General Chu was a brigade commander, and later chief-of-staff, of the Black Company during Soldiers Live.
Soldiers Live[]
Chu was a respected veteran soldier in the world of Hsien. He fought for one of the many warlords there, possibly one from the File of Nine.
Sometime during the 4-year gap between Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, Chu and upwards of 10,000 other soldiers native to Hsien were recruited into the band of outsider mercenaries by Sleepy, the Black Company Captain. He presumably helped the Company train and build their strength at their headquarters, the Abode of Ravens. He learned the language of Taglios, attained the rank of general, and became one of Sleepy's brigade commanders. General Chu and the rest of the Company crossed Hsien's Shadowgate, traversed the glittering plain, and entered into the homeworld to conduct Sleepy's war against Soulcatcher.
Battle at the Shadowlander cemetery[]
General Chu and his brigade fought for Sleepy against Mogaba and his Protectorate armies at the grueling Battle at the Shadowlander cemetery. Despite the hard losses suffered by the Company there, General Chu's specific brigade was the "least distressed" of all. Sleepy made the decision to break up General Chu's brigade and redistribute whole groups from it to reconstitute other harder-hit brigades. Chu, now displaced as a commander, was elevated to Sleepy's chief of staff. In addition, she gave him "the assurance that he would be given command of all the native troops we raised, however numerous they might become".
Siege of Taglios[]
The failed Palace raid[]
When Sleepy ordered an ill-advised raid of the Palace of Taglios to abduct Mogaba and Ghopal Singh, General Chu eagerly stated that the mission would be a success. Croaker considered Chu to be an "officious little asshole" for failing to raise constructive criticism. The raid turned out to be a dramatic failure: Murgen and three valuable Company allies (the Howler, the First Father, and Nashun the Researcher) were killed by Soulcatcher's leftover shadows. The Royal Guards and the Greys chased the rest of the Company away, and Mogaba escaped capture.
Explosion over the Palace[]
General Chu was among those who received training on how to operate the rheitgeistiden, the magic flying posts confiscated from the Voroshk. Being a "thorough man", he flew one of the 7 posts to the Palace to personally conduct aerial reconnaissance for the upcoming Siege of Taglios. He brought along Sleepy's young personal assistant, a Jaicuri named Mihlos Sedona, who was one of the most experienced rheitgeistiden riders. Both were accompanied by Croaker, who insisted that they all wear the magic protective robes called the shefsepoken to protect them from arrow fire.
Over the Palace, young Mihlos was foolhardy and flew too close to the roof of the sprawling structure. He narrowly avoided getting shot by Mogaba's men, who unexpectedly opened fire with fireball projectors acquired from the failed Company raid. As Mihlos was dangling helplessly from his tether in midair, General Chu ignored Croaker's shout of caution and flew over to help him. The two rheitgeistiden riders clumped together near the enemy shooters, providing a good target. Despite their protective shefsepoken robes, both were killed instantly when a single fireball from the crossfire struck General Chu's highly explosive flying post, detonating it. That explosion immediately caused the sympathetic detonation of Sedona's post. The immense shock wave smashed "in an acre of Palace like an invisible giant's foot stomping on eggshells". Croaker escaped with the help of Arkana, and the Company was forced to alter their battle plans.