Chapter 75
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The First Blow
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Am I finally becoming a true man of the 19th century?
The merchants, having learned of the Qing Dynasty's intentions, reacted exactly as I had predicted.
“They mean to come all the way here and confiscate the opium?”
“Those bastards must be insane. Let them try if they dare.”
“If they attempt a forced landing, can’t we just blast them with cannons? We might concede to them seizing opium in Guangzhou, since that's their territory, but this is an island we've occupied for over a decade.”
Strictly speaking, Lintin Island was also Qing territory, but at the time, most Western nations had concluded, based on their own customary laws, that it was under effective European control.
Had the Qing Dynasty consistently protested, it might have been a different story, but their silence until now implied a degree of acceptance, leaving no room for argument.
Of course, from the Qing's perspective, they had reluctantly let it slide because they didn't want to go to war with the West over a tiny, uninhabited island far from the mainland, unlike their territories on the continent.
“Now, now, everyone. Don’t worry too much. No matter how mad the Qing Emperor is about confiscating opium, the Viceroy of Liangguang is a rational man. He knows full well how foolish it would be to send warships here to seize it.”
“That makes sense, I suppose?”
“Do you have any idea roughly how much opium is on Lintin Island right now?”
“Well, most of the opium our company sells is stockpiled on this island. It’s likely the same for other companies, and since we recently brought in nearly all our stock, I’d say it’s close to thirty thousand chests, wouldn't you?”
One chest is about 140 pounds... over 60 kilograms. If there are 30,000 chests, that’s an unbelievable amount of the stuff dormant on this island.
“If all thirty thousand chests were sold at full price, what would be the approximate value?”
“The market price is always fluctuating, but I’d estimate around 7.5 million pounds. Assuming it all sells, of course.”
By modern standards, that meant we were talking about a sum in the billions.
It was a figure that made it perfectly understandable why the opium merchants were so desperate to sell it, and why so many British politicians couldn't refuse their lobbying.
Destroying opium in the waters off Guangzhou was one thing, but coming into a territory under our effective control to confiscate 7.5 million pounds worth of it was another matter entirely.
No country would say that Britain should simply tolerate it.
However, the merchants weren't fools; they wouldn't just let their opium be taken without a fight.
They would either ask the East India Company to resist with force or move a significant portion of the opium elsewhere. I needed to take measures to prevent them from acting rashly.
“If the Qing Dynasty truly confiscates that much opium without our consent, it’s tantamount to declaring war on our homeland. They are free to choose their path, but if they are genuinely entertaining such a mad idea, they must be made to pay the price.”
“True, they’re not idiots. They must be after something else. This feels like a declaration, a warning to us not to have any foolish ideas because they are serious.”
Even Jardine and Matheson, who had been selling opium here for over a decade, didn't seem to believe the Qing Dynasty would actually make such a choice.
But lo and behold, there are no absolutes in this world.
***
The talks on Lintin Island were scheduled for three days and two nights.
As expected, the Qing inspection team, perhaps intimidated by their own weak naval power, arrived on the island with an enormous retinue.
I had been worried they might show trust by coming with only a minimal number of people, so this was a relief.
Of course, given the Qing's disposition, the possibility of them bringing only a small escort was nonexistent from the start.
“What do you think, Viceroy? There are thirty thousand chests of opium on this island alone. You must realize how unrealistic it is to think you can confiscate and destroy it all. Not only the merchants, but our home country will absolutely not stand for it.”
“...It’s an amount far greater than I imagined. But in the end, you intended to sell all of this enormous quantity to our people, did you not? How much silver must have flowed out... No, before the outflow, have you ever considered how many people will be ruined by that drug?”
You're not wrong.
But the people back home openly claim that opium is less harmful than whiskey and that the Qing people are simply lazy. What can you do?
It's just empty words that fall on deaf ears.
“To be frank, I too believe it would be excessive to let this entire amount flood into the Qing Dynasty. However, if you confiscate it all, the merchants from my country will all go bankrupt. No, a significant portion of the opium here has not yet been paid for to the East India Company, which will lead to a host of serious problems.”
“That is…”
He probably wanted to say that was our problem, but saying so would make the aftermath truly unmanageable.
