Chapter 190: Sea Centipede

"Fell for it?"

"After the 'Zheng He fleet' docked at Hoi An, I deliberately showed weakness and turtled up, all to lure their fleet into splitting up so we could pick them off one by one!" Zhong Bin laughed with immense satisfaction.

"Really?" Zheng Wenke found it somewhat hard to believe.

Zhong Bin said: "At sea, boarding is what matters most. Please, Supervisor, pass the order to General Huang—have Admiral Zheng's fleet attack the enemy's left flank, while my forces strike the right. Rest assured, Supervisor, my forces will go in first to draw the enemy's cannon fire."

Seeing Zhong Bin so confident, Zheng Wenke couldn't help but believe him a little.

Besides, in a moment the Canglang would be charging out first to absorb cannon fire—extremely dangerous.

Therefore, Zheng Wenke made up his mind and said: "Very well."

Zhong Bin was overjoyed and immediately ordered men to prepare a small boat to ferry Zheng Wenke over to Admiral Zheng's flagship.

Fleet Commander Huang Mingde was greatly surprised to see the Supervisor board the ship and hurried forward to ask what was going on.

Zheng Wenke explained Zhong Bin's plan, and Huang Mingde laughed heartily: "So that's it—excellent! Pass my order: attack the enemy ships!"

Zheng Wenke hastily stopped him: "General Huang, no rush—let that Zhong fellow go first."

Huang Mingde put on a stern face: "What kind of talk is that? How could I sit by and watch an allied force engage the enemy without lifting a finger?"

That said, what he was actually thinking was: "The enemy only has nine ships, and only four of them are large. Between me and that sea bandit, we have over two hundred sea vessels combined. If I don't get into the fight quickly, what share of the credit will be left for me!"

Zheng Wenke was Zhong Bin's supervisor and had no authority over Admiral Zheng's fleet, so although he felt uneasy, he couldn't very well say anything.

It was high noon; the sun over the sea was just right, the wind calm and the waves still, not a cloud in the sky.

Two enormous fleets of a hundred ships each turned slowly on the sea surface like great whales rolling over.

On the oared galley, Huang Mingde saw the wind was unfavorable and ordered the sails furled, proceeding by oars alone.

After a little over half an hour, the enemy ships drew ever closer.

Zheng Wenke could now see the enemy vessels in full: the four large ships were all tall two-decked galleons, their soft sails bulging like bundles of cloth, full of wind as they surged forward; the five smaller craft resembled the Ming's Haicang ships in form, all with hard sails.

The great Ming was vast but weary, its navy all show—fierce in appearance but fragile in reality. Otherwise, Weizhou Island wouldn't have been wiped out in one stroke by the sea bandits.

So upon seeing the five Haicang ships, Zheng Wenke actually felt a bit more at ease.

"Eight hundred paces!" the lookout updated the distance.

By now Zhong Bin's fleet was less than five hundred paces from the enemy ships, and Zheng Wenke couldn't help but grow tense.

Huang Mingde said: "Row faster! Don't miss the chance to close with the enemy!"

Officers at every level relayed his command, and curses at the rowers immediately rang out from below deck. In moments, the stroke rate rose and the ship indeed picked up speed.

"Six hundred paces!" the lookout shouted.

At almost the same moment, the enemy ships changed formation, lining up in a single column, then the whole line turned to port, blocking the path before Zhong Bin's fleet.

All the gunports on the four galleons' broadsides swung open, cannon barrels gleaming coldly thrust out, then one after another bloomed with red flashes as smoke billowed up.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

The thunder of cannon fire rolled across the sea.

Solid iron shot smashed into Zhong Bin's fleet, throwing up towering columns of water. As the seawater fell back, it left a faint mist that the wind carried onto the oared galley's deck—salty, cold, tinged with a faint smell of blood.

In Zhong Bin's fleet, a bird ship took a direct hit at the lead—its deck blasted apart, its keel snapped in two, visibly breaking apart and sinking before their eyes.

