Zhen Qian quietly listened to the conversation of several merchants, and Fujiwara Shuxiong also turned his head to glance at the merchants behind him and said: "There are a lot of pirates along the coast of Silla, and the maritime merchants of the Tang Dynasty go to the Japanese country to do business, and when they pass through the coast of Silla, they have to pay a lot of money to the two sea pirates, otherwise it will be difficult to protect people and goods!" ”

Zhen Qian had long heard Fujiwara Shuxiong talk about the pirates along the coast of Silla, but these pirates also knew what it meant to be a fine stream, and they would not do those stupid things of drying up and fishing, as long as they obediently offered some of their wealth, they would not be too embarrassed by these maritime merchants, and would even ask the maritime merchants to help them sell their stolen goods, which was done very obscurely.

The conflict between the tribes in the northeast provided a source of soldiers for the pirates, and the peace of the Tang Dynasty in the past hundred years, the majesty of the Dengzhou Navy Division had long since ceased to exist, providing a broad stage for the pirates in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. As long as these pirates have not been arrogant to show off their power near Dengzhou, the Dengzhou sailors will naturally turn a blind eye, even if they are forced to go to sea to encircle and suppress the pirates, most of them will pretend to go out to sea to go around and catch a few small fish and shrimp to fill the number.

It was because the maritime merchants knew the strength of the Dengzhou sailors that they did not expect to be protected by the sailors, and took the initiative to pay a protection fee for safety.

The fat man-looking merchant showed a look of pain on his face: "In the past, the west coast of the Andong Prefecture was controlled by the two major pirates of Huang Mazi and the Sea Snake, and every time they went to pay one-tenth of the property to the local pirates, they were fine, but around last summer, I don't know where a group of more ferocious pirates emerged, I heard that they were called Black Skulls, and they robbed merchant ships when they saw them, and the protection fee also rose to two tenths, if anyone dared to resist, the whole ship's cargo could not be saved!" ”

"Two out of ten!"

A few of the surrounding maritime merchants gasped, although the profits of cross-sea trade were huge, but the loss of two-tenths of the goods at once made everyone feel pain.

"It's too ruthless! Why did there be another pirate in the Bohai Sea, and the original pirates Huang Mazi and sea snakes didn't care? ”

"No matter what!" The fat man's cheeks flushed angrily, and he was angry as if he was about to explode in the next second, and his fat body was angry like a toad and said: "I heard that this black skeleton pirate is unusually fierce, and as soon as it appeared on the Bohai Sea, it was chased and killed by Huang Mazi and the sea snake for two or three months, and was almost driven to the sea to feed Wang Ba, but the good times didn't last long, just when everyone thought that the black skeleton was about to be destroyed, suddenly things reversed......."

A few people around the fat man were terrified when they heard this, and when they were on the rise, the fat man suddenly sold Guanzi.

"What happened, you say?"

The fat man took a sip of wine, and after seeing that he had whetted the appetite of the people around him, a trace of hideousness and excitement flashed on his face, "This black skeleton pirate is really not simple, it can escape under the joint attack of Huang Mazi and the sea snake!" ”

"Escaped ......", several maritime merchants blinked, looked at the fat man with a confused face and said: "Since you have escaped, you must have been greatly injured!" But listening to your tone, it seems like the business is not over yet? ”

"Of course it's not over!"

The expression on the fat man's face became extremely rich: "Just when Huang Mazi and the sea snake thought that the black skull was defeated and there was no threat, the black skull suddenly drove several strange sea ships to attack the lair of the yellow skull and the sea snake, and when the two pirates returned to the lair, they successfully robbed and killed the two pirates halfway, and they were caught off guard, so that the two pirates lost a lot of ships ......."

The people around heard this place were surprised to "shhh", as long as it is a businessman doing business in the Northeast Sea, no one does not know the name of Huang Mazi and the sea snake, the two have been entrenched in the Bohai Sea for decades, during which they have been surrounded and suppressed by the official army countless times, and you have come and gone to a tie. The two pirates have thousands of bandits under their command, dozens of large and small warships, and they use the complex waters along the coast of Andong to maneuver with sailors, and they have never heard of being copied from their lair, so the two pirates have been completely slapped in the face.

"That's not right!" Someone retorted, "I've never heard of the Black Skull pirates before, and their appearance is too sudden!" Could there be anything to say about this? ”

An old maritime merchant touched his beard under his chin and said, "I heard something about the Black Skull pirates in Qizhou a few months ago......."

"Tell me about it!"

The old maritime merchant pretended to be mysterious and said: "Have you forgotten the diversion of the Yellow River estuary a few years ago? ”

Several maritime merchants looked at the old maritime merchant blankly, "What does this diversion of the Yellow River estuary have to do with the Black Skull?" ”

Since ancient times, the Yellow River has been known for "good silting, good decision, good migration", and there is a saying of "two breaks in three years, one diversion in a hundred years", according to statistics, in thousands of years, the Yellow River burst up to 1593 times, and there are 26 times of large diversion. Divert the northernmost through the Haihe River and exit the Dagu mouth; The southernmost one passes through the Huai River and enters the Yangtze River.

"Of course it matters!" The old maritime merchant said disdainfully: "I am from Qizhou, a few years ago, the diversion of the Yellow River estuary turned the area of Dizhou into a thousand miles of Zeguo, hundreds of thousands of people were homeless, many of them went into the sea to become pirates, have you forgotten this matter?" ”

The surrounding maritime merchants immediately nodded and said: "Of course we remember this matter, after the disaster, there were a lot of chaotic people in Dizhou, if it wasn't suppressed in time, I don't know what would happen, I heard that later those chaotic people ran to the sea, and the Dengzhou sailors also dispatched a few times, and killed thousands of people before and after to completely quell this matter!" ”

"What you said is right, but things are not as simple as the legend, you have not taken Dizhou, a year after the disaster, I just went to Yingzhou from Cangzhou to sell salt, and when I passed through Dizhou when I came back, there was starvation all over the wilderness, there were no people for thousands of miles, there were bandits everywhere, the trade routes were blocked, and it had long become a place of three things, and the swamps were less than a hundred miles away from Bohai City, even the officials and soldiers turned a blind eye to the chaos there, and could only let it go!"

"There is such a thing!"

A few maritime merchants around were a little unconvinced, isn't it appalling that such a place could still appear in a peaceful and prosperous era?

"If you don't believe it, forget it, the next time you have the opportunity to go to Bohai County, it will be clear, the old man's words are not exaggerated at all", the old merchant saw that everyone didn't believe it, and he didn't want to justify anything, this kind of thing is indeed a bit unbelievable, if he didn't see it with his own eyes, he would never believe it.

"Even if what you said is true, then what does this matter have to do with the black skeletons, do you want to say that the original rebels in Dizhou were these black skeletons?"

The old maritime merchant nodded and said: "Although I haven't seen the black skeleton either, when I was in Qizhou, many people said that the black skeleton was hidden in the swamp area of the Dizhou sea, and even when someone drove through the coast of Dizhou, they also saw the strange warships of the black skeleton, this matter should be somewhat probable!" ”

Recommend a good sci-fi book "Whose World Belongs"!

(End of chapter)