No matter how much they tried to stop it, the opium smuggling market kept growing and yielding enormous profits. Until now, the structure was such that whatever was produced was sold.
As a result, the East India Company just churned out opium, and the merchants, knowing they could sell whatever they received, wanted to secure as much of it as possible.
A mindset of ‘I can pay it back after I sell it’ naturally formed, and credit transactions—receiving the goods first and paying later—increased year after year.
But what if all the opium stored here were to be confiscated or destroyed?
The damage would be on a completely different level from losing some opium brought to Guangzhou.
The merchants would go bankrupt in droves, and the East India Company would also suffer significant losses and would go berserk trying to recover its money.
“You are a wise man, Viceroy. I trust you know what choice you must make.”
“Huu... Do you think I wish for this? But His Majesty the Emperor’s will is firm. I have no other choice.”
“You say you have no choice, but speaking frankly, isn’t confiscating the opium impossible anyway? You spent all of yesterday inspecting the area, so you must have realized. Can the Qing army truly come here and seize the opium?”
“...If your country's merchants would just cooperate peacefully...”
“You know as well as I do that they won't. Unless, of course, they wish to hand over their entire fortunes and be ruined.”
When I glanced over, Lin Zexu also turned his head toward the merchants, who were watching the negotiation process with tense expressions.
The tense atmosphere and hostile glares were obvious to anyone.
He couldn't have failed to sense their determination to stop any confiscation, even if it meant taking up arms.
But with a stern command from the Son of Heaven, a mere viceroy like him had no other choice.
“I understand your country's position, but the word of the Son of Heaven, the master of this nation…”
Just as Lin Zexu, prepared for catastrophe, was about to speak with a resolute look in his eyes.
BOOOOM! KRA-KOOM!
A deafening roar was accompanied by a violent tremor underfoot.
“W-what was that?”
“What’s that noise?”
“S-sounded like gunpowder exploding.”
“F-fire! Isn’t that a fire over there?”
Chaos erupted in an instant.
Seeing the flames soaring in the distance, the merchants shot up from their seats, their faces pale. Lin Zexu was no different.
“Goddammit, what in the world is suddenly…”
Jardine, who had been covering his ears while muttering a thick curse, suddenly went white as a sheet and stared at the direction of the furiously burning flames.
“Isn’t... isn’t that... the direction of the warehouses?”
“...?”
“...”
The merchants, who knew exactly what kind of warehouses he meant, all fell silent as if under a spell.
“FUCK!!! SHIIIIIT!”
“Water! Get water! Shit! Put out the fire, quickly!”
“Aaaargh! No! This can’t be happening!”
Exactly five seconds later, as if on cue, they let out screams of despair and ran like madmen.
Well, well. It burns nicely when you douse it in oil.
With a fire that intense, no matter how much water the merchants threw on it, they couldn't stop the warehouses from burning to the ground.
I turned to Lin Zexu, my gaze hardening, and asked.
“A novel approach. Was it His Majesty the Emperor’s command to simply burn and destroy everything since a formal confiscation seemed unlikely?”
“N-no... This can’t be. Wait! This is a misunderstanding! We weren’t the ones who set that fire...!”
“Then who did? Did the opium merchants suddenly go mad and decide to burn their own fortunes?”
“I gave no order to commit arson! This was done by someone acting on their own!”
Right. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to say they had nothing to do with it at all.
An incident like this occurred just when a large contingent from the Qing Dynasty had arrived on the island. Common sense dictated that they had to be the culprits.
Moreover, they had spent the entire previous day inspecting the warehouses under the guise of an investigation, giving them more than enough time to set things up.
“We’ll find out whether it was unauthorized or not once we investigate. But our home country will not let this matter rest.”
“I will say it again, I never gave such an order.”
Yes, yes. I'm sure.
Unfortunately for him, there were plenty of Qing officials who wanted to burn all the opium.
It hadn't been difficult to find someone who would succumb to the temptation of being told, ‘Everything is ready, just come and light the fire.’
Especially since the Son of Heaven had been issuing increasingly harsh decrees lately, there were many loyal subjects who believed they must follow his orders.
