Chapter 5: RIP, Van Winkle
Mao awoke, feeling like he'd slept for a thousand years. He didn't feel clear enough to conduct his war right away. He needed to refresh himself as to what his people could do, what the enemy was doing, and what his plans should be. He called his advisors and his cartographers to him.
From what he could recall, and the information given to him by his advisors, the biggest threats were the Mayans and the Dutch. The Mayans sent swordsmen from the north, while the Dutch mounted a two-pronged attack from the southwest. The Iroquois and Sumerians resided to the west, but presented little threat, at least for now.
He consulted his Military Advisor, who told Mao that, compared to everyone else, the Chinese were strong! The real question, though, was how he stacked up next to everyone else combined. . .
By the winter of 250 AD, the Aztecs, Celts, Iroquois, Maya, Netherlands, and Sumeria were all willing to negotiate. Mao was not. New troops known as Medieval Infantry were being trained, and Mao was ready to put them to use.
Mao's troops pressed on slowly but surely. In 280 AD, Ebacorum fell.
That winter, secrets of something called "Engineering" trickled through to Mao's ears. He was pleased. It was ini the very next year that Yaxchilan fell. This pleased Mao even more.
Mao called his military advisor. He'd sent his armies to the west and the north, but another to the south would prove most useful, he flet. The advisor agreed, and sent runners to the troops in the field that the time had come to recruit a new Military Leader. Now, if only one could be found.
In 300 AD, word reached Mao that the Maya had begun something called "Sun Tzu's Art of War." This, he immediately decided, they would not be allowed to keep, should they complete it. Then, in a moment of blazing D'oh, Mao remebered that the Dutch, and the Celts were building the same damn thing.
In 320 AD, Mao learned from his troops that Silly William had learned something called "invention." Mao laughed loud, but not long. The runner who brought the news explained that Invention would allow William to build Longbows, and exactly what those could do. Drat. That same year, the Celts completed a really, really fancy lighthouse. This puzzled Mao, as he simply could not see the point in building it. Perhaps even more unfortunate was the fact that Silly William had more gold in his treasury than Mao. This did not please Mao, and he was grateful that the Second Sword Army was approaching the Dutch borders.
In 340 AD, the Mayans, in a display of remarkable military tactics, used a boat to drop off an invasion force. He died. At that point, Mao decided to make a quick count of his labor force. With 17 cities, he had 12 native workers and 33 slaves. He was moderately happy, but needed more workers still. Invading troops seemed to have a nasty penchant for pillaging productive places. (Mao chuckled, as he never could resist a little alliteration.)
In 350, Mao's Second Sword Army faced its first Swiss Mercenary at the Battle of Breda. While ultimately victorious, Mao decided that those Mercs were too tough to be taken lightly. Later that year, Mao learned some terrible news. He had badly miscalculated at the Battle of Copan, leaving the First AC Army wounded. It was attacked and killed that winter. Mao definitely needed to increase the number of rock-throwers at his disposal. And he needed better armies. He'd dreamt of Chinese Riders, but couldn't quite figure out how they should be trained. In time, he felt certain, the solution would come to him. Hopefully, that knowledge would come soon.
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A note to readers: My apologies for having taken so long to update. A new hobby has caught my attention recently, and I'm afraid that I have a pronounced tendency to throw myself whole hog into new interests. I call it enthusiasm. My wife calls it OCD. Please accept my apologies. I'll try to do better . . in between the new job, getting Princess Bloodthirsty off to school, finding a new place to live and getting moved.
Has Princess Bloodthirsty made any new moves in her/your games?
As I've mentioned, I've been buried by RL for the past few months. Hopefully, things will start to calm down, and I can get back to posting with some regularity.
