The Long Journey

Dongyan looked on helplessly, shocked with the anger that Akiko had for Kui.

Yet he could do nothing.

He was part of the Sho Empire now, and he knew. He knew that from then on, Kui could not be boastful. They may have amazing inventions, they may have a rich culture, but they could never be proud of it.

Is this how our pride will disappear? Quickly brushing away the tears that had welled up in his eyes, he stood in front of Akiko.

"We will leave now, if you so wish." He said. "But before I go, I wish to say something. Akiko, when I came into your throne room, you seemed happy to hear the news. You asked me to bring my men here, and I did. You promised them no harm, and yet here they are, being ridiculed in front of thousands. I would like to make clear to you: we are not in the wrong. Harakaite attacked us- we were only defending ourselves. Is defending yourself wrong? Were we supposed to stand there and let you take Xindao? Did these soldiers do wrong to follow orders? Did these soldiers do wrong to love their country? With every last sliver of pride I tell you: if you wish to wipe us out, we cannot resist. But we will do everything we can to make it a misery. Sho. Hatan. We want the balance to be maintained, but if you attack us and win, we will destroy everything we created. We will destroy every last technological advance we have made, and share it all with others. We will cause chaos in Kui, so that you will never be able to conquer it. But this is not why we joined the Sho Empire."

"All we want is peace. That is why we joined with you and Sho. We wanted to make love, not war (pun not intended). We wanted to usher in an era when no longer were suspicious of one another. We wanted the inner sea to not be a battleground, but an area bustling with trade."

"So please, Akiko, let my people go. All we want is for all countries to flourish. We want Harakaite to remain the cultural capital of Qin. Sho can keep it's large enpire. Hatan can keep it's cavalry. One thing we have that no other country in Qin has is humility, Akiko. We can persevere, even in the face of impossible circumstances. You think this war is bad? Imagine your entire country being forced onto the mainland. You think you're high and mighty, but you could stand to learn something from us."

/r/HistoricalWorldPowers Thread Parent