Ang Lee couldn't tell whether the fishing boat that was following him happened to return to the voyage or whether it meant to rob, anyway, he couldn't tell anything on the surface.

However, whether the other party is a pirate or not, there will be no threat to Li An, the more than 100 elite Tang Army soldiers hidden in the cabin are not vegetarians, their strength is enough to kill several times the pirates in seconds, and it is no longer a problem to deal with the few pirates in front of them.

Waiting is the best way, only waiting can we know what the other party is trying to do, and other things such as guessing are useless.

"Let the soldiers stabilize, don't let the other party find out, whether it's a pirate or not, I'll find out later."

Li Ang whispered, and picked up the binoculars to continue to observe the fishing boat following behind.

The fishing boat was far away, and at the beginning, it seemed that there were more than 30 people, and it was absolutely impossible to count it by relying on the telescope, but after getting closer, it was found that there were a lot fewer people, and only ten fishermen could be seen on the deck, and the rest naturally ran into the cabin.

"Big brother, the number of fishermen on the boat seems to have decreased a lot! They must all be hiding in the cabin, it looks like there's something wrong! I'm willing to bet that 90 percent of them are pirates. ”

Li Feiyu said with a little excitement.

Li An nodded and said, "I feel the same way!" The fishermen all of a sudden took refuge in the cabin, probably for fear of alerting us, and seeing that they were speeding up, it would take only two quarters to catch up with us. ”

"Soldiers are ready to fight, as long as these pirates reveal their true form, they will be annihilated."

Li Feiyu ordered excitedly.

The soldiers hurriedly began to prepare for the upcoming battle.

Li An carefully observed the approaching fishing boat, and ordered: "Change the course immediately and see how the fishing boat goes." ”

Soon, the small merchant ship changed course, making almost ninety degrees of turn, and sailing in a completely different direction.

Li An took a closer look with a telescope and found that the fishing boat behind him had also changed course slightly, and chased directly after his small merchant ship.

By this time, Ang Lee was almost 100% sure that the fishing boat following behind him was a camouflaged pirate ship, and immediately prepared the soldiers for battle.

However, as long as the other party does not take the lead in attacking, Ang Lee will not take the initiative to let the soldiers attack, so as not to really misunderstand, although this possibility is very small.

The speed of the small merchant ship was not fast, and Li An asked the soldiers who drove the boat to reduce their speed appropriately, and the fishing boat behind him pursued at full speed, so that the fishing boat behind him was getting closer and closer, and soon, without the help of binoculars, the fishermen on the fishing boat could be seen with their eyes.

Li An carefully counted with his eyes, and there were twelve people on the ship, all of whom were poor fishermen, and there was still no sign of pirates, but their behavior was very similar to that of robbing pirates.

It is not possible to see the expressions of people with the eyes, and only with the help of high-powered binoculars can you see the expressions and expressions of these plainly dressed fishermen, as well as their communication with each other.

Li An carefully observed, and saw that these fishermen were all making eyes, and their every subtle expression was under Li An's control, they must have never seen a high-powered telescope, so they naturally did not understand the high-tech equipment that Li Ang had.

"This group of bastards, there is really a problem, and none of them can run away today."

Li An sneered, closed his eyes, and quietly waited for the fishing boat to approach.

"Hey, where are you going?"

A fisherman shouted hoarsely.

The soldiers on the deck replied according to Li An's previous explanation: "We are going to the Heling Kingdom. ”

"What's on board?"

The fisherman asked aloud again.

"It's nothing, it's just some fruits, and Datang's daily life goods."

The soldier replied again.

One of the fishermen grinned and exclaimed, "There are fish we just caught on this boat, all fresh, you can buy them!" ”

"Don't buy, don't buy, our cabin is already full of cargo and can't hold it."

The soldier replied according to the script.

"The cabins are full, and it looks like there's a lot of cargo! Ha ha! ”

The fisherman burst out laughing and winked behind him.

