Big Trouble in Old Shanghai by Jeannie Lin

Author:Jeannie Lin [Lin, Jeannie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jeannie Lin

Chapter 5

“You came to smuggle Taotai Wu?” I asked, stunned.

Burton rubbed a hand over his temples. “Smuggle might not be the correct word. And while we are speaking of translation, ‘taotai’ means governor?”

“Intendant,” I corrected. “The head intendant.”

He nodded, looking very tired. “That’s what I thought. He’s the administrative head of all Shanghai.”

“Not a very good one,” I pointed out under my breath.

Burton shot me a look.

Over the last hour, Taotai Wu had relayed the events of that morning. When the attack began, Taotai Wu’s bodyguards had all donned red sashes in a coordinated effort. His newly recruited militia had turned on him. However, an informer had managed to warn the taotai in advance.

Wu managed to slip away to seek sanctuary within the temple. The district magistrate and his assistant had not been so fortunate. The tragic pair was stabbed to death, their corpses left lying over their desks.

The Small Swords were more than willing to shed blood for their cause, but they appeared to be targeting the city’s administration. The lot from Canton were still angry about their arrest several weeks ago.

At the end of his account, Wu looked Burton up and down and asked him who else would be coming to his aid. The taotai had not liked the answer.

The monks quickly ushered Wu away and pulled me aside to speak privately. Three hours had passed since the uprising began. The temple had sent out runners to gather additional information, and most of the inhabitants of Old Shanghai had taken shelter to wait out the unrest. I was left to explain the situation to Burton.

“The Small Swords are still marching through the streets, searching for the taotai,” I told him. “The city is in disarray. The militia has fractured and it seems the guards have abandoned their posts.”

Burton rubbed a hand over his chin as he considered the report. “Do you think anyone will organize a defense against the rebellion?”

The bureaucrats barely had control over the city before all this happened.

“Many of the street gangs are sympathetic to the rebellion. Old Shanghai doesn’t have the manpower or will to fight back,” I replied. “The monks believe the best course of action is to move the taotai quickly during the confusion. Things will only get worse once the rebels consolidate power.”

“The safest place for the taotai would be behind the walls of the foreign settlement,” Burton reasoned. “It’s under British and French control and protected by several armed brigades.”

My chest tightened at his casual claim of foreign authority upon Chinese soil, but Burton was in some part correct. According to the reports, the Small Swords were concentrating their forces in Old Shanghai and ignoring the concessions in the Northern City. The rebels did not want to engage the foreigners.

“Taotai Wu may not be amenable to that plan,” Burton said.

“He was expecting more…formidable protection.”

It was not so much that a foreigner had been sent to retrieve him as much as Burton was only a single man with no escort or manner of weapons.

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