Daming pirates

Dalian Island is not far to the northwest of Haitan Island, and not far to the southwest is Xiaolian Island. It is said that it was named Dalian Island because of the turbulent water here and the waves.

Dalian Island is less than 20 miles away from the mainland, and is just south of the Minjiang River estuary. It is also relatively close to Fuzhou. Although the imperial court nominally opened the sea in Longqing, it only opened the Yuegang in Haicheng, Zhangzhou Prefecture.

At the port, anyone who goes to sea to do business must apply to the government from Yuegang to apply for a ship manifest before they can release the ship to sea.

But in fact, since the Ming Dynasty, the sea ban along the coast of Fujian has been in name only. There are ships going out to sea for trade, but they are not so upright.

As the capital of Fujian, Fuzhou has a relatively developed economy, and businessmen are concentrated here. Therefore, there are many merchant ships heading south from the Minjiang estuary in Fuzhou. In order to avoid the eyes of others, the merchants chose Dalian Island.

As a transit point for their goods.

Therefore, although Dalian Island is not a port open to the government, it is a secret place for maritime merchants from Fuzhou to transfer goods. The Fuzhou government also turned a blind eye to this and let it go.

As a result, over the years, after the Japanese pirates were suppressed, the area around Dalian Island became more and more lively. There were many ships coming and going. At first, pirates came to harass the place. Later, the pirates also discovered that this place was an outpost.

It was a good place for goods, and gradually a tacit agreement was formed not to bother people here anymore, but instead they regarded this place as a place to ship goods.

The Li family also set up a warehouse on the wharf here, specializing in transporting various sea trade goods. After Yu Xiaotian's ship arrived here, it stopped far away on the sea and lowered a small sampan from the ship.

, let Zhao Mazi paddle ashore first to make contact.

After waiting for more than two hours, Zhao Mazi paddled the small sampan again, took a person out from the direction of the dock, and slowly returned to the boat.

The person who arrived was a man in his thirties, wearing a well-fitting brown coat. It was obvious at first glance that he was a shrewd man. He had a harmless smile on his face. After boarding the boat, he greeted everyone on the boat.

Daju kept saying, "Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your hard work!"

Zhao Mazi led him to Yu Xiaotian and introduced with a smile: "This is our shopkeeper Yu, this time our shopkeeper personally brought the kids here!

Shopkeeper! This is Manager Li from Shopkeeper Li’s warehouse on Dalian Island. Shopkeeper Li has already sent someone to send a message. Manager Li is here to see you!"

It was not convenient for Zhao Mazi to call Yu Xiaotian the helmsman or the boss here, so he addressed him as the shopkeeper.

Yu Xiaotian also put on a smile, clasped his fists and said: "Thank you, Manager Li! I have taken the liberty of coming down, so Manager Li has to worry about it! Come and sit in the cabin! Come and watch the tea!"

Manager Li had a smile on his face and said he didn't dare to take it seriously. After taking a look at Yu Xiaotian, he said: "A few days ago, our shopkeeper specially sent someone to inform Xiao Xiao and told me to entertain you well today!

Shopkeeper Yu is here in person, so Xiao Ke is lucky to meet him!

I won’t drink the tea anymore. We still need to do business! There can’t be many people on the island at once, so we can only ask the shopkeeper Yu and a few others to come ashore to serve tea. Please forgive me! I will arrange for someone to prepare two tables of wine and food to be delivered to the ship right away.

This place is remote, I hope you don’t dislike it!

As for this ship, there is no vacancy on the dock at the moment, and the goods cannot be unloaded until tomorrow, so you can wait on the ship for one more night! I wonder what the shopkeeper wants?"

After Manager Li said this, he looked at Yu Xiaotian with a smile on his face. Everyone on the boat suddenly became a little nervous, because this was not their territory after all. There was a mixed crowd on Dalian Island, including official officials and others.

People from all walks of life gathered on the road, and Manager Li invited Yu Xiaotian and a few others to come ashore. The two parties have not yet established a stable relationship. Based on what Zhao Mazi said alone, in case...

