China by Edward Rutherfurd (historical books to read TXT) 📕

someone special. It’s a common delusion.” He sighed. “Any fool who wins a game of mah-jong believes it was destiny.”

“I suppose, sir,” I suggested, “that if something happens, it must have been destined.”

“Don’t try to be clever,” he said. “Do you realize you’re making a lot of enemies? How do you imagine the other palace people feel? They’d have to wait six years for such a chance. But you, a new arrival, insinuate yourself with the emperor’s consort and get promoted over all their heads. You think they like that?”

“No, Mr. Liu,” I replied.

“You haven’t a friend in the palace,” he said. “Except one: the Noble Consort Yi. And how long will that last? Until you make a mistake and she throws you out.” He paused a moment. “Or she gets thrown out herself.”

He said those last words very softly, but I heard them well enough, and I felt a stab of fear. What did that mean? What did he know that I didn’t? I must have looked shocked.

“I’ve seen them come,” he went on. “I’ve seen them go.” He considered for a moment. “She’s got some things in her favor. At least the emperor manages to perform with her. Most of the time he can’t, you know.”

I stared at him in disbelief. He was talking about the Son of Heaven! To me, the lowest of all the eunuchs.

“It’s no secret,” he said blandly. “Not here in the palace. When he was a very young man he used to sneak out and visit whores in the city. That was his main adventure. But since then…He’s had a child with one of the other concubines. But only a daughter. The empress herself, poor lady, seems to be barren. Only the Noble Consort Yi has given him a son.”

“Doesn’t that make her position secure, sir?” I dared to ask.

“Not entirely. Legally, her son could be given to another mother. The empress, for instance. The son might still be the heir. But the Noble Consort Yi could find herself out in the cold.”

“Your servant hears that the emperor likes her company,” I said.

“Yes. He even discusses state affairs with her. It’s against the rules for concubines to meddle in such things, but he doesn’t seem to care. He asks her advice, and she gives it.”

“Her advice is bad?” I asked.

“No. She may be ignorant, but her judgment is rather good.” He sighed. “The kingdom’s in a terrible state. I suppose you realize that? The Taiping have ruined most of the Yangtze valley. That’s where the Noble Consort Yi spent her childhood, by the way. She hates the Taiping with a passion. We had them boxed in, but they broke out again this spring, went up to Hangzhou and back, then mauled our troops outside Nanjing. Who knows what their next move will be? The emperor is terrified of them. The last time the Taiping got anywhere near Beijing, he wanted to desert his capital and run away beyond the Great Wall. Did you know that?”

“No, sir,” I said, “I didn’t.” I remembered the Taiping advance all too well, but I didn’t know about the emperor. I was quite shocked.

“She’s the one who persuaded him to stay, before the news of his cowardice leaked out.”

“Why north of the Great Wall, sir?” I asked.

“Centuries ago, before the Ming dynasty, the Mongol emperors, the family of Genghis Khan, had a huge hunting palace called Xanadu up on the steppe. I suppose because they wanted to be like them, the present Manchu dynasty built a similar place, though not as far north, on their ancestral hunting grounds. Until a generation ago they used to go up there for a huge hunt every summer. But it got so expensive they gave it up. The place is slowly falling apart. But he feels safer up in those endless plains, I suppose. I daresay he’d run all the way into the forests of Manchuria if he had to.”

I was quite astonished that Mr. Liu was saying these things to me. Looking back on it, I’m sure he must have felt frustrated by the emperor. I like to think that however angry he was with me, he allowed himself to share his thoughts because he knew I was intelligent. Naturally, I wanted to know more.

“Is the emperor afraid of the barbarians, too, sir?” I prompted.

“The pirates? We’re still not sure what they want. There’s always the worry they could combine with the Taiping, of course.”

“And the Noble Consort Yi?”

“Despises all barbarians. Says we should destroy them. They may have better ships and guns, but their numbers are small. Do you know how many people the emperor rules?”

“Your servant does not,” I said.

“About four hundred million. Think of it. In a land battle, if the pirates fired every musket and every cannon they have, how many could they kill before they were swamped? Twenty thousand? I doubt it. Moreover, though it’s true that they’ve smashed our ships and forts in the past, when they came to the coastal forts last year, we were better prepared and we defeated them. That put the Noble Consort Yi in high favor. Even the emperor pretends not to be afraid.”

“Is it believed the barbarians will come again?” I asked.

“They may. But we’re even better prepared now. I have seen for myself.”

This sounded well. But it raised a question in my mind. “All this would seem to support the strong position of the Noble Consort Yi,” I suggested. “Yet your servant had the impression that you thought she might fall from favor.”

“Yes. It must worry you a great deal.” I noticed the satisfaction in his voice. “You’ll have to discover that for yourself, won’t you? By the way,” he continued, “the court’s moving to the Summer Palace in two days. You’ll like it there.” He gazed at me. “Enjoy it,” he said softly, “while you can.”

—

As the long cortege left the Forbidden City, I was sitting in a covered wagon with a dozen other eunuchs. The