The Bohai Sea, a three-sided bad land, is almost equivalent to the inland sea of the East Asian continent, and only one Bohai Strait is connected to the Yellow Sea, and the narrowest part of the strait is only more than 200 li, even narrower than the Taiwan Strait. If the sea conditions are good, you can cross the strait by a small sampan.

The Jiaodong Peninsula in the north of the Bohai Strait is now occupied by Goguryeo, while the Shandong Peninsula in the south is the territory of the Tang Dynasty, of which Dengzhou is located just on the dividing line of the Bohai Strait.

The weather on the sea is good, the wind is very small, and the sun above the sky is radiating a warm light, bringing a warm breeze to this somewhat cold February day. A fleet of four merchant ships was sailing on the sea, and judging by the direction they were traveling, it should be heading towards Dengzhou, which had just been established by the Tang Dynasty.

The wind gulls pick up the fish from the sea, make an arc in the air, and fly down to the mast of the merchant ship, tasting the fresh fish while watching the tragedy on the deck of the merchant ship.

The crew members of the merchant ships were all dressed as Tang people, and all of them were men in the prime of life, all of them were armed with horizontal knives, and they looked like ordinary sailors at all. There are two people standing on the bow of the ship, it seems that they should be the owners of the fleet, the one on the left is a businessman with a wide heart and a fat body, full of kind face, who is looking at the goods below with a big belly and a smile, and the other is a burly one-eyed man, the temperature in February is still very low, but this man is only wearing a single coat, with the placket open, revealing his muscular chest muscles, and the new wounds and old scars on his chest are vertical and horizontal, which looks extremely terrifying.

"Big brother, the quality of our goods this time is so high, it will definitely be able to sell for a big price, it is estimated that it will be enough for our brother to be free for a few months." The one-eyed man said to the fat merchant with an excited face, he was about to arrive in Dengzhou, and as soon as these goods were sold, the business they had worked so hard to pull would be completed.

The fat merchant hears the words of the one-eyed man. But he said helplessly: "Second brother, it's not for my brother to be wordy, you said how old you are, you still don't know how old you are, you still don't know how to start a family, we are all fighting with our lives, I don't know if it may be gone one day, if you don't even have a root left, then won't your Sha family be broken?" ”

Don't look at the one-eyed man who looks so fierce, but he is the most convinced of the righteous brother in front of him. Hearing the other party's lesson, he reached out and scratched his head honestly, and said with a flattering smile: "Big brother, what you taught is it." The younger brother also wants to start a family as soon as possible, but you also know that we are eating knife rice, and if you are not careful, you will be gone, I am alone now, and only the eldest brother is sad, if you marry a woman again, if something happens, it will not hurt people for a lifetime? ”

The fat businessman was also stunned. He didn't expect that the second brother, who had always been honest, would have such delicate thoughts. It's just that after thinking that this second brother has money, he runs to the brothel every day, although the work they do is fast, but he can't help but squander it so much, it is only right to find a woman to live with.

Come to think of it. The fat businessman's eyes suddenly lit up, patted the one-eyed man's shoulder, and then pointed to the 'goods' in front of him and said with a smile: "Second brother, since you are afraid of harming our Datang women, it is better to pick out a suitable one from these Silla women first." For the time being, I became a concubine, and when I went to Dengzhou, I bought a small yard to settle people, and I could be regarded as having a home in the future. It's better than messing around in a brothel every day. ”

In addition to the crew on the deck of the ship, there were dozens of sad-looking girls, these girls were tied into several strings of ropes, and they sat honestly on the deck and did not dare to move, and there were several crew members with knives patrolling back and forth. Although these girls are dressed in shabby, they can still be vaguely distinguished as Silla clothes, and it is obvious that these girls are all Silla people. In fact, there are only a few on the deck, and there are quite a few in the cabin, and the situation on several other ships is similar to this one. That is, this is a fleet of slave catchers.

The one-eyed man was also very moved by his eldest brother's concern, but he still said with some hesitation: "Big brother, this is ...... This is not good, after all, these are the goods that the brothers exchanged for their lives, and everyone has a share of the money from the sale, if I pick one......"

"Haha~, second brother, is being a brother the kind of person who doesn't distinguish between public and private? Don't worry, Silla Maiden's money is out for my brother, and it can be regarded as a little bit of my heart as a big brother. The fat merchant laughed, and the burly man was naturally overjoyed when he heard this, and he was even more grateful to the eldest brother.

The slave trade in the Tang Dynasty is very common, and the most famous slaves are the 'Kunlun slave and the Silla maid', Li Yu's unu who can burn glass belongs to the Kunlun slave, and the Silla slave refers to the girl taken from Silla, after professional training, well-behaved and capable and docile, very popular with the upper class of the Tang Dynasty.

The prosperity of the slave trade naturally attracted many people to make a living from it, such as the fleet in front of them, which was dedicated to running the Silla route, after they arrived in Silla, they could generally buy people with money, if they couldn't buy it, they simply found a place with weak defense, risked going ashore to rob it, and returned to China immediately after robbing.

Fat merchants have been doing this business for many years, and they have finally become famous now, there are four merchant ships under their names alone, and they have hundreds of people in their hands, and they are second to none in the entire territory of Dengzhou.

They ran smoothly this time, and when they arrived at Silla, just in time for the spring famine, there were people selling children and daughters all over Silla, so they effortlessly collected people, and the quality was good, and they returned to Dengzhou to sell them to the tooth people, and then those tooth people would sell these Silla women to slave merchants everywhere, and after training, they could be regarded as real Silla women, and then their prices would increase several times.

When the fleet traveled to the afternoon, Dengzhou City was already in sight, the so-called Dengzhou City, in fact, was the county seat of the original Wendeng County, because after the establishment of Dengzhou, Wendeng was the place of governance, so the original Wendeng County was also renamed Dengzhou City. Although the original Dengzhou City was only a county seat, because of the very important strategic location of Dengzhou City, coupled with the thriving shipbuilding industry in the city, Dengzhou City was built extremely strong, and the area was no less than any state capital, which was of course more than enough as a state seat.

The fleet of fat merchants slowly received the port outside Dengju City, Dengju City not only prospered in shipbuilding, but also one of the important ports of maritime trade, going to Silla, Baekje, Goguryeo and even the ships of the Wa Kingdom, all had to pass through here, so the port outside the city was very large, the ships shuttling non-stop, there were special passages for entering and leaving the port, and the whole port seemed busy and orderly.

When the fat merchant's fleet entered the harbor, it found a berth and stopped. However, today's port seems a little strange, in the past, as soon as his ship entered the port, it would immediately attract countless tooth people, scrambling to get on the ship, in order to grab the best goods in their hands. But today, for some reason, I haven't seen any of those toothed people who looked like flies in the past?

When the fat merchant and the burly man were puzzled, suddenly a small tax collector walked on the shore, the fat merchant has been mixed in this port for ten years, and the government is very thoughtful, and the tax collector who usually contacts the most is almost all familiar to him, but only today this person looks at it.

"Hey! The merchant on the ship listens, puts the gangplank down, I'm going up to check the cargo! The officer went to the bow of the boat, raised his head and shouted to the boat. The fat merchant on the ship did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly greeted the little officials, anyway, their work had already been tacitly approved by the government, although the tax was heavier than other goods, but it was more reasonable.

Because the ship was high and the shore was low, the little official didn't see the Silla girl on the deck at first, but when he got on the ship, his eyes lit up suddenly, and he glanced at the fat merchant and said, "Your cargo is a bit special, there are new regulations on it, you wait a while!" After the little official finished speaking, without waiting for the fat merchant to react, he turned around and got off the boat, leaving the fat merchant and they looked at each other.

After waiting for a while, suddenly there was a neat running sound from the shore, and then a team of brightly armored guards suddenly rushed to the boat, pointed their bows and arrows at the people on the boat, and at the same time led a person shouted: "Put down your weapons for me, squat with your head in your hands, and kill those who dare to disobey orders!" ”

Faced with this sudden change, the people on the boat were a little overwhelmed at first. However, these people, including fat businessmen, are all murderers who lick blood with knives, in the face of this mutation, they instinctively want to resist immediately after being stunned, and many of them have already touched their hands on the handle of the knife, although the other party is well-equipped, but the number is not much, if it is a fight, who wins and who loses is not certain.

"Listen to this adult, put down the knife for Lao Tzu!" At this moment, the one-eyed man suddenly shouted, only to see that his face was flushed, and cold sweat kept breaking out on his forehead, looking very anxious.

Although the one-eyed man was only the second-in-command of the fleet, he was a righteous man, and when he grabbed people overseas, he always rushed first, so his prestige among the crew was extremely high, and as soon as they heard his order, the crew immediately instinctively gave up resistance, untied their knives and threw them on the deck.

Although the fat businessman next to him was a little puzzled, he believed that the second brother would not harm him, and after throwing down the weapon, he leaned next to the one-eyed man and asked, "Second brother, who is the other party?" ”

"Big brother, the other party is Qianniuwei, don't look at the few of them, but if our people really fight, it won't be enough for the other party to cut a few times!" The one-eyed man rarely showed a helpless wry smile, he used to be in the army, and he knew the various branches of the Tang Dynasty very well, and as a palace guard, Qianniu Wei was even more familiar. Qianniuwei was selected from the army to fill the elite of a hundred battles, and even he was fortunate to be selected back then, only one step away from entering Qianniuwei, but unfortunately he was finally swept down, from this point you can see how Qianniuwei's combat power is?

"Qianniuwei!" The fat merchant was also shocked, and at the same time suddenly remembered the rumor that Qianniuwei, who was the palace guard, could appear here, and the only explanation was that the person had already come. (To be continued)