Joseph IX

PA 1.1

Following Cui’s announcement, the two Kings found themselves in Joseph’s old Meeting House—the small one he’d made during his war against Domenic—along with his general Meixiu and a single guard at the entrance to keep people away.

In between the three of them was a large table covered in a basic map of the river, made by drawing on a linen sheet with charcoal. On the map showed the capital of Sun’s Rest, getting more and more vague the further away from their territory it went.

“We should probably build a dam here,” Meixiu told the two Kings, dragging a piece of charcoal over the river by the border of their Kingdom. “We need to cut them off from sailing their navy downriver into our own cities. We should also probably build up some land fortifications there as well—connect our watchtowers with walls, perhaps.”

“And what about my Kingdom while you’re doing all this?” Cui scowled at her. “Are we just supposed to be left to rot while you hide behind your walls?”

Meixiu glared back at him. “We cannot just rush in and attack them—trust me, I have much more experience at this than you! If we leave ourselves open to retaliation, there’s nothing stopping them from coming behind our lines and striking us at our heart!”

“Oh? You really think so? Or perhaps you’re just using this as an excuse to get rid of us—after all, I’d bet the Wustenreich would make a more valuable ally then us!”

“You dare,” Meixiu hissed lowly, her eyes narrowed to slits. “Did you dare call me a traitor.”

Joseph sighed with a frown, knocking heavily against the table between them to get their attention. “Cui, Meixiu, that’s enough. We are allies, Cui, and irrespective of our current circumstances I want you to know that we have sworn to never betray our allies.” He told the other King, leveling him with a calm stare. “So don’t go accusing us of things we haven’t done, got it?”

The threat of ‘or else we might actually consider it’ hung unsaid between them.

Cui pressed his lips into a thin line, but nodded sharply. “I understand,” he let out a breath. “I… I apologize. I fear the stress is merely getting to me.”

“Good,” he nodded, before turning back to his general. “Now, Meixiu, I do agree with you that we need time to prepare our own lands, but we shouldn’t do that at the cost of our allies. For now, we’ll compromise. Focus on blocking the river for now—you are correct about how dangerous boats could be—but ignore the land fortifications for now. It’s not like we could block off the whole desert anyway, so it would just be a waste of time and resources.”

His general frowned heavily, before sighing. “Fine,” she agreed, “I see your point. Instead… send out our scouts to the border, have them search for the enemy army. We can keep our army stationed in Biancheng until then.”

“That is… more acceptable,” Cui begrudgingly agreed. “But I do hope you remember that my fellow King—a man who I think of as a brother—has been left alone on the other side of the enemy, holding them off alone. We can’t waste time on pointless matters!”

“This isn’t pointless,” Meixiu tapped the map for emphasis. “Our two Kingdoms are practically on opposite sides of the world, with our enemy in between. Uniting our armies would require fighting our way through not only the Wen-Olivia Alliance, but also practically all of the Song Cua Toi. If we even manage that, then we’ve won the war at that point anyways!”

“So what, is King Aniruddha supposed to just hole up in his capital waiting for us to rescue him?!”

“Actually, I think that might work,” Joseph hummed, staring at the map. “I happen to know a thing or two about sieges, and I also know how long they can last if you’re well prepared. In order to properly siege down your capital city, they’d need to completely surround it with their army, something that will take up a significant chunk of it. Then if we attack them from the south, they’d be forced to split their army to deal with us.”

“But what if they ignore our territory and go straight for yours?”

“Then they’d be leaving themselves open from the other side while getting bogged down in fighting a more powerful enemy,” he shook his head. “Remember, while this may be three Kingdoms against two, in reality our populations and armies are about even. In fact, I’d argue that the Wen-Olivia Alliance getting involved was actually the wrong decision for them, since those two would gain nothing from this war, when if they’d stayed neutral they could have blocked off our armies from moving north.”

