“Chuyungguan,”said Marcia. “That’s the name of this gate. I was able to visit it once in our time. The version standing now was restored in the twentieth century, but it looked the same as this one to me.”
Steve could see that this gate was in an important place. The arched gate ran under a watchtower, and high on each mountain to the east and west, another tower stood guard over the land. The narrow pass would be easy to defend, blocked by the Great Wall.
“How bigis this thing?” Steve asked quietly. “How high are those towers?”
“The towers are about twelve meters high. They’re about twelve meters square at the base and angle inward as they go up to about nine meters square at the top.”
“ ‘About’?”
“They didn’t use the metric system back then. They had a measurement system of their own. I’m rounding off the fractions.”
Steve nodded, still gazing at it. “How high is the wall itself between the towers?”
“It varies. No shorter than about six meters and no higher than just over seven meters.”
“That thing is thick, too, isn’t it?”
“ Just over seven and a half meters.”
“Is it solid rock? Or brick?”
“Neither. They raised the inner and outer faces of stone and brick first, then filled the space between them with earth or clay. They pounded it down and then paved a brick road over the top of the wall.”
“So they can march troops along the top.”
“Yes. Or ride four horses side by side.” She pointed to the three towers in turn. “They were placed within two bow shots of each other and they extend forward from the outer surface of the wall. The idea was that archers in the towers could reach attackers all along the front of the wall.”
“I’m impressed.”
“So were the Mongols.” Marcia smiled. “Genghis Khan failed in a couple of assaults on this gate. He finally took it when another Mongol army under a subordinate broke through another gate that was less well defended and came up behind the Chinese defenders here.”
“I guess no one needs it now, right? Kublai Khan rules on both sides of the wall.”
“That’s right. This gate has a small garrison, but in this time, it’s more of a checkpoint for travelers than anything.”
“Shall we ride on down? I guess the Polos will be down there somewhere.”
“Sure.”
14
Steve enjoyed the view as they rode down the slope into the narrow pass. As they descended, the wall loomed larger and higher than ever, a magnificent edifice that seemed to be part of the mountain ridge on which it had been built. As they drew closer they could see that the individual stones in the wall were very large. When Steve remembered the wall had been built entirely by human and animal labor, with no modem machinery or robots at all, it seemed even more impressive. Dusk had arrived by the time they reached the town just before the gate.
On the watchtower over the gate, and along the top of the wall, soldiers were silhouetted against the sky, all of them looking away to the north.
Steve could see that the gate was standing open. Four uniformed soldiers stood guard inside the gateway, leaning casually on their spears and looking attentively at something beyond his sight on the far side of the gate. At the sound of hoofbeats as Steve and Marcia drew near, the guards glanced idly back over their shoulders, then resumed looking through the gateway.
“What are they looking at?” Steve asked. He could hear the shouts of men and the thunder of many hooves in the distance. “Sounds like a lot of riders. Whatever it is, the sentries don’t seem to be alarmed by it.”
“I have no idea.”
“Let’s go see.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Marcia shook her head vigorously. “No.”
“Come on, why not? You’ve been here before, but I haven’t. I want to see the wall up close. Do you think we can go up in one of the towers?”
“No!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Look, it’s a tourist attraction only inour time,” Marcia said anxiously. “I wouldn’t ask these soldiers just to show us around.”
“Why not?”
“To use a modern phrase, this is a functioning military installation, even if it’s not as important now as it used to be.” Marcia lapsed into her lecturing tone again. “And we aren’t Mongols; they see the Chinese as a conquered people. Asking to go up in the tower could raise the suspicion that we might attempt sabotage or espionage in some form.”
“Even an ordinary couple like us?”
“As soon as we ask to tour the watchtower, we won’t be ordinary anymore. We’ll look very odd. Like I said, this is not a place for tourists in this time.”
“Well…I see.”
“Good.”
“But we can still go find out what they’re looking at. I mean, the gate’s standing wide open.”
“I don’t think we should.”
“Well, look, we have to ask someone about the Polos anyway. They should know. Come on.” Steve kicked his mount and rode up to the gate.
“Well,be careful.” Shaking her head, Marcia followed him reluctantly.
“Should we speak Mongol to them?”
“No. Judging by their armor and their weapons, they’re Chinese.”
“They are?”
“Even under the khan, the Mongol armies and the Chinese armies are distinct.”
“Why don’t they have just the Mongol army now, if the khan is worried about the Chinese rebelling?”
“The Mongol army alone isn’t big enough to garrison the whole Chinese empire. The khan needs the Chinese army for that. The Chinese army is controlled by generals put in place by the khan, as Emperor of China.”
“Oh. Well, okay. I get the idea.” Steve felt that if he was polite and careful, he could at least see what had caught the attention of the sentries. Besides, if the Polos had passed through the gate, the sentries were the ones to ask.
As he reined in at the gate, the sentries turned to look up at him. All four were stocky, muscular young men. They seemed more resigned than wary.
“What is your business here?” One sentry, marginally taller than the others, straightened up.
“I have heard that the Polo family took this road in the last day or so,” said Steve. “Marco Polo and his father and uncle. I seek them.”
The other three guards also drew themselves up, suddenly interested. The Polo name obviously carried some importance. However, all four sentries looked at each other and shook their heads.
“They have not come this way recently,” said the first sentry politely. “We know their name, because they are favored by the Emperor. We have seen them on this road in past years, but not recently.”
Steve was startled, but he nodded courteously. He suddenly realized that Xiao Li’s story had been a falsehood from beginning to end. As soon as he could report to Hunter without local witnesses, he would.
Behind him, Marcia sighed audibly.
Steve pointed through the open gateway. Several large groups of men were riding in the distance, across patches of rugged, steeply sloped steppe surrounded by forest. “Who are they? What are they doing?”
The sentry frowned. “A local Mongol battalion has camped just outside the wall. They are practicing maneuvers, no more. After all, we are many miles from the borders of the Emperor’s empire here.”
“Really?” Apparently more comfortable now, Marcia rode up closer to Steve and looked out, too.
Steve could see hundreds of riders moving together in one group, their banners flying on upright lances. In the distance behind them, a separate group was wheeling about, riding through a sharp turn. A third group of riders stood on a far hill, unmoving.
“That looks like fun,” said Steve.
“Don’t you dare,” Marcia whispered loudly.
“Calm down.” He grinned. “I’m not going out there. But I used to ride out in the Mojave Desert. My favorite horse was a half-quarter horse, half-Arabian mare.”
“These are Mongol horses.”
“I know. Arabians have more delicate features and more high-strung temperaments. But both are small, hardy desert breeds.”