Turnsheet 12

News

Cathay

From a pamphlet “The Exotique Easte Explain'd” published by the East India Company and distributed amongst some of the opinion formers of Oxford.

The two Mightiest Armies I ever saw or heard tell of in this Fallen Age. Not since Xerxes sought to Destroy Greece and place it under Asiatic Despotism have so many Men marched to War. The scholars of Cathay agree that one Million fought for the Empress Chang Ping and twice that number for the Manchu Invaders. And though such numbers are Scarce to be Believed, I saw with my Own Eyes that the Armies of the Empress did stretch for more than a League, and aye, in closed ranks many Dozens Deep.

And yet the Warriors of the Manchu were more Numerous still, like Sand upon the Beach. For the Manchu did empty the Imperial City of Beijing of all Men and Women able to hold a Pike, Spear or Sword and that great City be many times the Girth of proud Oxford.

It were the Cannon of the East India Company and the bravery of the Loyal Cathaymen, like the “Wolf and Dragon” company of brave Sir Láng that did redress the Terrible numbers with which the Horse Barbarians pressed upon the Rightful Heir of the Ming. Some do say that it was Láng hisself who did slay the Manchu Regent Prince Dorgon and break their Eight Banners in a single moment.

Whate'er the truth the Empress Chang Ping do now Sit upon the Dragon Throne in the Forbiddden City, and a true Friend of Albion do now rule that land and Expel the Jesuits and Papists that once Beset it.

Three Great Proclamations has that noble woman made to Commence her Reign in truth, and two will sound Passing Strange to the Sensible Albion Ear. She do Seek to Establish in Beijing a Great New University which will Spread Wisdom and Knowledge and in this she follows Belatedly the Good Example of the Universities of our own Kingdom, and none can say this Strange but otherwise than the Mark of a Good Queen.

For the first of her Stranger Laws she did Abolish the “Meanie” class who are by birth Denied Education and permission to Rise in Society or take the Imperial Exam which the Cathayman do Prize so Greatly to become Scholars (or “Jinshi” as they name them). And is a Wonder that such Exist to Be Done Away with. Only of Sense to the Foreigners of that Distant land, too, she has Abolished the Taking of Life by the State and in her Name. There shall be No more Executions in all Cathay by her word. For she be a Nun, though not of the Christian faith, and do Abhor all Death.

And it is her Vows that do excite much talk in Cathay, for whence will an Heir springforth when the Empress be celi[…]

From the Merchant Companies Briefing

Cathay

The Empress Chang Ping has now established control of Cathay and sits upon the throne in the Forbidden City in Beijing. This constitutes a triumph for the East India Company since the Empress has been a strong friend to the Company, and the John Company instrumental in her re-establishment of legitimate authority through our supply of powder and cannon. Proprietor Mandrake is to be congratulated on his foresight in allying with and supporting the Empress these many years. Obviously it would be to the Companies considerable advantage if the Empress could be persuaded to grant the Company monopolies on the export of certain valuable commodities to Europe.

Ambassadors Tsung and Xiao

It is unfortunate that Ambassador Tsung, with whom we had established an excellent working relationship, should be recalled. The Companies encourage officers to extend the same courtesies afforded her to her successor Ambassador Xiao and to cultivate him and demonstrate both the generosity of the Companies and the important of their place in Albion.

Gunpowder Supply

Thanks to the foresight of Proprietor Mandrake the East India Company has established a number of reserves of gunpowder. With the sabotage and treason of the Lady Hamilton and the Logistics Corp revealed it is vital that the Companies step forward and ensure that the Army and Navy are well-supplied and that were their arsenals are annihilated that Companies' facilities take their place.

Tsung Chang-Mai

Cleaning Up the Mess I Made

[Editor’s Note: This is a reduced version of the brief eliding material connected to the War in Hell and Heaven]

Preparations for Departure

You swiftly move your effects out of your ambassadorial offices on the top floor of the East India Company offices; it is a simple matter for Baron Mandrake to resume his role as your patron and to return you to the familiar offices you left only a year ago. The East India Company staff are subdued but supportive, many of them have grown fond of you and worry quietly about your departure (news of your recall having circulated swiftly). Even the most mercenary of the John Company staff who would sell their grandmothers if they could achieve a good enough price are careful not to antagonise you, unsure if you will return.

