Chapter 4: Spanish

The Fujian junk slowly pulled into port.

The anchor man dropped the anchor, and the line handlers threw the ropes.

A few laborers on the dock caught the hawsers and tied them tightly to the bollards on shore.

The crew laid planks between the ship's rail and the gangway.

On the gangway, a Spaniard was already waiting there, with three or four Chinese men stooping behind him.

The pilot came down the gangway first, bent his back, gave the Spaniard an ingratiating smile, and stood behind him.

Lin Qian, Bailangzai, Lei Sanxiang, and the others filed off the ship one after another.

The Spaniard looked impatient and said in Spanish: "Give me the ship's papers."

The Chinese man in charge of translating straightened up and shouted: "What are you standing around for? Present the ship permit to the gentleman."

Lin Qian took the ship permit from his bosom, and the interpreter snatched it and handed it to the Spaniard.

The Spaniard took it, glanced at it, frowned, and muttered something while pointing at the destination port. Though he couldn't read Chinese, he still recognized the two characters "Luzon," which didn't look anything like "Macao."

The interpreter carefully leaned in for a look, changed expression, and pointed at Lin Qian, raging: "Your ship was clearly supposed to go to Macao—how dare you come to Luzon instead? What nerve!"

Hearing this, all the brothers felt guilty and averted their eyes elsewhere.

"Tell him that what's written on it, 'Manila,' is the same thing." Lin Qian's tone was relaxed.

The interpreter's lips trembled with anger. It wasn't unheard of for people to sail against their ship permit, but someone as ignorant of the rules as Lin Qian—this was the first time he'd seen it.

The interpreter decided to teach Lin Qian a lesson, and said to the Spaniard in halting Spanish: "Pirata! They are pirata!"

The Spaniard's face changed at once, and he shouted loudly in all directions.

Now all the brothers grew tense. Lei Sanxiang asked urgently: "What's going on—what did that bastard just say?"

"Seems he said we're pirates." Lin Qian's face was calm.

"What!" Everyone was shocked.

Lei Sanxiang yelled at Lin Qian: "Brother Lin, what do we do now?"

"As I see it, the only option now is to follow Lord Mengchang's example of fleeing by night!" It was the second brother, Scholar Zhou, who spoke.

"Speak like a human!" Lei Sanxiang snapped.

Scholar Zhou: "Before the soldiers get here, let's run!"

"How do we run? There's no time to weigh anchor!" said the fifth brother, Chen Hong. In just this short while, he was already drenched in sweat. "The man was killed by Lin Qian, the ship was seized by him. If you ask me, we might as well—"

"What do you mean?" Lei Sanxiang raged. "You bastard! We brothers all swore an oath before Lord Guan together—was what you swore just a fart?"

The Spaniard was still shouting loudly, the people around scattered in fright, and guards could already be seen running over from the distance.

The fifth brother, Chen Hong, hardened his resolve, staring dead at Lin Qian: "Either he dies alone, or we all die together. What's it going to be—let the brothers speak their minds!"

The fourth brother, who had been silent all along, said: "Lin Qian, you caused this disaster, so you should clean it up yourself!" Having said that, he stood beside Chen Hong.

Lei Sanxiang cursed: "You bastard!"

"Scholar Zhou, what do you say?" Chen Hong said through gritted teeth.

"Ah... this... you... how... oh dear, this... brothers may quarrel within the walls, but they must unite against outsiders! Ah..." Scholar Zhou's face was pale, his lips trembling, unable to get out a single complete sentence.

Chen Hong spat at him, then asked Lei Sanxiang: "Third brother, what do you say—are you dead set on throwing your life away with Lin Qian?"

Lei Sanxiang shouted at Lin Qian: "Brother Lin, what do we do now—say something, you."

Lin Qian stood with his back to the crowd, not saying a word, not even turning his head toward them.

"Ah!" Lei Sanxiang let out a long sigh, standing behind Lin Qian, and said: "Count me unlucky—didn't die at Sarhu, but I'll be done in by a whelp like you!"

Chen Hong sneered: "Fine. Big brother, you say the word."

The brothers' big brother was named Chen Jiao, over forty years old, his face weathered. Hearing this, he only said calmly: "Even if we handed Lin Qian over now, the Franks wouldn't let it go at that..."

Two hundred paces away, more than ten Spanish guards carrying matchlock muskets had already stepped onto the dock and were heading toward the gangway.

