The Middle Kingdom

by David Wingrove

  Tsu Tiao reached out and held his arm. He seemed frail, yet his grip, like his voice, was strong. ‘High walls cannot keep the cold wind from blowing, neh, old friend? I know what it is to lose a son. Nothing would have kept me from paying my respects to Li Han Ch’in.’

  Li Shai Tung bowed, his face grim. ‘That is true, Tsu Tiao.’ He turned to the son. ‘Tsu Ma. Thank you for coming. I wish we had met in happier circumstances.’

  Tsu Ma bowed. He was a strong, handsome man in his late twenties who had, until recently, led a headstrong, dissolute life. Now, with his father ill, he had been forced to change his ways. It was rumoured Tsu Tiao was grooming him for regent, but this was the first time he had appeared publicly at his father’s side.

  ‘I too regret that we should meet like this, Chieh Hsia. Perhaps you would let me visit you when things are easier?’

  Both Tsu Tiao and Li Shai Tung nodded, pleased by the initiative. ‘That would be good, Tsu Ma. I shall arrange things.’

  Li Yuan’s uncles were next to pay their respects – Li Yun-Ti, Li Feng Chiang and Li Ch’i Chun. Advisors to Li Shai Tung, they stood in the same relationship to his father as he once had to his brother. Their lives were as his own might once have been. But it was different now. For Han Ch’in was dead and now he, Li Yuan, was destined to be T’ang.

  He had seen the sudden change in them. Eyes that had once passed through him now checked their course and noted him, as if his brother’s death had brought him substance. Now strangers bowed and fawned before him. Men like his uncles. He saw how obsequious they had become; how their distant politeness had changed to fear.

  Yes, he saw it even now, the fear behind the smiles.

  It amused him in a bitter way. Old men afraid of a boy not yet nine. Would I, he asked himself, have grown like them, twisted from my true shape by fear and envy? Perhaps. But now I’ll never know.

  Others came and stood before them. Fei Yen and her father, the old man almost as devastated as his daughter, his earnest, kindly eyes ringed with darkness.

  Last were his father’s men, Hal Shepherd and the General.

  ‘This is an ill day, old friend,’ said Shepherd. He embraced the T’ang, then stood back, looking around him. ‘I hoped not to see this place in my lifetime.’

  ‘Nor I,’ said Tolonen. For a moment he stared outward at the distant mountains of the Ta Pa Shan. And when his eyes fell upon the tomb, it was almost as if his son lay there beneath the earth, such broken love lay in his gaze.

  Tolonen stared at the tomb a moment longer, then looked back at his T’ang. ‘We must act, Chieh Hsia. Such bitterness cannot be borne.’

  ‘No, Knut. You’re wrong. It must and can be borne. We must find the strength to bear it.’

  ‘The Council has made its decision?’

  ‘Yes. An hour back.’

  The General bowed his head, his disappointment clear. ‘Then it is wuwei?’ ‘Yes,’ the T’ang answered softly. ‘Wuwei. For all our sakes.’

  The House was in session and Speaker Zakhar was at the lectern, delivering a speech on expansion funding, when the big double doors at the far end of the chamber burst open. Zakhar turned, astonished.

  ‘General Tolonen! What do you mean by this?’

  Then Zakhar saw the armed guards pouring in after the General and fell silent. House security was breached. These were the General’s own men – his elite guards. They formed up around the upper level of the chamber, their long snub-nosed rifles pointed down into the heart of the assembly.

  The General ignored the storm of protests. He moved swiftly, purposefully towards the bench where the senior representatives were seated, and went straight for Under Secretary Lehmann.

  Lehmann was shouting, as vehement as any other in his protest. Tolonen stood there a moment, facing him, as if making certain this was the man he wanted, then reached across the desk and grabbed Lehmann by the upper arms.

