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Grundel
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The masts of the great sailing vessels cast long shadows over the harbor. Xian was helping his father load the provisioning supplies on board the Lady Dragon, a floating castle that will be their home for the next few months.
“What would it be like, farther?”
“Always the inquisitive” Xiang answered his son. “Our new home is beautiful, son. Lush, green forests as far as the eye can see. Birds of a million colors paint the sky, and the water lapping against the shore is as clear and calm as a summer morning” Xiang looked longingly into the horizon. The time had come for him and his family to move on.
Xiang’s family is not the only one that looks forward to this voyage. The Chinese empire has know prosperity and peace for some time now. However, some of its larger cities…such as Beijing…were becoming to populated. Every day, more people would be seen living on the streets, more outstretched hands awaited travelers as they walked down the street. Success always came at a price.
Xiang’s family lived a good life, by anyone standard. Not wealthy, but not poor, they measured a living through trade. The house of Xiang was noted for its spice trade throughout all of greater China. One would even wonder why such a prominent family would even leave its nest and seek out life on the ‘frontier’. However, only those who did not know Liu Bu Xiang would have to ask this question.
Liu Xiang saw what the world was coming to. His competitors lived their daily life. They would go to the harbor once a week to pick up their imported goods. They would spend the rest of the week at the market, selling their trinkets to a frenzied crowed. On Saturday evening, they would spend half their winnings in the local tavern in a game of checkers or marbles. In the evening, they would go home to their families. The same sequence of events would repeat itself…over and over. The bakers would wake every moring, bake their bread, and sell it. The fishermen would leave the docsk and return a day later, with their bounty. The ministers would argue in court over meaningless laws and politcs. The world was modern. The world was also redundant.
Xiang was always a restless spirit, dispite the best efforts of his father. He always wanted to know what was over the hill, what was around the corner, or what was behind the door. He traveled much as a young, single man, and collected many trinkets in his travels. Soon, he discovered that people would value these things…his Egyptian statues of Horus, the finely crafted bronze vases of Japan, and fine Persian clothes. He always thought that people found these exotic items valuable for that very reason…they were not Chinese. However, he had seen these places, and found it easy to part with such things knowing he would see them again. The people would walk home with their new treasure, some trinket that somehow made them feel closer to another part of the world they had never seen, and Xiang would count their money, planning his next trip to a place that these people could only talk about.
Soon, his trade went from trinkets to spices, as his business grew from small sea junks to the larger, ocean going carracks and caravels. He now had a staff, and his family figured prominently in the business. But now, with his wealth, he also became a slave to which he created…his own trade empire. Soon his business would now dictate where he was, where he was going, and where he had been. It was a small trip through the pacific that one day iginited his sense of adventure, one more time.
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Grundel
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The Lady Dragon listed to starboard as she gracefully cut the see with her hull. The northward wind powered this vessel persistently toward its destination…a small island chain located in the Pacific Ocean.
Every possession and valuable that the Xiang family owned was safely stored onboard the boat. He had sold off most of his business to sponsor this expedition, and kept only his most sturdy ship to carry his family and other passengers to what would be their new home.
About 100 people all together sailed the Dragon. Not only sailors, but partisans skilled in other life giving skills counted among them. With his money, Xiang had bought a commison for Governer of these new found lands. He would be in charge of this colony, and most important to the Chinese Government, its wealth. Having pulled himself from squawler, he was one of the most qualified applicants for this position.
Although he would do what was needed to ensure the wealth flowed back to the mainland, his concern was more toward tomorrow. What would it bring? What would it be like not having the luxuries of home? What dangers waited for them? His travels had instilled in him a sense of adventure, and now he wanted to give this wonderful gift to his family.
“Why are you here?” Shu Long asked. Xiang, wrapped in a blistful daydream, turned to face his inquisator. “Ah, Shu. How are you my friend?”
“I don’t understand. You had everything back home.”
“I have everything here too. My wife. My 2 sons and my daughter. This boat. I have a hold full of rice and fish. What more does a man need?”
“You also had security, Xiang. That you gave up when you sold your business.”
“Security is an illusion, Shu. What security did I have back home? Everything could easily have been taken away with a strong monsoon, or a raveging fire. In the blink of an eye, I could have been made a poor, broken man. I have as much security now as I have ever had. “
Shu could see that he was in one of his ‘moods’. He was talking like a monk. “Bah. I’ll go and talk with someone else. I will leave you to your security.”
Xiang smiled. He looked forward again. He knew they were only a day or 2 away from their new home. Plans would need to be finalized, and preparations made for the landing and the colony.
His thoughts shielded his view from the darkening sky and the increased winds. The weather was prowling upon the Lady Dragon, like a tiger stalking its prey. And, like the tigers future meal, Xiang was oblivious to the approaching danger.
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24-01-2002 05:58
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