The Qinhuai River in Nanjing is world-famous, and the Little Qinhuai River in Yangzhou is no less famous.
Compared with the powdery smell on both sides of the Qinhuai River, the only thing people can feel in Little Qinhuai in Yangzhou is the smell of money.
Here, there are mansions like clouds and gold and silver everywhere.
Even if you dig out a piece of granite for road paving, it is enough for ordinary people to live for a year.
In a magnificent courtyard with carved beams and painted pillars, a great drama is being performed.
Several actors on the stage were babbling and singing like orioles, which was intoxicating.
What is most eye-catching is that the headdresses of these actors are actually studded with gold and silver jewelry, and their costumes are also sewn with gold threads.
The suona played by the sitting group next to them was made of gold, and the hammers used to beat the drums were also made of gold.
Looking around, there is no place that is not dazzling and no place that is not amazing.
There were several middle-aged men sitting in groups in front of the stage. The table in front of them was filled with delicacies from both land and sea, which was not enough for them to enjoy, as if it was commonplace.
In Yangzhou, no one knows about these people.
"What is the boundary of Yangzhou? When the dragon comes, you have to coil up, and when the tiger comes, you have to lie down. Shandong can kill people and set fire to it, but if you want Yangzhou to be peaceful, you have to listen to us."
The one in the middle is domineering and domineering when he speaks.
Just by looking at the gemstone rings the size of bull's eyes on all ten of his fingers, you can tell that this man is so poor that all he has left is money.
But what he said was echoed by the people around him.
"The salt from Lianghuai, Nanzhili, Huguang, Henan, all places must pass through our hands. Without us, I don't know how many people will not be able to eat salt. I wonder when Li Meng'an will turn around?"
The person on the left is holding something in his hand, turning it over and over, playing with it casually. It is the invitation sent by Li Banghua.
After finishing speaking, he raised his hand casually, and the invitation flew through the air, and finally landed in the incense burner.
Soon, the hot candle flame burned the invitation.
"Let's just wait until Li Meng An comes to beg us. Otherwise, this Yangzhou City... there will be no time to calm down."
The invitation was sent, but no word was heard from it.
In the prefect's Yamen, Li Banghua, Wang Yun, and Qu Shi? The three of them were really furious.
Nowadays, Shandong has swept across all directions and is unrivaled by anyone. These senior leaders are even more powerful, and I can’t remember how long it has been since no one dared to deny them face.
This time, businessmen were invited to negotiate, but they were ignored.
"The commander-in-chief is right. Businessmen can achieve success, but they must be controlled. Otherwise, these bastards are an example. Meng Angong, give the order and send troops there, and they will obey."
Seeing Wang Yun shouting and killing, Li Banghua was frightened.
"This is not a battlefield, and we must not act recklessly. Otherwise, the whole body will be affected by one incident, and the overall situation will collapse. Our reputation in Shandong will be ruined, and there will be endless troubles."
Li Banghua disagreed, and Qu Shi? was also a little confused.
"Do you know why these businessmen are stubbornly resisting? Logically speaking, Shandong promotes commerce and treats businessmen well, so these people should be on our side."
None of the three people had an answer to this question.
Li Banghua racked his brains and finally came up with some solution.
"Since these businessmen want to show off their skills, we have to show our hands. If they don't open their doors for business, then we will do it. The truth is that we plan to mobilize materials from Shandong and specialize in operations to ensure market stability. At that time, we only need to bring prices down.
They will definitely obey."
Qu Shiji and Wang Yun understood that Li Banghua was planning to start an economic war with Yangzhou businessmen.
It is obvious that after this battle, whichever side wins will have complete control over Yangzhou.
Regarding Li Banghua's approach, Qu Shi? and Wang Yun both had different ideas.
Qu Shi stood on Li Banghua's side and believed that economic means must be used to deal with the economic crisis. Only in this way can we ensure the eventuality and at the same time demonstrate Shandong's capabilities.
Although Wang Yun disagreed, the minority obeyed the majority, so he could only retain his own opinions.
But after returning home, Wang Yun thought about it and quickly wrote a letter and gave it to his secretary.
"Send this letter to the commander-in-chief with great urgency immediately. Don't delay. Otherwise, there will be chaos in Yangzhou."
Zuo Mengeng received Wang Yun's message three days later.
Within these three days, Li Banghua had already begun to take action and ordered Shandong to prepare supplies to be shipped to Yangzhou.
Just because of the long distance, his order has not yet reached Shandong. It must have taken a long time to go back and forth, plus the preparation of supplies.
In just three days, prices in Yangzhou City were like a rocket, rising thirty times in a row.
Ordinary people are suffering terribly, and many families have run out of food.
On the canal outside the city, boats traveling from north to south blocked the waterway.
However, because the trackers could not be found, the people who originally managed the rivers were also missing, making it impossible to divert the rivers.
Yangzhou City has reached its most critical moment.
During this period, Li Banghua summoned Yangzhou businessmen several times for negotiation, but these arrogant and domineering Yangzhou businessmen all avoided seeing him.
They felt that they had already secured victory.
Three more days passed like this, and when the riots in the city continued and there were signs of getting out of control, Zuo Mengeng arrived.
"Meng Angong's response, if the political power is stable, will be foolproof. As the so-called making fuss within the rules is Meng Angong's specialty. But now that Yangzhou has been occupied for the first time, countless people are waiting to find out our confidence.
At this time, if you abandon the basics and pursue the weak, you will destroy the Great Wall."
As soon as he came up, Zuo Mengeng vetoed Li Banghua's approach.
He also made it very clear.
Li Banghua's approach would definitely be the best choice if it were during a period when the dynasty was stable.
Because when the dynasty is stable, all kinds of rules have been finalized, and everyone from top to bottom needs to act within the rules.
Li Banghua had been an official in the Ming Dynasty for many years and had long been accustomed to twisting and turning within the rules and regulations. Therefore, when he encountered a problem this time, he still thought of the same solution.
But Zuo Mengeng saw the essence at a glance.
Yangzhou is a newly occupied land, and the people are not yet attached to it. Moreover, the businessmen here are extremely powerful and have a huge amount of wealth in their hands.
To put it bluntly, although there were officials appointed by the imperial court in Yangzhou before, it was these wealthy businessmen who really had the final say here.
Now that Shandong has expelled the imperial system, there will inevitably be a fight over who will have the right to speak in Yangzhou in the future.
What the Yangzhou merchants did this time was to show their strength, and they wanted to force Shandong to commit a crime so that Yangzhou would still be their Yangzhou.
It wasn't that Li Banghua couldn't see their purpose clearly, but he just took a safer approach based on his experience.
But Zuo Menggeng was a magical weapon that could change the world. How could anyone challenge Shandong's authority?
He decided to use these bold Yangzhou businessmen to teach all the ambitious people in the world a good lesson.