Chapter 21 Know yourself and your enemy
The two whales were slowly undulating in the sea with their white bellies, and were dragged upside down by the boat to return to Nanri Island, and a small boat sailed out of the bay, took the rope that tied the whale's tail from the big boat, tied it to the small boat, and everyone paddled back to the shore together.
Groups of people gathered on the beach to watch the excitement, and after seeing such a big whale, they couldn't help but exclaim, and everyone was amazed.
At the beckoning of the steward, many people rushed up to catch the ropes brought ashore by the boat, and some people placed logs on the shore and laid the tracks.
On the shore, several thick wooden winches had already been installed in advance, and after the people had coiled the ropes on the winch, they shouted and began to push the winch.
More people helped pull the ropes and slowly pulled the dead whales from the water to shore.
These two whales were caught by Yu Xiaotian as a traditional test for the sailors of each ship, and he led the fleet to catch them on the nearby sea, one large and one small, both of which were hunted by the sea wolf tribesmen.
For such a traditional test project, the old members of the Seawolf are already accustomed to it, but for those newcomers, it is the first time.
Don't look at these pirates who usually rob ships and kill people at sea, but letting them deal with such a big thing is the first time for all newcomers.
So when they saw the old subordinates of those sea wolves methodically leading them to chase the whales and hunt this behemoth, many newcomers were surprised, especially after seeing that under the leadership of the old brothers, they successfully hunted the whales, and many newcomers admired these old brothers for throwing themselves to the ground.
Although Yu Xiaotian has been leading his subordinates to go to sea for exercises almost every day these days, he can't sit and eat like this, so during the exercise, he still ordered to hunt a few whales by the way, first, he can add a large amount of meat to his subordinates, and second, he can also prepare some oil in advance for the future fight with the mixed river dragon, so that the mixed river dragon can experience the killer taste of the sea wolf in the future.
At the same time, I took advantage of this opportunity, and by the way, let my subordinate ships cooperate with each other, so that some guys who have never seen much blood can take the opportunity to experience what is called a bloody scene.
After the two whales were dragged back, the weather was relatively good, and the weather, which had been hot and dry these days, suddenly began to wind, making everyone feel a little cool.
The experienced old man said that he was afraid that there would be a big storm soon, so Yu Xiaotian did not dare to slack off, and ordered all his efforts to slaughter and divide the two whales.
Now he is not very short of manpower, one or two hundred people together, slashing and chopping, it only took one day, the two whales were divided, and when the whale meat was divided, it was salted with baskets of large salt particles, and the weather in the province was hot, and it would soon be rotten.
But even so, summer whaling is not a good time, and before they can process all the whale meat, the rest of the whale meat will start to smell and stink.
If it is replaced by the next generation, Yu Xiaotian will definitely let people throw away or bury the remaining whale meat, but in this era, even for pirates, meat is not easy to obtain food, under the strong demand of everyone, these flavorful whale meat is still pickled, and taken to the newly built several kang rooms to bake the kang dry, and continue to be stored.
Naturally, blubber is still the old method, and a large cauldron is set up on the spot and boiled pot by pot, and finally refined into whale oil, which is packaged and stored.
Looking at the hot beach, Yu Xiaotian smelled the thick fishy smell in the air, and couldn't help but shake his head, secretly making up his mind in his heart, after the winter of this year, how could he send a fleet to the north to Shandong or Bohai Bay, and find a way to transport goods to store a large amount of ice on the island.
In this way, after going to sea for whaling or fishing, the whale meat and fresh fish can be stored in the ice cellar for a longer period of time.
Whaling was the first of its kind on Nanri Island, so not only the island's tribesmen but also the fishermen from the island's two fishing villages were attracted to the island and gathered on the beach to watch the excitement.
Since Yu Xiaotian came to Nanri Island, the fishermen in the two fishing villages on the island have begun to live a much more stable life, and the fishermen no longer have to hand over most of their catches to them as before, but have been allowed by Yu Xiaotian to leave most of the catch, and only need to pay 30% of the catch to the wolf's den.
If the fishermen's remaining catch is dried in the sun, they can also sell it directly to the Sea Wolf Gang, although the purchase price is relatively low, but this is much more insurance than they re-trafficking the catch to the shore, and second, it also saves them from being exploited by the fishing tyrants on the shore again, so after calculation, their harvest is still much more than selling it on the shore.
Coupled with the fact that after Yu Xiaotian landed on the island, the behavior of the sea wolf tribe was strictly enforced, and these pirates no longer dared to bully the fishermen on the island, which made the fishermen in the two fishing villages on the island have a much better life, and these fishermen gradually let go of their courage and became much closer to the sea wolf tribes.
