The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 90 Ghosts (Seeking First Subscription)

When Lin Qian assigned positions, she put Lei Sanxiang in the position of boatswain.

This is a foreign word. There was no corresponding position on Ming Dynasty ships, and it sounded awkward. So the crew members kept calling it "shaozhang" (鋼长).

Similarly, Chen Jiao's first mate and Zhou Xiucai's accountant were given names reminiscent of the Ming Dynasty, namely "Helmsman" and "Director."

Lin Qian felt that the term "crew member" was more in line with Eastern aesthetics, so she changed it.

The crew member must have gone out.

Lin Qian sat down at the round table to eat breakfast.

Today's breakfast consisted of thick rice porridge, pickled radish, steamed fish, and an egg.

According to Lin Qian's rules, all crew members eat the same breakfast. They not only have to eat their fill, but also eat well. The food standard is set quite high.

After all, food is the guarantee of fighting power; you can't be poor in anything but your stomach.

When Lin Qian went to Shen'ao Port, she saw the food of the soldiers in the garrison. Basically, every meal consisted of coarse rice porridge with salted vegetables. The soldiers were not full at all, and everyone looked pale.

Given such good food and treatment, the fact that they didn't flee the island already shows that Huang Hetai is a skilled leader.

Of course, high-standard meals also have drawbacks, namely, the cost is too high.

The crew of the St. Anne has now expanded to four hundred people. The monthly consumption is 180 shi of rice and flour, 6,000 jin of various meats, and miscellaneous items such as salt, soy sauce, vinegar, vegetables, oil, and alcohol are also not cheap.

In total, the monthly food expenses on the ship alone amounted to nearly six hundred taels of silver.

This was still in the relatively prosperous south. In the Nine Border Regions, the food expenses for Ming generals to support their private soldiers and retainers were even higher.

However, compared to the cost of food, the repair of the large sailing ship, the construction of the dry dock, and the purchase of gunpowder and cannons, it was just a drop in the ocean.

If the costs of future talent cultivation, metallurgical development, shipyard construction, and sailing warship building are taken into account, the cost of food is almost negligible.

Naval affairs are all money-devouring behemoths.

Later generations often say "a navy that takes a hundred years to build," meaning that the navy is different from the army. It cannot be built overnight. It requires the entire country to tighten its belt and accumulate strength over a hundred years before it can be formed.

As for Lin Qian...

A hundred years is too long, we must seize the day.

After breakfast, Lin Qian returned to her table and began drawing the second revised blueprints for the Saint Anna.

In this modification, he plans to divide the warehouse in two, with the upper level designated as a new gunpowder deck and the lower level retained as the warehouse.

This is an extremely complex and meticulous task that requires a massive amount of extrapolation and calculation.

It is necessary to consider the strength of the hull, the weight distribution of the hull, and the speed and maneuverability.

It feels like performing a ritual in a snail shell when writing the eight-legged essay.

If the design is flawed.

Or it was a Vasa—which sank on its maiden voyage.

Or it's a Holy Trinity—a sitting duck on the sea.

Therefore, Lin Qian's design drawings are progressing very slowly. Of course, even if he finishes them now, there is no dry dock for the construction of large sailing ships.

Right now, we need to make a quick buck, build a dry dock, and then we can repair the captured ships and convert them into large sailing vessels.

Lin Qian had just made two strokes when a crew member knocked on the door and came in.

"Master, Captain Bai Huo asked me to give this to you."

Lin Qian took it; it was a map of the Lin family mansion newly drawn by Xie Er. It was not much different from the previous version and should be close to the truth.

Lin Qian placed the drawings on the table: "Keep drawing."

"Yes." The crew member acknowledged the order and withdrew.

By dinner time, Lin Qian had five more blueprints piled up on her table, each with slight variations.

However, Lin Qian had seen too many design drawings, so he could distinguish between typos and deliberate alterations.

After a day and a night of torment, no trace of deliberate alteration could be found on Xie Er's map.

Based on Xie Er's map, Lin Qian redrawn it herself with a ruler and pen, making it not only clearer and more intuitive, but also correcting several of Xie Er's mistakes.

Just then, another crew member knocked on the door and came in: "Helmsman, dinner is ready." After placing the dinner on the round table, the crew member prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute," Lin Qian called out to him.

"Helmsman." The crew member stopped.

"Notify all the officers on board that there will be a meeting in the officers' mess after dinner, and that the person who drew the plans in the cargo hold should be brought along as well."

"Yes."

……

after dinner.

Officers' mess.

Steaming hot Longjing tea was already laid out on the table.

Chen Jiao, Zhou Xiucai, Lei Sanxiang, Bai Qing, Bai Langzai, and Zheng Zhilong sat on either side of the dining table.

Xie Er squatted in a corner of the restaurant, his mind already somewhat dazed from the torment.

As Lin Qian entered, everyone stood up to greet her.

Lin Qian asked everyone to sit down, spread her drawings on the table, and got straight to the point without any preamble.

"The Lin family mansion in Huangyan County, Taizhou Prefecture, covers an area of ​​more than 20 mu and is close to the Yongning River. It can be traveled by water. Based on the number of boats, it is estimated that there are about 50,000 taels of silver in the mansion, which are hidden in various places."

Then Lin Qian dipped a bamboo pen in cinnabar and lightly touched several spots on the drawing: "It should be in these locations."

The estimate of 50,000 taels was only Lin Qian's lowest estimate based on the number of private ships owned by the Lin family; the actual figure should be much higher.

Xie Er found it unbelievable. He didn't even know how much silver his mansion had, so how did this bandit leader know?
They even have the audacity to mark things on the chart, as if they're some kind of fortune teller.

Curious, Xie Er leaned closer to the table, only to be stunned after just one glance, thinking, "This isn't a drawing I made either."

He examined the drawing more closely and broke out in a cold sweat. The drawing was not only more intuitive with its straight lines, but it was also more realistic, with more detailed annotations, as if the person who drew it had actually been there.

He drew countless maps of the Lin family estate in a single day and night, and had them memorized by heart.

It's immediately obvious that the diagram on the table has been altered in several places, including the orientation of doors and windows, the location of the well, and the direction of roads.

Most importantly, all the changes were correct, exactly as he remembered them.

Even more terrifying is...

Lin Qianzhu circled all the important and crucial points of the manor.

Under the bed in the main house, under the stove, the wooden pillars in the main hall, the floor tiles in the study, the artificial hill in the garden...

In comparison, the accountant didn't even circle it.

These are locations that wealthy families often used to hide their silver, and these are places that Lin Qian knew well.

Xie Er felt a cold sweat soak his entire body. He secretly glanced at Lin Qian and thought to himself, "Is this really a human? Could it be an evil spirit coming to claim my life?"
Good heavens! The despicable things Mr. Lin did had absolutely nothing to do with me...

Well, we do have some connections, but not many. I'm just a servant in this household, and my voice carries little weight. If the master wants to do something, I can't stop him.

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor. If Heaven wants to punish someone, it should punish Master Lin, not a lowly servant like me..."

After Lin Qian finished marking the items, everyone looked up at him.

Chen Jiao had some concerns: "Captain, we're on land after all. Are we sure we can handle this?"

Lin Qian said, "No rush, let Bai Langzai tell us about the guards' situation."

Bai Langzai continued, "There are twenty guards inside the mansion, fifty strong servants, and more than two hundred clan and village militia outside the mansion."

The guards were soldiers, strong and loyal, but they had no armor, no bows or crossbows..."

Xie Er slowly came to his senses. These were all things Bai Langzai had forced him to say during the day, and there was nothing out of line.

In this light, the cold-faced pirate is not a ghost after all.

At this moment, Lin Qian spoke up: "I'd like to add something. The claim that there are no crossbows is just Xie Er's. These are all forbidden items, usually hidden deep within the mansion and never shown to others. Once we break in, they might just take them out and use them. We need to prepare in advance."

Upon hearing this, Xie Er felt cold sweat pouring down his back again.

(End of this chapter)