The sound of marching boots fills the streets of Trader Town, breaking the quiet morning ambience. Curious onlookers open up their windows to see the endless columns of men in their Lemallar armour, their pointy helms, and their weird iron-plated stave looking weapons. The Oda banners are held up high; it's sigil, a golden chrysanthemum with sixteen petals overlooks the city.
At the head of the column is a single man, dressed in robes and an ornamental hat. He walks with grace and dignity, hands behind his back and head held up high. Behind him, an entourage of officers and adjutants, and a few grunts carrying finely decorated chests.
The crowd around them grows in number as the murmurs turn into excited conversations, their curiosity ever-deepening. The man at the head of the column, Tai Wu, stops his march and the column grinds to a halt. A wide gate stands in front of the general, it leads to the grand palace. In front of the entrance, lay a single man, a fellow general.
Lightly armoured and sporting a goatee, he walks up to Tai Wu.
"You're late for the gathering Tai Wu."
Tai Wu makes a shooing motion with his hands, his tone dismissive, "We had a detour along the way, but we are here, are we not? No need to be so aggressive Zheng."
Zheng Yating, a man known for his strict moral code and firm command. Tai admires the man's capability and blunt honesty, it's just a shame he has quite the stick up his butt.
Zheng ignores Tai's comment and looks at the grunts behind him, "What's in those chests?"
"Rare gifts, its the reason why there was such a delay in the first play?"
Zheng raises an eyebrow, "Our empress does not care for such things, you think you could sway her heart with such useless trinkets? She only cares for success, Tai, nothing more."
There's a glint in Tai Wu's eye as he adopts a grin, "Oh, I know."
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Deep in the palace of the demon lord, past the throne room and into the back door, you'll hear the giggles of maids and former concubines. In there you'll find the demon lord herself; dressed in a towel, a petulant look on her face, as the ladies around her brush her hair, paint her nails, and all matter of things to make her look good.
Nobunaga lets out a groan ill-fitting of a demon that terrorizes all of Yi Ti. She finds all of... well... whatever these women are doing to be a bit of a waste of time, but a pleasant distraction from the tedium that is being an empress. Besides, these maids were quite insistent on dolling her up today, and she thought she might indulge in their request, who knows, maybe she'll like it. Though she feels a tinge of unease at how fussy they can be.
"Oooh, your hair is just so silky!" one of them exclaims
"How do you keep such smooth skin?"
"You're so pretty for someone so butch!"
Nobunaga let out a sigh, maybe she wouldn't like this sort of feminine thing after all. The fourth woman, who was silent for the entire time moves to grab some face powder. She walks daintily towards a nearby bowl.
"There will be no powder." Nobunaga commands. There's a line she will not cross, and looking like a ghost is one of them.
"O-o-of course your majesty." The woman replies, her voice small and quiet. She takes small steps towards Nobunaga.
"I've noticed this all day, but I haven't bothered to ask," Nobunaga says, eyeing the woman's leg. "are you limping?" The empress inquires.
The other three ladies speak before the girl herself could respond, "She's got tiny feet."
"She walks so gracefully, so angelically."
"It's all thanks to Chánzú."
"Chánzú?" The empress asks?
Finally, the fourth girl speaks, "It's old Yitish for footbinding." Nobunaga tilts her head in askance. "Tight bindings for the feet, to-to-to make them smaller."
Nobunaga's eyes widen, "Is it painful?"
"ye-ye-yes" The girl looks down on the ground, must've touched a nerve. Nobunaga stands up to ask some more before her thoughts are interrupted by a knock.
A voice comes through the door, "Heavenly Empress!", must be one of the eunuchs, "General Tai Wu has arrived, all forces mustered. He seeks your audience."
Took him long enough, She'll need to find a way to punish him some time. He comes late to the mustering and now demands her audience, who does he think he is?
"Allow him entrance to the Palace district, open the gates."
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"Why do you follow her so fervently Zheng? Out of all of her subordinates, you are the most obedient. Why is that? I thought you despised leaders like her. Like me. Why now do you choose to support such a warlike empress? The thought has always perplexed me."
Zheng's face remains stoic save for the raised eyebrow, "I could ask you the same thing."
