1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2208
After He Huan expressed his views, both Wang Yu and Lu Kangtai fell silent.It's not that they haven't thought of the situation He Huan mentioned, they just subconsciously don't want to think in this direction.

Before Haihan intervened in the situation in Yangzhou, Shanshan-Shanxi salt merchants had already gained a clear upper hand in the battle of salt merchants, and it was only a matter of means and time to defeat the Hui nationality salt merchants.If Dai Yingda and others were given a chance to negotiate a peace at that time, perhaps the other party would accept some of their harsh conditions for self-protection.

But today is different from the past. The current situation in Yangzhou has changed. Huizhou salt merchants have found Haihan as a big backer, but the advantages they have gained through hard work have disappeared overnight.Under such circumstances, should the other party just accept it when they meet?The answer is obviously no.

With the support of the Haihan people, it will not be easy for them to use force to attack the Hui nationality salt merchants. The fight last night has fully proved this point.After confirming the strength of this backer, the Huizhou salt merchants will naturally change their attitude, at least much tougher than before.At this time, if you want to go to the door to recover the captured personnel, obviously you will not get any good looks.

He Huan was very pessimistic about this, and he didn't even have any expectations. He believed that it was very difficult for these people trapped in Daijiazhuang to regain their freedom.Perhaps it would be the best ending for these people to be sold overseas as slaves to the Haihan people.

Even though He Huan made the worst estimate, he still didn't expect Dai Yingda's decision to be much more ruthless than he expected. He never thought of releasing these people at all. The dozen or so captives who survived the battle And just live until dawn.For Dai Yingda, these captives are just a tool to stabilize the morale of the army and integrate the internal opinions of the seven surnames, not a condition for bargaining with the Shanxi salt merchants. No matter how Wang Yu and others plan, it is just wishful thinking.

In the end, it was Lu Kangtai who broke the silence: "Although there was a loss of manpower last night, fortunately, the Musketeers have withdrawn safely. We still have the strength to fight, and we can look for another opportunity to attack."

He Huan nodded and said: "Even if they keep the Dai family village strictly guarded, can every family of the seven major surnames do so? We only need to clean up a few of them, and they should be in chaos."

Lu Kangtai shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's not that easy. I was thinking yesterday why almost all the people with the seven major surnames disappeared from Yangzhou in the past few days. Now it seems that they should have been preparing for our surprise attack in advance. If I As expected, the other families of the seven major surnames should have hid in a safe place, such as Daijiazhuang, or a place other than Yangzhou Mansion, in case we attack them one by one. Even if we went to the door, we would probably just At most, they would burn down their houses to vent their anger, but they would not be able to shake their foundations."

Although Lu Kangtai's judgment at this time is unavoidably a bit of an afterthought, it is still relatively close to the truth.

Wang Yudao: "They all hid and let Dai Yingda fight alone? This Dai Yingda is not a person who will suffer!"

Lu Kangtai said: "People from Haihan came to Yangzhou and lived in Daijiazhuang directly. They obviously wanted to stay in Daijiazhuang for follow-up actions. It is estimated that Dai Yingda had already made arrangements for the other families with the seven surnames, otherwise Haihan people would just live in Daijiazhuang. Protecting the Dai family, how can the other families be convinced?"

Wang Yu frowned and said: "Since that's the case, Kangtai, you didn't find out the situation before, so you shouldn't bite the bullet and go to Daijiazhuang!"

Lu Kangtai stared at Wang Yu, and responded coldly: "The Haihan people have already entered Yangzhou Mansion, do you still have the patience to wait? Do you wait for them to build Daijiazhuang into Daijiabao, or wait for them to help you?" The seven surnames can train a musketeer team? If we don’t hurry up and do it, the strength will be traded off and the other will grow, which is not good for us. I have already told Brother Wang about this truth. Could it be that Brother Wang has forgotten?”

The failure of the action made Lu Kangtai very unhappy, and now Wang Yu attributed the responsibility for the command error to him, which naturally made him even more upset, so he couldn't help but refuted a few words.

