บท 111: The true weight of the war
[3rd POV]
"What do they take us for? Some stupid peasants whom they can bully whenever?" Lord Shen said while walking around in the army camp pn the front lines.
He had not been staying idle the past week as he was currently on the frontlines, waging the final unification war against the northern kingdoms.
The Kingdoms of Jingnan and Zhou were the only last standing kingdoms left and they were in their last moment of struggle.
Some might ask why Shen was moving so quickly at unifying China when he told Tai Lung it would take around half a year. It was only a week but he had done nearly 5 months worth of work during that time.
The reason was Tai Lung's incredible feat of wiping out the Tibetan army. The stories and tales he had ordered to spread worked extremely well. The people and even most of the soldiers preferred to surrender peacefully than facing Tai Lung.
Not only that, a new enemy had popped up in the form of Tibet and India. And under that common enemy, the rulers were more convinced to just surrender under Shen, instead of prolonging the inevitable and lose thier homeland to some other countries.
Why would they keep acting up and fighting a losing battle for the sake of honour when Tai Lung - who could probably get the job done in a day - was fighting for them and protecting the whole of China?
Another thing to note was that the North were familiar with fighting against invaders from other Empires so they were understanding towards the situation.
So the only thing left to do was subdue some arrogant nobles and dark princes who were still residing in the kingdom even after the king decided to surrender.
In short, things went a lot smoother than Shen could possibly imagine, as is always the case when the miracle known as Tai Lung went into action.
Propaganda for the win.
But now, an important task popped up which required Shen's immediate attention.
"A thousand warriors?" Shen read in disbelief, searching for two or more zeros behind that number.
Then he looked up and around the camp. This camp alone housed ten thousand of his soldiers so what is a thousand warriors hoping, trying to invade China?
The possibility that they could be strong came to mind but even a thousand proper kung fu masters won't be able to put a dent on China.
So, why are the Gupta sending a thousand warriors?
Could it be that Master Gazelle, who was renowned for her information-gathering skills was wrong?
"My Lord, another scroll came along with it." Master Sloth said as he stood beside Shen. He had also read what was written on the scroll and it contained information about Tibet and India's alliance and whatever information Gazelle could get about the upcoming invasion. Even details like how many people supported the invasion, what the civilians were told etc was included in the scroll.
"Hm?" Shen hummed and took the other scrool from the messenger. This scroll was much bigger than the one before and obviously contained more information.
Shen opened the scroll and paused after taking a look.
"This is?" He trailed, his eyes moving rapidly to get a rough read. Then he closed the scroll and started walking towards his tent.
Master Sloth and the messenger followed behind and when they all entered the tent, Shifu threw the scroll on the ground and it unrolled until it became twenty feet.
Master Sloth whistled, "Wow, our girl was doing her work."
Shen also had a pleased smile on his face as he picked up the scroll and started reading it from the beginning which held details on what was inside the content.
The politics of the Gupta Empire, how it was separated into four regions, the rulers of each region and how they came to power, the civilian's opinion on the rest of the world, thier relation with Tibet, the number of officers, the number of soldiers, the measurement of cities and population etc.
Everything there was to know was tightly packed inside that scroll. If knowledge was power, then they already won the war, Shen mused.
But what initially caught his and Master's Sloth eyes was the one title written in darker ink.
The art of cultivating one's essence and India's path to power.
Q
Shen decided to start reading from that and after a few minutes of reading and myriads of emotions crossing his face, he put down the scroll and looked ahead with his giant popping eyes.
"Oh." One word concluded his reaction.
Now it made sense why they were sending only a thousand warriors to start the invasion of China.
At first, he thought it was ridiculous that they were only sending a thousand but now he found the situation ridiculous because they sent that much. It was a complete overkill to start an invasion.
He finally realized the weight behind the word 'A thousand elite Warrior'. The title of a warrior was granted to only the strong in the Gupta Empire, unlike China where most combatant could call themselves warrior.
For instance there were roughly 3,000 elite warriors in the whole Gupta Empire and they were all important captains and officers.
