Novels online

Chapter 1046: Divine Clock

Zheng Zhihu fixed his gaze, noticing the pale, beardless face. Ah, so this... this was a court official. The Great Ming certainly had a tradition of eunuchs leading grand fleets; weren't Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas proof of that? For such powerful ships, the Emperor wouldn't feel at ease unless a eunuch was overseeing them.

Li Daoxuan: "My identity should not be revealed. Just call me Mr. Li."

Li Daoxuan hadn't uttered a single lie, yet in Zheng Zhihu's mind, he instantly became a powerful figure from the Eastern or Western Depots, a trusted confidant of the Emperor, a junior version of Zheng He.

Zheng Zhihu quickly performed a deep bow: "Your subordinate offers greetings to Mr. Li."

Li Daoxuan: "Why have you come to seek me out? What urgent matter brings you here?"

Zheng Zhihu explained: "Actually, a long time ago, my elder brother heard that a secret imperial fleet had arrived and was stationed on Zhoushan Island, though we didn't know what they were doing. But the Emperor forbade inquiries, so my elder brother deliberately refrained from sending anyone to make contact. This time, however... there's a compelling reason why we had no choice but to come."

Li Daoxuan: "Oh?"

Zheng Zhihu: "Liu Xiang has grown increasingly brazen of late. Many important ports, fishing villages, and merchant fleets along the southeastern coast have been plundered by Liu Xiang's pirate gang."

Li Daoxuan: "You're going to confront Liu Xiang?"

Zheng Zhihu: "Yes! We've already prepared hundreds of ships, ready to fight Liu Xiang to the death. To prevent Liu Xiang from escaping north, we had to come to Zhoushan Island to inform you. If Liu Xiang were to flee north, our forces would pursue relentlessly, which might lead us into Zhoushan Island territory and disturb Mr. Li's tranquility..."

Li Daoxuan understood now. What he said was out of concern for disturbing him, but that wasn't his actual meaning. He truly intended to say: "Our encirclement isn't tight, especially to the north. Liu Xiang might escape that way. So, we'd like to ask for your assistance in encircling Liu Xiang with us; we'll attack from the south, and you from the north."

"Alright!" Li Daoxuan agreed without a moment's hesitation: "When the time comes, I'll dispatch a fleet to block Liu Xiang's escape route to the north. We'll converge from both sides, take out Liu Xiang, and restore peace to these waters."

Zheng Zhihu was overjoyed: "That would be truly excellent."

He hadn't expected this eunuch to be so agreeable, having assumed all eunuchs were greedy and foolish, incapable of strategic planning.

"Oh, right," Zheng Zhihu added, "This time, in coming to see Mr. Li, I brought some local specialties. I completely forgot to present them earlier, how rude of me! I'll have someone bring them out immediately."

At his command, a group of people emerged from the junk ship, carrying many bamboo baskets.

They were carried onto the Wanli Sunshine and placed before Li Daoxuan.

Li Daoxuan looked closely; the term "local specialties" was indeed a polite understatement. These were clearly expensive gifts.

There was a large basket of abalone, each one enormous, premium-grade abalone.

Flower crabs, beltfish, eels, mussels, succulent deep-sea prawns, tiger prawns...

Li Daoxuan's lifelong weakness had been expertly targeted.

Luckily, he was currently a silicone figure, so he couldn't drool. Otherwise, if anyone saw him drooling profusely from the corners of his mouth, it would be certain social ruin, forcing him to relocate to the moon.

Zheng Zhihu apologized: "As seafaring folk, these are the only offerings we have that are presentable. We hope Mr. Li will be understanding."

Li Daoxuan: "Excellent items, they are much to my liking."

He turned to look at the quartermaster on the ship. The quartermaster was from Shaanxi and had seen very little seafood in his life. Fearing he would spoil the Heavenly Lord's divine feast, he quickly said: "Heavenly Lord, different types of shrimp and crab require different cooking temperatures to be delicious. Your subordinate only knows how to prepare common fish and shrimp. For these rare delicacies, I fear I might waste the ingredients."

