Chapter 203: Escape from Death

Thinking of this, Lin Baiguang deeply regretted that he had insisted on doing the “Rong work” in the first place. This matter was indeed too unreliable! How could he control this chaotic situation? He had made his wishful calculations over and over again, but he had never expected that changes would always be faster than plans. It didn’t matter if he died—he had always held the belief of “seeking wealth in danger” and “willing to accept defeat in a gamble,” but the reputation he left behind would probably be a negative example of arrogance and self-importance! He would be a laughingstock for the group in Lingao.

But he was not familiar with the terrain and could not get out of the camp at all. Even if he could get out, it would be useless to be at the seaside without a boat.

Just as he was thinking of finding someone to inquire about the current situation, the outside was in a mess. If he rashly ran out of the tent, he would probably be stabbed before he could open his mouth. Just as he was at a loss, someone suddenly rushed in. He took a closer look and saw that it was Xu Cheng.

“Brother Xu!”

“Less talk, follow me quickly.” Xu Cheng dragged him over. “Don’t talk on the way, and act according to my winks.”

“Okay.” Lin Baiguang knew that there was no need to ask more at this time, just follow him. He had already packed his few belongings. The most important thing in a chaotic army was silver, which could buy his life when necessary. The second was dry food and fresh water. He also got himself a small knife as a self-defense weapon.

Xu Cheng led him out of the tent. The camp was in a mess with people running around everywhere. The personal soldiers, family members, and servants were all running around like headless flies, putting out fires, looking for people, bandaging wounds… Crying and shouting in a mess.

Xu Cheng dragged him and ran all the way until they stopped by a wall of the camp. There was a hole in the wall, and five or six people were guarding it.

“You go out from here, go straight north, and Shi Shisi’s boat will be waiting for you there! Get on the boat and go quickly.”

“What about you?” Lin Baiguang was grateful and asked in return.

“I have been with the great shopkeeper Zhu for thirteen years. I can’t do such a thing as escaping for my own life,” Xu Cheng sighed. “And there are seventy or eighty of my brothers. I can’t bear to leave them behind…”

“Take everyone and escape together!”

“If we all run away, the old camp will be finished in an instant! There are also the family members of the great shopkeeper and the leaders here.”

Now the island was in chaos. In order to fight for property and escape boats, they had even begun to kill each other. If the old camp collapsed, none of the women, children, and the elderly inside would be able to escape. Lin Baiguang did not expect that this grumbling little leader could be like this at the last moment, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of respect:

“Brother Xu, you are truly righteous and loyal…”

“Stop talking nonsense and go! When the chaotic soldiers come over in a while, you will be dead too!” Xu Cheng stomped his feet and shouted, and threw a package to him.

“This is a little of my savings. If you can escape with your life, help me give it to my family! The address is on the package!”

Suddenly, the gunpowder magazine of a ship on the sea exploded, and the flames shot up into the sky, with black smoke billowing. Everyone around was pale. Lin Baiguang nodded: “I will not fail my mission!” He tied the package to his body and ran away.

The road had become extremely unsafe, with fires everywhere and adventures everywhere. The road was full of chaotic crowds, waving swords and spears, carrying packages, and running aimlessly. Sometimes two groups of people collided, and they began to hack at each other for no reason.

Lin Baiguang did not dare to linger. He ran in places where there were no people and hid when he saw a large group of people. He finally ran to the gangway by the sea.

He took a closer look and saw that Shi Shisi’s boat was still there. Shi Shisi, with a few strong pirates, armed with bows, arrows, and long spears, stood guard at the bow of the boat. Anyone who tried to seize the boat was shot with an arrow. Even so, the deck of the boat was already full of people.

“Come quickly!” Shi Shisi had sharp eyes. He saw a kūnzéi guy running over and looking around, and knew it was Lin Baiguang. He quickly greeted him and threw down a few ropes to let his men go down to help.

Lin Baiguang finally climbed onto Shi Shisi’s boat. As soon as he got on the deck, he collapsed like mud, panting heavily—this life-and-death run was really too exciting!

“Where’s Old Xu?”

