Chapter 74: Chapter 73: The Day the City Falls, the Day of Death
The car stopped before the imposing earth fortress.
Fu Juemin got out of the car and looked up, sizing up the earth fortress he had visited once before.
The number of guards in the watchtower by the gate seemed to have dwindled. The nearby earthen walls and the fortress’s main gate also showed clear signs of recent repairs.
Qian Fei made a gesture toward the watchtower, and the fortress gate slowly swung open.
Qian Fei seemed much less talkative. He had barely spoken the entire way here and now just led the way silently.
"Why didn’t Dakui come with you?"
Fu Juemin asked, taking the initiative.
"Young Master."
Qian Fei replied, "Ma Dakui is dead."
Fu Juemin stopped in his tracks.
"He didn’t like to talk when he was alive, and when he died, he wanted to but couldn’t. They even ripped out his windpipe..."
Qian Fei turned to look at him, his face a mask of something between a sob and a smile. "Isn’t that hilarious?"
Fu Juemin stood rooted to the spot, watching as Qian Fei’s eyes reddened as he spoke.
His gaunt frame was shaking violently, but not from fear.
"Let’s go."
After a long moment, Fu Juemin said calmly, "Take me to see Second Uncle."
Qian Fei acknowledged and quickened his pace.
The two entered the Civil Affairs Bureau’s earth fortress, and only then did Fu Juemin see how desolate and dilapidated it had become.
The sight of over a hundred men drilling with guns on the training grounds, a sea of strapping, bare-chested giants exuding virility, was long gone. Now, only a few armed men patrolled the fortress, their faces etched with anxiety.
They walked to the deepest part of the fortress. In an open space directly in front of a Western-style building, stood dozens of earthen mounds.
Every one was a fresh grave, with joss paper and shattered bowls scattered across the ground.
"Young Master, the Second Master is inside waiting for you!"
Qian Fei said, pointing at the Western-style building.
Fu Juemin noticed his gaze and followed it. He saw a wooden plaque planted before one of the mounds, clearly inscribed with the name Ma Dakui.
He pressed his lips together and walked into the building, one step at a time.
The building’s main doors were wide open. Though it was daytime, the Western-style lamps inside were blazing brightly. In the center of the main hall was a large divan, and on it sat a figure draped in a tiger pelt.
Seeing Fu Juemin, the person on the divan immediately sat up and laughed heartily.
The laughter was dark and hoarse, like the roar of a sick tiger.
"Lingjun! Lingjun!"
The person on the divan ripped the tiger pelt off his body, revealing Second Uncle Fu Guoping’s emaciated, skeletal frame.
He yelled at Fu Juemin.
"Good news! Second Uncle has some incredible news for you!"
"Second Uncle."
Fu Juemin rushed forward and caught the teetering Fu Guoping by the side of the divan.
Looking at Fu Guoping now, he could hardly recognize the man who was once his "bandit chief" of a Second Uncle—a man with the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear, a voice like a booming bell, who could devour five catties of mutton and three catties of old wine in one sitting.
The Fu Guoping before him had sunken eye sockets and gaunt, sharp cheeks. His eyes were shot with blood, the whites a murky yellow, and thick rheum caked the corners. The breath from his mouth was foul and stagnant.
"You..."
Fu Juemin was horrified by the sight. Before he could ask, Fu Guoping’s hand shot out and grabbed him fiercely.
Fu Guoping was a shadow of his former self. The hand pressing on Fu Juemin’s shoulder was all protruding knuckles, and its strength was a fraction of what it once was.
"Good news. Incredible news."
Fu Guoping looked at him, the only spark of life in his entire body shining from his eyes as he laughed maniacally. "Half a month at the earliest, a month at the latest."
"The Southwest Fire Cloud Army’s Ming Character Banner is going to storm Luan River!"
Fu Juemin was startled. He placed a hand on the increasingly erratic Fu Guoping to steady him and said calmly, "Second Uncle, sit down. Tell me slowly."
Then he turned and ordered Qian Fei, who was standing nearby, "Quick, get some water."
"It’s just... Second Uncle is too happy, too excited..."
Fu Guoping seemed to compose himself a little and sat down steadily.
Qian Fei quickly brought the water. Fu Juemin took it and passed it to Fu Guoping, who, as if parched, grabbed the large bowl and gulped it all down.
After drinking, Fu Guoping seemed to recharge on the spot, his spirits visibly lifting. He even waved a hand dismissively and said, "This water’s weak. Quick, get me some wine!"
