************* FOREIGNERS IN GUANGZHOU
THERE WAS QUITE A COMMOTION throughout the city as word spread like wildfire concerning the recent arrival of mysterious foreigners from an unknown land. They have harbored in Guangzhou and have already begun establishing relations with the city and the officials who have arrived from Beijing. The League of Martial Scholars, being naturally well-informed, had many allies in the city’s high and low places serving as keen eyes and ears. Consequently, news surrounding the activities of the mysterious foreigners came to them fairly quickly. “They sought to establish long-term trade relations, dealing with medicines, special spices, and knowledge,” Xin recalled in the League’s report.
Sun Xin made his way through narrow alley ways and corridors deep into