“He refused to come out, saying that there are still the family members of the leaders in the old camp…”

“Alas, this guy is really.” Shi Shisi stomped his feet repeatedly. “He’s just throwing away his life for nothing! The great shopkeeper Zhu can’t even take care of himself!”

“What?”

“Look!” Shi Shisi said as he ordered the sailors to set sail, pointing to the waters east of Nanri Island. Lin Baiguang immediately gasped—a dense mass of sails was constantly appearing on the horizon, rushing towards here, and constantly spewing white smoke. The sea was sometimes covered by thick smoke, and sometimes blown by the sea breeze, revealing the spectacular scene of a thousand sails competing.

In contrast, Zhu Cailao’s fleet, which was arranged along the edge of Nanri Island, seemed very thin.

Anyone could see that Zhu Cailao was bound to be defeated this time. He arranged his formation by the sea, probably to buy some time for the old camp to escape.

“Is this Zheng Zhilong’s fleet?!”

“That’s right, it looks like they’ve come out in full force.”

Zhu Cailao’s fleet, under the constant pressure of the other side, was constantly retreating. Those ships that did not retreat in time were surrounded and swallowed up one by one. The burning warships were paralyzed on the sea, like torches spreading black smoke.

So Zheng Zhilong had so many ships! Lin Baiguang finally understood why the Executive Committee was so afraid of the maritime groups of this time and space. It was really amazing! With just a few rifled cannons and no engines, the other side could really drown you.

Shi Shisi said that they had come out in full force. Lin Baiguang knew very well that Zheng Zhilong had an even bigger opponent, Li Kuiqi. It was impossible for him to bring all his men and ships to the vicinity of Nanri Island. At least he had to leave one-third to half of his strength to guard against Li Kuiqi. Besides, he also had ships doing business on the trade routes—Zheng Zhilong’s strength was really not to be underestimated.

“Brother, if you hadn’t come, I would have had to run away.” Shi Shisi pointed to the nearby sea. “Zheng Zhilong’s ships are closing in. In another hour or so, no one will be able to escape.”

“What about the other brothers?”

“Fatty Hu has already run away with his ships. Lin Dan also followed the main force to attack Min’an. I don’t know how he is…” Most of the people were with Zhu Cailao to attack Min’an, and their life and death were unknown. A small number of people had already run away. Shi Shisi’s experience was quite thrilling. He was on the way to attack Min’an. When Zheng Zhilong and Zhu Cailao’s main forces were fighting at the mouth of the Min River, the fleet he led was fighting with the local braves outside Min’an Town.

The local braves, with the help of the official army’s firearms, and because they were defending their hometown, fought very fiercely. Shi Shisi led his men to land by wading several times, but was beaten back by the local braves. He lost more than forty brothers, and a large ship ran aground in the chaos and had to be abandoned. Three or four small boats were also burned and captured.

“This time it’s a big loss!” Shi Shisi was heartbroken.

Later, he received an order to quickly return to the waters outside the mouth of the Min River to support the main force. As soon as he led his ships out of the mouth of the Min River, he saw Zheng Zhilong’s fleet coming in an endless stream. He knew that his side was no match for them, so he ran away directly from the battlefield.

“If I had run a few steps slower, I wouldn’t have been able to come back!” Shi Shisi probably also felt that he was lucky to be alive.

Lin Baiguang was slightly disappointed. In this chaotic situation, at most he could persuade Shi Shisi to go to Lingao. He didn’t even know the whereabouts of the other leaders, so how could he talk about recruiting them?

Seeing his grave expression, Shi Shisi thought he was worried about his friends and comforted him, “Don’t worry, we’ve already agreed that if we get separated, we’ll meet up near Dadanyu to figure out a way out.”

Lin Baiguang nodded, thinking about how to persuade these disheartened pirate leaders to go to Lingao after arriving at Dadanyu. Just as he was thinking, the young pirates behind him suddenly let out a shout, and then there was a nervous commotion.

Lin Baiguang was startled and looked up. He saw that in the chaos, three three-masted sailing ships of at least two hundred tons rushed up from the side. It looked like they were about to crash into Shi Shisi’s fleet. They were all under full sail and coming at a high speed. The few ships in their path managed to dodge in time and narrowly avoided being hit. But even so, it had already scared Shi Shisi’s men into shouting, “Which bastard is driving the boat!”, “F*ck your mother!”

