Seeing Su Chen coming over, Xue Rengui stepped forward and said: "Commander! These damn pirates are still stubborn, saying that they are not the people they robbed."
Several pirate leaders knelt down in front of Su Chen: "Master Jun! These are really not ours to rob, we are only responsible for transporting people to Liuqiu."
Su Chen: "Then where did these common people come from?"
"Mecen Mountain Island," the pirate leader said hurriedly: "Master, the people robbed by others were placed on Meicen Mountain. We are only responsible for transporting the people from Meicen Mountain to Liuqiu."
Meicen Mountain is the Putuo Mountain in the southeast of Zhoushan Islands in later generations. People have lived there since the pre-Qin period. Before it became a Buddhist holy place, it was also a famous Taoist cultivation place.
"Master Jun, we have changed our minds a long time ago and no longer do those coastal robberies. Transporting people is a serious business paid for by others..."
The pirate leader was still there to defend himself.
Su Chen: "Who asked you to transport people?"
Seeing the pirate leader's hesitation, Xue Rengui pulled out the steel knife with a clang.
"Master, spare your life!"
"We don't know who the other party is. Anyway, they are the stewards of a wealthy family. They came to the island where we were hiding and asked us to go to Meicen Mountain to pick them up. We didn't dare to ask..."
Su Chen: "Do you often do this?
How many trips have you made?"
Pirate leader: "This is the fourth trip this year, and they are all destined for Liuqiu."
Su Chen glanced at the pirate ship on the beach: "Where did the eight thousand stone ship come from?"
"bought!"
"Um?"
"Master Jun, I really bought it!"
Seeing that Su Chen didn't believe it, the pirate leader hurriedly explained:
"The younger one gave all his savings over the years to the Xiao family and bought five big ships from them!"
Su Chen glanced at the pirate leader: "If this is really the case, you are still worth a lot of money!"
Although the Eight Thousand Stone Sea Ship is the first sea ship built by Su Chen, it is currently the only civilian sea ship that can be mass-produced in the Tang Dynasty.
Su Chen's shipyard has never sold anything to outsiders, and it's not enough for its own use!
The eight thousand stone ships imitated by the remnants of the clan cost tens of thousands of gold each!
This pirate leader actually said that he could buy five ships. This is not an ordinary amount of money!
Fang Xuanling next to him frowned when he heard this. If the imperial court wanted to buy five such ships, it would have to obtain the approval of at least an official above the Minister of Household Affairs before spending such a large sum of money.
"And you can also buy so many big ships from the Xiao family. It seems that you have a good status!"
This is not only a matter of money, but all the aristocratic families still lack such a large sea vessel.
The ships manufactured by the family families are generally supplied to the inner class of the family and will not flow out of the country at all.
A pirate leader was able to buy five large ships from the Xiao family.
What a hell if this was just an ordinary pirate!
The pirate leader was covered in cold sweat. He didn't know Su Chen and thought he was a rough guy like the other officers. Unexpectedly, his background was exposed in just two sentences.
"The younger one had business dealings with the Xiao family before. The younger one's ancestors did save some savings for the younger one,"
"Seeing the recent rise in maritime transportation, I exchanged all my ancestors' savings for large ships, hoping to make a living by maritime transportation in the future..."
This is still an ideal pirate, and there are indeed such pirates on the sea. They usually do regular business, which is convenient for setting up locations for robbery, selling stolen goods, and preparing for laundering in the future.
Many wealthy families along the coast started their fortunes like this. They were wealthy businessmen on the outside, but they were engaged in murder and robbery behind the scenes. If they were good at it, they could even get an official position, which could serve as a cover for their illegal activities!
Su Chen snorted coldly: "Business dealings?
Sell the stolen goods?"
The pirate leader lowered his head and did not dare to say a word.
"You only transport people to Ryukyu?
What are these people doing in Ryukyu?"
Pirate leader: "I don't know about this little one, but I heard that there is a ship that will transport them overseas."
Su Chen: "Are there any pirates who do the same job as you?"
Pirate leader: "I've never heard of this."
"In the past, when there were a lot of people, the wealthy families would send their own ships to transport it out. Now when there are fewer people, they leave it to us."
When he said there were many people, it should be when Li Er had not discovered that the remnants of the clan were transferring people overseas. At that time, it was the remnants of the clan who personally went to sea.
Su Chen did not ask the identity of the pirate leader and asked Xue Rengui to escort him away.
These pirates will be thrown together to Baiqisi for interrogation.
Fang Xuanling said that Li Er sent many Baiqisi troops to Fuzhou, and when they arrived in Fuzhou, they would be left to them.
Su Chen looked at the people who got off the boat. There were men and women, mostly young adults in their twenties and thirties, and there were also many teenagers.
"Commander! Most of the people who were robbed came to the Hangzhou area. Fortunately, they are all in good health!"
Cheng Wuting reported.
Su Chen: "The remnants of the wealthy family are not stupid. They robbed the people and sent them overseas to farm the fields and work in factories for them."
"It can be said that these common people are the foundation of their overseas success, and they will not deliberately abuse them."
Cheng Wuting: "Then, what should we do with these people?
There are nearly a thousand people.”
Su Chen: "Arrange it on the island first, and then we can pick it up when we come back from Liuqiu and send it back to the local government."
As he spoke, Su Chen turned to Li Chengqian and Fang Xuanling and said, "It seems that after the governors of Hangzhou and Yuezhou defected, the new governors did not do very well!"
"Without the deliberate connivance of local officials, it would have been so easy to rob so many people."
"The pirate leader just said that this is their fourth trip to Liuqiu to transport people."
Li Chengqian said angrily: "When I return, I will persuade my father to send deposed envoys to Suzhou and Hangzhou."
Fang Xuanling sighed: "What I'm worried about is, how many more things like this do we have in the Tang Dynasty?"
Su Chen: "What worries the Prime Minister! I guess this phenomenon is everywhere along the coast of Datang."
"Although the power of the aristocratic clans in the court has collapsed, their intertwined influence in the local areas will not dissipate for a while."
Li Chengqian: "What should we do? How can we, the people of the Tang Dynasty, be robbed by traitors so often?"
Su Chen helplessly spread his hands and looked at Fang Xuanling.
Fang Xuanling: "We will discuss this matter when we return to court."
"Now the navy trained by Zhang Liang in Dengzhou has almost become an army, and the commander-in-chief's navy has also returned. In the future, those overseas rebels will not dare to be so rampant."
Su Chen didn't say anything. It's really hard to talk about this.
Judging from what the naval fleet encountered in Malacca and yesterday, those remnants of the elite have been running rampant at sea for some time.
When Su Chen built the large ship, Li Er was busy fighting against the Turks and Goguryeo, and did not pay attention to coastal defense at all.
When Li Er wanted to build a ship, there was a group of rotten scholars at home who were holding him back, and there were remnants of powerful family members outside who were trying to obstruct it.
