Unbending 4 - or 'I shall not be King, but Emperor of the Earth' (Pre-ATLA, SI)

Warning: This chapter was commissioned.

Yunlong has never been to the human world.

She was quite unaware of their divisions and their kingdoms and the only reason she knew that this was the capital of the supposed Earth Kingdom was because Uncle Fang had given her a rundown explanation of this.

Yet, the most frustrating thing was her new form. Her pink hair was now short and mellowed into a blonder shade of it. Her hair buns were covered by white cloth, her red tabard covered a white half-sleeved shirt and green skirt.

The idea of switching her form out to be akin to normal humans felt a bit awkward, and she struggled a bit to claim control over her new 'feet', but the capital, Ba Sing Se, was something impressive.

It was the opposite of how her home was, but the sight of such a massive city harboring so many lives in it was… stunning. So many shops, so many merchants, so many children and… so many soldiers.

War was seemingly a thing, which is why the Spirit World was a bit tense to some extent over what was going on. Something, or rather someone had disrupted the flow of time through their actions by subverting expectations of how this war should have gone by.

And the source of it was King Dafeng, the ruler of the Earth Kingdom.

From Yunlong's own understanding of the situation, the young King had taken over after his father had passed away after an assassination attempt had successfully claimed his life.

The young King had then taken a more active approach towards the war and, despite the reasonable worry from the elders, Yunlong had to also admit there was good reason for his interference.

The stupidity behind the notion of just letting the 'peasant rabble' die against the Fire Lord sounded like an absurd waste of life. And the fact that it had been like this for decades now further embittered Yunlong over some humans' idiocy.

Still, she found it reassuring that this king was not a problematic figure. At least, not outwardly with how he behaved with his people. It was odd to see a King wander the streets of his capital with just a single guard. And Yunlong was given confirmation this was an anomaly too for the people.

A king willing to go around with just a guard was unheard of and while part of her was surprised no one swarmed him during his walks through the capital, it became evident this was done for two reasons: one, he was loved by the people and their respect urged them to not gang on him, and two… he was being deified.

Despite the King being clearly opposed to this and promoting a 'Popular Mandate' to his rulership, some of the people and even some monks have started to address this as the 'Mandate of Heaven'. Such an idea was silly for humans, but overall worrisome for spirits as some may interpret it as a challenge towards them.

Deification was a practice known in the Spirit World, and some spirits were particularly obsessed by it. For a human to be seen as a potential claimant despite having no means to acquire the steps to achieve this… Well, it was going to create issues.

Which is why Yunlong understood what Uncle Fang meant with his words of 'seeing and not presuming'. And after presuming for a while, she understood that watching him on the move weeded out the lies and erroneous views the people had over him.

He was charitable, but not in a pious way. Busy as he was, he appeared too devoted to the role of commanding to be a monk. And even with his kind-looking eyes, he looked a bit drained with each bowing he returned by greetings.

He would spend most of his time in the palace with many of his assistants and secretaries. Many told her that it was unheard of for a king to rely on numerous people, some even admitting that it was viewed positively as it meant the king was far from arrogant.

At the same time, some worried Dafeng could be manipulated if the wrong people managed to get to him, but Yunlong was sure that wasn't a possibility. Albeit young, the Prince carried himself with 'age'. And that's not to say he behaved like an old man, but that his steps were filled with wisdom and caution.

He wasn't trying to be too bold, and he clearly was more nervous about his situation than he wanted others to know. And Yunlong was sure that's what made him reliable to many others despite them not knowing about it.

This king felt more human compared to his predecessors.

So, Yunlong was sure he could be approached within the right setting. Not in public, not in this fake form. And she had an idea to do so now that she had a fair amount of information about him.

At night, she was going to find him for answers.


To improve supplies, I had been able to get Arta to play a bit more around the special engine used by the tanks, create a bigger one and then fit it within a prototype train that would still preserve the non-polluting fuel and process used for the tank's engine.

With the war effort currently paused to allow our foes to foolishly form defensive perimeters we could then exploit, the matters of logistics both in terms of civilian and military supplies became pressing ones. And I was keen to see it solved accordingly.

A single train was created with five wagons. Four for supplies, one for a small group of troops to keep it garrisoned. The railroad was studied and established within two months of planning and building.

With various young unemployed men offered a decent pay for the public work, the end result was that the city of Chashin was connected to Ba Sing Se through the train tracks and the supply train that took resources from the capital back to the frontlines.

