Yi City, Jin State.
Since the first Marquis of Jin founded it, the city had weathered five hundred years of wind and rain. After Quwo was utterly destroyed two hundred years ago, it had truly become the jewel of Jin State.
Beneath the dark clouds of the gloomy sky, its mottled old traces seemed to speak of the somewhat oppressive atmosphere now hanging over Jin State.
The current Marquis of Jin was unusually long-lived. When he turned seventy, he invited many feudal lords to celebrate. As Jin State's traditional ally, Luo State sent Luo Yan in place of his father, Luo Ci, to offer birthday congratulations.
Luo Yan was the crown prince of Luo State and Ji Zhao's nineteenth-generation descendant.
After Luo Xiu died, Ji Zhao had also fallen into slumber. The next three generations of Marquises of Luo had all struggled to maintain Qi State's position as hegemon.
By the reign of the seventeenth ruler, Qi State no longer had the strength to shoulder this heavy responsibility. Moreover, since its defeat at Yanling, Chu State had been fighting Wu State on the Hanyang Plain and had no energy to spare for the Central Plains.
In terms of its interests, Luo State temporarily no longer needed a hegemon to suppress the Zhou Royal House, so it abandoned its support for Qi State. Little by little, Qi State fell from a superpower to a leading regional power.
[Luo Yan: Ability attributes: political struggle: 80; statecraft: 80; managing people: 80; command: 72; martial prowess: 87; military strategy: 74.]
As the Zhou Royal House continued to decline, the abilities of Luo State's ruling family declined with each generation. Luo Xiu, in particular, seemed to have exhausted the last of Luo State's reserves.
Luo Yan was the family's eldest legitimate son, yet