The letters I came across were from one Mot Ni, the disgraced courtier whose scandalous and sordid if rather amusing escapades I quite thoroughly documented in Titillating Tales of the Ancients (1997). The letters appear to be correspondence between Mot, then a courtier at Lai's court, and an as-yet-unidentified soldier of the army of the neighboring kingdom, then under the rule of one Bran. The wording of the letters suggests that the correspondence began as a form of bilateral espionage, but nuances and shifts in language hint that their relationship developed into one of a more illicit and sexual nature - but that is for another article. Interesting is the light the letters shed on how Lai's and Bran's kingdoms came to be united, with the startling revelation that it was Lai - and not the more powerful Bran - who was ultimately the conqueror.

Among the little extant information on Lai, the following is generally agreed upon: That she ascended uncontested to the throne of her tiny kingdom at a young age; that her peace-loving people welcomed and admired her; and that hers was a lazy and complacent reign. The area that was then under her reign was naturally rich, with an abundance of natural resources, natural beauty and a natural creativity among the inhabitants, a creativity for which they are still famed today. But this natural abundance created a complacent and lazy people, who did only as much as was necessary to sustain their position. Generally, they enjoyed a laidback and pleasure-filled lifestyle. It was not one of excess, but neither was it one of productivity (in an area less well-endowed, such people would surely be sentenced to poverty). The young queen herself reportedly was one of the most complacent and leisurely. She made no effort to develop her people or increase their wealth, apparently content and unthinking in the way common to those who take their wealth for granted.

It was quite possibly because of this complacency that her kingdom tended to be overlooked by others, for they did little trade. Indeed, contemporaneous records from other kingdoms reveal her people to be completely uninterested in trade or in forming outside connections; their whimsical creativity and apathy toward translating their natural wealth into commercial riches meant envoys were often sent away dissatisfied, or even insulted.

Her kingdom did, however, attract the attention of Bran, the mighty warrior king whose land was not so wealthy and character not so relaxed. The king had what one court diarist of the time described as an "inbuilt restlessness that drives him to conquer the world because he cannot conquer himself; if only his parents had taught him a calming hobby, such as painting or botany, our lives might all have been more peaceful" (for more on this king, who proved a fascinating character, see my historical biography The Reluctant Conqueror (1989)).

Bran, needing money to fund his military campaigns in other areas, decided one day to annex Lai's little kingdom to take advantage of all its wealth and artistry. With his well-developed and well-funded army and shrewd shock-and-awe tactics, he had effectively taken control of her land before most of her subjects were even aware his army was in the country. Thereafter he entered negotiations with the vanquished queen; none was privy to their dealings, according to Mot Ni, and whatever passed between conqueror and conquered has been lost.

Once Bran had returned to his own palace (after having agreed on an arrangement where Lai was free to rule but that a certain sizeable proportion of her land's income be channeled to Bran), the defeated queen was, in the words of Mot Ni to his correspondent (whom, I suspect, he befriended during that brief incursion), "as shocked as a virgin rabbit, she wanders around listless through her palace and no one knows what she is seeing, for she is not seeing what is before her."

But then he reports a most remarkable change in her attitude: "Our queen has taken to rousing herself each day with the sun, and spends hours locked in a room with her counselors and a variety of merchants and entrepreneurs. She has devised a new strategy for the kingdom and is enforcing it with an iron hand we never knew she had hidden inside her delicate kid skin gloves."

The people, he reports, began to work hard as they had never done before, encouraged - nay, we suspect, driven or forced - by their suddenly lively queen, who, in the words of the old court song, appeared "to have awoken from a dream, as though touched by a magic wand that gave her life". The people responded to her prompting and worked hard, and none so hard as the young queen herself.

Mot Ni at first professes himself puzzled by this development because of the strict conditions imposed by the conqueror Bran during the negotiations. The question Mot Ni asked in despair - in addition to his moaning over the work required ("we used to have such fun!" he wailed) - was why were they all working so hard when Bran's tax collectors would come and take it all away?

But a few letters later we find something very interesting in Mot Ni's notes - that the queen was wilier than thought. We also see a creeping admiration steal into Mot Ni's letters and he gloats to his correspondent once he realizes what she is doing: "She has devised a devilishly clever double accounting system, whereby the amount Bran's auditors think the kingdom is making is but a tiny fraction of the whole. The rest she is secreting away. She has plans our queen . if only I knew what they were."

Her plans became clear the day she sent a courier to Bran's court with the following letter, transcribed by Mot's correspondent: "It is some time now since you and your forces came into my land and stunned us with your might. Since that time, I have struggled and strived, and my people and I have worked harder than ever in our history. We have known unfamiliar deprivations, and uncommon efforts, and all this has been so that I might achieve the one thing I have dreamed of, day in and day out, since first you stormed my palace - to do battle with you again."

Mot Ni's correspondent relates that all those present laughed aloud at the queen's audacious letter, but that the king himself did not laugh. Correctly interpreting her letter as a declaration of war, he swiftly sought to raise an army - although his forces at home were weakened as the bulk was fighting on another front (later letters reveal Mot Ni had learned this from his military lover in the opposing camp and had passed this useful information onto the queen).

The secret plan even Mot Ni did not know of was the creation of an army, which first forced the stationed soldiers out of Lai's kingdom before brazenly continuing on into Bran's land, the queen herself, "bedecked in steel and leather like a warrior princess", leading the attack.

Despite its greater strength and experience, Bran's army proved no match for the smart tactics and sheer determination of Lai and her people, who in short order - the very ease of the conquest suggests this is why it has been erased from the history books - had defeated his army.

Once it was clear Bran's kingdom was in her power, the queen ordered the defeated generals to bring their king to her tent so that she might deal with him. The generals were all in a flurry, however - it turned out that Bran could not be found. Many hours passed, as soldiers, generals and courtiers alike hunted for their king, fearing him dead - and thus we might finally understand the true meaning behind the classic poem of the time: "I shall search for my scent upon your body the way the foot soldiers searched the battlefield for their king" - or, worse, absconded.

Finally, late in the evening, Bran's generals sent a nervous messenger to the queen's tent to inform her that the king was nowhere to be found. The messenger later related how "my heart was in my mouth as I entered her tent, certain my head would be gone for the message I brought". When he entered, the queen was lying on her couch; he opened his mouth to speak, but she held a finger to her smiling lips to indicate he be silent, and not disturb her lover, the now-vanquished king, sleeping on her breast.

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