THE DEER AND THE CAULDRON The Third Book A Martial Arts novel by Louis Cha Translated and edited by John Minford with Rachel May OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sao Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York Oxford University Press 2002 First published 2002 This impression (lowest digit) 13579 10 8642 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by Law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address below You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available Library of Congress Cataloging’in’Publication Data Chin, Yung, 1924’[Lu ting chi. English] a martial arts novel ‘ by Louis Cha; translated and edited by John Minford, ISBN 019’590327’7 Translations into English. I. Minford, John. II. Title. PL2848.Y8L7913 1997 895.1’352-dc21 97’36366 CIP Printed in Hong Kong Published by Oxford University Press (China) Ltd 18th Floor, Warwick House East, Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay Hong Kong For my mother, Patricia CONTENTS Translator’s Note xi Important Dates in the Historical Background xii Glossary of People and Places xv General Glossary of Terms xxxvii Note on Pronunciation Chapter 20-In which Princess Ning castrates her Groom and ‘commits Suicide’, and Viscount Trinket rescues the Wrong Girl; he meets the Peerless Consort and hears her sing; a Confrontation takes place between General Bash’em, the Satrap, the. White Nun, and the Peerless Consort; and Trinket secures Safe Passage back to Peking for himself and his Entourage Fire Alarm in the Gardens of the Princess-A Strange Mutilation, and an Attempted Suicide-An Attempt on the Satrap’s Life-At the Satrap’s Palace-The Assassin’-Story behind a Story-At His Wits’ End-The Peerless-The Ballad of the Peerless Consort-Revelations-An Extraordinary Gathering-Memories-Doing a Deal-Departure from Kunming Chapter 21-In which Trinket and Party make their way to the 65 Province ofGuizhou, and thence to Peking; there is Singing on the River, and Tales are told of Taiwan; Two Elderly Jesuit Fathers prove their Skill at the Art of making Cannon; Devoted Doublet pieces together the Map; and Trinket is put in command of a Naval Expedition In the Mountains-A Number of Familiar Faces-In the Gambling Den-A Surprising Intervention-Beggar, Meatball, and other Combatants-Triad Talk-The Log Rafts- Exit Sir Zheng-The Storm on the River-The Helmsman presents an Old Hero-The Helmsman Informed-The Art of Escape-In the Capital Once More- Of Jesuits and Cannon-Piecing together the Scraps- me Cauldron-Cannon of Divine Might-Mission Impossible-The Three Treasures of Manchuria-Pacifying the Ocean-Strategy, and a Golden Bowl-Trinket at Sea-Meatball, and other Floating Objects-Smoke Signals and Big Guns Chapter 22-In which Trinket falls once more into Mystic Dragon 142 Hands; travels North with Doublet, and crosses the Ice to Albazin; meets a Beautiful Princess and travels to Moscow; and finally Returns Unfamiliar Valiants-An Artful Customer-Through Ice and Snow-Deer-Mountains and Rivers-Cossacks, and the ; ‘ Fort-The Secret Passage-Princess Sophia-High Diplomacy, High Stakes-To Moscow-Russian Affairs of ¯’.. State-Trinket gives Counsel-Mutiny-Trinket has another Cunning Plan-Trinket Returns Chapter 23-In which Trinket advises the Emperor on Affairs of 189 State; and is sent on an Important Mission to Yangzhou Trinket in Peking-A Command Performance-Council of State-An Unusual Friendship-A Small Favour-You Monster!-For Old Time’s Sake-The Hunting of the Little Traitor-En route for Yangzhou’ the Wang Wu Clan- Obsequies on the Mountain Chapter 24-In which Trinket returns in Triumph to the City of 224 his Youth, and ends up in a very Large Bed with several Delectable Ladies all at the same time; the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories finally breaks out; and Trinket is summoned back to Court The Fair City of Yangzhou’ of Peonies and other Flowers- ^ Trinket back in the Alley-Mother and Son Reunited-A Strange Brotherhood-Even Stranger Womenfolk- Roll’Call ‘ ‘l -One Touch Here, One Touch There-Bedstead on the .; March-Bedstead Pandemonium-Charges of Treason- ‘, Doublet seeks Revenge- Writing a Letter-Trinket works ; Fast-Spring Fragrance the Sceptic Chapter 25-In which the Strange Gui Trio, and Iron Hand the 295 Lady Warrior, are introduced; and an Assassination Attempt has Vnpredicted Results News of the War-Strange Companions-Spinning Tops and Playing Tag-Kungfu Pedigrees-Evil is its own Reward- Living Legends-Dead Man’s Head-Of Murder and Assassination-Capital Deliberations-Trinket the Calligrapher-Serious Consequences of a Light Poke-Kang Xi confronts the Old Whore-What Fun!-The Truth will Out-’I don’t know where to go!’-Escape Plans A, B, & , C-Plan C in Action Chapter 26-In which Trinket escapes from Peking, and visits 3fs* Snake Island for the last time; the Leader makes a Last Stand; a Great Hero dies; and Life on Potluck Island is Described Out of the Wok, and into the Fire-Mystic Dragon Dissension-To the Death!-Return to Potluck Island-New Arrivals on the Shore-Death of a Hero-Negotiations for Sir Zheng’s Release-The Informer Revealed-An Unusual IOU-Potluck Island Idyll-Rules for Trinket’s Harem- Modus Vivendi-The Seasons of Potluck Island-Two Tamardy Edicts-Domestic Details-Earl of Potluck Island Chapter 27-In which Trinket travels to Taiwan; and is sent as 434 Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Russians, with Instructions to capture fort Albazin and negotiate the Treaty of Nerchinsk ‘ The Fall of Taiwan-Trinket in Taiwan-Boots Aloft- Trinket in Favour Again- Arrangements for Revenge-The Supreme Commander-Heads You Lose!-Human Shashlik- Winter sets In-Piss Attack-Wobbleski and Chillingoff-A Loyal Servant-More Russian Blarney- Nerchinsk-Conspiracy in the Tent-Not by Halves-An Object for a Cult V Chapter 28-In which Trinket returns yet again to Peking, and 501 is obliged to supervise the Execution of his Old Friend Whiskers Mao; he meets Four Gentlemen of the Resistance; and finally decides to call it a Day and retire from Public Life Altogether An Old, Bewhiskered Friend-Making Choices-Trinket the Debt’Collector-A Small Favour-Necessity, the Mother of Trinketian Invention-Aftermath of an Execution- Safe House-Who’d ever choose to be Emperor’-The Urchin Academician-A Puddle tells All-The Way of the Prince - Not Today, not Tomorrow, not Ever!-A Man can only be Who He Is-The Murdering of Trinket-Just like Yours! Epilogue-The Never’Ending Quest 535 TRANSLATOR’S NOTE This Third Book finally brings the English Trinket trilogy to a close. Apologies to all (including the author) who have had to wait so long to follow their anti’hero into well’earned early retirement. Special thanks to Anastasia Edwards at Oxford University Press, who has shown extraordinary patience, and provided enormous doses of sympathetic encouragement and enthusiasm at crucial times. I hope Trinket’s antics in this volume will entertain. For all his faults, he remains, in my opinion, along with Monkey, Jia Baoyu, and Ah Q, one of the unforgettable characters in Chinese fiction. He is the heart of the book. That is why, although this third volume (like the second) is abridged from the Chinese original (it represents volumes 4 and 5 of the Chinese edition), it has been my goal throughout to preserve as much as possible of Trinket himself, his words and deeds, his (often obnoxious) personality, his feelings (or lack of them). My Shifu David Hawkes has once again gallantly contributed his kungfu skills to the completion of this saga. And my ever’loyal sister’in’arms, Rachel May, has in this volume gone far beyond the call of editorial duty. Without her creative collaboration and ingenuity, the book would quite simply never have been finished. Fontmarty, August 2002 IMPORTANT DATES IN THE HISTORICAL BACKQROUND To the extent that Deer (‘s a historical novel, the action takes place between roughly 1663 and 1689 1559 Birth in the North’Eastern Long White Mountains of Nurhachi, the Exalted Founder of the Manchu Imperial House of Gioro, descended from a noble family of the Jurched Tartars (rulers of China in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, during the Jin or Golden dynasty). 1592 Birth of Abahai, eighth son of Nurhachi. 1572’1620 Reign of the Ming Emperor Wan Li; beginnings of the Ming (Bright) dynastic decline. 1616 Nurhachi declares himself Khan or First Emperor of the Later Jin dynasty and presides over a growing Manchu state in the North’East. 1626 Death of Nurhachi, who is succeeded by Abahai, the Illustrious Ancestor. 1628 Accession of Chong Zhen, grandson of Wan Li, and last Emperor of the native (Han) Ming dynasty. 1629 Patriotic Ming general Mao Wenlong (in Deer he is the father of the Old Whore, Mao Dongzhu) is treacherously executed in his island fortress by Marshal Yuan Chonghuan (the father of Cha’s fictitious and legendary swordsman Yuan Chengzhi). 1630 Yuan Chonghuan himself is executed, on charges trumped up by partisans of the corrupt eunuch Wei Zhongxian. 1636 Rise of rebel movements in northern and central China, including that led by Li Zicheng (General Bash’em); Abahai proclaims himself Emperor of the Qing dynasty, in the Manchu capital Mukden (present’day Shenyang). IMPORTANT DATES IN THE HISTORICAL BACKQROUND XIII 1638 Birth of Fulin (later to be the Emperor Shun Zhi), fourth son of Abahai. 1644 Rebel leader Li Zicheng enters Peking; the Emperor Chong Zhen commits suicide; the Manchu army enters Peking, aided by the turncoat Satrap Wu and his force of Chinese troops; beginning of the Manchu Qing dynasty proper in China and of the reign of Shun Zhi. 1645 Massacre of Yangzhou. 1646’1647 Manchu conquerors try to consolidate their hold over central and southern China; Ming Princes (Pretenders) establish short’lived refugee courts in the South. 1654 Birth of Xuanye (later to be Emperor Kang Xi), second son of the Emperor Shun Zhi. 1659 Coxinga, leader of the anti’Manchu resistance, tries to take Nanking but fails. 1661 Death of Empress Donggo, the Emperor Shun Zhi’s favourite consort; also supposed death of Emperor Shun Zhi. 1662 Accession of Kang Xi. Ming Pretender Prince Gui (Emperor Yong Li) is taken prisoner in Burma and strangled in Kunming, with the connivance of Satrap Wu. Coxinga moves his base to Taiwan. Death of Coxinga; formation, under Coxinga’s general, Helmsman Chen Jinnan, of the Triad Secret Society, committed to the overthrow of the Manchus and the restoration of the Ming Imperial House. 1662’1663 Inquisition surrounding the Ming History. 1663’1664 Dutch fleet helps Manchus drive Coxinga’s son Zheng Jing from Fujian to Taiwan; Manchu rule is established throughout mainland China. 1667 Kang Xi, aged thirteen, dismisses his Regents. 1669 Death of Oboi, formerly Chief Regent. XIV 1673 Rebellion of Satrap Wu (Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces), Shang Zhixin (Guangdong Province), and Geng Jingzhong (Fujian Province)-the Three Feudatories. 1678 Dzungar Prince Galdan invades Eastern Turkestan, taking Kashgar and Yarkand, then (1679) Kami and Turfan. 1681 Three Feudatories are finally put down; death of Zheng Jing. 1682 Death of Fifth Dalai Lama. The Grand Lama Sangge seizes power, and supports Galdan’s territorial expansion. 1683 Surrender of the Pescadores Islands; Manchus finally conquer Taiwan. 1686 Kang Xi calls unsuccessful conference of Mongols and Tibetans. 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk signed between Manchus and Russians, defining their border. 1690 War finally breaks out between Galdan and the Manchus. 1696 Galdan is defeated by Kang Xi’s army at the battle of Jao Modo. For an excellent, readable account of the historical background to , see the first three chapters of Jonathan Spence’s book, The Search for Modern China (New York’ Norton, 1990). A colourful earlier account of this period is to be found in Backhouse and Bland, Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking (London’ Heinemann, 1914), chapters 1’10. QLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES Where historical dates are given, they are based on Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington, i 94 4) Ah (as in Ah Ki) An affectionate diminutive. AH KI see Blue Girl AH KOR see Green Girl AJIGE Commander of the Vanguard Regiment, until replaced by Colonel Tai. These crack troops were always feuding with Dolong’s Valiants (shades of the King’s Musketeers and the Cardinal’s Guards in Dumas’ The Three Musketeers, a work Louis Cha greatly admires). ALEXIUS MIKHAILOVICH Second Tsar of the Romanov dynasty, reigned 1645’1676. See Sophia, Princess. AMOY Important port; headquarters of Coxinga in southern Fujian Province. AN FU GARDENS Literally, Park of Peaceful Prosperity. This was one of the Satrap’s extravagant pleasure gardens, put at the disposal of Princess Ning during her stay in Kunming. Situated in the western suburbs of the city, it is said (historically) to have housed his large library. AO BIAO The Blue Tiger. One of the Mu Family retainers, the much tattooed disciple of Shaker Wu. BASH’EM, General Li Zicheng (1605’1645), rebel leader who drove the last of the Ming Emperors from Peking in 1644, only to be ejected in his turn by Satrap Wu and the Manchus. His subsequent fate is unknown. One legend says that he did not die in 1645, but escaped to a monastery. BA LANGXING Officer in Satrap Wu’s army. XVI BATAI, Lord Grand Chancellor of the Hall of Middle Harmony, an elderly Manchu statesman, simultaneously holding the post of Minister of the Board of Rites. BLUE DRAGON MARSHAL Xu Xueting; elder of Mystic Dragon Sect. BLUE GIRL Wang Ah Ki, twenty’year’old disciple of the White Nun, in love with Prince Galdan. BODONICH, Prince Leader of delegation of ministers and dignitaries sent to negotiate with Princess Sophia, after the mutiny. BRONZE HAT LANE Alley in central Peking, location of Trinket’s palace. CHANG, Princess see White Nun CHEN YUANYUAN see Peerless Consort CHIRONOV One of the musketeers sent to guard Princess Sophia in the hunting lodge outside Moscow; later promoted to Captain and sent east to Fort Albazin, with Vobolsky. CHONG ZHEN, Emperor (1611’1644) Zhu Youjian, last Emperor of the Ming dynasty, who succeeded to the throne in 1627, aged sixteen, inheriting an empire too poor to stand the expense of maintaining the armies needed at the front. Wholesale desertion and banditry plagued his reign, and indecision and lack of confidence prevented the formation of a strong government. In 1629, his loyal general Yuan Chonghuan (one of the last hopes for the survival of the Ming in the face of the growing Manchu threat) was unjustly put to death. This was followed by the ever’increasing encroachment of the Manchus from the north’east, while from 1630 onwards China was ravaged by desperate hordes of bandits. Chong Zhen hanged himself on Coal Hill when the rebel leader Li Zicheng entered Peking. CHRYSANTHEMUM SCENT Feng Xifan’s fifth concubine. QLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES CLAN LODGE Triad Lodge of Guangxi Province. XVII COXINGA (1624’1662) This was the Western name (sometimes written Koxinga, based on the Fukienese pronunciation of a tide Guo’xing’ye given him by the Ming Court) for the naval warrior Zheng Chenggong, Marshal Zheng, first Prince of Yanping, leader until his death of the anti’Manchu resistance, cryptically referred to as Dragon Brother by the Triads. His father was a Fukienese pirate and adventurer, his mother Japanese; the remnants of his army are supposed to have formed the first Triad Lodges. He is the subject of a famous play by the Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653’1725). Though Coxinga has passed into myth as a great hero, history seems to indicate that especially towards the end of his life he was guilty of the sort of paranoid’maniacal excesses we have seen more recently in the dotage of Chairman Mao. In Deer we see an example of this in the fate of Shi Lang’s family. DARLI Manchu official, Senior Academician sent as an envoy to Satrap Wu. DOLONG Colonel and Chief Intendant of the Palace Guards, a member of the Plain White Banner. DONG, Lady Principal wife of Coxinga, and mother of Zheng Jing. She favoured Zheng Jing’s second son, Zheng Keshuang (the Insufferable), over Zheng Kezang. DOUBLET Pretty young orphaned maid given to Trinket by Widow Zhuang, as a reward for having killed Oboi. A superb fighter, she becomes Trinket’s devoted companion for the duration of the novel. Even when she may not have been mentioned for dozens of pages, she will never be far from the scene of the action, ever ready to save her Master from the jaws of certain death. DUIKENA Manchu Grand Chancellor. EMPRESS DOWAGER (Fake’) Wife of Shun Zhi, daughter of the Mongol Prince Korcin, of the Borjigit clan; referred to by Trinket as the Old Whore. It transpires during the course of the Second Book that the Old Whore is not in fact the real Empress, but an years. EMPRESS DOWAGER Having emerged from her wardrobe’prison, she continues to lead a shadowy life in her apartments in the Forbidden City. ENLIGHTENMENT, Shrine of Famous Zen Buddhist temple in the city of Yangzhou. FANG YI Mu Family retainer; beautiful sister’in’arms of the Little Countess, much admired by Trinket. As it transpires in the Second Book, she is also a member of the Mystic Dragon Sect, and is entrusted with the job of luring Trinket to their island lair. FAT DHUTA Once or twice referred to earlier in the novel as Bag’of’Bones. Originally a very fat disciple of the Mystic Dragon Sect; becomes excessively thin and tall after taking the Leopard Embryo Pill. Tries to ambush Trinket and take him to Snake Island. Brother’in’arms of Thin Dhuta (Meatball, or Lump’of’Flesh). FENG, Brother Feng Jizhong, Triad with superb kungfu skills, but of dubious loyalty. FENG, The Bloodless Sword Feng Xifan; general in the service of Zheng Jing; evil mentor (and father’in’law) of Zheng Keshuang; supreme master of Kunlun School of kungfu. FUJIAN Rich south’eastern coastal province, origin of much Overseas Chinese emigration to places such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Strategically important because it is directly opposite the island of Taiwan. GALDAN (‘ 1644’1697) Mongol prince, Bushktu Khan of the Dzungars (a tribe of the Eleuths or Western Mongols), with ambitions to rule over Chinese Turkestan. He has been described as ‘an extraordinary character, a sort of unsuccessful Genghis Khan, who dreamed of re’establishing the old Mongol empire under the domination of his own Western Mongols.’ (Grousset, History of the e, p. 285) In his youth, he lived as a novice in Lhasa, and remained on cordial terms with the Tibetan Lamaists. He was finally defeated by Kang Xi’s armies in 1696. GAO YANCHAO Young Triad, member of the Green Wood Lodge. Trinket’s contact man. GENG JINGZHONG (died 1682) Chinese Bannerman, son of Geng Jimao (died 1671), like his father the Satrap of Fujian Province, later involved in the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories against Manchu rule. Historically, he and ten other generals who had supported the Satrap’s rebellion were condemned by Kang Xi to the ultimate penalty of Lingering Death. GIYESU see Prince Kang GOLITSYN, General Governor of Fort Albazin, and lover of Princess Sophia. GOLOVIN, Fyodor Alexeyevich Duke of Lomonosoff, Russian Envoy sent to negotiate peace with China. GREEN GIRL Chen Ah Kor, beautiful sixteen’year’old disciple of the White Nun, much admired by Trinket, but infatuated with the ‘cad’, Zheng Keshuang. She accompanies Trinket to Yunnan, disguised as a waiting’woman of Princess Ning. It transpires in the course of the Third Book that she is in fact the daughter of Chen Yuanyuan, the Peerless Consort, and Li Zicheng, General Bash’em. But the White Nun (the Princess Royal) kidnapped her as a young girl, and trained her with a view to avenging the death of her (the White Nun’s) own father (the Ming Emperor Chong Zhen), for which she held the Satrap responsible. At certain moments, Green acts as though the Satrap were indeed her father (see Chapter 24). In the Third Book she becomes one of Trinket’s seven wives. GU YANWU (1613’1682) Renowned Loyalist scholar and philosopher. The senior member of the group known as the Four Gentlemen of the Resistance. In the Second Book he is elected nominal head of the Anti’Manchu Resistance United Front (at the Rat Trap Congress in Hejianfu-see Chapter 18). XX GLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES XXI GU ZHIZHONG Master of the Red Fire Lodge of Guizhou Province. GUANGXI Wild mountainous province west of Guangdong. The Kang Xi Emperor once remarked’ ‘There are smells so vile that they must be worse than the foul vapours of Guangxi . . .’ (Spence, Emperor of China, p. 103). GUI, Invalid Gui Zhong, consumptive man of middle years, with the mental age of a nine’year’old, but formidable Inner Force kungfu skills. GUI, Old Lady Wife of Gui Xinshu, and mother of Invalid Gui. No mean fighter herself. GUI, Prince (1623’1662) The Ming Pretender recognized by the Mu Family. Took the reign title Yong Li in Canton late in 1646, and from 1650 wandered with his refugee court in the South, finally escaping into Burma only to be handed over by the Burmese and put to death by Satrap Wu (on secret instructions received from the Manchu Regent Oboi). His wife and mother embraced the Christian faith, and took the names Helen and Mary. GUI XINSHU Old Gui, father of Invalid Gui, a vigorous eighty’year’old with a long, flowing white beard. A famed exponent in his day of the Mount Hua School of kungfu, known as the Matchless Knight, and brother’in’arms of Lady Iron Hand. GUIZHOU Mountainous province north of Guangxi and east of Yunnan. HATTY see Hatiemo HATIEMO Mongol envoy sent by Prince Galdan to Yunnan, to negotiate an alliance with Satrap Wu. He falls into the hands of Trinket, who escorts him to Peking. HE SHENG Young disciple of Rootless the Taoist, the Red Dragon Marshal of the Mystic Dragon Sect. HE YOU Chinese general in campaign leading up to Treaty of Nerchinsk. HELMSMAN CHEN (died 1680) Chen Jinnan, supreme leader of the Triad Society, in command of the Taiwan resistance forces. HO GARDEN Magnificent landscape garden in Yangzhou, belonging to a wealthy salt’merchant. Trinket is lodged there during his official visit to Yangzhou. HONG, Leader Hong Antong, elderly Leader of the Mystic Dragon Sect. HONG, Madame Su Quan, beautiful young consort of Hong Antong, Leader of the Mystic Dragon Sect. In the Third Book she becomes one of Trinket’s seven wives. HU YIZHI The ‘Peasant’. A former champion, known as Hu the Gallant, famous for his good looks and Martial Arts prowess, but now in retirement from River and Lake. A dogged admirer of the Peerless Consort for over twenty years. HUANG ZONGXI (1610’1695) Renowned Loyalist figure who fought alongside the Ming resistance, retiring in 1649 to a life of scholarship. His work Mingyi daifang lu (sometimes translated as The Way of the Prince), written in 1662, a book which Kang Xi praises to Trinket in Chapter 28, was an outstanding Confucian attempt to curb the authoritarian nature of Imperial rule, and introduce much’needed reforms into the Chinese political system. (See de Bary, The Sources of Chinese Tradition [New York, 1960], pp. 530’542, for extracts in translation.) IRON HAND, Lady Lady Yellow Tunic, the woman warrior. Called Iron Hand because of the hook at the end of her right arm. Previously guru of the Five Poisons Sect, she then became a disciple of Yuan Chengzhi, and joined the Mount Hua School. She gives Trinket the poisoned darts, which prove to be invaluable in his later adventures. XXII IVAN Half’witted brother of Princess Sophia, made joint Tsar with Peter, under Princess Sophia’s Regency. JERKEN Manchu official, Chief Secretary of the Board of Rites, sent as an envoy to Satrap Wu. RANG, Prince (1645’1697) Giyesu, great’grandson of Nurhachi; friend of Trinket’s. KANG XI, the boy Emperor (1654’1722) This was the reign title of the second Manchu Emperor; his personal name was Xuanye (which means roughly speaking Dark or Mysterious Effulgence- he calls himself Misty, for Trinket’s benefit). He was the third son of the Emperor Shun Zhi, whom he succeeded at the age of eight. By the beginning of the Second Book he is rid of the overweening Regent Oboi, and has assumed the reins of power. The Third Book chronicles his true coming of age as a ruler, his victory over the Three Feudatories, and his attempt to win over the goodwill of the Chinese intelligentsia. Anyone interested in this extraordinary and civilized contemporary of Louis XIV is advised to read Jonathan Spence’s brilliant study, based on original documents, Emperor of China’ Self’portrait ofK’ang’hsi (London, 1974). KONG SHANGREN (1648’1718) Descendant of Confucius, and author of the famous play The Peach Blossom Fan, set in the last days of the Ming dynasty (from which Beggar Wu sings an aria in Chapter 21). KONG YOUDE (died 1652) A former general serving the Manchu cause. His daughter, Kong Sizhen (born c.1641), was held in great favour at court, and had even been granted the status of a minor princess on account of her father’s services. She had married Sun Yarding. KUANG TIANXIONG, Brother Triad from Red Fire Lodge of Guizhou Province. KUNMING Capital of Yunnan Province, the Satrap’s fief in southwestern China, where (as the Chinese say) it is spring four times a year. GLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES XXIII LAUREL (‘Laurie Goong’goong’) Junior eunuch in attendance on Old Hai, murdered and subsequently impersonated by Trinket. Kang Xi continues to refer to Trinket occasionally as Laurie. LERGIYEN, Prince Fourth son and heir of the Manchu Prince Lekedehun (died 1652). Manchu general in command of expeditionary force sent to combat the Satrap’s rebellion. LI, Brother Li Lishi, tall thin elderly Triad. LI XIHUA Young scholar and kungfu adept, son of Prince Li Yan. LI YAN Former counsellor to Bash’em Li during his rebellion; Bash’em had him unjustly put to death, and for this his son Li Xihua swears to take vengeance. LI ZICHENG see Bash’em LIN XINGZHU Formerly a general in the Resistance, under Coxinga (historically, according to Hummel, he was one of Wu Sangui’s generals, not Coxinga’s); trained in the Ditang School of kungfu; he transferred his loyalties to the Manchu cause and played an important part in the campaign leading up to the Treaty of Nerchinsk. LITTLE COUNTESS Mu Jianping, younger sister of Mu Jiansheng, descended from old Duke Mu. In the Third Book, she becomes one of Trinket’s seven wives. LITTLE DOUBLE The alternative name suggested by Su Quan for Trinket’s daughter (by the Princess Ning), after the God of Gambling has twice insisted on the somewhat less feminine name Bench. LIU DAHONG Shifu of the Mu Family, known on River and Lake as the Iron Dragon. LIU GUOXUAN General in Coxinga’s regime in Taiwan, who finally surrendered to the Manchus. XXIV LIU YIZHOU Member of the Mu Family, of pale complexion and questionable courage; in love with Fang Yi. LIUZHOU Large prefectural city in central Guangxi Province. Famous for its coffin boards. LONG WHITE MOUNTAINS Mountain range between Manchuria and Korea; place of origin of the Aisin Gioro clan, to which the Imperial Manchu family belonged. LOSHA An old Chinese name for Russia, which sounds a bit like Russia, but in Chinese means Demon. The Chinese have historically been rather fond of referring to barbarians and foreigners as one sort of devil or another (hence Foreign Devil). LU, Doctor Lu Gaoxuan, senior member of the Mystic Dragon Sect; a man of wide reading and culture, and a connoisseur of calligraphy and painting. LU LIULIANG (1629’1683) Loyalist scholar, one of the Four Gentlemen of the Resistance. MA BAO, Brigadier One of the Satrap’s top officers. MA CHAOXING Fat Triad Lodge Master of the Clan Lodge of Guangxi Province. MA YOU Provincial Governor of Jiangsu Province. MACAO From the sixteenth century to the late twentieth century, a tiny Portuguese enclave in southern Guangdong Province. MALJI Manchu Viceroy of the Three Provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi. MALLET Trinket’s second son, by Su Quan (ex’Madame Hong). MAO DONGZHU see Empress Dowager (Fake’) MEATBALL Thin Dhuta’s principal nickname. QLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES MINGJU (1635’1708) Manchu Minister of the Board of War; Kang Xi’s trusted advisor during the war against the Three Feudatories. His son, Nalan Xingde, became one of the great lyric poets of the Manchu dynasty (writing in Chinese). MOLO (died 1675) Manchu general in command of the western front against Satrap Wu. MU FAMILY This was the common appellation for the powerful faction surrounding the descendants of Old Duke Mu (1342’1392), who had made the south’western province of Yunnan their personal fief throughout the Ming dynasty. Young Duke Mu (died 1661) was a loyal supporter of the Ming Pretender, Prince Gui. The Mu Family were implacably opposed to Satrap Wu, who after the arrival of the Manchus supplanted them in the south’west. The Family had its own distinctive style of kungfu. MU JIANSHENG see Young Count MU JIANPING see Little Countess MU TIANYAN Provincial Treasurer of Jiangsu Province. MUKDEN Capital of present’day Liaoning Province (the city is now known as Shenyang), the Manchu capital before the conquest of China. MYSTIC DRAGON This fanatical Sect, with its powerful mantra’based kungfu, is based on Snake Island. Details of the Sect emerge in the Second Book. It is divided into Five Branches, each having its own colour, and its own Dragon Marshal. Among other things, there has been a purge of the Sect’s ‘elders’, in favour of the young, and more fanatical, ‘acolytes’. It is explained that one of the ways in which the Leader, Hong Antong, maintains control over the members of his Sect is by giving them the powerful Leopard Embryo Pill, which then makes them dependent on the Leader (or Madame Hong) for regular doses of the Antidote. NAN HUAIREN see Verbiest XXVI NATALIA Dowager Tsarina of Russia. See Sophia, Princess. NERCHINSK Russian settlement founded in the 1650s. NING, Princess Emperor Kang Xi’s fifteen’ or sixteen’year’old tomboyish ‘half’sister’. In actuality, nothing of the kind, but the daughter of Mao Dongzhu (the Fake’Empress Dowager) and a Han’Chinese father, Deng Bingchun. In the Third Book, she becomes one of Trinket’s seven wives. NURHACHI (1559’1626) The Grand Progenitor, founder of the Manchu (Qing) dynasty. OBOI, Lord (died 1669) This Imperial Guardian and Former Regent was one of Dorgon’s trusted men. He was elevated to the rank of Duke in 1656 and at the death of the Emperor Shun Zhi (1661) he was one of the Four Regents for the boy Emperor Kang Xi (with Soni, father of Songgotu; Ebilun; and Suksaha). He is arrested and put to death in the First Book. OBSCURUS, Father Taoist Triad. Orphaned son of a frontier fur’trader shot dead by the Russians. ORCHID SCENT One of Feng Xifan’s concubines. PEERLESS CONSORT, the Chen Yuanyuan; once a beautiful consort of the last Ming Emperor, Chong Zhen, she subsequently passed through the hands of Bash’em Li (the rebel Li Zicheng), and then Satrap Wu, who was totally infatuated with her. When the Third Book begins, she is living outside Kunming in a hermitage, having been obliged to make way for the Satrap’s principal wife. PENGCUN (died 1701) Manchu general who, together with He You and Lin Xingzhu, played an important part in the military campaign leading up to the Treaty of Nerchinsk. PETER the First (later the Great) see Sophia, Princess POTLUCK ISLAND Small island ten miles west of Snake Island, so named by Trinket, who uses it as his base during the campaign QLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES XXVII against the Mystic Dragon Sect. Later he settles on the island with his seven wives. PRINCE ZHENG see Zheng Jing SIR ZHENG see Zheng Keshuang QIAN, Butcher Triad, pork’butcher to the Palace. RED FIRE LODGE Triad Lodge of Guizhou Province. ROOTLESS, the Taoist Red Dragon Marshal; senior member of the Mystic Dragon Sect. SABSU (died c.1700) Manchu military official, who played an important part in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Nerchinsk. SANGGE Chinese name for sDe’srid Sangs’rya’rgya’mtsho, Tibetan Grand Lama, formidable and somewhat sinister exponent of Tantric kungfu. Historically, Sangge was the Tepa, or Temporal Ruler, of Tibet, and seized absolute power after the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1682, allying himself with Galdan. SCHALL, Adam von (1591’1666) One of the great Jesuits of the China Mission. Full name, John Adam Schall von Bell. Chinese name, Tang Ruowang. German Jesuit priest (by this time elderly), skilled in many technical fields, especially astronomy, who was greatly admired and trusted by Kang Xi’s father, the Shun Zhi Emperor. After Shun Zhi’s ‘death’ in 1661, Schall was accused of high treason, but his death sentence (to be carried out by Lingering Death, or the Slow Process) was commuted to house arrest, probably as the result of the pleading of Shun Zhi’s mother. (Our novelist takes certain liberties with historical fact, since it is highly improbable that Kang Xi, aged seven at the time, had anything to do with Schall’s survival.) Before serving the Manchus, Schall had served the last Ming Emperor, and even at one point offered his services to the bandit’leader Li Zicheng (see Bash’em), when Li had taken Peking and seemed set to become the next ruler of China. XXVIII SHANG KEXI (died 1676) Chinese Bannerman and general (his defection to the Manchus dated from 1633); Satrap of Guangdong Province. SHANG ZHIXIN (died 1680) Son of Shang Kexi, whom he succeeded as overlord of Guangdong, when his father was old and sick. In 1676, he threw his father into prison for refusing to turn against the Manchus, and personally joined Satrap Wu’s rebellion. Known to have been a cruel, licentious individual, he had a habit of having his personal enemies torn apart by hunting dogs. He was executed by Lingering Death. SHEN, Old Elderly adept of the Mount Hua School, Shifu of Old Gui. A legendary figure greatly respected on River and Lake. He is chosen, in the Second Book, as President of the League for the Eradication of Traitors, a Resistance United Front. SHI KEFA (died 1645) Ming Loyalist general, in command of Yangzhou in early 1645 when the city was besieged by the Manchu army under Dodo. After a failed attempt at suicide, he was captured by Manchu soldiers and put to death. In the legendary version of his death made popular by Kong Shangren’s 1699 play The Peach Blossom Fan (from which Beggar Wu sings a famous aria in Chapter 21), he is successful in drowning himself. Historically, it was not Kang Xi, but Kang Xi’s grandson, the Emperor Qian Long, who erected a temple in memory of Shi Kefa, in 1768. SHI LANG (1621’1696) A former officer in the service of Coxinga’s father, Zheng Zhilong, who fell into disfavour with Coxinga’s consort, Lady Dong. He went over to the Manchus in 1650, was made an admiral in the Imperial navy, and defeated Coxinga at sea. While in Taiwan he had been one of the teachers of Zheng Keshuang. Kang Xi wrote of him’ ‘Shi Lang captured Taiwan speedily and proved a loyal official. Even if he was uneducated and arrogant, he made up for it by his rough and ready military abilities.’ (Spence, Emperor of China, p.35) SHUN ZHI, Emperor (1638’1661’) The Hermit Emperor, often referred to as the Old Emperor (even though he is in fact barely forty years old), and sometimes the ex’Emperor. Shun Zhi was the QLOSSARY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES XXIX reign title (the words mean literally ‘obedience and rule’) of Fulin, first Emperor of the Manchu dynasty, the ninth son of Abahai. He was known to have been deeply interested in Zen Buddhism, and it was widely believed that after the death of his favourite consort, the beautiful Empress Donggo, in the autumn of 1661, the young Emperor, ‘pining for his lost mistress and weary of the dull routine of statecraft, voluntarily handed over the government to four of his Ministers and retired to the contemplative life’ (Backhouse and Bland, Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking [London, 1914], p.235). As one contemporary poet wrote, ‘He threw away the Empire as one who casts away a worn’out shoe. Following the example of the Lord Buddha, he preferred to seek the mystic solitudes.’ This is the legend that lies behind the plot of Deer. The more conventional version of Shun Zhi’s death is that he died of smallpox. In the Second Book, he has appeared in the guise of Brother Wayward, in retreat in the hermitage behind the Pure Coolness Monastery. His Zen Master is the Venerable Yulin. SITU BOLEI Officer in Wu Sangui’s army who, in disgust at Wu’s collaboration with the Manchus, withdrew with some 30,000 of his men to the Wangwu Mountains (on the borders of Henan and southern Shanxi Provinces) and formed the resistance band known as the Wang Wu Clan, with its own distinctive style of kungfu. His son, Situ He, commanded the Wang Wu detachment that ran into Colonel Wishy’Washy’s (alias, Trinket’s) regiment en route to Shaolin in the Second Book. SITU HE Son of Situ Bolei. SNAKE ISLAND Snake’infested island in the Gulf of Bohai, lair of the Mystic Dragon Sect. SONGGOTU (died 1703) This immensely rich and powerful Manchu statesman of the Heseri clan, third son of the elderly Regent Soni, becomes Trinket’s ‘adopted brother’ and closest friend among the upper ranks of Manchu officialdom. SOPHIA, Princess Russian Regent, and Trinket’s lover. She was the sister of Tsar Theodore of Russia (eldest son of Tsar Alexius Mikhailovich, who had been the second Tsar of the Romanov dynasty, and reigned 1645’1676). Historically, Theodore died in 1682, and eventually his two surviving brothers, Ivan (Alexius’ second son, almost an imbecile) and Peter (the third son, born in 1672 to Alexius’ second wife, Natalia Naruishkina) were made conjoint Tsars, with their sister, the ‘ambitious and energetic’ Princess Sophia Alexeyevna, as Regent. She continued to rule autocratically as Regent until 1689, when Peter and his maternal relations had her put in a convent. Peter ruled (he was Peter the Great) until 1725. SPAFARII In a note to Chapter 48 of the Chinese original of Deer (p. 2019), the author refers to a certain N. G. Spafarii. This Spafarii is Nikolaie Milescu’Spatarul, sometimes referred to as Spathar’Milescu, a Rumanian scholar in the Russian service, who in an embassy to China in May 1675 did in fact request that expert Chinese bridge’builders should be sent westwards to teach their methods to the Russians. (In Chapter 27 of the English translation of the Third Book, there is much talk from Vobolsky of the possibility of the Chinese building stone bridges for the Russians, though Cha’s learned reference to Spafarii has not been translated.) The great historian of Chinese science and technology, Joseph Needham, says in one of his inimitable footnotes that this remarkable fact was brought to his attention by H.E. Sardar K. M. Panikkar. Milescu’Spatarul (or whatever his name was) wrote a long book about all this in Russian in 1677, which was finally translated into Rumanian and published in Bucarest in 1956. All this is narrated in English by J. F. Baddeley, who gives his translation of Milescu, in Russia, Mongolia, China’ Being some Record of the Relations between them from the beginning of the 17th century to the Death of the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich [d. 1676], London, 1919. See Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, IV’3, p. 149, note b. SPRING FRAGRANCE Spring Fragrance Wei, Yangzhou trollop, Trinket’s mother. SU QUAN see Hong, Madame SUN SIKE, Colonel (1628’1700) One of Trinket’s deputy commanders on the Yangzhou expedition. SUN YANLING (died 1677) Military Governor of Guangxi Province, married to Kong Sizhen, the only surviving child of General Kong Youde. SWEET DEW PARLOUR The main reception hall at the Vernal Delights bordello. TAI, Colonel He replaces General Ajige as commander of the Vanguard Regiment. TAIWAN At the time of the Ming’Qing transition, when this novel takes place, this island, about 210 miles long by 70 miles wide, was a wild place, and not considered part of China proper. It had been given the name Formosa (literally Beautiful Isle) by the Portuguese when they first tried to colonize it in the early seventeenth century. It is separated from the mainland by a channel about 100 miles wide, and presented itself as the perfect base for the resistance, led by Marshal Zheng (Coxinga). He ended up establishing what was virtually his own kingdom on the island (he was called by the European powers the King of Taiwan). It was finally taken from his family in 1683. At first attached to Fujian Province as a Prefecture, it only became a province in its own right as late as 1887. A mere eight years later, at the close of the Sino’Japanese war in 1895, it became a Japanese colony, and remained so until the end of the Second World War. TANG RUOWANG see Schall, Adam von TAO, Aunt Tao Hongying, once a maid serving Princess Chang, the Princess Royal, daughter of the last Ming Emperor (see White Nun). She has sworn vengeance on the Tartars. Adopts Trinket as her ‘real’ nephew. TERTIUS Qi Biaoqing, sarcastic Triad. THEODORE Tsar of Russia; Princess Sophia’s twenty’year’old younger brother, a bedridden invalid, who reigned from 1676 to 1682. THIN DHUTA Alias Lump’of’Hesh, or Meatball; originally a very thin disciple of the Mystic Dragon Sect, he becomes as fat as a pumpkin after taking the Leopard Embryo Pill and failing to get the Antidote in time. One of the Fake’Empress Dowager’s lovers. TIAN Favourite consort of Chong Zhen Emperor. TIGER Trinket’s first son, by Green. >,’. ‘.’ s TOLBUSIN, Alexei Successor to Golitsyn as Governor of Albazin. TRANSFORMATION LODGE Triad Lodge of Zhejiang Province. TONG GUOGANG (died 1690) Bannerman of Chinese descent, Kang Xi’s maternal uncle. TRINKET Wei Xiaobao, the novel’s principal character. He is an incorrigible scamp bom to Spring Fragrance in the Yangzhou whorehouse, Vernal Delights. He is an egregious impostor, knave, and poltroon, and a young man of many identities. In the course of his (never very convincing) attempts to learn kungfu from Whiskers Mao he acquires the nom de guerre Little White Dragon. In the Imperial Palace he kills, and takes the identity of, the eunuch Laurel. He meets and befriends the young Manchu monarch Kang Xi, whom he knows as Misty, and who calls him by the affectionate nickname Laurie. Subsequently in his encounter with the Triads he is made Master of the Green Wood Lodge. During his eventful visit to Snake Island, he is appointed White Dragon Marshal of the Mystic Dragon Sect. In order to enable him to travel to the Wutai Mountains, the Emperor appoints him Lieutenant Trinket Wei of the Imperial Guard. He is subsequently promoted to Lieutenant’Colonel and adopts the Manchu’style sobriquet Wishy’Washy. As a monk, he takes the nom de religion Father Treasure. Kang Xi makes him first a Viscount (Lord Wei), and subsequently promotes him step by step until he becomes a Duke (First Class). Princess Sophia makes him Count of the Eastern Tartar Region. TUHAI Conservative Manchu Grand Chancellor. VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623’1688) Flemish Jesuit priest, patronized by the Emperor Kang Xi for his great skill in the art of the calendar, the creation of ingenious mechanical toys, and the manufacture of cannon. Chinese name, Nan Huairen. He learned not only Chinese, but also Manchu, and was personally responsible for teaching Kang Xi the Elements of Euclid and the principles of astronomy. VOBOLSKY One of the musketeers sent to guard Princess Sophia in the hunting lodge outside Moscow; later promoted to Captain and sent east to Fort Albazin, with Chironov. WANG JINBAO (1626’1685) One of Trinket’s deputy commanders on the Yangzhou expedition. WANG WU CLAN see Situ Bolei WEI ZHOUZHE Grand Chancellor of the Hall for Protecting Harmony, an elder with white hair and flowing white beard. WEN YOUFANG Former gambling partner of Trinket. WHISKERS Mao Eighteen, notorious brigand, who escapes from prison at the beginning of the First Book, befriends Trinket, and takes him to Peking. He appears again towards the end of the Third Book. WHITE NUN One’armed Shifu of Green Girl and Trinket; also called Tribulation; once upon a time Princess Chang, the Princess Royal, daughter of the last Ming Emperor Chong Zhen. A refined and beautiful woman, practitioner of the deadly Buddhist style of kungfu known as Iron Sword. WIDOW ZHUANG Her husband and many other Zhuang menfolk were executed at Oboi’s orders, as part of the Ming History Inquisition (see Prologue to the First Book). She and other Zhuang womenfolk escape on their way to penal servitude in the northeast, and take up residence in a ‘haunted house’ where they set up shrines to the victims of the purge and wait for vengeance. WU LIUQI The General known as Beggar Wu. Red Banner Master of the Triad Obedience Lodge of Guangdong Province; also Military Governor of Guangdong. He becomes the sworn brother of Doublet in the course of the Third Book. WU, Satrap (1612’1678) Wu Sangui, the Big Traitor, was a turncoat Ming general who joined forces with the Manchu commander Dorgon to drive the Chinese rebel Li Zicheng (General Bash’em) out of Peking. For this he was rewarded with a princely tide, ‘Prince of the West’. He subsequently established his own fiefdom (or Feudatory realm) in the south’west, in Yunnan Province. WU, Shaker Wu Lishen, the Shaker Lion, retainer of the Mu Family, Martial Arts veteran and brother’in’law of Iron Dragon Liu. WU WEIYE (1609’1672) Celebrated poet of the Ming’Qing transition period, famous for his narrative ballads, one of which, ‘The Ballad of the Peerless Consort’, is recited extensively by the lady herself, Chen Yuanyuan, for Trinket’s benefit in Chapter 20. Readers wishing to consult a complete translation of the ballad can find it in Lo and Schultz eds., Waiting for the Unicorn (Bloomington, 1986), translated by John Coleman and Gloria Shen. WU YINGXIONG (died 1674) The Little Traitor, Young Wu, eldest son and heir of Satrap Wu. Marries Kang Xi’s sister, the Princess Ning. Historically, the Satrap’s eldest son did indeed marry a princess, but it was the Princess Kechun, half’sister of the Emperor Shun Zhi, Kang Xi’s father. WU ZHIRONG Prefect of Yangzhou; previously responsible for the Ming History Inquisition (see First Book), in which many members of the Zhuang family perished. XIA GUOXIANG, General Commander’in’Chief of the Satrap’s troops, married to the Satrap’s daughter. XU TIANCHUAN Apothecary Xu, the Eight’Armed Ape, Triad plaster’seller. XU XUETING see Blue Dragon Marshal L YONG LI see Prince Gui YOUNG COUNT Mu Jiansheng, brother of the Little Countess; head of the Mu Family. YUAN CHENGZHI Son of Yuan Chonghuan; legendary adept of the Mount Hua School of kungfu. YUAN CHONGHUAN (1584’1630) Ming general, responsible for the execution of Mao Wenlong in 1629. Falsely accused of treachery and executed by Lingering Death in the market’place. Described by the late’Qing scholar Liang Qichao as ‘China’s greatest soldier’. Louis Cha has written an extended biographical study of Yuan, which is attached to his early (1956) novel The Sword Stained with Royal Blood. ZENG ROU Beautiful fifteen’year’old female member of the Wang Wu Clan, daughter of one of Situ Bolei’s officers. In the Third Book she becomes one of Trinket’s seven wives. ZHA SHENXING (1650’1727) Distinguished poet belonging to the same Haining family as Zha Shibiao, Zha Yihuang, and Louis Cha (whose real name is Zha Liangyong). His poetry has often been compared to that of the two famous poets of the Song dynasty, Su Dongpo and Lu You. ZHA YIHUANG (1601’1676) Loyalist scholar who for a time joined the court of the Ming Pretender, the Prince of Lu. He features prominently in the Prologue to the First Book, and reappears towards the end of the Third Book in the company of Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, and Lii Liuliang. Together they are known as the Four Gentlemen of the Resistance. ZHANG KANGNIAN Palace Guard, friend of Trinket’s. ZHANG YONG (1616’1684) One of Trinket’s deputy commanders on the Yangzhou expedition. ZHAO LIANGDONG (1621’1697) Lieutenant’Colonel, second in command in Trinket’s expedition against the Wang Wu Clan. AAAVI inciycch,T^ imc^n^^^^,^ ZHAO QIXIAN Palace Guard, friend of Trinket’s. ZHENG CHENGGONG see Coxinga ZHENG JING, Prince (died 1681) Eldest son of Coxinga, and present Prince of Yanping. In 1664 he organized the government of Taiwan, and in 1674 went to the aid of Geng Jingzhong, Satrap of Fujian, in his revolt against Manchu rule. ZHENG KESHUANG (1670’1707) Sir Zheng; second son of Prince Zheng Jing; a dashing (and insufferable) young man of twenty’three or so-hence Trinket’s nickname for him’ the Insufferable. He took over nominal control of Taiwan on the death of his father in 1681, finally surrendering to the Manchus in 1683. His father’in’law and mentor was Feng Xifan, the Bloodless Sword. ZHENG KEZANG (died 1681) Eldest (illegitimate) son of Zheng Jing; historically he was the son’in’law of Chen Jinnan, the Helmsman. He took charge of Taiwan in 1679. ZHOU, Queen Empress of Chongzhen. ZHUANG TINGLONG (died c.1660) Nominal author of the Ming History; eldest son of Zhuang Yuncheng. He was already dead at the time of the Ming History persecution, but his coffin was broken open and his corpse gibbeted nonetheless. ZHUANG YUNCHENG (died c.1663) Resident of Huzhou, patron of learning. Died in prison of maltreatment during the Ming History persecution. ZHUGE LIANG Famous strategist of the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220’265), who served as a general in the army of the Shu’Han kingdom. QENERAL QLOSSARY OF TERMS relating to kungfu, Chinese culture, history, and society ART OF WAR, The This ancient classic of military strategy, from which the Emperor quotes, and which would have been familiar to every Chinese general and statesman (even Trinket learns to ape it), has often been translated into English. A copy of the excellent eighteenth’century French version (by the Jesuit Father Jean’Joseph’Marie Amiot, who served in China under the rule of Rang Xi’s grandson Qian Long), is rumoured to have been in the possession of Napoleon. BAIGAR SPIRIT This transparent fiery liquor, widely drunk in northern and north’eastern China (it is at Peony River market that Trinket sees the ginseng’gatherers drinking it), can be distilled from several different grains- including wheat, barley, sorghum, millet. BATURU A military distinction conferred during the Manchu dynasty for distinguished service in the field. It meant literally ‘brave’, and brought with it the right to wear the peacock’feather. Kang Xi confers this distinction on Trinket before he sets off on his expedition to destroy the Mystic Dragons. BED Since the bed comes to play such an important part in the Third Book, it is worth pointing out that traditional Chinese bedsteads were large, curtained, live’in structures, somewhat like Western four’poster beds. Some of them even had ante’chambers. The great German authority on Chinese furniture, Gustav Ecke, refers to them as ‘veritable alcove architecture’. Another authority, the American George Kates, calls them ‘rooms within rooms’, and comments wryly’ ‘When the bed’s curtains were drawn it formed a completely isolated sleeping unit, equipped with all necessaries, not altogether unlike a modern railway compartment.’ For the heated brick’bed popular in the North, see kang. BOARD The Chinese government was organized from early times under six Boards, or Ministries’ Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Works. JJOYAR A privileged order of wealthy Russian aristocrats or grandees, who traditionally acted as advisors to the Russian tsar. CASTRATION In China, when a eunuch was castrated, both penis and testicles were removed. This has already been stated in the Glossary for the First Book (see under Eunuchs), but needs restating here to explain the Princess’ radical treatment of the Little Traitor. She was merely making him a ‘normal’ eunuch. In the circumstances, it is surprising that he survived at all. The classic study of this question is by Dr Jean’Jacques Matignon, in his book La Chine Hermetique (Paris, 1898). As doctor to the French legation in Peking, Matignon once had occasion to treat a young eunuch. CHINESE BANNERMEN Chinese who supported the Manchu cause were enrolled in the eight Chinese Banners (for the Manchu Banners, see the Glossary to the First Book), and treated to all intents and purposes as Bannermen. Kang Xi’s own mother was the daughter of Chinese Bannermen parents. He was thus ethnically fifty per cent Han’Chinese. CALLIGRAPHY This is one of the fine arts of the traditional Chinese scholar’gentleman, and a skill expected of every Chinese educated official. Trinket’s ‘calligraphic moment’ (in Chapter 25, when he is writing a message in code for Kang Xi) is one of the most delightful satirical scenes in the novel. DEER AND CAULDRON These two images, which give their name to the whole novel, both in Chinese and in English, occur for the first time in the very opening pages of the Prologue to the First Book. There, the Ming Loyalist scholar Lii Liuliang explains to his young son that the (hunted) ‘deer’ is a symbol of the common people, and hence of the Empire; while the ‘cauldron’ (of the tripod sort) is a symbol of the authority of the Emperor. Examples of the superb bronze tripods of the early Shang dynasty can be seen in many of the world’s museums. The words are thus a code for the political’historical thread running through the novel, the theme of national conquest (by the Manchus) and resistance (by the Ming Resistance), and of the legitimacy of political power. It is against this background that Trinket’s picaresque antics take place, and it is in this context that his multiple identities and loyalties become more and more hard to manage. The place where the Manchu treasure is supposed to be buried, and where the Dragon Lines (which control the fengshui, and thus the destiny, of the Manchus) converge, is called Ludingshan, being the Chinese for the Mountain (shari) of the Deer (‘®) and the Cauldron (ding). The walled town built by the Russians on or near this ‘site’ in the seventeenth century was called by them Fort Albazin, and by the Manchus Yaksha. DITANG KUNGFU This School of kungfu, in which Coxinga’s general Lin Xingzhu was expert, involved sneaking up to the enemy under the cover of specially made wickerwork shields, and then hacking at the legs of the enemy’s horses. EXECUTION GROUND (fachang) This was, until 1901, at the junction of two streets in southern Peking, where there was a large open space, known as the Vegetable Market (caishikou). Executions normally took place at daybreak, after which the market was opened for business. The criminals were brought from the Board of Punishments in open carts. (See the classic 1935 study In Search of Old Peking, by L. C. Arlington and William Lewisohn, pp. 217’9.) FORBIDDEN CITY (zijincheng) This was the name given to the huge fortified complex lying at the heart of old Peking, in which the Emperor and his entourage resided and held court. The Chinese name itself includes a reference to the Pole Star (the first character, zi, being a shortened form of ziwei, the ancient name for the ‘forbidden enclosure’ of the Pole Star), since the Emperor or Son of Heaven was the ‘pole’ around which everything revolved. The poetic names for the countless gates, palaces, and lesser buildings within the Palace or City (many of which Trinket was able to recite by heart, thanks to his period in residence as the eunuch Laurel) are here translated according to Arlington and Lewisohn, in In Search of Old Peking. FOREIGNERS Foreigners are more in evidence in the Third Book. There are Jesuit fathers of various nationalities, there are Russians and Dutch, not to mention the various non’Han ethnic groups of Asian origin, that have already begun to play a prominent role in the Second Book (Mongols, Tibetans, etc.). Foreigners of European origin are often referred to as ‘red’haired devils’ (at first this was XL used of the Dutch, but later of all nationalities). All Chinese have black hair and brown eyes, and any variation in pigmentation seemed extreme. Hence Trinket (the archetypal Chinese xenophobe and Han chauvinist) remarks that Russians all have red hair and green eyes. For him, as for so many Chinese in the aftermath of foreign imperialism, it was of paramount importance to ensure that ‘these foreign devils will never be able to monkey around and make fools of us!’ (Chapter 21) In our own day, foreigners are still called devils (e.g., in Hong Kong, where gwailo-old devil-is a common, indeed almost affectionate term for a foreigner) and big’noses (dabizf). FOUR GENTLEMEN OF THE RESISTANCE Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, Lii Liuliang, and Zha Yihuang. GRAND CANAL (yunhe) This great waterway, parts of which are said to date back over two thousand years, connects Peking and Hangzhou. It was the Mongol conqueror Khubilai Khan who extended it north to Peking at the end of the thirteenth century. GRAND CHANCELLOR (daxueshi) This was the title given to a select number of high’ranking officials in the Imperial Court, who together formed a sort of Imperial Cabinet. These Chancellors were often ‘attached’ to one of the principal halls in the Palace. HUA, MOUNT The School of kungfu named after Mount Hua, the western of China’s Five Sacred Mountains (just east of the old capital Chang’an). This is one of many links between and Louis Cha’s earlier novel, The Sword Stained with Royal Blood (Bixuejian), written in 1956. One of the principal characters in Royal Blood is Yuan Chengzhi (the son of the historical Ming general and patriotic hero Yuan Chonghuan). Yuan Chengzhi (a character of Louis Cha’s invention) becomes the last disciple of Mu Renqing, the Magic Ape, charismatic Master of the Mount Hua School. In the course of Royal Blood, Yuan Chengzhi becomes the object of the affections of two lady warriors, both of whom put in an appearance in Deer’ the White Nun, and Lady Iron Hand. Another Mount Hua adept is Gui Xinshu, the Matchless Knight, elderly father of Invalid Gui. QENERAL.qLOSSARYOFTER.Mb ,’’’ HUNDRED FLIGHTS, The Art of the A kungfu technique of evasion taught Trinket by his Shifu the White Nun. JESUITS The historical Emperor Kang Xi’s encounters with his Jesuit advisors and his excursions to test their cannon are well documented. A whole section of the great eighteenth’century Jesuit encyclopedia edited by the French Father Jean’Baptiste Du Halde, Description de la Chine (in English, A Description of the Empire of China) is devoted to a graphic description of one such excursion. In Du Halde’s words, the Emperor ‘. . . went himself with several Governors of Western Tartary ... to see the Experiment’ Pleased with the results, he subsequently gave Father Verbiest’. . . his vest furred with Martin’skins of great value, and also his Gown that was under it...’ (vol. 1, p. 263). The Jesuits were also invaluable in the negotiations that produced the Treaty of Nerchinsk (see below). They provided the Manchu Court with a great deal of useful technical expertise in other fields, such as watch’making, astronomy, mathematics, and map’making, as well as producing a huge number of translations into Chinese of Western works of learning. And last but not least, they offered the Emperor and his entourage the opportunity to sample some of the delights of Western music, art, architecture, and landscape gardening. KANG These heated bed’platforms, usually built out of brick, were (and are) very popular in northern China. KUNLUN SCHOOL This was the school of ‘precision kungfu’ to which Feng Xifan, the Bloodless Sword, evil mentor of Zheng Keshuang, belonged. LANE (hutong) These narrow winding lanes (Trinket’s princely Residence, for example, was in Bronze Hat Lane), and the courtyard houses leading off them, constituted one of the charms of Old Peking. They often had picturesque names’ South Bean Sprout Lane, Sweet Water Lane, Hair Lane, Willow Lane, Gingko Lane. LYRIC A conventional English term for a genre of Chinese poetry, set to irregular musical metres, that specialized in highly poignant, sometimes sentimental, themes. The singsong’girl at Trinket’s Yangzhou banquet sings a famous lyric by the Song poet Qin Guan, which Trinket does not appreciate. XLII MANCHU HOMELAND The North’East, the present’day provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaodong, amounts to a huge area, the size of the combined area of France and Italy. It was into this area that Nurhachi’s ancestors had expanded during the Ming dynasty, from their original home in the Long White Mountains on the Korean border. In the 1930s it became the Japanese puppet’state of Manchuria. MASSACRE OF YANGZHOU This appalling episode, commonly (and euphemistically) known as the Ten Days of Yangzhou, took place when the Manchu army entered the city of Yangzhou in 1645, after a heroic resistance led by Shi Kefa, a Ming general. (See First Book, pp. 300’301.) MEMORIAL Name given to any official communication addressed to the Emperor from one of his officials or subjects. Some of these memorials were public, some confidential. It is from the Emperor’s marginal comments on or endorsements of such memorials (‘Yes, good idea, do this!’ or ‘No, I don’t agree!’) that we can trace the day’to’day conduct of state affairs during the Manchu dynasty. OUTLAWS OF THE MARSH Another name for the classic bandit novel Water Margin (see glossary for the First Book). PALACE Apart from the Emperor’s Palace, Peking had many princely palaces, and countless grand mansions, consisting of several courtyards leading out of one another. Trinket’s Peking Residence was such a grand mansion. It rejoiced in the name ‘palace’ somewhat as one of Venice’s aristocratic mansions would be called a palazzo. PALACE GUARDS Elite regiment of Imperial Guards, a sort of Palace Bodyguard, under the overall command of Dolong. Two officers in the Guards, Zhang Kangnian and Zhao Qixian, are personal friends of Trinket’s. PALANQUIN (jiaozi) Superior (i.e. larger) version of the customary mode of transportation used by upper’class Chinese in traditional times, sometimes described as ‘a box’litter’; it is a Portuguese form of a Hindi word, and the palanquin was in use throughout India, GENERAL GLOSSARY OF TERMS Malaya, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), and China. In this novel the word is used for any ‘litter’ larger than a sedan chair (here reserved for the simpler single’seater, carried by two bearers). There were rules for how many bearers a palanquin could have’ sixteen for the Emperor, eight for a Prince of the Blood or a very high’ranking official, four for lesser officials. PEACOCK’S FEATHER The peacock’feathers awarded as distinctions by the Chinese Imperial Court were of three kinds’ three’eyed (conferred on Imperial princes), double’eyed (for lower officials), or single’eyed (as a reward for public services). They were placed in the back of the official hat, and stuck out, sloping downwards. (Ball, Things Chinese, fifth edition, revised by E. Chalmers Werner, London, 1925, p.173.) PIBA A Chinese musical instrument with four strings, in sound somewhat resembling the mandolin, but larger, and therefore often given the conventional English translation ‘lute’. PIGTAIL The long plait or ‘queue’ imposed on the Chinese by the Manchu conquerors, and regarded as a badge of slavery. Trinket has one, of course. QING-MANCHU The Manchu conquerors called their dynasty Qing, or Clear (as their Chinese predecessors had called theirs Ming, or Bright). Thus the two words refer to the same thing, Manchu being the ethnic designation, Qing the dynastic. RED DUST In Chinese Buddhist parlance, the Red Dust denotes Vanity Fair, the World and all its noise, its wealth and pollution, including the temptations of the flesh. RUSSIANS The seventeenth century saw the first real contact between the Chinese and their Russian neighbours. The disputes over their border continued well into the twentieth century. The historical Treaty of Nerchinsk is also well documented in the eighteenth’century encyclopedia of Du Halde. SEDAN CHAIR see Palanquin XLIV SINGSONG’GIRL This all’purpose term covers a variety of different types of women who offered their services for hire in traditional Chinese cities. At the top level, they were skilful musicians (their preferred instrument being the four’stringed piba), they were writers and performers of lyrics, trained dancers, geisha’like courtesans, rather than simple prostitutes. Such high’level singsong’girls would be regularly invited to entertain at official banquets. They often had long’standing relations with prominent members of society, and as the eminent Dutch expert in these matters, Robert van Gulik, points out in his study Sexual Life in Ancient China, they offered their clients not just carnal pleasure, but ‘a welcome relief from the often oppressive atmosphere of the women’s quarters and the compulsory sexual relations’ that characterized the typical Chinese upper’class household. (An excellent depiction of this demi’monde in nineteenth’century Shanghai can be found in the recent film by Hou Hsiao’hsien, Flowers of Shanghai, itself based on a well’written novel from the last years of the Manchu dynasty.) Trinket, on the other hand, delights in using the term of abuse ‘whore’, and his own mother, Spring Fragrance (in Chinese culture, Spring was always the ‘code’word’ for anything erotic, and anything to do with ‘flowers’ suggested sexual pleasure), belonged to a much lower category of singsong’girl. She was just a working prostitute at the brothel known as Vernal Delights. But even she undoubtedly had acquired certain basic non’sexual entertaining skills as well, since her establishment was a highly successful one and functioned as a meeting’place for middle’class merchants and well’to’do low’life characters like Whiskers Mao. SNAKE ISLAND This whole theme, of the dangerous heretical sect based on an offshore island in the Gulf of Bohai, and the threat it posed to the Manchu dynasty, seems to have been loosely inspired by the historical episode involving the last real military opposition to the Manchu conquest-Yuang Chonghuan, Mao Wenlong, Kong Youde, and the Ninety’Seven Dare’Devils of Pidao (literally, Hide, or Skin, Island), for all of which see Cha’s early (and still untranslated) novel The Sword Stained with Royal Blood (Bixuejian). This episode also forms the background to several characters in Deer’ the Old Whore (who is the daughter of Mao Wenlong); the White Nun, alias Tribulation, formerly the Princess Royal, and lover (in Cha’s earlier novel) of Yuan Chonghuan’s son Yuan Chengzhi; and Lady Iron Hand, the Lady Warrior in the yellow tunic. SPIRIT TABLET (lingpai or lingwei) These tablets, usually made out of wood, represented the souls of the deceased and were placed before a coffin (except in the case of the victims of the Ming History Inquisition, where there was no coffin, and the tablets were placed by the widows in a special shrine). Robert Morrison explains the spirit tablet as follows in his Dictionary (1820)’ ‘Incense is burnt before it, and a sort of worship paid to it morning and evening for forty’nine days. At the end of a hundred days the Buddhist or Taoist priests recite certain prayers and then burn it.’ STRYELTSI The ‘ambitious’ or ‘energetic’ elements; musketeers of the unreformed standing army of Russia, subverted by Princess Sophia. TABOURET A large barrel’shaped item of furniture, made out of wood, stone, or porcelain. TAMARDY! A made’up word approximating to the sound of Trinket’s favourite term of abuse, which he teaches his friend Misty (Kang Xi) early on, and which Rang Xi delights in using himself, as an antidote to the sheer boredom of Palace discourse. The Chinese expression on which it is based (tamade), still very much in use today, means literally’... his’her mother!’, the operative verb having been (of course) omitted. In the standard dictionaries it is euphemistically translated ‘damn it!’ or ‘blast it!’. A Yangzhou’dialect variant frequently on Trinket’s lips (lakuai’mamade) is (very freely) translated here as ‘hot popping momma’s’. (This trademark expression of Trinket’s has even been the subject of a learned academic paper.) Terms of abuse are one of the translator’s recurring nightmares. Abusing one’s enemy’s mother is a habit common to many cultures. But the cultural associations behind such expressions can be extremely complex. TAOIST NUNS These ladies were known to follow a much freer regime than their Buddhist sisters. Like Taoist monks, they kept their hair, and in many other ways enjoyed considerable liberty in their lifestyle. During the Tang dynasty, there were several Taoist nuns in the capital, Chang’an, famous for their beauty and their literary talent. They were much sought after by the young literati of the time. THREE FEUDATORIES (san fan) The Chinese umbrella term used for the three southern warlords of the early Manchu period’ Wu Sangui (overlord of Yunnan and Guizhou, and of parts of Hunan and Sichuan, most commonly referred to in the novel as the Satrap, because of his overriding ambition); Geng Jimao and his son Geng Jingzhong (overlords of the coastal province of Fujian); and Shang Kexi and his son Shang Zhixin (overlords of Guangdong and parts of Guangxi). They were all ethnic Chinese who had sided with the Manchus (in the case of the Gengs this affiliation went back to the grandfather Geng Zhongming) and had been rewarded with special privileges’ they were given the rank of Prince (Wu’s tide was Prince of the West), were allowed to marry Manchu wives, and held sway in their domains as virtually autonomous rulers. Between them they controlled an area the size of France and Spain combined. Their joint rising against Kang Xi (historically beginning in December 1673, and not crushed until 1681), is commonly referred to as the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories. It was the first major challenge to Manchu authority during the reign of Kang Xi, and his decision to accept the Three Feudatories’ ‘offers of resignation’ (see Chapter 23), thereby provoking a showdown and the threat of civil war, met with considerable opposition from his own Manchu statesmen. Throughout his life he reminisced about how shaken the war had left him, and how bitterly he regretted the loss of life that had followed his decision . . . But he never regretted the decision itself.’ (Spence, The Search for Modem China, p. 53) The war lasted eight years, and covered ten provinces. TREATY OF NERCHINSK The whole Nerchinsk story is told in Du Halde’s The General History of China, based on Jean’Francois Gerbillon’s account (he was Kang Xi’s Jesuit advisor, who accompanied Songgotu and company to Nerchinsk). I quote’ ‘It (Chinese Tartary) contains but one Town called Merghen..., which was built by the Emperor and fortified with a little garrison. In every other part are nothing but Huts run up at pleasure. The Moscovites indeed had once a fortress here, which they called Albazin, and the Tartars Yacsa, from a little River on which it stood, on that part of it where Yacsa discharges itself into Saghalien oula. It was this Fortress which occasion’d the War between the Moscovites and the Emperor of China; for the Moscovites having a strong Garrison hindered the Chinese from hunting sables in that Neighbourhood. But at length the Fort was demolished and the Country entirely submitted to the Emperor of China by the Treaty of Peace at Niptchou. From the Ruins of Fort Yacsa, to the Fall of the River Saghalien oula into the Eastern Ocean, is at least 400 leagues’ (Watts’ edition, 1741, vol 4, starting on p 147). TRIAD CATECHISM The lines of verse exchanged by Trinket and Kang Xi in Chapter 25 are nearly all to be found in the excellent study of Triad history and ritual by the nineteenth’century Dutch sinologist Gustave Schlegel, The Hung League, or Heaven Earth League (Batavia, 1866). This study itself was made possible by the accidental discovery by the Dutch Colonial Police of a cache of secret Triad books (in 1863, on the island of Sumatra). As the writer points out, whereas in China proper the secret society was aimed at overthrowing the Manchus, in places such as the Dutch East Indies it was aimed against the colonial power. TREASURE The treasure buried in Mount Luding turns out to be the great anti’climax of Deer. The map indicating its exact whereabouts was concealed in eight copies of a sutra, which many people went to enormous lengths to find. Having served as a motor of intrigue and adventure throughout the First and Second Books, the treasure simply fizzles out in the Third. In the end, Trinket decides not to bother with it. This can perhaps be seen as the ultimate debunking of the Martial Arts genre by Louis Cha, for whom Deer was a sort of Chinese Don Quixote, a pastiche of the traditional novel of Chinese chivalry, his personal farewell to the genre. TUNGUS The Tungus were a broad ethnic grouping of the peoples of the North’East that included the Jurched and Manchus. ULA GRASS One of the Three Treasures of Manchuria (the two others being ginseng and sable fur). As explained to Trinket by the Manchu Songgotu, this grass, when stuffed inside a person’s shoes (like a sort of thermal in’sole), has the invaluable property (in the frozen North’East) of keeping the feet warm. VALIANTS (xiaojiying) The Valiant Regiment was the Emperor’s personal cavalry regiment (cf. the Household Brigade), attached to the Plain Yellow Banner. It was in this regiment that Trinket was appointed Colonel before his visit to the Satrap in Kunming. VANGUARDS (qianfengying) Regiment of crack troops (exclusively Manchu and Mongols, with duties for guarding the Imperial Palace) frequently at loggerheads with the Palace Guards themselves. The rivalry between Valiants and Vanguards is reminiscent of that between the Musketeers and the Cardinal’s Men in The Three Musketeers, a novel much admired by Louis Cha. WAY AND ITS POWER, The (Daodejing) The oldest of all the Taoist classics, available in countless English versions, the best being that of Arthur Waley (London, 1934). YANGZHOU SALT’MERCHANTS The city of Yangzhou, strategically situated on the Grand Canal, just north of its junction with the Yangtze River, owed much of its prosperity to the fabulously wealthy salt’merchants who lived there. It is supposed to have been the city where Marco Polo was appointed Governor for three years by the Mongol Khan, in the thirteenth century. It was described by the Franciscan friar, Odoric of Pordenone, in the fourteenth century as ‘a noble city ... where are to be had in great abundance all kinds of things on which Christian people live. There is a custom in this city that if any one desire to give a great dinner or entertainment to his friends he goes to one of the hostels which are established for this very purpose . . . and the guests are better served than they would have been in the entertainer’s own house’ (Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, vol 2, pp. 210’211). In the eighteenth century many splendid mansions