…

A look of contempt appeared on Shi Shisi’s lips: “This fellow runs away quite fast!”

“Who is it?”

“The same kind of goods as He Xin,” Shi Shisi said. This was a so-called clansman of Zhu Cailao, named Zhu Ting. He didn’t know how he had managed to connect with him through some convoluted relationship. In a Chinese-style family group, the most important thing is blood relationship, even if it is fake. So this newly-minted clansman quickly rose through the ranks in the group and became a leader in the old camp, and was also assigned a large ship. He was considered a trusted backbone.

These three ships did not respond to their curses at all. The three ships with full sails flashed past everyone’s eyes and headed straight for the open sea.

Suddenly, a sailor shouted, “There’s something strange about these ships!”

“What’s so strange?”

“Its hull is very heavy. Could it be loaded with some cargo…”

Zhu Cailao had roamed Fujian and Guangdong for more than ten years and had accumulated countless treasures, gold, and silver. In addition to what was transported back to his hometown, it was heard that the old camp that moved with the army alone had hundreds of iron boxes, which, according to Xu Cheng, were all filled with gold, silver, and jewels.

It was very likely that Zhu Ting’s ships were loaded with these treasures.

Once the old order collapsed, everyone would become unscrupulous in an instant. In the past, Shi Shisi despised people like Zhu Ting, but he was still very polite on the surface. Now that this “royal relative” had lost his status and might be carrying treasures, he was just a big fat sheep!

However, Shi Shisi was unmoved. He only ordered the flag to be raised and told all the ships to head straight for Dadanyu without stopping—he still knew which was more important, money or his life. He could win a fight against Zhu Ting, but the time spent could not be recovered. At that time, when Zheng Zhilong cast his net, no matter how much treasure he had snatched, it would all be for nothing!

The road of escape was still full of dangers. The fleets of various groups and scattered ships fled in all directions. In the next few hours, they encountered such panicked and fleeing ships several more times. Some, like Zhu Ting’s fleet just now, were silent and only cared about escaping; but some were clearly scared out of their wits. As soon as they found a ship blocking their way, they would, regardless of the consequences, fire rockets and cannons, killing several of Shi Shisi’s brothers. This made Shi Shisi curse loudly, and at the same time, he also fired his cannons randomly.

Lin Baiguang sat in the safest place in the sterncastle, watching this chaotic scene of rout, and couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

The battle in the waters of Nanri Island was coming to an end. Zheng Zhilong’s fleet broke through Zhu Cailao’s cover on the flanks, bypassed the bay, and began to blockade Nanri Island and the nearby waters. The small islands around Nanri Island, where Zhu Cailao had originally set up camps and batteries, also raised their surrender flags one after another. Those ships that were still fighting also began to turn around and flee.

At dusk, the Zhu Cailao group, which had been famous since the end of the Wanli reign, was completely wiped out. He himself and the main leaders were all killed in battle.

The news of Zhu Cailao’s final demise was first transmitted to Lingao from Zhang Dabala. Seeing Zhu Cailao’s rout from Min’an, Zhang Dabala sent a pigeon and then hurried to the vicinity of Zheng Zhilong’s old lair, Zhongzuosuo, to inquire about the news. In a few days, he saw on the sea near Zhongzuosuo. Sure enough, he heard that Zhu Cailao had been killed on Nanri Island, and his entire army was wiped out. His ships and men were either scattered or incorporated by Zheng Zhilong.

Zhang Dabala knew that this news was extremely important to the Australians. He did not dare to be negligent and hurriedly hired a fast boat to return to Guangzhou overnight to report the news.

“Lin Baiguang, that fool! He threw away his life for nothing!” Ran Yao saw the urgent telegram from the Guangzhou station and slammed the table hard. He couldn’t help but feel a little sad. After all, he was a comrade. He walked around the office a few times. Although Lin Baiguang was dead, his plan to expand the navy by recruiting pirates still had to be carried out.

However, before that, he had to do one more thing. He made a phone call to Bopu: “Old Di? Let’s do it.”