  There was a moment’s shocked silence, then the uproar grew fierce. Tolonen had dragged Lehmann over the desk and was jerking him along by his hair, as if dealing with the lowest cur from the Clay. Lehmann’s face was contorted with pain and anger as he struggled to get free, but the General had a firm grip on him. He tugged him out into the space between the benches of the Upper Council and the seats of the General Assembly, then stopped abruptly and pulled Lehmann upright. Lehmann gasped, but before he had time to act, Tolonen turned him and pulled his arm up sharply behind his back. The General had drawn his ceremonial dagger and now held it at Lehmann’s throat.

  He stood there, waiting for them to be silent, scowling at any who dared come too close. Above him, encircling the chamber, his men stood patiently, their laser rifles raised to their shoulders.

  He had only a second or two to wait. The House grew deathly still, the tension in the chamber almost tangible. Tolonen tugged gently at Lehmann’s arm to keep him still, the point of his dagger pricking the Under Secretary’s skin and drawing a tiny speck of blood.

  ‘I’ve come for justice,’ Tolonen said, staring about him defiantly, looking for those faces he knew would be most interested, most fearful at this moment. They never imagined I would come here for them. The thought almost made him smile, but this was not a moment for smiling. His face remained grim, determined. Nothing would stop him now.

  A low murmur had greeted his words and a few shouts from nearer the back of the hall. He had stirred up a hornet’s nest here and Li Shai Tung would be furious. But that did not matter now. Nothing mattered but one thing. He had come to kill Lehmann.

  As he stood there, three of his men brought a portable trivee projector down into the space beside him and set it up. The image of Lehmann’s face, ten times its normal size, took form in the air beside the frightened reality.

  ‘I want to show you all something,’ Tolonen said, raising his voice. He seemed calm, deceptively benign. ‘It is a film we took of our friend here at Li Han Ch’in’s wedding. At the private ceremony afterwards, in the Imperial Gardens. I should explain, perhaps. The Under Secretary is looking towards where the T’ang’s son was standing with his bride. The rest, I think, you’ll understand.’

  Tolonen scanned the crowded benches again, noting how tense and expectant they had become, then turned and nodded to his ensign. At once the great face came to life, but Tolonen did not look at it. He had seen it too many times already; had seen for himself the effect it had had on Li Yuan.

  For the next few minutes there was silence. Only during the final moments of the film was there a growing murmur of unease. They did not have to be told what was happening. The image in the blown-up eye told the story as clearly as any words.

  The image faded from the air. Lehmann, who had turned his head to watch, began to struggle again, but the General held him tightly, drawing his arm as far up his back as it would go without breaking, making Lehmann whimper with pain.

  ‘Now you’ve seen,’ said Tolonen simply. ‘But understand. I do this not for Li Shai Tung but for myself. Because this man has shamed me. And because such vileness must be answered.’ He raised his chin defiantly. ‘This act is mine. Do you understand me, ch’un tzu? Mine.’

  The words were barely uttered when Tolonen drew his knife slowly across Lehmann’s throat, the ice-edged blade tearing through the exposed flesh as if through rice paper.

  For what seemed an eternity, the General held the body forward as it gouted blood, staring about him at the shocked faces in the chamber. Then he let the body fall, blood splashing as it hit the floor, and stepped back, the trousers of his white ceremonial uniform spattered dark red.

  He made no move to wipe it away, but stood there, defiant, his dagger raised, as if to strike again.

  IN TIMES TO COME…

  Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom, is the third volume of a vast dynastic saga that covers more than half a century of this vividly realized future world. In the seventeen volumes that follow, the Great Wheel of fate turns through a full historical cycle, transforming the social climate of Chu
ng Kuo utterly. Chung Kuo is the portrait of these turbulent – and often apocalyptic – times and the people who lived through them.

  The story of the young prince, Li Yuan – his love for the beautiful Fei Yen, his accession to the throne, and his long, relentless struggle against the traitorous DeVore – is interwoven with the tales of many others, among them the brilliant young scientist Kim Ward, whose ‘web’ will one day make it possible at last for Mankind to reach the stars, and the artist Ben Shepherd, whose development of a completely new art form – the Shell – will revolutionize the culture of Chung Kuo.