Soon, seven or eight fishermen rushed up, and when the boat approached, they threw out iron hooks with ropes, hooked the small merchant boat, and then pulled hard so that the two boats could get close to each other indefinitely.

"What are you going to do, you have said that you will not buy it."

The soldier followed the script and said timidly.

The fishermen showed their fierce faces, ignored each other, and ordered loudly: "Brothers, rush in and tie them all up, haha! ”

In an instant, more than thirty pirates suddenly appeared and rushed into the merchant ship with weapons in hand, preparing all the details of the ship's cargo.

The five soldiers on deck, as had been agreed, immediately retreated to the cabin, and after entering the cabin, closed the hatch.

The pirates all boarded the small merchant ship and dispersed, some inspecting the wooden crates on the deck, some on guard, and some rushing to the door of the cabin, slamming it and yelling.

"Hand over all the valuable goods and money, spare you from dying, hurry up."

The pirates shouted loudly and looked very arrogant.

At this time, Li An and more than 100 elite soldiers under his command hid in the cabin, and when they saw the pirates outside arrogantly like this, they all held back their strength, ready to annihilate these guys.

There was more than one door in the cabin, and there was also a back door at the back, and Li An smiled at the corner of his mouth, and asked the soldiers to divide into two ways and rush out from both doors at the same time, annihilating all the pirates.

"Kill ......"

More than 100 soldiers rushed out of the two hatches at the same time and killed more than 30 pirates, forming a huge advantage.

"There are ambushes, there are ambushes, it's officers and soldiers."

The thirty pirates were dumbfounded, they were capable of this, and it was okay to bully and bully the lone businessmen, but if they wanted to fight against the elite of the powerful Tang Army, they would be too far behind, and they were not at the same level at all.

"Surrender, we surrender."

As soon as three or five of the thirty pirates had been killed, the rest immediately fell to their knees and surrendered, their expressions terrified in stark contrast to their previous arrogance.

"Arrest them all and bring them back to Malacca for interrogation."

Li An ordered sharply.

Dozens of soldiers were tasked with tying up the pirates and squatting them on the deck until they were taken back to Malacca and placed in a concentration camp.

Some of the soldiers entered the pirate-driven fishing boat, searched inside and out, found no new pirates, and took over the fishing boat completely.

"Big brother, this fishing law enforcement is really powerful, and he caught more than thirty pirates so easily."

Li Feiyu looked at the captured pirates and spoke.

Li An smiled, pointed to a small head, and said, "Come here, the official has something to ask you." ”

The soldiers untied him and escorted him to Ang Lee.

"Get on your knees."

"Spare your life, spare your life!"

Ang Lee asked, "Which part are you from?" ”

"We are fishermen from Luo Yue Country, we usually make a living from fishing, occasionally see merchant ships, we will rub some goods, and we have not killed anyone, spare us!"

The pirate little head said.

"Have you killed anyone, you don't count, when you return to Malacca, the official will only let people identify you."

Li An looked at the little head and asked, "Your fishing boat is not big!" Do you need more than 30 people to fish? How many fish have you caught, and what kind of people do you usually sell, said. ”

"Grandpa Guan, I was unlucky today, so I caught a basket of fish, all on the deck."

The pirate little head said.

Ang Lee winked and asked the fish to be carried over.

"There are only a dozen fish, who are you covered? It's not just that! You don't know how to fish at all, the fishermen are just a front for you, you're a full-time pirate. ”

Li An said angrily.

"Say it! How many bad things have you done? If you are honest, you may be able to reduce the punishment. ”

Li Feiyu asked.

"The first time, this is the first robbery, I heard that the money is quick to do this, and I was confused for a while, so I ......"

The pirate boss quibbled.

Li Feiyu said softly: "Big brother, these pirates are all slippery, and there is no result in such an interrogation, it is better to be escorted back and interrogated slowly separately, I don't believe that they are disobedient." ”

Li An nodded and said, "That's right, speed up and return to the port and set off." ”

The fishing law enforcement team took the loot and captured pirates and sailed to the port of Malacca as fast as they could.

The fishing law enforcement team personally commanded by Li An was one of the ten fishing law enforcement teams, and the other nine law enforcement teams composed of soldiers of the forward battalion also gained a lot, at least half of the law enforcement teams achieved good results, and the other half of the law enforcement teams that did not succeed in catching pirates were not discouraged, and continued to enforce the law the next day.

Upon returning to the port of Malacca, Ang Lee ordered the captured pirates to be interrogated in isolation to prevent them from colluding with each other.

The results of the separate trial were undoubtedly very good, and very satisfactory progress was made very quickly, and many hidden pirates were successfully dug up.

After summarizing, Ang Lee discovered that there were more pirates in the waters of Malacca than he imagined, and many poor tribes lived entirely by plundering.

These impoverished tribes barely fed themselves with food, but if they wanted to live a better life, they had to plunder merchant ships, after all, no industry could make more money than robbery.

And this presented Li An with a problem, because there were many old and weak women and children in these poor tribes, and the young men robbed the wealth outside and became the most popular pirates, but if all these pirates were caught, then it would be difficult for the remaining old and weak women and children to survive.

But if these guys are released, there is no guarantee that they will not continue to be pirates, and besides, they have done bad things by plundering merchant ships, so they can not be let go easily.

This is indeed a dilemma, and if it is not handled well, it will cause great tragedy.

It is said that there is a lot of truth in the poor mountains and bad waters, and there is still a certain truth in saying that in poor places, it is difficult for the common people to survive, and it is natural to give birth to hatred of the rich, and the businessmen in the past are very rich in their eyes, so they naturally want to grab a vote to improve their quality of life.

But once the robbery is successful once, and a large amount of wealth is obtained, they will feel that it is too fast and too easy to get rich in this way, so that there will be a next time, the next time, and it will be difficult to extricate themselves, and the people of the same tribe who did not participate in the robbery, find that they get rich quickly, and will naturally choose to join the camp of pirates, so that all the people of a tribe have become professional pirates.

Good things don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles, and people from neighboring tribes will soon discover this little secret of getting rich, and as a result, another pirate tribe will be formed and gradually grow and develop.

With the gradual strengthening of the Tang Dynasty and the frequent overseas trade, the living soil of pirates will naturally become fertile, and the number of pirates will naturally surge.

Pirates sometimes fought over interests, but as the number of merchant ships increased, they focused on looting merchant ships and did not focus too much on turf fighting.

"Big brother, we have investigated very clearly, in Luo Yue Country alone, there are five pirate tribes, the men of the tribe are basically pirates, the old and weak women and children need to be taken care of, if they are all captured, these five tribes will be finished."

Li Feiyu also had compassion and said helplessly.

Li An sighed and said softly: "They are all pirates, they should be caught, as for the old and weak women and children, let the kings of each country deal with it themselves!" I'm not here to open a charity. ”

"Big brother, should we send troops to arrest us ourselves, or should we let the kings of various countries send troops to deal with it?"

Li Feiyu asked.

Li An thought for a moment and said softly: "There are too many of these pirates, too many and too scattered, so leave them to the royal families to deal with!" Moreover, these captured pirates are also handed over to the nations, and their kings may take good care of them, so as to lighten our burdens. ”

"Big brother, these tribes are too poor, if they can get rid of poverty, maybe this thing won't happen."

Li Feiyu sighed quietly.

Li An chuckled and said: "You are right, the reason why these tribal men become pirates is because of poverty, so my merchants in the Tang Dynasty should enter these countries to establish workshops, so that these poor tribal men can work, and they will be paid for their work, so that they don't have to be pirates." ”

Bad things can sometimes turn into good things, and there are many pirates in this area, which also shows that the surplus labor in this area is sufficient, which can just meet the needs of Datang merchants to come and build workshops.