Chapter 155: The Convoy Sets Sail

The Tianqi Emperor's temper flared up, and none of the eunuchs could talk him out of it, so they had no choice but to light the lamps and get to work.

This busy stretch lasted a full day and two nights.

At dawn, the eunuchs who had pulled two all-nighters in a row looked utterly exhausted.

Wei Zhongxian's face was blackened with ink splattered from the ink line marker, and his hands were red and trembling from working the saw.

"Cough, cough——" The Tianqi Emperor coughed twice, yet his expression was highly excited.

"Hurry and prepare some ginger soup for His Majesty!" Wei Zhongxian hastily ordered a young eunuch, then admonished, "Your Majesty, you've been working for two days now. Do rest a while."

The Tianqi Emperor waved a hand: "I am not tired. How is this sea vessel I've built?"

There before the Tianqi Emperor, amid wood shavings and scraps of timber strewn across the floor, stood a slender, elongated sea vessel.

That "ship" was the size of an arm, its bow curving inward like a blade, its hull like an arrow, with three masts rising from the deck bearing stiff sails.

A ship model this large, made in a day and two nights, was still too rushed a schedule, so it had come out somewhat rough.

But in the end, it had been made.

The Tianqi Emperor said with excitement: "Zhongxian, tell me honestly, who came up with this design?"

"The drawings and the scale model were both obtained by this servant from the Vice Regional Commander of Nan'ao."

"Very well then, transport this ship, along with the sketches I've drawn, to Nan'ao and show them to him!" The Tianqi Emperor was beaming with pride.

Wei Zhongxian acknowledged the order, and carrying the ship model and blueprints, left the warm chamber. He summoned a trusted subordinate: "Four-hundred-li express delivery — show these to Ma Chenglie! Wait——on your way back, bring that shipwright along too. His Majesty likes him."

"Yes, Ancestor Master."

After giving these orders, a young eunuch came over and said: "Ancestor Master, the Directorate of Ceremonial is still waiting."

Only then did Wei Zhongxian remember that before his audience with the emperor yesterday, he had told the Directorate of Ceremonial to wait for him to hold a meeting. He had thought he would return in an hour or two, but never expected His Majesty to get so caught up in his fun that he stayed up two whole nights straight.

"Forget it, let them go back and rest."

Having said this, Wei Zhongxian walked toward Xian'an Palace. Though his body was weary, his position as Director of the Eastern Depot and the matter of squeezing out Wang An still depended on the efforts of his "companion" in the palace.

Spring's warmth drifted through Xian'an Palace.

Beyond the Ten-Mile Pavilion outside the capital's south gate, a four-hundred-li express courier horse galloped off in a cloud of dust.

By the roadside, Ye Xianggao watched the four-hundred-li express courier vanish at the end of the road, his face full of worry.

Judging by that direction — heading southwest? Or to Shandong?

In these troubled times, even the urgent military dispatches sent by four-hundred-li express were growing ever more frequent.

His heart was bound to affairs of state, and he wished only that he could turn around and go straight to the duty room of the Grand Secretariat.

Yet a call from his coachman pulled him back to reality: "Master, we'd best hurry along. If we're late, traveling by night won't be convenient."

Ye Xianggao smiled bitterly. Yes — he had already been granted permission to retire. From now on he was but a man of leisure; matters of family and state, the rise and fall of the nation, no longer had any room for his input.

He looked back toward the capital, and at leaving this place where he had poured so much of his heart and effort, he could not help but feel a pang of desolation.

At this moment, another convoy came along the official road. It was quite small — just one horse-drawn carriage, one ox cart, and five or six attendants — and it stopped at the pavilion to rest.

Shandong was currently in the throes of the White Lotus sect uprising. This route headed south, passing through Daming Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture, and other places, all bordering Shandong — inevitably somewhat unsafe.

This party was of similar size to Ye Xianggao's convoy. If they too were heading south, traveling together would allow them to look after one another.

Ye Xianggao sent a servant over to inquire.

After a moment, the servant returned: "Master, they are also going to Fujian — to Quanzhou."

Ye Xianggao was delighted to hear this. He was himself a Fujian man, and this trip was precisely to return to his hometown of Fuqing. He had never expected to chance upon a fellow Fujian traveling the same way — one had to call it fate.

