Chapter 61: Air-Drying the Goods

In the dead of night.

Aboard the Santa Ana, in the captain's cabin, candlelight burned bright.

Lin Qian's workload had piled up like a mountain, and he had completely lost any right to sleep.

Nan'ao Island was small in territory; even in later generations, its permanent residents numbered only a little over seventy thousand.

In this era, the population it could support was even smaller.

He had to plan ahead in order to make the most of the land.

In Lin Qian's vision, Nan'ao Island would be primarily military in function, with artillery batteries set up on the various hilltops and docks and plank roads built at the harbors.

The roads would use a grid layout structure, similar to the urban layouts of Chang'an City and Barcelona.

The pearl divers volunteered to come ashore on the island; those who insisted on staying aboard ship were not forced.

So the drawing before him was precisely the urban structure map of Nan'ao Island.

The city district Lin Qian had designed could accommodate roughly ten thousand people, and if the population grew, expansion would be easy.

Another drawing on the table was a single-masted sailing vessel designed by Lin Qian.

It carried Chinese-style hard sails with a streamlined hull—a product blending Chinese and Western design.

Chinese hard sails were simple to operate; one person alone could sail the vessel, and maintenance costs were low.

Swap out the hard sails for Bermuda rigging, and it became a modern fast sailing yacht, also usable for relaying messages and emergency transport.

Add a trawl net and it could fish.

Enlarge the hold and it became a Tanka boat.

According to Lin Qian's plan, Nan'ao Island would also host a shipyard, and these single-masted small craft could be the first batch of orders for the yard's opening.

But building the city district, constructing the shipyard, and building new ships—

all required large numbers of carpenters, tilers, mast makers, caulkers, blacksmiths…

Where would the craftsmen come from?

Even before he went to that banquet of treachery, he had ordered Chen Jiao and Lei Sanxiang to collect the whereabouts of these craftsmen along the coast.

Sailing along this route, they could call on each one in turn, like the King of Hell taking roll.

And so along the way, nearly every day brought new faces aboard.

Moreover, the methods used to force people into compliance were all more or less the same.

Su Kang was shocked to discover that the story that had happened to him was being reenacted aboard the ship every single day.

Several days later.

The Santa Ana arrived at Nan'ao Island.

Seen through the telescope, Nan'ao Island had tall mountains at both its eastern and western ends, with a broad stretch of flat land in the middle—like a gourd lying askew on the sea's surface.

According to the intelligence Chen Jiao had gathered, only a few hundred fishermen lived on Nan'ao Island.

After all, this island sat at the border of Fujian and Guangdong, a strategic choke point.

The court had stationed a Vice Regional Commander on the island, with over a thousand officers and men under his command, more than twenty large and small warships, and numerous artillery batteries.

The Santa Ana took a roundabout route, sailing to Baisha Bay on the island's north side, where the Vice Regional Commander's garrison stood on the shore.

Lin Qian raised his telescope and looked—indeed, on the shore, with mountains behind and water before, there was a stretch of camp and stockade.

But he didn't see many soldiers. Moored in the harbor were over ten Cangshan ships, more than twenty bird boats, and countless fast craft—all small vessels, with no large warships in sight.

Judging from this paper strength, Nan'ao Island's warships were only slightly better than those at the Naozhou pearl grounds.

Even embezzling salaries shouldn't be done this way.

Lin Qian grew suspicious, fearing there might be ships hidden in some concealed spot.

Hearing Lin Qian's concern, Chen Jiao explained, "Helmsman, don't worry yourself. The big ships aren't in the harbor—they must have gone off to haul cargo."

"Truly?" Lin Qian was quite astonished, thinking to himself that Ming generals had no talent for war but an endless array of tricks for lining their pockets.

Earlier at the Naozhou pearl grounds, he had seen fishing nets and gear stowed aboard several Ming warships, thinking that using warships as fishing boats was already absurd enough.

Now here was another one who sailed his ships out of the garrison to haul cargo at sea.

Chen Jiao nodded: "Absolutely true."

Zheng Zhilong added, "In the southeastern navy of the Great Ming, aside from Shen Yourong and Yu Zigao, who run a fairly tight ship, it's common practice for other commanders to pad their muster rolls, bleed their soldiers' pay, and assign private jobs."

The Great Ming had never placed much importance on coastal defense.

Especially after Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou pacified the wokou pirates during the Jiajing era, there had been few battles on the southeastern seas.

Coastal defense thus decayed further and further, until it reached the present state.

If that was the case, the soldiers on the island didn't even number as many as Lin Qian's own men—taking this island would cost no more effort than blowing away dust.

Just as Lin Qian was formulating his plan to attack the island—

in Baisha Bay, a fast boat left the harbor and headed toward the Santa Ana.

Lin Qian raised his telescope and saw only four soldiers aboard, with a man in blue silk robes standing at the bow.

Before long, the fast boat pulled alongside the Santa Ana.

The crew lowered a rope ladder and let the man climb aboard.

After coming on deck, the man looked around, then walked up to Lin Qian and saluted respectfully with cupped hands: "I am Huang Hetai, Garrison Commander of Nan'ao. Might I ask which ship lord's service you are in?"

"Ship lord" was the Great Ming's term for the chieftains of the great sea bandits.

For instance, Li Dan, the Great Ming maritime merchant based in Japan, was respectfully called Ship Lord Li by the common folk.

Still, hearing such a jianghu-style title spoken with respect from the mouth of a Ming military officer felt somewhat incongruous.

Lin Qian decided to test the waters with words first, and so said, "I serve under Ship Lord Li. We encountered wind and waves at sea recently and would like to borrow your island to rest."

Huang Hetai wore a troubled expression. He pulled Lin Qian aside and said in a low voice, "Ship Lord Li pays protection money every year in exchange for the Regional Commander not seizing his smuggling vessels. We keep to our own lanes—that was agreed upon beforehand. If your leader suddenly wants to come ashore, I'll have a hard time explaining it to the Regional Commander."

"Protection money" meant a toll for passage, a fee for the road.

A dignified Vice Regional Commander of the second rank, actually striking a deal with sea bandits, accepting bribes, and tacitly allowing smuggling!

Though outrageous, compared to using warships to carry goods for trade, it hardly seems like anything.

Lin Qian feigned anger, probing the bottom line: "Ship Lord Li pays tens of thousands of taels of protection money every year, and still can't buy a moment's rest? I think you're deliberately humiliating us!"

Huang Hetai was startled, then immediately put on a fawning smile: "The chief is joking—it's not nearly tens of thousands of taels... How about the chief's flagship comes ashore, and we let the other brothers rest at sea?"

These words revealed two layers of meaning.

First, Li Dan didn't really take this Vice Regional Commander seriously—his yearly toll didn't even reach ten thousand taels of silver.

Second, the Vice Regional Commander might sound imposing, but was actually a paper tiger; his men, facing the sea bandits' threats, didn't dare utter a single harsh word.

Lin Qian continued putting on an arrogant front, probing: "What about your Regional Commander? I want to see him."

Huang Hetai replied with increasing caution: "His Excellency the Regional Commander went to the Chaozhou branch office a month ago and isn't on the island at present..."

In Lin Qian's mind, another charge was added to the Regional Commander's list of crimes: dereliction of duty.

"Very well." Lin Qian patted Huang Hetai on the shoulder. "Then Garrison Commander is the one in charge on the island. Since I can speak with the Garrison Commander, my men need not come ashore—but the cargo on the ships has been soaked by wind and waves, and I'd like to borrow your fine land to dry it."

As he spoke, Lin Qian shot Zheng Zhilong a look.

Zheng Zhilong understood at once, went down to the cargo hold, picked out a large pearl, and brought it up to Lin Qian.

Lin Qian placed it directly into Huang Hetai's hand, saying with a smile: "A small token of respect—once we go ashore, a greater gift will be presented."

Huang Hetai glanced at the pearl in his hand.

The pearl was the size of a dragon's eye, its luster smooth and radiant, flowing with light and color—truly a rare sight.

Why should the Vice Regional Commander, Assistant Regional Commander, and the roving officers all enjoy themselves ashore year-round, while he, a mere Garrison Commander, suffered alone on the island?

Not getting any squeeze from the post was one thing.

But he, a dignified fifth-rank Garrison Commander, still had to grovel before sea bandits and swallow his pride.

He'd had enough of this life—might as well be tough for once!

A flash of greed passed through Huang Hetai's eyes; with a flick of his sleeve, the pearl vanished.

"Since the chief is one of Ship Lord Li's men, and Ship Lord Li is a friend of His Excellency the Regional Commander, I imagine there's no harm in going ashore to dry the cargo. Please!"

Having obtained Huang Hetai's permission,

Lin Qian arranged for the pearl divers to land on the flat ground between the eastern and western mountains of Nan'ao Island.

Huang Hetai found it somewhat odd and asked: "Why doesn't the chief land at White Sand Bay, which is closer?"

Lin Qian made up a random excuse: "There's too much cargo on the ships—if we laid it out in your camp, I'm afraid it would block the way. I see the island's interior is flat and sparsely populated, just right for drying."

Nan'ao Island had very few residents, and the naval garrison was severely understaffed.

Most of the population was gathered around Shen'ao Harbor by White Sand Bay; the rest were scattered along the various harbors and coves.

Though the island's interior was flat, it was overgrown with weeds and trees, and usually saw little human traffic.

For Lin Qian to use it for drying cargo was naturally the most suitable choice.

But since it was after all out of his direct sight, Huang Hetai felt a vague unease, though he couldn't say where it came from.

Before he could think it over, Lin Qian was already pulling him toward the captain's cabin.

"Garrison Commander Huang, you and I hit it off at first sight—I happen to have fine cigars in my cabin; let's smoke and chat."

Pulled and invited along by Lin Qian, Huang Hetai had no choice but to follow.

Moments later, as smoke rose in the captain's cabin, Huang Hetai's lingering doubts were cast to the nine clouds.

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen