CHAPTER 9 – ON THE WAY BACK TO SAMARKAND
16:09 (Central Asia Time)
Sunday, September 22, 61 B.C.E.
Hiram’s room, inn of the Singh’s caravanserai
Pataliputra, Kanava Kingdom, India
Having had a long conversation with Sajith Singh meant to arrange for their joint trip to Samarkand, Hiram had called in his associates in order to brief them on the decisions taken jointly. He smiled to his eleven associate merchants while looking around his room, now quite full.
‘’My friends, me and Sajith have come to an agreement about our oncoming trip to Samarkand. Because the war between the Sakas and the Kushans is threatening a possible closure of the route passing by Bactria and the Pamir Mountains, we decided on a main and an alternate route for our joint caravans. The main route, if still open all the way to Samarkand, will basically see us retrace the route we took from Samarkand to Pataliputra. With a departure planned for two weeks from now, this would be a trip of about six months, along a road that we now know fairly well. However, if the Kushan-Saka War ends up cutting off that itinerary around Purushapura or beyond, then we will deviate from our main route at Taxila, where we will then go North and take the Karakoram route. However, that alternate route will mean very difficult and dangerous travel conditions and would be very taxing on both riders and beasts. It would also lengthen our trip considerably and would add up to three more months to our traveling, which in turn means much higher travel costs in lodging, food and animal feed. We could also be hit by winter storms and avalanches and lose some of us. Let’s not forget as well that our families are waiting in Samarkand for our return and would be gravely concerned by such a long delay over our expected period of arrival. For those reasons, Sajith and I decided that we will try to take the main route to Samarkand all the way and to take the alternate route through the Karakoram only if absolutely necessary. Let’s thus pray that this Kushan-Saka war will be on hold when we will approach Purushapura.’’
Heraklion, one of Hiram’s main associates, then raised a hand to ask a question.
‘’Hiram, you said that we are due to depart in two weeks, so that we could leave together with Sajith’s caravan. Most of our planned business in Pataliputra has now been concluded and we only have the buying of fresh travel provisions left to do. What are we going to do in the meantime during those two weeks?’’
‘’We rest while exploring further the opportunities available in this big city. Mithra knows how our beasts could also use some rest and recuperate fully from our long trip from Samarkand.’’
‘’Those extra days here will be welcomed by me, Hiram.’’ said Nauca. ‘’I have ordered some new equipment for my horse and it will take at least one week before it is ready. I also need to have some winter clothes made for little Babita, who has only clothes suitable for Spring and Summer.’’
‘’All good ways to occupy those two weeks of waiting here.’’ said approvingly Hiram. ‘’There are a number of very good artisans who have shops here in Pataliputra. Take the time to visit them and order or buy things that we can’t find in Samarkand. We just don’t know when we will return to this city, if ever, so profit fully from this occasion. Are there any other questions? No? Then, you may return to your various occupations, may they be buying things or profiting further from the services of the local women.’’
Collective laughter greeted that last joke from Hiram, with his associates then leaving his room to return to their individual businesses.
On her part, Nauca returned to her room in order to collect young Babita, so that she could use her as a translator while visiting a few shops in town. Dressed in travel clothes rather than wearing her expensive Punjabi outfit, Nauca left the inn with Babita and walked out of the caravanserai, heading towards a blacksmith’s shop specializing in the making of weapons and armor. That shop was fairly close to the caravanserai, thus it took her only minutes to arrive there, Babita at her side. On seeing her, the master blacksmith, a vigorous man named Rajiv, flashed a welcome grin at her and spoke in Greek to her.
‘’Aah, Nauca of Sarmatia! I have received from the leathermaker you hired the cut pieces of leather meant for your horse armor. I also acquired a good quantity of raw wool to be used as padding for that armor.’’
‘’That is good news, Rajiv. Do you still think that you will be able to finish producing that horse armor within a week?’’
