Chapter 12: Welcome Aboard

The Fujian junk had been anchored in Manila harbor for over a month.

During this time, Dumb Huang's sextant, after several rounds of improvement, finally achieved ideal precision.

Lin Qian allocated funds from the public account, spending two hundred silver coins to buy a half-man-tall block of ironwood to serve as the sextant's main body material.

The final finished sextant was the size of an adult's arm, weighed over ten catties, and its appearance was almost indistinguishable from the sextants of later generations.

Using it to measure Manila's latitude yielded a result of fifteen degrees north, matching reality without the slightest error.

After this, Lin Qian gained one more daily task: observing the sun's angle each day, and thereby calculating the sun's declination angle for different dates.

This was a task where slow work yields fine results, and not a single day could be missed—once a full year of measurements was completed, he would have a complete solar declination table.

In the future, he could calculate latitude by measuring the sun's angle during the day and consulting the table.

This would facilitate navigation in the southern hemisphere and satisfy the need for measuring latitude during daylight hours.

During this period, Chen Jiao had recruited over twenty sailors, all of whom had served on Spanish ships and were thoroughly familiar with the weather and sea conditions of the South Seas.

Lei Sanxiang had obtained over thirty goose-feather sabers, a dozen or so Spanish rapiers, over a dozen Japanese katana, and two matchlock muskets.

This early type of matchlock musket weighed about twenty catties, stood as tall as a man when upright, and required a support stand planted in the ground—the gun had to rest on the stand to be aimed properly—clearly leaving enormous room for improvement.

By comparison, the Japanese bird-gun musket and the Great Ming's Rumi musket were both considerably superior to the Spanish matchlock in overall performance.

Among them, the Rumi musket invented by Zhao Shizhen was the strongest.

Lin Qian resolved that if he ever got the chance, he would definitely acquire some.

Boss Lu had sent over a batch of Spanish navigational instruments some days earlier, but unfortunately most were crudely made with poor precision, clearly all discarded castoffs.

This was not for lack of effort on Boss Lu's part—the Spanish truly kept too tight a watch.

For a maritime power like Spain, those in power knew well the importance of monopolizing navigational knowledge.

Lose a gun, and you lose but a few lives.

Lose a ship, and you lose but a few dozen tons of gold and silver.

But lose navigational knowledge, and what they would lose was the entire ocean.

So Lin Qian still personally called on Boss Lu to thank him, and purchased several thousand silver coins' worth of foreign goods from him—mostly cloves, nutmeg, and the like—as a gesture of returning kindness for kindness.

During this period, aside from writing his navigation log and measuring the sun's declination angle, Lin Qian spent his free time running into Manila, frequently encountering Catherine along the way.

The frequency and number of these encounters were so high that not only did Bailangzai find it strange, even Catherine herself took notice.

Catherine, spoiled excessively by her Governor-General father, had an extremely willful temperament, yet her figure and face were stunning, perfectly matching both Eastern and Western standards of beauty, and she never lacked for suitors.

But given her noble status, her suitors were at minimum naval deputy captains in rank, with titles starting at least at the level of count.

Being pursued by a commoner "yellow monkey" like Lin Qian was, to her, simply an insult—so every time they met, she would go up and humiliate Lin Qian.

And Lin Qian merely smiled placidly, unmoved, and after a few days of quiet, continued exactly as before.

Such thick skin and persistent spirit left even Catherine's guards astonished.

Through these long stretches of "chance" encounters, Lin Qian had figured out Catherine's travel patterns.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, she went to the Cavite shipyard south of the city.

That was the largest shipyard in all of Southeast Asia—one could even say in all of Asia—and the Manila galleons were built there.

It was also forbidden territory for the Han Chinese; Spanish guards were posted around the shipyard, and the moment a Han person approached, they would open fire immediately.

Catherine stayed there for a full day each visit, and what she did there was unknown.

But judging from her personality and her masculine attire, one could guess she was hardly the type of Western noble lady—she was, in all likelihood, deeply interested in navigation.

Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Catherine had free time—sometimes she went to the harbor docks to watch the passing ships, sometimes she went outside the city to ride horses, and sometimes she stayed in the Governor-General's residence without coming out.

