text:
U.S.|Supreme Court to Decide if Trump Can Block Release of Tax Records

Around 10 a.m. Thursday, the justices are set to issue highly anticipated decisions on whether the president’s accountants and bankers must disclose information about his financial affairs.

[President Trump’s lawyers contend that he is absolutely immune from criminal investigations while he is in office.]

Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

-   Published July 9, 2020Updated July 22, 2020

WASHINGTON — Around 10 a.m. Thursday, the Supreme Court is set to decide whether President Trump can block the release of his financial records. The ruling, concerning tax returns and other information the president has fought hard to protect, is likely to yield a major statement on the power of presidents to resist demands for information from Congress and prosecutors.

Here is a look at the two cases, one concerning subpoenas from House committees, the other a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat.

What are the issues in the cases?

Broadly speaking, they concern whether Mr. Trump can block subpoenas to his accountants and bankers from House committees and New York prosecutors.

What happens if Mr. Trump loses?

The accounting firm and the banks have indicated that they will comply with the subpoenas. Had the subpoenas sought evidence from the president himself, there was at least a possibility that he would try to defy a ruling against him, prompting a constitutional crisis.

What information do the House committees seek?

The House Oversight and Reform Committee is investigating hush-money payments to a pornographic film actress and whether Mr. Trump inflated and deflated descriptions of his assets on financial statements to obtain loans and to reduce his taxes. The House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees have sought an array of financial records related to the president, his companies and his family.

What have Mr. Trump’s lawyers said?

They contend that the committees have no legitimate need for the information.

What is the House’s response?

Lawyers for the House say the information is needed to allow it to conduct oversight and to draft legislation.

What information does Mr. Vance seek?

He wants eight years of business and personal tax records in connection with an investigation of the role that Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization played in hush-money payments made in the run-up to the 2016 election. Mr. Trump and his company reimbursed Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, for payments made to the actress, Stormy Daniels, who said that she had an affair with Mr. Trump.

What have Mr. Trump’s lawyers said?

They contend that he is absolutely immune from criminal investigations while he is in office. They add that allowing state and local officials to subpoena sitting presidents could subject them to politically motivated harassment.

What is Mr. Vance’s response?

Mr. Vance said the Supreme Court’s decision in 1974 in United States v. Nixon, which required President Richard M. Nixon to disclose tapes of Oval Office conversations, essentially decided the central issue in the case. “This court has long recognized,” Mr. Vance wrote, “that a sitting president may be subject to a subpoena in a criminal proceeding.”

What is the Justice Department’s position?

The Justice Department, arguing in support of Mr. Trump, who is represented by private lawyers, said none of the subpoenas satisfied the demanding standards that it said apply when information is sought about a sitting president’s private conduct.

question: Why does the House Committee want Mr. Trump's financial information?

answer: The House Oversight and Reform Committee is investigating hush-money payments to a pornographic film actress. They also want to know whether Mr. Trump inflated and deflated descriptions of his assets on financial statements to obtain loans and to reduce his taxes.

question: What was the outcome of the US Supreme Court hearing on whether the president had to disclose his financial records?


split: test

text:
Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part

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PART 3

《Starfall Tower》 Rooftop──
Diablo, Rem, Shera, Alicia, and Edelgart, all five of them came in front of the stone altar that was in the center.
Edelgart began to explain.
「For Demon King-sama to revive～, there is only the person of Races that is the seal container has to die, or Demon King-sama’s soul is filled with magical power……Still take hundreds of years～, maybe?」
Rem’s body stiffened.
「……Then, this ritual, it’s meant to fill Krebskrem’s soul with magical power, is that right?」
「That’s, right.」
Edelgart turned towards Diablo’s direction.
「Pour your magical power～, into Demon King-sama’s soul. When done～, able to revive Demon King-sama soon, should. Probably. Priest said so.」
Rem was uneasy. *Kokun*, she gulped.
「……It seems……I have no choice but to believe you.」
Certainly, it was a story that was like catching a cloud.
Information meant to help make a decision, was overwhelmingly insufficient. There was no way to make sure that Edelgart’s words were true.
Rem extended her hand to Diablo.
With both of her small hands, she grasped his right hand which held 《The Staff of Tenma》.
Soft.
「Wh, what?」
「……Diablo……I, am unable to trust the Demonic Beings.」
「Is that so. In that case, shall we stop?」
「No, let us perform the ritual. Most likely, by storing magical power, Krebskrem will probably revive. At that time, whether I’ll be saved or not, is something I don’t know.」
「Umu.」
「Even so, I don’t mind. More than my own life, I want to defeat Krebskrem. If it is you, that is possible……It is definitely possible. That’s why, I, will believe in you, Diablo.」
*Jii*, she gazed at him.
It was a face that showed she was betting her life.
As the egg of the Demon King that would one day revive, she chose not to live a life of quietly hiding, and had a face of someone chose to fight.
Bathed in moonlight, that figure was too beautiful.
Diablo placed her hand on her shoulder.
「I shall equally exterminate all those that oppose me.」
These words were not something he planned to say to relieve her.
It was an act to be Demon King-like, but they were also Diablo’s true feelings. He would defeat Krebskrem.
And then, if something were to happen to Rem’s body, he had no intentions of forgiving Edelgart either.
Edelgart urged them to the altar.
「Well, then～……Lie here!」
It was the place where he opened his eyes when he came to this world.
Rem lied down on the altar.
「……Is this alright?」
「Good. Thenー……Pour magical power.」
She turned her gaze towards him.
That was his duty. Diablo tried to make it so that the nervousness in his heart didn’t appear on the surface.
「Do I, not use some kind of tool? You made preparations for the ritual, right?」
「Underfoot～, magic formation. Amplifies poured magical power? Does.」
「Is that all?」
「Other things, needed?」
Edelgart tilted her head.
Pouring magical power probably meant the act that he learned from Medios the shopkeeper at the slave shop and had tried on Shera.
Although he had just happened to have learned it……
If Diablo didn’t know the way to pour magical power, the ritual would have failed right here.
It probably would have turned into a atmosphere that would make him feel like running away.
In his mind, he went “Thank goodness I learned how to do itー!!” and cried out banzai.
──Still, Edelgart looks like she has a pretty haphazard personality.
In proportion to her strange way of speaking, she surprisingly thought a lot about things. She also had knowledge, and was calm. Governing one of the three factions, just doing that was good.
However, she also had a part of her that left things to momentum.
Or maybe, could it be that she acquired the information that Diablo was able to pour magical power?
And for this reason, she made this proposal?
Shera blushed.
「Umm……by pour magical power……you mean “that”, right?」
Diablo nodded.
「Most likely.」
「That, huh……Rem, will you be alright?」
「……I, I’m prepared. But, this ritual is meant to revive Krebskrem……and then, defeat it. It is something serious.」
Before, Shera had playfully poured magical power into Rem. Probably remembering that, Rem’s face also turned red.
「Y, yeah. Do your best!」
Edelgart stopped Shera who tried to get closer to Rem.
「Magic formation get disarrayed. So～ unrelated things, get away.」
「That so……」
「Just leave it all to me!」
Diablo approached the altar.
*Fuwah* The magic formation that was drawn in the surroundings floated up in a bluish-white color.
Even on the altar that Rem was lying on, there were fine patterns and letters were closely packed and written.
She quivered.
「……Fufu……Since the time, I decided to become an Adventurer, I had resolved myself for almost everything. However, to think that I would have the magical power from a Demon King poured into me, while on top of a magic formation drawn by Demonic Beings, this was outside of my imagination.」
「You should count the number of stars in the sky or something. It will end at once.」
──It will end at once, right?
Pouring magical power requires concentration. He had only just learned it, so he wasn’t able to continuously do it for that long.
He touched Rem’s body. First, he placed his right hand on her stomach. It felt pleasantly cool, and was soft.
「Fuh……」
She leaked out a small sigh.
「Are you alright?」
「Yes, it was a bit, ticklish is all.」
「If it’s painful, you should tell me immediately.」
「……Yes.」
「Errm……」
The top and bottom of Rem’s clothes were separated. He touched her naked navel with his hand, and read the flow of magical power.
The strong stream created a swirl with her heart at the center.
It was a pattern that differed from the time with Shera.
He decided to try pouring magical power there.
The muscles along Rem’s spine quivered.
「Nghuuuuuu……ッ!?」
From the side, Edelgart interrupted.
「Wro～ng～, that. Wrong. That not Demon King-sama, that Pantherian! Putting magical power there, wrong.」
「Fumu, I see.」
He read the information more prudently.
Within the flow of Rem’s magical power, there was a gooey mass.
In the depths of her navel huh……
No, even further below.
Even if he read the flow of magical power, he couldn’t tell the color. Or that’s how it should have been, but it was black. It was as if there was a bottomless hole open inside of Rem.
It wasn’t like he had read everyone’s magical power, but at the very least, it was different from Shera’s. Most likely it was different from Diablo’s as well.
No wonder Medios made a dubious face.
「So it’s here……」
He poured magical power.
Just like before, Rem’s body quivered.
「Hafuunghuuuuu……ッ!!」
「Mu……It isn’t reaching.」
Because it was deep within, the magical power wasn’t quite reaching. It felt like at least half was streaming towards Rem.
Edelgart talked sounding displeased.
「Like that～, not enough. Won’t cross over to Demon King-sama? Better if stab finger in.」
「……Wait. Did you say, finger?」
「Right. Like *Dosu*～, with that feeling.」
「Rejected. I won’t allow a single scratch on her skin, well, I won’t go that far, but if I were to do that, it would concern Rem’s life.」
「Mu～, people of Races weak……Just a hole or two……Right. Hole. There was a hole? Is.」
She came to the side of the altar, and pointed.
The Demonic Being had said that no one was to get close, but since the ritual wasn’t proceeding favorably, he decided to not mention such trifles.
More importantly, her proposal was a huge problem.
「……What, was that?」
「If insert finger from here～, even if don’t stab skin, it alright?」
「You, are you ridiculing me!?」
「Edelgart～, hate……jokes.」
Rem let out a small voice.
「……ease do it.」
「Nn?」
「Please, do it……Diablo. If that is what is needed.」
「U, gu……No……Uumu」
The watching Shera raised a voice saying 「I don’t, really get it but, go for it!」.
Alicia kept silent and watched intently.
Diablo nodded.
「Yosh! You should tell me if it hurts! I will at least wait!」
His voice felt like it was going to quiver.
Once again, he extended his hand towards her body.
To the closest place that that existence deep inside of her body was.
──This, is an action meant to pour magical power to Demon King Krebskrem’s soul!
Diablo extended his hand to Rem’s abdomen.
「I am going to take it off.」
「Y, yes……」
Putting his hand on her spats, he slipped them down. The area around her hips was exposed to the air.
And then, he extended his hand between both her legs.
So as to not turn his eyes towards there as much as possible, or rather, so as to immediately tell if Rem was in pain, he looked at her face.
Groping about, he searched for the entrance to her innermost area.
*Piku* Rem’s eyelashes quivered.
「Hann!?」
「O, oi?」
「I’m……I’m alright……You just touched, a place that is a bit, sensitive……Please continue, without minding me. If it seems unreasonable, I’ll be sure to say so after all.」
「Is that so.」
Before, Rem said that she was fourteen years old.
──Is this alright?
No, because she is a Pantherian, it is hard to believe that they would have the same standards as Humans. According to the setting in MMORPG Cross Reverie, Elves live to around 300 years. Also, that the other Demi-humans in general have longevity.
Diablo stopped worrying about such minor details, and focused on the deed.
Shera, who was watching from a small distance away, was blushing.
「Eh? Eh? This is a ritual……right?」
「Of course it is.」
Alicia answered.
When Diablo’s fingertips arrived at Rem’s precious place, her back bent back.
「Fuh!」
「S, so it’s here.……」
「Nnn, ah! Ahh! It……it’s in……Diablo, is en, ter……ing……me.」
「Ah……」
It went in easier than he thought it would.
Warm.
It was soft, and it was as if it was viscously coiling around him.
With his fingertip having entered just a bit, it was still too far from Krebskrem. There wasn’t a great difference from when he had placed his hand on top of her stomach.
He pushed further in.
Rem’s breathing became stiff.
「Hanghuu! Kufuuuu……Uuuu! Nn, ah! Ha! Ha!」
「Just a bit more.」
Diablo pushed his middle finger inside.
Her body temperature was being transmitted to him clearly. It was tightly pressing on him.
And then, he also felt magical power.
──I’ve come close to you, Krebskrem!
「Here I come! Rem!」
Going as if trying to lift up her waist with only his middle finger, he pushed it in even deeper. He poured magical power in.
Rem raised a high-pitched voice.
「Hiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa──────ッ!?」
The magical power released from Diablo streamed to the jet black cavity that was deep within her.
Edelgart narrowed her eyes.
「R, ight……That～, good……Should be」
「AH! AH! AH! HIAH! NHAaaaa! D, don’t, too stro……No, just like that! Nnhaa……Aguuuuu! Th, the innermost area of my stomach is……hot……It, it feels like I’m burning up……Uuuu!」
「Not yet! More!」
He poured in all of the magical power that he had. He held nothing in reserve.
Now that they had gone this far, he was going to absolutely revive Krebskrem, and beat it down!
The magic formation that was drawn underfoot was releasing enough radiance that it was dazzling.
It was amplifying Diablo’s magical power.
Within Rem, the swelling discharge of magical power was raging. It stirred up her insides, and her body had spasmed on top of the altar many times over.
「HAuuUUUGUAH! AGUH! NN! Ku, tsufuu! AH! G, going in so deep……Naaaah, gouging me out……Tsuhaa……NN! I’m, I’m going cra……zy……HA! AH! NHAAH! AAAAaaaa……AAaah!」
「Fuu……Fuu……」
The consumption of magical power was too much, and he was starting to feel dizzy.
A sensation similar to a dull pain reverberated from his spine to the inside of his head.
He started to lose feeling in his fingertips as if they were melting from the heat, as if he had become one with Rem’s body.
Nevertheless, Diablo thrust deep within her.
「Kuh……」
「HYAUN! Fua! AH! AAHHH! NHAaAH! HOT! IT’S HOT! Diablo……I, I’m……already……HAFU! This is……m, making me feel……like I’ll go crazy……NN!」
「Yeah, you’ve started to overflow.」
The poured in magical power was overflowing from the deep hole that was within Rem.
──So Krebskrem has had its fill!
As if to make the finishing blow, he released the remaining magical power deep into her.
「KUOOOOH! Reach it!」
「Nnnnnu! AH! HHIGUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuu─────────ッ!!」
While scratching her insides, Diablo pulled out his finger.
Fluids fell onto the altar.
──It’s coming!!
Something was coming out from within the deep hole.