Ambassador Xiao, your replacement, quickly moves into one of the rooms you have vacated. He is solicitous and does not hasten your departure, but as you take your effects away his little domain within the embassy grows. You do your best to make him comfortable, he is at least somewhat familiar with the ways of the Albion folk and the East India Company from his time as an exile.

Leah Brandage removed her effects from Lanik College before departing for Prague and then publically to execuion in Istanbul, and secretly to Cathay. Those rooms have now been given to another academic and your access to the College the same as any other junior lecturer. Certainly the College are unaware of your marriage to the late Rabbi Brandage.

Arrival in Hangzhou

Mandrake has some urgent business to attend to, consequences of the politics in the Privy Council, before he can depart. Before your departure together however Dame Eliza Gamut provides you with the astrological reading that you requested from her. It informs you of the most proprcious place, and most auspicious time, to inform the Empress Chang Ping of what you have done, why, and what you still propose to do.

Mandrake and Tsung arrive in the port of Hangzhou on the Yangtze river and there meet up with Leah and David Brandage. The reunion of the married couple after months apart is touching. (Apparently Mandrake is afflicted with the same dust in his eyes that affected them at their wedding.) Uncertain of the exact date of Tsung's arrival it takes Leah a few days to get ready to depart from their lodgings in the port-city.

In the meantime Mandrake and Tsung conduct some Company in the business. Hangzhou has become the destination for the East India Company's shipments of arms and black powder to the Empress Chang Ping and as such Mandrake takes a keen interest in the security arrangements for the Company's warehouses and offices. If the Manchu were to learn of their importance then they could attempt a disruptive raid. Tsung uses her knowledge of local customs, while Mandrake is busy, to charm the local mandarins and officials to ensure that they realise that the Company and Albion is their friend.

Both hear disturbing rumours in the course of their dealings. The same rumours that surround the Jews in Albion have sprung up here, around the small and inoffensive community here. Tales of babies stolen in the night, of desecration of sacred statues at one of the local temples, and strange doings by a dealer in gold. It is strange to travel halfway round the world and hear the same stories. Perhaps there are still Jesuit agents about, spreading lies about the local Jews in revenge for what happened here a little over a year ago?

A Quiet Interlude for Couples

From Hangzhou the party of Leah, Tsung and Mandrake travel north up the Grand Canal. The armies of the Empress Chang Ping has moved quickly in the last few months. When Tsung and Leah previously visited she was camped only a hundred miles north of Hanzhou at the great city of Nanjing, one of the past capitals of Cathay. Now her armies have advanced a further 400 miles to Tianjin and the gates of the Imperial City of Beijing itself!

Tsung and Leah enjoy their leisure on the barge journey north along the Grand Canal. Both can relax in and enjoy each others company as the barge moves slowly northward under blue skies and golden days. It is a short holiday for both away from other concerns. Together they can watch the calm water and flat green world pass them by to either side, a sail canvas above the only noise apart from their own quiet conversations.

But as the barge approaches the town of Tianjin (“The Heavenly Ford”) it becomes but a single vessel on a crowded canal. The great army of Chang Ping is still drawing in soldiers from all over the south of Cathay and even more the canal is full of barges carrying rice to feed the great number of troops. A few barges heading south are carrying wounded soldiers, evidence that the Manchu have not yet surrendered their claim to the Dragon Throne. As the barge draws nearer to Tianjin the east atmosphere on board ebbs away and Tsung fills with anxiety. The Daughter of Heaven has recalled her and is clearly not happy with her. This is no minor matter.

The Court of the Empress

The Empress Chang Ping and her Court, swollen now to a prodigious size as the certainty of her victory begins to convince the last doubters, are a small tent-city on the plain in front of the gates of Tianjin. Around the ornate silk tents of the Empress and the nobles and jinshi of Cathay is massed a great field of soldiers beneath hundreds of coloured banners. The army is enormous in scale, stretching beyond the horizon to the south, west and north, with the town of Tianjin a tiny anchor in the east. It is easily a hundred-thousand strong.

Within the centre of the great army, in a red silk tent easily the size of an Oxford college, and held aloft with “poles” carved from whole trees and fluted with goldleaf, the Empress Chang Ping kneels cross-legged upon the floor and hears the petitions of her people and the advice of her generals and councillors. She is not dressed in the ornate silk robes, patterned by craftsmen and artisans and cut cunningly and artfully by tailors, like the nobles. She is dressed less ornately than the servants who tend to her and whom she graciously thanks in a manner unbecoming of the Lady of Ten Thousand Years. Instead the tonsured Chang Ping continues to wear plain white robes of silk suitable for a Taoist nun. Only the kowtowing deference of those around her, and the sword upon her back, give any indication that she is the rightful Daughter of Heaven and scion of the Ming dynasty.

Láng Méi-Qián, third son of the allied Kingdom of Tungning, is seeking audience with the Empress at the same time as the Baron Mandrake (Privy Coucillor of Albion and Propietor of the Honourable East India Company) and Tsung Chang-Mai, sorcerer and now-recalled ambassador to the Court of Albion. Rabbi Leah Brandage accompanies Tsung, apparently the reports of her demise being somewhat exaggerated.

Láng is summoned first to speak with the Empress. The Empress' voice is graceful and quiet and Mandrake, Tsung and Leah cannot hear her words well across the distance at which they wait. They can hear Láng well-enough however. The man who once styled himself Prince is pledging his sword to the Empress again and wishes to resume command of a regiment of men he trained before. He has also apparently brought with him from Albion a small force of two hundred men to fight in the Empress' service. Chang Ping appears to graciously acknowledge his gift and confirm him in his rank. Whispers spread along the rows of courtiers that the Daughter of Heaven has complimented Láng as a great warrior.

The next question from Láng however is clearly more disturbing for Tsung. He asks the Empress for news of the “bleaching demon”, for news has reached even Albion of the matter. The Empress turns to look at Tsung though the ambassador is sure that she has not been announced or that the Empress has looked in her direction. She is motioned over.

Tsung walks slowly to a courteous distance from the Daughter of Heaven and then kowtows.

She does not rise but from that position as she requests a private audience with the Empress upon the matter, to discuss sorcerous matters which may not be suitable reports for all. Tsung takes a deep breath to steel her courage and requests that as a matter of urgency the audience be delayed till the morrow. The astrological chart drawn up by Dame Eliza clearly states that she must make her presence known at Court on this day and that she request the honour of reporting to the Empress the next.

Tsung cannot see Chang Ping's face as she kowtows, and Mandrake and Leah are too far away to read her expression clearly, but it is a long time before the Empress replies in her soft voice, “Why not now, jinshi?” Her voice carries only as far as Tsung, soft and gentle and utterly implacable.

Tsung has no other reason than the chart, the promise that tomorrow is a more auspicious day to tell the Daughter of Heaven than today. That her case will go better, that she will be allowed to perform the spell to banish the Evil One if she can just delay till tomorrow. She stammers out that Dame Eliza Gamut has told her it would not be auspicious today. She won't lie to the Daughter of Heaven and if she commands she speak, if she commands…

Another long pause. Time enough for doubt to eat a hole out of Tsung's heart so that she feels it like a wound, and then the Empress speaks, “Rise jinshi, look at me.”

Tsung looks sits back from her kowtow and looks at the Empress, finding her searching her face. “Very well then jinshi,” she says slowly. “But not tomorrow. I have other business tomorrow. But perhaps the day after if Tian smiles upon me. If I am truly worthy to judge you then and your actions then tomorrow may prove it.”

With a gesture she dismisses you, the first time you have seen her act so imperious towards you.

The conversation with the Empress is held in low voices and those waiting for the result hear none of it. It is a considerable time before Tsung rises from her kowtow, but the conversation continues a while longer.

Eventually Tsung stands and walks back to join her friends, looking as weary as if she has run a hundred miles. Even as she is walking towards them the Empress stands and pointing at a functionary claps loudly once. The functionary runs outside and a trumpet blast is heard. The cry is echoed by other trumpets and then more, numerous but getting fainter, then

The Attack on Beijing

The great armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties face each other on the flatland southeast of the Imperial City of Beijing. Beijing is the largest city in the known world, five times the size of crowded Oxford at least, and the Manchu who have captured have withdrawn all their strength from the rest of Cathay to hold it. They have pressed its citizens into service as a militia and stripped the land of peasants for a hundred leagues around and pushed pikes into their hands. The army gathered by the Manchu is enormous.

The army of the Empress Chang Ping is a hundred thousand strong, so many that it spreads for a league in close-packed ranks. Thousands of carts trundle out of Tianjin carrying supplies for troops. Cannons from Albion, surrounded by parrels of powder stamped with the EIC crest, are drawn up behind the lines. Nonetheless the forces of the Empress Chang Ping are outnumbered and the core of the Manchu army is a veteran force, and their cavalry superior to that of the Ming forces.

