China

by Edward Rutherfurd

  She has to be right, I thought. What else could it mean? I think everyone who heard her thought so, too, even Prince Gong.

  “They must kowtow,” the emperor said firmly. “They must come peacefully, without arms, up to Beijing and be received in the usual way. If they refuse to behave, they will be stopped at the forts.”

  The conference ended. I’m not sure any action had really been decided, but the emperor had made it sound as if it had. I noticed that above us, grey clouds were moving in, with shafts of yellow light falling between them. And I remember looking at the emperor. He’d turned his eyes up towards the sky, and the yellow light showed all the lines of strain on his pale face. He just kept staring upwards, for so long that I could even detect the movement of the minute hand on that stupid barbarian clock on the pagoda.

  * * *

  —

  I didn’t see him again for almost a month. Some days he’d be closeted with officials in the Audience Hall. He’d also taken to visiting the islands alone. But I knew he was still spending time with the Noble Consort Yi, and that was all that mattered to me.

  It was very quiet at the Summer Palace. Everyone was sleepy in the humid weather.

  As for the barbarians, they didn’t seem to be making much progress. One morning, on my way to the Noble Consort, I met Mr. Liu. He was feeling so pleased with himself that he even smiled at me. “The barbarians are stuck in the mud,” he announced, “just as I predicted.”

  “You were right, sir,” I said with a bow. “Your humble servant rejoices.”

  But a day later, I heard that they were still advancing on the forts. Slowly and painfully, but they weren’t giving up.

  Not long after this, I was with the Noble Consort Yi when Prince Gong looked in. “Two of the smaller coastal forts have fallen,” he said glumly.

  “Our men ran away?” Her face was anxious.

  “No, they fought like fiends. It wasn’t the men. It’s their guns. The barbarians’ rifles load so much faster, and they’re so much more accurate, that before our poor fellows can get off a volley, half of them have been mown down. I’m off to tell the emperor now.”

  The next morning I asked the Noble Consort how the emperor had taken the news.

  “With perfect calmness,” she said. But I didn’t really believe her.

  And we had to wait only a few days before we heard: The barbarians had smashed all the forts, and the road to Beijing was open before them.

  * * *

  —

  How could it have happened? That’s what everyone wanted to know. How had the barbarians been able to get through the miles of mud and bamboo spikes and walls and all the rest? Naturally, all eyes were on Mr. Liu. He’d told the emperor it couldn’t happen.

  I almost felt sorry for him. But I must say, he knew how to fight with his back to the wall.

  During the main battle, it seemed, a shot from the barbarian cannon had blown up one of our gunpowder magazines. The damage had been catastrophic. Mr. Liu seized on this. “It’s nobody’s fault,” he cried to anyone who’d listen. “Who could have foreseen such a thing?” He even told me: “You should explain this to the Noble Consort Yi.” He must be scared, I thought, if he’s coming to me for help. When I told her, she just nodded, and I told Mr. Liu.

  “Good,” he said. “Good.” I could see the thank you forming on his lips, but he thought better of it and just said, “You did right.”

  He wasn’t much blamed, as it happened. I think everyone wanted to believe him.

  I asked the Noble Consort Yi about the emperor again.

  This time she answered: “He is very upset.”

  “Not with you, I hope,” I blurted out.

  “With everybody,” she said.

  * * *

  —

  At first Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, with the main British and French forces, stayed down at the forts they’d captured and sent patrol boats up to the depot at the head of the canal—which was only a dozen miles from the walls of Beijing. Meanwhile, the emperor’s envoys went to Elgin. But instead of receiving them politely, he told them: “Give us everything we want, including compensation, or it’s war.”

  At the Summer Palace, ministers were arriving every day with memorials telling the emperor how to destroy the barbarians, but they always came out of the Audience Hall muttering the same thing: “The emperor’s dithering.”

  Then, one morning, I arrived as usual to find the Noble Consort in a sunny mood. Except for a single servant, kneeling in a corner, she was alone, sitting at a table inlaid with mother-of-pearl and sipping tea. She was dressed in green silk, I remember, with a flowered hair comb. Her face was serene, and she smiled at me as I bowed.

  “You look happy today, my lady,” I said.

  “I am, Lacquer Nail,” she replied.

  “May your lowly servant inquire the reason?” I asked.

  “His Majesty has made a great decision,” she told me. “The orders are going out this very moment. Since the barbarians have no manners and understand nothing but brute force, there will be no more talk. The emperor is ordering our armies to exterminate them.”

  “That is wonderful news,” I said.

  “I think so, too.” She inclined her head. “I was most pleased when the emperor told me.”

  And it was probably you, my lady, who made him do it, I thought to myself.

  The decree was sent out to all the provinces. It was excellent. Firm government action at last. It also offered rewards: fifty taels for the head of one of the dark-skinned troops the British had brought from India, and a hundred for the head of a white barbarian. That should bring Lord Elgin to his senses, I supposed.

  But it didn’t. The next thing we heard, he was marching up to Beijing himself, saying he’d knock down the walls.

