Calamity in the City

By the time they returned to the office, Lin Hongwen had become far more cooperative, only then remembering to seek "sincere cooperation" with Zhu Shiqing. "To tell the truth, getting so much cargo out of the city won't be easy," Lin Hongwen said, his brow half-furrowed. "The situation inside the city right now is very complicated. After the government posted the ban this morning, those unruly mobs have been crowding around every gate tower, terrified of being trapped inside to die." Zhu Shiqing clicked his tongue in mock surprise. "Director Lin, didn't you just say earlier it would be effortless?" Ignoring Zhu Shiqing's sarcasm, Lin Hongwen took out and unfolded a darkened yellow map of the Beiping area from his drawer. The city gates, streets, alleys, mountain paths, railways, and highways were all charted upon it. Zhu Shiqing leaned over and glanced at it, surprised to find that Lin Hongwen did possess some professional competence after all—apparently, he wasn't entirely a deadbeat idling away his life. "Look here." Lin Hongwen shifted the map slightly to the left, tracing his finger along the streets toward Xizhimen. "If we want to reach Baoding now, we can only go by overland routes. The Ping-Han Railway is out of the question, so we must follow the Pingmen Railway to Mentougou first, then head south to Baoding." "Go on." "There are two major problems right now," Lin Hongwen said with complete seriousness. "First, within the city, a convoy of nearly ten horse carts and mule wagons parading conspicuously down the streets is bound to spark panic. These unruly wretches will inevitably believe Beiping cannot hold." "That is indeed a problem." Zhu Shiqing nodded in agreement. "If chaos breaks out within the city first, the Beiping garrison will collapse before the Japanese even attack." "Secondly, there's a Japanese company stationed in the Western Hills," Lin Hongwen continued. "If we leave the city and happen to bump into the Japanese halfway, then..." Zhu Shiqing pondered for a moment before proposing a plan: "Let's not worry about outside the city for now. There are too many variables. With the fighting having reached this stage, it's hard to say where the Japanese have outposts and where they don't. We set out at noon—there will be fewer people on the streets then. Take some time to coordinate with the museum. I'll take the brothers and wait for you on Xizhimen Street. We must get through the city gates within five minutes!" "No problem," Lin Hongwen nodded in agreement. *** At noon, Lin Hongwen and Director Ma Heng were already urging the convoy forward as it rolled slowly out from the inner city. They had to pass along Deshengmen Street and make a turn before reaching Xizhimen Street. Xizhimen Street was located in the outer city. Lively enough on ordinary days, it was even more boisterous today. Zhu Shiqing and his band of brothers waited vigilantly at the eastern street corner. Because they wore training uniforms and carried rifles, no matter how thick the surrounding crowds were, people kept several meters' distance from them. "How far are we escorting them?" Fang Wenjian suddenly asked. "Orders say at least to Haojiawan." Zhu Shiqing's eyes remained fixed in the direction of Deshengmen Street. "That bastard Lin Hongwen won't pull any tricks, will he?" Fang Wenjian still didn't trust him. "Once we're out of the city, he won't be our problem anymore." Zhu Shiqing didn't look back. "If he dares play any tricks inside the city, I'll feed him lead. Men like him love their official posts more than their lives; to them, ordinary citizens are just unruly mobs." To officials like Lin Hongwen, managing the "unruly rabble" was one of life's great pleasures. Today, the Garrison Regiment had deployed considerable forces across the main streets and alleys, but that did nothing to stop the citizens from crowding the city gates. Whenever people gathered, tongues began to wag, and rumors flew in every direction: "The 29th Army is preparing to abandon Beiping!" "The little devils say they're going to massacre the whole city once they breach Beiping!" "The Japanese have already fought their way outside Yongdingmen!" *** Of course, this was in the northern part of the city. In the south, the rumors might have taken another form—at the very least, that last phrase would have become, "The Japanese have already fought their way outside Deshengmen!" After all, only claims that could not be quickly verified were worthy of being called rumors. Inexperienced youngsters like Liang Xiyun and his peers felt panicky listening to the clamor of contradictory shouts, clustering close around Zhu Shiqing one after another, though none dared speak. "General Tong Linge has been killed in action! General Tong Linge has been killed in action! General Tong Linge has been killed in action!" From out of nowhere, a stripling of a boy had appeared, sprinting along the central axis of the street like a newsboy selling papers, rattling off the words over and over like a machine gun. This cry was utterly venomous! Far deadlier than the previous rumors. The afternoon Deputy Army Commander Tong Linge had led troops into Nanyuan was something many Beiping citizens had witnessed with their own eyes, and the morning broadcast had reported that the Japanese had already been pounding Nanyuan relentlessly for five hours. Turmoil broke out across the crowd at once. Impatient citizens rushed straight toward the nearest men in police uniforms, urgently asking, "Is it true?" The policemen wore conflicted looks, constantly replying, "I don't know either." "Damn it, why is it getting so chaotic?" Watching the crowd surge around them, Fang Wenjian felt his heart leap into his throat. "They actually believe what a kid says?" "Why would a child say something like that for no reason?" Zhu Shiqing caught the anomaly. Seeing that the boy had not run far, he slapped Fang Wenjian's shoulder and barked, "Intercept that kid! Find out who told him to say it!" Receiving the order, Fang Wenjian immediately strode off in pursuit of the boy. At the same time, the convoy escorting the cultural relics poked its head out at the corner of the street. "Liang Xiyun, take two or three men to escort the wagons! You guys lead the way in front, and have the guards cover the flanks and rear!" Zhu Shiqing directed. A faint unease stirred in his chest, and he subconsciously touched the pistol in his wooden holster. "Yes, sir!" Liang Xiyun took a few comrades beside him and ran off. Sprinting forward, Fang Wenjian grabbed the boy just as he turned into an alley. Pinned in a painful grip, the boy was on the verge of bursting into aggrieved tears. "No crying! You're a man!" Fang Wenjian barked. "Kid, how do you know General Tong Linge was killed? Who told you that?" The boy hesitated, staring at Fang Wenjian for a long moment before answering, "An officer wearing the same clothes as you told me to say it. He said this is a matter concerning the safety of everyone in the city, and that I had to warn everybody." Fang Wenjian froze. He actually had to look down at what he was wearing. Light blue... the Military Training Corps? "Alright, you're fine. I'm an officer too, and I order you to stop shouting." Fang Wenjian's tone softened, and he tousled the boy's hair firmly. As soon as the convoy rolled onto Xizhimen Street, it was surrounded. The crowd recognized that the man leading it was the museum director. If thousands of years of treasures were being moved out, wasn't that hard proof that Beiping was about to fall? Liang Xiyun was stationed at the very front. For the first time, he realized just how ferocious his fellow townsfolk could be; their flying Beiping spit threatened to drown him! "Cowards! A bunch of good-for-nothing cowards abandoning the common folk!" "Bastards! A pack of camel-dung scoopers!" Seething with anger, Liang Xiyun wanted to fire a warning shot, but he caught sight of Zhu Shiqing shaking his head violently in the distance. The finger poised to rack the bolt pulled back. Although surrounded, the carts kept moving. Zhu Shiqing knew it was useless to explain anything to the citizens now. Even though notices about the southward evacuation of cultural relics had been posted long ago, at a critical juncture like today, even a stray dog giving birth in the street would send imaginations running wild! Better to fish in troubled waters—getting out was what mattered! Zhu Shiqing immediately dispatched two more men to contact the guards at the west city gate, preparing to force their way through. "Don't let them leave! They're running away and leaving us to die!" Some wretch in the crowd shouted, and leading three others, threw himself straight toward the muzzle of the machine gun on the convoy's flank!