The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 66 It's not easy to reward openly
Lin Qian's heart sank, and she pressed, "What happened? Tell me slowly."

The crew member, panting heavily, said, "Drunkard Lu just came back, on a fishing boat. He was badly injured. He said we were robbed on the way. The other side had three boats and dozens of skilled men. Our crew was all killed, and the boat was stolen..."

The crew member's voice trailed off as he noticed Lin Qian's brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

It's time to come.

Without a doubt, Li Kuiqi was the one who did this.

What Lin Qian couldn't understand was how Li Kuiqi had accurately located his ship in the vast ocean.

These days, ships at sea don't fly national flags, much less hang the character "林" (Lin) on their masts like naval warships do.

From a distance on the sea, all three-masted Fujian ships look the same.

Unless Li Kuiqi indiscriminately robs every passing Fujian ship.

However, the watchtower had been seeing large Fujian ships passing by in recent days, indicating that the route was clear. Li Kuiqi accurately selected Lin Qian's ship from among the many ships.

This is worth pondering.

"Where is Drunk Cat Lü now?" Lin Qian asked.

"At Qingmeifang, Doctor Su is treating his injuries."

"Let's go!" Lin Qian walked away quickly.

Since arriving on the island, Su Kang and his daughter have reopened Qingmeifang under Lin Qian's half-coercion and half-financing.

Xin Qingmeifang is located in a two-story shop along the street.

By this time, a large crowd had already gathered inside the hall, and they all made way for Lin Qian when she arrived.

Drunken Cat Lu had four or five knife wounds all over his body, on his arms, thighs and other places. The wounds were deep and he had lost a lot of blood, but fortunately none of them were fatal.

He was sitting on a stool, and Su Kang was bandaging him.

Seeing Lin Qian arrive, Drunken Cat Lü was about to get up when Su Kang held him down and scolded, "I don't care if you want to die, just don't waste my hemostatic medicine."

Drunkard Lü could only sit down, saying, "Master..."

Lin Qian gestured for him to be quiet and walked closer to examine his wound.

The other knife wounds were not serious, but the wound on the inner thigh was very deep. There are many large blood vessels in this area, and if they rupture, the person will surely die.

If it were a self-inflicted injury ploy, it wouldn't be possible to go to such lengths; it must be genuine.

There was a lot of scabs around the wound, but the bleeding had stopped. There was also white powder around the wound, indicating that the bleeding had been stopped by medication.

Stopping the bleeding is a temporary measure; once the medication wears off, the bleeding will continue.

Lin Qian pointed to the wound and said, "Dr. Su, this wound seems to need to be stitched up."

Su Kang replied irritably, "Of course."

Lin Qian asked this question simply to confirm whether Su Kang would be able to stitch it up; he hadn't held out much hope.

Unexpectedly, Su Kang spoke with great confidence, indicating that he was quite adept at suturing wounds.

Lin Qian stopped talking and stepped aside, saying, "Dr. Su, may I ask you a few questions?"

“Okay.” Su Kang nodded, then said to Drunkard Lu, “Be careful when you speak, don’t aggravate your wound.”

So Lin Qian asked, "How did you escape? Are the other crew members still alive?"

“I was stabbed in the leg and fell into the water. I took the opportunity to hold my breath and swim away, which is how I managed to survive… Before I fell into the water, most of my brothers had been… killed. Zhou Zhiku and the Frenchman didn’t die; they were captured by them…”

Upon hearing this, the faces of those around them darkened.

Lin Qian felt as if a fire was burning in her heart. The ship had 30,000 taels of silver and 10,000 taels of silver worth of firearms, not to mention more than a dozen skilled men and Jose and Zhou Xiucai.

People, property, and boat are all lost!

Since coming to the Ming Dynasty, Lin Qian has never suffered such a great loss.

While they were talking, Su Kang had already bandaged several of the lighter wounds, and for one of the more serious wounds, he used ointment to seal it before bandaging it again.

Lin Qian then asked, "Where did the other party strike? Were they not prepared beforehand?"

Not far from Nan'ao Island is a bay called Mal'ao.

It was a rainy day, and it was dark at night. I was sleeping in my cabin when I suddenly heard shouts of killing coming from the deck. When I went outside, I saw people jumping onto the ship and killing people indiscriminately.

The enemy was extremely skilled and outnumbered them; the brothers were no match for them and quickly fell to their blades…

Lin Qian knew about Mal'ao. It was only sixty li away from Nan'ao. The surrounding area was sparsely populated. The nearest county was Chaoyang County, which is now Chaoyang District of Shantou City. The nearest garrison was twenty li away.

It is indeed a good place for murder and robbery.

Li Kuiqi's choice to strike here indicates that he is indeed extremely familiar with the waters surrounding Nan'ao Island.

The fact that they chose to strike at night indicates that they came prepared, and that the Fujian ship had been under their surveillance for some time.

It was precisely because of the nighttime hijacking that the drunken Lu, who had fallen into the water, was able to escape under cover of darkness.

"Oh right, the leader is extremely tall, about the height of two people," added Drunken Cat Lu.

This person was clearly Li Kuiqi, which further confirmed Lin Qian's guess. However, one question remained: how exactly did Li Kuiqi set his sights on his Fujian ship?
If they followed far behind, and there were no obstructions on the sea, Li Kuiqi would be able to see the Fujian ship, and Zhou Xiucai and the others would also be able to see Li Kuiqi.

