The Sorceress' Revolt -
Ko Eiji's Story
Author: Toriumi Jinzō
Translator: Ainikki the Archivist
Part Six: The Jurchens
En Kō stood before his goddess, Kyūten Genyo, in the center of Hakūn-do Cave.
Hakūn-do Cave enjoyed an eternal spring that never dimmed or changed. It had been spring in this cave for the past million years.
Kyūten Genyo appeared in the cave as a halo of light floating over the verdant ground. En Kō had spoken to her for a million years or more, but he had never seen her face. As an ancestor of mankind, he recognized her voice as female and her mind as beautiful. He wasn’t sure if intelligence could have a gender, but all of his understanding and wisdom came from his goddess. If she ever did take a human form, he was certain she would be the loveliest human he’d ever seen.
“I was really looking forward to all this being a good example for humanity,” En Kō said in a complaining sort of tone.
The goddess’ halo flashed. “Humans have conflicting personalities,” she said. “In addition to innate and acquired traits, personality is determined by a variety of other factors. Even after a personality has been fully formed, unexpected changes in the environment can cause changes to it.”
“I thought that Ou Soku would change China and make it less corrupt, but in the end he resorted to military force. It’s a disappointment.”
“The Heavenly Book foresaw such a possibility, did it not?”
“It did. I miss Tanshi. He wanted to use the Heavenly Book to change the world.”
“Indeed. It seems that this was a good test of mankind’s potential. We have observed that the same knowledge in different hands can be a sacred treasure or a deadly weapon. Have you forgotten, En Kō, that your intervention saved Tanshi from deadly peril?”
En Kō chuckled and scratched his neck. “I haven’t. But I tried not to actually intervene. I don’t want to disrupt the natural order of things. It really depends on how the Heavenly Book is read. Is it science, or magic? I still don’t understand the difference.”
“The same goes for reincarnation. Reincarnation without a continuous shared consciousness has no meaning. Is reincarnation science or magic? Does it matter?”
“How can the humans possibly prove it either way?” En Kō asked.
The goddess hmmed. “I’m interested in what Ou Soku will do next, but I have high hopes for the other boy as well. Shall we rewind time and catch up with him?”
En Kō clapped his hands for joy. “Yes! Thank you! Thanks to the Heavenly Book, we can revisit the past.”
The Heavenly Book shone bright, dimming the goddess’ halo as it revealed an image of a vast and empty plain in the not-too-distant past…
***
Bohai was a country in northeastern China that had lost its independence a century before. It was founded by the Jurchen people in 698 CE. The first king, Dae Joyeong, established the multi-ethnic nation then. Its initial base was at the foot of Mount Dongmu. Bohai rapidly expanded its territory from there.
Bohai became a tributary state to the Tang Dynasty and prospered by importing cultural artifacts. The second ruler of Bohai, Dae Mu-ye, was a warrior who brought most of the Mohe people under his control, raising the nation’s prestige and sending the first envoy to Japan in 727 CE. The third ruler, Dae Heum-mu, established an era of civil rule, absorbed Tang Dynasty culture and matured Bohai into a stable political power.
The capital changed several times, but the original capital, Shangjing Longquanfu, was a magnificent city similar to China’s Xi’an. Following the fall of the Tang Dynasty in 907 CE, it was invaded by the Khitan general Abaoji in 926 CE and completely destroyed, bringing to an end two hundred and twenty-eight years of history.
The Liao Dynasty that controlled the Khitan Empire originated from a Tungusic tribe that lived in the foothills of eastern Mongolia. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, they were overshadowed by Bohai. The leader Abaoji unified numerous tribes and became Khan, establishing an independent state that would be called the Khitan Empire.
Bohai was destined to become a vassal state of the Khitan Empire, but pockets of resistance still existed even a century after the capital was destroyed.
***
About a month before Ou Soku was declared King of Eastern Hebei, the sun sank below the horizon near the Ashi River in Bohai, painting the river’s surface golden.
The cheerful voices of young people scooping sand with sieves echoed across the water. Young girls darted barefoot back and forth across the sand. Some unearthed clumps of gold and held their treasures aloft, eliciting excited squeals from the other girls.