Lu Kangtai didn't think there was a big problem with his decision-making. Under the circumstances at the time, he believed that taking the initiative was the best choice.It's just that they didn't expect that the Haihan people had already set up a strong line of defense in Daijiazhuang after only a few days after they entered Daijiazhuang, and they had already deployed traps in advance, waiting for their own people to step in.

When Lu Kangtai made the action plan, he had already gathered his men and horses and prohibited them from going out. He didn't announce the specific time of action until the day before the action, so he didn't think that his own people leaked the news, causing the other party to prepare in advance. trap.Based on this calculation, it is more likely that the other party deployed relatively strict monitoring measures near the canal, and their whereabouts were exposed when they crossed the river in the dark, allowing Dai Jiazhuang time to take targeted measures.

Lu Kangtai didn't want to explain his thoughts and inferences to Wang Yu and He Huan in detail. He knew that it was difficult for others to put themselves in their shoes and understand their own feelings. The more he explained, the more likely they would be regarded as a cover-up after failure.But he didn't want to take the blame because of the other party's misunderstanding, so after a few rebuttals, he didn't expand on it.

He Huan knew his temperament and didn't want internal strife at this time, so he persuaded immediately: "Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs, not to mention that we only suffered a small setback last night, and it didn't hurt the root cause. We can still choose another day to fight again. ...It's just that the next action must be more cautious, and don't repeat the same mistakes and fall into the ambush of the other party!"

As He Huan said, he winked at Wang Yu, signaling him not to argue with Lu Kangtai.Wang Yu also knew that if he wanted to use force to attack his opponent, he could not do without Lu Kangtai's command. Even if he thought that Lu Kangtai's previous judgment was wrong, he really couldn't find a more suitable candidate to replace him.If you annoy Lu Kangtai and let him let go of the next thing, then all previous efforts will really be wasted.

Wang Yu cupped his hands and apologized: "Kangtai, I was the one who was anxious just now, and what I said was indeed inappropriate, don't forget it!"

When Lu Kangtai saw this, he could only respond: "It's okay, I know that Brother Wang is also concerned about it, so it's chaos, and it's not about Lu."

When He Huan saw that the two were reconciling, he quickly returned to the main topic: "Kangtai, there are Haihan people stationed in Daijiazhuang now, and the other families with the seven surnames seem to have disappeared, so what should we do next? ?”

Lu Kangtai was silent for a moment before responding: "To be honest, it's very difficult. If we attack Daijiazhuang in the same way, as long as those Haihan people are still there, we will be almost 100% defeated. According to my subordinates According to the report, the interior of Daijiazhuang has undergone a lot of renovations, and they have repaired a lot of fortifications in the village for road closures, so the floor plan of Daijiazhuang we bought with money before is probably not very useful."

"Then how about leading them out of the village?" Wang Yu asked tentatively.

Although this question is a bit unprofessional, Lu Kangtai still answered patiently: "If the opponent is those Haihan people, I am afraid our musketeers will not be able to defeat them on the frontal battlefield. Their weapon performance, combat experience, and command system must We are better than us, if we want to pull it out to fight, we will only be the ones who suffer.”

"If we can't defeat Daijiazhuang and have no other goals, then we have nowhere to go." He Huan shook his head and said, "But if we continue to drag on, the situation will only become more and more difficult!"

Lu Kangtai said: "For the current plan, we can only find a way to get more connections in the yamen to see if we can get the yamen to come forward and check the source of salt in the Huizhou salt merchants' inventory. Even if they can't cut off their money, we must Make them more trouble."

He Huan frowned and said, "This won't stop them for too long! In the end, it's nothing more than using money to eliminate disasters!"

What Lu Kangtai meant was to ask the government to check the inventory of salt merchants from Huizhou. Usually, salt merchants will sell private salt. The inventory must be much larger than the official salt obtained through salt imports. If you want to check, it is basically a check. One standard.But this kind of routine can only deal with small salt merchants with shallow foundations and no official connections. Old-fashioned big salt merchants like the seven surnames who have taken root in Yangzhou for several generations are hard to be caught by this little trick shaken by.Even if the government sends someone to investigate, it will definitely be settled by collecting a sum of money from the person concerned in the end.

In fact, this kind of method is not uncommon in the battles among salt merchants, but He Huan knows that it will have no effect on the seven major surnames, and it can't even be called trouble. Big things will be turned into small things, and small things will be turned into nothing.

