NationStates Jolt Archive

The wide valley shone with a light of its own as the sun hit it in the early morning. A small boy, his skin browned by the sun and marking him of his people played among the rocks of a small culvert in a hillside. He laughed and jumped from stone to stone. He piled stone into pyramids and then knocked them down.

He piled them up again laughing when he suddenly noticed a great outcry of birds. He looked up and saw hundreds of birds flying overhead, flying south. He looked down as he suddenly realized that dozens of animals were passing him by. Mammals of all types, running, in fear of something.

The ground rumbled. The stone pyramid that the boy had made shook then fell apart just as if the boy himself had knocked it over with a strong kick. The rumbled became a storm of stomping.

The boy ran around the culvert and up onto the hillside. He could see his village below him and beyond it, at the mouth of the valley was a great cloud of dust. In the cloud of dust he could see shining men. Thousands of them.

The boy had never seen so many men. Suddenly a few men appeared on top of the hill. They were armed with bows and wore strange armor. A man however, of the boy’s people, was with them. He was pointing out something to one of the men. One of the strangely dressed men noticed the boy.

“Get thee gone boy!” he called. The boy shrieked in fright and ran down the hill into his village.

The southern armies of Han had come to the last land of the South. The land that the locals called Inda. They numbered 700,000 in number. Three of the generals rode among them leading them on to the last major conquest of the year.

The Generals Shou Di, Loa Shang, and Lan Hei all stood together in the joint command tent. They had been standing togethor considering the map of the land they would soon invade. Scouts and merchants from the already conquered land had provided the Imperial Han army with plenty of detailed maps; not to mention giving them dozens of able bodied guides.

"Our army is nearly entirely over the River Ganges, by tommorow night we should have all legions prepared here on the southern bank," said Lao Shang, he was a man of average height and face but was renknown throughout the empure for his command abilities with cavalry.

Shou Di nodded. He was normally commander of the Northern Imperial Army, but the Emperor had seen fit to send him south to help lead the last conquest of Inda.

"But according to our scouts, we've learned of a new empire of men to our north west," said Lan Hei. "We cannot leave ourselves open to any unknown enemy."

Shou Di nodded again, then spoke. "We have thus far 500,000+ soldiers on this side of the river. Even with the bridge it is taking some time to cross. While we do have the town of New Deli to use as a supply base, to be cut off from the Empire is even more risky. I propose that one of us remains behind and hold the passes into Northern Inda. There are only 3, and the River Brahmaputra. If one of us took the remaining 200,000 on the north bank we could effectively hold that area and still be able to make this campaign here in the south of Inda."

Lao Shang and Lan Hei nodded. "That is sound planning," said Lan Hei.

"The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side," quoted Lao Shang.

Shou Di smiled. "Master Tzu taught you well in his verse did he not Lao Shang?"

Lao Shang smiled in turn. "Indeed. The baggage train of our army would be less without the extra 200,000 men. We would be able to march...10 more miles each day."

"Thats true. I have decided though, that I will go to defend in the case of an unknown attack," said Lao Shang. Shou Di shook his head.

"No old friend, your skills with the cavalry will be needed in this campaign. I will leave you and Lan Hei with all the cavalry, I will not need it for defending a mountain pass," said Shau Di. The other two generals nodded and conceded to Shou Di, they bowed, and Shou Di bowed in return.

"Then tommorow I will march north," said Shou Di. "With 30,000 archers, 100,000 pikemen, and 70,000 swordsmen and spearmen."

ooc: Kilani...do you know what the hell I'm even doing this for? Your not in the "Past Tech RP planning thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=462780)" are you? Theres no 'mysterious empire' to the north. In the region according to this map (http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/9888/ptrpworldmap0vn.png) which we are using for the rp, there is no one other than me and Tadjik. I think you were mistaken and thought this an open thread. My mistake in not making that clear. I ask if you can just delete your post.

OOC: Post deleted as per your request. Sorry about that. Boy is my face red. :(

tagness. at some point in the near future i'm going to make a list of all the threads i've tagged so we have a thread list.

OOC: Oda, when are you gonna get overstretched? :confused:
I mean...I know you're China and all, but all these multi-hundred-thousand man armies must stretch even your resources...?

ooc: i don't know.. historicaly china had million man standing armies at about the same time that rome was near it's peak. as long as he doesn't start trying to claim that most of htem are better than peasants who have been randomly handed a spear and little else and told "enemy there. go fight" he can get a LOT of troops out there befor he starts getting streched.

ooc: i don't know.. historicaly china had million man standing armies at about the same time that rome was near it's peak. as long as he doesn't start trying to claim that most of htem are better than peasants who have been randomly handed a spear and little else and told "enemy there. go fight" he can get a LOT of troops out there befor he starts getting streched.

ooc: Angermanland here would be correct. I have, for a proffesional trained army, only the Imperial Army which numbers 900,000. They are disbanded to forts and their homes when not in campaign season or not training.

The provinces have a militia army, but they do not train or are of the caliber of the Imperial Army. And besides, once I conquer India, I plan to halt expansion for a while, reinforce my borders, fortify, and then start massive trading operations as well as diplomatic missions.

OOC: Good enough for me. With a population the size of yours that is only reasonable.

It had been two and a half months of rough fighting and long marching for the Imperial Army invading the lands of Inda. Two major cities had fallen as well as several dozen small towns to the invasion forces. However at no small cost. Some 12,000+ soldiers had been lost in the first majopr battle against the local princes and lords. The enemy had used terrain to stage an ambush, but the overwhelming numbers took their toll and the attackers soon became the defenders. Since then only small skirmishs had bee faced, dozens of soldiers dying from them.

It was sickness more than anything that crippled the army. Some 40,000 men were sick with a heat fevor. Some had died from it, but the majority were pulling through it.

Now there was but one last bastion of enemy held territory. In the far south of he pyramid shaped land. Once last battle before this hot and large place finally became a part of the Han empire.

It was some months since the Han had conquered India.
Incognitia had long had some interests in the region, but the Han invasion had caught them somewhat unawares, and they had been unable at the time to mount any opposition.
Since then however, traders had been sent to Indian ports, to discover the state of the country, and their own reception.
More surreptitious advances had been made to the remnants of the old elites and power structures, looking into the possibility of inciting open rebellion, and making clear the potential for external aid this time.