The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 7 What are the Ming Dynasty's Sea Pirates?
"Is this really true?" Lin Qian was somewhat incredulous.

In the thirty-first year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, before the Battle of Sarhu even began, the Ming Dynasty was at its peak of power.

Was coastal defense already so weak back then?

Even a mere few hundred Spaniards dare not retaliate?
Lu Dongzhu nodded dejectedly: "If you ask me, even the pirates in the eyes of the imperial court have more guts than the old emperor in the capital."

He was over forty years old and had lived abroad for a long time. Knowing that he would never be able to return to the Ming Dynasty in this lifetime, he expressed far less fear of the Wanli Emperor than he feared the Spanish.

Upon hearing the words "sea pirates," Lin Qian pricked up her ears and asked calmly, "What do you mean by that?"

"Brother Lin, do you know Lin Feng?"

Of all the pirates at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Lin Qian was only familiar with Zheng Zhilong.

Others whose names were known included Li Dan, Yan Siqi, and Liu Xiang, but Lin Feng was completely unknown to them.

It's not that Lin Qian was ignorant; Chinese history has always favored grand narratives and doesn't dwell on details. Many brilliant and outstanding figures can only be mentioned in passing, let alone a mere pirate.

"In the second year of the Wanli reign, Lin Feng led an army of over four thousand men to attack Manila, even capturing the Governor's Mansion. Unfortunately, they were ultimately defeated by a joint attack from the French and the Ming court, and their efforts were in vain..."

Lu Dongzhu seemed quite regretful in his words.

The Han Chinese of Luzon both feared and hated the Franks and were utterly disappointed with the Ming Dynasty, so it's no wonder they regarded the pirate Lin Feng as their savior.

In contrast, the Ming Dynasty was willing to send troops to fight a pirate, but turned a deaf ear to the massacre of 30,000 of its own people, which was truly ironic.

Lin Qian sighed along with Lu Dongzhu for a while, and then the topic was steered by Lin Qian to the sea pirates.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty's pirates were completely different from Western pirates.

The most famous Caribbean pirates in the West were usually single-ship gangs, with the captain elected by the crew, and the looted treasure was divided equally among all the crew members according to a certain ratio.

Chinese pirates were more like armed merchant groups, with a large number of ships and subordinates, and their distribution system was more complex, reasonable, and sustainable.

This is why a single pirate could gather a force of over four thousand men and nearly overthrow the Spanish colonial regime.

Historically, Zheng Zhilong, a pirate king, commanded tens of thousands of men and controlled the entire sea area, making him no different from a warlord.

In terms of reputation, the Caribbean pirates are renowned.

But in terms of organization and combat effectiveness, the Caribbean pirates probably wouldn't even be worthy of carrying the shoes of the Ming Dynasty's pirates.

After telling Lin Feng's story, Lu Dongzhu introduced the customs and culture of Luzon and Southeast Asia.

Lin Qian kept passing questions to Lu Dongzhu, all of which were on the key and important points. Lu Dongzhu felt that the more they talked, the more compatible they became.

They chatted for an hour and a half straight, and the tea was refilled three times. They even asked the waiter to brew new tea and bring it over.

It was almost noon, so they wanted to keep Lin Qian for lunch.

Lin Qian couldn't refuse, so she had no choice but to comply.

The lunch arranged by Lu Dongzhu was quite local in style.

The main dish is rice cooked in coconut milk, and the side dishes include tamarind sour soup fish, shrimp and corn spring rolls, and charcoal-grilled pork with chili sour sauce. The flavor is mainly sweet and sour with a hint of spiciness.

In addition to local ingredients, it also uses a lot of American crops such as corn and chili peppers, as well as precious spices such as pepper and nutmeg produced in Southeast Asia.

What seems like an ordinary meal to later generations was a feast in this era.

Bai Langzai had never seen most of the food on the table before, and he devoured it like a whirlwind.

After the meal, Lu Dongzhu invited Lin Qian to stay for tea, and they did not part until the afternoon.

"Brother Lin, rest assured, all the payment will be delivered to the dock tomorrow," Master Lu assured him with a cupped hand as he left.

Lin Qian smiled and said goodbye to Lu Dongzhu, then walked towards the royal district.

Bai Langzai said, "This is not the way back to the dock."

"I'm going to the city to look around and buy some things."

"Why not buy from Master Lu?"

"The things I want to buy are a bit sensitive."

