Probably the last WIP—I’m working on the writeup now.
View attachment 408523
An extract from the Records of the Grand Historian, Book XII: Fall of the Great Han.
In the 27th Year of the Emperor Ai, a messanger arrived in the Imperial Court. Dressed in the rags of the common folk, the man reported great calamity in the Southern Provinces—a bright flash of light had brought about a great storm, destroying cities and towns across the backwater Province of Jiao. In the wake of the storm, strange men emerged dressed in suits of black and eyepieces of glass. The men spoke in barbaric tongues, yet wrote in the civilized script of the Han. The Emperor Ai was sickly and worn, but he sat up, demanding the Southern Barbarians sent tribute to their sovereign, the Son of Heaven, as was rightful.
A month passed, and a representative of the Southern Barbarians arrived in the imperial court. Shockingly enough, the emissary was a woman, dressed in expensive cloths and exotic clothing. She appeared sickly and worn from the journey of a thousand miles, but appeared relieved when the Emperor Ai gifted unto her a cup of wine. In broken tongues, the representative introduced herself as “Cheng Yuet Ngo”, the exiled Queen of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong were reported to be a lost son of the Chinese, founded by enterpenuring colonists in the long-forgotten times of the Qin Empire. While the Queen and her followers sought a return to the warm embrace of the Great Han; a scheming traitor by the name of “Tsang Chun hwa” thwarted this righteous effort, instead leading a great host in war against the Great Han.
"Beware," warned the Queen, "for the usurper's host is powerful beyond imagination. His arrows burrow through the thickest armour, he commands the power of science to create dragons of steel. His only weakness is in the realm of melee, as each Hong Kong warrior devotes his all to combat at range."
The Emperor Ai contemplated the matter, and with support from his ministers promised to aid the Queen Cheng in her war of restoration. The armies of the Great Han were assembled and began to march Southwards and expel the barbarian invaders. The Han army was aided by thousands of barbarian auxiliaries from each and every tribe in all under heaven, for the Emperor decreed that Hong Kong was to be made an example.