Chapter 199: Li Dan's Setting Sun

On a broad-beamed ship at the mouth of the Min River.

A woman, in the midst of being violated, grabbed a dagger from a sea bandit's body and stabbed him dead. Panicking, she fled the cabin, only to be cornered by the other sea bandits against the stern bulwark. Covered in blood, her clothes torn, she held the dagger with both hands, pointing it at the surrounding sea bandits, her face twisted with fury as she screamed without cease. The other sea bandits merely laughed and closed in, like spectators watching prey caught in a net.

Seeing the sea bandits drawing ever closer, the woman, in despair, reversed the dagger and plunged it into her own chest. Blood sprayed from the wound, splattering the pirate before her, and her body went limp, toppling over the bulwark with a splash into the water.

The sea bandits rushed to the bulwark and saw the woman twitch a few times before going still. They cursed their mothers.

One said, "Hurry, fish her out!"

Another said, "The water's this cold—even if we haul her up she's no good. Forget it, we'll grab a fresh one tomorrow."

The woman's corpse drifted with the waves—and by chance floated right up to Judge Wang's small boat.

The dagger still jutted from her chest, her eyes wide open, staring blankly at the sky, as if also gazing at Judge Wang.

Having barely escaped the bandits' den, the rowing soldiers just wanted to get back quickly. Seeing the corpse drift over, they cursed it as bad luck, shoved it away with an oar, and kept rowing for shore.

Judge Wang's heart turned hollow with dread; he dared not meet the woman's eyes.

He thought: "The sea bandits killed you, not me. A wrong has its doer, a debt its debtor—if you want revenge, go after those sea bandits! Why cling to me?!" Just then, a sea bandit bird-boat emerged from the fleet, hoisting sail and working the oars, racing straight toward Judge Wang's small boat.

Seeing the sea bandits' aggressive approach, Judge Wang knew trouble was coming and hastily ordered his soldiers to row faster.

But no matter how fast a small boat rows, it cannot outrun a bird-boat's full sail, and within moments it was caught.

Judge Wang could only force a smile, cupping his hands to ask the sea bandits what business they had.

Without a word, the sea bandits drew knives and pressed them against the necks of Judge Wang and his soldiers.

Judge Wang's hairs stood on end from terror, and he stammered, "A misunderstanding—there must be some misunderstanding!"

The sea bandit said, "Misunderstanding my mother! Come with us!"

After a while, Judge Wang was brought back to the Fubo and hauled aboard like a chick, then dumped hard onto the deck.

All dignity was lost in an instant.

Judge Wang saw stars from the impact. Once he recovered his senses, he saw the sea bandits on the Fubo's deck manning cannons and hoisting sails, looking as if they were facing a grave threat.

Li Dan stood on the stern deck, his expression sickly and his face gloomy, yet with a faint trace of excitement hidden beneath.

"Chieftain..."

(Author's note: If you're reading this, please bookmark our domain, sūdūgū. ōrg, for the latest chapters!)

"Get up here!" Judge Wang was just about to speak when Li Dan cut him off coldly.

Judge Wang's steps were unsteady as he staggered up to the sterncastle.

Li Dan grabbed him by the collar, hauled him close, and pointed into the distance: "Which naval force is that?"

Judge Wang looked where he pointed and saw a dark shadow at the meeting of sea and sky to the south.

"To answer the Chieftain, this humble official truly does not know. All the notable forces of the Fujian and Guangdong navies have already been dealt with by the Chieftain..."

Judge Wang suddenly realized something mid-sentence, his expression shifting. He thought: "Could it be the Nan'ao naval force? These damned bastards—they come neither early nor late, but pick exactly now. They've ruined me!"

"Ship lord, soft sails!" the lookout on the Fubo shouted.

"Shark ships, shark ships are coming!" sea bandits on both sides of the hull also cried out.

The so-called shark ships were what Li Dan's men called the Eagle Ships, named for their distinctive tall triangular lateen sails that resembled a shark's dorsal fin.

