As our readers may recall, Aang is struggling with his conscience as he consults with the past Avatars. Zuko is suffering from some people may call, "riding the tiger and being afraid to get off," as there is a renewed nationalism and open rejection of his pacifist policies in the Fire Nation. Earth King Keui ordered the invasion of the Air Nomad countries to fulfill his promise to reunify the continent. While Mao and the Air Nomads continue their struggle for freedom and independence.

In the Air Nomad Kingdom of Kanto, the Khan had declared a state of emergency and dissolved Parliament. He then summoned the Prime Minister, and his toughest general Honda Tadakatsu. When Honda and his general staff had arrived at the Khan's palace, he was greeted by the summer monsoons that was late for the season.

"All rise!" said the high chamberlain as the Khan briskly entered as he brushed off his person.

"Remain seated gentleman, please begin Honda," said the Khan as he took his seat with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet following him.

"My Khan, Lord Date Masamune of Sendai had captured Gyantse Castle, Hailongtun Castle, and Diaoyu Fortress. As we speak he is now moving to join forces with enemy reinforcements from Ba Sing Se from the north," Honda explained earthbending stone tablets across a large map to elaborate the general situation.

The nation of Kanto laid along the Eastern Coast of the Earth Kingdom, nestled in between the highlands of the Gunma Mountain Range to the West and the Bay of Kanto to the East. To the North was the mighty country of Sendai. Although Date Masamune is an Air Nomad, he is still none-the-less allied with Earth King Keui through his daughter Princess Iroha. This political alliance is proving to be unshakeable as the One Eyed Tiger unleashes his full fury on Kanto.

"Our allies fought bravely but alas Lord Date proved to be too much for them. From last we heard they have fled to the mountains to regroup, allowing the enemy to consolidate their ill gotten gains. We have lost one-third of our country. Our only strategic defense that opposes the combined armies of Sendai and the Earth Kingdom, is Kamba Castle. This castle guards the only major road to Emerald City from the North," Honda tapped the map with a riding crop and nodded to one of his lieutenants prompting him to speak.

"We expect the enemy to attack Kamba fairly soon, in about seven days."

"Why Kamba Castle?" asked the Prime Minister.

"Firstly, because of the natural terrain of the Adachi Plains that makes up most of Northern Kanto. And secondly because of the weather. The plains are flooded by the summer monsoons creating marshlands and render mountainous forested areas into jungles. The monsoons have also swelled many rivers of Adachi Plains, making them treacherous to cross for the next three to four months, if the weather holds. The smaller dirt roads would turn to mud if a few thousand men marched through it with their baggage train. If the enemy marches their big army, their movements would quickly be mired in the mud. Hence the importance of the only paved road that runs close to Kamba Castle. Thirdly, Kamba Castle itself is strategically important because it sits on the bank of the River Kamba, and it has a stone bridge."

"So in order to attack Emerald City, they must walk down this road to cross a bridge. To cross it in safety, they must capture Kamba Castle," summarized the Khan.

"Exactly my Khan."

"And you have fortified Kamba Castle?" the Khan asked Honda.

"Yes my Khan, I have sent one whole corps; three rifle divisions, one cavalry division, with a full complement of artillery, and a contingent of combat engineers and signalmen. They will be setting up telegraph and rails to maintain clear and efficient lines of communication."

"Hmm," the Khan nodded with approval, "What is the situation in the South with the Satsuma Clan?"

"Lord Satsuma Shimazu has made no moves overland nor have our navies clashed. Although we are at war with the Satsuma, the Kazekage have informed us of their numerous meetings with the man."

"Oh? Can we work with the man, can we reason with him?"

The general glanced at the Prime Minister. "My expertise is the art of war, in regards to the intelligence provided, it is consistent with the current military situation. Whether or not we can convince him to become an ally with us is another matter."

"The Kazekage have also shared their meetings with the Foreign Office," said the Prime Minister, taking up from where the general left off. "We have not dealt directly with the man, but the Kazekage have assured us that he may be open to defecting over to our side, if circumstances are favorable."

"Is that so?" the Khan said trailing off as the implications filtered through the room. So if Kanto can somehow achieve victory over the combined armies of Sendai and Ba Sing Se, there is a chance that the Satsuma may defect. "But why not attack now? What are we waiting for?"

"My Khan, I believe that we must be defensive and carefully choose our battles, until the right opportunity presents itself."

"But the Fire Lord has assured me that the Fire Nation will send military aid."

The Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister, and the General Staff all exchanged glances.

"My Khan," said Honda cautiously, "Zu- the man in the Fire Nation, has been switching from being a war hawk to a peaceful dove as though it depends on his mood. The Kazekage have doctors who specialize on mental ailments who suggest that...the man in the Fire Nation...may be 'touched.' And so I would agree with our foreign office, that we should strategize based on the assumption that the Fire Nation will not help us."

"Are you saying that we surrender one third of our country to the enemy?"

