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

acesman: You are absolutely correct. Love Hammer's Slammers. And you are right, In demeanor, looks, and outright menace, Joachim Stueben has more in common with Cutter than Major Li or Pinch, which heads this manifistation of the "White Mice". Great job, you win the secret cookie award, the third I have passed out if memory serves.

There are some personal things going on this week, so I am afraid I will not be able to update. I dont know when the next one will be, I am hoping Saturday. I would expect some boo's from rcduggan, but since he is sick I might get away with this.

canonized said:

well you'll get some boos from me then since my sick days are up BOOOOOOOOOOO ! Hope nothing too serious is going on !

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Ahhh. Boooed by canonized. How will I recover? Serious? Well, if your my wife, yeah it's serious. If your me, it's frustrating and irritating. But, problem was solved, hopefully for good. Don't know if I'll get an update in tonight with Quarterlies starting, but I'll try, no promises.

Chapter 5​

The Road Less Traveled​

April 13th, 1936…Imperial Security HQ, Changchun …

Li stood in the outer room of Chin’s offices, impatiently waiting for Chin’s secretary to tell him it was okay to enter Chin’s office. After what seemed a lifetime, the secretaries phone rang and Li was ushered into see the Minister.

“I hope this is important Li? I am a busy man” said Chin in an impatient tone.

Li walked up and laid some forms in front of Minister Chin. “Sir, I need your signature on the authorization forms for the operation in Hailar.”

Chin stopped what he was doing and looked down at the form and then back up at Li. “Still pursuing that foolishness?”

“Yes sir. But, as I told the Minister before, if I find nothing of value I will drop the investigation. I just want to make sure we have covered everything. Then we can say that we did our duty”, said Li.

Chin snorted. “Duty! What do you know about duty? Your starting to take this tin soldier stuff a little too seriously Li. Why don’t you stick to what your good at, shaking down shopkeepers for pocket change.”

Li stared at the wall above Chin’s head as he replied. “I do not think that the payments you are now receiving would be considered pocket change. Besides, you did say that once I took care of that problem, you would authorize the funds for the Hailar operation…Sir.”

Chin grabbed a pen and hastily scrawled his signature at the bottom of the form. “This is it Major. If you don’t find anything concrete this time, this investigation of yours is over. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir. Am I dismissed sir?” asked Li, picking up the now signed form.

Chin stared at Li with disgust on his face. “Get out!”

Thirty minutes later, Li was walking into his squad room. He got the attention of Cutter, Pinch, and Chen and motioned them into his office. When they had all gathered there and closed the door, Li sat down and laid the authorization form on the desk.

“We now have the funds for the Hailar operation. Cutter, Chen, have your men get their gear together, uniforms and civilian clothes. We will be leaving tomorrow. We will meet later tonight at the house and discuss plans for the operation. Any questions?”

Chen cleared his throat. “Yes sir. What weapons do you want us to check out?”

“Good question”, said Li as he considered this. After a moment, “Have them check out their rifles, just in case, pistols, and bring their clubs and any personal weapons that suit their fancy. No heavies, we wont need them, and no explosives.”

Chen nodded.

“Any other questions?” asked Li. Both men nodded in the negative. “Fine, inform your men. I will see you later this evening.”

Both men stood and walked out. Li looked at Pinch. “Guess you have figured out that you are not going?”

“Yeah, I figured it out”, said Pinch with a smile. “Is that because you figure I am too busy to go?”

Li smiled back. “I know you are too busy to go, but I am going to borrow Duang from you for the operation. That ok?”

Pinch though for a moment. “Yeah, I can spare him.”

“So, how is your little investigation going?” asked Li. He tried to hide the anticipation in his voice, but he was not sure if he was successful.

“It’s going”, replied Pinch, but said nothing else.

“And?”

“And, it’s going. I’m not finished, not by a long shot, and you know how I work. I will lay it out for you when I am done. That way I don’t have to answer any dumb questions. If you have a question after you read my report, it means I don’t have an answer”, replied Pinch in mock indignation.

Li sighed, knowing that was all the answer he was going to get.

“So, you’re still caught up in this rebellion thing, huh?” asked Pinch.

Li looked out the window. “I just want to see this thing through. Something has been bothering me about it, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Besides, if I don’t find anything in Hailar, it is dead in the water anyway. Chin won’t front anymore money for it. I guess my curiosity has just gotten the better of me” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah, that seems to be going around these days. Wonder if I can find a cure in one of those herbalist’s shops?” asked Pinch in serious tone.

“Won’t find anything to cure that in one of those shops. The cure for that particular ailment is usually a bullet”, said Li with a laugh as they both got up and walked out of the office.