‘’Yes, easily! The longest time will be taken to make the pieces of rivetted iron chainmail armor meant to be fitted to the wool-padded leather backing of your new horse armor. Once completed, your horse will be basically impervious to arrows on its front and forward flanks, while retaining its full mobility. I agree with you that the long, armored coats used by the Sakas to protect their horses are both too heavy and too constricting, with their long flaps hindering their horses’ leg movements. Your design you proposed to me is actually way superior to the Saka horse armor. Uh, would you object if I copied your design for my other customers?’’
‘’I see no problems with that, Rajiv. It is not as if we would be unleashing a new sort of devastating weapon of some kind. Talking of weapons, do you think that your assistant smith could do something more for me?’’
‘’We are not overly busy at the moment, so I could fully put my assistant at your service. What would you like him to make for you?’’
‘’I would need two things to be made out of tempered Hinduwani steel, so that they could be as hard as possible. The first thing will be to make six lance points with hardened tips. If he could also fit them to long, solid lance poles, the better. I am not looking for long pikes of the kind the Greeks used, but rather lances of about 25 hand-widths in length with a strong wooden shaft. The blades should be triangular and with very sharp edges, for maximum penetrating power, and would have two side lugs on the socket to prevent the blade from sinking too deep in the target or for an animal to keep charging down my lance. I would also need their steel sockets to be long, in order to protect them against slashes from swords and axes.’’
‘’Such lance points should be fairly easy to produce, Nauca. What else will you need done?’’
‘’Hardened steel arrow points by the dozen, as many as you could actually produce in no more than ten days. I want to be able for my arrows to penetrate a typical armored vest made of iron scales or chainmail. For that, I would prefer long but narrow and very pointy arrow points.’’
‘’I have already produced such kinds of armor-penetrating arrow points and have in fact a few in stock presently. Let me show you one, to see if it would fit your needs.’’
Dropping his big hammer on top of his anvil, Rajiv then went to one of the wooden boxes lined up against one of the walls of his forge and fished out of it a steel arrow point, presenting it to Nauca.
‘’Would this kind of arrow point do the trick for you, Nauca? Its point has been hardened via tempering and it will be able to pierce easily all known torso armor.’’
Taking the point presented by the blacksmith, Nauca examined it for a few seconds before nodding her head and giving it back to Rajiv.
‘’This will do just fine, Rajiv. I will want at least a hundred of them to be made, and this in no more than ten days.’’
‘’That is a tall order, Nauca, but we will do our best to fill it. Those points are however quite costly to make and I will have to charge one drachma per point, while each lance point will cost fifteen drachmas.’’
Nauca stayed impassive on hearing those numbers and opened her belt purse, extracting ten gold daric coins, which equated to 250 drachmas in Greek money, and giving them to the blacksmith.
‘’Here is an advance to cover much of the price of the various items I ordered. I will pay the rest on delivery.’’
The happy blacksmith promptly accepted the gold coins offered by Nauca and bowed low to her.
‘’Thank you, Nauca of Sarmatia. Your order will be filled in the delays you asked for, I promise.’’
‘’Then, I will return in ten days, Rajiv. Have a good day.’’
‘’And a good day to you as well, Nauca of Sarmatia.’’
As a satisfied Nauca walked out of the forge, young Babita looked up at her.
‘’Where are we going next, Nauca?’’
‘’To a tailor shop, so that you could be fitted for winter clothes. If we have to pass by the Karakoram, then you will sorely need such clothes, including good winter boots and gloves. After that, I will visit a leathermaker, so that he could make leather lance holders for the lances I just ordered.’’
‘’Oh! You really do think things in advance, Nauca.’’
‘’I have to, Babita, because my survival may hinge on that. As they say, a bit of prevention is worth a ton of correction. Tomorrow morning, we will go see someone who is reputed to be a genius when it comes to crafting new things.’’
‘’New things? What kind of new things?’’
‘’You will see soon enough, Babita.’’
08:11 (Central Asia Time)
Monday, September 23, 61 B.C.E.