"Okay, I did not expect this." Shen muttered to himself.
A new power system, one that was powerful too. He thought the rest of the world was inferior to China because of thier lack of Kung Fu and gunpowder.
But it seemed the world also had power of thier own. Unique to China's kung fu but they have their own way of amassing power.
"What should we do my Lord?" Master Sloth asked. He also had a strained smile on his face as he read the content of the scroll.
"We are not ready yet." Shifu said.
To face this kind of attack, China was not yet prepared to fight them off without consequences. They might lose the Western region of China or it would cost them lots of resources.
The image of Tai Lung popped into thier minds.
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"Are you worried?" Master Sloth asked.
"About what?"
"The General."
"..."
Shen did not reply. Instead, he simply picked up the scroll again and started going through the other information provided by Gazelle. He only replied after a few minutes.
"You're funny, that's why I keep you around," Shen said.
"So we are doing nothing?" Master Sloth asked with wide eyes.
"I didn't say that." Shen said, "But I am not the only one who received this information. I figured it would be better to let Shifu decide on what to do."
"Shifu? You mean the Jade Palace?"
"Yes, he had personally requested I involve him in this matter because the safety of China is the duty of the Jade Palace and the Dragon Warrior."
"We'll see what he thinks about this."
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[3rd POV]
Master Shifu who was sitting in front of the Dragon Pond inside the Hall of Warriors had a deep look in his eyes.
He had also received the information, just like Shen did. In fact, he was the first one to receive the scrolls as Shen was on the uppermost map of China while the Jade Place was in central China.
The long train of thoughts he had revolved around his son who was protecting China in the western borders and the looming threat.
His thought was broken when the door of the Hall of Warriors was slammed open and the Dragon Warrior along with the furious five ran inside with hurried steps.
"Master! What happened?" They asked in unison and Po, even though he was the most tired, was the first one to reach Shifu.
They were summoned by Shifu and it was an emergency summon with the bell of the Jade Palace. Hence, why they all had a serious demeanour.
"I have a mission that shall include all of you." Master Shifu said.
"All of us? Even me?" Po asked since mostly he was the one who stayed in the Jade Palace while the furious five were always on a mission.
The duty of the Dragon Warrior was to be available for something truly important. He need not waste time on useless mission which could be accomplished by others.
"Yes, and the safety of China is relying on this mission." Shifu said.
"So what is it about?"
"A new threat had appeared in the West. The Gupta Empire and Tibetans are launching an allied attack on China from the Western borders."
"Wait," Tigress said, "isn't Tai Lung in the Western borders?"
"Correct."
"So these are enemies which even Big Brother Tai Lung can deal with?" Po asked in shock.
"I didn't say that, but yes, he might need some assistance with this one. We only know the forces sent by the Gupta Empire and added to that whatever the Tibets have on thier side, this could turn out badly." Shifu said.
"I am not worried about my son, I know he can take care of himself but he is only one man against an army of elite warriors. Even if it is at least to deal with whatever enemy manages to get pass him, you all need to be there." Shifu said.
"Okay then!! What are we waiting for!! Let's go save China."
"Wait a minute Po, there are also some things you need to do." Shifu said and although enthusiastic, Po stayed and listened
"This is not only a mission for you all but for every single guardian in China." Shifu said, "Before heading towards the border, go to every capital city and recruit the masters there."
"Tell them the Jade place summoned all masters of Kung Fu."
Against the threat, a normal soldier would be nothing but cannon fodders. The thousand elite warriors were all comparable to a master of Kung Fu.
Against such a powerful army, Tai Lung would need an army of his own.
He was not a lone criminal fighting against the world anymore, he had the support of many people behind him. He was the second ruler of the unified China.
This was not only a battlebetween Tai Lung and the enemy anymore. The situation had become more than just protecting China.
It was war.
A war between China and the Guptas.
A war between China and Tibet.
A war between Kung Fu and Cultivation.
.
.
China will stand alongside it's greatest warrior.
And Kung Fu will not betray her greatest master.
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[IMAGE]
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Author : Sorry for the delay, we have total blackout.
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