Chapter 2208

After He Huan expressed his views, both Wang Yu and Lu Kangtai fell into silence. In fact, it was not that they had not thought of the situation He Huan mentioned, but they were just subconsciously unwilling to think in this direction.

Before Haihan intervened in the situation in Yangzhou, Shanxi and Shaanxi salt merchants had already gained a clear upper hand in the battle between salt merchants. Defeating the Huizhou salt merchants was only a matter of means and time. If Dai Yingda and others were given a chance to negotiate peace at that time, perhaps the other party would

Will accept some harsh conditions proposed by them in order to protect themselves.

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. In this kind of situation

Under such circumstances, should the other party accept it as soon as they get along? 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 Huizhou salt merchants. Last night's battle has fully proved this. After confirming the strength of this backer, the Huizhou salt merchants

Naturally, the attitude will change, at least it will be much tougher than before. At this time, if you want to come to claim the captured personnel, you will obviously not get a good look.

He Huan was very pessimistic about this and did not even have any expectations. He believed that it was difficult for these people trapped in Daijiazhuang to regain their freedom. Perhaps these people had been sold overseas to the Haihan people as slaves.

This is the best ending.

Even if He Huan made the worst estimate, he still did not expect Dai Yingda's decision to be much more ruthless than he expected, and he never thought about releasing these people. The more than ten prisoners who survived the battle

They just survived until dawn. For Dai Yingda, these prisoners were just a tool to stabilize the morale of the army and consolidate the internal opinions of the seven surnames. They were by no means a condition for bargaining with the Shanshan Salt Merchant. No matter how Wang Yu and others calculated,

It's just wishful thinking.

In the end, it was Lu Kangtai who broke the silence: "Although the manpower was lost last night, fortunately the Musketeers all retreated safely. We still have the strength to fight and can look for opportunities to attack again."

He Huan nodded and said: "Even if they guard Daijiazhuang tightly, can every family of the seven surnames do it to this extent? As long as we clean up a few, 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 people with the seven major surnames have almost disappeared from Yangzhou in recent days. Now it seems that they should have been preparing for our raid in advance. If I

As expected, several other families with the seven surnames should have hid somewhere safe, such as Daijiazhuang, or somewhere outside Yangzhou Prefecture, to prevent us from defeating them one by one. Even if we knock on the door, it will probably be just

If it fails, at most it will burn down their house to vent their anger, but it will not touch their foundation."

Although the judgment made by Lu Kangtai at this time is a bit hindsight, it is still relatively close to the truth.

Wang Yu said: "They all hid and let Dai Yingda resist alone? This Dai Yingda is not someone who will suffer!"

Lu Kangtai said: "The people from Haihan moved directly to Daijiazhuang when they came to Yangzhou. They clearly wanted to sit in Daijiazhuang to carry out follow-up actions. It is estimated that Dai Yingda had already made arrangements for other companies with the seven major surnames, otherwise the people from Haihan would just

If you protect the Dai family, how can the other families be convinced?"

Wang Yu frowned and said: "In that case, Kangtai, you shouldn't have gone to Daijiazhuang to attack Daijiazhuang without knowing the situation before!"

Lu Kangtai stared at Wang Yu and responded coldly: "Haihan people have already entered Yangzhou Mansion, do you still have the patience to wait slowly? Should you wait for them to build Daijiazhuang into Daijiabao, or wait for them to help

The seven major surnames have trained a musketeer team? If we don't seize the time, our strength will wax and wane, which will be detrimental to us. I have told Brother Wang about this a long time ago. Could it be that Brother Wang has forgotten it?"

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

Lu Kangtai didn't think there was much problem with his decision. Under the situation at that time, he believed that taking the initiative was the best choice. But he didn't expect that the Haihan people had already settled in Daijiazhuang in just a few days.

Zhuangzi set up a strong defense line and deployed traps in advance waiting for his people to step into them.

When Lu Kangtai formulated the action plan, he had already assembled his men and prohibited them from going out. He did not announce the specific time of action until the day before the action. Therefore, he did not think that his own people leaked the news and caused the other party to prepare in advance.

