Because the meat of sharks was not delicious, and was even a little terrible, the price of shark meat was very low. The whole shark was only worth a little more than the shark fin. Shark meat was generally eaten by poor fishermen, or directly used to breed carnivorous marine fish.
Many fishermen did not keep the shark meat when they had a good harvest. Instead, after cutting the shark fins, they threw the shark body back into the sea and let the fish in the sea deal with the shark carcass. It was considered as feeding the fish in the sea and there was no waste.
After getting Ang Lee's affirmation, Chen Fugui and others immediately dealt with the shark fins and threw the shark carcass back into the sea. As the shark carcass fell into the sea, a group of fish immediately rushed over and crazily bit these shark carcasses. Soon, a large area of blood appeared on the surface of the sea again and blended with the previous blood, covering a large area. However, the sea was too big after all. After a while, with a few waves, all the blood completely disappeared. The sea was still blue as if the previous blood had never appeared. The group of fish fighting over the shark carcass also disappeared quickly. In the vast sea, some fish were too insignificant. Even the huge whale was just a small dot.
A shark had four fins. Among them, the fin on the back was the largest, weighing more than a dozen catties. The other three were smaller, and dozens of shark fins could be obtained from a dozen sharks. With so many shark fins, Ang Lee could enjoy them for a while.
Since ancient times, rich people had always been very keen on eating shark fins. In their hearts, shark fins were not only delicious, but most importantly, they were nutritious. However, some people in later generations also said that shark fins were ordinary food. There wasn't too much nutrition. The so-called shark fins had high nutrition was just hype.
Ang Lee didn't care whether shark fins had high nutrition or not. It was enough as long as it was delicious enough. Anyway, he wouldn't eat it every day.
The whaling ship was so big. Naturally, there was a kitchen and a dining area. After getting these shark fins, the kitchen immediately began to process them. There was a delicious shark fin for lunch.
Several of Chen Fugui's subordinates used the fresh seawater to wash the blood off the deck. Then, they quickly cleaned the deck with a rag. After that, Ang Lee walked back to the deck again. He stared into the distance. While enjoying the scenery, he looked for whales that might appear.
"Assistant Minister Li, although whales often appear here, it's not every time. Why don't we send the other ships to other places? That way, the chances of discovery will be higher. "
Chen Fugui was obviously more experienced. But what if the ships split up? Their strength would be weaker, and whaling was not the most important thing right now? What was more important was Ang Lee's safety. Was it not a big deal if they could not catch a whale? But what if something happened to Ang Lee's safety? That was a big problem.
"Isn't this a little unsafe?"
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee said, "Don't worry? Just keep the four ships within sight. As long as they can see each other, they can help each other in case of an accident. "
Soon, the four whaling ships began to move separately, and the distance between them widened again. Although no two whaling ships could see the neighboring ships, they could not see the whaling ship on the other side. The higher the price, the higher the chances of discovering whales.
The Seagull Archipelago had hundreds of islands of various sizes and even more reefs. The reefs on the surface of the sea were naturally not a threat, but there were countless submerged reefs under the sea. These submerged reefs were very dangerous. Once the whaling ship hit the submerged reefs, there was a high risk of sinking. Therefore, people who did not know much about the hydrology around the islands dared not take the risk of getting too close to the islands, lest their ships hit the reefs and sink.
Of course, for Chen Fugui, who often appeared in the Seagull Archipelago, this was not a problem. He knew the underwater situation of the entire Seagull Archipelago very well. Even if he closed his eyes, he could easily drive the whaling ship back and forth around these islands. If he did not have this ability, he would not dare to go out to sea to fish. Familiarity with the hydrology of the sea was very important for people who made a living in the sea. Only by knowing enough about the hydrology of the sea could one ensure one's own safety. This was also the most basic safety when going out to sea to fish.