  * * *

  —

  I was due to pay a visit to my family just then, and with twenty thousand barbarians approaching Beijing, I was anxious we should discuss what they should do. Permission was granted, as long as I stayed away only one night.

  They were pleased to see me. I brought them money. And while my mother and Rose prepared the evening meal, I had a talk with my father. “Maybe you should get out of the city,” I said.

  But he shook his head. “We’re safer inside,” he answered.

  “Lord Elgin’s threatening to knock the walls down,” I told him.

  “He’s bluffing,” said my father. “They’ve left their heavy cannon downriver. They’re only bringing light field pieces up here. You couldn’t make a dent in the walls with those.”

  “How do you know they’ve left the big guns behind?”

  “Every sailor and barge man on the canal knows it. I’ve been talking to them.”

  “Assuming you’re right, what then?”

  “Let them come. We’ve ten men to every one of theirs. We’ve got our own cannon, and the walls here are much bigger. They’ll be stuck outside, in the middle of enemy territory. In two months it’ll be winter. If they don’t starve, they’ll freeze.”

  “Why have they come then? Are they stupid?”

  “They’re gambling that if they race up to Beijing, we’ll panic. If we don’t, they’ll pull back.”

  * * *

  —

  Just for once, I thought the old man might be right. At least, I hoped so. The next morning I went back to the Summer Palace, and who should I see but Mr. Liu. He was quite friendly, and I told him what my father had said.

  “Your father is a wise man. That is exactly what I think. We should let Elgin and his troops get as close as they like, then trap them. They’ll never get home alive.”

  * * *

  —

  As the British and French drew closer and closer to Beijing, couriers were still arriving at the Summer Palace every hour with messages from prefects, m
agistrates, and governors urging the emperor to stand firm. All this advice seemed to have affected the emperor, because he suddenly announced he was planning to lead the troops himself.

  There was a whole division of bannermen, our best men, just below the city, right across the barbarians’ path, and with orders to annihilate them. Some were infantry with muskets. But the main force were the best of the Manchu cavalry. It might be old-fashioned warfare, but these mounted bowmen could loose their arrows so fast you could hardly believe it; and those arrows had a longer range than a musket ball. The barbarian troops had never faced this sort of cavalry on open ground before. They were in for a shock. Meanwhile, their patrols and ours were edging closer to each other every day. There was sure to be some kind of fight soon. We all thought so.

  I was with the Noble Consort Yi when one of the court ladies came rushing in. “We’ve captured thirty or forty barbarians—in a skirmish,” she told us excitedly.

  “What sort of barbarians?” the Noble Consort demanded.

  “At least one of their negotiators. A dozen are being sent here for us to see.”

  They arrived at the Summer Palace that afternoon. We all turned out to look at them, of course. It wouldn’t have been dignified for the emperor to appear, but there’s a little pagoda beside his quarters, and the Noble Consort told me that he’d gone up there and watched them from a distance with a telescope.

  I’ve always had difficulty telling one barbarian from another. Some are tall, some are short. They’re all hairy. But it was very gratifying to see these arrogant villains in chains. After we’d all had a chance to laugh at them, they were carted off to jail in the House of Corrections. They wouldn’t have had a very good time there. The dungeons are full of rats and lice, and there’s a poisonous maggot that can kill you. Serve them right, I thought.

  Soon after this, we heard that a force of French and British troops was moving on the city and that they were furious we’d got the hostages. But in order to reach the city they’d have to cross a bridge and come face-to-face with that Manchu division drawn up there.

  “That’s where we’ll destroy them,” everyone agreed. “There’s no way they’ll get through. We outnumber them five to one.”

  * * *

  —

  With all this encouraging news, I wasn’t surprised that the emperor decided he’d go out to the lake islands that evening.

  He chose the small, sheltered island that contained the Temple of Universal Peace—on the principle, I suppose, that as soon as Elgin was crushed, peace should be the order of the day. The temple, which stood in a pond, had a very unusual shape—for its floor plan was in the form of a cross with an extension at a right angle on the end of each arm. This was the character we call “wan,” which signifies the peaceful Heart of Buddha. I’ve heard that the Western barbarians call this sort of cross a swastika, though I believe in their lands the extensions point the other way. In any case, the Temple of Universal Peace was a pleasant place to relax and watch the moon at any time of year.

  Naturally, I wanted to be one of the party if I could. So I stood at a spot where I knew the emperor and his entourage would pass. If the Noble Consort saw me and gave me a nod, I could fall in behind. And sure enough she did.

  Besides the empress, the Noble Consort Yi, her son, and several court ladies, Prince Sushun and his brother were in the company; also a few officials, who’d come out to the Summer Palace to urge the emperor to stand fast; and Mr. Liu, together with a dozen other eunuchs, including me. One of the court ladies, I remember, was Prince Gong’s auntie. Prince Gong himself wasn’t there, because he’d gone down to keep an eye on the barbarians at the bridge.

  The long corridors of the temple had spaces for many shrines, looked after by a few elderly monks. In the central crossing, the bodhisattva Guanyin, made of precious woods plated with gold, sat on a lotus throne. She had more than forty hands and eyes. They say Guanyin hears all the sounds of the world. And if she does, then you might think it would make her angry or despairing; but the priests say her compassion knows no end.

