There are not many commercial facilities at Cangdongao Wharf, except for a row of warehouses on the shore, there is only one hotel and restaurant store, downstairs to eat, upstairs and back yard to live. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoBut the scale of this store is really not small, there are more than 40 rooms in five courtyards in the upper room of the backyard alone, and the whole store can accommodate about 300 people at the same time. According to Xu Ke, there is also a shop of a similar size at the nearby Tianao Wharf for temporary accommodation for outsiders.

However, the price of goods in this robber's den is really not cheap, Xu Ke asked for two rooms and an upper room in the backyard, and spent ten taels of silver to go out. Zhao Cheng picked up more than 100 catties of fish, shellfish, shrimp and crabs from the ship and sent them to the kitchen, changing the fresh water and seasonal vegetables needed on the ship, but Tixuke saved an expense.

Zhao Cheng wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to go around the island, but he never thought that this Sea Sand Gang was actually extremely heavily fortified, only allowing outsiders to move around the small area near the dock, and the road leading to the inland of the island was specially set up with checkpoints, and Zhao Cheng was stopped without any suspense. In desperation, he had no choice but to walk around the docks. The peninsula separating the three harbors is hilly, and it is impossible to see the other two harbors on the left and right from the pier of Cangdongao.

Compared with the general fishing port town, this place is indeed more prosperous, and the various merchant ships and cargo ships seen at the wharf are roughly estimated to be as many as twenty or thirty. Although the sun was about to set, there were still several ships busy loading and unloading cargo on the docks, and you could see foreign merchants and sailors who looked and dressed differently than the Akitos, swaggering around the docks. However, the harbor is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the area available for development near the sea is not large, which limits the scale of commercial development in this place to a certain extent.

Zhao Cheng has been to many trading ports under the rule of Haihan, and he is also a person who has seen the world, compared to the scale of business here is naturally nothing, if you want to make an analogy, at most it is similar to the Wanshan Port developed by Haihan in the early days of the Pearl River Estuary. In addition to the most basic wharves, warehouses and hotels, Wanshan Port also built special restaurants and taverns, in addition to the offices set up by Haihan civil affairs, finance, health and other institutions on the island, similar to immigration, money exchanges, medical care and other affairs can be handled on the island in a timely manner.

The coastal fortifications of the Haihan militia in Wanshan Port defeated the pirate Liu Xiang's fleet in the early battle of the Pearl River Estuary, and made the first contribution to the Haihan seizure of control of the waters of Guangdong. Later, although the trading function of Wanshan Port was gradually moved to the Hong Kong area occupied by the Haihan Dynasty in the later period, the basic structure of this place was still retained, and some merchant ships from the Pearl River Estuary to Hainan Island would still choose this small port with complete facilities for transit and replenishment.

Compared with the coastal fortifications of Wanshan Port, Zhao Cheng believes that the defense strength here in Cangdongao can only be regarded as better than nothing, especially the shore fire prevention force is almost zero, which is not enough to threaten the Haihan fleet at all. Just a few of the smallest Exploration-class warships are enough to suppress the pirate forces here. However, the area of these six horizontal islands is larger than that of the Penghu Islands, and it is difficult to exterminate the pirate forces on the islands by relying on the Haihan army alone, and it must be done by land and water.

At night, except for the lights of the hotel, the whole harbor is completely dark. Considering that the terrain here was completely unfamiliar, and there was no reliable leading party, Zhao Cheng finally gave up his plan to go out to reconnoiter at night. After all, it's dark outside, and even if no one is guarded, there is no useful information to be found.

Idle, Zhao Cheng simply went downstairs and listened to the sailors and crew members who were also stationed here drinking and chatting. Most of these people are not pirates, but ordinary people who serve the smugglers who come here to trade, and there are also Westerners with deep eyes and high noses and big tongues in Chinese.

After listening to it for a long time, seventy or eighty percent of the conversation was complaining that the consumption here was too high, the food and wine provided were too poor, and there were no adult services on the island, which made these men who had been adrift at sea all year round very unhappy. Zhao Cheng smiled, and said in his heart that the things that sailors who went to sea were nothing more than eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling. The food was mediocre, the drinks were not good, the prices were high, and there was no other entertainment, so it was no wonder that the sailors complained.

