Chapter 1224 - The Female Pirate
"...Wednesday. About to enter the Palk Strait. Clear skies. Northeast trade wind. Half a day's voyage from Ceylon. Supplies sufficient. No stopover..."
Li Huamei wrote in her logbook while her mind wandered.
Ever since she'd accepted Li Siya's instructions to infiltrate the Australian organization, she'd sailed directly to Lingao, found a familiar Naval transmigrator in Bopu, and expressed her willingness to join the Lingao side.
Though she was quite popular among the Navy's "young turks," she wasn't so foolish as to think she could immediately enter the Australian organization. Li Huamei knew very well that a person with an unclear "background" like herself would need a considerably long "vetting" period—or as the Australians called it, "investigation"—before she could be "admitted." The Australians particularly valued "background" when using people. "Everyone investigated, everyone cleared" was their constant slogan.
Regarding her birth and history, she and her sister had carefully prepared a cover story—fortunately, very few in Macau knew about the relationship between her and her sister. The only people who truly knew the inside story were completely loyal servants who would rather die than reveal the Li sisters' secrets, let alone spontaneously leak information.
Unexpectedly, she hadn't faced much "vetting" in Bopu. After writing a one-page autobiography and filling out an application, her request was accepted—though the other party indicated that it would be at least three months before she'd be officially notified whether her application was approved. In the meantime, the Colonial and Trade Department had an urgent procurement mission to Goa that needed her.
Since she'd first connected with the Australians, Li Huamei had monopolized the Goa trade license. She brought the Senate various Indian and European merchandise. In 1632, she'd obtained this trade license as usual.
According to Portuguese customary practice in Macau, ships would sail for Goa every January or February. In Goa they'd load woolens, fabrics, Indian printed cotton, cotton and cotton textiles, crystal and glassware, clocks, wine, and other European and Indian goods, then return in April. Along the way they'd pass through Malacca, Siam, Timor, Ceylon, Burma, and other regions, trading as they went—exchanging their cargo for spices, sandalwood, and agarwood in Malacca, for sharkskin and deerskin in Siam, and so on. Traveling in fits and starts, trading along the way, they'd return to Macau sometime between June and August.
But Li Huamei's Goa trade was direct—she didn't trade along the way. The Australians' merchandise demands were for few types but large quantities. For each year's delivery figures, there were strict specifications. For certain goods they needed, they required at least minimum quantities delivered annually, or her trade license would become void the following year. So Li Huamei generally didn't trade at ports along the way. Instead she sailed direct, aiming to make multiple round trips per year, bringing as much cargo to Lingao as possible.
Before departing from Lingao, Li Huamei had unexpectedly run into Director Skade's maid Smida when picking up her supply list at the Colonial Department office in Bopu Harbor. As an important business partner of the Senate, Li Huamei dealt frequently with the Colonial Trade Department, so the two knew each other quite well. This time, Smida had grown quite plump, with a blissfully happy smile, and her dress and hairstyle had become slovenly. Her obviously swelling belly clearly announced to everyone that she was expecting.
A pregnant maid naturally couldn't follow her Chief around everywhere, so Skade had arranged for her to do some paperwork at the Colonial Department office in Bopu. The seaside air was better too, and seafood was fresher—eating more fish was very beneficial for pregnant women.
Then Smida called over Li Qianji, and the three women had dinner and chatted together. Li Qianji was Li Haiping's maid, from the same cohort as Smida—Maid Training Class No. 4. Their dormitory beds had been numbered 111 and 113. They'd been very close from the start.
Due to certain transmigrators' wicked sense of humor, when doing maid registration, they'd discovered there were dozens of maids named Li Wanji. So the Government Office had issued an explicit ban on that name. Among these Li Wanjis, one pretty and clever one ultimately became Li Haiping's maid and was renamed Qianji—"Thousand Concubines." Some quick-eyed transmigrators had changed theirs to Baiji, Shiji, and Yiji ("Hundred," "Ten," and "One" Concubines), and everyone else had to bid farewell to that name.
Li Qianji had discovered she was pregnant shortly after going to Taiwan and had been sent back to Lingao. Li Haiping was Li Huamei's number one fan; Li Qianji had known Li Huamei for a long time. As a personal secretary who'd received rigorous "harem training," on their very first meeting she'd simply called Li Huamei "big sister."
Now the two pregnant women lived together in Li Haiping's officers' quarters at the naval camp in Bopu—quite empty inside. The courtyard had a cafeteria, laundry room, and infirmary, with orderlies to do the cleaning. Nothing to worry about. The Government Office had specifically notified the naval base: the Senate's future was the paramount political task...
