Chapter 1997
When the Haihan Fleet blocked the Qiantang River and arrived at the city walls of Hangzhou, the battle was quite serious. Although the Zhejiang government tried every means to cover it up afterwards, calling it an "offensive and defensive drill agreed upon by both parties in advance," there were too many people who knew the inside story at the time. , this kind of wording can only have the effect of "bullying" with the blessing of money, but it cannot achieve "hide" and seal the discussion among the people. Even in Yangzhou, which is five hundred miles away from Hangzhou, well-informed salt merchants have heard the inside story of this matter.
Of course, the salt merchant surnamed Ma has been to the state capital in Zhejiang many times and knows more about what happened in Hangzhou City at that time. He also knows better that Haihan, a small country in the South China Sea, is far more than the rumors say. sharp. Nowadays, Ming Dynasty, which is seriously lacking in maritime armaments, really has no way to deal with the other party. It can only swallow and acquiesce in its activities near its own coastline.
He was even more aware of the Ningbo government's attitude toward the Haihan people on Zhoushan Island in the past two years. The salt produced locally in Ningbo itself is operated by the Haihan people behind the scenes, allowing a group of puppet salt merchants who work for Ningbo officials to run errands in front of the stage. If one day the Haihan people lose their patience and choose to use military means instead of economic means to resolve the battle in the salt industry, then some people in Yangzhou may be in great misfortune.
Dai Yingda said: "Actually, the situation Lao Ma mentioned is not necessarily a bad thing for us. If the Haihan people want to take action, then of course their first choice will be the people who have had trouble with them. And what we need to do is Let the Haihan people understand who their real enemy is when necessary."
"Then how can we know where the Haihan people's bottom line is?" the man in gray asked.
Dai Yingda shook his head and said: "This is a bit difficult... but if more people die, they will be one step closer to their bottom line. It just so happened that someone came to the door this time. I guess He Huan and his gang couldn't bear this tone. You should try to keep a close eye on them and collect as many personal and physical evidence as possible. If you want to testify against the Haihan people in the future, these evidences will come in handy!”
The "He Huan" mentioned by Dai Yingda is now the number one figure in the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt merchant camp. Not only does he have a rich family fortune, but he also has a very high prestige among the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt merchants, just like he himself in Huizhou. The status among salt merchants is the same.
The man in gray clothes sighed sincerely: "Is it Jiang who is too old, or Mr. Dai, you are so thoughtful! I will arrange manpower and keep an eye on the movements of Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants."
Dai Yingda added: "Don't just keep an eye on your opponent, this group of Ningbo salt merchants should also keep an eye on them! They know that there are tigers in the mountains, but they prefer to go to the tiger mountains. I don't think this group of people is a good person. Maybe they came to Yangzhou specially." Looking for trouble!”
The two camps of Yangzhou salt merchants can be said to be clearly divided, and the overt and covert fights have never stopped. Even the Huizhou merchant camp, which has an advantage on the surface, still does not dare to be careless at all. It is not only on guard against counterattacks that may be launched at any time by Shanxi salt merchants , and are also very concerned about their foreign counterparts in Ningbo. Old foxes like Dai Yingda are very smart in sensing the key points of the current situation, so they keep an eye on the Shanxi salt merchants to see how they will react, and then try to find the other party's loopholes to exploit.
The man in gray clothes took the order and left. Dai Yingda then told the middle-aged man with a goatee: "Ji Qing, you are familiar with the prefect's Yamen. Go and find out if there is any new news. If He Huan and his gang are going to commit suicide in broad daylight, If you use force, you must first say hello to the government, and there will eventually be some rumors.”
Goatee stood up and bowed, then left immediately. At this time, only Dai Yingda and the old man surnamed Ma were left sitting in the hall.
"The Yang family, the Xu family, and the Cui family haven't sent anyone to participate in the discussion until now. It's been too peaceful for too long, right?" Perhaps it was because of his close relationship with the old man surnamed Ma, Dai Yingda's tone at this time was no longer As calm as before.
The old man surnamed Ma responded: "The heads of the Cui family and the Xu family have gone to Yingtian Mansion and probably haven't come back yet. The family members probably don't know whether they should come to Daijiazhuang to discuss matters. But the Yang family doesn't know what's going on. Yang Chengye didn’t show up.”
The Anhui salt merchants in Yangzhou are represented by the seven surnames. When something big happens, the heads of each family will rush to Daijiazhuang as soon as possible to discuss the matter and make a decision on the current situation together. If the head of the family cannot be present for other reasons, the second and third person who can make decisions on behalf of the family will usually attend. But on today's occasion, including the host Dai family, only four of the seven families were present. It's no wonder that Dai Yingda was a little dissatisfied with this.
