The City Trilogy by Chang Hsi-Kuo

Author:Chang Hsi-Kuo [Hsi-Kuo, Chang]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780231502467
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2003-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

7

On Five Phoenixes Mountain, Miss Qi and Yu Fang waited a long time at the copper fields for the return of the suicide soldiers who had gone underground. Before they knew it, five days had passed. On the morning of the fifth day, Liu Qi and Wang Liu came out of the cave, their faces as pale as ghosts. Of the ten soldiers who had accompanied them, only five remained. They told Yu Fang that the underground passageways were as close-knit as spiderwebs. Shortly after entering, they had lost their way and wandered around for three days before they were luckily able to find their way out. Miss Qi knew that the other group must have been less fortunate and she couldn’t help but shed a tear. At nightfall, there was still no news of Yu Kui and Ah (chu). Yu Fang gave orders to break camp. Miss Qi asked to stay behind and wait for Ah (chu), but Yu Fang would not hear of it. He reminded her that because the Serpent guerrillas were still active on the mountain and the soldiers’ chances were slim, there was no reason to risk waiting.

That night, the principal Green Snake Brotherhood force withdrew from the copper fields, crossed the West Hu River, and assembled on the eastern outskirts of Sunlon City. Yu Fang knew that the Shan-controlled Serpent people who had escaped the copper fields would attack again. His order that the barges should undertake armed patrols to defend the city from attacks by the Serpent people spread down the Hu River Basin like wildfire. He also ordered that the Green Snake Brotherhood forces be stationed in a defensive line from Red Iron Village to Hehe Village to River Mouth City to be especially alert and prepared at any time for the enemy to cross the Hu River for a large-scale battle.

The news of the fierce fighting between the Green Snake Brotherhood and the Serpent people at the Wufeng copper fields spread rapidly through Sunlon City. The inhabitants of the city were jittery, and it was widely rumored that Shan reinforcements had landed at Five Phoenixes Mountain and that a fleet of dragon-class dreadnoughts had entered and were cruising in the Huhui galaxy. Bombings occurred continuously all over the city, and Serpent People’s Revolutionary Army slogans appeared everywhere. With these frights, some people began preparing to flee. Although the nine bulu lords jointly tried to calm the public—Mayor Ma was constantly on the skyvision calling for calm—still panic buying occurred as the people swarmed to the market to buy food and canned goods. There was price inflation in the city, and needless to say, profiteers were active. The city government arrested a bunch of Huhui profiteers and vaporized several Gaiwenese speculators but could not control the violent inflation. The more pessimistic residents fled the city with their valuables. But most of the Huhui people adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Sunlon City was facing misfortune, something that had happened all too frequently in the past.

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