Myth: Only elusive when your boss is a jerk and has you doing prisoner runs and strong arm gigs, when all you really want to do is protect your country from rebels.

thrashing mad: Yeah, yeah. You get a little busy and what do you get? Complaints, complaints. I have just started day shift this week and will be on days for 5 months. Now that I am on days I dont know how often I will be able to update. I already swamped today with meetings. When your on days, it's more suits, and VP's, and Directors, and Department Heads sticking there nose in your office to see what your doing. Baaahhhh!
*Sigh* Life in middle management.

rcduggan:Why thank your sir. Your indepth analysis is always appreciated.

canonized:I can't wait for his report either. I wonder whats going to be in it. The suspense is killing me. Wish that damn grayghost would quit pissing around and write an update. Yes, Pinch is meticulous, thourough.
And thank you for the compliments.

rcduggan said:

that's what I'm here for.

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And here I thought it was for your rapier wit.

Chapter 5​

The Road Less Traveled​

April 14th, 1936…Imperial Palace, Changchun …

Pu Yi was sitting in his private office going over reports. It was all mundane and routine. Projects were advancing well, the blueprints freely given by Japan were paying huge dividends in that department. The building projects were on track, with two new factories expected to come up in June of next year. The Imperial Guard was up to full strength now and training was continuing at a furious pace. All were needful things, but the reports on them were…well…boring. Pu Yi looked at the clock on his desk and sighed. It would still be another hour before the man arrived to give his report on “Operation Rabbit Hole”.

Slowly the hour ticked by, every moment an agony of waiting. Finally, the hour arrived along with the expected knock at his private side entrance. Pu Yi leapt up and hurried to the door. As he approached the door he brought his excitement under control, put a serious look on his face, and opened the door.

The man stepped through the door and removed his hat. He turned to Pu Yi and bowed formally. “Good afternoon your Majesty”, he said.

“Good afternoon. Please have a seat”, said Pu Yi, waiving the man to a chair. “How was your trip?”

“Fine. I will be returning tonight”, the man replied.

“And are all the preparations in order?”

“Yes, everything is in order”, said the man, and then, he started to smile.

Pu Yi watched as the smile spread on the man’s face. Pu Yi started to smile himself. “You are enjoying this”, he said, a statement, not a question.

The man continued smiling. “Absolutely your Majesty. This one is going to be fun. For awhile I thought Chin was going to scuttle the whole thing, but that Li is one persistent bastard. I told you what he did to that crime boss, Fong?”

“Yes you did”, replied Pu Yi. “So, when is this going to take place?”

“Well, they only left this morning. It will most likely take them three days to get there, but only a day to set up. Li isn’t going to do anything tricky on this one. As soon as he identifies the building, he and his men will go in. He doesn’t want to take the chance of tipping anyone off”, he said.

“How did the training progress?” asked Pu Yi.

“It went very well. That man was really worth the money. The world needs more British mercenaries. I believe Li and his men are in for a nasty little surprise, and more importantly, all the evidence they need so that Chin will be forced to continue the investigation”, explained the man.

“Do you plan on eliminating Li?”

The man waved his hand in front of him as he started laughing. “Oh, heavens no. If it were not for the redoubtable Major Li, Chin would never have pursued this at all, unless of course you wanted to start an actual rebellion. That would have been the only thing that would have gotten his attention”, the man said in a now disgusted tone.

Pu Yi steeped his fingers and pursed his lips as he considered something. “Perhaps we should try and approach this Li fellow. See if we can get him to work for us.”

The man demeanor turned deadly. “That was not part of the agreement”, he said in a menacing tone. “Chin dies. Li dies. Are you reneging?”

Pu Yi’s eyes widened slightly at the threatening tone. “Sir, watch yourself. You are not inviolate. I was merely throwing the thought out for consideration. I see you are still intent on their deaths, and I can understand why. But I must consider all avenues. I have much more to consider than mere revenge, but, per our agreement, I will not renege.”

The man relaxed somewhat, conciliated by the words. “I am…sorry your Majesty. You are correct. My emotions sometimes get the better of me, my apologies.”

“In this instance, you are forgiven your excesses, but do try to restrain your emotions in the future. There is to much at stake”, said the Emperor with a note of authority.

“Yes your Majesty, of course. Now, I really must be going if I want to make it to Hailar ahead of Li.” The man rose, put on his hat and headed for the door.

Without rising Pu Yi said, “Good luck sir. We are depending on you to pull this off.”

In the process of opening the door, the man stopped and looked at Pu Yi. “This will come off without a hitch. The men are superbly trained. Good night your Majesty.”

“Good night sir”, he said. The door closed and Pu Yi looked at his desk and sighed, another week of boredom.

Myth: Well, not in this upcoming operation anyway. But down the road, Li's life may be in peril.

thrashing mad:Keep that theory in mind. Let's see if you are correct. As for the mysterious man, that is certainly a theory to hold onto. As for the confrontation, yeah, this one should be fun. And thank you for the compliment. My main aim is tension, but hopefully not endless cliffhangers like rcduggan likes to kill us with.

canonized:Yeah, it was nice to get him back into the story, especially since it is supposed to be about him. Yes, the fact that they are on opposite sides certainly presents a quandry to our readers. Who to root for.

Screaming Eagle:Glad your enjoying it, and nice to have you back. Go Warriors!