Knowing they're being followed, even if they're sailing in the dark, they won't choose a place like Malta to anchor.

While Lin Qian was thinking, Su Kang had finished treating all the minor injuries, asked his daughter to bring needle and thread, and asked the crowd to disperse so that the sunlight could shine through, in preparation for stitching up the wounds.

Lin Qian noticed that Su Kang had heated the needles he used for sewing over a fire beforehand, and the thread he used was not ordinary hemp or cotton thread; she didn't know what material it was.

Before starting the stitching, Su Qingmei brought over a bowl of herbal soup and told the drunkard Lü to drink it, while also comforting him, "You won't feel pain after drinking this medicine."

Seeing that Drunkard Lu was staring at Su Kang fiddling with needle and thread, Su Qingmei comforted him, "My father used mulberry bark thread to stitch up his wound. The thread will dissolve on its own once the wound heals, so don't worry."

The drunkard, Lü, felt a little relieved. After drinking the medicine, within half an incense stick's time, his eyes became unfocused and his body went limp, as if he had drunk fine wine.

Seeing that the medicine had taken effect, Su Kang opened the needle pouch, which contained neatly arranged silver needles.

Su Kang picked up the needle and performed acupuncture on several points around the thigh of the drunkard Lü.

Then, thread the needle and begin sewing.

Surprisingly, the drunkard Lü Jing didn't utter a sound of pain, as if the skin pricked by the needle hadn't grown onto his body at all.

Lin Qian couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion upon seeing this.

In this day and age, Western medicine still uses tincture of opium for pain relief. If the dosage is too small, the patient can die from the pain; if the dosage is too large, it can suppress the respiratory system and cause the patient to suffocate; if the dosage is just right, the patient is likely to become addicted and eventually die from the pain.

The fact that traditional Chinese medicine can achieve local anesthesia through herbal medicine and acupuncture is truly commendable.

At this moment, all the crew members around them were focused on Lin Qian, waiting for the helmsman's orders.

White Wave Boy stepped forward from behind him and whispered, "Boss, should I bring that guy surnamed Huang here?"

Lin Qian slowly shook her head.

Huang Hetai probably genuinely didn't know where Li Kuiqi was. If he did, he would have told Lin Qian without her even asking, as it would have been in his interest to watch the pirate leaders fight amongst themselves.

Moreover, given Li Kuiqi's personality, he would not casually reveal his location to the imperial court's garrison commander of Nan'ao.

After a long while, Su Kang finished stitching up the wound, removed the silver needles, wiped the sweat from his forehead, took out cotton and gauze, carefully wrapped the stitches, and asked someone to help the drunkard Lü to rest.

As soon as the drunkard Lü Yi stood up, he was horrified and cried out, "Oh no, doctor, I can't move this leg anymore. I'm afraid it can't be saved."

Su Kang was so angry he almost choked, then he glared and said, "What do you mean it can't be saved? I stitched up the wound myself, and you think it can't be saved? Your leg will be able to move again in a little while, so just go back and recover!"

Drunkard Lü suddenly realized what was happening, thanked Doctor Su, and was about to take out his money to pay the consultation fee when Lin Qian stopped him.

Bai Langzai paid his medical fee, a full five taels of silver.

“Not that many!” Su Kang said.

“If the captain gave it to you, then keep it,” Bai Langzai said coldly.

Su Kang snorted coldly and fell silent.

Su Qingmei happily put the silver away and warmly saw the person out.

After leaving the house, Lin Qian said to the crew member who was supporting the drunkard Lü, "If you're injured, don't bother going back to the ship. Go to my inn and find an empty room to stay in."

The crew members nodded in agreement.

……

That evening, at the inn.

Lu Zheng, the drunkard, was lying down to rest.

Suddenly, I heard the door open.

He immediately gripped the dagger under his pillow and asked, "Who?"

By the moonlight, he could see Bai Langzai's face clearly, and only then did he feel relieved, saying, "Bai Huozhang."

Bai Langzai nodded almost imperceptibly, walked to Zuimao Lü's side, and took out a silver ingot from his pocket, which looked to be fifty taels in size.

"Chief, this..." Drunken Cat Lu dared not accept it, not understanding what it meant.

Bai Langzai explained, "The captain said you were seriously injured and risked your life to come back and deliver the message. You are a loyal and brave man."

However, since you did manage to escape, it's not appropriate to reward you openly. I'll give it to you now, so take it."

Drunkard Lu accepted the silver ingot with trembling hands, feeling it was exceptionally heavy.

Bai Langzai then asked, "The captain even asked you what your name is. How did you get the nickname 'Drunken Cat Lü'?"

"My name is Lü Zhou. I'm called 'Drunken Cat Lü' because I was drunk on a pleasure boat and missed my shift..."

Lin Qian naturally remembered this, and Bai Langzai also remembered it, but since Lin Qian had instructed him to ask, he asked the question word for word.

Upon hearing this, Bai Langzai continued as Lin Qian had instructed, saying, "The captain said that when you recover and return, the ship will only remember you as Lü Zhou, and there will be no more 'Drunken Cat Lü'."

Lu Zhou felt his eyes burning, and tears blurred his vision. He lowered his head and whispered, "Thank you, Master."

By the time he calmed down and looked up again, Bai Langzai had already left the room.

(End of this chapter)