Spring in Fengtian
November 12, 1911. Dawn. 3:28 a.m.
1st Battalion, 1st Regiment, Fengtian 1st Territorial Brigade.
BANG!
"Up! Up! All personnel, on your feeeet—!!"
"Ugh... uuugh!"
"Wh-what the hell?"
Officers had come crashing in without warning. The soldiers sleeping in the barracks, dumbstruck, kicked off their blankets and rose to line up in front of their beds on pure spinal reflex.
"Combat readiness!"
"Combat readiness!!"
"Five minutes. Fall in on the parade ground!"
"Five minutes! Parade ground! Fall in!!!"
Lee Tae-oh had spent a full year mashing the Haste button at every spare moment, and the result was soldiers now so thoroughly drilled that they could grab their full kit and bolt outside even half-asleep.
A moonless, pitch-black night. Yet the men pouring out of the barracks already knew exactly where they were supposed to stand, and where their units were formed up.
"1st Company! Ready!"
"2nd Company! Ready!"
"3rd Company! Ready, sir!"
"4th Company also—"
3:35 a.m. One battalion, a thousand men in all, stood in perfect formation on the parade ground, waiting for someone.
In the darkness, the sound of a single pair of military boots drew near, and a small flame flickered to life and clung to a cigarette. The soldiers' eyes converged on the face that little flame illuminated above the command platform.
"Any stragglers?"
"No, sir, Major! Not a single one!"
"Good. Distribute the ammunition."
"Ammunition distribution!"
NCOs who had been standing by opened the ammo crates. A heavy, metallic clunk. A key turned in a lock.
"Pass it down the line!"
"Pass it down the line!!"
The NCOs handed the pre-divided ammunition to the men in the front rank. Front rank to second rank. Second to third. Third to fourth. In the blink of an eye, every man was loading up.
"Ammunition distribution complete, sir."
"Mm."
Whether he nodded or not was hard to say; the cigarette ember bobbed silently up and down.
"Attention."
"Attention!!"
"Today is not an exercise. This is the real thing."
The real thing? Murmurs began seeping out among the soldiers, quiet until now.
"Attention."
"A-attention!!"
"I know you're all confused, but we're short on time, so I'll keep this brief. The world has been loud lately — and now Fengtian has become very loud as well. So we are going to march into Fengtian without delay, keep the peace, and stabilize the city."
He paused for a moment, then spoke again.
"Furthermore, I have no intention of harming a single civilian. If any of you treat this disturbance as an 'opportunity' and pull any damn nonsense, you will be court-martialed and punished on the spot. That is all."
The soldiers with family inside the walls of Fengtian City let out sighs of relief.
"Then let's move out."
"1st Company leads! Prepare to march!"
The destination was Fengtian.
7:11 a.m. The north gate of Fengtian City.
Day was breaking. I checked my wristwatch, then turned to the man beside me.
"How are the boys holding up?"
"Fit as fiddles, sir."
"Good."
I turned back toward the soldiers and bellowed.
"1st Battalion! Follow me at standard marching pace!"
"Standard pace!"
A thousand men echoed the order and moved to the rhythm of my arms and legs. We walked on.
Soon a plaque came into view:
NORTH GATE
"Oh ho."
Someone had thrown together something like a barricade. A shadowy group of ten-odd figures was scurrying about behind it, and as we drew closer, one of them came running out toward the roadblock. A police uniform — a rank somewhere around inspector.
"Wh-who goes there!?"
Catching his breath, the man asked, sweat beading on his face.
"Major Lee Tae-oh, of the 1st Brigade."
"...Lee Tae-oh?"
His eyes darted to my rank insignia.
"The... the actual Major Lee Tae-oh?"
"That's me."
"How am I supposed to... believe that?"
"Have you ever seen an officer younger than me?"
"...No, I can't say I have."
"Then it's confirmed. Open the gate."
The inspector flinched.
"Open... the gate, you say?"
"Did a disturbance not break out inside Fengtian City? We've come to put it down and restore order within the walls."
"...How am I to believe that? Not that a Major would, of course — but if, hypothetically, you were with the Tongmenghui—"
"In which case I'd have shot you dead just now. The police are still in His Excellency Zhao Erxun's hands, are they not?"
"......"
"If you understand, open it immediately. If something unfortunate were to befall the Viceroy on your account, would you take responsibility?"
"Ah— uh— aaah—"
I silently held out my wristwatch to the trembling man. Tick, tick, tick. The second hand never stopped, hurrying us along.
