Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 303

"All shopkeepers, bosses, thank you for your kindness, and I'm sorry for the past. I invite everyone to come today to tell everyone that your ship is coming back."

In the east hall of Jinchai Building, Yang Chao set up a large table, and there were nearly a hundred people sitting there, all of them were businessmen who had lost their cargo.

Some of their bosses came, but some of them had more than one person, some with their sons, some with their shopkeepers, and finally more than 100 people came.

Then Yang Chao greeted these guests for drinks and food, while he walked over from table to table, talking and clinking glasses with these people.

But Yang Chao didn't drink from a big bowl like last time, but took a small sip, just for fun. The last time he drank with his officers, he naturally wanted to have a good time. Now drinking with these business partners, it's fun That's fine, anyway, these people are more interested in making friends with Yang Chao than Yang Chao is making friends with them, otherwise they wouldn't drag their families and bring so many people here.

These businessmen are very humble at every table. Even though they are doing business with Liu Kongzhao now, they are very happy to maintain a good relationship with Yang Chao. Not to mention Yang Chao's power in Nanjing, but Yang Chao is now fighting. The invincible reputation is enough for them to brag about it. When they see a friend and say, 'I have had a drink with General Yang of the Great Victory in Haizhou', think about it, it will save face.

But it is also necessary to pour some bitter water and sigh twice.

"Master Yang, are you really not doing shipping?"

asked a businessman.

"Hey, you don't know, since we cooperated with Uncle Liu, we have suffered a lot."

another host asked.

"That's right, that's right. Uncle Liu's soldiers have unclean hands and feet. They can take the goods on the ship if they want. If you dare to say it, they will beat you with their mouths."

A shopkeeper's complaint.

"Also, Uncle Liu is too greedy. He escorted more than 100 ships out at once a few days ago. Everyone dared not stay too far away. As a result, there was a strong wind on the river, and many ships collided. Just falling into the water There were dozens of people, but no one rescued them."

A small boss lamented.

"Oh, don't talk about it. Last time my family had a boat in it. I shipped a whole boatload of porcelain, and most of my time was spit out, let alone compensated. Uncle Liu didn't even say a word."

The other shopkeeper patted his leg and let out a long sigh.

There are many situations like this. As an earl, Liu Kongzhao is impossible to do these things himself, and he doesn't even bother to take care of them. It means that one of his housekeepers is just worrying about it. He may not be able to figure out how the shipping works.

"Also, Uncle Liu raised the fare as he wished. He agreed on 100 taels of silver for a ship, but that day the military master wanted to charge 150 taels, and he swore that the 100 taels were collected by Uncle Liu, and the 50 taels was the price. Their brother's tea money."

"It's all good for you. I paid 100 taels of tea money, and it cost me 200 taels. Unfortunately, my cargo only earned more than 100 taels in the end, so I lost it!"

Liu Kongzhao's subordinates are all gangsters from Shuiying. They did such things as extortion and extortion, and they did it in an aboveboard manner. Even if Liu Kongzhao knew about it, he probably wouldn't care about it. How could he value the partner as much as Yang Chao did.

"Master Yang, why don't you come out and do it."

"That's right, we old bones really can't stand Uncle Liu's torture."

"The surface of the river is so big that Uncle Liu can't finish it all by himself. If Mr. Yang comes out of the mountain, I, Lao Zhao, will still do it with you."

Speaking of the bitterness of every businessman in the end, they really wanted Yang Chao to come out of the mountain.

But Yang Chao walked over one by one, just toasting with a smile, without saying a word, nodding at most.

After turning around and listening to the opinions of these people, Yang Chao slowly walked back to the starting place and stood at the front, facing everyone.

The people below were still whispering and buzzing. No one was in the mood to drink and eat meat at all, and they shook their heads helplessly while talking.

Suddenly Yang Chao slowly raised his hand and made a virtual press. When everyone saw Yang Chao's movement, they reminded each other one by one, and slowly quieted down.