And every Sunday, she would wear women's clothing and go to the church to pray and attend service.

Lin Qian had also used a cross to enter the church a few times, but unfortunately the Governor-General's family had a dedicated prayer room, so he could not see Catherine.

Moreover, the church's bell tower was also forbidden ground, and Lin Qian could not get near it.

During this period, aside from occasionally helping Lin Qian with underwater tasks, Bailangzai spent most of his time "coincidentally encountering" Catherine alongside him.

Even Bailangzai, with his iceberg-like disposition, could not help but repeatedly advise: "Sixth Brother, there are plenty of women in this world—why hang yourself from one tree?"

Lei Sanxiang also advised: "Brother Lin, if you're really feeling pent up, I happen to know a few good places…"

Chen Jiao had always believed Lin Qian's actions must have deeper meaning, but after observing for a long while, he too sighed and said: "I never thought you'd turn out to be such a lovestruck fool. If you want to press your warm face against her cold backside, go ahead—just don't neglect the real business."

The forty-eighth year of Wanli, the twenty-fifth day of the third month, Friday, not a cloud in the sky.

Early in the morning, Lin Qian came out from the aft cabin and commanded in a loud voice: "Notify the workmen on shore—everyone back on the ship by noon. We're leaving port this afternoon."

"So sudden?" Lei Sanxiang was quite taken aback.

Chen Jiao glanced at the sky, his expression worried: "This clear weather isn't normal. Leaving port today, I'm afraid…"

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time." Lin Qian cut Chen Jiao off, speaking with profound meaning.

According to Lin Qian's arrangements, the hold had long been stocked with water and provisions, and the cargo for returning to the Great Ming had already been stowed in the cargo hold—they only needed the workmen to assemble before setting sail.

After more than a month in port, quite a few workmen had already spent every last bit of their hundred and fifty taels of silver.

Those who hadn't spent it all mostly didn't go ashore much anyway, so there weren't many workmen on shore, and they quickly returned to the ship.

Now, nearing early summer, the monsoon had not yet formed, and very few ships chose to set sail at this time.

But Lin Qian had given the order, and the workmen dared not disobey. After finishing lunch, they each took their positions and awaited Lin Qian's command.

Just then, Lin Qian said: "Almost forgot to say goodbye to Miss Catherine."

At three or four in the afternoon, Catherine left the Cavite shipyard and returned toward the Governor-General's residence.

From far off she saw a man standing in the road—it was Lin Qian, with his little lackey standing behind him.

Catherine's face was full of disgust, and she ordered her guard to go drive him off.

The guard rode over, drew his saber, pointed it at Lin Qian, and said in Chinese: "No loitering near the shipyard!"

Lin Qian cupped his hands toward Catherine in the distance and said: "I'm returning to the Great Ming. Today I've come especially to bid you farewell, miss."

The guard translated this, and Catherine rolled her eyes and said: "Vale, vale."

Even Bailangzai, who didn't understand Spanish, could hear the impatience in her voice.

"Before we part, I have a gift for you." Lin Qian said, pulling a wooden box from his chest.

A guard took the wooden box and handed it to Catherine. Catherine didn't even look at it, tossing it straight to the ground.

At that very moment—

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out from the treeline by the roadside.

In an instant, blood mist burst from the horse beneath Catherine, its skull shattered into pieces, bone fragments and brains splattering in every direction.

Before Catherine could even react, she crashed heavily onto the sand.

The two guards were stricken with panic—one dismounted to help Catherine up, while the other spurred his horse forward to shield her.

More than half of Catherine's body was stained red with horse blood, and she was frozen in shock by the sudden turn of events.

Before she could collect herself, she felt a heat at the back of her neck, as if liquid had splashed onto her. She turned around in a daze and saw a long blade protruding from her guard's belly.

The blade slowly withdrew, blood gushing from the wound, dyeing the sand beneath his feet crimson in an instant as the guard collapsed limply.

Lin Qian wiped the blood from his face and said with a smile in Spanish: "Miss Catherine, welcome aboard."

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen