The Tree Speak Vietnamese

“The northerners will be here any minute!” cried a Vietnamese soldier as he ran into the makeshift throne room of Do Min Huong. A woman who had decided to try and lead a rebellion against the Chinese. Unfortunately for her, she apparently failed so hard, history never even recorded the attempt. That or the Chinese administrator was so vindictive he struck her from the records.

Huong slumped into her bamboo throne and let out a despondent sigh.

“Let the men flee if they so wish then” the young woman said. The soldier gritted his teeth before turning around and waltzing out of the room, most likely to make good on what the woman had said.

“What would you give to free your people?” you ask as you make yourself visible. Huong bolted from her seat, a sword in her hand and levelled at you.

“Who are you?! How did you get in here?!” the woman asked. Now that she was facing you, you could get a good look at the deep purple garment she was wearing. It looked like a Chinese Hanfu dress with some Vietnamese styling.

“What would you give to free your people?” you ask again. The woman’s eyes widen and her sword lowers until it is by her side.

“Anything” she says in a near whisper. You grin at her response and summon a room full of crossbows and a new type of sword.

“Is that so?” you ask, stalking forward until you are in the woman’s personal space. You take the woman’s chin in your hand and bring her eyes up to yours. You hold her gaze for a moment before letting her go and striding away from her. You grin as you hear her draw in a breath, she had obviously been holding her breath. You grab one of the crossbows you had conjured and then return to Huong.

“I’ve seen those before,” the woman said, narrowing her eyes at the weapon. “The northerners use them,” she added.

“Yes, but not these ones'' you reply, pulling a metallic tool out. “This is a goats’ foot lever'' you explain as you slot the lever into the weapon and then crank it, drawing the string. You then hand the weapon to Huong with a bolt to match and she inserts the bolt before aiming the weapon at a nearby pot. You watch as she draws in a breath and then pulls the trigger. A sharp rattle fills the room as the pot is completely demolished by the **** of the crossbow bolt.

“This alone won’t win a war” Huong says after a moment.

“There are swords as well” you say, pulling a machete out from the weapons pile and handing it to the woman. “Much better than that flimsy piece of northern trash” you say, throwing a derisive look at the Han-style jian she had been holding. Huong took the machete from you and looked it over before giving her sword a look. With not another thought in the matter, she tossed her jian away, ignoring it as it clattered against the ground. “And last but not least, a new style of warfare” you say, handing Huong a scroll. The woman took the scroll and unrolled it some, reading the title.

“Asymmetric warfare?” she asked, frowning.

“The art of fighting your enemy using intelligence, rather than **** of arms and greater numbers” you explain. “The scroll has some of the basics” you add.

“W-what do you want in exchange for all of this?” Huong asked, gesturing to the piles of weapons that now filled up the room “And how did you get all of this in here without me knowing it?” she added.

“Praise the sun” you say simply, getting a look from Huong. “Praise the sun, for I am watching, and pray to me that your arrows find their mark” you continue. Huong’s eyes widened as you took that moment to vanish in a ray of sunlight.

****

“Men!” Huong called out to the weary and despondent soldiers. Of those that had headed her father’s call to arms, only a small fraction now remained. “While in my chambers I was visited by God!” Huong said. There were many disbelieving looks to her words. “He came to me and he blessed my rebellion with weapons” she continued, ignoring the looks of her men. “Blessed me with weapons, and knowledge that will win us this war” she said. Now the men were looking slightly more interested. “To enact this new plan, this new way of fighting, I must ask you to abandon the city with me” she said and now the men looked at her in disgust, confident it was all a ruse to get them to flee with her. “For our fight will be with the northern devils but in the jungles, the hills, the forests, and the rivers” she explained. “Not the field of battle, not the streets of cities” she continued “They northern devils have some famous general who wrote a how-to guide on warfare and they even ignore him! But I shall not! Be where the enemy isn’t!” Huong exclaimed “We have not the numbers to fight the northerners head on, but we have the spirit! The heart! The soul! And GOD HIMSELF!!!” Huong roared “So follow me! Follow me and let us win this war for good this time!” she called out, extending a hand to her men.

****

“What is that?” One of Huong’s soldiers asked as a beast came out of the jungle.

“It looks like an ox” another said.

“No way, see it’s feet? It’s like an elephant!”

“Perhaps it is like a mule? An elephant with an ox?” there were some thoughtful hums after that.

“It is holy that’s what it is” Huong said, weighing in on the conversation “See the beast is laden with supplies” she commented.

“Another gift from this god of yours?” one soldier asked. He was a friend of Huong’s father and had even served in the army for a time. Before the northerners got rid of the Viet army.

“Of course” Huong replied, “clearly this creature is sacred and any who harm them . . . I will kill them myself” she said.

“More of them!” a soldier cried out as more Quiphants emerged from the jungle, some pulling carts, while others were simply laden with bags.

“God will provide,” Huong said softly. Several of her soldiers turned to look at her for a moment before whispering the same to themselves.

“Co Huong!” a soldier called out, coming to her with folded clothes tied down with some sort of cord. The cord had a note in under it which simply read her name.

Huong took the garments and looked them over, they were a simple set of trousers and a wrap around tunic with a sash. Both were made of silk and coloured in turquoise.

“Hold this,” Huong said, handing the bundle back to the soldier before proceeding to undress. The men around her started as they realised she was undressing in their presence, some turning around completely, some hesitantly coping looks before snapping their heads away, and others just throwing themselves into the work of unloading the beasts.

Once naked, Huong took a machete and cut the cord holding the bundle together and then took the trousers from the soldier. The man was unable to look away and so screwed his eyes shut, possibly hoping Huong wouldn’t behead him for staring. The woman didn’t care if the men saw her.

Once dressed, the men calmed down some, going back to their duties.

“And armour as well!” a soldier called out. Possibly as part of a conversation Huong hadn’t heard. The soldier in question came running up to Huong with said armour. It was two square panels, front and back, with shoulder pads, all covered in what looked like leather lamellar. “We thought it leather at first, not too bad on its own I suppose” the soldier explained “But there’s metal inside the leather!” he enthusiastically exclaimed, wrapping his knuckles against the lamellar and producing a solid sound.

Huong took the armour and slipped it on, tying it down with a corded belt which also secured her machete. It was weighty, but it wasn’t cumbersome. With some time, she would get used to the weight and possibly won’t even notice it was there.

****

Huong took a breath, resting the stock of her crossbow against her shoulder and aiming with the bolt as a company of Chinese soldiers marched down the road towards the capital. All around her, her men prepared themselves for the ‘battle’ ahead, merely waiting for Huong’s signal. Huong breathed in, aimed for one of the leading soldiers and then pulled the trigger. A sharp rattle rang out through the trees as the bolt slammed into the poor unfortunate soul who had been unlucky enough to only have a leather apron for armour. The man was halfway to the ground before the rattle of several dozen crossbows rang out and more men joined the first on the ground. The officer incharge realised far too late that an ambush was happening to stop it and caught a bolt to the throat. Several of the Chinese tried to rush the trees with their pikes only to take multiple crossbow bolts to the chest.

Of the roughly one hundred men that Huong had encountered, only one survived, sprinting off the way he had come. Huong noticed one of her men taking aim with his crossbow and put her hand on it to stop him.

“Let him run” she said “Let him tell his story” she added “Let them know, let them all know” she added “The trees speak Vietnamese” she said, staring off after the runner. “Strip the dead, leave their naked corpses for the animals” she ordered before turning and striding away.