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Text Chapter 414 Slave Exploration

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    Niuchou Inner Harbor on the west side of Keelung Port is a dedicated military port for Li Min's navy. All military ships are berthed here. There is also a three-story water fortress 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.  The more expensive it is, 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. It is made of masonry and cement and looks extremely 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.  It doesn't seem important anymore.

    On the main entrance of this three-story building, there is a tall plaque with the four characters "Slave Catcher 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. It has some official background behind it, but to the outside world, it is just a non-governmental organization and has nothing to do 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 representatives here. Everyone is here, drinking and eating meat. It¡¯s a lively event.  However, the protagonists of today's banquet are not them, but a group of people sitting in the middle of the banquet. This group of people is mainly a young man under twenty years old, who is dealing with the toasts of everyone around him.

    I saw that the young man surrounded in the middle was tall and tall. Although his face was a little dark, his appearance was very gentle. In addition, he was wearing a robe and looked like a scholar.  But if you really think of him as a scholar, you would be totally wrong.  This young man's real name is Lu Wan, and 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 of 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 Haijunzi.

    Lu Wan is a rare talent with both literary and military skills. 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, so  Later, when Lu Qing integrated the navy, although he invited him to join the navy, he unfortunately refused. Instead, he led a group of old brothers to engage in slave catching and trading.  Being a pirate was a bit harder in the past, but at least I could have a stable meal and a more stable income.

    "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 the clothes on this man are very luxurious, he is tall and thick, and his face is full of flesh. He does not look like a wealthy man, but looks like a colleague of Lu Wan.

    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 as a token of respect!" Lu Wan and Xu Sandao were old acquaintances before, so when they saw that it was him who was toasting, they naturally drank it all.  When other people saw Lu Wan being so generous, they all cheered loudly and stood up to toast. As a result, although Lu Wan had a good drinking capacity, he couldn't drink so many people. Fortunately, he had many brothers around him.  They all stopped drinking for their eldest brother, but despite this, Lu Wan and his party were still drunk 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."  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's slave hunting.  It can be said that the slave-catching industry in Dengzhou was developed by him single-handedly. Now it can be said that it is extremely convenient to resume the old industry in Taiwan.  In just one year, he integrated the slave-catching industry on the entire island.??, and also established the Slave Catchers Association, of which he served as president.  Of course, the fact that the slave-catching business developed so smoothly was inseparable from Li Min's strong support.

    After hearing what the president had said, 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 was already drinking and his face was 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 am using tea instead of wine for everyone who will set 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, President, please rest assured that the villain 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 have rich 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.

    Although Lu Wan is young, he is a man of both civil and military skills. In addition, he has rich experience in sailing at sea. He can be said to be a rare sailing talent.  This time he is charged with the task of the Slave Catching Association. He will take a fleet of five large ships and several small ships to set sail from Keelung Port in Taiwan, then pass through Java and head south as far as he can go.  Go as far as you can.  Lu Wan, on the other hand, had to draw a sea map along the way and indicate the development value of the islands he 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.  The development of plantations led to the prosperity of the slave trade.  Now Taiwan's source of slaves is mainly captured from the nearest Java, but the natives on Java Island are limited. With the crazy slave hunting during this period, it has become increasingly unable to meet the demand on Taiwan Island.

    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 had 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 Yanbei took the idea.  on these natives.

    But catching slaves is just like doing business. They need an accurate chart, and they also need to know the number and surnames of the natives on each island.  If Yanbei wanted to capture slaves south of Java, they had to send a fleet to find out the situation there first and draw a sea chart for future slave-catching fleets, and Lu Wan was the one they started from.  The explorer was carefully selected within the Slave Catching Association, and the fleet he led was also carefully built by all members of the association. Although it was not as good as the equipment and quality of Li Min's regular navy, it was not far behind.

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

    "Brother Cui and Brother Wang, I have been busy with secular affairs and have kept you waiting for so long. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting!" As soon as Yan Bei came in, he immediately clasped his fists at the two people who were sitting and drinking tea.  These two people are Li Min's old acquaintances, namely Cui Yu and Wang Kuang. When Li Min accompanied Empress Xiao to Tainan, he lived in their plantation for a while, and as Li Min's friend,  Naturally, they all know Yan Bei.

    Seeing Yan Bei come 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??This little thing is nothing, so he was not polite to Yan Bei. After chatting a few more casually, Wang Kuang finally spoke: "Brother Yan, the younger brother and I are here this time. We have a big deal to do."  I¡¯ll discuss it with you, but I don¡¯t know if you have the guts to eat it?¡±

    (To be continued)
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