Chapter 182: A Future Radiant with Promise

At Fuqing, the wedding night revelry was at its height.

In the White Dragon Water Stockade.

The pearl-ground eunuch's face was clouded with gloom.

A month earlier—on the evening of the tenth day of the eighth month—the pearl-diving team that had gone out had still not returned.

The pearl-ground eunuch sent the patrol office to the pearl grounds to investigate.

In the end, the bowmen reported back that the entire pearl grounds held nothing but drifting Tanka boats.

The patrol office's warships had vanished without a trace; the pearl divers and soldiers had all disappeared, and even his own adopted son was nowhere to be found—alive or dead.

The scene was so bizarre that the patrol office's bowmen dared not investigate further, and fled back to the water stockade in a panic.

Only when the sky was fully bright the next day did the bowmen dare venture back to the pearl pools to investigate.

By then, the corpses on the sea surface had long since been devoured by sharks, the small scraps of flesh eaten by little fish, and the blood diluted by the waves.

The pearl pool patrol office's warships had been sailed off by the pearl divers, and any that were too badly damaged had been scuttled, so aside from the Tanka boats, there were no other vessels on the water.

The Tanka boats had no anchors, and after a night of being pushed by the waves, most of them had also drifted out of sight.

The pearl pool's sea surface was utterly empty—not a trace of human presence remained. Even in broad daylight, the bowmen were terrified down to their bones.

After they reported back, everyone in the White Dragon Stockade, from top to bottom, fell into panic.

These people normally treated pearl divers' lives like weeds, killing one or two without so much as blinking—but perhaps because they had done too many wicked deeds, not one of them was unafraid of ghosts.

The Bai siblings had done their work too cleanly, and their hold over the pearl divers was too strong, so on the day of the action, not a single pearl diver or bowman came ashore to report.

To everyone at the pearl grounds, this looked like more than two thousand people vanishing into thin air at once—something only ghosts and gods could accomplish.

The pearl-ground eunuch was especially terrified; the ghosts and gods had first taken his adopted son, and he might be next.

So he halted pearl diving and gathered all the patrol office soldiers around him for protection, living in fear for a full month like this.

The ghosts and gods never came knocking; in that month, the water stockade was calm and uneventful.

The pearl-ground eunuch recovered some courage and sent people to the surrounding pearl grounds and islands to scout for news.

The Bai siblings' advance and retreat routes had been carefully chosen, mostly lying in the open sea and avoiding the various pearl pools.

So the surrounding pearl grounds naturally knew nothing of what had happened to the White Dragon pearl grounds.

As for Weizhou Water Stockade, it had been burned to the ground, a great fire set on the island as well; many of the naval camp soldiers had been smoked to death or burned alive, and those who barely survived made the miserable discovery that the island's warships had been either seized or scuttled—not even a small sampan had been left behind. They were completely trapped on the island.

For a month, the camp soldiers could only forage wild vegetables and berries to stave off hunger while felling trees to build rafts.

By the time the rafts were finished, the White Dragon Water Stockade patrol office's men had also come ashore on the island.

After enduring a month of wilderness survival, the Weizhou naval camp soldiers broke down in tears of excitement at the sight of the patrol office bowmen. The two sides talked for a long while before they understood the full story.

The bowmen dared not delay and hurried to report the matter up the chain.

This was the reason the pearl-ground eunuch was so downcast.

The plundering of the White Dragon pearl pools was not a major matter—the pearls on the Fujian junk were only a single day's harvest, so the loss was not great.

More than two thousand pearl divers being seized as slaves was also not too great a matter, since those people would have died diving for pearls anyway.

The key issue was that the Weizhou Water Stockade had been taken, with heavy casualties among the naval camp soldiers, and the involvement of the red barbarians meant it touched on foreign affairs.

The pearl-ground eunuch should have investigated thoroughly a month ago, but instead he had delayed and missed the opportunity—that was a grave crime.

Even if he was one of Eunuch Wei's men and could save his life, he could not save his lucrative post as pearl-ground eunuch.

So after much deliberation, the pearl-ground eunuch planned to find a gang of sea bandits to take the blame.

