Chapter 1990
Although the implementation of Gong's Seventeenth Plan in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions can be described as simple and crude, he will perfect the details as much as possible before taking action. This is a professional habit developed over the years. Gong Shiqi is not that familiar with the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In addition to the intelligence reference from within the Ministry of Security, if someone like Ji Yuanqing who is good at performing field tasks and familiar with local conditions can give advice, it will undoubtedly make the operation easier. The probability of success is greatly improved.
Of course, Gong Shiqi also took this opportunity to test the other party's plans and see if Ji Yuanqing was really as knowledgeable as Wan Fa said. If this man is just a strong man but unable to offer any effective opinions, then Gong Shiqi will naturally find other ways to make him stand aside and prevent him from affecting his action plan.
Then Ji Yuanqing said in a deep voice: "Brother Gong's plan is generally feasible, but there is still a lack of corresponding plans for how to evacuate the local area after success. Our opponent is not an ordinary country rich man, but a rich and powerful salt merchant. Not only do they have private armed forces, they may also have support from local governments, and they even need to consider the situation of local garrison troops. If a more extreme situation occurs, the retreat plan designed by Brother Gong may not be feasible. "
Gong Shiqi nodded slightly after hearing this. It was not that he had not considered the details mentioned by the other party, but he had deliberately reserved them in his explanation just now. The purpose was to see if Ji Yuanqing could detect these loopholes.
Ji Yuanqing continued: "Since the purpose of our operation is to solve the problem, we must avoid causing more problems due to this operation, so how to quickly evacuate the dangerous area after we succeed is also one of the links we must consider. I suggest that in addition to the original evacuation plan, enough fast horses and evacuation routes to the seaside should be prepared in advance in case of emergency. ”
Gong Shiqi said: "What Brother Ji said is true. In fact, the Ministry of Security sent people to the area yesterday to arrange the evacuation in advance as mentioned by Brother Ji."
Ji Yuanqing was not a newbie. When Gong Shiqi said this, he understood that the other party deliberately wanted to test him. However, he also thought that the other party would definitely act like this, but he did not feel offended by it.
Ji Yuanqing responded expressionlessly: "Fortunately, Brother Gong was thoughtful, otherwise the preparations would have been delayed for a day, and the subsequent actions would have been affected by this. At least it would have saved one day."
Although the two of them spoke politely, they were each somewhat cautious and constantly tested the other's attitude. They belong to different organizations, but their functions actually overlap, and there is an objective relationship of competition. Therefore, although this joint execution mission is an arrangement from above, in fact, both Gong Qiqi and Ji Yuanqing also have some thoughts of competing. ——At the very least, you must not lose your own face in the action.
At this time Wan Fa also came, not to participate in the discussion, but to invite these two to dinner. After all, this place is the venue of the Security Department, and as the owner, he must do these basic hospitality tasks well. So the two of them suspended their discussions and went to dinner with Wan Fa first.
However, after dinner, Wan Fa also joined them, because Gong Shiqi’s plan required the use of Haihan’s intelligence network in the Ming Dynasty. This required Wan Fa to coordinate and arrange in advance, and try his best to Gong Shiqi's action plan provides assistance.
The Military Intelligence Bureau actually has its own intelligence network, but because it was established much later than the Security Department, its scale and operating efficiency are far inferior to the Security Department, so Ji Yuanqing did not take the initiative to ask for help in this link. Of course, for Ji Yuanqing, having access to the intelligence network under the Ministry of Security is also a rare opportunity to observe competitors up close, and he is still looking forward to it.
Wan Fa originally thought it was just a brief meeting to report on the progress of their respective preparations, but he did not expect that the discussion would last from after dinner until midnight. When the things he was responsible for came to an end and he yawned and said goodbye, the other two were still sitting in the study room, studying the action plan together with the map, and their energy level was indeed far beyond human imagination.
He didn't realize that these two brothers were rivals in chess and were already secretly competing against each other. Both of them understand that the other is indeed a good player in the industry. This kind of opportunity to compete on the same field does not come often. Each wants to try their best to show their strength and overpower the other.