  This epic tale continues in Book Four, Ice and Fire, as Tsu Ma becomes T’ang of West Asia, struggling, alongside his fellow T’ang who make up the ruling Seven, to maintain stasis and prevent change, even as the ‘War That Wasn’t A War’ is fought within the levels of Chung Kuo’s great city: a war fought not with armies but with an inventive evil – using bombs and betrayals, brutal assassinations and sly poisonings.

  And even as this is happening, other factors – seemingly unimportant of themselves – are adding to the pressure for change. One of these is Kim’s creation of ‘The Aristotle File’ – a document that charts the true history of the world, not the version invented and policed by the Ministry – the Thousand Eyes – who have, for so long, maintained this great secret – this dark shadow at the very heart of Chung Kuo. Its discovery by the Dispersionists will fuel their ardent desire for change and for an end to Han rule.

  Lined up against DeVore and the Dispersionists are a handful of men utterly loyal to the Seven – men like General Tolonen, along with the two men he recruited from the Lowers, Gregor Karr and Kao Chen. Kao Chen’s experiences in the plantations convince him of the evil of DeVore and his allies, yet it is the giant, Karr, with his supreme athleticism and fearlessness, whom Tolonen uses, like a hawk, to fly against their enemies. And it is this decision, to act directly against the Dispersionists, that will change Chung Kuo for good in what is, effectively, a declaration of war.

  CHARACTER LISTING

  MAJOR CHARACTERS

  DeVore, Howard

  A major in the Security forces of the T’ang, Li Shai Tung, he is also the leading figure in the struggle against the Seven. A highly intelligent and coldly logical man, he is the puppet master behind the scenes as the great ‘War of the Two Directions’ begins.

  Ebert, Hans

  Son of Klaus Ebert and heir to the vast GenSyn Corporation, he is a captain in the Security forces, admired and trusted by his superiors. Ebert is a complex young man: a brave and intelligent officer, he also has a selfish, dissolute and rather cruel streak.

  Fei Yen

  Daughter of Yin Tsu, one of the heads of the ‘Twenty-Nine’, the minor aristocratic families of Chung Kuo. The classically beautiful ‘Flying Swallow’ is engaged to Li Han Ch’in, prince and heir to City Europe. Fragile in appearance, she is surprisingly strong-willed and fiery.

  Kao Chen

  Once an assassin from the Net, the lowest levels of the great City, Chen is to raise himself from his humble beginnings to become a captain in the T’ang’s Security forces, and, as friend and helper to Gregor Karr, he is to be one of the foot soldiers in the war against DeVore.

  Karr, Gregor

  He was recruited by Marshal Tolonen from the Net. In his youth he was an athlete and, later, a ‘blood’ – a to-the-death combat fighter. A giant of a man, he is to become the ‘hawk’ Li Shai Tung will fly against his adversary, DeVore.

  Li Shai Tung

  T’ang of City Europe and one of the Seven, the ruling Council of Chung Kuo, Li Shai Tung is now in his seventies. For many years he was the fulcrum of the Council and unofficial spokesman for the Seven, representing their strong determination to prevent Change at all costs.

  Li Yuan

  Second son of Li Shai Tung, he is considered to be old before his time. His cold, thoughtful manner conceals a passionate nature, expressed in his love for his brother’s bride, Fei Yen.

  Tolonen, Jelka

  Daughter of Marshal Tolonen, Jelka has been brought up in a very masculine environment, lacking a mother’s influence. However, her genuine interest in martial arts and in weaponry and strategy mask a very different side to her nature; a side which will be brought out by violent circumstances.

  Tolonen, Knut

  General to Li Shai Tung, Tolonen is a big, granite-jawed man and the staunchest supporter of the values and ideals of the Seven. Possessed of a fiery, fearless nature, he will stop at nothing to protect his masters.

  Tsu Ma

  T’ang of West Asia and one of the Seven, the ruling Council of Chung Kuo, Tsu Ma has thrown off his former dissolute ways to support his father in Council. A strong, handsome man, he has still, however, a weakness in his nature – one that will almost prove his undoing.

