Chapter 84: Torrential Rain
Lin Qian stepped forward, helped Huang Hetai up, and brushed the dust off his body.
“The petition for the Garrison Commander to report merits—how to write it, I suppose I don’t need to teach you?”
Huang Hetai forced a smile and said: “Of course, of course…”
“After writing it, don’t forget to give it to me to look at first.”
Huang Hetai nodded repeatedly in agreement.
After Lin Qian finished speaking, he went out the door, with the brothers following behind.
Only Huang Hetai was left in the room, stared at by the hollow gaze of that head.
……
The next morning.
The Santa Ana’s cargo hold was opened, and a stench of shit and urine hit them in the face, making the crew members who opened it furrow their brows.
Crew members took torches down into the hold and saw the neatly stacked pirates, most of whom now looked listless.
The pirates stacked high up were okay, but many of those placed low had been crushed breathless, and the survivors were soaked in excrement and urine, barely alive.
Crew members covered their noses, dragged out a string of pirates, untied the ropes on their feet, and hauled them onto the deck.
It wasn’t that Lin Qian deliberately locked them up overnight to torment them, but to prevent anyone from escaping or causing trouble in the dark.
For safety’s sake, even if some captives died, it was worth it.
Moreover, in this suppression of the giant bandit, there were too few intact corpses, only a dozen heads, which seemed too fake; these men’s heads could be put to good use.
At this time, the pier at Houjiang Bay dock on Nan’ao Island had been built over ten meters long, extending to the deep water area.
The galleon could use the gangway to send people directly onto the pier, then walk to the shore, much more convenient than the previous small boats ferrying back and forth.
The captives were brought ashore one after another to stand in formation; after counting, more than five hundred had survived.
Construction on the island was now in full swing, with a great deal of heavy manual labor and a severe shortage of productivity; these people were ready-made labor.
To prevent them from escaping, Lin Qian specially borrowed leg irons from Huang Hetai, fitted them on each captive, and used ropes to tie every ten pirates into a string.
Five hundred captives made fifty strings.
Under Mute Huang’s arrangement, forty strings went to the island to level land and clear away vegetation.
Ten strings went to the mountain to help transport timber.
Islanders holding weapons and whips supervised the captives; any slight movement earned a lashing.
Lin Qian had initially worried that the islanders, just freed from forced labor, would sympathize with these labor reform captives.
But in fact, the islanders wielded the whip without mercy.
Watching others work was far easier than doing it oneself. No one could resist that temptation.
After settling the captives, Lin Qian ordered the pirate corpses in the cargo hold buried, their heads cut off and sent to Huang Hetai, and the cargo hold’s excrement and urine cleaned up again.
This was dirty work, and none of the crew members wanted to do it.
Lin Qian had a brainwave and told Mute Huang to send a string of captives to the ship to clean.
After it was all dealt with, Lin Qian took the crew down to inspect; it was very clean, and everyone showed satisfied smiles.
At lunchtime, Lin Qian called all the brothers to the Officer’s Restaurant.
Today’s lunch was steamed sea fish, tofu soup, and rice.
The sea fish was freshly caught by the islanders; steamed, it was exceptionally fresh and tender, far more delicious than the salted fish with dry biscuits eaten previously in Ship City.
The fish in each bowl was different, mostly local fish catch like mackerel, hairtail, and pomfret.
Lin Qian tasted the sea fish, remembered something, and asked Zheng Zhilong: “What was the name of the one guarding the watchtower on Guo Lao Mountain before?”
“He’s called Da Bing,” Zheng Zhilong answered.
Lin Qian: “The ‘bing’ from dry biscuits?”
Zheng Zhilong: “Probably the ‘bing’ from jia yi bing ding; they’re all about the same. Illiterate poor families just pick casual lowly names; his parents probably couldn’t tell which ‘bing’ it was when naming him.”
Zhu Yuanzhang was called Zhu Chongba in his childhood; the lower classes have long had the habit of using numbers in names.
By comparison, names like Lin Qian, Bai Qing, and Bai Langzai were already considered elegant among the common folk.
Lin Qian took a sip of tofu soup and said: “I promised before that if he guarded the tower well, I’d reward him with a fishing boat; now it’s time to make good on it.”
Zheng Zhilong: “I’ll tell Uncle Huang this afternoon to convert a Tanka Boat into a fishing boat and give it to him.”
