China

by Edward Rutherfurd

  It took Cecil a week to get the money together. Many of the community supported Legge. Even those who contributed to the fund that Cecil raised—even these friends—mostly asked Cecil not to reveal that they’d contributed.

  But what about Daniel’s wife and baby son? He could not possibly take them with him on such a dangerous journey.

  “My wife insists she’ll look after the lass and the bairn,” Legge announced. “But don’t forget, Whiteparish, you’re sending the man to his doom.”

  After Daniel set out, months passed. And nobody knew whether he had reached Nanjing, or even if he was alive.

  * * *

  —

  Lord Elgin had done a good job that summer. His gunboats knocked the shore forts guarding the Grand Canal to bits; and after some brutal negotiations, he got everything he wanted.

  A British ambassador would meet the emperor without making the kowtow. The opium trade was made legal. There was to be free trade. Christian missionaries could make converts all over China; the emperor would protect them. And the British, French, Americans, and other foreigners were not to be called barbarians anymore—at least officially!

  Lord Elgin, praised by his countrymen, departed for his home in Scotland.

  All that remained was for the treaty to be formally ratified, when ambassadors from Britain, France, and America came to the Chinese capital the following summer.

  * * *

  —

  And so it might have come to pass without further ado, had it not been for Lord Elgin’s younger brother, who, arriving as ambassador the following year, came with troops rather than tact, got embroiled in a dispute down at the forts, decided to barge through like the bully he was, and this time found that the Chinese had repaired the forts and learned to defend them better, and they gave him the drubbing he deserved and sent him packing. So all Lord Elgin’s work was brought to naught.

  Can you believe it, my dear cousin? Poor Elgin was staying with the royal family at Balmoral when news of the catastrophe arrived. He’s mortified. What words he will say to his younger brother when they next meet doesn’t bear thinking about. He’s being asked to go back and sort out the mess. You may be sure he has no wish to go, but feels duty bound. I imagine he’ll set out in the new year. It’s possible that I may encounter him before he departs. If so, I’ll write you word of our meeting.

  Yr affectionate cousin,

  John Trader.

  * * *

  ◦

  On a February morning, in the year of Our Lord 1860, a single slim middle-aged Chinese man in a long robe might have been observed making his way swiftly up the lane from the waterfront towards the house of Cecil Whiteparish. There was nothing about him to attract attention. Nobody would have suspected that the plaited queue that hung from his hat down the center of his back was false, and that a few months ago the hair on his head, though grey, had been thick and free. In short, no one would have taken him for a Taiping warrior.

  Nio hurried up the lane. Hong Kong was bigger than he’d expected, with building sites everywhere. Down at the dock, they’d given him directions to the missionary’s house, but twice he’d had to pause to ask the way.

  He could hardly believe that he’d made it to the British island alive. Getting past the Manchu camps and patrols between Nanjing and the coast had been the hardest. He might have been killed or captured a dozen times. But it seemed the Heavenly King had been right when he’d assured him, “My Elder Brother, Jesus, has promised me: You are under divine protection.” And therefore the Heavenly King might also have been right when he ordered: “First, you must get the support of Cecil Whiteparish. He is the key to everything. He may be the man upon whom our entire future depends.”

  Sometimes it had seemed to Nio that the Heavenly King, with his strange moods, when he’d hardly speak for days, and his religious visions, might be going a little mad. But there was nothing mad about the plan. The plan could work.

  Nio had seen many things. Things that haunted him, things he’d like to forget. But if the plan worked, they might have been worthwhile.

  * * *

  —

  Just before Cecil Whiteparish left his house, he kissed his wife. Minnie was pregnant again, with only two months to go before the baby was due. This would be their fourth.

  He went to the door and opened it. A bright morning. Small white clouds scudded busily across a pale blue sky. He closed the door and was about to step into the lane when he saw the lone figure coming towards him. “Good Heavens,” said Cecil. There was no mistaking Nio. He hardly needed to notice the scar on his cheek.

  * * *

  —

  The two men had been closeted together in the dining room for half an hour before Minnie Whiteparish made her appearance.

  “Sit down, my dear,” said Cecil, “and let me tell you the remarkable news my friend here has brought. You remember how Daniel left last year, hoping to get to Nanjing?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “Well, not only did he reach Nanjing. It seems the only people the Taiping Heavenly King trusts now are his own family; so when his cousin and childhood companion turned up, he was overjoyed. He’s made our friend Hong his closest advisor.”

  “I hope Daniel will be a good influence on him,” said Minnie calmly.

  “That’s just the point,” replied Whiteparish. “It seems he put his plan into effect with notable success. He sends us assurances that the community at Nanjing is, if not perfect in every particular of doctrine and behavior, so hugely reformed that we should have no hesitation in pronouncing them Christian.”

  “Does the Heavenly King still believe he is the brother of Christ?”

  “Hong particularly sends me word that the king and the Taiping now believe themselves to be brothers and sisters in Christ, just as all good Christians do.”