"No my Khan, that is not my intention. As we speak, the Kazekage are making their way to our allies in the mountains. And in the lowlands, they will organize local villagers to launch raids on the enemy supply lines to hinder their march, and cause the enemy to divert men from the frontlines."

"How many will this amount to, for our side?"

"Roughly five thousand."

"Against how many of the enemy?"

"We estimate one hundred thousand men."

The Khan leaned back in his chair and asked the inevitable, "How many men do we have to defend Kanto?"

"We have a grand total of fifty thousand infantrymen. Ten thousand cavalrymen and horses. Almost one hundred heavy guns and artillery. Fifty operational tanks. Fifty aeroplanes that carry and drop bombs. And one hundred air bison."

"Are we to assume that the enemy in the Adachi Plains have twice of everything that we can muster?"

"Yes my Khan. We also believe that there will be more coming from Ba Sing Se. Kamba Castle and the river are the only defense that stands between us and that massive army."

The Prime Minister cautiously spoke up, "My Khan, we must not only examine the external military threats, but we must also consider the whole situation."

"Go on."

"Your decision to dissolve Parliament may be seen as an overreach of your authority. Only the Supreme Spiritual and Temporal Leader has that power to supplant Parliament with the Council of Thirteen, as it tradition-"

"These are extraordinary times which require extraordinary measures. Avatar Aang is in the bosom of Ba Sing Se and I will not stand by and watch my kingdom overrun by these invaders," the Khan half shouted, silencing any dissent amongst his ministers and his generals.

"The morale amongst the men have improved with our Khan reasserting himself," Honda said slowly, "While the members of parliament without any military experience have been excused. And I do not know the particulars, but I understand that we have increases in our military budget due to more efficient tax collection."

Before the Prime Minister could speak another general chimed in, "Now is not the time for divisions in our government, now is the time to close ranks and rally our king and defend our country! In the service of our Khan and our Country!"

All rose in honor of their khan, who is their rightful king, and sounded "For Khan and Country! Long Live the Khan!"

Meanwhile across the continent in the country of Kai...

Mao's Earthbender cousin Asano Saito stood astride with Lord Shingen and his generals. Although Kai was not their country, Saito and strived for he and his men to fight alongside the Takeda Army. "The Kazekage will share the same hardships, face the same danger, and fight the same enemy," Saito had declared when the main contingent of 300 Kazekage had arrived. But sadly, despite their support of the war, the high ranking officers of the Takeda did not fully trust the foreign warrior spies from Kanto.

"Saito-kun, I have to admit that I am surprised that you have fought alongside us for so long. Last I've heard the Earth Kingdom has invaded your homeland in Kanto," said one of Shingen's generals. "Why are you here should you be hopping onto the next boat to Emerald City?"

Lord Shingen appeared not to be listening as he lifted his spy glass to his eye to survey the land.

"We fight the same enemy sir. Although we are far away from home, we cannot turn our backs on Kai while the enemy continues to threatens her borders."

"Is that so?"

"We are prepared to kill for your cause, sir," said Saito a little forcefully.

"Your dedication is invaluable," said Shingen turning to look Saito in the eye ending the little interrogation. He turned to survey the land once more. "The mysterious enemy general had caught us completely by surprise by making a river crossing undetected. But he was slowed down for 2 weeks because of bad weather, and for boats to get his army to cross. He has 20,000 men under his command, and yet he and his army are sitting on their asses on top of a mountain, just waiting for us. What is he waiting for?"

"Perhaps he is waiting for us to attack? Our forces matches his, man for man, the only advantage he has is that he has the high ground," suggested a general.

"Any word from our cavalry patrols?"

"No word sir. Hajime-san would have returned by now if he had run into enemy reinforcements."

A messenger rode up to the generals handing one their aides a message. The aide took the note and the two saluted each other. The aide then brought the note to his superior officer who read it.

"What does the message say?" asked Shingen as he kept his gaze fixed on the landscape, as though he churning something in his mind.

"It's a telegram from the prime minister. It's dated a few hours ago. What wonderful machines we have these days, just a few years ago it would have taken this message 6 days to arrive!"

"General, please, the message," said a fellow general.

The first general cleared throat and regained his composure. "The Prime Minister requests your presence in parliament to settle an urgent dispute two lords. If the situation is not resolved dire consequences may arise..." said the general whose voice trailed off and then became incredulous, "The two lords in question are squabbling for the affections of a woman! We're risking our lives for our country out in the middle of nowhere, and they want to resolve a domestic dispute!" The general ripped the note apart.

The sound of galloping shirshu and an armed escort of horses reached them announcing June the bounty hunter had arrived. As our readers may remember, June is a bounty hunter and a mercenary, who once worked for Zuko to find the Gaang. She would later help him again by finding his uncle Iroh just before Sozin's Comet. And again when Zuko became Fire Lord and made numerous attempts to find his mother. Now this Earth Person "whip-for-hire" dismounted and strode toward Saito.

