Chapter 1
Divine Inspiration
(Continued)
“Unless you can find
some sort of loyalty,
you cannot find unity and
peace in your active living.”
"The Philosophy of Loyalty”-Jean Jacques Rousseau
The echo from the slamming chamber door was still reverberating around the room as Pu Yi sat down slowly in his chair. Plans were now in motion that could not be undone. The signals had all been sent. The path was set. Pu Yi leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on the table, and lowered his head into his hands.
“Your Majesty, are you well?” asked Li Shao-keng.
Pu Yi raised his head and managed a weak smile, “I have never felt better or worse in my life.”
The last three ministers left in the room looked at each other with confusion and concern in their eyes. Their Emperor had certainly not been his usual self today. He had shown strength and resolve today, yet they could also sense some fear. They watched as Pu Yi shrugged of his uncertainty and returned their looks with an intense gaze.
“Gentleman, I must confess to you something, for only you three have shown me true loyalty, that I feel it incumbent upon me to give you some choice in these matters. Events have been set in motion today that will send us down an irreversible path to either greatness or utter destruction. It is my ultimate plan to restore the Qing Empire. For this to happen, in the short term, we must purge ourselves of internal enemies, and confuse our masters in Japan with passive resistance and flowery words. In the long term, we must build up our industrial base to not only feed the Japanese war machine, but also so that we may build our own modern army. In this Li you will be invaluable to my plans. You have performed miracles in the past and I shall ask you to perform miracles again. General Chi Hsing, I am going to ask that you have the militia units brought back to the capital to be disbanded. I want this complete by January 1st.”
“Your Majesty, I have to protest. I must advise against this as they are, except for one cavalry division, the only military we have”, said General Hsing.
Pu Yi held up a placating hand, “General, I understand your concerns, but you must understand this, these militia serve us no practical purpose except to feed our vanity that we actually have an army, and to consume resources that would be better utilized elsewhere.”
“But your Majesty, who will then defend our borders?”, asked the general.
“The Japanese have been content to provide that service up until now. Let them continue to provide it. Besides, what is there to be protected from, jack rabbits and the occasional bandit?” inquired Pu Yi.
“What about the Soviet Union, your Majesty?”
“The Soviet Union poses no threat to us. Besides, I have a plan to secure if not political friendship, then at least a mutual understanding. And that is where you come in Chang. I need you to fly to Tokyo under the pretense of pushing our territorial claims against Japan. I don’t expect anything, just make it look good. Your real mission will be to go to the Soviet embassy and indicate to the ambassador that we would like to set up a meeting with a representative of their government to discuss certain exchanges that would be mutually beneficial. The meeting can be in one of the border provinces of their choosing. And please emphasis that it will be worth their while. Also, I don’t think I have to stress to you the importance of doing this without the Japanese catching on.”
“Your Majesty, I am no spy to skulk through alleys in the dead of night”, said Chang.
“No Chang, I am well aware you are not a spy, but you are my Foreign Minister and I am certain this falls under your job description. Besides, you should not have to skulk, merely use caution” said Pu Yi. “That is enough discussion of plans for now. What I need to know is where you stand. Will you support me in this endeavor? If you cannot support this, I will understand. I trusted you enough to tell you my plans so I feel I can trust you enough to simply retire and live out your lives, but I must know now. Are you with me?”
General Hsing stood up and walked to the head of the table. “Your Majesty, there is a part of me that thinks this a lunacy that will be our ruin. But, there is that part of me that also chaffs at this yoke around my neck. Right now, it seems, the slave in me has more desire to be free, than the old women in me wishes to safe. Besides, someone has to keep you out of to much trouble. I am with you”, said a smiling Hsing.
Pu Yi stood and took the generals hand returning his warm smile. “You may very well have to do that general, for I plan on misbehaving.”
Li Shao-keng came up beside the general and the emperor. “Your Majesty, whether I agree or not, I am your servant always. I will support you.”
Pu Yi looked at Li, “I need no servants Li, but willing partners. Come as that or not at all.”
Li smiled and took his emperors hand, “Aye then, as partners.”
All three turned to look at Chang. They could easily see the fear on the man’s face. Chang looked back at them trying to summon a smile, but it came across as a grimace. “Your Majesty, I do not profess to be a strong man, or a courageous one. I merely try to server my Emperor to the best of my humble abilities. If you say you need me, then I am surely honored and I will do all I can to help, although I cannot profess to know what this will do to my health.”
Pu Yi laughed for the first time that day and walked over and put his hand on Chang’s shoulder. “A little excitement will do you good. Speaking of excitement, I think we have had enough for one day. Let us adjourn this meeting. We will be meeting frequently in the coming months and will have much to discuss, but for now, go to your home, be with your families. I fear you will be seeing little of them in the future.”
With that the three ministers exchanged parting pleasantries with Pu Yi. Once they had left, Pu Yi walked back over to the window to stare at the cold blue skies that stretched across the Manchurian plains.
