Chapter 87: The Mountain Topples the Earth God's Shrine

The three ships closed to within less than twenty paces, and someone shouted: "Lower your sails and heave to!"

Manager Zhao and the navigator both looked toward the shipowner.

The shipowner nodded helplessly.

Soon the three vessels pulled alongside, surrounding the Fujian junk in their midst.

The sea bandits all had their faces covered with cloth and gripped weapons in hand. More than twenty pirates carried enormous matchlock muskets, aiming at the ship, with burning matchcord bound to their right hands, occasionally blowing on them to keep the embers alive.

Among the crowd of sea bandits, a man of extremely imposing stature stood at the bow.

His face was masked, his chest and arms bare, his skin dark, his muscles knotted like rope. He bore a nine-ring ghost-head saber across his shoulder, looking like a majestic temple door god.

The shipowner's gaze sharpened, and his jaw nearly dropped in shock. Staring wide-eyed and tongue-tied, he said: "Chief Li?"

The shipowner forced a bitter smile: "Chief, don't you recognize me? I'm Xie Er, who manages the ships for the Lin family of Huangyan."

The giant stood like a black tower, utterly motionless.

Xie Er continued: "Chief Li may not remember me, but you must surely recognize the Lin family's banner. Look here—this truly is a mountain overturning the earth god's shrine, family not knowing family. A misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding..."

While Xie Er babbled on, someone on the bandit ship shouted: "All men aboard, throw your weapons into the sea!"

Xie Er looked toward the speaker and saw the man standing behind Li Kuiqi. He was on the thinner side, face masked, revealing a pair of saber-shaped brows and phoenix eyes, his bearing extraordinary—clearly an important figure under Li Kuiqi's command.

Xie Er hastily clasped his hands and said with an ingratiating smile: "Good sir, might I ask what offense the Lin family has committed, that Chief Li must personally lead men to demand satisfaction?"

"Throw all your weapons into the sea! Or we'll open fire!"

Xie Er pleaded: "Good sir, I've said every good word I can..."

Before he could finish, the man waved his arm, and more than twenty matchlock muskets around him roared in sudden unison.

Several guards burst with blossoms of blood and tumbled into the water. Others, wounded, collapsed on the deck, wailing without end.

After the gunsmoke dispersed, the pirates did not board the ship but remained where they were anchored, letting the gunners reload.

Hearing the gunfire, the boatmen all shrank back into the holds below deck. Manager Zhao shoved them hard, trying to push them out, saying: "If the sea bandits board, none of us will live. Get up on deck and fight—maybe you'll keep your lives. Get on deck, now!"

The boatmen poked their heads out of the hold and saw several bleeding corpses lying on the deck.

A few remaining guards peered over the gunwale, attempting to leap across and engage the enemy.

But the three bandit ships were five or six paces from the Fujian junk—impossible to cross. While they hesitated, another volley of gunfire rang out. The last few guards fell as well.

Xie Er, who had taken shelter in the sterncastle and escaped the volley, hurriedly said: "Chief Li, spare my life! Let's talk this out!"

Only then did the masked bandit with saber brows and phoenix eyes speak: "Everyone onto the deck, empty-handed!"

Xie Er, Manager Zhao, and the remaining boatmen had no choice but to emerge from the cabins and stand on the deck.

Two Cangshan boats rowed forward, and the sea bandits boarded, binding the men with ropes.

The shipowner Xie Er and Manager Zhao were brought onto the sea bandit vessel and made to kneel face-down on the deck.

"How many people in total aboard the ship?" someone asked.

"I—" Xie Er tried to raise his head to see who was speaking, but the pommel of a blade struck him hard across the skull.

"Keep your head down when you answer!"

"Thirty-four in total."

"How many boatmen, how many guards?"

"Twenty boatmen, twelve guards, plus myself and Manager Zhao."

The questioning paused, and footsteps went pattering off into the distance.

After a moment, the footsteps returned: "Counting the bodies in the water, there are only thirty-three."

