Author's Notes: Hello everyone glad you like the story so far, and now another lesson. Terry Pratchet owns the Discworld series.
They think they want good government and justice for all, Vimes, yet what is it they really crave, deep down in their hearts? Only that things go on as normal and tomorrow is pretty much like today. - The Patrician, Feet of Clay.
The voyage to the city of Ho-Tao took nearly three weeks. On the second day of the voyage Zokar summoned Azula and the Ash Knights to his cabin in order to plan out their course of action when they reached the colonies.
Azula expected some dislike from the Ash Knights; after all she had come close to killing their leader and was not surprised when she received it. What surprised her was what had happened when they were being served tea before the meeting began. She had been looking at Zokar when she caught the eye of his Water Tribe servant. Their eyes locked for just a moment but it was enough. The woman blanched and quickly looked away.
For a moment Azula experience her old sense of elation over such obvious signs of fear from those around her. But it quickly passed as Zokar's words returned to her. Was what he had said true; was she weak and trying to make herself seem strong by bullying the only person in the room who was weaker than her?
That thought brought her mood down even further. Despite everything her bending had still not returned. She had spent most of the voyage so far in her cabin, alternately meditating and trying to bend all, so far, without results. Its continued absence left her in a state of near panic and only the knowledge that Zokar would disapprove kept her from lashing out at everyone around her.
Desperate to focus on something else she listened as Zokar outlined the rout they would take on their inspection tour and the duties each of them would have. Azula lived for scheming and political games and she saw that while he had a firm grasp intellectually of how it worked; Zokar was woefully inexperienced in the shadowy game of politics, the governors would eat him alive, and the Ash Knights were no better. Granted two of those present were peasants but Chen was a son of a great house and should have been advising Zokar on these things.
"This is the course of action I propose to take," Zokar stated at the end of his briefing and looking around the room; "Has anyone anything to add?"
Azula raised her hand, indicating she wished to speak. "I believe," she said; "That the course of action you're proposing is not the best way to go about our task."
Instantly the Ash Knights glared at her and Tala clenched the dish she was holding, though she did not dare to look at Azula. Zokar remained calm. Holding his hand up to stop the low angry muttering, he turned his attention to her. "You have a suggestion to improve it?"
For some reason she found she was pleased that he had asked for her opinion, something Father rarely did. "To start with," she began; "While your plans are orderly and efficient, to start at Ho-Tao, the westernmost colony and then work your way across. You haven't taken the governors into account. While inspections are usually secret; you may be sure most of them will have received word of your coming from their friends at Court."
Even as she said that she wondered about that. It was for that very reason that such inspections were kept secret, usually those being inspected only found out about it afterwards, if at all. Here, however, Father had announced it in front of the entire Court and if that lot could keep a secret she was a hog-monkey. Even as she thought about it she saw what had to be the reason, this was another plan to embarrass Zokar by Father.
Forewarned of his coming everyone who had something to hide, which meant all of them in her opinion, would at this moment be hiding or destroying anything that could incriminate or embarrass them. By the time Zokar arrived it would be gone or beyond his reach. No doubt Father had a second, secret, inspector, either here or following. That person would find out all the governors', who would relax after Zokar left, secrets and when Zokar presented his report Father would produce the second exposing Zokar's failures, publically humiliating him by making him appear foolish and incompetent. Which, when combined with the military fiasco Father was planning for him, would spell the end of him, maybe even enough for him to be expected to kill himself to atone for bringing such shame to his family.
So, if this was indeed what Father had planned, there were two questions that needed to be answered. The first being why had Father sent her to ensure Zokar failed if he already had plans in place to deal with him? The second was why was she helping Zokar, thereby ruining Father's plan, as Father surely would know it was she who had done it and invite repercussions?
The first had several answers. It could be a test for her, to see if she was still capable of such actions in the wake of her defeat. It could be a subtle punishment from Father, putting her in a position to carry out his plan rather than forming one of her own, reminding her of her inferiority to him. Or it could be a test, to see if she would reveal what was going on to Zokar; thereby showing Father she had come under the influence of her brother.
