Day of Rebellion Page 6

  But as Jack peered from the back of the strange car which lumbered its way through the outskirts of Shanghai, he did not see much that could be described as holy or just. Everywhere he looked there was devastation from the Taiping assault on the city. Smoke plumes rose from burned-out huts and houses, and at points along the road bodies were piled up high. Taiping were everywhere – squads of infantry marching at the double into Shanghai, cavalry patrolling the streets, and, occasionally, armed wagons.

  “Look at all this,” Fleming said, “the misery of war… and all aided by you Backhouse – a supposed Christian. At home in London, they say you are a traitor.”

  “Thank you for your opinions,” Backhouse said, his voice sounding strained, for the first time. “I would ask, simply, that you to keep them to yourself if you want to retain my co-operation; but just so you know, the hypocrisy of my English brethren never fails to astonish me…”

  The captain fell silent.

  *

  After an hour or so, they crested a low rise in the road. Jack’s head had nodded onto Angus’s shoulder, but now Angus nudged him. The site before them made Jack’s jaw drop. Stretching for miles into the hazy distance were tents and bivouacs, set out in orderly rows, swarming with Taiping troops in red coats and conical white straw hats. They had reached the Taiping army encampment outside Shanghai. As they drew close, Jack started to distinguish between different parts of the camp. Alongside the cavalry and infantry was an enclosure of parked up tanks – each one just like the monster that had surprised them back at the barricade. Next to this, there was an encampment of artillery – though the guns were unlike any Jack had seen before. They were painted with slogans and emblazoned with all manner of extravagant decorations and motifs. Along the central axis of the camp, was the most extraordinary sight of all. A series of monster steam engines parked up one next to the other. Jack had seen pictures of old-fashioned steam engines once used for road works and on farms – and these machines were similar. They were great iron and bronze contraptions which belched black smoke and steam. Some had massive bulldozer attachments on the front and others had fortified turrets, with evil-looking guns sticking out of them. Jack remembered the little Shanghai hardware shop where he and Angus had seen different technologies somehow co-existing – it was the same here, in the Taiping army camp. The uniforms, flags and regalia could have been medieval, as were the lances and great cleavers that the infantry and cavalry carried. But other used technologies much more modern – steam-powered engines and crude petrol-driven machines, artillery and firearms that looked as if they belonged in a more modern age. Everything was mixed up.

  Angus was mesmerised by the range of weaponry, but Jack caught Backhouse’s eye as he surveyed the scene. He had a look of pride on his face.

  “I will admit my Taiping friends have got some strange ideas, on both Christian doctrine and on government,” he said. “But you can’t fault their energy and organisation. And this army…” He turned to the captain and said, “The British government would be quaking in its boots if they could see it.”

  Fleming grunted.

  “We are nearly there.” Backhouse said something to the driver and pointed. “You will be taken to a holding tent – normal procedure – there will be refreshments, so please try and make yourselves comfortable. I will come back for you shortly.”

  With this, Backhouse stepped down from the jalopy and scurried off. Jack, Angus and Fleming were escorted to a nearby marquee which was enclosed in a wooden stockade.

  “Prison,” the captain said matter-of-factly.

  But once inside the tent, they were offered tea and food; there was even water to wash themselves.

  “You have heard of him, captain?” asked Jack. “I mean Backhouse – you seemed to know of him. You said he was known in England as a traitor?”

  “You haven’t heard of Josiah Backhouse? Where have you been my lad? Yes, he’s famous; infamous more like. And he’s a traitor indeed. I couldn’t believe it was him.”

  “We are away most of the time… with our father,” Angus chipped in, pleased with himself for having picked up on Jack’s story.

  “Well, Backhouse is a British missionary… but he’s more than that, much more,” the captain sipped his tea from a bowl. “Not quite how my mother makes it… but I have to say that tastes good.” He looked around at the inside of the tent and groaned with frustration, “Can’t believe I’ve got myself captured…”

  “What do you mean, he’s a traitor?” Jack tried to bring Fleming back to Backhouse.

