Kings of Albion

Postscript

A year later Mah-Lo presented himself and his account of Ali ben Quatar Mayeen's adventures to the court of the Ming Emperor Cheng-Hwa in his capital Cambaluc. In his preamble he said that while the Vijayanagaran empire's army had recently undergone a radical transformation the reforms were all made with defence rather than expansion in mind. The defences of fortresses had been improved to withstand sieges supported by gunpowder; they had their own way of making gunpowder which was better than anyone's apart from the Chinese; they were training heavy infantry to withstand cavalry. It was Mah-Lo's opinion that with these improvements they would be able to withstand Muslim invasions for the foreseeable future but they presented no threat to Chinese expansion or trade.

Looking further afield, to the other side of the world, it was his conclusion that none of the European kingdoms need be considered an immediate danger to the Chinese apart possibly from the Portuguese. And even the Portuguese, it seemed, were more interested in building up a maritime trading empire based on enclaves of merchants rather than military domination.

However, in the long term, he had no doubt that eventually the Inglysshe could become a problem. If Ali was right in his depiction of this island race, once their internal disputes were settled Mah-Lo feared they could well become a problem for the whole world.

Their history, particularly the Norman Conquest and its aftermath,

had developed a set of contradictory characteristics which gave

them an edge over all the other peoples he had encountered in

all his wanderings.

'They are,' he told us, 'a nation of individuals who yet can combine and behave with ferocious bravery under leaders they respect; they are skilful and ruthless traders with few natural assets of their own to exploit; they are foolhardy sea-farers; they are inordinately arrogant; they are ruthless, unforgiving, cruel enemies. Unfettered by morals or a common religion they take an empirical, pragmatic view of life, adapting their beliefs to circumstances, though always favouring an approach which leaves each individual the captain of his own soul.

'Ali once heard an Ingerlonder say: "I do not tell others how to live and I do not expect others to tell me."'

Mah-Lo continued: 'They enjoy and even live for camaraderie, the company of their fellows, physical prowess, hedonistic if simple enjoyment shared with others, strong drink and rough, speedily concluded sex. They have an incredible capacity to suffer pain for a short term, and will face death willingly. But they will not put up with pain or toil as a life-choice. They hate boredom.

'They will cheerfully accept individuals of other creeds and races as individuals, especially if they take a personal liking to them, while continuing to despise all foreigners in general.

'They are mad,' Mah-Lo concluded. 'One day they will conquer the world.'

There was a moment's silence, then the Grand Chamberlain made a dismissive gesture with his long-nailed lingers. "But not China,' he said. 'No,' Mah-Lo agreed. 'Probably not China."