Li Daoxuan felt a surge of irritation!

Zheng Zhihu chuckled: "My men know how to prepare them. How about I send someone over to make a meal?"

Li Daoxuan was delighted: "That would be excellent."

So, Zheng Zhihu's chef came over. He cooked while teaching, guiding the Wanli Sunshine's quartermaster in the process.

Meanwhile, the sailors outside got to work, setting up a large round table on the deck.

Li Daoxuan, Shi Lang, Wang Zheng, and Zheng Zhihu sat around the table, awaiting their meal.

Wang Zheng, already seated at the table, was still tinkering with his nautical clock. The peculiar large clock caught Zheng Zhihu's eye, making him curious: "And this gentleman is?"

Li Daoxuan smiled and introduced him: "This is Lord Wang Zheng. He previously served as a Judicial Commissioner for Guangping Prefecture in Zhili, Yangzhou Prefecture in Southern Zhili, and as an Assistant Judicial Commissioner in Shandong..."

Zheng Zhihu's eyes widened. This was actually a high-ranking official? Startled, he quickly bowed.

Wang Zheng, however, seemed unfazed, chuckling: "Those are all in the past. This old man has already resigned from office and is now a private citizen. Nowadays, I simply enjoy tinkering with strange and curious things."

Zheng Zhihu: "I've also seen some Western gadgets. This one in your hand, Lord Wang, is it a Western clock?"

Wang Zheng smiled: "Haha, this isn't a Western clock. This is a Divine Clock, bestowed by the immortals of heaven."

Zheng Zhihu was naturally skeptical, but he couldn't openly contradict a high-ranking court official, so he merely remained rigid.

Wang Zheng: "Look here, you operate this clock like so... and then like so... observe these markings... And then, our longitude and latitude are calculated: East Longitude 122.44 degrees, North Latitude 30.01 degrees."

As he spoke, he swiftly produced a hollow copper globe crafted by Gao Family Village artisans. He placed it on the table with a resonant thud.

Wang Zheng's hand moved over the globe, tracing along the lines of longitude and latitude. Finally, he pointed to a spot on the sphere and said, "Look, this is East Longitude 122.44 degrees, North Latitude 30.01 degrees – which is precisely our current location."

Zheng Zhihu had been a bit bewildered by the mentions of east longitude and north latitude. But finally, seeing the globe he had produced, he was slightly taken aback. And then, looking at the spot Wang Zheng was pointing to, he was utterly astonished—a surprise within a surprise.

"What?! Is that really our location?!"

Zheng Zhihu had personally navigated the ships here. As a veteran pirate leader, he naturally knew their position. Comparing it to the spot on the globe, it was a perfect match.

At this, Zheng Zhihu's interest in the "nautical clock" soared instantly.

As a seafarer like him, he understood the clock's inherent value far better than an ordinary person.

Zheng Zhihu trembled with excitement: "This clock, it's so powerful? It can actually calculate our current position? This... this means... with this, we would never get lost at sea, would we?"

Wang Zheng corrected: "Never getting lost might be an exaggeration. It currently has an error margin of five li. Isn't that error enough to cause you to get lost?"

"What? Only five li of error?" Zheng Zhihu had already assumed the device would have some error, but he hadn't expected it to be as small as five li.

Zheng Zhihu spread his hands wide: "A five-li error, for my fleet, is incredibly precise! It's absolutely impossible to get lost with that!"

Wang Zheng: "Oh? Not even five li? People on land, if given wrong directions, would get lost after just one li, let alone five! You seafaring folk are truly formidable, not even bothered by a five-li error."

"A divine artifact! A divine artifact!" Zheng Zhihu exclaimed. "It truly is a Divine Clock bestowed by the immortals of heaven! My heavens, this is extraordinary!"