So everyone turned their attention to Yu Xiaotian, which was like Xiaotian making up his mind.

Yu Xiaotian's heart also tightened slightly. He naturally wanted to know what everyone was thinking about. He was now an official wanted person and the leader of this group of people. If the Li family only agreed on the surface, but secretly had other ideas.

, then it will be very dangerous for him to go ashore.

But after thinking about it, Yu Xiaotian immediately made up his mind. For him, life now is actually a big gamble. If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cub. If he doesn't even have this courage, it will be a disaster.

If he would be underestimated by the Li family, it would definitely have a negative impact on the future cooperation between the two parties, so he could only take another gamble, otherwise he would not be Yu Xiaotian.

"Haha! It's easy to talk about! If this happens, we will have to trouble Manager Li. Everything will be according to Manager Li's arrangements. Everyone is waiting for me here. I will go ashore with Manager Li today. Don't be greedy, you guys!

Manager Li is here to help, so just say, please!" Yu Xiaotian stretched out his hand in a gesture of invitation, and then got off the boat with Manager Li and took a sampan ashore.

Liu Laoliu immediately said: "In that case, I will also accompany the big shopkeeper ashore! Crazy Meng, I'll leave this to you! We're not here, the big shopkeeper, so keep an eye on these guys and don't let them mess around!"

Madman Meng nodded immediately. Although he had a bad temper, he could be regarded as someone who had experienced the scene. When it came to the matter, he also knew the ins and outs. After Yu Xiaotian, Liu Laoliu and Zhao Mazi went ashore, he was the only old man left on the boat.

The guy insisted that he stay and take charge, so he was not polite and quickly nodded and agreed.

Originally, Han Xian and Heitou wanted to follow, but Yu Xiaotian told them to stay on the boat because the sampan was too small to accommodate so many of them.

Manager Li looked at Yu Xiaotian, laughed and said: "Shopkeeper Yu is really a talented person and bold! I admire you! Don't worry, everyone, the most important thing in our Li family's business is trust! Shopkeeper Yu's safety on the island

, it’s all on my body, I’m missing half a hair on the shopkeeper, so just chop off my head! Please!”…

Although Dalian Island is only a spontaneously formed smuggling base in name, it has become very prosperous after years of operation. There are dozens of warehouses on the island, and there is also no shortage of wine shops and brothels.

, seemed quite prosperous, and people of all kinds were coming and going on the street, and cars and horses were passing by, making it very lively.

On the small pier, there are more than a dozen cargo ships of various sizes docked, and many people are coming and going on the pier to unload cargo, making it even more busy.

After Yu Xiaotian followed Manager Li ashore, he invited him to a warehouse near the dock. There were more than a dozen clerks coming in and out of here, mostly strong young people in their twenties and thirties. Some were taking stock of the goods.

, there are also people moving and sorting goods, very busy.

When they saw Yu Xiaotian and others entering the warehouse, no one raised their head to look at them carefully. These people were still busy with their own business, as if they hadn't seen them at all.

So Yu Xiaotian, Liu Laoliu and Zhao Mazi were taken to a small private courtyard behind the warehouse by Manager Li.

Even though this place is just a warehouse, the small private courtyard at the back has its own unique charm. The house is very exquisitely built, and the interior decoration is very simple and clean. Although it cannot be said that the carved beams and painted buildings are very luxurious, at least it does not look too simple at all. On the contrary, it has a

An elegant feeling.

Following Shopkeeper Li's instructions, a sumptuous banquet was set up in the central hall in a short time. And as Shopkeeper Li clapped his hands, four more gorgeously dressed young women soon followed the waiter.

He came in and bowed to everyone as soon as he entered the door.

Manager Li laughed, and after a few words of greeting, he extended his hand to invite Yu Xiaotian and others to take a seat. At the same time, he waved his hand and asked several young women to sit next to Yu Xiaotian and others, specifically to serve Yu Xiaotian and others. In this way

The pomp and circumstance seemed extremely grand.

