1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1998
Of course, these considerations of Dai Yingda have not been publicly explained to the other leaders of the seven surnames. Now that the Yang family has faintly shown signs of instability, Dai Yingda is also worried that if he shows all his cards, he will be punished by the insiders. If it is leaked to Shanxi salt merchants, it will be passive at that time.

He originally planned to make some adjustments to the composition of the seven surnames to eliminate the unstable factors, but this kind of thing needs to be done at a suitable time, otherwise it will easily cause internal turmoil among the Huizhou salt merchants.And the sudden emergence of this group of Ningbo salt merchants gave Dai Yingda an opportunity to realize his idea, and even had the opportunity to kill and fight, which also caused some troubles for the Shanxi salt merchants.

However, there are too many uncertain factors in his plan, and the corresponding risks are also very high. Even if his plan is finally completed in the most ideal state, he still needs to face the trend of Ningbo salt merchants entering the Jianghuai market.Compared with the Shanshan-Shanxi salt merchant whose strength is declining day by day, the background and backing of the new opponent are obviously more difficult, and he has not thought about whether he can coexist peacefully with him in the future.

Since the arrival of Ningbo salt merchants is only a matter of time, it is the most correct way for Dai Yingda to try to use this matter to maximize his own interests.If the killing with a borrowed knife can be done, and the armed groups under the Shanshan-Shanxi salt merchants can be severely attacked, the Anhui salt merchants will have more confidence in their actions in the future.

But what Dai Yingda didn't know was that Haihan's interest in the musketeer team under the Shanshan salt merchants was far greater than their interest in the Jianghuai salt industry market at this time, otherwise he would not have intervened in the salt merchants. conflict of interests.If he can grasp this key information, he may be able to think of a more effective way to use Haihan's power to attack the Shanshan salt merchants.

When the sun went down that afternoon, there were no more people who came to the pier to make trouble. In half a day, nearly three thousand catties of salt were sold smoothly. People who came to buy salt after hearing the news even formed a long queue on the pier.But this harmonious and peaceful scene made Gong Shiqi and Ji Yuanqing a little uneasy apart from being disappointed. They knew that there must be many eyes and ears of local salt merchants watching them nearby, but the other party was just monitoring and did not take any action. This made it impossible for them to deal with it.

Transporting a large amount of salt from Ningbo to Yangzhou for sale is itself an act of door-to-door provocation, and one of the purposes of Gong Shiqi's taking this risky action is to use this method to anger Yangzhou salt merchants and induce them to use the A musketeer attacked.

Although the risk of doing so is huge, if it can be successful, it will be an extremely efficient investigation method. Otherwise, a group of outsiders who are not familiar with their places of life will want to take the musketeer team that came and went without a trace in Yangzhou. Turning it out, the difficulty can be imagined.

"These Yangzhou salt merchants... came to make trouble in the morning and disappeared in the afternoon. What kind of strategy is this? Could it be that they noticed something?" Gong Shiqi was also a little puzzled by this unsatisfactory situation.

Ji Yuanqing said: "Brother Gong, don't worry, maybe the other party just deliberately observes our actions first, to see if they can find our loopholes."

"Maybe they plan to wait until after dark before taking action." Gong Shiqi looked up at the sky, shook his head and said, "Eat first, fill your stomach, and even if something happens at night, you still have the energy to play with them!"

The enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. Gong Shiqi's team has been on alert since they arrived in Yangzhou. Everyone is tense and ready to deal with various situations that may arise.But if they stay in this situation for a long time, their mental state will undoubtedly become very tired, which will affect their combat effectiveness.

Gong Shiqi had no way of judging the real strategy the opponent would adopt, nor could he predict the circumstances under which the Musketeers would appear. The position built by our side with these two ships has fewer defensive loopholes.

Starting today, they have stopped purchasing cooked food from local restaurants, and only buy some ingredients from nearby markets, which are then cooked by the cooks on board.This is because Gong Shiqi was worried that the local salt merchants would try to add medicine to the food he purchased, so he made this arrangement specially.Although it is a little troublesome, it can effectively reduce the risk during their stay in Yangzhou, which is also a necessary security measure.

