Chapter 7
November 1633
Grantville
“I thought that when I graduated high school, I no longer needed to fear being called to the principal’s office,” said Jim Saluzzo.
His father, the principal at the high school at which Jim now taught, smiled. “You have a visitor.”
“Important enough to call me out of class?”
“I’ll let you be the judge of that. He’s in the conference room.”
Jim strode over and opened the door. “You know, I have office hours on—” He broke off when he realized exactly who was in the room.
“Don Francisco.”
The spymaster made a wave of acknowledgment. “Do come in, Mister Saluzzo, and shut the door behind you.”
Jim did so. The only other person in the room was Eric Garlow.
“I am sorry that I couldn’t wait until your office hours, or even until the final bell today, but my job requires a lot of travel on occasion.”
“I understand,” said Jim. “With Eric here, I assume that this is about China.”
“Teaching high school apparently has not dulled your deductive faculties, Mister Saluzzo. At least, not yet.”
“I’m really sorry, Don Francisco, but I don’t think it makes sense for me to join this mission to China. I’d be with the Army if the higher-ups hadn’t decided that I was more useful training the next generation of technicians and scientists than operating a radio. And if I were in China, I couldn’t do that, right? And there are personal considerations, too. I am engaged to Martina Goss, and we plan to get married and start a family. At least once the war is over.”
Don Fernando held up three fingers. “You bring to the China mission a combination of three characteristics that no one else offers.”
He bent down one finger. “First, you are trained in mathematics and physics, and therefore can master astronomical calculations.”
He folded the second finger. “Second, you are a Catholic, and thus the Jesuits in Macao and Beijing are not likely to all be of one mind as to how to deal with you.”
The third finger came down. “Finally, you are an up-timer, and thus have a far different view of the relationship between religion and science than any down-time Catholic is likely to be comfortable with. So that means that you are willing to publicly advocate a heliocentric view of the solar system even if that differs from the view of the Catholic Church, here and now. I am correct in that assumption, am I not?”
“Yes, you are,” Jim acknowledged. “Of course, it’s the view of Kepler and Newton that I would publicly advocate; not just that the planets go around the sun, but that they do in elliptical orbits driven by universal gravitation acting according to the inverse square law. And the twentieth-century Catholic Church didn’t see any inconsistency between that formulation and Holy Scripture.… Mind you, I am ignoring the issue of orbital perturbation.…”
Nasi held up his hand. “I don’t need to know exactly how to construct a mathematical model of the solar system, just that you are willing to teach a more modern view without regard to whether the teaching is accepted by the present-day Catholic Church.”
“Well, yes.”
“Which brings us to China. Eric?”
Eric cleared his throat. “The emperor rules by the so-called Mandate of Heaven. A very important part of demonstrating that he has the Mandate of Heaven is that the official calendar—and there are no unofficial calendars—accurately predicts the movements of the heavenly bodies. The Jesuits owe their present position at court to the fact that their astronomers can make more accurate predictions than their Chinese counterparts could. We can do better, and because of that—and because we have no religious agenda—we think that we can obtain not only a position at court ourselves, but also a privileged trading position.”
“And with trade will come ideas, eventually, and perhaps reform,” Don Francisco added. “But this truly rests on you.”
“And if nothing changes, the Manchu will invade in 1644, and there will be decades of civil war in China before they fully establish their rule. With a strong position at court, we may be able to help the Ming improve their military footing enough to discourage the Manchu from attacking, and save a lot of lives.”
Jim raised his eyebrows. “But you aren’t doing this because you are so concerned about the Chinese, are you?”
“No,” said Don Francisco, “we want the Chinese as trading partners.”
“Did you know that at the time of the Battle of Hastings, the Chinese were producing something like one hundred twenty-five thousand tons of iron a year?” Eric interjected. “At least if I’m remembering the papers I read correctly.
“They also produce silk, zinc, graphite, mercury—” He stopped short when Don Francisco made a quelling gesture.
“As a member of the mission, you will of course have a privileged position in which to benefit from the new trading relationships. And even on the present, somewhat—” Don Francisco searched for the term he wanted—“attenuated basis, European merchants have earned substantial profits from the China trade.”
“One thing, I admit, that hasn’t been changed by the Ring of Fire—teacher’s pay is lousy,” said Jim. “But I figure that given my educational background, there are going to be opportunities here, too.”
“Absolutely,” said Don Francisco. “But do you really think that either your teaching at the high school, or any of those alternative opportunities, will have as great an impact on European, even world affairs, as your further opening China to the West?”
