The Prisoner's Gold

33

The Great Wall stretched for as far as Cobb could see. It marched up and down hills, twisting and turning as it went, giving the impression it could still keep the barbarian hordes out today.

In reality the Mutianyu section of the Wall stretched for only 2.5 kilometers, but it was dotted with twenty-two watchtowers that helped to achieve the illusion of endless security. The hills around it were lush and green, a picture postcard come to life.

But that was where the touristic glory ended.

The day was bitterly cold, with a brutal wind ripping down from the Mongolian steppe to the north. The bite of the frigid air seeped through Cobb’s coat. The relative scarcity of tourists on the Wall was explained by the season and the fact that Mutianyu was off the beaten path. Other nearby spots had the expected infrastructure of gift shops and eateries, but not here.

This place was like a ghost town.

McNutt kept an eye on things in the nearly empty parking lot while Cobb and Maggie met Professor Chu Shen up above. He was an extremely short man with a ridiculously long white beard. A lecturer from the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology at Peking University, he looked old enough to have actually built the wall.

‘Thank you for taking the time to speak with us,’ Maggie said.

‘It is my pleasure, Ms Liu. It has been quite some time.’ The small man strolled across the path on the top of the Wall as if he owned the place. With no one around, Cobb could understand how he felt that way. ‘It is also very nice to meet you, Mr Cobb.’

‘Likewise, sir.’

‘Maggie tells me you are interested in details about the Great Wall. Things that I alone might know.’ The man smiled, flashing teeth stained from a lifetime of coffee consumption. ‘You have me quite intrigued.’

‘If it’s okay with you, I’ll let Maggie tell the tale. I’d only mess it up.’

The old man nodded and, when he did, his beard flapped in the breeze.

‘Professor,’ she said, ‘we are interested in what you can tell us about the Wall during the Yuan Dynasty.’

The strolling man stopped in his tracks and turned to her, eyebrows raised. ‘The Mongol period? Very interesting. It is a time that much of the world no longer cares about — and one that most Chinese would like to forget. What aspect of this period interests you?’

Maggie exchanged a look with Cobb, who nodded his approval.

Then she turned back to Chu and whispered, ‘The Venetian.’

Chu’s face darkened. ‘Ahhh, I see.’ He walked down a flight of steps on the Wall’s top, heading for the nearest watchtower. ‘I come here every week to walk the length of this section, and I’ve visited all the other sections as well. I’ve studied this structure my entire life. In all my decades investigating the Great Wall, you are the first person to ask me about Marco Polo.’

Maggie remained silent, fearing they had offended Chu.

The truth was far from it.

Chu smiled. ‘I am not a Polo scholar, of course, but I am one of the foremost experts on the Wall. And since the Wall stretches back to the Qin Dynasty and before, I’m naturally well versed in the history of China. I have to be. You see, the Wall is China, and China is the Wall.’

Cobb remained silent. He knew the man was just getting started.

‘This part of the Wall was restored and built in the early Ming Dynasty — 1368 on toward the seventeenth century. That was less than a hundred years after Marco Polo would have passed this way on his journey to meet Kublai Khan. Of course, his narrative is famous for many things in the West, primarily for him being the first Westerner to visit and describe so much of Asia. Although he certainly did the latter, he was hardly the first European to make the journey. Can you tell me about the connection you are seeking between Polo and the Wall?’

Maggie nodded. ‘We’ve come across a few documents that imply he did, in fact, see the Wall during his time in China. What’s more, these writings insinuate that the Wall held some special place for him, even though it was mostly ruins by the time of the Tang Dynasty.’

Maggie gave away as much as she could without coming right out and saying they were seeking Polo’s treasure. Not that it mattered much. She had known Chu for many years, and she realized that he had probably guessed their true intention as soon as she had mentioned Polo.

The man was as sharp as a scalpel.

‘The ruins were featured widely in the poetry of the Tang,’ Chu said, and then he abruptly turned to Cobb. ‘618 to 907 AD.’

Cobb nodded his thanks. As Chu had guessed, Cobb was not familiar with all the various dynastic periods of China’s long history.

‘The Tang was a memory some four hundred years before Polo arrived, so you can imagine the state of the ruins back then. But there still would have been segments of it standing at that time, circa 1275. As you know, Polo’s account is notable for his omission of any mention of the Wall. Many scholars have even posited that Polo couldn’t have visited China, all based on that omission. They say any Westerner visiting China would certainly have mentioned the Wall.’

The old man lapsed into silence as they walked along the deserted battlements.

Cobb glanced out through the parapet to the wilderness beyond. ‘We were aware of such theories.’

‘People always want to challenge antiquity,’ Chu said with frustration in his voice. ‘The notion that someone like Polo could get so much right, and yet, because of one simple omission, his entire tale is suspect? Ridiculous.’

Chu shook his head before continuing. ‘Of course Polo visited China, and all the other places that he mentioned. Back then, there was a scarcity of knowledge about Asia in the West. The level of detail in the book alone suggests he must have visited. No merchant, even one who collected tales from Asian travelers for decades, could have included such detail in his account.’

‘I agree,’ Maggie said with confidence.

‘Besides,’ Chu said, ‘there are several Chinese sources that confirm his presence as well. After all, the Great Wall was where Marco Polo met the love of his life.’