The Sorceress' Revolt -
Ko Eiji's Story
Author: Toriumi Jinzō
Translator: Ainikki the Archivist
Part Eight: The Steel Giant
Ryū Gen completed a trade deal with legitimate Khitan merchants, then looped back around to Jurchen land to deliver salt and ginseng to Chō Ran. Ginseng was highly valued as a medicinal herb. The salt smugglers had been trading necessities like tea and rice to Khitan in exchange for horses and salt for several years. When he was in Jurchen lands, Ryū Gen exchanged goods and supplies for gold.
Ryū Gen and Amuri decided to set up a camp for the salt smugglers near Chō Ran’s base of operations. Chō Ran and Shin Katsu were having a serious meeting, so the two waited for them to finish. They chatted and caught up on news in a separate room.
Chō Ran and Shin Katsu were discussing the blueprints for the steel giant. Manufacturing of the enormous metal contraption was roughly eighty percent complete. The giant was a complex piece of machinery and was assembled out of many distinct parts. The main mechanism that made it function was a primitive internal combustion engine. A chain reaction of contained explosives stimulated the giant to movement. Gears rotated wheels that would allow the giant to be mobile and move quickly. The chains connecting the gears were the same kind that were invented by Zhang Sixun in 976 CE for use in mechanical clocks.
Shin Katsu came up with ideas based on Zhang Sixun's work and applied them to the steel giant’s design. Even if the giant’s unstable power source was perfected, controlling its movement would be difficult. Since the steel giant could only be used once, it was necessary to keep it on an accurate course so that it could achieve all its battle objectives.
In the end, Shin Katsu decided to use magnets for this purpose.
Later in his life, Shin Katsu wrote about magnets extensively in Dream Pool Essays. He was the first to describe the magnetic needle compass, which would be used in navigation for centuries. Shin Katsu discovered true north by balancing a needle on the rim of a teacup, which made it easier to turn. However, the needle was prone to falling. He found that the best support for the needle was to place a piece of wax about the size of a mustard seed in the middle. He then affixed the wax to a new thread harvested from a silkworm cocoon. If the needle was hung in a windless place, it would always point south; some needles would point north under different conditions. This discovery would prove revolutionary for Chinese compasses in the future.
Chō Ran and Shin Katsu finished their meeting and came into the room where Amuri and Ryū Gen were waiting for them. They were smiling and appeared relaxed.
“Ryū Gen, it is time for us to act,” Chō Ran said. He handed a bowl of rice over the table, then poured himself some rice wine.
Ryū Gen took a bite of rice, then looked up. “Care to be more specific?”
Chō Ran laughed.
“I received information from Tanshi that Ou Soku has been imprisoned by Sei Koko,” Ryū Gen said.
“So Sei Koko’s holding on, eh? I thought Bungen Haku would make short work of that sorceress and her castle.”
Ryū Gen related more of the information he’d received from Tanshi and Ri Shun about the state of things in Beizhou.
Chō Ran frowned at the grim news. “The Song Dynasty is losing their touch,” he said. “They have such problems with mere sorcerers? Very well. I’ll clean up their mess after we deal with Khitan.”
“The Khitan Empire is planning an invasion of Western Xia later this year. More soldiers are arriving in Datong by the day,” Ryū Gen said.
China, Khitan and Western Xia were engaged in a three-way power struggle for the same land and resources. The Khitan Empire was perhaps the best placed and prepared of the three, since it wasn’t as reliant on local trade. They were making a great deal of wealth by trading with the Uighur people to the west.
“We must make capturing Datong our top priority, then,” Chō Ran said.
“But what of the Song Dynasty? And Ou Soku? And Tanshi?” Ryū Gen asked.
“Let them solve their own problems for awhile.”
Ryū Gen considered, then said, “I have an idea. Just hear me out.”
“What is it?” Chō Ran asked.
“Make another steel giant.”
“What, and give it to you?”
