Chapter 2000

Lu Kangtai watched the man's back disappear at the top of the stairs. He couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, as if he was proud that he had successfully persuaded the other party. He knew that although the other party kept saying to be careful, he would not let him go with the musketeers. To solve the current problem, I still hope that I can open up a situation in Yangzhou and organize a secret force with real combat effectiveness. The current musketeer team, which only has a few dozen people, is obviously far from meeting the opponent's expectations. The expansion is just It's just a matter of timing, and now seems to be a good opportunity.

Lu Kangtai and the Shanshan salt merchants behind him needed a powerful armed force to attack their opponents and safeguard their own interests, while the other party hoped to find a powerful ally in the eastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty to provide assistance in the future. The cooperation between the two parties can be said to be an instant hit. One party provided money and personnel, and the other party provided weapons, ammunition and military training, and established a secret musketeer team.

Money makes it easy to do things. Although this secret musketeer team serving the salt merchants of Shanxi and Shaanxi has not been established for a long time, its training and equipment level even surpasses the firearms battalion of the Yangzhou garrison. After all, the Ming army has limited military expenditures, and most of them are They were involved in the war in the north and the Central Plains. Although areas like Jiangsu and Zhejiang were rich, military expenditures were still severely cut. Two training sessions per month were considered good. As for live-fire training, they may not be available once a year.

As for the musketeers under Lu Kangtai, it can be said that they are completely fed by live ammunition. When real money and silver are thrown at it, the training effect is naturally extraordinary. It has formed combat effectiveness in a short period of time and accumulated it through several attacks. It has gained a certain amount of practical experience. However, due to the limited number of personnel and the need to keep its existence secret at this stage, the tasks that this musketeer team can perform are actually not many. Only when it reaches a certain scale can it gradually form a real deterrent.

Whether it is the Shanshan salt merchants represented by Lu Kangtai or the mysterious partners who provide them with equipment and training, they all have the same attitude towards the goal of strengthening the musketeers. Although the two have different ideas on how to use the musketeers. , but this difference will not prevent them from joining forces at this stage to deal with the Ningbo salt merchants who have Haihan as their backer.

Lu Kangtai looked at the pier not far away, and could still see the lights on the two ships. He noticed that there were two bonfires burning in the open space of the pier, and several tents were set up around it, faintly connecting the two ships to the shore. Surrounding them was obviously a consciously deployed defensive measure. It seemed that although this group of Ningbo salt merchants acted rampantly, they were very careful in details and were on alert at night. They were indeed well prepared.

However, he has been sitting here since before dark, and it has been more than an hour now, but he has not seen anyone come here to cause trouble for the Ningbo salt merchants. The attitude of the Huizhou salt merchants across the river is unknown, but his family The leader of the camp, He Huan, has already sent a message to give these Ningbo salt merchants a look, but so far no one has responded, making Lu Kangtai's plan to take the opportunity to spy on the other party's strength impossible to realize.

"These old foxes are all waiting for me to take action!" Lu Kangtai said to himself with a little disappointment: "But if I take action, a small trouble may turn into a big trouble. What should I do? ?”

No one can answer Lu Kangtai's question, but there are others who have a similar mentality to Lu Kangtai and are silently hoping that someone will come here to cause trouble.

"Why are the local salt merchants so calm? There was only thunder and no rain all day long. Except for a few chattering guys who showed up in the morning, there was really nothing going on after they were driven away!"

Gong Shiqi was peeling peanuts and feeding them to his mouth, while venting his dissatisfaction to himself. During the mission, he was not allowed to drink at will, so he could only drink water instead, and the food that went with the wine naturally tasted good.

It's a bit bland and tasteless.

Ji Yuanqing stared at the map in his hand and said with a smile: "You have complained seven or eight times after dark. It is not us who should be anxious. Since they are stable, then we can just carry out the plan step by step. I will

I don’t believe that all the salt merchants in Yangzhou can keep their composure!”

Gong Shiqi sighed: "You are right, I am too impatient. This time when I went back to the south to perform a mission, I always felt uneasy and wanted to finish the matter quickly and go back."

Ji Yuanqing said: "Brother Gong's mission in the north must be very important, but this case is personally supervised by the Executive Committee, which is enough to show the special nature of this case. Brother Gong should try to put aside his worries first and concentrate on handling it.

This case."

Just as Gong Shiqi was about to say a few words, someone knocked on the door outside the cabin and said: "Boss, a guest is here!"

