Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 185

Adventures of China's Ming Treasure Fleet
Victoria Shanghai Academy, Wong, Hang - 9
More than six hundred years ago, there was an adventurous man called Zheng He. He wanted to explore
some unknown lands by ship and take the riches and treasures to give them to the emperor of his country,
China.
Zheng He asked shipmakers, carvers, painters to help build three huge ships. He also gathered a crew of
more than eight hundred men to go with him on the journey. After careful planning, the fleet set sail from
the port of Beijing, with lots of food, clothing, as well as maps, leaving all the villagers waving goodbye from
the mainland.
At first, the crew sailed to a tiny island and saw an old man sitting on a rock. “I have lived on the island
for 40 years already, and I sensed some little earthquakes on the island in the past few days.”, he said. “There
must be something lurking below the waves. Be careful on your journey and good luck.” He said to Zheng
He. After thanking the old man, the three ships sailed away from that tiny island.
Suddenly the wind started to get a bit strong. They thought of the old man’s advice: There was something
lurking below the waves. The crew still bravely sailed on. They sailed to an island called Anuta Island. “Hi!”
Zheng He smiled. The people there were really friendly. They decorated the ships with long leaves and
paint them in all sorts of colours and welcomed them by dancing around the ships. The people told them
that there were small earthquakes on the island in the past few days. “Some of the houses lost its roof or
door, or that the whole house had crumbled down.” The leader of the people said. “We also had small
tsunamis earlier this month. We believe the cause was a monster in the sea, like a giant underwater dragon
or a enormous squid.” “Maybe you are right.” said Zheng He as many of the crew trembled with fear.
Then, one of the lookouts of a ship spotted something far away: A pirate ship! The good thing was the ship
was far away. The bad thing was the ship was getting closer. Strangely enough, after a few seconds, one of
the pirates on the pirate ship shouted some things. “It must be the captain,” Zheng He thought. But then,
the ship turned away and headed another way, this time further away from their ship. It must be a sign that
something was wrong.
On that night, all was calm. “That was weird.” Zheng He thought. The sea had very little waves, even
though the ships were sailing, cutting through the waves. But then, the sea began to get choppy, giant waves
came, the wind blew like a hurricane, and a giant squid rose up from the waves.
The island people were right. The giant squid was huge! It was about the size of two school buses, and its
eyes big as basketballs. It attacked the ships with tremendous force, and many of the crew were thrown
overboard because of each of the squid’s ten giant arms! Zheng He killed the squid with a sword, the ink
squirting out of the squid and wetting the whole ship with black ink! After that, Zheng He asked the crew
to cook the squid for their dinner. The squid was so large that it provided food for them for another month!
Then they continued on to somewhere that they had never seen before.
After weeks of tiring sailing, they came to the place that they had wished they had come to: India! “We
come from China.” Zheng He said as he bowed gently to the king of India. The Indians were very friendly
and gave them lots of gifts from their king, like rubies and emeralds. They guided the sailors around their
country, visiting sites like the Taj Mahal. “We have lots of cool animals here.” the king said.
“The King cobra is one of the most iconic. One bite from its venomous fangs could kill an elephant.”
“Cool!” Zheng He replied. The king offered them some delicious curry and roti, also sometimes called
Indian pizza. “There is also another country that has many wonders you will like and has lots of treasures
that they can give to you.” said the king. “That country is Africa.”