Dai Yingda snorted and said: "I heard that Yang Chengye has recently become very close to Fatty Lu across the river, and the two of them even listened to a play in the city together. What a good pastime!"
The old man surnamed Ma responded: "Is this happening? Has Yang Chengye forgotten that his eldest brother Yang Chengshi died at the hands of a Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchant?"
Dai Yingda half-closed his eyes, leaned back on the chair and replied: "After all, he was still young when his eldest brother had the accident. It is estimated that after decades, he has long forgotten these hatreds."
The old man surnamed Ma frowned and said: "Even so, as an Huizhou merchant, how could he get together with his enemies? Wouldn't this make the northern barbarians across the river a joke! No, I have to go to Yangjiazhuang later. Ask this guy what he thinks!”
Dai Yingda said: "Old Ma, what Yang Chengye wants to do is his choice. If he feels that the seven major surnames are not important to the Yang family, then his Yang family is equally unimportant to our seven major surnames. Recently, the Ren family and the Su family The Yang family and the Zhu family are also very active. If the Yang family doesn’t want to stay with us, then we can support another family to take our place.”
The old man surnamed Ma has known Dai Yingda for many years. When he heard what he said, he knew that he had just deliberately asked the reason for the absence of these three families, and by the way, he took out the Yang family and scolded them. And it is obvious that Dai Yingda's dissatisfaction with Yang Chengye has accumulated to a certain extent, and he has the idea of supporting other Huizhou merchant families to replace him. However, from his standpoint, it was impossible to sit back and watch the Yang family collapse like this.
"Old Dai, you also know that I, Ma Zhengping, and Yang Chengye's father are brothers and sisters, and have always regarded Yang Chengye as my own son and nephew, so why don't you give me face and ask me to talk to Yang Chengye again and give this bastard a hard time to stop him? Go wrong all the way!”
After Ma Zhengping finished speaking, he stood up and bowed to Dai Yingda. Seeing that the other party did not respond immediately, he took the initiative and said, "If you don't say anything, I will take it as your consent." Dai Yingda then said: "Old Ma, you have to take care of me. Of course, I can't object to such a sentimental thing as the family of a deceased good brother, but Yang Chengye is obviously a loser, so he was roped in by Fatty Lu. The two batches of salt that were shipped from Hai'an Town last month were inexplicably found halfway. Just lost it, so it happened that these two batches of salt were transported by Yang Chengye locally. He didn't give any explanation after he returned to Yangzhou. Two days later, Fatty Lu invited him to dinner and a show in the city. What do you think? Are there too many coincidences? Of course, if you want to ask me for evidence, then I really have no evidence to prove that he sold these two batches of goods, but do I need to prove this to anyone? I just need someone to take responsibility!”
Dai Yingda's voice got louder and louder, and the more he spoke, the angrier he became. It was hard to imagine that this was the same person as the calm and confident old man in front of everyone just now, but Ma Zhengping stood in front of him and didn't answer even a word. He knew that Dai Yingda was right. Regardless of whether Yang Chengye betrayed the collective interests or not, he would have to bear the corresponding responsibility for it. What's more, he was still highly suspected of colluding with Shanxi salt merchants.
The Huizhou merchants were able to gain a foothold in Yangzhou not only because they were good at forming groups and opening up connections with the government, but it was also very important to formulate and abide by the rules within the group. Those who did not abide by the rules would inevitably be subject to internal sanctions by the group, and even It is removed from the group.
Dai Yingda seemed to be almost angry, and his tone softened slightly: "It's not impossible for you to help Yang Chengye, but he has to show his performance first and make up for his mistakes. Only then can I convince others to correct the mistakes he made before. Open up.”
Ma Zhengping responded: "Lao Dai, what do you want him to do according to your wishes?"
Dai Yingda said: "Isn't he on good terms with Fatty Lu? Then think of a way to make Fatty Lu suffer some losses, such as giving his business in Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture to us... or giving it to Yang Chengye. ”
Ma Zhengping said: "This... how is this possible? If you want him to give up the business, you will probably have to put a knife to his neck!"
