Henshe

Henshe was a shang merchant selected as Zongdu of Bin-Er. Like many zongdu, Henshe planned to use his position to make an obscene amount of money for himself, and was primarily driven by greed. Fearing Avatar Yangchen's threat to report to the Earth King that the shangs had broken the terms of their charter if they did not implement charitable reforms, Henshe sought to deploy the Unanimity project in Bin-Er in order to break free of the authority of the four nations. However, the display of power failed, and Henshe and all members of Unanimity were apprehended by the Avatar. After being secretly imprisoned at the Northern Air Temple, he was eventually murdered by his former collaborators.
== History ==
=== Early life ===
Henshe was originally from the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se, and relocated to Bin-Er when the shang system was established in the aftermath of the Platinum Affair. He was able to rise through the ranks of Bin-Er leadership with information provided to him by Kalyaan, an ambitious errand runner stationed in the International Quarter. Following Zongdu Dooshim's retirement, Henshe succeeded him by borrowing money in order to bribe those with influence over the selection process, intending to pay off his debts through the profits he could make as zongdu.
Still in his mid-twenties a while into his term, he was the youngest man to ever hold the position of zongdu by year 17 of the era of Yangchen. He also learned of the Unanimity project that his predecessor had been working on with Zongdu Chaisee of Jonduri, a supposed secret weapon that could give the shangs enough leverage to break away from the heads of state of the four nations, which was actually the three first combustionbenders in human history. As zongdu, Henshe was able to secure more resources for Kalyaan for ambitious plans, such as sending him overseas to act as a deep plant inside of Chaisee's organization in Jonduri. He was not said to be a particularly powerful ruler, and was considered more as the lapdog of the shangs.
=== Dealing with the Avatar ===
Henshe was in office shortly after Avatar Yangchen became a fully-realized Avatar, and planned to make an official visit to the shang cities, beginning at Bin-Er. When they met at the city gathering hall, Henshe formally introduced himself to the Avatar, and began the pleasantries by giving her a lecture on the history of the Platinum Affair and the shang system. When he was done, Yangchen spoke of the suffering and misery of the people of Bin-Er, and Henshe was largely unresponsive, asking if she asked for alms. When Yangchen directly petitioned them to make charitable reforms to better the lives of people in the city, the other shangs were unresponsive, with Noehi stating that she had no authority in Bin-Er. Henshe acted as if he were a peacekeeper to begin with, stating that they would meditate upon her advice, but soon made it clear that he would not act upon it, and that Yangchen's desire for reform was unwelcome. When Yangchen began to speak of the threat of the Earth King and his disdain for treason, Henshe was confused, until the Avatar exposed how the shangs had violated the terms of their charter by allowing much more traffic into Bin-Er than was legally permitted. Henshe looked to the side, rasping that a reconciliation could be achieved. When the meeting was formally done, Henshe offered to see Yangchen out, and the Avatar told him she did not regret bringing the situation to like. The zongdu responded that the shangs were looking out for their families. Henshe said he would convince the shangs of her wisdom, and Yangchen apologized for the trouble, before the zongdu bowed goodbye.
After cleaning himself at the washroom, Henshe was curious to discover that Boma had not left, and sent his watcher Miki to the roof to look for him. Arriving at the assembly room, he saw the shangs panicking that the Earth King would raze them to the ground, and berating their agent Sidao for allowing the Avatar to discover so much. Henshe told them to be calm, and noted that the Avatar had displayed the fundamental flaw in the shang system: that they were vulnerable to the heads of state of the four nations. When asked how he would fix that by Noehi, Henshe spoke of Unanimity, the codeword for the weapon of mass destruction that was said to be unimaginably powerful. Teiin expressed doubt that the project was even real, but Henshe assured him that it was complete, and that he could get Unanimity to be deployed in Bin-Er. Promising that Unanimity would allow them to get the Earth King to sign any charter or rewrite any law, Henshe and the shangs toasted to their future, with some reminding him that they would always keep their wealth on their way out. With Sidao complaining that he was as good as burned as he had blamed the shangs who employed him for their own wrongdoings, Henshe told him that he still had a purpose, and that he could deliver the message about Bin-Er's need for Unanimity to Chaisee, as she did not think hawks were secure enough. Sidao said he would make Yangchen declare Jonduri to be her next stop, and Henshe began to gloat about the empty victory Yangchen would have as an Avatar, reminiscing about his 'lucky' predecessors who got what they wanted before leaving the post.
=== Initiating Unanimity ===
Henshe eventually received a reply from Chaisee via hawk that simply said "no". Knowing that he could not send a response to her without sending an in-person courier, he decided to travel to Jonduri himself to deliver the message. When he arrived, he learned that Chaisee had had Sidao murdered, and asked her why she literally killed his messenger. Chaisee explained how risky it was to send Sidao, as he may have been truly loyal to the Avatar despite being paid by the shangs, which Henshe had not considered. After complaining about a spy who was an obvious plant attempt, Chaisee denied Henshe once more, telling him that Unanimity was borne from her research, and that she would not deploy it simply because Henshe had bungled the situation in Bin-Er. Henshe then began to intimidate Chaisee into letting him have Unanimity, stating that he did not want a dynasty as she did, and that he could pull strings to have the Fire Lord remove her as zongdu before the end of her term. Chaisee claimed to have relented and said she was convinced that Unanimity was needed in Bin-Er, but said she needed more time. Henshe accepted this, but knew Chaisee would not follow through, and planned to contact Kalyaan to get Unanimity out of Jonduri.
