Chapter 388 - Breaking Free

"Surrender and live!" As marines shouted the ultimatum, people began staggering out from below deck and behind cargo piles, one by one kneeling dejectedly on deck to await judgment. Ruan Xiaowu ordered them all bound and sent ashore for transport to Lingao for interrogation.

A search below deck revealed many bound captives—the ship's original sailors and merchants. Ruan Xiaowu didn't bother distinguishing friend from foe; he ordered them all sent to Lingao as well. These unfortunates trembled, not knowing which new band of heroes had captured them now.

Ruan Xiaowu led his men to search one level deeper. The hold below was packed with cargo. The pirates evidently hadn't had time to steal much—besides, their primary targets were valuables; heavy goods like porcelain held no interest for them. Though the hold had been ransacked, most of its contents remained.

"So many good things," several marines whispered among themselves. From their first day of enlistment, "all captured goods belong to the collective; no hiding spoils; no looting civilian property" had been drilled into them constantly as iron discipline. They knew violations brought terrible consequences. Yet even so, with vast wealth before them, temptation stirred naturally. The young cadet's face, however, remained impenetrable and impartial; the soldiers dared think no further. Such was the power of officer leadership by example.

"Seal all hatch entries," Ruan Xiaowu ordered, then arranged for corpse and scattered cargo collection while awaiting reinforcement personnel to take over.

Chen Haiyang was delighted upon receiving the report. The recent maritime suppression campaign had been charity work without profit—just battered small boats and ragged prisoners. Now, hearing they'd found such a windfall—a four-to-five-hundred-ton Guangdong ship fully loaded with cargo—he immediately dispatched the rarely-used Type 67 landing craft, delivering a marine company and three cannons to guard against anyone attempting to seize the prize.

Wen Desi, hearing about the large ship, found himself unable to focus on his mountain of administrative work. Using the pretext of helping refloat the vessel, he organized a work team and departed with the landing craft. Naturally, Planning Committee personnel came aboard as well—there to register and receive spoils. Planning Committee people were now called "omnipresent vultures." This particular vulture was a young man named Sun Xiao. He wore black native-cloth work clothes with a red armband bearing an archaic-script "Planning" character, and carried the Planning Committee's personnel-issue native-cloth satchel—larger than Army and Navy versions, able to hold more ledgers and loose-leaf paper. Embroidered on it in red: "Planning Committee Exclusive."

"Five-masted ship!" When the Guangdong vessel came into view, Wen Desi couldn't help slapping the armrest. This was his first time seeing such a large Chinese sea vessel in person. Where else would such ships appear in Lingao waters? The prize was enormous.

Zhan Wuya was equally startled by the massive wooden hull: "At least three hundred tons!"

"You're underestimating. This ship's displacement is five to six hundred tons." Wen Desi had researched the subject extensively.

"Traditional Chinese wooden ships could be built this large?"

"The mythical ten-thousand-ton wooden ships some boast about couldn't be built. But among common Chinese sea vessels, Spanish records mention eight-hundred-ton sailing ships coming to Manila for trade. Five-to-six-hundred-ton ships aren't rare."

The landing craft rendezvoused with Patrol Boat 101 beside the sandbar. Yue Lin had been waiting anxiously. Seeing Director Wen had personally come, he hurried to report.

"No rush—first tell me about the patrol boat's performance." This was his patrol boat design's first combat trial. Wen Desi wanted front-line personnel's direct feedback.

"Very good."

"Very good?" Wen Desi thought this feedback rather sparse, though it at least indicated no major problems.

"Any issues?"

"Well—" Yue Lin couldn't immediately think of specifics; the after-action review hadn't been held yet.

"The machine gun overheats too quickly. After less than ten drums, the wooden stock nearly caught fire."

"That shouldn't happen." Wen Desi knew the troops' Minié rifles could fire fifteen or twenty consecutive rounds without overheating. One barrel overheating after ten rounds seemed excessive.

"Absolutely true. Also, tremendous vibration, no accuracy, chaotic trajectory. Power's decent though."

"Possible." Zhan Wuya examined the typewriter. Two shooters were disassembling the cooled barrels one by one, cleaning each thoroughly. Paper cartridges' major drawback was the heavy residue they left in the barrel.

"Bundled barrels with no cooling devices, fixed directly together, make heat dissipation even harder."

"Submit a report to the Industrial Committee Weapons Group when you're back. See about adding heat sinks or something." Wen Desi wasn't particularly interested in multi-barrel guns. In his view, using stockpiled spring components to produce a Maxim machine gun would be child's play—this retro-style contraption existed only because mass-producing metal cartridges remained an unsolved problem.

"How's the rigging?"

"Turning is agile. Director Wen, your design is excellent." Yue Lin had learned to flatter leadership.

Patrol Boat 101 had performed well overall in combat—hull and deck equipment sustained no major damage; casualties were minimal. Combat intensity had been light, of course; after all, pirates lacked the determination for a fight to the death. But this matched its design intent perfectly.

