The news that Ulan Province had declared independence struck the Imperial Capital like a boulder dropped into a still lake, setting off towering waves.
The Northern Prefecture Cabinet's response was even more chilling.
Tacit approval.
Two light, airy words, yet they ground all of China's dignity into the dirt.
"Traitors!"
"A bunch of spineless cowards!"
On the campus of Imperial Capital University, young students seethed with fury, their scholarly faces flushed red. In front of the bulletin board, people tore the newspapers to shreds, scattering them across the ground like snowflakes.
"We can't let this go!"
"We have to do something!"
"Let's hold a meeting! We have to! Call representatives from every university!"
Zhang Boling raised his arm and shouted. He was a renowned student leader in the Imperial Capital, famous for always daring to speak and act.
His words ignited the fire in everyone's hearts.
Students poured out from every corner, joining into a surging tide. They broke through the fragile line of police at the school gates, raised banners reading "Give Us Back Ulan" and "Punish the Traitors," and flooded into the streets.
At first, it was only students.
Soon, workers who heard the news put down their tools and joined the march. Shops along the street closed their doors in protest, while owners and clerks carried out benches and stood in their doorways, silently lending their support to the surging tide.
The entire Imperial Capital was paralyzed.
Everyone had only one destination.
The Purple Gold Pavilion.
The seat of the Northern Prefecture Cabinet.
"Open the gates!"
"Bring President Duan out!"
"Give us an explanation!"
The crowd packed around the Purple Gold Pavilion, their furious roars nearly lifting the roof.
Zhang Boling stood at the very front, gripping a tin megaphone as he shouted with all his might at the tightly shut vermilion doors.
"President Duan! Honorable members of the Cabinet!"
"You take the taxes we pay and eat the grain we grow. Is this how you repay us?"
"Our ancestors won every inch of Ulan's land with blade and gun! What gives you the right to hand it away? Did you even ask us citizens?"
"You worthless fools, skulking indoors and squabbling over political power! You can't even guard your own front gate, yet you talk about governing the country and bringing peace? What a joke!"
He ranted with abandon, every word striking at the Northern Prefecture Cabinet's backbone.
The crowd grew more agitated, beginning to surge against the wall of police.
Zhang Zhiyuan, the Imperial Capital police station chief, was sweating all over. Every officer under him had gone pale, their batons trembling in their hands.
Who had ever seen a scene like this?
"Everyone, back up! All of you, back up!"
Zhang Zhiyuan yelled at the top of his lungs, but his voice was so small amid the crowd's deafening chants that it might as well have been nothing.
Just then, the crowd suddenly parted.
A blood-soaked woman with disheveled hair staggered out from among them and fell to her knees before the Purple Gold Pavilion.
She raised a piece of white cloth high above her head. Crooked characters had been written across it in blood.
"Injustice!"
The bloodied character for "injustice" made everyone's heart shudder.
"I'm from Ulan..." The woman's voice had already gone hoarse, every word flecked with blood. "My home... is right on the border..."
"Those white devils... those beasts from White Bear Country stormed our village and killed everyone they saw! My father tried to protect me, but they stabbed him to death with bayonets! My mother... my mother, she..."
The woman couldn't go on. She collapsed to the ground, letting out a wail like a wounded beast.
Her testimony brought the entire scene to an abrupt silence.
Everyone stared fixedly at the woman and the bloodstained petition in her hands.
Fury splashed through every heart like gasoline.
Zhang Boling's eyes were red. He snatched the petition from her and held it high.
"Do you see?"
"This is what their tacit approval has brought us!"
"This is what happened to our compatriots!"
"Charge in!"
Someone shouted.
The crowd went completely out of control.
Zhang Zhiyuan's face turned deathly pale. The telephone at his waist rang wildly. With trembling hands, he picked it up, and his superior's icy order came through.
"Under all circumstances, hold the Purple Gold Pavilion! You may use force against anyone who tries to break through!"
Use force?
Zhang Zhiyuan looked at the angry young faces before him, his hands and feet turning cold.
He gritted his teeth, drew the pistol from his waist, and fired into the air.
"Bang!"
The gunshot didn't cow anyone. It only enraged the crowd further.
"The police are attacking people!"
"They're going to kill us!"
At that critical moment, a steady, powerful rhythm of hoofbeats approached from afar.
"Clip-clop! Clip-clop! Clip-clop!"
A fully armed cavalry unit forced its way in through the flank of the crowd and formed a line between the students and the police.
The commander at the head wore the Military Uniform of the Northwest Army. His features were resolute, his gaze sharp. He reined in his horse, swung down from the saddle, and strode up to Zhang Zhiyuan.
"Station Chief Zhang, quite the show of authority you've got there."
Zhang Zhiyuan recognized him, and his knees nearly gave way.
"G-General Liu... What brings you here?"
The man was Liu Weiguo, General Feng's top officer in the Northwest Army, the commander-in-chief of the northwest border defense. He was famous for his fiery temper and his patriotism.
Liu Weiguo didn't even look at him. His gaze swept across the police officers standing ready for a fight.
"Put your guns away, damn it!"
He roared.
"The guns of the Northwest Army are only ever pointed outward! Anyone who dares turn them on their own compatriots, on these kids, is my sworn enemy!"