Re: A Bridge Zhou Far - Three Stars Rising | IN PLAY
In guerrilla warfare, select the tactic of seeming to come from the east and attacking from the west; avoid the solid, attack the hollow; attack; withdraw; deliver a lightning blow, seek a lightning decision. When guerrillas engage a stronger enemy, they withdraw when he advances; harass him when he stops; strike him when he is weary; pursue him when he withdraws. In guerilla strategy, the enemy's rear, flanks, and other vulnerable spots are his vital points, and there he must be harassed, attacked, dispersed, exhausted and annihilated. Only in this way can guerrillas carry out their mission of independent guerrilla action and coordination with the effort of the regular armies. But, in spite of the most complete preparation, there can be no victory if mistakes are made in the matter of command. Guerilla warfare based on the principles we have mentioned and carried out over a vast extent of territory in which communications are inconvenient will contribute tremendously towards ultimate defeat of the Japanese and consequent emancipation of the Chinese people. – Mao Zedong, on Guerrilla Warfare
It was decided that Comrade autolycus’ proposal, that PEXDET should “require a donation from each farmer of a seventh of his crop to our worthy cause, and that we compensate the farmers of each town with an hour's service in their fields each morning before we continue onwards.”, was now the policy of PEXDET towards acquiring food for the Revolutionaries. The peasants were disgruntled with this deal, as it was the sowing season and they disliked giving away such a large portion of their food before the winter came, but there wasn’t much that the peasants could do, and they reckoned that it was better then the soldiers taking all of their food. To the peasants, the Socialist were just another band of traveling thugs, as no attempt was made to instill Marxist ideology into the town was made, somewhat surprisingly.
***
Winston Hughes was sleeping. He had commandeered one of the richer peasant’s house for his sole use, and he had been pleased with the comparative luxuriousness of the bed he was sleeping in compared to the dirty rags he had been used to. Winston was dreaming about a cat, a cat eating poop. The dream quickly degenerated into a nightmare, with the dream becoming more surreal, frightening and harder to understand the longer Winston tossed and turned in bed.
Winston woke up with a start, covered in sweat. The room was pitch black, save for a slit of moonlight which slipped in through the narrow window to his side. All Winston could hear was his fast, shallow breathing, and the odd rustle from the bush swaying in the light wind outside his window.
“Finally” said the darkness, in a low, whisper
Winston jumped out of his skin, absolutely petrified; the poop eating cat was nothing compared to the terror he was now experiencing
“So,” continued the voice “I’ve finally found you. For the first time in three long years, I have you right in my sights. And best of all, there’s no way you can escape this time”
“What are you talking about?” wailed Winston “I haven’t done anything, I’m a good Communist!”
“Yes,” replied the voice, “You would say that. But then your definition of “Communist” would probably be more accurately described as traitor. Remember Si Dalin? Pan Tu? Lang Zhu? And the others you killed? Huh? Remember?”
Winston shook his head frantically.
“Who are they? And I’ve never killed anyone!”
The shadows tutted:
“Even if you hadn’t murdered all those brave, loyal Communists, I’d still be killing you in the next two minutes anyway, because of what you did in Shanghai”
“Shanghai? I’ve never been to Shanghai!” screamed Winston
“Oh yes you have,” replied the dark, “And you killed a man there. He was my brother, and there is no denying that, you villainous scum.”
And with that, a hand reached out of the shadow and grabbed Winston cry the collar, and pulled his face into the moonlight.
“You sneaky slug….you even shaved your facial hair off. You could have done a better disguise than that…”
“I can’t even grow a beard...” whimpered Winston.
The voice responded by plunging a sword deep into Winston’s chest and out the other side. Winston choked and flailed, and blood gushed out all over the bed sheets.
***
On the other side of town, a lock was broken. The door swung open, and in crept a gang of armed men. Five of them slipped in, and surrounded the bed of one Sasaki Kojiro. The men all looked to the tallest man, who gave a nod and drew his firearm. The others complied and drew their own weapons. The gathered all aimed their guns at the sleeping body, and with a second nod from the tall man, opened fire. The hail of bullets was woefully disproportionate, and some of the more enthusiastic members of the group had to empty their clips before they stopped clicking their triggers. Not surprisingly, the body was not moving and was covered in wounds and leaking blood when the shooting stopped. Gingerly, the tall man reached forward and rolled the mess onto its side to reveal the face of the victim. It was the face of Sasaki Kojiro.
“Hmm”
The tall man was obviously irritated that the occupant of the house was his victim, for some strange reason. He gestured to the other soldiers, and they filed out of the house, silently.
***
johnhughthom was alert and ready for anything. Perched on the roof of his house in the autumn cold, he drank booze and smoked his cheap cigarettes at a furious pace, lighting new ones before the old ones had even burnt out. Because of this, of all the people who were attacked that night in Daozhen, johnhughthom was the only one who was not surprised. Seeing an intruder approach from over the rooftops, johnhughthom immediately stood up.