"I— I understand! I understand!"
When the inspector hustled back to the barricade and started bellowing, the policemen cleared away the heap of junk they'd stacked up like a barricade.
"Christ, it's freezing out here."
They could've just swung the damn thing open. Why all the talking?
"1st Battalion, breaching the north gate!"
"Sir!!!"
The thunder of a thousand boots pounded ceaselessly against the earth.
7:16 a.m. The 1st Brigade entered Fengtian proper.
The west gate watchtower.
"What? An unidentified army has broken through the north gate?"
"And the barricade!? What in God's name are the police doing!?"
"Th-that's just it. Is it the Tongmenghui's army, or ours!?"
Not a single shot had been fired. Which could only mean the policemen who'd built the north gate barricade and that army's commander were in league with one another.
The officials of the General's Office — Zhao Erxun and Yuan Jinkai included — sweated cold in rivers on this bitter morning.
The police garrison at the west gate, plus the Viceroy's own guard, totaled barely two companies. If the enemy came with battalion-strength forces, there was nothing to stop them with.
"Where — where in blazes is Wu Junsheng!?"
"Bringing a large force here would take him at least... until around noon, Your Excellency."
"Noon, when every moment is life and death...!"
Zhao Erxun slumped into his chair. To be hurled into an extremity like this in his old age — he felt his heart might give out on the spot.
How long had passed? An officer came sprinting up and saluted.
"Y-your Excellency! Urgent word—"
"Just the essentials!"
"Y-yes! The force that passed through the north gate is heading this way!"
"Wh-what?"
It felt as if someone had driven a needle into his heart, the ache throbbing again and again. ...If I dropped dead of a heart attack right now, would it not actually be a mercy compared to falling into the revolutionaries' hands?
Just as Zhao Erxun was thinking, perhaps it would be better to hang myself after all — another officer came dashing in.
"Your Excellency! We've identified the commander who came through the north gate!"
"Wh-who is it? Who?"
"Lee Tae-oh, of the 1st Brigade!"
"L-Lee Tae-oh?"
"Your Excellency, look here! A letter written by Major Lee Tae-oh himself!"
Zhao Erxun snatched the letter from the officer's outstretched hand and read it through. Crude, crooked characters — the work of a man who had clearly never held a brush properly in his life.
To His Excellency Zhao Erxun.
I, Lee Tae-oh, have brought one thousand troops to protect Your Excellency's safety and to save Fengtian.
Your Excellency need not trouble yourself further.
"Ugh— aah— aaaahhh."
"Your Excellency the Viceroy? Wh-what is the matter?"
Tears came pouring from Zhao Erxun's eyes as though someone had turned on a faucet.
"A loyal vassal! A loyal vassal, through and through—!! They called him the Yue Fei of the Northeast, and the reputation is well deserved!!"
"What on earth are you saying? Your Excellency, pray explain so that we too may understand!"
"Yes, yes. Of course. *Hnk.* Ahem."
Zhao Erxun wiped his eyes with his sleeve, but the tears kept coming. In the end, Yuan Jinkai, unable to bear it any longer, snatched the letter away and read it aloud himself.
"...Lee Tae-oh! Lee Tae-oh is coming!"
"The 1st Brigade is coming!!"
We're saved!
"...Your Excellency, but surely we cannot rule out the possibility that this is Lee Tae-oh's scheme to deceive us?"
"Nonsense! Impossible! Zhang Zuolin and Lee Tae-oh are men I, Zhao Erxun, elevated with my own hand. Having received my favor, they are bound to be devoted to me at the bottom of their hearts."
The 3rd Brigade commander Zhu Qinglan and the 2nd Brigade commander Lan Tianwei were hopeless, hidebound pedants. If either of them had come, he would have been suspicious — but the 1st Brigade commander Zhang Zuolin was a former bandit, was he not, a self-defense militia man?
Zhao Erxun rose from his seat with all the vigor of a man who had never known chest pain in his life. A moment ago he'd had no strength at all; now he wanted red ginseng boiled fresh, wild ginseng root, the works. He meant to live a long, long time yet.
"Ho there! Bring out a banquet!"
"Sir? D-did you say now?"
"Did not the great Zhuge Liang calmly play his zither when Sima Yi came upon him with a mighty army?"
"S-s-so he did."
"And now my own general arrives with a great host, and the threats within Fengtian City have shrunk to utter nothing — a situation far better than Zhuge Liang's. What reason could I have not to play the zither in my own way, and offer a warm cup of wine to comfort my general?"