A dozen or so Eagle Ships came from the south, sailing almost directly into the wind at great speed, truly like a school of sharks on the attack.

The Eagle Ships drew close and fanned out. Several circled Li Dan's fleet to reconnoiter, while the others headed toward the more distant northern waters—clearly searching for Li Dan's reinforcements.

A smile rose on Li Dan's face as he thought privately: "The Dutch are hiding in the vast open seas east of here, not relying on any island at all. No matter how capable your patrol boats are, you'll never find them.

Fortunately, that surnamed Yu's fleet was too weak—the Dutch hadn't even arrived before I destroyed them, so my trump card wasn't exposed. Lin Qian, you're dead this time!" Judge Wang smiled and said, "The Chieftain's ships are sturdy and his cannons fierce—the mere Nan'ao naval force is no match. But since the Chieftain intends to submit to the Great Ming, it wouldn't be proper to fight the imperial troops. Let this official speak with the Nan'ao naval force and order them to withdraw, so as not to harm relations."

Li Dan sneered: "Heh, you?"

Judge Wang straightened his back and said, "This official is the Circuit Intendant of Fujian, in charge of overseeing all Fujian camp soldiers. The Nan'ao naval force would not dare disobey me." Li Dan smiled with amusement: "Is that so? Men, tie Judge Wang up!"

"Yes!" His subordinates obeyed, binding Judge Wang to the mizzen mast.

Judge Wang's legs trembled with fear as he begged for mercy repeatedly.

Li Dan said, "Your Honor, just watch calmly—watch how the Nan'ao naval force is buried here! Hoist sail, heading due south!"

"Rudder right! Port side with the wind." the navigator shouted.

The day was fair and clear, with excellent visibility over the sea.

The sea glittered with light. Li Dan's fleet of over a hundred warships formed a wild-goose wing formation, with the smaller ships in the center and the larger ones on both flanks, the Fubo at the very front of the right wing.

Seen from above, it looked like an open crab claw.

The two fleets closed rapidly.

The lookout said, "A thousand paces!"

"One, two... seven, eight—Ship lord, the ship count is wrong!" the navigator counted on his fingers, a thin layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

The Nan'ao naval force was arrayed in a line. Counting from the side, including the flagship, there were eight large galleons in all!

Behind the galleons followed more than ten Sea Wolf warships!

This was completely different from the intelligence.

Hadn't they said the Nan'ao naval force's main strength had all gone to Hoi An?

How was it that the Nan'ao warships before them now outnumbered even those from the time they bombarded Yan Siqi to death?

Panic seized Li Dan's heart, but he quickly laughed: "Perfect timing!"

With the Dutch navy as his reinforcements, why should he fear Lin Qian's numbers?

He admitted Lin Qian's feint was cleverly played, but it was useless—before absolute strength, all schemes and tricks were a joke. In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, both sides were within firing range.

Over fifty warships from Li Dan's left wing and center formation charged out. These ships carried cast-iron cannons at their bows—at least one, at most two or three. Mid-course, dozens of cannons fired at once, the spectacle truly astonishing.

Waterspouts erupted across the sea around the Nan'ao naval force. Wood splinters flew from the Tianyuan, and in an instant seven or eight holes appeared in its hull.

Aboard the Fubo, Judge Wang, desperate to survive, shouted loudly: "Excellent! That's seizing the initiative!"

He could see that Li Dan and the Nan'ao naval force were locked in a fight to the death. To save his own skin, he could only cheer for Li Dan.

After weathering a round of cannon fire, the Nan'ao naval force sailed within two hundred paces, then turned its helm to starboard, lowered sails, and exposed its port side.

The Tianyuan plus seven yacht-class ships carried over a hundred broadside cannons, all bronze guns precision-cast by the Macao Bocarro foundry using the lost-wax method. A single volley struck like a hammer blow between heaven and earth.