It was almost the end of another day. These young people, men and women both, collected gold dust and nuggets from the Ashi River to make their living. Ashi meant “gold” in the Jurchen language.
The Jurchens were an ancient ethnic group who originated as semi-nomads who farmed the land during certain parts of the year. After the fall of Bohai, some of the Jurchens submitted to rule by the Khitan Empire and traveled down to the Liaodong Peninsula. Other Jurchens refused to capitulate to the Khitan Empire and stayed in their ancestral homelands. These were termed Wanyan Jurchens after their clan name. They were obligated to give the Khitan Empire offerings of hunting hawks and gold, though many moved around to avoid paying this tithe. They traded gold, pearls, and marten skins to Khitan merchants in exchange for weapons and superior tools.
A few young men sprinted toward the riverbank where the young women were storing the gold they’d found that day. Right behind them, horseshoes clanged on a stone path. A dozen or more Khitan officials were pursuing the young men.
The Khitan officials approached, armed with swords and bows.
The young women cowered behind the young men and didn’t make a sound.
The Khitan officials dismounted. One of them leered at the women and earned fierce displeased glares from several of the young men.
“If you want gold or northern pearls, please go to the trading post,” one of the young men said.
“I heard women were free at this market,” one of the officials said. The other officials laughed.
The women were frightened and took a few steps back.
“There’s nothing to be scared of. I never said we’d kill you, did I?” the official asked. “You men are in the way. Move.”
Some of the young men were armed as well, and now they reached for their weapons. Before they could draw their swords, one of the officials raised his crossbow and shot a young man through the heart.
The women screamed and fled, scattering in all directions. The officials pursued them on horseback, cracking their whips.
They were like tigers chasing rabbits. The young women stood no chance against them.
One woman fell, attacked from behind by a whip. The Khitan official dismounted quickly, kicked her down and ripped off her clothes.
“No!” she shouted. “Stop!”
She wasn’t the only one who was caught. Each unfortunate woman was stripped naked, and if they resisted, they were beaten. Their white skin was covered in dirt and sand. They cried out—for help, for mercy—but their cries fell on deaf ears.
“Oh, so you’re a virgin. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of those,” one of the Khitan officials said to his captive victim.
Scenes like this were common lately. Khitan representatives entered Jurchen lands under the pretense of trading and robbed and attacked Jurchen women. The Jurchen people rebelled and protested this, of course, but the Khitan Empire’s military might was much greater than the Jurchen military force, which was decentralized and scattered. The Jurchen were a brave people, but they were not united and had no land to truly call their own. The Khitan Empire exploited this weakness.
The lustful Khitan officials, more beasts than men, attacked their victims.
At that moment, a series of explosions shook the earth, and the Khitan officials’ grunts and groans changed to terrified screams. The officials fell to the ground spurting blood from half a dozen wounds.
One of the officials escaped immediate death and crawled along the ground. “Who are you?” he called out. “Show yourselves!”
From the bushes downstream, several soldiers pointed their guns straight at the official. They were all women, all mounted and wearing matching red leather armor.
The official yelled, lifting his robes and turning to flee, but in the next moment he was shot along with his comrades. The cavalrywomen gathered up the dead officials and tossed them naked into the river.
As the cavalrywomen worked, they heard someone galloping away on horseback. Their captain, Amuri, gave chase.
The man on horseback was moving at great speed, but Amuri’s horsemanship was superior. She closed the distance and shot the horse’s flank, causing the horse to throw its rider. The man flew off the horse and tumbled into thick underbrush.
When the man didn’t move right away, Amuri grew impatient. “If you can come out, then come out.”
It was important to leave no survivors. If the Khitan Empire learned of Amuri and her unit’s activities, their retribution would be swift and merciless.
The man still didn’t move. Her face flushed with anger as she moved her horse closer to him. She pointed her gun straight at him.
Then the man stirred.
Amuri pointed her gun straight at the man’s heart… and then she frowned.
The man was not Khitan. He was also young, not much more than sixteen or seventeen years old. Amuri was the same age.
“Who are you?” Amuri asked.
“I’m not from Khitan. Please don’t shoot,” the man said. He bowed low to Amuri.
Amuri laughed. “Yes, I can see you’re not from Khitan. You look Chinese.”
“That’s right, I am!” The man lifted his head a bare inch. “Your gun is magnificent, miss! And your armor—is that style from the Tang Dynasty?” It was. Bohai had adapted many cultural practices from the Tang Dynasty. “I haven’t seen anything like it in person before. Only in books.”
He spoke politely, and spoke of books. He was educated, then, and his family was likely wealthy. Though he was as old as her, his animated way of speaking and moving made him seem more like a curious and talkative young boy.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Amuri said. “Wandering around in a place like this, you’ll end up food for the wolves. Or worse.”
The young man reached behind his back into a pack. “Um… I have this… so I think I’ll be all right,” he said, pulling out a handgun and not quite pointing it at Amuri.
Amuri was startled and had her horse back up.
The young man smiled.
Amuri had never seen a gun like the one he was carrying before. Gunpowder, shot, bullets and other shrapnel were loaded into the barrel. Usually barrels were made of bamboo and could only be used once, but the boy’s gun had an iron barrel that was shorter than normal and would accept large-caliber ammunition. She could tell at a glance that the weapon was powerful.
“We’re in the same boat, I think,” the young man said. “I improved this gun myself.”
“Did you now?”
“The Jurchens have both saltpeter and iron. I used that and created this fire lance!”
A fire lance is a primitive gun that fires ammunition from a tubular barrel using gunpowder, unlike matchlock guns. Initially, fire lances were comprised of a small pyrotechnic device attached to a spear, but they later evolved to include metal barrels for better handling of the gunpowder explosion. The fire lance is considered the precursor to modern firearms, as it marked the first use of gunpowder inside a weapon.
“Why are you in Jurchen lands?” Amuri asked.
“I just wanted to visit. Is that allowed?”
Amuri looked the young man up and down. He probably wasn’t a Khitan spy. He might be a Chinese spy, though. But he was so young and exuberant… perhaps he was just a traveler.
“Are the Chinese people not welcome here?” the young man asked.
The sun had already set. It was getting dark.
Amuri sighed. “Do you have lodgings somewhere?”
“Uh…”
Amuri shook her head. “Fine. Climb up.”
“What?” The young man hesitated. He looked down, blushing.
“It’s getting dark, so hurry up.”
The young man mounted the horse behind Amuri.
“Hold on tight,” Amuri said. “Here we go.”
The horse took off. The young man, not wanting to be thrown off, clung to Amuri’s waist. He was stunned by her closeness and the fact that she was a foreign warrior leading him through an unknown land. For awhile he was so overwhelmed that he barely breathed and said nothing, trying to take it all in.
The moon rose in the eastern sky as dusk fell over the great plains of Bohai.
***
Flickering light from a large candlestick illuminated the faces of two middle-aged men sharing a drink in a tavern. One man was tall and robust: almost certainly a warrior. His beard was long and well-cared for. It covered his strong jaw and curled in the center of his chest.
The other man owned this tavern and had the air of a Daoist monk. His clothing was of the same style as Chinese Daoists and his blue over-robe was typical of what a monk might wear—or a sorcerer.
The tavern was a brick building atop a hill in a Jurchen settlement that served as a guard post.
The Daoist sorcerer took a sip of rice wine and laughed. “King of Eastern Hebei, huh? That sounds impressive.”
The bearded man let out a low chuckle. “Conquering Hebei is not enough. The Imperial Army is on the march.”
“We are of the same mind, Ryū Gen. I always did wonder what we might accomplish if we fought together. Perhaps now is our chance.” Chō Ran—for Chō Ran it was—looked up and smiled.
“Keep in mind that Ou Soku and Sei Koko are allies, even if it’s in name only. We should expect surprises.”
“Dealing with them comes first. We can crush the imperial government after.”
