The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 36 Pearl People, Tanka People, and Untouchables
into the night.

The large sailboat slowly lowered its sails and came to a stop.

Since we are now in the open sea, and the anchor cannot reach the bottom, we will not lower it further.

The blackout continues tonight, and the ship blends into the dark sea.

Lin Qian packed up the sextant and the nautical chart and was leaving the captain's cabin when she ran into Bai Langzai.

"You've come at the perfect time. Come with me to the stern deck."

Lin Qian took the lead and boarded the stern deck. She solemnly opened the box and introduced it, saying, "This is a sextant, used to measure latitude. From now on, you must measure it once at noon and once in the evening every day and record it."

“I’ve got it,” Bai Langzai nodded.

"By the way, can you write?"

Bai Langzai shook his head.

Lin Qian suddenly realized that teaching Bai Langzai navigation skills was not so simple. She had to start by teaching him Arabic numerals, and then teach him the laws of celestial motion, the theory of a spherical Earth, the concepts of latitude and longitude, and the meaning of the sun's declination angle.

After thinking for a long time, Lin Qian decided to start by teaching the simplest method: measuring the altitude angle of Polaris.

First, let Bai Langzai "know what it is", and then let him "know why it is".

Lin Qian handed him the sextant and said, "This thing is called a sextant. It's used to measure the angle between two objects..."

Although Bai Langzai wasn't very well-educated, he was quite clever, and within half an hour he had mastered how to use the sextant.

Then Lin Qian began teaching Arabic numerals 1-9, and later the decimal system.

By the time Bai Langzai had grasped the situation, it was already late at night.

Lin Qian said, "Let's call it a day. Come find me again at noon tomorrow, and I'll teach you how to measure the solar altitude angle."

"Okay!" Bai Langzai agreed.

Lin Qian was tidying up the teaching materials when she suddenly heard a muffled thud in front of her.

Lin Qian looked up and saw Bai Langzai kneeling in front of her, saying, "Thank you, Sixth Brother." Then he respectfully kowtowed.

Lin Qian quickly helped him up: "What are you doing?"

Bai Langzai said sincerely, "Although I have never been to school, I know the importance of respecting teachers. Since Sixth Brother taught me to read and sail, he should accept my bow."

Lin Qian was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

To be honest, he taught Bai Langzai with the casual attitude of a master apprentice, but he underestimated the respect that the ancients had for their teachers.

Lin Qian smiled and said, "There's no need for such formalities between brothers; it's enough that we have each other in our hearts."

Bai Langzai was not good with words and didn't know how to respond, so he simply said, "You should pay your respects..."

Lin Qian packed up the sextant and handed it to Bai Langzai, then patted him on the shoulder: "From now on, you will keep this thing safe. It is very important and should not be shown to others easily."

"Okay, I understand." Bai Langzai nodded emphatically.

"Alright, go back to sleep. Call José here for me."

Bai Langzai didn't move, and hesitated before speaking, "Sixth Brother, I want to ask you for a favor."

Lin Qian said in a relaxed tone, "What's with all this asking for help? Just say what you need."

"I don't want silver for my dividends, can I exchange them all for pearls from the warehouse?"

"Of course you can, but you're not a woman, what would you do with so many pearls?" Lin Qian said half-jokingly, though he already vaguely understood the reason.

Bai Langzai pondered for a moment, then walked to the ship's side, gazing at the dark sea, his voice ethereal: "Sixth Brother, do you know about pearl divers?"

Throughout history, the Central Plains dynasties have had a huge demand for pearls. As a result, in the pearl-producing areas of the South China Sea, some people make a living by diving to harvest pearls.

This is an extremely dangerous job. Low temperatures, suffocation, water pressure, and aquatic animals can all kill pearl divers at any time. Therefore, people generally wouldn't take this risk unless they were desperate. Relying solely on private pearl harvesting wouldn't meet the demand. Thus, the Ming Dynasty established a special social register—the Pearl People, commonly known as pearl divers—which was hereditary and prohibited from changing professions.

