Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 227 Escape to Zhongzuo Suo

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Wang Qinian, who was prone to seasickness, disembarked feeling dizzy and disoriented. After looking around, he was surprised and exclaimed, "Where is this? What a huge island!"

Liang Dong followed behind, looked around, and was also surprised. "This... isn't this Kinmen Island?"

Wang Qinian asked with suspicion, "Isn't Kinmen Island the Zheng family's territory? Why are they setting up their fleet here? Aren't they afraid of being exposed?"

Liang Dong grabbed the foreman in charge of the transfer as he passed by: "Brother, have we arrived in Kinmen? Aren't there Zheng's fleets here? Aren't we afraid of being exposed if we anchor here?"

The foreman chuckled and said, "Brother, you don't understand. This is called 'the darkest place under the lamp.' Zheng Zhilong would never guess that we're hiding right under his nose. Besides, the closest way to attack Zheng Zhilong is from Kinmen. The place where we're currently anchored is called Liaoluo Bay, which is in the southeast of Kinmen Island. We won't be easily discovered, and it's less than twenty miles from Zhongzuo Port. As for Zheng's fleet, because the Fujian governor has mobilized troops to deal with us, they've all been transferred to Zhongzuo Port. Now, there's no one else on Kinmen Island except us and the red-haired bastards."

Liang Dong suddenly realized what was going on, gave a few perfunctory words, and stepped aside.

Wang Qinian overheard their conversation. After the underling left, he pulled Liang Dong aside to a quiet corner and whispered to him, "It looks like this is their temporary stronghold for attacking Zhongzuo. As long as we find a way to escape to the other side and tell the general this, we'll have accomplished our mission."

Liang Dong nodded: "Mr. Wang is right. If we want to escape, we should do it tonight. Right now, all the managers' men have just arrived, and it's bound to be chaotic, with no one to count the heads. Once the big boss, Liu Xiang, summons all the managers to assign tasks tomorrow, it will be inconvenient for us to leave."

Wang Qinian asked cautiously, "Won't the absence of the two of us alert Liu Xiang?"

Liang Dong chuckled: "Mr. Wang, you overestimate our importance. You weren't even on the list for this recruitment, and I'm just a nobody. After the war, those managers and leaders probably won't even remember us."

Liu Xiang's various managers didn't usually gather together. Apart from a few core members, the rest ran their own businesses. Now that they were all in one place, some friction was inevitable as they searched for a better sheltered spot. Pirates had no discipline, and whoever had the bigger fist got to call the shots. Sometimes, Liu Xiang had to personally intervene to mediate. The entire day passed in noise and friction.

As night fell, the pirates, who had been making a ruckus all day, finally fell into a deep sleep. Except for a few night owls who were still drinking and gambling, most of the ships disappeared into the darkness.

A small sampan quietly emerged from the edge of the fleet; it was Wang Qinian and Liang Dong. They carefully avoided the boats with their lights on and headed west—towards Zhongzuo.

A dense array of boats were moored along the shore, stretching endlessly, with occasional lights shining on the sea, illuminating the path for the two men.

Although Liang Dong knew that pirates were less vigilant at night—naval battles at night were dangerous in this era, and in most cases, the attacking side would not choose to fight at night—he still carefully avoided making too much noise and alerting the people on the ship.