World Conquest Online

Whilst discussing the impacts of the Louchuan with Subutai, Xun You and Sun Ce, a large group of warriors approached the Riverside part of the camp, their appearance causing those that were training to tense slightly. Zhao Yun, who was dealing with the Citizens around the camp headed to greet them, and after a brief conversation they all began to enter in neat columns.

Dom recognised Cheng Pu from the front of the column as just over a thousand of his elite swordsmen and archers followed him. They surrounded a carriage that was being pulled by two strong horses, that had a hundred armoured female warriors around it with an uncomfortable Liao Hua who seemed to have been dragged along with it. Behind that was a couple other carriages, whilst behind that came more civilians who were dressed in slightly better clothing than those that had come on the transport boats from Jiangxia. Behind them was even more civilians who weren't dressed as well. Dom assumed there were families of his Generals and Elder Qiao, as well as the families of the Warriors that were joining them.

"It seems Cheng Pu and my sister have arrived." Sun Ce stated, realising that everything was now lined up and ready for departure.

"It seems it is also about time we visited your brother." Xun You commented, pulling Sun Ce away from visiting his sister. "Let's leave the camp to Tomyris to manage with Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun, we need to see him and get this finished."

"I agree." Dom said, before turning to Actumerus behind him. "Please will you get Gan Ning and have him meet us at Sun Quan's headquarters. He can leave the rest of the conversations to the two Captains of the Trireme."

Actumerus nodded his head in acknowledgement and headed towards the Calypso, which still had a large group gathered around it. Subutai had already warned Sun Quan and his men that when they did eventually leave, it would be best if none of Sun Quan's men were nearby as they may end up coming with them. Sun Quan didn't understand, but with everything else he had seen he agreed immediately. So when Actumerus informed Gan Ning it was time, Sun Quan's men all left with the two captains and it gave time for Ling Tong and Su Fei to get everything ready with the Navy. The two Captains knew that once they received the signal, they would have to run and board their ships.

Dom, Sun Ce, Subutai and Xun You soon arrived at Sun Quan's headquarters, with Gan Ning arriving a few minutes behind them. Waiting for them were Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Dong Xi, Lu Su, Huang Gai and Lady Wu, Sun Ce and Sun Quan's mother, as well as a a couple of unrecognisable people. Zhou Yu did have a look of concern on his face as had been mentioned to Dom, whilst Dong Xi looked like he had a lot on his mind. The whole room seemed to have been in deep conversation when they arrived.

A map was in the centre of the room, that outlined all of the area that the Sun family currently owned and the surrounding areas, such as Jiangxia and the southern part of the Jing province. One of the younger unrecognisable Generals was pointing at an area to the south and was explaining his recent conquests in the area, whilst Huang Gai that they met the day before was pointing at an area near to it.

"Once this area is fully conquered, our lands will be secure." Sun Quan commented as the two spoke. "Well done Lu Xun, this is great news. With this and our recent gains I can confidently say we are ready to expand outwards."

"Thank you Lord Sun Quan." Lu Xun replied, a young General who Dom had heard would grow in to an important person in Sun Quan's forces. He was one of the reasons that Xun You had stayed behind, as he had been working on persuading Lu Xun's younger cousin Lu Ji, to join them. Sun Quan had noticed Dom's arrival, and then nodded for his Generals to leave the room, so that only himself, Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Lu Su and his mother Lady Wu stayed behind. Lu Xun looked at Dom and his commanders with interest as he left the room, whilst Dong Xi smiled in Dom's direction as he left, a look of defeat on his face.

After the room emptied, Dom and his group also surrounded the map, whilst Sun Quan grasped Dom's arm in greeting with a saddened smile. Dom heard a click as the door was locked by one of the guards in the room, and Gan Ning removed his mask once it was locked. Lady Wu looked at him in surprise, having been told what was about to happen, but still not believing it.

"I suppose I should call you brother in law now?" Sun Quan smiled as he began the conversation.

"Sun Ce has been calling me that all morning." Dom laughed in response, Dom could see that Lady Wu looked on him fondly, and as she was his new mother in law, he bowed his head slightly in greeting.

"Come, I assume that you will need to depart soon, so let's discuss your battle rewards before you go. You have already taken my sister, and two of my best Generals!" Sun Quan stated with a laugh, "But I am expecting that is not everything."

"I think that before we discuss our rewards, we should discuss the next steps for the Sun family." Dom replied, causing Zhang Zhao and Lu Su to become more alert, as this was information they wanted but shouldn't ask for. "I do not know what we can tell you, or what is important, so I will let Gan Ning speak. Both himself and Sun Ce have already agreed on what is to be shared."

"What ever I say, will impact and change what takes place. The more information I give you, the worse it will become." Gan Ning began, after being briefed by Shang Yang before departing. "The most important thing is recruitment, some of your Generals are joining us, whilst you have also claimed new Generals that have been captured."

"We have, however their quality is much lower than those that are leaving." Zhang Zhao countered in a serious tone, having already grumbled at the losses they had made.

"I do not disagree, but they are all seasoned naval commanders and that will be key in the future." Gan Ning continued, "I would advise that Lu Su becomes the next commander after Zhou Yu. Sun Ce has already explained the situation to Zhou Yu and I expect you are also aware Lord Sun Quan."

"I am, and I approve of him going with you if it could preserve his life." Sun Quan replied, which caused a shock from Zhang Zhao and Lu Su who were not aware, as well as Lady Wu who was even more surprised. Zhang Zhao was about to speak, but Sun Ce put his hand up for silence whilst Gan Ning continued.

"Your naval forces are now much larger than they should be. In the coming months Liu Biao will die and his province will become split. Some of which will be handed to Cao Cao in the north, through the Cai families machinations." Gan Ning explained, "He will chase Liu Bei in to your arms, for now he is useful, but he will ask for things and you must not trust him with them."

"Such as what?" Lu Su asked, already suspecting that Liu Biao's death would cause issues.

"He will want part of Jing, but he won't return it. A huge battle will come, an era defining battle. Liu Bei's forces will be useful in pushing back and weakening Cao Cao, but the battle can be won by wind and fire." Gan Ning stated, "Liu Bei's strategist Zhuge Liang will push for a fire attack, but you need to get Cao Cao to link his inexperienced navy together for it to win."

"We will try and build as many Trireme before then, that will be our hidden card. When will the battle be?" Lu Su asked as he stroked his chin.

"In the Winter." Gan Ning replied before giving more detailed information in regards to the date, but explaining that they had to keep everything quiet or the situation may change. He then looked at Lu Su, feeling like he knew the next question.

"The wind won't be blowing northwards then." Lu Su countered, not in disagreement but in trying to come up with a tactic.

"There will be a time when it does." Gan Ning explained, "You also need to recruit Pang Tong. He is an ugly but intelligent man. Promise him a good position and he will join you instead of Liu Bei. With him alongside Lu Su, you will be fine without Zhou Yu. But recruit him after the battle, before then just create friendly relations."

"I think I have heard of him before, the fledgling phoenix?" Zhang Zhao asked as they discussed.

"I believe so, I just remember his name and that he was key to Liu Bei as a strategist alongside Zhuge Liang. There is also Xiang Liang who currently works for Liu Biao, I would work on persuading him with promises now" Gan Ning continued, "I would also reach out to the Ma Clan in the north, if they can strike at Cao Cao whilst he is attacking south, it will help. They are a good force to have a friendship with long term. Try to have them as your friends now, so if things deteriorate for them, you are the place they would seek refuge."

"I have no dealings with them." Zhang Zhao stated, "I will see what we can do. Are you sure we shouldn't work with Cao Cao?"

"You said this last time as well." Gan Ning laughed, "But definitely not, if you do, peace would most likely come to the land, but everything we have fought for will be lost."

"Is there anyone else we should recruit?" Sun Quan asked as he listened in to the conversation, Gan Ning had only discussed the initial changes and hadn't gone further, which made Sun Quan relax that if they overcame this hurdle, then the future could be bright.

"Search Jing province whilst Jiangxia has been taken, there are some mighty Warriors across the land who haven't become who they will be yet. Look for a foot soldier called Wei Yan, he'll be young and is in southern Jing. He will grow in to an excellent General, or so I have been told my a friend of mine." Gan Ning explained, after hearing an explanation of Wei Yan from Gu Kaizhi, when he was talking about some of the key battles that ended the three kingdoms period. "There will be more, so I would just advice you to keep your eyes out and poach people if you can. Don't judge people on their appearance or background, as has been done to me by Huang Zu."

"So to poach people, like you are doing with my Generals?" Sun Quan laughed in response, happy with the information that had been provided and not holding any negative feelings about it.

"What about my children, will they all be ok?" Lady Wu asked suddenly, causing Gan Ning to take a second to think about his response.

"Just let them live the lives they are living." Sun Ce replied in Gan Ning's place, "Give them chances, and if they do not succeed, treat them like you would another General."

"Those are your siblings Bofu." Lady Wu chided him, but with a loving tone, happy to see her son alive after years of mourning him.

"They are, but my brother has an enterprise to found and hundreds of thousands that rely on his decisions so they can live their lives peacefully." Sun Ce replied in a serious tone. Lady Wu nodded in agreement, whilst Sun Quan seemed to be in thought about it. "Gan Ning has told me enough about my siblings future that he is aware off, however his view doesn't go very far from now. I have wrote a letter for Zhang Zhao's eyes only that explains some of the things that may happen and what to avoid. Only he can be trusted with the impartiality of this."

