The Manchurian Candidate: Pu Yi's Attempt to Restore the Qing Empire

You know, it is funny you used that expression "curiousity killed the cat", for it ran through my mind as well when I was planning that update.

Well, that's a ways down the road. War will not actually be declared until '41.
By that time the Japs are spread pretty thin. Right after I declare war they make a huge bungle...but I will save that for later.

Dont worry. Pu Yi will get back into the mix here rather quickly along with some of the other characters.

Chapter 4​

Fortuitous Circumstances​

April 8th, 1936…Imperial Security HQ, Changchun…

Major Li walked into his unit’s squad room. Cutter was laughing with a couple of men over something. Pinch and Nose were sitting across from each other at a desk. Nose had a sullen look on his face. Pinch looked up at Li and frowned. Li stopped and looked around the room and noticed something. The men that had went to Zhongma with him were sitting quietly on one side of the room, while the rest of his unit was on the other, talking, joking, and laughing as if nothing had happened. Well, for them, nothing had.

Not his entire unit was here, but that was nothing new. His unit had mundane duties to perform like any other. Things, though, were starting to fall apart and it was time for him to pull it back together.

“Cutter, Pinch, my office, now.” Cutter looked up from his conversation, smile still on his face.

“Sure boss”, he said, and then turned and made a low voiced comment to the men around him. They erupted in laughter. Cutter got up and made his way towards Li’s office. Pinch rose slowly as Li walked past him. Li tried a smile but Pinch just shook his head.

“C’mon”, said Li. Pinch followed him into the office. “Close the door behind you.” Pinch did.

Li sat down at his desk, put his feet up and looked at his two lieutenants.

“Where’s Chen?” he asked.

“Probably in a gutter someplace. Where else would he be”, said Cutter derisively. Pinch just shook his head and sighed.

“I think he’s taking care of those supply requisitions you put in last week. The commissariat has been giving us a hard time, so Chen took some of his boxers over there to help the Quartermaster see the light”, said Pinch looking sideways at Cutter.

Boxers was a euphemistic term for Chen’s squad, which he a labeled the ‘Righteous Fists’ after the boxer rebellion in china some years back. These were the leg breakers, the people Li sent when he wanted to send a message without killing someone. If he wanted to send a message by killing someone, he sent Cutter’s Blades. If he wanted information, or something done quietly, he sent Pinch’s White Mice.

Li smiled at Pinch’s words. That was just like Chen to use the direct approach to solve a problem, and regardless of what Cutter said, Li knew that Chen wasn’t drinking anymore. Li saw to that. It was a condition Li set when he brought Chen on. Lieutenant Chen had once been Colonel Chen of the Imperial General Staff until his drinking had landed him in hot water. He was about to be cashiered and maybe even shot when Li intervened. Li was always on the lookout for talent, whatever form it came in. Chen may not have been from the back alleys of Changchun, but he knew military protocol, strategy, and tactics, and in Li’s new profession that kind of information could prove invaluable. So, Chen took the busting to Lieutenant, came to work for Li, and did give up drinking. Well, it was either that or die, so the choice was relatively simple.

“Alright. Cutter, we have to make a call today. Since we have been busy a few of the ‘organization’ bosses have decided that they don’t have to make payments anymore. So, When Chen gets back, I want him and ten of his boxers ready to go. Requisition a few trucks for transport. You and Nose will be with me” said Li.

“Who we paying a visit to, boss?” Cutter asked.

“Fong. I know he’s behind this stupidity. The other bosses wouldn’t have the nuts to do this without him cajoling them. Time to set an example. Were to busy to have to constantly deal with this crap”, said Li in an exasperated tone.

Cutter smiled. “Fong. I always hated that smarmy bastard. Should a done him along time ago.”

“Yes. Well, we’ll excise that boil today. Go on, get it done. We will leave at ten. That gives you a couple of hours to get everyone together along with the trucks. Gather in the courtyard”, commanded Li.

“Right boss”, said Cutter, giving a lazy salute to go along with his lazy smile as he opened the door and walked out of the office.

“Anything for me, boss?” asked Pinch as the door closed behind him.

“Have a seat”, said Li, indicating the chair beside the desk. Pinch sat. “Still have that friend in the Kempeitai over at Kwangtung HQ?”

“Yes and he still drinks like a fish. What do you need?” asked Pinch, hoping he knew where this was going.

Li thought for a second and then reached in his breast pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Li unfolded the paper and looked at what he had written down last night. He looked over to the window as he considered how to proceed. He sighed.