After meeting up with Kalyaan and getting him to arrange Unanimity's transport, Henshe left on a faster vessel to wait for the drop-off. He met up with the combustionbenders at the loading area of Bin-Er docks, before Yingsu created a distraction for those who weren't aware of the true nature of Unanimity, revealing that the boxes that the project was supposedly contained in were simply full of chopped seal blanks. Shortly before orchestrating his display of power, he wrote a letter to Earth King Feishan, telling him that he had something to show him, and a new deal to strike in Bin-Er.
As Feishan's army surrounded Bin-Er, Henshe had Yingsu and Xiaoyun posted deep within the city to cow the now belligerent populace, while Thapa was put in a spot to look out upon and hold back the Earth King's forces, having the most raw power of the three combustionbenders. To allow the combustionbenders to quickly regain the physical energy needed for their technique, he had a great deal of food set out for them, and delivered it himself to keep anyone from learning the truth about Unanimity. Henshe had Thapa send out warning shots, while Yingsu and Xiaoyun were to aim at barricades, streets, and the upper floor of Gidu Shrine. The zongdu did not plan to have the display kill anyone, needing business to resume so that he could get the money he desperately desired, having put himself even further in debt to pay off the three combustionbenders.
However, after his first shot, Thapa began to talk of payment, deducing that Henshe was way in over his head. With Thapa noting that it was the combustionbenders who controlled the flow of trade in Bin-Er, rather than the zongdu or other shangs, he demanded payment twenty times that of the originally agreed-upon price. Henshe began to panic, realizing that Thapa would likely demand even more due to his true value, and the combustionbender told him about his mistake; that he no longer held any tiles in the game as he had played them all. Henshe agreed to Thapa's demands, on the condition that he raise the stakes of the threat he posed, and asked him to draw blood, saying he could chose whichever location as he liked. Just as Thapa built up the energy for a huge attack on the Water Tribe Quarter, he paused, beginning to have trouble breathing due to Avatar Yangchen arriving on the scene and removing the air nearby, with Thapa falling unconscious and leaving the zongdu extremely dizzy. Henshe did not know what was going on, and Tayagum dragged him away, with Yangchen already having taken down Xiaoyun and proceeding to apprehend Yingsu.
=== Imprisonment and death ===
After Henshe and the members of Unanimity were apprehended, Yangchen covered up the combustionbending display as a spiritual disturbance. As she could not reveal what Henshe had done to the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, or Water Tribes, she had Henshe confined to a room at the Northern Air Temple, with the combustionbenders put in hamlets inaccessible to anyone without a flying mount. Yangchen came to see Henshe after returning from her meeting with the Earth King, with the former zongdu telling the Avatar that he understood his predicament, but also knew hers, asking her how much time she thought she had before her secret was loosed upon the world. Yangchen simply responded that she had as much time as he did. Caught off guard, Henshe offered her a trade, proposing to give her the name of his plant in Chaisee's organization, but Yangchen refused, as she already knew about Kalyaan. After Yangchen said goodbye and closed the door, Henshe screamed and threw his pillow.
Half a year later, the Northern Air Temple and its surroundings were raided by Chaisee's agents. As part of this operation, Kalyaan —who had fully defected to Chaisee— infiltrated the air temple, overpowered Henshe's two airbending guards, and murdered the former zongdu. His corpse was subsequently discovered by Kavik and Jujinta.
== Physical description == 
Henshe was a tall and deeply handsome man, and the youngest person to ever hold the position of zongdu.
== Personality ==
Though outwardly often polite, rational, and humble, especially compared to other shang merchants, Henshe was actually a deeply self-centered, greedy, ruthless, petty, and temperamental man. While he would act subservient and understanding when facing his social betters or people who held sway over him, Henshe held a furious resentment for those who -as he saw it- underestimated or undervalued him. Meanwhile, he valued his own agents very little, and was perfectly willing to put them into risky situations or outright sacrifice them if it benefitted himself. When realizing the full scale of his failures after deploying Unanimity in Bin-Er, Henshe reacted with spiteful and irrational anger, blaming the city, the cosmos, and everyone else rather than himself.
Though intelligent and a skilled manipulator as well as merchant, Henshe also tended to overestimate his own abilities and schemes, often realizing not at all or too late that someone was using him rather than the other way around. Chaisee considered Henshe a dangerous "fool who squandered information and resources with no regard for strategy or long-term consequences", unpredictable due to his impulsive nature.
== Appearances ==
=== Chronicles of the Avatar ===
==== The Dawn of Yangchen ====
==== The Legacy of Yangchen ====
== References ==
Category:A to Z
Category:Characters
Category:Earth Kingdom characters
Category:Major characters (Yangchen novels)
Category:Merchants and businesspeople
Category:Neutral characters
Category:Shang merchants
Category:Yangchen novels characters