Although Gong Shiqi had already drawn up a rough action plan on the way here, the actual preparations still took more time than he expected. Especially the arrival of Ji Yuanqing added many unplanned items to the preparations. His suggestion was not just a retreat plan. After Gong Shiqi said he could speak freely, he proposed many modifications to Gong Shiqi's plan. However, most of these details still have room for improvement, and Gong Shiqi can only admit that the other party's vision and experience are very sophisticated.
Three days later, near the mouth of the Yongjiang River in Ningbo Prefecture, this is the starting point of the sea passage for various materials from Ningbo Prefecture and the surrounding areas. A wide variety of goods are sent from here, and one of the most important export goods in recent months is Ningbo. Sea salt produced locally in the house.
In fact, Ningbo has always produced sea salt in the past, but because various armed pirates were rampant in the Zhoushan Islands in the past, it was difficult for the official salt field to engage in production activities safely, so the production capacity was far from being comparable to that of the Jiangsu coast. By the Tianqi Period By that time, Ningbo's salt fields had basically no big output, and the salt on the market mainly came from the Jianghuai area. It was not until Haihan came to Zhejiang and gradually controlled the coastal areas that the salt production industry was put on the agenda again.
What really directly promoted this was the participation of local officials. These local officials provided many conveniences for the development and operation of the salt industry, allowing the salt field led by Haihan to be put into operation as quickly as possible and with official Recognized sales qualifications.
Of course, turning the output of these salt fields into official salt is only an operation of the Ningbo government, and other local governments may not necessarily recognize it. For example, in areas north of Hangzhou Bay, many places regard sea salt produced in Ningbo as private salt and do not allow it to be sold on the market. Although there is no public ban on sales, there are many means of stumbling in private, and the previous attacks can actually be regarded as one of them.
However, the impact of several attacks outside Ningbo Prefecture on the public is actually extremely limited. Many people have not even heard of these incidents. Only a few people with direct interests in them can experience the attacks. the trouble caused. However, the business that needs to be done must still be done, and one cannot take the initiative to close down the business because of a few attacks. This is a large business involving hundreds of thousands of taels of silver per year, and it is absolutely impossible to give up just now.
The salt produced in Xiangshan and Shipu is not transported directly from the salt field to the destination. Instead, it is first transported to the salt industry distribution terminal at the mouth of the Yongjiang River. It goes through an official ceremony here and obtains official salt certification before passing through various channels. Salt merchants transport it by land or sea to other places for sale.
In several prefectures around Ningbo, there is no big problem in using this sales method. However, north of Hangzhou Bay is the traditional sphere of influence of Jianghuai salt merchants. Ordinary salt merchants cannot transport salt from other real estate into these places for sale. However, there are so many motivated new salt merchants in Ningbo. Although they know that there are risks, some people are still organizing shipments of goods to the Jianghuai direction.
The two salt ships departing from here today are said to be filled with locally produced refined salt and destined for Yangzhou Prefecture for sale. In the eyes of insiders, this is simply an act of stroking the tiger's whiskers, even if Ningbo's salt production technology is Coming from Haihan, the salt is finer and cheaper. If you want to grab the market at the doorstep of the Jianghuai salt merchants, you will still face a lot of risks.
A group of laborers were sitting in a tea shop by the dock, drinking a large bowl of hot tea worth two copper coins, and discussing the whereabouts of the two salt ships they had just loaded.
A lean man said: "The salt transport team that went north in the past two months had a few troubles. At this time, they are going to Yangzhou to sell salt. I think this boss is brave enough!" A person next to him sneered: "Zhang Laoliu, what you said is right. Can you not be brave enough to sell private salt? This is called wealth and wealth. If you can sell all these two ships of salt, you can earn at least several thousand taels of silver. You will be rich for the rest of your life. You can’t earn that much!”
The man known as Zhang Laoliu responded: "Although the salt is produced in the salt farm of the Haihan people, since it is approved by the government, it is no longer considered private salt."
"How come it's not private salt? This Xiangshan salt and Shipu salt are 20% cheaper than the previous official salt. Isn't this what private salt is doing!" Others also disagreed with Zhang Laoliu's statement.
"If such cheap salt is transported to Yangzhou, doesn't it force the local salt merchants to cut the price of meat? In my opinion, it is impossible to say that these two ships will have to be driven back in despair after arriving in Yangzhou."
"Just being driven back is fine. Look at the last time Lai Baozi went north with the boat. It is said that he encountered a strongman in Changzhou Prefecture. Not only did he hurt the lives of the salt transport workers, but he also set fire to his luck. In the past, if Lai Baozi hadn’t run so fast, he might have been told over there.”
"The lives of migrant workers are not valuable. Salt merchants only care about whether the salt can be sold smoothly. They don't care about the lives of little people like you!"
Everyone was talking lively, and two people at the table next to them listened silently. It wasn't until the workers finished drinking tea and returned to the dock to continue working that one person from the table next to them got up and left. The man walked behind a nearby warehouse, whispered a few words to an old man who was sitting on a bamboo chair basking in the sun, and then returned to the tea shop. The old man got up and walked to the warehouse. After a while, a pigeon flew out from under the eaves of the warehouse, circled in the air twice and then flew to the north.
The old man looked up at the pigeons flying away, and whispered to himself: "How dare you go directly to Yangzhou... These people really want money rather than their lives! Forget it, don't make the matter bigger, these Ningbo salt merchants I won’t consciously restrain myself!”
Gong Shiqi didn't know that when he boarded the ship, someone had already sent out the news that this batch of salt was about to leave Ningbo for Yangzhou. However, he had studied the files of previous attacks and could roughly expect that the other party would definitely Only by monitoring the salt transport team's itinerary in advance can an ambush attack be carried out in the wild. Although he was traveling by sea, his opponent would not miss his presence and should have been prepared before the two ships arrived in Yangzhou.
The reason why we chose the sea route instead of the land route is firstly to consider the itinerary. Going from Ningbo to Yangzhou requires passing through Hangzhou Bay and the Yangtze River Estuary. Taking the land route requires at least two boat transfers, and the detour is quite long. The efficiency is far less than that of sea transportation. Second, Gong Shiqi's goal is to go straight to Huanglong and plan to go directly to the local area to see the other party's true reaction. Although this is very risky, it is also one of the best ways to force the other party to show up.
Disguising himself as a salt merchant to escort a batch of salt to Yangzhou, Gong Shiqi's action plan was bold and direct. Even Ji Yuanqing was a little surprised by the radicalness of this plan when he just listened to the explanation. But Ji Yuanqing did not object to Gong Shiqi's plan because it was too risky. On the contrary, he strongly agreed with it, thinking that this might be the only solution that could cut through the mess quickly without sending out the army.
"Whoever stands out will be dealt with until no one dares to stand up again."
Recalling what Gong Shiqi had said before when he explained the action plan to himself, Ji Yuanqing also felt that this guy who was said to be the top thug of the Security Department was quite domineering. This style of conduct was very close to the military's approach. If this guy had served in the army, he would have become famous by now.
"Brother Gong, please forgive me for being frank. You always have a faint murderous aura about you. You don't look like a businessman who makes money by being friendly. You need to restrain yourself a little."
Ji Yuanqing saw Gong Qiqi standing on the side of the ship with his hands behind his back, so he stepped forward and started chatting with him: "Be calm, otherwise you don't look like you are doing business, you look like you are going to collect debts!"
Gong Shiqi smiled and said: "Brother Ji is right, but I would like to ask for advice on why Brother Ji can pretend to be an ordinary person who is harmless to humans and animals even though he is in the same company as me and does similar things." It is indeed more appropriate for me to pretend to be a salt merchant than Brother Ji.”
Ji Yuanqing said: "Brother Gong, this question is a bit difficult to answer. I didn't do it deliberately. If I have to tell you the reason, it may be because I like to read. If Brother Gong is free, you can also try to read more. Some books may be able to slowly reconcile your temperament.”
Gong Shiqi said: "Then I have to say something shamelessly. In fact, I usually read a lot of books, but maybe the content of these books is not so self-cultivation."
Ji Yuanqing asked curiously: "What books does Brother Gong usually read?"
Gong Shiqi responded: "Military books and historical books."
"No wonder!" Ji Yuanqing said: "These books are like whetstones. Reading them often will only sharpen Brother Gong's sharp knife!"
(End of chapter)