Talon grinned. “Yes, they certainly did. I want to take some with me, but I need help to mount them so that they don’t sink my ship, nor set it on fire when we use them. And we’ll need training, as it does not look like an easy thing to use. I want to buy that special powder and some of those interesting bamboo exploding things that the soldiers showed me.”
“This can be arranged,” Hsü said with a smile. “Anything else?”
“Yes. Reza and I want to thank you for the training we had at your expense at the dojo. We would never have known about it without your help.”
“It seems to me that you have already repaid that debt,” Hsü said. “Reza here has protected my house while I was away, and you saved my life.” He turned to Reza. “Neither Talon nor I would have made it home at all had Talon not taken down a quarrelsome Mongol. No, Talon, we are even on that score.”
Talon smacked his hand to his forehead and said, “I nearly forgot! Hsü, I cannot leave without a cargo of porcelain. My wife will kill me if we do not take a good amount with us. Can you help?”
Hsü laughed again, hugely amused. He couldn’t imagine anyone trying to kill Talon but... perhaps his wife. She now had a reputation as a warrior, having killed two men. The servants and guards worshipped her.
“Hmm, yes, I see your point,” he said. “Lihua will be your guide in this, and Jiaya will be the man who negotiates the price. We will deduct what it will cost out of the amount stated today. I assure you that Jiaya will be an honest broker.”
“He has been the perfect guide to date. I am very happy with that arrangement,” Reza stated, sounding satisfied.
“There is one other thing I need to ask, Hsü, if you will permit it.” Talon glanced at Reza, who nodded.
“And what is that?”
“The sword you have, the one I used. I told Reza about that. We want to buy one each of the same caliber. Will you please tell me where we can obtain them?”
Hsü shifted uncomfortably on his chair. “I must ask you to be patient, Talon, I will do all I can to find out where you can buy them, but they are not easy to obtain.”
The discussion ended there, and the two men went back to the guest house, well pleased, to tell their people of the arrangements.
“He is being evasive about the swords,” Talon remarked to Reza.
“He is a canny one, that man. I have a feeling he is up to something.”
“Perhaps. But I have learned much from Hsü,” Talon said.
*****
They became deeply involved with the preparations and began to buy the agreed upon items, pack them carefully, and have them transported to the ship. Everyone was so involved they barely noticed when Hsü had visitors. One was an important meeting with General Hayan Zhuo, who had sent a message that he wanted to meet with him.
Hsü invited the General to his house, and there treated him with great ceremony and respect. He plied his guest with Huangjiu, a yellowish dry rice wine, and fed him on the exemplary food from his kitchen. The General gave him some interesting news in return.
Because the governor was now officially dead, the office was held temporarily by the senior official in the palace, and that was Wu po-ku. He held all the powers of office until the appointment was made official by the Emperor’s chop of approval. There was no doubt in either of their minds that Wu would not scruple to use his powers against Hsü and his family, now that he possessed the power to do so. The General said that he considered it to be a very dangerous time for Hsü. However, he also brought some good news, and in return received a nice little present on his way out of the door.
“I will be there the day after tomorrow,” Hayan Zhuo said, then he rode away with his escort, leaving Hsü wanting to rub his hands together with glee. He restrained himself; it wouldn’t do to let the foreigners nor his own people see him display undue excitement. He walked back to his own building with his hands clasped tightly behind him, his head lowered, looking to all the world pensive and preoccupied.
*****
Two days later, Hsü appeared at the doors of the palace. He had asked his son Fuling and Talon to come with him; Qian was also in attendance. “I cannot go on my own, as it would be an invitation to my enemies; will you attend me? It might be interesting,” he had said to Talon, who’d readily agreed to accompany his host.
Once within the palace, Hsü asked for an interview with Prefect Wu po-ku. They were kept waiting for two full hours before an aide finally shuffled up to him, bowed perfunctorily, and told him in Mandarin that the Prefect, Temporary Governing officer Wu po-ku, would see him.
Hsü smiled to himself, Mandarin eh? Wu wanted to make the governor’s palace a replica of the Emperor’s. Well, they would see about that.
Bringing Talon, Qian and Fuling with him, despite a half-hearted protest from the functionary, he walked slowly into the grand office, which had once belonged to the former governor. He and his men bowed deeply, then stood motionless, Hsü with hands hidden in the wide sleeves of his dark robes. The others remained near the door while Hsü walked further into the room to stand in front of the desk of Wu. Fuling eyed the prefect with mistrust; he didn’t know what his father was going to do. Talon and Qian both equally unaware of what Hsü was planning were tense and watchful.
Wu looked up from his papers. “Ah, Lord Meng. Good to see you. What can I do for you today? I am so very busy, as you can see.” He didn’t invite Hsü to be seated.
The short phrase written by Master Sun Tzu came to Hsü’s mind: “Use humility to make them haughty.”
“I came to deliver something of yours to you, respected Prefect,” he said humbly enough, passing over a piece of paper to Wu, who turned it over. There were sweat stains on the creased paper, but the writing was still clear enough to read. Wu’s countenance changed from pale to dead white as he read the paper. His hands trembled as he put the piece of paper down on the table. “Where...” he swallowed, “where did you get this?” he whispered.