Now Li Huamei couldn't remember what the three women had discussed sitting together. In any case, the only feeling that remained was a deep, utterly inescapable discontent. In every era, a woman's jealousy is proportional to how popular her man is, and inversely proportional to the number of her own children.
Three years ago, when Li Huamei first came into contact with the Australians, she'd thought of men as just animals. Now she'd blinked and she was already 26—in this timeline, an out-and-out "old maid." Looking at herself in the mirror: her face had grown rounder, and fine lines had appeared at the corners of her eyes. The stupid Australian man who'd been completely smitten with her back then was now a great figure dominating the China Seas.
Even worse, a bunch of kids nearly ten years younger were about to have babies before her. And her own situation? What was worse than "even worse" was that her aesthetic tastes had somehow, unknowingly, shifted toward fair and tender, slightly plump, tall, with an innocent yet confident smile, short hair...
This life is unbearable. Damn it, I really want a baby...
Angrily she shut the logbook, put away the dip pen and ink, donned her straw hat and the sunglasses Mond had given her, strapped on her curved sword, tightened her belt, and walked out of the captain's cabin.
"Miss, that ship to the northwest seems to have been following us."
"How long?"
"We saw it yesterday too. Didn't see its lights at night. It appeared again today."
"That longship?"
"Yes. This morning it moved further away again, but it's closing now. If we were each going our own way, it should have passed us long ago."
"Mm. Right rudder three. Head out to open sea. If it follows, prepare for battle. Have everyone eat something quickly—doesn't matter if it's cooked or not. Then put out the fires."
"Yes."
...
"Miss, that ship is following!"
"Prepare for battle! Ring the bell! Left rudder five, full sail!... Ah Zhou, take your men and hang the anchor chains on the gunwale!... Carlos, take your men to fetch water and spread sand!... Big Mao, take your men..."
"Damn it, which blind fool dares have designs on this old lady!" she cursed... old... lady?... sigh!
Hangzhou was a small 150-ton two-masted schooner. The pursuing ship looked to be three or four hundred tons, three-masted, with a long, narrow hull. It resembled an English ship—probably a Northern European design. Ships of this type were considerably faster than hers. She still didn't know who was sailing it, but robbery was certainly the intent.
Combat at sea was something Li Huamei feared from no one—except the Australians' big smoke-belching ships. Fortunately, all the captains of those big smoky ships were her admirers. Much of her gear had been gifts from them.
While thinking, Li Huamei removed her sunglasses and carefully stowed them, then put the case in an iron box. No matter what, these glasses absolutely couldn't be lost. From the iron box she took out the two derringer pistols Li Haiping had given her, loaded them with bullets and percussion caps, and tucked them at her waist. From the wall she took down the Barton sword Skade from the Colonial Department had given her, called a "Dory" for some reason. It was said that the Japanese called their mightiest warriors "HeihachirĹŤ," but the Japanese didn't use this kind of straight sword. And what was "Dory" about? Skade had explained: given to Miss Li, it becomes "Dory-Eight-Shields"...
Returning to the quarterdeck, the enemy ship was now only four or five cables away.
"Load the big guns with solid shot, the small guns with chain shot. On my command, prepare to come about. Prepare to beat the war drum..."
"Hey... you lot! Keep a sharp lookout and find out which fool is coming here to die! First one to spot the ensign gets a reward!" Li Huamei stood with one foot on the railing to boost morale, sword in hand, curves on full display, dashing and heroic. Her red headscarf fluttered like a flame in the wind—precisely the sight the crew most wanted to see.
"What reward?"
"Yeah, what reward?"
"A kiss from the miss!"
"A kiss on my thing!"
BANG! A hole had been blasted into the deck between the speaker's legs.
"Sure, I'll kiss it," Li Huamei blew on the gun barrel. "Tonight I'll cut it off for a drinking snack..."
The crowd burst into raucous laughter...
In truth, the old hands were puzzled too. Hangzhou flew both Portuguese and Australian flags. The Spanish and Portuguese naturally wouldn't attack their own ships. Normally the English wouldn't attack ships flying the North Star flag either. The Dutch might have in the past, but they certainly wouldn't now—not unless their East India Company wanted to give up the Hong Kong trade, which was now profitable enough to make the Portuguese green with envy.
"Miss, look—the enemy ship has raised its flag!"
"What flag is it?"
"Looks like Danish. Their East India Company is only about a hundred leagues from here."
"Didn't Denmark make peace with His Majesty?"
"The red-hairs call them something like 'Viking pirates.' Says they've been a pirate nation since ancient times."
"If 'since ancient times' were all it took, what would we need cannons for! Don't care if it's a skeleton demon or a fox spirit—if it comes knocking, it's our fat sheep."
"Who cares what the hell! Prepare to fight!"
(End of Chapter)