Chapter 7

No one spoke. No one paid attention to Li Ziqiang who walked in slowly. Li Ziqiang's figure hadn't changed much in twenty years; he certainly couldn't understand the pain of carrying a lot of fat. He thought that hemorrhoids and shoulder periarthritis were the unluckiest diseases in the world, but now they were gone, and he felt light and free.

Wu Dapeng closed his eyes after watching the wormhole disappear, savoring a comfort he had never experienced before. His cervical spondylosis was gone, as if the past pain was just a dream. He could feel fresh blood flowing through his neck without any obstruction, continuously supplying nutrients to his brain. His brain felt cool, his big belly disappeared, and his breathing was incredibly light. His kidneys felt even better, warm and cozy, the past coldness vanished. His joints continuously sent him signals of cool comfort, and his blood seemed to be flowing joyfully!

Li Ziqiang saw that Wu Dapeng's pants had fallen down, and he seemed unaware, so he hurried over to help him pull them up.

"Big Bird, are you okay?"

Wu Dapeng opened his eyes and said, "Thank you, Li Ziqiang. I feel great. How was this trip compared to your last one?"

"There were some fluctuations, but they were very slight. It seems to be related to the mass of the matter we carried."

Song Shida knelt down, silently shedding tears. His clothes hung loosely on him, making him look like a child wearing an adult's clothes, which was quite ridiculous. He said to Li Ziqiang, "Li Ziqiang, I now feel incredibly light and free. I feel like I want to fly! The heat in my stomach is gone—"

Professor Jian Jian stroked his newly dense hair as if caressing a long-lost lover. With his other hand, he gently touched his knee. "Ambassador, my stomach problem is different from yours; it was a cold disease. Now it's very peaceful, and I can't feel its presence. This is really great."

Sun Defa stopped the Heart of the Ocean and slowly savored it: "I feel great too. My left ear was partially deaf, but now it's fine." He wouldn't tell others his true feelings; he felt that his manhood had become strong again, and his kidneys were full of vigorous fighting spirit.

Being young is great! They howled in front of the mirrors in the bathroom.

The originally refined Professor Jian Jian shouted fiercely, "To hell with the era! To hell with who! From now on, this world is ours!"

"It's ours!!!" everyone shouted in unison.

They were lucky; the Heart of the Ocean was still floating on the sea. In the distance, they could see a mysterious land with a long beach, endless forests behind it, and undulating mountains further away.

A sun rose from the east.

They changed into the American-style Navy camouflage uniforms they had brought, transforming into a seemingly Navy reconnaissance team. It was time to get to work.

"Where are we?"

Sun Defa, Li Ziqiang, and Professor Jian Jian took out the three sextants they had brought. Sun Defa shouted, "It's 6:00 AM on May 9th of a certain year. Adjust the activity arm, align the index mirror with the sun—observe the horizon mirror, align it with the horizon, and read the normal line data. Li Ziqiang, is your sextant vertical to the ground?!"

"Ah, this boat is swaying, it's not my fault."

"Stop talking nonsense, hold it steady. Now read the micrometer drum data. Alright, let's calculate separately."

Li Ziqiang finished first. He sighed and said, "We are in Australia???"

Song Shida and Wu Dapeng had been watching their actions. Song Shida said, "Really? What a great place!"

Wu Dapeng remained calm: "I don't believe it. Although I don't know how to use a sextant, I can tell this isn't the Southern Hemisphere."

Sun Defa laughed and said, "We're just familiarizing ourselves with the process. Without the noon sun, the exact year, or even the exact time and month, everything is hypothetical."

Song Shida asked curiously:

"Can't you measure the latitude with a sextant at any time?"

"You need to know the local time first. Can you be sure the current time is accurate?"

"Why not add a theodolite? I've heard of it."

"Are you ignorant? It only measures horizontal and vertical angles, not latitude and longitude!" Li Ziqiang answered quickly. In fact, he had asked the same question before.

Song Shida lamented, "What's the point of bringing so many advanced instruments?"

Sun Defa said, "We'll use them at noon. Who cares where we are, let's walk along the coastline and see!"

Sun Defa carefully drove the Heart of the Ocean. The water depth in this area was about 17 meters, and the seabed was relatively flat. There were no active targets within 20 nautical miles. Sun Defa was satisfied with the data on the instruments.

"Over there, I see the tire tracks Li Ziqiang left!" Wu Dapeng shouted, observing the coast with a telescope.

"Where, where?" The others observing in other directions gathered over. They pointed their telescopes in the direction Wu Dapeng indicated. Indeed, everyone saw two intermittent tracks on the beach extending northeast.

"Li Ziqiang's second trip was 15 days ago, so it seems there hasn't been much rain here."

"Wu Dapeng is right; there must be a river in the northeast direction," Professor Jian Jian said, shouting to Sun Defa, "Fazi, maintain the course, there's a big river in the northeast, be careful of sandbanks!"

Sun Defa maintained the current course and speed, raising his alertness. Li Ziqiang casually turned on the stereo, selecting a 90s heavy metal rock song he had downloaded from the internet, which he hadn't listened to for many years. Instantly, the entire boat was filled with rhythmic music. The others were initially stunned, then they started shouting wildly.