The cannon thunder echoed across sea and sky, pressing so hard against the chest it left one breathless.

Each discharge sent over a hundred solid iron shot—a full thirteen hundred catties of iron—screaming forth.

The leading Haicang ship took more than a dozen hits in succession; its deck guns, crewmen, and nearly half its bow were torn apart as if by some monstrous force, instantly reduced to countless fragments blasting backward.

The ship behind it, a Cangshan, took a hit to the cast-iron cannon at its stern, which rang out with a deafening clang like a great bronze bell that reverberated without end.

One side of the barrel caved inward; the immense force shattered the gun carriage, sending the cannon spinning through the air, sweeping down like a weapon of mass destruction to smash three nearby gunners with broken bones and torn sinews before crashing onto the deck and gouging out a deep crater.

The sea bandits had ravaged the southeastern coast of the Great Ming for over half a month, winning every battle with the wind at their backs. They had even killed a Fujian Regional Commander, and had every damned Circuit Intendant official kowtowing in submission—their arrogance had swelled to the heavens.

But now, as water columns erupted and seawater crashed down over their heads, their rampant swagger was extinguished by half in an instant.

This naval force—it seemed somehow different!

Even the sea bandits' next round of firing was tinged with hesitation.

Just as they were lighting their fuses one after another, the Nan'ao force's next volley arrived.

The thunder of cannon shook the layered clouds, echoing endlessly between mountains and sea.

Across the broad fan of sea from one hundred to three hundred paces off the Nan'ao force's port side, solid iron shot struck the water at shallow angles, many skipping like stones. Water columns, gun smoke, wood splinters, and flesh and blood soon shrouded the entire battlefield.

Aboard the Fubo, Intendant Wang stood frozen. For all his learning, racking his brains and searching his guts for words, he could not produce a single sentence of praise. The sea bandits were being utterly crushed by the Nan'ao force!

The disparity in strength between the two sides was simply too vast.

Intendant Wang thought: "Everyone says the Nan'ao force is strong, yet no one can say where its strength lies. After today's battle, I have seen it for myself…" Then he looked toward Li Dan and thought: "The proclamation said he had fought the Nan'ao force before—how can he seem so utterly unprepared? His ships cannot match theirs, his guns cannot match theirs. Did he come all this way just to die?

You madman, your own death is one thing, but you've dragged my precious life down with you…"

"Fire!" A navigator's roar came from the blood-soaked deck of the Fubo.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The Fubo's broadside cannons fired in unison; at such close range, the din was terrifying.

It rattled Intendant Wang's ears into a ringing buzz, his chest feeling as if struck by a great hammer.

But then, an even more intense and concentrated barrage of cannon fire came from the distant sea. Moments later, sharp shrieking sounds tore through the air overhead and from every direction. Even the shots that fell into the sea struck with a heavy splash.

A piercing whistle grew from far to near. Intendant Wang had no time to react—he only heard the violent splintering of timber mixed with a dull thud. Then wood chips mixed with hot, thick liquid splattered across his body.

He turned to look: a cannonball had struck the sterncastle deck dead-on, punching clean through both sides of the hull.

Half a human corpse lay toppled on the deck; the other half had become a long smear of blood stretching all the way to the opposite bulwark.

The splash of severed limbs and planks falling into the water sounded in his ears.

Though Intendant Wang was a Circuit Intendant official, he had never personally faced battle. He stood dumbstruck for a long moment before snapping back to his senses, his stomach churning violently as he vomited until he was half dead.

On the sea, the Nan'ao force held the southeast while the sea bandits held the northwest, exchanging cannon fire.

Meanwhile, the seawolf-class ships guarded close to the gunboats; any bandit vessel attempting to board was driven back by dense volleys of grapeshot.

Gun smoke gathered thicker and thicker over the sea, like rising fog, enveloping the entire battlefield.

Just as the engagement hung in deadlock, a signal rocket burst into the sky over the northeastern sea.

Before long, another signal rocket exploded, and then another shortly after.

A manic grin spread across Li Dan's face as he called out to his crew: "Brothers, our reinforcements are here!"

Hearing this, the crewmen aboard the Fubo's spirits soared, shouting as they rammed home fresh charges.

In the blink of an eye, another half hour of exchange had passed.

A Guang-style ship from the Fire Sail Battalion was struck in its powder magazine, triggering a sympathetic detonation. The blast was terrifying in its power, lifting the entire sterncastle clean off the hull.

In the blaze, shattered corpses and planks flew three or four zhang into the air, bursting out of the mushroom cloud, aflame and trailing black smoke, scattering in all directions as the whole ship was engulfed in roaring fire.

Powder kegs blasted from the deck by the shockwave set off chain detonations in midair.

At last, this silenced the Nan'ao force's guns.

The bandits nearby were rattled nearly deaf.

Fear took root in the sea bandits' hearts; they exchanged glances, silently wondering why their reinforcements had not yet arrived.

Li Dan clenched his jaw, his temples throbbing, his eyes fixed on the northeastern sea where a fleet had appeared—but it had still not advanced.

Red signal rockets continued to burst sporadically, though their frequency had dropped considerably.

Out on the northeastern sea, a Dutch fleet of four yacht-class ships lay quietly at anchor.

Martinus Sonck, representative of the Dutch East India Company's Hirado trading post, stood on the flagship's stern deck, telescope raised to survey the battle. Beside him, the first mate and junior officers all held up their own telescopes, observing the situation.

After a moment, the first mate lowered his telescope and said angrily: "Li Dan's intelligence was wrong! Lin Qian's main force was never redeployed!"

Someone added: "Not only was it not redeployed, he's gained two more ships. My God, how do the Ming build ships so fast—do their vessels give birth to new ones?"

Sonck lowered his telescope, his face full of worry: "Gentlemen, what do you think we should do? Should we honor our agreement with Li Dan?" The first mate replied: "Fight Lin Qian to the death? Only if we're mad!"

An officer said with lingering fear: "Did you see Lin Qian's firepower? The roar of his broadsides could probably be heard across the English Channel. Honestly, I truly admire Li Dan—how has he held out this long against bombardment of this intensity?"

"Whiz-pop!"

Another signal rocket soared skyward.

The first mate snarled: "Look at those damned devil ships! They're sending warnings!"

Sonck looked out at the sea—at least three eagle-class ships had gathered nearby, and further out, ten more were cruising about.

An officer said: "What are they looking for? Damn it, the Ming navy is astonishingly cautious. This stretch of sea has been patrolled over a hundred times—how could there possibly be another fleet out here!"

The first mate urged: "Sir, let us turn back. Let the Easterners fight among themselves—whoever wins, trade at Hirado will be unaffected." Sonck disagreed. Lin Qian's ambition was too great; if he defeated Li Dan, it would reshuffle the power structure at Hirado, perhaps overturn it entirely. Eliminating him then would cost the Company twice as much.

But for Sonck to commit his forces now to aid Li Dan—he did not have that capability either.

Lin Qian had a full eight gun ships! And one of them was a heavy galleon!

Sonck genuinely feared that the moment he entered the battle, he would be blown out of the water along with Li Dan.

After pondering for a moment, Sonck reached a decision: "Return to Hirado. Order the Pioneer to sail south, avoid the battlefield, and see if we can seize some advantage at Nan'ao Island."

The Dutch fleet departed, and the Eagle Ship fired a yellow signal flare into the sky.

Even in broad daylight, yellow and red were hard to make out clearly, but the fleet's silhouette vanishing between sea and sky—that was plain to see.

The Nan'ao naval forces were unaffected and continued firing their cannons at their original pace.

The sea bandits, however, saw their morale plummet, and their cannon fire gradually slowed.

Li Dan watched his ally leave, his eyes splitting with rage, his expression twisted to the extreme, nearly maddened, as he roared: "Launch the fire ships!"