Chō Ran had once served in the Imperial Court as the eunuch Rai Ingyō’s bodyguard, but even then he’d been plotting to overthrow the Song Dynasty. Right now, though, his target was the Khitan Empire. His father was of Jurchen descent. He’d fled to Jurchen lands after Rai Ingyō’s death and was appalled at the suffering of his father’s people. He’d worked hard over the past few years to unite the scattered Jurchen tribes and clans into something more cohesive. The Khitan Empire hunted him, but he was always a step ahead: he had extensive knowledge of gunpowder and explosives and had fielded a cavalry force armed with artillery weapons to beat back Khitan raiders. Amuri was part of this cavalry force.
Amuri was the last of her line. When she was just three years old, the Khitan Empire had discovered her father’s lineage and sent assassins after him and his family. If Chō Ran had not been nearby, the assassins would have likely killed her as well. Chō Ran had taken her in, not knowing her parentage at the time. He considered himself her father, and she considered him to be her parent.
Three years before while riding across the plains for military training, Amuri discovered a mine in a depression in the hills and told Chō Ran about it. Chō Ran decided that it was likely an ancient ruin. He followed a hidden passage to an underground tunnel and discovered a large armory. It was piled high with weapons and armor that appeared to have been imported during the Tang Dynasty. Chō Ran speculated that it probably dated back to the time of Zhu Wen, who deposed the last Tang Dynasty emperor, though it was difficult to be certain.
Amuri’s armor came from this store of equipment. Chō Ran managed to equip many hundreds of men and women in similar fashion. His current target was the city of Datong, a key military transportation point for the Khitan Empire. Ryū Gen, who traded illegal salt and horses with the Khitans and was knowledgeable about geography, was assisting him in his plans.
Chō Ran was as ready as he could be. He had a secret army that was equipped with good armor, guns and ammunition. The existence of this force had to be concealed until the opportune moment. Amuri’s cavalry unit was a counter-raiding force meant to protect the Jurchen people against violent Khitan raids, but her unit was just one of many.
***
Amuri returned to the outpost that evening with a young Chinese man. The man introduced himself as Shin Katsu. His family was from Fujian Province and his father was a government official. The violent acts of the Khitan Empire infuriated Chō Ran, who nearly took his anger out on the young man.
Shin Katsu was clever. His honesty and scientific knowledge made him interesting. After Chō Ran had calmed down about the raid, he understood why Amuri had captured Shin Katsu instead of killing him.
“Do you believe in sorcery, Shin Katsu?” Chō Ran asked.
Ryū Gen and Amuri were present inside the tavern with Shin Katsu and Chō Ran. They showed interest in Shin Katsu’s response.
Shin Katsu considered. “Well… all the sorcery I’ve seen is just tricks.”
“I see. I’ve seen a sorcerer ascend into the night sky. Are you saying there’s a trick to this, too?” Ryū Gen asked.
“They must have used large kites. It is said that Mozi and Lu Ban (scholars from around the 4th century CE) invented kites. The wind was blowing when the sorcerer ascended, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, the wind was howling among the clouds,” Ryū Gen said.
Ryū Gen remembered the night raid on Rai Ingyō’s estate. Seeing Sei Koko appear, take Ko Biji’s body, and vanish into the sky without explanation had shaken him. He didn’t believe in magic or sorcery—not really—but he was still humbled and frightened by things he couldn’t explain.
Kites might explain how Sei Koko had managed to fly away, but not the rest of it. Some mysteries still remained.
“Or perhaps a hot air balloon?” Shin Katsu asked. “They fly as well.”
Hot air balloons were used for military purposes in China as early as 600 BCE. Early hot air balloons couldn’t fly far safely, perhaps as much as a kilometer or so.
“In fact a hot air balloon could lift a lot more weight, so if you needed to transport more than one person they’d work a lot better than kites,” Shin Katsu said.
Ryū Gen, Chō Ran and Amuri had no knowledge of hot air balloons and were impressed by Shin Katsu's reasoning.
“How do they work?” Amuri asked.
