Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 232

After their stay in India, they went on their next voyage. Their next destination was the Persian Gulf. They
had continuously sailed for two months until they met the notorious pirates near the Persian Gulf. It was so
unexpected that it even shocked Zheng He himself. They triggered a fierce battle between the two armies. At
first, the fight was close. None of the two militaries can pull away. After a few days, Zheng He and the pirate
met face to face. Their battleships had an intense fight. Since Zheng was a giant, he used his strong arms to
throw rocks towards the pirate. Moreover, he brings more cannons and arrows along with him. The attack
was too much for the pirate that his battleship couldn't stand. Zheng won the battle quickly.
As the campaign progresses, Zheng He's army gained the advantage, and the morale of Zheng's army
restored. Zheng He was good in battling strategy. He secretly surrounded the pirate gang and fought. As a
result, the Chinese had a dominating win against the Persian pirates. The pirates were defeated entirely,
without a chance to counter-attack.
The wealth of the pirates all belonged to Zheng now. He brought the wealth along with him to Persia. There
he met the emperor. They established a new relationship with one another. Persian emperor also performed
trades with Zheng. They traded their women and slaves for China's silk and china. Persian king recognized
Emperor Yongle and guaranteed not to attack China at any time. It was such an unexpected reward for them
in the Persian Gulf.
Later on, they moved on and resumed their voyage. Zheng and his crew's next checkpoint was Saudi Arabian.
This time they reached Saudi Arabian peacefully. They would also like to make a new alliance with Saudi
Arabia. However, they came up with a huge obstacle: they had a miscommunication with the king there. The
king thought that Zheng and his soldiers wanted to kill him. He commanded the soldiers to send them to
jail. Lucky for them, the queen of Saudi Arabia was kind enough and accepted their offer of allying with the
two countries. Zheng was so grateful of the mercy from the queen. Zheng thanked the king and the queen
again and set off back to China.
After a month of voyage, Zheng and his crew were safely back to China. He reported to Emperor Yongle
about the achievements that he and his crew had attained during the long 7-month voyage. Moreover, he
handed in all the treasuries he got during the voyage. Zheng told Emperor Yongle that they had gained the
respect from other countries. Since Zheng was prominent as he was the admiral of the voyage, Emperor
Yongle decided to give one-third of the treasuries to Zheng. Since Zheng was very experienced by the time
the voyage had finished, he was promoted as the general of the Chinese army. In addition, he gained his
reputation in China. He was praised by many Chinese as he helped China to explore the world. Zheng
indeed won his name in the long history of China.