The safety of the terrain was the most important thing. Secondly, there was also the weather that needed special attention. If they encountered strong winds and thunderstorms, it would also be very dangerous for the whaling ship. For example, a hurricane was not something that the whaling ship could withstand. The third safety issue was naturally the problem of pirates. The threat of pirates could not be underestimated. Although these pirates were not very interested in fishermen, they would still be interested if large fishing boats appeared. After all, whales were not something that anyone could catch. The value of whales was also far greater than that of ordinary fish. The carrying capacity of large ships was also greater, so naturally, it was more valuable to rob.
As they were used to seeing fishing boats, the seabirds flying near the islands were not afraid of the whaling ship at all. A few tired seagulls stopped at the top of the mast leisurely and cleaned their feathers. They were not frightened by the people walking around below. Of course, after cleaning their feathers, they did not mind leaving their feces on the mast. In this regard, the fishermen could not do anything about it and could only clean it regularly. The fishermen who made a living at sea really could not afford to offend these seabirds. After all, this was the seabirds' home ground. If they angered these seabirds, a group of seabirds would rush over and pile up a large pile of feces on the fishing boat.
The largest island in the Seagull Archipelago was Seagull Island. This island was only about ten miles in radius. It was not very big, but the vegetation on the island was quite dense. It was lush and full of infinite vitality.
In the interior of this largest island, there was a pirate's lair that had been here for some years. However, this lair was very hidden and was not easy to find. The ships docked near the island were also ordinary medium-sized fishing boats, so no one could see anything wrong with them.
In order to prevent being discovered, these pirates never robbed merchants and fishermen in front of their own homes. They would only start robbing at least fifty miles away from the lair. Of course, this was not always the case. If they encountered a small fat sheep that was alone and there were no ships passing by, they did not mind rushing out to rob it. Anyway, no one would know.
At this time, there were only a dozen or so pirates guarding the lair. Most of the pirates had gone out to look for opportunities. Most of them had gone far away, and some were patrolling nearby territories. Although they generally did not rob the fishing boats and merchant ships nearby, this did not prevent them from knowing which fishing boats often appeared near the lair. This was also very important to them. After all, once they were familiar with this, they would be able to know which fishing boats often appeared in the vicinity of the lair. In this way, once they encountered a strange fishing boat, they could immediately raise their vigilance. After all, there had been cases where the Tang dynasty's troops pretended to be fishermen in other islands and raided the pirate's lair on fishing boats. If such a thing happened in the Seagull Islands, wouldn't it be terrible? Although this was only a possibility, these pirates still did not dare to take the risk. They lived a life of danger, so it was never wrong to be cautious. After all, once they were careless, they would lose their lives.
A very ordinary fishing village soon appeared in front of Ang Lee's eyes. Originally, encountering small fishing boats in the Seagull Islands was the most normal thing, but Ang Lee found that this small fishing village was very abnormal. After all, it was not that Ang Lee had never seen fishing boats at sea. There was not much problem with fishing boats, and all kinds of fishing tools were quite complete. However, there was something wrong with the fishermen on these fishing boats. These fishermen were not fishing seriously, and they were actually looking around as if they were patrolling their territory. They were just fishermen, not patrol boats of the Tang dynasty. Why were they patrolling here? Could it be that they were hired by the imperial court to patrol here? However, from the looks of it, they were obviously fishermen, which was a little abnormal.
Ang Lee observed them with binoculars, and the fishermen who were being observed did not know that they were being observed by Ang Lee. Therefore, they were almost unprepared, and naturally, they would not deliberately pretend to be fishing. As a result, Ang Lee saw a flaw. As the whaling ship approached, these fishermen were still busy fishing. Their movements were quite skilled, just like real fishermen. There was no flaw at all. They were not fishing seriously when they were far away, but when they could see what they were doing with the naked eye, they suddenly began to fish like real fishermen. Wasn't this enough to explain the problem?
At the same time, it was enough to show that these guys were very careful. There was almost no flaw at all. If Ang Lee had not observed them with binoculars earlier and discovered their flaws, he would have been deceived by these guys.
"There is something wrong with the small fishing boat in front. They should not be fishermen."
Ang Lee looked at the small fishing boat and said.