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Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part

question: What does the story say about Dungeons & Dragons?

question: What does the story say about Diablo and the party's quest at the rooftop of Starfall Tower?

answer: Diablo's and the party's quest was to revive the Demon King-sama using a ritual to kill Krebskrem's soul using magical power. The only way to perform the ritual is by Diablo inserting his finger inside Rem's vagina while she's lying on an altar and pouring his magical power into her. After a bit of trial and error, they succeed in their task and something was coming out from within Rem's deep hole.


text:
[A 10 dollar banknote issued by the Ta-Ching Government Bank depicting Zaifeng, Prince Chun issued in 1910.]

The BANKNOTES OF THE TA-CHING GOVERNMENT BANK (Traditional Chinese: 大清銀行兌換券), known as the BANKNOTES OF THE TA-CHING BANK OF THE MINISTRY OF REVENUE (Traditional Chinese: 大清戶部銀行兌換券) from 1905 to 1908, were intended to become the main form of paper money in the Qing currency system. These banknotes were issued by the Ta-Ching Government Bank, a national bank established to serve as the central bank of the Qing dynasty. The Ta-Ching Government Bank had branches throughout China and many of its branches outside of its headquarters in Beijing also issued banknotes.

These banknotes were stipulated to become the only legal tender paper money in China in 1910, but due to the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 the Chinese currency system reverted back to its original chaotic state during the early Republican era and the Ta-Ching Government Bank would be renamed to the Bank of China in 1912, which would continue to produce banknotes in Mainland China until 1942 and its Hong Kong branch is still one of the official note-issuing banks for the banknotes of the Hong Kong dollar today.

History

The Ta-Ching Government Bank was the first official financial institution in the history of China to fulfill the functions of a central bank.

Background and banknotes of the Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue

During the transition from Ming to Qing the Manchu government issued banknotes to finance its expensive military campaigns, but following their conquest of China they abolished these banknotes.[1][2][3][4] Under the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor the Da-Qing Baochao (大清寶鈔) copper-alloy cash coins-based banknotes and Hubu Guanpiao (戶部官票) silver tael-based banknotes were introduced in response to the Taiping Rebellion,[5][6][7][8] but these banknotes would suffer severe inflation due to mismanagement and were eventually abolished causing the Chinese populace to distrust government-issued paper money once again,[9] though private banknotes would continue to be trusted and to circulate.[10]

Following the opening up of many treaty port cities of China after its defeat during the First Opium War during the 1840s, a large number of major foreign banks entered China and started issuing their own banknotes there for local circulation.[11] During this same era provincial governments started setting up their own official banks to enhance their financial resources. The boom of financial institutions during this era meant that various forms of paper money, private banknotes, foreign banknotes, and many different kinds of local coinages circulated concurrently creating a very chaotic Chinese currency system.[12] During the later part of the Qing dynasty era there was a discussion on whether or not the imperial Chinese government would have to establish a national bank which it finally did in 1905. Peng Shu (彭述) stated before the introduction of new banknotes that the national bank would have to keep sufficient reserves in “touchable” money (現金) at all times. The large number of private notes that were being produced all over the empire was to be restricted by introducing a stamp duty (印花稅). The reformer Liang Qichao campaigned for the government of the Qing dynasty to emulate the Western world and Japan by embracing the gold standard, unify refractory the currencies of China, and issue government-backed banknotes with a ⅓ metallic reserve.[13] In order to unify the national currency system, in 1905, the government of the Qing dynasty established the “Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue” (大清戶部銀行) in Beijing, becoming the earliest officially opened national bank in China.[14] The newly established national bank had a dual nature of being both a central bank and a commercial bank.[15] The production of the banknotes was entrusted to the prints of the Beiyang Newspaper (北洋報局) in Northern China. In 1906 the government of the Qing dynasty sent students to Japan to be educated about modern printing techniques, with the aim to have the Shanghai Commercial Press (上海商務印書館) print the cheques of the Ministry's Bank.[16]

The Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue were still issuing two different types of banknotes, one series was denominated in “tael” (兩), these were known as the Yinliang Piao (銀兩票) and had the denominations of 1 tael, 5 taels, 10 taels, 50 taels, and 100 taels. The other series was denominated in “yuan” and were known as Yinyuan Piao (銀元票) and were issued in the denominations of 1 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 50 yuan, and 100 yuan.[17]

Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Government Bank

In the year 1906, the government of the Qing dynasty was reformed and in the year 1908 the Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue changed its name to the Ta-Ching Government Bank (大清銀行) and the inscriptions of the banknotes issued by it had to be changed to reflect its new name. The banknotes issued before the name change were all printed by the Beiyang Newspaper.[18] Because there is no advanced engraving technology for banknotes in China at the time and the banknotes that were printed by the Beiyang Newspaper's commercial press were both expensive to make and easy to imitate, the government of the Qing dynasty had later commissioned the American Bank Note Company to print new banknotes for the Ta-Ching Government Bank.[19]

The banknotes produced by the Ta-Ching Government Bank printed by the American Bank Note Company featured an image of Li Hongzhang on their observe sides and were subsequently known as “Li Hongzhang notes” (李鴻章像券) to the Chinese public. However, due to the turbulent situation that arose after the death of the Guangxu Emperor and the miscommunications the “Li Hongzhang notes” were printed in various forms and the circulation was chaotic.[20]

During this period, several employees of the Ta-Ching Government Bank were sent to Japan to study modern printing technology and after these people returned to China, they would propose to the imperial court to adopt the Japanese method of copper engraving and some trial banknotes were made, but the proposition was ultimately not adopted by the government of the Qing dynasty.[21]

Following the Chinese tradition of issuing new money in a new reign, the Xuantong administration had the design of the official Ta-Ching Government Bank paper notes somewhat changed to herald in the new emperor.[22] The new design was inspired by the designs of the banknotes of the United States dollar of this era.[23]

In the year 1910, the government of the Qing dynasty issued a new law to solve the chaotic currency situation of China at the time, this law made the banknotes issued by the Ta-Ching Government Bank the only legal tender paper money in China. The law further stipulated that only the Ta-Ching Government Bank can issue paper money and that its banknotes can be used for all payment activities and financial transactions across the country. The government of the Qing dynasty hired the American sculptor L. J. Hatch and several American technicians to train the banknote printing staff and they were set out to design a new version of Ta-Ching Government Bank banknotes.[24] The obverse of these newly designed banknotes featured the face of Zaifeng, Prince Chun and were popularly known as “Ta-Ching Dragon banknotes” (大清龍鈔) because they incorporated a Chinese dragon in their designs. The Ta-Ching Government Bank had commissioned eighth trial banknotes based on these designs, they were in the denominations of 1 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, and 100 yuan.[25] Ultimately, the trial notes all featured a black obverse side and their reverse sides in different colours with the 1 yuan being green, the 5 yuan being purple, the 10 yuan being blue, and the 100 yuan being yellow, they were all printed by a branch of the Ta-Ching Government Bank. Printing of the “Ta-Ching Dragon banknotes” began on 1 March, 1911. China also became one of the few countries in the world to adopt the technique of steel engraving.[26] These banknotes did not see circulation as in 1911 the Xinhai Revolution broke out which overthrew the Qing dynasty and only a handful of trial banknotes were ever printed.[27][28][29]

At the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, there were 5,400,000 tael worth of Yinliang banknotes circulating in China, and 12,400,000 yuan in Yinyuan banknotes.[30]

Aftermath

[An overprinted 1909 “Li Hongzhang note” (李鴻章像券) of 5 yuan re-issued in 1912 as a “Bank of China note” (中國銀行兌換券).]

In the year 1912, the Republic of China was established, and the Ta-Ching Government Bank had changed its name to the “Bank of China” (中國銀行). In order to alleviate the financial crisis, a large number of “Li Hongzhang notes” were overstamped and changed to “Bank of China notes” (中國銀行兌換券) for circulation.[31]

The Bank of China would continue producing Chinese banknotes until 1942.[32][33] After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, the Bank of China effectively split into two operations. Part of the bank relocated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang (KMT) government, and was privatised in 1971 to become the International Commercial Bank of China (). In 2002, it merged with Chiao Tung Bank () to become the Mega International Commercial Bank. The Mainland operation is the current entity known as the Bank of China. The Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China still issues its own banknotes in Hong Kong today.[34][35]

List of banknotes

1906

  Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue (1906 issue)
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- ------------ ------------- --------------- -- ------
  Image
  Obverse
  []
  []
  []
  []

1907

  Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Bank of the Ministry of Revenue (1907 issue)
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- ------------ ------------- --------------- -- ------
  Image
  Obverse
  []
  []
  []

1908

  Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (1908 issue)
  -------------------------------------------------------- --------- ------------ ------------- --------------- -- ------
  Image
  Obverse
  []

1909

  Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (1909 issue)
  -------------------------------------------------------- --------- ------------- ------------- --------------- -- ------
  Image
  Obverse
  []
  []
  []
  []

1910

  Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (1910 issue)
  -------------------------------------------------------- --------- ------------- ------------- --------------- -- ------
  Image
  Obverse
  []
  []
  []
  []

1911

  Banknotes of the Ta-Ching Government Bank (1911 issue)
  -------------------------------------------------------- --------- ------------ ------------- --------------- -- ------
  Image
  Obverse
  []
  []

[1]

[2] Yang Lien-sheng (1954) Money and credit in China: a short history. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 68.

[3] Shi Yufu (石毓符) (1984) Zhongguo huobi jinrong shilüe (中國貨幣金融史略). Tianjin renmin chubanshe, Tianjin, pp. 109–11. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12] 鹤龄. 大清银行第一套钞票 [J]. 会计之友, 2004(2):72-72. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[13] Hou Houji (侯厚吉), Wu Qijing (吴其敬) (1982) _Zhongguo jindai jingji sixiang shigao_ (中國近代經濟思想史稿). Heilongjiang renminchubanshe, Harbin, vol. 3, pp. 322–339. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17] Bruce, Colin - Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Volume 1, Iola, Wisconsin 2005, Krause Publications.

[18] 王金华, 张芳. 户部银行时期的大清银行兑换券[J]. 中国钱币, 2005(4):32-33. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[19] 孙浩. 美钞公司档案中李鸿章像大清银行兑换券承印始末[J]. 中国钱币, 2013(6):9-12. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[20]

[21] 高桂云. “大清门”伍拾圆兑换券铜质凹印票版浅议[J]. 钱币博览, 2006(4):30-31. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[22]

[23]

[24] 顾慧. 一套没有完成社会使命的大清纸币——大清银行兑换券的诞生始末[J]. 艺术市场, 2009(4):82-83. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[25] 毕凤鹏, 李茂, 杨若龄,等. 大清银行兑换券试色样票始末[J]. 中国钱币, 1992(4):19-22. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[26] 添寿. 我国首批机印钞票诞生始末[J]. 安徽钱币, 2006(1):34-35. (in Mandarin Chinese).

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33] Chang, H.: The Silver Dollars and Taels of China. Hong Kong, 1981 (158 pp. illus.). Including Subsidiary Notes on “The Silver Dollars and Taels of China” Hong Kong, 1982 (40 pp. illus.). .

[34]

[35]

question: What does the text say about America?

answer: Around 1908, the government of the Quing dynasty commissioned the American Bank Note Company to print new bank notes for the Ta-Ching Government Bank, which featured an image of Li Hongzhang on their observe sides. This was because there was no advanced engraving technology for bank notes in China at the time. During the XuanTong administration, new bank notes were made to herald in the new emperor. The design was inspired by the United States dollar of that era. In 1910, American sculptor L.J. Hatch and other American technicians trained the bank note printing staff as they set out to create a new version of the Ta-Ching Government Bank bank noes.

question: What does the text say about coins in the United States?

question: What does the text say about sending students to Japan?

answer: The text notes that during the Quing dynasty, the goal was to emanate the Western world and Japan. In 1906, the Quing dynasty sent students to Japan to be educated about modern printing techniques. After these students returned to China, they  proposed to the imperial court to adopt the Japanese method of copper engraving. Trial bank notes were made, but the proposition ended up not being adopted.

question: What does the text say about Li Hongzhang?

answer: The bank notes produced by the Ta-Ching Government Bank during the Quing dynasty in 1906 featured Li Hongzhang's face on the observe side. This led to them being referred to as "Li Hongzhang notes" to the Chinese public. However a turbulent situation arose after the death of the Guangxu Emperor and miscommunications caused "Li Hongzhang notes" to be printed in various forms with chaotic circulation. In 1912, the Republic of China was established, and the Ta-Ching Government Bank changed its name to "Bank of China". At this time a large number of "Li Hongzhang notes" were overstamped and changed to "Bank of China notes" for circulation to help with the financial crisis..


text:
The most important person to all of WWE right now might be Leslie Smith.

WWE Superstars are severely underpaid as WWE is set to rake in billions for its television deals.

Credit: WWE.com

She's the recently released UFC fighter who's taking the UFC to court in hopes of the multi billion-dollar fight organization reclassifying its fighters as employees, which would naturally lead to the unprecedented unionization of fighter while opening the floodgates for wrestlers to follow suit.

