79 The Beginning 1 (2/2)
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?”