37 Trouble Brewing

Although Baron had given an incentive to the others, he personally did not feel that taking down as many planes as he could was the best way to go about this. Nevertheless he decided he would try it out once, report it to the others and then on his second simulation he would do his own experiments.

The results were as follows for most planes downed. Yue Fei took first place with 720, then Han Xin with 650, followed by Xu Da downing 430, then came Baron at 415 Then Ban Chao with 390. All in all not a bad start to such a difficult task. After reporting their first simulations they went in again and again to try and achieve more and more. The pattern with this simulation was that the longer you spent inside the more planes you were assumed to have taken down.

The 5 of them started finishing the simulation slower and slower. Started out with most of them lasting for less than two weeks, then three weeks, then a month,two months four months. However Baron did not follow this trend and instead worked on something he felt the others didn't care about, and that was the individual strength of each pilot that was in his army.Starting with Baron's second simulation, he didn'tfinish it for 5 whole months. By that time everyone else was starting to get worried over what Baron was up to.

There were two things that Baron was looking for when he started. One was to ascertain if training his soldiers would yield any effects,and the other was to slowly take his time to defeat the enemy. Both were a major success and he managed to take out almost 1,400 of the enemy planes. Such a quantitave and qualitative difference from Baron's first and second simulations was a shock to everybody. After Baron reported his findings the rest of the gangs decided to conduct their own mini experiments and soon another year passed by on Planet 4.

By now Han Xin, Yue Fei, and Baron could successfully decimate almost the entirety of the enemy forces. This was considered extremely quick when compared to the other Chinese community members. They had efficiently become close to aviation warfare masters by this point, but this was nowhere near enough to guarantee them a win in the faction selection tournament. After all, the Vesper faction had invited some of the best aerial masters in the Chinese community to make sure that Baron's faction would never see the light of day. The five of them may have progressed quite a bit in terms of air tacticts but they didn't dare say they could beat the masters.

Han Xin, Baron, Yue Fei, Ban Chao, and Xu Da decided to take a break after practicing this simulation after another two years spent inside. They had matters to discuss that involved Madam Zheng's faction which was called the Forever Pirate Faction. This time Madam Zheng and her two husbands personally came to Baron's HQ to discuss some rather distressing news.

(BM) "Welcome Madam Zheng and company. What happened that you had to personally come over to discuss?"

(MZ) "It's a matter concerning the Vesper faction suppressing us. The situatuon has gotten worse. More so than our deepest fears I'm afraid"

(BM) "How so?"

(MZ) "There is another group that has started to suppress us, and we suspect that this group was bribed by the Vesper faction. Although this new group is by far weaker than Vesper, they managed to break the stalemate that my faction had against Vesper. "

(BM) "What did you come here to tell me then?"

(MZ) "This is an extremely tricky situation because the man that is leading this new faction is a man by the name of Li Xin. No doubt you have heard of him. We have intelligence that suggests you've made contact with him already. Basically we want you to talk him out of this."

(BM) "I've met him once, he seems like a nice guy but I don't know if I can even do what you request of me."

(MZ) "Can you at least try?"

(BM) "If i'm successful then what will I get in return?"

(H1) "Hmph, is the continuation of our alliance not enough of a reward?"

(BM) "On the contrary, I think that is nowhere near enough. I won't say anything pretentious like I can definitely persuade Li Xin to call it off, but I will do my best."

(MZ) "Thank you Baron, if you succeed I'll repay this debt to you many fold."

(BM) "There is one matter that i'm still unsure about. Li Xin doesn't seem like the type of fellow that can be bribed. So who is behind the actions of Li Xin?"

(MZ) "This new faction intent on suppressing us isn't an independent faction like mine or what yours will be. Instead it is a subsidiary faction backed up by a much more powerfulfaction. It's a bit difficult to explain, but the gist of it is that powerful factions will often have subsidiary factions to do their dirty work and take all the blame. Once a request is sent out from the main faction, failing to obey is akin to rebelling against the gods. That's why Li Xin has no choice to do this to us."

(BM) "Seems like even the matters of the afterlife are not spared from the meddling of humans. Alright, I'll go talk to Li Xin right now, and remember Madam Zheng. You owe me one."

The group dispersed, and for the first time in years Baron and the gang stepped foot outside of their HQ. It was quite a coincidence that their funds were beginning to run low. So they decided to sell a couple more blueprints to make some quick coins. However, Baron had to try and dissuade Li Xin from suppressing the Forever Pirate Faction led by Madam Zheng. Baron showed up to Li Xin's faction called Owl Well and requested an audience with the leader Li Xin. Once Li Xin heard it was Baron, he immediately dropped everything and met up with Baron as fast as he could.

(LX) "Welcome Baron, come, come, lets go to my room and chat for a bit." Li Xin said as he guided Baron to an empty room. They both sat down and Li Xin continued "I can guess why you're here, and let me just say that I didn't want to do any of this."

(BM) "Who is making you do this?"

(LX) "Some of the elders in the main faction have been bribed by the Vesper faction to help them suppress the Forever Pirates. This never would have happened if the faction leader was still around."

(BM) "Who is your faction leader and where is he then?"

(LX) "His name is Sun Tzu, and he is currently with a few big shots touring the other communities."

(BM) "The legendary Sun Tzu? No wonder the Forever Pirate faction is unwilling to go against you."

(LX) "That's right, remember during our first meeting I said to you that I was being backed by one of the two great elders?That would be Sun Tzu that I'm talking about."

(BM) "Now things seem to fit into place. So there is nothing that you can do to perhaps stop suppressing Madam Zheng's faction?"

(LX) "It's not like I can't do anything, but I would be going against my elders if I did. That is akin to ending my livelihood here."

(BM) "What do you mean?"

(LX) "If I do decide to rebel then they would kick me out, and not only that no other faction would take me in considering that I didn't follow my superior's instructions."

(BM) "If it really comes to that then you could join my faction. Aside from that there is absolutely nothing you could do?"

(LX) "Well, we aren't that acquainted yet, if you gave me some sort of help then I could do the same for you."

(BM) "You want a blueprint?"

(LX) "Yes, I really want that repeating crossbow blueprint. It's got quite a bit of a reputation here if you couldn't already tell."

(BM) "How about you talk your elders out of suppressing Madam Zheng first? Then we'll talk."

(LX) "I was just joking about that, even if my elders did put me out of this matter altogether, they will just send someone else in my stead. So there is really nothing that can be done. Unless of course, you bribe the elders of my main faction."

(BM) "Is it even possible to get an audience with them in such a short amount of time?"

(LX) "That would definitely only be a dream, but I have something else in mind. Since we know each other, at least partially, why don't we plan out how I suppress the faction of your biggest ally?"

(BM) "You mean to say decide which parts of Forever Pirates to suppress? Yea, that actually works"

(LX) "Yes, but of course i'll need that blueprint If we are to continue with this path."