China Edward Rutherfurd (essential reading .txt) 📖

if you can find Shaking Leaf.” I noticed that he used Mr. Yuan’s palace nickname. “If you can’t, then you are to act yourself, on my authority. Discover whether Mr. Ma had any family. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Everything in the palace is recorded. I want Mr. Ma’s body properly buried as he would have wished. Everything’s to be done well. Bring me any bills. Take this.” He gave me a piece of paper stamped with his seal. “Show that wherever you need to. It carries my authority. Let me know your progress.”

—

I found Shaking Leaf in the Forbidden City palace. He was quite astonished when I showed him Prince Gong’s seal, and he looked a bit embarrassed about our last encounter. “I thought you were a ghost,” he said.

“I could have been, Mr. Yuan,” I answered. I was very respectful. “I almost died.”

“And now you have Prince Gong’s seal of authority?”

“I saved his auntie’s life,” I explained. He shook his head in amazement. “We came looking for you in the Summer Palace today,” I said. “We were worried about you and the other palace people up there.”

“Most of us got out,” he replied. “But we had to run.”

“Mr. Ma’s dead,” I told him. “Prince Gong sent me to ask if he had any family.”

“A nephew, I think, who’s got his private parts for his burial.”

“If you could send some people up to the Summer Palace to collect Mr. Ma’s body, I can inform the nephew. Prince Gong wants everything done correctly. He’s even offered to pay.”

“I’m glad he’s done that,” said Shaking Leaf. “You can hardly imagine how scared the palace people are. Prince Gong taking such care of old Mr. Ma will put heart into them.”

He soon found the nephew’s address, and I was on my way.

—

That evening I made my report to Prince Gong. He was looking preoccupied. Then I went to see the princess. She was alone and obviously longing to talk to someone.

“What a time we’ve had, Lacquer Nail. Poor Prince Gong. Have you heard about the British barbarians and the loot? They gathered all the loot from the Summer Palace and had a big auction. I don’t know how it works, but at the end every soldier and officer gets a share, depending on their rank.” She paused. “I expect you found the prince very tired.”

“He must have a lot on his mind, Princess,” I ventured.

“A messenger arrived from the emperor today. Had the barbarians been driven out? If not, why not? It’s all very well for them. What do they know? They’re not here.”

“They aren’t,” I agreed.

“I don’t blame the emperor,” she remarked sadly. “I bought him up, you know, after his mother died. He was a nice little boy, always wanting to please. And then his father chose him to be the next emperor. So he was supposed to be perfect, which nobody is.”

“It must be very difficult to be emperor,” I echoed.

“It’s impossible,” she said. “At least nowadays. But I don’t believe it’s the emperor sending these stupid messages. It’s Prince Sushun and his gang. They’ve got him in their clutches. And they want to undermine Prince Gong.”

“Does the emperor know about the Summer Palace being looted?” I asked.

“He will very soon. And they’ll blame Prince Gong for that, too. I don’t know what will become of us,” she cried. Or what’ll become of me, I thought. For if Prince Gong falls, then I’ve no protector left. “The barbarians have got to leave,” the princess suddenly burst out. “No matter what the cost.”

—

The British terms were simple. They’d go away, but first they wanted all their original demands met, including the kowtow, and the hostages back, and a huge indemnity payment, of course. And they promised not to attack Beijing upon one condition: that they and the French should be given the southern gate, the main entrance to the city, where they could garrison their own troops.

Could one imagine anything more humiliating? The emperor has to give the keys of his capital to barbarian pirates. What was to stop them deciding who came in and out?

In the morning, Prince Gong had a meeting with all the senior officers at his house. Then several other important persons came to call. I was with the princess, but he came in to us afterwards. He was looking depressed.

“We can hold the city,” he said. “Lord Elgin would lose so many men taking it that I don’t think he’ll try. But a lot of troops have deserted, and we’re short of ammunition for even the wretched guns we’ve got. We can’t risk any open engagement.”

“So you’ll have to agree to Elgin’s terms,” said the princess.

“I fear so.”

“You know I believe the barbarians must leave,” she went on. “But whenever they do, they always seem to come back later with new demands. How do we ensure that this agreement is final?”

“Ah.” The prince nodded. “There has been a new development. The Russians have approached me. They say they want to be our friends. They’re offering to guarantee any agreement. If the British and French don’t stick to it, Russia will give us arms and send in troops. That will make the British think twice.”

“They’ll want something in return.”

“No doubt. We’ll see.”

His auntie didn’t press him further.

That still left the matter of the hostages. I happened to be in attendance upon the prince the next morning when the chief jailer was summoned to his office. He was a big, corpulent Manchu who looked as if he always ate a huge breakfast.

“We’re returning the hostages,” the prince told him. “Show me the list of them.”

The jailer gave him a sheet of paper. “That includes the two you wanted fattened up, Highness,” he said.

Prince Gong frowned. “There should be more,” he said.

“Well, we lost a few,” said the jailer.

“Lost? You mean they’re dead? How did you let that happen?”

The jailer looked puzzled. “Nobody told me the prisoners had to be kept alive, Highness,” he replied.