Pearl farmers used pearls as their tax, and were required to pay a fixed amount each year; those who violated this rule were punished.

Lin Qian didn't know much about the details, only vaguely remembering a few lines of poetry that lamented the hardships of their lives.

Such as: "One mermaid's tear, the blood of thousands of slaves", "Mermaid's tears in the palace, slaves drowned in the sea".

Lin Qian leaned against the ship's side, gesturing for Bai Langzai to explain in detail.

Bai Langzai spoke slowly, his tone calm, but every word was filled with anguish, making Lin Qian's scalp tingle.

The Ming Dynasty court treated pearl divers extremely harshly, to the point that it could be said that they were not treated as human beings.

First, the taxes levied on pearl farmers are extremely heavy. Each household is required to pay forty taels of low-grade pearls and twenty taels of medium-grade pearls annually.

Secondly, the imperial court strictly restricted the areas for pearl harvesting, which were called "pearl ponds," and only pearl farmers were allowed to harvest pearls in these ponds.

But over the centuries, these pearl pools have been almost completely depleted. Not to mention pearls, even the corals are nearly extinct. Pearl farmers have been forced to risk being accused of illegal mining by venturing into deeper and more distant seas.

Most pearl farmers have to go into the water every day of the year, soaking their hands and feet until they are rotting, just to barely collect enough pearls.

It should be noted that even the seawater in Guangdong is icy cold in winter, and in order to collect enough taxes, people had to risk their lives to fill the seabed.

Finally, the imperial court would also periodically issue "pearl-collecting corvée labor," which usually took place in the depths of winter.

In a major battle, eight or nine out of ten drowned or froze to death, and the floating corpses could cover the entire sea surface, attracting schools of fish to gnaw on them.

Such human tragedies are not just occasional occurrences, but rather frequent events, sometimes occurring two or three times a year.

As for the lowly social status of the Zhu people, their being looked down upon, and their inability to study for the imperial examinations, these factors seemed less important compared to their lives.

It's already difficult enough for the people of Zhuhai to survive, let alone accumulate any wealth. Naturally, they can't afford to buy houses and can only live on the sea like the Tanka people.

Over time, the government began to conflate the Tanka people and the Pearl people.

In any case, to the scholar-officials, both were the same, both were considered lowly people.

In the Ming Dynasty, even the sudden death of cattle and horses was subject to investigation and accountability.

Even if the common people were to die in droves, the scholar-officials would not even give them a second glance.

Unfortunately, Bai Langzai's family was one such family of pearl dwellers. Originally, there were seven people in his family, but now only three are left.

My mother is too weak to go to sea anymore, so pearl diving is mainly done by my older sister, and Bai Langzai only goes into the water in the summer.

It's not that the white-haired men are afraid of the cold; it's actually because men have less body fat, and they would freeze to death in the water in winter. Women, on the other hand, are resistant to the cold and can harvest pearls in winter. Most men go out to work on boats in winter, and other pearl farmers also have this division of labor.

This is also why Lin Qian was able to meet Bai Langzai on the Qingping. When he transmigrated, it was winter. If it weren't for the ship hijacking incident, Bai Langzai should have already gone home three months ago.

After listening to Bai Langzai's calm description, Lin Qian felt a surge of anger rising in her chest. She felt that even the worst human nature should have its limits.

How could anyone in the world, while witnessing the horrific scene of countless corpses, feel at ease reaching out for pearls?

Lin Qian took a deep breath, trying to keep her tone calm, and asked, "So you want to exchange your dividends for pearls to pay taxes for your family?"

"Mm." Bai Langzai nodded.

Lin Qian now understands why Bai Langzai is so taciturn at such a young age.

“Alright, exchange as many as you want.” Lin Qian paused. “However, the suffering of the pearl people is not caused by a shortage of pearls. Feeding those corrupt officials with pearls is like adding fuel to the fire.”

Bai Langzai looked confused. He was illiterate and didn't quite understand what Lin Qian meant.

Lin Qian suppressed her emotions and said calmly, "One day, I will free the people of Zhu from their suffering... Go back and call Jose for me."

(End of this chapter)