Zhao City.
The city walls were covered in mottled traces of antiquity. This thousand-year-old city was a sacred place in the hearts of countless people of All Xia.
But splendor would ultimately draw to a close.
Haojing City, where the Son of Heaven of Zhou had once sat upon his divine throne and received the homage of the lords beneath heaven, had gradually fallen into disuse.
Once Luoyi, now Luoyang, it had been the capital of the Zhou Dynasty for eight hundred years, known as the place that had received Heaven's mandate.
Now it, too, was gradually declining. Zhao City had flourished because of the Luo State, and now, with the Luo State's decline, it would ultimately meet its end.
There were few people left in the city now, and nearly all of them were sturdy, broad-shouldered veteran soldiers.
Engines for defending the city stood all along the walls.
All of these had been prepared beforehand.
At the foot of the walls, the soldiers who had followed Luo Ji on the surprise attack against the Qin Army were enthusiastically telling their comrades about their valor.
"You have no idea what it was like, lad. I was on horseback, shooting left and right, loosing ten arrows in a single breath, every one a killing shot. I just held my spear out at my side and didn't even have to move it. The Qin people ran straight onto it themselves. What a thrill!"
A man beside him immediately laughed when he finished. "Were you dreaming you were young again?
"You certainly were brave in your youth, the bravest in all three armies. Even the Lord of the State praised you in person and granted you a marriage.
"But now you're spent after shooting three arrows, aren't you?"
Everyone burst into laughter. Every