NICHOLAS RECEIVES AN IMPORTANT COMMAND.
On the day following the visit of the prince to the military stations, a
change was made among the officers. Some were bambooed, some
reprimanded, and others sent into confinement. The post of Leang, who
held the command of five hundred men under the General Kin, being given
to Nicholas, he took Chow with him as a kind of sub-officer, and as the
wounds of the latter fortunately proved to be only in the flesh, he soon
became well enough to caper with delight at the chance his new position
might give him of meeting the slayer of his father.
For some time Nicholas had little else to do but keep his men at their
posts, and exercise them in the use of the matchlock, which, although
the Chinese then knew so little about it, that the rebound of the stock
did as much mischief to the owner as the barrel did to his enemies, he
had long practised on board his father's ships. Then, again, he would
exercise them in sword, and bow and arrow practice, and the use of their
shields.
Such was his employment till intelligence arrived that the rebel Li-Kong
was on his march to besiege Pekin with a large army, when, seeking an
audience of the Emperor, he threw himself at the foot of the throne,
and prayed to be sent with a party of flying horse to make observations,
and drive the people of the neighboring towns and villages into the
capital for protection. His zeal, however, was useless; for, placing his
whole faith in the bonzes and intriguing nobles around him, who laughed
to scorn the idea of so improbable an event as the invasion of so great
a capital by a mere rebel, Wey-t-song angrily commanded Nicholas to keep
to his posts upon the walls, where he remained, till wearied with
inaction he longed to return to his father's fleet. Wait a little
Nicholas, and there will be action enough.
More than once during the reign of Wey-t-song had famine stalked through
the land, but then he had struggled to stem the torrent by opening his
purse and granaries. Now, however, that nature withheld her ordinary
supplies, a rebel army crowded the approaches to the capital, so that
provision could not be brought in, and the dearth of food grew so great,
that a pound of rice could not be purchased for less than its weight in
silver, and the flesh of horses, rats, dogs, cats, and mice had become
so rare, that even rotten skins were bought for human food. The Emperor
wickedly kept close within the luxurious apartments of his inner palace,
caring but little for the starving people, so that he and the great
mandarins could revel in their luxurious ease and pleasures.
Now, as indolence will spread as fast as nettles, the officers of the
army, instead of attending to their duties, spend the greater part of
their night-watches in gambling and drinking so hard, that had the
enemy come upon them suddenly they must have surrendered. Yet the
imperial troops were so numerous and the defences so strong, that with
anything like a good show of fighting the rebels could have been beaten
back, if not indeed entirely destroyed. As, however, these officers must
have been fully aware of all this, it is only reasonable to suppose they
were playing another little game of their own, that we shall soon see.
Thus weeks passed away, without more than mere rumors of the movements
of the rebel Li-Kong, who, it was said, was fast approaching the
capital, and sacking towns or destroying the people on his march. There
one day came a number of men to the eastern gate, reporting themselves
to be fugitives, who had been driven to seek protection in the capital
from Li, who was on his march by the eastern suburbs; and as also they
brought the joyful intelligence that a vast quantity of rice was on the
road from the southern provinces, under the charge of a body of
merchants, who had managed to evade the rebels by taking a different
route, they were received with open arms and treated handsomely.
Then, as the General Kin feared that the starving people would set upon
the wagons as they entered the city, he came out on the day of their
arrival with a large body of soldiers to escort the food to the
storehouse, where it could be fairly distributed. But so eager was the
general to secure the grain from a sudden rush of the hungry people,
that he encompassed the procession with his troops so perfectly, that
neither wagons nor the fugitive tradesmen who accompanied them could be
seen by the crowd. Moreover Kin kept close the wagons till they were
safe within the fore-court of the storehouses. After performing his
duty, the general astonished Nicholas by carrying his indefatigability
so far as to personally inspect the walls, post the sentries, and
examine the flints of their matchlocks, all of which was very puzzling,
for not only was there no enemy to be seen, but the deserters and
fugitives reported that the attack, if made at all, would be upon the
opposite walls of the city, whither, in fact, Kin had sent already a
great part of the soldiers who had hitherto been posted upon that side.