Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

324 Chapter 5.6
Volume [-]

5.6 Salt merchant’s general warehouse
Even though it was a hard night, even if everyone's eyes were red and bloodshot, everyone still looked excited, because last night's harvest was really huge, but only two people died in battle, except for the arquebus flag. Most of them were injured, which had no impact on morale at all, and even made everyone more motivated to fight.

"Thank you, General Zhou!" When Zhou Yang took people back to Tianning Temple and escorted Lin Daiyu back to the Lin Mansion, Lin Ruhai had already received the news in advance, and personally led people to the door to greet him. When he saw Zhou Yang, he bowed and saluted. "Although I still have a lot of things that I haven't found out yet, one thing has been confirmed. The ones who took action directly in the first place were mainly the Bao family."

"Lord Lin, I don't mind if I'm overstepping my authority." Zhou Yang bowed in return with a smile, followed Lin Ruhai into the inner study, and cleared out the rest of the people. "The news sent back by someone is very rough. The exact amount will have to wait for Dongfang The stronghold of the dead men of the Bao family must be thoroughly cleaned over there. She hasn't come back yet, which means there is a lot of stuff. Master Lin only needs to wait until tonight."

"No need." Lin Ruhai said indifferently, "When Dongfang Qianhu sent people back to deliver the message, they specially brought back the head of the Bao family member, all the crossbows and armor. When it comes to treason, I don't need to think about whether the Bao family has other crimes or whether there are any personal relationships. This is enough.

Speaking of which, although they are always referred to as the "Eight Great Salt Merchants" in the outside world, in fact they are not equal to each other, but are strict in hierarchy: the first two, Jiang Chun and Huang Juntai, are natives of Yangzhou, and they both met the Emperor. My family has also earned its position since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. Although they are also salt merchants, in fact, they have been in business for many years and have become as hard to shake as iron and copper. It is difficult to get rid of them.

The following Ma Yueguan and Ma Yuelu are brothers of the same family. Together with the next one, Cheng Zhiying, these three families have also been passed down for three generations. They have always united to fight against the Jiang family and Huang family. In addition, they are all Huizhou merchants and have the same power. Deep-rooted; only the last three families, namely Wang Yinggeng, Huang Zhiyun and Bao Zhidao, came to power only in the past 30 to [-] years. Most of the shameful things among the eight families were done by them. "

"Okay!" Zhou Yang smiled and nodded, "Since Mr. Lin is so sure, I will prepare my brothers now."

"Thank you, General Zhou!" Lin Ruhai interrupted him unexpectedly, and said with a heavy expression, "Yesterday's events have helped a lot, and you have all been tired all night, so you might as well take a rest; what happened to the Bao family today?" , Lin still feels that it should be dealt with face to face, and does not dare to bother General Zhou Huwei!"

".I understand!" Zhou Yang nodded slowly. Since it was revenge, "hand blade" was of course the best. "It's just that Yan Ding, the subordinate of the Salt Patrol Censor, is also a native of Yangzhou after all. In case they..."

"There are nearly 500 people. It's really hard to say how many are outside spies." Lin Ruhai nodded and said, "However, it doesn't matter at this time. As long as half of them are available, the Bao family will be doomed; when the time comes to gather people, I will He even deliberately let the news out, it’s best for the Bao family—hum!”

"That being the case, I won't say any more." Zhou Yang nodded and understood his thoughts, "However, I brought ten soldiers with me when I came. They are all absolutely reliable manpower, and they are all well-matched. Thin-scale chain mail, you take five of them with you, as the saying goes, 'A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall', there is no need to put yourself in a dangerous place."

"Thank you!" Lin Ruhai nodded without hesitation and led the people out.

Zhou Yang was not pretentious. After watching Lin Ruhai go out, he took his own men and moved into the guest room of Lin Mansion. After filling his stomach, he closed the door and started to rest. The defense was handed over to ten other soldiers. After falling asleep, he woke up again. Dongfang Bing was awakened by Dongfang Bing in the afternoon of that day. Just looking at her bloodshot eyes, one could tell that this "Desperate Sannyasin" hadn't rested yet.

"Dongfang, you-" Zhou Yang hugged the girl heartily, and was about to say a few words to her, but he didn't want to be blocked by the girl's long kiss, and he reluctantly let go after a long while.

"The Bao family is finished!" Unfortunately, the gentleness ended here. After Dongfang let go of someone, his first words were back to work, "Bao Zhidao was shot to death by Master Lin for treason. His head was already on Mrs. Lin's head. In front of the Lingpai; things have become a bit big, and now all the salt merchants are ready to take action, but because we have solid evidence, Mr. Lin has suppressed them, but it is hard to say how long they can be suppressed. The power of the salt merchants is not only in Yangzhou."

"You really are." Zhou Yang pushed her down on the big bed speechlessly, and tasted it for a long time, until both of them couldn't hold it anymore before letting go, "I don't know how your ambition can be so strong. Can’t you just be a good woman and wait for your beloved husband’s favor?”

"We have only gained a temporary advantage now. According to the eight-hundred-mile expedited speed, the salt merchants will be able to send the news back to the capital within three days." Dongfang Bing glared at someone tiredly, but still let him play with it, " At that time, as long as those scum who took money from the salt merchants join forces, it's hard to say what will happen to Mr. Lin."