Jim stroked his chin. “I see your point, Don Francisco, Eric; really I do. But I have an obligation to the high school.…”
“Not a problem,” said Don Francisco. “The mission won’t leave until the present school year is over. You can get things set up so that someone else can run them while you are on…sabbatical.
“It’s not as though you’re the only possible physics teacher. Mac Clements has a master’s in physics, and he taught at the high school before the Ring of Fire. He’s in Magdeburg now, with the military, but we can get him back next year if it will get you on board.”
“Did you ask him to go to China?”
“No, he’s with Disciples of Christ, so he’d be considered a heretic by both the Catholics and the Protestants in Asia. And he has two young children. There’re also Chuck Fielder and Landon Reardon, also with physics degrees, but with similar impediments.”
Jim started to say something, thought better of it. “Is it okay if I discuss this with my fiancée, and my father and mother? My sister, too?”
“Absolutely, but it must not go further than them, please make that clear.” Don Francisco paused. “As I said, I am going out of town, but if you have further questions before I return, direct them to Eric here. Oh, if you were thinking that you would have to leave your fiancée behind, let me reassure you: Martina may accompany you; the mission would cover her passage and her necessary living expenses in China. Of course, if she wants to buy presents for all her friends and relatives, that will come out of her own pocket.
“And rest assured that we are not going to neglect the medical needs of the mission. If we can’t find an up-timer with suitable skills who’s willing to go, we will certainly be able to provide a suitable down-timer. Not Balthazar Abrabanel, but one of similar experience.”
Don Francisco stood, and offered his hand; Jim took it automatically. “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Jim. You are everything we had hoped for; please give our proposal your careful consideration and let us know if there is anything we can do to, what’s that American term? Clinch the deal.”
Martina’s Home
Martina still lived with her mother, Mary, but of course Jim was over frequently. Once Jim Saluzzo and Martina were married, either Jim would move in with her, or Martina would move in with the Saluzzos. Right now, Jim and his sister Vicki were still living with their parents—real estate was extremely expensive in post-RoF Grantville.
Jim, Martina and Eric were in Martina’s kitchen, rinsing dishes. Jim and Martina had invited Eric over for dinner. Eric’s wife Heather had also been invited, but Eric came alone, saying that Heather had been “indisposed.” The Goss’ boarders had, as a courtesy, gone out for the evening, and Mary was visiting with her husband Arlen at the assisted living center, so it was just the three young people.
“If Jim goes, I’ll go,” said Martina Goss. “In fact, I want to have a job on the mission. Surely, you’ll need someone to manage the correspondence? I’m in the consular office right now, so I should be considered qualified. And before it leaves, I can help with the research.”
“I’ll speak with Nasi and Piazza,” Eric Garlow promised. “You had to know about the mission anyway, given Jim’s significance, so I can argue that including you would reduce how many people need to be told what’s going on.”
Martina put the last dish in the drying rack and hung up her apron. “Actually, I have a particular interest in China. Let me show you why.” He followed her into the living room, Jim a few steps behind.
Martina took out of a drawer a book and a figurine. The main text of the book was in Chinese, but it had many color photographs, and captions in English, French and German.
“Ah,” said Eric. “The figurine represents a general in the terra-cotta army of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. You were in Xi’an?” The terra-cotta army had been buried in the third century BCE and discovered in 1974, east of Xi’an, near the tomb mound at Mount Li. Its secret had endured for over two millennia.
“Oh, no, I have never been to China. In fact, before the Ring, I had never been out of the States. But while I was at WVU—you know I had to drop out when my father was disabled, don’t you?—I was a volunteer ‘Conversation Partner’ in the Intensive English Program. I would meet for an hour or two each week to give the foreign student I was working with, Liu Feng-jiao, a chance to practice English. Usually in the coffeehouse. Remember Perks? At the corner of Chestnut and Reid?”
“Sorry, I don’t,” said Eric. “Remember, I was at Pitt, not WVU. I did come to Morgantown for some games, but if I didn’t take the first bus home, I’d probably have gone to a bar with Tom and Rita.”
Jim smiled at Martina. “Well, I remember Perks. I met Martina there, sometimes.”
“Anyway, when we first met,” Martina continued, “and at the end of each semester, Feng-jiao would give me a present, like this one. I suppose that she must have packed several sets of Chinese souvenirs to take to America.”
“Were there a lot of Chinese students at WVU?” asked Eric. “I know they didn’t have a major in Chinese, that’s why I went to Pitt.”
“The IEP representative told us that they were the second-largest contingent of international students at the school, after the Indians. But more of the Indians spoke English already.”