“Have you come for vengeance, or are you a fool?” shouted johnhughthom
The intruder said nothing and began to reach inside his coat
“A fool then”, said johnhughthom as he snatched one of the bottles that lay scattered at his feet. Lighting the rag attached to it with his cigarette, johnhughthom hurled the lethal weapon through the air in a high parabola. Seeing the petrol bomb gliding through the air, the attacker dived to the side in a frantic bid to avoid the bottle of death. But his jump was misjudged, as he soared off the roof to land in a pile of manure with a sickening squelch, just as a colossal KABOOM lit up the sky and house above him. Disorientated and groaning in disgust, the man could only lie there as johnhughthom scampered away across the rooftops, proud of his handiwork and the awesomeness of the devastation he had left behind him.
***
A Communist was meant to be busy reading Das Kapital, but it really was as dull as everybody claimed it was. The fact that it was late at night didn't help, but it was just so physically EXHAUSTING to read. He started dropping off to sleep, whena knock came at his door. Startled, the Communist went over to unlock it and was greeted by a man in a crisp uniform.
"Hello young Communist, I'm a representative of the legitimate government of China, and I'm here to make you an offer. May I come in?"
Not waiting for a reply, the Kuomintang Officer strolled in and sat down on the startled Communist's bed. Noticing the thick book lying on the bed, the Officer rolled his eyes
"You're trying to read this? Man, it's heavy going isn't it? And the worst part is, it's all such rubbish! "Hurr de hurr, and look at the tendency for the rate of profit to fall blah blah blah", I mean what is that?" asked the Officer. Not waiting for a reply, he continued:
"Fundamentally, what use is Marx? He claims that a revolution could only happen in an industrialised country; something China clearly isn't! What is the point of fighting for socialism when your prophet says it is doomed to fail in the current environment? Now, Nationalism, on the other hand, is something worth fighting for. All Chinese are bonded by blood, not divided by class, and it in such unity that the Japanese can be best resisted! By spouting nonsense such as "The International Bourgeoisie are conspiring against the working class", Mao completely fails to address the single biggest problem afflicting China today; the Japanese! Don't you agree?"
The sole audience nodded energetically, mainly because a pistol was now being aimed at his head.
"Aha, so we have a consensus. In that case, meet me tomorrow night. We shall strike at these rats from within tomorrow."
The Officer stood up and strode out of the door with as much tenacity as he had when he entered. And the poor confused wreck of a man that he had left behind had just betrayed his entire ideology.
***
GeneralHankerchief gathered the survivors of the previous night to the central plaza of Daozhen.
“Comrades, it appears that even if Azathoth was a counter-revolutionary, that there are still more among us, as both Winston Hughes and Sasaki Kojiro were murdered in their sleep last night”
A steely grimness was the reply of the Maoists.
“Obviously, we must again choose a candidate to lynch” continued the Chairman. “But before we do that, it appears that you have volunteered to work in the fields as “payment” for the food we’re commandeering from these poor peasants. Umm, OK then, let’s get to work.”
And with that, the Marxists glumly exited the main gate to the rice paddies surrounding Daozhen. Only a few were genuinely enthusiastic about the prospect of an hour of farm work, with most only supporting the measure because it was the only one available. As it was the sowing season for rice, there wasn’t a huge amount of stuff to do, and the Communists blundered around and generally got in the way of professional farmers who knew what they were doing, although a few of the Socialists were expert farmers who performed their job well. After the hour was up, PEXDET awkwardly left the town, under the exasperated gazes of a town which had seen two murders, a lynching, a house fire and the theft of 1/7th of the town’s food in the twelve hours the Red Army had been there.
Exiting the town, the soldiers found their path gradually winding upwards into hillier and rougher terrain. The already uneven road became more broken and ill defined, and the upwards march was tiring for the Marxists, but it wasn’t like that had a choice.
Alive players: 37/40
ACIN
ArpeggiateTHIS
autolycus
AVSM
Beefy187
Beskar
Captain Blackadder
Chaotix
Cultured Drizzt fan
Cute Wolf
Death is yonder
Double A
GeneralHankerchief
johnhughthom
Jolt
Joooray
landlubber
M3YUZ
Methos
miotas
Nictel
Niklas
Pinman
Psychonau
Renata
Romanic
Seamus Fermanagh
Secura
shlin28
Sigurd
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
taka
TheFlax
Thermal Mercury
wideyedwanderer
Wishazu
Yaseikhaan
YLC
Lynched players 1/40
Azathoth
Killed Players 2/40
Winston Hughes
Sasaki Kojiro
I am expecting more people to actually vote his time. People who have still not voted by the end of this phase shall go on the Bad List. And those on the Bad List will not enjoy that position.
As you are clowning around in the rice paddies, this phase shall end in 22 hours, at 20:00 GMT+1 tomorrow. Happy Lynching!
- Horseman of the 
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Micheal D'Anjou
Originally Posted by Romanic
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