  “Let us hope so,” said his wife.

  “I don’t think we need quibble too much on every point.”

  “Has our visitor been to see Daniel’s poor wife and child? They’ve been waiting up at the mission here for a year without any word from him, not knowing if he is alive or dead.”

  “He is going there directly, as soon as we have finished,” Cecil answered.

  “I’ll leave you, then, so that you can conclude your business quickly,” said Minnie, with a nod to Nio as she withdrew.

  Once she was gone, the two men resumed their conversation in Cantonese.

  “You said when you arrived that you had come to me for help,” said Whiteparish. “What can I do for you?”

  “I have a message for the British government’s highest representative. It is of greatest importance.”

  “I see.” Whiteparish was thoughtful. “There’s no one really senior on Hong Kong at this moment. But someone’s probably on the way.”

  “Whom do you think they will send?”

  “Well…”—Whiteparish hesitated only a moment—“the word is that it’s Lord Elgin.”

  “It will be Lord Elgin,” Nio said with certainty, though how he could know such a thing Cecil had no idea.

  “Then you’d better wait and deliver your message to him.”

  But Nio shook his head. “It is not I whom the Heavenly King wishes to deliver the message. It is you.”

  “Me?” Whiteparish stared at him in astonishment.

  “Yes. The Heavenly King cannot come himself. He must remain in Nanjing. Nor can his cousin, whom you call Daniel, be spared. But Daniel has told the Heavenly King that he trusts you entirely. The British respect you. No one would doubt your word. And you know Lord Elgin personally. You are the perfect person to explain to Lord Elgin what we ask and what we offer. The only reason the Heavenly King sent me was because I know you. I am to tell you everything, then leave. All our lives depend on you.”

  “Oh,” said Cecil.


  “I am to reveal to you the Taiping strategy and battle plan.”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be secret?”

  “We trust you.”

  Whiteparish considered. “You understand I cannot hide anything from Lord Elgin?”

  “I understand.”

  “You may tell me, then,” said Whiteparish.

  “The emperor’s forces have almost surrounded Nanjing. They hope to throttle us.”

  “Can they?”

  “Maybe. If they don’t give up. And as long as they keep getting supplied.”

  “Where do the supplies come from?”

  “Through Hangzhou city, from the coast at Zhapu.”

  “Have you forces outside who can relieve you?”

  “No need. We have General Li.” Nio smiled. “The only Taiping leader who wears spectacles. Looks like a schoolmaster. But the men worship him. Very cunning.”

  “What is his plan?”

  “We break out. A few thousand men, very fast. Attack Hangzhou, maybe Zhapu. The emperor’s army will chase us, leaving not so many troops around Nanjing. We double back and the whole Taiping force attacks the emperor’s men left at Nanjing.”

  “Split the enemy and then smash the divided parts. You think it will work?”

  “Yes.” Nio nodded. “General Li is very good at this.”

  “And then?”

  “Another breakout. This one strikes north, up the Grand Canal. But not far. Just enough to protect our flank. Then cut across to the coast at Shanghai. Two days’ march.”

  “You want to take Shanghai?”

  “We want the harbor. The Chinese defenses at Shanghai are nothing. Easy to take.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something? Shanghai’s not an old fort and a fishing village anymore. It’s the one treaty port that’s really open, and it’s grown. There are foreign concessions outside the fort now, not just merchant factories, but whole communities—British, French, American. What are you going to do about them?”

  “We only want the fort. Not the concessions. This is the message for Lord Elgin: Tell the Western communities to fly a yellow flag over every building—house, church, store. Our troops will know: Touch any foreigner under a yellow flag and you’ll be executed. Tell your people: Just stay indoors until the fighting’s over. It won’t take long.”

  “And then?”

  “Business as usual.”

  Whiteparish wondered: Was this the whole story?

  “What else do the Taiping want from us?” he asked.

  “Only what I’ve said.”

  “You mean, don’t interfere between the Taiping and the emperor. Remain neutral, as we call it.”

  “Of course.”

  On the face of it, the message made sense. When Lord Elgin came, it would be to settle the relationship with the emperor of China and open up trade. Cecil didn’t imagine Elgin would wish to involve his troops in a sideshow battle between the emperor and the Taiping.

  “What about arms?” Once or twice he’d heard rumors of British merchants discreetly running arms up to Nanjing for the Taiping.

  “You can always buy arms,” Nio answered. He smiled. “When it comes to selling arms, there are no nations on the high seas.”

  “So that’s everything?”

  “No. Did you notice, when you spoke of Lord Elgin, that I already knew it was he who would come?”

  “Yes. But it made no sense.”

  “I will tell you why. Some time ago, the Heavenly King had a vision, in which he was told that God was sending a great man to help him. After praying further, the Heavenly King was certain that this great man is Lord Elgin.”

