Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se

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- One of my greatest challenges was dealing with a peasant uprising in Ba Sing Se.

The Peasant uprising was a rebellion of the peasant population of Ba Sing Se. The peasants felt that the Earth King's role was outdated and that he did not represent their interests. After Chin the Conqueror's death, Avatar Kyoshi solved the problem with the creation of the Dai Li.

History
Due to the 46th Earth King's lack of popularity, Chin was able to launch a campaign to conquer almost all of the Earth Kingdom, leading the Kingdom to civil war. Chin's armies soon spread all over the Earth Kingdom, leaving Kyoshi's peninsula and Ba Sing Se as the only places in which the Earth King held true authority.

Chin's campaign finally came to a halt when he attempted to conquer the peninsula on which Avatar Kyoshi resided. During a standoff between Chin and Kyoshi, the Avatar utilized the Avatar State to separate the peninsula from the mainland and thus created Kyoshi Island; this directly caused Chin's demise, since the conqueror of the Earth Kingdom was too stubborn to move when the cliff gave way from underneath him and he plummeted to his death. His demise ended the war, liberating the entire kingdom.

Although the land was now free from the threat of Chin the Great, the 46th Earth King seemingly wasn't capable of leading his people well or handling the war properly, and the citizens of Ba Sing Se, namely the peasants, were furious at his actions.

Peasant uprising


The peasants decided that the king's rule was outdated and that he did not represent their interests; they felt it was time for a "new government". They swarmed the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, destroying priceless historical artifacts and buildings, anything that represented the "old government". Unable to handle the revolt, the King summoned Avatar Kyoshi to Ba Sing Se to aid him to bring the revolt to an end. He commanded Kyoshi to squash the unruly peasants, to subdue the revolt in any way she could, but Kyoshi promptly refused.

Furious about the fact that Kyoshi, an Earth Kingdom citizen, dared to defy her king, the king ordered Kyoshi's arrest, but the royal guards were no match for the Avatar as Kyoshi easily brushed them aside with airbending. Enraged by the king's actions, Kyoshi asked him how he dared to defy his Avatar and proposed to make a compromise: the King needed to listen to the peasants grievances as it was important that everyone in the Earth Kingdom had a voice in order for balance to prevail over tyranny. In return, Avatar Kyoshi promised to protect the King's interests and Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage. Powerless against the might of the Avatar, the king complied and had no other choice than to give in to Kyoshi's request.

In order to keep her end of the bargain, Kyoshi immediately set to work training an elite force of male earthbenders in the art of stealth, silence and precision, a group that would be feared by all: the Dai Li. The uprisings soon ended, and order was finally restored to Ba Sing Se and the rest of the Earth Kingdom.

Aftermath


Unlike the Earth Kingdom with Chin the Conqueror's War, Ba Sing Se did not recover with ease from these uprisings. Kyoshi had no idea that the Dai Li would eventually become the worst, most corrupt earthbenders in the world, abusing their powers to suppress instead of protect the citizens of Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li apparently showed major signs of power abuse even before Kyoshi's death, as she told Aang of her regret for training the Dai Li after her death. The Dai Li soon became so corrupt that by the time of the 52nd Earth King, Kuei, they had already launched a conspiracy to silence any citizen from speaking to the king of the War in Ba Sing Se.

The Dai Li finally betrayed their nation in a successful coup orchestrated by Fire Nation Princess Azula, in which they arrested the entire Council of Five, and allowed Fire Nation soldiers access into the city by destroying the two great walls that had protected Ba Sing Se for over a hundred years.