The Evil Emperor Chang Wu
Emperor Chang Wu is the evil ruler of the city of Xi'an, and also much of China. He is one of the three main villains operating in The Orient.
Biography[]
The Golden Dragon[]
Chang Wu's palace secretly contained the Golden Dragon of Marco Polo. Johnny Thunder, Pippin Reed, and Charles Kilroy discovered this after recovering the Golden Sword and Golden Shield. Sam Sinister also learned of this, and came to Xi'an. While Chang Wu was uncertain that Sinister would be of help, after he learned that Sinister was telling the truth (because border guards on the Great Wall reported arresting the Adventurers) he accepted Sinister's offer.
Through the help of rebels, like Jing Lee, the Adventurers were able to sneak into the palace despite Sinister's assistance, by hiding onboard a boat. Wu became furious with Sinister for his failures, but ordered him and his many guards to find and capture the Adventurers. They were spooked by Jun-Chi, the lion-dog that lurked in the palace, and ran away.
After Chang Wu had his men haul Sinister up out of a trap-door pit, he learned that the Adventurers had escaped with the Golden Dragon and that Sinister had tried to seize the Golden Dragon for his own. Furious, the Emperor terminated his alliance with Sinister and sent him away, swearing never to accept his help again.
Repressing Rebellion[]
Once the people of Xi'an discovered that a bunch of foreigners had beat Chang Wu inside his own palace, an uprising began. Coupled with the gradual discontent and resentment with their oppression, a conspiracy was soon gaining power. One of the leaders of this group was Jing Lee, who had led the Adventurers to the palace in the first place. Chang Wu came down heavily on the conspiracy to try and regain total control over the people of China.
He ordered his navy to search all naval traffic from the port city. Chang Wu suspected correctly that the rebels would be trying to get foreign aid, and wanted to interrogate anyone captured who was affiliated with them. Based on intelligence from one of these interrogations, Captain Xeng Li led an attack on a major rebel cell. The operation was successful, and many rebels were killed or taken prisoner. For this, the Emperor commended Xeng Li and gave him command of his own ship.
Gods' Alloy[]
The Emperor again commended Xeng Li when he discovered an ancient warship called the Obelisk, forged out of a secret metal called "Gods' Alloy", which was practically indestructible. Chang Wu feared that whoever he made it's commander might turn out to betray him, and so he chose Xeng, who was one of his most loyal captains, to command this vessel. For the next few weeks, Xeng Li enriched Xi'an's treasuries with a string of continuous raids using the Obelisk.
When he discovered that the Adventurers had found that in Greece there was a forge on Mount Olympus that had produced Gods' Alloy, Chang Wu ordered an army to seize this forge and bring back the Gods' Alloy, as well as the secret of it's production, so that more ships could be constructed from it. However, many other villains also chose to get involved, and after a failed attempt by Sinister's henchman Jason Parker to commandeer the Obelisk, Chang Wu recalled Xeng Li and placed the ship in a secret facility for analysis.
This action inadvertantly caused a chain of events leading towards Xeng abandoning the service of the Emperor and striking out on his own.
The Villains' Alliance[]
After Xeng Li betrayed the Empire, Sam Sinister began to form an alliance of villains. He appropriately (and uncreatively) titled it the Villains' Alliance, and invited any willing villain to join. A handful did- including Xeng Li. This, as well as the fact that Sinister had proven worthless during the Golden Dragon incident, caused Chang Wu to refuse to join or even have anything to do with it.
Sam Sinister, annoyed at Chang Wu's refusals, planned to frame him in the robbery of the National Museum. He sent a fleet of pirate ships under Xeng Li that flew Xi'anese flags. The deception was successful, as shortly after the robbery, the LEGOLAND government declared war on Xi'an for attacking LEGO City.