The East China Sea was an important maritime trade route of the Great Zhou Empire.

Merchant ships from the northern states and counties, whether heading east to Dongying, or south to Jiangnan, need to pass through here.

Especially in recent years, under the promotion of several families, more and more merchants have joined the maritime trade, so that the East China Sea has achieved explosive development.

In addition, the Great Zhou Empire did not pay much attention to the East China Sea because of the stormy empire and the fact that there were foreign tribes in the north, and in just a few years, a rather terrifying number of pirates were bred on this side of the East China Sea.

Of course, the pirates who begged for food at sea were not idiots, and they knew what they couldn't do.

Therefore, under the operation of that group of pirates and a few families with terrifying energy on the sea, a set of rules of the game recognized by merchants and pirates gradually formed in the East China Sea, as well as some fixed maritime trade routes.

Regardless of whether it is a merchant ship from there, after entering the East China Sea, it is basically the same fixed trade routes.

Pirates are usually stationed at the throat of those fixed maritime trade routes, but the pirates who can generally sit on the trade routes are basically high-scale pirates in the East China Sea.

Those guys don't easily do anything to merchant ships, they form a tacit understanding with merchant ships, they guard the trade routes, provide protection for merchant ships, and even use their base as a stopover for merchant ships.

Of course, those pirates have to charge a protection fee, and it is not low, they are more greedy, and the protection fee can even collect 50% of the income of a merchant ship, which is basically cutting meat from that group of merchants!

Of course, this kind of business is better than safety, and the pirates are still more creditworthy, and basically there is nothing to do as long as they pay protection money, so the caravan that is not very strong will basically choose to take this kind of business route honestly.

But there are no absolutes, and some merchant ships are reluctant to take this kind of trade route, for example, there is such a caravan in front of them is this kind of guy who does not take the usual path.

A merchant ship more than ten meters long is slowly moving in the waters of the East China Sea.

It could be seen that there was a hint of nervousness on the faces of the people on this merchant ship at this moment, after all, this was the first time they had taken a road that was not on the chart.

The owner of this merchant ship was the second ancestor of a family, and when he heard that the maritime trade was very profitable, he scraped together his own money to get a merchant ship, paid some sailors and guards, and got a shipload of goods and started drying.

Originally, he planned to take the trade route, but as soon as he entered the trade road, he was met by pirates, and he asked for protection money.

In fact, the protection fee is not expensive, at least in terms of peers, it is okay, and the captain of the escort of the merchant ship also persuaded Na Suwan to pay the money, but who knows that the family is not small.

I didn't give that money if I was alive or dead, and finally drove the ship out of the trade road in anger, and from then on, the sailors of this merchant ship were terrified.

"Relax, relax, it's okay, there won't be any pirates, this East China Sea is so big, there are so many pirates from there?" On the merchant ship, the fat guy comforted.

It's just that his comfort didn't have any effect, and the sailors on the ship were still frightened, and when they saw this, the pot-bellied guy directly threw off the killer idea.

"Cheer me up, do a good job! I promise you that as long as this trip can go smoothly, I will triple the wages of all of you! ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the sailors on the merchant ship finally showed smiles, but some of them still had sad expressions on their faces, especially the guards with knives on their bodies were still frowning.

"Owner, I suggest that we drive a few dozen nautical miles or turn into the sea road, although it does cost some money to do business, but it is better to be safe." Yuan Peng, the captain of the escort team, stepped forward and said.

As soon as he heard Yuan Peng say this, the face of the fat guy suddenly sank: "No, absolutely not, that group of guys only needs a little protection money, they are simply going to knock my bones and suck my marrow, I will never do it!" ”

Yuan Peng shook his head, with a sigh in his heart, he knew that this guy was so stingy, he said that he would not come to be the captain of his escort team.

"Owner, the East China Sea is not very peaceful, this money ......," Yuan Peng said bitterly.

"Okay, okay, don't say it, I invited you to be the captain of the escort team to protect my goods, not to let you be the master to teach me how to do it, I know what to do." The guy was obviously annoyed.

"Our sea area is not very safe, and we may encounter ambush......es after walking for a while," Yuan Peng paused, and then tried again.

Yuan Peng pestered again and again, and the guy finally became angry: "How can there be pirates in a sea area like this?" Besides, even if there were pirates, wouldn't there still be you? If I go on the business road, I'll have to pay you to do something.

Having said all this, it's not because you don't want to do things after taking the money, okay, if you take the sea road, you can take the sea road, how much protection money is needed, can I deduct it directly from your salary? ”

As soon as these words came out, Yuan Peng's face turned completely dark, and he didn't say anything for a while.

And the guy with a fat belly saw that he had successfully shut up Yuan Pengyi, and a smug sneer suddenly appeared on his face.

And just then, just when the fat guy was proud, he passed by a small island, and when they crossed the island, six pirate ships from the back of the island quickly stopped the merchant ship.

Seeing this scene, the guy who was full of fat intestines and even his brain was dumbfounded, and the smile on his face that had just bloomed was frozen, and the whole person was stupid, and he didn't reflect the situation at all.

And the fat guy is stupid, those pirates are not stupid.

The pirates were obviously veterans, quite skilled in their business, and as soon as they stopped the merchant ship, the pirates in the six pirate ships threw dozens of hooks to hook the merchant ship.

At the same time, inside the largest of the six pirate ships, the large island owner with a thin body stood up.

"Listen to the merchant ship in front, we are from Blackreef Island, as long as you hand over the goods honestly, we can promise that we will not hurt any of you!"

Hearing the big island owner shout the words 'Black Reef Island', Yuan Peng suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although I don't know where 'Blackreef is' and I haven't heard of the name 'Blackreef', this kind of pirate group with a name and a surname, and obviously has a base, is on a large scale, and such a pirate group is generally more disciplined, as long as they cooperate, they generally don't go too far.