Qian Fei, at his side, tried to dissuade him. "Second Master, you haven’t eaten or slept properly for almost half a month. Don’t..."
"What bullshit! Since when does this old man need you to teach me what to do?!"
Fu Guoping cursed. Fu Juemin held him down and gestured for Qian Fei to leave, then asked, "Second Uncle, what exactly is going on?"
Seeing Fu Juemin turn to business, Fu Guoping stopped demanding wine. His eyes narrowed, and a glimmer of his former shrewdness and dominance returned.
"It was that lead you gave me. It paid off."
"I had my men follow some of Zhao Xinhua’s cronies out of the county to the Earth Kiln Mountain area. That’s when we discovered a large force from the Fire Cloud Army’s Ming Character Banner hiding there."
"They’ve secretly taken control of several nearby villages and have been stockpiling grain and fodder. They’re planning a direct assault on Luan River next month!"
RUSTLE!
Fu Guoping shifted his weight and pulled a map out from under him. Pointing at the lines and circles scrawled all over it, he couldn’t help but laugh. "That idiot Song Zhenyuan has been so busy bickering with the Xin Republic Central for money and squeezing his subordinates for military funds."
"He doesn’t even know that a Fire Cloud Army unit has been drilling a hole in his backyard..."
"If I’m right, once the Ming Character Banner succeeds in their surprise attack on Luan River, the other banners in the Southwest will definitely launch a major offensive on all of Yangping..."
"When that time comes, Song Zhenyuan will be attacked from both front and rear. Let’s see if he can keep his seat as the Governor of Yangping Province then! Heh heh..."
Fu Juemin looked at the map in Fu Guoping’s hand—what could charitably be called a "military strategy map"—and his expression grew strange.
It was clear Fu Guoping had been studying this map for a long time; the corners were nearly worn away.
"Second Uncle, you mean..."
After a moment, Fu Juemin began to speak slowly.
"What I mean is..."
Fu Guoping sneered. He grabbed the corner of the cloth covering the divan beneath him and yanked it off, revealing what was really underneath.
When Fu Juemin saw what his Second Uncle had been sitting on this whole time, he was so shocked he almost leaped backward.
Piled neatly beneath Fu Guoping were boxes upon boxes of gunpowder.
’Fu Guoping had been sleeping on a pile of explosives all this time?!’
"The moment Luan River County Town falls!"
Fu Guoping’s tone was glacial as he said coldly, "This old man is going to blow Song Zhenyuan and all his turtle-son bastards to kingdom come."
"The day the city falls... is the day they die!"
"Second Uncle..."
Fu Juemin was stunned, momentarily at a loss for words.
But Fu Guoping suddenly ripped open his shirt, revealing a gaunt, bony chest.
A purple-black palm print was branded clearly over his heart.
Fu Guoping pointed to the print on his chest and sneered malevolently. "That bastard Song Lin sent his man. He didn’t kill me, just hit me with one palm strike."
"The doctor said my meridians are blocked and my Qi Blood is stagnated. It’s been tormenting me, a living hell."
"See those graves out front?"
"Over thirty of my brothers, and I couldn’t find a single complete corpse among them!"
Fu Guoping turned to Fu Juemin. "Lingjun, Second Uncle has always treated you like his own son."
"When you go back today, tell your father to sell off all the family properties he can and get a boat ready..."
"When the city falls, you all get on that boat and get out of here. Don’t worry about me. Second Uncle has his own path to take."
Fu Juemin stood there in silence for a long time.
After a moment, he finally spoke slowly. "To kill Song Lin and his men, Second Uncle doesn’t necessarily have to take them all down with you in an explosion."
"But we can talk about that later."
"Right now, what I want to know is, what makes you so sure the Fire Cloud Army’s Ming Character Banner will attack Luan River?"
Hearing Fu Juemin’s question, Fu Guoping was taken aback for a second, but he quickly shook his head and explained, "You don’t understand. To take all of Yangping Province, the Fire Cloud Army has to take Luan River County first."
"And even if we assume the absolute worst, that the leader of the Ming Character Banner is a useless straw-for-brains who can’t figure that out..."
"Second Uncle still has a way..."
Fu Guoping looked at Fu Juemin, a slight smile playing on his lips as he said slowly, "I’ve already arranged for men near Earth Kiln Mountain."
"When the time is right... they will come out and lead the way for the Fire Cloud Army themselves!"