"Then find a way to put a knife to his neck!" Dai Yingda said angrily: "If Yang Chengye can't prove that he is a useful person to us and can't prove his loyalty to our collective, then tell me why the seven surnames Do you want to leave a place for him? ”
"But this matter... is really difficult to handle!" Ma Zhengping frowned and said, "That Fatty Lu has only been active in a limited number of places across the river. It is not easy to find the right time to deal with him. And if Lu is touched, Fatty may arouse the anger of He Huan's group and start a fight with us, and then the situation will be difficult to control! ”
"You are right, so we must try to make full use of the current situation." Dai Yingda said slowly: "He Huan and the others will definitely take action against the Ningbo Salt Merchant and ask Yang Chengye to take Fatty Lu to the Ningbo Salt Merchant's two ships as much as possible. Then we took the opportunity to deal with Fatty Lu, and then passed the blame to the Ningbo Salt Merchant, letting He Huan and the others have a good time with the Ningbo Salt Merchant! "
"Will this work?" Although Ma Zhengping thinks that Dai Yingda's plan has certain feasibility, it seems that there are too many uncertain factors and it is easy to overturn during the implementation process: "Aren't you worried that Yang Chengye is colluding with Fatty Lu? What if..."
"Of course we can't bet all our money on Yang Chengye." Dai Yingda explained: "If he doesn't follow our plan and chooses to collude with outsiders, then we might as well provide more information to the Ningbo salt merchants and let them know that it is Who has been secretly stumbling upon them? Is Fatty Lu’s musketeers great? Then let him have a showdown with the Haihan people’s musketeers. I believe the Haihan people will be very happy when they know this news. Happy.”
Ma Zhengping was secretly frightened when he heard this, and he hurriedly made a big circle with Dai Yingda, even planning to force Yang Chengye, one of the seven surnames, into a desperate situation. The ultimate goal was to deal with the mysterious musketeers team under Fatty Lu.
But Ma Zhengping can also understand why Dai Yingda is so persistent about this. Since the emergence of the musketeers, it has become a major concern for Huizhou salt merchants. These prominent figures like the seven surnames rarely appear in public nowadays. The reason One of them is that they are a little afraid of those musketeers, worried that they will use muskets to assassinate them from a distance.
Although the seven surnames also have their own private armed forces, and even have a small number of muskets and Lumi muskets that were eliminated from the Ming army, the power of the muskets and the combat level of the musketeers are all comparable to Fatty Lu's musketeers. Significant difference. In order to protect themselves, they once had no choice but to exert pressure on the other party through the Yangzhou government, forcing them not to use these prohibited special weapons in Yangzhou.
Of course, this is only a temporary solution rather than a permanent solution, so Huizhou salt merchants have been trying to eliminate this major problem. But this matter is not easy. Fatty Lu's musketry team is quite powerful and difficult to match with their own armed forces. The only feasible way is to find a way to use external forces to eradicate this thorn in the side. But if he had rashly tipped off the Haihan people earlier, it would not only be the culprit who would cause the Haihan Army to be unlucky in the future, but maybe even their Huizhou salt merchants would be implicated.
Dai Yingda's idea was to take this opportunity to solve the problems of the Musketeers, Yang Chengye, and the ownership of the salt markets in Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture.
If Yang Chengye's position remains unchanged and he is willing to cooperate with his arrangements, then he can take the opportunity to get rid of Fatty Lu from the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt merchant camp, conveniently blame it on the Ningbo salt merchants, and then seize the salt markets in the two places that were originally controlled by Fatty Lu as soon as possible. , this is absolutely an ideal situation for Huizhou salt merchants. Fatty Lu's powerful musketeers team will definitely be divided up by his accomplices as soon as possible and will not pose much of a threat to our side for the time being.
And if Yang Chengye rebels and reports his own arrangements to Fatty Lu, then Dai Yingda will tell the Ningbo salt merchants about the inside story of Fatty Lu's musketeers attacking the Ningbo salt transport team. The Haihan people will definitely not sit idly by and watch. Sending troops to Yangzhou to get rid of Fatty Lu was also the right thing to do. When the time comes, we will also take care of Yang Chengye and clean up our own camp. As for whether we can take advantage of the situation to win the markets of Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, that probably depends on the changes in the situation. We cannot take the initiative like in the first situation.
If Haihan really sends troops to resolve this matter, it may change the current situation of the Yangzhou salt market and allow Ningbo salt merchants to enter here to replace the Shanxi salt merchants. Dai Yingda is not sure whether it will lead to a wolf entering the house. . However, he believes that Ningbo salt merchants have an extremely strong desire to enter the Jiangsu market. In the long run, it is estimated that they cannot be stopped by blocking, so they can only settle for the second best and try to squeeze out current competitors first to avoid their own losses in the future. The market has been compressed too much.
(End of chapter)