Chen Fugui did not see anything wrong. He frowned and looked at Ang Lee in confusion, but he did not say anything.
Chen Long said, "Are there pirates around Seagull Island?"
Chen Fugui said, "I have almost never heard of pirates robbing within 30 miles of Seagull Island, but pirates robbing merchant ships are often found in places further away."
Ang Lee and Chen Long looked at each other and said with a smile, "It seems too stupid to try to cover it up!"
"Assistant Minister Li means that this small fishing boat is a pirate ship. This is impossible!"
Chen Fugui said with a smile, then frowned and looked at the small fishing boat in front. There were only three to five fishermen. They did not look like pirates at all. Moreover, there were only three to five people. Even if they wanted to rob, they did not have the ability to do so. Chen Fugui did not believe that these three to five people could rob a merchant ship.
This was especially true for the whaling ships, which were equipped with ten whaling crossbows. These crossbows could even kill whales, let alone pirates. As long as there weren't too many pirates, they wouldn't dare to provoke the whaling ships. They didn't want to have a taste of the whaling crossbows.
"You think you can rob with just these few people?"
Chen Fugui said with some disdain.
Li An smiled and said, "Didn't you say that there are no cases of pirates robbing within 30 miles of the Seagull Archipelago? If that's the case, there's only one possibility. There's a pirate lair in the Seagull Archipelago, and it's not far away."
"No way! If there is a pirate lair here, there is no reason why I can't find it! "
Chen Fugui seemed to be very confident in himself. He felt that if there was a pirate lair here, there was no reason why he could not find it.
"Are there a large number of ships near the islands of the Seagull Islands for a long time?"
Ang Lee asked.
Chen Fugui shook his head and said, "No! I have passed by almost every island. I didn't find a large number of ships docked on any island. At most, there were two or three fishing boats. "
"Let's go to the largest Seagull Island. If there is a pirate lair here, it is most likely to be on Seagull Island."
Ang Lee said.
"Seagull Island? That's impossible! It's not like I haven't been to Seagull Island before. There is nothing suspicious there! "
Chen Fugui said in a low voice. However, he still obeyed Ang Lee's order and ordered the ship to go to Seagull Island.
After seeing the situation, the two whaling ships on both sides began to gradually approach the main ship. They did not want to be too far away and be blocked by the vegetation on the island, so they could not see each other.
It had to be said that Chen Fugui's sailing skills were very high. He moved very quickly in the Seagull Islands that were densely covered with reefs. He soon arrived at the main island of the Seagull Islands, Seagull Island. He was prepared to circle around the island according to Ang Lee's request.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is nothing special about Seagull Island! Can't you see anything wrong with it? "
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee picked up the binoculars and carefully observed Seagull Island. Soon, he found some abnormalities.
"Why is there a waterway on Seagull Island? The waterway leads to the interior of the island. It is just that the plants floating at the mouth of the waterway are blocking the view. As long as these plants are removed, a medium-sized fishing boat can be driven into the interior of Seagull Island."
Ang Lee said.
"Oh, it leads to the island? There is a waterway? Why didn't I know about it?"
Chen Fugui was surprised. He quickly looked in the direction that Ang Lee pointed out, but he could not see anything wrong.
Ang Lee smiled and handed the binoculars in his hand to Chen Fugui. He said, "Look carefully with this and you will see the flaws."
Chen Fugui picked up Ang Lee's binoculars and looked carefully. Indeed, he found some flaws and discovered the existence of a waterway.
"Oh my, there really is a waterway. It can't be seen with the naked eye. There are a lot of reefs near the waterway here. No one dares to get too close. I really can't see anything wrong with it from a mile away. After so many years, I have been fooled. It seems that there really is a pirate's lair inside. It is really hidden!"
After discovering the flaws, Chen Fugui was shocked. The pirate's lair was actually right under his nose. No wonder there were no pirates around the islands except for the areas closest to the islands. The pirates in the surrounding areas often appeared. It turned out that the lair was on Seagull Island.
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