| "We need to get our man out of Te's cells, [...] That's what this job is about. A jailbreak on a fortified position is going to take a lot of bodies, more than the Autumn Bloom has sworn members. So we're calling in our associates. Every favor will be repaid in one night." |
| — Brother Wai tells the Flying Opera Company his plan to raid Governor Te Sihung's palace and free Xu Ping An.[1] |
The attack on Governor Te's palace was an attempt by the Yellow Neck bandits, disguised as the Autumn Bloom Society, to rescue their leader Xu Ping An from his imprisonment in Te's private dungeon, where he had spent the last eight years following Jianzhu's crushing defeat of the Yellow Neck Uprising.[2][3] The attack saw Xu Ping An freed, after which he attempted to resume his campaign of raiding and pillaging, only to be stopped and killed by Avatar Kyoshi, who had participated in the attack for her own reasons.[4]
History[]
Prelude[]
After defeating the Yellow Necks at Zhulu Pass, Jianzhu secretly arranged for the bandit leader to be imprisoned in the private dungeon of Governor Te, one of his Earth Kingdom allies. Jianzhu had originally wanted to kill Xu Ping An but instead decided to spare him as a favor to his allies in the Fire Nation, so that they could study Xu Ping An's lightning generation, at that time a technique so rare it was thought to be a myth.
When Governor Te passed away, his son Te Sihung inherited his governor's position, despite his young age and family's history of corruption. Initially against his appointment, Jianzhu eventually came to appreciate Te's highly suggestible nature and discretion, even though Te continued in his father's footsteps and maintained a corrupt and unthoughtful leadership.[2]
Meanwhile, the surviving members of the Yellow Necks fled to the countryside, where they began building a criminal network and power base while searching for their leader. To avoid drawing attention to themselves, they operated under the name of "Autumn Bloom Society".[2][3]
Preparation for battle[]
By 296 BG, the Autumn Bloom, now led by Mok the Accountant and his lieutenant Wai, had discovered the location of Xu Ping An and began drafting a rescue plan. To bolster their numbers for the raid, the Autumn Bloom called in all favors owed to them by the various daofei groups in the Earth Kingdom and held a rally at the daofei outpost of Hujiang to muster up support.[1]
One of the groups recruited by the Autumn Bloom was the Flying Opera Company, a once powerful and influential daofei organization that had declined rapidly following the deaths of its founders Hark and Jesa, with its membership now reduced to the earthbenders Wong, Lek, and Lao Ge, and the waterbender Kirima.[1][5] Mok recruited them when they came to Hujiang looking for work, as they were forced to pledge loyalty to the Autumn Bloom after Lek had been stung by a buzzard wasp, an injury that would have been lethal if he had not received medical treatment. Mok ordered the Flying Opera Company to meet up with his army near Te's palace in a month's time to infiltrate the building while the guards were kept busy by Mok's army.[1]
Mok set his encampment south of the palace, where at least 500 daofei prepared for the battle by training and sharpening their weapons. A group of bare-chested Kang Shen men, which Mok recruited to serve as his front line, performed a secret purification ceremony that would make them, nonbenders, immune to the elements. Each man had the characters for "impervious" inked on their foreheads.[6]
Avatar Kyoshi's involvement[]
Among the members of the Flying Opera Company was Kyoshi, her Avatar status unrevealed at that time. Together with the firebender Rangi, her close friend and bodyguard, she had sought them out in order to gather support against Jianzhu, who she intended to kill for his desire to control her as well as his role in the deaths of Yun and Kelsang, two people most dear to her.[7] Despite learning of the company's decline over the last decade, Kyoshi chose to stay with them in the hope of improving her bending skills and becoming powerful enough to defeat Jianzhu.[8]
Kyoshi had enlisted Lao Ge, who she thought to be the legendary assassin Tieguai the Immortal, to learn how to take a life.[9] When he entrusted her with his plan to kill Te during the raid on the mansion and invited her to take part as preparation to kill Jianzhu, she hesitated, however, unwilling to kill anyone else but Jianzhu. Lao Ge, attempting to convince Kyoshi to join him, noted that Te's rule had caused suffering for numerous people and would continue to do so. He warned her that the many innocent people living in Te's mansion would be killed during the battle, as Te would retreat into a fortified vault in the bowels of the palace and leave his servants at the mercy of the attackers.[8] In an ultimate attempt to sway her, he had her accompany him on a scouting mission to Zigan, the town that was Te's main supplier for food and manpower. There, Kyoshi learned that Te confiscated the vast majority of grain produced by his farmers and secretly sold it for personal profit at the expense of his people.[10]
Battle[]
Torn between her desire to save the members of Te's household and not wanting the Flying Opera Company to directly defy the Autumn Bloom, Kyoshi devised an alternative plan for the raid on Te's mansion than Mok's. The Company split into two groups, with Kyoshi, Lek, and Lao Ge in one group, and Rangi, Kirima, and Wong in the other. Knocking out the guards on the walls of the compound, they successfully infiltrated undetected while Mok simultaneously launched his own attack at the main gate, a group of Kang Shen acolytes leading the charge across the grassy plain. Te's earthbending guard launched rocks at the charging daofei but, despite inflicting severe casualties, failed to stop their advance.
Before the daofei could reach the gate, however, Kyoshi and Lao Ge used their earthbending to dig a moat around Te's palace, effectively preventing Mok's army from forcing their way in. They reunited with Rangi, Kirima, and Wong on top of the palace's eastern roof, where Kyoshi and Kirima used waterbending to subdue the guards gathered at the gate. When another guard charged at Kyoshi with a spear, Lek knocked him off the roof with his earthbending.
With the majority of the guards incapacitated, the Flying Opera Company entered the palace and made their way down to the lower levels. Lao Ge and Kyoshi split off from the others, ostensibly to check for any remaining guards but in reality to go and kill Te. Arriving outside the door to Te's vault, they found about a dozen servants hiding there, all of whom Lao Ge decided to spare. Kyoshi subsequently used firebending to melt a part of the vault door, allowing them to enter and confront Te.
Upon seeing the teenager, Kyoshi assumed him to be the governor's son but was quickly corrected by Te, who revealed his identity as the governor. From Lao Ge's lack of surprise, Kyoshi deduced that the assassin had known the truth about Te's age and used it as another part of her test. He told her to kill Te, claiming that he was old enough to know right from wrong and had purposely chosen to ignore his responsibilities, while Te pleaded to be spared, as he had only continued his father's rule because it was how he had been taught. Kyoshi ultimately chose to spare Te, knocking Lao Ge away with airbending.[2]
Kyoshi carried Te to the palace stables, evading Lao Ge along the way. Arriving at the stables, she placed him on the back of an ostrich horse. When he offered her money and offices in exchange for saving his life, Kyoshi backhanded him across the face, warning him to give the confiscated grain back to his people and return all that he had stolen lest she would return and make him wish he had been captured by Mok's army.[2] Before leaving, Te commented that he had seen Kyoshi airbend and earthbend, causing her to fear that he would end up leading Jianzhu to her, but she nevertheless allowed him to flee the palace.[11]
While Kyoshi dealt with Te, the rest of the Flying Opera Company found the imprisoned Xu Ping An, though none of them were able to identify him. Binding his wrists and pulling a sack over his head as a precaution to prevent Xu Ping An from attacking them in his confusion, they escaped from the palace to deliver him to Mok.[2]
Appearances[]
Chronicles of the Avatar[]
References[]
|