“Report, leaders, the lead ship hit a submerged log, it tore a big hole in the hull. The ships behind thought we were under attack and stopped abruptly. Our fleet had just picked up speed, and with so many ships, stopping all at once wasn’t easy, so some collided.”
A pirate ran from the deck into the cabin, dropping to one knee to report to Xu Hai and the others.
“Useless! What are the people on the lead ship even doing, missing a huge log in the river like that!” Ma Ye bellowed, his mood already sour.
“Well, uh, I heard the log was half-floating, half-sunk in the river, not easy to spot unless you’re looking closely,” the pirate explained quietly. He had a close bond with someone on the lead ship, a life-and-death friendship, and didn’t want him implicated.
“Not easy to spot unless you’re looking closely?! That just means you weren’t careful enough!” Ma Ye shouted even louder.
“Brother Ma, calm down. You, come here, I’ve got a question. What did that log the lead ship hit look like, was it freshly cut?” Xu Hai, alerted by the report, stood up and pressed the pirate with questions.
“Leader, it wasn’t a freshly cut tree, it was an ebony log that’s been sunk in the water for who knows how many years. For some reason, it only floated up these past couple of days, pitch black,” the pirate shook his head, answering honestly.
Hearing it wasn’t freshly cut, Xu Hai eased his suspicions and sat back down, relieved.
“A pitch-black log?! Haha, then the lead ship really hit the jackpot! When I was an apprentice to an old carpenter, I learned ebony’s valuable, about one tael of ebony for one tael of silver. A log that thick has got to be worth at least a thousand taels, heh. Sure, they’ve got a hole in their ship now, but they’ve stumbled into a nice windfall, it’s a good omen, the heavens are smiling on us,” Chen Dong laughed heartily, seeing it as a morale booster.
“Damn it, lucky them,” Ma Ye muttered after hearing Chen Dong, pursing his lips. He knew it could lift spirits, much like how emperors loved hearing about auspicious signs and couldn’t wait to announce them to the world.
Their raid on Suzhou had been a disaster, their pirates’ morale was low, this was a chance to give it a boost.
They might not encounter phoenixes or qilins, but an ebony log worth a thousand taels was a rare good sign for them.
“Fine, since Brother Chen and Brother Ma both say so, we’ll let them off this time. They were supposed to scout the river carefully as the lead ship, but they messed up, causing the fleet to collide. I was going to punish them harshly,” Xu Hai nodded, sparing the lead ship’s crew. He’d originally intended to come down hard on them.
Grace and severity together were the timeless way to command men.
After the Suzhou failure, grace was off the table, so severity was all they had left, but this time, the crew got lucky.
Soon, word spread through the fleet that Xu Hai, Chen Dong, and Ma Ye were rewarding the lead ship with the ebony log, and the lead ship erupted in earth-shaking cheers. That heavy, thick ebony log could net each of them ten or so taels of silver, how could they not be thrilled?
This Suzhou trip had cost them many comrades with little to show for it, this windfall was a decent prize.
At least it put their haul ahead of ninety-nine percent of their fellow pirates.
The other ships’ crews envied their dumb luck.
The original lead ship, with a gaping hole in its hull, was patched up with boards to stop the water, but it couldn’t be sailed anymore. It needed proper repairs back at base, so for now, it was tied with ropes to another ship to be towed back to their Tolin lair, its crew dispersed among the other vessels.
The role of lead ship was handed to another.
Before long, the pirate fleet set sail again.
“Damn it, I’m so jealous of Hei Teng and his crew, hitting an ebony log like that, their luck’s unreal. Wonder if we’ll get that kind of dumb luck,” a burly pirate on the new lead ship grumbled enviously.
“Heh, Hei Niu, quit daydreaming. Finding one ebony log in this river is a once-in-a-century event, and you think we’ll hit another? You think ebony logs are as common as roadside radishes, just waiting to be stumbled over? Stop dreaming,” the other pirates on the ship laughed and mocked Hei Niu for his wild imagination.
“Damn it, you’ve got to have dreams, right? What if we get lucky too and hit an ebony log? We’re all rotten pirates here, no one’s better than the next, no reason Hei Teng’s sorry lot gets the luck and we don’t!” Hei Niu spat into the river, retorting defiantly, his greedy eyes fixed on the water.
As the pirate fleet moved along the river, plenty of pirates like Hei Niu kept their eyes peeled on the water.
Many across the ships were watching the river, hoping to stumble into the same dumb luck as Hei Teng’s crew.
But clearly, they weren’t that fortunate, they reached Kunshan without spotting a second ebony log.
At Kunshan, the river took a near ninety-degree turn northward. The lead ship slowed to make the turn, and the rest of the fleet followed suit, reducing speed and turning gradually.
The turn bunched the fleet up at the bend, causing a slight jam.
Hei Niu, still greedy, hadn’t given up staring at the river ahead. Suddenly, a black shape caught his eye, and his adrenaline surged.
“Ebony log, another ebony log! Look, everyone, look ahead, isn’t that an ebony log?!” Hei Niu shouted excitedly, pointing at the dark shape, his eyes gleaming with greed.
His yell instantly drew the attention of everyone on the lead ship, all eyes following his pointing hand.
“Holy crap, it does look like a sunken log, not sure if it’s ebony though,” the others on the ship spotted the half-floating, half-sunk wood in the river ahead, growing excited themselves.
“Quick, quick, what are you waiting for? Haul it up, let’s see if it’s ebony, if it is, we’ve hit the jackpot too! Haha, back at the lair, we’ll have enough to party with some pirate girls for a few nights!” Hei Niu drooled with excitement as the crew sprang into action, tossing out hooks and ropes to drag the log aboard.
