Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 220

My Adventure with Zheng He
Peak School (ESF), Barton, Jack - 10
Long ago, in the year 1417, far away in Eastern China, there was a boy who lived by the sea, his name was
Sheng Si. He was 16 years old, and admired the great sailor Zheng He, who had traveled many miles to
extraordinary places in Asia. Sheng didn’t know yet, but he would soon be sailing alongside his favourite
pioneer.
It was in the middle of the year when Sheng got the surprise of his life, a huge banner in the middle of his
local village in big fat letters read: WANTED CREW MEMBERS. He read a little more and found that if
he went, he’d be going to Africa, he also found the message was made by Zheng He. Sheng was so excited
that straight away, he signed up, he would be leaving in three days. He packed and bought a sword and gun
for protection as he knew it was going to be a bit rough. He said goodbye to the villagers, and was soon
traveling to the harbour. Once he got there he was welcomed by about half a dozen of enormous ships, five
times the average boats that you would see today, with about 900 cabins for the crew including a kitchen
and a dining hall. Besides that, there was these strange gardens that grew vegetables. Sheng was one of the
last people to board the ship, so not long after, they were off. Sheng soon found that his jobs would be one
of the cooks. He also had to scrub the deck every morning. So the next day at sunrise, he got to work.
***
It had been nine months since Sheng had boarded Zheng He’s ship that was going to Africa. So far the ship
hadn’t had any disturbances, but Sheng was about to get a surprise that he would never forget. It was about
midday when a person from the crows nest shouted “SHIP AHEAD!!!” Everybody turned their heads to see
an enormous Indian ship speeding towards them. Then all of a sudden, the captain of the Indian ship, when
close enough to Sheng’s boat, yelled out loud: “YOU HAVE CROSSED THE BORDER BETWEEN
DHAKA AND INDIA, SURRENDER OR DIE!!!" Which we replied back with: “NEVER!!!” The next
thing Sheng heard was nonstop cannons shooting at the opposite ship. Sheng knew exactly what to do as he
had prepared for this: he sprinted to his cabin, grabbed his sword and gun, and rejoined the fight, BOOM!!!
Everybody tumbled over onto the ground. The ships had hit each other with great impact, though our ship
was a lot bigger. It did get a lot of damage, but the Indian ship was extremely damaged, which gave us a big
advantage. We were soon fighting again but with less people because of the boat’s damage, the battle
between the two ships got fiercer, and fiercer. Then, when all hope seemed lost, Sheng’s crew started to
drive the Indians back, they were soon Jumping of Sheng’s ship and swimming to their own, it was victory.
***
After two months they had finally reached the Coast of Eastern Africa, Somalia. When Sheng arrived he
found it was hot, dry, and miserable. Besides that, it was amazing. The food was good, the culture was
interesting, and the traditions spellbinding. The captain said that the crew would be staying in Somalia for
three days. In the first day they would be showing the gold to the African King, the second day they would
be in the local market buying something to remember the voyage, the third day they would be packing up
and sailing away to Kenya. So the next day Sheng went with his other crew members to the African
Overlord. He was a small man with a big beard in shining robes, he was also very pleased to see Zheng He,
as they made a deal: as long as Zheng He’s master gave him gold, he would keep peace between China and
Somalia. For the rest of the day the crew just looked around the city. The next day the whole crew went to
the local market. There were tons of products, animals, food, ivory and slaves. Sheng only had a little
money, but lots of things in the market were cheap. There was a lot of things that Sheng could choose to
get but in the end he was only going to choose a little bit of ivory that had been carved into a mini hippo
that he found in a little shop. But by then it was getting dark, so Sheng looked for his fellow crew members
to be surprised because Sheng’s captain, Zheng He, had brought back for his emperor a strange animal that
the Africans called a “Giraffe”. Nobody in the crew cared about saying its real name, they just called it a
unicorn. So the next day we set off on our journey to our final stop, Kenya.
***