The barking of a dog joined in; the retired police dog and the seeds had not changed. It seemed the effects of the trip only applied to humans.

The Heart of the Ocean sailed arrogantly in this loud symphony.

Wang San and Li Si were digging pits on a deer trail. They were Han hunters from eastern Guangdong and southern Fujian, respectively. Since 1638 (the 12th year of the Chongzhen era), they had come to the Gaoping River (Lower Tamsui River) area in Taiwan every October to May to hunt water deer, and they had been doing this for ten years.

In 1638, they first hunted deer in the Huweilong community north of Wanhua (Penghu), but the deer gradually became scarce, and their relationship with the local Huweilong people worsened. Han hunters were often killed by them. However, the hunters had bought licenses from the Dutch for silver, and no one dared to come if the hunters were killed. So the Dutch sent troops to kill some of the Huweilong people, and the hunters felt safer.

The best way to hunt deer was to set traps and dig pits, not to shoot them with arrows. If you shot them, the deer skin would have holes and wouldn't sell for much. If you missed the vital spot, the deer would run away with the arrow, and one person couldn't catch it alone; it would take four or five people to surround it. Four or five people working hard for a whole day to catch one deer wasn't worth it; it wouldn't even cover the labor costs. The Huweilong people hunted this way, so their harvest was never as good as the Han hunters.

The Dutch were also smart. A Han hunter's license cost 15 reals (one real equals 6.8 taels of silver, one real equals 26 to 28 grams, one tael equals 37.5 grams), while a Huweilong person's license cost 1 real. Despite the huge price difference, the Huweilong people still earned much less silver than the Han hunters—so they resented them. On the surface, there were no issues, but the Han hunters suffered a lot from them in secret.

In 1638, the Dutch no longer allowed Han hunters to hunt deer there. Wang San and Li Si decided to go to the Gaoping River area. Life there was harder, but they had been coming there for ten years without interruption.

Setting traps and digging pits seemed easy, but you had to find the deer trail. The deer trail was the path water deer often took. Water deer were clumsy; they only used one path for eating and drinking. Finding the deer trail meant finding wealth. One hundred deer skins could sell for 15 reals, one deer leg for 1 real, and 100 pounds of deer meat for 18 reals. Selling to merchants who would then sell the deer skins to Japan and the deer meat to the mainland was very profitable.

Deer antlers, deer penis, and deer organs were all valuable. At first, the Dutch only taxed the sale of deer skins and meat, but later, seeing the high demand for deer antlers, they started taxing them too. They didn't care about deer penis and organs, so they didn't tax them.

Two years ago, Li Si suggested to Wang San, "Let's collect more deer penis ourselves. Since the Dutch don't know its use and don't tax it, let's not sell it to merchants but take it home to sell. Although the quantity is small and the profit is not much, it's still a good business. We don't have to pay that damn 10% tax." Wang San agreed.

The two started collecting deer penis, not only from their own hunts but also from other hunters when they had the chance. Sometimes they even traded with the Tagalay and Fangsuo people. At first, one pound of deer meat could get them one deer penis in the village, but later, other hunters followed, and it took ten pounds of meat to get one, and there was no supply.

Even at twenty pounds of meat, it was still worth it, but with the ongoing military conflicts in Fujian and Guangdong, the price of meat had skyrocketed. Deer penis was scarce, so they gave up.

Deer organs were never wasted. They washed them in river water, salted them, and dried them in the sun. Whether they took them home or sold them to merchants, it was fine. Salt was cheap, 2 reals for a dan (94 kilograms).

The traps were set. There were five in total, one in front and four in two groups on the sides. The front trap was six feet deep and ten feet wide, with five live traps at the bottom. If one caught, the deer couldn't escape, and the more it struggled, the more tangled it became. The four rear traps were shallower but also had five traps. When the deer herd passed the trail at noon to drink water, the front deer would fall into the trap, and the rear deer would panic and jump to the sides, falling into the four rear traps. Deer don't run backward when startled unless attacked from the front. If a deer that escaped found no danger, it would return to the scene to see what happened. Wang San and Li Si carefully covered the traps and sprinkled salt water around them. When the deer returned, they would be attracted by the salt water and start eating the grass. At this moment, they could shoot them with arrows. Even if the skin wasn't valuable, the meat was.

After setting the traps, the two sat down to catch their breath. Wang San resisted the urge to smoke a pipe, fearing the smell would alert the deer.

Wang San said, "I heard the Dutch won't allow us to set traps to hunt deer anymore?"

Li Si said, "Yeah, they're angry because we catch more deer than the local people."

"Damn, they're so controlling."

"Still thinking about moving your family here?"

Wang San thought for a moment, "Brother Si, let's move—"

"You need to think carefully. The annual head tax is 4 reals, hunting requires a license fee, farming means renting their land with a 50% rent, fishing requires a license fee, and selling anything incurs a 10% tax!"