"Did you learn who they are?" Ye Xianggao asked further.

The servant said: "They only said their master's surname is Huang, and that he too is an official."

"Huang? Quanzhou?" Ye Xianggao furrowed his brow. Could it be Huang Kezan?

That man had a blunt, forthright temper, was at odds with the Donglin Faction, and did not get along with Ye Xianggao either. In the "Three Great Cases," his political views had been diametrically opposed to Ye Xianggao's.

Thus, although the two were fellow townsmen, they had no private friendship — there was even a faint awkwardness between them.

At this thought, Ye Xianggao asked his servant: "Did you reveal my name?"

"I only said that my master's surname is Ye, and that he too is an official at court."

Ye Xianggao thought to himself, that's fine — officials surnamed Ye in the Great Ming were numerous, so he likely wouldn't guess it was him. He then ordered his servant to prepare the carriage.

Unexpectedly, just as they were about to set off, a voice came from behind: "Chief Grand Secretary, you've been well since we last met, I trust."

Ye Xianggao turned around awkwardly and saw that it was indeed Huang Kezan. Embarrassed, he clasped his hands in greeting: "Minister Huang, are you heading to Nanjing on official business?"

Huang Kezan gave a cold snort: "What official business? I've resigned from office.

"For what reason did you resign?" Ye Xianggao was quite surprised.

In his view, many of Huang Kezan's political positions were identical to those of the eunuch faction. Now that Wei Zhongxian was in power, Huang Kezan's official career should have been smooth sailing — even advancing further into the Grand Secretariat in the future would not have been difficult. Why would he suddenly resign?

Huang Kezan said: "For whatever reason the Chief Grand Secretary resigned, I resigned for the same."

Ye Xianggao's retirement was ostensibly due to the disastrous defeat at Guangning, but in truth, he had seen that Wei Zhongxian's position was impossible to shake, that factional strife at court was intensifying with no possibility of reconciliation, and it was in dejection that he had decided to retire.

Huang Kezan had no connection whatsoever to the Guangning battle, so his resignation must have been because of the eunuch faction.

But wasn't he a member of the eunuch faction?

Ye Xianggao was rather doubtful.

Huang Kezan perceived what he was thinking and explained: "A gentleman befriends but does not form factions. I, Huang Shaofu, look down on your Donglin Faction, and naturally look down on the eunuch faction even more.

That powerful eunuch wanted to rebuild the Three Great Halls, and I cut three hundred thousand taels from his budget.

He then set his sights on the bronze vessels of Nanjing, and I rejected that too.

That powerful eunuch dared not touch me directly, so he went after my Ministry of Works — just two days ago he disposed of a Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Works.

If I didn't resign now, my subordinates would all suffer. In my dejection, I submitted my memorial."

Ye Xianggao knew of all these matters, but he had recently been busy with the war in Liaodong, and with his heart already set on retirement, he had overlooked what positions these events represented.

So saying, Huang Kezan was not merely not a sycophantic member of the eunuch faction — he was in fact a fellow traveler with Ye Xianggao.

With this thought, Ye Xianggao invited Huang Kezan to travel together.

Traveling until evening, their carriage stopped at an inn to rest.

The two sat around the brazier brewing tea, conversing freely about affairs of state.

The topics ranged from Liaodong to the southwest, then to Shandong—the more they talked, the heavier the mood grew, feeling that the realm was aflame with war everywhere, devastation as far as the eye could see.

Ye Xianggao sighed and added: "Just recently the Grand Secretariat received a memorial—there's rebellion in Shaanxi too. A band of starving folk seized the county offices of Baishui and killed the County Magistrate."

"Ai!" Huang Kezan let out a heavy sigh. "Within a mere year or two, across the nine provinces and myriad lands, beacons of war rise on every side. How has the Great Ming come to this state of spears and shields everywhere?"

For a time, the mood before the brazier was quite somber; Huang Kezan drank his tea like it was bitter wine.

Ye Xianggao recalled the four-hundred-li urgent express rider he had seen during the day, and thought to himself: "Though the state's affairs decline and the sovereign lacks discernment, there are still worthy ministers in court directing and coordinating—at least the war effort hasn't been delayed."