"Then, let's move on to the rewards and what you are taking." Sun Quan stated, moving the conversation on. Frustrated his brother didn't trust him with the information, but also understood the implications if he knew too much. "As well as Cheng Pu and Ling Tong, Zhou Yu will also be joining you, with a Louchuan, ten Mengchong and twenty Doujian. You also have around twenty Mengchong and twenty Doujian that are from Su Fei. I believe Ling Tong has also taken a small squadron of his own. We will also provide you with an additional one thousand five hundred of the naval prisoners, and those who have family that moved from Jiangxia will also go with them. Not all of them had families, or were based in Jiangxia, so this is another two thousand civilians, however a large percentage of these are wives and children, with the rest being siblings or close relatives. "

"Is this on top or part of the wedding gift?" Sun Ce asked, already knowing the answer but so Dom, Subutai and Xun You could hear.

"On top of the wedding gift, the eight hundred households and the town are gifts from the wedding and place Lord Lazarus as an ally of the Sun Family. As is the one thousand warriors that General Cheng Pu is taking with him." Sun Quan explained. "I would have given you more warriors, but you have already claimed nearly two thousand from Huang Zu's army with his two Generals. Plus more that have decided to move across for the adventure. We also have life changing battles to prepare for and can not loose more experienced warriors."

"No, I agree we have taken a lot already and I am very appreciative of the gifts that you have offered us!" Dom laughed, already happy with the naval gifts, additional population and Warriors. From this battle alone, he had gained over three thousand warriors, which doubled his current force numbers. However he would have to train and repurpose a lot of them as the current units did not fit in with Riverside's style. Around four hundred of them were Zhao Yun's Cavalry, around one thousand five hundred Swordsmen from Huang Zhong and Cheng Pu and another thousand Archers from Huang Zhong and Cheng Pu.

He had also gained around five thousand civilians so far, including those that Su Fei had persuaded and those that had come as naval family from Sun Quan, either prisoners or families of joining crew, around one thousand of these would become useful members straight away, whilst the other were a combination of untrained or families. Dom knew that the Mayor's wouldn't let that stay that way for long, and would push most of these through the schooling system that was being developed by Gu Kaizhi. On top of these numbers, he was hopeful for the eight hundred households and the new town, which would be close to another two to three thousand civilians on average, however he wasn't completely sure if they would arrive or not.

Finally, they had also received at least seventy one military naval ships, not of the standard of the Trireme, but enough to defend the waters around their growing Kingdom, plus those that Ling Tong had brought. As well as the crews for those ships, which would be close to a thousand in number, as the warriors on them were not all included and most of the crews had dual roles, there was also the additional one thousand five hundred naval prisoners from Sun Quan, which could be trained and spread across the Trireme's in Riverside, allowing them to fully crew their current ships and those that were being built.

As well as all of that, Dom had the elite guards of Sun Shangxiang, his new Warriors and the Qiao family joining, with their servants and own finances that they could reclaim when they returned to Riverside. Dom had also gained eight new Heroes; Zhou Yu an exceptional strategist who could rival the top of his time. Two Naval Generals in Su Fei and Ling Tong as well as two exceptional Infantry Generals in Cheng Pu and Huang Zhong. He also had gained the allegiance of the Cavalry General Zhao Yun. Dom had also gained the youthful General Cheng Zi and the young scholar Lu Ji. He had also gained Sun Shangxiang, a second wife and a hero in her own right.

"Dong Xi had also wanted to join you, however after discussing the current situation and the promise of us building him some of your Trireme first, he has agreed to stay as our new chief naval commander." Sun Quan explained. Dom was disappointed, as originally he was their top target for recruitment. Dong Xi would have easily been a B Grade Military Hero, or even an A Grade as Gan Ning explained he was better on the water than even him.

"I think that is for the best, he has the trust of mother and he will make sure that the Sun Family keeps control of the Rivers." Sun Ce agreed, "Especially with Jiang Qin returning from the south. I also wanted Dong Xi to join us, but with Zhou Yu coming it would leave you short on experience."

"You have given us enough information that even with our generals departing, we can grow stronger in the future." Zhang Zhao stated from the side, whilst Lu Su nodded his head, surprised by the movements of the conversation and his unexpected promotion. So much had changed in just a short few days, but somehow the future felt unlocked and open for them.

"I hope next time we meet, the Sun Family has become something much more." Dom said seriously, as he grasped Sun Quan's arm. It had been a successful mission

"I also hope the same for you." Sun Quan replied honestly, as he looked at Dom with his deep eyes, a stranger, who returned his dead brother and left as his brother in law after granting him the most perfect of victories.