He Xin was arrested in his suite at the merchant’s hall. Then a hood was put over his head and he was taken away through a secret passage. He was locked up in a secret location. Ren Fu was immediately taken away from his house arrest in Bopu to keep He Xin company. As for the sailors, they were called ashore under the pretext of “watching a Japanese movie” and were all sent to the quarantine camp. No force was used during the process.

The Executive Committee and the navy had not had high hopes for Lin Baiguang’s plan to recruit the entire establishment. They had long formulated a plan to “recruit the exiles” after Zhu Cailao’s demise. They were prepared to send out some ships disguised as merchant ships or fishing boats to the waters of Fujian and Guangdong to recruit them.

Shi Shisi’s fleet finally reached Dadanyu without any danger. Dadanyu was just a bare rocky island with no permanent population. But there was fresh water available on the island, and there was a harbor to shelter from the wind, so it was no problem to stay there temporarily. Under Shi Shisi’s command, only eight ships, large and small, escaped. The loss was almost two-thirds. Much of the gold and silver he had accumulated over the years had also sunk with the ships, which made Shi Shisi curse his mother in pain.

Here at Dadanyu, Fatty Hu had already arrived with his five ships. Because he had seen the opportunity early and was the first to run away, he was unscathed and had no casualties.

Then, some more ships came one after another, and Lin Dan also came. He only had four ships left. When he saw Shi Shisi, he shed tears—several of his brothers had all been killed in the naval battle. As for his family, they were trapped on Nanri Island, and their life and death were unknown. As soon as he got on Shi Shisi’s ship, he came to ask if there was any news.

“Did the old camp finally escape?”

“Probably not,” Shi Shisi said. “When I left, the ships of the old camp were still on the shore and hadn’t moved. The big boss was leading his men to fight desperately on the shore, probably to let the old camp escape—at that time, Zheng Zhilong’s ships had already surrounded them. I almost didn’t escape myself.”

After hearing this, Lin Dan’s face turned gray, and he had no interest in speaking.

Among the dozen or so leaders who had drunk and gambled with Lin Baiguang, half were either dead in battle or their whereabouts were unknown. However, the remaining people and other scattered ships that had come to Dadanyu to rest and reorganize had actually gathered more than a hundred ships.

But Dadanyu was a deserted island with no grain. The ships had fled in a hurry, and even if there was some grain on board, it would not last for a few days. There were more than a hundred ships, with nearly a thousand men, women, old and young. It was not a long-term solution to be crowded in such a small place. All the groups were discussing what to do next.

Right now, their choices were nothing more than: to seek refuge with a certain maritime force, such as the “big bosses” Zheng Zhilong, Li Kuiqi, or Liu Xiang, or to burn their ships and go ashore to hide for the time being.

As for who to seek refuge with, everyone had different opinions, and for a time, no one could persuade anyone else. But most people were not willing to take this road. After this great battle, they had lost soldiers and generals—without strength, they would not be taken seriously if they sought refuge, and at that time, they would be cannon fodder.

As for the idea of starting their own business, it was not that no one had thought of it, but there were few ships and many leaders here, and no one had enough prestige. Everyone simply could not recommend a leader to take control of the overall situation.

After the rout, there was no source of grain or pay. Although each family had brought out some accumulated property, it was a drop in the bucket for regrouping.

Lin Baiguang had been silent all along. Instead of raising it now and being met with endless doubts and opposition, it was better to speak when they were at their wit’s end and had nowhere to go. It could often be a final word.

They discussed for two days like this, but there was no result. Dadanyu had nothing but limited fresh water, and even firewood was insufficient. If they continued to discuss, everyone would run out of food. That night, Fatty Hu finally couldn’t bear it anymore and announced that he was going ashore.

“I’m not doing this business anymore. I’ll just wash my feet and go ashore! For the past ten years, I’ve been living in fear. I’ve made tens of thousands of taels of silver. I’ll just eat, drink, and be a rich man waiting to die.”

These words resonated with many people. Some who only had one or two ships left were also thinking about this. Almost all of them had accumulated a certain amount of property, and when they were prosperous in the past, they had entrusted people to set up many properties in their hometowns. It was not a problem to go back and collect rent and live as a rich man.

After a major defeat, people’s hearts are often disheartened, and the thought of retirement gains the upper hand.