And of course, I had been right. Again.
The soldier entered the war council chamber and made an honest attempt to whisper his news, but over the sound of artillery outside the city and the rioting within it, it was near impossible for his success in doing so, bringing him to the point of just shouting his news to be heard by the man a foot inf front of him.
"General How! The rioters have broken through the wall to the middle district."
How slammed a hand on the table, suppressing a need to break it in half with his abilities and curse his misfortune. "How are our barricades holding up?"
"Holding, sir! But the rioters, they're attacking police and soldiers! Our men are scared. Do we have permission to suppress them with all due force, sir!?"
The General's resolve weakened here. He had his orders from the Earth King, and his foolish loyalty to the poor excuse of a man sitting on that throne would doom this city. He knew that, the general, but there was nothing in this world that would render him a disloyal servant of his King. The poor man would have to realize someday that loyalty to one's Nation is more important than their loyalty to their King.
"No. We have orders. Do not kill the protestors. Suppress them however you can, but we won't kill any of them."
I shook my head. I had no fear of doing it here. The General already knew where my opinions lay. There was no need to suppress it here. In all honesty, I pitied the soldiers out there. They were being attacked, and some being killed, without any means of protecting themselves. At least not from their commanders.
The soldier shook his head, stuttering as he received the news, saying "Y-yes, sir."
He left, and How's resolve seemed to shatter right there. "Fire Nation through the outer wall, rioters and revolutionaries outside our palace. Damn it!"
"You should have listened to me."
"What you proposed was treason. Against the will of our King."
"You didn't have to tell him of what I suggested. Now, the city is under attack from 2 fronts. There's no food for us or them save whatever rats our cooks manage to find in the sewers, and the Earth Kingdom is set to fall."
"We can hold out. Our army is prepared for situations like this."
"Maybe attacks from the outside, which, may I add, you failed in repelling."
"We. We failed in repelling. I remember you having just as much to do with the defense plan as I did."
"Maybe so, but it was your reluctance to use my methods that lost the day."
"There are rules of war, Long Feng. Rules your plans not only would have broken but burned to the ground. There is honor in war. What you suggested was beyond intolerable."
"And now we will all die for your, 'honor'."
I had nothing more to say. I took my leave, abandoning the chamber of the council of 5 which was now whittled down to 4 and made my stroll through the palace grounds. The King's court lived in fear now, knowing that they not only had a hostile army at their doorstep, but riled up peasant who would without a doubt, have a field day in this palace. They were no doubt already looting whatever parts of the middle district they could get their hands on.
I knew how things like this went. It was all over Earth Kingdom history, particularly in this city, but in this city, there had always been one thing to stop these kinds of events before they could even happen. That was the Dai Li.
And their commander, Kaizar, now stood in the lobby of my office, waiting for me.
"Captain, I said greeting him."
"I wished to see you in your office, but your secretary wasn't here."
"Yes. She's gone at the moment." Joo Dee had been gone for around the last month, her pregnancy having gotten worse due to a lack of food flowing in the city. I had done what I could have to have gotten some more food diverted to her, but there was simply too little going least now, with the lower district rioting, there was a whole portion of the population we didn't have to feed. Kuei had gone so far as to order us to send food to them, despite the fact they had already turned violent. When the soldiers delivering food had been killed and looted, and from certain reports I've heard, consumed as well, I took my authority in hand to stop these deliveries. If we couldn't kill them, we'd have to starve them as best as we could. "What's your report, Captain?"
"We have received word from our operatives."
"And?"
"They were successful. We managed to track down the main instigators of the riots and they've been, eliminated."
"Good. The riots may lose some momentum, but we're far from done with them. They'll become less organized. With any luck, they'll turn on each other, but that doesn't remove the fact they broke through the wall to the middle district."
I walked to my desk and took a seat, the papers not at all organized, scattered on my desk due to the lack of presence of a certain secretary.
I continued. "The soldiers are having a hard-enough time keeping the rioters from taking over the entire district, and we cannot afford to evacuate the civilians to the inner district. We'll just have to hope that our soldiers can keep them at bay long enough."
"Is there anything the Dai Li can do to assist you further?"
"What is the status of Lake Laogai?"
"Renovated sir. As I told you, the first test has been a success, but sir, the city is far too chaotic to begin the project."
"Of course. Which is why I need the Dai Li to continue to de-escalate the rioting as much as possible. Do your operatives report anybody else taking the reins of the rioting?"
"One, sir? His name is Hoth."
"Hoth what?"
"Don't know, sir. All we know is he's currently in charge."
"Does the Dai Li have any reports on him?"
"No, sir. He has no previous criminal activity that would have him in our books and his birth was undocumented, but e's been having difficulty rallying the rioters. Most are just on their own, forming disorganized gangs of looters, rapers, and murderers, storming the inner district. A big portion though is sticking to peaceful protests, but that doesn't mean much, sir, when they're walking over the bodies made by their more violent brethren."
"Then they're enemies all the same. There's little they can do to stop the violence and killing them would only make us appear a far worse enemy they'd be even more eager to slaughter."
We can't beat them on the field. We'll just have to starve them as best we can.
"Sir?" he asked, snapping me back to reality.
"I'm afraid the time has come to resort to scorched earth tactics. I need your agents to go to the middle district. Burn all food depots and restaurants with stocks you can find. The protestors will be blamed, and they'll be deprived of a food source. Our soldiers will be forced to retreat to the upper district which is far more defendable, and from there, we can hold, and watch the enemy starve themselves and turn on each other. We can rebuild afterwards, but now, this is are only option."
I saw the hesitation on his face, burning his own city. It was a hard-enough decision for me to make, but it had to be done. "Are you sure, sir?"
"I'm sure, captain. See it done."
"Yes, sir."
And with that, he left, and I had done what was needed to make sure Ba Sing Se would survive. Despite what it had cost.