"The Dutch are vampires, their hair is so red for a reason. At least they don't rob us—my village is always raided by soldiers, and life is unbearable. This time, I'll sell our ancestral land and house if I can and move to Taiwan."

Li Si sighed, "My village is far from Chenghai County, so it's rarely raided, and we can survive. I'm reluctant to leave the ancestral land—let's not talk about these troubles. Let's set more traps on the east side; the terrain suggests the deer might escape that way."

The two set more traps, then went to the Gaoping River to bathe, even washing their clothes. Bathing wasn't for cleanliness but to avoid the deer smelling their sweat. They rubbed their clothes a few times and hung them on small trees by the river, where the wind would dry them quickly.

Wang San and Li Si squatted on the ground, smoking their pipes, not worried about leaving an odor in the strong wind.

"These days, the Dutch don't allow hunting, so this trip is a bonus. When we return, you can take more silver. Moving is a big decision," Li Si said calmly.

"Brother Si, you've always led me—"

"Enough, don't say that. I'm not called Brother Si for nothing."

The mosquitoes by the river started to increase, and Li Si glanced at the sun; it was about 9:00 AM. Time to start.

They put on their clothes and applied mosquito repellent to their hands, faces, and necks. This was a family recipe passed down by Li Si, not shared with others.

Their ambush point was right behind the traps, about ten steps away, in a bowl-shaped shallow pit where they could crouch or sit, with a cover of thin branches for quick jumping. Both had their bows and arrows ready, but Wang San's aim was poor, so he preferred to use a spear.

In the past, they would leave after setting the traps and return a few days later. This time, they couldn't, as they had discovered the trail late. From May to September, the Dutch strictly prohibited deer hunting, with a tenfold fine or forced labor for violators. Wang San's brother died from overwork while serving the Dutch. So they had to wait carefully here, and Li Si said they would wait for two days.

The Heart of the Ocean smoothly found the mouth of the big river and approached it. The emerald green river water flowed into the azure sea, creating a unique and beautiful sight.

Sun Defa estimated the river mouth was about 1,000 meters wide, with relatively calm water, and the depth gauge showed a depth of seven meters at the mouth.

They decided to sail upstream, as human civilization often began along rivers.

Li Ziqiang turned off the stereo, and the world became quiet. Sun Defa slowed down, trying to stay close to the riverbank. Numerous water birds were startled, and Li Ziqiang excitedly shouted, "Get the hunting rifle quickly." Wu Dapeng immediately said, "Li Ziqiang, wait. We'll try it on land." It was too risky to let a novice shoot on a swaying yacht. Besides, the priority was to determine their location.

Everyone used their binoculars to search for signs of human activity. So far, they found nothing. As the boat moved upstream, the mangroves gradually thinned, and broadleaf forests appeared on the banks. Professor Jian Jian was quite knowledgeable about plants.

"This is a typical tropical broadleaf forest."

"Good heavens, there's a natural camphor forest over there!"

"Look, that's a acacia forest!"

"Oh, is that oak over there?!"

"I can confidently say this is a typical plant characteristic of Southeast Asia. But I don't know the exact location. It could be Hainan Island, southern Taiwan, or northern Philippines."

Everyone listened to Professor Jian Jian's comments, unable to interject. They could recognize common trees, but anything slightly unusual left them clueless.

Sun Defa calculated that they had traveled about ten kilometers upstream, with the river depth maintained between 3 and 5 meters, making it navigable.

Wu Dapeng said, "Let's find a place to land!"

The Heart of the Ocean smoothly found the mouth of the big river and approached it. The emerald green river water flowed into the azure sea, creating a unique and beautiful sight.

Sun Defa estimated the river mouth was about 1,000 meters wide, with relatively calm water, and the depth gauge showed a depth of seven meters at the mouth.

They decided to sail upstream, as human civilization often began along rivers.

Li Ziqiang turned off the stereo, and the world became quiet. Sun Defa slowed down, trying to stay close to the riverbank. Numerous water birds were startled, and Li Ziqiang excitedly shouted, "Get the hunting rifle quickly." Wu Dapeng immediately said, "Li Ziqiang, wait. We'll try it on land." It was too risky to let a novice shoot on a swaying yacht. Besides, the priority was to determine their location.

Everyone used their binoculars to search for signs of human activity. So far, they found nothing. As the boat moved upstream, the mangroves gradually thinned, and broadleaf forests appeared on the banks. Professor Jian Jian was quite knowledgeable about plants.

"This is a typical tropical broadleaf forest."

"Good heavens, there's a natural camphor forest over there!"

"Look, that's a acacia forest!"

"Oh, is that oak over there?!"

"I can confidently say this is a typical plant characteristic of Southeast Asia. But I don't know the exact location. It could be Hainan Island, southern Taiwan, or northern Philippines."

Everyone listened to Professor Jian Jian's comments, unable to interject. They could recognize common trees, but anything slightly unusual left them clueless.

Sun Defa calculated that they had traveled about ten kilometers upstream, with the river depth maintained between 3 and 5 meters, making it navigable.

Wu Dapeng said, "Let's find a place to land!"