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The year is 832 B.C. It has been nine years since King Li of Zhou was outsted from his throne by a peasant revolt. In his absence, Gonge Bo He has ruled from the Zhou palace in Hao as dynasty regent. As a leader of the people, Gonge He has brought prosperity and peace back to the land. However, suddenly everything Gong He has worked for over the last nine years is in jeopardy. Rising from the eastern part of the Empire, a somewhat phantom legion known only as the Red Dragon Army, has begun to start trouble for Gong He and his regency. At the head of this army, the inauspicious and mysterious masked figure calling himself, "Jiang Si Wu", has begun to sweep across the land, leaving only destruction in his wake. The goal of the Red Dragon Army is clear. They are coming to dethrone the acting Emperor. Furthermore, with two of the three Emperor's Grand Generals dead, little is left to stand in his way. Like a plague of locusts, the Red Dragon Army descends on the last of the Imperial strongholds. All out war is now inevitable. Gonge He must stand and fight for his kingdom and the future of China. This will be the final battle. Hao will be their last stand. This is The Siege of Hao. SPOILER STUFF Ok. Well... if you don't want to get the story spoiled then don't read this. Nevertheless, this won't spoil the entire story. I'm not going to tell you who lives and who dies or any of the resolution. However, I will give away the major plot twist, so if you don't want to get that spoiled stop reading now. The twist and book overview is below. After Gong Bo He and Jiang Si Wu meet in the battle field in book 2 Gonghe manages to demask him. To his surprise he discovers it is his brother. Book 2 ends with that revelation. Book 3 picks back up with an explanation of who, what, when, where, why essentially. Gonghe has no idea why his brother would turn on him, much less lead an army against him. That's why we flashback to right after the King was ousted. To decide the person who would take his place, the nobles held a tournament. The winner would become the new Emperor and would be given the princess's hand in marriage. Being that Gonghe and Jiang Si Wu (that's not his real name) were both part of the king's imperial court, they both entered the competition. However, Gonghe didn't know about the secret love affair (that may not be the fair term because it wasn't that intimate... maybe I should say he is in love with her..but yeah) between his brother and the princess. Gonghe entered the tournament with the idea of being able to prove he was the greatest warrior in the kingdom and possibly do some good as Emperor. Basically for bragging rights. Jiang, to win his love's hand. Needless to say, they were both two of the greatest warriors in the kingdom and the final fight came down to them two. Gonghe, though, being the oldest and always been the better fighter defeated Jiang. Jiang was devastated and despised his brother because his motives for winning had nothing to do with love for the princess, but also despised himself for losing. More importantly, he said nothing of the truth, as the love affair should have never happened in the first place. However, his brother, Gonghe, being with the one he loved wore at him down and tore him apart inside. His brother never did understand what was going on because Jiang refused to talk about it. Gonghe offered Jiang positions and whatnot trying to make him happy but nothing would work. In the end, Jiang finally just disappeared. Not knowing what happened, Gonghe continued to rule over the kingdom. However, Jiang let his anger and jealousy eat at him. As things turned out, nine years later Jiang had managed to field a large group of rebels which he intended to use to kill his brother and take the kingdom and the empress for himself. Essentially, Jealous & Revenge. Of course, along the way his mind has been further twisted by those around him. Still, that's his overall goal. So Book 3, basically covers that. A lot of it is narrative captions along with the tournament battles, and his fight with his brother, and briefly covering what happened after that point leading us back to their final showdown. The final book, Book 4, his brother, finally having learned how his brother felt about everything, tries to find some sort of redemption for him and reason him out of the course he is taking. The drama is climaxed with the ending of the series and the battle. I won't tell you what happens, who wins, who lives, who dies or anything like that. Just let it be said that the whole story builds and is designed to lead up to the final conflict between the brothers. That is the design. It's simple. A four book story. Book 1 introduces the characters and shrouds the main villain in mystery and leaves the Emperor in peril. Book 2 amps the drama and raises the stakes as the Emperor leads him forces against the enemy. Jiang and Gonghe meet in battle. When he unmasks Jiang he suddenly discovered it is his long vanished brother. Book 3 largely gives the backstory between the brothers and drops the last pieces into place for the climatic final battle. Book 4 the final battle, the resolution, story wrap-up. The End. :D |