Private workshop, Pataliputra
A thin man with graying hair and beard answered Nauca’s knocks on his door in the early morning. He was obviously of Chinese ethnicity and his eyes sparkled with intelligence. Nauca’s impression of him was at once positive and she bowed respectfully to the man, who in turn eyed her and Talya with curiosity.
‘’Are you the artisan named Liu Han?’’ asked Nauca in a friendly tone. She did not miss the way the man stiffened a bit at her pronouncing his name.
‘’Yes, I am! To what do I owe the visit of two pretty young women like you?’’
‘’To your reputation as a man with a great imagination, Liu Han. My name is Nauca and my friend here is Talya. I am a Sarmatian, while Talya is from Dacia, west of the Pontus Euxinus.’’
‘’You are a long way from your respective homes, Nauca and Talya.’’
‘’Indeed, and the roads towards our native countries are both long and dangerous, which is why we came to see you. I need you to improve on a weapon used by Chinese soldiers, so that my friend Talya could better defend herself.’’
‘’Then, come inside my modest shop, so that we could discuss this in private.’’
‘’Thank you!’’
Once they were inside, the Chinese man locked back his door and invited his two visitors to follow him into an adjacent room where a joyful disorder reigned, with tools of many kinds intermixed with piles of various materials and dozens of rolled parchments. Liu Han gave an apologetic smile to Nauca as she looked around the room.
‘’Please excuse the disorder in my workshop, young lady: my imagination is greater than my sense of orderliness.’’
‘’No need to excuse yourself, Liu Han: it is your imagination which I want to use today. Have you heard about Chinese crossbows before?’’
‘’Of course! They are an important part of the Imperial Army’s arsenal and I was called many times in the past to repair or even make new ones. I also dabbled with various mechanical devices and even designed a couple of new astronomical instruments for imperial officials.’’
‘’Then, why did you exiled yourself from China if you were such a talented artisan, if I may ask?’’
Nauca’s question brought some bitterness on the old man’s face but he answered her after a short hesitation.
‘’Because an imperial official stole the credit for one of my inventions and tried to silence me through the use of assassins when I tried to protest the theft of my patent. Since that official had powerful connections in the capital, I was forced to flee in order to escape his assassins.’’
‘’A sad story and one of a great injustice committed, I must say. However, since I must leave Pataliputra in less than two weeks, I will now go to the reason we came for.’’
Nauca then took a large jute bag that Talya had been carrying and opened it, then took out two crossbows and a bow and put them down side by side on a table.
‘’As you can see, those two crossbows are quite different from each other, Liu Han. The one on the left is a Chinese crossbow I acquired in China, while the one on the right is an old Greek gastraphetes crossbow of the kind the soldiers of the celebrated Alexander of Macedonia used. I found that gastraphetes in the city of Bactra, one of the old regional capitals of Alexander’s empire. It has a few interesting features but does have a few drawbacks to its design, like the Chinese crossbow does. Now, I personally use a composite recurved bow like the one on the table rather than a crossbow and have been practicing archery for most of my life. However, my friend Talya did not start practicing archery until less than a few months ago and is still a raw beginner by my standards. She is presently using this Chinese crossbow instead of a bow because of its ease of use and accuracy with beginners, and so do many of the merchants in the caravan I am part of. What I am looking for is a way to improve on this Chinese crossbow, to both make it steadier while aiming and thus improve further its accuracy and to also increase its effective range. Another weakness of the Chinese crossbow, from my point of view, is that it is nearly impossible to reload while you are sitting atop a horse, as you typically have to sit down on the ground in order to pull its string. I brought this gastraphetes because it uses a different way to pull its string into place. I also brought this spare composite bow I got in Bactriana. One of the things I don’t like about the Chinese crossbow is its short string pull, making it less effective than it could be compared to a bow. Do you think that you could devise a way to make an improved weapon out of this composite bow by using it like a crossbow, a bit like the gastraphetes, but that would be possible to load while on a horse?’’
‘’Hum, an interesting challenge, I must say. Let me think for a minute.’’
After a moment of thinking while looking at the three weapons lying on his table, the Chinese inventor looked at Nauca.
