"What do you mean, you're not staying?" The crowd had somehow disgorged Scholar Wu at its head. He didn't look happy, as if he'd just been told he was going to have to deal with his ancestors again. "Wen Xia, this is no time to go sailing! You have to help these people. They have to consolidate what they've won here today."
"How hard will
that be?" Wen looked at the pile of
arms and armor that had been removed from those soldiers who no longer wished
to serve in anybody's army. "This
dynasty—and it hardly deserves that word—is brittle, Wu Ming. One good push will send it tottering in
pieces. You don't need me. Anyone can give that sort of push."
"I must disagree with you." Wu Ming gestured, first to the crowd and then to the ships in the harbor. "Not just anyone inspired this crowd. Those pirates didn't sail here for me, or for anyone else. They sailed here and charged down here for you."
Wen smiled. "You're confusing me with 'Bloody Sheet'
Wen," he said. "Or with the
Notorious Wen, the pirate." He
nodded in the direction of the now-discarded gold armor. "They're like that suit there: what they
represent is far more important than any ordinary reality. The idea
of the Notorious Wen: that's what these people responded to. And with all due respect, Wu, you don't need
me when you've got the idea."
"You do
yourself a disservice, you know."
Yin Fengzi walked over to them from where she had been talking with
One-Eyed Lum and the rest of Jade
Maiden's crew. "He insists that
he is nothing more than a greedy pirate whose only goal is to get rich, and yet
somehow all of his actions have directly led all of us to this place at this
time. And please note that word:
'led.' Wen Xia, you can deny it all you
want but you can't help it: you're a leader.
Wu Ming is right."
"I'm not going
to pretend that I'm not a leader," he said. "That's what I wanted to be. And I guess it's what I had to walk into a
trap and go to hell in order to learn."
He looked around; the crowd had sort of flowed around him, presumably
the better to hear the conversation, and now he was completely surrounded.
"The thing is,
what you need now is more than just one man who can give orders." He gestured to the pit and Governor Li's
viewing platform. "If all you
needed was someone to give orders, Li Ling would running this place. And you," he said to Fengzi, "would
be married to some ignorant, wealthy dolt and threatened with death should you
ever pick up a book again."
He pointed up the
hill to the governor's mansion. "I
would be very happy indeed if I thought that this was a revolution against a
tyranny. Not just the tyranny of that
place, though. I'm talking about a
revolution against the tyranny of fossilized expectations. I don't think a revolution against the Ming
will succeed. I think you have to rebel
against the whole rotten Confucian system, the one that tells you what you are
today is what you will always be."
He turned back to Wu
Ming. "You need a leader who
understands the way the enemy thinks, and has transcended that thought. Someone who understands the ideas of
government and can make them work for you, and not against you." He clapped a hand on Wu Ming's shoulder. "My scholarly friend, you've worked in
government. As near as I can tell you
have no ambitions beyond getting back to your garden. You know how much more fulfilled life can be
without the dead weight of Confucius on your shoulders." Wu stepped back, his face showing a mix of
horror and understanding. He knows that
I'm right, Wen thought. "You are
the perfect man to guide this revolution," Wen said. "You'll do what's needed and no more,
and then you'll happily retire back to your garden. If I were a more scholarly type, I'd envy you
that garden."
"I can't do
this," Wu whispered. The crowd
behind them was whispering to itself, making a sound like wind in sails. "Wen, you have to take command. Quickly, while they're still
biddable." Then he stopped, and
looked sharply at Wen.
"That's exactly
what you don't want, isn't it?" Wu said.
"Biddable people in Fusang.
That would be the way Confucians would want it."
"You
see?" Wen trusted that his smile
was encouraging. "You are the right man for the job."
"I'm not,"
the scholar said. "The right man
would combine your recklessness with my reading." He stole a glance at the collection of
merchants, criminals, fish-sellers, pirates and clerks all of whom were
watching the two men. "But in the
absence of the right man, I will do what I can."
Wen shouted a cheer,
and the crowd picked it up. He chose to
ignore the wry grin that Scholar Wu wore, a smile that said something like
"I told you so." I don't care if
they'll do what I want right now, he thought.
What matters is making them see the right thing to do, and that's what
makes Wu the right man. Besides, I just
don't want to do the job.
What I really want
to do, he knew, is keep sailing. I don't
really care that much if I don't get rich.
Just let me answer to nobody else... save for my crew. They're really a part of me, just the way the
ship is.
That was a bit of a
surprise, he decided. But he'd learned a
lot about himself since foolishly letting himself be captured. Or perhaps he'd just learned a lot, period.
"Wu," he
said, pulling the scholar away from the crush of men and women who'd suddenly
all become experts on government, "do you have any idea how you're going
to start? Getting started is always the hardest
part."
"I have some
ideas," Wu said. "There's
going to be a lot of talking at first. I
only hope we'll stop talking before the prince—or Governor Li—shows up with
soldiers." He nodded to where Yin
Fengzi was talking with some of the Maiden's
crew. "You two would make this a
lot easier, you know. Are you sure you
won't stay, even just to assist me?"
"That would
depend on how she feels," Wen said.
"I have to warn you, though: she's not very good about taking or
following orders."
"And in this
she differs from you in what way?"
"Fair
enough," Wen said, laughing.
"Hey the Jade Maiden!"
he shouted, turning to the crew. When
Fengzi and the crew turned to look back at him, he shouted, "We have a
choice before us, friends! Do we stay
and help this worthy gentleman in setting up a government that is truly
responsible to both heaven and the people of earth? Or do we set sail and turn our course
south? I hear that these mysterious new
people, the Spaniards, are shipping huge amounts of silver and gold across the
sea. Who wants to join me in taking some
of that?"
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