1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2000
Lu Kangtai watched the man's back disappear at the top of the stairs, and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, as if he was proud of his success in persuading him.He knew that although the other party kept saying that he should be careful and cautious, and refused to let him use the Musketeers to solve the current problem, he still hoped that he could open up the situation in Yangzhou and organize a secret armed force with real combat effectiveness.At present, the musketeer team, which is only composed of dozens of people, is obviously far from meeting the expectations of the opponent. The expansion is only a matter of timing, and it seems to be a good opportunity right now.

Lu Kangtai and the Shanshan salt merchants behind him need a powerful armed force to fight against their opponents and protect their own interests, while the opponent hopes to find a powerful ally in the eastern coastal area of ​​Daming to provide them with assistance in the future. The cooperation between the two parties can be said to hit it off, one party provided money and people, and the other provided weapons, ammunition and military training, and established a secret musketeer team.

Money is easy to do. Although the secret musketeer team serving Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants has not been established for a long time, its training and equipment level even surpassed the firearms battalion of the Yangzhou garrison.After all, the military expenditure of the Ming army was limited, and most of it was invested in the wars in the north and the Central Plains. Although the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were rich, the military expenditure was still cut very sharply. can once.

And the musketeers under Lu Kangtai's hands can be said to be completely fed by live ammunition. The training effect is naturally extraordinary, and the combat effectiveness has been formed in a short period of time, and it has been accumulated through several attacks. Have some practical experience.However, due to the limited establishment and the need to keep its existence secret at this stage, the Musketeers can actually perform not many tasks. Only when it reaches a certain scale can it gradually form a real deterrent force.

Whether it is the Shanxi salt merchants represented by Lu Kangtai, or the mysterious partners who provide them with equipment and training, they all have the same attitude towards the goal of strengthening the Musketeers.Although the two have different ideas on how to use the Musketeers, this difference will not prevent them from joining forces at this stage to deal with the Ningbo salt merchants who are backed by Haihan people.

Lu Kangtai looked towards the dock not far away, and could still see the lights on the two ships.He noticed that two campfires were burning in the open space of the pier, and several tents were built around them, faintly surrounding the place where the two boats docked. This was obviously a consciously deployed defensive measure.It seems that although this group of Ningbo salt merchants acted rampantly, they were very careful in details, and they did not forget to be on guard at night, so they really came prepared.

However, he has been sitting here since before dark, and it has been more than an hour now, but he has not seen anyone coming here to trouble the Ningbo salt merchants.The attitude of the Anhui salt merchants on the other side of the river is still unknown, but He Huan, the leader of his own camp, has already sent a message to give these Ningbo salt merchants some color, but so far no one has responded, making Lu Kangtai think The plan to take the opportunity to spy on the opponent's strength has also been impossible to realize.

"These old foxes are all waiting for me to do it!" Lu Kangtai said to himself with a little disappointment: "But if I do it, the small trouble may become a big trouble, what should I do? ?”

No one can answer Lu Kangtai's question, but there are other people who have a similar mentality to Lu Kangtai at the moment, and are silently expecting someone to come here to make trouble.

"You said why the local salt merchants are so calm. After a whole day, there is only thunder and no rain. Except for a few guys who came to talk about it in the morning, they really have nothing to do when they are driven away!"

While peeling peanuts and feeding them into his mouth, Gong Shiqi vented his dissatisfaction by talking to himself.During the mission, he was also not allowed to drink freely, so he could only use water instead, and the appetizers naturally tasted a bit bland.

Ji Yuanqing stared at the map in his hand, heard the words and said with a smile: "You have complained seven or eight times after dark, and it is not us who should be anxious. Since they are stable, then we will carry out the scheduled plan step by step. I will I don't believe that all the salt merchants in Yangzhou can hold their breath!"

Gong Shiqi sighed: "You're right, I was too impatient. I always feel restless when I go back to the south to perform a mission, and I want to finish the matter quickly and go back."

Ji Yuanqing said: "Brother Gong's mission in the north must be very important, but this case is personally supervised by the executive committee, which is enough to show the special nature of this case. Brother Gong should try to let go of his worries and concentrate on handling it. the case."

