Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 129

The First Voyage
St. Stephen's College Preparatory School, Lee, Jazzelle - 11
“Tianfei! Tianfei! bless us from the depths of the sea, for we, shall make China wealthy and strong,
ensure us a safe journey, our fine sea goddess!”Zheng He prayed. He took a deep breath, it was July 11th
already, and it was time for the royal banquet before the voyage to where treasure and fate awaited...
Sitting down to a table full of royal delicacies, all the uniformed officers nervously sat down on the gold
and red leather chairs. They appeared to be composed, but in reality, they had butterflies in their stomachs.
No officer or commander ate anything, for they were too anxious. After the quiet meal, the whole ship
crew received numerous gifts, however, everyone’s minds were on the voyage that was ahead. Finally, as the
dinner ended, Zheng He and the fleet boarded the ship and waved their farewells to their family and friends.
Finally, they set sail and started to row in the direction of their first destination, Liujiagang, where they
would organize the fleet and pray to Tianfei again for good luck.
Once the ship’s crew was on deck and ready to go, they sailed to Fujian and awaited the Northeast
monsoon. Zheng He relaxed, this was his break and he wanted to utilize his time wisely. Shortly after what
seemed to Zheng He and his crew less than a minute, the weather changed and the wind blew past his face,
“Ahh- let’s go crew, let’s go!” Zheng He called, still enjoying the cool wind. They departed via Wuhumen.
The crew went to Lambri, where they sliced through the Indian Ocean in a straight line, instead of
following the time-consuming route they had been given. “Haste, men, HASTE! We shall not waste our
time, time—is MONEY!” Zheng He hollered.
Finally after the tiring journey of eight days, the crew woke up to the sailor yelling,
“LAAAAANNNNND HOOOOOO! CEYLON COMING UP!”
“About time, matie,” Zheng He said in a sarcastic voice. Zheng He wanted to sound enthusiastic, but
an eight day journey of waiting patiently on the deck and bed really drained his batteries. However, when
Zheng He set foot on land, he suddenly felt quite energized. But then, when he met the Alagakkonara
family, he was rudely treated and stormed off onto his ship again. “What a disgrace to Asia!” Zheng He
scolded, making sure that everyone in the Alagakkonara family heard it. After they quickly rushed to leave
the land, they decided to sail back home, but when they reached Palembang, they were blocked by a ship, it
had elegant gold statues on the wooden ship, and a painting of a skull with a scar on the flags.
“Hello! Fellow ‘maties’, I, am Chen Zuyi! I have come to rule the world!!” the man in the front of the deck
called, with an evil smile playing on is lips.
“Never!” Zheng He hollered, determined to take down Chen Zuyi. He grabbed a rope on his ship, and
with all his might, ran and leapt from the handlebar on the deck on his ship. “Arghh!” he called, as he
landed on Chen Zuyi’s deck. He grunted as he drew his sword out, “Come, my crew, help me defeat these
pirates, we shall not allow them to pass our territory!” All of the fleet swung on board and started to fight
the pirate crew, swords sliced and shields collided, grunts arose from both the enemy and the Chinese
people. Suddenly, horror dawned upon everyone as they heard the crackle of fire. Officers panicked and
swung back to their ships. Some pirates jumped onto their backup ships sailing through just in the nick of
time, some pirates were trapped and incinerated in the roasting fire. Thankfully, none of the Chinese got
trapped. After what seemed like an eternity, the ‘war’ finally ended. Zheng He was exhausted, he had killed
almost a thousand people at least! Altogether with his allies’, they had slayed almost five thousand pirates!
Zheng He thought, ‘What a shame they didn’t become friendly and surrendered, I wouldn’t have killed
them if they did!’ In the meantime, Chen Zuyi was being locked up in a cage to be brought to China. The
sailor hoisted up the ship’s anchor and sailed away back to China.
“Oh, finally! Back to China!” Zheng He sighed, it was October 2nd, 1407, Zheng He and his crew
hobbled off the ship and four strong men lifted Chen Zuyi and his cage back into the court.
“Greetings! Zheng He, what have you found?” the Yongle Emperor questioned as Zheng He entered.