“Boss, I think I have an idea what you want. I want the same thing, answers”, said Pinch in an intense voice. Li turned and looked into Pinch’s eyes and saw what he himself felt. He looked down at the paper again.

“Alright. I want the Mice on the move. I want all the info you can get me on Unit 731, Lt. Colonel Ryoichi Naito, General Shiro Ishii, Zhongma, prisoner transfers, you name it”, he handed the paper to Pinch. “There are also units of A.E.P.R.L. in all those places. Find out everything you can about them. Unit names, officers, activities. Do you understand me Pinch? I want everything you and the Mice can dig up. Nothing is inconsequential, nothing is irrelevant. I want to know how much Chin is involved with this, how much he knows. Are you on board with that? And if you are, do you understand what you are getting yourself into?”

Pinch picked up the paper, read it, and started to make his own notes on it. “How…many…rolls…of toilet…paper…does…Naito use…in a month? Yeah, I got it” he said with a dead pan expression. Li looked at Pinch, the eyebrow above his good eye rising.

With a look of pure innocence Pinch said, “Hey, you were the one who said nothing was irrelevant.” And then he smiled.

Li started laughing. It felt good to laugh after the way things had been going of late. Li stopped laughing, but with a smile still on his face, “Seriously though. Do you realize what I am asking of you?”

Pinch looked at his boss, all humor now gone from his face. “Yes. I understand what you are asking. But, I want you to understand something boss. I would have done it even if you hadn’t asked.”

thrashing mad: We will have to see. Tonights update will give you a clue to Li's darker side.

canonized: Not so much that. You will get a glimpse into Li's veiws on humanity in a future update. It's very black and white, but not in a way you would expect.

intruder alert: Yeah, I have heard of it. Actually saw a documentary on it, well, it was on ticks actually, which led to Lyme disease.

Myth: Not yet. He is not sure what he is going to do, but his motto is "when in doubt, gather all the info you can...just in case".

I will be udating later on tonight.

Chapter 4​

Fortuitous Circumstances​

April 8th, 1936…Red light district, Changchun …

The vehicles pulled up and parked across from Fong’s establishment, the Jaded Lotus. Major Li, Cutter, and Nose got out of a government car and walked back to the trucks. Looking across the street, Li saw the lookout scamper into the Lotus, no doubt to inform his boss that the cops were here. Chen gathered the men he had chosen together and waited for Li’s orders.

“Ok, here is what we are going to do. When we get inside Chen, I want you to position your men in the main room and keep the customers and workers calm. Regardless of what you hear coming from the back, don’t let anyone come back. Understand?” Li said looking at Chen.

“I understand sir”, replied Chen in crisp military fashion. Cutter rolled his eyes at this. He had no use for tin soldiers, and that was what he thought of Chen.

Li turned to look at Cutter and Nose. “Once Chen’s men are in place, the three of us are going to go pay Mr. Fong a visit. I expect that his number two, Jun, will be in there plus that Russian bodyguard of his, Kars. Cutter, I want you by Kars. Benjie, I want you by Jun. When the crap hits the fan, and it will, I want Jun immobilized. Don’t hurt him, just hold him.”

“What about Kars?” asked Cutter.

“Take him out. He’s no use to us”, Li replied.

Cutter smiled. “No problem boss.”

Li looked around at his men. “Let’s go.”

Li led his men across the street towards the Lotus. The Lotus was a combination restaurant, tea house, and gambling den that Fong used as his headquarters. At 10:30 in the morning, Li did not expect a lot of patrons, but there would be some, plus staff and guards.

Li led the way through the door and continued to walk down the center isle towards the back of the building. Staff and customers scattered out of his way. When he reached the door that led to the back rooms he stopped and turned around. He motioned for Chen to join him.

“Keep it tight out here. I don’t want this turning into a blood bath. You got it?” said Li.

“Don’t worry sir. I will keep everything under control”, said Chen in that crisp voice.

“And stay away from the bar”, chimed Cutter. Chen reddened but otherwise ignored the insult as he turned and walked back amongst his men.

Li looked at Cutter. “Why do you always have to be a complete ass?”

Cutter shrugged.

“C’mon”, said Li as he turned and went through the door. Behind him he heard Chen addressing the crowd.

“Alright ladies and gentleman, we are going to keep things nice and calm. Go back to your meals and tea and everything will be just fine.”

