I don't know how many people Han Qian left behind in the inn opposite. Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng stayed in the tea shop, not daring to act rashly, or even sending people out easily, for fear of causing unnecessary misunderstandings.
After dark, their followers who stayed in Jianyuan were worried about what might happen and came over. After enough manpower was available to guard the tea shop, Yin Peng personally led his people to surround the inn opposite, then rushed in to conduct a search.
After a lot of fighting, Yin Peng angrily led his men, grabbed a skinny man who was tied up and ran back to the tea shop, saying: "This guy is the only one in the inn opposite, and we fell into the trap of Han Qian, the traitor!
"
Yin Peng didn't even have the shame to say that they searched the room on the second floor of the inn. Except for a few iron-clustered arrows sticking out of the window, they didn't even find a crossbow. However, they were so frightened that they stayed in a tea shop across the street.
For a long time, I didn't dare to move.
Wang Wenqian's face was also ugly. There were more than ten guards around them, but they were frightened by one man's bluff. Moreover, this was the suburb of Yangzhou where he was in charge. There were nearly two thousand troops stationed three or four miles away. If the news came out, everyone would laugh.
Big teeth?
"Chishan Meeting Guo Xiao, I met the Governor." Although Guo Xiao was tied up with five flowers, he stood there without fear, tried his best to raise his hands and greeted Wang Wenqian.
Wang Wenqian was startled when he heard the new word "Chishan Hui", but he had no intention of interrogating Guo Xiao in the tea shop. He took Wang Jun and Yin Peng to Jianyuan first; Guo was also escorted by Guo Xiao, who was bound with five flowers.
Let's go up the mountain first and then talk about other things.
Wang Wenqian had long expected that King Xin Yang Yuanyan's more realistic choice would be to separatize Huaidong first. He had also secretly disposed of the Wang family's family property left in Runzhou before the Jinling Incident, and converted it into money and shipped it to Yangzhou.
Merger of land and houses.
In addition to Jianyuan, tens of thousands of acres of land to the west of Zhuyu Bay were also purchased by Wang Wenqian in recent years. It is now the place where the Wang family settled after they crossed the Yangtze River and moved north to Yangzhou.
The garrison was not alerted for the time being, but in addition to the dozens of guards in Jianyuan, Wang Wenqian also temporarily transferred more than a hundred soldiers from the farm at the foot of the mountain to guard Jianyuan tightly.
"Jun'er, tomorrow, you can live with me in the city."
Wang Wenqian shuddered when he thought that today in Zhuyu Bay, his wealth and life were under the control of Han Qian, and asked Wang Jun to move with him to the governor's mansion in the city tomorrow morning.
Wang Jun was a little reluctant, but since Yin Peng was present, she was too embarrassed to contradict her father directly.
Wang Jun remained silent, and Wang Wenqian took it as her consent and distracted her mind to think about other things.
Yin Peng asked: "Do you want to inform Zhao Zhen?"
Wang Wenqian was the governor of Yangzhou, and Yin Peng was the Sima of the state, in charge of local military and political affairs.
However, Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng could directly mobilize only more than 4,000 state camp soldiers and horses. In addition to the state camp soldiers and horses, the real elite garrison in Yangzhou was organized into the Yangzhou camp directly under the palace of King Huai and Fan.
military.
The total size of the Yangzhou camp army, navy and horse infantry was more than 25,000. Zhao Zhen went out to lead the camp to supervise and protect it, but he only accepted Wang Wenqian's control in name.
Now it is all in vain. Han Qian has probably crossed the Han River by boat. At this time, it is too late to send someone to ask Zhao Zhen to mobilize troops and horses to intercept Han Qian. However, in order to avoid King Xin's suspicion, Yin Peng felt that such a critical matter
No matter what, someone should be sent to speak to Zhao Zhen first.
Wang Wenqian nodded, walked behind the desk, and quickly wrote a short message, briefly describing Han Qian's sneaking into Yangzhou. The steward of Zhujianyuan immediately sent someone to the city with the letter to see Zhao Zhen.
At this time, people were sent to the city to wait for Zhao Zhen's reply, which would take at least an hour. Yin Peng sat in front of the case and hesitated for a while and said: "Then the Chishan meeting that Guo Xiao mentioned is probably really the leftist party convened by Han Qian. The old headquarters of the Guangde Army..."
Without Yin Peng's reminder, Wang Wenqian could naturally think of this. What he was worried about at this time was the changes involved in this matter and Han Qian's true intentions.
As an adviser who was deeply trusted by King Xin, he could not simply send someone to Chuzhou to report the matter. He still gave some specific and clear suggestions for King Xin's consideration.
In the past, when Han Qian returned to Xuzhou, he had very little involvement with the Guangde Mansion, but now he not only sneaked into Jianghuai and summoned the old troops of Zuo Guangde Army, but also secretly communicated with Huaidong. What advice can he give to His Highness King Xin in this regard?
After recapturing Chaozhou to avoid the Forbidden Army, the imperial court immediately took control of Huaidong. Did they choose to cooperate with Xuzhou?
The whole thing has changed like this. What is Han Qian's basic intention?
Is it this small corner of the southwest that can no longer satisfy Han Qian's ambition?
If so, Huaidong cooperated with Han Qian and allowed the Chishan Society to rely on Yangzhou to establish itself. Is this really not raising a tiger's risk?
Seeing that Wang Wenqian was silent for a long time, Yin Peng asked: "Are you worried that cooperating with Xuzhou will create trouble?"
Wang Wenqian nodded, thinking that Yin Peng still knew what he was thinking.
"There seems to be no way to refuse," Wang Jun said standing aside, "If Xuzhou really comes up with some new method of drying salt and proposes it to the court, Huaidong will really become very passive."
The Salt and Iron Envoy set up a salt field on the beach along the east coast of Huaihe and organized more than 40,000 households to boil the sea into salt. Every year, one million tons of sea salt was obtained and sold throughout the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Jingxiang and Hunan.
After deducting the huge expenses of the Salt and Iron Envoys and local salt officials, kitchen households, salt soldiers, etc., we can still get more than 600,000 yuan of salt profit every year, which is an important foundation for the maintenance of the Great Chu Empire.
Yang Yuanpu and King Xu Xin separatized Huaidong and made some concessions in many places, but they refused to give in on the issue of Huaidong Saltworks.
This shows the importance of Huaidong Salt Fields to Dachu.
In order to raise funds for repairing Jinling City and providing supplies for the imperial army, the Salt and Iron Envoy had raised the price of salt significantly twice in the past year, ensuring that the annual salt profit increased to one million yuan.
If Han Qian really has any new method that can make the Huaidong Salt Farm produce an additional 3.5 million sea salt every year, and save an additional 56,000 young men and women who can be organized into elite salt soldiers, Wang Wenqian can think about it with his toes, and he can also know that Yang Yuanpu and the people in the court will The public will definitely ensure that the new law can be implemented as soon as possible.
In addition to the increase in the wealth of Huaidong and the imperial court, once the Huaidong salt field was restructured by the new law, the system became more rigorous, and the team of salt soldiers who inspected illegal salt became larger and more elite. This will make Huaidong's situation even more embarrassing.
At that time, in addition to increasing corresponding military deployments on the eastern front, Huaidong will also have to pay a large amount of money and food to ensure the supply of salt within the territory because it is difficult to obtain sufficient private salt.
This has made Huaidong's finances even more stretched, making the people of Huaidong even more impoverished...
"Since the previous dynasty, no one has tried to make salt by brine, but there are many disadvantages. It is not as good as boiling the sea and frying the brine..." Yin Peng was still worried about Han Qian's empty city plan in Zhuyu Bay. I suspect that Han Qianqian's grandiose mention of the new method of drying salt is just another form of empty city strategy to lure them into the trap.
"Han Qian is not afraid of exposing such a big secret of the Chishan Society to us. It is hard to say that he is bluffing." Wang Wenqian frowned and said.
Since Han Qian has already begun to summon the old troops of Zuo Guangde Army, if they inform Yang Yuanpu at this time, Jinyun Division will find some clues. However, Han Qian is not afraid of this, which shows that he still has some self-reliance.
This matter is really going to break up. Han Qian's intention to re-assemble the old Zuo Guangde Army will naturally be severely damaged. However, Han Qian can still shrink back to Xuzhou to form his own unified country and slowly manage the southwestern Hunan region.
Life in Huaidong will become even more difficult.
"Then we really want to cooperate with Han Qian, tolerate the so-called Chishan Society, and gain a foothold on the side of Yangzhou's bed?" Yin Peng asked.
Wang Wenqian laid out the situation in Jianghuai and asked Wang Jun: "Jun'er, you said Han Qian's purpose in coming is that the old Zuo-Guangde Army will rely on Yangzhou to gain a foothold. Where do you think it will be?"
"Why does dad need to test me on such a simple question?" Wang Jun said.
"Civil unrest broke out in Sizhou, and the imperial court sent Chen Jingzhou out of Guangde Mansion to stabilize the situation there. However, before Chen Jingzhou, four to five hundred people from the old Zuo Guangde Army were unjustly imprisoned, and more than 100 people were tortured to death and mutilated in prison. In addition,
There are still nearly 3,000 households whose fields and homes have been invaded - presumably these people are the old troops that Han Qian summoned when he went to Xuzhou this time," Wang Wenqian said, "So many people, with their children and daughters, want to find a place.
It is not easy to gain a foothold, and the options for them to gain a foothold near Yangzhou are extremely limited. And even if Guo Xiao doesn't speak, I can easily find clues as long as I send people to sneak into the eastern part of Chuzhou at this time.
.”
"Wei Zhen is the new governor of Chuzhou, and he still hates the old Zuo-Guangde Army. Han Qian will not put the old Zuo-Guangde Army under his nose. Only Shiliang County is nominally affiliated with Chuzhou, but the situation is complicated. Huaidong
, An Ning Palace and the Forbidden Army are trying to avoid each other, and no one can control this area in a short time. If the old Zuo Guang German Army can obtain the necessary supplies from Huaidong, it will be able to gain a foothold there," Wang Jun said, "Even in the future
If the matter is exposed, the imperial court should not kill them all."
Wang Wenqian moved his eyes to the location of Shiliang County on the topographic map, looked at it for a while, nodded, and said: "Even if Han Qian wants to keep his father's reputation, he will not easily rebel. He has more options when choosing Shiliang County."
Your thoughts are in it," and then he said to Yin Peng, "Go to Chuzhou in person and explain the matter to His Highness. It's all up to His Highness to decide..."