Chapter 14 The Cruelty of Reality

Yang Xiaolin had no idea that Prince Zaitao, that hot-headed young prince of the Great Qing Dynasty, was suffering the most devastating blow of his life!

Sometimes, when trying to accomplish something, how capable the person doing it is does not actually matter. The Great Qing Dynasty was already riddled with countless holes. Even if Zaitao had merely sipped Western ink, had he possessed the miraculous, dead-reviving abilities of the little German corporal, he still could not have saved the Qing. After the First World War, Germany was also on its last breath, but they wanted to stand back up on their feet of their own accord, which allowed the corporal to prescribe the right medicine for the illness. The Qing was different. While Zaitao stood over here, brimming with ambition to make the Qing Dynasty endure for ten thousand generations, a telegram from Zaifeng in Beijing arrived to inform him: There is no money! This month's military pay is delayed!

Sitting in the chair of the Military Governor of Fengtian, Zaitao's complexion turned ashen.

When he first came to Fengtian, the Empress Dowager had been extremely generous, disbursing all the military pay owed to the Northeast region to Zaitao in a single lump sum, and promising to continue sending funds on a monthly basis hereafter. Yet, only a few months had passed, and with the New Year fast approaching, just as Zaitao was preparing to issue a generous holiday bonus to the Qing troops—whose training had been fairly decent of late—and those Germans who had traveled from afar, Zaifeng announced there was no money? What kind of absurdity was this?

Zaitao was utterly furious. He knew that all delayed pay always began with a temporary arrears, and once it was delayed, nobody knew in which year or month it would ever be issued. He immediately sent a telegram back to Zaifeng, stating that the Empress Dowager herself had promised not to withhold his funds, and that if Zaifeng refused to pay, he would return to Beijing to seek an audience with the Empress Dowager.

Zaifeng's reply came quite swiftly: "The New Year is approaching, come back and visit, brother. Your older brother truly has no money."

Zaifeng stated that the funds of the Great Qing Dynasty were currently being used for three purposes: first, paying back indemnities to the foreigners; second, funding the Empress Dowager's New Year celebration; and third, financing Zaitao's military training. Zaifeng asked Zaitao, since money was needed for all three areas and there was not enough, from where should they squeeze it out?

Zaitao froze, unable to answer the question. In other nations, military training would naturally be the top priority; debt repayments could be delayed, and if the Empress Dowager lacked money, she simply would not celebrate the New Year. But the Qing was precisely the opposite. Not paying the foreigners was out of the question—one could not lose credibility with the foreigners. The phrase "exhausting the nation's material resources to court the favor of the powers" could not merely be spoken with the lips; it had to be put into practical action.

Failing to fund the Empress Dowager's New Year celebration was equally out of the question; the Empress Dowager was advanced in years and had few New Years left. Looking at it from Zaifeng's perspective, it seemed that only the military pay could afford to be delayed.

Consequently, Zaitao was currently filled with profound depression. He asked Zaifeng whether Yuan Shikai's military pay had been issued. Zaifeng replied that although the funds for Yuan Shikai's military training were ostensibly issued by the court, the meager taels provided by the court were far from sufficient. What good were a few hundred thousand taels a year? The remaining funds were all figured out by Yuan Shikai himself. He told Zaitao to learn from Yuan Shikai and not impose such a heavy burden on the court.

Looking at Zaifeng's reply, Zaitao finally understood one thing: Yuan Shikai was not the only person in the Great Qing Dynasty who knew how to train an army, but the only one who could find the money to train an army was Yuan Shikai! This made his psychological torment even more unbearable and fueled his resentment toward Yuan Shikai. Those newly raised troops in Shandong ate Yuan Shikai's food and drank Yuan Shikai's liquor; in the end, they would risk their lives for Yuan Shikai, not the court!

Zaitao crumpled the telegram in his hand into a ball and muttered fiercely: "Yuan Shikai! One day, he will become a usurper!"

Just as he was speaking, Zhao Erxun walked in from outside: "Your Highness, the New Year is almost here. Do you wish to add any items to your residence?"

Zaitao glanced at Zhao Erxun and propped his feet up on the desk: "Add what? Add frustration?"

