“Look for yourself, sir. Since the order came down from the government, not one township or bao unit has stopped working.”
Xie Yuanhua wiped the gloom from his face, shook off the hands that were supporting him, and crowded in close to Zhu Shiqing, almost weeping:
“Others I can't speak for, but let me tell you, sir—I, Xie Yuanhua, carry this country in my heart. Now that I have the honor of making some small contribution to the nation, even if it costs me my liver and brains, I, Xie, won't so much as hesitate. I'd throw my whole household, old and young, at the country's feet!”
Xie Biao dropped the act as well. A hoodlum's swagger came over him, his words laced with darts. “Sir, if you don't believe it, let me take you down for a walk around. Lift your feet and feel it for yourself.”
With that, a smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.
“Fine. Let's look.”
Zhu Shiqing answered flatly, not giving him a straight look.
On the surface he kept his composure, but inside Zhu Shiqing's heart was pounding for real. What the hell—had he stumbled onto the home of a model servant of honest government?
History plays such tricks; the story of Hou Liangping and Zhao Dehan is hardly rare.
The group broke formation and wandered through the trench works. Zhu Shiqing was young and moved fast, outpacing the others by several paces.
He had heard old Sun Beifeng mention before that the design standards for the fortifications along the Nanjing defense line had all been set by the Germans—the depth of the trenches, the ratio of standing trenches to kneeling ones, the angles at which pillboxes were placed, and so on.
Sun Beifeng knew a good deal about such things; Zhu Shiqing, for his part, was still a layman.
After one circuit, superficially there seemed to be nothing wrong. He slapped the sandbags piled on the trench lip, kicked a finished foxhole. Solid enough.
Behind them, Xie Biao's patience had worn out too. He drew Xie Yuanhua back a few steps and said doubtfully:
“Uncle, Magistrate Diao is on very close terms with you, and the two of you do business together. Why would he send men to inspect the fortifications for no reason at all? Don't you think there's something off about it?”
Without the prodding he'd have been fine; this time it did move Xie Yuanhua.
The county magistrate and he were plainly thick as thieves. Every batch of men that had come before amounted to a banquet to see them off, a few modest gifts, and if that failed, a couple of girls—everyone muddled through and it passed. This Zhu Shiqing was a government man too, sure, but no matter how you sliced it, could he outweigh the county magistrate?
Even if I truly have botched the job, skimped on materials, brought ruin to the nation, it should still take people who know what they're looking at to bring me to account.
He's probably here to shake me down for a big sum. If the county magistrate himself came, I'd accept whatever it took—but who the hell are you?
He was just about to make trouble.
Over in the distance, Zhu Shiqing had picked a piece off a pillbox.
Not a chip of stone. Strictly speaking, it was sand and earth—a clump of sandy soil.
Zhu Shiqing was stunned too, his brow knotting into three sharp lines. Fang and Zhao beside him caught on quickly. Fang Wenjian's gaze went fixed and fierce; he yanked Zhu Shiqing's poking hand aside and shouted:
“Let me do it!”
“Hold off, sir, hold off!” Xie Biao's body moved before his mind did, lunging in one stride toward them.
Before Xie Biao could reach him, Fang Wenjian had already kicked a corner off the pillbox, leaving the whole structure sagging on one side, and dust billowed up.
It was not reinforced concrete at all. The entire thing was a makeshift work braced by wooden boards, a coat of cement smeared over the outside, and once the water had been worked in it took shape.
Never mind how many pounds of explosives or shells it could withstand—could this thing even survive a month of steady rain?
You bastards. Playing me for a fool!
Zhu Shiqing's shoulders went tight, rage shooting straight up to his skull, the heat in his whole body climbing in a straight line, and he caught hold of Xie Biao, who happened to be stepping up to block and deflect.
“Xie Biao, what the hell is this!?”
Xie Biao stood frozen where he was, slouched there with his hoodlum's bearing, saying nothing at first, his eyes on Zhao and Fang. Only after a good while did he face Zhu Shiqing directly and squeeze out a smile:
“Sir, this isn't the Xie family's responsibility. It's not just us—every county around here does it this way, and the county magistrate has tacitly allowed it. For you to work yourself into such a fury over it really isn't worth your while.”
