Chapter 36: Pearl Commoners, Tanka People, And Lowly Folk
Nightfall.
The galleon slowly lowered its sails and came to a stop.
This place was already in the outer seas, the anchor’s length couldn’t reach the bottom, so they no longer dropped anchor.
Tonight there was still a lights-out regulation, the hull blending with the pitch-black sea surface as one.
Lin Qian packed up the sextant and sea chart and was just leaving the captain’s cabin when he ran into Bai Langzai head-on.
“Perfect timing, come with me to the stern deck.”
Lin Qian led the way up to the stern deck, solemnly opened the box, and introduced, “This is the sextant, used to measure latitude. From now on, you must measure it once at noon and once in the evening every day, and record it.”
“I’ve got it.” Bai Langzai nodded.
“By the way, do you know how to write?”
Bai Langzai shook his head.
Lin Qian suddenly realized that teaching Bai Langzai navigation wasn’t that simple; he had to start with Arabic numerals, then teach the laws of celestial motion, the spherical earth theory, the concepts of longitude and latitude, the meaning of the solar declination angle, and so on.
After thinking for a long time, Lin Qian decided to start with the simplest measurement of the North Star’s altitude angle.
First let Bai Langzai “know the what,” then “know the why.”
Lin Qian handed the sextant to him and said, “This thing is called a sextant, used to measure the angle between two objects…”
Although Bai Langzai hadn’t read much, he was quite smart and mastered the use of the sextant in half an hour.
Then Lin Qian began teaching Arabic numerals 1-9, followed by the decimal system.
By the time Bai Langzai had mostly mastered it, it was already late at night.
Lin Qian said, “That’s it for today. Come find me at noon tomorrow, and I’ll teach you how to measure the sun’s altitude angle.”
“Good!” Bai Langzai agreed.
Lin Qian lowered his head to pack the teaching tools when suddenly he heard a dull “thud” from in front of him.
Lin Qian looked up and saw Bai Langzai kneeling before him, saying, “Thank you, Sixth Brother.” Then he respectfully kowtowed.
Lin Qian hurriedly helped him up: “What are you doing?”
Bai Langzai’s face was sincere: “Although I haven’t studied, I know the principle of respecting teachers and valuing the Dao. Since Sixth Brother is teaching me to read and navigate, you deserve my bow.”
Lin Qian was slightly stunned upon hearing this.
Honestly, he had taught Bai Langzai in the casual manner of a master craftsman training an apprentice, not expecting to have underestimated the ancient people’s regard for respecting teachers and valuing the Dao.
Lin Qian laughed, “No need for such empty formalities between brothers; having it in your heart is enough.”
Bai Langzai was not good with words and didn’t know how to respond, only saying, “I should kowtow…”
Lin Qian packed up the sextant, handed it to Bai Langzai, and patted his shoulder: “This thing is yours to keep from now on. It’s very important; don’t show it to others easily.”
“Mm, got it.” Bai Langzai nodded heavily.
“Alright, go back to sleep, and bring Jose to me.”
Bai Langzai didn’t move, hesitating before speaking: “Sixth Brother, I want to ask you for something.”
Lin Qian said lightly: “No need for ‘asking’; just say what you need.”
“For my share of the profits, I don’t want silver; exchange it all for pearls in the cargo hold, okay?”
“Of course, but you’re not a woman; what do you need so many pearls for?” Lin Qian said half-jokingly, though he vaguely understood the reason in his heart.
Bai Langzai pondered for a moment, walked to the ship’s rail, gazed at the pitch-black sea, his voice ethereal: “Sixth Brother, do you know about pearl farmers?”
Successive Central Plains dynasties had a huge demand for pearls. Thus, in the pearl-producing areas around the South China Sea, there were people who made a living by diving for pearls.
This was an extremely dangerous job; low temperatures, suffocation, water pressure, and underwater animals could take a pearl farmer’s life at any time, so ordinary folk wouldn’t risk it unless desperate. Relying solely on folk pearl diving provided insufficient supply.