“Have you ever lit a sky lantern for a festival? They work much the same way. They are made from a paper-covered frame of bamboo or wire, and contain a small candle. When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, causing it to rise. The lantern can float for miles! Hot air balloons also work on heated air, but on a larger scale. And once the hot air balloon is high enough, the air currents high above can keep it moving and in flight just like a paper lantern.”
“Hmm, that sounds interesting,” Amuri said.
“Oh, it is! There have been hot air balloons in China for at least eight hundred years that I know of!” Shin Katsu said, nodding enthusiastically.
“And people can ride in these hot air balloons?” Ryū Gen asked.
“Of course they can.”
Ryū Gen and Chō Ran exchanged glances.
“So you think Sei Koko burned Ko Kō’s store and used a hot air balloon to fly away,” Chō Ran said, steepling his fingers.
Ryū Gen shrugged. “Why not? It makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“Can all magic be explained like that?” Amuri asked.
“I don’t know, but I think not—at least not yet,” Shin Katsu said. “There are still many mysteries in the world that people do not understand. These include paranormal and spiritual phenomena. I like to think that as we progress as a species, more and more mysteries will be solved.”
Ryū Gen took an immediate liking to Shin Katsu.
The topic then turned to politics. Shin Katsu’s hosts were surprised to find that he had little liking for China’s government.
“The Song Dynasty is certainly corrupt at present,” Shin Katsu said. “It will continue to function in an unstable way and create conflict instead of order. I believe that everything the government does will lead to circumstances where its power collapses. The fractured nature of our world cannot continue. I believe that in the future, China, Khitan and Western Xia will all be one vast nation.”
Ryū Gen and Chō Ran nodded in agreement.
“I believe you’re right,” Ryū Gen said.
“Our small day-to-day actions are what history is made of,” Shin Katsu said. “If China is corrupt, so is Khitan. Since the fall of the Bohai kingdom, they have done nothing but raid and plunder, causing endless suffering. Like China, I do not believe they will hold on to power if they continue acting in this way.”
“I don’t think it’s wise to underestimate the power of the Khitan Empire,” Chō Ran said. “Nor can we expect it to collapse on itself. How would you go about defeating the Khitan Empire?”
Ryū Gen chuckled softly. Shin Katsu wasn’t much older than a boy. What did he know about military strategy?
Even so, Shin Katsu answered. “The future of warfare is in machinery. Artillery and guns that can be fired many times repeatedly.”
“And how can the Jurchens leverage this machinery you speak of?”
“That’s easy,” Shin Katsu said. “The Jurchens have an abundance of coal and iron. They should be able to produce a lot of steel. Steel can be made by mixing cast iron and wrought iron and heating them. They already have steel like that in China, but the Jurchens could make more. And I think your gun,” he said, shifting slightly toward Amuri, “has steel components.”
Amuri blinked. Shin Katsu certainly seemed to know about a lot of different things.
Shin Katsu didn’t know it, but Chō Ran had already amassed an abundant supply of steel. The problem he faced was that it was difficult to work with for smiths unfamiliar with the material. Much steel was wasted or used improperly because of this.
Shin Katsu listened to Chō Ran explain the issues he was seeing with Jurchen steel. “I think what you’re seeing is an efficiency problem. And more impurities than you want are getting into the metal. If we refine the oil so that it is more pure, most efficiency issues should disappear. I would like to experiment with that.”
“Would you?” Chō Ran asked. “Then do it. For the sake of the Jurchen people.”
Shin Katsu smiled. “Um, all right. I’ve always wanted to test out a lot of different things. Before I came here I was thinking a lot about siege warfare.”
“What about it?” Ryū Gen asked. “From my experience, the hardest part of siege warfare is breaking through the walls.”
“There’s no need to breach the walls,” Shin Katsu said.
“So you considered dropping soldiers out of hot air balloons?”
“Dropping soldiers out of the sky is dangerous. They could easily be seen and targeted as they fall. And even if they can land safely, the jump itself is a great risk. It would be impossible to deploy an entire army that way.”
“Hmm… then, the only good option is a trench filler,” Ryū Gen said.
