The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero.

Flashman meets both the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion and members of the Qing Dynasty who participated in the Second Opium War.

In Hong Kong, Flashman is convinced by Phoebe Carpenter, a lovely minister's wife, to accompany a shipment of opium into Canton, in exchange for a large sum of money and the promise of a later, more pleasant meeting.

But after that event, while heading for home, he is drugged and apparently kidnapped (perhaps shanghaied, given the dress of his kidnappers) while attempting to fulfil his promise with Phoebe Carpenter.

However, there are several references in other books to his service in the American Civil War, suggesting that he must have returned to that country before 1864, and we know (from Flashman on the March) that he was in Mexico in 1867.