  “Aye, well… Backhouse was high up in the CPS… you know with all the Science Lords.”

  “CPS?”

  The Captain looked at Jack oddly. “You really have missed out on your education, haven’t you, my lad? CPS stands for ‘Cambridge Philosophical Society’ – they are a very powerful group of men. They advise the British government.” He put a hand up to his mouth and whispered conspiratorially, “Some say they pretty much are the British government…”

  “Oh?”

  “Charles Babbage is the President of the CPS – has been for thirty years.” The captain saw the confused look on Jack’s face, “Now don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Babbage? Inventor of the Difference Engine, the internal combustion engine, harnessing electrical energy, new weapons for the army and navy and of course, manned flight…”

  “What? You’ve got planes as well?” Angus blurted out, then held a guilty hand to his mouth, which failed to disguise his astonishment.

  The captain frowned, “You two… I mean, have you never been in the real world?”

  “It’s complicated…” Angus said.

  Jack frowned and tried to move the captain on, “The CPS – are they the source of all these inventions – the weapons, steam engines, cars, electricity…? When, er, when did it start, I mean, when did they start inventing all these things?”

  The captain’s brow furrowed. “It started when I was a nipper. Now my father always used to say that in the old days Babbage was considered a bit of a joke – an eccentric. Ordinary folk didn’t like him much, but then, in the 1830s all that changed. He, and his fellow scientists in the CPS, started to produce inventions, designs, machines… the most incredible scientific advances… they changed the world. It all started at the Trinity Conference…”

  “What was that?” blurted Angus.

  “Oh, it was a very significant event. March 31st 1836, in the Wren Library at Trinity College in Cambridge. It was the first CPS conference, when Babbage first announced some of the most amazing inventions that the CPS had created. All the top brass were there – it took the world by storm.”

  “Do you remember it?” said Jack.

  “Yes – well I’m too young to remember it – but my father talks about it to this day and about the rumours that started circulating soon after. Some people thought the inventions were magic… or witchcraft even. All I can say is had Babbage and the other members of the CPS been anything other than British – it would have been the end of the British Empire and probably the end of us, because the scientific and military advances were profound.”

  “So where does Josiah Backhouse fit in?”

  “An interesting story. Backhouse was in the CPS, close to Babbage, some say he was his right-hand man. I believe he was actually at the Trinity Conference. But then something happened. He was a Christian – nothing wrong with that of course – but he was fanatical.” The captain tapped his temple with a finger. “Not all there, they say. Anyway, when he heard about this Taiping Rebellion, here in China, and that they were fellow Christians fighting a civil war against the corrupt Imperial dynasty, he decided he would make it his mission to help them. Didn’t know he was here in Shanghai, mind you.”

  “They accepted him, then?” Jack interrupted. “The Taiping rebels, I mean?”

  “There are a few supporters of the Taiping in Europe and England… missionaries, Christians. And Backhouse had something to offer the Taiping.”
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br />   “What was that?” Angus said.

  “He was close to Babbage, so he knew all about these incredible CPS inventions and how they were starting to make use of them as machines… and weapons. He started passing some of the secrets of these discoveries to the Taiping. At first the CPS and the British government had no idea. No one at home took much notice of the Taiping Rebellion, a civil war in China, on the other side of the world didn’t really affect us. Of course, you’re traders, so you know that mostly the British are interested in the trade – and all that’s done through the ports – Hong Kong, Shanghai and the like where there are the European concessions. Meanwhile there was a civil war raging in the south of China between the Taiping and the Imperialist Qing. Then we started to hear strange things about British-designed arms turning up in China. At first we thought it was gun-running. War attracts all sorts of low-life – people who are happy to make a bit of money out of other people’s misery. Then we heard new stories. That these Taiping rebels were starting to build whole factories in the south of China where they ruled. Soon we discovered that the Taiping were starting to build their own versions of CPS inventions. No one understood how they could have got hold of the designs. Then one day a trader said that he had seen an English missionary in Canton who seemed to be friendly with some of the Taiping leaders. Investigations were made – and what do you know? The missionary, it turned out, was our friend Backhouse. Next thing, he had disappeared into the Chinese interior and joined up with the Taiping for good. Now he’s one of their leading chaps… you saw how those warriors obeyed him.”