As it happened, Jiaozhi had been plagued by frequent internal strife lately, and there were rumors that the Zheng lord to the north was vigorously recruiting sea bandits—so he would simply pin the black pot on those sea bandits' heads.

This way, the red barbarian uprising became ordinary sea banditry, and he could report the pearl pool's losses as lighter—say, changing the number of seized pearl divers to twenty—and thus escape blame.

With his plan settled, the pearl-ground eunuch immediately spread out paper, moistened his brush, and dashed off a memorial to the inner court.

At the same time, at the Madou settlement on Dongning Island.

Chen Jiao was inspecting the sugarcane fields. His trouser legs were rolled up, his feet planted in the mud of the irrigation ditch, and half his body was covered in mud splatters—he paid it no mind at all.

On both sides of him stretched dense sugarcane groves. The canes stood a full one and a half times a man's height, with thick, sturdy stalks of a dark hue, their surfaces faintly dusted with sugar crystals. The tops of the stalks were covered in leaves, like little green umbrellas; walking through the fields felt like strolling through a shaded grove.

Chen Jiao walked as he spoke: "These are first-year canes planted in May this year. They should mature by the first month of next year—that is, three months from now. At that time, all the able-bodied young laborers in the tribe must come back, or we won't have enough hands to cut the cane——"

"We know, we know." Anya answered carelessly.

Xilin said: "The Governor-General means well for us—don't be rude to him!"

Having spent so much time together with the people of Madou, Chen Jiao and the others had each learned a fair amount of Siraya and Chinese, and by mixing the two languages together, they could barely communicate.

Anya stuck out her tongue, and Xilin shot her a glare.

Chen Jiao walked ahead and did not see the sisters' expressions. He continued: "Remember, when cutting the cane, you can't cut it all down, and you can't pull it up by the roots. You have to leave a section, about this long——"

As he spoke, he bent down and gestured at the base of a cane stalk. His gaze inadvertently swept over the sisters' long, slender calves, his breath caught, and he quickly looked away.

Chen Jiao cleared his throat and said: "The root stalk left this way will grow again next year—that's ratoon cane. The second year's ratoon is called two-year cane; it has the highest sugar content and matures the fastest."

Chen Jiao had grown experimental sugarcane plots on Tayouan Islet before, so he already had experience. Add to that his position as Governor-General, his great emphasis on Dongning's agriculture, and his habit of personally inspecting everything—through constant exposure, he had become something of a half-baked agricultural expert.

Anya muttered: "We all know this already. It's just that Aban keeps saying war sabers are for cutting people, not for cutting sugarcane."

Since it involved the internal affairs of the Madou tribe, Chen Jiao could not easily interject.

Xilin said: "Don't worry, I'll persuade the headman."

Chen Jiao turned back to look at her and said: "Mm, sorry for the trouble."

Xilin looked away and casually snapped off a leaf from a sugarcane stalk.

Anya cast a slightly suspicious look her way. Xilin turned aside to avoid it and said in a lecturing tone to those behind her: "Leaves on the stalk don't get any sunlight and just waste nutrients—they'll make the cane less sweet. Remember to deal with them."

The Madou farmers working this field were all following behind, and upon hearing this, they answered in unison.

Chen Jiao walked out of the sugarcane field and stood on a ridge. Looking out, he saw green sugarcane groves covering the mountains and fields as far as the eye could reach, like gazing down at a forest from a high mountain.

Xilin and Anya also came out of the sugarcane field, and the farmers behind them handed over a jar of clean water to wash the sisters' feet.

After washing off the mud, Anya handed the water jar to Chen Jiao: "Do you want to wash too?"

Chen Jiao shook his head and laughed: "It'll fall off naturally once I walk a bit."

Xilin urged: "Better wash it off—it's uncomfortable caked on your legs."

Chen Jiao took the water jug: "Alright."

Then, while rinsing, he said: "It's almost the tenth month now. Chikan needs to prepare the sugar-making sheds and cane presses in advance, and we also need to recruit workers and arrange shipping. With so many matters at hand, I'm afraid I won't be able to come to Madou village often in the coming months."

Anya said: "It's fine if you don't come often. These past month or two, you've been coming every two or three days—that's too much trouble. Don't worry, our people are still very good at farming."

Xilin said: "It's getting late. Stay at Madou village for dinner."

Chen Jiao said: "Alright."

By Han folk custom, a host's invitation to stay for a meal was mostly politeness, but Chen Jiao had spent enough time with the Madou villagers to know they were all straightforward people.

So Chen Jiao didn't put on false courtesy either. Besides, with the sugarcane harvest approaching, he had been traveling back and forth to Madou village very frequently, and he'd eaten quite a few dinners there—he was already very familiar with the routine.

Now, apart from the headman Aban who still paid him little mind, the rest of the Madou villagers were all very friendly toward him—not only because of Chen Jiao's frequent visits, but also because Lin Qian had given them far too much.

In Madou village, traces of Han cultural influence were everywhere, the most obvious being the villagers' clothing.

Previously, the Siraya people—men and women alike—only draped a piece of animal hide over themselves with a cloth around the crotch, and when it was hot, they wouldn't even wear the hide.

Now at least everyone had clothes made of cotton cloth to wear. Though their thighs and arms were still exposed, at least their private parts were well protected.

Beyond that, there were also influences from iron tools, the physician, language, festivals, and a whole series of other things.

Take, for instance, the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration held just last month—under the moonlight, the people of Chikan and Madou village gathered joyfully together, singing and dancing, roasting meat over the bonfire, sipping tea and eating mooncakes, while Chen Jiao told folk tales like Chang'e Flying to the Moon. The atmosphere was extremely lively.

The scale of the celebration and the richness of the atmosphere were even greater than at Nan'ao Island.

This was precisely a demonstration of Han culture that Chikan had put on for Madou village at Lin Qian's direction, and the results were very significant.

At mealtime, the tribespeople sat on the ground in a circle around the bonfire, each with a coconut shell filled with steaming hot rice before them, accompanied by venison and fish, all cooked in coconut water and seasoned with a sprinkle of light salt.

The taste was sweet and salty—not that it was particularly delicious, but eating it under the moonlight, by the bonfire, in a Siraya village had its own special flavor.

After dinner, Chen Jiao returned to his room to rest and slept dreamlessly through the night.

The next afternoon, Chen Jiao rode back to Chikan. For the convenience of transporting sugarcane, a dirt road had been built between the two places.

Along the way, he passed many carts and horses hauling timber, all of it bound for Chikan.

Half a month ago, the Bai siblings had brought over two thousand-plus pearl folk to Chikan, and much of the previously air-dried timber had been used for building houses—this new timber was to replenish the supply.

Chen Jiao and his party rode out of the forest and reached the outskirts of Chikan, where a vast expanse of golden rice paddies came into view. A clear breeze blew past, and waves of rice rippled across the fields—a sight that brought ease to the heart.

This was precisely the harvest season for the late rice, and farmers were everywhere in the fields reaping, a scene of bustling activity.

Chen Jiao slowed his horse and admired the rice paddies around him.

He thought of how, when Chikan had first been founded, the surrounding fields had still been wheat fields. In the space of one year, they had built irrigation works, raised field ridges, and upgraded the wheat fields to rice paddies—one had to say it was a remarkable feat.

The early-season rice harvest from Chikan's farmlands was already enough to feed the entire city for a year, with surplus to spare.

Now with the late rice harvest, the grain could be stored in both Chikan and Nan'ao, held in reserve for times of need.

In troubled times, grain was the foundation of confidence; without grain, everything else was nothing but a castle in the air.

The moment he entered the city, the scene shifted from the bustle of farm work to the bustle of the marketplace.

Everywhere in the city, new houses were going up. The sound of sawing wood was piercing enough to make one's head ache, and the very air carried a smell of sawdust.

There was no helping it—two thousand pearl folk needed places to live, and sugar-making also required work sheds.

Chen Jiao saw that the completed work sheds were filled with enormous clay vats, with no particularly special structures to be seen.

