The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 134 The Inevitable Route of Dutch Merchant Ships

Artemisia annua works very quickly. After Su Kang drank it, his symptoms were mostly relieved in just half a day, and after ten hours, he only felt slightly different.

In the isolation ward of Dayuanyu, Su Kang sat blankly on the ground, his heart filled with overwhelming regret, tears streaming down his face.

He thought about many things in one day.

Why did he contract malaria when few people on Dayuan Island got sick?

That's because he was the only one who stubbornly believed that malaria was spread by miasma and refused to take precautions against mosquitoes.

It turns out that malaria is indeed transmitted by mosquitoes.

It turns out that artemisia really is effective.

It turns out that what the captain said was true.

"Snapped!"

Su Kang slapped himself hard across the face, beating himself for his arrogance, ignorance, and stubbornness.

Even though the boatman had already explained the correct treatment for malaria in its entirety, he stuck to the old ways and refused to even try it.

Nine lives were lost in vain!
"Snapped!"

Su Kang slapped himself again. At this moment, Su Kang only wanted to repay those nine lives with his own death.

Compared to living and suffering inner torment, dying is actually easier.

However, Su Kang cannot die yet. He is the only one who knows the best about the preparation, efficacy, and dosage of artemisia annua. He has to cure those dozens of patients who also suffer from malaria.

We must pass on the method of using artemisia to treat malaria.

At noon, the doctor from Dayuan Island came to see Su Kang. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Su Kang sitting blankly on the ground, with a dazed expression, a miserable face, and his cheeks swollen high.

Ichiro exclaimed, "Oh no! The artemisia must be poisonous!"

Su Kang shook his head with a wry smile and murmured, "The captain is right..."

"what?"

"The captain is right, artemisia is a highly effective medicine for malaria, I, Su Kang, was wrong!" Su Kang shouted. "Go and collect artemisia, collect as much as you can, this medicine can save lives! And be careful to avoid mosquitoes!"

……

The island of Dongfan is rich in resources, and there is an abundance of artemisia on the mountains. Doctors can fill their medicine baskets in just half a day after entering the mountains.

Su Kang personally went to Chikan and directed the doctors to prepare artemisia juice, watching dozens of malaria patients drink it.

Like Su Kang, most people experienced significant relief of symptoms within half a day, marked improvement after one day, and returned to normal within two or three days.

Moreover, unlike Changshan Chaihu Decoction, Artemisia annua juice does not have such strong side effects and will not cause the condition to recur; once it is cured, it is considered a complete cure.

Su Kang was utterly shocked. The boatman's method was not only fast-acting but also cured the root cause, truly deserving of the name of a miracle drug.

Since the time of the "Huangdi Neijing" (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic), malaria has been a stubborn and intractable disease.

Now, the doctor has completely cured this disease, which can be described as a revolutionary feat in the medical field!

With his literary achievements in developing Nan'ao and Dongfan, and his military prowess in numerous naval battles, how could he now even make a name for himself in the medical field?
With just one move, he reached a peak that Su Kang could never achieve in his entire life!
Su Kang looked down on those civil and military achievements, but treating malaria with artemisia was his area of ​​expertise, a great thing that would benefit future generations!
Malaria is not unique to Dongfan. Lingnan has been a place with miasma since ancient times, making it a high-incidence area for malaria. Su Kang knew all too well the value of this artemisia juice!

At this moment, Su Kang no longer felt contempt for the pirate leader; instead, he felt only reverence for the medical senior.

If Su Kang's most respected person is his master Chen Shigong, then his second most revered person is undoubtedly Lin Qian!

Once upon a time, Su Kang was quite dismissive of the crew members on the Santa Ana who were so subservient to Lin Qian.

Now, Su Kang finally understands these crew members completely.

Moreover, through contact with the refugees in Liaodong, Su Kang learned about Lin Qian's actions in Liaodong.

It was simply astonishing to Su Kang.

These people who care about the common people and are concerned about the lives of ordinary people are actually pirate leaders?

How could he be a pirate leader?

Even if he really was a pirate leader, where would that leave the high-ranking officials in the imperial court?

Su Kang couldn't help but recall his daughter's assessment: "Dad, you see, he's really a good person!"

At the time, Su Kang thought that these words were just wishful thinking on the part of the little girl, but now it seems that he was the one who was wishful thinking.

A teenage girl like her has a much clearer understanding of people than he does!