"June," greeted Saito.

"Saito-san," June greeted back remembering the polite honorific.

"Who is this?" demanded the enraged general.

"The name's June. I was hired by the Kazekage to scout for them," June said in her most friendly reply.

"Hired?! We don't need the help of mercenary scum. And they must have their heads examined if they hired a woman," said the outraged general.

June's face hardened, "NOW YOU LISTEN HERE!"

"GENERAL!" Saito shouted over June, he was so loud that he made the horses and the shirshu skittish. "I recruited her to our cause because of her unique abilities. Nyla, her shirshu that you see before you, is able to track its prey virtually anywhere in the world with even the faintest trace of smell. This makes June the best tracker in the world and an ideal scout. June have you accomplished what I have asked you?"

"Yes, I did. You were right, the enemy is waiting for reinforcements. An army of 10,000 from Hakuma will arrive here in a week."

"Thank you for this information, now take your coin and begone," said the enraged general.

"Come on, let's talk over here," said Saito quickly leading her into his yurt. "Were you able to accomplish the last part of your assignment?"

"Yes I did," June said quickly and changed her demeanor into a simple woman. "Passing as a poor peasant woman, I became a camp follower as I wormed my way into the hearts of rough men who are so far away from home. They desperately wished to comforted by arms of a woman, as I beguiled officers with my arts and allurements. I was even able to beguile their general."

"You were this close to their general?" Saito asked implying the distance between them now.

"Yes, in fact I overheard them talking about General Han and General How being recalled back to Ba Sing Se to address the Emperor. They were sent back instead of their supreme commander, a big mistake on their part, as the old man is a fool to the 3rd degree. He has no understanding of commanding a large army. He does understand why his army is not in Kai's capital by now, or why their meandering supply lines are under constant attack by the Takeda cavalry.

Hajime's doing? thought Sai at the mention of this development.

"He blames his lieutenants for every little mistake and screams at them. And the old fool and the next senior officer who is an Air Nomad are not even on speaking terms. He said, 'I refuse to work to those sort of people,'" mocked June.

"One of their commanders is an Air Nomad?"

"He is, but he left after a serious disagreement, I was not there to witness as he suspected me you see. He is gone now, he and his band of horsemen."

"Do you know what grand plans the old fool may have?" asked Saito changing gears.

June smiled at the dark humor, as she took pen to paper and began to draw the enemy camp in great detail. "He has no plans."

Saito furrowed his brow, "Are you certain?"

Still smiling, June placed down her pen and began to sing in a surprisingly sweet voice.

Round, round with the glass, boys, as fast as you can,
Since he who don't drink cannot be a true man.
For if truth is in wine, then 'tis all but a whim
To think a man's true when the wine's not in him.
Drink, drink, then, and hold it a maxim divine
That there's virtue in truth, and there's truth in good wine.

An hour later, Saito relayed to Shingen what he had learned. Shingen laid out his battle plan for his generals. In the morning twilight, the Takeda will attack the enemy positions in a focused attack of massed artillery, and then followed up by infantry armed with rifles and spears. Rather than attacking the mountain in a broad frontal attack to overwhelm the defenders, the Takeda would concentrated on a single section of the enemy defensive lines to achieve a breakthrough. This would be followed by echelons of infantry. Meanwhile the cavalry would attack the flank and penetrate deep behind enemy lines and attack the rear area.

After asking for his generals' input and refining the details of the battle plan with their critique. The plan was set in motion. Saito and the Kazekage were the first to rouse and be mustered in the hour before the dawn. The hooded black riders in their masks in full body armor were an intimidating sight to behold in the morning fog.

"My aren't you all a frightful sight," said June as she approached the black riders.

Saito who was the only one without a mask took June aside.

"I have another special assignment for you. I want you to find out all that you can about the enemy forces from Hakuma. Morale, state of their supplies, troop numbers, their commanders," he said.

"Consider it done. But ah, I wish to paid in advance this time because of-"

"I know, working expenses. Can you work with half now and half later?"

"Yes," smiled June and outstretched her hand that was gifted half her prize. "You know, if I wasn't working for you, I probably would have become an actress. I only wish that I had an audience."

"If you do, I'll see all of your shows."

"You charmer," she chided.

"How long must we continue to work with this woman?" asked one of Saito's subordinates once June was safely out of earshot and petting Nyla.

Saito watched June before replying, as she dawned on her disguise, and rode away on an ostrich horse.

"As long as we have to. And even though she is doing out of her own self-interest, she is loyal to her employers, and most importantly, she is working for us for the right reasons."

"But what are we doing here? We should be in Kanto defending our homes and our families."

"We are here," said Saito as he put on his mask, "Because the more successful we are in Kai, the less Earth Kingdom soldiers are sent to Kanto. Not only men, but also guns, tanks, war balloons, food, and supplies."