As for the prize, Yue Lin reported that the entire ship had been searched—living and dead alike removed.

"...Prisoners have been transported away, corpses thrown overboard. The ship still holds plenty of cargo; we have no vessel available for unloading at the moment. Perhaps we should wait for the ship to float and sail it directly?"

"The cargo must be unloaded, or the ship won't float." Wen Desi checked his watch, then studied the sea. High tide now—the sandbar completely submerged—yet the ship remained grounded, motionless. Obviously, without unloading, tidal force alone was hopeless.

"Let's circle the ship."

Several people rowed a sampan around the large vessel. The bow was grounded on the sandbar, deeply embedded—apparently the panicked helmsman had rammed it straight on.

"Looks deeply stuck. Won't float without external force." Wen Desi assessed.

Meng De said: "It's not that simple. The bow, struck with such force, must have damage. See how it's listing? We must pump out water and repair compartments first."

He scanned the sea, then the slightly tilted hull: "Currently we have two options to free it: wait for the next highest tide and use ships to tow it off the shallows; or use flotation barrels to lift it."

"We have plenty of iron barrels, but they're all in use by various departments. We'd need to ask everyone to empty them." Zhan Wuya hesitated—actually, the Industrial Committee's departments were the primary users.

"Go with option one. Leaving it here invites trouble." Wen Desi looked worriedly at this floating fortune.

"How badly is the ship damaged?" Sun Xiao asked. Planning Committee people always fussed over costs and outputs—perhaps a consequence of their mostly accounting backgrounds.

"I don't think it's too badly damaged. The rigging is a total loss, but all masts remain intact. We can patch up the sails—they don't need to be perfect, just functional. It'll be slower, but it can still move. If too slow, Landing Craft 67 can tow it."

"That's a lot of work." Zhan Wuya surveyed the enormous hull.

"No problem. Get me Chen Haiyang on the radio."

Chen Haiyang, hearing the ship held valuable cargo, immediately agreed to send additional ships and sailors to lighter the cargo. Necessary equipment and technicians would also come aboard.

The highest tide would arrive at night. Wen Desi decided to begin preparations immediately. Marines from the landing craft climbed aboard and quickly assembled a hoist crane on deck, then lifted cannons, ammunition, and related supplies to the ship. Wen Desi and the others also came aboard.

The deck had already been cleared by Ruan Xiaowu's detail. Marines mounted cannons on the stern castle and erected a tent on deck as a temporary command post for Wen Desi's group.

After the reinforcement ships arrived, over a hundred marines worked five hours to unload the hold, using the crane to transfer cargo to waiting sailing ships below and lighten the hull. The ship held not only abundant common export goods—porcelain, silk, medicinal herbs—but also cheaper bulk items like coarse pottery, ironware, and tinware. Transport ships made several trips to offload two-thirds of the cargo. The remaining third, Wen Desi planned to use as ballast during the refloating operation.

While inspecting the hull, Meng De found two seams with cracks on the port side near the wales. Fortunately, the ship listed slightly to starboard, keeping the openings above the waterline. Spare shipbuilding materials were aboard; Meng De had shipyard workers seal the gaps on-site.

Further inspection of hull and bilge revealed no serious grounding damage. The bottom had taken on water, but not deeply. Only the bow was embedded deeply in sand—extractable only at highest tide.

After the internal inspection, Meng De swam down to feel for the exact gap location and determine whether the keel was damaged.

"There's a gap below. Not large." Meng De emerged from the standing water in the bilge, gasping heavily. "We must pump dry before patching. We'll pump immediately when the tide falls."

So the pump was hoisted from a sailing ship. This manually-operated device was worked in rotation by marines, quickly draining the water. Several shipyard workers immediately began repairs—they had to finish before the rising tide.

Eventually all gaps were patched. Then came rigging cleanup. The five masts remained intact; only the rigging had been destroyed in the fierce boarding battle. They salvaged one usable sail, patching it with remaining sail fragments and available materials.

All that remained was figuring out how to free the ship. Unfortunately, strait tides didn't rise particularly high...

Wen Desi ordered marines to move the remaining cargo—ironware, coarse pottery, spare provisions—all to the stern, weighting it down to help tip the bow out of the sand.

Finally, steel cables were attached to the ship, with the other ends secured to Landing Craft 67. At high tide, using seawater's buoyancy combined with the landing craft's towing power, they would pull the ship off the shallows.

By the time these preparations were complete, it was midnight. Everyone was exhausted. The wind was slackening; several former military men observed cloud formations and detected strengthening wind ahead.

"That's good. We'll raise sails and borrow some wind power." Meng De said. "Let's rest now. Heavy work ahead."

