The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) - R. F. Kuang Page 0,237

affairs anymore. Everything he does has to be approved by a delegate from the Consortium.”

“So Nikan’s fucked.” Kitay threw his hands up in the air. “Everything’s fucked.”

“Why would Vaisra want this?” Rin asked. None of this made sense to her. “Vaisra hates giving up control.”

“Because he knows it’s better to be a puppet Emperor than to have nothing at all. Because this arrangement plies him with so much silver he’ll choke on it. And because now he has the military resources necessary to take the rest of the Empire.” Gurubai leaned back in his chair. “You’re all too young to remember the days of joint occupation. But things are going right back to how they were seventy years ago.”

“We’ll be slaves in our own country,” Kitay said.

“‘Slave’ is a strong way of putting it,” Gurubai said. “The Hesperians aren’t much into forced labor, at least on this continent. They prefer relying on forces of economic coercion. The Divine Architect appreciates rational and voluntary choice, and all that nonsense.”

“That’s fucked,” Rin said.

“It was inevitable the moment Vaisra invited them to his hall. The southern Warlords saw this coming. We tried to warn you. You wouldn’t listen.”

Rin shifted uncomfortably in her seat. But Gurubai’s tone wasn’t accusatory, simply resigned.

“We can’t do anything about it now,” he said. “We need to go back down to the south first. Clean out the Federation. Make it safe for our people to come home.”

“What’s the point?” Kitay asked. “You’re the agricultural center of the Empire. Fight off the Federation and you’ll just be doing Vaisra a favor. He’s going to come for you sooner or later.”

“Then we’ll fight back,” Rin said. “They want the south, they’ll have to bleed for it.”

Gurubai gave her a grim smile. “That sounds about right.”

“We’re going to take on Vaisra and the entire Consortium.” Kitay let that sink in for a moment, and then let out a mad, high-pitched giggle. “You can’t be serious.”

“We don’t have any other options,” said Rin.

“You could all run,” Venka said. “Go to Ankhiluun, get the Black Lilies to hide you. Lie low.”

Gurubai shook his head. “There’s not a single person in the Republic who doesn’t know who Rin is. Moag’s on our side, but she can’t keep every lowlife in Ankhiluun from talking. You’d all last at most a month.”

“I’m not running,” Rin said.

She wasn’t going to let Vaisra hunt her down like a dog.

“You’re not fighting another war, either,” Kitay said. “Rin. You have one functional hand.”

“You don’t need both hands to command troops,” she said.

“What troops?”

She gestured around the ship. “I’m assuming we’ll have the Red Junk Fleet.”

Kitay scoffed. “A fleet so powerful that Moag’s never dared to move on Daji.”

“Because Ankhiluun’s never been at stake,” Rin said. “Now it is.”

“Fine,” Kitay snapped. “You’ve got a fleet maybe a tenth of the size of what the Hesperians could bring. What else you got? Farm boys? Peasants?”

“Farm boys and peasants become soldiers all the time.”

“Yes, given time to train and weapons, neither of which you have.”

“What would you have us do, then?” Rin asked softly. “Die quietly and let Vaisra have his way?”

“That’s better than getting more idiots killed for a war that you can’t win.”

“I don’t think you realize how big our power base is,” said Gurubai.

“Really?” Kitay asked. “Did I just miss the army you’ve got hidden away somewhere?”

“The refugees you saw at Arlong don’t represent even a thousandth of the southern population,” said Gurubai. “There are a hundred thousand men who picked up axes to fend off the Federation when it became clear we weren’t getting aid. They’ll fight for us.”

He pointed at Rin. “They’ll fight especially for her. She’s already become myth in the south. The vermilion bird. The goddess of fire. She’s the savior they’ve been waiting for. She’s the symbol they’ve been waiting this whole war to follow. What do you think happens when they see her in person?”

“Rin’s been through enough,” Kitay said. “You’re not turning her into some kind of figurehead—”

“Not a figurehead.” Rin cut him off. “I’ll be a general. I’ll lead the entire southern army. Isn’t that right?”

Gurubai nodded. “If you’ll do it.”

Kitay gripped her shoulder. “Is that what you want to be? Another Warlord in the south?”

Rin didn’t understand that question.

Why did it matter what she wanted to be? She knew what she couldn’t be. She couldn’t be Vaisra’s weapon anymore. She couldn’t be the tool of any military; couldn’t close her eyes and lend her destructive abilities to someone else who told