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"I have lived by the sword and contributed to the building of an era." This article is a stub. You can help Kingdom Wiki by expanding it. |
The Bureaucrats Job Arc is the 17th story arc of Yasuhisa Hara's Kingdom.
Summary[]
10th year of reign, 237 BC[]
Sai Taku arranges a meeting between the king of Qi, Ou Ken and the king of Qin, Ei Sei. However, he had to pay a golden tribute and agree to bring the prime minister Ri Boku with him, in exchange for a safe-conduct through the lands of Zhao. Ou Ken heard from Sai Taku that he wants a world without wars but thinks that it is just a utopia.
The Qi king wants to know how Ei Sei intends to save the people who lost their homeland and rule them. Ei Sei answers him that he will succeed by putting the law above everything. A world where being a citizen of Qi or Qin will not matter. A world where royalty, nobility or common peasantry will mean nothing. It doesn't matter if it means that it won't be a kingdom anymore. Ou Ken understands that it is a vision that will save his people from suffering and perhaps end this era of war. He agrees to form an informal alliance Qi/Qin but if one day Ei Sei changes, he will use all his power to oppose him.
After this meeting, Sai Taku dies peacefully. The Qi king sits next to his old friend with Ou Ken promising to watch over the path that Ei Sei's dream will take.
Ei Sei receives Ri Boku and his vassals in the throne room and asks him the reason of his coming. He came to ask him to put an end to his dream of unification which will only cause a huge tragedy because of all the bloodshed and lives lost. He proposes to him to renounce the swords and to choose diplomacy, by forming an alliance between the seven states. They will have to swear not to attack another state and if one of them breaks this rule, it will be wiped out by the other six.
Ei Sei refuses because this peace will only be temporary, one state will eventually become prosperous, and its king or vassals will break the alliance. This has happened all too often in history.
Ri Boku declares that it will be a war of endurance for Qin and that he will resist with all his strength in order to weaken them. He is prepared to lose many of his troops in order to save China from the slaughter that Qin is planning to perpetrate if they succeed in unification. Once back in Zhao, he concentrated on strengthening its military, and on Qin's side they distributed treasure funds to improve the state forces.
The Hi Shin Unit organizes a recruitment drive for 1000 soldiers but the candidates exceed by far the open places. Ka Ryo Ten has chosen to recruit soldiers with the highest stamina, because this is what is missing the most in order to improve the defensive qualities of the unit while also looking for those with special talents. She will find with the exceptional archer brothers Sou Jin and Sou Tan who will be accepted despite their failures in the stamina tests.
Meanwhile in Kanyou, Sai Taku was given a state funeral in honor of all his accomplishments, including the recent alliance with Yan with multiple patrons coming to pay their respects to him and his accomplishments with other kingdoms also giving their respects. Shou Bun Kun in a conversation with Shi Shi asks the official if he could be the one to be considered the greatest expert on legalism, while Shi Shi would like to calm the title he cannot. As there's only man who is truly monstrous when it comes to matters of the law. Shou Bun Kun, reluctantly, visits an underground prison and meets with Ri Shi, the keeper of legalism and Ryo Fui's former right hand. After seeing Ri Shi's depth and wisdom the idea of legalism while also warning the Chancellor of the Confucianism of the central plains (Wei, Zhao and Han) who will be the most opposed to legalism. Shou Bun Kun asks him to lend his power in creating the future laws after Unifying China so that he can realize Ei Sei's vision of creating a new government that will be overseen entirely by the law and pardons Ri Shi.
While his release from prison angers the members of the Ei Sei Faction, Ri Shi is accepted by Ei Sei who tells the officials that they have put aside their personal issues and be united as the ones to face the world together. The official gladly heed their king's wisdom. In that moment Shou Hei Kun and Kai Oku enter the throne room but Ri Shi notices that something is bothering the Chief of Military Affairs.
After Ri Shi's observation, Shou Hei Kun asks for a private meeting with Ei Sei and informs the Qin king that the defenses being put up by Ri Boku will make the conquest of eastern Zhao a prolong 10 year campaign, making it impossible to unify the lands in 15 years as originally planned. Ri Boku intends to drag out the war in western Zhao as long as possible in order to exhaust Qin's resources. Even after conquering the west of Zhao in 10 years, it will take a few more years to bring down Kantan.
Therefore, Shou Hei Kun proposes an unorthodox and highly risky method - Make the entire western Zhao campaign a feint and attack the second largest city of Zhao, Gyou, which is south of Kantan the capital of Zhao in the heartlands of Zhao. He predicts that with Gyou conquered, they will be able to take Kantan and destroy the state of Zhao within the next three years.
Characters Introduced[]
Qin[]
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Father of Jin and Tan
Leader of the Sou Kyuu Unit
Member of the Ten Bows of China
Killed in Battle
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Wei[]
Zhao[]
Yan[]
Unknown State[]
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Story Impacts[]
- Sai Taku passes away after a verbal surrendering promise from Ou Ken, the King of Qi to Ei Sei, the King of Qin.
- Qin establishes an alliance with Qi after negotiations with Sai Taku's help.'