Of course, in the face of these thousands of people who suddenly appeared, Governor Yang's current state of mind was just surprise, not fear.
The first reason is that he is protected by elite soldiers and there are thousands of Yangzhou Guards in the city to support him, which is enough to ensure his safety in the event of a civil uprising.
The second reason is that he, as the governor, has just taken office and has never been to Yangzhou City before. No matter how big the accident is now, what responsibility can he have?
According to the Ming Dynasty's official rules, he may be forced to deal with the aftermath, but he certainly cannot be blamed for causing the accident.
If it has no impact on personal safety or career interests, then what does Governor Yang have to worry about?
Maybe you can turn a bad thing into a good thing and get some benefits from the disposal process. Old bureaucrats know this.
However, Zheng Zhiyan, the salt merchant leader who accompanied the governor, was a little frightened. He even doubted his life for a moment. Whose territory is Yangzhou City?
If today's scene was secretly instigated and organized by Lin Tailai, should it be so exaggerated?
The mobilization of a few hundred people a few days ago was shocking enough, but today there was a scene involving thousands of people!
Where do these horse-riding people come from? Do you guys work for Lin Tailai for free?
So whose home field is Yangzhou City? Why could Lin Tailai, who came from out of town, be able to mobilize troops so casually?
Just when everyone was having different thoughts, among the thousands of people who blocked the city gate, someone suddenly shouted: "The Governor of Hecao is shielding the salt merchants and harming the Cao army!"
Everyone: "???"
Regardless of whether this slogan is correct or not, everyone can still understand the first half of it. After all, Governor Yang and Zheng Yanshang seem to be from the same family.
But what the heck is the second half of the sentence "cruelly destroying the Cao army"?
Governor Yang gave a few instructions in the sedan chair, and then the flag officer came out with his sword drawn and scolded the crowd of thousands: "Who do you dare to gather people here to cause chaos?"
Suddenly a stone was thrown out of nowhere and hit the flag official directly on the head.
The flag official was used to being arrogant outside. After receiving such a blow, he immediately flew into a rage. He pulled out his sword out of habit and cursed: "You are the one seeking death!"
Then the crowd started to stir, and some people took the lead and swarmed up, punching and kicking the flag official.
Several of the surrounding governor's pacesetters wanted to come to the rescue, but they were also beaten up.
Immediately, the scene became chaotic, and thousands of people started making trouble together. This was no joke.
The rest of the governor's pacesetters quickly retracted and tightly protected the governor's sedan chair to ensure that the governor would not be violated.
But the governor's guard of honor in front was unlucky. Official flags and the like were either stepped on or torn to pieces and thrown to the ground like garbage.
Fortunately, these gangsters seemed to have some sense of control. They beat up the flag officers and a few pacesetters, and then stopped after colliding with the governor's guard of honor.
Next, they did not attack the governor's sedan chair, nor did they harm innocent people or randomly kill people around them.
This damn sense of proportion gave the melon-eaters in the distance a very familiar feeling.
Last time at the crossroads near Xiaodongmen, when hundreds of Suzhou people beat up the Zheng family's thugs, they had the same sense of propriety!
Suddenly someone shouted: "Where is Zheng Salt Merchant!"
Zheng Zhiyan, the salt merchant leader in Yangzhou City, seemed to be frightened. He immediately abandoned his servants and squeezed into the governor's pacesetter.
Only under the protection of the governor's pacesetters can the scene feel a little safer.
Governor Yang's face in the sedan chair was livid. This conflict came out of nowhere! It was like a show of force from behind!
Ask yourself, he has done nothing, why are these rioters making trouble against him like this?
Who can gather thousands of people and still be able to use their hands like an arm?
Everything was like a fog, and Governor Yang, an old bureaucrat in his fifties, could not find Bei at all.
The helpless flag officer had been beaten and no one knew who he was, so the middle officer in charge of the governor's pacesetters had no choice but to step forward in person.
He fully learned the lesson from the flag officer and did not shout or threaten. He just asked: "Has any leader come forward to speak? Who are you and what are your demands?"
No one in the crowd responded, but the Suzhou military attache Zhao Dawu and Zhao Baihu who had just persuaded the governor to release the people came strolling over from behind again.
Then he said to the Chinese officer: "These people are Cao Army brothers who came from Suzhou. I am so angry that Yang Junmen favored the salt merchants and arrested the Cao Army brothers indiscriminately!"
The governor generally also manages military affairs, and it is common for military attachés to address the governor as a military officer.
The Chinese military officer looked confused. Even if it was a fabrication, could he be more professional?
Governor Yang had just gotten off the ship and hadn't even entered the city. Where did he get all this dirty information?