The five-colored flags on the Fubo trembled and waved.

Moments later, small boats from the middle of the wild-goose formation raised sail and cut straight in.

Most of these were bird boats and Cangshan boats—small targets, scattered across the sea surface, very hard to hit.

The Nan'ao naval forces had sea bandit gunboats on both their port bow and port quarter, and couldn't afford to waste firepower on the small craft.

The small boats drew closer and closer, then rockets shot out, and with a *puff*, flames burst to life.

On the shore, atop Pig's Foot Mountain, several thousand commoners watching the battle all wore looks of terror at the sight.

A young boy clenched both fists and shouted with all his might: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

Pig's Foot Mountain was at least fifteen li from the sea battlefield.

With the sea wind and cannon fire, there was no way a shout could carry that far.

But the boy would rather scream himself hoarse than shut his mouth.

The other children joined in shouting too, and a little girl screamed with all her strength: "Get out of the way!"

Gradually, many of the surrounding commoners were infected by the mood and joined in the shouting.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way..."

Several thousand voices shouting in unison truly sounded like a mountain roar and a tidal wave.

The commoners all knew this shouting was useless—the sound couldn't carry across.

And even if it did reach them, what good would it do?

Wouldn't the commander of the Ming naval forces already know to get out of the way?

But separated by the sea, this was the only thing they could do for the Ming army.

With foreign enemies at the gates, whether they were commoners who had suffered oppression in peacetime or those who lived in prosperity—

Over the past half month, they had seen the broken remnants of the guard station's defeated troops, heard that the son of Commander Yu had given his life for the country, and personally witnessed sea bandits coming ashore to seize people. They had endured their whole families fleeing, living in constant peril, drifting and displaced.

At this moment, all anyone wanted was for the Ming army to win!

Before everyone's eyes, the Nan'ao naval forces quickly raised sail, turned with agility, and dodged the fire ships with ease.

The several thousand commoners fell silent for a moment, then all erupted in cheers, voices piercing the clouds, gravel trembling.

The sea bandits saw the Nan'ao naval forces dodge the fire ships with such ease, and every face was filled with disbelief.

Having long lived in Hirado, they knew something about galleons.

This type of ship had extremely complex rigging—after lowering sail to fire cannons, raising sail again to regain speed took a very long time, which was why fire ships could succeed. Even Lin Qian, when dealing with the fleet of Dutch Governor-General Coen, had used fire attacks to remarkable effect.

Why did the same tactic fail when used against the Nan'ao naval forces?

Li Dan's face was full of astonishment, and he thought to himself: "There's no way a galleon can raise sail that fast, unless he had his sail-trimmers ready to change sails at a moment's notice all along. Could he have seen through my plan to use fire from the very start? Could the Dutch retreat also have been part of his calculations?"

Watching morale collapse aboard the Fubo, Wang Jinshi felt his death was near and cast all caution aside, hastily saying: "Brothers, let's flee—head for the Min River! Their ships are too big to follow us in!"

Some crewmen, annoyed by his blathering, had been about to teach him a lesson, but hearing these words, they all found the idea quite feasible and urged Li Dan to sail for the Min River. Unexpectedly, Li Dan's eyes turned bloodshot as he stared fixedly at the Nan'ao naval forces and said: "Ram them!"

"What?" His subordinates didn't react in time.

Li Dan roared: "Course southeast, port beam to the wind—ram them, damn it!"

His subordinates exchanged bewildered looks.

If we ram them, won't we all be dead?

Li Dan bellowed: "Didn't you hear me? I command—cough, cough, cough...

Halfway through his words, Li Dan began coughing violently, then the coughing stopped abruptly mid-cough. He clutched his chest, his face turning red in an instant, then changing to a liver-colored purple, drenched in sweat, his expression one of extreme agony, his body writhing and twisting continuously on the deck.

His subordinates were scared half to death and retreated two or three steps back.

Li Dan's trembling hand reached into his clothes and took out a medicine box, but he lacked the strength to open it.

