Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 234

The courtyard was a beautiful area with hundreds of different types of grass, trees, and flowers, and
in the center was a tall metal statue of a general on a horse. The servants led them into the guest room of the
main building, and told them to sit and wait. Huang Yi Tian muttered underneath his breath: “What a nice
way to greet important guests…”. Li Zhong looked at him meaningfully and shook his head. The admiral,
however, merely sat there patiently, without any sign of emotion on his face. After half an hour of waiting,
the door opened once again and a man walked into the room, flanked by 6 servants. He had a dark bushy
beard, intense brown eyes and wore a large colourful piece of fabric around his waist, with a large bulky
looking jacket on his upper body. He looked at the Chinese officers distastefully, and asked: “What do you
want? We are very busy and have important businesses to attend to.” Now even the admiral looked
surprised at this show of disrespect. He replied: “We are here to send gifts from our emperor, to show the
might and power of China.”. The man’s eyebrows shot up, and he angrily proclaimed: “I am a government
minister, part of the Alagakkonara family, and you suggest that we need your gifts from your country? How
dare you! Guards, please send our guests out!”. Two doors opened from each side of the room and armed
guards flooded in. They pointed their spears and crossbows at the Chinese envoy and slowly pushed them
back towards the door. Li Zhong and Huang Yi Tian jumped out of their seats in fury and demanded the
guards treat their admiral politely, but the guards ignored them and kept pushing everyone out. The Chinese
soldiers outside the room heard the commotion, drew their weapons and charged in, forming a protective
circle around Zheng He and the two officers. Now they were at a stalemate, soldiers and guards facing off,
with their commanders watching behind them. Zheng He looked around the room one more time, with his
gaze finally settling on the minister’s face. He maintained that stare until the man looked uncomfortable,
before ordering his men to leave and return to the fleet, saying: “It seems like we are unwelcome here.”
On the way back, Li Zhong and Huang Yi Tian were noisily cursing the minister and his family
until Admiral Zheng turned around and ordered them to stop talking. The gifts of precious goods remained
untouched, and from then on everyone remained silent until they returned to their own ships. Yang Han
rushed up to Li, and asked, “How did it go?” Li replied: “That little rat rejected our gifts, and threw us out.
His guards even followed us out until we could no longer see that stupid mansion of theirs.” Yang Han
looked shocked, and asked: “Is the admiral furious now? He must be, right?” Li answered: “You know the
admiral, he always seems to be calm. On the way back he seemed to be deep in thought, so I think he’s
probably thinking of a way to get back at that family for treating our nation with such disrespect. He needs
to let those people know the strength of our empire! One day the admiral will get back at that minister!”
After several more months of travelling, Admiral Zheng announced that the armada would turn
around and return to China. As the massive fleet slowly backtracked their route, what were once stranger
lands and sights became familiar stops, with crew, officers, and servants each having their own special
memories and experiences as they passed. As they no longer stopped at each of the destinations, their
journey back was much quicker than the first part of the treasure voyage. However as they got close to their
homeland, the fleet came across an unwelcome sight. A small line of cargo ships were ablaze, with sailors
frantically jumping into the chilly ocean to escape the columns of fire. Commander Li’s Brave Dragon,
Commander Huang’s Bright Phoenix and several other warships were sent to investigate. The rest of the
treasure armada was ordered to stay out of sight and hidden. As they got closer to the scene of disaster they
could see dozens of smaller ships surrounding the burning cargo ships. Through the smoke, dark figures
climbed on and off the cargo ships, bringing loads of expensive goods, weapons, and stockpiled food with
them. Further in the distance, much larger ships could be seen, all of them bristling with cannons. At once,
the officers knew this was the doing of a pirate fleet. Huang Yi Tian returned to the treasure fleet and
reported to the Admiral that it was the same pirate fleet they had spotted not long after leaving Nanjing. The
admiral ordered the fleet to make a stop, and brought several officers with him to the nearest islands to
search for information about the pirate fleet; Meanwhile, Commander Li was ordered to watch the pirates
for any sign of attack, and not to let them escape.
After two hours Zheng He returned to the fleet and called a meeting between his military officers.
He announced: “Local fisherman have provided me information: These are pirates led by Chen Zu Yi, and
they have controlled this area for several years. We are to destroy this pirate fleet, and bring their
commanders back to China to answer for their crimes.” He then began to explain their battle strategy, and
ordered all the warship crews to battle stations. Then they became to patiently wait until dusk. Chen’s pirate
fleet had been anxiously moving in a loose line within sight of Li Zhong’s warships. Yet as time passed, and
the Chinese ships showed no sign of allowing them to leave, they became increasingly aggressive. The pirate
fleet started moving closer and closer to Li Zhong’s line of ships, and looked ready to attack at any time.