“What happened? Did the engine explode…?” Jack gasped.
But the fate of the escort steamer was no accident, for moments later there was a second huge explosion. Ahead, the leading steamer was ablaze – an orange fireball floating on the water. Suddenly, they saw a flotilla of small boats powering towards them from the shore. Each one was full of heavily armed men, but Jack saw that they weren’t Taiping. The steamer came alive and Jack witnessed something that he had never seen before and was most unlikely to see again: a vicar of the Church of England orchestrating a contingent of warriors in an armed defence against a band of bloodthirsty river pirates.
The Taiping took up position all along the deck, mounting their rifles on the rail and aiming at the approaching assault boats, which were closing on them rapidly. Backhouse stood at the bow, brandishing a pistol above his head and screaming orders in Mandarin. His red face had once again turned bright purple. Backhouse barked an order and brought his arm down at the same time. As one, the Taiping loosed their first volley. Jack looked out across the river. Some of the men in the launches were hit, but the boats powered on, nosing towards them relentlessly. It seemed that the Taiping had the advantage in their raised position high up on the deck of the steamer and Jack was convinced the reckless river raiders could not get on board successfully.
“Who are those guys?” Angus shouted, pointing down in the general direction of the approaching boats.
Suddenly a swarthy Taiping sailor thrust a hefty rifle into Jack’s hands. “You fight Imperialist dogs too.”
A second rifle was thrust at Angus.
“Looks like we’ve just been enlisted.”
All hands on the Yangtze Princess were now focused on repelling the Imperialist raid off the starboard deck – but it proved to be a catastrophic tactical error. A burst of machine-gun fire rattled out from behind them and the Taiping soldiers – rifles still pointing out over the river – didn’t stand a chance. The attack came as a complete surprise, and in seconds the full complement of Taiping had been completely overwhelmed. Jack swivelled round. Standing high up on the roof of the main cabin were five men brandishing automatic weapons. Jack couldn’t understand how they had got aboard – unless they had infiltrated the crew before the ship had set off.
He looked along the deck at the carnage. Two of the gunmen had clambered down from the cabin roof and were now carefully checking each of the bodies. Any that were still alive were dispatched with a single shot or the swing of a kampilan, which looked likean oversized butcher’s cleaver. Miraculously, Jack and Angus had been spared, but the two men would soon reach them. For the second time in three days, Jack contemplated his own death. He peered through the railings and out to the river. The first of the launches had tied up beside the Yangtze Princess and more Imperialist troops were clambering aboard.
Jack nudged Angus, “This looks bad, I say we swim for it…”
But Angus suddenly leaped to his feet brandishing his rifle. “Or we go down fighting!”
Jack looked on in horror as Angus raised his gun at the oncoming soldiers, but before he could pull the trigger, a pistol was pressed into the back of his friend’s neck. They did not expect to hear a female voice, speaking excellent English. “Please, put that down or you will hurt someone.”
Angus froze and Jack wheeled round.
“Please,” the female voice reiterated.
There was a moment of doubt in Angus’s eyes, but then, defeated, he dropped the weapon, which clattered onto the wooden deck.
“Thank you.”
They were now surrounded by the Imperialist river raiders. Jack was astonished to see that a slim Chinese girl of only about eighteen years old and half the size of the Imperialist soldiers held the pistol to Angus’s neck. She was dressed very simply, with her straight black hair pulled back into a pony tail, but her stature and the simplicity of her dress were misleading. Jack quickly discovered from her poise and demeanour that she was in charge of the whole operation. And there was something else. As Jack looked into her dark, steely eyes, he realised that he recognised her. She was the serving girl who had smiled at him in General Xiucheng’s tent in the encampment outside Shanghai. She had been there during the conversation with General Xiucheng about the VIGIL device.
“You are prisoners of the Emperor of China. You will do what I say. Now… where is it?”
“Where is what?”