Another Cangshan ship was struck on the deck; the sea bandits' corpses, along with splinters of decking, were blasted backward over a dozen paces, with the farthest chunk of flesh flying more than a hundred paces before finally splashing into the sea.

Fortunately, Zhong Bin had fought both Lin Qian and the Spaniards before and knew the power of naval guns, so he had ordered his fleet to spread out in advance—that was the only reason casualties weren't heavier. But in an instant, a second broadside volley came.

A flash of fire in the white smoke, then the roar of cannon, screams, and the tearing sound of decks splitting came almost simultaneously.

In Zhong Bin's fleet, another two or three ships took hits.

These were all small craft. A shot coming straight from ahead—if it struck the deck, at least half the crew would be killed or wounded; if it struck the bow, the ship would nine times out of ten break apart and sink.

In short, whenever a ship took a hit, flesh and timber sprayed out like a fountain, flying everywhere, scattering across the sea surface.

After several more rounds of bombardment, the smoke from the enemy's broadside guns drifted downwind, obscuring the oared galley's view and making the battle scene hazy and indistinct.

Seeing this, Huang Mingde was overjoyed—with smoke shrouding the sea, boarding would be all the easier. He exclaimed happily: "Good on you, Zhong the Grim Reaper—he really does dare to draw the enemy's cannon fire!"

Then he turned to his men on deck and said: "Brothers, the time to win glory has come! Whoever hooks an enemy ship gets five taels of silver; the first man to leap aboard an enemy ship gets twenty!"

A cheer went up from the soldiers on board.

The oared galley fleet drew closer and closer, and the sounds of cannon fire, screams, and splintering timber grew ever more distinct in their ears.

Especially the sound of solid iron shot sweeping across a deck, tearing a dozen or more men to pieces in one pass—that was truly enough to make one's scalp crawl.

Suddenly, out of the smoke, a line of Haicang ships emerged into view, arrayed in a single row.

Huang Mingde looked hard and saw it was exactly the five small craft that had been following beside the big ships. He thought: "Five ships, and they think they can stop my hundred? They must think very little of me!"

He immediately ordered: "Don't get bogged down with the small craft—finish this quickly and board the big ships!"

"Yes!" the soldiers on board answered in unison.

"Boom boom boom..."

An unbroken string of cannon fire, as dense as firecrackers, suddenly erupted not far away.

Huang Mingde looked over in astonishment and saw that the five Haicang ships had, at some unknown moment, turned to port, presenting their starboard sides to his fleet and opening up with a furious bombardment. The cannons fired so fast that Huang Mingde couldn't even make out their shape or number—he only saw that in an instant the ships were wreathed in smoke, and within that smoke, red flashes flickered without cease.

Admiral Zheng's oared galleys were roughly the same size as the Haicang ships, with nearly identical deck heights—perfect conditions for grapeshot to sweep the decks clean.

The decks of the leading oared galleys were hit by a storm of steel, soldiers' flesh-and-blood bodies torn apart with ease.

Admiral Zheng's realm did not produce teak; the keels of its oared galleys were mostly made from silver-leaf wood, while the hulls and superstructures used white lauan, which was easy to work. White lauan has low density and soft material, and since the oared galleys were designed for coastal sailing, bulletproofing had never been a consideration.

As a result, Folangji grapeshot could even punch through decks and hull planking at close range, shooting directly into the rowing benches below.

Oared galleys packed their rowers in extremely tightly for speed, so a single grapeshot blast could kill or wound a dozen or even twenty-odd men. Two or three hits and the hull was full of gaping holes, the rowing deck a bloody mess with not a single living soul left.

The captain of the Sea Wolf, initially worried that grapeshot couldn't penetrate the hulls, ordered his gunners to fire only at the decks.

But when they discovered that a few shots against the hull could bring every oar to a stop, they all ordered their gunners to aim at the rowing decks.

