"So what can we do? They have the sword and weapons. Can't we dare to fight against them?" Someone immediately retorted disapprovingly, "That's a way to die!"

"Hmph, if you really want to call you to do this, you won't agree!" The short and fat man with a white face and no beard curled disdainfully, "But everyone should know that if we don't show our determination and strength, Xuzhou would not take our opinions seriously at all. Yan Xu and Yan Xu would have long been no longer on our Huaizuo side. They were not from our side. It would be better to rely on ourselves to expect them to speak for us!"

"But on ourselves, what can we do?" The hall yelled, "We have expressed to Xuzhou that we are willing to surrender and be loyal to the prince of Pengcheng, but the government has never had a clear attitude. If we just drag it on, we can't think of it."

"They may still want to solve the matter between Li and Wu before they can negotiate with us. So now we must unify our opinions and show them first that our Yangzhou gentry is united and cannot be allowed to take control. Otherwise, they will make a random offer, and we will only have to obey orders?" The white-faced and beardless gentleman said angrily.

"Brother Fang, please come up with a strategy. Everyone is waiting for you to make an idea." The people finally slowly unify their opinions, "I want to unify our own spirits while they are still talking with Li Wu, otherwise they will be defeated by them in the future."

"Brother Ziyuan, what about your opinion?" Seeing that the short and fat man with white face and no beard finally calmed down the gang of people, he slowly said to the man who had been holding a teacup and just siping tea.

"I have no objection, everyone can do it."

The elderly thin man called Zi Yuan called out a dark brown satin robe. The huge patches on his face looked particularly dark, making people feel a little sarcastic at first glance. At least everyone's eyes became a little more awe, but some people were gloating in their hearts.

Tang Tang Ziyuan, the head of the Tang family in Yangzhou, is also the most famous salt merchant in Yangzhou. He also has several quality warehouses and cabinet shops. He also has a fleet of merchants with Dashi Maritime Merchants and a shared sea merchant fleet going abroad. He is also among the top three among the entire Yangzhou gentry and business group.

Slightly different from the gentry in other places, the gentry and wealthy families in Yangzhou are not all landlords who rely on land rent to earn. Of course, these people also have a large amount of land outside Yangzhou City or Hailing, Liuhe and Gaoyou. However, their maximum annual income does not come from land, but their own business income.

For example, Xu Ling and Xu Daofang, who was called Brother Daofang, were famous landlords in Liuhe. However, what really made the Xu family develop was the salt industry that Xu family was engaged in. He almost underwritten the entire sea salt from Yancheng, Haizhou, and became a big salt merchant second only to Tang Tang. He also had great business dealings with Tanyue. He almost all the oils in Xuanzhou, Tanzhou and Yuezhou were represented in Yangzhou.

"Brother Ziyuan, you are the leader of our Yangzhou gentry. We are all following your leader. The situation is so bad now, you have to stand up and say something for us, right?" The gentry and merchants started to clamor again.

"Yes, Brother Ziyuan, even Lord Yan Xuyan visited you first as soon as he arrived in Yangzhou. Lord Yan dared not disobey your words. This also represents the voice of our Yangzhou gentry."

After a few refusals, Xu Ling took the teacup leisurely and said slowly: "Actually, I thought everyone should not be too anxious. The prince still has a lot of things to do in the north, such as the situation in the Central Plains is not calm, the Shatuo people are preparing for war, and Xuzhou is also under great pressure. Also, I heard that the situation in Heshuo in the north is not calm, and the prince is also very worried. Therefore, the prince wants to calm the people in the north and resist the Hu people. He will definitely continue to recruit soldiers and horses. What is the most necessary to recruit soldiers and horses?"

"Silver, food,..."

"Weapons, iron materials, war horses,..."

"Yes, everyone is right. We have food in Yangzhou, silver and money, we also have weapons, warships, we also produce cloth, salt and oil in Yangzhou. We also have cloth, salt and oil. We have these things in our hands, or we gather them together...." Xu Ling might feel that his words were a bit too explicit, so he quickly took them back, "I mean, the prince and Lord Yan will definitely think of us, otherwise Lord Yan would not come to find someone. When the war broke out, the money would flow like water when the prince came from?"

A group of gentry and merchants looked at each other. Isn’t this still going back to the old topic? Or is it going to fall on the people here?