Eric paged through the book, returning at last to the handwritten inscription on the title page: For Martina, may she one day see my beautiful country, as I have seen hers. Feng-jiao.
“So, do you speak any Chinese?”
“Not beyond the ‘hello’ and ‘how are you, fine, thanks’ stage. After all, the whole point was for Feng-jiao to learn English, not for me to learn Chinese. Still, after hearing Feng-jiao talk about China, I’d like to see it before I die. And this mission is a chance to go there at someone else’s expense. And perhaps making enough money to help out my folks, too.”
Eric stroked his chin. “Given your background, you are qualified to serve as the ambassador’s correspondence secretary and administrative assistant.”
“Not to sound crass, but what are the financial arrangements for the up-time representatives? Jim has been a little vague about it.”
“Probably because the details aren’t completely firm, but you’ll be paid a salary which, if you’re already employed, is fifty percent more than you’re making now, plus you’ll be allotted a certain amount of cargo space for private trading.”
“How much space is that?”
“That’s the detail that still being firmed up. But I think that at least for up-timers, it will be more than the norm for passengers and crew on VOC ships to the Indies.”
Eric offered the book back to Martina. She put it back in the drawer, and said, “That sounds promising, but Jim and I will have to see the contract. And perhaps we should have a lawyer look it over, too.”
Cheng home
Grantville
Jason Cheng was gratified to see how many would-be students of Chinese had come to his home. There were young and old, men and women. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “It is an honor and a privilege to teach you the beautiful language of my homeland. I ask that you be diligent in your studies.”
He took a sip of water. “I know you are here because you are being sent to China. What you will be learning to speak is what Americans call Mandarin. The Chinese name is ‘Guanhua’ and it means, the ‘language of officials.’ It was needed because there are hundreds of different forms of Chinese, and they aren’t all mutually intelligible.
“The original Mandarin was based on the language spoken in Nanjing, which was the first capital of Ming China. Nanjing Mandarin is what would be used in China right now. Unfortunately, by the time I went to school, what was taught was Beijing Mandarin. But my father spoke Nanjing Mandarin. When I can, I will give you the Nanjing version, but you will no doubt have to make some adjustments when you are in China.
“Our first goal will be for you to learn what you might call ‘survival’ spoken Chinese: ‘hello,’ ‘goodbye,’ ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘you’re welcome,’ numbers, asking and understanding directions, money, weights and measures, the names of the goods you’re most likely to need to buy, and so forth.
“My father used to say, ‘The only things you need to be able to say in a foreign language are ‘how much’ and ‘too much’!”
There was a polite titter.
“Of course, you’ll need to learn how to correctly pronounce all those words. In the phrase book that I prepared—a copy has been printed for each of you, and please don’t lose it!—I have written down the Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese words in the Latin alphabet using a system known as Pinyin with tone marks. I must warn you, Pinyin is not yet used in China, so this is just for your own studies. However, I will let you use the Pinyin–English dictionary that Eric Garlow will be bringing along with him.
“As we work through the phrase book, I’ll be writing the Chinese characters on the black board, and you will copy them into your book.”
Martina raised her hand. “Why do we need to write down the characters if we’re just learning spoken Chinese?”
“Good question,” said Jason Cheng. “Now, while I hope that you all master Chinese pronunciation, I have to admit that it’s not easy for a foreigner to learn. For example, vowels have tones—high and steady, rising, falling then rising, falling, and ‘neutral.’ The sound ‘ma’ can mean mother, hemp, horse, scold or a question mark, depending on which of the five tones it bears. There are tricky consonants, too. But if you have the character written down, well, at worst you show it to the person you’re trying to communicate with.”
Having covered the blackboard with characters, Jason stopped. “Anyway, that gives you a taste for what written Chinese is like. But for the rest of today’s class, we’re going to work on pronunciation. And we’ll start with the sounds in nĭ hăo, which means ‘hello.’”
* * *
After the class, Martina said to Mike Song, “It isn’t fair. I have all this studying to do, and you already know Chinese.”
“Don’t complain to me,” said Mike. “After all, I had to learn English in school. And now my uncle says that since I already know Chinese, I have to study Portuguese and Dutch instead.”
“Ouch. Have you spoken to Ashley about her stuff?”
“Yes, she will loan the class all of the ‘learning Chinese’ materials she has acquired since she started going out with Danny. Textbooks, phrase books, dictionaries, flash cards, audio tapes, and so forth. But they can’t leave Grantville.”
“Fair enough.”