The Folangji gun crews worked with practiced skill—loading powder, ramming in the grapeshot, seating it in the groove, tightening the breech, and touching off the charge.

This whole sequence had long since become muscle memory; they worked together smoothly as flowing water, without the slightest hesitation.

After a little over half an hour, the fresh water used to cool the breech chambers had already begun to steam.

Another half hour later, it was scalding hot; the gunners loading the breech chambers had hands burned bright red, yet they did not stop for a moment.

In the dead of winter, the Folangji gunners were sweating from the heat.

On the Zheng lord's fleet side, too many ships had lost their rowers to gunfire and could not move, even blocking the shipping lanes entirely.

The galleys behind had to sail around, only to have all their rowers shot dead as well.

Whenever a galley, at great cost of human life, finally managed to struggle close, before the soldiers could hook on their ten-foot grappling poles, the Sea Wolf ships would raise sail and pull away. Though the Sea Wolf ships held every advantage, they numbered only five after all, and against an enemy twenty times their size, they were stretched thin.

The barrels of the Folangji cannons had overheated severely and had to cease firing.

The Sea Wolf ships' speed was roughly on par with the galleys; they could not afford to turn around and fire from the other side while being chased, so they could only sail east and withdraw from the fight.

Huang Mingde had by now lost all reason in his fury and ordered pursuit, vowing to take those five ships no matter the cost.

But Zheng Wenke tugged at his sleeve and pointed into the distance.

Huang Mingde shook his arm free, then peered through the gunsmoke and saw that the four galleons had somehow already sailed to within a hundred and fifty paces, lowering sail and turning to adjust their broadside firing angles.

Huang Mingde was stricken with terror and hastily said: "Wasn't there supposed to be a shoal? Didn't it trap them? Where's that Zhong fellow?"

Zheng Wenke pointed at the distant sea and said in a trembling voice: "Ran... ran..."

Sure enough, at the line where sea met sky, the fading shapes of Zhong Bin's fleet could dimly be seen departing.

To have gotten this far in an hour — it proved that whatever damned scheme, whatever cursed shoal, whatever pincer attack had been planned, it was all nonsense. Zhong Bin had intended to flee from the very start, and afraid of being hunted down by enemy ships, had deliberately dragged the Zheng lord's fleet along as his shield.

Realizing this, Huang Mingde was overcome with grief and fury, and roared at the sky: "Zhong Bin, I'll f—"

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

The word "—you" was swallowed by the thunderous cannon fire.

The four galleons lined up abreast across the sea and, from a hundred and fifty paces away, pounded the Zheng lord's fleet without mercy.

The Zheng lord's fleet was densely packed, and their ships were larger than Zhong Bin's, so every shot reaped a rich harvest.

The galleys moved entirely by human power; from dawn until now, the rowers had been pulling for half a day, and had just spent another hour tangling with the Sea Wolf ships. By now the rowers were utterly exhausted — with death staring them in the face, no amount of cursing and beating from the officers could make them pull, and they could only flee at a snail's pace.

They could not scatter, and they could not escape — the Zheng lord's fleet had become a perfect live target.

Aboard the Spice Road, Zheng Zhilong had been fuming over Zhong Bin's escape, and now a perfect punching bag had delivered itself to his door — why wouldn't he vent to his heart's content?

The Eagle ships had discovered half a month ago that Zhong Bin's lair was among the Cat Ba Islands.

That place was a maze at sea, regarded by the locals as extremely treacherous and mysterious; no one dared sail there, so its waters and terrain were unknown, and Zheng Zhilong did not dare send his warships recklessly in.

That was why he and Bai Qing had devised this plan to lure the snake out of its hole.

Because the merchant convoy was too important to risk, Bai Qing had allocated Zheng Zhilong only a limited number of warships.

By Zheng Zhilong's estimate, showing himself now would be more than enough to intercept Zhong Bin.