‘’Could you show me the way you presently use to load each of those two crossbows?’’
‘’Of course! Talya, pull the string of your crossbow, please.’’
The Dacian girl, quite robust and strong for a girl of fourteen thanks to her incessant riding and exercising, grabbed the Chinese crossbow and sat on the floor, her legs extended forward. She then put both of her feet against the interior faces of the limbs, to which extremities the string was attached, and grabbed with both hands the string before straightening her back towards a prone position while pulling hard on the string, until it engaged in the rolling notch of the crossbow’s mechanism. As she got back up, Nauca thanked her before grabbing the Greek gastraphetes and resting it to the vertical, the long pole sticking out of its front pole pressed against the floor. Then, she pressed her belly against the curved butt of the weapon and leaned on it, bringing it to its loaded position. Liu Han nodded his head slowly after the two demonstrations.
Han Dynasty crossbow Greek gastraphetes crossbow and loading mode Composite bow
‘’I see what you meant about those two weapons being impossible to reload while on a horse. However, your demonstrations, especially with that Greek gastraphetes, was useful in bringing a few ideas to me about correcting their deficiencies. Concerning a way to reload them while on a horse, adding a stirrup should make it possible to reload from the saddle. As for…’’
‘’Wait! What was that word you just used?’’ asked Nauca, looking stunned.
‘’A stirrup! It is a loop in which you insert your foot in order to hang on to a rope while you are pulled up by others via a winch. They are often used on construction sites to lift workers up scaffolds. Why do you ask?’’
‘’Uh, nothing! I just never heard that word before. But continue about those ideas of yours.’’
While still wondering about her reaction to the word ‘stirrup’, Liu Han went on with exposing his ideas.
‘’I could also add a proper shoulder butt, so that it would be easier to hold the weapon steady while aiming the crossbow. Finally, that method of loading used by the gastraphetes gave me a further idea: by using simultaneously the muscles of both the legs and of the back, rather than simply the muscles of both arms, one could easily pull much harder on the string, thus augmenting its power.’’
‘’So, could you produce quickly a new weapon, using this composite bow and the mechanism from the Chinese crossbow? If yes, could you then produce quickly more such new weapons within days, if I provided you with more spare composite bows and Chinese crossbows?’’
The old inventor thought for a few seconds before answering Nauca.
‘’With the ideas I just got and the parts you are providing me, building a prototype weapon would take me no more than two days. As for building copies of it, if you could provide to me both a composite bow and a Chinese crossbow as parts for each new weapon, then I could build each new weapon in a day or two, once the new design is finalized.’’
‘’Excellent! And how much would you ask for your prototype and for each copy afterwards?’’
‘’Since designing the prototype and finetuning it properly will be the hardest part, I will ask for fifty drachmas for it, while each copy afterwards will cost twenty drachmas, if you provide the parts I will need for them.’’
The inventor held his breath, hoping that this customer would not prove to be a stingy one. He may be a great inventor but he knew that he could not compete in the haggling department against a merchant. Liu Han thus discretely let out a sigh of relief when Nauca took fifty drachmas in silver coins from her belt purse and put them on the table.
‘’Here is the payment for you to produce the first new weapon. I will come back tomorrow afternoon, to see how you are doing. If your new weapon truly works up to my expectations, then I may just talk to my associates and make them delay our planned departure date in order to give you time to produce a number of copies.’’
‘’I will do my very best, Nauca of Sarmatia.’’
‘’Then, I will leave you in peace, so you can start working on this new weapon. If something happens, or if you finish the work faster than expected, then you can come to see me at the caravanserai of the Singh brothers. Do you know where it is?’’
‘’Yes!’’ replied the inventor while grinning. ‘’I arrived from China on their caravan, some three years ago.’’
‘’Excellent! Then, see you tomorrow, Liu Han.’’
His two visitors then left the house to return to the caravanserai. As they walked together, Talya gave a questioning look to Nauca.
‘’Why did you react like this to this word ‘stirrup’, Nauca?’’