"As... as you command."
The banquet was hastily laid out, and just as the warmed wine was being brought to the table, the thunder of hundreds of boots shook the west gate watchtower.
"...Your Excellency the Viceroy?"
"Oho ho ho!! Lee Tae-oh! Loyal vassal of the ages!"
Who knew where the old man found the strength — Zhao Erxun sprinted faster than anyone, old body and all, seized Lee Tae-oh's hand, and shook it up and down.
"You've come! You've come! How ever did you know!?"
What is this. I'm an orphan, so I wouldn't really know, but I doubt even showing up at your grandparents' house on a holiday would earn you a welcome this warm.
"Your Excellency, upon receiving urgent word that you were in danger, I rushed to gather troops and come to your aid. I will gladly accept punishment in due course for acting without written orders—"
"To hell with written orders, what a frozen stiff would need written orders for! Splendid! Splendid!"
Okay. You said it was fine. That took care of the first obstacle — the charge of moving troops on my own initiative.
"Come, come! Enough standing about — come have a drink!"
"...What's this, then?"
"Can I not offer a warm cup to a loyal vassal who came running at the first word of danger!"
Hm. I'm not crazy enough to command troops after drinking.
"Your Excellency."
"Yes — down it goes, down!"
"Might I follow the precedent of Lord Guan Yu?"
"Lord Guan Yu?"
Zhao Erxun asked what he meant.
"I lack the prowess to compare myself to Guan Yu, so I cannot promise to return before the wine goes cold — but when the work is done, I will formally accept a cup from Your Excellency's hand."
"...Splendid! Whatever else I may misjudge, I never misjudge a man! Of course — who am I to bend the will of a general bound for the battlefield? Do as you please!"
"And one more thing — this may amount to overstepping my authority, but—"
"What is it!? Out with it!"
"Until this affair is settled, may I have authority to employ all the troops within the city as I see fit?"
"But of course. Naturally. Until every last rebel is crushed, you shall command every soldier in this Fengtian City."
"Thank you, Your Excellency."
Having said my piece, I glanced around. A watchtower wide open to the biting winter wind, bureaucrats shivering uncontrollably. We'd freeze to death standing here.
"Your Excellency. If it's agreeable, would you return to the General's Office building?"
"T-to the General's Office?"
"Have no fear. I will attach my adjutant and a detachment of troops at your side as your escort."
"If you'll do that, I could ask for nothing more!"
"Very good. Then I shall take my leave to go subdue the rebels."
"Fortune go with you!"
I bowed once and came down from the watchtower.
"Ma Jeom-san."
"Yes, Major."
"Escort His Excellency from the west gate watchtower to the General's Office. One platoon for his protection."
"Understood."
"Du Lisan."
"Yessir, Major."
"I'll give you one platoon — seal the west gate."
"The west gate... isn't that the direction the 4th Brigade will come from? Wouldn't they be more like reinforcements to us?"
"I don't trust anyone but you lot and my own men."
I answered, cigarette in my mouth, with a smirk.
"If that shit-for-brains bastard marches his troops into the city, civilians are guaranteed to get hurt. And whether the board lays out the way I've planned it is questionable too."
"Understood."
"Second Lieutenants Jo Do-seon. Woo Deok-sun."
"Yes, Major."
"Seal the south gate with one platoon. Let no one through. If they keep advancing after three warnings, just shoot."
"Understood."
Ma Jeom-san raised his hand gingerly.
"What?"
"Then what about the east gate? I heard the revolutionaries have dug in at the east gate — shouldn't we hit them first?"
"Leave it. If they'd secured the east gate, the revolutionaries would already be up on the city walls. Trying to shove them off the high ground by brute force would just get the boys killed."
I pulled the old map I'd been carrying from inside my coat and spread it out where everyone could see. The General's Office building, right at the center of the map. Around it, a red circle had been drawn.
"Our objective is to lure them inside this circle."
"Major, wouldn't it be better to stop them at the perimeter?"
"You want me to shove the precious gems I've raised straight into the muzzles of every two-bit thug's rifle? Not a chance."
I lit my cigarette and took a drag. With the nicotine hitting, the cold receded a little.
"Guo Songling."
"Yes, Major."
"I'm giving you two platoons. If the enemy comes pouring out of the east gate, can you fight a delaying action?"
"Yes. I can."
"Fight them just enough, and then — let's see."
I checked my wristwatch. Not even eight o'clock yet. I stamped the ground once with my boot.