"Moreover, looking at it this way, the northeast, northwest, and southwest of the Great Ming are all in turmoil, yet only the southeast remains stable—at least the Great Ming has one patch of pure land left."

"The Vice Regional Commander of Nan'ao's battle at Macao was truly rare. Had Regional Commander Ma not routed the red-haired barbarians, who knows what trouble the southeast might be in now."

Huang Kezan spoke slowly: "By the way, Vice Regional Commander Ma Chenglie of Nan'ao—does the Chief Grand Secretary know of him?"

Ye Xianggao was startled, thinking that he had been about to say the same thing, and replied: "This man just routed the red-haired barbarians at Macao at the end of last year, and His Majesty issued a special edict commending him."

"In times of national crisis one longs for capable generals—Regional Commander Ma is truly a rare talent." Huang Ke's hometown was Quanzhou, very close to Yuegang, and for this reason he was quite familiar with the Great Ming's maritime trade.

"A few years ago, sea bandits plagued the southeast coast without number. Since Regional Commander Ma took office, the sea has been cleared of their menace, and in recent years voyaging by sea has become considerably safer."

Ye Xianggao recalled the veiled mention in the Governor-General of Liangguang's memorial of Regional Commander Ma's growing power, and said: "That being so, I would like to learn more about this Regional Commander Ma."

Huang Kezan said happily: "I was just thinking the same. Since you and I are both commoners now, how about we pick a day to tour Chaozhou in his defense district?"

Ye Xianggao was taken aback, thinking: "Chaozhou isn't far from you, but it's terribly far from my Fuqing. I only mentioned it in passing." He was about to refuse.

But seeing Huang Ke's high spirits—he had even already begun planning the itinerary—

Ye Xianggao's words of refusal lingered unspoken.

Half a month later, the four-hundred-li urgent express bearing the Tianqi Emperor's ship model and drawings arrived at Chaozhou Prefecture.

That very night, both items were placed on Lin Qian's desk.

Ma Chenglie had come along with them as well.

"Helmsman, the eunuch who came this time says they want to take the shipwrights to the capital as well."

Lin Qian said casually: "Is this the Emperor's wish, or Wei Zhongxian's?"

"He didn't say—"

"Then refuse them. Think of a tactful reply." Lin Qian said.

Ma Chenglie hesitated: "Wouldn't that risk angering His Majesty?"

Lin Qian said: "If this truly were the Emperor's order, would he not have said so plainly?"

Ma Chenglie felt enlightened—that did seem to make sense—though Eunuch Wei would not be easy to fob off either.

He was still hesitating.

Then he saw Lin Qian pick up Tianqi's ship model and chuckle lightly: "The model is finely made, but the design is all wrong."

Ma Chenglie stood frozen on the spot—this was made by the Emperor's own hands!

Countless people would bankrupt their families for a chance to have one and still fail; he gives you one, and you're going to nitpick that the design has errors?

Even though Ma Chenglie knew Lin Qian's attitude toward the court, he still couldn't wrap his head around it for a moment.

That was the Emperor!

Lin Qian picked up Tianqi's drawings, and his expression immediately turned serious. He frowned and studied them for a moment, then said with slight anger: "What kind of rubbish is this drawn."

Ma Chenglie hurriedly glanced toward the door and whispered urgently: "Helmsman, mind your words, mind your words!"

"You go out for now. Have the eunuch delivering the edict wait a few days—I need to make preparations."

"Help me summon Uncle Huang."

In the middle of the night, Uncle Huang and his apprentice Xiao Jiu entered the captain's cabin.

Lin Qian was bent over his desk drawing, and without raising his head asked: "How goes the progress on the mansion?"

"The framework is already built. Following the phased construction you specified, the main structure should be finished in another three or four months."

"Mm. There's something else—build me a Fujian junk, only half a person's height, but every plank, structure, and mortise-and-tenon joint must be exactly like a real ship. It needs to be fast, but it doesn't need to be very refined. How long will it take?"

Mute Huang pondered for a moment, then held out one hand with fingers spread.

"Master says five days."

"Good, then go do it. Have the apprentices handle it—don't neglect the proper work on the fire-roasting and smoke-curing method."