Su Kang was filled with remorse. If he had let go of his prejudices earlier, those nine people might not have died.

Therefore, he went to Chen Jiao to apologize and requested to meet with the families of the nine deceased to express his remorse.

Unfortunately, all nine of them were alone and had no relatives, so the matter had to be dropped.

As the governor of Dongfan, Chen Jiao held the power of life and death, so the deaths of nine people were of no concern to him.

Since the development of Dongfan Island, the number of people who have died from snake bites, drowned in swamps, gone missing after getting lost in the mountains, or been killed by Japanese pirates from the north far exceeds the nine people who have died from disease.

What truly displeased Chen Jiao was Su Kang's attitude of ignoring the captain's orders. Now that he saw Su Kang's sincere repentance, he decided not to pursue the matter further.

In addition, there is a severe shortage of doctors on Dongfan Island, and there are many diseases and injuries. In the future, we will have to rely more on Su Kang and put aside past grievances to treat him normally.

Although the dozens of patients had recovered, Su Kang still followed the boatman's instructions and made him drink the artemisia juice for seven days to prevent a relapse.

At the same time, Su Kang is constantly improving the preparation and administration of Artemisia annua juice, and is also trying to cultivate Artemisia annua artificially.

On this day, a three-masted Fujianese ship sailed from Nan'ao Island and docked at Dayuan Island.

Chen Jiao personally came to greet him.

On the Fujian ship, Lü Zhou jumped down from the gangway, smiled, and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Governor Chen."

After greeting everyone, Chen Jiao looked towards the cabin and asked, "What has the helmsman brought this time?"

“1,500 shi of rice, transported from Hoi An Port in Annam,” Lü Zhou said.

Chen Jiao laughed loudly, "You've come at just the right time. There's no shortage of venison and fish in Dongfan, but you can't have meat without rice. Captain Lü, please come into the tent and let's talk."

Lu Zhou waved his hand and said, "No. The captain ordered that we set sail back immediately after the rice is unloaded."

"So urgent?" Chen Jiao asked in surprise.

Lü Zhou: "Not only that, the Changfeng also has to go back on the return voyage."

Chen Jiao understood immediately: "Is the captain going to fish?"

“It’s a big fish!” Lu Zhou said mysteriously.

Chen Jiao clapped his hands and said, "Since the captain has given the order, I won't keep you any longer. When we return, please bring me some dried venison and deer antlers!"

……

A few days later, in Nan'ao City, at Bai Qing and Bai Langzai's home.

Since the Saint Anne entered the port for renovations, Lin Qian has been temporarily residing here.

With the continuous development of residential houses on the island, the Bai siblings' house has now been upgraded to the "Four-Point Gold" style.

Simply put, it's a southern version of a traditional courtyard house, with many rooms, offering much better living conditions than the previous three-bay houses with one bright room and two dark rooms.

In a side room of the main house, Lin Qian was sitting at a table, working diligently.

During the time Su Kang was away on Dongfan Island receiving treatment for malaria, Lin Qian was constantly thinking about ways to solve the problem of shipbuilding timber.

The fire-roasting and fumigation method proposed by Dumb Huang is a way to cure the root cause, but it is slow to take effect.

Lin Qian plans to build ten more Type II Eagle ships after the completion of the St. Anna.

In this design, Lin Qian increased the length-to-width ratio, further enlarged the sail surface, increased the keel depth, and improved the speed and seaworthiness.

Therefore, a large amount of timber is needed; we can't just wait for it to be smoked and burned.

As a pirate, Lin Qian's first thought was to rob. There were many shipyards in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty. It was inconvenient to rob the state-owned shipyards, but why not rob the private ones?

Just as Lin Qian was planning her robbery, José returned from the Indochina Peninsula.

According to Jose's report, maritime trade was extremely prosperous in the Indochina Peninsula region, with a large number of ships from Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and England converging there.

Such a bustling scene of maritime trade was quite different from Lin Qian's stereotypical impression.

At the same time, this also reminded Lin Qian: why was he robbing the wood? To build a ship.

Since that's the case, why not just go all the way and seize the ship?

Moreover, if you're going to rob, rob European ships. While attacking your competitors, you can also take their ships, weapons, and valuables—isn't that much more convenient?

According to information gathered by Jose, Spain, the Netherlands, England, and other countries not only traded frequently in the Indochina Peninsula, but also had trade relations with Japan. In particular, the Dutch established a trading post in Hirado as early as 1602.