After listening to it for a long time, there was no valuable information, Zhao Cheng was about to gather a few of his subordinates to go back to the room to discuss tomorrow's arrangements, when he saw Xu Ke and the seventh brother coming out of a private room shoulder to shoulder. Xu Ke also saw Zhao Cheng at a glance, so he beckoned to him.

"Brother Qi said, you want to take me to a good place to play, Lao Zhao, you go with me!" After Zhao Cheng approached, Xu Ke lowered his voice and said to him, and a strong smell of wine poured directly into Zhao Cheng's nose. Zhao Cheng didn't ask much, nodded, and then turned around to make a gesture to his subordinates, signaling them to go back to the room on their own first.

The seventh brother led the two of them through the atrium, and when they arrived in the courtyard behind, they entered an independent courtyard in all directions. There was a table of wine in the main room, and seven or eight young men were eating, drinking, and chatting, and when they saw the seventh brother bringing people in, they just nodded and did not say hello. The seventh brother took Xu Zhao and the others straight past the side of this table, and there was actually a door behind the screen.

The seventh brother pushed the door in, and it was a short corridor, about four feet wide, and at the end was another door. Zhao Cheng looked at the uncarved natural mountain wall above his head, and asked casually: "This is in the mountains, right?"

Seventh Brother glanced back at him, nodded and said, "This is a cave, and it is also the most interesting place on Liuheng Island." ”

The three of them entered the door at the other end of the hallway, and sure enough, they immediately stepped into a different space. This cave has a space about three zhang high, from the top of the cave with iron chains hanging a number of trays, inside lit with thick butter candles, the terrain in the cave is flat and very open, there are forty or fifty large tables, next to each table there are several floor candlesticks, Zhao Cheng noticed that the glass cover covering the candlesticks is very familiar, it is actually an item produced by Haihan. Hundreds of people gathered around these tables shouting, all playing games like pai gow craps.

Seventh Brother introduced: "If you want to have fun, just greet the waiters in red and tell them how big the game is, and they will take you to the right table to play, and the money can also be handed over to them to exchange for chips, you just need to sit and play." If you are tired and hungry, you can also summon them, and they will take you to eat and rest, recuperate your spirits and continue to play. ”

Zhao Cheng pretended to hesitate and said: "I don't know if it's like this, I don't have much cash on my body!"

The seventh brother waved his hand and said, "It's okay, if this Brother Zhao plans to borrow money, we can borrow it here, as long as we repay it before leaving the island, there is no need for any interest." With Boss Xu's credit, it is no problem to guarantee five hundred taels of silver for you. ”

Xu Ke pretended to be angry and said, "Seventh brother, it turns out that my credit is worth five hundred taels of silver?"

The seventh brother laughed and said: "Okay, it's my brother's gaffe, one thousand taels! Brother, your credit is worth one thousand taels, it's always good, right?"

Of course, Zhao Cheng would not really want to borrow a thousand taels of silver to gamble, but he only said fifty taels at the moment, while Xu Ke himself borrowed two hundred taels. The seventh brother raised his hand to make a gesture, and immediately a red-clothed waiter came to listen to his instructions, and after a while, he brought two hundred and fifty taels of chips. I don't know what kind of wood it was made of, it was light and tough, and it was engraved with the amount of money, starting from one penny of silver to fifty taels of silver. Zhao Cheng flipped the chips over, and the word "sea sand" was engraved on the back, which was quite neatly made, much more decent than ordinary underground casinos.

Seeing that the two of them had divided their chips, the seventh brother took his leave: "The two brothers play slowly, brother, I still have something to do, go first." If you are tired of playing and want to leave, you can only enter and not exit the passage, and you need to let the waiter take you out. I wish you two good luck and a lot of money!"

As soon as the seventh brother left, Zhao Cheng gave Xu Ke a color, the two separated first, and randomly found a gambling table to play for a while, and after realizing that no one was paying attention to him, he got together again and exchanged a few words. Both of them didn't expect that there was such a place on this island, although Xu Ke had been here a few times, but he didn't stay here for too long, and he only nodded to the little pirate boss here, this is the first time to eat and drink routines for each other, but he didn't expect to have an unexpected gain.