He had not expected Zhong Bin to be so cautious — upon sighting Zheng Zhilong's fleet, he immediately turned back toward the Cat Ba Islands under fire, without even token resistance. Zhong Bin's escape route was due north, close-hauled at a narrow angle to the wind, which the galleons could not match; so after Zheng Zhilong had blasted seventy percent of his fleet to the bottom, Zhong Bin's remaining remnants slipped away cleanly.

Zheng Zhilong cursed Zhong Bin's cowardice inwardly — had he offered even the slightest resistance, Zheng Zhilong was confident he could have annihilated Zhong Bin's entire force.

Considering that the Sea Wolf ships might not hold up against the galleys' assault, Zheng Zhilong ordered the pursuit abandoned and turned back to support.

He arrived just in time to see the Sea Wolf ships being chased by the galleys.

The fury in Zheng Zhilong's heart could well be imagined; he ordered the port side to engage the enemy.

In the earlier battle with Zhong Bin, the galleons had mostly fired from the starboard side, so the port-side gun barrels had not yet heated up and could fully sustain rapid fire.

Shells rained down on the galley fleet like hail.

Their hulls were flimsy — a single shot could blast open a huge gaping hole, making the shells seem devastatingly powerful.

And without watertight bulkhead compartments, once they took on water, they sank immediately.

Soon a layer of corpses and wooden planks floated on the sea, spreading outward like oil drops on water.

The bombardment lasted the time it takes to burn one stick of incense.

The lookout reported: "The enemy ships are raising a white flag."

Zheng Zhilong gritted his teeth and said: "Cease fire!"

The helmsman shouted the order down to the gun deck: "Cease fire!"

A gentle breeze swept across the sea, gradually blowing away the gunsmoke.

The Zheng lord's fleet was in a pitiful state — only four in ten galleys remained intact, and wooden planks and corpses floated nearly touching one another, bumping against the hulls with dull thuds.

Zheng Zhilong said coldly: "Order the Sea Wolf ships to take prisoners, and find anyone who knows the sea conditions around the Cat Ba Islands."

"Aye!" The helmsman went to relay the order.

In the evening, the helmsman came to the captain's cabin at the stern to report: "Commander, we've captured over six hundred and thirty men from the Zheng lord's fleet, and more than a hundred and twenty galleys. None of them have been to the Cat Ba Islands. Also, two of their officers are dead."

"What officers?"

"They say one was a fleet commander, and one a military inspector."

"Are the bodies intact?"

"The bodies are there, heads still attached — the rest is just not very whole."

Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment, then said: "Send the prisoners and the galleys to Hoi An harbor. The Cape of Good Hope and the Endeavour will go back as well.

Explain the situation to Commander Bai, have the other five Sea Wolf ships transferred here, two Eagle ships as well, and ship over more of those wearing cotton armor.

Send the two dead officers' bodies to the Zheng lord's port."

"Wait." Zheng Zhilong called him back. "Also, spread word on shore that we're looking for guides to the Cat Ba Islands — reward of a hundred taels of silver. Go."

Three days later.

In the captain's cabin of the Spice Road.

Three fishermen knelt on the floor.

Zheng Zhilong said: "You've been to the Cat Ba Islands?"

The interpreter translated Zheng Zhilong's words into the Jiaozhi tongue.

One man rushed to answer: "I've been to the edge of that place—the stone pillars there move, and anyone who goes in never comes out."

Another man scolded: "Those aren't stone pillars at all, those are the legs of a sea centipede, and its throat is the Cold Sea Hell!"

The interpreter couldn't listen any longer and scolded them: "Nonsense!"

The third fisherman said: "It's true, there's a monster in that place—I heard its roar with my own ears."

The other two fishermen said together: "Right! There is!"

"That place is strange. Sometimes when you sail nearby, you can hear voices speaking, when clearly there's no one around... listen closely, and it's your own voice..."

Another fisherman said: "That voice must not be listened to. That is... that is... the way you die..."

Zheng Zhilong held his forehead, deeply exasperated.

