The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 81 Feeding
The Santa Ana is a single ship. If it goes into the lagoon to capture other ships, it will only give the other ships an opportunity to escape through the waterway. It is better to block the exit and wait for the enemy to attack.

Logically, coral atolls are generally uneven and it is almost impossible for them to have only one outlet.

However, the atoll is vast, and most of the rocks are underwater, so most people don't dare to venture out.

Just then, a crew member knocked on the door and came in: "Helmsman, a ship has come to surrender."

Upon hearing this, Lin Qian put down the brown sugar ginger water and went outside. Behind her, the crew member thoughtfully held an umbrella for her.

Lin Qian walked onto the stern deck, took out her binoculars, and looked in the direction of the approaching ship.

Sure enough, a Haicang ship was seen sailing towards them with half its sails on the southern sea.

Lin Qian said, "Pass on the order to prepare for battle!"

About half an hour later, the Haicang ship sailed a hundred paces away, lowered its sails by half again, and slowly made its way across the sea with the help of the weak wind from the narrow sails.

Their attitude toward surrender was very sincere.

Inside the gun ports of the St. Anna, Lei Sanxiang and his men, armed with six dry muskets, aimed at the approaching ship, their flintlocks glowing red.

The Haicang ship came to a complete stop within twenty paces, and the pirates came out of the cabin and went up to the bow.

One of the pirates said, "We are willing to surrender, but we ask for a way to live."

Lin Qian: "Tell them to throw all their weapons into the sea."

Chen Jiao walked to the ship's side and shouted, "Throw all the equipment into the sea!"

The pirates on the ship did as instructed, throwing more than ten knives, guns, and other weapons into the water.

Lin Qian then had Chen Jiao relay a message, instructing the pirates to anchor beside the large sailing ship.

Chen Jiao: "Captain, aren't we going to tie them up?"

Lin Qian slowly shook her head: "Don't tie her up yet."

After dealing with the surrendered pirates, Lin Qian led everyone back to the officers' mess hall, where lunch bowls and chopsticks had already been set out.

Lin Qian and the others took their seats.

With a formidable enemy at hand, the lunch was rather bland, consisting of salted fish and dry biscuits for each person. Fortunately, they hadn't eaten much all day, and everyone was so hungry that they didn't care about the taste and just ate heartily to fill their stomachs.

Only after everyone finished eating did they have time to talk.

Lei Sanxiang asked, "Second Brother, how were you arrested?"

Zhou Xiucai sighed and, with a worried expression, recounted the whole story, which was almost identical to what Lü Zhou had told him before.

Finally, he sighed and said, "Alas! If I had known, I shouldn't have stopped in this godforsaken place, Malau, which caused the deaths of so many brothers."

Lei Sanxiang: "It's no use stopping anywhere. That bastard Li Kuiqi has sent men to follow your boat!"

"Huh?" Zhou Xiucai was quite surprised.

Jose said firmly, "That's impossible. We followed the captain's instructions and were very careful after leaving the port of Macau. We kept an eye on the stern to see if any of the councilors' ships were following us. It's impossible that we didn't notice someone following us."

Lei Sanxiang then told the story of General Qi's suppression of the river bandits.

Jose was so shocked he couldn't close his mouth for a long time: "You can't believe it? Rowing and boating for three or four hundred miles, won't these two die of exhaustion?"

Chen Jiao said, "If you don't have the skills, don't take on the job. If you don't have these skills, why are you a bandit?"

Just then, a crew member came from outside the restaurant to report: "Captain, two more ships are coming towards us. It looks like they're here to surrender as well."

Just as Lin Qian was about to get up, Chen Jiao said, "Captain, let me go."

Lin Qian thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. Chen Jiao got up and walked out of the restaurant.

Scholar Zhou murmured, "As the saying goes: 'A towering building emerges from a verdant hill at dawn, a strange event astonishes even a centenarian.'"

I never imagined there would be such a place on the vast South China Sea. I thought I was going to die in the ship city.

"Captain, how did you find this place?"

Lin Qian recounted Bai Qing's nighttime raid on the ship city. After listening, Zhou Xiucai was dumbfounded and bowed to Bai Qing, saying, "Miss Bai's courage is no less than that of a man; she is truly an extraordinary woman."