‘’Because I just found a name for what we were calling ‘feet loops’ up to now, Talya.’’
11:05 (Central Asia Time)
Tuesday, September 24, 61 B.C.E.
Singh brothers’ caravanserai, Pataliputra
Nauca had just finished brushing and feeding her two horses and was walking back to the inn with Talya when she saw Liu Han enter the courtyard of the caravanserai, a large bag on his back and a big smile on his face.
‘’No! Don’t tell me that he has already completed his new crossbow!’’
Walking quickly to meet him in the middle of the courtyard, Nauca gave the Chinese old man a disbelieving look on seeing that an object the shape of a crossbow was in the bag he was carrying.
‘’You’ve already finished it? How is this possible?’’
‘’By using the most important principle in mechanical design: simplicity! Instead of building a new crossbow, I simply added slightly modified pieces from the Greek gastraphetes to the Chinese crossbow, replaced the original bow on it with the longer, more powerful composite bow you left me and added a stirrup at its front end. The last touch needed was then to add two small iron posts at the front and rear in order to ease aiming and here it was: a better crossbow that can be reloaded while on horseback. You want to see it?’’
‘’Of course I want to see it, Liu, but not here. Let’s go to the guarded storage house: we will have privacy there. Talya, could you go get Hiram discreetly and bring him to the storage house? He may be interested in this.’’
‘’I’m on my way!’’ replied the Dacian girl before walking quickly towards the inn. Nauca then led Liu Han to the storage house, where the two armed guards provided by Sajith Singh let her and the Chinese man in. Once inside and alone, Liu took his new crossbow out of the jute bag and handed it to Nauca, who examined it with intense interest. It was really the Chinese crossbow she had given him, with parts added to it and with the bow part now replaced by the composite bow she had left him. The whole thing was disarmingly simple, yet looked like an effective weapon. As she examined it, Liu explained to her how it worked differently from its original shape.
‘’The main thing I did was to add this iron stirrup at the front, which is loosely attached via a long pin that allows it to pivot down in order to serve as a forward grip once loaded, so that your hand is not in the way of the arrow when you shoot it. To reload the crossbow, you need to use this.’’
Liu presented to Nauca a sort of iron forked hook attached to a long, solid leather strap forming a loop.
‘’When operating this crossbow, you carry this hook by its strap slung across your torso. When time to reload comes, you put one foot in the stirrup and catch the hook on the bow string, then use the muscles of both your leg and back to cock it, until the string engages in the notched nut. I added a safety lever that prevents the nut from being released when the crossbow is carried cocked and loaded, to avoid accidents. Go ahead: arm your crossbow.’’
Nauca did as he had told and found out that the strength needed to arm the weapon was quite manageable and was greatly helped by the use of the forked hook. Raising the crossbow to a level position, she took the arrow presented to her by Liu and put it in place against the string, where it was held by the notched nut mechanism. Liu then made her grab with her left hand the front stirrup, which had pivoted down by itself when she had leveled the weapon, thanks to its strong but loose retaining pin. With the new butt of the crossbow pressed against her right shoulder and her two hands holding the weapon in a safe manner, Nauca aimed it at one of the wooden beams which were part of the back wall of the storage house, finding out that the two small posts added by Liu made aiming dead easy. Aiming at a large knot visible in the wooden beam, some twenty meters away, she slowly pressed the trigger, the way that she had been shown to do while in China. The arrow then flew out at a velocity that surprised her and that was visibly at least as fast as when she shot an arrow with her composite bow. Her arrow actually hit a bit higher than the knot she had been aiming at.
‘’Damn! I will need to get the hang of this new weapon and of its sights.’’
‘’Now that you know how to aim it, you only need to adjust your sight picture. Here, I brought a number of extra arrows. Reload your weapon and try again.’’
Nauca was about to reload her new crossbow when Talya entered the storage house with Hiram and Kasim. Nauca smiled to them and showed them Liu’s crossbow.
‘’We may now have a new and interesting weapon to defend ourselves from thieves, my friend. Watch me as I reload this new crossbow and shoot it.’’
