A Tale from the Warring States

Kick'n It Old School Project: Choose your own adventure style

World Arts Block 2 2021

Antique paper texture

You go and hide in one of the destroyed houses in the village. It's almost completely destroyed but there are still some items that haven't been taken by the soldiers yet. You can hear the clash of swords and the yelling of men outside of your house. A soldier yells something incomprehensible and you see fire start spreading in the house you're in. The house's only entrance collapses and you're completely trapped in the burning house. You start choking on smoke and die.

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Your death was slow and painful. Try not to make such a poor choice again.

<a href="bookcreator://page/SpxG5u-mRcSLITFh2T6duw/right">Try Again</a>

You decide to become a soldier. Your family is against it though because of the high risk that comes with the job. You join the Qin army since it's the army occupying your current city and they seem to be winning the bloody war China is in. The Qin already conquered the Han state and they just conquered the Wei state. You heard how they attacked the capital city Daliang and forced the Wei to surrender. But they take high casualties because of the highly aggressive tactics that Qin army employs. You will begin your training soon and you will be mobilized to the frontlines.

You start your basic training to become an infantryman. Your job is to be the vanguard for the army while archers would give you fire support. You are given wooden replicas of the weapons you would be using. You train to be able to use the Dao and Qiang. You are assigned to a squad with 4 other people who will also be in the vanguard. You train together so you can cooperate and cover each other. Drums, bells, and flags were used to coordinate the army. You continue to train until you are called to battle.

When you start to try to flee the city you realize that the only way out is through one of the main gates of the city. The same gates that everyone is fighting to gain control of. You can hear siege weapons batter the walls and hurl giant stones at things. You realize that trying to get out of the city will mean you will be right next to all the fighting but you also think that this is your only way to survive. You think that this city is doomed just like your village and you gather your family to flee. When you gather all your things, you pray for you family one last time. You begin sprinting for the gates. When you get to the gates you see there are holes in them that you might be able to slip through. When you get to the other side you are greeted with the sight of a battle that's still going on. There are soldiers everywhere running and yelling while all kinds of projectiles rain on them. Everything from arrows to massive boulders are hurled at soldiers and fortifications. You could see rams and siege towers at the walls trying to break them while defenders ran to destroy them. You can see the remnants of what must have been a siege tower but all burnt to rubble. 

Then you see what may be the end of you. A huge catapult that was hurling rocks at the gates. It just narrowly missed you but you know that if you don't do anything this is where you and your family will die. With this realization you start running away from all of the fighting as fast as you can but you see the catapult fire for the last time.

You decide to hide in the ruins of your house with your family. As the army settles down and makes camp in your village, night approaches and you steal bits of food and water from the armies resources. As you sneak back to your hiding place, your family notices you and motions for you to come back faster. As soon as you get back to the safety of your hiding place, you family bursts out with excitement. They have found a way to sneak out of the village and make it to the city, where they wish to be, without getting noticed. They have been watching the guard rotations, and very soon there will be an opening to flee to the city unnoticed, however it is risky. What do you do?

You convince your family to stay and hide, not wanting to run because of the risk. You keep stealing small portions of food and water from the army unnoticed. The next day as you wake up, you suddenly hear soldiers right outside your small, burrow like spot inside a collapsed house. They had heard something, and started to prowl around the house. They begin to get closer to you. There is a house nearby that you could potentially run to that has not yet collapsed, or you could stay and try and remain hidden.

<a href="bookcreator://page/yNgJ2AnPTu6W_MLz2iWVag/left">Keep hiding</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/5bwT15EoTjaLZ-OWekO6zg/left">Run to the nearby house</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/HzVFZKB5SEOHStQFTVsX4g/right">Keep hiding</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/SpxG5u-mRcSLITFh2T6duw/right">Try and flee to the city</a>

The battle ends. There is a strange silence that surrounds everything, and you hope that the city's defenses held up against the attack.   "The city is safe!", you hear as you and your family break into smiles. The city is in bad condition, and your job will pay you extra to help rebuild. You work night and day with many others and finally rebuild the city. With all the money you earned, you can buy you and your family a new home and you have enough left over to create your own shop. You live a long and successful life, surviving all the rest of the wars to come, and prospering with your family. THE END

<a href="bookcreator://page/SpxG5u-mRcSLITFh2T6duw/left">Try Again?</a>

It's now 223 BC and your division is told that you are going to be apart of a large invasion force to conquer the rest of the Chu state. In 226 BC, Qin forces conquered 10 Chu cites and now 2 years late you're going to finish the invasion. You don't know too much information about the invasion because you're only a foot soldier but you know that there will be about 200,000 other soldiers that are going to be apart of the invasion. You heard a couple rumors about how the 2 high ranking generals in your army are arguing about the invasion. Wang Jian wants 600,000 troops while Li Xin thinks that 200,000 troops would suffice. You know that you will be fighting in unfamiliar land against unfamiliar soldiers and commanders. You train as hard as you can to maximize your chances at survival in the upcoming invasion. But with your fellow soldiers by your side and the might of the Qin army you think that the upcoming invasion will be a success.

You are now officially going to invade the Chu. Ying Zheng, the King of Qin ordered the invasion with only 200,000 troops. While you have some doubts as every other invasion had 600,000 troops and the additional 400,000 men would make the fighting a lot easier. You have faith in your commanders and you think that the Chu must not be too hard to fully conquer because they already lost 10 of their cities.

