Ikh Mongol Uls
All Under the Blue Sky, Chapter Two: Spiderweb of Steel
"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.
Nothing beside remains."
Khanbaliq
The Forbidden City
"Viceroy Batukhan, it has come to the attention of our khagan recently that reports from around Bishkek regarding the engagements against the Kyrgyz rebels may have been altered or even falsified by certain unscrupulous parties. He has also taken into account your own failure to crush said rebellion, as you were ordered to when it began, over the course of the last year. Additionally, records from the Grand Secretariat and our agents' dispatches from Chagatai indicate that you may be guilty of the crime of misusing the khagan's authority for your own political convenience. Finally, my tribunal has noted significant discrepancies in your viceroyalty' finances, with considerable funds having gone missing or having been apparently channeled into what would seem to be your own private coffers. These are serious allegations. What have you to say for yourself?"
Zaichun's eyes sparkled malevolently as he finished speaking, pacing around the base of the throne where Kublai sat with a stern expression.
Asadai Batukhan kowtowed (again). "Honored prince, Great Khan, I beg for your mercy and your ear. Truly, the crimes I am accused of are terrible, but I, Great Khan, your Viceroy in the Chagatid lands, I would never dare to so flout the authority of the all-encompassing emperor! Glorious emperor, my lord prince, I suspect that an unscrupulous soul may have fabricated such information against me to lead your honored tribunal astray."
"Are you doubting the tribunal, viceroy?," the khagan put in menacingly.
Batukhan kowtowed again, positively quivering. "Never, radiant lord! I merely suspect that a wicked man, one of devilish cunning, a master of manipulation who has his sights on my position, may have contrived some complex machination by which to convince the honorable members of the tribunal of my guilt."
"And who, viceroy, would you suspect or accuse of such a deed?," Zaichun said lazily.
Batukhan, forehead pressed into the floor, replied instantly. "The Governor of Bishkek, Faisal Sajadi."
"Some might say, viceroy," the Empress suddenly said, "that your speedy accusation of Governor Sajadi is suspicious, when we also note that the two of you have long had a strife-filled relationship and that the tribunal also noted that they believed you might have been misusing our khagan's authority against the Governor- who has proved himself as a competent administrator and general."
The viceroy began to babble something about Sajadi's wickedness and mercy and loving the khagan, but Kublai cut him off.
"Viceroy Batukhan, you embarrass yourself. I am disappointed and angered such a high-ranking official would ever dare to deceive me and use my aegis for such activities. Henceforth, you are stripped of your title as viceroy and as Governor of Kashgar. You will be replaced by Governor Sajadi as Viceroy of Chagatai. Your state stipend is taken away, your household will be granted to the new viceroy, and your private coffers are henceforth requisitioned by the state. You will be allowed to retire to your family's old seat, Yarkand, but half of the Batukhan clan's estate there shall be requisitioned by the government. Your property elsewhere shall also be requisitioned, and your sons will, I think, remain in the imperial court. Perhaps here they can be raised to become better men than their father is." The khagan rose, while the former viceroy remained crouched in fear, shock, and horror. "Let the realm condemn such corruption as this! Let all witness the humiliation of Asadai Batukhan! Such crimes shall never go unpunished by your khagan." He sat again. "Guards! Take him away."
The Empress smiled as she sat back down.
Guangzhou
Residence of the Governor
Wu Lao, Governor of Guangzhou, was, for the most part, a reasonably competent governor. He was less corrupt, indeed, than many, and had done a decent job of running the city of Guangzhou and its surroundings. He had faithfully overseen Khanbaliq's poorly administered, underfunded, and stop-and-go project to build fortifications around the city near the two Portuguese enclaves, and had proved himself capable of cooperating and negotiating with the Western barbarians.
He was thusly quite amenable to the eminently reasonable proposal offered to him by the Portuguese- especially since they had apparently seen fit to include a rather large bribe. Lao decided to keep only half of it- a quarter would be sent to the tax collectors, as an unexplained addition, and another quarter would be sent into the city's coffers.
The Governor swiftly wrote back, wishing his Portuguese counterpart well and saying he would be quite open to such a proposed railroad, and that he hoped a full contract and plan could soon be laid out.
As happened everywhere in the empire, reports were filed, and certain men and women with ties to the Grand Secretariat saw all.
Khanbaliq
Dejin Opera House
"I feel like we've been coming here a lot."
"It's a good place to relax and talk."
"We can't do that in our rooms?"
"You're funny."
Chabi giggled. "In all seriousness, though, you must have some authority over Xian's constant voyeurism. Every time I take a bath I always wonder..."
Zaichun snorted. "I seriously doubt anyone watches you while you bathe." He grinned. "But you never know. And no, I don't. It's the Vice-Regent's duty to spy on everyone, all of the time. And you can hardly blame him for being extra-thorough with me."
"I suppose. Oh, by the way, once they build it, I was thinking we could take a trip down to Guangzhou and ride the train! I've never been on one before," Chabi said with an innocent smile, biting her lip. She surveyed Zaichun's face carefully as he absorbed what she'd just said.