Yang Chao was still smiling, and said slowly: "Everyone knows what I mean. You asked me if I still do shipping, haha, I will tell you now, do! Why not. In the future, I will rely on My friends are very supportive."

Yang Chao's statement made everyone suddenly a little excited. Doing business with Yang Chao is a comfort. The money delivery is completed in the Jinchai Building Exchange. Take the bond and go directly to Zhang Dawei, and Zhang Dawei will help them The arrangement is very orderly, and there is absolutely no need to worry about the loss caused by too many cargo ships, because Yang Chao can only escort [-] ships at most, and there is no need to worry about soldiers robbing their cargo. Yang Chao's soldiers are all good soldiers. , not only can fight, but also have clean hands, and there is no need to worry about officers blackmailing them privately. Anyway, Yang Chao's soldiers don't have the stinky problem of the Ming army. I heard that this is called military discipline.

But Yang Chao quit shipping, and now the entire lower reaches of the Yangtze River, from Anqing to the east to the sea, is under Liu Kongzhao's sphere of influence, which has caused a lot of trouble for the boat owners.

Now that Yang Chao has stated that he is going to come back, how can this not make them happy.

Soon someone shouted: "Master Yang, when will you start, I still have a few boats waiting for you, I'm not afraid to wait for you for a few more days."

The Yangtze River is still very uneven. There are desperadoes drifting down from the upper reaches, looting houses everywhere, not to mention robbing river boats, and even the villages on the bank are not less destructive. Gu Zhaoji's resignation has a direct impact on these things.Therefore, when the boatmen were escorted, they were very careful to keep the distance between the boats, otherwise their tails might be bitten off by desperadoes who came out of nowhere.They didn't dare to deliver the goods without an escort, but Uncle Liu's business not only added money at will, his hands and feet were not clean, but also every time was accurate, sometimes depending on his mood, maybe several times a day, maybe several times a day. It took a genius to arrange a trip, so these merchants often overstocked their goods.

Someone shouted again: "Master Yang, why didn't you tell me earlier, if I had known earlier, my family's boat would not be dispatched today."

Someone echoed: "My family's boat was also dispatched today."

Another said: "My family is also."

Yang Chao falsely pressed again: "I know, I know that many of you have sent ships to Pukou today. The rest have already sent ships to Guazhou and Zhenjiang yesterday."

Speaking of these boat owners and merchants, they are the first group of people who cooperated with Yang Chao. Although Yang Chao has made a fortune, they have also made a fortune, because the river has not been peaceful these years, and there are no escorts who have been robbed. The chances are very high, and they are escorted by Yang Chao, and they are willing to pay the money. As a result, their business is stable. As a result, after two years, all the boat owners who specialize in shipping have bought new boats. One or two ships were added, and some more.

But after cooperating with Yang Chao for a long time, Yang Chao has also grasped their situation. Even if he didn't know the situation and asked them directly, no one would hide it. But this time it was not Yang Chao who asked, but Yang Chao arranged.

Yang Chao didn't come forward in person, but just sent Zhang Dawei to take care of these people, telling them when they received the news that there would be Jiang Bandits infested on that day, and told them not to ship goods if they had nothing to do. In this way, a large number of merchant ships were concentrated on yesterday and today. , Yesterday was a boat to Guazhou and Zhenjiang, and today it was a boat to Pukou.

One day is enough to go to Pukou, and one day to go to Guazhou or Zhenjiang along the river from Nanjing, or two days to go upstream.

So the boat that left Guazhou yesterday and the boat that leaves Jiangpu today will basically arrive today.

Hearing Yang Chao's words and seeing Yang Chao's appearance, everyone was a little puzzled, why would Mr. Yang care about when they will ship the goods?Is there any reason for it!
They spontaneously stopped talking for a while, and all stared at Yang Chao.

"I also know that ten of Uncle Liu's large ships went to Puzikou, ten to Anqing, ten to Wuhu, ten to Zhenjiang and Guazhou, and twenty left in the quarry."

