Chapter 1: Letter Of Allegiance
“Why does the headman’s family eat meat every meal, while your whole family doesn’t even have tree bark to gnaw on?”
“Why does the government bully you, take all your family’s money, and still grab your father and brothers for corvée labor?”
“Why, after toiling hard to farm the land, can’t you pay the tenant rent, end up owing the landlord three taels of silver, forcing your sisters to sell themselves to pay off the debt?”
“It’s because you can endure it!”
Rumble!
Lightning flashed across, illuminating everyone’s faces on the ship.
The ship workers, faces numb, looked up toward the front of the stern cabin, anger gradually rising on their faces.
Lin Qian held a knife in one hand and a torch in the other. Seeing the ship workers’ expressions, he knew in his heart that the major event could succeed.
He pointed the knife ahead of him. There knelt the ship captain and his woman, both with rags stuffed in their mouths, hands bound behind their backs, trembling like sieves.
“Even after leaving Zhangzhou and Great Ming, villains still bully us!”
“A whipping today, a whipping tomorrow—if this goes on, forget wages, do we even have our lives left? We’re all born of father and mother, coming on the ship to make a living, yet beaten and cursed daily by this villain. Why?”
In the half month since setting out to sea, everyone had basically been beaten. Hearing this, they all felt their back wounds ache, their anger even greater.
“This ship’s cargo, upon reaching port, can sell for at least ten thousand taels of silver. We brothers risked our lives amid wind and waves to earn it—why let it benefit this villain who skimps on wages and plays with women?”
Hearing ten thousand taels of silver, the ship workers’ breathing grew heavy, eyes bloodshot as they stared at Lin Qian.
Cold sweat dripped from the ship captain’s forehead, his eyes full of terror, making muffled whimpering sounds nonstop, unable to speak.
Another bolt of lightning flashed across.
Rumble!
Lin Qian thrust forward, the knife piercing the ship captain’s heart from behind. He drew out the knife, blood spurting everywhere.
The ship captain collapsed into the pool of blood, twitched twice, and soon stopped breathing.
The woman beside him was so terrified urine flowed down her crotch, kowtowing nonstop and begging for mercy.
She struggled to spit out the rag in her mouth, crying and shouting, “I was wrong, I know I was wrong. Spare me—as long as you spare me, I’ll do anything…”
Though he had prepared himself mentally, it was after all his first killing. Lin Qian’s muscles trembled uncontrollably all over, his right hand gripping the knife shaking the worst.
He bit his tongue hard, using the pain to steady his body. Gripping the knife tight, he took a deep breath and thrust his right hand down again.
The woman let out a miserable scream and collapsed.
The ship workers were all stunned into a daze by this bloody scene.
Lin Qian drew out the knife and hid his trembling right arm behind his back.
Who could have imagined that half a month ago, he had been a financially independent modern man sailing a sailboat around the world, only to perish in a storm and wake up in Great Ming?
His previous life’s wealth and status vanished like clouds in a blink, sending him back to the bottom of society.
The original owner’s family were tenant farmers. A flood a year ago had submerged the fields, washed away the house, and drowned the whole family.
Though he survived by a fluke, he was left with nothing but a worthless life—and because he couldn’t pay the tenant rent, he owed the landlord’s family three taels of silver.
Afraid of being beaten to death by debt collectors, the original owner had sneaked away and become a ship worker.
Only after sailing out in confusion did he learn the ship captain was a servant of the landlord’s family.
Truly, heaven plays tricks on man.
By the rules, once at sea, the ship captain was like an earthly emperor—beating and cursing ship workers needed no reason at all.
Timid by nature, the original owner was especially targeted by the ship captain, who whipped him four times in just three days at sea.
Having fled hardship for so long, the original owner was already weak. Constant fear added injury to injury; one night of high fever, and he died unclearly of illness.
This allowed Lin Qian from the later era to transmigrate here.
Once Lin Qian figured out the situation, he realized this life was a hellish start.
According to 《Great Ming Law》, leaving one’s registered residence for over three months made one a vagrant. Caught by the government, the penalty was beheading at worst, eighty strokes at best, plus repatriation to one’s origin.
Never mind surviving to disembark, or whether the landlord would let him go upon return—just the stain of being a fugitive could ruin his future.
Business or inventions were impossible; entering office via the imperial examination was even more unthinkable.