  “I see. How curious.” Cecil frowned. “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”

  “So this is the further message from the Heavenly King to Lord Elgin. The Taiping are friends of the British. We share the same religion. The old Manchu dynasty is corrupt and crumbling. It is God’s will that we should replace it with a Christian kingdom, where the British and other Christian people will be welcome to send missionaries—for we know what good people you are—and also to trade freely. We shall open the doors of the new kingdom to you.”

  “It is a powerful message.”

  “Daniel told me to say to you that you may trust this message.”

  “We can have consuls in the ports? An ambassador in Beijing?”

  “Why not?”

  “And the trade will be free? Our merchants can go up the Yangtze River and sell cotton?”

  “Of course. The only items the Heavenly King cannot approve are alcohol and tobacco. He believes they are bad.”

  “I don’t think that would be a problem.”

  “And opium, of course. But all the Christian missionaries are against the wicked opium trade. Daniel was able to assure the Heavenly King about that.”

  “Ah,” said Whiteparish, and fell silent. “We must go step by step,” he said at last.

  “That is all my message,” said Nio. “Will you deliver it?”

  “I promise,” said Cecil. “How long will you stay?”

  “One day at the mission with Daniel’s family. Then I have another duty to perform.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I am going to see my Big Sister.”

  * * *

  —

  It was not until his children were tucked up in bed that night, and he and Minnie were dining quietly together, that Cecil was able to share his thoughts.

  “You know, my dear,” he said after telling her everything that Nio had proposed, “Nio may be deluding himself. The Taiping king may be using him cynically. But if the message is genuine, the implications of all this could be very great. The prospect of our missions having free access to the whole of China…it’s what we’ve always dreamed of.”

  Minnie was a little tired. Her back was hurting. “If it’s God’s will,” she said quietly.

  “There are some,” he mused, “who believe that a Christian China is prophesied in the Book of Isaiah. The prophet speaks of a great gathering of those who believe in the Lord God, from the north and the west and from the ‘land of Sinim.’ It could be that Sinim is China. I heard an excellent sermon on that very subject a year ago.” He paused. “I must confess, the responsibility of conveying the message to Lord Elgin—assuming it’s he who will come—weighs heavily upon me.”

  “If you think you may forget something, dear, you should write it down while it’s fresh in your mind.”

  “I don’t mean that. It’s the import of the message that is so grave.”

  She smiled gently. “Fortunately, that will be for Lord Elgin to worry about, Cecil, and not you.”

  “He may ask for my assessment of the message, what it means. He may ask for my advice.”

  “He may not.”

  “And then what should I say? That is what troubles me.”

  “God will tell you what to say,” she replied, hoping he was done.

  * * *

  ◦

  There was nothing special about the day. As she often did in the early afternoon, Mei-Ling had crossed the little bridge and was walking along the path that led through the trees by the edge of the pond when she thought she heard a faint rustle to her left. She stopped, and so did the sound—a small animal among the leaves, no doubt. But she’d gone only a few more steps when she heard the snap of a breaking twig upon the track behind her and turned.

  “Little Brother,” she cried. And seeing him glance down the path quickly: “There’s no one about. How did you get here?”

  “My horse has been tethered in the woods since early morning. I watched the village wake, saw your husband leave the house. He must have returned from America.”

  “You’re being careful.”

  “I wasn’t careful enough last tim
e. Remember?”

  She gazed at him. Her Little Brother was looking older, greyer, she thought. “My husband never went to America. He came back.”

  They found a log to sit on, hidden from the path.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I have thought about you so often, wondering what had become of you. I want to know everything.”

  “I will tell you. But first you must tell me: How is your family? Are things any better?”

  “The same, I suppose.” She smiled sadly. “My husband is well, but his brother is useless. Even with our sons, who are good workers, there’s only so much we can do. My husband’s brother has sold most of the land. The house is falling apart. They say the Americans are looking for workers again, and the pay is good. Maybe my husband and one of the boys will go. Maybe not. But we survive, Little Brother. We are not starving.”

  “I brought you money.”

  “There is no need, Little Brother. I still have some of what you gave me before. Keep it for yourself.”

  “I brought it for you. I have money for myself. We’ll hide it before I go.”

  She sighed. She supposed he could afford it.

  He told her about his mission, just as he had told Whiteparish. “But there was one thing I did not tell the British,” he added.

  “What’s that?”

  “We still have a lot of silver from the towns we captured. I mean, a lot. And there’s more stored in the fort at Shanghai.”

  “What will you do with it?” She smiled. “Retire rich?”

  “No. Once we have Shanghai harbor, we’re going to buy iron warships, steamships, like the British have. Maybe a dozen, maybe more. Then we’ll take them upriver to Nanjing, blast the emperor’s camps outside the city, and completely cut off their supplies. The whole Yangtze River will be ours.”

  “You really think you will overcome the emperor?”

  “And drive the Manchu out? Yes. Especially if the British cooperate. It’s in their interest to do so.”