"Train? As in a locomotive? What are you talking about?"
Chabi widened her eyes slightly in innocent confusion. "I heard from... Oh, it must've been my aunt who lives there or something, anyways, the Portuguese are building a railway to connect Hong Kong and Macau! I was surprised we'd let the Governor approve such a project, but if it's happening I definitely want to ride the thing."
Zaichun pressed back in his seat, brow wrinkled, moving Chabi's hand off of his groin. "We did not let the Governor approve such a project, and we will need to be having a chat with our father and the Governor."
Chabi frowned. "Oh dear. Also, do you know when the Governor of Hanoi arrives? I once met his third daughter, who now lives in Jinan, and she's anxious about her father."
"I'll check." Zaichun kissed her lightly. "After this is over, I'll need to go to the Grand Secretariat and the palace, though."
"Fiiiine," Chabi said, fake-pouting, and inside she felt a warm, melting sensation, like a cat must feel when it toys with a mouse.
Khanbaliq
The Forbidden City
Hall of Supreme Harmony
"Now that we've dealt with the final preparations for Viceroy Sajadi's appointment and discussed what the Chancellor and I brought forward, I'd like to move on to the matter of the barbarians."
The imperial cabinet suddenly seemed uneasy, the room colder, and even the khagan, who had fought against the barbarians on Taiwan, looked slightly uncomfortable. The Vice-Regent, though, remained as cool and collected as ever.
"The Portuguese have extended a request to the Governor of Guangzhou to build a rail link from Hong Kong to Macau, through Guangzhou, which we will obtain revenue from and have jurisdiction over. The Governor approved, and planning is due to begin as soon as possible. I bring this up because I believe it could be favorable, for the sake of our struggling road system, to seek similar foreign investment across the nation to construct railways. Obviously not all Portuguese, but with multiple Western powers investing in new railways for us, we gain valuable assets that can be nationalized if we feel it necessary and that will help connect our nation."
"Actually, Vice-Regent," Prince Zaichun said coldly, "I reviewed this project and found it unsatisfactory. It has been terminated, and the Governor of Guangzhou will be subject to an inquiry."
Zhao Xian turned slightly, bowing to the Prince, his face flat and inexpressive. "And why, my lord prince, did you find it unsatisfactory?"
"To allow the barbarians to build one of their devilish machines through the heart of one of the greatest cities in the empire? This is nothing more than a cover for them to move their men and spies and opium into Guangzhou! We must resist all such incursions, wherever and whenever possible."
"My lord prince, truly, I am horrified to hear of this. Praise be to Heaven that you discovered such a terrible plot! Pray tell, how did your highness go about discovering such a dastardly scheme?", Xian said dryly.
Zaichun stuck his chin out slightly. "It needs no discovering or sniffing out, Vice-Regent. It is plain- all such barbarian enterprises are mere fronts for such insidious schemes."
"Truly? Such as the British rail line from here to Tianjin, that brings us at the court fresh fish and oysters daily? Or perhaps you meant the new Pallasian project to build a line from here to Karakorum? Or are you referring to the British-run railways around their concessions in Shandong, or the Franque project from Hanoi to Haiphong? All of these seem, in the humble opinion of the khagan's Vice-Regent, to have brought nothing but prosperity, convenience, and happiness to the regions they have been built in," Xian replied smoothly.
Zaichun swallowed. "It is not-"
The khagan growled slightly, and Zaichun broke off.
"My son, while I can appreciate your zealous regard for the empire's well-being, the Vice-Regent is correct," Kublai sighed. "Xian, you will countermand Prince Zaichun's order once this meeting terminates, and you have my permission to seek foreign investment. For now, limit it to areas where railways have already been built or are being built, and to Taiyuan."
The Vice-Regent bowed, hiding a slight smile. "Of course, radiant lord."
The Crown Prince smiled as well, bowing as he deferred to his father, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
Khanbaliq
The Golden Orchid Court
Residence of the Vice-Regent
Zhao Xian, Vice-Regent to Kublai XI, Möngke Khan before him, and, for a brief period, Tolui Khan before him, was walking back to his apartment in the Golden Lotus Court. It was a cool night, but not overly cold, and the courtyard he was strolling leisurely through was quite pleasant, with just-budding flowers and a pond, filled with brilliant and strangely-shaped fish. A few lamps were hanging, giving it a soft, warm feeling, and their light mixed with that of the twilight to make it seem like Xian was immersed in richly colored honey, flecked and mixed with shadowy filaments where the eaves of the building overhung the garden. He could a pipa playing somewhere, a slow, easy melody that made him smile slightly and relax.
The lamps all went out as the pipa halted, and Xian heard a slight hiss of air parting before something or someone, moving swiftly. The aged Vice-Regent was immediately on the balls of his feet, his knees bending slightly as his eyes darted around.
