The Flood Controller's Wife

Chapter 29 Minister Wei

There was no room for tears in the face of war.

Distant drumbeats and sirens sounded simultaneously, shaking the otherwise peaceful atmosphere, creating unbearable tension, as if the quiet tent he was seated in was an illusion. Outside, the situation was chaotic. When they retreated back to his chamber, he found out from Yubin that Lanzhan's father and other generals had led troops to defend the borders since the Xu army was advancing in their territories.

Yuxian explained to him what happened after they were separated. The Wen and Xu had allied with eachother and they planned on conquering Qi country. The emperor had sent envoys to request aid from Zhao kingdom at the far northern border. Zhao kingdom was located along the coast lines. Its geographical location was strategic because the Zhaos need not concern themselves with flooding problems since river overflow would be managed by the sea. The Zhaos were famous for their naval expeditions. Their location was made for such endeavors. However, that year due to bad weather, many of their ships and cavalry had been lost at sea. It was an unpleasant year for everyone. A month later, the envoy from Zhao came back bearing unpleasant news. The Zhaos were currently preoccupied with their own losses so they did not have enough resources nor manpower to share with Qi.

Based on Weiying's verbal report, it was written off that General Lan had perished with the flood. Although Weiying had insisted he might well be alive, prince Chen did not think so. The probability was too small according to him. A letter was written with the prince's seal informing his family about the matter. After a while, Weiying received a return letter from his own mother. Since situation had been uncertain and Weiming was no where to be found, her brother, the king of Zhao had sent a convoy to escort her and Weiying's sisters back to her motherland so they could be safer under his protection. Weiying's mother also asked if he would come with her since general Lan had been reported to have passed on. It would not be a problem for his career advancement in Zhao since her mother is the princess of Zhao. However, Weiying did not want to leave since he had only identified himself to be a Qi countryman and he felt that running away when the country was at war is cowardly. Yet he was glad his mother was leaving since he had no capacity to protect them but his uncle the king of Zhao had. Thus this arrangement was actually favourable for the Wei family. Weiying promptly wrote back with promises to take good care of himself, and to send word if he found his father.

There were three gated strongholds in the Qi kingdom and the emperor had dispatched most of his trusted aides to defend them. Prince Chen at the east, General LanHongde at the north and the crown prince at the west, while the other generals and princes were scattered to defend in other locations that was deemed strategic or vulnerable to attacks.

These strongholds defend border territories that belonged to Qi kingdom. On the surface, it seemed like a sound plan however, in practice, the plan had many weaknesses. For example, the current rainy season where flooding and other natural disasters brought about by the flood was uncontrollable at the hands of mere men. The enemy who was supposed to be preoccupied with the flood problems seemed to be bothered about it the least.

Qi kingdom was hit the worst and more often than not, they had to solve the problems with flooding as they come thus their resources were depleted quickly.

Then there were also areas ravaged by plagues. These places were closed off to outsiders and due to limited resources, the government was forced to lock up cities and force the inhabitants, both health as well as affected to fend for themselves. When these 'plague' red zones encounter flooding, they were not even allowed to leave their hometown to become refugees at neighboring cities. They could not afford more losses that could be brought about from the possible spread of the disease. It was a ruthless measure that was taken because of the urgency of the war at hand.