As dawn approached, the whole Takeda Army had broken camp and were standing on the foot of the mountain, their advance covered by the morning fog and mist. An Earth Kingdom soldier weary from want of sleep, rubbed his eyes and sharpened his ears. Fumbling with his wooden drum sticks, he began banging his small drum rapidly. His comrades were aroused.

"Enemy attack!" he shouted to his sergeant who demanded to know why he was banging the drum at an ungodly hour.

The sergeant turned to his men to shout out orders, but he was immediately drowned out by roar of exploding shell bursts all around him. Bigger and heavier drums from the main camp joined the drumbeat. The twilight morning sky alit with the glare of rockets flying overhead into the Earth Kingdom camp. Men in full armor rushed to form their ranks as their comrades hastily threw on their armor. The enemy general who was still in night clothes shot out of his tent to see what the great commotion was about.

"What are you doing?" he demanded a couple of young Imperial Guardsmen. "Why are you all panicking? Grab your weapons and atta-" the general was struck down by a shell that cut the man in two.

With their general's death, and all of the explosions around them the officers and men were in a state of confusion as the whole Takeda Army came bearing down on them. Fear was in the air.

Yuan Shao who was with his general survived the blast, stood up and saw the men now panicking. He needed to take charge set an example. "Fighting men of the Earth Kingdom rally! Rally to me! RALLY TO ME!"

A lieutenant with a bandaged head wound ran up to him. "Yuan Shao sir! The Takeda are breaking through!"

Another on an ostrich horse galloped through the thick fog said in a commanding voice, "Where is the general?"

"The general is unable to assume his duties," Yuan Shao said rather than declare that the man was dead, otherwise it would cause morale to plummet even further. "I am in command," he added.

"Sir, the Takeda Cavalry are attacking us on our flanks!"

Yuan Shao paled. We're caught in a salient, we'll be cut to ribbons.

"Yuan Shao sir! What are your orders?!"

The Takeda riflemen and archers break through the defensive earthworks, cutting down warriors and Earthbenders alike. The fighting was hand-to-hand as the Takeda used their bayonets or the butts of their rifles. Some were more confident of their sword arm and switched to their personal weapons, but most simply shot their enemies at point blank range. The Earth Kingdom heavy shields and body armor were useless as the rounds penetrated and grievously wounded their masters. A few brave officers on their mounts charged into the advancing Takeda but were overwhelmed.

But the danger was not over as the Takeda Cavalry charged into the camp, cutting down everyone in their wake. As some of them passed by, a rider would throw a lit grenade into a big tent as he galloped past, and the tent would explode. A small detachment split away to steal the corralled ostrich horses firing wildly in the air, spooking the ostrich-horses to stampede through the camp.

"Fall back! To all my commanders! Fall back!" Yuan Shao ordered mounting his ostrich horse and began riding away with his lieutenants.

Saito rode up to the fallen general whose body was left behind. He just happened to recognize the man from a previous encounter. He never thought that he would see him again.

"The enemy general is dead, press forward!" he shouted at the top of his lungs knowing that it sowed even more confusion and panic in the ranks of the enemy. And if he was lucky it would cause the Earth Kingdom soldiers to break and give way to an all out rout.

Meanwhile Yuan Shao and his lieutenants were riding towards safety.

"If only we had war balloons and tanks. Then none of this would have happened," said one lieutenant.

"But we did not," replied Yuan Shao.

"Where were they?" asked another.

"Probably still sitting in Ba Sing Se," fumed the first.

"That is neither here nor there," said Yuan Shao. "For now we must concentrate our efforts on regrouping and rendezvous with our allies."

"But what about the rest of our army? Shouldn't we wait for them?" asked the first.

"You fool, our general has already been murdered by the Air Nomads, we must not let them lay their filthy hands on Lord Yuan Shao!" admonished the second.

They rode for a time until they came up to a bridge guarded by Earth Kingdom soldiers.

"Halt! Who goes there?!" shouted a young dark man leveling a spear at Yuan Shao and his lieutenants.

"Don't you know who this man is?" shouted the second.

"Enlighten me," replied the haughty guard.

"This is Yuan Shao, aide de camp to the general!" shouted the second and his shoulder was struck with an arrow.

The treacherous spearman deftly kicked up dirt with his spear, flinging mud into Yuan Shao's eyes blinding him. Yuan Shao was knocked off his ostrich horse, and was looking up at a fierce young woman who pointed twin knives in his face. He looked to see that his lieutenants and his guards were all subdued.

"Nice Chigusa," said Jet, removing the commandeered Earth Kingdom hat and cloak to reveal himself that he was a Takeda warrior.

When they arrived back at camp, Jet and his Freedom Fighters were given a heroes' welcome, as Yuan Shao and his men were bound and led by his horse. Jet looked as regal as he could waving to the Takeda soldiers trying to hide his excitement at being the center of attention. He stopped in front of Saito where he dismounted and greeted his friend and fellow Kazekage.

"Hajime-san," he bowed. "May I ask who it is that you've captured?"

"Aide de camp Yuan Shao."

