Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 17

New Tales of the Ming Treasure Voayages
Regents Primary School of Shenzhen, Zheng, Man Ching Wendy - 9
‘Zheng, can you find out what the west is and tell me the stories and happenings during your voyage?’ Zhu
Di grinned.
‘Yes, my emperor,’ said Zheng He.
In a grand palace, a man knelt on the ground, talking to his emperor, respectfully. The new emperor, Zhu
Di, had just beaten his nephew, Zhu Yunwen, a few years ago and tried to consolidate his domination.
Emperor Zhu walked down slowly; bent down a little bit and whispered, ‘there is one more secret mission I
want you to complete...’
The man went out of the palace, with great excitement. He was just a nameless eunuch in the Ming army,
but Zhu Di discovered his potential to lead an army. His name is Zheng He. He won many battles in
JINGKANG and was awarded by treasure and power. And now, when Zhu needed his help, Zheng
accepted his command without hesitation.
‘I must complete the mission in order to show my gratitude to Zhu.＇Zheng murmured.
Zheng had planned for the voyage for a long time, and now, his dreams finally came true. Zheng stood on
the huge flagship, looking at the crew below. What he did from then on would be written into the history
books and would be eulogized by the descendants! He overlooked the ocean, commanding in a loud and
exciting voice.
‘Here we go!’ said Zheng He.
Everything seemed to go well with sufficient food, nice weather and powerful crew in the first two days.
However, an unexpected record-breaking hurricane hit the ocean. Zheng and his crew were really
shocked. They tried really hard and utilized all the solutions which they could come up with to fight against
the disaster. They packed all their goods and food up and buried them under the dock. Zheng led his
excellent crew to drive the ship to another direction in order to escape from the storm. This ‘fight’ lasted for
approximately 56 hours. Finally, they landed on an island and survived. Although they had lost some
packages and the ship was damaged, in a few days they could continue their journey. They celebrated the
success of the first fight that night, begging for peace for the journey and then encamped at the coast to have
a rest.
On the second day, they were awakened by bursts of gunfire. The sentry reported that they landed on Java,
the local people divided into East Java and West Java who had a civil war. It also described the miserable
condition. Zheng gathered the crew without hesitation in order to stop the people from killing one another.
Zheng got onto a hill and asked a soldier to shout at the people, ‘We are from the great Ming and travel on
the sea in order to bring peace to the countries nearby. Now, in the name of Ming, I command you to stop
shooting at us.’
But the battle was so dreadful that the Java people ignored Zheng. The java army slaughtered 170 people of
Zheng’s crew. The battle lasted for 4 hours and the king of the West Java was going to win the battle.
However, Zheng showed his army force at the coast, making the king so scared. He decided to invite
Zheng to sit down for a meeting. Zheng accepted without hesitation.
‘Force can never be the solution,’ Zheng accused the king of killings,’ only when you implement
wholesome policies can the people in your country worship and respect you.’ Zheng was so angry at the
war because he experienced an extremely fierce civil war a few years ago, making the previous emperor
disappeared. Zheng had a long speech and found many solutions instead of fighting against in the war. The
king of the west listened to him carefully. The army was in such silence. When Zheng finished his speech he
stared at the king angrily.
‘Easier said than done, Zheng,’ said the king calmly. ‘Just take you as an example. You are showing your
great force in order to bring peace for us and ask us not to force anyone any more. It’s not convincing at all.’
Zheng was speechless and contemplated for a long time. He left Java a few days later.