Lin Qian nodded; Zheng Zhilong handled things reliably, with no need for oversight.
Lin Qian ate a couple bites of fish and asked: “How is the house construction on the island going?”
“The craftsmen estimate it will all be finished by mid-October.”
Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment and added: “Helmsman, rest assured; in the Fujian-Guangdong area, it doesn’t get cold until after the Major Snow solar term, so finishing by mid-October will be in time.”
Perhaps the Lord of Heaven overheard the talk of the weather.
A rumble suddenly sounded from the sky.
Then rain pelted the deck, turning into a torrential downpour within a few breaths; the world filled with the sound of falling raindrops, drowning out all voices.
Lei Sanxiang, being from the north, had never seen such a deluge; each downpour left him staring in a daze.
Lin Qian continued: “After the houses are done, hurry to build the dry dock; best to overhaul and maintain the captives’ ships over the winter.”
Jose interjected: “Councillor Andre has a dry dock.”
Lin Qian said bluntly: “I don’t trust him.”
Jose awkwardly fell silent.
Before the attack on Ship City, Mute Huang had discussed ship repairs with Lin Qian, but Lin Qian had put it off then.
Now that Li Kuiqi was dealt with and hands were free, it was time to tackle the ship repair issue.
Building a dry dock would not only make a thorough overhaul of the Santa Ana convenient but also allow future shipbuilding inside it.
Unlike wooden houses, dry dock construction required serious material piling.
The processes included digging the dock pool, driving wooden stakes, laying foundation stones, and more; each step needed large quantities of bricks, mortar, and labor.
Even building on land was quite costly; building on the island would multiply the expense.
Hearing Lin Qian’s engineering plans, Zhou Xiucai’s face darkened.
Lin Qian noticed and knew it was time to shift from investment talk to revenue, so he said: “By the way, have many merchant ships been passing near the island these past few days?”
At these words, all the brothers perked up and looked toward Lin Qian.
Zheng Zhilong: “Very few; basically none every two or three days.”
On the sea surface in August, the southeast and northwest winds shifted unpredictably, so few sailed at such times; this was also why Lin Qian wanted to go ashore for plunder.
But once on land, without the Santa Ana’s cannon protection, the danger rose sharply.
Fortunately, the sea wasn’t devoid of ships; Lin Qian decided to first pick a merchant ship to cut his teeth on.
Lin Qian made up his mind, finished his rice, set the empty bowl on the table, and said: “Station people at the watchtowers on Guo Lao Mountain and Da Jian Mountain to watch closely; report immediately any ships sailing from south to north.”
……
Two days later.
Torrential rain poured.
A two-masted Fuchuan Ship sailed from south to north on the Fujian-Guangdong sea surface, as ship workers on the deck used wooden scrapers to clear pooled water.
Some covered the cabin beams with oilcloth, others plugged deck seams with tung oil-soaked cotton wadding.
The overseer stood on deck under an umbrella, endlessly berating the ship workers: “Hurry up, don’t dawdle; if water enters the cargo hold and ruins the goods, beating you to death won’t cover the loss!”
Seeing a ship worker slow down, the overseer kicked him.
The slippery deck sent the ship worker crashing down; he rose glaring at the overseer.
“What are you staring at? Get back to work!” the overseer snarled.
Seeing over a dozen armed guards around the deck, that ship worker suppressed his anger, bent down, and continued dragging the oilcloth.
A nearby ship worker plugging seams had rain-soaked fingers trembling uncontrollably, unable to stuff the cotton in; he muttered angrily: “The hold’s full of silver ingots—what’s the harm if they get wet? He’s just showboating because the Ship Master’s here, that cur!”
Another ship worker whispered: “Watch your tongue; anger that bastard and he’ll hit hard.”
The overseer didn’t hear and kept scolding on deck: “Work briskly; any slacking or shirking, and you’ll taste the whip!”
The Ship Master stood under the stern cabin eaves, watching the ship workers toil on deck, a satisfied smile on his face.
The Navigator ran over through the rain: “Ship Master, this rain’s unnatural; afraid wind will rise behind—better find shelter first.”
The Ship Master asked: “Where have we reached?”
The Navigator gazed shoreward, seeing a vast field of reeds stretching endlessly white.
“Ship Master, we’ve reached Ma’er Ao; Nan’ao Island is just ahead.”
