The Rebellion Engines Read online

  THE REBELLION ENGINES

  Print: ISBN: 978-0-9909462-9-8

  Copyright © 2021 by Jeannie Lin

  All rights reserved.

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  Cover design by Deranged Doctor Design (www.derangeddoctordesign.com).

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  For inquiries, please contact Jeannie Lin via the e-mail contact form at www.jeannielin.com.

  Contents

  List of Characters

  Part I

  The Factories

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Part II

  The High Seas

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Part III

  Shanghai

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Historical Notes

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Jeannie Lin

  List of Characters

  Note: The family name comes first for characters who have both given and family names listed. I.e. Jin Soling has a given name of Soling and a family name of Jin.

  Jin Soling-Daughter of the former imperial Chief Engineer. Trained in traditional medicine and acupuncture, she struggles with securing her family’s future in amidst threats of rebellion and colonization.

  * * *

  Jin Zhi-fu-Soling’s father and former Chief Imperial Engineer who was blamed for the empire’s loss in the first Opium War.

  * * *

  Jin Tian-Soling’s studious younger brother who shows hints of his father’s ingenuity.

  * * *

  Shi Anlei -Soling and Tian’s mother. A talented mathematician who is struggling with opium addiction.

  * * *

  Crown Prince Yizhu- Heir to the throne who seeks to strengthen his empire against the Yingguo (British) invaders.

  * * *

  Chen Chang-wei-Engineer and member of the Ministry of Science who was formerly betrothed to Soling before her father’s execution.

  * * *

  Yang Hanzhu-Rogue chemist and former member of the Ministry of Science during the first Opium War. Defector and traitor to the Chinese empire.

  * * *

  Dean Burton-American merchant living in the foreign concession of Shanghai. An ally of Chen Chang-wei.

  * * *

  Sagara Satomi-Daughter of Sagara Shintarō, a renowned inventor and scientist of the samurai class. Satomi is an expert in crafting firearms.

  * * *

  Makoto-Disgraced samurai and ronin. A sword-for-hire.

  Part I

  The Factories

  Prologue

  Qing Dynasty, 1853 A.D.

  Chang-wei and I made the journey by river in a towering ship built like a fortress, to a final destination even we didn’t know.

  I had in my possession the imperial decree notifying me of my new appointment. Jin Soling, daughter of Jin Zhi-fu, is granted the title of Physician at the Imperial Factories.

  Chang-wei’s decree didn’t name him as anyone’s son. It simply read that Chen Chang-wei was assigned as head engineer at the Factories.

  I’d been relieved we were being sent to the same place, even though I had other doubts. I’d petitioned to be reassigned from my previous position as physician in the Emperor’s harem, a place filled with perfume and intrigue. I was happy to be free of the palace — even though it meant leaving Mother and my brother Tian in Peking for a time. It was dangerous to hover in the circle of court politics. I didn’t have the talent or stomach for it.

  As the son of a military official from the north, my father had thrived in those circles of power and influence. He had risen through the ranks of the bureaucracy to become head of the Ministry of Science — only to be condemned to death after we’d lost the war against Yingguo, known as England, and their armored steamships.

  I should be grateful the imperial appointment saw fit to include Father’s name. I should be happy he had any mention at all. Maybe it meant the Jin family name was no longer held in disgrace.

  The current Emperor on the throne was not the one who had sentenced my father to death. Prince Yizhu, now styled Emperor Xianfeng, had been tutored by my father. He had recruited men like Chen Chang-wei to build up the Qing army using their knowledge of technology and science — even if it meant adopting the ways of the West.

  The Emperor’s bold plan was the reason I’d been summoned before the imperial court after living in exile for years. Yizhu had given me a chance to gain protection for my family and restore our standing, but for every task I completed for the imperial court, there was always another, more difficult one to follow.

  For now, the Emperor was far away. The foreigners who had taken over our ports were far away. We floated through a corridor of vast mountains rising high above, along the Yangtze River which seemed as wide as an ocean.

  I was nothing more than a grain of sand. The smallest seed. I liked that feeling. The dark mountains shielded us from the world beyond and there was nothing but rock and wind and water. I couldn’t remember ever feeling such peace.

  Chang-wei appeared to feel the same way. The worry lines that frequently hung over his brow had smoothed out. He wrote in that little notebook of his every day while we stood on the deck of the ship. Observations, he told me. Reflections. I suppose it was his engineer’s version of poetry — committing details to his impressive memory.

  Between writing, whenever he glanced up, his dark, thoughtful eyes would search for me. My heart leapt at each contact.