The young girl snapped her fingers and one of the Imperial soldiers unsheathed an enormous kampilan. He swung it through the air, bringing its razor edge to a halt one centimetre from Angus’s throat.
“We do not play games in the Imperial army. Please tell us where the ‘Seeing Engine’ is, or your friend will lose his head. Another dead body makes no difference to us.”
“I… I don’t know. Backhouse, the vicar, er, the leader, he stole it from us. Maybe it is in his cabin… or maybe he has it with him…”
At that moment there was shouting from the bows. An Imperial soldier was thundering down the deck, waving something around his head and yelling in Mandarin. He arrived breathless and deposited something in the hands of the girl and then gave a little bow. The girl cradled the object in her palm. It was the VIGIL device. She looked down at it and her face lit up in wonder.
“We have it.” She looked at Jack, “You will help us to reveal its secrets. This is the day the tide turns against the Taiping barbarians.”
She held the device above her head and shouted something in Mandarin to the soldiers all around. There was a spontaneous outburst of cheering and shots were fired into the air.
Angus glanced at Jack. “Looks like we’ve just swapped one bunch of lunatics for another.”
Shu-fei
The girl was called Shu-fei and, having left the confines of the paddle steamer, the party was now on horseback. Shu-fei kept up the same punishing pace for nearly a whole day – and Jack was not used to it; his whole body was starting to ache. Occasionally they would stop for a gulp of brackish water or a handful of rice. But then they would be off again. No information had been given to them about where they were going or what would happen when they got there. But Jack thought they were travelling north. At this rate they would be riding all the way to Beijing. That morning they had left the low rice paddies in the broad Yangtze plain. It was a war-torn wasteland. Armies had crossed and re-crossed the land, devouring it like vultures picking clean the corpse of a decaying animal. Now though, Jack sensed that the landscape was changing and, in the dwindling afternoon light, he could make out a low ridge of rocky hills. Shu-fei was driving straight towards them.
An hour later, they joined a narrow woodland path and Shu-fei finally eased the pace. They dismounted but carried on walking, leading their horses. After a while the path passed through a broad, square gateway. It was decorated in Chinese writing and had two roofs one above the other, each with upward-pointing eaves. The path wound on, passing through another gate and then over a beautiful, steeply arched bridge. It crossed over a lively brook that splashed down through the woodlands, splitting apart and then rejoining, to form a small island. The bridge led onto the island, and to a small, open pavilion that had a pointed roof with six concave, tiled panels. The eaves curled up so far at the edges, that they pointed directly up into the darkening sky. Shu-fei entered the pavilion and sat down on one of the benches that looked out to the water rushing away down through the woods. At last, there was a sense they might be able to stop for a little longer.
Shu-fei spoke. “We rest here for a minute. Then we climb.” She turned to one of the swarthy Imperialist warriors and said something. The remains of their food was quickly distributed amongst the small group.
Jack slumped onto one of the benches.
Shu-fei handed him her bottle. “Drink.” She looked at Angus who sat beside them. “We have covered many miles. You have both done well,” she said with a twinkle in her eye, “for two barbarians from England.”
Jack didn’t have the energy to r
espond, but he noticed that Shu-fei seemed a little more relaxed now. Maybe it was because of the distance they had put between themselves and the Taiping. Though, given the importance of the VIGIL device, Jack expected that the Taiping must already be on their tail.
“You will help us,” Shu-fei said suddenly, looking down at the stream.
“What?” Jack said.
She had fire in her eyes. “You will help us. The Imperialists have their faults, but the Taiping are worse. They kill, they destroy, they are like cancer eating the land. We need your help to defeat them. This device, this Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’, I have heard rumours before of its existence and its powers. I was in General Xiucheng’s tent… I saw their reaction… their excitement. Now we have the Engine and we have you. You will show us how it works and you will help us use its secrets to defeat the Taiping.” Shu-fei was breathing heavily – she had worked herself into quite a frenzy. “Enough talk,” she said finally, “we must climb.”