So when they heard that the Sea Wolf Gang had caught two behemoths at sea, they fishermen couldn't help but be curious, and they ran over in groups to see the excitement, and some people couldn't help it, and they also stepped forward to help and split the whales together, and the atmosphere on the beach seemed quite harmonious.
After seeing this scene, in order to gather the fishermen on these islands to advance and retreat with the sea wolves in the future, Yu Xiaotian simply asked his subordinates to give some unattractive whale offal and some scattered whale meat to these fishermen.
At the end of the day, the two whales were left with only two whale bones on the beach, and the remaining usable items were almost swept away and became a reserve in the Seawolf Gang storehouse.
The beach was littered with rainbow whale blood, and some scattered pieces of minced meat that could not be collected, and the strong smell of blood in the air, as well as the stench coming from the nearby cauldrons of boiling whale oil.
After experiencing such a scene of splitting the whale, people who had never seen blood gradually adapted to this bloodiness from the initial nausea, and their nerves began to thicken, and the red color could no longer stimulate their nerves as much as they did at the beginning, which was also the result that Yu Xiaotian wanted.
The sea began to get stronger, and a small boat, after approaching Nanri Island, flew the flag of a sea wolf, and was soon allowed to enter the bay.
After a person on the boat got down, he quickly found Yu Xiaotian, and said to Xiaotian when he knelt down on one knee: "Qi Yu is a big master!" The little one just came back from Nangantang! ”
"Tell me, what's going on over there these days?" Yu Xiaotian waved his hand to ask the idle people to wait a little farther away, and then asked the person who came back.
"Great master! The small ones pretended to be fishermen, detoured from Dalian Island, and walked to Nangantang, and did not see the men of the mixed river dragon crossing the island along the way, but in the area of the Minjiang River estuary, they encountered a few boats of the mixed river dragon.
After the little ones arrived at the mouth of the Minjiang River, they turned to Nangantang, and met two of their boats on land, they stopped the little ones, and after interrogating them, they robbed some of the fish we caught, and did not find out the identities of the little ones.
After we were let go, we went to the Nangantang area to catch fish, and saw five or six of their boats coming and going in and out of Nangantang.
After staying for half a day, in order to prevent them from discovering our identity, the little ones didn't dare to stay longer, so they went to the east of Haishan Island and turned back!
On the way back, we ran into a boat with a mixed river dragon in the area of East Itch Island, and they robbed it again!
After this trip, we found a total of nearly 20 boats under the Mixed River Dragon, and it is estimated that the Mixed River Dragon brought at least 20 boats this time! "This person who was sent to investigate the situation of Chaojianglong is an old brother of a sea wolf, and he is also a descendant who came out of Xiaohuangdao with Yu Xiaotian, and now he is quite calm, and he is very witty, and his speech is also very organized.
After listening to his words, Yu Xiaotian nodded and said, "Ma Cheng, you guys did a very beautiful job this time, not bad!" I'll give each of you a credit, and I'll reward you with ten taels of silver, and the other three will also be rewarded with five taels of silver!" Keep up the good work in the future! ”
After hearing this, the horse was immediately overjoyed, and quickly bowed his head to thank him, and then happily went to Liu Lao Liu to receive the reward.
Looking at the sea breeze that was getting stronger, Yu Xiaotian took a deep breath, although this time he decided to delay for a while, but it didn't mean that he would sit and wait, knowing that the other side could not be defeated in a hundred battles, in order to better understand the situation of the mixed river dragon, he sent a group of subordinates during this time, disguised as fishermen, and took several fishing boats to explore the situation of the mixed river dragon.
Now that the news has gradually come back, he has also roughly figured out the strength of the mixed river dragon going south this time, and he is really bound to win this mixed river dragon! Unexpectedly, more than 20 boats were brought down at once this time, which clearly shows that they want to gradually encroach on the territory of Fuzhou!
If he uses his own strength, even if he comes out of the nest, he is not the opponent of the mixed river dragon at the moment, even if he adds Liu Yidao, One-eyed Dragon and their local counterparts, the strength of the two sides may not be equal.
Therefore, in the future, the battle between his sea wolf and the mixed river dragon is destined to be a difficult battle, but it is not a way not to fight, no matter what, he must fight hard.
Yu Xiaotian slowly walked back to his residence, and as soon as he entered the door, he smelled a fragrance, which lifted his spirits, and he raised his eyes to see a slender figure, busy in his house.
Although Yu Xiaotian is now the big boss of the huge Seawolf Gang, his life is still relatively simple, except for leaving more than ten personal soldiers around him, he did not leave a few maids for himself to serve his life.
More often than not, Lan'er, the quasi-lady, takes care of his daily life, and now the woman who can come and go in and out of his residence at will is only Lan'er, and there is no one else.