“True,” Meixiu nodded, “But then they might have been pressured into fighting on the Two Oasis’ side, which… hang on, that actually might have worked out better for them. They’d be on a side with a numerical advantage, and could possibly even take territory from the Song Cua Toi once this was over. Why would they join the weaker side? What do they gain out of this?”

“Perhaps those greedy backstabbers wish to conquer your own Kingdom,” Cui offered. “If they win this war, they’ll get likely get your entire Kingdom, while if they’d joined on our side they’d only get one or two cities.”

“Maybe,” Meixiu bit her lip. “Maybe not. Damnit, now I’ve got to plan around some unknowable advantage they might have! And to think, I was feeling so confident…”

“Don’t be so disheartened, Meixiu,” Joseph reassured her. “For all we know, we may just be jumping at shadows.”

“If only things were so easy,” she sighed. “Well, it shouldn’t be impossible for us to figure out what they might have come up with—there are only so many things they can do with their level of technology so far.”

“Well, putting that on the backburner for now,” Joseph gestured back to the map. “Do you have anything else we should go over?”

Meixiu pursed her lips thoughtfully, but shook her head. “No, I don’t believe so. It’s not like our supply lines will be changing yet, though we won’t be getting any more trade from the north after this. We’ll also need to raise the army, but that’s something that we’ll have to deal with locally, not here. No, right now we need to wait, to see what the enemy is doing before we make any important decisions. They’ve already taken the initiative, so charging in blindly would be suicidal at this point. Information is more important at this stage of the game than anything else.”

“There’s really nothing?” Cui asked with a frown. “Nothing at all we can do?”

“There are always things we can do,” she countered. “Just nothing more to do here and now.”

“…Well, in that case, I believe I will take my leave,” the other king sighed. “I assume my quarters will be the same ones that I stayed in last time?”

“If you want,” Joseph nodded.

The King opened his mouth as if to say something more, before shaking his head and leaving without another word.

Joseph and Meixiu stood in the room in silence for a moment, simply listening to him leave. And then, once he was sure the other King was gone, Joseph turned to the guard, motioning her over to the table.

“Gamila,” he called over his secret vassal, “I also have a job for you, if you’re willing.”

“Of course, Joseph,” she nodded, coming to stand next to Meixiu, who stared down at the map, ignoring the other woman. “This is my home now as much as yours—and I plan to defend it to the end.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “It warms my heart to hear you say that. That being said, this task I have for you is dangerous one. I want you to go undercover and bring us back intel from the other kingdoms; the Wen-Olivia Alliance, the Song Cua Toi, and the Wustenreich.”

Gamila’s brow furrowed, but she nodded. “I see. I believe I could do that, but I think you might be overestimating how much information I could gain. Just because I could pass off as a local doesn’t mean that people won’t realize there’s something off about me.”

“I know. But even the smallest things count when planning for war. Infiltrating their leadership is probably impossible, but something as simple as figuring out where their armies are should still be within your ability.”

“I see,” she nodded. “In that case, do you want me to leave immediately? Or would you rather I wait a bit?”

Joseph bit the inside of his cheek, weighing the pros and cons of that decision. “…If you’re ready, then yes, I believe that the sooner you start the better our chances will be.”

“Understood,” she gave him a salute, before turning to leave the room. “I’ll see you two when I return.”

However, before she could leave the room, someone else spoke up.

“Gamila,” Meixiu said, not looking up from where her eyes were burning a hole in the map. “I may no longer be your Queen, but as acting General of the Sunset Kingdom, I still have the ability to give you orders. And so I order you—don’t get caught, don’t die, and please… come back safe. I don’t want to lose another…”

Gamila paused in the doorway, before a small smile grew across her face. “I understand, Lady Meixiu. Trust me, I don’t plan on it.”

“Good,” Meixiu nodded, sounding suspiciously choked up. “Good. I’ll hold you too that.”

And Gamila left.

9,901 God-Kings Remain