Trap. According to this calculation, it is more likely that the other party has deployed relatively strict surveillance measures near the canal, and their whereabouts were exposed when we crossed the river at night, allowing Daijiazhuang time to take targeted measures.

Lu Kangtai did not want to explain his thoughts and reasoning in detail to Wang Yu and He Huan. He knew that it was difficult for others to put themselves in their shoes and understand his feelings. The more he explained, the more likely he would be regarded as a cover-up for failure. But he

I didn’t want to take the blame for the other party’s misunderstanding, so after a few retorts, I didn’t expand on it.

He Huan knew his temperament and did not want internal strife to occur at this time, so he immediately advised: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers. What's more, we only suffered a small setback last night and did not damage our roots. We can still choose another day to fight again."

...It’s just that you have to be more careful in your actions next time, and don’t make the same mistake again and fall into the opponent’s ambush!”

As He Huan spoke, he winked at Wang Yu and signaled him not to argue with Lu Kangtai. Wang Yu also knew that if his side wanted to use force to attack its opponents, it could not do without Lu Kangtai's command, even if he believed that Lu Kangtai's previous judgment

There is a problem, but it is true that no more suitable candidate can be found to replace him. If Lu Kangtai is angered and makes him give up on the next thing, then all the previous efforts will really be wasted.

Wang Yu held up his hands and apologized: "Kangtai, I was just anxious. What I said was indeed inappropriate. Don't forget it!"

Seeing this, Lu Kangtai could only respond: "It doesn't matter, I know that Brother Wang is also concerned about the chaos, and it is not aimed at Lu."

Seeing the two people making peace, He Huan quickly returned the topic to the main business: "Kangtai, now there are Haihan people stationed in Daijiazhuang, and the other 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 use the same method to attack Daijiazhuang again, as long as those Haihan people are still there, we will almost be defeated. According to me

According to reports from my subordinates, great improvements have been made inside Daijiazhuang. They have built a lot of fortifications for road closures in the village, so the Daijiazhuang floor plan we bought with money is probably not very useful.

"

"How about luring them out of the village for a fight?" Wang Yu asked tentatively.

Although this question was a little unprofessional, Lu Kangtai still answered patiently: "If the opponent is those Haihan people, I'm afraid our musketeers will not be able to defeat them on the frontal battlefield. Their weapon performance, combat experience, and command system are all inferior.

If someone is superior to us and is pulled out to fight, it will only be us who suffer."

"If we can't defeat Daijiazhuang and have no other targets, wouldn't we have no way to start?" He Huan shook his head and said, "But if we continue to delay, the situation will only become more and more difficult!"

Lu Kangtai said: "For the current plan, we can only try to find ways to have more connections in the yamen to see if we can get the yamen to come forward and investigate the source of the salt inventory of the Huizhou salt merchants. Even if we can't cut off their financial path, we still need to

Create more trouble for them."

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

Lu Kangtai means to ask the government to come forward to check the inventory of Huizhou salt merchants. Usually salt merchants will sell private salt, and the inventory must be much larger than the official salt obtained through salt introduction. If you want to check this, it will basically be a one-time check.

An accurate one. But this kind of routine can generally only deal with those small salt merchants who have a shallow foundation and no official connections. It is difficult for the old big salt merchants like Qida, who have been rooted in Yangzhou for generations, to be fooled by this kind of trick.

Shaken by the little tricks on the table. Even if the government sends people to investigate, the matter will definitely be settled by collecting a sum of money from the person involved.

In fact, this method is common in the battles between salt merchants, but He Huan knew that it would have no effect on the seven surnames, and it could not even be called trouble. As long as Dai Yingda and others came out to say hello to the government, things would be fine.

Big things will turn into small things, and small things will disappear.

Lu Kangtai said: "Of course this won't defeat them, but it may force Dai Yingda to leave his turtle shell. Then we will have a chance to take action!"

He Huan's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this, and he nodded repeatedly: "Wonderful! Let's see if that Dai Lao'er can still shrink into his shell!"

Lu Kangtai's real purpose is to create some trouble, which can only be solved by Dai Yingda personally visiting local officials. As long as Dai Yingda leaves Daijiazhuang and enters Yangzhou City, the opportunity will naturally arise. Regardless of assassination,

Be it kidnapping or kidnapping, as long as we can succeed, Daijiazhuang will no longer be a tough nut to crack.

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, right?"

Lu Kangtai said: "Is it possible to wait for a 100% chance before taking action? We may not have such an opportunity until the day you and I are buried! We will force Dai Yingda out first. Whether we can succeed will not be known until we take action.

!”

"Kangtai makes sense! It's better to create your own opportunities than to wait for opportunities. As long as Dai Yingda enters the city, it will provide us with an opportunity to take action. Whether the Haihan people will protect him will only be known when the time comes. I think it's a big deal.

Try!" He Huan clearly sided with Lu Kangtai this time, because he also knew that time waits for no one, and the opponent's advantage would only get bigger and bigger the longer it was delayed. It would be better to seize every possible opportunity and try his best. Maybe

There can still be a turning point.

Lu Kangtai received the support of He Huan, and his confidence increased a lot. He immediately said: "Then let's visit the adults separately as soon as possible and persuade them to temporarily seal the salt warehouses of the seven surnames! As long as the warehouses are sealed, Dai Yingda will naturally have to

Try to get into the city to get some joints. Then we will set up an ambush near the city gate and capture him in one fell swoop!"

Lu Kangtai's plan is easy to say, but not simple to implement. Although Shanxi salt merchants outperform their opponents in local official circles, Huizhou salt merchants are also big donors that officials cannot ignore, especially

Yamen, which are closely related to the salt industry, collect a huge amount of money from various salt merchants every year.

These officials are all smart people. They know very well that sitting on the wall can reap the benefits of both sides, so they will not easily fall to either side. At most, they will just give some favoritism to the Shanxi salt merchants who pay more tribute on a daily basis, but they rarely do so.

Deliberately trying to embarrass their competitors.

In addition to the Yangzhou government offices, the main government offices that can take charge of this matter are the Salt Transfer Department and the Salt Class Department, the official salt warehouse, the official salt field and other agencies, and the officials involved include the transfer officials, the salt inspection censor,

Ambassador of Salt Department, etc.

The more officials who can be persuaded, the greater the trouble they can create for the seven surnames. Of course, during this persuasion process, they will definitely have to give away a lot of money. However, the situation is urgent, and they can no longer care about the money.

The three of them agreed to share the expenses equally afterward, and then each went to visit 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 his opponent's plan at this time. He had too many things to worry about now. All the seven major surnames moved their families to Daijiazhuang, and with the addition of more than a hundred people from Jindun, there were hundreds more people in the village.

There are so many chores that need to be arranged and coordinated in people's lives.

Just having hundreds more people to eat every day is a big burden for Daijiazhuang. Not only do they have to send people out to purchase a large amount of food every day, but they also have to organize a group of cooks to cook three meals a day for them.

Okay. But some people are more particular and only eat food cooked by their own chefs, and they have to be provided with a separate kitchen and corresponding ingredients. Although the relevant expenses are paid by each family together, this organizational work can only be done by Dai Yingda, the landlord.

Finish.

There are so many trivial matters in life. Although Dai Yingda assigned most of the work to some tribesmen, there are still endless things that need to be consulted for his instructions and directed and coordinated by him. On the contrary, he does not have much time to take care of the present.

Now that we are getting down to business, we can only leave defense-related matters to Dai Yingfan to handle with full authority.

After Dai Yingfan witnessed the combat process of Jindun with his own eyes, he quickly became a fan of Haihan. He was full of curiosity about Jindun's organization and training methods. Whenever he had time, he would take the initiative to discuss related issues with Yuan Tao, hoping to learn from it.

Yuan Tao learned some practical tactics here.
Chapter completed!