The purple sails at the Tung Ping Chau shale beach were steeped in twilight as Shen Xitang’s black boots crunched over the charred edges of the *Lingnan Coastal Defense Memorial*. Xiao Heng’s Xiuchun Saber cleaved the keel of a Phoenician shipwreck, and bundles of Tyrian purple dye barrels burst open in the sudden sea breeze—beside the Phoenician letters on the purple conch shells, which read "45th Year of Yongli," was a distortion in Manchu: "Special Supply for the Tyrian Royal Court," concealing a secret map of Mediterranean slave trade routes!
"Lord Thousand-Householder, look at the patterns on these sails." Her fingertips traced the gold thread embroidery on the canvas. "This 'Seven-Star Conjunction' weaving technique was passed down from Tang He’s fortification of the Zhejiang coastal guards during the Hongwu era. How could it be mixed with the Phoenix Nirvana crest of the Tyrian royal family?"
A conch horn sounded from the reef. Thirty Phoenician slave traders clad in purple robes leaped from the surf, the forged patterns on their bronze shackles identical to the sea-suppression chains used by Chen Lin to defeat the Wodao pirates during the Wanli era. Shen Xitang used her Silver Silk to shatter one of the shackles, revealing a fallen scrap of the *Tyrian Secret Archive*—beside the official document noting "annual tribute of 500 boys and girls," the Phoenician letters were annotated: "Resold to the Carthage Temple human sacrifice altar!"
Chapter 173