Seeing that the situation was already extremely critical, Chen Hong, wary of Lei Sanxiang and not daring to act rashly, shouted at Bailangzai: "Seventh brother, you're still young—don't throw your life away for nothing!"

Bailangzai didn't answer, only resting his right hand on the hilt of his blade, staring coldly at Chen Hong.

"You don't want to live?" Chen Hong was frantic. Scholar Zhou was useless now, the big brother was neutral, Lei Sanxiang supported Lin Qian—only the fourth brother supported him.

The two sides were evenly matched, and he had to win over Bailangzai.

Chen Hong forced himself to be patient and said: "I know—you're one of the Tanka boat people from the mouth of the Pearl River. You want to earn silver for your sister, right?"

There was already clear anger in Bailangzai's eyes.

Chen Hong looked at the Spanish guards drawing closer, sweat already hanging on his forehead, and continued: "Lin Qian can't help you. Trust me—we'll go to Macao, sell this cargo, and then you'll have as much silver as you want."

"Heh." Bailangzai gave a light laugh.

Seeing that his coaxing had failed, Chen Hong's face changed and he cursed: "Curved-heel!"

"Make your move!" Chen Hong shouted to the fourth brother, and the two of them drew their blades.

Seeing this, Lei Sanxiang and Bailangzai drew their blades at the same time.

"Put the blades away." Lin Qian's voice was calm.

"What?" Lei Sanxiang frowned. "These two bastards want your life."

"Anyone who wants to live, put the blades away." Lin Qian's tone remained flat.

The Spaniard held a musket, and everyone knew a hard fight would gain them nothing. Helpless, they could only steel their hearts and listen to Lin Qian.

Lei Sanxiang and Bailangzai sheathed their blades. Chen Hong and the other man, half in doubt, also tucked their blades back into their waists, though their hands still rested on the hilts.

The Spanish guards ran to twenty paces before the group, stopped, leveled their muskets, formed a line, and shouted loudly.

"What are they saying?" Lei Sanxiang asked.

Lin Qian said: "Put all the blades on the ground, or they'll open fire."

The brothers had no choice but to do as told.

The atmosphere on the gangway eased slightly.

At this moment, Lin Qian took a deep breath and said loudly, "Estimado señores, creo que tenemos algunos malentendidos."

At these words, both the Spaniards across from him and the brothers behind him were stunned.

"Brother Lin, you can speak their bird language?" Lei Sanxiang's eyes went wide. "What did you just say?"

"I said there are some misunderstandings here."

Soon, a Spaniard across shouted, "You, come over alone, unarmed."

Lin Qian spread his hands and walked over slowly. After a thorough search, a man who looked like a guard captain came up and said, "You speak our language? Excellent. As for the accusation that you are pirates, do you have anything to say in your defense?"

"Honorable sir, we are legitimate merchants from Yuegang in Fujian. This voyage was approved by the Great Ming government. We are carrying silk and porcelain to Macao to trade with Portuguese merchants. I myself am the captain, and I can guarantee that we are not pirates."

The guard captain summoned a Chinese interpreter, and after confirming that the ship permit indeed stated Macao as the destination, he made a disgusted face and said, "Oh, those damned Portuguese... So how did you end up in Manila harbor?"

"Honorable sir, we encountered a storm and were blown off course, ending up in the waters near Manila. My crew wanted to sail back to Macao, but I assured them that the Spanish, like the Portuguese, are merchants of good faith, so..."

"Better! We are merchants of far greater faith than the Portuguese!" the guard captain interrupted proudly, handing the ship permit back to Lin Qian. "Welcome to Manila. The rest of your journey will prove my words, sir."

By the Western calendar, it was now the year 1620.

Although Spain and Portugal were both under the control of the House of Habsburg, their relationship was extremely delicate.

Like Britain and France after the latter joined the EU following World War II — allies at present, yet enemies for centuries before.

To the Spanish, silk, porcelain, and raw silk meant rich profits. No one turns away money that walks up to their door, especially when that money was pried out of the hands of their old rivals — earning it that way was all the sweeter.

In his previous life, Lin Qian had done business with Spanish companies and knew something of their culture and history. Long before deciding to come to Manila, he had already figured out how to exploit the contradictions between the Spanish and the Portuguese to explain away the ship permit.

Pink Round

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