China Edward Rutherfurd (essential reading .txt) 📖

“So this is all about silver, then,” Trader exclaimed. “Nothing else at all.”

“Not so fast, Trader. You asked why the emperor is striking at us. I believe he’s got no choice because of the silver problem. But does that mean he isn’t concerned about his people? I’ll bet he’s concerned. Or that the opium trade isn’t a dirty business? It is.”

“What’s your point?”

“I don’t believe in single causes, Trader. Black and white, good versus evil. Real life isn’t like that. Historians in the future will find all kinds of things going on here at the same time, some of which may even be random chance. If historians can discern any pattern, it will probably be complex, a system in flux, like the sea.” He smiled. “God made the universe, Trader, but that doesn’t mean He made it simple.”

—

The placards appeared the next morning, all over the waterfront. They were five feet square, erected on posts, and covered with Chinese characters. Dr. Parker went out to read them.

“Lin says he’d rather be patient than resort to violence, but that we’ve got to surrender the opium. If Elliot can’t control the British merchants, then there’s no point in him being here. And if he doesn’t obey, Heaven may strike him down.” Parker gave them a wry look. “The threat may be heavenly, but it’s real enough.”

“Damn rude,” said Tully.

“The tone is more like a schoolmaster telling off unruly schoolchildren, I’d say,” answered Parker. “But then, that’s probably how Lin sees it.”

Elliot appeared briefly in the library. Matheson accosted him at once. “This is getting us nowhere,” Matheson said. “I’m going to offer Lin enough for him to satisfy the emperor and save face. Four, maybe five thousand chests. With luck, that may do the trick.”

“I forbid you to offer him anything,” Elliot replied sharply.

“Do you have a better plan?” Matheson asked angrily.

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

But Elliot turned on his heel and walked out.

—

It was early evening when he reappeared. Trader, Read, Matheson, and most of the British merchants were in the factory, and they gathered around.

“Gentlemen,” he announced calmly, “it is clear that Lin cannot and will not bargain. I am therefore going to surrender all the opium to him.”

There was a gasp of astonishment.

“All of it?” queried Matheson.

“Everything we have—here, out at the depots, in ships down the gulf. Even the opium on consignment. Every last chest.”

“We’re to give it all to Lin?” cried Dent. “I’ll be damned if I will.”

“No. You will give the opium to me. Then I’m going to give it to Lin.”

There was a stunned silence.

Matheson spoke. “Do you mean that you will take ownership of the opium, as the British government representative?”

“I do.”

“Will the government reimburse us?”

“That is the idea.”

Matheson frowned. “If you add it all up, there must be over twenty thousand chests of opium to be accounted for.”

“I agree. Forgive me, gentlemen, but I must leave you now.” And Elliot was gone.

“It gets us out of this hole, at least,” said Tully. “We’ll have to wait a devil of a time for our money, assuming we get it, but it’s better than what we’ve got at the moment, which is nothing.” He turned to Trader. “Don’t you agree?

John Trader nodded slowly. Yes, if you had a fortune already, like Tully and Matheson, and you could afford to wait. But if all your money was in the opium chests in question, and you had that much again in debt, it was another story. Since he couldn’t admit that, however, he said nothing, nodded to the other men, and went out. But just as he was leaving, Trader overheard Matheson ask Read what he thought. And the American, after coolly exhaling the smoke from his cigar, replied: “Seems to me, sir, your Captain Elliot is a devious son of a bitch.”

◦

On a fine April day, two weeks later, a pair of British vessels passed up the gulf towards the Bogue. From the shallows, half a mile distant, Nio watched them as they passed, on their way to the receiving station. He was alone in a small sampan with Sea Dragon.

Nio saw the pirate turn his eyes down the gulf, and following Sea Dragon’s gaze, he could just make out another pair of ships on the horizon. The opium ships had been coming for three days already, bearing their cargoes to Commissioner Lin, who was going to destroy them.

“What a waste,” said Nio wretchedly. “Do you think Lin will really get twenty thousand chests?”

Sea Dragon allowed his eyes to return to the two ships before them. The opium in either one of them would have been enough to keep him and his men employed and handsomely paid for many months.

But he didn’t reply to his young friend. He seemed to have something else on his mind. At last he spoke. “Would you lie to me, Nio?”

“No.”

“When you first came here, Nio, the men didn’t want you in the boat. Did you know that? But I told them: ‘He is young, he will learn quickly.’ ” Sea Dragon paused. “Why did they listen to me?”

“You’re the boss.”

“And…?”

“They trust you.”

“Yes.” Sea Dragon gazed across the water. “They trust me. But they also fear me.” He nodded thoughtfully. “None of them would lie to me, Nio. Not one. Because if they did, I would kill them. Do you know that?”

“I know that.”

“We were making good money when you came. Trade was down, but we found opium to take along the coast. You were well paid.”

“I owe you everything.”

“And now, thanks to this accursed Lin, up and down the coast they’re crying out for opium, and we don’t have any. We haven’t made any money in a month.” The handsome pirate sighed. “Maybe we should all go home. So I say, anyone who wants to can leave. But maybe things will get better. We can share our money to buy food, and we can wait. Everyone tells me how much money they have.” He looked at Nio. “But when you tell