“Yes. I’ll go and use it to liberate Beizhou from the sorcerers.”
“No,” Chō Ran said flatly. “Besides, why would you want to help the Song Dynasty in the first place? Let the sorcerers and the Imperial Army tear each other apart for all I care. I have no obligation to assist Tanshi, Bungen Haku or anyone else.”
Amuri and Shin Katsu exchanged uncomfortable glances. They’d never seen Chō Ran and Ryū Gen disagree so strongly about anything before.
“You want to rescue Ou Soku?” Chō Ran asked with a sneer. “He did this to himself. Let him break free on his own.”
“It’s true that he created his own circumstances. But he’s no sorcerer. He’s not even particularly scientific. Beizhou Castle is well-defended and Sei Koko is a formidable woman. It is no fault of his if he can’t escape on his own, with obstacles like those. Besides, the sorcerers are tormenting the innocent people of Beizhou. Ou Soku was their voice, and without him, they will be treated even worse.”
“That’s war,” Chō Ran said with a shrug. “If Ou Soku didn’t want things to turn out that way, he never should have started a revolt.” He took a sip of his drink.
“Hypocrite.” Ryū Gen fumed. “Women are raped in war. I’ve seen you defend Jurchen women rather than let them suffer such a crime. Or will you simply dismiss them as victims of war?”
Chō Ran’s eyes flashed with anger. He remembered many women who had been raped and had committed suicide after rather than live with the shame.
“What makes Jurchen women more deserving than the women of Beizhou?” Ryū Gen asked. “They didn’t ask for war. Their children didn’t ask for it. Why should we let the innocent suffer when we can do something about it? Ou Soku’s ideals and beliefs are good. That’s why I want to save him, along with all the innocent people stuck inside the city.”
“Did Tanshi put you up to this?” Chō Ran grumbled.
“Nope. This is all my idea.”
Ryū Gen was not a liar. Chō Ran knew this. He rubbed his forehead in irritation.
“Most people go their whole lives believing in the right thing, but never standing up for it because they’re afraid,” Ryū Gen said. “Ou Soku isn’t afraid. That alone makes him worth saving. When I was a young man, I swallowed my pride and let terrible things happen before my eyes. That shames me. I should have stood up for the right thing then. I’m trying to make up for it now.”
Ryū Gen’s words were deeply sincere. Chō Ran had never seen him so serious.
“I want to save the unfortunate girl whose family was burned to death for no reason other than a monstrous woman’s delusions,” Ryū Gen added.
Chō Ran put a hand up to stem the tide of words. “I understand your position. I also have people I want to protect. I want to save the Jurchens from the ruthless oppression of the Khitan Empire. I have spent many years rallying and training the Jurchens. The first step in subjugating the Khitan Empire is to occupy Datong. I am so close to achieving this goal… and you wish me to delay my plans? For what?”
“Will a delay change much of anything?” Ryū Gen asked.
“You know it will,” Chō Ran said. “For every day that passes, my people suffer.”
“The same is true for the people of Beizhou.”
Ryū Gen sighed. “Words won’t solve this.”
“They won’t.”
“Then let’s fight.” Ryū Gen grabbed his sword and went outside.
Chō Ran picked up a broadsword from the table in front of him and stalked after Ryū Gen.
Amuri tried to stop him. “Wait! You shouldn’t fight! Ryū Gen is a friend!”
Shin Katsu went very pale.
Ryū Gen drew his sword. Chō Ran came closer with his broadsword raised.
“You sure you want to do this?” Ryū Gen asked.
Chō Ran nodded. “I always thought we’d have a rematch someday.” He was remembering the last time they’d fought, which was twenty-four years before. They’d come to blows in Bianliang on the night that Rai Ingyō’s estate had been attacked, but potential witnesses and bystanders had made them cut their fight short.
Amuri stood behind them, almost in tears. Men could be so stubborn sometimes. She couldn’t understand them at all. Shin Katsu had remained in the waiting room and was observing the fight from inside. Amuri frowned. Did he look… relieved? Why?
