Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 206

Fei Shun in the West
Yaumati Catholic Primary School (Hoi Wang Road), Chan, Hok Man Nathan - 11
Nanjing (1408)
Zheng He looked at his sixty-eight majestic ships proudly. The ships, beautifully lavished, had
cabins with open balconies and royal furniture. Now that all was set, he looked at his cheering men one last
time, waved at them and followed General Ma Hua on the road back to court.
The officer in charge, General Fei Shun, was an honourable seaman. Treating the sea as his
brother, he had a good sense of direction. He was wise too.
The flagship’s bell rang. Gongs sounded, and the massive armada pulled away from the harbour to
start the journey to the Calicut Kingdom, near western India.
For the first weeks of the journey, the seas and the voyage were calm and uneventful. The crew
joked that they should have brought games to play to liven up their boredom. Their days consisted only of
them lounging around the decks, eating, plotting the convoy’s course and keeping the ship in relative order
and cleanliness. Their only companions were the seabirds that stopped to rest.
But then, on the thirtieth day...
Emergency bells startled Fei Shun, who was having breakfast in his cabin. The crew was in a state
of panic, running to and fro shrieking: ‘Sea monster! Sea monster!’
An enormous snake with a horse’s head and a jet-black mane reared its great ugly face out of the
water, and tried to bite Fei Shun’s ship. The whole fleet was in calamitous chaos.
Then an even bigger blue shark with huge yellow eyes pounced on the snake. The ships shook
violently as the two grappled with each other. Suddenly, with a flash of blinding light, the two creatures
disappeared.
The dazed crew stared at each other in disbelief. But Fei Shun kept his cool as two rings of hidden light
under his sword, in the shape of the two sea monsters, pulsed slowly.
The fleet finally reached Calicut after four months. The crew were duly welcomed there, as they
brought technology like compasses and watermills. The Yongle Emperor wanted to turn Calicut into a land
that had better technology and also a kingdom with a healthy relationship with the Ming Dynasty. The crew
visited the city and some nearby towns, introducing Chinese culture and technology along the way. They
were treated very well.
But one night, whilst they slept, a masked man wielding a sabre came into the crew’s inn. The man
pressed his sabre to a seaman’s neck. He said in a low threatening voice: ‘Your money or your life!’
Fei Shun, sleeping next to the seaman, got up and boldly said, ‘If you want a life, take mine. I would make
an ideal sacrifice.’
The masked man took off his mask and smiled. ‘Well done. You have proven yourself worthy to
visit my coronation.’ He was the Prince of Calicut.
The Prince of Calicut was rich and just. He was about twenty-five years old and preferred testing
people to prove their worthiness. He had planned this test for Fei Shun about two weeks earlier.