Early the next morning, Major Liu invited He Rui to collect the armaments. The armory was heavily guarded; dozens of engineers had already stacked wooden crates filled with munitions in the corner of the courtyard, waiting to be loaded onto trucks.

He Rui carefully counted the quantity. Major Liu seemed somewhat depressed today, not as capable and brisk as yesterday. Seeing He Rui finish the inventory, Major Liu presented the list. "This is the first batch of weapons allocated to Commander He by General Zhang. There are one hundred rifles, two machine guns, ten thousand rounds of ammunition, plus some daily necessities like caps, shoes, and socks. Commander He can make further preparations once you raise a force in Siping. By the way, General Zhang also gave Brother He five thousand silver dollars for military expenses. Please come with me to collect them in a moment."

He Rui spot-checked a few items. Inside were all Hanyang 88s [^1], and the two light machine guns were French-made Hotchkiss M1909s. The gun oil hadn't even been wiped off; one look told him they were brand-new original stock.

He Rui let Xu Chengfeng and the others receive the weapons while he chatted with Major Liu. "Brother Liu has worked hard. But why does Brother Liu look like he has something weighing on his mind today?"

Major Liu sighed. "Alas, General Zhang has ordered me to accompany Commander He to the Kwantung Governor-General's Office this time."

He Rui smiled. "Brother Liu is willing to serve the country; that makes you a hero. As for when we arrive at the Kwantung Governor-General's Office, let me handle the responses. Brother Liu only needs to be there to hold the fort."

Major Liu looked dejected but shook his head. "Brother He is righteous. This brother thanks you here!"

The weapons were received, and the silver dollars were collected. At this time, the Fengtian General Zhen'an's Office received a telegram from the Kwantung Governor-General's Office: the Japanese side agreed to He Rui's visit.

He Rui prepared to set off immediately. Not only the officers, but even the cultural instructors came to see him off upon hearing that He Rui was going to the Japanese Kwantung Governor-General's Office alone to negotiate.

At this time, the cultural instructors had all changed into military uniforms. Although they still moved like ordinary civilians, they at least had a bit of a military flavor.

Just before departure, a person walked up. He Rui looked and saw it was one of the temporarily appointed team leaders among the cultural instructors, named Tang Gui. Because of his impoverished family background, he had scored very high in the political review. He was usually active in his work and diligent in his progress, so he was being cultivated as a key cadre.

He stepped forward and saluted clumsily. "I wish the Commander a smooth journey."

He Rui returned the salute. "Thank you. I wish you all a smooth journey as well."

Xu Chengfeng stepped forward and said, "Commander, please let me serve as your guard."

"You..." He Rui was about to criticize Xu Chengfeng when Cheng Ruofan stepped forward. "Commander, we discussed it. Let Chengfeng be your guard. Please rest assured, Commander, we will share Chengfeng's workload. We all believe that no matter what, we cannot let anything happen to the Commander. We wouldn't feel at ease if anyone else acted as your guard."

Zheng Silang also stepped forward to persuade him. "Commander, please be considerate of our feelings."

In the troop arrangement, Zheng Silang was responsible for external affairs, so even if a guard was needed, it should have been Zheng Silang. Yet Zheng Silang frankly expressed that Xu Chengfeng should go, showing that their intentions were extremely sincere.

He Rui knew he couldn't refuse. Today was June 16th. He Rui had arrived in Beijing to see Duan Qirui on May 22nd. It had been barely 26 days in total.

In less than a month, the number of people in the team had grown. They had traveled thousands of *li* to get here. At this point, there was camaraderie within the team. Denying them on the grounds of work would only make everyone think He Rui was someone who disregarded human feelings for the sake of work.

"I'll take Chengfeng with me," He Rui replied.

Hearing this, joy appeared on the young men's faces. Before they could speak, He Rui cut in, "Don't just worry about me; pay attention to your own safety too. It's not just you worrying about me; I worry about you too."

Cheng Ruofan hurriedly responded, "Commander, with Chengfeng going with you, there's still me here."

"Tch! It'll be good enough if you don't cause trouble." Zhong Yifu poured a bucket of cold water on Cheng Ruofan. Everyone laughed heartily, adding a touch of youthful freeness to the originally solemn and tense atmosphere.

