1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2185
Dai Yingda continued: "Salt business is our main business, but in addition, we also operate many other businesses."

In fact, large salt merchants like Dai Yingda are involved in far more than grain trading in their non-main business fields. They are also involved in transportation, warehousing, infrastructure and other industries related to salt industry operations.Salt merchants can not only rely on these long-term industries to obtain relatively stable profits, but also effectively reduce the operating costs of the main business.

Yuan Tao has only a limited understanding of salt industry management, but he has spent several years in Zhoushan, a large trading port, and is no stranger to this cross-industry management method.In fact, even Golden Shield has a similar business model. Although the main business is armed escort, it also operates supporting institutions such as carts and horses, boats and even commercial stores.

Dai Yingda continued to introduce: "Although Daijiazhuang is not as prosperous as Yangzhou City on the other side of the canal, we have basically everything in Yangzhou City. If shopkeeper Yuan needs anything, just say hello and we will will do their best to satisfy them.”

Yuan Tao said: "Thank you for taking care of Dai Ye! If you can provide us with detailed intelligence information about your opponents as soon as possible, that would be the best!"

Most of the information Yuan Tao got before departure came from the Military Intelligence Bureau. Although the content was more targeted, because Zhoushan was far from Yangzhou, the timeliness of the information was inevitably poor.

Ma Zhengping also provided some information after arriving in Zhoushan, but since he is not a professional, the information provided is quite messy, and the truly valuable part needs to be further screened.

The "detailed information" Yuantao needs now is not a superficial report on how many opponents there are or how many trained people there are, but more detailed information, such as how many muskets the opponent currently has, and by whom. Command, general range of activities, style of conduct, etc.

Mastering specific and detailed information will help Yuan Tao to adjust his response strategies on the front line. Otherwise, it will be difficult for him to deal with the most wealthy and powerful local snakes with the more than [-] people he brought to Yangzhou.

Dai Yingda replied, "Don't worry, Shopkeeper Yuan, when you settle down, someone will contact you. I hope Shopkeeper Yuan can give you more advice at that time."

As he spoke, he had already arrived at the Zhuangkou of Daijiazhuang. Yuan Tao was a little surprised to notice that on both sides of the intersection leading to the village, two towers of [-] were built, all made of large blocks of bluestone. It even has a firing crenel on it, which is very different from ordinary villages.

Dai Yingda noticed that Yuan Tao's footsteps had slowed down, so he took the initiative to explain to him: "This was only built at the end of last year, just to beware of opponents coming in. Fortunately, so far, this thing has not come in handy for the time being. ."

Yuantao said, "Just repairing this watchtower is not very useful. The rest of Zhuangzi has to be surrounded by high walls. Otherwise, if there are other intersections entering Zhuangzi, this watchtower will be useless."

Dai Yingda said with a wry smile: "It was indeed planned at the beginning, but the construction of the retaining wall around Zhuangzi was a bit big, and it happened to be a big deal for the family at that time. Many people thought it was unnecessary to spend a lot of money and a lot of manpower to build it. The parapet, so the work was temporarily halted."

What Dai Yingda said about "hit the family" is that at the end of last year, Zhoushan authorities sent a small group of elites to Yangzhou to solve the musket team under the command of Shanshaan salt merchants. At that time, Huizhou salt merchants learned about the casualties of their opponents , some people are optimistic that the opponent's fangs and claws have been lost, and there is no need to maintain a high state of tension.The fortifications that were originally planned to be built around the residences of the various salt merchants were also called off because of this.

Dai Yingda is the richest person among Hui national salt merchants. Dai Jia Zhuang under his name is also regarded as the "last fortress" by Hui national salt merchants. If the situation in Yangzhou continues to deteriorate, Dai Jia Zhuang may be taken as a safe haven.Therefore, the various salt merchants also put together some money to build defense fortifications and personnel resettlement facilities in Daijiazhuang, but after the Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants' accident, these projects were stopped.

Although almost all relevant people can guess that it was Haihan's men who shot in Yangzhou that time, but due to diplomatic concerns, Haihan officials will probably never admit this matter, and Dai Yingda is also very knowledgeable. Knowing this detail, because he also knows that even if he asks about it, Yuan Tao will definitely not admit it.