Talya and the two merchants watched her with intense interest, paying attention to the way she cocked her crossbow and then aimed it. The speed at which the arrow flew out, burying itself in the wood beam with a loud ‘THONK’ right in the middle of the knot in the beam, made them open their eyes wide. Nauca then shot a third arrow, which hit less than a finger’s thickness from the second arrow. Turning around and smiling to her three companions, she handed the weapon to Talya.
‘’My goal in having this new crossbow produced was to give us a powerful and accurate weapon that could be reloaded while on horseback. I believe that Liu Han, here, came out with a great design that we should procure in enough quantities to arm all of our people. We will now see how Talya does with this new crossbow.’’
Nauca then closely directed Talya as she loaded the crossbow and leveled it, giving her directives on how to align the two sight posts while aiming. Talya’s arrow actually hit the wood beam close to the two last arrows shot by Nauca, making the Dacian girl shout out in triumph.
‘’YES! I LOVE THIS!’’
‘’Pass your crossbow to Hiram, Talya. Let’s see what a mere merchant can do with it.’’
Hiram pulled his tongue out at Nauca as he took the crossbow, making the others laugh briefly. Loading it and then shooting it, Hiram stared happily at his arrow, stuck in the beam and very close to the knot in the wood.
‘’By Mithra! This thing is dead easy to shoot and it appears to be very powerful. I like it!’’
‘’Then, I would propose that we delay a bit our departure, so that Liu Han has the time to produce more of those new crossbows. We will however need to give him some of the composite bows we picked up near Purushapura, as they will constitute a vital part of the new crossbows.’’
‘’Well, I believe that giving them to your man here instead of selling them will be more than worth it. How much will you ask for each of those crossbows and how long will you need to make them?’’
‘’I already discussed their price with Nauca and we agreed on a price of twenty drachmas per crossbow, conditional on you providing the composite bows and Chinese crossbows needed for their construction. Since it is a fairly simple thing to build, I can produce about one new crossbow per day. How many would you need to be done?’’
Hiram exchanged looks with Kasim and Nauca before answering Liu.
‘’Let’s go for a total of fifteen more crossbows for the moment. You may even get more orders from Sajith Singh once he sees this.’’
‘’Uh, let’s try to stay discreet about this, Hiram.’’ cautioned at once Nauca. ‘’We don’t want everyone in and around India to learn about this new type of crossbow.’’
‘’Another trade secret, Nauca?’’ said Hiram, making Liu Han look at him and Nauca with some confusion.
‘’Another trade secret? What do you mean by that?’’
‘’I will explain that later, once we will have brought the Chinese crossbows and spare bow needed to build new crossbows to your workshop.’’ answered Nauca while patting his shoulder.
08:18 (Central Asia Time)
Monday, October 13, 61 B.C.E.
Courtyard of the Singh’s’ caravanserai, Pataliputra
‘’FORWARD TO SAMARKAND!’’
On the command of Hiram, who rode side-by-side with Sajith Singh, the long line of horses and camels of their two combined caravans started trotting out of the caravanserai, cheered on by the families of the men of Sajith’s caravan and by the workers and servants of the caravanserai. Apart from the men and women from the respective caravans, the column of beasts included as well two new camels and one new person: Liu Han. Hiram, seeing his immense potential value as an expert artisan and also wanting to protect the secret of his new crossbow design, which was now dubbed as the ‘Indian crossbow’, had decided to entice the Chinese inventor into moving to Samarkand on a permanent basis, using lots of gold to convince him to leave Pataliputra. Liu’s house and workshop had then been emptied, its content minus the furniture packed on a camel, and the house sold in a matter of days. Nauca was happy that Hiram had made that decision, believing it to be a smart move, especially in the long run. The fact that he was going to go live in a new place much further from China and from Chinese assassins had also helped convince the inventor to move to Samarkand. The 42 horses and 61 camels of the combined caravans soon trotted out of Pataliputra via one of its western gates, starting its long trek towards distant Samarkand.