Thus, the Great Ming specially established a type of household registration—pearl commoners, commonly known as pearl farmers, hereditary and not permitted to change professions.
Pearl commoners paid taxes in pearls, required to hand over a fixed quota each year; violators were punished.
Lin Qian didn’t know many details, only vaguely remembering a few poetic lines lamenting their harsh lives.
Such as: “One merman’s tear, the blood of ten thousand pearl slaves,” “Imperial palace merman’s tears, drowned slaves in the sea,” and the like.
Lin Qian leaned against the ship’s rail, gesturing for Bai Langzai to explain in detail.
Bai Langzai slowly began to speak; though his tone was flat, every word dripped with blood and tears, making Lin Qian’s scalp tingle.
The Great Ming Imperial Court treated pearl farmers extremely harshly, not considering them human at all.
First, the tax on pearl commoners was extremely heavy; each household needed to pay 40 taels of lower-grade pearls and 20 taels of medium-grade pearls annually.
Second, the Imperial Court strictly restricted pearl harvesting areas, called pearl ponds, permitting pearl commoners to harvest only within the pearl ponds.
But after several hundred years, these pearl ponds had been nearly depleted; not to mention pearls, even the coral was almost extinct. Pearl commoners had no choice but to risk “illegal harvesting” by going to farther outer seas and diving deeper waters.
Most pearl commoners had to dive every day year-round, soaking until their hands and feet rotted, to barely meet the quota.
Even Guangdong’s seawater was bitingly cold in winter; to fulfill the tax, they could only send human lives into the sea to fill the quota.
Finally, the Imperial Court periodically issued pearl harvesting corvée, often in deep winter.
In one major corvée, eight or nine out of ten drowned or froze to death; the floating corpses and bones could cover the entire sea surface, attracting schools of fish to scramble and devour them.
Such human tragedies were not occasional but frequent, sometimes two or three times a year.
As for the lowly social status of pearl commoners, despised by others and barred from studying for the imperial examination, it paled in comparison to their lives.
For pearl commoners, mere survival was difficult, let alone saving property; naturally, they couldn’t afford houses and had to live at sea like the Tanka people.
Over time, the government lumped Tanka people and pearl commoners together.
To scholar-officials anyway, both were the same—base folk.
In the Great Ming, even the sudden death of oxen or horses warranted investigation and accountability.
But base folk dying into mountains of corpses and seas of bones wouldn’t earn a single glance from scholar-officials.
Unfortunately, Bai Langzai’s family was such a pearl commoner household; originally seven members, now only three remained after deaths.
His mother was frail and couldn’t dive anymore; pearl harvesting was mainly done by his sister, while Bai Langzai only dove in summer.
It wasn’t that Bai Langzai feared the cold; men had less body fat and wouldn’t last long diving in winter before freezing to death, whereas women could better withstand the cold for winter pearl harvesting. Men mostly went out sailing in winter, and other pearl households divided labor similarly.
This was also why Lin Qian met Bai Langzai on the Qingping; when he arrived, it was winter, and without the ship robbery, Bai Langzai should have gone home before March.
Hearing Bai Langzai’s calm description, Lin Qian felt a surge of anger in his chest, thinking human nature, no matter how evil, should have limits.
How could anyone in the world watch seas filled with corpses and bones while righteously demanding pearls.
Lin Qian took a deep breath, trying to keep his tone calm, and asked, “So you want to exchange your share for pearls to pay taxes for your family?”
“Mm.” Bai Langzai nodded.
Lin Qian now understood why Bai Langzai, at such a young age, was so taciturn.
“Good, exchange as much as you want.” Lin Qian paused, “However, the suffering of pearl commoners isn’t caused by a lack of pearls; feeding those dog officials pearls is like carrying embers to extinguish a fire.”
Bai Langzai looked puzzled; having not studied, he didn’t quite understand what Lin Qian meant.
Lin Qian suppressed his emotions and said flatly: “One day, I will free the pearl commoners from their misery… Go back, and bring Jose to me.”