The place the three fishermen spoke of was the Cat Ba Archipelago, and the nearby waters were called Ha Long Bay by the locals, so named for the legend of a flood dragon entering the sea there. The sea conditions around the Cat Ba Archipelago were extremely strange, with a vast number of small stone pillars filling the surroundings.

Those stone pillars—the large ones like deserted islets, the small ones like reefs—were scattered across the sea surface, layer upon layer, like a maze.

Moreover, the stone pillars were not completely smooth; they were covered in caves and holes of all sizes, like red ant nests.

Because the sea conditions there were unknown and the field of fire was restricted, Zheng Zhilong did not dare enter carelessly—that was why he had people come to ask about the situation.

Unexpectedly, there was nothing useful—just a pile of nonsense that disturbed the troops' morale.

Zheng Zhilong waved his hand: "Throw them out!"

"It's true, I'm telling you it's true!" The fisherman kept defending himself.

Just then, a strange sound suddenly came from the sea surface, sounding like a single "Wooo—"

The sound was low and short, but very clear, as if some enormous creature had let out a breath.

One fisherman's face was full of terror: "You... did you hear that? It's real..."

Another fisherman was nearly in tears: "I don't want the silver anymore, just let me go back."

Zheng Zhilong couldn't be bothered with the three men. He strode quickly to the ship's deck and pulled out a telescope to look.

To guard against Zhong Bin fleeing, Zheng Zhilong's forces were currently anchored south of the Cat Ba Archipelago. Looking north, all he could see were dense stone pillars and deserted islets. The helmsman walked onto the deck and asked in a low voice: "Commander, did you hear that?"

Zheng Zhilong surveyed for a long time with his telescope but found nothing unusual, and that eerie sound never came again.

He put away his telescope, his heart full of doubt and unease, but smiled disdainfully on his face: "Just the sound of the wind."

"Oh." The helmsman was visibly more relaxed.

Zheng Zhilong said: "Raise the reward to a thousand taels, and find someone reliable."

Another three days passed.

The Sea Wolf ships, Eagle ships, and cotton armor that Zheng Zhilong had requested all arrived south of the Cat Ba Archipelago.

The fleet sealed off the waters south of the Cat Ba Archipelago so tightly that not even water could leak through.

Another day passed, and the helmsman walked excitedly into the captain's cabin: "Commander, we've found a guide."

"Bring him in."

A moment later, a small, thin Jiaozhi fisherman was brought in.

Zheng Zhilong said: "You've been to Ha Long Bay?"

The fisherman said: "You really can give a thousand taels of silver?"

Zheng Zhilong laughed and had someone first give him a hundred taels of silver as a deposit, then asked: "What's your name?"

"They call me A Xiong." After seeing the silver, the fisherman made up his mind and said: "I can take you in, but how we go—you have to listen to me." "As long as we can find the man surnamed Zhong."

A Xiong said: "I've only ever entered from the north, so we'll have to circle around to the north as well, then go from north to south, searching the islands one by one. Once we reach the place I've been to before, we'll have to turn back."

Zheng Zhilong stood up and said: "Have the brothers put on their armor, and have the Sea Wolf ships made ready. We set out at dawn tomorrow."

The helmsman was somewhat surprised: "We? Commander, you're going too?"

Zheng Zhilong said: "It's just going to cut down a man."

The next morning at dawn, Zheng Zhilong led his crew aboard the Sea Wolf ship and, under the guide A Xiong's direction, entered the inner sea through a waterway west of Cat Ba Island. Then they turned northeast, avoiding the great expanses of stone pillars and deserted islets, until they reached a broad stretch of sea northeast of Cat Ba Island.

This was what A Xiong had called the entrance to the channel suitable for entering the Cat Ba Archipelago.

Along the way, Zheng Zhilong kept chatting with A Xiong, probing his identity. A Xiong answered fluently and was extremely familiar with the surroundings—he truly seemed to be a local fisherman.

