"I asked Li Run in my humble position. He is the head of a wealthy family in Yangzhou and lives in Jiangyang County. His son is Wu Dingli, the Minister of Rites of the Luoyang court."
"No wonder!"
Guo Song snorted coldly and said: "Since he wants to take the risk of collaborating with the enemy, let's help him by sending an army to ransack his house and kill Wu Duo and his brothers, nephews for collaborating with the enemy!"
Guo Song paused for a moment and then said: "There is also a dwarf who reported the news, catch him and execute him together!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Li Bing left in a hurry, and Guo Song then went down to the city and came to Xue Lun's military office and palace. Like Liu Pi's palace in Jiangling, Xue Lun's military office also had more than a dozen large warehouses, which stored a large amount of money, grain and materials.
Wang You hurried over with two officials. One was Li Run, who had just been promoted to Jiangdu County Magistrate, and the other was Wang Guinian, the governor of Yangzhou.
Wang Guinian was originally the governor of Chuzhou. He was quite talented. Liu Sigu appreciated him and recommended him to be the governor of Yangzhou. Although he served Zhu Si, his official reputation was very good and he was very popular among the people. Before that, more than 10,000 people in Jiangdu were arrested.
Qingzhuang was originally going to be sent to be exposed to salt by Xue Lun, but in the end he fought hard for it and Xue Lun agreed to let him go.
Therefore, in Guo Song's instructions to Li Bing and Wang You, the governor Wang Guinian was also an official who was to remain in office.
Wang You introduced Li Run and Wang Guinian to Guo Song, and they quickly stepped forward to salute.
Guo Song asked them to sit down and asked: "What I am most concerned about is how to restore business in Yangzhou. Do you two have any ideas?"
Wang Guinian sighed and said: "Zhu Si squeezed Yangzhou too hard and robbed at least several million yuan of wealth. Wei Chen believes that restoring Yangzhou's commercial prosperity is not impossible, but it will take a long time, and there is also a problem of confidence.
.”
Guo Song nodded, "Tell me more about it!"
Wang Guinian bowed slightly and said: "Businessmen first need capital to do business. In recent years, Zhu Si has robbed a huge amount of wealth. Most businessmen told me that they don't even have the capital to purchase goods, and they don't know what to do in the future."
"
Guo Song pondered for a while and said: "Capital is not a problem. The court can lend money to Yangzhou businessmen at low interest rates. I think the more important thing is confidence!"
"Your Highness is right. Most of the businessmen have left Yangzhou. Some have gone to Chang'an and some to Runzhou. Whether they are willing to come back is a big problem. Then there is safety. Will Yangzhou ever return?"
Everyone is worried about encountering war, so I said that it will take a long time and confidence will be built up slowly."
Guo Song took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and then said to the two of them: "It will take a long time to rebuild confidence, but as a government, you can take the initiative to fight for the interests of businessmen, create a good environment for business, and
All the big businessmen are advised to come back and at least open a branch in Yangzhou. As long as you do these things well, I think the time it takes to revive business can be greatly shortened."
Li Run added from the side: "Your Highness, the benefit that businessmen need most is probably low taxes, and this requires the consent of the court!"
Guo Song said calmly: "After we regained Chengdu, we exempted Chengdu from commercial taxes for ten years. Since Chengdu has set a precedent, I think Yangzhou can also enjoy the same. You can write to the Political Affairs Hall and explain the specific difficulties to the court.
, I believe that the Political Affairs Hall will approve your tax exemption application."
Wang Guinian and Li Run were overjoyed. Wang Guinian hurriedly said: "If Yangzhou can be exempted from commercial taxes for ten years, it will be very attractive to merchants. The government can also exempt shop rents, and the court is willing to lend money to merchants for capital, and there is no need for ten years."
It's been 10 years, and I believe that I can regain my strength in five years at most."
Guo Song added: "Commercial tax can be exempted, but it does not include taxes on imported goods from overseas. Such overseas goods are taxed, whether in Guanzhong or Hekou, Mingzhou and Yangzhou, or even Sogdian merchants shipping goods from the west.
It’s all the same.”
"It doesn't matter. The profit from sea goods is too great, so I don't care about the tax."
At this time, a soldier ran over, knelt down on one knee in the hall and reported, "Your Highness, there is something urgent!"
Guo Song nodded and said to Wang Guinian and Li Run: "The army will withdraw from the city at noon. You should appease the people, let all the shops open for business, and tell them that the war in Yangzhou is over!"
The two of them said goodbye and left. Guo Song then asked the soldiers: "What's the emergency?"
"Your Highness, General Luo Ziyu just sent people back to report that the scouts who rushed to the Huaihe River discovered a warship of unknown origin on the Huaihe River. General Luo Ziyu implores Your Highness to give instructions!"
Guo Song frowned, turned around and asked Wang You next to him, "What does the military advisor think?"
"Your Highness, this must be Li Na's navy coming."
"Why does Li Na have a navy army?" Guo Song asked in confusion.
