When Zhu Cixi boarded the Portuguese merchant ship "Santa Maria" at Tongzhou Pier, his pocket watch showed that there were still three quarters to go. On the deck, he saw the flintlock pistol strapped to the first mate's waist - a weapon that should not have appeared thirty years later.
"This young master is in such a sorry state." The captain with a mustache said in blunt Mandarin, "Ten taels of gold, I'll take you to the ends of the earth."
Zhu Cixiang wiped the blood off his face and revealed the Hidden Dragon Jade Pendant around his waist: "I want to buy this ship."
Many years later, when historians recorded the rise of "Emperor Zhaowu" in the South China Sea, they would start from this escape full of iron blood and gunpowder smoke.