In the centre of the line is the banner of Láng Méi-Qián, the distinctive “Wolf and Dragon” after which his regiment is nicknamed. He has been given a place of honour in the thick of the fighting. Before the battle is joined, while the dawnlight is still filtering into the sky, his men are all issued with a nutricious crumpet and beignet each. (Láng has had to spend a considerable time while not training his men teaching the cooks to prepare the food, and acquiring the necessary wheat and jam!)

Heralds are exchanged but no truce or treaty is agreed.

With a thunder that shakes the earth the two forces advance upon other. Immense flights of arrows and crossbow bolts blacken the sky but the first blows are struck by the cannons of the Ming, tearing great bloody lines of broken bodies in the Manchu ranks. Then Ming and Qing alike are falling to arrow and cannon fire. The lines smash together and the battle to determine the rulership of Cathay begins.

The Empress Chang Ping remains at the rear of the battle, issuing commands and directing reinforcements to the key points of the line. Her eyes stream with tears until they are red and too dry to cry anymore. None of the emotion on her face is found in her quiet voice.

It is Láng and his men who eventually settle the battle. The Regent Dorgon is not so wise, or well-advised, as Chang-Ping and has ridden into the battle himself. Surrounded by an honour guard he is in little danger until the swirl of battle carries them into the path of the “Wolf and Dragon”. The honour guard of Dorgon attempt to retreat to the safety of a nearby by Manchu regiment, even as cavalry comes rushing to the regent's defence. It is too late. Láng has cut his way through to the centre of the bodyguards and with a titanic effort manages to cut through the defenders and duel Dorgon long enough to slay the prince.

With their leader defeated and his banner seized the Manchu army begins to collapse. The peasant levies and conscripted citizens of Beijing begun to throw down their weapons or turn upon the Qing. The 8 Banners of the Manchu remain their discipline and give ground only slowly but by late evening it is clear that they have lost and that if Chang Ping orders an assault in strength they will be annihilated.

Chang Ping orders her forces to hold their positions and the Manchu tread slowly backward, a gap between the two opposing armies forming again. Into steps the Empress herself upon a white horse and carrying her sword. Only a few steps behind her, in a place of honour rides Láng. She stands in her stirrups and in a great voice cries out for the Manchu to surrender. She tells them they will be spared and what's more if they give their word will be allowed to return north of the Great Wall with their swords in honour. There is a moment of silence and then a great hubbub as the soldiers clamour for her offer to be accepted.

Chang Ping and her escort return to her lines and wait. Peace is not made with a great proclamation but in a thousand hurried messages during the night. Nonetheless come the morning the Manchu army is marching north, abandoning Beijing and everything within, messengers in the night ordering their families and servants to pack and carry away everything. Her Imperial Majesty the Empress of the Great Ming Dynasty, Daughter of Heaven, Lady of Ten Thousand Years, marches through the southern gates of Beijing and into the Forbidden City at the head of a victorious army. Her route is lined with cheering crowds.

Very Bad Things

[Redacted]

The Mandate of Heaven

The Empress is subdued for a number of days after the strange and often horrific sights she has seen in her audience chamber. The Empire of Cathay does not care for such matters though and Chang Ping has a dynasty and laws to re-establish.

She does make two great proclamations however:

  1. The Empress commands the abolition of capital punishment for all crimes, including murder and treason, from this day forth.
  2. The Empress abolishes the lowest caste. All will now be eligible for the state exams to become a jinshi irrespective of their birth.

Finally she reappoints Tsung her ambassador to Albion, with her blessings and her pity.

An Heir

One of the eunuch's remaining in the Palace was formerly in charge, in principle, of the Qing Emperor's harem and in practice of the preceding Chongzhen Emperor's. A fat man he approaches Tsung and glowing like a piece of burning coal, umms and hahs, his way round to the subject of an heir for the Empress. If the Ming are not to die with her, and plunge Cathay into civil war or open it to invasion again, well, she'll have to, you know. And she's a nun. That makes it difficult. As a friend of the Lady of Ten Thousand Years could you possibly mention that she needs a few husbands? And some concubines? If she's to, you know, make an heir.

bonus.cathay/12.txt · Last modified: 2009/03/15 11:53 by ivan