Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 235

Admiral Zheng made careful note of their movement and as the pirate ships started pushing the
Commander’s warships closer and closer to the coastline, ordered Li Zhong to engage.
Back on the Brave Dragon, the Admiral’s battle plan and order had been received by Li Zhong. Li
shouted out to his crew: “Gunners, open fire on the pirate fleet. Deputy Yang, signal the other warships in
our line to attack the pirates as well. Helmsman, line us up parallel to the coast to allow more cannons to be
effectively fired.” As the sudden volley of cannonballs were flung across the sea towards Chen Zu Yi’s pirate
fleet, the pirates fired back, sending wave upon wave of deadly projectiles back at the Chinese fleet. The
marksmanship of Chinese gunners were superior to the pirate gunners, and the result showed; Within
minutes two pirate ships were shattered apart by the brutal force of the Chinese cannons, pirates from both
ships frantically swimming towards the remainder of their fleet. However, only a small portion of the
warships escorting the Chinese treasure ships were sent out as an initial scouting; The majority remained
with the treasure ships, directly under Admiral Zheng’s command. Unfortunately for the Chinese, this
meant that Li Zhong’s ships were outnumbered greatly by the pirate fleet; Their marksmanship, weapons
and armour were superior, but the pirate fleet still had the advantage. Several Chinese warships were now
on fire, and had to retreat closer and closer to the coast. However, the pirate ships did not know about the
remainder of the warships; Zheng He had made sure of that, keeping the rest of his armada out of sight. But
on the other hand, Zheng He had sent out a small patrol boat, barely in sight of the pirates, to monitor the
battle. Therefore the admiral knew exactly what was happening, and had devised a plan to defeat and
capture the pirates. After half an hour of close observation, Zheng ordered most of the remaining warships
to take down the Chinese flag, most of the cannons to be temporarily stowed away, and for all of the
soldiers to remain below deck, unseen. He left a small amount of warships to guard the treasure ships, and
led his line of disguised warships out towards the raging battle.
The pirate fleet and the initial Chinese warships were still furiously fighting against each other with
all their might. The appearance of Zheng He’s large, unknown fleet surprised the pirates, who debated if the
new arrivals were friend or foe. Suddenly the ships under Zheng He’s command started firing at the ships
under Li Zhong’s command. Yang Han ran up to Li Zhong and frantically asked: “Aren’t those our ships?
Why are they firing on us? We need to signal them!” Li Zhong calmly answered: “Yes, this is all within our
plan. Order our line of ships to start firing at the Admiral’s ships. Make sure they shoot between the ships
though, and don’t actually hit them. Make it look real.” Yang nodded with understanding, and sped off to
inform the gunners. Meanwhile, the pirates were delighted at the sudden arrival of an ally, and continued
the battle with a great cheer. Something they didn’t notice, was the fact that both the enemy ships and their
new allies ships were spaced quite far apart. Unusually far apart, if they had thought about it for a minute or
two. This, of course was to ensure that the Chinese gunners on both sides did not actually damage their own
ships; However the pirates, caught up in the excitement and desperation of the battle, were clueless. Soon
Zheng He’s line of ships were spread out in a loose semicircle around the pirate ships; The Chinese ships
had succeeded in surrounding the pirates between them. That was when Admiral Zheng ordered his fleet to
raise the Chinese flag, deploy all cannons, and for his soldiers to prepare to board the pirate ships. The
pirates, realising they had been tricked, quickly targeted Zheng He’s line of ships while continuing to battle
Li Zhong’s ships on the other side. After a short while though, it was obvious the Chinese pincer movement
would crush them, and white flags were raised on all the pirate ships.
In the aftermath, Chinese soldiers boarded the pirate flagship, captured Chen Zu Yi and his
lieutenants, before the entire treasure fleet set off on the last part of their journey back to China. 2 years after
they departed, the fleet returned to Nanjing. The Emperor rewarded the Chinese officers and crew that
fought against the pirates, and also ordered gifts to be sent to friendly foreign countries that had sent envoys
back with the treasure fleet. Eventually, Admiral Zheng would be sent out six more times, with each voyage
solidifying China’s rule of the seas, making Ming Dynasty China the dominant naval power of it's time.