“Nonsense. In what way has the county magistrate tacitly allowed it? The few of us came today on the county magistrate's orders. Do you imagine you can spout that kind of drivel here?” Fang Wenjian carried his share of hatred for wrongdoing, and seeing a project of the nation's ruined this way by this lot, he was carrying fire in his heart too.
Before Xie Biao could speak again, Xie Yuanhua, who had fallen behind, caught up. Being caught red-handed was genuinely awkward, but for a local gentry man of experience, there was always a way to smooth it over.
“Sir, please let your anger cool. You arrived on short notice today and I've had no chance to understand the situation myself; all I know is that the three of you came on the county magistrate's orders to inspect my works. But inspection is inspection—the county government inspects no fewer than three times a year, and every time everything checks out. Each visit I've served with good food, good wine, and the gentlest words. For three years we have cooperated in perfect sincerity, and I don't see whom I've managed to offend.”
Xie Yuanhua's weeping act began again, and knowing himself in the wrong he added:
“Besides, you've seen it with your own eyes. When it comes to labor, our township has never shrunk from its duty. Every pit here, big or small, was hacked out one stroke of the shovel, one stroke of the hoe. The pressure from above is heavy, the workload is heavy, and our township is a small village—our militia numbers barely a hundred men. To get even this far is no small feat.”
The two young men beside him were nearly persuaded; they were itching to start pitying the gentry's hardships.
Zhu Shiqing was not so easy to fool. Playing dumb every day didn't mean he actually was dumb.
Every word was about the county's approval. Plainly the man meant to drag the county into the fire pit with him: when problems really surfaced, no matter whose fault it was, the first move would be to shove it off onto the county and declare to the outside world that everything had been done by the rules.
And as for who had been in charge of this before—the county secretary who handled it had already been promoted. Where would you go to argue the case? If the inspection went ahead, fine; but if it didn't, wasn't that just another mess left to rot?
This was fortification work. Would the arsenals scattered across distant provinces be cutting corners on bullets or shells too?
There was no telling.
Zhu Shiqing knew that losing his temper solved nothing, and in any case this was no problem for a mere clerk like him to settle. If his blood ran hot, then let it run hot—the point was to get the matter reported up the line. The one who should truly be getting a headache was that round-ball magistrate.
“From what you've just said, I've got a rough sense of the township's situation. All the same, I do need to report what I've seen here truthfully to my superiors. Since you say the county magistrate is an acquaintance of yours, then that's well and good—I imagine he won't make things hard for you. Things are tense just now, so the county magistrate is being cautious; you should be a little understanding of that.”
Helplessly, Zhu Shiqing sighed inwardly and put on a smile. It reached his mouth but not his face, though it was at least far gentler than before.
“That's only proper. That's only proper.” Out of sheer muscle memory, Xie Yuanhua bowed to Zhu Shiqing and pulled Xie Biao forward. “Biao, tell the officer. Whatever difficulties you have, whatever grievances you carry, tell him properly. The officer won't make trouble for us.”
Xie Biao nodded quickly and led Zhu Shiqing deeper into the trench, gesturing with his hands as he went:
“Look here, sir. Our township is mainly responsible for the southern waist of Yangshan and part of Niushou Mountain. The area we have to cover is truly too large—relying on us alone really is hard. What you're seeing now we rushed out at the end of last year with extra hours. To finish it all would take at least another year or two.”
Following the direction of Xie Biao's finger, Zhu Shiqing studied Niushou Mountain not far off and asked:
“Are the fortifications at Niushou Mountain the same as here?”
As far as Zhu Shiqing could tell, the main problem so far lay in the money-hungry pillboxes; the skirmish trenches at least looked presentable.
Xie Biao's answer, though, was evasive. He hesitated a long while before squeezing out a few words:
“Over there... the plan is to break ground before June this year...”
Chapter 3