Zhang's village

I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name?
This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

Zhang's village was a small settlement that the Chinese laborer Zhang lived in, located near the city of Macau. It was hidden in a forested valley in the north of the Macau Peninsula. In addition to being a residence, the village also served as a safe haven for people who were facing various problems and danger, many of whom were from the city.

History[edit | edit source]

In February 1725, Zhang brought the British Assassin Edward Kenway and the Dutch navigator John Young to the village as they were seeking shelter from the Dutch East India Company's authorities in Macau, as well as the Japanese Templar Shimazu Saito and her ninja followers who had attacked them. During their first night of stay, Edward and John hunted a deer and two alligators in the nearby forest, allowing the village to have a feast.^[1]

However, the celebration was short-lived, as the village was soon hit by an outbreak of cholera, leading to many of its inhabitants falling deadly ill, including Zhang's daughter. Wishing to help, Edward acquired some salt and sugar from a warehouse in Macau owned by the businesswoman Madam Lee,^[2] which were then used to create a remedy that saved most of the sick villagers' lives. However, Zhang's daughter was already too ill and passed away soon after.^[3]

Despite this, Zhang and his wife were nonetheless grateful for Edward's assistance, as was the rest of the village, and offered to repay the favor. At Edward's request, Zhang and his fellow laborers tried to learn anything they could about Madam Lee's activities in Macau, eventually discovering that she had purchased the late Dutch sailor Hendrik's sea log and informing Edward and John.^[3]

After Edward secured an alliance with Lee, he returned to the village with two chests of treasure and other goods he had received from her. While the villagers enjoyed the gifts, Edward asked Zhang and his fellow laborers to help him learn more about Lee's business rivals, who were backed by the Templars. To this end, he provided them with several pairs of fine clothes he had purchased, which made the laborers appear to be of a higher social status and allowed them to secure work contracts for major trading companies.^[4]

Later, Edward and John captured Mustafa, a pirate captain hired to raid Lee's ships. Bringing him back to the village, they locked him up in a warehouse until they could decide what to do with him. While walking through the village, Edward and John noticed renovations being made to several buildings. When the Assassin commented that the village appeared to have found "new life", John told him that, thanks to his actions, the locals had seen an improvement in their way of life.^[5]

After Edward inadvertently ended his partnership with Lee, he decided to form the Zhang Wei Union, an organization that promised to conduct business through ethical means, bring people together and protect them.^[6] Edward recruited many of the village's inhabitants, including Zhang, into his new organization, relocating them to the A-Ma Cultural Village, which became the Union's headquarters.^[7] He also used part of his wealth to continue financing various renovations in the village.^[8]