Chapter 86: Dragon King Inspects The Ship
The Ship Master frowned: “No sheltering from the rain, continue the voyage.”
“Yes.” The Navigator felt slightly surprised, but since the Ship Master offered no explanation, he didn’t press the matter.
The Ship Master inwardly cursed his bad luck.
He was the Ship Manager of Huangyan Lin Clan in Taizhou Prefecture. This time, on orders from the Master Family, he had gone to Macau to investigate the situation of another Lin Mansion three-masted Fuchuan Ship, and incidentally sell some silk and porcelain.
That three-masted Fuchuan Ship had departed from Yuegang Port at the start of the year, also bound for Macau, but after heading out to sea, there had been no word.
He inquired in Macau, but no one there had ever seen the ship.
Only after bribing the council hall with silver did he learn that the Lin Mansion three-masted Fuchuan Ship had never docked.
It was clear that someone had hijacked the ship at sea.
Even though Huangyan Lin Clan had declined somewhat in recent years, it was still a great clan with four hundred years of heritage and some reputation on the Southeast seas—even the great sea bandit Li Kuiqi would give it some face.
Huangyan Lin Clan’s merchant ships, if not exactly free to pass unimpeded, should at least be safe and sound. Yet it had been inexplicably hijacked—how was he to explain this to the Master Family?
And this was only the first stroke of bad luck.
The second stroke of bad luck was that some powerful magnate had appeared in Macau, dumping a massive amount of raw silk, porcelain, pearls, and other goods, causing prices to plummet.
His shipment, which would have fetched ten thousand taels of silver in previous years, could only sell for eight thousand taels this time—the price drop was staggering.
That was just the market; he couldn’t haul the goods back. There was still profit to be made, so he had to swallow his pride and accept it.
After selling the goods, he tried bribing the council hall again to learn the source of the extra cargo.
But the foreigners who took his silver only vaguely told him that the goods had come from the eastern sea.
All of Great Ming’s sea merchants operated east of Macau—this was as good as saying nothing.
The Ship Master had no choice but to set sail for home in frustration.
The third stroke of bad luck was the freak weather on the return voyage: the downpour that wouldn’t stop. What should have been a month’s voyage had, after more than half a month, only covered half the distance.
With the ship hijacked and sales poor, that was already enough to anger the Master Family.
If they arrived late on top of that, he no longer wanted this Ship Manager job.
So when the Navigator suggested pulling over to shelter from the rain, he refused with an unkind expression.
Rumble!
Rolling peals of muffled thunder came, shaking everyone to the core.
The Ship Master went to the ship’s side and glanced along both ship’s rails, saying irritably: “Steward Zhao, don’t just fuss over the deck—can’t you see the scuppers on both sides are clogged?”
Steward Zhao looked over the ship’s rail and saw that it was indeed so.
Water was coming out of the scuppers in fits and starts—no wonder the water was accumulating more and more on the deck.
He hurriedly called ship workers to clear them with wooden strips.
The ship worker singled out tied a rope around his waist, took the clearing rod, carefully climbed over the ship’s rail, bent down, held the railing with one hand, and cleared the scupper with the other.
Suddenly, a gust of crosswind blew in, making the Fuchuan Ship lurch violently.
The man outside the railing slipped and fell into the water. His head struck the ship’s rail as he fell, knocking him out cold, and he was swallowed by the sea in an instant.
The ship workers on deck rushed to pull the rope. Five or six of them heaved together and barely wrested him back from the Sea Dragon King.
They laid him on the deck, where a pool of blood from the back of the ship worker’s head quickly turned the rainwater red.
“He’s still breathing.” A ship worker held a finger to his nose.
The others showed no joy, only grimness—this man had a head injury and, without pulling ashore for treatment, was sure to die.
From the stern cabin, the Ship Master cursed: “Dead yet? If he’s dead, toss him in the sea!”
Steward Zhao leaned in for a look, then called up to the Ship Master: “He’s not gone yet.”
The Ship Master waved him off impatiently: “Toss him back, toss him back. That’s the Dragon King inspecting the ship and claiming him. Throw him back, and maybe the rain will stop.”
The ship workers, half in fear of the Ship Master and half superstitious, immediately lifted the man and threw him into the sea with a splash.
His body bobbed in the waves and was gone after a few swells.
With a man dead, the ship workers were downhearted, and even Steward Zhao’s urging grew feeble.
Fortunately, after about an hour, the rain began to ease.
“The scuppers are clear!” a ship worker exclaimed in delight.
The Ship Master looked over and saw water streaming from the scupper in a steady white line into the sea.
The water on deck was visibly much less.
Another hour of sailing, and the downpour tapered off as the dark clouds retreated.
On the distant sea surface, a green silhouette emerged.
The Navigator pointed at it: “Ship Master, that’s Nan’ao Island.”
The Ship Master nodded slowly. The Nan’ao Island Vice General took Huangyan Lin Clan’s annual tribute every year, so there was no worry of harassment from the garrison soldiers while passing.
After the downpour, the sea wind was damp and chilly. The Ship Master shivered and turned back to the stern cabin to get out of the wind. He lay down on the bed for a short nap.
He had lain there not even an hour, half-dreaming, when someone burst in from outside the cabin: “Ship Master, three ships approaching on starboard!”
The Ship Master sat up, annoyed: “What’s the panic? From Nan’ao Island?”
“From the eastern sea.”
The Ship Master stared wide-eyed, got to his feet, and went outside to scan the horizon. Sure enough, three black specks were approaching across the eastern sea.
Ships from Nan’ao Island would be garrison patrol vessels.
Ships from the eastern sea were definitely sea bandits.
The Ship Master steadied himself and said: “Maintain course and dock at Nan’ao Island!”
His men withdrew to relay the order.
The Ship Master kept his eyes glued to the three specks on the sea. They were too distant to make out the ships’ sizes, but he could vaguely sense they weren’t slow.
His two-masted Fuchuan Ship wasn’t fast to begin with. The cabin was loaded with eight thousand taels of silver, its empty spaces filled with his private cargo, and it had just shipped water—there was no way to pick up speed. He could only hope they were Li Kuiqi’s men and wary of Huangyan Lin Clan.
Less than an hour later, the three distant ships were much nearer—close enough to make out their decks with the naked eye.
Two Cangshan Ships and one Haicang Ship sailed abreast across the sea surface, lightly manned and riding the southeast wind at high speed.
Nan’ao Island was still far off on the horizon.
Another hour passed, the sun sank in the west, and the entire sky blazed with fiery clouds, turning the sea blood-red.
By the lurid red glow, the Ship Master peered at the three approaching ships and saw weapons in every hand—sea bandits confirmed.
The Ship Master summoned Steward Zhao and ordered: “Where’s the Manor’s flag? Get it out and hang it from the mast.”
Steward Zhao assented and directed the ship workers.
With sea bandits bearing down, the ship workers wasted no time and quickly fetched a wooden box from the cabin. They opened it to reveal a neatly folded flag.
The ship workers took out the flag and tied it to the mast with rope.
The flag snapped in the wind, bearing a huge embroidered “Lin” character.
Huangyan Lin Clan was a prominent family. If the approaching ships belonged to Li Kuiqi, they would surely back off upon seeing the flag.
Unexpectedly, the three ships showed no sign of slowing.
The Ship Master cursed to himself—what raw recruits were these, who hadn’t even heard of Huangyan Lin Clan?
With pursuit imminent, the Ship Master could only pray inwardly that announcing Huangyan Lin Clan’s name would scare off these small-time bandits and send them packing.