These days Yang Chao was not idle either. Although he didn't do shipping, he would sail quietly from time to time to find out the details of Liu Kongzhao.

A group of businessmen blinked, but they didn't understand what Yang Chao meant.

At this time, Yang Chao's complexion changed into a smile, and gradually became gloomy and cold.

Suddenly, he slammed the wine bowl in his hand: "If Liu Kongzhao can rob me, can't I rob him!"

……

At the same time that Yang Chao was entertaining merchants at the Jinchai Tower, the large ships of Liu Kongzhao had already docked at Puzikou on the opposite bank of Nanjing.

Soldiers on the big ship ignored the merchant ships coming ashore one after another, and walked towards Dongmen Street in Pukou in groups of three or four, and soon walked into taverns, brothels, brothels and theaters, and there was no guard on board their ship. of.

A group of coolies lying at the base of the warehouse wall at the port watched coldly as the last prostitute left, and immediately jumped up one by one.

They ran to the pier very quickly, untied the ropes tied to the pier, and immediately climbed onto the warship one by one, and used the poles to push the big boats away from the pier, one after another, they sailed into the waterway. After setting up the small sail, the big ship slowly moved by itself, and slowly sailed into the Yangtze River from the waterway.

Amidst the stunned crowd of merchant ships and coolies moving goods, a total of ten large ships finally entered the Yangtze River.

After galloping on the Yangtze River, Zhang Dawei let out a sigh of relief, touched the waist knife in his bosom and was very thankful, fortunately it was useless!
"I don't know if that kid Wang Pu succeeded?"

Zhang Dawei couldn't help but glanced to the west, Yang Chao asked them to rob Uncle Liu's warship, Zhang Dawei was sweating all the time, but fortunately he didn't have to go to rob the quarrying camp's ship, Zhang Dawei decided that he must fight somewhere.

I don't know if Wang Pu will be as excited as him, and he doesn't need to do anything in disguise.

There is no need for Zhang Dawei to worry.

At this moment, Wang Pu was driving the terrified quarry sailors off the warship.

"Get out, get out of here!"

Wang Pu beat and kicked a dozing soldier off the ship.

One looked at him more than once.

Wang Pu immediately clenched the spear in his hand and shouted angrily: "Believe it or not, I will stab you to death!"

The soldier jumped off the warship like flying.

Quarrying has been an important military site since ancient times. Whoever occupies this place means taking the initiative. Sui Dynasty general Han Qinhu led an army to attack quarrying at night, and then captured Nanjing and destroyed Chen in the Southern Dynasty.In the Southern Song Dynasty, Wan Yanliang, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, led his army to invade the south, trying to cross the quarry, and forced Jiankang. Yu Yunwen, a famous official in the Southern Song Dynasty, defeated the Jin soldiers with less and successfully defended Nanjing.In the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the general Chang Yuchun to seize the quarry, occupied Taiping, defeated the Yuan army, and went straight to Nanjing.

The full name of quarrying is Caishiji. It was originally a quarry by the river. This section of the Yangtze River has a gentle flow and is the best ferry. Therefore, it has always been a key point in the war between the North and the South. There is also Niuzhu Mountain overlooking it. For quarrying, the geographical location is very important, so all dynasties have set up heavy defenses here.

The Ming Dynasty was no exception, quarrying had always been the trust of Admiral Caojiang, and it was a place guarded by Admiral Caojiang himself.

It’s just that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military equipment was abolished, and the discipline of the soldiers was also very lax in such an important place. Last night, Wang Pu led people to squat nearby for a whole night, and landed ashore before dawn. He never encountered any obstacles, and rushed to the quarry in one go. The wharf was not discovered until after the big boat climbed up, but the individual soldiers guarding the boat behind the boat did not dare to resist at all, and they were beaten down one by one by Wang Pu.

"Let's go, let's go! Do you want to be shot?"

After driving away the soldiers guarding the boat, Wang Pu immediately ordered the sailors to leave immediately.