Gong Shiqi was about to say a few words when someone knocked on the door outside the cabin and said, "Boss, a guest is here!"

Of course, at this time, there would not be any important guests coming to visit, but a signal of an unexpected situation.Hearing this, Gong Shiqi regained his energy, got up and threw away the peanut in his hand, and said, "Business is coming, let's go take a look!"

The two quickly got out of the cabin and came to the deck, and saw a large group of people on the pier surrounded by the open space outside their own tents, some of them were holding sticks in their hands, obviously not people who came to buy salt.And our own manpower has already assembled 40 to [-] people, and they are in a confrontation with each other.However, the opponent's equipment is not as neat as our own. Everyone here is holding an identical eyebrow-level stick in their hands, which is specially prepared for group fighting.Although the number of people was twice as small as that of the opponent, the momentum was not lost at all.

"You stare on the boat, I'll go down and take a look." Gong Shiqi was used to seeing all kinds of dangerous scenes, and he didn't panic about the current situation, so he asked Ji Yuanqing to stay on the boat and command the ambushed musketeers, and he wanted to go down in person Meet these people for a while to see if they can figure out the background of each other.

As for why the other party chose to take action after dark, Gong Shiqi can roughly think of several reasons. Apart from the need for time to arrange an action plan to gather manpower, and the dark sky makes it easier to use some extraordinary means that are not legal. Seventeen thinks that the main reason is that the other party wants to wait until Yangzhou City closes the city gate before making a move, so that no matter whether they want to report to the city officials or ask the city defense army for help, they will not be able to do it at night. .

Of course, the launch of the night attack was originally expected by Gong Shiqi, and targeted deployments were made in advance, so when these people tried to get close to the two ships, they were garrisoned on the pier The manpower is blocked in the periphery.The comers didn't seem to intend to fight directly as soon as they met each other, and they didn't start fighting after being blocked, so a confrontation situation formed on the pier.

"Friends who buy salt, please go early tomorrow!" Gong Shiqi deliberately said loudly: "There will be no business tonight!"

"Stop howling, no one is buying salt tonight!" A strong man with a gloomy face stood out from the opposite crowd, walked up to Gong Shiqi slowly, put his hands on his hips and said to him, "I gave you a day's worth of salt!" Time to leave Yangzhou, it seems that you don't plan to move, you really can't listen to people's words, right?"

"Are you speaking on behalf of the Yangzhou government with such a loud tone?" Gong Shiqi replied without changing his expression: "If you can produce the official documents of the government, I may still think about it, but empty words, I will Why should I follow your command?"

"You're so stubborn! It seems that you won't cry when you see the coffin!" The strong man saw that Gong Shiqi's words were blunt, and he didn't back down from his threats, and he was about to order to do it.

Gong Shiqi watched the words and expressions, and said before the other party made a move: "Before you do anything, can you tell me about your family name first?"

"Are you afraid?" The strong man couldn't help but sneered when he heard that things seemed to be turning around.

Gong Shiqi sneered and said, "As the saying goes, when you beat a dog, it depends on the owner. I'll first ask who your owner is, so that I can control the force when I beat you later. If I don't know your owner, then I don't have to show mercy!" "

"You..." The strong man was about to get angry, but found that the other party had already bullied him in a flash, and then felt a chill on his neck, and was pressed against his throat by a cold sharp thing, and immediately subconsciously moved his back Half a sentence was swallowed back in his stomach.

Gong Shiqi stared at him and said, "Guess, will I cut your throat? If you guess wrong, then I will do it!"

The strong man thought to himself, no matter which result he guessed, the other party seemed to have a reason to attack, and he dared not say anything at the moment, for fear that if the sharp blade in Gong Shiqi's hand flicked, he would become a dead soul under the knife for no reason.Although he can be regarded as a desperado who licks blood at the edge of a knife, he doesn't want to be killed by the other party as soon as he meets face-to-face in such a useless manner, and this fall is too fast, which makes him unable to think of struggling and resisting for a while.

The people present probably didn't expect their leader to be taken down by the other party with a dagger while they were speaking. Even the people standing nearby didn't see where Gong Shiqi took out this dagger dagger.But after the leader was captured, the others were afraid to use the mouse, and they didn't dare to act without authorization.