Chō Ran’s sword slammed down on Ryū Gen’s head. Ryū Gen swatted away the blow with his sword and regained his stance. Sweat ran down his cheeks.
Chō Ran and Ryu Gen grinned fiercely at each other.
Suddenly, Chō Ran’s eyes moved toward Amuri. He lowered his sword a fraction.
Ryū Gen remained in his stance and looked at him suspiciously.
Chō Ran chuckled. “Honestly… what are we doing?”
Ryū Gen swiped at his head, making Chō Ran duck. “Fighting?”
“You idiot,” Chō Ran said. He put up his sword. “You won the argument. I value my people. I shouldn’t fight with you because you value yours.”
“So you will make another steel giant?”
“I will.”
A complicated emotion flashed across Ryū Gen’s face. “Thank you.”
“It’s perfect for performance testing!” Shin Katsu said enthusiastically. “I wanted to make a few different ones anyway, just to try a few things out.”
Ryū Gen bowed his head.
“However, there are conditions,” Chō Ran said.
“I will help you conquer Datong.”
“There’s more. Let me join you in defeating the sorcerers in Beizhou. I want to test my skills,” Chō Ran said.
Ryū Gen smiled, then returned his sword to its sheath.
Amuri sighed in relief and sat down. She felt like she was about to fall over.
Chō Ran scolded her for overreacting. She snapped at him for scaring her.
“Amuri, you should wait until you grow up before you worry like that. You’re too young to be frowning so much.”
Amuri folded her arms. “I am going to drink heavily. You should drink, too. It’ll bring you good luck on your journey.”
“Seconded,” Ryū Gen said.
Shin Katsu hadn’t been worried at all. Ryū Gen and Chō Ran were too good of friends to ever kill one another. He might have been better at reading people’s intentions than Sei Koko was, for all Sei Koko’s practiced manipulation of others. He was a genius in more ways than one.
Shin Katsu was not only a scholar. He was a scientist, a capable clerk on the front lines of administration, diplomacy, and the military, and he also had a deep interest in other cultures. Much later in his life, in 1063 CE, he became an official scholar of the Imperial Court and studied astronomy while working on editing and proofreading books used to educate others at academies. At the age of forty-two, he became the Director of the National Astronomical Observatory. He made a name for himself by reforming imperial finances and making taxation on salt more fair. In 1082 CE, he fought against the Western Xia army as a chief military administrator, meeting with great success during the campaign. At the age of 58, he retired and wrote works like Dream Pool Essays and Discussion on Tea. He passed away at the age of sixty-five, in 1095 CE.
All of that was in Shin Katsu’s future. He had no idea what would happen tomorrow, never mind twenty or fifty years from now.
That night, everyone held a feast to pray for the success of the operation to save the city of Beizhou. Shin Katsu suggested using a pincer attack, positioning their forces between the Chinese border and Western Xia. Chō Ran and Ryū Gen approved this plan. It would allow them both to support one another if something went wrong during the initial stages of battle.
***
The Tangut people founded Western Xia. The Tanguts originally came from the Qinghai-Sichuan-Tibet region, whose home originally was in the highlands of western Sichuan. According to Chinese records, which called them the Dangxiang, the Tanguts were descended from the Western Qiang people and occupied the steppes around Qinghai Lake and the mountains to the south.
The name Tangut is derived from a form first found in the Orkhon inscriptions dated to 735 CE, which is transcribed in Chinese as Tangwu or Tangute (Tangghut (Tangɣud) in Mongolian). The Tanguts called themselves Minag, transcribed in Chinese as Mianyao or Miyao.
In the year 1038 CE, Li Yuanhao became the emperor of Western Xia and made Yinchuan his capital city. He had been expansionist in his policies. The Song Dynasty and the Jurchens suffered because he was in power.
The problem with using the steel giants against the Khitan Empire—or in Beizhou—was transportation. The steel giants were indisputably powerful, but getting them where they needed to go would be a significant logistical challenge.