Sai smiled broadly, "Cut off the head and the body will die. The Battle of Kai is turning in our favor, if we keep this up, this will be an overwhelming victory for us!"

"The real credit should go to Chigusa," Jet pointed to Smellerbee who blushed.

As the Takeda camp savored their victory Jet and his uncle were in a serious discussion with his generals. "Good work, you have done well in capturing the enemy officer. But let us discuss strategy. Firelord Zuko has cut off military aid to us leaving us short of arms and ammunition, this is a serious problem," he said.

"How long can we last without fresh supplies?" asked Jet.

"Good question," replied Shingen, "we have enough for one big battle. Or we can make these supplies stretch for a longer period by fighting in lesser battles."

"Then we'll need to make it count. I believe it would be best to fight one big battle."

"Why must we fight big battles, surely it would cause great casualties in our ranks?"

"Well uncle, if we fight smaller battles against a stronger enemy, it would make them stronger as we become weaker. In order to defeat the Earth Kingdom, we would have to defeat them now while we still have a chance. To defeat the Earth Kingdom, we must first weaken their resolve to fight."

"You are learning, good," beamed Shingen as though testing his nephew. "Men, now is the time to show the enemy our strength, we shall take the war to the enemy, we shall invade the Earth Kingdom!"

The Takeda Army crossed the river and invaded the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom villages offered no resistance as word had spread of the Takeda victory well before they had arrived. Shingen took great care to win the support of the people and ordered his lieutenants not to pillage. Any foraging of food from the villages would be bought and paid for, or at the very least a promissory note written. Which was met with mixed reactions.

"Don't take their money!" shouted an old woman to a neighbor who was about to sell cattle to the Takeda, "what if the emperor finds out that we were helping them?!"

"It's more than what the army had given me when they took our ostrich horses away ten years ago." replied the neighbor, "Or all those harvests that they took since then. They even took all my sons, none of them have returned home from the war," he said, holding back tears.

"My lord Shingen," said one of the generals. "This will surely cause our war costs to skyrocket if we are not careful, for ours is a poor country. I believe it would be best to bribe governors, magistrates, and people of import to defect to our side, and then we would get what we need."

Shingen did not answer right away as he watched Jet, Smellerbee, and Long Shot fix a door for the village temple. The village elders praised them when they finished, they then fed them and gave them all cups of tea. But one thing that struck Shingen to his core is the warmness that he felt from watching this all play out in front of him.

June rendezvoused shortly thereafter she had found the Hakuma Army who were unaware of their fate of their defeated allies. They were on the march through thick forests. Shingen ordered his army to make camp and wait for the Hakuma Army to arrive. When his scouts found them he split his forces and ordered them to wait to start an ambush.

The plan could not have been planned perfectly. With the use of banners, gongs, drums, and trumpets, Shingen was able to coordinate his divided army from a nearby hill to attack an unsuspecting enemy.

The Hakuma Army was routed. The Takeda rode on this momentum and sacked the strategic city of Xia Pi. Shingen invited the local governor and the magistrates of the outlying towns and villages and offered them terms that they would not refuse. The people would choose one of their own to lead them, the Takeda would not extract any of their wealth, their city would be made a vassal of the Takeda, nor would there be any punitive tax imposed on them.

The people of Xia Pi in turn consoled the wounded and fed the Takeda soldiers. Hajime and his band of freedom fighters literally ate the fruits of victory and felt they had feasted like kings, over a simple meal of tea, rice, duck, and bok choi.

When word reached Earth King Kuei, he was furious.

"Where is the commander of that army, he must answer for this!"

"I am the acting commander, Your Imperial Majesty, as my lord was killed in the field of honor. And his aide de camp Lord Yuan Shao has been captured by the enemy and is being held ransom," said the young messenger.

"How could you let this happen?! Huh?! Boy?! What do you have to say for yourself?!" spat Kuei with unreasonable fury.

"Sire?"

"You have any idea what has happened?! Two of our armies defeated by a rabble of nomads!"

"I shall reform my army and march back into Kai, and I shall not return until we are victorious."

"Good! See that it is down!"

The young commander did in fact assemble another larger army and rode at its head. But little did he know that there were spies who took notice and noted its strengths and weaknesses. It was large army of over 100,000 men with 5,000 stone tanks made of granite. It was impressive in size, but at closer examination, they noted that half of the soldiers were all levied or conscripted. And a good portion were hired swords, each formed into bands with each of their own leaders. The number of actual professional Earth Kingdom soldiers numbered roughly 50,000 men.

The massive army marched out of Ba Sing Se with all the pomp and pageantry befitting a grand imperial army. But after two weeks of marching, the weariness of traveling began to take its toll. The rains fell turning the dirt roads into mud, the heavy tanks were mired and their progress was slow. There were no railroads available so the army had to walk on foot, and their beasts of burden were worked to death. And with a total fighting strength of 100,000 soldiers, there were 100,000 mouths to feed, the young commander did not properly prepare in advance of how to properly supply the army.