and gardens were built in the city and its suburbs, and it was home to the so’called Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, some of China’s most talented and innovative artists. In Deer, it is the city in which Trinket was born, but is also important in the novel as a place of southern luxury and decadence, by contrast with the rigours of the northern capital, and seat of the Manchu government, Peking. Theoretically, since ancient times, the Chinese government had a monopoly on the production of salt, and issued a limited number of licences to merchants, who became hugely wealthy through the distribution of this vital commodity. With the decline of the Manchu dynasty in the nineteenth century, more and more illicit salt smuggling took place, and Yangzhou itself suffered severely during the Taiping Rebellion (1851’1864). But it still retained enough of its former glory to prompt this effusion from the Japanese Railway Guide for 1924’ The place has always been known as one of pleasure and gaiety ... In the palmy days of Yangzhou, it was said that a man having once entered the city in search of pleasure would find himself unable to leave it until he had squandered his all’ (quoted by Frances Wood, in Did Marco Polo go to China!, London, 1995). NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION In this book, Chinese names and place’names are in general spelled according to the Chinese system known as Hanyu Pinyin, which is now internationally accepted. (Occasional exceptions to this rule include well’established geographical names such as the Yangtze River, and the cities of Peking, Nanking, and Canton.) The following short list may help readers with some of the more difficult sounds used in the Pinyin system’ Letter Pronunciation c ts q ch X sh z dz zh i The following very rough equivalents may also be of help to readers. Word Pronunciation Bo Boar (wild pig) Cai Ts’eye (‘It’s eye’, without the first vowel) Gang Ts’arng Chen Churn Cheng Churng Chong Choong (as in ‘book’) Chuan Chwan Dang Darng or Dung (as in ‘cow dung’) Dong Doong (as in ‘book’) Emei Er’may Feng Ferng Gui Gway Guo Gwore Jia Jeeyar Jiang Jeeyung Kong Koong (as in ‘book’) Li Lee Long Loong (as in ‘book’) Lii Lew (as in French ‘tu’) Qi Chee V Qian Chee’yenne Qing Ching i Rong Roong (as in ‘book’) Shi Shhh! Si Szzzl Song Soowg (as in ‘book’) Shun Shoon (as in ‘should’) Wen as in ‘forgottew’ Xi Shee Xiao Shee’ow (as in ‘shee’cow’ without the ‘c’) Xing Shing Xiong Sheeoong Xu Shyeu (as in French ‘tu’) Yan Yen Yi Yee You Yo’heave’ho Yu Yew tree (as in French ‘tu’) Yuan You, Anne! Zha Jar Zhe Jem! Zhen ‘®r® Zhi Jim! Zhou Joe Zhu Jew Zhuang Jwarng Zi Dzzz’ Zong Dzoong (as in ‘book’) Zuo DzoreCHAPTER 20 In which Princess Ning castrates her Groom and ‘commits Suicide’, and Viscount Trinket rescues the Wrong Girl; he meets the Peerless Consort and hears her sing; a Confrontation takes place between General Bash’em, the Satrap, the White Nun, and the Peerless Consort; and Trinket secures Safe Passage back to Peking for himself and his Entourage Fire Alarm in the Qardens of the Princess Later that evening, having partaken of his dinner, Trinket strolled over to the Princess’ apartment in the An Fu Gardens. She was overjoyed to see him again. ‘Where on earth have you been all this time!’ she cried impatiently. Trinket made up some cock’and’bull story about the Satrap having detained him with slanderous accusations about the Emperor. The Princess was only being married off to the Satrap’s son, so the old man had insinuated, because the Emperor hated her so much. 2 The filthy fat turtle!’ she exclaimed. ‘I’ll pull his beard out!’ ‘We all know it’s not true’ Trinket reassured her. ‘Of course the Emperor loves you. And there are lots of good’looking men just itching to marry you. That old turtle’head the Satrap doesn’t know how lucky he is to have you marrying into his family! I almost thought of telling him I’d-’ . ‘You’d what’’ ‘I’d like to marry you myself!’ ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ cried the Princess, beaming happily. ‘Let’s do it! Let’s go back to Peking straight away, and I’ll tell my brother I won’t marry anyone but you!’ She threw her arms around him and gave Trinket a big kiss, which he was only too happy to return. The old turtle got quite scared when he thought I might tell on him. He even gave me a couple of Russian pistols.’ He took out the pistols, primed them, and invited the Princess to fire them off into the garden. She took aim, and there was a terrific explosion. She shot a branch clean off a tree. ‘Fantastic!’ she cried, her tongue popping out of her mouth. ‘Let’s keep one each,’ suggested Trinket generously. ‘No no!’ cried the Princess. ‘It would be such a shame to separate them! They look so cosy, cuddled up together in that lovely case. They’d be lonely apart!’ These thoughts of conjugal togetherness and bliss only made her realize the more forcefully that marrying Trinket was out of the question. It was pure fantasy’ the Emperor would never change his mind. Her lot was cast. Trinket put his arms around her and did his best to comfort her, whispering all sorts of naughty nothings in her ear. She blushed fiercely, and burst out spluttering with laughter. He untied her sash and loosened her gown, then threw an embroidered cover over her naked body. ‘I wonder why the Traitor’s men are taking so long’’ he thought to himself. They still haven’t set the place on fire! If they burst in now, they’ll find her naked. That should be fun to watch!’ He sat on the edge of the bed, gently stroking her face, listening out for the slightest sound from outside. The Princess’ breathing grew slower and heavier. ‘I think I’m going to ... fall asleep. . . . You can . . .’ Trinket could hear the watchman sounding the night watch in the grounds. He was beginning to grow impatient, when suddenly CHAPTER ‘0 3 there was a great crashing of gongs, and several voices began yelling at once’ ‘Fire! Fire!’ The Princess sat up with a jolt and clutched Trinket round the neck. ‘What’s happening’’ Tamardy turtle’head!’ cried Trinket. ‘He wants to set us on fire! He wants us both dead! So we won’t betray his secret.’ ‘What are we going to do’’ ‘Don’t you worry. You know you can count on your faithful Trink. Leave this one to me.’ Trinket extricated himself from her embrace and went to the doorway, to secure the best escape route when the men came bursting in. ‘Fire! Fire! Quick, save the Princess!’ He heard voices echoing through the grounds, and could make out a dozen or so figures racing across the garden. They must be the Satrap’s men, who had hidden themselves inside the grounds ahead of time. ‘It’s nothing serious, Princess,’ he called out. The old turtle was probably just hoping to catch us together in bed!’ The Princess shuddered. ‘You stay under the covers, and don’t move,’ ordered Trinket. ‘I’ll stand guard outside the door. If there’s a real fire, I’ll carry you out.’ ‘Darling Trinket! You’re so good to me!’ Trinket stood in the doorway and shouted into the garden’ ‘Is there anyone out there’ Quick, save the Princess!’ He was answered at once by one of the Satrap’s guards’ ‘Lord Wei, a fire has just broken out, and our master has sent the Young Prince to protect Her Royal Highness.’ The next instant Trinket saw men with lanterns in every comer of the garden. Coming towards him he identified the figure of Wu Yingxiong, the Little Traitor himself. He had clearly been put in charge of the search for Hatiemo, the missing Mongol envoy. ‘So they’ve sent him to find Hatty-it must be a very important assignment. That proves they really are plotting with the Mongols and the Russians.’ ‘Is all safe in Her Highness’ apartment’’ He could hear Young Wu’s voice. IHt UtbKANU IHbCAULUKUN ‘Lord Wei is there,’ answered one of the guards. ‘I am most obliged to you, Lord Wei,’ said Wu. ‘What for’’ mumbled Trinket silently to himself. ‘For having a quick cuddle with your princess’ The pleasure’s all mine!’ His own Imperial Guards could now be seen rushing into the garden, roused from their beds, some of them only in their shirtsleeves. Trinket stationed them around the building. Zhang Kangnian tugged him by the sleeve. There’s something funny going on here, my Colonel’ he muttered. ‘What do you mean’’ asked Trinket. ‘Well, the minute the fire alarm was sounded, the Satrap’s men came swarming over the walls and began searching the entire garden. They were obviously out there ready, lying in wait. Some of our people put up a bit of resistance, but there’s simply no stopping them.’ The Satrap must think we’re onto him,’ said Trinket. This makes it all the more obvious that he’s planning a rebellion.’ Zhang Kangnian registered an appropriate level of shock. ‘Anyway,’ continued Trinket, ‘tell your men not to interfere with their search. Let them get on with it.’ Zhang gave the necessary orders. Trinket went up to the Little Traitor. ‘I must congratulate you, sir’ he commented. ‘You’re even smarter than the great strategist Sleeping Dragon, from the time of the Three Kingdoms!’ ‘You’re making fun of me,’ returned a somewhat puzzled Wu. ‘Not at all’ protested Trinket. ‘Your timing is quite brilliant! By some stroke of genius you seem to have worked out exactly when the fire was going to break out, so you had your men all dressed and ready to save the Princess in the nick of time.’ Wu flushed. ‘It was pure luck actually! We had no idea this, . . . er, fire thing was going to happen. As a matter of fact we were on our way back from a bit of a banquet being held by my brother’in’law, Xia Guoxiang, when we saw the flames.’ Trinket nodded. ‘Of course. That proves I was right. You are smart. You’re even smarter than Sleeping Dragon. Fancy going to "a bit of" a banquet at your brother’in’law’s with a fully equipped fire brigade in tow . . .’ CHAPTER 20 5 Wu flushed again. His alibi had been totally transparent. The fire danger is extreme at the moment’, he mumbled rather lamely. ‘I thought it best to be on the safe side.’ ‘I see. Next time you’re at a party, why not take a few regiments of builders, bricklayers, plasterers, and joiners with you as well. You never know. They might come in handy if you ever get called out to do a spot of impromptu construction work.’ Wu laughed ruefully, and turned to his aide’de’camp. ‘Go and tell the commander of the fire brigade that Lord Wei is not too pleased with his work. He’d better do things right, or I’ll break his legs.’ ‘But what would you do with him then’’ quipped Trinket. ‘What do you mean’’ ‘Well, where would you employ an officer with broken legs’ Unless of course you’re planning to open another prison that specializes in broken legs and amputations. . . .’ This obvious reference to the fate of Trinket’s unfortunate friend Yang Yizhi brought a nasty scowl to Young Wu’s face. So Trinket knew all about Lu Yifeng and the unpleasant things that went on in the Black Hole. . . . Presently the Satrap’s guards reported that the fire had been successfully brought under control. Trinket watched them carefully, but could not work out what secret code they were using (if any). All he could tell was that Young Wu was displeased with the way the operation was proceeding-presumably because they had failed to locate Hatty. Then suddenly a guard came rushing up to say that the fire had broken out again, and was spreading towards the very courtyard they were standing in. The Young Prince was advised to leave at once. Trinket noticed that the guard, as he spoke to Wu, crooked the thumb and index finger of his right hand and held them against his knee’ that was clearly the sign that the search for Hatty was about to be called off. ‘Lord Wei’ said Wu, ‘since the fire seems to be spreading this way, I’m afraid we must advise Her Highness to leave.’ Trinket understood. The only premises left to search were the Princess’ own private quarters. Something about their sneaky way of carrying on provoked Trinket to one of his reckless fits of bravado. He proceeded to crook the thumb and first finger of his right hand and wave them in front of Young Wu’s face. Wu started, as did his guards. ‘Lord Wei. . .’ stammered Wu. ‘What are you trying to-’ ‘Don’t you understand the signal’’ laughed Trinket. ‘Signal’’ Wu tried to remain calm. ‘What signal’ Oh, of course, you mean money’ Her Highness wants money if she is to agree to move’’ ‘You crafty little turtle’head of a traitor!’ thought Trinket to himself. He sniggered, but said nothing. The money can be easily settled between us,’ went on Wu. ‘After all, we’re brothers.’ ‘Very generous of you, my Prince,’ returned Trinket. ‘Would you be so good as to go in there now and settle this little financial matter with Her Highness yourself’ After all, you’re virtually husband and wife already.’ He was thinking to himself’ ‘That way you can see for yourself that the Big Mongol isn’t in there.’ Wu hesitated a moment, and then nodded. He pushed open the door and walked on into the Princess’ outer room. From the door leading into the inner apartment he called out’ ‘It is your subject Wu Yingxiong. I have come with some of my guards to save Your Highness. The fire seems to be spreading this way. We must advise you to leave.’ A ladylike little cough of protest could be heard from within. ‘I may not be her husband yet,’ thought Wu to himself, ‘but we are after all betrothed, and in circumstances like these I can surely be forgiven for entering her room. No one else would dare go in, and we must complete the search!’ He pushed open the inner door and strode on in. A Strange Mutilation, and an Attempted Suicide Trinket and the various guards waited outside. Minutes went by, and all was silent. Still more minutes went by. The guards began to exchange little looks and knowing smiles, all thinking one and the same thought’ the loving couple’s first face’to’face encounter, the hugs, the kisses . . . Trinket himself began to feel more than a touch of jealousy. He was certain that Young Wu’s intentions were far from romantic; but with someone as insatiable and unpredictable as the Princess you could never tell. CHAPTER 20 ‘ ‘‘ 7 Suddenly there was an ear’piercing scream. It was the Princess. ‘Vile monster! No I won’t let you have your way with me! Never! Out of my sight!’ More looks and stifled giggles from the guards. So their master had not been able to wait! ‘Leave my clothes alone! You ... you ... Get out! Help! Rape! Rape! Help! Giggles turned into laughter. Wu really was rather an oaf, they were all thinking, not to be able to wait until his wedding day. The Imperial Guards watched Trinket carefully, waiting for a sign to intervene on the Princess’ behalf (though if the truth be known they thought this was a matter best left to the young couple to sort out between themselves). Trinket for his part was becoming quite agitated. What if the rascal had actually tried to use violence on the Princess’ ‘Come on out of there, sir!’ he cried. ‘Don’t offend Her Highness.’ ‘Help’ Another scream from the Princess, even louder and more urgent this time. Trinket got quite a fright. Beckoning to his men, and crying To the rescue!’, he burst into the outer room. He was followed by a few of his own guards and some of the Satrap’s. The inner door into the Princess’ bedroom was wide open, and they could see her lying on the bed, her pale legs poking out at the bottom of the bed from under her snow’white quilt, her bare arms protruding at either side. Under the bedclothes she was obviously stark naked. Young Wu was naked too. But he was not on the bed. He was lying face down and motionless on the floor, and smears of blood were clearly visible on his lower body. He had a dagger gripped in his hand. The scene was enough to strike terror into the heart of Trinket and the guards. The Satrap’s men hurried over to ascertain whether the Young Prince was still alive, and were relieved to find him breathing, though unconscious. ‘He was trying to . . .’ blurted out the Princess. ‘He’s a foul creature! Disgusting! Who is he anyway’ Lord Wei, have this vile beast arrested and killed at once!’ ‘But Your Highness, this is your husband’to’be, Young Prince Wu!’ replied Trinket. ‘He can’t be! Not him! Impossible! The way he behaved! He stripped me naked, then he took off all his clothes and tried to rape me! Kill him, the monster!’ The Palace Guards were filled with angry indignation, that the sister of their Emperor should have been defiled in this way, her chastity violated (little did they know ...). The Satrap’s guards for their part stood there looking decidedly sheepish. Some of the smarter ones took the opportunity to have a quick snoop around for Hatty. But there was no sign of him. Suddenly one of them who had been ministering to Young Wu gave a great cry. ‘His Highness has been . . . his private parts are . . .’ In the heat of the moment the men had at first taken the blood on Wu’s limbs to be evidence of his recent activities with the virgin Princess; but as time went by and the blood continued to flow, they realized that he was himself seriously hurt. Horrified, they hurried to apply balm to the wound. ‘Wu Yingxiong has committed an outrage on Her Highness’ barked Trinket. ‘He is to be detained and questioned, and the matter reported to His Majesty!’ The Palace Guards leapt into action. None of the Satrap’s men resisted, though one of them pleaded somewhat feebly with Trinket to let them take their master back to the Satrap’s palace for medical attention. Trinket was adamant, and ordered everyone out of the Princess’ bedroom. They all trooped out, carrying Young Wu with them, and leaving Trinket alone with the Princess. All of a sudden she gave a crafty smile, and beckoned to Trinket. He went over to her bed. She threw her arms around him and whispered in his ear’ ‘I chopped his dong and balls right off!’ ‘You did what!’ cried the horrified Trinket. The Princess breathed into his ear, and went on’ ‘First I pointed that gun thing at him, and made him take all his clothes off. Then I bashed him on the head with the gun’handle, till he passed out. Then I cut off those disgusting things of his. So! Now he’ll never be able to be my husband-just my pathetic little eunuch slave!’ Trinket did not know whether to burst out laughing, or panic completely. ‘You’ve really gone and made a mess of things now!’ ‘What do you mean’ You’re the one I love! Anyway, I made it sound like rape. Didn’t you hear me screaming’’ Trinket nodded. CHAPTER 20 ‘ ‘.’. y Then we’re in the clear’ she went on. ‘When the Satrap finds out what I’ve done, he’ll be angry, but he’ll be too ashamed of his son to do anything about it.’ ‘But you must have a good story, and stick to it very carefully’ said Trinket, his imagination working overtime. ‘Listen, this is the way it happened. He tried to rape you, he took all his clothes off, he had the dagger in his hand, you resisted, he slipped, and he-’ The Princess buried her head in the quilt and let out a little peal of laughter. ‘That’s it!’ she murmured. ‘He did it! He chopped off his own dong by mistake!’ Trinket communicated this version of events to his guards. There were a few startled laughs, and a lot of muttered comments to the effect that Wu had dealt himself an appropriate punishment for his own barbaric behaviour. Those of the Satrap’s men who had stayed behind listened shamefaced. Other members of the contingent sent by the Satrap meanwhile went through the motions of putting out the ‘fire’, and then returned to report the whole disastrous episode to their master. A doctor was sent for urgently to see to Young Wu’s wounds. The Imperial Guards for their part made sure that a vivid retelling of the story made the rounds of Kunming’s tea’houses and wine’shops. The Satrap lost no time. He hurried over to the Princess’ quarters, and kowtowed outside her door, humbly apologizing for his son’s terrible misdemeanour. Trinket stood beside him, pulling a long face. ‘I’m afraid he has really gone too far this time.’ ‘I know, I know!’ grovelled Wu. ‘I’m absolutely counting on you to put in a good word for me with the Princess.’ ‘Of course I’ll do my best’ replied Trinket. ‘But we both know how difficult Her Royal Highness can be.’ He called from the door’ ‘Your Highness, Satrap Wu is here. He’s come to apologize for his son’s crime, and to beg for mercy.’ A moment of total silence passed. Then there came a sudden thud, something like the sound of a stool hitting the ground. Trinket and the Satrap looked at each other in horror. ‘No, Your Highness!’ one of the Princess’ maids cried out from within. ‘No! How could you think of doing such a terrible thing!’ The thought that the dishonoured Princess might have succeeded in doing away with herself drained the last drop of colour from the Satrap’s face. ‘If she has taken her life’ he was thinking secretly to himself, ‘my hand will be forced! I shall have to declare an open rebellion at once-and I am not ready yet!’ The voices of women sobbing reached them from the inner room. A maid came rushing out’ ‘Lord Wei! Come quickly! Her Highness has hung herself!’ After a moment’s hesitation Trinket went on in, to find seven or eight of the maids weeping dramatically around the bed. The Princess’ eyes were closed, her breathing was faint, and there was a clearly visible red mark round her neck. One end of a cord was hanging from a beam, the other end was strewn on the bed, while a stool lay on its side on the floor. ‘Clever little slut!’ thought Trinket to himself. ‘Nice bit of stage’management! Excellent kungfu!’ He stood by the bedside and gave her a discreet pinch on the upper lip. She let out a barely audible squeal and slowly opened her eyes. Then, listlessly (but audibly) said’ ‘I... I don’t want to go on living. . . .’ ‘Your Highness,’ pleaded the loyal Viscount Trinket Wei loudly, ‘your life is so precious, you must try to look beyond this moment of despair. Satrap Wu is outside at this very moment, down on his knees, begging you for forgiveness.’ ‘Just tell him to take that horrible son of his away and kill him!’ Without the maids noticing, Trinket reached under the covers and gave the Princess another pinch. She fought the temptation to laugh and instead dug a fingernail hard into the back of his hand, moaning’ ‘I just want to die! How can I ever look the world in the face again’’ From outside the Satrap indistinctly heard the sound of the Princess’ voice and heaved a huge sigh of relief. At least she was still alive! But what had she got left to live for, he reflected, now that his son’s conjugal equipment had been physically removed! What a young idiot the boy had been! How could he possibly hush the whole thing up now’ Presently Trinket emerged from the inner room, shaking his head gravely. The Satrap hurried forward. ‘How is Her Highness’’ he mumbled. ‘Alive,’ replied Trinket. ‘But determined to kill herself. And once she’s set her mind on something, we all know what she can be like. I’ve told her maids to keep a close watch on her, and not to let her out of their sight. I’m worried she may try to take poison next, sir.’ The Satrap’s face darkened. He nodded. ‘Yes, yes. We must take the utmost care to stop anything like that from happening.’ Secretly he was thinking to himself’ ‘Our only hope is that the Princess may still be too young to understand what has happened, too innocent to know the value of what my son has lost, and of what she will be deprived of as a result!’ The poor, deluded Satrap-little did he know. . . . He next broached with Trinket the possibility of keeping the news of his son’s unfortunate mutilation a secret from the Emperor. After all, His Majesty was so busy, he argued, it would be an act of loyalty to spare him (and the Empress Dowager) the gruesome details and the inevitable distress that such news would cause. Trinket indicated that he was quite amenable to this idea. But how, he asked, were they to silence all the other witnesses’ ‘I’ll think of something,’ replied the Satrap. The Satrap had indeed already started thinking of a way to resolve this problem. He was plotting to lay an ambush for Trinket and his entire party on their way home-his own men, disguised as robbers, would lie in wait for them in some lonely part of Guangxi Province. That way he could dispose of the lot of them. Dead men tell no tales. The blame for their deaths would fall on the Provincial Governor of Guangxi, who would be taken to task for not having maintained law and order in his domain. That particular governor was a certain Sun Yanling, who had married the daughter of Kong Youde, a former general serving the Manchu cause. The daughter was held in great favour at Court, and had even been granted the status of a minor princess on account of her father’s services. It would fall to her to sort the whole thing out. Needless to say, Trinket was totally unaware of what was going through the Satrap’s mind, and attributed his long silence to a more general concern lest the news of his son’s disgrace should leak out. The two of them now went to consult with the physician who had been examining the extent of Young Wu’s injuries. ‘His life is in no danger’ reported the doctor. ‘But as for his ... I fear that. . .’ ‘ The Satrap nodded and commented’ ‘At least he is still alive!’ ....;. .’‘ He gave orders for his son to be taken home, and continued to occupy Trinket in conversation, fearful that he might try to interrogate Young Wu. Only when his son had left the An Fu Gardens did the Satrap take his leave. Trinket for his part began to reflect on what Young Wu himself might say once he regained consciousness. But in the circumstances it was highly unlikely that his version of events would be believed by anyone-even by his own father. Returning to his quarters, he learned from his Triad Brothers that the brothel ‘rape’, and the ‘killing’ of the fake Hatty, had all gone according to plan; they could now proceed to Peking with their Mongol witness, who would be made to testify to the Satrap’s mutinous intentions, and to his sinister plan to create an anti’Imperial alliance with the Mongols, the Tibetans, and the Russians. Trinket reflected that in view of recent developments, it would be prudent not to send the party off to Peking there and then. The Satrap might suspect that he was reporting to the Emperor on his son’s misdemeanours. Altogether it had been an extremely hectic night. The Triads were just about to leave Trinket, and go on their way, when a distraught Captain Zhao of the Palace Guards came knocking on Trinket’s door, bearing the most astonishing tidings’ ‘Someone has tried to murder the Satrap!’ ‘ An Attempt on the Satrap’s Life ‘Is he dead’’ cried the startled Trinket through the door. ‘Who did it’’ The last thing he wanted was that Captain Zhao should discover him entertaining Triad visitors in his apartment in the dead of the night, so he went outside to speak to him. ‘He’s still alive,’ replied the captain. ‘He was only slightly wounded. The person has been arrested. It turns out to have been one of the Princess’ maids.’ ‘Which one’’ enquired Trinket. ‘What would one of the Princess’ maids want to kill the Satrap for’’ Zhao said he had no idea, and Trinket sent him off to try and ascertain more details. Just as Zhao was about to leave, Trinket’s other friend from the Palace Guards, Captain Zhang Kangnian, arrived to report that the maid they had arrested was someone called Ah Kor. Trinket nearly fainted when he heard Green Girl’s name. ‘Why . . . why should she want to do such a thing’’ ‘The Satrap has taken her back to his palace for questioning, to find out who was behind it’ was all Zhang could offer by way of reply. Trinket was utterly devastated at the thought that his darling had been apprehended. Captain Zhao suggested that perhaps this maid had wanted to strike a blow on behalf of her injured mistress the Princess, and Trinket clutched at this straw. ‘Yes! That must be it! We would never have chosen a lovely girl like that to murder the Satrap.’ For a moment, Trinket had forgotten that he was talking to two Captains of the Guard, not to his Triad friends. The two captains looked at one another in bewilderment. Had their commanding officer taken leave of his senses’ ‘The Satrap will most probably have the maid quietly put to death’ commented Zhang. The last thing he wants at the moment is a lot of fuss.’ ‘No! She mustn’t be killed!’ Trinket’s voice was trembling. ‘If she dies, I die too! I’ll stab that traitor of a turtle myself!’ Zhang and Zhao exchanged another startled glance. Had their Colonel sent the girl himself’ Had he given orders for the Satrap to be killed, in a fit of anger at the Princess’ disgraceful treatment’ Neither of them dared say a word. Trinket seemed to read their thoughts. ‘Don’t worry, this has nothing to do with us. But what are we to do’’ The two captains were hugely relieved to learn that he was not behind the attempted murder of Satrap Wu. Trinket then sent them to call on the Satrap with his visiting’card, and to request that he release the maid (for whose wicked deed he offered no excuses) back into the custody of the Princess, who would herself make sure that she was properly punished. They set off reluctantly on this mission, thinking to themselves that it would have been far better to wash their hands of the whole business and leave the maid to die. Trinket now went to call on the one’armed White Nun (or Sister Tribulation, to use her proper nom de religion). He found her in the midst of her meditations. When she had finished he approached her and said’ ‘Shifu . . . have you heard the news about . . . Green’ Ah Kor’’ ‘What news’ What are you in such a state about’’ ‘Shifu! She. . . she went to kill the Satrap. . . and she’s been caught!’ Trinket saw a steely light flash in Sister Tribulation’s eyes. ‘Did she succeed’ Is he dead’’ ‘No. He’s still alive. And she was captured by the Satrap’s men!’ Tribulation sighed. ‘Useless creature!’ At first Trinket was astonished to see her so unconcerned for the welfare of her own disciple. Then’ ‘I understand!’ he cried. ‘You’ve got a plan to save her, haven’t you’’ Tribulation shook her head. ‘No. I haven’t got anything of the kind.’ She may not care about her, thought Trinket, but I do! I care about her a lot! ‘Don’t you see’’ he cried. The Satrap’s going to kill her! In fact, he’s probably killed her already. And then he plans to find out who sent her!’ ‘It was me,’ said the nun calmly. ‘I sent her. Let him come and find me, if he has the courage!’ In a way this did not surprise Trinket. After all, she was the daughter of the last Emperor of the Ming, and it was Satrap Wu who had betrayed the Empire into the hands of the Manchus. It was only natural that she should hate him to the very core of her being. Had she not already herself tried to kill the Manchu Emperor, on Wutai’ But he was surprised that she should have sent an inexperienced fighter such as Green to carry out this mission. Was she deliberately sending her to her death’ He did not dare voice this doubt. Instead he said’ ‘I know Green would never betray you, Shifu.’ ‘Really’’ The nun closed her eyes. Trinket left her there, and walked back to his own apartment. Dawn was breaking, but it was still too early for captains Zhao and Zhang to have returned. He paced anxiously up and down the hall, from time to time sending one of the guards to find out if there was any news, but to no avail. Finally the suspense was too much for him. He selected a few cavalry guards and set off at their head in the direction of the Satrap’s palace. When he came to the Temple of Dharma Wisdom, a mile or two from the palace, he tethered his own horse and sent the other men ahead post’haste to scout out the situation. Half an hour or so later he heard the sound of clattering hooves, and Zhang Kangnian came galloping up. ‘Captain Zhao and I conveyed your message to the Satrap. He refused to receive us. Captain Zhao is still there waiting.’ Trinket stamped his foot angrily. That dirty turtle’head has a nerve!’ Zhang tried to point out to his superior that it was nothing out of the ordinary for such an eminent person as the Satrap (the second most powerful person in the land after the Emperor, after all) to refuse to receive a couple of junior officers. ‘I shall call on him myself!’ cried Trinket. ‘Come with me!’ Trinket would not be dissuaded. He vaulted onto a horse, and galloped to the Satrap’s palace. The Satrap’s guards welcomed him and went hurrying on ahead to announce his arrival. At the Satrap’s Palace Two of the Satrap’s top officers came out to receive Trinket’ General Xia, and Brigadier Ma Bao. Xia was married to the Satrap’s daughter and was commander’in’chief of the Satrap’s army. He bowed politely to Trinket. ‘Viscount Wei, I think you must have heard the news of the attempt on Prince Wu’s life. He is seriously wounded, and hopes you will forgive him for being unable to receive you in person.’ ‘I thought he had escaped unharmed!’ exclaimed Trinket. ‘Indeed not. His Highness received a sword wound in the chest,’ replied Xia, speaking in a tone of subdued gravity. The blade entered to a depth of some three or four inches.’ ‘But that’s terrible!’ cried Trinket. General Xia frowned. ‘It is too soon to know whether His Highness will live. We nave not wanted to cause a disturbance, and have withheld the I Ht UttK. ‘MNU I I’IC L’MJLL’K.UIN news from the public. Instead we have let it be understood that His Highness escaped unharmed. But since you are his close friend, sir, we considered it imperative to tell you the truth.’ ‘I must go in and call on His Highness,’ said Trinket. ‘I insist.’ Xia and Ma exchanged glances. ‘Follow us! This way, sir!’ The two officers led the way to the Satrap’s private apartment. Xia announced that Viscount Trinket had come to visit and they heard a muffled groan from within the canopied bedstead. General Xia drew aside the curtain and they saw the Satrap frowning and clenching his teeth with pain. His covers were still spattered with blood, and his chest was heavily bandaged. Blood continued to seep through the bandages. Two physicians stood by the bedside, both the picture of gloom. Trinket had not been prepared to see Wu so badly wounded. In that instant his anger evaporated, and was replaced by a feeling of urgent concern’ not for the Satrap (he did not care a fig whether the fat villain lived or died), but for Green. The Satrap’s death would make it even harder to rescue her. ‘Your Highness, is the pain very bad’’ he mumbled. Wu groaned and stared lifelessly in front of him. ‘I’m . . . done for. ... Go and fetch that useless son of mine and . . . kill him! This is all his doing!’ General Xia dared not say anything in reply. He let down the curtain and led Trinket out of the room. ‘That our great Prince should die like this!’ he lamented aloud. ‘After all he has done for his country! After a lifetime’s devotion! It is so unjust!’ ‘Lifetime’s devotion my twat!’ Trinket expostulated silently to himself. ‘He lived like a dog, and he deserves to die like a dog!’ Aloud he said’ ‘General Xia, I think the Prince will certainly live.’ ‘How can you tell, sir’’ ‘Because I can read men’s futures in their faces. His face speaks of a great future. I can tell that one day he will be raised to a height even greater than his present one.’ General Xia’s face darkened when he heard these words, and he hastened to protest that his master had already been raised so high by the great kindness of His Majesty that he could never hope to be raised any higher. Yes, thought Trinket, that’s true enough’ CHAPTER 20 ‘ " the only way he can get any higher is by rebelling against the Throne, and becoming Emperor himself! Which you and I both know is exactly what he is planning to do. Which is why you reacted the way you did just now. You were scared that I might know too much. Ha, I think I’ll try and give you another little scare! ‘You too have a face that speaks of great things to come. After all, when he, the Lord and Master, rises, it only makes sense that the man married to his daughter the Princess should have his share of glory. As he said this, Trinket started walking out of the room. Xia was aghast. The palms of his hands went clammy with fear. ‘Could it be that our confidential plans for the rebellion have leaked out’’ he wondered to himself. ‘Or is this young whippersnapper just talking a load of rubbish’’ Outside in the corridor Trinket asked him’ Tell me, has the would’be assassin been captured’ What sort of person was it’ Who was behind it’ Some Ming Loyalist’ One of the Mu Family bravos’’ ‘It’s a woman,’ replied General Xia. ‘Her name is Ah Kor. Someone said she’s in service with the Princess-but I find that hard to believe. I think you are right, she is most probably one of the Mu Family, pretending to be a maid.’ This gave Trinket a visible shock. ‘I see what they’re up to,’ he thought to himself. ‘By passing it off as the work of the Mu Family, and not connected with the Princess, they think they can get away with killing her. This is looking even worse than I thought.’ ‘Has she already been . . .’ Trinket hesitated. ‘Put to death’’ ‘We are waiting for His Highness to recover. He will want to look into this personally, and decide who was behind the plot.’ Trinket breathed a little more easily. He continued’ ‘I should like to visit this young lady myself. I shall be able to tell at once if she is a genuine maid in the Princess’ service.’ ‘I hardly think that is necessary, sir,’ countered the general. ‘On the contrary’ I am sure His Majesty will want a full report from me when I return to the capital,’ insisted Trinket. This seemed to work at first, and General Xia mumbled’ ‘Of course, of course.’ But he did nothing. ‘What’s the matter’ Come on. Bring her out here smartish for me to have a look at!’ 18 His anxiety on behalf of his beloved was driving him to forsake all semblance of politeness. After a great deal more bantering exchange, he managed to pressurize Xia into going in and consulting with his master the Prince. Xia returned after a long interval of time, to report that Prince Wu was still asleep, and that rather than wait indefinitely for him to wake up, he had decided to take the initiative himself. ‘So, if you will come this way, sir, I can take you in to see the young woman now.’ The Assassin’ Trinket followed Xia down several walkways until they reached a garden. Between forty and fifty of the Satrap’s crack troops were there, heavily armed, patrolling the place. General Xia presented an official tally and demanded to be let through. The soldiers made way for the two of them, and General Xia led Trinket into a passageway that had been created in the side of an artificial rockery. Presently they came to a large metal door, guarded by two more soldiers. The rockery was, it transpired, masking the entrance to the Satrap’s secret jail. There were three metal doors, one after the other, and as they passed through them they descended deeper and deeper underground. Finally they came to a little room, separated from the rest of the subterranean compound by a heavy metal grill. Through the grill, it was possible to distinguish the form of a woman seated on the ground, holding her head in both hands and quietly sobbing to herself. The only light in the room (and it was a very dim one) came from a couple of oil lamps on the walls. Trinket hurried up to the bars, grasped them in his hands, and gazed intently at the woman. ‘Stand up, you!’ cried General Xia. ‘You have a visitor-an important visitor!’ The woman turned to look, and the lamplight fell on her face. She and Trinket exchanged a quick glance, and each of them let out a gasp of surprise. She rose to her feet, and as she did so the shackles on her hands and feet made a melancholy clanging sound. ‘What are ... you doing here’’ she asked. To Trinket’s utter astonishment he saw that the woman before him was not Ah Kor at all. She was not Green Girl-but the Little Countess, Mu Jianping! CHAPTER 20 IV Struggling to compose himself, he turned to General Xia. ‘Why have you got her chained up in here’’ ‘Why, are you acquainted with this woman, sir’’ replied the general. ‘Is she one of the Princess’ maids’’ He was beginning to sound as bewildered as they were. ‘Is this the one who tried to kill the Sa. . . I mean, Prince Wu’’ asked Trinket. ‘That is correct. But what we want to know is, who put her up to it’’ ‘So they were all wrong,’ thought Trinket to himself. ‘It was the Little Countess who did it. She had a good motive, after all. The Satrap killed her father.’ ‘Tell me,’ he asked the general, ‘did she herself say that her name was Ah Kor, and that she was a maid in service with the Princess’’ ‘As a matter of fact, when we captured her she refused to say anything. Somebody else recognized her as the Princess’ maid. What do you say, sir’ Is she or isn’t she’’ Trinket was thinking. The Little Countess is married to me too. I have a duty to rescue her as well! I mustn’t be partial.’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘She is one of the maids. In fact, she’s Her Highness’ favourite maid.’ As he said this he gave the Little Countess a wink. ‘What sort of nonsense did you think you were up to, trying to murder His Highness Prince Wu’ Are you crazy’ Do you want to get yourself killed’ Who sent you’ Come on, confess, it’ll be easier for you in the end.’ This provoked a spirited response from the Little Countess’ ‘That great fat traitor the Satrap is hated by every self’respecting Chinese man and woman in the land! He betrayed our country to the Tartars! Anyone with Chinese blood in their veins would be happy to kill him! My only regret is that I didn’t succeed!’ Trinket put on a little show of anger. ‘You shameless hussy! Have all your years of service in the Palace taught you nothing’ Aren’t you afraid to die’’ ‘And what about you’’ retorted the Little Countess. ‘What about all your years in the service of those Tartars’ Have you no shame’’ Trinket advanced towards her and cried’ ‘You must confess! Who sent you here’ Who else is in this plot with you’’ As he advanced, with his back to the general, Trinket was secretly gesticulating and grimacing in such a way as to suggest to the Little Countess that she should somehow implicate General Xia himself in the plot. She tumbled to the idea very quickly. ‘It was html’ she cried, pointing at Xia. ‘He sent me!’ ‘Stuff and nonsense!’ shouted Xia angrily. ‘How dare you lie!’ protested the Little Countess. ‘You sent me to kill the Satrap. You said he was an evil man and that everyone wanted him dead. You said that with him out of the way you could . . .’ She was not quite sure of Xia’s rank, and hesitated. ‘Could become even more rich and powerful’’ Trinket suggested helpfully. ‘So no one would ever scold him and beat him again’’ ‘Yes, that’s it!’ cried the Little Countess. ‘You said you’d had enough of being treated like that. But you didn’t dare do the thing yourself.’ The general began shouting angrily at the Little Countess, but she paid him no attention. ‘You’d better be careful,’ said Trinket. ‘Do you have any idea who you’re talking to’ This is the Satrap’s son’in’law, General Xia.’ As he said this Trinket secretly stuck his thumb up, to let her know that she was doing a grand job. ‘That makes sense. He told me that when the Satrap was dead, he would be made Prince of the West. He said he’d make sure I escaped safely, whether I succeeded in killing the Satrap or not. He’d make sure I came to no harm. That’s what he said. And now he’s locked me up in here. General Xia, I’m waiting for you to stick to your side of the bargain.’ ‘Any more of that wicked nonsense and I’ll beat you till you’re all blood and bruises!’ roared General Xia in a rage. ‘I’ll beat you to death!’ He had more or less figured out what the two of them were up to. Somehow he had to put a stop to it, before it got out of hand. He turned to Trinket. ‘You surely cannot believe the story this stupid little maid has made up’’ Trinket shook his head pensively. ‘I don’t know. It seems a great deal for her to have made up on her own. We all know how difficult the Satrap can be. I shall have to wait until he is better and see what he himself has to say about all this.’ This really seemed to put the wind up Xia. ‘I beg you, sir, don’t mention any of this to Prince Wu. You know how highly he regards you.’ Trinket smiled. Clearly the general was now well and truly rattled. It was tempting to add more fuel to the flames. ‘On the contrary, I think it’s only right for me to advise the Satrap that the main threat to his person is to be expected from within his own ranks. He is far too heavily guarded and protected for an outsider to get anywhere near him. Of course, if the slightest word of this got out, if you were once suspected, the other high’ranking officers would just love a pretext to bring you down. The safest thing for you to have done would have been to have kitted the girl as soon as she was caught. But it’s a bit late for that now. After all, now 7 know about it too. And killing me might be a little trickier, given that I’ve got a few thousand guards of my own posted outside.’ A bit more of this sort of intimidation, and General Xia seemed convinced that his entire life and future lay in Trinket’s hands. Trinket finally came to the point. ‘So’ there’s only one way out of this. I’ll do you a huge favour by taking on the responsibility myself. Just hand the girl over to me, and I’ll take her back to the Princess. You can say the Princess wants to question her personally about this affair.’ Then, sotto voce to the general’ ‘I’ll have her killed myself. I’ll put it out that she refused to confess, and died under torture. I think that should take care of things nicely.’ General Xia was too intelligent not to realize what Trinket was up to. ‘Damn you, you little rat!’ he was thinking to himself. ‘I know perfectly well that the only thing you want is to get her safely out of here. And you have the nerve to make it look like you’re doing me a favour. I just wonder how you come to know her in the first place’’ ‘Are you quite sure she is one of the Princess’ maids’’ he asked out loud. ‘When I questioned her, she seemed to know nothing about the Princess.’LI THEDEtRAND I Ht CAULUKON ‘She did that on purpose’ returned Trinket. ‘She didn’t want to involve her mistress in this.’ ‘Very well then’ said Xia. ‘Your plan does seem the best, and I’ll go along with it. But I shall need something official in writing from you.’ ‘Sorry’ said Trinket with a cheeky grin. ‘Don’t know how to. Can’t write a thing. Tell you what, though, I’ll give you this.’ He extracted from his jacket pocket one of the guns that the Satrap had given him. ‘Give your boss this. He’ll know it’s from me. That should be official enough.’ General Xia sent for a couple of jailers to let the Little Countess out of her cell, and to undo her shackles; but he made her keep on the handcuffs. Leading her by a chain attached to the cuffs, he conducted her to the main entrance of the palace, where he handed the chain (and the key for the handcuffs) to Trinket. ‘Be careful now, sir’ he said loudly. ‘You can take her back to the Princess for questioning. But be sure she doesn’t escape.’ Trinket smiled. ‘Don’t you worry! I’ll be back tomorrow to enquire after the Prince’s health.’ The general bowed as Trinket departed. Story behind a Story Trinket escorted the Little Countess back to the An Fu Gardens. When they had reached his apartment he closed the door and burst out laughing. ‘So tell me, dear wife, tell your husband what on earth has been going on’’ She blushed a deep crimson. ‘Haven’t you got anything nicer to say to me than that’’ She held out her hands. ‘Get me out of these horrible things first!’ ‘I think I’d better cuddle you first’ retorted Trinket. ‘If I undo those, you’ll never let me.’ So saying, he put his arms round the Little Countess’ deliciously slender waist. ‘You’re bullying me again!’ she cried angrily. ‘Very well, I won’t bully you then. Why don’t you bully me, instead.’ CHAPTER 20 u He held his cheek to her face and pressed it gently against her lips. Then he took out the key and unlocked her handcuffs, and they sat down side by side on the bed. He asked her to tell the whole story. ‘Leader Hong and Madame Hong’ she began, ‘were very grateful for the package you sent them. They gave me some of the Antidote, and I was able to clear the poison out of my body. They sent the Deputy Red Dragon Marshal to bring me to you. They said they knew that you’d be missing me so they wanted me to-’ She hesitated, just long enough for Trinket to put in’ To marry me!’ ‘No!’ she cried. ‘Not at all! Madame thought that my being so far away might be making your mission harder to accomplish. That’s all.’ Trinket could see she was on the verge of tears, and softened his tone. ‘Very well. I believe you. But what about you’ Did you miss me too’’ The Little Countess turned away, and as she did so nodded her head almost imperceptibly. ‘What about you and the Deputy Red Dragon Marshal’ What were you two up to, trying to kill the Satrap’’ ‘We arrived in Kunming three days ago. I ran into my brother and Shifu Iron Dragon Liu outside the town.’ ‘Oh, I had no idea they were here!’ exclaimed Trinket. ‘Yes, they are. And Blue Tiger-Ao Biao-and my brother’inarms Liu Yizhou are here too’ said the Little Countess. ‘Shifu Wu was too ill to travel. They’d made a plan to murder the Princess Ning.’ ‘What!’ exclaimed Trinket in some consternation. ‘What would they want to do that for’ What has she ever done to harm the Mu Family’’ ‘The idea was to provoke the Emperor into punishing Satrap Wu’ then the Satrap would be forced to come out into the open and declare a revolt against the Throne.’ These people are more cunning and ruthless than I thought!’ reflected Trinket. ‘I’ve been thinking all along about how to get at the Satrap, and never spared a thought for the Princess’ safety!’ ‘So what did you do’’ he asked. ‘I was to pretend to be one of the Princess’ maids, and get close to her. Once I’d killed her, they would come in and rescue me. But the Deputy Red Dragon Marshal was concerned for your safety, as the Princess’ escort. So I thought I had better consult with you first. When Iron Dragon Liu got to hear of this, he drew a sword on the Deputy Marshal and killed him there and then!’ The Little Countess was shaking with emotion as she recalled these events. Trinket tried to comfort her. ‘Don’t be afraid. It was very sweet of you to think of me.’ She began sobbing, and great tears coursed down her cheeks. ‘But then . . . when you saw me again . . . the first thing you did was to start bullying me. . . .’ Trinket took her hand and administered himself a slap in the face. ‘What a horrible creature I am! Bad boy!’ Slap! Slap! ‘Stop!’ cried the Little Countess, tugging her hand away. ‘Don’t do that!’ He took her hand again, and this time used it to tap himself lightly on the cheek. ‘I am a bad boy, I am! I should have rescued my little wife much sooner from the clutches of the wicked Satrap!’ ‘But you did rescue me in the end!’ said the still tearful Little Countess. ‘And now we must think of a way of rescuing my brother and Iron Dragon Liu.’ ‘Were they caught too’’ said Trinket in some alarm. ‘The day before yesterday,’ she began, ‘the house where we were staying was surrounded by the Satrap’s men. They were too many for us. Brother Ao was killed. My brother, Iron Dragon Liu, and I were taken prisoner.’ Trinket sighed. ‘It’s very sad that the Blue Tiger is dead. But tell me, if you were taken prisoner, how were you able to get anywhere near the Satrap’’ ‘I wasn’t! I wish I had, but how could I possibly, with all those chains on’’ Trinket was more perplexed than ever. ‘So where have you been since then’’ ‘First I was kept in a darkened room. Then today I was moved to that black hole of a dungeon where you found me.’ Trinket sensed that all was not well. He had clearly fallen for some ruse of General Xia’s. But exactly what was going on he could not fathom. ‘So the Satrap’s wounds were not inflicted by you’’ ‘Of course not. I’ve never set eyes on him. Tell me, do you think he’s going to die’’ Trinket shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Did you tell them who you were’’ ‘No. I didn’t tell them anything. The officer interrogating me got angry, and asked me if I was dumb. Remember, you once said I was dumb’’ Trinket lent over her and kissed her gently. ‘Yes, my little dumb girl, and I still want to carve a turtle on your pretty little face.’ The Little Countess felt a strange sense of pleasure at Trinket’s words, and there was a glow of affection in her eyes. But she did not turn to look at him. Trinket was still brooding on the significance of what had happened. Why would General Xia have wanted to pretend that the Little Countess was one of the Princess’ maids’ Unless he was testing him out, to see if Trinket knew her. That must be it. And now he had recognized her, and Xia would have every reason to believe that Trinket himself was involved with the Mu Family. He’d fallen right into the trap. For all his instinctive cunning, Trinket was a child by comparison with seasoned plotters and schemers such as the Satrap and General Xia. As he thought about the danger he was in, he broke out in a cold sweat. ‘You stay here for a while,’ he said to the Little Countess. ‘I must go and see what I can do about rescuing your brother and Iron Dragon Liu.’ At His Wits’End , Trinket made his way to the western wing of the compound, and summoned his Triad friends to a meeting. He briefed them on the latest turn of events. They too suspected some sort of plot on the part of the Satrap. ‘Perhaps he has seen through the way we "killed" Hatiemo’’ suggested Father Obscurus. ‘But how did the Satrap know where to find the Mu Family’’ asked Butcher Qian. ‘I bet it’s that weasel Liu Yizhou’ Trinket speculated aloud. ‘He’s one of them, but he’s got a grudge against me, and he’s a sneak and a coward. I bet he told them.’ ‘You’re probably right. But Master, how could the Satrap ever suspect you of being involved with the Mu Family’ So far as he’s concerned, you’re the Emperor’s trusted envoy.’ Butcher Qian frowned and scratched his head as he attempted to puzzle this one out. ‘If you ask me,’ put in Tertius, ‘it’s all a coincidence.’ ‘What do you mean’’ asked Trinket. ‘Someone else really did try to kill the Satrap. It probably was that maid of the Princess’. Why else would everybody be saying so’’ ‘You may be right there,’ said Trinket. ‘Ah Kor has gone missing. She’s probably being held by the Satrap’s men as well.’ ‘So’ continued Tertius, ‘they knew you would come for Ah Kor, and they substituted the Mu girl. That way they could hand her over to you, without giving up the real would’be assassin. They’ve put you in a very tricky situation.’ Trinket slapped his thigh. ‘Yes, I’m sure that’s it. You’re certainly a smart one, Tertius, to figure it all out like that. Popping momma’s! They probably had no idea I even knew the Little Countess! This is going to be very hard to explain to the Satrap.’ ‘You’ll have to brazen it out, Master,’ went on the subtle Tertius. ‘Just tell the Satrap that you’ve been given special orders by the Emperor to do undercover work, which means fraternizing with the Mu Family. . . .’ Trinket burst out laughing. ‘Great idea! But will he fall for it’’ He had been about to say that Tertius’ plan was pretty much what the Emperor had indeed once asked him to do (on the occasion when he had released Shaker Wu), but thought better of divulging to his Triad friends too many of the convolutions of his own complicated existence. ‘Even if he doesn’t believe you,’ said Butcher Qian, ‘he’ll have to go along with it. And once we’re out of his part of the world, who cares what he thinks anyway’’ ‘There’s one thing I find most upsetting in all of this,’ went on Trinket. ‘The Mu Family knew I was escorting the Princess, but they went ahead with a plan to murder her. That doesn’t seem a very honourable thing to do. If Shaker Wu were here today, I hardly think he’d approve of what they did.’ The subtlety of Tertius was once more brought into play. ‘They probably worked it out this way’ since your loyalty to the Emperor and the Tartar cause is only a pretence, therefore you would not take their planned assassination of the Princess amiss. Your real loyalty is to the cause. We all believe in the same cause. We Triads may have had our differences with the Mu Family in the past, but in the end we’re on the same side’ we cannot stand by now and not go to their aid.’ There followed a debate on the possible ways of extricating the Young Count and Iron Dragon Liu from the Satrap’s clutches. Nothing seemed to present itself as a feasible plan. ‘Let’s wait until I have been to speak with the Satrap,’ said Trinket. ‘Then we’ll see how the land lies.’ The Triads dispersed, and Trinket was left on his own to brood on the complex twists and turns of recent events. Perhaps the Green Girl had never tried to kill the Satrap’ Perhaps she had never been captured’ Perhaps it was all empty rumour’ He made his way to the White Nun’s quarters, and asked her where Ah Kor was. ‘Has Satrap Wu let her go’’ was the Nun’s reply. ‘Does he know the truth’’ ‘Know what truth’’ asked Trinket. There was something peculiar about the way the Nun had spoken. Her voice was trembling. She said nothing for a moment or two. Then’ ‘How badly was the Traitor wounded’’ ‘Badly. I saw him a little while ago. He was still unconscious. He may well not live.’ There was the faintest trace of a smile on the Nun’s face. Then she frowned. ‘He must be told.’ Trinket wanted to ask what it was that Wu Sangui needed to be told, but there was something about the intensely serious expression on the Nun’s face that did not encourage further questions. He left her alone in her room, and went out to enquire if anyone else had seen Ah Kor leave the An Fu Gardens. But no one recollected having seen her. He made his way back to his own I Mt UtCK’MNIU I ME room, exhausted, and after exchanging a few words with the Little Countess, fell asleep. The Peerless Trinket called on the Satrap the following day to enquire after his health, and was received by his second son, who informed him that there had been no change in his father’s condition’ the Satrap was sleeping and could not be disturbed. Further enquiry elicited the information that General Xia was out and about in the city with a battalion of soldiers, maintaining law and order and dealing with any signs of possible unrest. On the subject of the Satrap’s eldest son, and his unmentionable wound, Trinket received the vaguest possible reply. Trinket sensed a growing suspicion and hostility emanating from the Satrap’s camp. This was going to make it harder than ever, if not altogether impossible, to secure the release of the remaining members of the Mu Family. As for the Green Girl, to try and rescue her now would probably provoke an all’out attack from the Satrap’s men, and might lead to his own premature demise in the city of Kunming. The following day, Trinket was discussing the deteriorating situation with his Triad friends, when the arrival was announced at the outer gate of an elderly Taoist nun, with a personal letter for him. Trinket asked one of the Triads to open the letter, which was written on yellow paper, and read it out to him. It began’ ‘Ah Kor is in serious trouble-’ ‘What!’ Trinket jumped up in alarm. The Triads knew nothing of his own involvement with the White Nun and her beautiful disciple. He must tread carefully. Those are the exact words with which the letter begins,’ said Tertius, who had read them out. The rest seems to make very little sense, and it is not even signed at the end. It just says that you are to go with the bearer of the letter, if you wish to discuss how to rescue this person.’ Trinket hurried out to the main gate, in one of the side’rooms of which he found the nun waiting patiently for him, seated on a bench. She rose to her feet and bowed. ‘Who sent you here’’ asked Trinket. CHAPTER 20 ‘Please follow me, sir’ replied the old lady. ‘All will become clear.’ ‘Where to’’ ‘If you will just follow me, sir. I really can’t say.’ ‘Very well.’ Trinket ordered a horse and carriage, but the old nun begged him to travel with her in her simple cart, so as not to attract undue attention. Apothecary Xu, Butcher Qian, and other Triads insisted on following at a discreet distance, fearful that this might be a trap set by one of Trinket’s adversaries. They left the city by the west gate and were soon in the countryside, which grew more and more lonely and desolate. Trinket began to have misgivings. ‘Where are we going’’ he asked. ‘We’ll be there soon’ replied the old nun, inscrutable as ever. A mile or two further on they changed course and began heading north down a narrow track, just wide enough for their simple cart. Finally they arrived outside what seemed to be a tiny hermitage. ‘Here we are’ said the old nun. Trinket alighted from the cart. Above the entrance hung an inscription, of which he was able to decipher the first word’ Three.’ Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted his Triad Brothers lurking in the distance. Somewhat reassured, he walked in with the old nun. The interior of the hermitage was spotlessly clean and immaculately tidy. In the centre of the courtyard were several camellia bushes and a Judas tree, while a statue of the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, gazed down on them from the main hall directly ahead. It was a fine figure, with a feminine, if slightly austere, charm. Trinket was favourably impressed. The old nun led him to a side’room on the east side, and served tea. As Trinket raised the lid of his cup, the most delicious aroma assailed his nostrils. The brew was a wonderful pale green colour, and he immediately recognized it as a fine blend of Dragon Well tea from the Hangzhou region. These must be well’heeled nuns, he thought to himself, to be able to afford such expensive tea in this remote corner of the south’west. Next the old nun came in carrying a lacquer tray on which was an exquisite white porcelain bowl filled with an assortment of snacks’ pine’nut candies, a piece of walnut cake, slices of dried peach, rose’petal flavoured cookies, candied almonds, green bean’cake, lotus pastry, and arbutus berries preserved in cassia honey. These were all choice Suzhou delicacies, the sort of thing Trinket was only too familiar with from his own childhood in the southern city of Yangzhou. The Madame at Vernal Delights regularly served her customers with such things, and from time to time the young Trinket had managed to nibble one or two when no one was looking. Seeing them once again in this far’flung region was like being reunited with a gang of old friends! ‘Old Trink’s beginning to feel quite at home!’ he chuckled to himself in delight. The old nun withdrew and left Trinket alone in the room. Clouds of sandalwood incense smoke drifted from a little bronze censer on the table. Trinket recognized the exact variety of sandalwood’ he had encountered it once in the Empress Dowager’s palace. The thought brought him to his feet with a start. ‘Oh no! Disaster! Not her’ Don’t tell me the Old Whore’s here! That means big trouble!’ At that very moment, he heard’soft footsteps outside the door, and a woman came in. She brought her hands together in the traditional Buddhist salutation, and bowed to her visitor. ‘Welcome to my simple hermitage, Lord Wei,’ she said. Her voice had a clear, gentle ring to it, and she spoke with a discernible Suzhou accent. She looked like a woman of about forty years of age, and was wearing a pale’yellow nun’s habit. The statue Trinket had seen in the main hall was of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, but this nun had lustrous long hair in the free manner of a Taoist nun. She also had the most wondrously luminous eyes and exquisitely curved brows. As Trinket gazed at her, he thought to himself that he had never in his life set eyes on such a ravishingly beautiful specimen of feminine humanity. He rose to his feet and stood there with his tea’cup still in his hands, riveted to the spot, gaping open’mouthed at this apparition, incapable of either speech or movement. The lady smiled. ‘Please be seated, sir.’ ‘Yes, ma’am,’ mumbled Trinket incoherently. His knees went all wobbly, and he half sat, half collapsed into his chair, spilling his tea all over himself in the process. The lady seemed not the least bit put out. It was as if she had watched this happen a thousand times before-this disabling effect she had on men. Countless times she had seen grown men totally unmanned by her stunning beauty. This time it was just a fifteen’or sixteen’year’old youth who had been conquered. She smiled again. ‘For such a very great and important man, sir, you seem dreadfully young. But then there was the famous Gan Luo in ancient times, who was made Prime Minister when he was still only a boy of twelve. And I am sure you are in no way his inferior.’ ‘Nor you, ma’am,’ replied a confused Trinket. ‘I mean, you’re not inferior to the fabulous beauties of olden days, ma’am.’ She raised a silken sleeve to mask the smile that was spreading across her face. The enchantment of that smile soon gave way to an expression of great seriousness’ ‘Alas, that the beauty with which nature endowed me should have served only to bring suffering! To myself, and to many other sentient beings. Here, beside my lonely lamp and beneath the gaze of the ancient image of our Lord Buddha, I strive to make amends for the follies of my past. Alas! A thousand beatings of the wooden fish, a thousand chantings of the sutras are not enough to redeem the smallest part of the karma handed down from my former days!’ Her eyes reddened, and Trinket could see tears stealing down her cheeks. He had no idea what it was she was talking about. But he was reduced to pity by the mere sight of this beautiful woman and by the spectacle of her grief, which seemed to plumb the very depths of human despair. Without understanding what the cause of her sorrow was, he could feel himself being carried away by an indescribable welling of compassion that surged throughout his being. An irresistible impulse took hold of him, to sacrifice himself for her, to die if need be on her behalf. He rose to his feet and began beating his chest. ‘Who has treated you cruelly, ma’am’’ he proclaimed heroically. ‘Who has caused you to suffer’ Tell me, and I will avenge you! Lay all your troubles on my shoulders. I will wipe out the wrong done to you, or else I will sever this head of mine from my body and present it to you as penance!’ As he was describing with such high’flown eloquence this most improbable sequence of actions, he raised his right hand, and brought the edge of the palm down with a chopping motion on his neck. His speech and gesture both breathed an exaggeratedly knightly air. At any other moment in our hero’s life the whole thing would have been nothing more than a contrived performance, not something to be taken seriously. But on this occasion, extraordinarily, for the very first time, Trinket really meant it. She gazed at him. Then she sobbed’ ‘Your gallantry is more than I can ever be worthy of!’ Suddenly she fell to her knees and began kowtowing to him, knocking her head repeatedly on the ground before him. ‘No, ma’am!’ cried Trinket. ‘You mustn’t!’ He also fell to his knees, and began knocking his head in rhythm with hers. ‘You are a beauty descended to this mortal earth from fairy realms,’ he began. ‘You are the Goddess of Mercy reborn. I beg you to accept my humble service.’ ‘I shall die of shame!’ she mumbled almost inaudibly. She took hold of him by the arms and gave him the gentlest and chastest of embraces. Then the two of them rose to their feet. Trinket could see the tears glistening like pearls on her cheeks, and hurried to wipe them away .with the sleeve of his gown. ‘Don’t cry!’ he comforted her. ‘Whatever it is that is troubling you, together we will find a way to put things right! I promise we will!’ She was easily old enough to be his mother. But there was something so tender and feminine about her, something so fragile and ethereal about the way she spoke, something so captivating about her whole manner-it was enough to melt his boyish heart. Tell me’ Trinket continued. ‘What is your trouble’’ ‘Lord Wei,’ she replied, ‘I am so deeply grateful to you for coming to me so soon after you received my letter.’ ‘Yikesl’ cried Trinket suddenly, slapping himself in the face as he spoke, as if to wake himself from some dream. ‘Of course! The letter! Ah Kor!’ He stared at her again, and in that instant the truth dawned on him. ‘You’re her mother, aren’t you!’ ‘You are very clever to have guessed, sir,’ she mumbled. ‘I would never have told you of my own accord.’ ‘It was easy. The two of you look so alike. But my sister’inarms . . . she’s beautiful all right, but she isn’t half as beautiful as you are!’ She flushed. The pink glow made her usually pale, lustrous CHAPTER 20 ii [ace more beautiful than ever. It was like a delicate smear of rouge on a piece of white jade. ‘Did you call her your sister’in’arms’’ she enquired softly. ‘Yes,’ replied Trinket. ‘We are disciples of the same Shifu.’ He told the whole story’ how he had first encountered Ah Kor how they had both travelled to Kunming with their Shifu, Sister Tribulation, the White Nun. He even described in detail his own feelings of adoration towards Ah Kor, and the low regard in which (alas!) she held him. He refrained, however, from going into the details of the White Nun’s past as Princess Royal, and said nothing of their shared determination to strike against the Satrap. When he had finished his tale, the nun (who had listened carefully to every word he said) gave a little sigh. ‘Alas! In a woman’s beauty so often lie the seeds of calamity! Women know nothing of the greater good; and men are so hastily led astray!’ ‘No, ma’am!’ cried Trinket, shaking his head vehemently. ‘I’ve heard the story’tellers say the same thing, but it’s not true. They always lay the blame at the woman’s door. But I say it’s the men, the wretched, despicable, worthless men-Emperors, generals, whatever! They’re the ones at fault! Take Satrap Wu’ people say that he would never have betrayed his own Emperor to the Manchus if it hadn’t been for the Peerless Consort, the beautiful Chen Yuanyuan, the woman he was so crazy about. But I don’t see it that way. It was his own fault! If Satrap Wu had been a better man to start with, if he’d been loyal to the Throne, twenty Peerless Consorts would never have been able to lead him astray! Tamardy! It was his fault, everything was his fault, the foul turtle’head!’ The lady bowed to Trinket several times. Thank you, my lord, for your generous words. You speak on behalf of a much wronged woman.’ Trinket hurriedly returned her bow. Then’ ‘But. . .’ he stammered. ‘You ... oh my goodness! That’s it, isn’t it! You’re her, aren’t you! You’re the one! Of course! You’re the Peerless One! Peerless! How could there be anyone else in the whole world as beautiful as you! Forgive me! I must be going crazy, I just don’t know what’s going on, I don’t understand any of this at all. If you’re the Satrap’s Peerless Consort, what are you doing here in this hermitage’ And how could ... Green ... Ah Kor ... be your daughter’’ 34 There were too many unanswered questions in his head. ‘Yes’ replied the woman, ‘I am Chen Yuanyuan. It is a very long story. After all the gallant things that you have said, I cannot possibly hide the truth from you. For twenty years I have been reviled by all my fellow countrymen. I have been held to blame for our country’s defeat, for our national disgrace. There are only two great men of distinction alive, two famous men of letters, who understand the truth. One is you. The other is the great poet, Wu Weiye.’ Needless to say, Trinket knew next to nothing about Chen Yuanyuan’s past, and whether or not she had indeed been to blame for the falling of Peking to the Tartars and their subsequent conquest of China. All he knew (now that he had seen her for himself) was that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. That was argument enough for him. And he also knew that he loathed Satrap Wu. So why not blame everything on him’ There was also a sufficiently powerful logic in that. But at least he was honest enough to disown any claims to being a great man of letters! ‘Actually I’m afraid I can’t read or write’ he confessed. ‘You’d really better not make the mistake of calling me a Great Man of Letters. Doctor Dog Fart would be a far better title for me.’ She smiled. ‘You are a young man of courage and wisdom. That’s what counts.’ Hearing such words of praise from such a gorgeously attractive woman sent Trinket into a swoon. He could hardly believe his ears. ‘Come with me’ said Chen Yuanyuan. ‘I want to tell you the whole story myself. In my own way.’ She led him out of the room, down a little cobbled path, to her private chamber. The Ballad of the Peerless Consort Her chamber was bare apart from two mats (of the kind used for meditation), a long calligraphic scroll on the wall, and a piba mandolin which hung next to it. ‘Please be seated’ said Chen Yuanyuan. When Trinket had lowered himself onto one of the mats, she took down the piba and sat down on the other mat, cradling the instrument on her lap. Pointing to the calligraphy on the wall, she CHAPTER 20 35 explained that it was a long ballad written for her by the famous poet Wei Wuye. It was called the ‘Ballad of the Peerless Consort’. Today is a very special occasion’ she continued. ‘Ours has been such an important meeting. I should like to sing the Ballad for you, if you would like to hear it.’ That would be wonderful’ said a delighted Trinket. ‘But I hope you’ll explain it as you go along. Otherwise I won’t have the faintest idea what it’s all about. Don’t forget, Doctor Dog Fart’s not very strong on the book’learning, I’m afraid.’ She smiled again. ‘You are too modest.’ She tuned the strings of her instrument and plucked a few notes. ‘I haven’t played this piece for a long time. You must forgive me if I go astray from time to time.’ ‘Don’t worry’ replied Trinket. ‘I’d be the last person to notice.’ She began with a few slow, gentle introductory measures on the piba. Then she sang’ ‘Twas when the Son of Heaven forsook the world, That General Wu stormed through the Pass of jade; The soldiers all for grief in white were dad, But he alone at beauty’s flight did rage. She explained this first verse for Trinket’s benefit. ‘You see, when the last Son of Heaven, or Emperor, of the Ming dynasty, Chong Zhen, died, General Wu, the one people today sometimes call the Satrap, though they should really just call him Prince of the West, joined forces with the Manchu Tartars to take Peking away from the rebel commander Li Zicheng, the one they call General Bash’em. Li and his rebel army had taken control of the Capital, the last Ming Emperor was dead, and Li was already setting himself up as the new Emperor. The combined forces of General Wu’s Chinese troops and the Tartars defeated Li at the famous Battle of the Pass. The Chinese soldiers were all dressed in white, in mourning for their dead Emperor; but the song says that Wu was not really fighting against Bash’em and for the Emperor- he did it all for love of me! Because Li, General Bash’em, had stolen me from him.’ Trinket nodded. ‘I don’t blame him! I’d have gone over to tne i