WWE has thrived financially in part due to its fear-based political structure that allows the monolithic conglomerate to rule with an iron fist and retaliate against the slightest insubordination at will.

WWE Superstars are systematically trained to fall in line through the education (read: brainwashing) of fruitless unwritten rules—the subject of a mostly satirical book released in 2017—and leveraging of their childhood dreams.

The ghosts of discipline haunt WWE locker rooms on a year-round basis through scary industry terms such as “backstage heat,” and everything from smiling on camera to failing to shake hands with an old-timer could be subject to termination without representation.

WWE is set to make over $2 billion in TV revenue alone, and until WWE Superstars unionize, those... [+] revenues will not be shared proportionately.

Credit: WWE.com

With WWE set to reportedly make over $2 billion from television deals alone over the next five years, there is no time for WWE Superstars to unionize like the present. Unfortunately, no WWE Superstar has dared to even broach that subject from within its punitive halls, so this long overdue labor relations fight must catalyze from outside Stamford, Conn. From people like labor attorney Lucas Middlebrook and Leslie Smith.

Smith’s predicament in UFC is no different from that of your everyday WWE Superstar. In fact, in WWE, it might be worse. WWE Superstars are classified as independent contractors, meaning WWE has no responsibility to pay them pensions, benefits, insurance or taxes. WWE Superstars are also responsible for their own travel expenses and costs to buy their ring gear.

As an employer, this questionable caveat saves WWE millions of dollars, but in addition to enjoying the financial benefits of an employer, WWE also enjoys full exclusivity to contracted performers, one which directly contradicts the nature of an independent contractor.

Despite their independent contractor status, WWE Superstars cannot compete for outside promotions or make outside appearances without approval from WWE. WWE Superstars essentially enjoy the worst parts of being an independent contractor with none of the benefits. This issue of misclassification is at the center of the Leslie Smith case, and should she prove victorious, this budding issue could turn up the heat—front-and-center—on WWE for its own suspect labor policies and pay structures.

Of course, the push for a WWE union would bring about the potentially messy dilemmas of work stoppages, the cancellation of live TV tapings, offseasons, strikes, scabs and standoffs. The rewards, however, would be worthwhile.

In the 2016 calendar year, Brock Lesnar was WWE’s highest-paid Superstar, with a salary of $12 million per year. That year, WWE reported record revenues of $729.2 million, meaning Lesnar’s salary accounted for under 2% of WWE’s total revenues. With WWE’s new television deals for Raw and SmackDown Live, it stands to tip the scales at over one billion dollars in total revenues beyond 2019, meaning Lesnar’s $12 million salary—which is not mandated to increase with company revenues in the non-unionized WWE—would amount to a measly 1.2% of WWE’s total revenues.

Compare this to the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, all of which have unions and established pay structures. Quarterback Matt Stafford’s league-high 2017 salary of $27 million represented 8% of the Detroit Lion’s total revenue in 2017. Steph Curry’s $34.7 million salary accounted for just under 10% of the Golden State Warrior’s total revenue in 2017. All told, none of the highest-paid players in any of the four major North American sports were paid less than 6.5% of their team’s annual revenue. With no pay scale to speak of, and a near-monopoly in the world of national pro wrestling, WWE’s dominant leveraging position allows it to pay WWE Superstars whatever it wants.

  -------- ----------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------- -------
  LEAGUE   HIGHEST-PAID PLAYER IN 2017   ANNUAL SALARY IN 2017              % OF TEAM REVENUE   UNION
  NFL      Matt Stafford                 $27,000,000                        7.92%               NFLPA
  NBA      Steph Curry                   $34,682,550                        9.66%               NBPA
  NHL      Jonathan Toews                $13,800,000                        7.56%               NHLPA
  MLB      Clayton Kershaw               $33,800,000                        6.48%               MLBPA
  WWE      Brock Lesnar                  $12 Million (2016 Calendar Year)   1.65% (2016)        N/A
  -------- ----------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------- -------

Leverage has been the key word in WWE’s recent financial gains. As a content provider in the age of cord cutting, the promotion shrewdly leveraged its coveted live event model against network television’s need to stay competitive against streaming services. As a result, Fox paid $1.025 billion for SmackDown Live. The promotion leveraged NBCUniversal against Fox and other suitors in a bidding war, knowing full well USA Network needed WWE Raw to remain relevant as a cable television network. That leveraging led to a $1.325 billion deal to keep Raw on the USA Network.

WWE will have all the leverage in the world in just about every financial negotiation as long as criminally underpaid, underrepresented and unspoken WWE Superstars remain quiet in times of historical financial prosperity.

That is unless Leslie Smith gets her way.

question: What is Leslie Smith fighting for?

answer: Leslie Smith is taking the UFC to court hoping that the organization will reclassify its fighters as employees. This would lead to the unprecedented unionization of fighters while opening the floodgates for the wrestlers.

question: Why are things worse for the WWE Superstars?

answer: WWE Superstars are independent contractors. This means that the organization is not liable to pay them pensions, benefits, insurance, or taxes. The Superstars are also supposed to pay for their own travel and buy their ring gear by themselves.

question: What is the reason behind WWE's such rules and regulations?

question: How are the other leagues different from WWE?

answer: The Major League Baseball, NFL, and the National Hockey League are all different from WWE in the sense that they have unions and established pay structures. All highest-paid players in the major four North American sports were not paid less than 6.5% of their team's annual revenue. On the other hand, WWE has a leverage position that allows it to pay the Superstars whatever it wants to.


text:
YAZUR (, ) was a Palestinian Arab town located east of Jaffa. Mentioned in 7th century BCE Assyrian texts, the village was a site of contestation between Muslims and Crusaders in the 12th-13th centuries.

During the Fatimid period in Palestine, a number of important people were born in Yazur. In modern times the town was the birthplace of Ahmed Jibril, the founder and current head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC).

The Israeli town of Azor now stands on the former town lands of Yazur, which was depopulated and mostly destroyed during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.

History

Iron Age

The village is mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib (704 – 681 BCE) as _Azuro_.[1]

Fatimid, Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk eras

The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229) described Yazur as a small town[2] that was the birthplace of several important figures during the Fatimid period, most prominent among them, al-Hasan ibn ´Ali al-Yazuri, who became a Fatimid minister in 1050 CE.[3] In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE, Muslim and Crusader forces fought for control of the village and it changed hands several times, before finally falling under the control of the Mamluks.[4]

Ottoman era

[Maqam (shrine) of Imam ´Ali, ca. 1887] During early Ottoman rule in Palestine, the revenues of the village of Yazur were in 1557 designated for the new waqf of Hasseki Sultan Imaret in Jerusalem, established by Hasseki Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana), the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent.[5] In 1586, the Maqam Imam ´Ali in Yazur was seen by Jean Zuallart, who described it as follows: “....a little further was a square mosque with nine little cupolas. Across the road there is a well or cistern.”[6] In the 1596 tax records, Yazur was a village in the _nahiya_ (“subdistrict”) of Ramla, part of Sanjak of Gaza. It had a population 50 Muslim households, an estimated 275 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% for the crops that they cultivated, which included wheat, barley, fruit, and sesame as well as on other types of property, such as goats and beehives; a total of 19,250 akçe. All of the revenue went to a Muslim charitable institurion.[7] In 1602, Seusenius described the Maqam Imam ´Ali as “a mosque with nine cupolas the one in the middle being the highest”.[8]

The Syrian Sufi teacher and traveller Mustafa al-Bakri al-Siddiqi (1688-1748/9) who travelled in the region in the first half of the eighteenth century, and Mustafa al-Dumyati (d. 1764) reported visiting the shrine of a sage called Sayyiduna (“our master”) Haydara in Yazur.[9] The village appeared named _Jazour_ on the map that Pierre Jacotin compiled in 1799.[10]

In 1863 Victor Guérin visited.[11] While still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1870, Charles Netter from Alliance Israélite Universelle founded the Mikveh Israel southeast of Jaffa. Through a firman of the sultan, he received land for the school which until then had been worked by the fellahin of the village of Yazur. In a _Survey of Western Palestine_ (1882), it is noted that, “Though the land belongs to the Government, the Fellahin, from long usage, have got to look upon it as virtually their own, and resent its occupation by any other person.” The peasants therefore became bitter enemies of the school farm.[12]

In the late summer of 1870, the governor of Damascus visited Jaffa. Accompanied by Netter and two Templars, Hoffmann and Ernst Hardegg, the governor also passed by Yazur:

  While riding between Natter's property and the city, the Wali was beset by Arab women and men who begged him, holding onto the reigns of his mule, and onto his trousers, to help them regain their rights, the Jews were taking away their land; here they pointed at Natter, who rode next to the Wali, screaming “the Jews, the Jews.” The Pasha, riding on the other side, asked Ernst for his riding crop and chased them away himself. The Wali accepted a petition handed him by a _shaykh_, incidentally.[13]

The PEF's _Survey of Western Palestine_ also reported that in 1882 the village structures were built of adobe brick with dispersed gardens and wells, and that Yazur contained a domed shrine.[14]

British mandate era

Modern Yazur was divided into four quarters, one for each of four clans (_hama´il_, sing. _hamula_) that lived there. The houses were made of stone or adobe brick and straw and were built in groups called _ahwash_ (pl. of _hawsh_, “courtyard”). Each house in such a group opened onto a common courtyard that had a single entrance, often an arched gate. The village had two elementary schools, one for boys (built in 1920) and another for girls (opened in 1933). The boys´school occupied 27 dunums (the bulk of which was allocated for training students in agronomy) and had its own artesian well. In 1947, 430 boys and 160 girls were registered in these schools. The remains of an old Crusader church built by Richard the Lionheart in 1191, called _Castel des Plaines,_ were visible on a hill inside the village. The Crusader church had been rebuilt to serve as Yazur's mosque.