  Chang-wei was graced with high cheekbones and a squared, well-formed chin that spoke of steadiness and loyalty. I secretly found him handsome. Secret because we never spoke about things like that. Trivial things. Things that would make him laugh at me when Chang-wei rarely laughed.

  There was a dark cloud looming over us despite the gentle river. Soon, the idyllic part of the journey would come to an end. The Factories had been a source of fear and dread in me for years now. There were imperial factories throughout the mainland. Where we were going was understood to be one complex among many, but the exact location of this one was kept secret.

  After the Qing empire had suffered defeat against the foreign warships in the Opium War, we had become determined to never be caught so ill-equipped again. Foundries and factories were raised quickly, using the same system of conscription and mass labor that had built the Great Wall and shaped the Grand Canal.

  I had lived in fear that my younger brother, Tian, would be conscripted into the Factories. I’d done everything in my power to protect him and my mother, even agreeing to work for the same imperial authorities that had executed my father. The empire had suffered a humiliating defeat and Father had been Chief Imperial Engineer. Someone had to take the blame.

  The factory conscripts were paid for their labor, but they had little choice in the matter. I’d known of men in our village who had been marched off to never return. Yet I was going to the hidden and hated Factories now to serve as physician.

&nbs
p; To live in these times, in the shadow of the Factories and beneath the haze of opium smoke, was to learn to take what oxygen I could from every breath, no matter how corrupted the air might be.

  At night, we retired below into the hold. Chang-wei and I had separate sleeping compartments, but there was no one on the ship to serve as chaperon. We were the only true passengers - the rest being crew and imperial guards overseeing the monthly shipment of supplies to the Factories. It was a bountiful shipment, which was why it had to be guarded by a floating fortress. Pirates and bandits stalked the waterways.

  That night, I lingered in Chang-wei’s berth, sensing that the journey was coming to an end. I rested my head on his shoulder as he told a story.

  “Over a thousand years ago, in the Zhou Dynasty, there was an artificer named Yan Shi,” he began.

  “What’s an artificer?”

  “Like an inventor.” Chang-wei’s arm circled around me as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  I settled in closer, warm and sleepy.

  “The artificer appeared before King Mu, the fifth king of Zhou,” he continued. “He presented a life-sized machine with a man’s body. The invention looked just like a living person from the outside, able to move and walk.”

  “What was it made of?”

  “The records say it was leather, wood and lacquer.”

  “Like a puppet.”

  “Yes. But without sticks or strings.”

  My eyelids grew heavy as I listened. My palm rested against his chest feeling his heart beat just beneath my fingertips. When had I ever had Chang-wei completely to myself?

  He went on, his fingertips trailing absently over my hair. “While the king watched in astonishment, Yan Shi had the automaton walk and nod. If he touched the automaton’s chin, its mouth would drop open and it would start singing. If he touched his hand, it would react. Then the automaton turned to the king’s concubines and started flirting.”

  “How would a machine flirt?”

  “With lewd and naughty gestures too scandalous to re-enact.”

  I laughed.

  “The king became outraged at the insult and started to call for his guards to have Yan Shi executed. Thinking quickly, Yan Shi opened up his invention like a cabinet to show the king that it was merely a construction painted to look like a man on the outside. Inside was a fully connected set of artificial bones, joints and muscles. Even a full set of organs. The king was delighted and spared Yan Shi’s life.”

  “That’s an interesting story,” I murmured.

  “It’s in the dynasty records,” Chang-wei mused. “We’ve been envisioning these designs for hundreds of years.”

  Boastful engineers and impulsive kings. A time-honored tradition.

  He shifted positions to lay down beside me and I curled up against him. A year ago, I would have thought such actions too bold, too familiar, but we’d been through so much. We’d faced life and death together.

  Chang-wei was quiet for so long that I thought he had fallen asleep. His breathing slowed, deep and steady. I listened with my ear pressed to his chest and started to drift as well, when he spoke again.

  “This will be an opportunity to establish a name for myself.”

  “You have a name,” I insisted drowsily.

  “I can redeem myself in the eyes of the Ministry.” His arm tightened around me. “And then, perhaps I can finally—”

  He didn’t finish. I started to ask him what sort of redemption could he possibly require? He was Chen Chang-wei, eternally faithful servant to the imperial court.

  There was something else I wanted to tell him, but the words slipped from my grasp as I sank into dreams, lulled by the sway of the water. I was safe and warm in Chang-wei’s arms, as content as I could ever remember being.

  Right before sleep took over, I remembered what I’d try to say. I wanted to tell him not to be like the artificer Yan Shi.

