Niuchou Inner Harbor on the west side of Keelung Port is a dedicated military port for the Li Min Navy. All military ships are berthed here. There is also a three-story water fort on the outer port connected to Keelung Port to prevent outsiders from intruding.

Niuchou Port is a military port, so there is no need to mention safety. Therefore, the land on both sides of the water village at the port has been bought by many merchants to build some warehouses, shipping companies and other places. The closer to the water village, the higher the land price.

It is also more expensive, so the closer a store is to Shuizhai, the stronger its financial resources are.

There is an isolation area of ​​about 100 meters between Shuizhai and the surrounding shops. The first shop on the left side of the isolation area is a three-story building that occupies a large area. The whole body is made of masonry and cement, and it looks very solid. In fact,

Most of the houses in this port are made of bricks and stones, and very few are made of traditional wood. This is mainly because Taiwan is very windy, especially typhoons that occasionally land, so the houses here must be built very solidly and beautifully.

Not so important anymore.

On the main entrance of this three-story building, there is a tall plaque with the four characters "Slave Catching Association" written on it. This is Keelung City, and it is also an industry association formed by all the slave catching teams in Taiwan Island. Behind it is

It has some official background, but when it comes to the outside world, it is just a non-governmental organization and has no relationship with political institutions.

Today's Slave Catching Association is very lively. The entire Taiwan Island slave catching teams, large and small, have all sent their own representatives here. Everyone gathers together, drinking and eating meat. It is very lively. However, the protagonists of today's banquet are not them, but the people at the banquet.

Sitting in the middle was a group of people, mainly a young man under twenty years old, who was responding to the toasts of the people around him.

The young man surrounded in the middle is tall and tall. Although his face is a little dark, his appearance is very gentle. In addition, he is wearing a robe and looks like a scholar. But if he is really regarded as a scholar, then

That's totally wrong. This young man's real name is Lu Wan. He grew up in a pirate den. Although he looks like a scholar, he is an out-and-out pirate leader.

Before Li Min came to Taiwan, this young man was also the most famous person on the island because he looked gentle and was also very studious. He had read some books such as the Four Books and Five Classics, and he knew etiquette, justice and shame. When he was robbing at sea,

He only seeks wealth and does not kill people. His style is somewhat similar to that of Lu Qing and others. He is considered an anomaly among pirates. In addition, he controls a group of powerful pirates, so he is nicknamed Hai Junzi.

Lu Wan is a rare talent with both literary and military abilities. When Li Min sent Lu Qing to sweep across the island of Taiwan, Lu Wan knew that he was no match for him, so he surrendered voluntarily. However, he was not willing to be seconded to others, so

Later, when Lu Qing integrated the navy, although he treated him

An invitation was sent to him to join the navy, but unfortunately he refused. Instead, he led a group of old brothers to engage in slave catching and trading. Although it was harder than being a pirate before, at least he could

I can have a stable meal and my income is more stable.

"Junzi Lu, you are about to sail away, and you don't know when you will come back. I am a rough man and I don't know how to say polite words. I can only give you a toast here and wish you a safe return."

!" A middle-aged man wearing a brocade robe stood up and said. Although this man's clothes are very luxurious, he is tall and thick, and his face is full of flesh. He does not look like a wealthy man.

Instead, he looks like Lu Wan's colleague.

The man in gilded clothes who spoke was named Xu Sandao. He was originally a pirate on the island. Since Taiwan fell into the hands of Li Min, he turned the pirate ship in his hands into a slave ship. Now it is one of the top five pirates in the entire island of Taiwan.

A slave trader and one of the stewards of the Slave Catchers Association.

"Thank you, Brother Xu, for the wine. Let me do it first!" Lu Wan and Xu Sandao were old acquaintances before, so when they saw him toasting, they naturally drank it all. When others saw Lu Wan being so generous, they also

They all cheered loudly together, and one after another

He stood up and toasted. It turned out that although Lu Wan had a good drinking capacity, he couldn't drink so many people. Fortunately, there were many brothers around him, and they all blocked the drink for his eldest brother. However, despite this, Lu Wan and his party still couldn't drink.

I was fed enough.

Seeing this situation, Yan Bei, who had been sitting silently in the main seat, smiled and said: "Everyone, Brother Lu will set sail tomorrow. Today is a farewell banquet for them, so please don't feed them.

That's too cruel, otherwise if Brother Lu and the others are unable to get up tomorrow, it will delay the big event!"

Since the last time he came to Taiwan with Li Min, Yan Bei has been staying here. At first, he opened a large plantation for his family, but later found that there was a shortage of manpower, so he started his old business in Dengzhou.

It was slave catching and trading. It can be said that the slave catching industry in Dengzhou was developed by him.

Now it is extremely convenient to resume his old business in Taiwan. In just one year, he integrated the slave-catching industry on the entire island and established a slave-catching association, of which he served as the president. Of course,

The slave-catching thing developed so smoothly, which is inseparable from Li Min's strong support.