Xu Ke called a red-clothed waiter and asked a few questions, the casino in this cave is open day and night, and you can gamble whenever you want, so you don't have to worry about no one. If you want to play bigger, the casino can also arrange the corresponding games on your behalf. And the people who can enter here are basically certified regular customers, and it is impossible for strangers to enter this place without anyone when they come to Liuheng Island for the first time. As for the ordinary sailors and crew members, they really can't afford to gamble here, and if they are unlucky, their income will be gone in three or two a month, so this place is not even open to such low-income people at all.

The two of them were in a heavy position and were in no mood to gamble here for fun, and were discussing whether to continue to look here or go back to rest, but they saw another group of people coming in at the entrance. Xu Ke glanced at it, then lowered his voice and said, "The one who started was Li Luotou, the bandit leader here." ”

Zhao Cheng turned his head and glanced at it when he heard this, pretending to be casual, and saw seven or eight people surrounded by a bald man in his forties who was patrolling the field. From time to time, someone hugged his fist to say hello, and Li Luo didn't have a fight, and responded with a smile.

Zhao Cheng secretly wrote down his appearance, and planned to let his soldiers who were responsible for depicting the terrain and landform draw the appearance of the bandit leader Li Luotou after leaving here tomorrow.

Then Li Luotou turned to Xu Ke's side, and the two of them also bowed their hands like Li Luotou. That Li Luotou was very attentive, and when he saw that the two of them were fresh faces, he took the initiative to come over and ask, Xu Ke introduced his identity, and said that he was brought in by someone, so as not to make him suspicious.

After hearing this, Li Luotou did not doubt the identities of the two, but immediately ordered: "Come on, take twenty taels of silver chips and give them to these two new friends!"

Although these twenty taels of silver are not a large amount, Li Luotou's move has an excellent effect on buying people's hearts. If Xu Zhao and the others didn't have a task, maybe they would really be grateful to him for this kind of "kindness". Of course, Xu Zhao and the others are not new to society, so they naturally understand that Li Luotou's gesture of showing favor is certainly one of the purposes, and the chips that are given out, probably not many people can take them out, anyway, they don't need money, how can they be willing to fight their luck if they don't take it to the gambling table? Maybe they will not be convinced after losing, and they will continue to throw money into it. This seems to be generous, but in fact it is fishing, if you are greedy for money, most of them will be trapped in the gambling game and unable to extricate themselves.

After Li Luotou inspected the field, he did not continue to linger, and soon left with his men. Xu Zhao and the others continued to play for a while, and then pretended to be tired, asked the waiter to take the remaining chips to settle the accounts, and then left the secret casino in the cave. After calculating that the absent-minded Xu Ke lost more than 30 taels of silver, while Zhao Cheng was lucky, winning seven or eight taels, plus Li Luotou gave 20 taels of chips, it was not much of a loss.

The two were taken out of the casino through another passage, only to emerge in a warehouse on the docks. Looking at the silent harbor outside, it's hard to believe that there is still a bustling casino hidden in this place.

On the way back to the residence, Zhao Cheng asked, "Boss Xu, have you noticed that there are other entrances and exits in that cave?"

Xu Ke nodded and said: "The cave seems to be running east-west, just between Cangdong Ao and Tian Ao in the east, I think it is very likely that there is a passage to the east, and people who go ashore on the pier over there can also enter this casino through the passage in the mountain." ”

Zhao Chengdao: "I think the same way. Looking at the scale of this casino, I am afraid that there are only three or four thousand taels of silver per day, and over time, this income is really a lot. It was previously estimated that the land of this Haisha Gang would receive one million taels a year, but now it seems that it is underestimated, and the annual income of this casino alone is this amount. ”

Xu Ke said: "With so much cash flowing into the island, the Haisha Gang may not be able to spend this silver quickly, if the coalition forces conquer this place, they must search it carefully, there must be a secret silver vault to store this silver." ”

Zhao Cheng remembered that after exterminating the Yueqing Boat Gang in Yueqing Bay, Wenzhou, Xu Yuzhuo sent people to Yandang Town to steal the silver treasury of the bandit gang, so he chose to tell Xu Ke. After hearing this, Xu Ke also sighed: "The pirates in the fishing port town of Yueqing still have so much savings, this Haisha Gang has been entrenched on Liuheng Island for many years, and the money in the cellar must be even richer, and the coalition forces may be able to make a windfall this time!"