Sleeping directly on deck was impossible—wind was picking up and, adding insult to injury, rain began to fall. Everyone had to spend the night in the ransacked stern castle—quarters intended for the ship's officers that pirates had thoroughly rifled through. Everyone lay fully clothed on cabin floors. Yue Lin's flotilla took the night watch.

In the small hours, the dozing Wen Desi suddenly felt the ship shift.

"High tide's here! Everyone up!"

They watched long, low waves roll in one after another as the sandbar gradually disappeared. Refloating time was approaching. Anxiety filled every heart; everyone was overly tense. No one spoke; all awaited orders.

Wen Desi had descended to the landing craft, intently observing tidal patterns. He glanced uneasily at the two taut, straining steel cables.

"Raise sails!" Wen Desi called to Meng De on the big ship's deck via walkie-talkie. "Watch the windward face!"

The hastily-patched sail rose on the mainmast. "Hardtop sails raise fast"—before Wen Desi finished the thought, four o'clock arrived: tide at maximum height. This was the instant between rising and falling. They had to act now—no more delay!

"Full power!" Wen Desi shouted.

Landing Craft 67's engines immediately pushed output to maximum. Rows of indicator lights on the control panel flashed wildly.

Aboard the large ship, the sail shuddered in the strong wind, making tearing sounds. Meng De noticed the patched areas already showing cracks. Hopefully they'd hold until the ship floated.

Wind's force, tide's action, plus landing craft towing. The large ship's hull seemed to move slightly, emitting creaking sounds.

"Ship's moving." Meng De, wearing a rain jacket, sheltered the walkie-talkie against his chest and shouted.

"Good—tell everyone to be careful." Wen Desi's voice came through the walkie-talkie mixed with the engine's tremendous roar. Meng De couldn't help peering at the landing craft's lights in the distance, bobbing amid the waves.

Water rose more powerfully, swelling around the hull, pushing outward. People felt the hull shuddering several times, seemingly about to float.

Wind blew harder. Meng De heard mast creaking and rigging shrieking. Rain blinded him.

"Ship's floating! More power!" he shouted into the walkie-talkie.

"Already overloaded—"

Suddenly a gust struck. The hull lurched violently; the sail emitted a sharp scream.

"No!" Meng De knew the sail had torn. Indeed, a huge black shadow crashed down upon him, immediately knocking him unconscious.

But in that same instant, the ship had borrowed that final gust to break free, rocking violently on the water. The taut steel cables emitted terrifying whistles. For a moment, Wen Desi's legs went weak aboard the landing craft.

The ship finally stabilized in the wind and rain, and under landing craft towing, departed the sandbar. By daybreak, the flotilla returned to Bo-pu. When this unprecedented Chinese five-masted sailing ship was towed into harbor, transmigrators on shore erupted in excitement. Many came to gawk.

Meng De was sent to Bo-pu's clinic. Suspecting fractures, they rushed him by vehicle to Bairren General Hospital for X-rays. After consultation, Hippo announced that Meng De's life wasn't in danger: two broken ribs plus mild concussion. The safety helmet had saved him—otherwise his skull wouldn't have survived. After examination, Zhang Ziyi gave him a sedative injection, and he slept.

"Now I've lost a key captain and instructor." Chen Haiyang lamented the heavy toll. Meng De would be out for months.

"No real loss—you gained a big ship." Wen Desi said. "Repair and modify it, and it could become a capital sailing ship."

Complete cargo inventory took forty-eight hours. Seeing the thick ledgers Sun Xiao brought, Ma Qianzhu felt they'd hit a genuine windfall. The cargo was not only voluminous but varied—especially daily necessities, which would greatly help address Lingao's current consumer goods shortage.

But the cargo's organization was strange: items weren't sorted and stacked by category, but different merchandise mixed together in piles, with various bamboo tags bearing names attached. The cargo apparently belonged to different merchants.

"Besides the shipowner, multiple merchants evidently rented cargo space." Ma Qianzhu studied the name tags piled on the desk.

"If they're still alive, confiscating their cargo seems wrong." Sun Xiao said.

Ma Qianzhu was unconcerned: "Probably all dead. Ownerless property belongs to the finder."

But facts proved Ma Qianzhu had celebrated too soon. Just as he was wielding a calculator against mountains of departmental requisition forms to calculate allocations, Ran Yao slipped in.

"Director Ma, there's a complication."

"What?"

"During prisoner interrogation, we discovered quite a few of the ship's merchants are still alive."

"Really!" Ma Qianzhu involuntarily paused his pen. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He deliberately placed the pen on its jade holder and said: "Hard to say—nine out of ten are probably pirates impersonating merchants..."

"No—we found a passenger manifest on the ship, with customer names, cargo quantities, and types. Cross-verification confirmed its accuracy."

According to the Political Security Bureau investigation, this ship had been built by a Hai-surnamed gentry from Qiongshan County. Besides his own cargo, the ship carried thirty-eight merchants, each with their own goods.

(End of Chapter)