Although the sky is getting dark, people still come here to buy salt after hearing the news.However, they are all purchased in pieces, three to five catties is considered too much, and the overall quantity is not large.

"It's strange to say that we didn't even make a big deal today." Ji Yuanqing said: "Our salt price should be considered very low, and there is a discount for buying more, but there are only scattered businesses."

"Are you trying to say that the local shops that sell oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar did not come to us to purchase? The truth is simple. If these shops want to operate in Yangzhou for a long time, they must not offend the local salt merchants. So even if they know that there are relatively The salt they bought at a cheaper price is on sale, and they dare not come here to buy it, after all, there must be a lot of salt merchants watching this place, if they are discovered, they will definitely be troubled by the salt merchants later.” Gong Shiqi smiled and said, "However, it's still a bit bold... If you pay attention, you will find that many of those who buy five catties of salt at a time have come to queue many times."

Ji Yuanqing suddenly said: "Find a few more people and run a few more times, it won't attract attention, and you can also buy hundreds of catties of salt to stock up. This kind of purchase is enough for small businessmen. Brother Gong is indeed a master. He has been paying attention to these details.”

Gong Shiqi smiled. He didn't feel anything special about Ji Yuanqing's praise.Although they were all under the surveillance of the local salt merchants throughout the day, he was carefully observing the environment and the people here.He has been silently assessing which people who came to buy salt are real ordinary people, who are small businessmen who stock up goods in the way of ants moving, and who may be the eyes and ears sent by the local salt merchants.And this kind of monitoring method was not done deliberately by him, it was completely a work habit developed in field missions over the years.

After nightfall, Gong Shiqi arranged for more than a dozen people to set up tents on the pier, and built two bonfires for lighting.Although this is not a fortification, it can be regarded as a barrier on the pier. If someone wants to approach these two ships at night, it will not be so easy.

Gong Shiqi was not afraid that the other party would attack the door with open flames and sticks, but if the other party made a sneak attack at night, he had to guard against it.But in fact, he had some expectations in his heart, hoping that the Yangzhou salt merchants would take some action, instead of staying in the dark all the time so that he could not catch them.The longer this matter drags on, the more unfavorable it will be for the operatives in the away game. In the end, if they leave Yangzhou with nothing, it will be a failure.

The window seat on the second floor of a restaurant not far from this pier happened to be able to see these two large ships with holes.A fat man was eating vegetables, while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, chewing twice and swallowing the food in his mouth, he said to another man at the same table: "Brother Yang, tell me honestly, Are these two boats a trick played by your Huizhou merchants? Old man Dai got two boats on purpose, pretending to be Ningbo salt merchants, but in fact he wanted to lure us into a fight in Yangzhou City so that the government can punish us, yes It's not like this?"

The middle-aged man who was at the same table with him was about half thinner than him, and his complexion looked rather sluggish, but the high-quality leather jacket on his body and the jade pendant with a diameter of two inches at his waist showed that this man was rich. not bad.The thin man stopped his chopsticks and said, "Brother Lu, where did you start? I have never heard of such an arrangement. These Ningbo salt merchants have nothing to do with our Huizhou merchants."

"Really? Why do I feel that this group of people is weird inside and out, not like ordinary businessmen!" The fat man said suspiciously, he still didn't fully believe the other party's excuse: "I, Lu Kangtai, work in this business For more than 20 years, I have never seen anyone dare to use such a straightforward way to grab the territory!"

"Brother Lu, don't say you haven't seen it, and I haven't seen it either!" The thin man said innocently: "But this doesn't prove that these Ningbo salt merchants have any relationship with our Huizhou merchants, right? Cook, don't wrong a good man!"

This fat man Lu Kangtai was the one that the Huizhou salt merchants had always missed, and the one who sat at the table with him was Yang Chengye, who was regarded by Dai Yingda as "colluding with outsiders".Both of them seem to be unattractive, but they both play important roles in their respective camps.