"One fell overboard!" Xie Er said hastily. "At noon there was a heavy rain, and a boatman fell into the water while clearing the scupper and drowned."

The footsteps went back to the Fujian junk, and after a moment a shout came back.

"It tallies."

"Drive the living into the sea. Live or die, let fate decide."

A moment later, splashes sounded alongside the Fujian junk, followed by the noise of men thrashing in the water.

The questioning voice sounded again: "From which port did you set sail, and to which port were you bound?"

"We came from Macao, returning to the family estate in Huangyan County."

"Not going to Yuegang? You're an unlicensed vessel?"

The tone suddenly turned harsh, sending cold sweat down Xie Er's neck. Keeping his head low, he said with a fawning smile: "Good sir, you know how it is with the family's affairs. We do have a ship permit—for that one three-masted great vessel. After it put to sea after the new year, no word ever came back. This voyage of mine was by the family head's orders, to search along the route."

"Oh. And did you find out anything?"

"Alas! It struck a reef and sank in Lingding Bay—what a pity, that whole fine cargo."

"Did anyone see it?"

"A few local fishermen saw it. From their description of its build, it should indeed be my master's vessel."

Given the situation today, Xie Er had already guessed that the disappearance of that three-masted Fujian junk was tied to Li Kuiqi's gang—quite possibly Li Kuiqi himself had seized it.

So Xie Er, thinking on his feet, lied that the ship lost after the new year had struck a reef. If he didn't stir up more trouble, his chances of survival might just be greater.

The voice pondered for a moment, then spoke again: "How many vessels does your household have in total?"

"Six in all, all two-masted. The three-master was the only one."

The Great Ming strictly forbade the private construction of three-masted ships, so smuggling vessels, to avoid detection, were generally two-masted or three-masted with detachable masts.

"Have all the other ships returned to port?"

"You lot do know something about sailing."

"All thanks to Chief Li and your good self for your support."

"Heh. You've got a silver tongue."

The voice mused for a moment, then asked again: "You say you're the household's ship manager—then what does this Manager Zhao kneeling beside you do?"

"He was originally the manager of the farmland estate, temporarily reassigned to handle the voyage."

"The estate? He never went to the Lin mansion?"

"No."

"Kill him."

Hearing this, Xie Er felt his throat tighten and his legs go weak—so scared his balls shrank up into his body.

Fortunately, what the sea bandits took was Manager Zhao.

Xie Er kept his head bowed low, his whole body trembling like a sieve, desperately stifling the sobs in his throat.

At his ears came Manager Zhao's endless pleas, his cries like a year-pig with its legs bound for slaughter.

After only a moment, there came a dull thud of chopping meat, the cries cut off abruptly, and then the sound of something splashing into the water off the stern.

Someone on the Fujian junk said, "Helmsman, we've searched the whole ship—no one hiding, no leaks."

From the voice, the one called helmsman was the man who had been asking questions.

The helmsman ordered his men, "Set sail. Back to the island."

Then came the rustling of cloth—the sea bandits must have taken off their masks.

Even with his head bowed, Xie Er hurriedly squeezed his eyes shut. He knew the sea bandits' rules: see a face, lose your life.

By now he could tell that this crew was clearly led by the helmsman; the man standing at the bow was just a decoy.

"Raise your head." The helmsman's voice came.

Xie Er knocked his head against the deck and begged, "Chief Li, please spare my life. When I go back, I swear I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Still calling me Chief Li?" the helmsman mocked.

"Whatever Chief Li tells me to call you, that's what I'll call you."

"A clever one, calling me Chief Li at every turn." The helmsman praised him. "Raise your head."

"No, no—I'm fine answering like this."

"Zhang Zhongsan, Wu Liu—do you know them?"

Xie Er froze. Those two were the names of the shipowner and the manager on the missing three-masted Fujian junk.

"That ship—I'm the one who seized it."

(End of chapter)

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen