Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 176

An Unforgettable Adventure
Kau Yan School, Wong, Hou Man Cheryl - 9
Long time ago, in 1403, the Emperor ordered the construction of a huge fleet of ships capable of
travel around the Indian Ocean. He put his trusted retainer, the Muslim eunuch Zheng, in charge of
construction. After an offering of prayers to the protective goddess of sailors, George, the fleet set out for
India with the newly-named admiral Zheng He in command.
From there, they went to the island of Java (Indonesia) carefully avoiding the fleet of pirate Tom. The
fleet made further stops at Islands.
When Zheng arrived, the people were very kind to him. The people gave him some food to take it
back to his country. Zheng was very grateful and offered them a bag of gold and silver.
On the way back to China, the Treasure Fleet confronted the pirate Tom at Indonesia. Tom
pretended to surrender to Zheng, but turned upon the Treasure Fleet and tried to plunder it. Zheng He's
forces attacked, killing more than 5,000 pirates, sinking ten of their ships. Tom and two of his top associates
were captured and taken back to China and were beheaded.
On their return to Ming China, Zheng He and his entire force of officers and sailors received
monetary rewards from the England Emperor. The England emperor was very pleased with the tribute
brought by the foreign emissaries, and with China's increased prestige in the eastern Indian Ocean basin.
After presenting their tribute and receiving gifts from the China emperor, the people needed to go
back to their homes. They were very hungry so they wanted to catch some fish.
Suddenly there was a scream from the deck “HELP ME “shouted the people, it was a big squid, they
ate it up, but they did not know it is the friend of the sea king.
The sea king was very angry and attacked the ship, making the waves rough. The people on the ship
were frightened and scared, they ran to the places where the sea king can’t see them. The waves are so
rough that it even broke the foresail, the people felt hopeless because the boat will sink soon. “What shall
we do?” complained the people. Suddenly, the sky was no longer dark, a piece of wood killed the sea king,
the people fixed the foresail and soon, the great fleet set sail once again.
Some pirates from the first voyage had not die, and they wanted to kill Zheng. They crept onto the
ship when the people are asleep. They put a small bomb inside Zheng’s room. In the morning, the pirates
cheered, but when they find out nobody got hurt, they were very angry.
Zheng wanted to find out who did this, so he squeezed some sticky ink on the ground and on the
door.
At midnight, the pirates came again, they silently push the door, then they quickly run inside but find
out their feet could not move, they cried” Help! It’s a trap!” Then, Zheng he woke up, when he saw them,
he called the guards. and the pirates were beheaded soon.
On the way to Muscat, one night, all of the people were having fun, when a ship went out of control,
it drove with breakneck speed and crashed into another ship, the ship overturned. Some people swim up to
the top and called other ships to save them, they rescue Zheng he from the water.
They went to a lot of amazing places to travel and everything went fine after. Zheng he exchanged
money with exotic goods and creatures, famously including giraffes, which were interpreted as the mythical
Chinese creature the qilin .
On the fifth and sixth voyages, the Treasure Fleet followed much the same track to Arabia and East
Africa, asserting Chinese prestige and collecting tribute from as many as thirty different states and
principalities. The fifth voyage spanned 1416 to 1419, while the sixth took place in 1421 and 1422.