Although Zhao Mazi and Liu Laoliu had seen a lot, they had never experienced such a scene a few times. Liu Laoliu, who usually seemed quite shrewd, actually seemed embarrassed at this moment.

On the contrary, Yu Xiaotian was not too surprised by such a scene. In later generations of KTVs and high-end clubs, there were many such situations. It was common for people to spend money to treat guests and ask several young ladies to accompany them. Although he did not have much experience, he was also knowledgeable.

Having done this many times, I seemed to take Shopkeeper Li's arrangement calmly and unceremoniously, and sat directly in the guest of honour's seat.

A young girl with a delicate face sat on his left hand and filled the wine glass in front of him with a slight shyness.

Manager Li immediately picked up the wine glass, raised it up and smiled at Xiaotian: "I would like to offer a toast to the shopkeeper first. You guys have come all the way to the shopkeeper, so this can be regarded as a blessing for you! The place here is remote, and the food and wine are not exquisite.

If there is a chance another day, when shopkeeper Yu comes ashore, we, the shopkeeper, will treat you well again! Please have a drink!"

Yu Xiaotian picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "Manager Li is so polite! We are all vulgar people, so I can't thank you enough for being so kind. I'm really embarrassed to bother Manager Li today, but let Li

I feel sorry for the steward who spends so much money on things! I'll drink this glass of wine first, please!"

Under the gaze of everyone, Yu Xiaotian raised his hand and drank the glass of wine in one gulp, revealing the bottom of the glass.

A look of admiration flashed in Guanshi Li's eyes, so he laughed and exclaimed cheerfully, and immediately raised his neck and drank the wine in his hand, showing the glass.

Zhao Mazi and Liu Laoliu have never experienced this kind of scene. When they were pirates in the past, they were not the leaders, so they had few opportunities to go to the shore, and they could not sit on such a table, so they had beautiful women accompanying them, like this

The incident made them a little cautious and at a loss, so they could only drink along.

Manager Li knew very well what to say and didn't ask too much about Yu Xiaotian and the others. He just rambled on about Fengyue and told Yu Xiaotian and others that these girls were from the Li family.

It was bought on land, specially adjusted, and then sent here to accompany guests, so that they don't have to be restrained and can just drink as much as they want.

Both Liu Laoliu and Zhao Mazi were a little surprised by Xiaotian's calmness. Based on the background Yu Xiaotian mentioned, it is reasonable to say that he would not experience such a scene, but they did not expect that after Yu Xiaotian came ashore, he was not at all concerned about such a scene.

There was no stage fright, and there was no feeling of nervousness at all while chatting and laughing, so they were all a little strange, thinking that Yu Xiaotian's background might not be as simple as they thought, but this was not the time to ask, so they could only keep it in their hearts for the time being.

Because Manager Li is a very knowledgeable person, after the two parties chatted for a while, the atmosphere became harmonious, and Manager Li gradually brought the conversation to their current transaction.

"Shopkeeper Yu came here today, but I don't know what kind of goods he brought and the quantity. Our shopkeeper here has already given instructions. As long as it is the goods you sent, I will accept them all according to the order. The price will be fixed.

We must be fair and we must not let shopkeeper Yu suffer a loss. Please rest assured, shopkeeper Yu!" After a few glasses of wine, Manager Li asked Xiaotian.

Yu Xiaotian smiled and said: "Of course! Since we are here, we trust shopkeeper Li. As for the price, we just have to follow the rules! What matters in doing business is that both parties must benefit. Only in this way can the business be done.

For a long time! We can’t let us take all of this advantage!

As for the goods we brought this time, there are quite a lot of them. I have drawn up a list here and asked Manager Li to take a look at it. You can then place the goods according to this list and it will be clear at a glance!"

As he spoke, Yu Xiaotian took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it to Manager Li. The names and quantities of the various goods they brought this time were densely listed on it, which was very detailed.