The purge

[Raz]

The Imperial Palace has instructed the Siseranist Tegong to perform a purge in all government agencies from the Jingdaoese Empire, ranging from the armed forces to special-needs schools. It is clear that the preacher Jung Chung has infected our system of government and seeks to depose the Heavenly Light and wishes to bring Jingdao under Shirerithian rule. Likewise, a Craitish clique has attempted to take over our system of government, for no other reason than to wreck havoc on Micras. All individuals and groups tied to these hostile and destabilizing figures will be found out and brought to the gallows. Remember, you either support the Heavenly Light unconditionally, or you support terrorism and SANE hegemony over all of Micras.

[Jonas]

*Jung Shun was not a man who awaited his own execution. For all his life he had followed the orders of those who were above him. His hard work had gotten him where he was now: years of struggling in the mud, fighting on the battlefield and doing almost impossible tasks. When he had become the most powerful member of the government, he had known that he would be in a difficult position: the survival rate of Diwangs had never been high, and their power was often curved by an even more powerful monarch.

He had hoped that the reforms under the Mingshi Emperor would have brought some kind of reform... or at least have raised his own survival rate, as the Emperor was far-away on an island, leading his most extreme followers into a certain death.
It seemed he had made a fatal mistake by trusting on his own judgement. And now he once more would trust on his own judgement: to survive, not only for himself but also for the nation, Jung understood that the Emperor had to go.

He had already given the order to poison the Heavenly Light, and even if he felt ashamed about this, he felt a linger of hope. He sighed and took a bottle of whiskey from his cupboard. He would enjoy himself, as this could easily be his last.



OOC: So, not sure what's going on. The murder attempt could go two ways, of course. Keeping all options open.

[Raz]

As Jung Shun took the first sip of his whiskey, he noticed it tasted more bitter than usual. The Tegong agent he had ordered to poison the emperor, had poured the poison into Jung Shun's own bottle. As Shun exhaled his last breath the agent returned and spit him in the face.

"Death to the traitor. Long lives the emperor!"

[Jonas]

The Tegong agent was startled when he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening behind him. In a swift movement, he grabbed the knife which was hanging around his belt and turned around to the potential new threat. Now he stood eye to eye with a man who was a younger version of the one who had been poisoned.

"Err..." mumbled the Tegong agent, not knowing all too well what to do.

"Put the knife down, fool." the man in the doorway said with a stern and commanding voice. "Your mission was to kill my father, the traitor, not any innocent bystanders."

The agent nodded. Before him stood Chiang Shun, commander of the Tegong and oldest child of the former Diwang. The man took a look to where his deceased father sat.

"It seems that with this, our mission here is done. At this moment the Mingshi Emperor must have seen some similar kind of end to His life. I want to congratulate you with your work," said Chiang.

"It's my honour to serv..." the sound of a shot filled the air and stopped the agent in the middle of his sentence. Blood was coming from his belly and he fell down while grasping to air.

"The path to progress must be paid with blood, it seems. No witnesses must be left. With those two fools gone, the First Prince can finally launch this nation into stability and greatness."

Chiang Shun muttered into himself. He had despised both his father and the Emperor that had been put on the Throne by him. Those two men had followed the wrong teachings to bring stability to the realm: what success could ever be reached if the Heavenly Light lived in a far-away monastery, estranged from his subjects? What progress could be reached if the Jingdaoese simply threw away all the teachings of their forefathers? The nation hadn't been too stable in the recent aeons, but this would now change with the First Prince on the Throne: the new Constitution was ready to be passed by the governors and local elite. Those who did not cooperate would soon feel the wrath of the Tegong.

[Jonas]

Chiang lit a cigarette while he listened to the Tegong officer who stood before him and kept reporting about things he already knew. The operation had been a success: the Tegong agent had been disguised as the culprit (what he actually was), while Chiang - who came to visit his beloved father - made an attempt to rescue him and to bring the suspect to justice, but failed miserably. When the suspect thereafter tried to attack him, Chiang did not have any other choice than to shoot him down.

He sighed. The Tegong officer in front of him gave him a empathic look.

"I know that it's much to take in, zhu. First your father, and now... also our Emperor. Who could have thought that the Mingshi Emperor would have tripped over a banana and fell through an open window from his monastery in Sankt Simon?"

Chiang wanted to slap the man in his face. Was his subordinate sarcastic or really stupid? He took a look at the badge of the officer - which had "Agent #666874" written on it. He would remember it when there was a new suicide mission that had to be done.