Chapter 95: Sailing for Huangyan

A very brief sound of gunpowder igniting rang out; in an instant the powder on the blade was fully lit, and the shed burst with blinding white light.

Lin Qian signaled Bailangzai to turn his head away and not look directly at the light; a "hissing" sound came from beside his ears.

After a moment, Lin Qian sensed from the corner of his eye that the light was dimming, turning into an orange-red glow.

After another moment, Lin Qian turned to look back—the tip of the blade was still clamped between the stone and the rags, while the handle sat neatly on the table.

The blade itself had been burned red-hot, as if it had just been pulled from a forge.

At the cutting edge, reduced lead water had gathered, slowly dripping onto the table with a sizzling sound; wherever the lead water touched the table, it caught fire.

As the lead water dripped more and more, the table burned through, and the lead water fell directly onto the sand, melting the surrounding grit red-hot.

The fire on the table grew larger and larger, gradually igniting the surrounding curtains.

In no time at all, the entire shed was engulfed in flames.

Though the power exceeded expectations, Lin Qian had been prepared—the gunpowder barrels and other items were kept far away and were not affected.

There was nothing else flammable around the beach; after the fire burned down the shed, it gradually died out.

At this moment, quite a few passersby at the dock were staring over in surprise.

Even Bailangzai's ice-cold face showed a rare look of shock; he stood frozen in place.

Lin Qian said to Bailangzai: "Go ask the people at the dock what they saw."

Hearing this, Bailangzai snapped back to his senses, ran toward the dock, spoke with several people, then returned.

"They all say they saw the firelight."

"They didn't see the white light or hear the sound?"

Bailangzai shook his head.

Lin Qian was greatly reassured—if that was the case, this method could work.

Next, what needed to be solved was the problem of fixing the powder to the water gate.

Lin Qian led Bailangzai back to the Santa Ana, and at the navigation table in the captain's cabin, took one document from among many drawings and handed it to Bailangzai.

Bailangzai opened it and saw a cylindrical clay jar drawn on it, about the size of a forearm, with three holes—one at the top, one at the bottom, and one on the side.

The jar was split in half from top to bottom, with grooves on the break connecting the two pieces.

This was Lin Qian's method for securing the powder.

"Once you reach the Lin estate, find a chance to get close to the water gate, take a mold sample with clay on the spot, then find a potter to make this jar. However many iron bars there are, that's how many jars you need to make—understand?"

"Understood."

Next, Lin Qian had Bailangzai move a chair over and sit down, then carefully explained to him the design intent of the jar, the purpose of each feature, how to assemble it, and how to use it.

He also emphasized that high-quality, heat-resistant clay must be used.

After a long while, Bailangzai put away the drawing: "Navigator, I understand."

"Good. This afternoon you and your sister are heading to Huangyan. Since there's still some time, go rest for a bit first—and help me call Lü Zhou over."

Bailangzai acknowledged and withdrew.

A moment later, Lü Zhou knocked and entered with an excited expression: "Navigator, you wanted to see me?"

Lin Qian was writing at his desk; he looked up upon hearing this: "Have the wounds on your body healed?"

Lü Zhou smiled: "Thanks to the navigator's blessing, they've healed completely."

Lin Qian said: "Let me see the wound on your leg."

Lü Zhou acknowledged, stepped forward, rolled up his trousers, and revealed the scar.

The scar was reddish-brown, raised above the skin, surrounded by fine indentations like centipede legs.

It looked fierce, but it had indeed healed together.

"You never went to have the stitches removed?"

"No—just as Doctor Su said, as the wound healed, the stitches dissolved on their own."

Being able to suture wounds with absorbable thread, and having anesthetic abilities—Su Kang's medical skill truly earned Lin Qian's admiration.

Kidnapping him from Guangzhou back then had really been a good idea.

Lin Qian gestured for Lü Zhou to pull his trousers down and said: "Navigator Bai has business to attend to outside; for the next few days, you'll relay orders for me."

Lü Zhou was extremely excited upon hearing this; he immediately clasped his fists and knelt to the ground, his face flushed red: "Thank you, Navigator, for your patronage!"

Lin Qian had him rise and said half-jokingly: "Relaying orders for me is no easy task."

Lü Zhou clasped his fists: "I am willing to serve the navigator through thick and thin!"

Noticing that Lü Zhou spoke with some refinement, Lin Qian asked: "Have you studied?"

"To answer the navigator, I never studied. When I was young I loved listening to storytellers; I learned these phrases from them."

Lin Qian asked a few more questions afterward, and by the end he had a clear picture of Lü Zhou's background.

"Starting today, help me collect graphite and red lead on the island, then deliver them to the squad leader at the prisoner camp. Tell him to grind them the same way as last night, then bring the ground powder to the dock to mix. For the specifics, ask the navigator."

"Go."

Because the thermite required extremely fine grinding and thorough mixing, it demanded a great deal of labor.

So for several days, the prisoners labored day and night without rest, tormented beyond endurance.

Lin Qian had Lü Zhou find a deserted stretch of beach, set up a laboratory, and repeatedly test the power results of different material combinations.

They tried adding saltpeter, adding sulfur, adding sugar, adding oil, and various other combinations.

They also developed a solid version made by adding sugar water and letting it dry and set, as well as a semi-dry, thick paste version made with oil and sugar.

These were contingency measures Lin Qian had prepared in case the clay jar smoldering method proved ineffective.

During the days spent rushing to produce the thermite, Chen Jiao also obtained a full supply of contraband equipment from Huang Hetai.

There were twenty rattan shields, ten sets of raw cowhide armor, twenty crossbows, four hundred crossbow bolts, and a hundred waist knives.

According to Garrison Commander Huang, these rattan shields and leather armor were manufactured under the supervision of the Ministry of War during the ninth year of Wanli, when Zhang Juzheng served as Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat.

After nearly forty years, it was still serviceable—truly no easy feat.

The crossbows were also manufactured under Zhang Juzheng's administration, but they had been poorly preserved, and most of the bowstrings had snapped.

By comparison, the quality of the blades was even worse.

Lin casually picked up a sword and saw that the spine was warped, the edge was dull, and the blade had blackened—an absolutely inferior weapon.

They had all been forged in recent years; evidently Garrison Commander Huang also considered these blades useless and had simply dumped a hundred of them on Lin Qian in one go.

Whether the Great Ming's miao dao, Qi family dao, or wild-goose dao, the blade designs were all excellent, and their performance in actual combat was no worse than Japanese swords.

Yet the standard-issue weapons distributed by the Ministry of War were all crudely made and built from the worst materials.

As a result, during the Jiajing era, when facing wokou raiders, the Jiangnan officers and soldiers were at a disadvantage in their blades alone.

This was also why the sea bandits of the Great Ming today generally favored Japanese swords.

Lin Qian had Mute Huang bring the carpenters to an open area on the island, where they built a one-to-one scale replica of the "Lin Manor" out of wooden planks and cotton thread, to serve as a training ground.

He also had Lei Sanxiang pick out over a hundred men from the crew, distribute weapons to them, and drill them in the replica, divided into three columns—left, center, and right.

Lin Qian's plan was that only seventy-five crewmen would ultimately take part in the operation, meaning twenty or thirty of these hundred-plus men would be eliminated.

Those eliminated would have trained for nothing, and on top of that, they would have no share in the plunder dividends afterward—that would mean losing a hefty sum of silver.

Thus, the crewmen threw themselves into training with tremendous zeal.

The tides rose and fell.

In the blink of an eye, several days had passed.

The Santa Ana set sail from Nan'ao, heading for Huangyan.

Seven bird boats followed behind her.

(End of chapter)

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