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yazur had a population of 1,284 residents, all Muslims,[15] increasing in the 1931 census to 2,337 inhabitants in 419 houses.[16]

According to the 1945 census, Yazur had a population of 4,030, mostly Muslim Arabs with a small Arab Christian community of 20 people.[17][18] Agriculture constituted the backbone of the economy; in 1944, citrus was planted on 6,272 dunums and 1,441 dunums were allocated to cereals. Agriculture was both rainfed and irrigated; 1,689 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. During World War II, the villagers also started raising Holstein cows, and by 1947 numerous artesian wells were being used for irrigation.[19]

[Yazur 1929 1:20,000] [Yazur 1945 1:250,000]

Lead-up to 1947-1948 war, and after

The Filastin newspaper reported that on December 11, 1947, members of a pro-Zionist armed group drove at high speed through the town, throwing bombs at a barbershop and a coffeehouse. They did not cause any fatalities. However, Aref al-Aref reports that one week later, on the 18th of December, more Zionist troops returned, this time disguised as British soldiers. Driving through the main road they threw several bombs at a coffeehouse, killing six villagers.[20] Filastin reported that on 30 December, yet another Zionist raiding party had tried to blow up village houses. This group had been discovered by the village guards, and driven away.[21] More attacks followed early 1948.[22] The largest came on 12 February, when Yazur and Abu Kabir were attacked by mortars and machine-guns. Several houses in Yazur were destroyed.[23] Attacks followed almost weekly, including on 20 February when Zionist forces attacked the village with tanks and armoured vehicles, destroying an ice factory, two houses, and killing one villager and wounding another four.[24][25]

Yazur was depopulated during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, weeks prior to the outbreak of the wider 1948 Arab-Israeli War, during the Haganah's offensive Operation Hametz 28–30 April 1948. This operation was held against a group of villages east of Jaffa, including Yazur. According to the preparatory orders, the objective was “opening the way [for Jewish forces] to Lydda”. Though there was no explicit mention of the prospective treatment of the villagers, the order spoke of “cleansing the area” [_tihur hashetah_].[26] The final operational order stated: “Civilian inhabitants of places conquered would be permitted to leave after they are searched for weapons.” Soldiers were instructed to not harm women and children “insofar as possible” and to not loot captured villages.[27]

The village today

According to Walid Khalidi, 1992, two shrines still remain standing in the village. One is made of stone and its roof is topped with a dozen domes clustered around a more prominent dome at the center. A number of other structures and houses are also still intact; some are utilized, while others are vacant. One house, occupied by a Jewish family, is a two-storey concrete unit that has a rectangular door and a modified gabled roof.[28]

[Maqam (shrine) of Shaykh al-Katanani, 2008] According to Petersen, the small mosque/shrine located at a distance of some 50 meters from Maqam Imam ´Ali, on the opposite side of the road was known as Shaykh al-Katanan. Inspected in 1991, it was found to be built on a square plan with a shallow dome resting on an octagonal drum. The building is entered through a doorway in the middle of the north side. Inside there are windows on the west and east side flanked by niches. In the middle of the south wall is a shallow niche, which was found decorated with inscriptions painted in henna.[29]

[Maqam (shrine) of Imam ´Ali, 2008] According to Meron Benvenisti, 2000, in the village of Yazur lies the venerated grave of Imam ´Ali, a famous miracle-worker whose grave is purported to be located in another dozen places as well. But the Yazur site, a massive building whose central dome is encircled by nine smaller ones, is most widely held to be the actual burial site of Imam ´Ali, whose tomb is almost the sole monument left in the village. Two or three broken gravestones remain in the adjoining Muslim cemetery, which now serves as a dump for “yard trash only.” The tomb building now houses the Sha´arei Zion Synagogue and a seminary for Orthodox Jews. On the roof, beside the domes, a satellite dish has been installed to receive live religious broadcasts. Across the road, in the Holon industrial park, is located yet another Muslim holy site, this one deserted and falling into pieces.[30]

Persons associated with Yazur

-   Ahmed Jibril - founder and head of PFLP-GC
-   Hassan ibn Ali al-Yazuri - The Sunni vizier and chief judge of Fatimid ruler Al-Mustansir Billah, from 1050-58[31]

[1]

[2] le Strange, 1890, p. 553

[3]

[4]

[5] Singer, 2002, p. 50

[6] Zuallart, 1587, part III, p.112. Translated and quoted in Petersen, 2001, p. 311

[7] Hütteroth and Abdulfattah,1977, p. 155. Quoted in

[8] _Martinus Seusenius' reise in das Heilige Land i.j. 1602/03_ Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 311

[9]

[10] Karmon, 1960, p. 171

[11] Guérin, 1868, pp. 26-29

[12] Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp. 256 f. Quoted in Schölch, 1993, p.281.

[13] _Die Warte_, 29 September 1870, Quoted in Schölch, 1993, p. 281.

[14] Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, p. 258, Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 261

[15] Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jaffa, p. 20

[16] Mills, 1932, p. 16

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20] _Filastin_, 12.12.1947 and Aref, cited in Khalidi, 1992, p. 261

[21]

[22] _Filastin_, 09.01.1948 and 31.01.1948, cited in Khalidi, 1992, pp. 261-2

[23] _Filastin_, 14.02.1948, cited in Khalidi, 1992, pp. 261-2

[24] _Filastin_, 21.02.1948, Khalidi, 1992, p. 262

[25] Morris, 2008, p. 100

[26] HGS\Operations to Alexandroni, etc., "Orders for Operation “Hametz”, 26 Apr. 1948. IDFA 6647\49\\15. Cited in Morris, 2004, pp. 217, 286

[27] Operation Hametz HQ to Givati, etc., 27 Apr. 1948, 14:00 hours, IDFA 67\51\\677. See also Alexandroni to battalions, 27 Apr. 1948, IDFA 922\75\\949. Cited in Morris, 2004, pp. 217, 286

[28]

[29] Fisher et al. 1996. Cited in Petersen, 2001, p. 312

[30] Benvenisti, 2000, p. 292

[31]

title: Yazur

question: What does the text say about the Iron Age of Yazur?

answer: The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179-1229) described Yazur as a small town that was the birthplace of several important figures during the Fatimid period. al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Yazuri became the most prominent Fatimid minister in 1050 CE. The town eventually fell under the control of the Mamluks.

question: Summarize the significant events that contributed to the progress of Yazur in the Ottoman Era.

answer: In 1557, the revenues of the village of Yazur was designated for the new waqf of Hasseki Sultan Imaret in Jerusalem. In 1596, the villagers would pay a fixed tax rate of 33.3% for the crops they cultivated. All of the revenue went to a Muslim charitable institution. In 1799, the village appeared under the name "Jazour" on the map that Pierre Jacotin compiled. In 1870, Charles Netter from Alliance Israélite Universelle founded the Mikveh Israel southeast of Jaffa. Through a firman of the sultan, he received land for the school which until then had been worked by the fellahin of the village of Yazur. The peasants then became bitter enemies of the school farm.

question: Summarize the British mandate era of Yazur.

answer: Yazur was divided into four quarters, one for each of the four clans (hama, 'il, sing, hamula) that lived there. The village had two elementary schools, one for boys and another for girls. In 1947, 430 boys and 160 girls were registered in these schools. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Yazur had a population of 1,284 residents, all Muslims, increasing in the 1931 census to 2,336 inhabitants in 419 houses. According to the 1945 census, Yazur had a population of 4,030 mostly Muslim Arabs with a small Arab Christian community of 20 people. Agriculture was the backbone of the community. In 1944, citrus was planted on 6,272 dunums, 1,441 dunums were allocated to cereals, and 1,689 dunums were used for orchards. Then during World War II, the villagers also started raising Holstein cows and by 1947, artesian wells were being used for irrigation.

question: What does the text say about the town of Yazur today?

answer: Two shrines still remain standing in the village in 1992. A number of houses are still intact. Some are utilized while others are vacant.


text:
Story highlights

-   Dent condemned Trump's remark about "shithole countries," saying it "obviously has to be denounced"
-   Dent also expressed concern over the impact on America's standing in Africa

Washington (CNN)A Republican congressman on Monday criticized President Donald Trump's remark about "shithole countries," predicting that the derogatory comment will have "consequences" for America's standing in Africa.

"I wasn't in the meeting, so I don't know exactly what was said, but if it's true, as was reported by Senator (Dick) Durbin and then confirmed by Senator (Lindsey) Graham, the comments, obviously, have to be denounced," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, said on CNN's "New Day."

[Trump: 'I am not a racist' ]

"On a broader scale, too, I've had the opportunity to visit sub-Saharan Africa," Dent added, "and one thing I've noticed is the people of sub-Saharan Africa have a high regard for the United States of America, because of the things we've done there, whether it's on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or any number of other issues."

"We're well-regarded, and this incident, I think, is going to have some consequences for us, at least in the short-term," Dent said.

[South Africa, Ghana summon US diplomats after Trump remark]

The Pennsylvania Republican -- who plans to retire at the end of his current term -- said Trump's "shithole" remark was "even more alarming" because of the President's growing record of racial controversies.

"If it had not been for the fact that the President had previously made statements about Mexicans and Muslims and his failure to denounce David Duke in a timely matter, and of course the Charlottesville situation, I think those previous incidents, I think are also cause for concern, that have made this situation even more alarming," Dent said.

question: What did Trump say that caused controversy?

answer: He said "shithole countries"

question: Who condemned Trump for saying that?

answer: It was Charlie Dent.

question: Which country summoned US diplomats after Trump's remark?

answer: Ghana

question: What's the opinion of sub-Saharan countries on the US?

answer: They have a high regard for the United States.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This is an article about other politicians reaction to Trump's remark of other "shithole countries".


text:
HOU JUNJI (died April 29, 643[1]) was a Chinese general and official who served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong in the Tang dynasty. He is best known for leading the Tang military campaigns against the Gaochang and Tuyuhun kingdoms. In 643, he was implicated in a plot by the crown prince, Li Chengqian, to overthrow Emperor Taizong, and was executed.

During Emperor Gaozu's reign

Hou Junji's date of birth is unknown. Little is known about his family background other than that he was from Bin Prefecture (豳州, roughly modern Xianyang, Shaanxi). It was said that he was pretentious and always wanted to appear impressive. He favored using the bow and arrow; while he never achieved greatness in archery, he became known for his fighting abilities. At a point early in the reign of Emperor Gaozu, who was then still trying to reunify China after the collapse of the Sui Dynasty, Hou came to serve under Emperor Gaozu's son, the major general Li Shimin the Prince of Qin. While serving under Li Shimin, for his accomplishments, Hou was created the Viscount of Quanjiao. He also became a close associate of Li Shimin, often offering Li his strategies.

By 626, Li Shimin was locked in an intense rivalry with his older brother Li Jiancheng, who was the Crown Prince. He feared that Li Jiancheng would kill him. Hou, along with Li Shimin's brother-in-law Zhangsun Wuji, Zhangsun's uncle Gao Shilian, and the general Yuchi Gong, advised Li Shimin to act first and ambush Li Jiancheng and another brother who supported Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi. Li Shimin agreed, and in 626 ambushed Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, killing them. During the subsequent battles between Li Shimin's forces and Li Jiancheng's and Li Yuanji's forces, Hou led Li Shimin's forces. Following these battles, Li Shimin effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to make him the crown prince, and then to yield the throne to him (as Emperor Taizong).

During Emperor Taizong's reign

Late In 626, when Emperor Taizong personally ranked the contributions of the generals and officials in order to grant them fiefs, Emperor Taizong ranked five of them—Hou Junji, Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Yuchi Gong to be contributors of the highest grade, and Hou was created the Duke of Lu.

In 630, Emperor Taizong made Hou the minister of defense and gave him the additional designation of _Canyi Chaozheng_ (), making him a _de facto_ chancellor.

In 634, Emperor Taizong, sending the senior general Li Jing to command the campaign against Tuyuhun's Busabo Khan Murong Fuyun, made Hou and Li Daozong the Prince of Rencheng Li Jing's assistants on the campaign. By spring 635, Tang forces achieved initial victories, but Tuyuhun forces then burned the grazing grass to cut the food supplies to Tang horses. Most Tang generals wanted to withdraw, but Hou advocated continued advance, and Li Jing agreed, eventually allowing complete victory, as Murong Fuyun was killed by his subordinates, allowing his son Murong Shun, whom Tang supported, to become khan (as Yidou Khan).[2] Around the new year 636, after Murong Shun was assassinated by his subordinates, Emperor Taizong sent Hou with an army to try to secure the throne for Murong Shun's son Murong Nuohebo.

In 637, as part of Emperor Taizong's scheme to bestow prefectures on his relatives and great generals and officials as their permanent domains, Hou's title was changed to Duke of Chen, and he was given the post of prefect of Chen Prefecture (陳州, roughly modern Zhoukou, Henan), to be inherited by his heirs. Soon, however, with many objections to the system, the strongest of which came from Zhangsun Wuji, Emperor Taizong cancelled the scheme, although Hou's title remained Duke of Chen.

In 638, Tufan's Songtsen Gampo, after hearing that the rulers of Tujue and Tuyuhun were all able to marry Tang princesses, requested to marry one as well, but was rebuffed by Emperor Taizong. In anger, he launched a major attack on Tang, capturing a number of prefectures. Emperor Taizong sent Hou to counterattack, assisted by other generals Zhishi Sili (), Niu Jinda (), and Liu Jian (). Niu was subsequently able to defeat Tufan forces at Song Prefecture (松州, roughly modern Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan), and Songtsen Gampo, in fear, withdrew, but still requested to marry a Tang princess. (This time, Emperor Taizong agreed, sending Princess Wencheng, a daughter of a clansman, to marry Songtsen Gampo.)

Around the new year of 640, Qu Wentai (), the king of Gaochang, formed an alliance with Western Tujues who are hostile to Tang. Emperor Taizong sent Hou, assisted by Xue Wanjun (), to attack Gaochang. When Hou arrived at Gaochang, Qu Wentai died of distress and was succeeded by his son Qu Zhisheng (). Rejecting a proposal by some of his generals to ambush the Gaochang nobles when they were burying Qu Wentai (finding that doing so would be immoral), he put Gaochang's capital under siege, forcing Qu Zhisheng to surrender. Emperor Taizong annexed Gaochang territory except for three cities, which Gaochang had seized from Yanqi, and therefore were returned to Yanqi after the king of Yanqi met with Hou to congratulate him), and Hou returned to the Tang capital Chang'an with Qu Zhisheng and his subordinates as captives.

Upon Hou's return to Chang'an, however, he found himself in trouble, as it was alleged that Hou had taken for himself treasures from the Gaochang imperial treasury and forced certain Gaochang captives to be his slaves. The other generals, seeing Hou's example, also did likewise, and he was in no position to stop them. Emperor Taizong, when he found out about these events, put Hou and some of his generals under arrest less than 10 days after their return to Chang'an. However, upon the advice of the official Cen Wenben, Emperor Taizong released Hou.

Death

Hou Junji was resentful that, despite his great achievement, he was put under arrest, albeit briefly. In the spring of 643, when fellow general Zhang Liang was sent out of the capital to serve as the commandant at Luo Prefecture (洛州, roughly modern Luoyang, Henan), Hou tried to provoke Zhang by asking him, “Who squeezed you out?” Zhang, in jest, responded, “Other than you, who can squeeze me out?” Hou responded, “I conquered a kingdom, but I ran into someone throwing a temper tantrum big enough to overturn a house. What strength do I have to squeeze you out?” He then rolled up his sleeves and yelled, “I am so unhappy that I would rather die. Do you want to commit treason? I will commit treason with you!” Zhang secretly reported this exchange to Emperor Taizong, but Emperor Taizong pointed out that this was a private conversation with no corroboration, and took no action on it.[3]

In 643, when Emperor Taizong commissioned the Portraits at Lingyan Pavilion to commemorate the 24 great contributors to Tang rule, Hou's was one of portraits commissioned.

Around the same time, however, Emperor Taizong's crown prince Li Chengqian was becoming fearful because Emperor Taizong had greatly favored another son, Li Tai the Prince of Wei, and Li Tai was making designs on the crown prince position. Li Chengqian therefore gathered a group of political and military officials around him to consider overthrowing his father, including his uncle Li Yuanchang () the Prince of Han, his cousin Zhao Jie (), and brother-in-law Du He (杜荷, Du Ruhui's son). Hou's son-in-law Helan Chushi (), the commander of Li Chengqian's guards, was also part of the plot, and through Helan, Li Chengqian invited Hou to join the plot as well, as Hou agreed. However, he was deeply disturbed by his own involvement, and he developed insomnia. His wife sensed that something was wrong, and told him, “You, Duke, are an important official of the state, so why are you acting like this? If there is something you are doing wrong, you should report yourself so that your life can be spared.” However, Hou did not do so.

However, Li Chengqian's plot was betrayed by his guard Gegan Chengji (), and after an investigation ordered by Emperor Taizong and conducted by Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Xiao Yu, Li Shiji, as well as responsible officials from the supreme court and the legislative and examination bureaus of government, Li Chengqian was removed. The other conspirators, including Hou, were sentenced to death. Emperor Taizong initially considered commuting Hou's death sentence because of his accomplishments, but the other officials opposed, and Emperor Taizong stated to Hou, “I have to bid you, Duke, farewell. From now, I can only see your portrait!” Both he and Hou wept. As Hou was about to be beheaded, he stated to the general overseeing the execution, “I, Hou Junji, am not the type to commit treason, but I stumbled many times and reached this point. But as I destroyed two kingdoms as a general, please speak for me to His Imperial Majesty to request that I could have a son remaining to carry on the lineage, on the basis of my accomplishments.” Emperor Taizong, when he heard this, pardoned Hou's wife and children but exiled them to the modern Guangdong region, and confiscated his properties.

It was said that years earlier, after Emperor Taizong ordered Li Jing to teach Hou strategies, Hou reported to Emperor Taizong, “Li Jing is about to commit treason.” When Emperor Taizong asked him why, Hou responded, “Li Jing only teaches me basic principles and does not teach me the best strategies, keeping them for himself.” When Emperor Taizong asked Li Jing about this, Li Jing responded, “This is proof that Hou Junji will commit treason. China is secure right now, and the empire is united. What I taught him is sufficient to use against barbarians. If not for treasonous purposes, why would Hou want to learn all of the strategies?” At one point, Li Daozong also spoke to Emperor Taizong, stating, “Hou Junji has too much ambition and too little talent. He overvalued his achievements and found it shameful to be lower in position than Fang Xuanling and Li Jing. Even though he serves as a minister, he finds the position insufficient. I believe one day he will create a disturbance.” Emperor Taizong responded, “Hou Junji is very talented and capable of serving in any position. It is not that I am unwilling to give him the highest post; it is just that it is not yet his turn. How can I distrust him and believe that he will commit treason?” After Hou was put to death, Emperor Taizong apologized to Li Daozong.

Notes

-   _Old Book of Tang_, vol. 69.
-   _New Book of Tang_, vol. 94.1
-   _Zizhi Tongjian_, vols. 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197.

Category:643 deaths Category:Tang dynasty generals from Shaanxi Category:Chancellors under Emperor Taizong of Tang Category:Tuyuhun Category:Politicians from Xianyang Category:Tang dynasty politicians from Shaanxi Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Executed Tang dynasty people Category:People executed by the Tang dynasty by decapitation Category:Executed people from Shaanxi Category:Transition from Sui to Tang

[1] [http://www.sinica.edu.tw/ftms-bin/kiwi1/luso.sh?lstype=2&dyna=%AD%F0&king=%A4%D3%A9v&reign=%ADs%C6%5B&yy=17&ycanzi=&mm=4&dd=6&dcanzi= 兩千年中西曆轉換 ]

[2] This account, contained in Hou's biography in the _New Book of Tang_, however, conflicted with Li Daozong's biography, which stated that _Li Daozong_ was the one who supported further advancement. Compare _New Book of Tang_, vol. 94, with _New Book of Tang_, vol. 78 . The _Zizhi Tongjian_ accepted the version that had Hou being the one who advocated further advance. See _Zizhi Tongjian_, vol. 194.

[3] In Hou's biography in the _Old Book of Tang_, this event was reported to be in 643, and the _Zizhi Tongjian_ adopted that dating. _Old Book of Tang_, vol. 69 _Zizhi Tongjian_, vol. 196. However, the _Old Book of Tang_ biography for Zhang Liang, in the same volume, dated this event as occurring in 641.

title: Hou Junji

question: When did Hou Junji serve as a chancellor in China?

answer: Hou Junji served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Taizong in the Tang dynasty.

question: Who is Li Shimin?

answer: Li Shimin is the Prince of Qin as well as the Major General when Hou Junji was serving under Emperor Gaozu's rule.

question: How old was Hou Junji when he died?


text:
MD. NAZIM UDDIN was a Bangladeshi freedom fighter. He was awarded Bir Protik for his contribution to the Liberation War of Bangladesh.[1]

Biography

Nazim Uddin's father's name was Arab Ali and his mother's name Misri Begum. He was in East Pakistan Rifles in 1971.[2] After the declaration of independence of Bangladesh he decided to take part in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. He was appointed in Sholoshahar, Chittagong at that time.[3]

Nazim Uddin and other freedom fighters joined with other freedom fighters of East Bengal Regiment in Brahmanbaria in April. They were in Ashuganj Upazila to protect the place from Pakistanis. He also attacked Dharampasha Thana of Sunamganj in guerrilla style along with other freedom fighters in May and got success.[4] Later, he crossed the boarder and went to India. He trained new freedom fighters in India.

In November Nazim Uddin and other freedom fighters went to Golapganj, Sylhet from India. They destroyed the defence of Pakistanis in Komolpur, Golapganj. After independence he was awarded Bir Protik from Bangladesh Government for his contribution to the Liberation War of Bangladesh

Nazim Uddin was married to Shamima Aktar. They had two daughters.[5]

Nazim Uddin died on 2 May 2019 at the age of 84.[6]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

title: Md. Nazim Uddin

question: What is the name of Nazim Uddin's wife?

answer: Shamima Aktar.

question: Nazim Uddin was a freedom fighter. Explain.

answer: He was a freedom fighter for Bangladesh and fought in the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

question: How many awards did Nazim Uddin receive?

answer: At least one, the Bir Protik (for his contribution to the Liberation War of Bangladesh).

question: Are there misspelled words in this article?

answer: Instead of border, "boarder" is used.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This text summarizes Nazim Uddin's life and military service on behalf of Bangladesh.


text:
The day after Paul Lorenzano found out he was being laid off from his job in January as an AT&T technician in Arcadia, California, the company sent out an email to all employees congratulating the workforce on AT&T’s profits and fiscal performance in 2019.

“We met or exceeded all of our commitments for the year. That’s thanks to a lot of good work on your part,” Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, said in the email.

Lorenzano was devastated.

“That felt like a complete slap in the face, saying how great we were but here is your final pay stub because we did so great last year so we’re going to keep this money and not invest in back into the employment force like they said they would,” said Lorenzano, who worked at the company for over four years before receiving his termination notice, along with dozens of other AT&T DirecTV technicians across California.

It was not meant to be like this. Huge tax cuts, supported by AT&T, were meant to allow companies to hire more and pay better. But instead AT&T has cut 37,818 jobs in the US from when the Trump tax cut bill first went into effect in 2018 to the end of 2019, with more than 4,000 jobs cut in the last quarter of 2019, based on the company’s quarterly reports.

The company strongly supported the tax cut bill and promised workers a $1,000 bonus ahead of the bill’s passage amid claims of a hiring spree.

The bill, passed in December 2017, cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, saving AT&T an estimated $21bn initially, with an estimated $3bn in annual savings. Despite AT&T’s promises to invest these savings back into their workforce, the company has shed employees since the bill went into effect, while capital investments have declined. In 2018, AT&T’s capital investments declined to $21.25bn, and the company announced plans to reduce it further in 2020 to $20bn, while rolling out a three-year plan to spend $30bn on stock buybacks.

For newly unemployed workers like Lorenzano that situation has added insult to deep injury.

“AT&T talks about its extensive relations with employees, how you can climb the ladder, that there’s room for growth. When I put all my chips in that basket, all of a sudden it gets taken away and now I’m left with nothing. Right now I’m grasping for straws, panicking, trying to figure out what I’m going to do now,” he said.

Overall, workers have not benefited from the Trump tax cut bill, despite several corporations claiming bonuses and wage increases were due to the bill’s passage.

“Even at the time, this was clearly nothing but PR. The economic theory linking corporate tax cuts to wage gains was never supposed to occur immediately. Instead, it runs through a long chain of economic events, starting with increased investment,” said Hunter Blair, budget analyst with the Economic Policy Institute. “Without an uptick in investment, typical workers have no chance of benefiting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. And for the first time since the Great Recession, investment has declined for three straight quarters. With investment cratering, there’s no reason to believe typical workers will see the benefits that proponents of the bill promised.”

As AT&T has reduced investment, the company has continued cutting jobs in 2020, with the layoff of 200 technicians in California. The Communications Workers of America union has warned more than 30,000 additional job cuts or elimination in wages and benefits are coming if the proposals of AT&T’s hedge fund investor, Elliot Management, are enacted.

“I went into working as a technician and went into it for the long term. They lead you to believe that was possible. I invested four years. I wouldn’t do that if I thought otherwise,” said Sean Martinez, 26, one of the technicians who lost their job in Los Angeles. “From everything we hear business is good. Next thing you know we get a heads up that they’re making layoffs. They didn’t explain why.”

AT&T workers have also reported the company is forcing current employees to train foreign replacements as their jobs are being outsourced.

“Some people have already trained their replacements,” said an AT&T computer programmer in New Jersey who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “We are at the whim of management. One minute we are told we will be off payroll this year, then we are told we may be off payroll first quarter of next year.”

Another AT&T employee in IT explained they were recently laid off and contracted out to Accenture, where workers are currently training foreign replacement workers from India and eastern Europe.

“I’m seeing that at a wide scale right now. People need to know these jobs are being given away,” one of AT&T’s IT workers said.

Accenture did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

“Like any business, we must align our workforce with the needs of our customers and the business,” a spokesperson for AT&T said in an email. “To the extent possible, we manage staff adjustments through retirements and voluntary departures, and we help affected employees find other positions within the company. For those who can’t, we offer them severance pay and outplacement services.”

Sara Blackwell, a Florida based attorney who represents workers displaced by offshoring or workers on visas, explained AT&T is using contractors to train foreign replacements to save AT&T money while US workers are left to suffer.

“It saves the company millions in wages, pensions, healthcare and even taxes. The victim workers are frozen in fear of losing the ability to work in their industry if they speak to the media,” Blackwell said.

Yigael Chavez, a AT&T DirecTV technician for four years who was laid off on February, argued the job cuts are unnecessary.

“None of us want to see AT&T or DirecTV fail. We love what we do and what we have to offer. If the company actually backs up what they say and do it, it would create a good product, create jobs and income. Unfortunately we haven’t seen any of that,” Chavez said.

question: What happened to Paul Lorenzano?

answer: Paul was fired from AT&T despite massive tax cuts.

question: How much did AT&T save from the tax cuts?

answer: AT&T saved 21 billion dollars from the tax cuts.

question: Was AT&T still cutting jobs in 2020?

answer: Yes, AT&T was still cutting jobs in 2020.

question: How many jobs were cut during the last quarter of 2019?

answer: More than 4,000 jobs were cut in the last quarter of 2019.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: This article tells the story of AT&T employees whose jobs were cut despite massive tax cuts. AT&T has not given definitive reasons why these cuts happened, and are still making cuts. Additionally, AT&T is making large amounts of employees train their own replacements.


text:
      Enter the Lion

I came from a small northern village called Irozka, it suffers a terrible winter eight out of the 12 months. I had been born the fifth son, but by my ninth year only three of us remained. The winter is harsh and claims many lives, but gives birth to the most beautiful creatures of the night. As a child, I watched them dance in the skies filling the world with green and purple light, swirling through the darkness beneath the stars. Sometimes I’d imagine them as wolves chasing one another, or the motherland gracing us. She’d outstretch her arms, holding us in her embrace. I felt so at peace watching the misty night sky, with the lights flitting gently, adorning our banal world with life.
My brothers and I looked after one another in the best way we could. Petrov, the oldest had the least-desired responsibility of keeping watch of us. At times when food was scarce, he'd give up his meals to satiate our own hunger. I always felt a surge of regret as I ate in front of his empty plate. I regularly assumed that he held a secret contempt towards me for taking what was rightfully his, but he never voiced it.
The people that lived there were as harsh as the land. They took what they wanted and defended what they needed to keep. It wasn’t odd to see death spilled on the white earth every now and then, and in consequence more blood would be splattered as equal payment. But our people never feared death, we welcomed it like an old friend. A rejoiced reunion looked upon as a high honor. My brothers were no exception.
I had watched them leave to hunt the migratory reindeer, layered in their past victories they carried spears and arrows in hand. Their figures disappeared into a whirlwind of our achromatic world, sweeping away their traces like it had my other two brothers. Sometimes I would stop to imagine what it would’ve been like to have them here again. But then I think of Petrov and how many more times he would have to starve for his younger brothers. Selfishly, I’d think it would be for the better if things just remained as they were.
When they returned through the white veil of winter, I could see crimson enveloping their fur coats. I rushed out to meet them only to find Petrov carrying my second brother, Mikhail on his back. The blood bubbled from the seared bits of fur and flesh. The reindeer they tried to slay had caught Mikhail in the side with its antlers and tore through his abdomen. His raspy breath grew shallower and his crystal blue eyes closed for the last time. That is where Mikhail said his farewell and joined in the glory of our ancestors. Petrov carried Mikhail to our dead grounds, where he’d forever rest. I felt grief and remorse flood over me, but I couldn’t show it. We aren’t allowed to. I looked to Petrov for guidance, but all he had was a blank stare for the empty night sky. The lights abandoned us to this darkened memory. “Liev,” Petrov called out with a stern voice, “Mikhail is with the whole now, do not feel sad but feel strong. We are all but part of one being, the time we spend here is nothing compared to the motherland. Be proud of Mikhail like you will be proud of me or I will be proud of you when the time comes.” He placed his large, pale hand on my head and ruffled up my auburn hair. “We must be strong. It is in our blood.”

      Petrov

Petrov was a very quiet strong boy, wiser than his age and understanding. Like the people of Irozka, he was born of snow and ice. He had a rugged square face with a sharp jaw line, a prominent chin and deep set eyes that radiated an icy-blue of the wilderness. His eyebrows formed a slight permanent scowl that hid beneath his messy ash blonde hair. He possessed a raised, angular nose with a slight upturned tip and flushed cheeks with pink, thick lips. He stood at 6’3” and had a long lean appearance with muscular arms and shoulders from years of archery. It was rare to see him smile or laugh, so it was always difficult to discern whether or not he was happy or constantly angry. But he had a kind heart, which was considered a weakness among his people. They cursed him for staying behind with his brothers, they cursed him for wasting his talents, and they cursed him for harboring the town demon.
Petrov’s youngest brother, Liev, had an aberrant appearance with his auburn hair and grey eyes. With difference comes division, and the town had left them secluded. But this wasn’t the only reason. Petrov’s father owed a multitude of debt, and ultimately paid with the price of death. Petrov never cared about his father, he was almost grateful that the butcher took his head. His father constantly targeted him because he was the oldest, and he had to face the punishments for the rest of his brothers. He didn’t care about the beatings, but what he did care about was not being able to fight back. It was unethical to raise a fist towards your origins and all Petrov could do was take the beating and continue in his own life. His mother was very distant from them all, she would at times mutter to herself as if she was speaking to another, but she’d remain in solitude. After she gave birth to Liev, she had completely given up. She no longer ate her meals, got out of bed, and at times, Petrov and his brothers could hear her sobbing echo through their desolate home. Until the day she left to join the motherland through rope in the shape of a noose.
But Petrov bore through and by the time he had to provide, he only had two other mouths to feed. He and Mikhail were a year apart, they were good friends but complete opposites. While Mikhail laughed and joked, Petrov would remain introversive. Mikhail never thought an action through while Petrov would’ve seen three scenarios before he decided against them and found a new path. At times this would frustrate Petrov, and at times Petrov would upset Mikhail with his calm demeanor, but they were so different that they worked well with each other. Filling in where the other lacked.
However, Petrov and Liev held a very rigid relationship. Liev was nine years younger than him and spent much of his time to himself. He had been called names and cursed at since the day he was born, and Petrov felt sorry for his younger brother. But he was also perturbed by Liev’s unnatural appearance, all those born in Irozka resembled Petrov and Mikhail. They were born of the ice and snow, but what was Liev born from? Mikhail voiced very clearly that they should take Liev out and “lose” him, but Petrov immediately rejected the idea. “He is blood of our blood, we have a duty to raise him.”

       The Men in White Cloaks

I watched the light peek through from behind the curtains, illuminating the hovering specks of dust. Each a separate entity of one great being, like we were. It was still early, the sun had greeted the moon and the night as they drifted away in the distance. As I propped myself onto one arm, still groggy with sleep, I could feel my stiff limbs bend and crack from the cold. Where was Petrov? The spot next to me was empty, and as I looked to my left, an ache surged through my chest. Mikhail was gone, and sometimes I would still feel like he’d be there to laugh and joke. But I had to remind myself that he had joined the whole. “Petrov?” I called out. No reply was given, but the echo of my voice. I slipped on my woolen socks and pulled the blanket over behind me as I sped towards the entrance. A howling wind surged through my home when I pulled back the door, only to see men in white cloaks, and there, kneeling before them, was my brother.
“Petrov!” I called out, but he couldn’t hear me through the wailing wind. The snow picked up and began to shroud them. I took a step out to my brother and screamed for him, adrenaline rushed through my veins and I began to run towards him. The snow grasped my legs, held me captive when I tried to see what the men in white cloaks were doing. In a brief moment of clarity, I saw red, trickling through the snow beneath Petrov. He had been hurt! I was in a frenzy, trying to get to him, trying to save him. But the closer I got, the closer I was able to see what they were doing to Petrov. The man he was kneeling before held up a small gun to his forehead, he screamed a foreign language and Petrov remained silent.
“Petrov!” I called out again, and this time he heard me. His eyes widened with fear, and the only words I could distinguish from his lips were, “run.”  That is when the man pulled the trigger, and bits of my brother’s head exploded behind him. There he fell as a limp body, staining the snow with red.
	Heat surged through me as I was brimming with rage. I belted out a cry that was almost inhuman and sprinted towards them, with the intent to kill. I tackled the man that shot my brother and we both tumbled into the soft snow. I could feel his hits, but they presented no pain. A flurry of movements passed until I realized I had a solid view of what was visible to me. I sunk my teeth into his ear until I tasted the awful amount of iron, but I didn’t let go. Not until it I felt it squish between my teeth and detach from him. I heard howls of pain from my enemy until a spasm of agony ached through my head, then a cold, cold darkness.

title: A dystopia

question: Describe the three remaining brothers in the narrator's ninth year?

answer: Petrov is the eldest. He is kind and quiet. He looks after his younger brothers. He is tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. Liev is the youngest brother. He is 9 years younger than Petrov. He looks different from the rest of the people in the area with his auburn hair and grey eyes. Mikhail is a year younger than Petrov. He is fun-loving.

question: How did Mikhail meet his end?

answer: Petrov and Mikhail went hunting in the winter months. The brothers had come across a reindeer which they planned to slay. The reindeer had caught Mikhail in the side with its antlers and torn a hole through his abdomen. Mikhail bled to death.

question: What was Petrov's life like?

answer: As the eldest, Petrov bears the responsibility for his younger siblings. When food was scarce Petrov went without, ensuing that his brothers ate first. The people of the village curse Petrov for staying with his brothers and wasting his talent. They also cursed him for harboring, Liev, the town demon. Petrov's father used to beat the boy regularly. Petrov took the beatings stoically but he was angry that he couldn't fight back.

question: What does the story say about the death of the boys' parents?

answer: The boys' father owed a multitude of debts and lost his life as a result. The butcher decapitated his father. Their mother suffered from depression. Eventually, she hanged herself.