The rainy season arrived, and the damp chill seeped into the marrow.
Yue City lay shrouded beneath drizzling rain and gloom. Its vast residence of dark wooden beams, Blue Bricks and Grey Tiles was dim and somber. Water dripped from the eaves. In the cold, pitch-black hall, only a haggard man in plain clothes, his hair hanging loose, sat quietly drinking. Beside him on a wooden table stood two newly made spirit tablets for the dead.
Jiang Mian wore a grief-stricken expression as he rambled on to the two tablets, as though reminiscing. Every now and then, he brought up an old joke, laughing and crying at once.
Crash~
The wine jar was flung outside and shattered on the ground, its liquor mingling with rainwater in a puddle.
"Good brothers... this elder brother has let you down..."
His choked sobs echoed through the dark, lofty manor. Jiang Mian was alone in the courtyard. Droplets fell from the ancient gray-tiled eaves into the water-filled vat below, chiming crisply.
Yue City was surrounded. After several days of rescue attempts brought devastating losses, the northern bank of the river no longer wished to make pointless sacrifices. At the same time, the long-standing contradictions bred by overly rapid expansion became increasingly apparent. Most generals deeply regretted the situation and advocated abandoning King Jiang and returning to Yan lands. A small number of generals who had followed Jiang Mian for many years refused to leave, and the commanders began quarreling.
The rainy season might not end for another three or four months. The Chi Mang people across the river seemed utterly unconcerned by the rain as they held the riverbank in an iron grip and besieged Yue City. Worse still, the river had risen and the current was too swift to force a crossing and