After the two withdrew,

Lin Qian continued revising drawings for another two hours, not going to sleep until the latter half of the night.

On the navigation table, Tianqi's hand-drawn drawings were now covered in dense circles and annotations, with review comments appended on a separate sheet of letter paper, written densely in tiny regular script.

Five days later.

Ma Chenglie took the ship model and drawings and found Wei Zhongxian's subordinate, conveying Lin Qian's meaning.

The subordinate eunuch said angrily: "The Grand Elder wants people—you dare to make excuses?"

Ma Chenglie said respectfully: "It's not that I'm unwilling to hand over the men—it's that the shipwrights are vital, the Nan'ao naval forces cannot do without them. I beg your indulgence, Eunuch."

With that said, he also presented a tray of gold and silver as a bribe.

"You're very good." The lead eunuch said in a strange, mocking tone, then left with his subordinates.

This time the ship model was half a person's height and extremely finely crafted—there was no way it could be carried on horseback.

The eunuchs could only purchase a carriage and travel slowly along the official road.

After reaching Hangzhou, they could have taken a boat along the canal straight to the capital, but now that the White Lotus sect was causing trouble in Shandong and grain transport by water was blocked, they had no choice but to continue overland, advancing at an extremely slow pace.

The eunuchs wore flying-fish robes, surrounded by numerous guards, making quite a show along the way.

As it happened, they crossed paths with Ye Xianggao and Huang Kezan, who were hurrying along the road. Since both were now commoners, they could not step forward to inquire, and could only assume that the Wei eunuch was once again bringing calamity upon the nation, shaking their heads and sighing by the roadside.

The day the eunuchs left Chaozhou Prefecture, Lin Qian personally went to the construction site of the mansion to inspect the progress of the work.

A good designer must personally visit the construction site, must ensure that the craftsmen understand the design intent and strictly follow the blueprints.

After lunch, a subordinate delivered a letter from Chen Jiao.

The letter said that the Madou tribe had agreed to Lin Qian's proposal and formally entered into cooperation with Chikan Fort. Chen Jiao, as previously promised, was providing aid to the Madou tribe.

It was now mid-February, barely in time for the spring sugarcane planting season. As long as the sugarcane was planted, relying on the favorable water and heat conditions of Dongning Island, the future sugar industry could develop vigorously.

This matter was within expectations; there was nothing to instruct.

Lin Qian accepted the letter and dismissed the subordinate.

Not long after, another person delivered an official document.

Lin Qian opened it and saw it was sent by Hu Zhaoyuan, detailing in full the quantities of trade goods purchased.

It also noted that due to the large-scale purchasing, prices in Chaozhou Prefecture had risen noticeably, with the most extreme being raw silk, which had already increased by nearly twenty percent.

Even wealthy households in the county towns had to prioritize cotton and hemp when buying clothes.

Some rejoiced while others worried—the Chaozhou silk merchants' cost of purchasing silk had soared.

Meanwhile, the sericulture weaving households were raking in money hand over fist. Throughout Chaozhou Prefecture, weaving households even went without sleep at night to deliver their silk.

It was said that the countryside at night was filled with the creaking of silk-reeling wheels.

Hu Zhaoyuan asked Lin Qian whether he still wanted to continue purchasing—after all, if they kept buying, raw silk supplies were still available, but the profit margin would be squeezed too much, and there would be no money to be made.

Lin Qian had someone bring a weasel-hair brush and wrote four large characters on the letter: "The more, the better."

The current high gross margins in maritime trade were purely due to inconvenient shipping and too little cargo being transported.

That Lin Qian's thirty ships' worth of cargo would impact market prices was expected from the start.

As long as there was still profit margin, Lin Qian would sell as much as possible.

Shifting the old maritime trade model of "scarcity makes things precious" toward a model of small profits and high volume.

This way, they could effectively squeeze out those smuggling ships with high costs and weak risk tolerance, strengthening their control over the entire shipping route.

"Return the letter to Squire Hu. Go." Lin Qian said to his subordinate.

In the month that followed, Hu Zhaoyuan, acting on Lin Qian's instructions, completely let loose—not only continuing large-scale purchasing in Chaozhou Prefecture, but also extending his reach into neighboring Zhangzhou and Huizhou.