He Rui was somewhat moved. He raised his hand in salute. "Comrades, see you in Siping."

The young men returned the salute. "Please rest assured, Commander. We will definitely complete the mission."

Everyone went to their tasks. He Rui and Xu Chengfeng boarded the train to the Kwantung Governor-General's Office. Accompanying them, besides Major Liu, was a Translator Zhao.

The group opened up the conversation on the train, chatting about affairs outside the pass. It was obvious that Major Liu was relying heavily on He Rui this time, showing a willingness to tell He Rui everything he knew. Translator Zhao held the lowest position among them; he was quite clever and eager to please. Being a local who was fluent in Japanese, he flattered the officers throughout the journey and incidentally gave them a detailed introduction to the situation in the Japanese-leased Kwantung territory.

The so-called Kwantung territory was the Jinzhou Peninsula [^2], which in later generations would include Lushun and Dalian. It was initially occupied by Russia and then seized by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War.

Afterward, Japan built cities in the Kwantung territory, recruiting Japanese and Chinese immigrants to establish cities in this area of excellent harbors. By this time, it was already a heavy industrial base of considerable scale.

The train approached the boundary of the Kwantung territory. Xu Chengfeng's mood slowly became heavy. He turned his head and saw that He Rui also looked depressed. He couldn't help asking, "Commander, you don't look happy."

He Rui looked at the Japanese road signs outside the window and replied calmly, "With the state of the nation like this, our generation naturally feels pain!"

Xu Chengfeng sighed. "I wonder when we can recover all the concessions and drive the foreigners out."

Hearing Xu Chengfeng say this, Major Liu hurriedly warned, "Commander He, it's fine for us to say this now, but you absolutely must not say it inside the Kwantung Army Headquarters."

The armies outside the pass were most afraid of conflict with the Japanese and Russian forces; He Rui knew this clearly. Seeing Major Liu so worried, he could only force a smile. "Brother Liu, don't worry. I am not yet reckless to that extent."

At this moment, the train slowly slowed down and stopped. Judging from the environment outside, He Rui determined they hadn't entered the Kwantung train station yet. Everyone was a bit surprised. Before long, a group boarded the train. The leader was a Japanese Lieutenant, followed closely by four Chinese men wearing railway uniforms. The Japanese Lieutenant just looked cold and arrogant, but the four men behind him looked fiendish, incessantly shouting in Chinese for passengers to clear the aisle to make way for the Japanese officer.

Perhaps seeing that the Lieutenant hadn't spoken, the four lackeys became even more vicious. They demanded a merchant travelling with his family to open his luggage to see if there was any contraband.

The merchant smiled apologetically and opened the box. It was full of clothes. One of the traitors picked up the box and dumped everything onto the carriage floor. The merchant could only keep smiling, watching helplessly as the traitor ruined his things, while having to keep explaining that he absolutely carried no contraband.

He Rui looked at Lieutenant Colonel Liu [^3] and Translator Zhao; both lowered their gazes, their expressions showing helplessness and indignation. Xu Chengfeng, however, was full of murderous intent, his right hand involuntarily reaching for the pistol at his waist.

The Japanese Lieutenant had already noticed He Rui in his military uniform. He squinted and looked for a while, then walked straight toward He Rui.

He Rui smiled slightly, stood up first, and smoothly reached out to press down on Xu Chengfeng's shoulder, stopping him from moving rashly.

The Japanese officer looked up at He Rui, snapped to attention with a salute, and asked respectfully, "May I ask, is Your Excellency Senior He Rui?"

He Rui returned the salute and ordered, "At ease!"

Once the Lieutenant stood at ease, He Rui lowered his hand and asked with a frown, "Lieutenant, which class of the Military Academy did you graduate from?"

The carriage seemed to freeze; everyone was dumbfounded.

***

[^1]: Hanyang 88 (汉阳造) - A Chinese rifle based on the German Gewehr 88.

[^2]: Jinzhou Peninsula (金州半岛) - The southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula.

[^3]: The text refers to him as "Major Liu" (刘少校) earlier, but here says "Lieutenant Colonel Liu" (刘中校). I've kept the raw text's designation here, but it's likely a typo in the source. He Rui addresses him as "Brother Liu" usually.