The path snaked on up through the woodland, getting steeper and steeper. It led through a series of ornate gateways to a clearing with views down to the plain below. The scene had taken on a pink hue in the setting sun, but there was little time to stop and admire the view. The path crested a rise in the woodland and opened up into a large glade. Ahead, was another gate, behind which stood a small temple. Cliffs rose up behind the temple and Jack saw that the path did not stop there. Instead, it passed the temple and then rose up the cliff on a series of elevated wooden walkways built on timbers jutting out from the cliff face. In some places the path widened into larger wooden platforms extending from the cliff face, supported by long poles underneath or suspended from above. There was a whole network of walkways, platforms and interlinking stairs covering the rock face and leading up to the summit. Jack could even see windows built into the rock face, and accessed from the walkways. It looked like a whole vertical village.
Shu-fei wasted no more time. “The horses will be left here and we will climb.”
Moments later, they were clambering up the walkways which at some points were only two planks wide. Jack could see through the gap in the planks all the way down to the valley below. There wasn’t much protection on the open side either – just a rotting piece of rope linking the occasional fence post. Up they went, higher and higher, and when they finally reached the top, Jack breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The views of the great plain below were breathtaking from the top. Up ahead, there was a monastery and Jack could see distant figures of the Buddhist monks in their flowing saffron robes. Shu-fei hurried them on until they reached a large rocky outcrop at the top of the mountain. It was connected to a second outcrop by a rickety bamboo and rope bridge. They followed Shu-fei onto the bridge. Jack felt it swing under his feet and heard the bamboo and rope creaking under his weight. It was getting dark now and he was thankful he could no longer see to the bottom of the chasm between the rocks. He ignored the rush of the waterfall below and looked straight ahead, quickening his pace.
On the other side there were more dwellings: decorated pavilions and pagodas – a whole village built in and around the rocky outcrop. The buildings looked so fragile and delicate that it seemed one strong blast of wind might pluck the whole lot from the mountain and dash it into the Yangtze far off to the south.
Jack felt his legs were finally about to give way when, suddenly, Shu-fei gave a little yelp and darted forward. He watched her run ahead across some paving stones towards a low building. A man was walking towards her and within a few seconds Shu-fei was in his arms. The man lifted Shu-fei from the ground and spun her round in the air in delight. He put her down and when Shu-fei turned, Jack saw that she had tears in her eyes. The man walked towards Jack and Angus, but glanced back at the girl. “I got your message from the scout you sent. And these are the Englishmen?” he said. “You have done well, little one, very well.”
Shu-fei blushed.
Jack studied the man carefully. He wore a loose-fitting blue jacket with a red border and white piping and black leather boots over white breeches. He had a long black pigtail and a round hat with an upturned-rim which topped a deeply tanned face with thick features. But the most striking of all was the man’s size. He was absolutely enormous. Well over two metres in height, Jack reckoned and he wasn’t just tall, but wide as well – his shoulders were more than twice as broad as Angus’s. He was a giant.
Shu-fei turned to Jack and Angus and announced, “This is Ts-an-ling Lai. Colonel Lai.” For the first time Shu-fei’s face opened into a broad grin. “My father.”
Colonel Lai’s voracious appetite matched his enormous size. He had already consumed several bowls of rice and a whole chicken and more food was on the way. They sat around a low table on cushions on the ground. Members of Colonel’s Lai’s staff waited on them. He had brought them with him to the rendezvous. As they ate, Shu-fei went through the events of the river ambush for the third time. Lai asked incessant questions and seemed to want to know every detail.
“… And you were not followed, little one?”
“The two escort ships were completely destroyed. We executed all the remaining sailors aboard the Yangtze Princess. No survivors.”
Shu-fei said the words matter-of-factly, displaying no emotion.
“Good, little one, that is good…” But Lai still seemed unsure and worry lined his face. “But that has only given us a day at most. They will pursue us…”
“But how, father?”
