“Lots of pirates in these waters, Captain Glessing. As you’re aware,” Struan said easily. “We’ve arms to protect oursel’. No more, no less.”
“Opium’s against the law. How many thousand cases have you smuggled into China up the coast against the laws of China and humanity? Three thousand? Twenty thousand?”
“What we do here is well known in all the courts of England.”
“Your ‘trade’ brings dishonor to the flag.”
“You’d better thank God for the trade, for without it England’ll have no tea and no silk, but a universal poverty that’ll tear her very heart out.”
“Right you are, Dirk,” Brock said. Then he turned on Glessing again. “You’d better be getting it through thy head that without merchants there baint no British Empire and no taxes to buy warships and powder.” He looked at Glessing’s immaculate uniform and white knee breeches and white stockings and buckled shoes and cocked hat. “An’ no brass to pay muckles to captain ’em!”
The marines winced and some of the sailors laughed, but very cautiously.
“You’d better thank God for the Royal Navy, by God. Without it there’s no place to merchant in.”
A signal gun from the flagship boomed out. Abruptly, Glessing marched to the flagpole. “Present arms!”
He took out the proclamation and a hush fell over the crowd. Then, when his anger had lessened a little, he began to read: “By order of His Excellency the Honorable William Longstaff, Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria’s Captain Superintendent of Trade in China. In accordance with the document known as the Treaty of Chuenpi, signed on January 20th, this year of Our Lord, by His Excellency on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government, and by His Excellency Ti-sen, Plenipotentiary of His Majesty Tao Kuang, Emperor of China, I, Captain Glessing, RN, do hereby take possession of this Island of Hong Kong on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty, her heirs and assigns, in perpetuity without let or hinderance, on this day the 26th of January, year of Our Lord 1841. This island soil is now English soil. God Save the Queen!”
The Union Jack broke clear at the top of the flagpole, and the honor guard of marines fired a volley. Then the cannons roared throughout the fleet and the wind became thick with the tang of gunpowder. Those on the beach gave three cheers for the queen.
Now it’s done, Struan thought. Now we’re committed. Now we can begin. He left the group and went down to the surf, and for the first time he turned his back on the island and looked out into the great harbor at the land beyond: to mainland China, a thousand yards away.
The mainland peninsula was low-lying, with nine squat hills, and jutted into the harbor that hooped around it. It was named “Kau-lung”—“Kowloon” the traders pronounced it—“Nine Dragons.” And to the north lay the limitless and unknown expanse of China.
Struan had read all the books ever written by the three Europeans who had been to China and returned. Marco Polo nearly six hundred years ago, and two Catholic priests who had been permitted in Peking two hundred years ago. The books had revealed almost nothing.
For two hundred years no Europeans had been permitted into China. Once—against the law—Struan had gone a mile inland from the coast up near Swatow when he was selling opium, but the Chinese were hostile and he was alone but for his first mate. It wasn’t the hostility that had turned him back. Just the enormousness of their numbers and the limitlessness of the land.
God’s blood! he thought. We know nothing about the most ancient and the most populated nation on earth. What’s inside?
“Is Longstaff coming ashore?” Robb asked as he joined him.
“No, laddie. His Excellency has more important things to do.”
“What?”
“Things like reading and writing dispatches. And making private agreements with the admiral.”
“To do what?”
“To outlaw the opium trade.”
Robb laughed.
“I’m na joking. That’s why he wanted to see me—with the admiral. He wanted to get my advice on when to issue the order. The admiral said the navy’d have no trouble enforcing it.”
“Good God! Is Longstaff mad?”
“No. Just simple in the head.” Struan lit a cheroot. “I told him to issue the order at four bells.”
“That’s madness!” Robb burst out.
“It’s very wise. The navy’s not to enforce the order for a week: ‘to give the China traders time to dispose of their supplies.’ ”
“But then what do we do? Without opium we’re finished. China trade’s finished. Finished.”
“How much cash do we have, Robb?”
Robb looked around to make sure there was no one near and lowered his voice. “There’s the bullion in Scotland. One million one hundred thousand pounds sterling in our bank in England. About a hundred thousand in silver bullion here. We’re owed three million for the seized opium. We’ve two hundred thousand guineas of opium in
Scarlet Cloud at present market price. There’s—”
“Write off
Scarlet Cloud, lad. She’s lost.”
“There’s still a chance, Dirk. We’ll give her another month. There’s about a hundred thousand guineas’ worth of opium in the hulks. We owe nine hundred thousand in sight drafts.”
“What will it cost us to run for the next six months?”
“A hundred thousand guineas’ll pay for ships and salaries and squeeze.”
Struan thought a moment. “By tomorrow there’ll be a panic among the traders. Na one of ’em—except Brock, perhaps—can sell their opium in a week. You’d better ship all our opium up the coast this afternoon. I think—”
“Longstaff’s got to change the order,” Robb said with growing anxiety. “He’s got to. He’ll ruin the exchequer and—”
“Will you na listen? When the panic’s on, tomorrow, take every tael we’ve got and every tael you can borrow and buy opium. You should be able to buy at ten cents on the dollar.”
“We can’t sell all of ours in a week, let alone more.”
Struan tapped the ash off his cheroot. “A day before the order’s to be enforced, Longstaff’s going to cancel it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“A matter of saving face, Robb. After the admiral had left, I explained to Longstaff that banning opium would destroy all trade. God’s blood, how many times do I have to explain? Then I pointed out that he could na very well immediately cancel the order without losing face and making the admiral—who is well-meaning but knows nothing about trade—lose face. The only thing to do was to give the order, then, to save the admiral’s face and job—
and his own—to cancel it. I promised to explain ‘trade’ to the admiral in the meantime. Also the order will look good to the Chinese and put them at a disadvantage. There’s another meeting with Ti-sen in three days. Longstaff agreed completely and asked me to keep the matter private.”
Robb’s face lit up. “Ah, Tai-Pan, you’re a man among men! But what’s to guarantee Longstaff’ll cancel the order?”
Struan had in his pocket a signed proclamation dated six days hence that canceled the order. Longstaff had pressed it on him. “Here, Dirk, take it now, then I can forget it. Damme! All this paper work, you know—dreadful. But better keep it private until the time.”
“Would you na cancel such a stupid order, Robbie?”
“Yes, of course.” Robb could have hugged his brother. “If it’s six days and no one else knows for certain, we’ll make a fortune.”