"So?" Zhou Yang put a little more force in his hands and rubbed the soft material in his hands repeatedly.

"The various things confiscated from Bao's house are still being sorted out. As long as we sort through them carefully, we will definitely find out a lot of useful things, but these will take time." Dongfang Bing leaned softly into Ai Lang's arms, his tone was like someone The hand was soft, "I learned from a steward that the salt merchant recently got a batch of salt."

"Have you found the salt merchant's headquarters?" Zhou Yang's eyes lit up.

The so-called "Eight Great Salt Merchants" are collectively called, in theory, because they all belong to the Salt Merchants Association, and are considered to be the top eight stewards. The top two, Jiang Chun and Huang Juntai, are the president and vice president of the federation; The General Assembly has a special hall for each company to discuss important matters, and the theoretical warehouse of the salt merchants is also here.The reason why it is called a "theoretical warehouse" is because every kilogram of salt stored here can withstand inspection. They are all legal goods with salt labels and batch certificates. However, it is difficult to say how often these things are moved. Because anyone with a brain knows that the main source of income for salt merchants has never been official salt, but private salt - they also have a general warehouse.

"No!" Dongfang Bing rolled his eyes at him. If the general treasury could find out so easily, the salt merchant would have been confiscated and exterminated eight times. "However, salt is a bulk commodity, and illegal salt is illegal. The best transportation channel has always been the waterway. Although there are many docks near Yangzhou, it is not difficult to sort them out, as long as you understand where a large number of heavy cargo ships have arrived recently."

"When?" Zhou Yang immediately understood what she meant.

"I have arranged for the manpower at the foothold of the Xue Zihao to be separately investigated. There is no need to wait until tomorrow; I have directly informed the manpower in the fishing village and asked them to get on the boat." Dongfang Bing's face showed a confident light.

"Good girl, I will reward you right now!" Zhou Yang pushed her down on the big bed.

"You're a dead man, you can't think of anything else."

That night, midnight.

"That's right here?" Zhou Yang was still a little dumbfounded even though he had brought someone to lurk here in secret, "This is the Yangzhou Wharf. It is at the junction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River. It is the most important waterway hub in Yangzhou. There are hundreds of ships passing by, what is the difference between this and open transportation? They just unload cargo with torches?"

"Actually, if you think about it, this is not surprising." Dongfang Bing was not as fussy as he was, "The salt cargo can easily weigh tens of thousands of kilograms, and the ships used for transportation must be at least a hundred materials, and there cannot be two ships in one. It is a fleet of several or even a dozen ships. This kind of transportation method cannot be handled by ordinary terminals."

"Okay, as long as they are still near the waterway, it won't be a problem for us!" Zhou Yang understood after thinking about it, waved his hand and called a soldier and said, "Order our transport ship to dock and all personnel to disembark. Force the troops to march to my place to assemble. Once they arrive, they will immediately march towards the dock in battle formation. If there are any obstacles on the way, they will be killed first and then discussed!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldier ran towards the river bank with excitement on his face.

"The most important problem now is the lack of manpower." Dongfang Bing said anxiously, "I have just sent someone to notify Mr. Lin, but it is difficult for him to say when he can come over. The total of our total is only 200 With so many people around, there are no less than a hundred salt merchants’ guards that can be seen on the pier, plus…”

"Don't worry!" Zhou Yang smiled coldly, looked at his soldiers and horses who were marching neatly towards this side, and said, "I'll tell you today why I have insisted on using firearms for so long—let's go !”

The 200 troops immediately set up a battle formation and quickly marched towards the pier: the pikemen were in the front row, followed by the three infantry guns in the middle, and the two arquebus flags were on the two wings of the artillery. It was Zhou Yang and Dongfang Bing who brought two small flag cavalry to lead the formation, and more than 200 people drove past in such a clear way.

"People on the pier, listen, you have been surrounded. Put down your weapons and surrender immediately, otherwise you will be killed on the spot!" Finally, until everyone had slowly entered the edge of the "illuminated area" of the torches on the pier, and the two sides discovered each other, Zhou Yang He picked up a tin speaker and shouted a few words in a decent manner.

"Go on, kill them!" After only ten breaths of dead silence, there was a sudden loud shout from the other side of the pier, and hundreds of salt merchants' guards who were surrounding them were seen howling and waving various weapons towards their side. Come to kill; not only them, but also guards from many ships at the dock rushed out one after another, surpassing their own strength in a short period of time!
"Zi Yang?" Dongfang Bing was obviously a little unsteady.

"Don't worry!" Zhou Yang sneered and glanced at the salt merchants' guards who were all equipped with cold weapons. Visually, they were less than a hundred steps away. He waved vigorously to his military formation, "Artillery - fire!"

After less than one stick of incense
"That's quite a lot!" Ignoring the soldiers and horses who were arranging the prisoners, Dongfang Bing cut open a salt bag with a knife, and the snow-white salt flowed down.

Zhou Yang didn't say anything, he just grabbed a handful and looked carefully at the private salt, which was close to the level of modern pickling salt - it's from his own Miyako Island, that's right!

(End of this chapter)