Their first true meeting.
It was in Ninghe Town, several miles outside the army camp.
A once-prosperous place, now a scene of utter devastation.
The town had first been ravaged by a devastating flood, and the following year was struck by a severe drought and a plague of locusts. The people were starving, their suffering indescribable. It was no longer a rare occurrence for them to trade their own infants for food.
The Monarch of the Da Liang Dynasty was dissolute and cruel. For two years, he had not sent a single soldier to provide disaster relief.
As night fell, he set out from the Northern Border Camp. He wore a mask to avoid being recognized by the victims and brought a few of his men to Ninghe Town.
The streets were deserted and deathly still. They headed into an alleyway.
Not far off, they found a dilapidated tea shed filled with corpses, each simply wrapped in white cloth.
From within came faint, pained groans and the sound of bottles and jars being knocked over.