After listening to this explanation, Yuan Tao understood why there was such a half-baked project, and immediately shook his head and said, "Since it has been built, it should be completed. I think the shape of this watchtower must be designed by someone who knows how to do it. The entire Daijiazhuang fortifications are based on military standards, if this project can be completed, even if we don’t come to help, I believe that a few people will not be able to break through this line of defense.”

Dai Yingda reluctantly replied: "Treasurer Yuan really knows the goods. The fortifications of Daijiazhuang were originally designed by a military attache who had retired for many years at a great cost. The number is really too large, and we can only share the cost among multiple groups and jointly decide the scale of the construction. Everyone feels that there is no need to repair it, and we can only stop the project first."

Yuan Tao didn't know how much money it cost to build a military-standard castle, but since even a wealthy businessman like Dai Yingda felt that the amount was too large and needed multiple salt merchants to share the cost, it must have been a huge expense. .

During the conversation, he had already entered the Dai family village. According to Dai Yingda's introduction, the people living in the village were basically from the Dai clan, and those who were responsible for planting the farmland outside the village were mostly tenant farmers with foreign surnames hired by the clansmen and did not live in the village. Village.

Of course, relying on these fields outside the village is not enough for the Dai clan to live a prosperous life. In fact, their income mainly comes from helping Dai Yingda manage the property, which is the most traditional family business.

The reception banquet prepared by Dai Yingda for the people of Jindun is divided into two places. Yuan Tao is a distinguished guest, and naturally he enjoys the highest family banquet, while the rest of Jindun is arranged in the open space outside the Daijiazhuang ancestral hall. It is really difficult to arrange so many people in Dai Yingda's house.

Dai Yingda's house is located in the center of Daijiazhuang. To be honest, the floor area is not too exaggerated, that is, the four-into-yard yard has two more cross-yards.Considering that the value of the lot here is far less than that of Yangzhou City on the other side of the river, the scale of this house is really ordinary for a wealthy businessman of his level.

However, the interior of the house is very delicate, with small bridges and flowing water, pavilions and pavilions, and winding paths leading to secluded places.

Dai Yingda took Yuan Tao to the main room to take a seat first, and called his family to come out to meet Yuan Tao.Dai Yingda has one wife and four concubines, 13 children in total, and seventeen or eight grandchildren.Most of the children have already set up their own families, and not all of them live here.Even so, it took Yuan Tao at least a cup of tea after seeing this big family.

Of course, this family is not all qualified to participate in the reception banquet. In the end, only Dai Yingda's two sons, Dai Chengliang and Dai Chengrong, remained.

After the banquet, Yuan Tao noticed that there were a lot of glassware from Haihan on the table, and immediately asked, "Master Dai also likes the glassware from my Haihan Kingdom?"

Dai Yingda replied, "The glassware produced in your country is much better than the ones sold by Western fans in the past. Who wouldn't like something so delicate?"

It's hard to say whether Dai Yingda really likes Haihan's glassware so much, but Yuan Tao can clearly feel the other party's gesture of goodwill.Several other salt merchants also spoke up and talked about the Haihan goods that they would use in their daily life.

Yuan Tao has seen a lot of scenes like this, but most of them are businessmen who sell Haihan goods in the prefectures near Zhoushan. After all, those people are considered vested interests, and it is reasonable to have such a performance among.However, Yangzhou salt merchants had only conflicts of interest with Haihan before this. From this, it seems that these salt merchants were really anxious, and they did not hesitate to put down their bodies to show their closeness to Haihan.

Yuan Tao smiled and listened to everyone in the audience taking turns touting praises, while enjoying the dishes on the table.Huaiyang cuisine is one of the four major cuisines in China, and its dishes are naturally extraordinary. This banquet was prepared in advance by Dai Yingda, and almost all the local signature dishes were served on the table.

Demolition and stewed silver carp head, stewed lion head, braised pig head, these three traditional Yangzhou dishes are naturally indispensable. There are also special dishes such as boiled dried silk, three sets of duck, crystal meat, general crossing the bridge, etc. , swept away fatigue.

During the banquet, Dai Yingda's subordinates came in to report that they had already brought Jindun's personnel to the village, and arranged accommodation and a banquet.Even the people left behind on the two ships have already sent people to deliver meals and daily necessities to them.