There are a lot of cannons on Niuzhu Mountain, Wang Pu doesn't want to eat cannons.

But Wang Pu obviously overestimated the qualities of the quarry soldiers. It wasn't until the last ship sailed away from the dock that he saw groups of soldiers rushing out of the water village and heading straight for the dock with weapons in their hands.

"Shout together, thank Uncle Liu for the boat!"

Seeing these soldiers, Wang Pu felt a little depressed for no reason. In order to carry out this mission, Yang Chao transferred all the elite soldiers and generals to him. The thousand soldiers were either veterans from the past or the strong people of Haizhou. They were all knowledgeable. Those who have been on the battlefield, but they didn't expect that they didn't do it at all.

Wang Pu was quite unwilling, until the quarry guards ran to the edge of the pier, and the nearest warship was less than [-] feet away from them, Wang Pu had an idea and asked his soldiers to shout together.

"Thank you Uncle Liu for the boat!"

A ship of soldiers shouted.

"Thank you Uncle Liu for the boat!"

"Thank you Uncle Liu for the boat!"

"Thank you Uncle Liu for the boat!"

The other boats also shouted, and the boats got farther and farther away, but they never saw the cannons on Niuzhu Mountain firing.

I heard that after Liu Kongzhao took office, he played and sang every night and had fun all day long. It is said that he never went to the barracks, so no one drilled soldiers. Wang Pu felt that this was true. It was hard for him to understand that he had been training every day in Yang Chao’s army.

Just when Zhang Dawei had almost crossed the Yangtze River and Wang Pu gradually lost sight of the quarry water village, Song Kun also led people onto large ships in Guazhou, south of Yangzhou.

Song Kun found a chair from the cabin and sat down, in front of him were groups of soldiers being forced by spears.

"Mom, go and sail the boat!"

Song Kun shouted to one of the sailors that he had already found out that this was the sailor.

"This is Uncle Liu's boat!"

But a man next to him who looked like a housekeeper shouted.

Song Kun raised his hand and slapped the man with blood on the corner of his mouth.

Then Song Kun slowly pulled out the waist knife pinned to his waist, making a piercing sound of Zrazla.

"What happened to Uncle Liu's boat?"

Finally pulled out the knife, Song Kun asked coldly.

The butler trembled, knelt on the ground and asked tremblingly, "May I ask where the heroes are from?"

Song Kun glanced at a few companions, and laughed. In order to prevent early exposure, they all wore casual clothes and disguised themselves as merchants. After bribing a military officer in Liu Kongzhao's fleet, they mixed in Liu Kongzhao's fleet. Qian Liu Kongzhao's men didn't care what the merchant ship was pulling.

Then as soon as the fleet landed, they immediately took out the hidden weapons from the cargo and occupied the fleet that had just landed.

"Haha, you old boy, do you still want to settle accounts later?"

Song Kun smiled coldly.

The housekeeper immediately knelt on the ground and did not dare to raise his head: "Don't dare, the hero, please forgive me."

Song Kun snorted coldly: "Start the boat!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a knife was chopped at the butler's hand lying on the ground.

The butler shivered, raised his head and shouted, "Hurry up and set sail!"

After speaking, he looked at Song Kun in confusion: "Where is the hero going?"

Song Kun then said: "Xinjiangkou!"

In an instant, the butler understood everything.

……

In the Jinchai Tower, the moment Yang Chao threw the bowl, everyone couldn't help shaking. What they saw in their eyes was not the kind and polite Mr. Yang, but the one who was fighting in Haizhou. The murderous General Yang suddenly shocked more than one person.

But at this moment they finally came to their senses, Mr. Yang wanted to rob Liu Kongzhao, a current earl, and a minister who held great power and was deeply trusted by the emperor!

A group of businessmen suddenly felt uncomfortable, and many of them felt faint fear, because it seemed that they were involved in this incident. It was their ships that attracted Uncle Liu's fleet, and these fleets were about to be snatched by Yang Chao!
(End of this chapter)