On the ship, A Xiong pointed at the northeastern coast and said: "Over there is our village, Stone Maze Village. The villagers make their living mining coal and fishing. Both trades have many taboos—one careless mistake and you lose your life. So once we enter the channel, you must listen to me. Staying alive is what matters most." A Xiong's intention in saying this was to warn everyone to follow his command.

But Zheng Zhilong heard something else in it. He looked toward the northeast and saw, behind the coastline, a black mountain range faintly emerging.

Zheng Zhilong asked casually: "Your area produces coal?"

At this time in the Great Ming, the main fuel was still charcoal. Every household used enormous amounts for cooking and heating, to the point that the lands around all the great cities had been stripped bare into barren mountains. The people of the Great Ming knew coal was useful well enough, but because of concerns about protecting the dragon veins, limited mining and utilization technology, and coal being concentrated mainly in North China, it was only used in small amounts around the capital region.

And Stone Maze Village was located north of Jiaozhi, not far from Nan'ao Island, close to the coast, with convenient transport as well.

Judging from the fact that a single village could make its living mining coal, the difficulty of mining and utilizing that coal could not be too high.

The only drawback was the sea of stone islands at Stone Maze Village's doorstep.

Zheng Zhilong's mind began to stir with ideas.

A Xiong hadn't thought that far and just answered casually: "Yes, there's a coal mountain."

Zheng Zhilong was about to ask more when A Xiong said: "Quiet—we're sailing in now. If we talk from here on, it can hear us."

A Xiong's face was tense, and he pointed at his feet with a mysterious air.

He said in a low voice: "If you hear voices speaking in the wind, whatever you do, don't listen... Remember this, remember this!"

Hearing him say this, the crew on deck all grew nervous as well.

A Xiong said: "We'll follow the main channel south. If we find nothing, we turn back."

In the time it takes to eat a meal, the Sea Wolf fleet had already penetrated deep into the archipelago.

The coastline had vanished from sight.

Looking out in every direction—front, back, left, right—the scenery was all the same, with the view blocked by deserted islets and stone pillars. Even the lookout couldn't see into the distance. Fortunately, the compass still worked, so they wouldn't lose their bearings.

The weather was clear today, with excellent visibility. The sea surface was pale blue, the deserted islets deep gray and ink green, and the sky light blue.

The warm sunlight poured down, the sea surface sparkled with rippling light, and the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful—like boating through the mountains and waters of Guilin, with not the slightest hint of anything terrifying. Zheng Zhilong and the others all relaxed, but A Xiong alone remained nervously scanning his surroundings.

They sailed on slowly for another half an hour or so, when A Xiong said in a low voice, "This is the place—we should turn back now."

Zheng Zhilong looked ahead; the stone pillars still rose in layer upon layer, and he thought there must still be a large area to the south that remained unexplored.

Moreover, the coastlines of these barren islands were mostly jagged and irregular, with countless inlets and coves—a single cursory glance would hardly be enough to map them clearly. So he pondered for a moment, then said, "Keep going forward!"

A Xiong's face went pale with fright, and he hastily urged, "We can't go any further—what if... we wake it up, then we're all done for..."

A Xiong's expression was terrified, and his hands kept pointing down at the deck below.

Zheng Zhilong let out a soft laugh; by now he had basically grasped the sea conditions here.

Though the stone pillars looked numerous here, the actual channel was deep enough for sailing. As long as they stayed away from those pillars, there was no risk of running aground.

Seeing that Zheng Zhilong would not listen, A Xiong felt his hands and feet turn icy cold, and his heart sank. He had never imagined that for a thousand taels of silver he would be throwing his life away. He knelt at the bow, kowtowing ceaselessly toward the sea, cold sweat streaming down his face.

Though Zheng Zhilong did not believe in that sort of superstition, seeing A Xiong like this could not help but make his own skin crawl.

Another half hour of sailing passed, when one of his men looked up at the sky and muttered, "Something doesn't seem right..."

Yahei

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