Zhao Erxun smiled awkwardly: "What you are saying is quite wrong, Your Highness. Although our Great Qing Dynasty lacks money to train troops, we still have a little pocket money; getting through the New Year is not a problem."

Anger welled up inside Zaitao: "Everyone wants to celebrate the holiday—the foreigners in Beijing want to celebrate, the Empress Dowager wants to celebrate, and Magistrate Zhao wants to celebrate. What on earth are we supposed to do about training the army?!"

Seeing that Zaitao's expression was ominous, Zhao Erxun kept quiet. After a long while, Zaitao let out a sigh of his own, then said leisurely: "Magistrate Zhao, Zaifeng has stabbed me in the back. Once this funding is cut off, the academy has been built in vain, those machines have been purchased in vain, and in front of those soldiers, it will be as if I slapped my own face! I won't be able to lead them anymore!"

Hesitating for a moment, Zhao Erxun spoke in a low voice: "Your Highness, the Prince Chun said that these funds are only temporarily in arrears and will be made up to us in the future."

Zaitao glanced at him, and Zhao Erxun said no more. He had originally intended to comfort Zaitao, but he did not believe those words himself; if there were money to make it up, it would not have been delayed in the first place. Zaitao slumped limply against the back of the grand armchair, closed his eyes, and muttered: "I saw through Yang the Ghost, I saw through the Russians, yet I failed to see through my own people! With the precedent of the Beiyang Fleet right before us, the funds for buying warships were diverted to build imperial gardens—what on earth am I in comparison!"

Zhao Erxun was deeply shocked: "Your Highness, such words must not be spoken outside. This subordinate is terrified and heard nothing at all."

Zaitao gave a bitter smile: "I deserve this!"

After a prolonged silence, Zaitao suddenly asked: "How is it over at Yang the Ghost's place?"

Zhao Erxun hurriedly replied: "According to reliable intelligence, Yang the Ghost has somehow acquired a batch of firearms and is currently equipping those bandits. There are handguns, rifles, and over two hundred heavy machine guns."

Upon hearing this, Zaitao sprang up abruptly and kicked the brazier before him, startling Zhao Erxun into taking two steps back. Seeing Zaitao stride toward the exit, Zhao Erxun called out frantically: "Your Highness, where are you going in this freezing weather?"

Without looking back, Zaitao answered: "This was all money robbed by that Yang the Ghost! I refuse to believe I am inferior to a bandit. If he knows how to rob, so do I! I am going to Beijing, to rob Zaifeng's household!"

Zhao Erxun hastily gave chase and followed him out.

Zaitao was someone who refused to admit defeat. Even after the collapse of the Great Qing Dynasty in the future, Zaitao would still harbor plans for restoration; he even plotted to single-handedly assassinate Yuan Shikai. Now, his declaration that he was going to rob Zaifeng was purely angry rhetoric, because robbing Zaifeng could accomplish nothing at all.

What Zaitao was actually doing was returning to Beijing. The military pay had been defaulted on in Beijing, and to resolve the issue, he had to go to Beijing. Besides, Zaitao commanded vast wealth and property—which Manchu prince's estate did not have millions of taels in savings? Zaitao had thought it through: he would go to the capital to demand the funds, and even if he could not get them, he, Zaitao, would bankrupt his own household to make up the shortfall!

He was unwilling to stop. Rather than saying it was for the sake of the Qing, or for the sake of Yang the Ghost, it was more accurate to say that Zaitao was unwilling to let his ideals suffer an aborted death. Things had reached this point: if he hadn't started at all, that would be one thing, but with the work carried this far and showing tangible promise of success, asking him to suddenly halt left him unreconciled. Ideals were beautiful, and reality was cruel; yet no matter how cruel reality might be, Zaitao had to strive for his beautiful ideals, because he had no desire to live as a parasite waiting for death.

Meanwhile, up on Gulu Mountain, Yang Xiaolin had returned and was holding the very first semi-automatic rifle produced as a result of his arrival, looking extremely pleased. Aiming at the target hanging from a tree trunk ahead, the Battalion Commander fired three shots in succession, every single one striking dead center. Cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd: "Splendid! What a fine firearm!"

With half a cigarette stub clamped between his teeth and a satisfied smile gracing his face, Yang Xiaolin was thoroughly delighted with the weapon, both in terms of recoil and accuracy.

"Not bad! Zhou同, you all have worked hard!"

Zhou Tong was clearly overjoyed as well. For them, seeing the fruits of their own labor receive recognition was their greatest source of happiness: "Commander, those light machine guns you procured—we've nearly finished reverse-engineering them. In another two months, I reckon the first domestically copied light machine gun can be placed right in front of you."

Jin Dadao was likewise in high spirits: "If we take these guns into battle, we'll guarantee those Russians end up sprawled all over the ground!"

Yang Xiaolin chuckled softly: "You're wrong, Elder Brother Jin. These guns aren't meant for fighting the Russians; on the contrary, I intend to sell them to the Russians."

Thinking he must have misheard, Jin Dadao asked: "What? Sell them to the Russians?"

Yang Xiaolin nodded casually: "Yes. Keeping these things in our hands serves little purpose. Look at us now—with only a few dozen machines, even if we push production to the limit for this type of rifle, we can produce at most twenty pieces a day. We have five thousand men; it would take a whole year to equip every single brother with one. But if we were to accidentally misplace a rifle, and it were picked up by either the Russians or the Japanese, they could immediately mass-produce them."

Nodding in agreement, Zhou Tong chimed in: "This mechanism is indeed not overly complex. What the Commander says makes a lot of sense."

Seeing that Zhou Tong shared this view, Jin Dadao, though still somewhat baffled, raised no further objections. Yang Xiaolin walked up to him: "Therefore, we shall capitalize on the moment when this first rifle is most valuable and fetch a handsome price for it!"

Kong Luodi chimed in from the side: "Should we go find Robert then?"

Yang Xiaolin shook his head: "Mr. Robert is likely immersed in the river of love right now; let us not disturb him. Besides, I am counting on this rifle to trade us for a few hundred small artillery pieces. Robert is far too greedy! If this rifle passes through his hands, the price will shrink considerably!"

Trading a single rifle for hundreds of cannons sounded somewhat unbelievable, but this rifle was different. Nations everywhere were currently expending massive research budgets on semi-automatic rifles, and the Russians were certainly no exception. The closer one got to success, the greater the expenditures. It wasted time and money, and even if they managed to build one themselves, it certainly wouldn't match the stable performance of the one in his own hands.

Yang Xiaolin was convinced that if he placed this rifle before the Russians, they would go to any lengths to acquire it.

Negotiations between them and the Japanese regarding the issue of the Northeast were already underway. Britain, the United States, and Germany were egging the little Japanese on from behind to fight the Russians; from an international standpoint, the situation was extremely unfavorable to the Russians. War was imminent, and massive Russian forces were rushing toward the Liaodong Peninsula. The Russian garrison in the Qing territory had increased by over one hundred thousand men in the span of just a few months, and follow-up forces were still pouring in.

The reason Yang Xiaolin decided to sell the rifle to the Russians was his conviction that once the Russians got their hands on a single specimen of this rifle, they would undoubtedly equip all their forces in western Liaoning with it within half a month. When that time came, the sea of corpses and mountains of blood that so delighted the Japanese would surely be piled even higher!

Furthermore, the Russian forces in the Northeast were already numerous and growing steadily. At a time like this, he did not want the Russians keeping him on their radar. Giving the Russians a sense that his threat level to them was minimal—at least not openly and blatantly defying the Russians the way Feng Denan did—could buy him some much-needed time.

In addition, the Russians possessed numerous iron mines in the Northeast, and the villages down the mountain needed iron and copper ore to manufacture bullets for Yang Xiaolin. If he could come to terms with the Russians, Yang Xiaolin hoped to acquire access to them, whether by purchasing the iron or buying the mines themselves.

He tossed the rifle to Jin Dadao, who hastily reached out and caught it as if afraid it might shatter. Yang Xiaolin instructed: "Tell the brothers below to find a way to capture and bring up a Russian officer over the next couple of days—at the very least a captain! We need someone to act as a messenger."

Just as he finished speaking, Niler came running up from below: "Commander, that Japanese man from last time is here again. He says he has matters to discuss with you."

Knowing that Niler was referring to Asao Naofu, Yang Xiaolin promptly signaled Jin Dadao to put the rifle away—this item could not be exposed to the Japanese.