My Splendid Concubine (71 page)

Robert
could not answer.

“
This one does not grasp the complexities of Mandarin or Chinese history enough to serve us,” Kung said, before dismissing them.

Prince Kung
’s parting words had fueled Robert’s appetite for everything Chinese. He hated being ignorant.

This time, he was confident with his answers. An hour into the meeting, the subject changed to foreign policy, trade, customs, tax
ation and finance.

“
My questions are like a child’s,” Kung said. “It is embarrassing that I know so little.” He asked to be enlightened.

Robert found it ironic that this time he had answ
ers to questions the prince didn’t know. His Mandarin carried him through explaining to Prince Kung the most difficult concepts about Western economy and culture, and the conversation went well after dark.

That night, he slept for three hours before he was up writing the propo
sals Prince Kung had requested. Before leaving for the Yamen, he made time to write a brief reply to the first letter he’d received from Ayaou.

Anna was still
not sleeping through the night, and Ayaou and Fooyen were losing sleep trying to see what they could do to settle the child down. Anna had unlimited energy and was into everything. She demanded attention at all hours. If she didn’t get her way, she threw terrible tantrums. Once, Anna threw a book Ayaou was reading into a full chamber pot.

Growing up with eleven siblings and
being the oldest had taught Robert about babies, so he wrote, “You must deny Anna’s endless energy and curiosity when it is time for her to sleep. Make her go to bed. Let her cry herself out. Eventually, she will start to sleep through the night.”

On June 6, he arrived early at the Yamen and found Prince Kung alone, and he was in a terrible mood.

Kung revea
led the cause of his distress when he pointed at a large map of China that was pinned to a wall. With a stick, he tapped an area north of Manchuria. “We just lost a war to the Russians. They have robbed this entire region from the Dynasty. This is terrible news for China, and the emperor’s health will suffer.

“
These wars are draining our treasury. We never start them. When they end in tragedy for China, the foreigners find more excuses to gnaw on our bones and demand that we pay for wars they started. Soon, we will not be able to buy rice to feed ourselves. Their greed is endless.”

“
Once I have Customs working properly,” Robert said, wanting to comfort Kung, “you will have enough money to pay these debts. I understand things are difficult and the treasury is almost empty, but I assure you that the money problems will soon be eased.”

“
And what can we do about the Germans?” Prince Kung asked. He stuffed his hands inside his loose sleeves and turned away from the map. “At present, I am negotiating a treaty with them, and they are being impossible. The French must feel they have not taken enough from China, because they are helping the Germans join in the robbery!” He threw up his arms in exasperation.

“
I believe I may offer the beginning of a solution that in time will solve these problems.” He knew that the ideas he was going to propose went beyond his responsibility as inspector general. Ayaou had warned him not to be so bold. However, he felt he had no choice and stepped closer to the map and studied it.

When he saw Kansu province in the center of China west of the Great Wall, he rem
embered an American merchant he’d met in 1854, soon after arriving in China. The man had looked like Ichabod Crane, a character from
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
. Ichabod had mentioned that Kansu was east of Shanghai when in reality Kansu was to the west. Until today, Robert hadn’t thought of that conversation.

Now, he saw Ichabod as an example of how ignorant most fo
reigners were of China. At the time, Robert hadn’t noticed the error because he too had been ignorant of Kansu’s location. He was proud that was no longer true.

He told this story to Prince Kung.

“It is a sad truth that most foreign devils only come to China to steal from us or cheat us. They do not spend the time to learn about our people and culture. They sail in and sell their opium, buy Chinese women, defile them and leave the women with ruined lives. Unfortunately, the foreign generals are not as ignorant. They know where to send their troops.”

The conversation went from that topic to buying modern wea
pons to solving the domestic problems caused by the Taiping rebels, to building railroads, installing a telegraph service, funding a navy, establishing a postal system, opening Western idea based schools across the empire and how parents should raise their children in the strict British tradition.

It was a long day.

“Write up these proposals we talked about,” Prince Kung said. “I want you to present them to key members of the imperial cabinet tomorrow.”

The next day, he had a meeting with Prince Kung, Wen-hsiang, and Kuei-liang, the prince’s father-in-law. At first, they seemed overwhelmed and confused with his ideas, but they listened.

Robert was patient and took time to explain until they unde
rstood. He was excited to be speaking with the true rulers of China since the emperor listened to these men. He told them what Ayaou had said about modern foreign medicines.

“
There is a lot of sickness in China,” he said, “that can be dealt with if we buy modern medicines from countries like Britain and France.” He also mentioned that to buy loyalty, they should pay the imperial troops on time.

“
How do you know that the imperial troops are not being paid?” Kuei-liang asked. “We have sent enough silver to satisfy their hunger.”

“
If someone farts inside the Forbidden City,” Robert replied, “within days it is being talked about in tea houses as far away as Canton. Loose lips spread the news that the imperial bucket has leaks.”

All three looked stunned.
“We must discover who is stealing the money that was supposed to pay our troops,” Kung said.

“
Yes, and the thieves must lose their heads,” Wen-hsiang replied.

Robert did not realize how much Prince Kung trusted him until the day he was criticized by one of the conservative, hard-liners, who was also a senior adviser for the emperor.

“
Prince Kung,” the conservative said, “you are too free with your words around this foreign devil. You should not discuss sensitive state secrets while he is in the room.”

Robert tried not to make it look too obvious that he was strai
ning to hear and interpret every word the conservative minister said. For as fluent as he had become in Mandarin, he still thought in English. Before he could understand anything said in Chinese, he had to translate it into English first.

He wondered what the conservative would have thought if he knew Robert was sitting there going over the proposed treaties being negotiated with the Germans.
He was taking notes and thinking of ways to offer acceptable counterproposals that would lessen the impact on China.

To his surprise, Prince Kung reacted out of character and laughed in the conservative
’s face. Later, Robert realized that by laughing in the man’s face, Kung had gained face in the eyes of the others in the room, as if he had taken some from the other man and added it to himself.

“
Are you talking about ‘Our Hart’,” Prince Kung replied. That was the day Robert became known as ‘our Hart’, and he was flattered.

Kung indicated Robert.
“This foreign devil is sitting at a desk behind you. He understands every word you say. He speaks better Mandarin than you do. He even knows where Kansu is.”

Robert tried to melt into the desktop and become invisible. He felt his face burning. He hated being the center of attention, but no one was looking at him. It was as if each man in the room had become isolated. In fact, no one was looking at anyone except Prince Kung, who was staring at the conserv
ative.

The conservative, c
learly feeling insulted, cleared his throat in disgust and started to leave the room. Prince Kung waved a hand in dismissal.

“
I do not care if you think of him as a foreign devil or even a long haired bandit,” Kung said. Robert was sure the conservative was still listening. “That is because I am a rebel in the imperial parliament. I am used to people shooting arrows at me. Besides, this foreign devil is worth a dozen ministers. At least he is trying to help us with our problems instead of demanding that we continue to fight losing wars.” The conservative minister was gone by the time Kung finished.

“
Have your servant taste your food before you eat anything, Robert,” Kung said.

He was alarmed. Kung had stepped out of
bounds by insulting the man. The prince must dislike him, Robert thought, to risk being poisoned. “What about my servant?” he asked. “He might die.”

Kung shrugged.
“They know it is their job.”

Everyone else kept working as if nothing had happened.

A few days later, he arrived early at the
Yamen and found Prince Kung already there going over Robert’s proposals for the treaty with Germany.

Without warning, Kung reached out an
d lifted the front corner of Robert’s suit jacket. “How is this made?” he asked. “I am interested in the pockets. Imagine all the things I could put in these pockets if I had them sewn into my robes?”

“
Let me show you,” he said, taking off his jacket and handing it to Kung.

The prince examined the stitching around the inside of the poc
ket that held it in place. “I have never worn clothing like yours. It must feel different,” he said.

When several others entered the room,
Kung handed the jacket back. Robert was sure that if they hadn’t arrived, Prince Kung would have asked him to undress, so he could try the suit on.

That night he wrote a letter to Ayaou and told her everything. He ended the letter with, “It’s very early in the morning, and I haven’t had a chance to sleep. When I wake, my first thoughts are always of you and Anna. I have not heard from you in days. I wonder if you did what I suggested about Anna crying during the night.

“
I am eager to know if it worked, and if you are getting more sleep. One of us has to get adequate rest. I think about sleep a lot lately, since I am not doing much of it. If I am fortunate, I’ll manage to sleep an hour or two before I return to the Yamen.”

In one private conversation, Prince Kung and Robert agreed that there were no Chinese officials in the government that the emperor could trust. It didn’t matter if the official was Manchu or Han since corruption was everywhere.

The conversation moved to talk of
hiring foreigners to run China’s customs offices. He assured the prince that he would be careful to select individuals who were ethical and had the same moral values he had. “I will do all that I can to find honest Chinese to work for customs too,” he said.

“
That is good,” Kung replied. “With you entering China’s service, we have nothing to worry about.”

Robert was stunned. What if he couldn
’t live up to Prince Kung’s expectations?

Chapter 45

On June 12, Robert faced fear with a cold, chilling sense of helplessness and a brush with death that was too close.

It happened because he was feeling lonely for the old days in Ningpo when he went to festivals with Ayaou and Shao-mei, which is why h
e went for a ride to the market to watch locals performing The Lion Dance.

Without warning, the crowd turned on
him. The Chinese called him ‘bloodsucker, bastard of a yellow-hair-ghost and devil that deserved to be sentenced to the lingering death’. They spit at him and threw rocks.

It was madness.

He had made a mistake by going without his pistol and bodyguards. He barely avoided being hit by the rocks and was fortunate to be on a horse. Without the horse, he would have never escaped to the nearby British Consulate.

Inside the consulate, he
waited for his racing heart to grow calm. One of the British consular officials brought a small glass of brandy, and Robert gulped it without tasting. He’d eaten a large breakfast, so the alcohol did not hit hard.

It was his fault. He was a fool to let his guard down. It was not safe for anyone not wearing a Chinese face to be out alone. He r
emembered Shao-mei. She had been killed because he had relaxed his guard, and he still felt responsible for her death. When would he learn?

“
Another brandy, please,” he said.

He hadn
’t known such fear before. Even the fight with Taipings in fifty-five did not compare. He had not felt helpless then. Afraid yes, but not helpless, because he had been armed and ready. This time he had been surprised. The tsunami of hate from so many Chinese had been overwhelming.