O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [18]
Wu Ling Chow reckoned that the Americans, the newest silk-seeking player in the Orient, would be less of a threat than his neighbors. There was a marked difference about the Yankees. Or was the emperor deluding himself? At any rate he would not be drawn in by homey American gregariousness. Scratch their lacquer and they would most likely be the same color as the British and French and Portuguese and Germans and Dutch and Japanese.
To satisfy himself, Wu allowed a goodwill visit. The twenty-one-gun salute from the Kansas whetted his appetite and he was greeted by a trio of Yankee salesmen from the State Department and the trade and government establishment.
After an unbearably pompous round of welcomes, meetings began with the Americans and Wu personally.
Wu Ling Chow was cautious, but the Americans’ open friendliness kept discussions alive. In Nandong City, Lieutenant Tobias Storm did a crack job with his Marine detachment in keeping lusty sailors from the Kansas under reasonable control. The ladies of Nandong long knew sailorboys’ needs and were likewise pleased that the pleasures of the crew ashore were attained without wrecking the place.
At the end of the first week, Wu Ling Chow came aboard the American warship for an evening of entertainment.
A chorus of sailors serenaded him and soloists did their bit and the band played a lovely concert. Sharpshooters put on a daring exhibition.
The final act of the night was Lieutenant Tobias Storm performing with a pair of pet seals named Stars and Stripes. The lieutenant had saved them from slaughter when he was on duty in the Bering Sea and raised them from pups. Stars and Stripes both held the rank of sergeant, although Stripes had been busted several times for his sopping-wet appearances in the bunks of Marines, scaring them half to hell.
Stars and Stripes carried the evening with juggling and balancing feats never before seen even in a land of acrobats.
When the emperor invited the officers and performers to a dinner and requested a show at the palace, maybe the foot was in the door, the Yankees thought.
The following day, Tobias Storm received a summons to come to the palace.
At the end of their meal, Wu Ling Chow had a magnificent chessboard set up with chessmen adorned with gold and jewels. The pawns alone were three inches high.
Storm, who considered himself a damned good player, pondered. Does one whip an emperor in his own palace? Tobias won two games without drawing a deep breath. He was surprised that one so wily as Wu Ling Chow would play so poorly. Or was he getting into some kind of Chinese maze? Perhaps Wu was testing the Marine’s honesty. On the other hand, had his court and concubines been throwing games for years just to please him?
In the third game, the emperor annihilated Storm’s board in quick, masterly fashion. The message did not go unnoticed.
Storm would never win another chess game against the emperor, but he sensed the tide of trade negotiations running in the Americans’ favor. The American delegation gave him great latitude to deal and held their collective breath.
It did not take long for the lieutenant to sniff out what was ailing Wu Ling Chow, who eased their discussions toward weaponry, Storm’s strong suit. Nandong required modern artillery to replace its ancient blunderbuss cannons, which could not hit an elephant point-blank. With only mild hills and a few deep gorges, the province was a tempting target for foreign incursions. Her sweeping coast was, likewise, open to pirate forays. Wu Ling Chow needed dug-in emplacements and the ability to man them properly, and the guns he needed were simply too large and cumbersome to get in undetected.
Feeling rather secure about a confidence with Lieutenant Storm, Wu Ling Chow popped the question. Could Nandong manufacture its own rifle-bored, breech-loading cannons and the shells to feed them?
“I don’t want you to go into consultations with your people, just give me