Long Feng

The morning report was a mix of good and bad that morning. I, personally, always preferred to start with the good. Get it out of the way until I got to what I needed to work on to amend.

That, however, only applied when Joo Dee was around to sort the news. Now, though, it was anyone's guess as to which report was good, and which bad. A report from Kaizar regarding the night's operation, and a report from Earth Kingdom forces outside the wall, now being led by Lieutenant General Hazal. Considering one report was from my most efficient agent and one from a random lieutenant general filling in for his general, it wasn't hard to assume which was good, and which wasn't.

I opened Kaizar's report, glad to see I had been right. The midnight operation had been a complete success. Food stocks in the middle district had been burned and successfully blamed on the rioters. Attached were reports from scouts of infighting amongst the rioters that got better and better. Also as I expected, the middle district had been overrun. There was sporadic fighting against rioters, but most of the police and army had retreated to the inner district where they were now holding the line. As per my orders too, no civilians had been evacuated to the inner district. We wouldn't be able to feed even a quarter of them, but now, far more secure, with far fewer mouths to feed, perhaps we could finally get back to administering this city. And all of this had been done in the night, while his grace remained in his bed, unable to thwart my efforts to save his Kingdom.

I then, setting down the 'good' news, turned to what was less so pleasant to read. It was failure after failure, listed on a single sheet of paper, all leading up to eventual final item that remained unlisted, complete destruction. I was doing what I could to save this city from the threats inside, but those who had been sent to defend this city from its exterior threats were far less successful. I read the report, mentally omitting the filler and reading only what mattered:

"Surprise attack."

"Midnight."

"Defeated."

"Over a thousand tanks and infantry."

1,397 KIA. 3,426 wounded.

"Trenches overrun and occupied."

"2 artillery camps overrun."

"Unknown friendly fire incident."

"General Kozad KIA."

"Full retreat to Auxiliary camp."

I set the report down. It was far worse than what I normally had come to expect from the 'bad' reports. A total military disaster in every sense of the word.

There was no way to view the report in a more positive light. We had been completely destroyed outside. Ever since Iroh broke through the wall, they haven't lost any momentum. They've trampled over our line and we were suffering. Badly.

Their morale was stronger than ever. Our morale was failing by the day. Our men were tired, sick, and were losing faith in their own King. And who could blame them? Meanwhile, the Fire nation was at the beating heart of their enemies, ready to deal a killing blow.

Somehow, someway, we would have to break them, but how?

I planted my face against my hand, resting it against the table. General How would get a report of the battle soon. He would make a decision on how to best defend against the Fire Nation. That was his forte, not mine. Me, I had a responsibility of my own. One far more subtle, and delicate. If we couldn't break the Fire Nation from the outside, I'd have to try and do it from the inside.