"What are you doing, sir?"
"Seeing how soft the ground is."
I hammered the heel down a few more times, and the earth gave way slightly. Three or four hours of digging and we'd have plenty. Inside the city walls, you say — isn't it asphalt? What are you talking about; does this look like Shanghai to you? Paved roads don't exist in Manchuria. It's all dirt.
"After twelve o'clock, retreat at any sign of trouble. Understood?"
"Yes, understood."
"And what will you be doing, Major?"
"Building a firepower point."
"A firepower point?"
I tapped the area around the circle with my finger. Tap. Tap.
"We dig trenches here."
"Trenches or no, sir, if they come with a full brigade, holding them with battalion-strength forces will be difficult."
"That's why I prepared this."
I gestured among the soldiers, and every eye turned that way.
"German-made MG 08 heavy machine guns. We're mounting all of them on the fifth floor of the Xinmin Prefecture Guest House."
"*Ahem.*"
Du Lisan cleared his throat.
"Lisan. Nobody's going to corner you this time, so relax."
"I know, sir, it's just — anywhere near that place and the cold sweat just comes, I swear."
Right. The Xinmin Prefecture Guest House. The building where Du Lisan's ass had been thoroughly handed to him.
"One gun on each of the four sides — east, west, south, north. If we need more firepower points, we remount and reposition."
"Understood, sir!"
"If things go badly and you hear gunfire, the soldiers at each gate hold their positions, and the officers run to the General's Office."
Nothing to be done for it. With our shortage of officers, there was no other way to have enough commanders on the field. It was only because the quality of our enlisted men was relatively higher than anywhere else that I was willing to chance it at all.
"How do you think the revolutionaries will come out, sir?"
"Either way, the best outcome for us is making them too scared to stick their heads out. Second-best is mowing them all down."
"Why is there a best and a second-best, but no worst, sir?"
"Worst? We've already won — how could anything be worst? Quit worrying and move out."
"Sir!!"
"1st Battalion, advancing!"
8:23 a.m. The east gate of Fengtian City.
"Say that again."
Zhang Rong, who had been waiting in the safehouse for Lan Tianwei and the 2nd Brigade, shot to his feet.
"Who?"
"The 1st Brigade. The 1st Brigade arrived first, through the north gate."
"...Who is commanding them? Don't tell me Zhang Zuolin — that bandit!?"
"No, sir. A man named Lee Tae-oh. It appears he is the vanguard."
"Lee Tae-oh?"
Zhang Rong stroked his beard, then spoke.
"...That man. If it is that man, this may be settled through negotiation. He is a man of cultivation. If we appeal once more to our great cause, it may yet be done."
"Isn't that rather optimistic?"
"Had hope never worked, our Tongmenghui would not have succeeded at Wuchang, or at Chang'an, or at Shanghai. ...The times are calling for us."
Zhang Rong was silent for a moment, then slammed his hand down on the desk.
"Damn it all! If Brigade Commander Lan Tianwei had hurried here, none of this headache would exist! What is the matter with that man's ass, that it weighs so much!?"
"Zhang Rong! Zhang Rong!"
Someone came running at that moment.
"What is it, Chairman Wu Jinglian?"
"Lan Tianwei has sent word! He says he can arrive before noon!"
"At last!"
"Heh heh — a full six thousand men! Six thousand! The entire 2nd Brigade is marching on Fengtian!"
"...How many did you say the vanguard was, again?"
One of the Tongmenghui members answered Zhang Rong's question.
"Sir? Ah — perhaps a thousand or so!"
"A thousand. A thousand. Good! If Lee Tae-oh refuses our offer, then he is a traitor to the nation, same as Zhao Erxun. Killing him would be no sin!"
Zhang Rong took out a sheet of paper and wrote quickly.
"Where is Lee Tae-oh now?"
"Most likely at the General's Office, at the center of Fengtian City."
"Deliver this. A blank pledge of allegiance. The moment he signs his name and stamps his seal, he too will be received into our revolution. Between fellow sons of the Middle Kingdom, better to lessen the occasions for pointing rifles at one another, no?"
"Understood."
Before long, the revolutionary returned carrying the reply.
🖕
"A single mark, bulging upward...? What is this supposed to mean?"
"...That treacherous bastard."
The others, who had lived their whole lives on the continent, would never have understood it — but Zhang Yong, who had spent long years studying abroad, knew exactly what it meant.
His teeth ground together with a crunch.
"Very well. Let's have ourselves a war, then."