"As far as I know, after Zhu Si destroyed the Huaixi Army, he only got some of the warships on the Yangtze River. Li Na got hundreds of warships on the Huaihe River."
Guo Song snorted coldly and said: "Since Li Na has sent a big gift to your door, how can I not accept it?"
Guo Song immediately issued an order, ordering Luo Ziyu to lead the navy to go north with all his strength to encircle and destroy the warships on the Huaihe River.
.........
This time the Jin army crossed the river to attack Jiangdu. It was not as simple as capturing Yangzhou. The Jin army wanted to capture the five states in Huainan, including Chu, Yang, Hao, Tu, He and other states. In addition, they also had to prepare for the next step of capturing Huaixi, so
Blocking the Huaihe River became an important means to prevent Zhu Si's reinforcements from going south.
This was also the first operation after the Runzhou Navy and the Jiangling Navy merged to form the Jiang Navy. They were also divided into two groups. Luo Ziyu led 600 warships north to blockade the Huaihe River, while Vice Admiral Zhang Kecheng led more than 300 warships.
Cruise up the Yangtze River and protect the safety of Jiangnan.
After receiving Guo Song's order, Luo Ziyu immediately led the fleet northward. Among the six hundred warships, there were 200 thousand-stone warships, the others were small and medium-sized warships of three to five hundred stone, and there were dozens of hundred-stone warships.
The sentry ships on the left and right totaled 10,000 sailors.
However, the navy sent by Li Na only had more than 200 warships, only 50 thousand-stone warships, and 5,000 soldiers, led by the navy general Cao Guang.
Cao Guangnian was about forty years old and a native of Xuzhou. He was originally one of the five generals under Li Na. Because he grew up by the river and had excellent water skills, he was appointed commander of the navy by Li Na. In fact, Cao Guangnian was not the commander of the navy.
He did not understand water warfare and had no actual combat experience. This time Li Na ordered him to lead his army to blockade the Huaihe River. Cao Guang also bravely led his soldiers and warships to the Huaihe River.
Cao Guang did not go west for the time being. He still had to support his lord's army going south. He also stationed his fleet in Shanyang County.
That afternoon, the fleet was sailing on the Huaihe River in Shanyang County. Cao Guang stood on the bow of the boat, looking at the canal in the distance on the south bank. His brows were furrowed, and his slightly slender face was filled with sadness.
His sadness came from the decision of his lord Li Na. He couldn't figure out why his lord would think of going south to capture Huainan?
Of course, Cao Guang knew Li Na's intentions. As early as the time of Li Na's father Li Zhengji, he had been eyeing Yangzhou in Huainan for many years. It was Guo and Song's army that captured Jiangnan that made Li Na determined to send troops to Yangzhou to get ahead of Guo and Song.
Capture Yangzhou.
But what Cao Guang didn't understand was that even if his lord Li Na captured Yangzhou, would Guo Song want to give Yangzhou over?
Just as he was thinking about it, Cao Guang suddenly saw a small boat speeding towards his fleet. He recognized it at a glance as the small boat he sent to Chuzhou to find out the news, but this sentinel boat just left yesterday.
, why did you come back today?
The sentry ship came quickly, and a soldier on the sentry ship loudly reported: "General, we have discovered a fleet of warships in the south, heading towards the Huaihe River in a mighty manner. It is less than forty miles away from here."
Cao Guang was immediately taken aback and asked anxiously: "Where is the fleet?"
"There is no flag on the ship, so I can't tell for the time being. There are about five to six hundred warships, and there are many Qianshi warships!"
"so much?"
Cao Guang became nervous and asked urgently: "What other news is there?"
"temporarily unavailable."
"Go and find out more!"
"Follow the order!"
The sentinel ship turned around and walked away. Cao Guang hurriedly found the deputy general Zheng Wende. Zheng Wende was originally a navy captain under Li Xilie and a native of Haozhou. He followed the fleet to Ziqing. Now he is the only remaining member of the old fleet.
He became a senior general and was promoted to deputy commander of the navy by Li Na to assist Cao Guang.
After listening to Cao Guang's narration, Zheng Wende thought for a while and said: "There are two possibilities. One is that Zhu Si's fleet went north, and the sentinel ship did not see it clearly. There were warships in front and cargo ships behind, transporting salt taxes or other property.
Another possibility is Guo Song's warship. If it is Guo Song's warship, then Jiangdu may be in danger."
"Then what should we do?" Cao Guang asked anxiously.
Zheng Wende pondered for a while and said: "We can go to Baishuitang to take shelter. If it is Zhu Si's fleet, they will go directly north. If it is Guo Song's fleet, wait for them to go west, and then we will return to Haizhou and wait.
The Lord’s order.”
Cao Guang thought about it and it made sense. The opponent's momentum was too strong. He should avoid the attack first. He immediately ordered: "The fleet will go to Baishuitang!"
The fleet changed direction and sailed toward the Baishuitang dozens of miles away.