  “He sounds bonkers. What does he want with us?” Angus said.

  The captain shrugged. “I can make a guess – he wants to use us as bargaining chips…”

  “How do you mean?” asked Jack. “Who would he be bargaining with?”

  “With the British, of course. We’re the most powerful country in the world and trade with China is important. To be honest, we don’t really care who’s in charge in China – whether it is the Imperialists or the Taiping rebels – as long as we can trade and make money. I reckon if the Taiping have three British hostages – including an army captain – it’s one way that Backhouse and the Taiping can put pressure on the British to support them against the Imperialists. In fact, the British and French are virtually at war with the Imperialists already. Those seventeen thousand troops are marching on Beijing because they say the Imperialists have broken their last treaty, which was to open up more Chinese ports for trade.”

  Jack’s brow furrowed as he tried to take it all in. “So, you’ve got a civil war going on in China between the Taiping in the south and the Imperialist Qing in the north. The British and French have got trading concessions in ports up and down the coast and they’ve sent an army to force the Imperialists in Beijing to open up trade even more. And now, here in Shanghai, the British are also trying to help defend an Imperial city from the Taiping who are trying to take it over?”

  “That’s about it,” Fleming said. “The Taiping want Shanghai because it is a major sea port. It’s just unfortunate that there are lots of Europeans there already.”

  “What a mess,” Angus shook his head.

  “Yes – and it doesn’t help our cause with turncoats like Backhouse around – whether he’s a Christian or not.”

  Suddenly, the door to the tent opened and Backhouse appeared, flanked by two burly Taiping guards.

  “I think it is time, gentlemen – are you suitably refreshed?” But Backhouse did not wait for an answer. “Good, good. Now, you will be excited to hear that we have an audience with General Li Xiucheng himself. He is a fine man and he has a few questions. Excuse the indignity, but I am afraid you will have to be searched. We have to be careful – hidden weapons that sort of thing – usual procedure.”

  Suddenly the Taiping guards stepped forward and Jack felt his clothes being ripped off him.

  “Hey – get off!”

  Backhouse shouted in Mandarin and the guards eased off.

  “I can do it myself, OK?”

  But Jack’s shirt and his undervest had been ripped in the clumsy assault, and as he pulled off the vest, something clattered to the floor. Jack stared down in horror. It was his VIGIL smart device.

  Backhouse spotted it on the wooden floor and immediately bent down to pick it up.

  Jack made a grab for it and shouted, “No! It’s mine!”

  The guards were too quick. They secured Jack in a vicelike grip. Angus started to move, but before he could take a step he too was immobilised.

  Backhouse cradled the smooth plastic and metal device in his hand, inspecting it from every angle, and his expression slowly changed from one of bemusement to one of wonder.

  “Extraordinary…” he whispered. He stared at the device and then back at Jack who was still held back by the guards, “Utterly extraordinary… just as I remember it… the ‘Seeing Engine’… the Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’.”

  Backhouse’s dark, piggy eyes trained on Jack. “My young friend… where on God’s earth did you get this?”

  Jack was struggling to find any words. “I…”

  “Leave him alone!” Angus shouted out suddenly. But he was quickly silenced by a loud slap across the face.

  “Silence!” Backhouse bellowed, his face now purple. But, embarrassed by this sudden outburst, quickly he tried to collect himself.