Lai grunted, “These peasants have no loyalty. They have learned to know better. They are loyal to whichever army is passing through their land and who can blame them? No, the secret device you have taken is so valuable that Xiucheng, Rengan and their Taiping animals will strike northwards after us as soon as they can.”
“But here? We are in Imperial territory?”
“Imperial territory today, Taiping territory tomorrow. Our armies are weak, they fall back every day. I do not like to admit it, but the Taiping are better disciplined, stronger and they have better weapons. Thanks to the missionary rat, Backhouse, and the secrets he has brought from England…”
Shu-fei shrugged, “At least he is now at the bottom of the Yangtze.”
“Good. And with this ‘Seeing Engine’ we can build better weapons…”
Lai reached beneath the folds of his tunic and removed the VIGIL device which Shu-fei had passed to him earlier. Tentatively, he placed it at the centre of the table.
Lai looked up at Jack, “You will show us its secrets…”
Jack didn’t want to disappoint this monster of a man.
“Yes, well…” he stuttered.
“They will, father, in time.” Shu-fei confirmed. “They were taken prisoner by the Taiping; they have lost their father; they have seen the Taiping’s ways…They will help us…” Shu-fei turned to Jack and her eyes flashed. “We are the last chance for the Imperialists and delivering this to the emperor will bring us great reward.”
Lai added, “But we must take care because the emperor is weak. Some say that he is dying. There is plotting and treachery at court in Beijing. Powerful people vying for position. That dog, Sushun, is the worst. He will do anything to gain power…” he looked at Shu-fei, “He is jealous of Yi, your half-sister, and her influence with the emperor. We must be very careful.”
Shu-fei nodded knowingly. Jack did not really understand what Lai meant, but it sounded as though there were divisions amongst the Imperialists, and that Lai and Shu-fei had powerful enemies. It also sounded like they really were on their way to Beijing, and that the Imperial City would be no safer than Shanghai.
Lai heaved himself up onto his feet, “Now, we must rest. Tomorrow, we travel early to the Imperial fort north of here and then onwards to Beijing.” He turned towards Jack and Angus. “I am glad you have agreed to help us. Your reward will be great. I have no quarrel with your people. My only quarrel is with the Taiping…” he thought for a moment and then spat, “and Sushun.”
*<
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It was dark as Shu-fei led them to the little house across the square where the three of them would sleep. The temperature had dropped and a crescent moon, framed by a thousand bright stars, was rising in the sky. As Jack’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could just make out the silhouette of the temple below. He was tired, but at least his stomach was full, and there was some comfort in the way Shu-fei seemed to have warmed to them after her father’s welcome.
“Your father – he is a Colonel in the Imperial army – but he speaks English very well. And your English is perfect, Shu-fei,” Jack said.
“My father was a trader. We lived in Shanghai. I have a half-sister from my father’s first marriage – called Yi. Shanghai was very busy – many different people came there from all over the world. It is a treaty port. My father learned English and made sure I learned it too. My parents were living in Nanjing when the Taiping first attacked. My mother was killed. It changed my father. He joined the Imperial army and rose quickly through the ranks. But my father hates the Taiping for what they did. And I do too…”
There was fire in her eyes and Jack didn’t quite know what to say. “I’m sorry, Shu-fei.”
She shrugged. “It is war, Jack. Both sides have done terrible things. I have seen it. But after a while you stop noticing, stop caring. All I know is that we have to win. And you will help us.”
If Shu-fei felt any sadness about the death of her mother, she didn’t show it. Anything she now felt had been channelled into defeating the Taiping. The only trouble was, the Imperialists were losing the war and the more he learned, the more Jack realised that that they thought the VIGIL device might be their only hope.
It was a cool night and they slept together on mats on the floor. Jack pulled the blanket up around him and tried to get comfortable on the hard ground. He started to doze off, thinking about Shu-fei and her story. She was as fit as an Olympic athlete and tough as nails, but like Jack, she was searching for answers.
Day of Rebellion Page 8