Lu Kangtai has a newly formed musketeer team under his command. Its background is very complicated, but because he is the big benefactor who paid for the formation of this team, the current musketeer team also serves him.In the previous several dispatches, this musketeer team had successfully completed its missions and proved its outstanding combat effectiveness, so this also gave Lu Kangtai a higher prestige and reputation among the Shanshanan salt merchants. The right to speak.

However, Lu Kangtai is still very careful, and will not easily use the big killer in his hand at the door of his house, so even though He Huan, the leader of the Shanshan-Shanxi salt merchants, has made his attitude clear and asked them to give these foreign salt merchants some color as soon as possible Look, Lu Kangtai was not in a hurry to grab the first prize, but first made an appointment with Yang Chengye, an Hui nationality salt merchant who was familiar with him, and wanted to inquire about some relevant news from the other party.

Although Yang Chengye was regarded by Dai Yingda as a dead man, and was even in danger of being eliminated from the seven major surnames of Huizhou salt merchants, the industry he owns could indeed be ranked among the top seven Huizhou salt merchants.In fact, counting two generations from him, the Yang family used to be one of the biggest business families among Hui nationality salt merchants, but after Yang Chengye’s generation, it was obviously going downhill. Dai Yingda’s comments on him It's not aimless.

Yang Chengye was despised and belittled among the group of Hui nationality salt merchants, and there was only one Ma Zhengping who cared for him because of his father's old relationship. This also made Yang Chengye not happy to integrate into the group of Hui nationality salt merchants. It was Lu Kangtai who met by chance, and they hit it off.Although Lu Kangtai's Shanshan salt merchant and Yang Chengye's Huizhou salt merchant are sworn enemies in the business field, the relationship between the two has crossed the opposing camps. Maybe they are just friends, or they also use each other. But they themselves feel that they get along well.

Yang Chengye said: "If you hadn't dragged me out of Xiaohuan's place in Chunfeng Lane in the afternoon, I would have continued to stay there for another night today. Although this young lady only recognizes money but not people, she is indeed a lovely person. ... Off topic, if you hadn't come to see me, I wouldn't have known that there were such a group of Ningbo salt merchants in Yangzhou City. Presumably, old man Dai called the meetings of various companies again today, and I don't know how many times I was absent. Next time I see old man Dai, I will definitely be scolded!"

When Lu Kangtai heard this, he finally believed it a little bit. He knew that Yang Chengye was not good at lying, so the credibility of his statement was still very high.But he was still a little worried that Yang Chengye's status in the group of Huizhou merchants was not enough, and the group of old foxes headed by Dai Yingda might not have informed Yang Chengye in advance of some relatively confidential matters.

"Then try to find out tonight if you have any more news about these Ningbo salt merchants, and what is Old Man Dai's attitude towards this matter, and whether he will take measures to deal with them." Lu Kangtai refused Giving up on this, he immediately encouraged Yang Chengye to try to collect information.

Although Yang Chengye was suspected of being a prodigal son, he was not an idiot. He smiled and said, "Brother Lu, if I go to inquire about these information for you, wouldn't that be equivalent to betraying my fellow countrymen? If old man Dai finds out, I will Even if you don't die, you have to shed your skin!"

Lu Kangtai threw the soaked handkerchief aside, took out another dry handkerchief from his arms and continued to wipe the sweat on his face, and while wiping, he persuaded Yang Chengye: "It's not as serious as you think! This Ningbo salt merchant Since you have nothing to do with Huizhou merchants, how can you betray your fellow countrymen by inquiring about them. Besides, Ningbo salt merchants come to Yangzhou to sell salt, which will also affect your interests. Speaking of which, we have dealt with them Good reason, isn't it?"

"What you said seems to make sense..." Yang Chengye couldn't help hesitating when he heard what he said: "But why do we have to deal with them? It's just two boats of salt. If they sell out, don't they have to leave? "

"You are weak because of your 'indisputable' temperament!" Lu Kangtai shook his head and said, "They sold out the two boats of salt this time, and when they come back next time, there may be four boats or eight boats. A lot of Ningbo salt has entered Yangzhou until we can’t sell even a single grain of our salt! Brother Yang, if this opening is opened, business will only become more and more difficult for our Shanxi salt merchants or your Huizhou merchants in the future !"

(End of this chapter)