Every prefectural and county seat had personnel sent by Hu Zhaoyuan to purchase goods.

Payment methods were varied—some used silver bullion, others simply bartered with deer antler, deer penis, and Chaozhou silk.

Within just a few days, prices in Zhangzhou and Huizhou also began to soar.

Raw silk in particular rose sharply, and some commoners even secretly converted farmland to plant mulberry seedlings.

Of course, the common folk had a stronger sense of risk, so not many converted their fields—it had not yet reached the point of alarming the authorities.

Prices of other trade goods in the three prefectures also fluctuated slightly.

Fortunately, the three prefectures had been important production areas for Ming dynasty handicrafts since ancient times—a typical export-oriented economy.

Zhangzhou and Chaozhou themselves produced silk; indeed, because of their developed silk-weaving industries, large amounts of Huzhou silk flowed in, and there were also brokers who had stockpiled raw silk when prices were low.

At this point, the market's stored reserves were released all at once, not only filling the procurement demand but even keeping silk prices from fluctuating too wildly.

Chaozhou was known as China's porcelain capital, with kilns scattered everywhere, focusing on blue-and-white porcelain for overseas sale. Huizhou had Guangdong's largest White Horse kiln cluster, mainly producing celadon for export—both prefectures had enormous porcelain output.

As for white sugar, Chaozhou was the main production area of "Chaozhou sugar," with its sugar industry monopolizing the Ming market and distributing throughout the country.

Not to mention that since Yuegang was located in Zhangzhou, Zhangzhou had long formed a mature overland commercial network that could gather and distribute goods in large quantities from the Ming hinterland.

Lin Qian had originally thought that for this Japan trade, the bottleneck would be goods production.

He hadn't expected that he had still underestimated the weight of those words "the late Ming's developed commodity economy."

In the three prefectures of Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, and Huizhou, as long as the silver was in place, there was nothing that couldn't be bought—only things that couldn't be produced.

In the end, the bottleneck turned out to be silver reserves.

Currently, the public accounts of Nan'ao Island had just over one hundred twenty thousand taels remaining, with twenty thousand taels held back for emergencies.

Putting the full one hundred thousand taels into the market, combined with the urgency of the goods, could only cause prices in the three prefectures to rise slightly.

Driven by profit, silver and goods began circulating between the three prefectures at tremendous speed.

Between Chenghai County and Nan'ao Island, sea vessels flowed back and forth daily without cease, on a scale unprecedented in history.

Although there was no forced buying or selling—all normal business transactions—

even the stability-seeking Ming officials could no longer sit still. The three prefectures' Prefects learned that the sellers were the Hu family of Chenghai County.

The officials all knew the Hu family's reputation—the name of "Hu's Deer Products" was widely known throughout Fujian and Guangdong, almost becoming a specialty of Chaozhou Prefecture.

Upon questioning, the Chenghai Hu family not only dealt in deer products but also maritime trade, holding a legitimate Yuegang ship permit—legally, no loophole could be found.

And since Hu Zhaoyuan had also sent over premium deer penis wine, the officials simply let it be.

Time flew by, and it was now late March.

The one hundred thousand taels of silver had all been spent, and the goods purchased could barely fill three Fujian junks and six Haicang ships.

Through bartering with deer products and Chaozhou silk, as well as loans from Hu Zhaoyuan, they managed to fill another four Haicang ships.

Adding in the cargo space needed for Dongning Island's deer hides, another five Haicang ships were filled.

Counting it all up, the total number of ships going to sea was eighteen, just filling all the Fujian junks and Haicang ships—not a single Cangshan ship was used.

Since the start of summer, the southeast monsoon winds at sea had gradually stabilized.

Today was the day of departure, and Qianjiang Bay dock was crowded with people.

This voyage to Japan would require staying in Hirado for over half a year, only returning once the northwest monsoon formed, so many family members had come to see their loved ones off.

Gazing at the fleet in the harbor, Lin Qian couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

This was Nan'ao Island's formal entry into maritime trade—after this voyage, Nan'ao Island could truly be said to have officially joined the torrent of the Age of Sail.

At the harbor at this moment, besides the eighteen merchant ships, there were also five Sea Wolf warships, four Yahat ships, and one Cloud Sail, for a total of ten warships providing escort.

There were also four Type-II bird ships serving as communications and reconnaissance vessels.

This was prepared for Li Dan and the sea bandits along the way.

A fleet this large, with cargo worth over a hundred thousand taels, would surely tempt every faction to make a move.

This was Lin Qian's first time participating in maritime trade, and he would rather over-prepare than be caught under-prepared.

Of course, he also knew that although the fleet before him looked grand and imposing, twenty of the ships were Ming Dynasty Haicang vessels.

As warships, this type of ship had too small a tonnage to mount heavy smoothbore cannons, lacking firepower; as merchant ships, the holds were too small, lacking carrying capacity.

In Lin Qian's eyes, they were only there to fill out the numbers in an emergency.

Once the new ship-of-the-line that Lin Qian was designing was successfully built, the Sea Wolf ships, the Cloud Sail, the Long Wind, and others would all be retired.

As for upgrading the merchant ships, that would have to wait until the clipper-bowed Fujian junk was successfully developed—and that depended on whether the Tianqi Emperor came through.

Still, although the fleet was cobbled together, the cargo in the holds was the real deal.

As long as this shipment arrived safely in Japan, the gross profit margin could be firmly maintained at around 50%—in plain terms, the cargo's value would double.

And the silver, copper, lacquerware, folding fans, swords, and blades shipped back from Japan to Nan'ao would earn another tidy profit on top.

As long as the sea routes were kept safe, it wasn't just a guaranteed profit with no losses—it was a doubled, massive profit!

By then, Nan'ao Island could spend money freely, no longer having to live a life of pinching pennies and tying its own hands.

"Greet the gods!" someone shouted from afar.

Immediately after, drums and music sounded, and people in the distance carried over the statue of Mazu, setting it up before the dock.

On the altar were placed whole oxen, sheep, and pigs as sacrifices, supplemented by grains, fresh fruit, fine wine, silk, and other offerings.

The sacrificial rites were of the highest standard, with blue smoke curling all around.

Bai Qing, the fleet's overall commander, raised a stick of incense with both hands and knelt in worship, with the fleet members kneeling behind him.

In Ming Dynasty terminology, the overall commander of a merchant fleet was called a gangshou.

The fleet's deputy commanders were Zheng Zhilong and Lü Zhou.

In terms of personnel, deploying two great commanders like Bai Qing and Zheng Zhilong showed just how much importance was attached to this.

After the incense was offered and worship concluded, the ritual officer recited the prayer text, and the surrounding sailors and common folk all held their breath and listened in rapt silence, their expressions extremely devout.

The ceremony ended with seeing off the gods—several people lifted the statue of Mazu, climbed the gangway, and carried it all the way aboard the Cloud Sail.

As the fleet's flagship, a "Heavenly Consort Shrine" would be set up on it, letting Mazu accompany and protect them all the way to Hirado.

Bai Qing and the others left the ceremony and walked before Lin Qian.

"Helmsman, the auspicious time for departure is almost here. Is there anything else you wish to instruct?"

Lin Qian: "If you run into trouble, send an eagle ship back to deliver word."

Zheng Zhilong smiled confidently: "Rest easy, Helmsman. With five cannon ships and five Sea Wolf ships, we can steamroll anyone on the sea—it'd be good of us not to rob others."

Bai Qing shot him a glare: "Have you forgotten about Li Dan?"

Zheng Zhilong backed down and muttered under his breath: "If Li Dan dares to cause trouble, we'll just plunder him too."

Bai Qing said to Lin Qian: "Rest assured, Helmsman. Brother Yiguan has a sharp tongue, but his skills are no less sharp. With me watching over him, nothing will go wrong."

Lin Qian couldn't help but smile at this, and cupped his fists: "In that case, I entrust everything to you all. Take care!"

The sailors cupped their fists in unison: "Take care, Helmsman!"

Thereupon Bai Qing led the sailors as each boarded their ships.

A little over half an hour later, the ships raised sails and weighed anchor, gradually leaving the harbor.

Amid the cries of seagulls, the gazes of loved ones, and the blowing sea breeze, they sailed off into the distance.

Yahei

Yuan

Pen