Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Dragmire's War - Kei Ki's War

-Kei Ki, Eastern battlefield-

In similar fashion, the battle between Kei Ki and the Zhao general of the eastern battlefield would be decided this day. Since the day Kei Ki had entered the eastern forest, he knew his plan. In short, he disappeared completely and his army scattered, each going their own way. Where he established his command tent was anyone's guess, even Ouki could not find him. And if Ouki could not find him, what were the odds the enemy could?

The Eastern Zhao general scratched his head while looking at the map before him. He was an old general, skilled in tactics and warfare. He was nearly as old as Abhdan if one would like a comparison. He was fragile and bent over with time weighing on his back.

The map before him had the best guess of the terrain on the western battlefield as drawn by his scouts. The entire area was forest, but there were a few landmarks that could be used. A great pillar of stone here, a hill there, a trench here, the lumber yard there. Thanks to the landmarks his army was able to situate itself in the difficult terrain, but also because of the forest, it was no normal battle. While the battle for Matsubi had been one of holding a passage, and the battle for Moubu had been two large armies clashing a great many men on open terrain, the battle against Kei Ki would be of tactical warfare with two tacticians dancing around each other. Knowing where the enemy was would be half of the battle as you commanded the units to surround and slaughter them. Every unit was hidden in the forest, and it became a battle of a hundred skirmishes as opposed to open battle.

The Zhao general clicked his tongue in annoyance. The reports that came back by the hour showed a war of nearly uncontrolled chaos. The Qin units moved and attacked in such a way he found it almost impossible to predict. He struggled to find the big picture in Kei Ki's tactics. When a Qin unit was found, the Zhao units would be instructed to surround and kill it, only to find the Qin unit had disappeared. At the same time all of the other Qin units would disappear and reappear elsewhere fighting a Zhao unit before disengaging again.

It was maddening, and to make it all worse, he had no clear idea of where Kei Ki had set up his command structure. By the very nature of leadership, the general knew Kei Ki would have to set up his command somewhere from where he could give out orders to the Qin units under his command.

This form of warfare would go on without any clear victor. The general did not sense he was winning, nor did he feel he was losing. Perhaps that was not entirely accurate, as the general did sense he was perhaps on the losing end. His inability to grasp the mind of Kei Ki from the movements of his men, despite having many times more men than him, made him feel the Qin commander was skilled and had a great plan in mind.

This continued on for the first day. The second day a cart arrived at the barricade of the Zhao command by Zhao escort. The cart was presented to the general, and the general could only gape. The men howled in fury and anger.

Kei Ki had sent him an arch-like structure of limbs sown together, an arch from which heads hung, and carried on a wooden cart. The cart was also filled with sacks of ears, eyes, and many other organs. One organ was to each sack. From the number of eyes and ears passed to the general as a gift, there were a great many bodies the Qin had mutilated, many more than could all of their organs put in the cart. It was only the smallest organs that were put in sacks and sent as a gift.

Seeing the gift had a profound impact on the Zhao. Their fury increased tenfold until they vowed they would not eat before each taking the life of a Qin.

The general looked on the map with renewed purpose. In a way, he knew now a part of the mind of Kei Ki. Kei Ki had sent the gift to taunt him, to force him to make a mistake, to stir up anger in him until he was blinded by it. But the general vowed he would not be stirred up as his men were, and he forced his mind to calm. He looked over the map once more until a revelation came to him.