Chō Ran, Ryū Gen, Amuri and Shin Katsu made a map.
Relief maps showing the terrain were made in China as early as the 3rd century BCE. The Chinese Emperor Ma Yuan created a relief map for strategic purposes in 210 BCE for the construction of the mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin. There is also a record of a relief map that was used for strategic purposes in 33 CE. The valleys and mountains were made of grains of rice stuck on paper or wood and painted over.
Under the future Emperor Shenzong of Song, Shin Katsu would create a raised-relief map using sawdust, wood, beeswax, and wheat paste. The emperor would be so impressed by this map that he would order similar maps to be prepared for places along the nation’s border.
Shin Katsu wrote:
When I was an official border inspector, I made the first wooden map depicting mountains, rivers and roads. After personally exploring the mountains and rivers of the region, I mixed sawdust with flour paste and cast it on a wooden base to represent the topography. But later, when the weather turned bad, the sawdust and glue froze and were no longer usable, so I used melted wax instead. The choice of material was dictated by the need to make it light so that it could be easily carried. After returning to my office at the capital, I had a relief map carved in wood and presented it to the emperor. The emperor summoned all his officials to view it, and then issued an order that similar wooden maps be made by all the governors of the frontiers. These were sent to the cities and kept in the palace archives.
Both land and water routes would be needed to transport each part of the steel giants to their respective destinations. The land routes could be traversed by the salt smugglers and Jurchen cavalry forces easily enough, though of course they would have to disguise their true identities and pretend to be ordinary merchants. Water routes were rivers and canals; this method of travel would only be used for the heaviest parts. Paddle-wheel boats, which were improved versions of large ships, were often used to transport goods over long distances. A manuscript by an unknown author dated around the 4th century CE describes a boat with three oxen going around in circles like in a grain mill. Those oxen managed to drive six paddle wheels. People could propel paddle wheel ships as well. The standard Chinese term “wheel ship” was used during the Song Dynasty for this kind of boat, whereas a litany of colorful terms were used to describe paddle-wheel ships beforehand.
At the time, pedal-powered paddle-wheel battleships were in common use. Shin Katsu decided to fit in twenty to thirty paddle wheels, depending on the size of the ship, to increase efficiency by spreading the workload around. People could also pedal in shifts, making the new designs even more efficient.
They avoided the water routes leading directly to the Bohai Sea and used the coastal land routes and rivers instead. Although the sea route from Jinzhou to the mouth of the Yellow River was close to where they were, the region was plagued by pirates and was poorly charted. There was also a greater risk of their activities being discovered by Khitan if they went that way.
The advance party of the female cavalry troops led by Shin Katsu, Chō Ran and Amuri arrived in Hebei Province five days earlier than planned. On Shin Katsu’s relief map, there were military checkpoints on both land and water routes. They’d expected to be stopped at least once, but since they had an official pass issued by the emperor, they experienced no problems or delays. Shin Katsu wondered where Tanshi had gotten such a wonderful thing as that pass. He’d considered writing to his father to get something similar, but the one Tanshi provided was almost certainly better than one he could acquire even though his father was on friendly terms with Bungen Haku.
Besides Amuri, four other women from the cavalry unit were assigned to pilot the steel giant. Their training had already been completed. Since the interior of the giant was so small, shorter women were ideal to work inside it. Only those with agility and experience in handling firearms were equipped for the job. Since the steel giant would be primed with gunpowder and hot oil, this assignment would be extremely dangerous.
***
China’s abundant coal led to an increase in iron production during this time period. Iron was used to replace copper coins through the infusion process. Although people knew how to smelt iron from coal, they stopped at making currency and agricultural tools and did not manufacture other machinery for mass production. For this reason, China did not experience an early industrial revolution, despite having unprecedented productivity at the time. But perhaps they could have experienced such a revolution if things were just the tiniest bit different.
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