As for farming… if stable farming were possible, the original owner wouldn’t have died on the ship.
This was the bloody reality of feudal society.
But Lin Qian was not one to resign to fate.
It was now the 48th Year of Wanli, the peak of profitable maritime transport trade—and with it, the pirate trade also booming.
At the end of Ming, Zheng Zhilong had risen as a pirate, accumulated endless wealth, accepted official recruitment to go legit ashore, dominated both black and white paths, and become a hegemon of the Southeast.
At his most glorious, even the Qing Tartars, Southern Ming Imperial Court, Dutch, and Spaniards had to heed his face.
Since this world wouldn’t let him live honestly, he would imitate Zheng Zhilong and turn it upside down.
And the first step right now was…
Seize the ship!
“Bai Langzai!” Lin Qian shouted.
A youth behind him dashed forward and threw a bundle to the ground.
The bundle burst open with a clatter, revealing its contents: over a dozen long knives.
“Those who take knives are my brothers. When the ship reaches port, every man gets one hundred taels.”
The ship workers erupted: “One hundred taels…”
“Twenty voyages couldn’t earn one hundred taels…”
“Enough to buy several mu of paddy fields…”
Soon, several from the crowd stepped forward, took knives, and stood behind Lin Qian.
Including Bai Langzai who had thrown the bundle, Lin Qian’s side now had seven men.
Lin Qian was not surprised at all, for these seven had secretly sworn brotherhood days ago. Today, they had together killed the guards and hijacked the ship.
Though the ship captain was now dead, these seven sworn brothers alone couldn’t control all the ship workers, much less sail away a three-masted Fuchuan ship.
There were over fifty ship workers on board; at least half would need to support them.
For the ship workers, sailing was nine deaths to one life, but it was legitimate livelihood. Once they took knives, they were outlaws—caught by the government, heads would roll.
But openly opposing Lin Qian? They lacked the guts, let alone the ability.
After all, the whole ship’s weapons were in that bundle. Anyone coming to take one—whether to join or defend themselves—would look like outlaws to the other ship workers.
Refuse a weapon, and they’d be unarmed, unable to beat Lin Qian’s men—and end up obeying anyway.
This was an open scheme.
After a long silence, a ship worker mustered courage and asked, “What happens after we take the silver?”
Lin Qian thought it a good question and said loudly, “After dividing the silver, any brother I value can stay and carve out our slice of heaven on the sea together. Those with other plans may leave freely.”
The ship workers stirred. A few stepped forward to take knives, followed by over ten more.
Some lagged and found no weapons left, so they stood empty-handed by Lin Qian.
After half an incense stick, all the ship workers on the deck had gathered at Lin Qian’s sides.
Someone among the ship workers shouted, “Brother Lin, now we’ve all followed you—what’s next?”
“There’s one more person for everyone to meet.” Lin Qian shot Bai Langzai a look.
Bai Langzai went back into the cabin and dragged out a bound man.
“Steward Wu?” the ship workers murmured.
This was the ship’s accountant, who loved finding excuses to deduct wages. The skimmed money never reached his own pocket, yet he relished it.
To curry his favor, the ship workers groveled lower than the meanest slaves in his presence.
To them, this lackey was even more hated than the ship captain himself.
“Kill him!” one ship worker roared, soon echoed by others in a chorus of shouts.
Lin Qian produced a whip. “One lash per man—who’s first?”
The ship workers surged forward in fury. Under Lin Qian’s sworn brothers’ direction, they lined up and took turns whipping.
Steward Wu screamed endlessly, begging mercy at first, then cursing nonstop.
“Bastards, boat trash, curved hooves—you’ve got some nerve! Ouch…”
Many ship workers were Tanka people; “curved hooves” was their vilest slur. Hearing it, they struck harder.
After one lash per man, Steward Wu’s fate was unknown.
Lin Qian had the corpse thrown into the sea. Moments later, a plop sounded from the ship’s rail.
“We killed him together—this is the brothers’ pledge.” Lin Qian smiled.
The ship workers’ hearts jolted. In their frenzy of one lash each, no one knew which killed Steward Wu. Now, everyone bore blood debt.
Only then did they realize there was no way back.
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Wishing dear readers long winds and breaking waves straight to the vast sea on your journeys, tides flat and shores broad with fair winds and full sails!
