Eric Flint - 1636: The China Venture

1636
the China
Venture

Eric Flint

Iver P. Cooper

1636: The China Venture

Eric Flint and Iver P. Cooper

The Ring of Fire Series Continues! The United States of Europe finds itself embroiled in international intrigue, as the uptimers attempt to establish an embassy in Ming Dynasty era China.

The newly formed United States of Europe, created by an alliance between the time-displaced Americans from the town of Grantville and the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, decides to send an embassy to the Chinese empire. One of the main purposes of the embassy is to establish trade in order to gain access to critical resources. The mission is a gamblesome might say, a long shot. The Ming dynasty is on the verge of collapse and Chinas rulers are suspicious of foreigners.

The mission experiences one setback after another, but presses on. And they gain an important ally along the way: Zheng Zhilong, a former pirate now an admiral for the Ming navy and the head of an extremely wealthy Fujian province trading family. He knows through his Jesuit missionary connections that according to Grantville's history books, the Ming dynasty is in danger, from famines, bandit armies and barbarian invaders. And he is determined that, one way or another, he and his family will survive and even prosper.

The embassy is joined as well by a young scholar, who helps them make inroads into Chinas complex and often dangerous society. Can the up-timers and their friends persuade the imperial dynasty and its mandarins to establish trade and diplomatic relations with the USE? They have one great asset: their knowledge may be the key to saving China from decades of mass suffering and civil war.

THE RING OF FIRE SERIES

1632 by Eric Flint

1633 by Eric Flint & David Weber

1634: The Baltic War by Eric Flint & David Weber

1634: The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis

1634: The Bavarian Crisis by Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce

1634: The Ram Rebellion by Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce et al.

1635: The Cannon Law by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis

1635: The Dreeson Incident by Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce

1635: The Eastern Front by Eric Flint

1635: The Papal Stakes by Eric Flint & Charles E. Gannon

1636: The Saxon Uprising by Eric Flint

1636: The Kremlin Games by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett

1636: The Devils Opera by Eric Flint & David Carrico

1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies by Eric Flint & Charles E. Gannon

1636: The Viennese Waltz by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett

1636: The Cardinal Virtues by Eric Flint & Walter Hunt

1635: A Parcel of Rogues by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis

1636: The Ottoman Onslaught by Eric Flint

1636: Mission to the Mughals by Eric Flint & Griffin Barber

1636: The Vatican Sanction by Eric Flint & Charles E. Gannon

1637: The Volga Rules by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett

1637: The Polish Maelstrom by Eric Flint

1636: The China Venture by Eric Flint & Iver P. Cooper

1635: The Tangled Web by Virginia DeMarce

1635: The Wars for the Rhine by Anette Pedersen

1636: Seas of Fortune by Iver P. Cooper

1636: The Chronicles of Dr. Gribbleflotz by Kerryn Offord & Rick Boatright

Time Spike by Eric Flint & Marilyn Kosmatka

The Alexander Inheritance by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett

Grantville Gazette volumes I-V, ed. by Eric Flint

Grantville Gazette VI-VII, ed. by Eric Flint & Paula Goodlett

Grantville Gazette VIII, ed. by Eric Flint & Walt Boyes

Ring of Fire I-IV, ed. by Eric Flint

1636: The China Venture

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2019 by Eric Flint & Iver P. Cooper

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original

Baen Publishing Enterprises

P.O. Box 1403

Riverdale, NY 10471

www.baen.com

ISBN: 978-1-4814-8423-7

eISBN: 978-1-62579-734-6

Cover art by Tom Kidd

Maps by Michael Knopp

First printing, September 2019

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Flint, Eric, author. | Cooper, Iver P., author.

Title: 1636 : the China venture / Eric Flint and Iver P. Cooper.

Other titles: Sixteen hundred thirty-six | Sixteen thirty-six | China venture

Description: Riverdale, NY : Baen, 2019. | Series: Ring of fire series

Identifiers: LCCN 2019017544 | ISBN 9781481484237 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Time travelFiction. | ChinaHistoryMing dynasty,

13681644Fiction. | GSAFD: Alternative histories (Fiction) | Science

fiction

Classification: LCC PS3556.L548 A6186666 2019 | DDC 813/.54dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017544

Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Electronic Version by Baen Books

www.baen.com

For my family: my wife Lee,

my daughter Louise, and my son Jason,

and in memory of my parents Morris and Lillie

who encouraged my reading and writing.

Once again, I thank Eric Flint for giving me

the opportunity to participate in the

development of the 1632 universe.

Iver P. Cooper

To Prof. David Farquhar

Eric Flint

Part One

1633

Ship me somewheres east of Suez,

where the best is like the worst,

Where there arent no Ten Commandments

an a man can raise a thirst.

Rudyard Kipling, Mandalay

Prologue

September 1633

Grantville

Okay, said Mike Stearns, weve thrashed out what can and cant be done right now in terms of trade with the Ottomans, the Mughals, and even the Venetians. The President of the New United States leaned back in his chair, and sighed. Are we done for today?

I must beg your indulgence a little longer, before you run off to wrestle bear, or whatever other hillbilly pastime you had in mind, said Don Francisco Nasi, his advisor and spymaster. We should talk briefly about Ming China.

China? Mikes eyebrows did a quick pull up and release. I know that there are a lot of Chinese in the world

Our best guess is about one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty million people in China proper, Don Francisco interjected. And there are also Chinese in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, although we dont know how many.

As I said, a lot, Mike continued, but how are they relevant to us right now? Its not as though they share a border with any of our enemies, so the enemy of our enemy is our friend principle doesnt come into play. And the NUS is not exactly a nation of tea drinkers.

Even the British arent tea drinkers yet, said Don Francisco. And its just as well, because about the only goods the Chinese wanted from the British in return for tea was opium, and tea sales not offset by opium had to be paid for in silver. And after the British expanded opium production in India to pay for more tea, Chinese opium use increased to the point that the Chinese realized that it had to be banned.