived at the top and sees the view of thousands of the soldiers preparing for war. Kuina heart wavered for a bit, but she continues to stare.

*cough* “Princess… you’re not allowed to be here,” a middle age man said in exasperates tone. From his outfit and his big body, people could easily recognize him as one of the generals in Mountain Kingdom, General Hen.

Kuina didn’t bother to turn around. “General Hen, with this amount of soldiers, do you think you have any chance to win?”

“Princess Kuina, according to our intelligent to the Ming Kingdom, the soldiers stationed in the border of Southeast are highly proficient in war. It’s unknown whether we could win the war or not.”

“Then why do you even do this war?” the girl, who barely reach 20 years old, has eyes filled with rage. She was against this war from the very start, but her father didn’t listen to her and only listen to the other officials by his said. He told her, a girl shouldn’t involve in the matter of war and all.

General Hen feels defeated. This princess is a headstrong princess who didn’t care about rules at all and always do things as she thinks fit. If not for that, how could she reach 20 of age without being married away? There is no man capable to tame this wild princess.

“We have promised and create an alliance. The Ming Kingdom has produced excellent generals and to avoid them getting their hands on us, we need to destroy them first.”

Kuina eyes are red. She hated the war for the previous war had killed her only brother. Her father is still the same, thinking that they are still the powerful kingdom like the time when he’s still a child.

“You can’t win the war. You’re just wasting your soldier lives like this,” Kuina said with hoarse voice. Why should they start the war? She doesn’t want her people dying meaninglessly like this. With heavy feeling, Kuina turned her eyes towards the palace. Those officials, she will show them who will win in the end!

“Princess, we need to go soon. Please return to the palace.”

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Kuina stared at the general back and said slowly. “Only by seeing you can know how meaningless this war is. You better not fight a meaningless fight.”

With that, Kuina walked away. General Hen watched the fleeting figure of Princess Kuina with helpless feeling. Most of the time, Kuina is correct, the girl has wisdom far exceed ordinary people. What a pity that she born as a woman and no one bothers to listen to her all these years.

General Hen looks towards his soldier and toughen up his heart. He will do his best to gain victory.

…

Jun Hua keeps on reading the record during her journey to the southeast border of the Ming Kingdom. Her grandfather has been nagging her and she only manages to slip out after an hour. To get there faster, she used horses while she asks Xia to come by carriages. It’s the pretense of sending ‘Jun Hua’ to the town owned by the Jun family.

Reading the report, she comes to know that the kingdoms that plan to attack Ming Kingdom are the entire big kingdom around it. If it’s only the small kingdom, her uncle wouldn’t have called her back to deal with them.

Ming Kingdom is located in the middle of four big kingdoms. On the southeast, there’s Mountain Kingdom. Jun Hua feels a headache. If the four kingdoms were to attack Ming Kingdom at the same time, it’s unsure who will lose. First of all, she needs to reach the border as quick as possible to rearrange her soldiers. Given that the distance towards the far border is truly far, she will require around 1 week to reach it.

If it’s only the Mountain Kingdom, she has the confidence that she could win the battle easily. Now that 4 kingdoms are attacking, she’s unsure about the condition of the other places. She can protect her border, but it’s not necessarily the same with the northeast-oh wait, its Soujin so it’s supposedly fine. Then there’s the northwest and southwest. Lan and Fan family are going for a tough battle too over there.

…

Jun Hua is not the only one who feels a headache, the emperor is feeling the same way. How could the four kingdoms just suddenly decide to attack Ming Kingdom at almost the same time? He suspect that there is a shady dealing behind them, but this is not the time to think about it.

From the war report, he knows that battle are going to broke out first in the southeast, followed by the northwest, southwest and lastly northeast. But the timeframe is close so it’s highly impossible to send one general to two places altogether. Not to mention that the battle might last longer.

The four princes of the kingdom are all called to the meeting. The first and the second prince have been competing on offering strategies while the third and the fourth prince are sitting idly. Yan has no intention on helping his father because he knows that there is no alternative good strategy. He’s wondering whether he should use his identity as Young Noble Han to save himself or not.

“All of you claimed that you were the best of this kingdom and yet, you can’t even give me a single decent strategy?”

The emperor feels infuriated. If not because his usual strategist is away due to some matters, he will surely calls him back to the palace. The only things he could do now is depends on the rest of the officials.

Nanglong Souka stared at the map which pointed out the current situation. The borders are in danger because of the enemies coming to attack them. Ming Kingdom is neither the biggest one nor the strongest one, at least previously. After the rise of a few young talented general, the military power has risen. It seems, even the biggest kingdom is eyeing them.

The small kingdoms around the areas won’t give them much threat, but it will be a hassle if they come to attack too. Because of that, they still need to spare some soldiers to guard in that border.

“There is no other way than negotiation,” Nanglong Souka said. As a prime minister, he’s one of the officials who could have their say in this matter. Despite him not being a military officer, his family have more people capable in battle than talking.

“What do you think you can offer to them?” the emperor asks.

“I’m not entirely sure about what we could give because we don’t know who initiate the war or what they have promised each other. But at least we need to try,” Nanglong Souka said. Three kingdoms are far better than four kingdoms. If they can reduce the number of the kingdom attacking them, their chance will rise.

“Then, what do you suggest?”