Chapter 80: Utter Ruthlessness

The hall fell abruptly silent. One thing had now been proved: these noble foreigners, when faced with gun barrels, behaved no differently from the natives they so despised. When the natives did not resist, they called it ignorance and cowardice. Now that the turn had come to them, they had found a splendid excuse for themselves: composure. They must remain composed in the face of these armed ruffians.

At that moment Minister Shalley was already panicking. He edged slowly toward Sadaji. “Mr. Sadaji, what are we to do now?”

Sadaji’s powers of response were clearly remarkable. “Did not Liang Qichao come as well? He has great influence in China. Have him speak to these bandits. We will give them whatever money they want! And ensure they can leave Peking safely. So long as they do not take us away, any condition may be discussed with them!”

After the failure of the Hundred Days’ Reform, Liang Qichao had been hiding in the foreign concession. Though attending such a banquet as a Chinese man made him deeply embarrassed, he had to come, for he was living under another’s roof. When the gazes of the ministers all turned upon him, Liang Qichao was frightened. He feared death; he feared that this bandit would shoot him dead on the spot. His true nature was far less bold than his essays.

But he understood that if the foreigners did not protect him, then if they sent him out of the embassy today, Empress Dowager Cixi would send him after Tan Sitong tomorrow. Liang Qichao slowly rose to his feet. Just as he was about to step forward, Yang Xiaolin suddenly said, “Sir Rengong, it is not your turn yet. But if you wish to come sooner, you are most welcome.”

Lu Mozong went up and pulled Liang Qichao over. Yang Xiaolin did not speak to him at all. Instead he called out loudly, “German Minister Mummer... Belgian Minister Yao Shideng... Dutch Minister Oudenk... Spanish Minister Jiasili...”

With each name he read, one man stepped forward. The foreigners were exceptionally cooperative; they all appeared very “composed,” though a few were trembling all over. Yang Xiaolin selected fifty people from the list. No more could be taken; there was no way to carry them all away.

Halfway through the roll call, there was suddenly a fierce burst of gunfire outside. Nirel ran in and said, “Hurry up. Nearby whites have discovered something amiss. The British legation troops have already arrived and are exchanging fire with us!”

The gunfire plainly gave these people hope, and as if courage as well, Sadaji stepped forward. “Yang Daigui, you will not take us away! I now wish to make one final negotiation with you in the name of the British Empire. If you lay down your weapons now, I guarantee you can leave Peking safely! If you persist in your folly, you will never get out of here!”

Yang Xiaolin frowned. “Troublesome. I never imagined the British would arrive so quickly. Truly worthy of the world’s foremost power. Mr. Sadaji, your adjutant is here at the banquet too, is he not? Where is he?”

Sadaji froze. Then a Briton stepped forward. “I am Mr. Sadaji’s adjutant.”

Yang Xiaolin gave the man an appreciative look, then said to Nirel, “Take him outside. Pick a few others from different countries as well, drag them out and shoot them. Tell those British outside that if they dare attack again, I will kill every last one of them.”

Nirel’s ruthlessness was clearly no less than that of the Chinese bandits. He seized the British man by the collar and dragged him outside. Several black men casually grabbed a few others nearby. Those who were seized naturally understood their fate. They cried out in alarm and panic, yet could change nothing.

After a short while, the gunfire outside ceased.

Sadaji stood there in a daze, knowing that the troops outside must have feared harming the hostages and dared not continue their attack. Yang Xiaolin smiled like a victor. “Very well, let us continue! Mr. Vesper, chief comprador of France in Shanghai... Count Covilibo, the Italian plenipotentiary commercial representative in Peking...”

In truth, Yang Xiaolin was deeply anxious. Kidnapping was a delicate craft. From the first planning to the final execution, there were three crucial steps: first, seize the hostages; second, carry them away safely; and third, obtain the ransom and withdraw without incident.

He had now completed only the first step. The British had arrived too quickly, utterly beyond his expectations. It was already certain that he could not safely take the hostages with him. The original plan had to be changed.

As he continued reading out the names he had chosen, he was thinking hard about what to do. When all fifty names had been read, he suddenly added one more: “Yang Du, Yang Xizi.”

The mention of this name made everyone present somewhat taken aback, for the names Yang Xiaolin had read before were all great figures. Who was Yang Du? Few people in this era knew him. Yang Du stood quite calmly in the crowd, with no intention of coming forward. His eyes stared blankly at Yang Xiaolin, as though he did not even know who Yang Du was.

Yang Xiaolin smiled inwardly. Very steady. He called again, “Yang Du, Yang Xizi!”

Yang Du’s eyes darted about, clearly as though he were looking for who Yang Xizi might be. At that, Yang Xiaolin lost his last patience. He pointed at him. “Biaozi, drag him out for me!”

Only then did Yang Du realize that he could no longer hide. He came forward of his own accord. “No need to drag me. I’ll walk myself.”

When he had been pretending to be foolish, he had been so brazenly obtuse, yet once he stepped out, he wore an air of righteous grandeur. Yang Du ignored Yang Xiaolin and walked with measured, square steps to Liang Qichao. Following Chinese etiquette, he bowed deeply. “Sir Rengong, your student has long admired your great name. I had originally come today especially to pay my respects, but I never expected to meet you in circumstances such as these. Please allow me this bow!”

His neither humble nor overbearing manner plainly left Liang Qichao somewhat ashamed. Gathering his courage, Liang Qichao stepped forward. “May I ask, headman Yang, why do you not remain a good mountain lord in western Liaoning, and instead come to the capital to make trouble here in Dongjiaomin Lane? Do you know the consequences of causing trouble in this place?”

Yang Xiaolin folded up the list and came down. “I know. Is it not simply that all the foreigners will hate me to the bone afterward? Sir Rengong, do you think I care?”

Liang Qichao smiled wryly. “A man of such heroic spirit certainly would not care. But have you considered that if the foreigners are enraged, Peking will suffer again?”

Yang Xiaolin looked at Liang Qichao and shook his head. “I find you’ve truly read yourself stupid. If the foreigners are not angry, does that mean the common people will not suffer? If so, I might as well die here right now! Besides, even if they do suffer again, what of it?”

Liang Qichao froze. Outside Dongjiaomin Lane, the Chinese common people were already living in utter misery; scenes of parents selling children or people eating one another were everywhere. Under such conditions, they still had to raise money to build palaces for Cixi and pay indemnities to the foreigners. What difference would a little more suffering make? Yang Xiaolin’s question left him unable to answer. The worst outcome had already arrived. They were already unable to survive. And if things became even worse, could one die twice?

Yang Xiaolin straightened Liang Qichao’s collar. “Sir Rengong, I have no time to waste words with you now. If you want to persuade me to lay down my butcher’s knife, first think of your speech, and then say it after I have left this place.”

At this point Shalley could no longer keep calm. Such a thing happening at a French banquet would greatly damage France’s standing in the world. When Lu Mozong came to bind him, he was most uncooperative. “Yang Daigui, you beast, you will not get away!”

Yang Xiaolin picked up a cigar from the table and lit it. Taking a drag, he blew the smoke into Shalley’s face. “With the few of you clearing the road ahead, I will certainly get away!”

Yang Xiaolin began arranging the formation. At this moment, the crowd-control methods Yang Pianjing had learned during police training once again proved useful. He bound the fifty most important people tightly and placed them in the very center. Biaozi, Lu Mozong, and the others were mixed in among those fifty as well.

All of them had hand grenades tied to their bodies. As soon as one was detonated, none of those fifty could escape.

Then came the black soldiers, blocking every side and surrounding those fifty tightly.

The rest were not spared either. Yang Xiaolin had them all tied with ropes, dozens in front and dozens behind, blindfolded, and then linked together with long ropes, ten to a group, led forward by Nirel’s men.

This formation was exceedingly professional. Let alone the British outside—even if the American soldiers who later dominated the world had somehow crossed through time and space, they would likely only stare helplessly.

Yang Xiaolin let out a long breath. “Nirel, let your men lead the way. If they dare to fire, kill someone at once. Kill them ten at a time. Understood?”

Nirel smiled. “So you are Yang Daigui. Truly a beast!”

Yang Xiaolin glared at him. “You still have a chance to be a good man: kill me and then release these whites. They will surely let bygones be bygones, and even treat you like the Queen of England!”

Nirel knew it was sarcasm. Yang Xiaolin was telling him that there was no path of retreat now, and that he had to strike hard, or everyone would die.

He said nothing more, and shouted to Rigg at the very front, “Rigg, open the gate. We’re going out!”

Every consulate in Dongjiaomin Lane had essentially sent troops. By this time a guard force numbering over a thousand had gathered outside the French consulate, ready to intercept them. A British officer was in command of the fighting. He was tense. He knew war, but he had little confidence in a war like this.

Seeing the people inside come out, the British officer raised his pistol and fired into the air at once. “Stop! All of you, stop! I advise you to lay down your weapons now and release the consuls of the various nations, or else...”

Before he had finished, several black men suddenly shoved the first row of white hostages forward a few steps, and without another word fired a volley. Those ten men fell into a pool of blood. Though their eyes were blindfolded with black cloth, the whites still knew what had happened. Terror seized them at once, and waves of screams rose from the crowd.

Rigg fixed his gaze on the British officer. “Clear the way for me! Otherwise I’ll kill ten more!”

The British officer’s face had gone deathly pale. He did not know how to handle such a situation. After a moment of speechlessness, he quickly came to his senses. He could not provoke the other side any further. He had to buy time as much as possible; only by dragging things out might he find an opening.

To his credit, the man had some nerve. He immediately holstered his pistol and stepped out of the hastily constructed barricade. “Very well! Calm yourselves! Give us some time to discuss it. Not much—how about ten minutes?”

At this point Rigg hesitated and looked back. He did not know whether he should agree. In the case of ordinary kidnappers, they would certainly have given ten minutes to talk. But Yang Xiaolin had once been a policeman; he knew they had to leave enemy territory at once.

When people are tense, they have an instinctive sense of territory. If they stopped in Dongjiaomin Lane, these foreigners might still retain some clarity of mind; some might even seize the chance to make a final struggle. He had to bring them into a wholly unfamiliar environment. Only then would it be easier to strip them of hope entirely.

Moreover, if the procession halted, the thoughts of people like Nirel might gradually change, and unforeseen complications could arise. So he did not answer the British officer either. He walked into the middle of the fifty people, dragged out Count Zigan, the Austro-Hungarian minister, and shoved him to the very front. Then he kicked him to the ground and shot him in the back of the heart.

Bang!