The inner harbor of Niochou on the west side of Keelung Port is the special military port of Li Su's navy, where all military ships are moored, and there is also a three-layer water village on the port that communicates with Keelung Port on the outside to prevent outsiders from breaking in.

Niu Chou Port is a military port, and the safety naturally has nothing to say, so the land on both sides of the port water village has been bought by many merchants to establish some warehouses, shipping firms and other places, and the closer to the water village, the more expensive the land price, so the closer to the water village of the shop, the stronger its own financial resources.

There is a section of about 100 meters of isolation area between Shuizhai and the surrounding shops, and the first shop on the left side of the isolation area is a three-story building that covers a large area, and the whole body is made of masonry and cement, which looks extremely sturdy. In fact, most of the houses in this port are made of brick and stone, and very few are made of traditional wood, mainly because it is windy here in Taiwan, especially typhoons will occasionally landfall, so the houses here must be built very strong, and the beauty is not very important.

On the main entrance of this three-story building, there is a tall plaque with the words "Slave Hunting Association" written on it. This is Keelung City, and it is also an industry association formed by all slave hunting teams on the island of Taiwan, and there is some official background behind it, but when it comes to the outside world, it is only a non-governmental organization and has nothing to do with government agencies.

Today's slave hunting association is very lively, and all the slave hunting teams of all sizes on the island of Taiwan have sent their own representatives here, and everyone gathers together to drink wine and eat meat. However, the protagonist of today's banquet was not them, but a group of people sitting in the middle of the banquet, which was dominated by a young man under the age of twenty. is coping with the toasts of the people around him.

I saw that the young man who was surrounded in the middle was long, although his face was a little dark. But his appearance is very gentle, and he is wearing a robe. He looks like a reader. But if you really think of him as a reader, it would be a big mistake. This young man's real name is Lu Wan, and he has grown up in a pirate den since he was a child, and although he looks like a scholar, he is an out-and-out pirate leader.

When Li Su had not yet come to Taiwan, this young man was also a well-known number one person on the island of Taiwan, because he looked like a gentleman, and he was also very studious, and he had read some of the Four Books and Five Classics. knows how to be polite, righteous and honest, and when robbing at sea, he only seeks wealth and does not kill people, and his style is somewhat similar to Lu Qing, which is an outlier among pirates, and he has a good pirate in his hands, so he is nicknamed Sea Gentleman.

Lu Wan is a person who can be civil and martial, and he is a rare talent, when Li Su sent Lu Qing to sweep the island of Taiwan. Lu Wan knew that he was not an opponent, so he took the initiative to surrender, but he was a person who was unwilling to be left behind, so when Lu Qing integrated the navy later. Although he was invited to join the navy, he refused. Instead, he took a group of old brothers and engaged in the business of catching slaves and trading slaves. It's a bit harder than being a pirate before, but at least I'm able to get a good meal. And the income is also more stable.

"Lu Junzi, you are about to sail away, and this time, I don't know when I will be able to come back, my brother is a rough man, and he won't say any polite words, I can only salute you here, I wish you a safe return!" A middle-aged man in a brocade robe stood up and said. Although the clothes and ornaments on this person's body are very luxurious, the whole person is five big and three thick, and his face is full of horizontal meat, no matter how he looks like a rich man, he looks like Lu Wan's peers.

The brocade-clothed man who spoke was named Xu Sandao, who was originally a pirate on the island, and since Taiwan fell into the hands of Li Su, he turned the pirate ship in his hand into a slave fishing ship, and is now one of the top five major slave traders on the entire Taiwan Island, and one of the stewards of the slave catching association.

"Brother Xie Xu's wine, little brother will do it first as a respect!" Lu Wan and Xu Sandao used to be old acquaintances, so when they saw that it was him who toasted, they naturally drank it all. And when the other people saw Lu Wan so bold, they all applauded loudly together, and stood up to toast one after another, but although Lu Wan's amount of wine was good, he couldn't drink so many people, fortunately, there were many brothers around him, and they all blocked the wine for their eldest brother, but despite this, Lu Wan and his party were still choked enough.

Seeing this situation, Yan Bei, who had been sitting on the main seat and had not spoken, said with a smile: "Everyone, Brother Lu, they will set sail tomorrow, and today is a send-off banquet for them, so everyone must not be too ruthless, otherwise if Brother Lu and they can't get up tomorrow, it will delay the big event!" ”

Since the last time he came to Taiwan with Li Su, Yanbei has been staying here, at first to open up a large plantation for the family, but later found that there was a shortage of manpower, so he started his old job in Dengzhou, which is to catch slaves and trade slaves. At the beginning, the slave fishing industry in Dengzhou can be said to have been developed by him, and now he has resumed his old business in Taiwan, which can be said to be extremely handy. In just one year, he consolidated the slave fishing industry on the entire island and established the Slave Fishing Association, of which he was president. Of course, the development of slave arrest is so smooth, which is also inseparable from Li Su's strong support.

Hearing the president's speech, the people below were no longer embarrassed by Lu Wan's group, but discussed in groups of three or two what they would do if Lu Wan's trip was successful, so as to get the most benefit from it.

Looking at the people discussing below, Yan Bei nodded with satisfaction, and then walked to Lu Wan, who had already drunk and had a red face, raised the teacup in his hand and said: "Brother Lu, this time you have a heavy responsibility, and you drank a lot of wine just now, and the president will no longer toast you, but there is a cup of tea here, please be sure to drink it, it can be regarded as me, the president, who replaces tea with wine, and sees off the brothers who set sail tomorrow!" ”

Lu Wan immediately felt a little flattered when he saw that it was the chairman who personally respected him, but he knew that the chairman Yan in front of him was of noble birth, and he had served as the chief of the Qi Palace's mansion before, and even he himself was a friend of His Royal Highness the King of Qi, which was a great big man in his eyes, and he didn't even dare to take the initiative to talk to Yan Bei when he usually met him.

Thinking of this, Lu Wan excitedly took the teacup and drank it all, then bowed down and said, "President Xie gave tea!" In addition, please rest assured that the villain will definitely complete the task 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, plus you have rich experience at sea, so you are the best candidate for any this time, and the source of slaves in our association in the future depends on your exploration this time!" ”

Regarding Yan Bei's praise, Lu Wan naturally said a few more modest words, and finally sat down.

Don't look at Lu Wan as young, but he is both civil and military, plus he has rich experience in sailing at sea, he can be said to be a rare seafaring talent. This time, he was tasked with the task of the Slave Catcher Association, and he would set sail from the port of Keelung in Taiwan with a fleet of five large ships and several small boats, and then pass through Java and head south as far as he could. Lüvan, on the other hand, had to draw a chart along the way and indicate the development value of the islands he encountered.

Taiwan's plantation economy is booming, and the plantation industry based on cane sugar has been greatly developed, and countless wealthy aristocrats in the Tang Dynasty have sent people to invest and set up large-scale plantations. The development of plantations led to the flourishing of the slave trade. At present, the source of slaves in Taiwan is mainly from the nearest Java, but the natives on the island of Java are limited, and with the frenzied slave hunting during this period, it has become more and more unable to meet the needs of the island of Taiwan.

After seeing this situation, Yanbei immediately decided to open up a new source of slaves, and according to the extremely inaccurate world map drawn by Li Su at the beginning, Java to the south is a series of archipelagos, which has been confirmed by some bold maritime merchants, and they also found that there are a large number of natives living on these islands, although there are many cannibals among these natives, but there are also many tame natives, so Yanbei hit the idea on these natives.

However, slave hunting is the same as business, they need an accurate chart, and they need to know the number of natives on each island, temperament, etc. If Yanbei wants to go south of Java to catch slaves, he must send a fleet to find out the situation there first, and draw a sea chart for the slave hunting fleet in the future, and Lu Wan is the explorer they carefully selected from within the slave hunting association, and the fleet he led is also carefully built by all members of the association, although it is not as good as the equipment and quality of Li Su's regular navy, but it is not far behind.

I saw that after Yan Bei toasted a few glasses of wine with the members, he returned to his office on the third floor under the pretext of being exhausted, and there were already two people waiting for him inside.

"Brother Cui and Brother Wang, they are entangled in mundane affairs, so that the two of you have been waiting for a long time, forgive your sins!" As soon as Yan Bei came in, he immediately hugged his fists at the two people who were sitting and drinking tea. These two people are Li Su's old acquaintances, Cui Yu and Wang Kuang, when Li Su accompanied Empress Xiao to Tainan, they also lived in their plantation for a while, and as Li Su's friends, they naturally also knew Yanbei.

Seeing Yan Bei coming in, Wang Guo first smiled and said: "If Brother Yan feels guilty, then it is better to pull a few more boatloads of slaves to us, we will definitely buy them at the current price, and we will definitely not let you suffer 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 laughed.

"No problem, what is this little thing, as long as Brother Cui and Brother Wang open their mouths, I can transport any slaves you want!" Yan Bei also agreed very boldly, as the president of the association, this little thing is naturally not a problem.

Wang Kuang and Cui Yu also knew that this matter was nothing, so they were not polite to Yanbei, and after a few more gossips casually, Wang Kuang finally spoke: "Brother Yan, the younger brother and the two are here this time, and there is a big deal to discuss with you, but I don't know if you have the courage to eat it?" (To be continued.) )