{"id":6320,"date":"2021-08-21T00:38:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T16:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benjamincheah.com\/?p=6320"},"modified":"2021-08-21T00:38:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T16:38:55","slug":"the-wind-blows-from-the-west-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/?p=6320","title":{"rendered":"The Wind Blows from the West Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Steam,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Opening the door, Lee was greeted by an unfamiliar sound. Harsh, brassy metal punching against something harder. The noise came from several ball-like contraptions on the desks in front of him. Young women hammered away at keys that sprouted across the balls on long spines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were Malling Writing Balls. He\u2019d read about such things, but he\u2019d never seen them before. The typists studiously ignored him, focused completely on their work. Walking past them, he noticed that the keys were solely for the Cumean alphabet, the foundation of every Western language. The staff was also dressed in Western business clothing, modified for Sum Kong\u2019s climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the far end of the room was a smaller office. The words on the glass door read \u2018Cheung Bik, Managing Director\u2019 in Kuowen and Anglian. He knocked and waited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moments later, Cheung opened the door. He was a thin, nearly skeletal man in his late forties. He had an equally old and equally thin pair of pince-nez, and his Western suit hung limply on his frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you Ethan Lee?\u201d Cheung asked in Kuoy\u00fc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was testing Lee. Lee replied in the same language. \u201cYes. I\u2019m here for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh.\u201d Cheung blinked. \u201cWell, from what I was told, I expected someone…\u201d His voice trailed into the woods of lost words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee waited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOlder,\u201d Cheung said, finally. \u201cWell, come in, please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung\u2019s oak work desk was large and expansive, the better to hold all the paperwork and stationery flowing over the surface. Much of the text was in Anglian. Cheung swept some papers away, clearing the space between him and Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told you\u2019re running a convoy to the Northeast Province, and you need a guard,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo, actually, but yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat kind of cargo are you running?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTextbooks. I\u2019m selling them to local schools and printers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Anglian?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung looked surprised. \u201cYes, yes. How did you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour staff is using Anglian typewriters, and your stationery is mainly in Anglian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh. Yes, well, the price of doing business in the International Quarter is submitting paperwork to the Emperor and the Anglians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee didn\u2019t like redirection. \u201cWhat kind of Anglian textbooks, exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung frowned at that. \u201cIs there a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just curious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are Anglian-language textbooks on Western languages, science and mathematics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an interesting line of work, selling Western textbooks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung smiled a little. \u201cThe Emperor insists that we master Western technology and create our own Industrial Revolution. To do that we must understand them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFair enough. But what about the Imperial Guard?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEh, don\u2019t worry about them. It\u2019s not my first run northeast. Everything I do is perfectly legal and supported by the Emperor himself. They\u2019ve never given me any trouble while I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho will give you trouble, then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBandits.\u201d Cheung sighed, shaking his head. \u201cThere\u2019s been an upsurge of bandit activity in the area. They like ambushing merchants who travel along the trade routes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI heard Yemaitai has been encouraging them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, and arming them too. These days, every trader going northeast these days must have armed security. At least the Yemai spies are too cowardly to do any fighting themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee nodded gravely. \u201cWhat kind of weapons do the bandits have? What about numbers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m not an expert in this sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee was unsurprised. Most civilians weren\u2019t. \u201cTell me about the route.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung rustled about in a drawer, pulling out a map. He spread it out on the desk and pointed at a red dot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first leg is by airship. I\u2019ve booked passage to Peich\u2019eng, here. The flight will take about fifteen hours. The second leg is by steam wagon. We\u2019re headed to T\u2019aip\u2019ing, stopping in at every town along the way.\u201d His index finger traced the route in a wriggling line. \u201cAt T\u2019aip\u2019ing, we make one last stop, then we take a train back here. On the train, I need you to guard the profits. I\u2019ll consider the job complete when we return to Sum Kong. The whole journey will take about two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just deposit the money in T\u2019aip\u2019ing and have it wired here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung winced. \u201cI\u2019ll be paid in Northeast liang. To make a wire transfer, I need to convert the money to kuping liang to deposit it in a bank with an Imperial charter, and then convert it again to haikwoon liang before I draw it here in Sum Kong. I\u2019ll lose at least ten percent of the funds that way. Much cheaper to just bring the money here and convert directly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee nodded sympathetically. He\u2019d faced similar troubles too. One liang was essentially a small silver ingot. Yuan and other lower-denomination coins were struck in copper and bronze. The kuping liang was the standard liang, used for all official purposes. But regional standards predated the kuping liang, and took precedence for local transactions. The Westerners had also insisted on implementing a third standard, the haikwoon liang, as the  standard currency in the International Cities, including Sum Kong. No one, not even the Westerners or the Emperor, had brought sanity to the currency system for the past century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWhat\u2019s the local climate and geography like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHot and humid. It\u2019ll be summer when we get there. The area near Peich\u2019eng is mainly floodplains, but as we go deeper to T\u2019aip\u2019ing we\u2019ll be entering forested mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee nodded, his mind half here, the other half back in his apartment picking out what to pack. \u201cWhat\u2019s the pay rate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThree pesos for signing up. Twenty centavos per day when we are underway. Another three pesos on completion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yuan was equated to the peso. But unlike the yuan, the peso was accepted everywhere in Sum Kong and the other International Cities. Also unlike the yuan, foreign currencies were not accepted in the Northeast. Or, really, anywhere outside the International Cities. Lee wondered if it was an antifraud measure, ensuring the risk taker would see the mission through. He knew some merchants preferred it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of money,\u201d Lee said. One yuan was equal to 0.72 liang, and most men his age earn just three liang a month. At most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair for someone who does wuchishu<\/em>. Also, I must warn you, part of that money is for your expenses. I can pay for room and board, nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still more than fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung smiled gently. \u201cAre you complaining about being paid too much?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee cracked a crooked smile. \u201cI\u2019ve never met a merchant who offered such high rates for such a simple job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m also buying your silence. I hear there are Yemai spies operating here, learning about convoy routes and passing them on to their bandit friends northeast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSounds fair,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust like that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung shook his head, smiling. \u201cAh, nothing. Guess I\u2019m too used to people wanting to think about things first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not like most people, Mr Cheung.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want more stories like this? Sign up for my newsletter here <\/a>and receive a free ebook!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening the door, Lee was greeted by an unfamiliar sound. Harsh, brassy metal punching against something harder. The noise came from several ball-like contraptions on the desks in front of him. Young women hammered away at keys that sprouted across the balls on long spines. They were Malling Writing Balls. He\u2019d read about such things, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[102,138,143,253,303,341],"class_list":["post-6320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-cultivation","tag-fiction","tag-free-story","tag-pulprev","tag-steampunk","tag-writing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}