Chapter 146: Three Men in a Play

The soft starlight gazed upon the figure within the palace walls, occasional laughter adorned the quiet night.

Wuqiu Island.

Zheng He was taking a rest on the island when suddenly, footsteps approached. Zheng He opened his eyes, reaching for a steel blade beside the bed.

Thud, thud!

“Vice Admiral, there’s movement.”

Li Xing stood outside the door, calling out in a low voice.

Zheng He acknowledged with a sound and got out of bed, hastily walking out. He asked, “Where are Commander Zhu Neng and Zhang Yu?”

“They’ve already gone to check.”

Li Xing solemnly replied.

Zheng He hurriedly walked toward the coast and inquired, “What’s happening?”

Li Xing looked towards the distant sea and said, “A ship is approaching. We don’t know if it’s Japanese pirates or our own people.”

Zheng He boarded a boat, and the soldiers raised the anchor. The boat set sail towards the south. Before long, they saw four warships surrounding a small boat. The warships were brightly lit, illuminating the sea.

On the small boat stood three scruffy pirates, hands raised high, shouting, “We are envoys. In times of war between nations, envoys should not be harmed.”

Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng transferred to a smaller boat and boarded Zheng He’s vessel.

“They are envoys sent by Chen Zuyi,” Zhang Yu spat and explained to Zheng He.

“Bring them up,” Zheng He ordered after a moment of contemplation.

Before long, the three pirates came on board, and, looking at Zheng He sitting there, they couldn’t help but inhale deeply.

This guy was robust, not someone easy to deal with.

“Speak,” Zheng He said coldly to the three pirates.

The lead pirate, Chen Hong, took out a letter from his pocket, raised it above his head, and said, “We, by order of the King of Palembang, have come to pay our respects to the Ming Navy. This is a letter from the king.”

A soldier took the letter, carefully inspected it, found no issues, and then passed it to Zheng He.

Opening the letter, Zheng He scanned Chen Hong and then read the letter. The more he read, the more excited he became. After finishing, he slapped his thigh and laughed heartily, “Very good, very good indeed. Quickly, arrange a feast to entertain these three brothers.”

“Huh?”

Both Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were stunned, and the other soldiers were also in a daze.

Shouldn’t they be ordering the drawing of swords now, chopping off the heads of these three?

Arrange a feast?

For these destitute pirates?

“What are you standing around for? Go!” Zheng He got angry when he saw that everyone was not moving.

With no other choice, they had to prepare a feast.

Zheng He walked toward the three pirates, tucked the letter into his bosom, and said, “Rest assured, as long as your king’s words are true, then we are friends. As for the past, hehe, let’s not mention it. Enjoy your food and drinks, and I will reply to your king’s letter immediately.”

The three pirates were instantly delighted, not expecting that the seemingly robust Zheng He was actually lacking in intelligence.

Since that was the case, the matter was easily handled.

“Commander Zhang, Commander Zhu, treat them as your own, take good care of them. Also, do not hinder them from going wherever they want. Rest assured, no one will harm you,” Zheng He instructed before heading to the cabin at the bow of the ship.

Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng exchanged glances, reluctantly agreeing.

The three pirates were full of joy, eating meat and drinking wine with great interest, and even ordering the other people. After a quarter of an hour, seeing that the soldiers assigned to watch them were dozing off, Chen Hong found an excuse and slipped out of the room.

There weren’t many people on the deck, and even the sentinels were asleep.

“This is the invincible Ming Navy? Hah, nothing more than this.”

Chen Hong looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he quietly approached the bow of the ship.

“Vice-admiral, this is clearly a trap set by Chen Zuyi! How can we believe it?” Zhang Yu glared.

“Yeah, such a clumsy surrender, we absolutely cannot fall for it!” Zhu Neng loudly protested.

The eavesdropping Chen Hong couldn’t help but be surprised. It seemed that the Ming Dynasty still had capable people who had actually seen through Boss Chen’s plan. If that were the case, the deception would have failed.

“Deception? Trap? I think you two are confused!”

Zheng He slapped the table and stood up, his voice like a resounding bell, saying, “What kind of thing is Chen Zuyi? What qualifications does he have for deception? What kind of trap can there be? We have been chasing and killing all the way, unstoppable. Chen Zuyi has suffered heavy losses, and now, in desperate straits, he surrenders. Why would it not be believable?”

Zhang Yu argued, “Chen Zuyi has only lost so few people, and he wants to surrender? Such losses are just a drop in the bucket for him. How could he go down the path of surrender?”

“Commander Zhang! Our Great Ming Navy is invincible. In the past three months, we have slaughtered thousands of Japanese pirates and sea pirates, already intimidating all sides! Chen Zuyi knows he’s doomed in battle, and he has lost all will to fight. Now he seeks surrender. Is our mighty Great Ming afraid to accept it?”

Zheng He sternly questioned.

Zhang Yu gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Zhu Neng objected, “Vice admiral, I think this is absolutely not feasible. Our fleet has only this manpower, and Chen Zuyi’s momentum is immense. What if there is deception among them? Wouldn’t it be…”

“There is no ‘what if’!” Zheng He stubbornly insisted, shouting at Zhu Neng, “With the might of our Great Ming Navy, what trap cannot be broken? In the vast sea, what trap can there be? The matter of surrender is decided by me. No one can stop me, Zheng He, from establishing this millennial merit!”

“You, a eunuch, are disregarding the safety of the entire navy for the sake of merit?”

Zhang Yu was furious.

Bang!

Zheng He overturned the table, glared at Zhang Yu, and shouted, “It’s true that I’m a eunuch, but don’t forget, you used to be the Yuan Dynasty’s Head of Bureau of Military Affairs! If it weren’t for the kindness of the Ming accepting you, your head would have been on a flagpole long ago! A surrendered general actually opposes my surrender? Don’t you find it ridiculous?”

“You!”

Zhang Yu clenched his fist, unable to contain his anger.

Zheng He sneered, saying, “I’ll tell you, Chen Zuyi surrendered to me. In the future, no one among you can claim credit! Whoever opposes again is violating military orders and will be executed!”

Hearing this, Chen Hong, who was eavesdropping outside, couldn’t help feeling secretly delighted. As the sound of voices got closer, he quickly left the bow of the ship and returned to the banquet.

Zhu Neng opened the door, scanned the corridor, and then returned to the room. Looking at Zheng He and Zhang Yu, who had already picked up the table and packed up their things, the originally gloomy and angry expression on his face slowly faded, replaced by a relaxed smile. He said softly, “Is it all right now?”

Zheng He sat down, pointed to Chen Zuyi’s letter, and said, “Get ready. This time, we can’t let Chen Zuyi escape!”

Zhang Yu rubbed his face, solemnly saying, “He wants to devour us, but why wouldn’t we want to devour them? He thinks we are a big fish, hehe, no, we are the sea dragon in the sea, the giant crocodile that devours people.”

Zheng He nodded slightly, saying, “Still cannot be careless. We are not familiar with the Penghu channel. Arrange for someone to go and gather information about the Penghu channel.”

At this moment, Li Xing knocked on the door and entered. After bowing, he said with joy, “Just now, someone from Pinghai garrison brought news. Li Jinglong has led his fleet to Kinmen Island, ready to support the navy and annihilate Chen Zuyi.”

Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng’s eyes were filled with joy.

Zheng He stood up, and with a deep voice, he said, “Send people to divide into two groups, land and water groups. Urgently inform Li Jinglong to arrive at the Penghu channel by the tenth day of May at hour of Xu^[1]19.00-20.00!”

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