Gates of Jiang Xia

[Liu Bei]

There are gates around the city and palace. You must ask for permission to enter the Palace gates, people are allowed to move as they wish between the exterior gates of the city.

[Huang Zhong]

*With a bit of a sad look on his face, Huang Zhong rides in front of his personal army, leading them through the city gates, which were opened up for the armies of Shu to take garrison in Jiang Xia. As he and his army moves on, Huang Zhong looks around, seeing many common people, the citizens of Jiang Xia, standing near the gate, cheering and waving Shu flags. Huang Zhong waves to the crowd and his soldiers feel their spirits lifting. This was also what they were fighting for. Liberating the people of the cities fallen under the control of the corrupt kingdoms of Wu and Wei. Shu had claimed it's first victory this day, and Huang Zhong was among those that were selected to protect it form being stolen from the bandits of Wu. But Huang Zhong didn't fear those pirates. He was confident, as long as he was present here, nothing bad could happen. As he and his men have passed the crowd, they continue their march to the palace of Jiang Xia.*

[Fa Zheng]

Behind Huang Zhong followed the slight figure of Fa Zheng, trotting along in his saddle, seemingly at perfect ease. But, in actual fact, he was far from it. Based on past experiences, the strategist should have had absolutely no problem with the way that the city had been sezied, and death of its previous governor in such a brutal manner- after all, he had certainly seen it occur before. But there was no denying the pang of guilt and doubt that rebelled against his natural conscience, and he genuinely feared for the future. What if the minister of Jiang Xia had inadvertently caused the downfall of Liu Bei's fantastic reputation? The thought did not even bear thinking about, and yet, it was a possibility. Shao Jiang saw that his master was slightly troubled, for once, but decided not to say anything. For the young warrior, it had been more of an anti-climax than anything else- his first battle, and yet, he hadn't even seen any action. The city had been occupied with complete ease, and now, Fa Zheng had been gifted the prefecture of Jiang Xia.

He knew precisely how crucial the location was, strategically. Jiang Xia was placed right on the border of Wu, next to Lu Jiang, and it could be used as a gateway by either kingdom for a lethal assault on the other. Fa Zheng was determined not to let it be his kingdom. Now, there was even more at stake, with Wu likely to enter into a state of open warfare following their escapades at Xu Chang, and as such, they would have to prepare. Fa Zheng briefly waved at the surrounding crowds, and allowed his soldiers to disband and celebrate- but in his heart, he knew that tomorrow would bring a day where the hard work would have to begin. Preparations needed to be made, certainly.