Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2019 | Page 16

Voyages of the Ming Fleet (Extract)
Lee Chi Tat Memorial School, Zhang, James - 10
Day 1
15 th June, third year of Yongle (1405) Sunny
Today, I and my fellow crew are finally on board the ships we were looking forward to for several
years. Admiral Zheng He is our captain. He is a devout Muslim, which is the reason why he was on
the trip. The Emperor has already seen us off at dawn. As I am only eleven who is the smallest person
on the ship. I was chosen because I had followed the Emperor in the Battle of Pacification three years
ago. My duty is to fire the “Large Farangis”, which is a kind of large cannon. We are now in the calm
sea. We set off from Nanjing and is already past Linjiagang. I hope to see new territories and exotic
islands soon!
Day 963
26 th September, fifth year of Yongle (1407) Sunny
What an exciting day we have had!
The day before yesterday, a man named Shi Jinqing of Palembang came on our ship and talked with
Admiral Zheng He. He informed us that a pirate named Chen Zuyi planned to rob our fleet of all
gold and treasures. Admiral Zheng He talked with Shi for some time and thanked him for the
priceless information.
As the Admiral Zheng He expected, Chen Zuyi came to see us the following day. He
acknowledged our fleet and said that he would prepare an escort through the port. He spoke politely,
but his rude manners, shifty eyes and the greedy look as he looked around our fleet told us that this
was a man of no good.
Today was the big day of passing Palembang. Before we got into the port, Admiral Zheng He said,
‘My friends, tonight we are going to pass the port of Palembang. However, I fear that the pirate is
planning an ambush for us when we are most at ease. So we will be ready for him! He paused, looked
fiercely around at all of us. Then he continued, ‘Now, my fellow shipmates, let us be dispersed around
the port in an arc. We should all fill in our cannons and be as armed as possible. When the pirate
comes into our target area, we shall surround him and order him and his fellow pirates to surrender.
Chen Zuyi is not an idiot, he would surely see by that time that he could not oppose us. If he is, we
may as well blast him to pieces.’ His words were quite right. By about eleven o’clock at night, we had
the arc formation ready. Then we waited for the pirates. It was well pass midnight when they finally
arrived. As the enemy fleet entered the target area, our fleet secretly formed a full circle now. In the
dim light of the torches, I saw Admiral Zheng He giving the signal. Instantly, we tightened the circle.
The pirates discovered our presence a second too late. The Admiral Zheng He ordered them, ‘You
have been surrounded. Surrender immediately or…’ Just then, a sudden sound followed by the roaring
of the gray waves told us that eleven pirates’ ships had broken out their huddle and rushed straight at
our side. My heart quickened: It is my time! I filled in my ‘Large Farangis’ for the first time. Then I
fired it. A flaming iron ball shot out of the hole and towards the escaping pirates. With a deafening
boom, a ship burst into flames. In five minutes, it had completely vanished, though bits of woods and
steels were littered on the surface. All around me, my shipmates did the same. Soon there were no
longer any enemy attempting an outbreak. Admiral Zheng He spoke again, ‘Surrender immediately or
be blasted to pieces!’ At last the pirates surrendered. They are now kept in the vacant chambers and
looked securely.
Day 380
30 th October, sixth year of Yongle (1408) Sunny
Another ruler paying tribute to the Great Ming.
On 25 th , a man rushed out of breath to the port. He turned out to be one of our own men. When
we asked him what was happened, he spluttered a lot, and the bits we could understand told us that he
was one of the 180 to explore the new island. Since they were going to explore, they did not carry
weapons. After that were a confusion but he remembered that several hundreds of native men holding
bloody knives were running about wildly. In the fight, only ten Chinese ran away in time. He did not
know where the others were. The following day, the Admiral Zheng He took over a thousand crew
on land. I was one of them, being now fourteen. We captured ten natives and threatened them to take
us to the native ruler, otherwise be executed, and of course the obeyed. After we were taken to the
king, the Admiral Zheng He asked the king if he knew anything about the men that killed our 170
men. To our surprise, he dropped to his knees and pleaded for mercy. It turned out than this land was
called Java and the king in front of our eyes was the West Java king. There had also been and East Java
King. Five years ago, the two kings broke into war about who would rule Java. Eventually, the West
King won. For three months hence, he had been wiping out the remnants of the East King. The 170