Which led to the second question, why was she about to warn him? For some reason she found she did not want him to fail. Over the last days she found she had come to depend on him. She was in a vulnerable state right now and yet around him she felt safe. If Father knew her bending was gone he would disown her instantly, yet Zokar did know and still had not done anything to take revenge for all she had done to him.
She fought the urge to shake her head in disgust, she was being foolishness; trust was for fools he was probably playing his own game and she just didn't know what it was yet. So why was she helping him? She simply needed him till her bending returned she told herself, besides Father may not think she had done anything if she just allowed Zokar to fall into the trap Father had set for him.
The sound of Zokar clearing his throat broke her chain of thought and she found everyone was staring at her. Flushing slightly she continued. "As I was saying, they probably already know you're coming. Once they see the pattern your inspections taking they can act accordingly. I recommend that we alter the order in which we visit the governors; instead visiting them in random order.
"By doing so we throw them off balance. Additionally we may want to send spies ahead and learn what is going on before we arrive. When we arrive at those cities we will already be able to confront them with their inevitable lies, giving us an air omnipresence that will further frighten them, some may even breakdown and confess as word gets around." She looked at Zokar, concerned that he would reprimand her again over the use of fear.
"You assume their guilty?" Chen asked.
"You assume they're not? You clearly have not spent enough time at Court."
All looked at Zokar, who sat in silence for some time. At last he looked at them and nodded. "We shall adopt your strategy Sister, for upon reflection it seems the best way to achieve our ends." Azula felt a surge of pleasure at the compliment, something Father rarely gave. Then shook herself, she wasn't Zuko, so easily led by flattery.
When they reached Ho-Tao they were met at the docks by an official welcoming party, which included the governor, Po Kang, himself, and coved to the governor's palace in great state. Zokar and Azula rode at the head of the procession in a great palanquin, the governor followed behind in a second, less grand, one.
Once they arrived at the palace the governor wished to escort them to their quarters to rest from their journey. "That will not be necessary." Zokar said bluntly. "I have been going over the reports, both military and civilian, regarding this province. There has been a marked increase in violence and unrest. I wish you to explain this to me and what measures you have taken to deal with them."
The governor seemed visibly agitated by this. "Well…my lord; it is very complicated. If we may meet again in the morning th…" That was as far as he got. Azula let into him.
"Any competent official of the Fire Nation should be able to provide pertinent information on the province he is assigned to in an instant at any time of the day or night. So either your inability to do so now is a sign that you are, in fact, incompetent; or you are buying time to think up a good lie!"
Anger now clashed with nervousness in the governor's eyes but he managed to maintain control. "What I meant was there are a number of reasons for this state of affairs. In the first place for the last three years the harvests have been poor so I have had difficulty gathering the taxes I am required to. Second, trade has fallen off between the various towns and villages in the province. This, in addition to hurting tax revenues, has driven many to banditry. Finally, I am sure there are instigators from areas of the continent still under Earth Kingdom stirring up the people. If I had the manpower I would crush these bands. Perhaps if you were to suggest to the Fire Lord…" his voice trailed off suggestively.
"Thank you Governor." Zokar said. "I shall consider what you have said. I am sure you have much to deal with in the morning, we shall not inconvenience you. We will speak again after the noon meal." With that he turned and entered his rooms.
The next morning Azula and the Ash Knights, who had spent the night gathering information, met Zokar in his rooms. As they ate Chen spoke first.
"Well, Kang spoke at least a partial truth. Trade has died off and it has indeed forced many to banditry. What he failed to mention was that the reason trade has been dying off is because he has been imposing numerous tolls along the roads and pocketing the money."
Zokar turned to Hoong. Hoong cleared his throat and began to speak. "At your command I have been looking into the situation regarding the harvests. I spoke with a number of merchants and rice speculators and they all say the same thing. This whole area has been struck by drought for the last three years and the farmers have barely been able to make ends meet to feed their families, let alone pay their taxes.
"While the merchants have so far been selling the excess rice from previous harvests that is beginning to run low as well. When it runs out I don't doubt we will be seeing rioting and looting in the city."