Hsü had an ear cocked for the sounds coming from outside, and so did Talon, who made ready to draw his sword, but Hsü shook his head minutely to stop him. There was a commotion in the front yard of the palace, the sound of horses and the shouts of men.
“Let us say that I took it off one of your messengers, who failed in his mission as it is outlined in that letter. In some ways he was a careful man, but not careful enough. He died.. That is your chop, is it not?” Hsü said quietly.
Before the ashen-faced Wu could muster a reply, the door to the office was thrown open with a crash, and in strode General Hayan Zhou. He was in full armor, accompanied by two aides and several soldiers carrying spears.
“Ah, there you are, Lord Meng,” he called from the door. “Just in time, I see.” He waved an official-looking document in his left hand. “Prefect Wu po-ku, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Lord Meng while he was on a mission for his Highness the Emperor. That constitutes treason. Take him!” he ordered his men, who moved to obey. Talon, Qian and Fuling became mere spectators and stepped well out of the way to allow the General and his men to approach.
Hsü raised his hand. “Just one moment, General, if I may, please?” he asked.
The General harrumphed but nodded reluctantly. “Yes, all right, Lord Meng.”
“Why did you do this, Wu?” Hsü demanded of the man who sat quaking with fear, all vestiges of arrogance having vanished.
Wu glared up at him, and Hsü could see the venom in the back of his eyes. “You were the only real obstacle to the post,” he hissed. “Those other half-wits demonstrated their incompetence to the world. I could not rely on either of them to take care of the simplest thing!” He spat this out with white-hot hatred. “I was easily the most qualified, but the Governor wanted you, a rich merchant, to succeed him! Not a proper administrator who knew how to run things, like myself. What do you know about governing a whole province?”
Hsü stepped back from the hatred emanating from the man. “Perhaps that is the very
reason he chose me, he wanted a leader. There are always administrators to do the paperwork.” he murmured. He signaled the men to carry on.
They lifted the limp Prefect up from his chair and frog-marched him out of the room. When the wailing and shouting had faded, General Hayan Zhou handed another package to Hsü.
“We are in the right place for me to inform you,” he said gruffly, with a glance at Talon and the other two.
Hsü opened the package and took out a thick sheet of paper written in exquisite calligraphy. He noted the Emperor’s huge chop on red wax at the bottom. He read it through twice.
“It appears that I am to be the governor of the province of Guangdong, General.”
General Hayan Zhou beamed, then collected himself and bowed very low. “May I be the very first to congratulate you, Governor?” he enquired.
Hsü smiled. “Indeed, General, you may. Now we still have a little unfinished business to attend to.”
‘What might that be, Governor?” Hayan Zhou asked.
“I want you to arrest Lu Buwei and put him in prison.”
The General hesitated. “May I ask why, my Lord, er, Governor?”
“For trying to destroy the property of the Governor and to kill his retainers; in fact, his people did kill one of my retainers. That, I believe, warrants the death penalty. There are also the suspicious deaths of Hua Rong and Prefect Yen Wei to take into account.”
The General looked uncomfortable. “If I may point out very respectfully, Governor, didn’t that all happen a little while ago?”
“What is time, General?” Hsü queried. “It is but a passing of scenes before the conscious or unconscious mind. I don’t think we need to split hairs in this particular issue, do you?”
General Hayan Zhou nodded firmly and even gave the briefest of smiles. “In this instance, I’d be doing the city a great favor, Governor.”
“Just so, General.”
Hsü smiled at his son and Talon as he watched the General depart; the last of his stones were finally in place on the board. His opponents’ stones were completely contained.
“This game of Go is won,” he stated.
I am old and you’re going away—
You have no choice, I know.
From the carriage I see you off,
brushing away tears I can’t hold back.
Who likes to say good-bye?
-
—Lu Yu
Chapter Thirty-One
Farewell
Talon heaved a sigh of relief. Things could have gone badly for Hsü and his family had Wu po-ku been confirmed as governor, and also for his guests; they would have been in serious trouble because of their association. Now all that had changed.
Nonetheless, despite the change in the political weather, the ocean’s weather patterns were not going to alter; the monsoon that would take them home was moving in. They could not delay much longer.
Captain Dandachi was insistent. “If we can catch the monsoon out of here within the month we will have a good chance of making it to Oman in one long run, Master Talon. Otherwise we could be stranded in India.”
They were seated at the tea house on the island not far from the Henan temple. Jiaya had made arrangements to put the captain up at a guest house near the docks where he and some of the crew could supervise the loading of the precious cargo they were to take with them.
Talon didn’t like the sound of being stopped in India. The muggy climate, the red-hot food, the dust and the noise he remembered from their previous visit were not what he wanted. All he wanted from India was to pick up a final cargo of spice at Kalah Bar and depart. They would have no need to tarry.
“I shall speak to Lord Meng,” he told the captain, who looked pleased.
“Allah has smiled on us while here in this city, Master Talon,” the captain said. “You have made a good friend in Lord Meng. Is it true that he is to become the governor of this city?”