  After we had prayed before her and lit candles, we gathered in one of the temple’s outer arms, and a lady musician played the pipa to entertain us. She played an ancient piece called “Ambushed from Ten Sides,” which was a good choice, considering what was going on just a few miles to the south, and the emperor told her to play it again. When she finished, we sat in the warm silence. Outside, the evening sky was still pale blue and pink, and I caught sight of the half-moon. Everything seemed so perfect at this temple on the water that you could quite imagine the whole world was at peace. And I remember that, just at that moment, everyone was smiling—including even the emperor.

  So nobody even noticed that Prince Gong had quietly entered the room until he spoke. “Majesty, the barbarians have broken through.”

  * * *

  —

  Prince Gong was visibly shaken. And he blamed himself. “We’d seen what happened downriver at the forts,” he said. “But they had heavier cannon down there, and I thought that with our best cavalry, who are highly mobile, waiting for them on open ground, as well as the infantry with muskets, they’d take so many casualties that they’d retreat. Now I know better. Bravery is useless. Our men never wavered. But the French rifles and British guns cut them to pieces. It was terrible to see.”

  “With your permission, Majesty,” one of the mandarins quietly offered, “a skirmish on open ground is one thing, but the walls of Beijing are another.”

  We all looked at the emperor. He was staring into the middle distance, as if he were in another world. “If they took the forts, why wouldn’t they take Beijing?” His voice was dull, almost mechanical.

  “Their rifles won’t help them against the city walls,” said Prince Gong. “And if they did get in, no general would risk his army inside a huge city where every man, woman, and child could slit their throats. Now they’re at Beijing, they’ll want to negotiate.”

  “If we negotiate,” asked Prince Sushun bleakly, “what other cards have we in our hands?”

  “The forty men we have hostage,” said Prince Gong. “Both British and French. They’ll want them safely back.”

  “They’ll bargain for forty prisoners?” Prince Sushun frowned in disbelief.

  “I think so. The barbarians care more about their men’s lives than their countries’ honor.”

  “Doesn’t that show they are weak?” the Noble Consort Yi demanded.

  “Perhaps,” said Prince Gong. “But it helps us.”

  I was sitting on a low bench just behind the Noble Consort. I could smell the jasmine scent she’d used that day. She was sitting very straight, wearing a pale green silk dress.

  I heard an owl outside. The owls at the Summer Palace often used to cry before the sun went down. It was a mournful sound.

  Then the emperor turned to Mr. Liu. “We shall go to the Hunting Palace. Make it ready.”

  “The Hunting Palace, Sire?” Mr. Liu was taken aback. “North of the Wall?”

  “Is there another?”

  “Sire, it needs repair…”

  “We can repair it when we get there.”

  “Brother,” Prince Gong burst out, “you promised to lead the troops in person. Not that you actually need to do it. But if you leave Beijing now, you’ll start a panic.” Prince Gong was always so careful to address his brother with deference when there were other people around; so it just showed how shocked he must have been to forget himself like that.

  “You have failed to understand,” said the emperor. It was meant to be dignified. “It is beneath the emperor’s dignity to take notice of these insolent barbarians. Tell Lord Elgin it is the custom for the emperor to hunt at this time of year. The court arrangements cannot be altered for a bandit like himself. Tell him also that at my hunting lodge I often welcome my friends, the forty-eight Mongol prin
ces of the steppe. I have only to raise my hand and they will bring three hundred thousand Mongol horsemen down to Beijing and slaughter every Frenchman and Englishman they find. Elgin should mind his manners.”

  I could see from the expression on Prince Gong’s face that this was all nonsense. “You wish me to remain here?” he said grimly.

  “Since you are so confident you can handle these barbarians, you will remain in charge of Beijing. No doubt by the time I return you will have settled everything.”

  That’s strange, I thought to myself. Our ancestors built the Great Wall to protect us from the north, and now the emperor’s running to the other side of it to hide from barbarians coming from the south. Everything’s topsy-turvy.

  I looked around the emperor’s party. Apart from the empress, whose face was blank because I don’t suppose the dear creature was thinking anything, they all seemed horrified.

  Except Prince Sushun. He still looked like a bird of prey, but he smiled.

  “Your Majesty is right,” he said smoothly. “Let us wear the barbarians down. The added distance between the Son of Heaven and Beijing will provide a useful excuse whenever Prince Gong wishes to delay negotiations.”

  The emperor nodded gratefully and looked quite pleased with himself.

  But it was the Noble Consort I was watching now. She had wonderful self-control. If she was angry and hiding it, people would never guess. But I could tell.

  There were two little giveaways. First, a tiny vein would start to throb on her right temple. That meant she was getting annoyed. The second was a faint flush around the back of her neck. Once I saw that, I knew she was really angry.

  I’d noticed the vein when the emperor first mentioned the hunting lodge. But by the time he’d finished his excuses for running away, the back of her neck was red.