Zhao Baihu seemed to understand the Chinese officer's doubts and took the initiative to explain: "When the Cao army returns, they can transport goods along the way. You also know that, right?"
In today's Ming Dynasty, there is a special policy that allows water transport ships to load commodities when they return empty.
This policy is still very good. It has two benefits. The first is that it does not waste hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping capacity on the return trip and promotes the flow of goods between the north and the south.
The second is that the Cajun army responsible for water transportation is too hard-working. In this way, certain subsidies can be given to the Cao army without increasing the court's expenditure.
The Chinese officer nodded. Of course he knew this policy, but what does it have to do with today's scene?
Zhao Baihu said calmly: "The dozen Suzhou people who were arrested just now by the military gate are all Cao troops who transported grain to the Yangzhou warehouse."
The Chinese military officer couldn't understand this. After the Wu Tian family complained just now, but Governor Yang refused to accept it, more than a dozen suspicious people showed up, carrying two "witnesses", and then they were all arrested by Governor Yang.
.
Could it be that Zhao Baihu meant that these dozen people were members of the Cao Army of the Suzhou Guard?
But why did the Cao army from Suzhou get involved in Wu Tian's complaint?
Zhao Baihu really understands other people's doubts. Most people can't understand this, or the layout of a certain high official is a bit complicated and must be explained in detail.
So he once again took the initiative to explain in detail: "Those dozen Cao troops had previously had a cooperation agreement with the Wu family, and used air canals to transport the Wu family's salt back to Suzhou, and they worked together to make profits from it.
Unexpectedly, the Wu family was ambushed and annihilated by the Zheng family, and most of their members and goods were lost.
Now that the Wu family has been destroyed, the plan of a dozen Cao soldiers to join forces with the Wu family to make profits has naturally come to nothing.
Out of righteous indignation, they searched for two witnesses from the Zheng family and brought them to Yang Junmen today.
Unexpectedly, in order to favor the Zheng family, Yang Junmen arrested more than a dozen Cao soldiers indiscriminately."
Hearing this, the lieutenant general was shocked and his eyes widened involuntarily.
Although we still don’t know the whole story, we can intuitively feel that an accident is going to happen.
As usual, the Governor of Fengyang is also the Governor of Hecao. It can even be said that Hecao affairs are the most important errand of Governor Fengyang!
But a river governor, in order to favor salt merchants, arrested the Cao army who had completed the task of transporting grain. This already sounds like a "political scandal".
From a certain perspective, the Cao army worked hard in order to complete the errands of the Governor of Hecao.
It would be really ugly if the Governor of Hecao would help "outsiders" like salt merchants and arrest the Cao army without reason.
Not to mention that these Cao troops were from the Suzhou Guards in the south of the Yangtze River, not from the Yangzhou Guards or Fengyang Guards in the north of the Yangtze River. Their jurisdiction did not belong to the Governor of Fengyang and Hecao.
Zhao Baihu was still very calm, pointing at the thousands of people making trouble, as if he was talking about something completely unrelated to him:
"Most of these people are from our Suzhou Guard Cao Army, transporting the first batch of grain this year to the Yangzhou warehouse.
We Cajun brothers have always been very united when we are away from home. If one person is in trouble, there are thousands of Cajun brothers to help him!
Today, more than a dozen Caojun brothers from Suzhou Wei are suing the Zheng family, a salt merchant. Of course, others will come to support them.
Unexpectedly, in broad daylight, in order to protect illegal salt merchants, Yang Junmen directly ordered the arrest of a dozen Caojun brothers!
How could other Caojun brothers not be filled with righteous indignation when they witnessed this incident? How could they not be furious?
Therefore, it is perfectly normal for such a mutiny to occur when one cannot bear it any longer, so what is there to be surprised about?"
Lieutenant Commander: "."
He finally figured out what had happened.
What I originally saw was that in the first step, Wu Tian filed a lawsuit against the Zheng family, and Governor Yang carefully avoided the trap and did not accept the lawsuit. This is normal.
Then came the second step. More than a dozen people provided evidence of the Zheng family's crimes. In order to help the Zheng family, Governor Yang temporarily arrested these more than a dozen people in the name of investigation.
This is also normal. Both the complainant and the person providing evidence are small people and cannot make waves.
According to official experience, taking on such an inexplicable case is likely to be a trap and fall into other people's rhythm.
But I can use a different name, put myself first, and do things at my own pace, so that I can avoid pitfalls.
Then came the third step. Thousands of people gathered inexplicably to cause trouble. It was suspected that they were controlled and organized by mysterious figures from Suzhou.
However, this kind of trouble has no harmful effect on the governor at all. At most, it is superficially lively.
To be continued...