<a href="bookcreator://page/gqV398HOSJ-SeWYn9po0Sg/left">Continue to the next page</a>

"Help!" screams someone from behind you. You turn around and see your village and farm burning down. The time is 225 BC. You are Zhang Wei, a farmer who needs to pay off his many taxes to his noble. It's the warring states period and all of the different states in China are going to war against each other. The Qin has broken the stalemate and been conquering other states. You've been fearing  this, with the war's battles coming closer and closer to your location. You rush over to your house, only to see an army approaching in the distance. You gather your family around you, and your noble is nowhere to be found.

You decide to flee to a nearby city. The city is overflowing with different refugees, and the city's resources are being quickly depleted. Hard labor jobs are in hot demand, and soldiers are also needed. There is a rumor going about that a group of people are willing to start a sabotage on the Qin army, however, they need a leader. You are a good candidate for the position, however it is a very big risk, as you could die and leave your family poor and in debt.

<a href="bookcreator://page/UWUEsXCESUC3Sg2cpOXbsw/left">Become a hard laborer. </a> <a href="bookcreator://page/6eCGw_1lQxCJqeCP-HI90w/left">Become a soldier.</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/c_gwW7_BTQeljwd5tYhIMg/left">Join the rebellion. </a>

You see soldiers destroying your village. They're all over your village looting and pillaging it. You rush back to your own farm to see how damaged it is. When you get back to your farm, you see it's completely destroyed and on fire. There isn't much you can do to try and save it.

<a href="bookcreator://page/LuosZoyxRy6soo_VH3wnfw/left">Run away to the n</a><a href="bookcreator://page/SpxG5u-mRcSLITFh2T6duw/right">earest city</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/HzVFZKB5SEOHStQFTVsX4g/left">Hide in the remains of your farm and house until the army leaves. </a>

You decide to become a hard laborer. The work is hard, however the pay is pretty decent. You manage to gain some money and keep surviving

There has been sightings of a large enemy force near your city. In response the Qin has sent more soldiers to your city to make a stronger garrison force while a battle group is formed to try and take out that enemy force. Before long the enemy force is right outside the cities walls and the garrison is manning the fortifications while the battle group is trying to prevent the attackers from getting into the city. It's a huge battle that's going to cause a lot of damage to the city and a lot people are going to lose their lives in the process. You start thinking what are you going to do? There's a huge battle going on and you're worried that you're going to get caught in the crossfire. 

You hide in the city while the battle rages on.  Whilst hiding, you hear the screams of battle ring out through the sky, and hope and pray that you and your family are safe behind the city's walls and defenses.

<a href="bookcreator://page/B9FYFT6mTUuWbvUdbSkcNg/left">Do you flee the city and try to sneak out in the chaos of battle?</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/UWUEsXCESUC3Sg2cpOXbsw/right">Do you stay inside the city and try not to get caught in the crossfire? </a>

You decide to join the rebellion and become the leader. Your first act too rebel is to steal a large portion of weapons and poison the food supply. You pick a group of people who are capable of doing such a thing including yourself to go to the army camp. You go at midnight when most of the army is asleep. You send half of your group to go steal the weapons and half of your group (including yourself) to poison the food supply. It took many long hours as there were guards patrolling the area, but you managed to steal the weapons and poison the food. You walk back to the rebellion in triumph as you have successfully sabotaged the army.

The next day the army has found out that the weapons were stolen and they are surprised and worried as they have to go to battle soon. The guards who were on duty were punished as have failed to keep out any unwanted people. Despite the little weapons they had, they had to go so they ate and marched off to battle. During the battle most people were fighting bare handed and people were dropping dead mysteriously so the Qin State's army easily defeated them.

Zhang is recognized as a hero, gets paid, and becomes a rich noble wearing silk after paying off his taxes.

<a href="bookcreator://page/SpxG5u-mRcSLITFh2T6duw/left">Try again? </a>

When you begin your invasion of the Chu you managed to survive the fighting while conquering the city of Pingyu, Qinqiu, and Yan. Your generals that are in command of the invasion is Li Xin and Meng Tian. Li Xin is your general and he was responsible for conquering Pingyu and Yan while Meng Tian captured Qinqiu. During the whole invasion so far you had minimal combat with the enemy and you wonder where is the Chu army. The only recent combat you had so far was quelling a rebellion in a previously conquered city. You and the army start traveling west to meet up with Meng Tian at Chengfu.

As you travel to Chengfu your division sets up camp every night to rest. You're still about a couple days worth of traveling from Chengfu and you really don't' think this invasion could fail. You have the occasional doubt about the enemy's army but why wouldn't they deploy their army already? You already captured many cities and you're heading to another one. As your settling in for the night, you hear a lot of shouting and yells. Everyone in your barracks wake up to the sounds of an entire division scrambling to prepare. You can hear officers barking orders at soldiers to gear up and prepare for imminent combat. You realize that this is where the Chu army is. They ambushed your division and you are going to have to fight your way out of this. You're still far away from friendly territory and forces so there is no hope of reinforcements. You start to have a gut feeling that this is going to be most likely going to be the last battle you and a lot of other's will ever fight. 

Parchment

You keep hiding, and eventually the soldiers go away.  After about an hour, you and your family feel free to talk again.  Suddenly, when you are amidst a conversation, your nobles head pops into the place.  He reveals you to the army, and also reveals that he was on their side the whole time.  You are accused of being a spy, and immediately executed, along with your family.

Name

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