After three rounds of drinking, Yuan Tao felt that he had almost eaten up, so he took the initiative to bring up the business: "Could you tell me, Mr. Dai, what is the situation in Yangzhou now?"

Dai Yingda was worried that it would affect Yuan Tao's mood to eat, so he kept pressing down and did not mention the serious business. Hearing Yuan Tao's initiative to mention it, he was desperate for what he wanted, and immediately explained the current situation in Yangzhou to him.

Compared with the information that Ma Zhengping brought to Zhoushan, Dai Yingda's description was much more detailed. Yuan Tao believed that this should also be a little trick played by Yangzhou salt merchants, and deliberately concealed some of the more negative information to prevent Haihan from thinking it was a risk. too large to forgo aid to them.

After Haihan took action in Yangzhou at the end of last year, Shan-Shaanxi salt merchants suffered heavy losses. Lu Kangtai, who was in charge of forming and commanding the musket team, disappeared from the market for a long time, and even once made Dai Yingda think that he was caught by the mountain. He Huan, the head of the Shaanxi salt merchant, dealt with it in secret.

The Shan-Shaanxi salt merchants, whose vitality was severely damaged, also restrained a lot, temporarily stopped the action of attacking the salt transport team of Hui-born salt merchants, and acted in a low-key manner.

Hui-based salt merchants once thought that this was a self-protection behavior after their opponents suffered heavy losses, but later found out that their opponents might just be worried that Haihan had formed an alliance with Hui-based salt merchants, so they suspended operations and quietly observed whether the situation would change. Variety.

It is precisely because Hui national salt merchants were blindly optimistic about the situation that they did not take advantage of such a good momentum to pursue their opponents in time, and even stopped the fortifications under construction, thinking that the market would be peaceful from now on.

Their misjudgment of the trend of the situation gave their opponents a chance to breathe. After more than two months of calm, Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants once again provoked disputes in the salt industry. The operation of salt merchants.

And that's not the worst part.By March of this year, Hui-based salt merchants found out in despair that their opponents seemed to have secretly formed another musket team, and the scale seemed to be larger than the previous one.And the commander of this musket team is Lu Kangtai, who disappeared for several months in Yangzhou for no reason.

Perhaps learning from the previous lessons, Lu Kangtai's behavior is more cunning than before. The attacks on Hui-born salt merchants are all successful and retreat immediately, trying not to cause personnel damage in the confrontation.

Although Hui-based salt merchants also purchased some muskets through various channels and formed their own musket team, their combat effectiveness was still a bit worse than their opponents, and due to insufficient confidentiality work, they were dispatched several times to perform escort missions. They all hit the opponent's attack, and they lost a lot of manpower, which made the gap between the two sides widen.

Moreover, the fleet of Hui-registered salt merchants has also been attacked several times on the canal, and opponents' attacks are becoming more and more frequent. It was decided to request assistance from the Zhoushan authorities, and at the same time restart the defense construction of various manors.

When Ma Zhengping went to Zhoushan for the first time, it was on the eve of the East China Sea Fleet's expedition to Hirado. Shi Diwen's attention was all on combat operations, and he couldn't pay attention to Yangzhou's affairs. Therefore, Ma Zhengping did not take the trip to Zhoushan. to any substantial commitment.

During the Haihan expedition to Pinghu, the situation on the Yangzhou side became increasingly unfavorable for the Huizhou salt merchants. The Yangzhou government turned a blind eye to the force used by the Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants, and instead sent people to investigate the private storage of the Huizhou salt merchants. arms.If Dai Yingda hadn't gone to Yingtianfu to find someone to manage a lot of money, he might have been charged with the crime arranged by the Yangzhou government.

But Dai Yingda and others also know that it is not the way to continue to drag on. It is very difficult for them to fight their opponents in official and private affairs. If they don't want to change the situation, it will only be a matter of time before they will be beaten by their opponents.He Huan has even released harsh words on the market in Yangzhou, and he must expel all the seven surnames of Hui-registered salt merchants from Yangzhou.

At the time of life and death, Dai Yingda and others did not care about the difference of countries, and sent Ma Zhengping to Zhoushan again to ask for help.Although he knew that Haihan's intention was to intervene in the Yangzhou salt market, he could no longer worry about whether this would be an act of bringing in wolves. He could only ask Haihan to intervene.

(End of this chapter)