"Evading the question are we? But I'll bite." Tai Wu pauses to collect his thoughts, "There is something deeply rotten in Yi Ti, and it's not just the lust and greed of the aristocracy...Something at the core of this Celestial Empire is twisted, and now ever since the day's of the Sea-Green Emperors, Yi Ti is decaying. Our borders shrink, our prosperity lessens by the day, and our people are losing faith in this Kingdom. You see the lines being drawn in the sand do you not? Mu Zhou greedily holds the capital while that bastard Cao Jian marches against him with a formidable host. Death, War, Famine and Disease, the apocalypse. " Tai Wu looks down despondently, before adopting a determined look, "Yi Ti will not survive this war, I have accepted that, but its people can still be united. Not under the tyrants to the south, " Tai Wu's sight wanders to the gate barring his entrance to the palace, " but her. Under the old system, Yi Ti will suffer, and its people will be separated. But with Nobunaga...I do not believe that will be the case. That woman will bring about a new order, her rule will burn away the rotten core of this nation and replace with something better, something 'modern' as she likes to call it. It must be divine providence, the Lion of the Night has grace us this mysterious leader in such trying times."
"Burn away the old to bring about the new..."
"Exactly."
The gate opens to reveal the grand palace of Trader's Town, the symbol of the demon empress's power.
"Seems like you're allowed entry brother Tai, pray that whatever gifts you bring is enough to avoid her fury."
"Oh, it will...We should continue this talk next time. I'm dying to hear your reason."
Tai Wu walks with dignity towards the steps of the palace, his entourage follows him, holding the chests as if they were fragile eggs, where any misstep would lead to cracks. He passes the eunuchs and the assembled Royal Guards of the palace, decked out with full armour.
The sky is cloudy, and the mists have settled in. Tai Wu stops as he reaches the steps towards the palace, and descending towards him is the Demon Empress herself. The Emperess looks a bit different than the previous times he saw her, though he can't really put his finger on it. He bows in supplication, not daring to look up in fear of offending Nobunaga.
A silence settles in until Oda Nobunaga breaks it, "Look up, Tai Wu."
He does so and stands straight with his chest puffed up.
"My Empress..."
Her voice is low, like a storm brewing, "Two weeks...That's how long everyone's been waiting for your men to arrive...Three days of my soldiers doing nothing but eat away at our supplies and standing idly by."
"In our journey towards the capital, there were distractions..."
Nobunaga crosses her arms, "distractions?".
Tai Wu claps his hands and the grunts move forward and kneel, presenting the chests to their Empress. Tai Wu opens one of the three chests presented and reaches inside, his hand grasps at something before pulling out ahead. Pointy and large with a yellowish-brown complexion, it's expression at peace. What Tai Wu holds is the head of a Jhogos Nai.
"Cao Jian's campaign to the south has left the east unguarded, its villages and cities ripe for pillaging. We found a sizeable force of Jhogos Zorse riders southeast of the Sinking Sea. My men battled then, and when we killed their leaders, the rest retreated northwards. We only won thanks to your suggestion to mix up Pikemen and 'Muskets' into the same unit, very effective my liege." He bows reverently.
"Dispense with the flattery Tai Wu, why didn't you notify me through messenger eagles in the first place? And was this force part of the main army coming from north or an entirely separate tribe?"
"It is unclear, their language makes interrogation difficult, but from what I've heard, I feel that this was a force that broke off from the main army after some disagreements. As for the matter of the eagles...well, it's better to put one's cards down at the same time during a negotiation."
"You're in no position to make demands."
"Which is why this is a negotiation, I'm merely making requests, not demands." He reaches towards the second chests to open it and conjures up an emerald scroll. "A request for vassalage from the people of the Ti province. They regarded me as their saviour after I drove the Jhogos Nai out, and is willing to be under my rule if I continue to protect them." He bows and presents the scroll to Nobunaga, " I gift you this province my liege."
Nobunaga's face momentarily breaks out in grin before coming back to it's stoic expression, "I thank you, Tai Wu, you have been very productive these past two weeks. Now I will just need some men to enforce my rule after we beat back the Jhogos Nai. Though, for a province to lost that much faith in its ruler, Cao Jian must be weaker than I first thought. And so what of the third chest Tai Wu? An ancient weapon, the secrets of our enemies? Maybe even a new gun? Your achievements merit some reward despite your lateness."
"It's none of those my Empress, rather..." He opens the third and final chest and conjures up a ring, on it a gem that shines an incandescent green with small rubies around it. " Here, the purpose of this negotiation, I request that you take my son's hand in marriage."
Nobunaga's guffaws came abrupt and loud, and could be heard from the palace itself to its gate.
The only tension there is, is the lethal kind.