Attention then shifted to Lǎoshǔ. "On your orders I went in disguise to the poorer parts of the city. It is as the governor said. There are indeed Earth Kingdom agents at work in the city. They rail against Fire Nation invaders and the injustices inflicted by the governor. The situation being what it is they are not lacking for an attentive audience and if something is not done soon we'll have a full scale rebellion on our hands."
Zokar thanked them for their efforts and then dismissed them to get some well-deserved rest. After they had gone he sat for some time deep in thought. At last Azula, who never had much patience in the best of times, asked him what he was going to do.
"What would you do?" He asked simply.
She barely had to think about it. "I would dismiss the governor, perhaps even have him executed. Hunt down the bandits and crush them and find these rabble rousers and have them publically executed. That should cow the rest into submission."
Zokar shook his head. "That would not suffice. While it would deal with the governor it would do nothing about the drought and the impending food shortages and those you killed would only be seen as martyrs for their freedom."
"Then what do you propose?" She asked rather testily.
"What I propose is this. First, we confront the governor with what we know about his off the books taxes and curtail them. Second we announce that out of concern for the wellbeing of those living under us; the Fire Nation shall construct an irrigation system paid for out of the governor's own purse an enact an overall tax reduction. Finally we make an announcement that when we complete our inspection we will return and when we do I will personally hunt down any bandits still operating in the area."
Azula snorted in disgust. "That sounds like something Zuko would do. I did not take you for a soft hearted fool."
Zokar gave no impression of being offended. "I am not being soft hearted, I am being practical. In the first place if what you yourself said is true then whoever we replace the governor with will also be corrupt and may be more intelligent the he is. The man is a coward and after we are done with him he will not dare try these schemes of his again.
"In the second place the irrigation system I mentioned will be built and maintained by Fire Nation engineers. If the locals move against us they lose the system and risk a return of drought and famine. Regarding the tax reductions, we tax by percentage; while the percentage we take will be lower the income we tax will be higher so we, in fact, will be collecting more money. Neither will the Treasury suffer during the initial implementation because the governor will be covering the cost from his ill-gotten gains.
"As for the bandits; I have no doubt that they target mainly Fire Nation colonists. This doubtlessly has caused many to see them as freedom fighters and heroes. If, however, we remove that which drove them to banditry and they persist in it they will appear less as heroes than men who have taken a liking to outlaw behavior; especially if their continued activity threatens the people's new prosperity.
"This will also deal with the instigators from the Earth Kingdom. If we do a sweep we will likely capture some of them. But many will be hidden by the population and such a brutal move will provide them with another provocation to harangue the people with. With the course of action I propose, however, we will take the appeal from their words.
"The Earth Kingdom also taxes on a percentage system. With the reduction I intent to implement they will actually be paying less tax than they would be under the Earth King. Oh, the instigators can appeal to patriotism of course, and I am sure that in their hearts the people wish us gone; but let us think in practical terms. They have to know that we will recommence the siege of Ba Sing Se eventually. Wither we take it or not is actually immaterial, the city will be unable to support any uprising they commit.
"In short, they would have to risk the wrath of the Fire Nation alone so that they could be less prosperous and pay more taxes. All for a line of kings who have not once bestirred themselves from their city walls to aid them in more than a century. When looked at it like that I think many will find it more appealing to just stay home and that a master in red is just as acceptable as a master in green.
"So you see, Azula, your solution would have turned this into a hotbed of rebellion, which would have to be suppressed at great expense and loss of life at a time we can ill afford it. I will have turned it into a peaceful province which is, in fact, sending more revenue to the Fire Nation than before and is more under its control with barely any effort. You must learn subtly at times an act of kindness can accomplish more than an act of force."
Azula stared at him. He was far more devious than she had suspected. Yes, she would shield him from Father for now; it seems he had more to teach her than she had thought.
Author's Notes: Well another one done. What did you all think? I want Zokar to be, not necessarily a good person, but an efficient one. With, one could say, a Machiavellian outlook did I succeed, please let me know. As for Azula I think it would be against her nature to just have her start trusting him too easily please let me know how I did with her as well. Please keep praying for Shawn and all who need it. Bye for now and may Jesus bless you all till next time.