Nor was there any advanced notice to the nearby towns and cities who were not given any notice of their arrival. So the governors and dukes refused to give the army food as the rains had ruined their crops and did not want their citizenry to starve. So the commander resorted to rationing.

And then disease swept through the camp. Their beasts of burden were infected with anthrax and spread to their handlers and then to the rest of the men. It is a pestilence that causes severe skin ulceration or pneumonia-like symptoms. Without entering into a single battle their army was already suffering casualties.

Finally the commander's lieutenants took action.

They quarantined the animals and then euthanized them all; solving the root of the problem. And then they quarantined the infected soldiers and cremated the deceased to contain the outbreak. But the damage was already done as desertion began with a number of mercenaries leaving. Some in good order, while others simply packed up and left without a word, for the Earth Kingdom Royal Army, the largest land army on the continent, was cold, wet, hungry and miserable.

Haru and many other benders were pressed into service.

"But I'm a soldier not a worker!" complained Haru.

"Stop your complaining and help dig out this tank that is stuck in the mud!" barked Ping Qiang.

"But I-" Haru started but fell silent when Ping Qiang removed a stone that revealed a limp arm.

Haru and the young men who were standing watching the exchange were also transfixed by the grotesque sight. Ping Qiang was equally as surprised, despite being a veteran of the Great War, fear and death are never easy to overcome.

"The hardest and coldest truth in war is that someone dies," Ping Qiang said. "This easily could have been one of you. But it is not your time," he quietly commanded and with that Haru and the others no longer complained.

Meanwhile at a nearby camp.

"Here you go," the cook said as he ladled a steaming bowl of hot stew to a soldier. Despite the bad weather, the cook and his staff kept up a heroic effort of cooking and feeding over a hundred men every day, rain or shine, morning, noon and night. The soldier that he had just served stood expectantly for the cook to give him more food, but the cook simply stared back at him expecting for the soldier in front of him to step aside and let the next person in line to take his place.

"Wait, is this it?" the soldier asked finally.

"You know very well that our rations are running low."

The soldier's face hardened but it was useless to complain to the cook so he grumbled to his two comrades.

"Are they serious? As if a grown man could satisfy himself with this meager meal!" grumbled one of the comrades.

"You said it! I'd rather be begging for food than having to eating this sorry excuse of a meal," said the third as the trio entered their tent from the downpour outside.

"Do you think it will ever stop raining?" asked the first as he dried his face and hair with a cloth. "It's been raining non stop for seven days!"

They ate in relative silence as they gulped down their meal, though they were still hungry and their mood had not changed in the slightest.

"Hey," said the third to break the silence as his two comrades looked up at him,, "did you know that there is a family living close by? We might be able to get some more food if we go there."

"You know that pillaging is punishable by death, right?" said the first.

"So we will do it secretly then. Besides, we will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, there is no way we will get caught."

"I don't know..." said the first.

"What about witnesses?" asked the second as he leaned closer.

"You think that someone will be out in this deluge? Besides, I'll personally make sure that there will be no witnesses."

The first was visibly shocked.

"Don't worry, everyone is probably asleep by now," smirked the third, noticing the first's squeamishness.

"Yeah come on, what do you say? No one's going to get hurt if we take a few things," the second nudged the first in the shoulder.

The first was deep in thought. "We go in and get out, no one gets hurt, right?"

"No one gets hurt," echoed the third. "Well? What do you say, it's a pretty good plan, eh?"

"Alright, let's do it!" the first took the third's hand and tightly clasped it.

After checking that the coast was clear, the trio broke into a run away from the camp. But it was at that moment that Haru, Ping Qiang and their comrades were dragging a cart toward camp.

"What are they doing?" Haru furrowed his brow as he thought aloud.

Ping Qiang narrowed his eyes and his blood grew cold.

The trio were swept in their step as they stayed off of the road.

"Get down!" hissed the second and his comrades obeyed. The low rumbling announcing a foreign presence told all. They lowered their heads beneath the tall grass when the telltale signs of an Earth Kingdom cavalry troop rumbled past. The emerald green cloaks of the cavalrymen turned into a dark shade of evergreen because of the rain and mud. Then one of them stopped and turned and faced them.

"Get down!" hissed the second again. The trio pressed their cheeks into the mud.

"What is it?" shouted a voice as the troop trotted by.

"It's nothing." another voice replied followed by a swift cantor and the rumbling died away.

The trio raised their heads cautiously, when they saw that the road was empty they smiled and laughed nervously.

"Stupid cavalrymen," they laughed and they continued on and it was not long before they came upon a small farm, with only one building.

"This must be the place," said the first.

The second and the third drew their swords and made their way to the door.

"Wait, what are you doing?" asked the first.

"Just in case," winked the third and then they rushed the door and were greeted by a young woman's scream. There was a young woman, her mother, and father and they were about to have dinner.

"Quiet down if you wish to live!" barked the third as the trio were now brandishing their swords, "well, well, what do we have here? A feast."

"Don't mind if I do," said the second and the third joined in. The first hesitated for a moment and then joined as the three scarfed on the first full meal they had in a month.

"Don't just stand there, bring us something to drink!" roughly ordered the third as he had drained his drink.

"Y-yes sir," stammered the young woman and grabbed a flask and served him.

The third smiled in this act of fearful submission and downed his drink, savoring his small triumph.

The first clinked his chopsticks on the bowl as he tried to eat every grain of rice that it had to offer. When he was done, he pounded the bowl on the table loudly, "AH! This feels great, after the officers has been starving us for so long. This meal is fit for a king!"

"Ah, boy am I ever full!" exclaimed the second.

"Now then," the third said as he picked his teeth, his gaze turned to the young woman. The mother wrapping her arms protectively around her daughter and the father placing himself in between the armed men and his family.

"Now that you have eaten, leave!" said the father.

"You think you can order us around? Impudent peasant," the third backhanded the the father. "Don't you just stand there, start grabbing their valuables!" he shouted to his partners in crime.

The first sighed and shrugged his shoulders now accepting the inevitable and started grabbing whatever meager possessions that he felt was valuable.

"Please don't hurt us. Just take whatever you want and let us live," pleaded the mother.

"Heh, then I'll take!" the second made a grab for the daughter.

"NO!" the mother shielded her daughter. The father who was still on the ground, tackled the third at his waist using his arms to wrap around back both of the man's legs. The third elbowed the back of the father's head and the second grabbed his head, pressed the edge to the foolish man's neck.

"Stop!" the young woman cried out and the two soldiers stopped. "If I go with you, will you spare my mother and father?"

"No, don't do it-" objected the mother.

"Do you promise?" the young woman said unwavering.

"Sure," the second said, sheathing his blade. While the third began beating the father senselessly.

"Father!" the mother rushed to her husband's side and screamed in terror as the third grabbed and laid on top of her.

"You promised!" screamed the young woman.

"Of course I did, now be good and we'll treat you right!" the second sneered and began to rip her clothes off.

It was at that moment that the door burst open and the threshold was filled with heavily armed soldiers, led by Ping Qiang, closely followed by Haru. "Surrender in the name of the king!" The three culprits were so shocked that they were subdued and pressed against the wall without a fight. Haru took his cloak and wrapped it tightly around the young woman, Ping Qiang draped his over the mother's shoulders as she tried to revive her husband.

"We hope that you have not forgotten the penalty for pillaging have you?"

"P-please forgive us," pleaded the first.

"It is a hanging offense!"

The trio shirked away.

"Execute them!"

The trio's throats were promptly slit. Their blood spurted out and left to fall and convulse on the ground until their blood ran out. Ping Qiang then drew his sword and cut off the heads of the dead bodies. The women went pale and looked like they were about to faint from witnessing the savage gesture.

"Our apologies sir," said Ping Qiang as he took the heads. "We hope that these three vermin will not cause you to lose faith in our entire army. Private," he said, addressing Haru.

"Sir?"

"Please clear these bodies away."

The pair then dutifully reported to their commander. "We thank you for seeing to this matter," he said coldly and distantly. "You may leave."

"But the underlying problem is still the same," one of the lieutenants said to move things along. "Our supply lines are stretched too thin. How can we obtain more food supplies?"

"We're at a loss sir," the quartermaster replied, "it's not as if we are feeding a hundred or two hundred, we're talking about feeding the mouths of a hundred thousand. But things will turn out very badly for us at this rate. I fear that the starved soldiers will either abandon our army, or begin pillaging citizens."

The young commander rose from his seat and began to pace the room. "To think that men who once rose up for justice will now be viewed as thieves. The situation is indeed dire. Then we must move swiftly to Kai, we will break camp once the rain stops," he said.

Everyone fell silent for a moment and the quartermaster spoke, "Sir, I have been a soldier all my life and I know what men can and cannot do. Every army moves on its belly. Where are going to get enough food for one hundred thousand men? We do not have the provisions to make it there."

"How about asking Han Fu, the governor of Jizhuo for help sir?" one lieutenant offered.

"He has already turned us away," said the young commander.

"Not if we tell him of a rival power who wishes him harm," said one of the lieutenants. "Governor Han Fu has had trouble with his neighbor Governor Jizan, who has been garnering support in the imperial court for a personal claim in Jizhuo."

"Oh? If this is true we can use this to our advantage," said another. "Han Fu and Jizan have their armies staring each other down at their shared border. We can write a letter to Han Fu to warn that Jizan is planning a surprise attack. Han Fu will panic and believe that he must immediately attack."

"But when Jizan learns of this, he would appeal to the emperor," said the young commander.

"Jizan is a minor lord and unpopular amongst the imperial court. He has allies but they would likely look to defend their own borders rather than get involved in his personal dispute with Han Fu. His only option would be to appeal directly to you my lord and the imperial army."