The Netherlands and Spain and Portugal are historical rivals, and their relationship goes far beyond simple trade disputes.

Lin Qian keenly sensed a business opportunity tinged with bloodshed, and a series of elaborate schemes took shape in her mind.

He then dispatched all his Bermuda sailing ships to conduct reconnaissance, covering the East China Sea Strait, the Bashi Channel, and the coast of the East China Sea. Sure enough, they discovered traces of European ships.

Therefore, he ordered Lü Zhou to transport grain to Dongfan Island while simultaneously transferring the Changfeng ship back to Nan'ao.

Even European merchant ships were equipped with muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons, so they had to be treated with caution.

Lin Qian ordered Zheng Zhilong and Bai Qing to lead the Changfeng and Yunfan ships respectively to wait on the route that European merchant ships would inevitably take.

What he is doing is deducing the inevitable routes that European merchant ships must take.

The nautical log was spread out in front of Lin Qian, on which was drawn a map of the land and sea of ​​East Asia.

The map extends north to Liaodong, the Joseon Dynasty, and Kyushu, Japan, and south to the Bashi Channel north of Luzon Island.

On the map, the dotted line represents the wind direction, blowing from the mainland, gradually turning in the southeast sea, and passing through the Dongfan Strait.

It is now September, and northwest winds are prevailing in the Central Plains and North China of the Ming Dynasty. Influenced by the Coriolis force in the Northern Hemisphere, the winds gradually turn into northeast winds over the Dongfan Strait. This is the most suitable wind direction for returning to Southeast Asia from Hirado.

On the map, solid lines represent ocean currents. Two ocean currents converge in the Tofan Strait. The current that flows towards Tofan Island flows from south to north, while the current that flows closer to the shore flows from north to south along the Chinese coast.

The place where these two ocean currents meet is the fishing ground that Da Bing took Lin Qian to see when they were fishing at sea before.

European fleets sailing from Japan to Southeast Asia, needing favorable winds and currents, would inevitably have to take advantage of the Chinese coastal currents.

So this inevitable route is already very clear: it's the waters off Nan'ao Island.

European fleets are generally far from the shore, so they have never been spotted by the lookout towers on Nan'ao Island.

After Lin Qian's designed Eagle Boat was put into use, fishermen occasionally reported seeing European ships while fishing in the open sea.

After finishing the deduction, Lin Qian put down the bamboo pen, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the ceiling.

By now, Zheng Zhilong and Bai Qing must have already caught some fish in their nets.

That is, the St. Anna was being refitted in the dry dock; otherwise, Lin Qian would definitely not have missed such an opportunity.

Well, let's just consider it a chance for the young people to get some experience.

……

At this moment, fifty nautical miles southeast of Nan'ao Island, the Changfeng and Yunfan ships, like two thirsty sharks, patrolled back and forth on the sea.

Within a radius of more than ten miles around the two ships, three more Seawolf ships were deployed as lookouts.

Further out at sea, four more eagle-shaped ships sped across the water.

On the open sea, in clear weather, the field of vision of a lookout on a mast is generally between ten and thirteen nautical miles.

With such a wide field of vision and a large number of ships, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire sea area was completely blocked off.

The two ships, Changfeng and Yunfan, were not just waiting idly on the sea.

At that moment, a European three-masted ship was traveling from northeast to southwest, crossing the East Asia Strait.

As early as the first day the ship entered the strait, it was detected by the Eagle Ship. The Eagle Ship was fast and the intelligence was immediately delivered to Nan'ao Port. The Changfeng and Yunfan ships, which were waiting in the port, immediately set off and waited for the ship to enter the Dongfan Strait.

On the stern deck of the Yunfan, Zheng Zhilong stood with his hands behind his back, his face calm.

On this fishing trip, the Yunfan was a wingman, acting in coordination with the flagship Changfeng, whose acting owner was Bai Qing.

Although it was Zheng Zhilong's first time commanding a gunboat, he felt as at home as he stepped onto the stern deck, issuing orders with ease and quickly bringing the entire ship under his control.

Zheng Zhilong had a vague feeling that he, like the captain, was born to do this job!

"Crack!" A flower burst open in the northeastern sky.

Zheng Zhilong thought to himself, "They've finally arrived!"

On the stern deck of the Changfeng, a red flag fluttered, while a white flag slowly rose.

Zheng Zhilong shouted to the crew, "Raise the sails! Raise the flag! Keep up with the flagship!"

Zheng Zhilong had a naturally deep voice, like a resounding bell, and his commands were clearly conveyed to the ears of every sailor on deck. It would even be superfluous for the first mate and bosun to repeat the commands.

With its three Chinese-style hard sails lowered, the Yunfan followed behind the Changfeng, forming a line.

Both ships had a white flag atop their masts, with a red shield in the center, surrounded by a yellow castle design, and topped with a crown—the flag of Portugal.

At this time, Portugal had the closest relationship with the Ming Dynasty and purchased a number of Chinese ships.

Therefore, even though both the Changfeng and Yunfan ships were Ming Dynasty ships and there wasn't a single Portuguese person on board, as long as they flew the Portuguese flag, the attacked fleet could still associate them with Portugal.

Looking at the Portuguese flag fluttering overhead, Zheng Zhilong almost burst out laughing when he thought about how the vassal state of the hijacked merchant ship was furiously demanding an explanation from the Portuguese.

This underhanded trick was naturally Lin Qian's idea.

Although it was a dirty trick, Zheng Zhilong had no disrespectful thoughts whatsoever. On the contrary, he felt slightly inferior because he couldn't think of such a brilliant plan.

"Bang!" Another rocket exploded in the northeastern sky, this time even closer.

Zheng Zhilong took a deep breath and said loudly, "We're about to engage the enemy, so be alert and blow your matchlocks until they're red-hot!"

These words should have been spoken by the boatswain or gunnery officer, but Zheng Zhilong had a loud voice, so it didn't seem out of place for him to say them.

Soon, a mast appeared in the northeastern sky and on the sea, with snow-white soft sails fluttering beneath it.

The lookout reported, "Enemy ships spotted to the northeast!"

The enemy ship and the two ships, Changfeng and Yunfan, were sailing towards each other and soon came into complete view of each other.

Zheng Zhilong shaded his eyes with his hand and looked at the enemy ship. He could roughly judge that it was not much different in size from the Changfeng and Yunfan ships.

According to intelligence, this is an armed merchant ship, no match for the Changfeng and Yunfan ships in a cannon battle, and they also have three Seawolf ships to help them.

They walked towards each other for half an hour.

The lookout began updating the distance: "Enemy ship on port bow, two thousand paces!"

Zheng Zhilong looked toward the enemy ship and saw that it showed no intention of lowering its sails or turning around. Instead, it charged straight toward his ship, seemingly not taking them seriously at all.

After a long while, the lookout reported: "Enemy ship on the port bow, one thousand paces!"

At this distance, one could vaguely see the red, white and blue tricolor flag flying high on the enemy ship's mainmast.

Zheng Zhilong immediately recognized it as a Dutch ship, the perfect target for robbery.

"Enemy ship on port bow, 500 paces!"

As the distance changed, the Changfeng turned to port, aiming its starboard guns at the Dutch ship.

The Yunfan then performed the same maneuver.

……

Five hundred paces away, aboard the Dutch armed merchant ship Faraway, Captain Dirk put down his binoculars and sneered in a low voice, "Overestimating themselves."

He then turned to the crew and shouted, "Men, let's capture some more slaves!"

The crew cheered happily.

First mate Peter warned, "Captain, those two ships are larger than ordinary Ming Dynasty ships, and they are flying Portuguese sails. It would be best to be cautious."

Dirk said nonchalantly, "So what if the ship is big? Compared to the twenty snake cannons on the Faraway, the Ming Dynasty's firearms are like a little boy peeing!"

Whether the ship that comes is Portuguese or even better, Ming Dynasty people, these yellow-skinned monkeys are hardworking and conscientious, and are most suitable to be laborers!
Don't forget, in Batavia, a decent Ming Dynasty laborer was worth a full fifty pesos!

Upon hearing that one person was worth fifty pesos, First Mate Peter licked his lips, his worries about the two Fujian ships vanishing from his mind.

"Three hundred paces!" the lookout shouted.

Dirk raised his binoculars again to carefully observe the enemy ships' movements. He saw that the two enemy ships were already sideways on the sea, seemingly about to engage in broadside firing.

Dirk was both surprised and amused.

Surprisingly, when did the Ming Dynasty navy learn the tactic of firing volleys from both sides?

Ironically, given the range and accuracy of Ming Dynasty firearms, hitting the Far Traveler from a distance of 300 paces was simply a pipe dream.

