Chapter 73: For My Brother's Eyes

Su Qingmei blushed as she entered, picked up the pulse pillow, and fled as fast as she could.

This time, Zheng Zhilong waited until he confirmed the young woman had descended the rope ladder off the ship before speaking: "Those women in the ship-city, they're all prostitutes from shore. Since they've been to the ship-city, they must be familiar with the place. Find a few to question—we might get leads on Second Brother Zhou and the others."

Lei Sanxiang slapped his thigh: "Makes sense!"

Then his face fell again: "But there are so many brothels on shore—where do we even start looking?"

Zheng Zhilong couldn't answer that one either. As he saw it, they'd have to send people to search every single one—there was no shortcut.

Lin Qian picked up: "Search the three counties of Chaoyang, Huilai, and Chenghai. Start with the most expensive establishments."

These three places were the coastal counties of Chaozhou Prefecture, and of them, Chaoyang was also closest to the ship-city.

The brothels in county towns mostly didn't have powerful backers, so they were relatively safe.

Besides, sea bandits made money fast and never begrudged spending it—they'd inevitably pick the most expensive girls.

Lin Qian added: "Even though we're in a period of national mourning, with drinking, meat, gatherings, and festivities all banned, it would be a miracle if the brothels of Jiangnan could endure the abstinence. Focus your search on the places that actually close their doors at night."

Zheng Zhilong nodded repeatedly: "Listening to Brother Lin speak truly feels like the clouds parting to reveal the sun."

Lin Qian: "I'll trouble Eldest Brother, Third Brother, and Yiguan to handle this. Each of you take some silver and men, split up among the three county towns. To avoid Li Kuiqi's eyes, set out under cover of night!"

Lei Sanxiang laughed: "Rest easy, Helmsman—when it comes to visiting brothels, this old Lei is the most skilled!"

Chen Jiao snapped angrily: "The Helmsman didn't send you to go carousing!"

Scolded, Lei Sanxiang gave an embarrassed chuckle: "Just running my mouth, that's all. I know how to handle the important matters."

Lin Qian rose and said gravely to the three: "Li Kuiqi is cautious and cunning. Brothers, don't show any weakness in your cover. As for the prostitutes and madams, find ways to make sure they keep quiet."

The three rose, cupped their fists, and said solemnly: "Rest assured, Helmsman!"

Lin Qian walked to the window and saw the sky outside was overcast—a heavy storm seemed imminent.

"Leave early and return early. Our time is running out." Lin Qian said in a low voice.

That afternoon.

The carpenter came to report that the refitting of the Santa Ana was complete, and asked Lin Qian to inspect and accept the work.

One who holds a high position must have the ability to handle multiple threads of work at once.

He had recently been busy with rescuing Scholar Zhou, but he hadn't forgotten the hull modifications—he had pressed the project's progress many times.

Finally, it was now finished.

Lin Qian rose and followed the craftsmen down to the gun deck, carefully inspecting every gunport.

The gunports looked almost no different from those of the original galleon—as if the hull had been designed that way from the start.

Lin Qian specifically had a cannon moved to the new gunport, then fired a test shot.

The gunport opened and closed smoothly, was reasonably sized, and the surrounding structure was solid.

Though the carpenters had been repeatedly pushed on the schedule, the quality hadn't slipped in the least.

On this point alone, they'd put countless future corporations to shame.

Now the gunports were done—what was missing was the cannon itself. The thought of cannons made Lin Qian's chest feel tight.

Next, Lin Qian went to inspect the bow lateen sails. He saw that the original jib boom on the bowsprit was gone.

The carpenters had lengthened the original bowsprit and added several ropes between the bowsprit and the fore topmast and main topmast.

Three spars lay flat on the deck, ropes tied to both ends, with three lateen sails of different sizes rolled around them.

This was the furled state of the bow lateen sails. To raise them, the sail handlers would pull the halyards to lift the three spars, while pulling the sheets to unfurl the lateen sails.

Compared to square sails, the furling and unfurling of lateen sails was somewhat more complex.

But compared to that bit of extra work, the improvement the lateen sails brought to the Santa Ana was enormous.

First, lateen sails could exploit Bernoulli's principle to improve wind efficiency—they were faster than the original bow square sails by more than a little.

Second, lateen sails were highly maneuverable, allowing quick sail changes to adapt to new wind angles. This was especially important in the waters of Fujian and Guangdong, where wind directions were complex and ever-changing.

Finally, lateen sails also had powerful upwind sailing capability. The minimum angle for soft square sails against the wind was about 60 degrees; beyond that, one could only sail in zigzags.

With these three lateen sails installed, the upwind angle could be further reduced to 50 degrees, or even 45 degrees.

Don't underestimate the difference of a dozen or so degrees.

Half a year ago, in the waters south of Manila, if the San Felipe had had even three lateen sails, it wouldn't have failed to catch up with that slow Fujian junk.

And Lin Qian's band of sea bandits would long ago have been shot full of holes by cannon fire, their corpses sunk to feed the sharks.

"Raise anchor—let's head out to sea and try her." Lin Qian said loudly.

Chen Jiao wasn't on the ship, so Bailangzai voluntarily took on the duties of first mate, shouting orders to the crew: "The Helmsman commands—prepare to raise anchor! Everyone to the capstans!"

Lin Qian gave Bailangzai a gratified look. This fellow stayed quiet every day, but he learned fast—now, giving orders, he already had something of a first mate about him.

Lin Qian instructed: "Tell the sail handlers not to unfurl the square sails—sail using only these three lateen sails."

"Aye." Bailangzai acknowledged.

After a long while, the anchor was raised. The sail handlers took their positions under Bailangzai's orders, but faced with the lateen sails' complex rigging, they were all dumbfounded, not knowing how to operate it.

These sail handlers were either Chinese laborers from the Spanish ships or sailors trained by José—not one of them had ever touched a lateen sail.

Fortunately, Lin Qian had been an expert with lateen sails in his previous life—all the rigging for these three sails had been designed by him. He now began teaching the sail handlers hands-on.

An hour later, Lin Qian finished explaining the use of the three sails and assigned each sail handler a post—some to pull the sheets, some to control the halyards, some to untie the sail bindings, and some as reserves.

After the sail handlers took their respective positions, Lin Qian gave the order, and everyone worked together to raise the sails.

As the three spars slowly rose, the sail handlers all felt both novelty and excitement.

Lin Qian directed from the center throughout, coordinating the pace of all the sail handlers.

Just as the lateen sails rose halfway into the air—

A crewman behind Lin Qian said: "Helmsman, someone found this on the island's beach."

Lin Qian turned around and saw a crewman holding a wooden box. Inside was a rotting severed finger, and beneath the finger lay a letter.

Instantly, the faces of everyone on deck sank.

"Close the box and come ashore with me." Lin Qian said calmly.

A little over half an hour later, at the Green Plum Pavilion.

Su Kang carefully picked out the severed finger with his chopsticks and set it on a plate beside him.

He then slowly picked out the letter as well and placed it on the table.

The sailor carried the box away.

Su Kang said, "No rush, leave it for now."

He took a small knife from his medicine chest, carefully scraped some paper shavings off the envelope, soaked them in a teacup, stirred for a moment, and tested for poison with a silver needle.

The silver needle did not change color.

Su Kang then brought his nose close, sniffed the water in the teacup, and sniffed the envelope as well, confirming it was free of poison.

Afterward, Su Kang used different methods to examine both the severed finger and the box.

Then Su Kang opened the envelope, slowly drew out the letter paper, and after examining it too, said, "None of it is poisoned."

Su Qingmei, whose expression had been tense all along, only relaxed upon hearing this.

Lin Qian had his subordinate bring chopsticks, and imitating Su Kang's manner, picked up the envelope and brought it before him.

On the envelope was a line of elegant small regular script:

"To be opened personally by my brother Lin Qian — Zhou Youcai."

Yahei

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