  Wang Sau-leyan

  Fourth and youngest son of Wang Hsien, T’ang of Africa, the murder of his two eldest brothers has placed him closer to the centre of political events. Thought of as a wastrel, he is, in fact, a shrewd and highly capable political being who is set – through circumstances of his own devising – to become the harbinger of Change inside the Council of Seven.

  Ward, Kim

  Born in the Clay, that dark wasteland beneath the great City’s foundations, Kim has a quick and unusual bent of mind. His vision of a giant web, formulated in the darkness, has driven him into the light of the Above. Rescued from oblivion, he begins to show his true potential as the most promising young scientist in the whole of Chung Kuo.

  THE SEVEN AND THE FAMILIES

  Li Feng Chiang

  brother and advisor to Li Shai Tung

  Li Han Ch’in

  first son of Li Shai Tung and heir to City Europe

  Li Shai Tung

  T’ang of City Europe

  Li Yuan

  second son of Li Shai Tung and brother to Li Han

  Ch’in

  Lin Yua

  first wife of Li Shai Tung

  Pei Ro-hen

  head of the Pei family, one of the ‘Twenty-Nine’ Minor Families

  Tsu Ma

  son of Tsu Tiao, T’ang of West Asia

  Tsu Tiao

  T’ang of West Asia

  Wang Hsien

  T’ang of Africa

  Wang Sau-leyan

  fourth son of Wang Hsien

  Wei Feng

  T’ang of East Asia

  Wu Shih

  T’ang of North America

  Yin Fei Yen

  ‘Flying Swallow’, Minor Family princess and daughter of Yin Tsu

  Yin Tsu

  head of the Yin family, one of the ‘Twenty-Nine’, the Minor Families

  FRIENDS AND RETAINERS OF THE SEVEN

  Auden, William

  sergeant in Security

  Chung Hu-Yan

  chancellor to Li Shai Tung

  Ebert, Hans

  captain in Security and heir to the GenSyn Corporation

  Ebert, Klaus Stefan

  Head of GenSyn (Genetic Synthetics) and Advisor to Li Shai Tung

  Fest, Edgar

  lieutenant in Security

  Haavikko, Axel

  ensign in Security

  Haavikko, Vesa

  sister of Axel Haavikko

  HengYu

  Minister of Transportation for City Europe

  Kao Chen

  ‘Kwai’ (knife) and, later, sergeant in Security

  Karr, Gregor

  ‘Blood’ and, later, major in Security

  Lwo Kang

  Minister of the Edict under Li Shai Tung

  Nocenzi, Vittorio

  major in Security, City Europe

  Shepherd, Hal

  Advisor to Li Shai Tung and head of the Shepherd family

  Tolonen, Jelka

  daughter of Knut Tolonen

  Tolonen, Knut

  general in Security

  Yang Lai

  junior minister under Li Shai Tung

  DISPERSIO
NISTS

  Berdichev, Soren

  head of SimFic (Simulated Fictions)

  DeVore, Howard

  major in Li Shai Tung’s Security forces

  Lehmann, Pietr

  leader of the Dispersionists and Senior Representative in the House at Weimar

  Wyatt, Edmund

  businessman and (unknown to him) father of Kim Ward

  OTHER CHARACTERS

  Golden Heart

  young prostitute purchased by Hans Ebert for his household

  Lu Ming-Shao

  Whiskers Lu – Tong Boss in the Net

  Mu Chua

  ‘Madam’ of the House of the Ninth Ecstasy, a singsong house, or brothel

  Pi Ch’ien

  Third Secretary to Junior Minister Yang Lai

  T’ai Cho

  tutor and guardian to Kim Ward

  Wang Ti

  wife of Kao Chen

  Ward, Kim

  ‘Clayborn’, orphan and scientist

  THE DEAD

  Alison

  Jake Reed’s girlfriend at New College; Evaluation Executive at GenSyn

  Chang Hsuan

  Han painter from the eighth century AD