My detective agency's employees, disguised as opium merchants, had doused the warehouses with oil before the meeting began to ensure they burned well, and had also placed flammable materials between the opium chests.
The result of a loyal Qing subject—one who cried ‘Down with opium, down with the English’—dropping a spark on it was what we were now seeing.
Of course, when all was said and done, the one who actually lit the fire was a Qing soldier, so an investigation would reveal nothing to implicate my side.
He may have thought he was setting the fire in secret, but unfortunately for him, I had already secured evidence that would identify the culprit as soon as the investigation began.
And the operation didn't end with just burning the opium warehouses.
FWOOOOOSH!
“Aaaaaah! The harbor! There’s a fire at the harbor too!”
“The merchant ships are burning! Get water!”
In a direction not far from the warehouses.
The flames erupting from the harbor were engulfing the very merchant ship my agents had used for their trips between Joseon and Wa.
This was it.
The decisive move that would provide the justification for this war.
Watching the ship burn spectacularly, Lin Zexu's expression showed a level of bewilderment far greater than before.
“W-why is there a fire over there...?”
“A merchant ship is on fire! Put it out immediately and check if anyone is on board!”
“Th-this is... what in the world is…”
Unlike when the warehouses were burning, this time Lin Zexu couldn't claim it wasn't his order.
Of course not. Yelling that he had ordered an investigation but not arson would be nothing short of a confession.
While I had essentially pushed them into burning the opium, the burning merchant ship was not entirely unrelated to Lin Zexu.
By pretending to constantly travel between Joseon and Wa, I had thoroughly grated on their nerves, so it was only natural for the Qing to want to investigate that ship.
However, with the quality of Qing ships, catching one of ours at sea was impossible, and even if they tried to inspect it in Guangzhou, there would be no evidence left.
Therefore, they wouldn't get another chance unless the ships were docked at our home base.
If they were to truly investigate, now, during the middle of the talks, was their only opportunity.
I had instructed my agents, disguised as merchants, to cause a commotion and then set the ship on fire if Qing soldiers came to investigate secretly.
After the fire was extinguished, they would all be declared missing, of course.
Leaving behind all the evidence that Qing soldiers had attempted to search the ship by force.
“How did things... how…”
In the end, the fire, a disaster for both the opium merchants and Lin Zexu, subsided only after completely incinerating the warehouse district and the merchant ships. The merchants, devastated, searched through the ashes again and again.
“Th-there must be something left! There has to be.”
“Please! Please, just a little…”
Raw opium has a high moisture content, so it doesn't burn completely easily.
But when the entire warehouse was doused in oil and set ablaze, how much could possibly be left?
The chests on the outer edges might have been salvageable, but I had made sure to take care of that as well.
The merchants, their eyes bloodshot as they searched for any salvageable opium chests, eventually discovered a few chests loaded onto a Qing ship.
These were the ones my employees had secretly smuggled out, but with irrefutable physical evidence now discovered, the Qing's intentions became clear.
Furthermore, a large number of weapons used by Qing soldiers were discovered in the wreckage of the burnt merchant ships.
“You sons of bitches! You knew confiscation was impossible from the start, so you pretended to negotiate while planning to burn it all!”
“To murder witnesses and burn the ship just because you were caught trying to search it—are you even human?!”
Faced with undeniable evidence, Lin Zexu could offer no rebuttal and simply squeezed his eyes shut.
Even if he hadn't given the order, nothing would change since he had failed to stop his subordinates from running rampant.
Burning the opium could perhaps be argued away, but they had gone as far as to search a docked merchant ship, kill the resisting merchants, and burn the vessel to destroy evidence.
And even after all that, they left evidence behind and were caught.
This was already a de facto declaration of war.
Lin Zexu, pleading for time to conduct a thorough investigation, left hastily by ship without even completing the scheduled talks.
“Minister! You must inform the home country of this immediately!”
“I won’t be satisfied until every last one of those bastards is ground to dust!”
“Are you just going to let those bastards leave? Give the order to open fire! Pleeeease!”
The hate-filled cries of the merchants filling Lintin Island signaled that the first shot of the war had been fired.