A trench filler was an armored vehicle used to fill in moats and ditches dug around city walls. The Complete Essentials for the Military Classics (a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044 CE) records two types of trench fillers, one with a defensive shield in the front and the other with full armor built out around the vehicle. The vehicle would be loaded with stones and soil that it would dump into a ditch or moat.
“Even trench fillers, ladders to scale the walls and battering rams to beat down gates are inefficient, if effective in certain situations,” Shin Katsu said.
“You know of a more efficient way?” Ryū Gen asked.
“Of course,” Shin Katsu said. “It’s like I said. Machinery is the future. What if we built a machine out of iron that could destroy the wall all on its own? Like a giant of steel.”
Ryū Gen, Chō Ran and Amuri were briefly speechless.
There were many legends about giants in China. The giant Pangu created the world by separating yin and yang, the two opposite forces of the universe. He used his axe to separate them, creating the Earth and the sky. Pangu is considered one of the earliest creation myths in China. There was also Kuafu, a giant who tried to catch the sun. Kuafu chased the sun from east to west, draining rivers and lakes to quench his thirst. He eventually died of dehydration, and his club grew into a forest of peach trees. During the Song Dynasty, there were rumors that the nations to the distant east were populated by nothing but giants that were as much as eight meters tall.
The concept of giants was familiar to Shin Katsu’s listeners, but creating one was a novel idea.
“Can giants be created?” Amuri asked.
“I can do it,” Shin Katsu said.
“How?” Ryū Gen asked.
“First we need the giant’s structure. Then we need to make sure we’re able to move it around. And then we can build in weaponry and armor so that it will be strong enough to protect itself and batter down city walls.”
“That sounds like Chiyou,” Amuri said.
Chiyou was a legendary sentient steel monster with a crossbow on his head, weapons on both his hands and feet, and five weapons that he carried inside his body. Chiyou defeated the Yellow Emperor and founded a dynasty. He was widely believed to be a god of war.
Ryū Gen and Chō Ran exchanged serious looks. Was constructing a steel giant even possible? Perhaps. If the steel they had could be improved, then they would have enough material.
“Let’s get to work, then,” Chō Ran said.
***
The next day, Ryū Gen began his journey home to China. Shin Katsu put his plans into action and started building a giant steel mechanical giant with Chō Ran’s support. Jurchen lands truly were replete with resources for making steel. Shin Katsu's suggestion to build more iron and metal processing facilities was put into action quickly. One benefit of ramping up metal production and mining was that the Khitans completely ignored all mining operations. They would never venture underground and had no idea what the Jurchens were doing.
After Shin Katsu completed his work during the day, Amuri taught Shin Katsu how to ride a horse. The two of them became friends as they galloped across the plains on horseback and sat side by side on the hilly grasslands looking up at the stars at night.
One evening, Amuri sat on the plains next to Shin Katsu and closed her eyes. She said a little prayer to the stars.
“What did you pray for?” Shin Katsu asked.
“Well… nothing really,” she said. She laughed awkwardly. “When I look up at the stars, the rest of the world seems so much smaller.”
“There are more stars than anyone can count,” Shin Katsu said.
Shin Katsu plucked some thin grass nearby, made a circle of it on the ground, and then looked up at the night sky.
“What are you doing?” Amuri asked.
“Take a look,” Shin Katsu said. He placed blades of grass in different places inside the circle he’d made, then said, “The star at the center is the North Star. With this, the positions of the surrounding stars can be determined. A lot of them have names. Mercury, Venus, Mars…”
“I know there are tools for observing the stars that are very old,” Amuri said, leaning closer to look at the grass ring. Early telescopes in China dated to 240 BCE. “And they still don’t know how many stars there are?”
“Altair and Vega were some of the earliest stars observed to move,” Shin Katsu said.
“Altair and Vega,” Amuri said. “I see.”
They both knew.
Shin Katsu was the son of a Chinese government official. Amuri was the daughter of a Jurchen king. The two countries never had a peaceful relationship. They were friends and might become more in other circumstances, but those circumstances were not theirs. It was like the well-known story of Altair and Vega, who could only meet in the night sky once a year.
The two of them stayed close together, looking up at the starry sky.
Translator's Note
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