After hearing the president's words, the people below no longer made things difficult for Lu Wan and his group, but instead gathered in groups to discuss what they should do if Lu Wan's trip was successful, so as to get the maximum benefit from it.

Looking at the people discussing below, Yan Bei nodded with satisfaction, then walked up to Lu Wan, who had already drank and turned red, raised the tea cup in his hand and said: "Brother Lu, you have a heavy responsibility this time, and just now

After drinking a lot of wine, I, the president, will no longer toast you. However, here is a cup of tea. Please be sure to drink it. As the president, I use tea instead of wine for everyone who sets sail tomorrow.

Brother, farewell!"

Lu Wan felt a little flattered when he saw that the president was honoring him personally. He knew that the president Yan in front of him was of noble birth, and he had served as the chief historian of Prince Qi's palace before. He was even a friend of His Highness Prince Qi.

, in his eyes, he was a great big shot. When he met Yan Bei, he would not even dare to take the initiative to talk to him.

Thinking of this, Lu Wan excitedly took the tea cup and drank it in one gulp, then bowed and said: "Thank you, President, for the tea! In addition, please rest assured, President, I will definitely complete the tasks assigned to us by the association!"

Hearing Lu Wan's assurance, Yan Bei also nodded slightly, patted the other party's shoulder with satisfaction and said: "Brother Lu, you are the person with the best navigation skills in our association, and you also know how to draw nautical charts.

You are rich in experience, so you are the best candidate for this time. The source of slaves for our association in the future will depend entirely on your exploration this time!"

In response to Yan Bei's compliments, Lu Wan naturally said a few more words of humility before finally sitting down.

Even though Lu Wan is young, he has both civil and military skills and rich sailing experience at sea. He can be said to be a rare sailing talent. This time he is responsible for the task of the Slave Catching Association, and he will bring a fleet of five ships.

A fleet of large ships and several small ships set sail from Keelung Port in Taiwan, then passed through Java and headed south as far as they could go. Lu Wan had to draw a nautical chart along the way.

And indicate the development value of the islands encountered.

Taiwan's plantation economy is booming. The sugar-based plantation industry has developed greatly. Countless wealthy nobles from the Tang Dynasty sent people to invest and opened large-scale plantations. And plantation

The development of the park has led to the prosperity of the slave trade. Nowadays, the source of slaves in Taiwan is mainly captured from the nearest Java. However, the natives on Java Island are limited. With the crazy slave hunting during this period, it has become increasingly difficult to capture slaves.

Meet the needs on the island of Taiwan.

After Yanbei saw this situation, he immediately decided to open up a new source of slaves. According to the extremely inaccurate world map drawn by Li Min, there was a series of archipelagos to the south of Java. This has been confirmed by some bold people.

Maritime merchants confirmed it, and they also found that there were a large number of natives living on these islands. Although many of these natives were cannibals, there were also many docile natives, so Yan Bei took the idea.

on these natives.

However, catching slaves is just like doing business. They need an accurate nautical map, and they need to know the number of natives on each island, their surnames and other information. If Yanbei wants to catch slaves south of Java, he must send a group of people.

Detach a fleet, first find out the situation there and draw a sea chart

, for future slave-catching fleet operations, and Lu Wan was the explorer carefully selected from within the Slave Catching Association. The fleet he led was also carefully built by all members of the association, although it was not as good as Li Min's.

The equipment and quality of the regular navy are not far behind.

After Yan Bei toasted a few glasses of wine with a group of members, he used the excuse of being too drunk to return to his office on the third floor, where there were already two people waiting for him.

"Brother Cui and Brother Wang, I have been busy with secular affairs and have kept you two waiting for a long time. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting!" As soon as Yan Bei came in, he immediately clasped his fists and said to the two people sitting drinking tea. These two people were Li Min.

Their old acquaintances are Cui Yu and Wang Kuang respectively. When Li Min accompanied Empress Xiao to Tainan, he lived in their plantation for a period of time. And as Li Min's friends, they naturally knew Yan Bei.

.

Seeing Yan Bei coming in, Wang Kuang first smiled and said: "If Brother Yan feels guilty, why not bring a few more ships of slaves to our place? We will definitely buy them at the current price, and we will never let you suffer a loss, Brother Yan."

"That's right, Brother Yan, you are in charge of all the slave trade on the island. This little thing must not be a problem, right?" Cui Yu also continued with a smile.

"No problem, this little thing is nothing. As long as Brother Cui and Brother Wang ask, I can transport any slaves you want!" Yan Bei also agreed very generously. As the president of the association, this little thing is nothing.

Of course it's no problem.

Wang Kuang and Cui Yu also knew that this matter was nothing, so they were not polite to Yan Bei. After chatting a few more casually, Wang Kuang finally said: "Brother Yan, the two of you are here this time.

I have a big deal to discuss with you, but I don’t know if you have the guts to take it?"
Chapter completed!