Dirk said, "Maintain course, sail to the stern of the enemy ship and fire!"

First mate Peter loudly relayed the order.

The Voyager was sailing smoothly with the wind and at a very high speed. Just a few minutes later, a sound could be heard from the mast.

"Two hundred paces!"

"One hundred and fifty steps!"

"One hundred steps!"

At this moment, First Mate Peter raised his binoculars, and the excited expression on his face suddenly froze, because he saw something that should not have appeared on a Ming Dynasty ship—the dark muzzle of a Siren cannon!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The Yunfan and Changfeng guns fired in succession, a total of twelve solid iron balls blasting around the Yuanxingzhe, splashing huge sprays of water that soaked everyone on board.

Dirk's confident smile froze...

"Oh no, they have cannons! It really is the Portuguese!"

"Turn to port, face starboard! Load gunpowder!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"Damn, the Portuguese reload so fast!"

"Ouch—my arm!"

"Quickly turn the rudder and change the sails, open the gun ports!"

The deck of the Voyager was in complete chaos.

Decker was utterly shocked. These two Ming warships not only had excellent shooting accuracy, but also reloaded extremely quickly. Even the top Dutch gunners would find it difficult to achieve such artillery quality.

The Portuguese artillery was so terrifying; was this the foundation of a 200-year-old naval power?

Dirk was filled with a storm of emotions.

He loudly ordered the Far Voyager to change course as soon as possible.

The bow and stern are the most vulnerable points of a sailing warship. If cannon fire were to penetrate these two points, it would cause penetrating damage to the entire ship, with extremely serious consequences.

He thought that the Ming warships had no cannons, so he dared to be arrogant and use the bow of his ship to meet the enemy. Now he is reaping the bitter fruit of his actions and can only turn around in a sorry state.

With a loud bang, the entire ship shook, followed by the sound of the hull cracking.

On the gun deck, the gunner shouted, "Bow hit!"

Fortunately, the Voyager was turning around, and the shot that pierced the bow and port side did not cause too much damage.

Dirk commanded, "Load the chain shot!"

"Load chain shot and aim at the enemy ship's mast!" The first mate of the Far Voyager was also an old sailor, and he could decipher the strategic intent behind any order from the captain.

Currently, the two enemy ships have similar firepower to the Faraway, but they have the advantage of being able to strike first and have more crew members. They have the upper hand in both gun battles and boarding maneuvers.

The Faraway needed to disengage from the battle as quickly as possible, so it loaded chain shot into its guns to fire at the enemy ships' masts and disrupt their maneuverability.

Soon, the Voyager had turned sideways.

"Fire!" the artillery officer roared.

The distance was too far, and the ten chain shots did not hit their target.

The Voyager kept turning, and soon its bow turned due east.

Dirk knew that Tofan Island was to the east, and that he should head north to shake off the enemy ships.

However, the wind is blowing from the northeast at sea, and the Voyager needs to turn due north. It must turn against the wind, and turning against the wind requires the ship to have a certain initial speed. Therefore, it has no choice but to sail due east first.

Fortunately, the two Ming warships were facing northwest and had no initial speed. If they wanted to catch up, they would have to turn against the wind or make a big turn to the left.

With this slight advantage, Dirk was able to shake off the pursuers, and a confident smile returned to his face.

Unfortunately, the smile lasted for less than half a minute.

Dirk was horrified to discover that the enemy ship was turning too fast!
From northwest, to west, then southwest, south, and east, such a wide-ranging turn was accomplished in only half the time it took the Farvoyer.

Although Dirk had traveled the Hirado-Badavia route many times, he knew very little about Chinese sailing ships.

The Chinese-style hard sail, which allows the wind to come from all directions, is not just a name without substance.

With the addition of a balancing rudder and a water deflector, the Fujian-style ship could turn quickly at small angles with little resistance.

If the Voyager were sailing with the wind, the Changfeng and Yunfan might not be able to catch up. However, when it comes to turning around, maneuvering against the wind, the Chinese-style ship would have a more stable advantage.

Therefore, when Zheng Zhilong saw the Dutch fleeing due east, he was already half relieved.

The two ships, Changfeng and Yunfan, quickly turned around and caught up.

Soon, the Dutch ship turned against the wind and headed due north.

Under Bai Qing's command, the two ships, Changfeng and Yunfan, sailed at a small angle to the side and headed straight northeast.

The hardships the Spanish endured are now being experienced by the Dutch.

(End of this chapter)