LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

The South border of the Wind Kingdom was not very well defined as it was a large wilderness where the Quinze River pa.s.ses through and then it curves northward and enters the Wind Kingdom joining the western sea near port Faling. South of the wilderness was the great desert " DaHuang" or The Grand Yellow. No one knows how far the desert stretches and no one had particularly made a map to cross that desert but the Sky kingdom is to the south of the Great Yellow Desert and that served as the definite border between Sky Kingdom and Wind Kingdom although there was said to be some conflicts defining the borders including the wilderness.

The Tribals had settled in the wilderness which was not fully claimed by the Wind Kingdom as none of the Wind people lived there, till now usually raising cattle. In a way, the wilderness belonged to the Wind Kingdom and tne Sky Kingdom too but there were always no clear definition of the southern borders.

The soldiers of the Wind Kingdom had made their encampment in the wilderness far from the villages of the wind kingdom and the tribals were camping far south from them leaving a vast plain land in between them where the battles took place.

What the military generals found odd was that, the tribals weren"t advancing even though they could if they push forward. The Nature is fighting against the soldiers of the Wind Kingdom while the United Tribes were just watch them getting destroyed and teasing them from their comfy abodes. Even in the last war, they had lost almost ten villages in the south to the tribal people but this time the tribals are not advancing further.

The flu spread wildly among some soldiers through air and so they were isolated and the local and the Imperial physicians sent by the Emperor could not find any medicines for that flu making them bedridden.

With half of the food gone to waste, they had started to ration the grains and that had made the soldiers morality waver.

Xing just stayed in her courtyard reading memorials as usual without bothering much about the war going on. She couldn"t find medicines for the flu spreading among the soldiers and she didn"t have any other solution to the war other than her being there, herself. And they won"t let her be there!

Also, Since the Emperor wants to be just, she let him be and see if his ways work. It"s his kingdom anyway! He can do whatever he wants. If he wants to protect his people, he is well within his rights to do so.

That evening, Xing was reading the sealed letter she received from Seiren sitting in the swing Shengli had brought for her. The person she wanted to contact had agreed to meet her and have a talk with her. Xing didn"t care much about the war because she knew one way or another they will win the war and put an end to the issues surrounding the tribals too. Her concerns were to win the war as soon as possible. All she has to do is step foot in the battlefield and the war will be won by their side. She knew if it is just the tribals against them, they"ll definitely win.

But the first order of business will be to find a solution to the food shortage in their kingdom for the long term. She had opened her keep in the East to provide for the people with reasonable prices and sent some for the military too. The west has been showing signs of food shortage even now with only weeks into the war as they had no produce or granary in their province and depended on trade for their food.

But her keep may run low if she is trying to spend the grains as she is now. And since their kingdom is being isolated from the neighbours on all sides, unless they find a way to bring more food produce for their kingdom, there will be starvation within weeks.

And another important thing is the Quingze river drying up. That river is the main irrigation source of their country and also the main source of water to the capital city. A man-made ca.n.a.l that brings water from the Quingze river to the capital city is the main source of water for many common citizens inside the city and with the water drying up, they were all worried. Although the tank that stores water is big enough to sustain the water needs for sometime, without water from the Quingze river, the tank will get empty soon. Although there were some common Wells in certain parts of the city and Wells in most of the rich households, most people depending on the ca.n.a.l water will suffer.

Water shortage will bring in a lot of troubles in the capital city more than the food shortage since most people in the cities have food keeps they had stored for themselves unlike people in small villages who buy grains on a daily basis with their daily wages.

So although everything has been prepared for war, with Nature against them had ruined most of their plans and so their country is really in a dangerous position now.

"How can you do this to me? You even shut me out!"

Mo Chen walked in complaining and sat beside her rubbing his head in her legs and Xing petted him to his content. In her misgivings towards the Emperor, she shut Mo Chen out too and she felt sorry for him.

"I came bearing gifts, Mingxia!", the Emperor stumbled inside her room, drunk as a skunk and he carried two jars of wine with him.

"What happened?", Xing sighed looking at the disoriented Emperor.

"I had to sign a letter to let the soldiers who are infected by the fever to die... I wanted to...", he sighed and sat on the couch in front of her.

"Do you know who these infected soldiers are..? Everyone of them are in the list Minister Zai made who had the Chu blood in them... The list you asked to let die...", he took a sip from one of the jars he was holding.

Xing got down from the swing and got the other jar from his hands," If you are here to blame me for that, leave now. I don"t have time for that", she said earnestly in a gentle tone as she could see he was hurting and took a sip directly from the jar and got back to the swing.

Nice wine, actually!

"That scroll of fate I read, mentioned the elimination of the Chu family by your brother"s hands that ended the war... I wanted to change their fate... Just like you changed the fate of the Zhong family... But... Guess I cannot change anything... Since your brother is not here, a flu got them... How comical! ", he laughed mockingly at himself.

" Yeah! Only I can do that because I am awesome...", Xing just drank the wine without even an expression in her face," I call the Heavenly Emperor "Bleached Peac.o.c.k" and can get away with it... I need not kneel on front of the Heavenly Emperor even... I can call one of the greatest G.o.d by his name and he will come to my aid if I ever need help as if he is indebted to me. Me...! Not you! Not any other mortal..! I"m special! I"m awesome! How can you mere mortals be compared to the magnificent me..! ", she smirked pointing at herself.

Although all the words she used may be a show of her arrogance, her tone contained the deep sorrow that run parallel to the words she was saying.

In the end it"s all because they need my blood!

" You are awesome, alright! No one can be like you! ", the Emperor chuckled. Why is that she is this.... Blessed?

"We are losing Mingxia, the soldiers are losing their grit and strength. If this goes on, we will lose our soldiers and will have to send little boys to war! And the food sources are almost depleted. I failed... I failed as an Emperor... I knew the Chu family should die to stop the war.. Still... I decided stupidly... If I had let Minister Zai do what you asked him to do, we probably would have won the war by now! I messed up... And water... How am I supposed to bring water...? ", he rubbed his temples and he was actually devastated.

If only, I"d believed her as always... If I gave up the Chu family, would the Quingze river not have dried up entirely...? Now I have the entire kingdom in danger!