He leaped to the side, twirling just in time as a thrown dart whistled past his ear, and landed with arms extended and knees bent. Two- nay, three- men had materialized in the courtyard, and Xian's peripheral vision detected more movement on the rooftops as he shrugged his outer robes off to allow freer movement. Silently, two of the black-suited men drew blades, and the third, armed with a chain whip, launched himself towards the Vice-Regent. Xian pirouetted to avoid the chain whip as it swung towards him, deflecting the assassin's leap with a kick, and snapped into bridge position to avoid the whip's deadly head as it swung back. The man spun away from his kick, reeling his chain whip in, and the two men with swords began moving towards him. Xian, thinking quickly, whipped out his writing brush, and with almost no conscious thought sent it flying, handle first, to bury itself in the trailing man's throat. He made it another step or two before collapsing, but Xian didn't waste time watching him fall. He flipped backwards, away from the swordsman, shouting at the top of his lungs for guards, and dodged several strokes in quick succession before delivering a kick to the man's abdomen. The assassin dropped his sword to catch the Vice-Regent's foot, and as he flipped him over his back Xian snatched the strap trailing off the sword's handle as it fell behind it. The Vice-Regent cartwheeled across the garden, landing at the edge of the pond on his toes and fingertips. The sword was laying where it had slipped from his own grasp, about halfway between the two men.
They stayed like that for a moment, and then, as the first hollers of approaching guards came into earshot, they simultaneously launched themselves for the blade. The flurry of blows and counterblows was two fast to follow at first, and Xian felt his age for a moment when the much younger assassin caught his arm and nearly broke it before he managed to flip over and sweep his legs under the other man's. The other man caught himself, landing in a side plank, and rolled away with the sword's ribbon unfurling rapidly, caught between two of his fingers. Xian launched himself up from his hands, front-flipping down to land with considerable force on the assassin's hand as he went to rise. The bones crunched satisfyingly, and the Vice-Regent delivered a rapid kick to the man's face, feeling the jaw shatter and dislocate under his blow. The man merely grunted, rolling away and rising, and Xian tested the sword's balance, listening to the other man's pained breathing as the guards came closer.
The movement he had detected earlier suddenly returned, as two more men silently dropped from the roof on either side of him. One produced a single-shot pistol, while the other deployed a device that resembled a Spanish Tickler on each hand. Xian hurled himself backwards as the gun fired, feeling the bullet catch the edge of his sleeve, and spun to parry the man with the steel claws, knocking him back. There was suddenly shouting and the sound of sword's being drawn as a troop of guards entered the courtyard. While the Vice-Regent fought furiously with the claw-equipped man, the swordsman he had disarmed retrieved the chain whip that had belonged to one of his fallen brothers, and the pistolier hefted the dead sword's man's blade. Both engaged the guards while the Vice-Regent's blade blurred through the air.
The duel ended abruptly- Xian's sword slid between two claws, and broke with a ringing sound as it was jerked to the side, flinging its owner with it. The assassin snarled, flinging his ruined lefthand claws aside, and Xian lifted the broken blade's remnants to deflect his next series of attacks before a pair of guardsman took over for him. The assassin was wounded, but not seriously, and the two guardsmen were decapitated and disemboweled in short order by the ferocious steel claws.
The Vice-Regent lifted the spear of another dead guardsman beside him, and pulled with pin out of his topknot, sending it flying at the claw-armed assassin. It struck him in the groin, rather than the throat, and he staggered with a groan as blood spurted from the wound. Xian slammed the edge of the spear's blade into his skull, smashing it to bits, and spun to bring it around, snatching the chain whip from the air and wrenching it away from its owner with a flick of his wrist.
Another gun went off, with a startlingly loud blast, and the former pistolier crashed into the pond as the disarmed chain whip assassin retreated from the soldiers, towards the Vice-Regent. He was swiftly re-equipped, though, hafting a spear from another fallen guard, and the two again exchanged a flurry of blows. This time, the assassin's wounds put him at a serious disadvantage, though, and Zhao Xian finally finished him off with a brutal kick to the chest, feeling ribs spring under his foot and knocking the man to the ground, groaning.
"Take him away...for... questioning," the Vice-Regent said to the surviving guards, catching his breath.
POST SUMMARY:
Ah, fuck it, I'll skip the Commies and the military for this post.
-Viceroy Batukhan has been dismissed, most of his property seized, his sons held hostage in the imperial court, and he has been exiled to Yarkand and disgraced. Faisal Sajadi is now Viceroy of Chagatai.
-Lady Chabi intercepted news of the planned railroad in Guangzhou and threw a wrench in the works by manipulating Zaichun to order its cancellation and summon the Governor of Guangzhou to court.
-The Governor of Hanoi has been dismissed and replaced (offscreen, I'm tired)
-The Vice-Regent got the khagan to restart the railroad project and send the Governor back to Guangzhou.
-Someone or something (jk ) tried to kill the Vice-Regent, but it turns out he's a pretty kickass fighter.
-Mongolia is inviting limited foreign investment in the Taiyuan area and in a few areas where foreign railroads have been built.