You Province lay in the Northeast of the Nine Provinces. Its territory was vast, but its population was sparse. The Southlands were better off; farther north, almost everything in sight was barren hills and wilderness, with scarcely a trace of human habitation.
Northern You Province had many mountains but little water, and most of its land was poor. Generation after generation had worked to settle it, yet from ancient times to the present, they had managed to establish only a handful of towns and villages along its rivers. Everywhere else remained desolate.
You Province also had an old historical dispute.
In the days of the Sky Hero Dynasty, only the southern part of You Province had been settled. It was then called "Youyan." Later, as the Warring States fell into chaos, warlords carved out territories and declared themselves independent. In the end, the realm was divided among several great states. One of them, the Heavenly Qi Kingdom, attacked Eastern Lu to the south and invaded Youyan to the north. Its momentum was unmatched, and people of the time believed it was destined to unite the realm.
Then Di Jiazi burst onto the scene. After uniting the southeast, he split his forces in two. One army joined Eastern Lu and faced the Heavenly Qi forces at the foot of Mount Tai in western Lu. The other sailed out to sea, skirted Heavenly Qi territory, and landed in Youyan. Lord Wenchao won over Youyan's heroes with his silver tongue. Di Jiazi then personally led a great army south, straight for the heart of Heavenly Qi.
Attacked from both sides, Heavenly Qi could not hold out. In little more than ten days, the great state that had once seemed most likely to rule the realm collapsed with a crash. Its fall instead cemented