Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 76

The Zheng-Chen Sea Battle
Singapore International School, Wong, Shang Le - 10
On 7 October 1407, the great admiral Zheng He was anxiously pacing around his ship. He was due to
return to China by year end. Zheng had yet to destroy the pirate Chen Zuyi as ordered by Emperor Yongle
before his return to China. The pirate was endangering trade, killing Chinese nationals and causing chaos in
the high seas.
Suddenly, one of his crew shouted, “There is a large fleet of ships coming toward us. They may be
a pirate fleet. There are about 17 ships.” Then they heard loud shouts came from those ships. His lookout
yelled, “I think they are trying to tell us something.” An arrow thudded onto the mast of his ship with a
message attached to the arrow, which said “This is a robbery. Send three men with all your valuables to the
main ship or die. You have until tomorrow afternoon.”
Zheng sent his right-hand man to gather his crew from his fleet for a meeting. During the
meeting, Zheng strategized in destroying the pirates. They concluded to send three men to the pirate ship
with fake diamonds and jewels to trick the pirate into lowering the guard and letting them go. This would
give Zheng’s navy the opportunity to attack them with the full force of the mighty Chinese armada. The
pirates would be crushed, and either be taken as prisoners or killed.
When Zheng’s men presented the treasures to the pirates, the pirate chief became suspicious that
the jewels were not as sparkling as other gems they had looted before, so he locked up Zheng’s men.
Upon learning his men were locked up by the pirate, Zheng kept calm and decided to stick with
his original plan. However, Zheng did more research and found that the pirate chief was none other than
the legendary Chen Zuyi. He was overjoyed with his good fortune in finding Chen. Zheng learnt that
Chen had terrorised the seas of Southeast Asia and ruled several cities including the Indonesian city of
Palembang. At Palembang alone, he had 10 ships and 5,000 men. Chen was also one of the most feared
pirates to terrorise the Strait of Malacca and had amassed a following of over 20,000 pirates and 30 ships.
Zheng muttered “No wonder Emperor wants him dead.”
Zheng knew that Chen was not an enemy to be taken lightly and unnecessary bloodshed could be
prevented by having the pirates surrender to his fleet. Therefore, Zheng sent a messenger to ask Chen to
surrender peacefully. Chen read the message and thought: I could attack Zheng’s fleet from behind if I
pretended to surrender. Then I could destroy his fleet and plunder Emperor Yongle’s treasures.
Later that day, a Chinese official from Java rushed onto Zheng’s flagship, panting and yelling,
stuttered “Chen … trick …” Zheng said to the official “Calm yourself down first. Have some buns and tea.”
When the official felt good enough to speak, he said “Pirate Chen will launch a surprise attack on you
tomorrow. He will attack you with 17 ships and 8,000 men.”
The official had been overseeing a fishing boat when he saw the pirates and overheard what they
were saying. He was able to pass undetected because his boat was small. Zheng replied “Thank you for your
information. I will make your contribution known to Emperor Yongle. If I had not known this, our navy
would be crushed even with our superior firepower.”
Zheng thought: “How interesting, Chen and I are deceiving each other with our false surrender. If
the official did not come, we would both been surprised.” Although both fleets were similar in size and
strength, Zheng believed he had the upper hand because he knew about Chen’s plan.
Zheng summoned his officers and told them about Chen’s plan. All his officers were outraged at
the thought that Chen would attempt to trick the intelligent Ming naval officers.
On the fateful day of the pirate’s pretended surrender, everyone on both sides were nervous. The
Ming soldiers were stricken with fear by having such an infamous pirate as their adversary. The pirates were
fearful that Emperor Yongle had sent such a powerful naval fleet to destroy them.
Zheng attacked first with his archers which showered flaming arrows and burnt six ships. The
pirates retaliated by firing 50 cannons and sunk five warships. Zheng’s eyes were ablaze with fury as he
recalled how pirates would torture their defeated enemies and let them die. He ordered another round of
flaming arrows and burnt another four ships.
At that time, the pirates were overwhelmed with fear, as the mighty Ming navy had yet to unleash
their full destructive power without firing any cannon. Chaos reigned on the pirate ships. Zheng ordered
the soldiers to raid the pirate’s flagship and to capture Chen.