Plans were made for a similar railway to connect Omashu, but considering the spreading banditry in the area, and the constant presence of potential Fire soldiers that were trying to push through, it was best to delay this until we had pushed that side of the front a bit further from the potential railway space.

Speaking of that specific front, I decided against sending tanks. The thick forests rendered the use of armored warfare extremely risky for us. Traps could be laid, the bushes and the trees could be set on fire to burn any armored column and we couldn't rely on a fire brigade detachment to be active all the time considering how quick flames put on by Fire benders could spread.

After a serious consideration and a conversation with the Council of the Five, the creation of the 'Dare-To-Die' Corps was pushed through.

Albeit the name and the historical connotation in modern China may suggest suicidal troops, the idea was to actually employ a group of veterans and the best soldiers around, put them in a group, and employ them with all sorts of advanced equipment that could aid them in acts of infiltration, sabotage and much more.

If the forest was dangerous for large regiments to go through and commit major offensive campaigns out of fear of being burned up and destroying needed troops, these smaller groups could move through the forests, establish a better view of the hostile deployment, secure potential plans and even destroy supply depots established by the Fire Nation.

This last act was by far the most important. After all, the presence of these forests rendered the logistics a nightmare to employ in the usual disposition. I had already shared my interest to create irregular depots due to how complex the terrain was in the area.

But for now, the effort was to force the local Fire troops' garrisons to lose their supplies and let them suffer the hostile environment of these areas to the fullest. All in all, we were finally amassing the most troops in the Omashu front, but the main directive was to strike first through the river once our enemy was done consolidating and then try to destroy as many of their groups as possible.

Beyond the military affairs, things were going relatively smoothly. The bureaucracy over the newly-reclaimed land has been asserted as all collaborationists were put on trials to see their individual extent of treachery.

As much as I could try to be forgiving for some, the idea of allowing potential traitors within politics was not viable. I was within my rights to see them removed even viciously if needed. Most of those had their properties and money seized by the country to be used in the Reconstruction Fund Act I had enforced over the reclaimed lands.

The move was deemed popular enough that some of the newly-employed workers put a lot of effort to see reconstruction achieved earlier than planned, and the creation of primary schools and clinics allowed for these regions to face the issue of education and potential medical malaise within these lands.

Some were pushing for the expansion of Ba Sing Se, but I put it to a stop by actually forcing the creation of new settlements within the region rather than expand the existing one.

It was already nothing short of a miracle that the sewers were holding just fine after a quick checkup, but it was best to not test the situation any further. The creation of new settlements would allow for an easier redistribution of the folks seeking to establish themselves in the 'big city', while also allowing them to find a more stable life situation without having to endure the chaotic lifestyle of Ba Sing Se.

The presence of large construction companies allowed for the first houses to be established, together with walls and other relevant services to sustain the city. I managed to convince the 'Expansionists' with the idea that eventually these settlements could be added in a potential 'State of Ba Sing Se' rather than the city itself.

The paperwork was tedious, but sleep was gold as no one disturbed my nights anymore. The comfy pillows and mattress waiting for me in my bedroom always lured me in for a six hours-long power nap.

It wasn't always a dreamless sleep, yet I took what I was granted.

And this night was not the same as the rest.

I hadn't fallen asleep just yet. My brain stuck on what to do in regard to after pushing the Fire Nation further out of the country. Some of the colonies were not going to be as intensely populated by Fire denizens compared to canon ATLA, but that didn't stop me from worrying about potential repercussions in the long run.

Expulsion of the colonizers was going to be urged by the people and many businessmen that either wanted revenge or saw the opportunity to buy their former houses for their shops at a cheaper rate.

I already opened a dossier on the topic and had some of my secretaries work on the topic itself, but nothing was truly written black on white.

Still, sleep was to welcome me soon as I laid my head on the pillow and-

"King Dafeng. We have to talk."

Frowning at the ceiling, I stared at the… noodle dragon that clearly looked like some childish figment of my imagination. "What?"

"Your actions have led spirits to think you are planning to… Wait, are you asleep?!"

I indeed was. Perhaps I didn't make my previous point clear- the moment I was to enter that bed, my consciousness would slip away. And whatever this noodle thing was trying to say, regardless of this being real or not, was missed to my ears and my mind.

I thought it would have pushed it to leave me but…

I woke up with the cheeky noodle hooking one of the pillows, stealing it from me and snuggling on it at the edge of the bed!


AN

Ah yes, the bed diplomacy! What a classic! Except, this is done more on the less lewd tone it can be employed.