“Yes, Captain, he is now the Governor. He has kept his word in everything, except one tiny detail for which I shall forgive him in time.”
If Captain Dandachi was curious about that one thing, he kept his curiosity to himself and instead gave Talon a detailed report on the condition of the ship. Talon gave this his full attention.
“Two days ago we received the four large bronze tubes and their mountings that you call Erupters, Master Talon.
Talon smiled. “Their full name is ‘Flying Cloud Thunderclap Erupters’, Captain; a grand name, but the Chinese like that kind of thing.”
“I am waiting for the workmen to come and install them on the waist deck. I understand that Jiaya, bless that man, has been working tirelessly to find the right people to come and finish the work,” the captain told him.
“The men who will come are military men, so don’t be alarmed if you see soldiers on the dockside. They know what they are doing. I understand that they are saying they will have to cut holes in the side of the ship when they install them?” Talon remarked.
The captain looked alarmed. “I am not very happy to have great holes cut in our ship’s sides, Master Talon. Is it really necessary?”
Talon assured him that it was.
“Then we will have to make sure that the hatches are sea-proof when closed,” the captain said with a resigned tone.
“Lord Meng told me that it was routine for these things to be assembled on the Chinese ships, Captain. I’m confident they know what they are about.”
He and Reza had gone with Qian to the military barracks at the invitation of General Hayan Zhou to test the tubes and have some training under the tutelage of the General’s men. The General wanted to demonstrate the destructive power of the Erupters, so he ordered an aide to take them out of the city to a place where his men practiced using the equipment. It had been quite an experience for Reza, who had never heard one of these things being ‘fired’ before.
Although he had already heard one of these fearsome weapons go off and had clamped his hands over his ears in preparation, Talon still jumped with shock. He had warned Reza to expect a big noise; even so, when the demonstration Erupter was fired, his friend looked shaken and stunned. He shook his head to stop the ringing in his ears.
“That is exactly what happened to me, Brother,” Talon laughed, but then he said, “I want to see what they can spit out other than just flame.”
The Aide, a lieutenant named Ximen Quing, snapped an order. The men around the Erupter reloaded the tube and placed a round ball of iron down on top of the powder.
“When the tube is fired it will light a fuse on the ball, which will explode in either the air or on the ground,” Quing explained to them.
Sure enough, there was the bright flash, an ear-splitting bang, the ground shook and the gunners and Erupter temporarily disappeared in a cloud of acrid smoke. Talon and Reza both saw the ball streak out of the tube, along with the flames, and soar high into the air, leaving a thin trail of smoke behind it. The ball travelled faster than any trebuchet stone Talon had ever seen, and far higher. The smoking ball arced into the sky, then tumbled towards the ground approximately five hundred paces away, a phenomenal distance from Talon’s point of view.
Then he and Reza gasped; before it reached the ground the ball simply exploded in a flash and a puff of smoke. The report came to them a split-second later, and the pieces from the disintegrated ball could be seen flying in all directions.
“Pedar Sag!” Reza breathed.
Ximen Quing gave them a sardonic smile. “We have these on our ships, as well as with our armies,” he explained slowly in Cantonese for their benefit. “This way we scare off pirates and prevent our enemies from sailing into our harbors.”
“Are you going to buy these, these monsters?” Reza asked Talon, his expression full of awe.
“Oh yes, Brother. Hsü has sold me four of them: two for each side.”
Ximen Quing had been charged with showing them some other interesting items related to gunpowder and proceeded to do so with
great enthusiasm. His men demonstrated rockets that carried arrows for impossible distances, and exploding balls of iron scraps and gunpowder held together by bamboo and resin that could be lit and hurled at close range towards the enemy. These were impressive and made a satisfying bang, hurling pottery shards, metal and bamboo splinters in all directions. Quing admonished them to get under cover whenever they used one, saying that there had been many injuries to the men who had thrown them in the past. Talon and Reza were very excited by these.
“Why, one could even throw one from a horse and get away in time before it exploded!” Reza exclaimed.
“Or toss one on a ship,” Talon said, remembering how effective the Greek fire bombs had been.
On their arrival back at the house the women regarded their men with narrowed eyes.
“They are behaving like a pair of boys who have just been playing with something they should not,” Jannat remarked in an aside to Rav’an.
“You can be sure of it, my Sister, and I can bet it is to do with those noisy things that go ‘bang’.”
*****
Later, when Talon and the family were enjoying the cool evening together outside the guesthouse, he and Reza described the demonstration. The men were enthusiastic, while the women were cautious about how effective the weapons might be.
“I remember seeing these things on Hsü’s ship just before it went down,” Talon said. I wondered what they might be, never having seen them before. He told me that they, too, had encountered pirates in the Bahr Al Hind.”
“What happened?” Jannat asked with surprise, looking up from the game of dominos that she and Reza were playing.
“He said that they waited until the two ships came within two hundred paces, and then fired both the Erupters they had on one side of the ship,” Talon laughed.
“Why are you laughing, Talon?” Rav’an said.
“Hsü told me that when the smoke began to clear they noticed the pirates were sailing away as fast as they could. There were no more encounters after that.”
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