His subordinates stared blankly, not moving an inch.

After a moment, Li Dan, a towering figure of his era, finally fell into silence.

Wang Jinshi, witnessing such a sudden turn of events, was so frightened he had already pissed himself.

By now the sea bandit fleet had fallen into absolute disadvantage—some sinking, some fleeing, with almost no ability to fight back.

Of the ten Fire-Sail Battalion Guang ships, three had sunk, two had exploded, and the remaining four were heavily damaged, fleeing north.

The Nan'ao naval forces were dispatching ships in pursuit.

Only then did the sea bandits realize in despair that after all this exchange of fire, not a single Nan'ao naval vessel had sunk.

Even though several gunboats were covered in dense cannon holes from bow to stern, looking like beehives, it didn't affect their sailing in the slightest.

Aboard the Fubo, the navigator immediately said: "The ship lord is dead—everyone listen to me, sail into the Min River!"

With their lives at stake, the sea bandits dared not delay and hurriedly changed sails and turned course.

At this moment, the Tianyuan had already sailed up.

After fleeing for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Fubo was caught by the Tianyuan.

The river mouth still seemed impossibly far on the distant horizon.

The navigator steeled his heart, cut Wang Jinshi's ropes, pressed a blade against him, and dragged him to the stern, shouting at the Tianyuan: "I hold a court official hostage!"

His answer was the bow cannon fire of the Tianyuan.

A massive column of water erupted off the port side.

Wang Jinshi's blue official robe was soaked through, and the cloud-and-goose rank badge, wet with seawater, lost the brilliant sheen of its feathers, making him look like a drenched chicken.

Wang Jinshi was shocked and enraged, bellowing loudly: "I am Wang Yi, Circuit Intendant of Fujian! If you kill me, it is tantamount to rebellion!"

The Tianyuan sailed swiftly, closing to within fifty paces.

Boom—a cannon fired.

This time it was loaded with grapeshot; the pellets sprayed out, and one struck Wang Jinshi square between the eyebrows.

His fine head burst apart like a watermelon, hair, flesh, and bone fragments mixed with red and white matter splattering back across the deck.

Wang Jinshi's body toppled backward with a crash, twitched for a moment, then lay still.

Zhujiao Mountain was not far from the mouth of the Min River; the common folk, seeing the sea bandit ships fleeing toward them, had been filled with fear.

But when they saw a great Ming warship in pursuit, their worry turned to joy.

Every time the Tianyuan fired a broadside, the people cheered in unison.

After several rounds of cannon fire, the Fubo finally sank two li beyond the mouth of the Min River, and not a single man aboard survived.

Having finished off the Fubo, the Tianyuan turned its bow and continued pursuing the remaining sea bandits.

The chase lasted more than four hours, and most of the sea bandits' warships were sent to the bottom of the sea.

But after all, the Nan'ao naval force had only eight ships, and a scattered few still managed to escape.

By the time the sun set in the west, all that drifted on the golden sea were the corpses and planks of the sea bandits.

Rosy clouds filled the sky, seagulls chased and cried, and the world returned to tranquility.

From Zhujiao Mountain to Fuzhou Prefecture, a fast horse had to cover eighty li, and one still had to cross the Min River by boat midway.

Thus, by the time Li Dan's main force was annihilated, news of the Nan'ao naval force coming to reinforce had only just reached Fuzhou.

In the Governor's yamen, officials of all ranks had gathered together to discuss ways to appease the sea bandits.

Upon hearing that the Nan'ao naval force had already sailed nearby, their faces flushed red with delight and they beamed with joy.

Someone said: "The Nan'ao naval force is truly the pillar of our southeastern coastal defense—they came so quickly!"

The Vice Circuit Intendant said with worry: "This is bad. Wang Jinshi is negotiating with the bandit chief today; if the Nan'ao naval force comes to suppress the bandits now, won't it put him in mortal danger?"

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen