Chapter 55: Thunder over Leizhou Bay

At these words, all the Tanka boat people were overcome with mingled surprise and joy.

But the old boatwright's face was full of worry.

Chen Jiao, Scholar Zhou, Lei Sanxiang, and the others did not look pleased either.

Rebellion? They did not yet have that kind of courage.

But to Lin Qian's surprise, the moment he finished speaking, not a single person voiced opposition.

Since seizing the ship, Lin Qian had created too many miracles and commanded immense authority among the group, so much so that no one dared question his decisions anymore.

Lin Qian took in everyone's expressions, then said: "This matter requires thorough preparation. We cannot rush it."

Bai Qing grew anxious and wanted to speak, but Lin Qian raised a hand to stop him: "Don't worry, the preparations won't take long."

Today is the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

The Wanli Emperor is likely already on his deathbed.

He won't last more than a few days before he passes.

Given the speed of news transmission in this era, Guangdong should receive word about ten days after the Emperor's death.

From then on, a period of more than a month without government authority will begin.

If we attacked the pearl grounds on an ordinary day, it would undoubtedly be rebellion.

But if we act during this window, local officials will not only refrain from reporting it, they will do everything in their power to suppress the news.

This is the wisdom of officialdom that Lin Qian observed over two lifetimes.

So time is truly precious—not a single day can be wasted.

With this in mind, Lin Qian called Bailangzai's siblings and his sworn brothers to the dining cabin for a meeting.

Lin Qian first asked about the defenses of the pearl grounds.

Bailangzai's siblings had lived at the pearl grounds since childhood and knew their layout like the back of their hands.

According to their introduction, the pearl grounds consisted of two parts: the water stockade and the pearl pool.

The pearl pool was an entire stretch of inshore sea surface; by day, the pearl households would dive in the pool to harvest pearls.

The water stockade was generally built on the shore close to the pearl pool; after sunset, the pearl households would sail back and moor inside the stockade.

The pearl grounds where the siblings lived were on Naozhou Island, located east of the Leizhou Peninsula, with the water stockade built on the island's eastern shore, facing the South China Sea.

The Naozhou pearl grounds themselves had an inspection post, under which were two hundred archers.

A dozen or so naval warships patrolled year-round near the water stockade and the pearl pool.

At this point, Lin Qian couldn't help but interrupt: "Since there are naval warships, how did you manage to escape from the pearl grounds?"

Bai Qing explained: "The inspection post returns to the stockade at night, leaving the sea defenses empty. We took advantage of that time to escape through a breach in the stockade wall."

Lin Qian nodded, signaling Bai Qing to continue.

Bai Qing explained that besides the water stockade being dilapidated from years of neglect, the navy's warships were also extremely decrepit—some ships had to spend an hour bailing water for every hour they sailed.

This was within Lin Qian's expectations; the corruption of the Ming's guard stations was notorious, with padding the payroll and bleeding the soldiers' rations being standard practice.

Indeed, even with the Later Jin threat looming, Liaodong officers sold off military horses; and to reduce payouts, some tricked their own men into being slaughtered—such utterly absurd things had happened.

And those were at the Nine Frontier garrisons.

On the southeast coast where the wokou had already been pacified, one could know with even their toes that officer corruption was even worse.

Never mind that the Naozhou pearl grounds had only a dozen or so broken ships—the Ministry of War's ledgers might well record three hundred brand-new warships.

Lin Qian then asked about the firepower situation at the water stockade.

The answer he received was also reassuring: the stockade had no muskets, but did have a few tiger-crouch cannons—only no one had ever heard them fire, whether they had long since broken or were merely for show.

At this point, Bai Qing paused, then added: "Brother Lin, I won't hide it from you—west of our pearl grounds there is a major naval stockade called Baige Stockade. It is the key naval stronghold on the Leizhou sea, garrisoned by an Assistant Regional Commander, with over a hundred warships inside. If the Baige Stockade navy comes to reinforce while we attack the pearl grounds, things may get difficult."

Lin Qian pondered for a moment, then asked: "Besides the main gate, does the pearl grounds' water stockade have any other entrances or exits?"