Bai Qing didn't quite understand the formal language of the speech, but simply smiled and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "You're too kind." Jose then asked in a trembling voice, "You said... the corpse guided you to the lagoon waterway? Aren't you... afraid?"

Bai Qing: "I know the second brother of the Chen family. What's so scary about him? Even if he really becomes a ghost, if he hears me say that I want to help him get revenge, he shouldn't harm me, but should help me a lot!"

José was a Spaniard, a staunch Catholic, and deeply devoted to religion. Upon hearing this, he was so frightened that he quickly made the sign of the cross on his chest.

Lin Qian smiled and said, "Well said! Old He, do you see? This is the woman of my Great Ming Dynasty!"

Taking the opportunity, Zhou Xiucai flattered him, saying, "As the saying goes, 'The Duke of Zhou spits out his food to welcome guests, and the world's hearts turn to him.' With so many talented and extraordinary people under your command, Li Kuiqi's defeat is not unjust."

Lei Sanxiang complained, "Second brother, can you stop spouting those pretentious poems? Damn it, you keep saying 'as the saying goes,' I can't understand a word you say!"

The crowd burst into laughter.

Amid laughter, Chen Jiao entered from outside the officers' mess hall, wringing out his clothes as he said, "What are you talking about, so cheerful... Captain, the two ships that just surrendered have been settled. Weapons were thrown into the sea, and the people remained on board."

Uncle Chen also came in from outside, carrying a large oil paper package. He placed it on the table and opened it; it turned out to be a bag of peanuts.

"I heard that the managers were having a good time chatting, so I roasted some peanuts to eat while we chatted."

Lin Qian nodded: "Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

Uncle Chen smiled and withdrew.

At Lin Qian's prompting, everyone started peeling peanuts.

Peanuts have only recently been introduced from overseas and are only grown in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. They are still a novelty, and everyone is enjoying them immensely.

Soon, peanut shells were everywhere.

Zhou Xiucai looked around and asked, "Where is Brother Yiguan?"

Lin Qian: "I asked him to look after the house on Nan'ao Island."

Lin Qian remained wary of Zheng Zhilong, but unfortunately, she lacked capable subordinates. Chen Jiao was the first mate, and Lei Sanxiang was the boatswain and gunnery chief, respectively, both of whom had to accompany the ship.

Bai Qing is the guide, and Bai Langzai is a double-flowered red stick (a symbol of high rank and influence), so they can't be left out.

After careful consideration, the only option was to have Zheng Zhilong stay on Nan'ao Island.

Despite Zhou Xiucai's saying, "The Duke of Zhou spits out his food to welcome guests, and the world's hearts turn to him," Lin Qian felt that she still had too few talented people under her command.

The town of Nan'ao Island is now taking shape, and it will attract even more merchants and immigrants in the future.

Establishing an effective governance mechanism is now urgent, and corresponding judicial and law enforcement teams should also be established.

This requires him to have a sufficient reserve of talent, after all, to be an official or a clerk, one must at least be literate.

On the entire island of Nan'ao, including Lin Qian, the number of literate people can be counted on two hands.

If you exclude doctors and craftsmen, there are only four and a half people left—Lin Qian, Zhou Xiucai, Zheng Zhilong, Huang Shoubei, and Chen Jiao who can barely be counted as half.

Literacy education must be put on the agenda.

Lin Qian easily defeated Li Kuiqi this time, taking advantage of the artillery. However, it may not be so easy for her to defeat the Ming Dynasty navy in the future.

Therefore, naval construction cannot be stopped.

The group chatted until dusk, during which more than a dozen ships came to surrender. Chen Jiao, Lei Sanxiang, Bai Langzai, and others took turns going up to the deck to deal with them.

The surrendered pirates only lost their weapons and were not harmed. Seeing this, the other pirates also surrendered one after another.

Before nightfall, there were nearly fifty ships near the St. Anna.

As darkness fell, the wind and rain at sea continued unabated.

Lin Qian walked to the window and exclaimed, "Good rain! Bai Qing, Bai Langzai!"

"Helmsman".

“You and your brother take some men, go down in a small boat, and bring back the pirates who have surrendered.”

(End of this chapter)