Despite Lin Qian and Lu Dongzhu's brotherly relationship, businessmen tend to be secretive with those they don't know well, so it's best to let time reveal their true character.

Bai Langzai stopped talking, and Lin Qian led him all the way into Wangcheng District.

Inland City is located within a European-style city wall, belonging to the inner city of Manila, where most Spaniards frequent. Upon entering the city gate, a noticeable difference emerges: the people coming and going are almost all Spaniards wearing ruff shirts, and Han Chinese faces are almost nowhere to be seen.

The streets are lined with Baroque-style stone buildings, mostly residential houses and various bars.

It felt like I was suddenly on the streets of Madrid.

Spaniards love drinking and partying, and all sorts of people gather at bars, making them a good place to gather information.

However, it's still daylight, and there are few pedestrians in front of the bars. These places will only become lively after nightfall.

Lin Qian walked straight towards the tallest Catholic church in the city.

Shops are usually set up next to churches, selling religious items such as Bibles.

"Do you have paper and pens?" Lin Qian asked as she stepped forward. The biggest difference between Western European churches and ordinary people is that they possess a certain level of knowledge, so paper and pens are usually sold by churches.

The old priest in the shop glanced at Lin Qian, slightly surprised.

It's likely that most people in the Ming Dynasty used calligraphy brushes and Xuan paper, so very few would come here to buy quill brushes and linen paper.

“Paper and pens are only sold to God’s people,” the old priest said firmly.

Lin Qian smiled and said, "I was baptized three years ago. My Christian name is Raphael. Oh, and please give me another cross, Father."

Chinese people have always worshipped all sorts of gods and deities, believing in whichever one seemed to be efficacious.

In order to achieve her goal, Lin Qian did not mind temporarily turning to God.

Upon learning that Lin Qian was a Catholic, the old priest was overjoyed and took out what Lin Qian wanted: "A quill pen is one peso, a sheet of linen paper is one rial, and a cross is half a rial."

Lin Qian took out some silver coins and placed them on the table; these were the coins he had just exchanged that morning.

Compared to calligraphy brushes and Xuan paper, quill pens and linen paper are much more expensive.

However, he didn't know how to use a calligraphy brush, and writing with a brush on the swaying boat was inconvenient, not to mention that rinsing the brush would consume precious fresh water, and Xuan paper was not moisture-resistant.

Therefore, all things considered, the Spanish writing tools were more suitable for sea voyages.

Lin Qian spent a total of eleven pesos to buy five pens, a bottle of ink, and more than forty sheets of paper.

With paper and pen that are easy to write on, recording nautical logs becomes much more convenient.

In an era without nautical clocks, voyages could only be recorded in the logbook, from which the approximate longitude could be estimated.

Sailing is, after all, an activity that requires both courage and wisdom, involving a great deal of knowledge in mathematics, geography, and astronomy. Without skills such as keeping a nautical log, using a sextant, using a compass, the lunar distance method, and basic geometry, relying solely on boldness and experience to recklessly venture out at sea will inevitably lead to being swallowed by the sea sooner or later.

Lin Qian left the church and pinned the cross to her chest.

Wearing a cross in Spanish territory makes things easier.

We are still missing a sextant.

In later generations, this thing would be just a teaching aid, but in this era, it was absolutely cutting-edge.

Lin Qian wasn't even sure if the sextant had ever been invented.

Manila's local shipyards don't sell their marine equipment to outsiders, so he could only try his luck at grocery stores and pawn shops.

We strolled around until almost evening.

I couldn't find a sextant, but I did manage to buy two monoculars, four nautical charts of the area around Manila, and several nautical logbooks written in Spanish.

It was quite a fruitful experience.

Having spent almost all of his silver pesos, he was heading to the dock when he suddenly heard a clock chiming.

Thump, thump, thump... exactly seventeen thumps, coming from afar in the direction of the church.

Lin Qian was slightly taken aback and looked towards the direction of the bell. She saw a clock tower standing there, with the hour hand pointing to the Roman numeral five.

Lin Qian's eyes lit up immediately. In principle, marine chronometers calculate longitude based on the time difference between local time and Greenwich Mean Time.

Since there are pendulum clocks in this era, perhaps with a little modification, it would be possible to design a double pendulum symmetrical motion, and thus create the earliest marine clock.

Although the accuracy may be slightly lacking, it is already comparable to GPS positioning in terms of precision compared to Westerners who navigated by star charts and the Ming Dynasty people who navigated by needles and horns.

(End of this chapter)