Lu Kangtai said: "Of course this will not break them, but it may force Dai Yingda to leave his tortoise shell. Then we will have a chance to do something!"

He Huan's eyes lit up when he heard the words, he nodded repeatedly and said, "Wonderful! In this way, let's see if Old Man Dai can still shrink into his shell!"

Lu Kangtai's real purpose was to create moderate troubles, which could only be resolved by Dai Yingda personally visiting the local officials, and as soon as Dai Yingda left Daijiazhuang and entered Yangzhou City, the opportunity to do so would naturally appear.It doesn't matter whether it's assassination or kidnapping, as long as it can be succeeded, then Daijiazhuang will no longer be a tough bone to chew on.

Wang Yu was still a little worried: "Even if he leaves Daijiazhuang, if the Haihan people serve as his guards, it won't be so easy to get him, right?"

Lu Kangtai said: "Is it possible that we have to wait for a [-]% chance before taking action? We may not have such an opportunity until the day you and I are buried! Let's force Dai Yingda out first, and we will not know until we succeed." !"

"Kangtai is right! Waiting for an opportunity is worse than creating one yourself. As long as Dai Yingda enters the city, it will give us a chance to do something. Whether the Haihan people will protect him or not will only be known in due time. Try!" He Huan clearly sided with Lu Kangtai this time, because he also knew that the time was not waiting for him, and the longer the delay, the opponent's advantage would only increase, so he might as well seize every possible opportunity and try his best, maybe There can also be transfers.

With He Huan's support, Lu Kangtai's confidence has also increased a lot, and he said immediately: "Then let's visit the adults separately as soon as possible, and persuade them to temporarily seal up the salt warehouse of the seven surnames! As long as the warehouse is sealed and Dai Yingda gets the news, naturally he will Try to enter the city to make some joints. Then we will set up an ambush near the city gate and take him in at one stroke!"

Lu Kangtai's plan is easy to say, but not simple to implement.Although Shanxi salt merchants are better than their rivals in the local officialdom, the Anhui salt merchants are also big money owners that officials cannot ignore, especially the Yamen, which is closely related to the salt industry. The amount of silver collected was enormous.

These officials are all good people, and they know very well that riding on the wall can collect benefits from both sides, so they will not easily fall to either side. Deliberately embarrass their competitors.

In addition to the Yangzhou government office, the yamen that can manage this matter are mainly institutions such as the transfer salt envoy, the salt department, the official salt warehouse, and the official salt field. Salt Division Ambassador and more.

The more officials who can persuade, the more troubles they can cause to the seven surnames. Of course, in the process of persuading them, they will definitely have to give away a lot of money.However, the situation was urgent, and they could no longer feel sorry for the money. The three agreed to share the expenses together afterwards, and then each went to visit the officials with whom they had a good relationship, trying to get the yamen to issue a document to seize the inventory of the seven surnames as soon as possible.

Dai Yingda couldn't predict the opponent's strategy at this time, he had too many things to worry about now.All the seven surnames moved their family members to Daijiazhuang, and with the addition of more than 100 people from Jindun, there were hundreds of people living in the village at once, and there were too many chores that needed to be arranged and coordinated.

Just adding hundreds of people to eat every day is a big burden for Daijiazhuang. Not only does it have to send people out to buy a lot of food every day, but it also has to organize a group of cooks to cook three meals a day for them. Row.And some people are more particular, they only eat food made by their own cooks, and they have to provide them with a separate kitchen and corresponding ingredients.Although the relevant expenses are paid by each family, the organization work can only be done by the landlord Dai Yingda.

There are so many trivial things in life like this. Although Dai Yingda assigned most of the work to some clan members, there are still endless things that need to be consulted with him, and he will direct and coordinate. Instead, he does not have much time to take care of the present. Now that it's time to get down to business, we can only hand over defense-related matters to Dai Yingfan.

Dai Yingfan has quickly become a fan of Haihan after witnessing the combat process of the Golden Shield with his own eyes. He is full of curiosity about the organization and training methods of the Golden Shield. Yuan Tao learned some practical tactics here.

(End of this chapter)