Gong Shiqi frightened the other party with his mouth, holding a dagger against the strong man's throat with one hand, and quickly touched his waist with the other hand, then seized a short knife, and threw it to the man behind him men.

"You dare to find fault with your three-legged cat's kung fu? Tell me, who asked you to come? I will let you go." Gong Shiqi said with a smile: "Speak well, I will not hurt you!"

The brawny man has slowly recovered from the shock after being restrained at the beginning, but now he behaved quite stubbornly, and responded in a low voice: "If you dare to do it, you will do it. I have so many brothers, I will take care of myself." I take revenge!"

"Okay, let's try it, who will give up his life to avenge you!" Gong Shiqi winked as he said, and his subordinates immediately came over to restrain the strong man.

"Since this good man regards death as his home, I will fulfill you." Gong Shiqi loudly said deliberately: "Tie him into a sack and sink him into the canal with ballast stones. From now on, your family will worship you and burn it by the canal." Just light incense sticks and paper money!"

The man was still struggling, but someone had already stuffed a numb core into his mouth, and then tied a layer of cloth outside, whining but unable to speak.Several people pressed him to the ground, and bound his hands and feet behind him almost instantly, making him unable to move at all.Then the four people raised their hands and feet respectively, and carried him along the gangway to the boat.

The people brought by the strong man did not completely stand by, but Hai Han had already formed a formation with eyebrow sticks to prevent the opponent from approaching.Several guys who tried to rush through this line of defense were stabbed heavily in the chest and abdomen by sticks one after another, and were immediately blocked back.This kind of bayonet fighting technique used by two or three people is effortless to deal with these street gangsters.

The number of people on both sides is exactly inversely proportional to the strength of the fight. The Haihan side with fewer people has taken the initiative, while the other side has the upper hand, but the leader is taken down as soon as he comes up. At this time, there is no command. Some people want to fight and others want to talk. Some people want to wait and see, and when their ideas are not consistent, the counterattack will naturally appear messy and powerless.The attempt to snatch back the strong man was disintegrated by the well-formed Haihan side in a very short period of time.

"Which family is this subordinate? What an incompetent person, shame on me!"

On the second floor of the distant restaurant, Lu Kangtai was the only table left, but he didn't seem to want to pay the bill and leave. Instead, he ordered a few more dishes, a jug of wine, and watched with relish. ongoing conflict.

Although they were far away and couldn't see the specific details clearly, and didn't know the content of the communication between the two parties, Lu Kangtai could roughly judge what happened on the pier.This group of people who went to trouble the Ningbo salt merchants was not well prepared at all. They were taken over by the other party as soon as they came up, and they were already at a disadvantage before they even made a move.Lu Kangtai couldn't help being very disappointed. He thought he could see the scene of the two sides fighting, so that he could judge the strength of the opponent, but the strength of these troublemakers was too weak, and they couldn't make the opponent use their true strength. ability.

Lu Kangtai could see clearly that although the foreign salt merchants had taken the initiative, they did not resort to ruthlessness. They were only using a well-trained system to block the opponent's offensive and at the same time wear down the opponent's will. This approach obviously left a certain amount of room .

Lu Kangtai raised his hand as a signal, and immediately one of his subordinates hurried over and bowed to listen to his orders.

"Go closer to see what's going on, and find out which company that group belongs to." Lu Kangtai pointed in the direction of the pier and gave an order.

Lu Kangtai took a sip of his wine, sighed, "Yang Chengye left early, if we stay a little longer, we can watch this good show together."

Little did he know that Yang Chengye was being reprimanded severely by his elder Ma Zhengping at home at this time because he did not go to Daijiazhuang to participate in the discussion today.

"Think about it, if you only spend your days drinking and drinking, and don't do your job properly, then the status of the Yang family's seven major surnames will be in jeopardy!" Ma Zhengping persuaded heartbrokenly: "If you are squeezed out of the seven major surnames, the Yang family will have a lot of business in the future. If you cannot directly participate, and you are not qualified to participate in the discussions of Huizhou salt merchants, all the efforts of your parents and grandparents will come to naught, do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)