Bai Qing shook his head: "The stockade faces the sea in front and is backed by high mountains. Even if you climbed over the mountains, the surrounding area is mostly rocky shoals, very hard to moor ships. There is a sandy beach on the island's west side, though, where small boats can anchor."

Lin Qian nodded inwardly—this way it would be hard to draw in the Baige Stockade navy, and the pearl pool eunuch would find it difficult to slip away either.

As for that beacon-fire signaling business, it worked on land.

But using it at sea was rather laughable.

Even if the sea wind couldn't blow away the thick smoke, there were no chains of beacon towers across the sea to relay the signal.

Thinking this over, Lin Qian already had a rough plan in mind.

There was still one last piece of motivation missing.

Lin Qian suddenly asked out of nowhere: "Since it's a pearl ground, they must have stored up quite a lot of pearls, right?"

Bai Qing was taken aback, then understood Lin Qian's meaning, and said cleverly: "The pearl pool eunuch lives in extreme luxury. His residence on the island is built like an imperial palace, with countless treasures."

Whether true or not, this at least whetted the appetites of Chen Jiao and the others.

Seeing that he had asked enough, Lin Qian gave his orders: "Second Brother, you and Jose go to Macao, find the Fat Councilman, and buy some gunpowder and cannonballs—buy as many as you can."

Scholar Zhou cupped his hands: "Orders received!"

"Third Brother, in the next few days pick out some sharp-witted men from the crew and teach them to use the cannons. Don't worry about wasting ammunition—do as many live-fire drills as possible."

Lei Sanxiang laughed: "I didn't waste my time in the Divine Engine Battalion—leave it to me!"

"Big Brother, matters like how to arrange the old and new crewmen, mediate conflicts, and assign posts—those go to you."

Chen Jiao nodded heavily: "Rest assured, Skipper!"

"Bai Qing."

"Big Brother!" Bai Qing rose and cupped his hands in salute.

"You return to the pearl grounds, go into hiding, rally the pearl folk, and find out the enemy's movements. When we attack, you will serve as our man on the inside."

This was an extremely dangerous mission, yet Bai Qing's expression did not change as he answered without the slightest hesitation: "Understood—rest assured, Big Brother!"

"Bailangzai."

"Helmsman!" Bailangzai rose and clasped his fists, his gaze sharp and bright, fixed on Lin Qian.

"Over the next few days, draw out the water fortress's terrain map and hydrographic chart—draw as much as you remember."

"And then..." Lin Qian paused for a moment, his tone turning icy, "sharpen your blades and get ready to cut off your enemies' heads!"

Fifteen days later.

Leizhou Bay.

The morning sun had just risen.

At the point where sea and sky met, a ship sailed toward them, backlit against the light.

At the Naozhou Island water fortress, soldiers of the patrol inspection office on night watch were sleeping atop the fortress wall.

The sea wind was cold at night, and many of the night-watch soldiers had set up makeshift shelters on the wall and covered themselves with thin quilts to avoid catching a chill.

Inside the water fortress, some pearl-house households had already risen, preparing breakfast.

By the time the morning sun fully rose, it would be time to leave the fortress to dive for pearls; the next meal would not come until the sun set behind the mountains, after they returned to the fortress.

They would spend the entire day submerged in the cold seawater gathering pearls, sustained only by the dried rations they ate this morning—they had to eat their fill.

Just at that moment, a rumble of thunder came from the east.

The pearl divers could not help but sigh—if they ran into a thunderstorm, their chances of making it back alive today would shrink considerably.

The night-watch soldier was startled awake by the thunder, and peered blearily into the distance.

But the sky was clear and blue, not a cloud in ten thousand li—where had the thunder come from?

As he was still dazed, a black dot grew from small to large, hurtling down to land right before his eyes.

By the time the soldier realized what was happening, it was too late—he could not even let out a cry of anguish.

With a thunderous crash, the fortress wall was smashed through; dust and wood splinters flew everywhere, mixed with a faint mist of red blood, followed by shredded chunks of flesh flying out and splashing into the water.

Yahei

Pink Round

Pen