According to the sugar-making master, the purpose of building these sheds was not just to keep out wind and rain—the most important thing was to keep others from learning the sugar-making method.

So the cane presses for squeezing sugarcane juice could be placed outside the city, or even built in Madou village for all it mattered, but the sheds for making white sugar absolutely had to be in Chikan.

Fortunately, when Chikan city had been founded, a large expanse of open land had been reserved within the walls, so even with all these houses suddenly built, there was still room to fit them.

Returning to the Governor-General's residence, he saw Bailangzai polishing his blade, while Bai Qing was giving instructions to craftsmen over a blueprint.

The two saw Chen Jiao return and greeted him.

Bailangzai gave him a once-over and said: "Big Brother's got a smile at the corners of his mouth—something good happen?"

Chen Jiao said in a fluster: "Is that so? I'm just happy seeing the rice being harvested outside the city."

Bailangzai said: "I hear Big Brother's been going to Madou village pretty often these past few months?"

Chen Jiao picked up a cup of tea and gulped it down in one go, then said: "The sugarcane's about to be harvested, so I need to go keep an eye on things. It's the Siraya people's first time planting it—I'm afraid they might dig up the roots, and then there'd be no ratoon cane next year."

"Oh." Bailangzai nodded, then went back to polishing his blade.

Chen Jiao continued to explain: "Besides, in a few days we'll all be heading back to Nan'ao, and when we get there, the situation on Dongning Island will have to be reported in detail to the Helmsman. I was also going there early to get a better understanding. Madou village planted over three thousand mu of sugarcane this year—by May or June next year, counting the new plantings, I estimate we can plant as much as ten thousand mu in one go."

"True enough." Bailangzai said.

Chen Jiao walked over to Bai Qing's side and said: "What are you looking at?"

Bai Qing said: "This is the city planning map for Chikan that the Helmsman gave us. The Helmsman said that even though Dongning Island's land is vast, it can't be wasted—new houses can't just be thrown up haphazardly like a slum; there needs to be proper planning."

Chen Jiao said apologetically: "This should have been my job. Sorry to put you to the trouble, Sister Bai."

Bai Qing laughed: "It's not like I have anything else to do anyway. And I won't be able to help for much longer—after the wedding banquet, my brother and I will be going to the Pearl Mother Sea two more times."

Chen Jiao was slightly taken aback: "You're bringing more pearl folk to the island?"

"Mm. This time the Helmsman plans to bring six thousand people. The navy's ships are too few, so we have to transport them in batches."

Chen Jiao frowned: "In that case, the open space in the city might not be enough."

Bai Qing pointed at the map: "The Helmsman already thought of that. In this spot, we're building a second city wall."

Chen Jiao looked over and saw that it was already at the edge of the farmland.

"Building another wall is doable, but expanding any further beyond that would be hard to manage."

Bai Qing spread her hands: "The Helmsman didn't say anything about what comes after. You can just ask the Helmsman about it at the wedding banquet, Big Brother."

Chen Jiao revealed a meaningful smile: "I'm afraid there won't be any free time that day."

Lin Qian stayed at the Fuqing residence for three days, and after three days, he took a ship back to Nan'ao.

Ye Zhen performed the temple-visiting rite—that is, after paying homage at the Lin family ancestral hall, she formally became the new bride of the Lin family.

A few more days passed, and the wedding banquet on Nan'ao Island began.

This ceremony was far less ritualistic—things like bowing to Heaven and Earth and drinking the nuptial cup were not for show; they had already been done once in Fuqing, so naturally there was no need to repeat them.

Correspondingly, the constraints on the bride were also much fewer. There was no need to sit in the bridal chamber. Lin Qian set up a separate table in the inner courtyard for the important female relatives, with Ye Zhen presiding.

Among the guests, Ma Chenglie's wife was given particular prominence. Lin Qian had learned of Ye Zhen through Ma Chenglie's wife—she was the one who had suggested the match, and she had also arranged the matchmaker. Her contribution could truly be said to be paramount.

In addition, Lin Qian also invited the wife of the matchmaker Zhou Qiyuan, and seated at the same table were some of the wives of military officers.

This table of feasts served both as thanks and as a subtle gesture of courting favor.

Meanwhile, in the front courtyard, the scale of the banquet was unprecedented—over a hundred tables were set up at once. One courtyard could not hold them all, so they spilled across several courtyards.

Among those who came, aside from the bride's brothers and a few representatives from the bride's side, virtually everyone was a military officer of various ranks, mostly men under Lin Qian's command.

When Lin Qian had first raised the mutiny, he had promised that all who sailed the seas together were brothers. How could he marry without feasting his brothers?

Men of letters might find setting out so many tables crude and vulgar, but men of arms would only think, "The helmsman even invited me to his wedding—the helmsman remembers me!"

Of course, with over a hundred tables, toasting each one individually would be fatal. So Lin Qian toasted one cup per courtyard, and most of the brothers were already quite satisfied.

But Lin Qian's sworn brothers were not so easily fobbed off—cup after cup, they drank without stopping.

Watching from the side, the bride's brothers felt their scalps go numb.

In the main hall, four long tables had been specially pushed together to display the congratulatory gifts.

This was not mere ostentation—it was one of the rituals of Great Ming wedding customs, called the gift platform, meant to lend face to the host family and give face to the gift-givers.

At the earlier wedding in Fuqing, the gift platform had also held many gifts of all kinds, though most were elegant and understated.

By the time of the Nan'ao banquet, the gifts on the platform had become far more extravagant—gold, silver, jade, agate, and jadeite, all present, all exquisite, all priceless.

The gift platform made of four long tables, fully three zhang in length, was packed to the brim with congratulatory gifts.

And this was not even all of them—many gifts were so valuable that displaying them would invite gossip, so they were stored in the treasury. It was fortunate that Lin Qian had not invited many outsiders; otherwise, if guests discovered their gifts had not been put on display, they would surely fly into a rage.

Beneath the red lanterns pasted with the character for double happiness, the entire main hall glittered with jewels and splendor, so dazzling that one could not look away after a single glance.

If names could have been pasted on the gifts, one would discover that nearly every guard station commander from Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, Huizhou, and Quanzhou had sent a gift.

The name cards from the military officers of the four prefectures were more complete than a full muster of troops after three drumbeats.

If one were to deploy coastal defenses for Fujian and Guangdong on the spot according to those name cards, no one would fail to receive their orders.

In comparison, the civil officials of the four prefectures were more reserved—their gifts were not particularly valuable, merely a token of regard.

These four prefectures all lay at the border of Fujian and Guangdong, and the officials had more or less heard of the reputation of the Nan'ao Naval Force.

Lin Qian commanded a powerful naval force, with the great victory at Macao behind him and the great victory at Fuzhou after that. He had been promoted straight from Battalion Commander to Assistant Regional Commander, his rank leaping faster than a skyrocket, and he had married the eldest legitimate granddaughter of the former Chief Grand Secretary.

The brilliance of his future was so bright it was almost blinding.

The officials of the Great Ming were the best at trimming their sails to the wind—how could they not come to curry favor?

Civil officials might have concerns about the divide between civil and military paths and avoiding factional strife, but military officers, especially guard station commanders, had no such scruples.

The Great Ming currently pursued the strategy of "governing the military through civil officials, and commanding the guard stations through camp troops," meaning that guard station soldiers gradually shifted from being managed by the original Regional Military Commission to being managed by camp soldier commanders.

So if Lin Qian were ever transferred in the future, he could very well become their direct superior—they would tighten their belts to come curry favor with him.

Apart from the bustle of the banquet, the gatekeeper and the accounts office of the Lin household were also run off their feet.

From evening onward, people kept arriving at the main gate with gifts, mostly sent by local gentry from the southeastern coast.

Lin Qian had not sent them invitations, so they offered congratulations without entering the banquet—they merely identified themselves to the gatekeeper, spoke a few auspicious words, left their name cards, gifts, and monetary offerings, and then departed.

Lin Qian now held maritime trade in his left hand and maritime power in his right, with court backing behind him. Anyone who wanted to make money on the sea had to watch his expression.

Even if one only did business on land, Lin Qian was still a major patron.

Therefore, the local gentry chose to come personally to the wedding banquet, their intent to curry favor all the heavier.

And all of these people would become assets to Lin Qian in his future control of Chaozhou and Zhangzhou.

The banquet did not gradually wind down until the fourth watch. Lin Qian feigned drunkenness and barely managed to extricate himself to return to his room.

Pushing open the door, he saw Ye Zhen sitting at the table working an abacus, her expression utterly focused.

Seeing her husband enter, Ye Zhen hurriedly had Baikou attend to changing his clothes, while she herself lifted the food cover—beneath it was a small bowl still steaming with hot air.

Ye Zhen picked up the bowl, stirred it continuously with a spoon, and walked over.

"Husband, this is honey water—it can dispel the effects of wine." As she spoke, she scooped up a spoonful, blew on the steam, and brought it to Lin Qian's lips.

Lin Qian drank the honey water from the spoon—not too sweet, not cloying, and at just the right temperature.

Ye Zhen scooped another spoonful, but by then Lin Qian's outer robe had already been removed, so he took the bowl and said, "I can manage on my own."

"All right." Ye Zhen replied with a red face, standing in place, somewhat at a loss for what to do with her hands.

Lin Qian drained the honey water in a few gulps, set the bowl on the table, walked over to the ledger, and asked, "What are you calculating?"

Ye Zhen said softly, "I'm calculating the monetary gifts. I made a rough estimate of the value of the congratulatory gifts—I don't know if it's correct."

Lin Qian flipped through it—the handwriting was like the person, extremely delicate and neat—and said, "This can be done tomorrow. I'll find craftsmen to appraise the value. These are all debts of gratitude; only once they're tallied can they be repaid properly."

Ye Zhen said, "Yes."

"In the future, when I come back late, you don't need to wait for me—just go to sleep on your own."

Ye Zhen said, "A wife should wait."

Lin Qian said, "Very well—waiting has its benefits too." As he spoke, he blew out the lamp.

In the darkness, Ye Zhen let out a suppressed gasp, then said with a mix of shyness and timidity, "Husband, be gentle——"

The next day, Lin Qian obtained the keys and tally tokens from Su Qingmei, and the ledgers from the accounts office, and gave them all to Ye Zhen.

Ye Zhen opened the ledger and covered her mouth, exclaiming, "So much!"

This ledger was Lin Qian's private accounts. Most of the silver came from his dividends as helmsman, and since the dividend ratio on Nan'ao Island had changed, it had grown very slowly.

Of course, he had even fewer places to spend silver, so the balance on the books had almost never decreased—plus the income from the restaurants, inns, and sweet soup shops on Nan'ao Island.

The total balance on the books was still over sixty thousand taels.

Lin Qian said, "This account will be handed over to you from now on. The household is still short of a steward—perhaps we might add a few more shops and farmland. Do as you see fit."

Ye Zhen said softly, "I will surely manage the household well, rest assured, my husband."

Lin Qian smiled, said nothing more, and headed to the front courtyard. Though they had already shared the bed several times, it was an arranged marriage after all, and the two were not yet well acquainted.

That was fine—there would be plenty of time to get to know each other in the days ahead.

"Geng Wu!" Lin Qian called out after leaving the inner courtyard. "Summon Commander Ma, Director Zhou, and Garrison Commander Huang to my study."

After a while, the three arrived at the study and took their seats.

Lin Qian said, "Winter is nearly upon us—it's time to sail for the South Seas. If any of these families wish to travel to Hoi An together, they may join our fleet for greater safety."

Lin Qian produced a list of names, all selected from the gift registers—every one of them coastal gentry.

Scholar Zhou took the list, glanced over it, and said, "This is easy to handle. What they sought with their gifts was precisely this."

Lin Qian continued, "There is one more matter. I ask Commander Ma to submit a memorial to the court, requesting that Huang Hetai be transferred to garrison Zhangzhou."

Yuanti

Pen