Li walked down the hallway trailed by Cutter and Nose. They passed a number of doors to either side but Li ignored them. He had been here before and he knew exactly where he was going. At the end of the hall was a set of double doors. Li grabbed both handles, twisted and pushed. With Cutter to his left and Nose to his right, he strode through the doors into Fong’s inner sanctum.

“Ah, Mister Li, welcome. It has been some time since you have last visited. Can I offer you some refreshment perhaps?” said Fong in an ingratiating voice that grated on Li.

“It’s Major, Fong.” Li looked around the room. Jun and Kars were standing right where he expected them and Cutter and Nose took up their positions. Fong was lying on a low divan being pampered by two working girls. “Get rid of the girls”, Li said in a no nonsense tone.

“Surely Mister…I mean Major, this does…” Fong never got to finish.

“Get…rid…of …the …girls”, said Li in clipped tones.

Fong looked at Li and then sighed. “Very well”, and clapped his hands then shooed the girls out the door. Li waited for the doors to close behind him. Then he reached down, unclipped the flap of his holster and drew his pistol.

“Major, surely there is no need for that”, said Fong who was starting to get nervous.

“Unfortunately…yes, there is”, with that Li raised the pistol and fired. The bullet crashed into Fong’s right knee, shattering it in a spray of bone and blood. With smoke just starting to trail from the barrel, Nose’s hand shot out, gripping Jun by the throat. Nose took one step and raised Jun off the floor and slammed him against the wall, pinning him there. At the same time, Cutter dropped into a crouch and launched a sweeping back kick that took Kars feet out from under him. As the big Russian dropped to the floor, Cutter was on him, driving his blade up under the ribs. Kars shuddered, his eyes going wide. Cutter reached up and slowly closed the giant’s eyes. With a leering smile and a low voice he said, “Goodnight sweet prince.” Slowly he rose, wiping the blade on the man’s tunic.

During these brief moments of violence, Fong was screaming, clutching at his knee. Li holstered his pistol, walked over, and sat down next to Fong on the divan.

“You know what your problem was Fong? You always thought you were cleverer than you actually are” said Li, slowly shaking his head. He sighed, “Oh well.” He got up and walked over to where Nose still had Jun pinned to the wall. “Put him down Benjie, gently.” Benjie did. Jun gasped for breath and reached up to massage his throat.

“We need to have a talk Jun”, said Li, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder. Jun looked at Li and nodded, since, at the moment, that was all he could manage.

“Hey, boss. What about him?” Li turned to see Cutter pointing his knife at Fong, who had been reduced to a whimpering mess on the divan.

“You are going to make an example of him” Li said.

“You want that he should be breathing when I’m done?” asked Cutter.

Li studied Fong for a moment. “Breathing? No. I want to send a message to the other bosses. So when you are done, make sure that message gets delivered.”

“So I can be creative?” asked Cutter with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“You can do anything you damn well please as long as you get the point across”, Li replied in a curt tone. He turned to Jun. “Come with me”, Li said, indicating the doors.

Behind him he heard Cutter talking to Fong. “Well there Mr. Fong, looks like you and me are going to get to know each other a little better.” Cutter started to laugh as Li closed the doors behind him.

thrashing mad: Li can be an SOB when the situation calls for it, Cutter is an SOB by nature. At the moment, Li is still Chin's, but that can change.

Raze: You have that one pegged. Cutter is as nasty as they come.

Myth: Nice to see you had the appropriate background mood when you read the update. Yes, Li came from the underworld and is still involved in it to some degree as Chin's enforcer.

canonized: You dont want to get caught in a dark alley with Cutter, that is for sure. Yes, Li is in a state of limbo at the moment. But, he is going to have to make a choice eventually.

intruder alert: Glad you caught that joke. I was going to have Li and Cutter have a converstation about the stupidity of the name, but decided not to as it had no bearing on the story. One should always shiver when Cutter smiles.

People will be able to understand Li more as the story unfolds. He is a complicated individual to most people around him. He is not as simple or black and white as he seems. He has a very distinct view of the world and his background and upbringing certainly color that view.

With Cutter, what you see is what you get. A psycopath that Li uses like a chained dog that he unleashes on whatever unfortunate happens to need taking care of.

I have introduced a new character, Leiutenant Chen, in the last update. More will be revealed on him later. Notice he has no "mob" nickname as he is career military.

In the last updates, I have revealed some of the organizational structure of Li's unit. I will admit that I stole Pinch's "White Mice" moniker from a very well know Sci-Fi author. Secret cookie points to anyone who can tell me the author and books that I stole it from.