"And with our combined strength, we will crush Han Fu and conquer Jizhuo," said the young commander. "And if Jizan is grateful he would ally with me."

The gathered fell silent until the young commander asked, "Are we all in agreement?" The tent replied in silence except for the pitter patter of rain outside. "Are there any who find fault with the plan, speak now." Again silence. It was clear that no one would openly oppose nor consent to their concocted conspiracy. It fell on the young commander to ask each and everyone in the tent to take an oath of secrecy on the matter.

The next day, the young commander ordered his best swordsman, Ping Qiang, to urgently deliver the message to Han Fu's camp. And personally handed the message to Han Fu himself.

"Jizan intends to attack us?!" exclaimed a flustered Han Fu.

"Your excellency, please do not panic. We must carefully think on the matter," said a military advisor. "My scouts have yet to report back on the enemy's movements. I suggest we wait until we have gathered more intelligence."

Han Fu thought about this and said, "No. If I were Jizan I would do the same and conduct a raid."

"Your excellency, our army has a strong position we can easily defend against an enemy raid."

"We have been staring at that upstart Jizan thumbing his nose at us for over a week. Furthermore, Jizan and his men were all former bandits who resisted the Fire Nation; they are masters at raiding. And our men are getting restless."

"Then perhaps we should send a message to the imperial army to intervene. Jizan's army is equal to ours, the chances of victory would be less if we act too rashly."

"They'll be too late. We attack now!"

Orders filtered down the line. War drums beated, cymbals clashed, horns blared as soldiers and knights hastily fitted into their armor, girding themselves for the impending battle that laid ahead. This was it, no more waiting, no more boredom, they had an order and that order was to attack the enemy and win.

Han Fu strode ahead of his assembled army. Ahead was the enemy as they began to organize and answer the call to arms. But Han Fu would not give them the luxury of time and ordered the whole army to march forward. A few hotheads from the cavalry rode their ostrich-horses hard, racing each other to fight the enemy first.

"The men are eager," said Han Fu.

"That they are your excellency."

The hotheads galloped just out of range of the archers and pronounced themselves before Jizan and his army. Such as "I am Xidi Bingwen! Clan Xiaogang! My master is Wang Bohai, Master of Hongquan Wushu!" Then one of Jizan's men who was bold enough would ride forward and make a similar pronouncement. And then two would duel with each other with all manner of weapons and techniques that they have at their disposal. While the opposing armies stood and watched as this was all happening as the brave and the brash fought to make a name for themselves.

After a time the archers would march forward and loose arrows at each other before the masses of infantry clashed. As the cavalrymen at the flanks would fight along the flanks. There were no heavy weapons with them; just sword, spear, the bow and arrow, and brawns.

For this was modern warfare to them.

Han Fu and Jizan were evenly matched, neither side could overwhelm the other, and ended in a bloody stalemate. But then in the dead of night, Jizan launched a swift night raid through Han Fu's camp with cavalrymen galloping through the camp. Burning and slashing everything within their reach.

"Damn you Jizan! Damn him! Damn that man! I want our men to launch a raid immediately!" cursed Han Fu.

"My lord, please calm down. Jizan may have anticipated a raid and has his men on guard. Let us instead launch a night raid," suggested the military advisor. "There will be a full moon tonight and it is the time of year when evening fogs are frequent."

That night Jizan's men were indeed on alert for a night attack, but Han Fu had at his service cunning commanders who trained their men in night attacks. They crept amongst the tall grass with the fog obscuring the defender's vision and the night sky dulled their senses. Han Fu's men need only to use the cooking fires of Jizan's camp to converge on. Han Fu raised his sword and ordered his cavalrymen forward who charged headlong into the camp, the once peaceful night now alit and filled with the din of battle. Swords clashed, fire arrows shot, the thundering of hooves of ostrich-horses, officers shouting commands and words of encouragement to their warriors. By midnight, Jizan's camp was aflame but the stalwart defenders managed to drive Han Fu's men back.

But the victory in the whole affair was the death of Governor Han Fu of Jizhuo. So sure of victory the governor charged with his men but in the fog of war he was cut down. It was only in the morning that Jizan discovered the late governor's body by accident as the camp cleared away the bodies into hastily dug mass graves.

"This is Governor Han Fu," said Jizan, "the heavens smile on us! Who is the one who killed my hated rival? I will award him a knighthood and land!"

But no one spoke up as everyone looked at one another.

An honest, brash, and bold young man stepped forward and said, "I don't think anyone knows your excellency. There was so much confusion last night, and the enemy left in a hurry after a bunch of them fell and it looked like they were going to lose."

It was then that ministers from Han Fu's camp had arrived at that moment and saw the late governor in the mass grave. They blanched and they bowed to Jizan who magnanimously discussed terms of surrender with them. For the ministers saw no reason to carry on a war that was started by mistrust and suspicion, now that their leader had fallen.