When Zhu Cilang climbed aboard the Portuguese merchant ship Santa Maria at the Tongzhou wharf, his pocket watch showed that there were still three quarters of an hour until midnight. On deck, he spotted the flintlock pistol at the first mate’s waist, a weapon that should not have appeared for another thirty years.
“Young master, you look quite a mess,” said the captain, a man with a thin mustache, speaking in halting official Chinese. “Ten taels of gold, and I’ll take you to the ends of the earth.”
Zhu Cilang wiped the blood from his face, revealing the Hidden Dragon jade pendant at his waist. “I want to buy this ship.”
Years later, when historians wrote of Emperor Zhaowu’s uprising in the South China Sea, they would begin with this escape, steeped in blood and smoke.