"We should understand one thing, we are not Yangwu, nor Liwu anymore. The prince is not our Yangzhou, nor is it the prince of our Huainan Road. He is the prince of Pengcheng, and he also manages Henan Road and more than a dozen prefectures and counties. I believe everyone has heard of the situation of these prefectures and counties. People are not living in poverty. Otherwise, there will be so many local disaster victims going south every year?" Xu Ling said coldly.

"The north is going to fight, so don't have money, grain, cloth? The north is broken, where does it come from? Everyone is wondering if it is the place where Shouzhou and Luzhou will be taken out. But everyone has never thought that the prince will attack Xuzhou and conquer Yanyun and Pinglu, which is supported by Shouzhou and Luzhou. Now the prince has firmly settled in the north. In terms of merit, Shoulu is indispensable. But in the next step, the prince will fight again. Do you think the prince will still ask Shoulu to pay for the money and grain? Now there is a replacement Chu Yang, and we are a new affiliation. Yu County has no contribution. Do you think it's time for us to pay for the money and grain?"

"What does Brother Fang mean?"

"We are inevitable to pay for money and grain, but we cannot pay money and grain without any name or share, there is no strategy, and Xuzhou should also give us an explanation, or a statement is made. We cannot use this as a prescribed example, and there is also,..."

"Brother Daofang, the government is afraid it won't be so easy to meet with,..." said a white-haired old man.

"It depends on whether we can unite our hearts." Xu Ling said lightly, "Our Yangzhou gentry and noble family are not simple gentry, but also a group with huge business. There is no reason to be controlled casually. Of course, we are not going to fight against anyone. For the Prince of Pengcheng, our Yangzhou gentry firmly supports it, but Xuzhou also needs to consider the actual situation in our Yangzhou."

The crowd looked at each other. These gentry and merchants were veterans who had been rolling in the mall for many years, so they could naturally hear the hidden meaning in Xu Ling's words.

There are great risks to bargaining with Xuzhou, but if you are at mercy, it is difficult to accept. If there is a person who stands out to carry the flag, they can follow behind and wave the flag and shout, and they can retreat immediately when the situation is wrong.

"Brother Daofang, you have a strategy, what can we do?" Someone finally asked a substantive question.

"We have so many people, and we are in charge of the clothing, housing and transportation in Yangzhou City. Even if Xuzhou has an army to support the army, we believe that Xuzhou will not want to see a Yangzhou with a depressed industry, nor will it tolerate a chaotic Yangzhou. In fact, we are willing to cooperate well with Xuzhou to serve the princes, but we must ask Xuzhou to respect the requirements of our Yangzhou gentry."

As soon as Xu Ling said this, he also attracted the approval of a large group of gentry and merchants, but some merchants and gentry remained silent.

This statement has a faint smell of crossing the line. Of course, they are big merchants, gentry and prominent families, can bargain, but if ordinary merchants are mixed up, they may be squeezed into powder at any time.

***************

"Tang Tang and Xu Ling?" Yan Xu laughed playfully, "These guys who don't know how to live or die are really tough, but they seem to be too high in their weight. The Yangzhou gentry and merchant group is so large that they think they can represent everyone?"

"Brother, you must be careful. If they really stop the city when the prince comes to Yangzhou, the prince will definitely have opinions about the brother." Yan Xu was a little anxious and said hurriedly: "There are many followers now, and the momentum is very strong."

"Haha, second brother, you're thinking too much. The prince came to Yangzhou just for the scene. Now the prince doesn't have much intention in Yangzhou. There are, and they are not these gentry and merchants." Yan Xu smiled slightly, "Before Brother Yu came, the prince clearly stated that the gentry in Yangzhou had little meaning to him. Let Brother Yu let go of his actions, but the merchant group should make good use of it."

"Gentlemen and merchants?" Yan Xu was a little confused, "What is the meaning here?"

"It's very simple. The prince does not value gentry, but he is somewhat interested in the merchants in Yangzhou, believing that simple Yangzhou merchants can use it for us." Yan Xu's words were also full of indescribable complex emotions. "The gentry and merchant groups in Yangzhou are too tightly intertwined, especially those salt merchants and money merchants, which are basically controlled by the gentry clans, which is not in the interests of Xuzhou, so..."

Yan Xu was shocked, "The prince wants to treat these people..."

"It may not be necessary, it depends on whether they know the current affairs." Yan Xu said leisurely: "On the contrary, the silk merchants and weavers, the ship owners and the sea merchants are very interested. I can feel that the prince has no malicious intentions towards them, so we will act according to the prince's intention in the next step."

Yan Xu was silent and said for a while: "Why are there such a difference between the prince? Is there any explanation?"
Chapter completed!