  Barely clever enough not to get himself killed.

  Chapter 1

  Qing Dynasty, 1854 A.D. - One year later.

  * * *

  I stood in the workroom with a large bowl before me. Inside was a combination of ginseng and zicao root mixed with beeswax and ground into a paste. I added drops of sesame oil and stirred until the pale-colored ointment became smooth. The salve would be applied to wounds and cuts to aid healing.

  Even though I was on my feet, the routine task of measuring and mixing felt like a respite. There was little time for rest in the year since I’d arrived at the Factories in Hubei.

  When I was satisfied with the consistency of the ointment, I scooped it into ceramic jars. The supply in the infirmary needed to be replenished as well as the stashes directly at each facility. Most of the cuts and lacerations that the workmen suffered on a day-to-day basis never made it to the infirmary.

  As I wiped my hands clean, an explosion thundered through the outpost.

  I held my breath, every muscle coiled for what would happen next. Silence followed, interrupted by the clang of the gong. I rushed for the door, nearly colliding into Kai, an ox-shaped, ox-sized man dressed in the same dove-gray uniform that I wore. He met my eyes briefly, exchanging a look of quiet dread. All around us there was the echo of footsteps. The infirmary crew spilled out into the front of the administrative section to stare toward the factories.

  The insistent beating of the gong told me the damage this time was serious. A signal flare shot into the sky, trailing green smoke.

  “Tai Shan.” I reported the name of the facility for the benefit of anyone new to the medical team who wasn’t yet familiar with the signal code. “Everyone. Now.”

  The Factories consisted of five main facilities, each named after one of the five sacred mountains, along with an array of supporting storehouses and workshops.

  The sedan was already loaded with supplies. I gestured for Kai and the errand boy Po. Kai was the resident bone-setter. I had chosen Po for the simple trait that he didn’t faint at the sight of blood.

  My heart was still pounding as I slid the beads of the abacus control to set the coordinates. Tai Shan was the largest facility at our outpost. Over a thousand workers toiled within the walls. One thousand lives in possible danger.

  The gunpowder engine in the sedan awoke with a low rumble just as Kai settled his large frame into the carriage. He pulled Po in beside him. The vehicle could carry more, but we needed to move quickly. We were speeding away even before I seated myself.

  “How many days since the last one?” Kai muttered.

  I stared straight ahead as we sped past the staff quarters toward the factory grounds. “Focus.”

  Black smoke rose into the sky in the distance.

  “Twenty days,” Kai said beneath his breath in answer to his own question. “If the Directorate cared to pay any mind to our well-being.”

  “Focus.”

  I knew it had been twenty days. I knew how long it had been to the hour. I knew it by the tightness that had grown in my chest with each passing day as I waited for the next tragedy to strike. And now the tightness was replaced by this pounding, pounding of my heart inside me which was, guiltily, almost a relief. Because now action could replace fear.

  The factory appeared before us. It was a dark tower that on normal days spewed a stream of smoke and gunpowder residue from venting pipes. A billowing cloud, bitter with ash surrounded it. My stomach dropped. A fire inside had to be the source of the smoke. The whir of the pumps indicated the irrigation system had engaged. Water was being funneled from the cisterns underground into the facility.

  Chen Chang-wei had the system built months ago. He’d enlisted a hundred men and the ire of the imperial inspectors for the project. At the moment, I laid my hopes on his invention.

  As we neared, workers streamed out of the factory gates. With the aid of the mechanical sedan, we had arrived before the rest of the medical crew. There was a resident yishi assigned to each of the five factories to see to injuries that happened on the lines, but alto
gether that meant there was only a handful of trained physicians to care for the thousands conscripted to work in the factories.

  When I’d first arrived, Zhuzhi yishi, the appointed chief physician, would only assign me to the care of the women who worked the Factories as well as the ones who had come with their families to live in the adjacent village. That number was few in comparison to the rest of the workforce and the need for a physician’s care was too great. Soon, propriety became a second or third thought. I was being sent wherever I was needed.

  Then Zhuzhi yishi was killed during a scaffolding collapse at the Hua Shan facility. Of the physicians that remained, many were apprentices and village doctors. Though I was in essence a village doctor as well, I had been appointed by imperial decree from Peking. This left me as the acting chief physician.

  I don’t think anyone else wanted the job.

  The sedan came to a halt just beyond the gathering crowd. There were no section leaders or foremen to direct the evacuated workers, but I couldn’t worry about that. I had my own job to tend to. During a crisis, it was of utmost importance to remember that and only that. Do your job. Don’t get overwhelmed.