  “Now, if I remember, you press this, and…” Backhouse’s face lit up, “yes, it comes alive! Just like the Engine… it is the same… a miracle!” He looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you, Lord.” He stared at Jack and said menacingly, “You will explain to us how you come to be in possession of the Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’ and how you come to be in Shanghai. We will go to General Li Xiucheng now and show him our discovery.”

  The three of them were escorted to a cluster of tents at the centre of the encampment. The biggest marquee was guarded by two armour-clad Taiping riflemen in fur caps. Two golden lion flags flapped in a gentle breeze next to the entrance and ribbons fluttered from the eaves of the marquee. Stepping inside was like being transported to a different world. The walls and ceiling of the marquee were made of yellow silk and there was an elaborately woven carpet on the floor. Jack’s eye was drawn to a desk and chairs, intricately carved in red lacquer. Two clerks sat at separate desks and two more guards stood, blank-faced, at the back of the room. A Chinese man, in his thirties and wearing a bright red silk jacket, appeared from behind a curtain. This was General Li Xiucheng – commander of the great Taiping army. He gestured for Backhouse, Jack, Angus and Fleming to sit in chairs in front of his desk. A girl entered the tent and poured tea into the cups that stood on the desk in front of them. She bowed, moved aside and hovered, waiting for further orders.

  Backhouse was bursting with excitement as he clutched the device.

  “If I may, General?”

  Xiucheng nodded and Backhouse approached the desk and tentatively laid the VIGIL device on the table in front of him. Amongst the splendour of the silk tent and the elaborate lacquer furniture, the device looked strangely out of place.

  General Xiucheng raised his eyebrows at Backhouse, “What is this, Holy Teacher?”

  “General, this is an extraordinary discovery. We have been blessed. It is a gift from God.”

  There was scarcely any change in the expression on Xiucheng’s face.

  “Explain, Holy Teacher,” he commanded.

  “This object was with these English hostages we picked up as we entered Shanghai. Only one of these devices has ever been seen before. It was invented by Charles Babbage in England. Babbage – the President of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the leader of the Science Lords and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. This device is so powerful that only three people ever knew of its existence… I was one of those people. Babbage guarded its secrets very, very carefully. But now we have the device, or a copy of it, delivered right into our hands. It is incredible.”

  “What does it… do
?” Xiucheng said, calmly, staring at the strange gadget lying on the desk in front of him.

  “No, it’s not what it does, General, but what it shows. Let me demonstrate.”

  Backhouse switched on the device, opened one of the applications and started to scroll through a series of images. As he did so, Xiucheng’s neutral expression changed to one of utter astonishment.

  “Babbage never explained how he came to invent such a thing or how he created the pictures and designs that it shows. All we know is that it describes in detail some wondrous inventions and machines… machines that can be built. This, General, is the ultimate source of British power. The CPS inventions that drive British industry and military might come from this little box – the Babbage ‘Seeing Engine’ – and now it has been delivered straight into our hands.” Backhouse was finding it difficult to control himself, “I felt, when Babbage showed me what he had created, all those years ago, it was as if he had received a gift from the almighty… a window to a different world. Today God has given us, the Taiping, that same gift. It is a message that God is with us. The information in the ‘Seeing Engine’ will allow us to build even more powerful machines… and weapons… weapons you could imagine in your wildest dreams. General, the Taiping will rule the earth – the whole world will become the Heavenly Kingdom. Our Heavenly Kingdom.”

  Jack observed the exchange between Backhouse and General Xiucheng. It was like watching a slow-motion car crash. It was a disaster. It would bring a torrent of unwelcome questions. Jack knew he would be expected to reveal its secrets and help translate them into real, working machines – machines that would be used to help the Taiping win their civil war against the Imperialists. The Taiping had already benefited from industrial and military secrets seeping into the country, but the discovery of their own VIGIL device would give them access to new ideas and innovations which would accelerate this process and quickly translate into a huge military advantage. He felt ill.