Of course, there would not be any important guests coming to visit at this time, but there would be a signal that something unexpected had happened. Gong Shiqi became more energetic as soon as he heard this. He stood up and threw away the peanuts in his hand and said: "Business is coming, let's take a look."

!”

The two people quickly left the cabin and came to the deck. They saw a large, dark group of people on the pier gathered in the open space outside their tent. Some of them were holding sticks and other things in their hands. They were obviously not people who came to buy salt.

Our own manpower has also gathered thirty or forty people, and they are in a confrontation with the other party. However, the other party's equipment is not as neat as ours. Everyone here is holding an identical eyebrow-leveling stick, which was specially prepared.

It is used for collective fighting. Although the number of people is twice that of the opponent, it is not inferior at all in terms of momentum.

"You keep an eye on the boat, I'll go down and have a look." Gong Shiqi was used to seeing all kinds of dangerous scenes, and was not panicked about the current situation, so he asked Ji Yuanqing to stay on the boat and command the ambushed musketeers. He wanted to go down in person.

Meet this group of people for a while and see if you can find out where each other is coming from.

As for why the other party chose to take action after dark, Gong Qiqi could think of several reasons. In addition to the need for time to arrange an action plan and gather manpower, and the dark sky making it easier to use some extraordinary means that are not legal, Gong Shiqi could think of several reasons.

Shiqi believes that the main reason is that the other party wants to wait until Yangzhou City closes the city gate before taking action. In this way, no matter whether they, a group of outsiders, want to enter the city to report to the official, or whether they want to seek help from the nearby city defense army, they will not be able to do it at night.

.

Of course, Gong Shiqi had expected to launch a night attack, and had made targeted arrangements in advance, so when the group tried to approach the two ships, they were stationed on the dock.

The manpower blocked the perimeter. The attackers didn't seem to intend to attack directly as soon as they met. They didn't start fighting after being blocked, and a confrontation situation formed on the pier.

"Friends who buy salt, please come early tomorrow!" Gong Shiqi deliberately said loudly: "There will be no business tonight!"

"Stop howling, no one is buying salt tonight!" A strong man with a sinister expression stood out from the crowd opposite, slowly walked up to Gong Shiqi, put his hands on his hips and said to him: "I'll give you a day's worth of salt.

It’s time to leave Yangzhou, and it seems that you don’t plan to move anymore. You really can’t listen to what people say, right?”

"Are you speaking on behalf of the Yangzhou government in such a loud tone?" Gong Shiqi replied with an unchanging expression: "If you can produce the government's official documents, I might consider it, but speaking in vain, I

Why should I obey your orders?"

"You are so tough! It seems that you won't shed tears until you see the coffin!" Seeing that Gong Qiqi spoke so rudely, the strong man did not back down because of his threats, and was ready to give the order to take action.

Gong Shiqi watched his words and spoke before the other party made any move: "Before taking action, could you please tell me where you are?"

"Are you scared?" When the strong man heard this, it seemed that things were about to turn around, so he couldn't help but mocked.

Gong Shiqi sneered: "As the saying goes, when you beat a dog, it depends on its owner. I'll first ask who your owner is, so that I can better control my strength when I hit you later. If I don't know your owner, then I won't be merciful!"

"

"You..." The strong man was about to have an attack, but found that the other party had already dodged in front of him. Then he felt a chill on his neck, and something cold and sharp was pressed against his throat, and he immediately subconsciously moved his back.

I swallowed half of the sentence.

Gong Shiqi stared into his eyes and said, "Guess, will I cut your throat? If you guess wrong, then I will do it!"

The strong man thought to himself that no matter which outcome he guessed, the other party seemed to have a reason to take action. He did not dare to say anything at that moment, fearing that the sharp blade in Gong Shiqi's hand would shake and he would be killed by the sword for no reason. Although he

He can be regarded as a desperado who licks blood from his knife edge, but he doesn't want to be killed by the other party in such a cowardly way. Moreover, he fell so fast that he couldn't think of struggling to resist for a while.

The people present probably did not expect that their leader would be taken down with a dagger while he was talking. Even those standing nearby did not see where Gong Shiqi took out the dagger.

dagger. But after the leader was captured, the others threw their weapons at him and did not dare to take action without permission.

Gong Shiqi threatened the other person, holding a dagger against the strong man's throat with one hand, and quickly touched around his waist with the other hand, then seized a short knife and threw it to the man behind him.

subordinates.

"With your three-legged cat skills, you still dare to make trouble? Tell me, who asked you to come? I'll let you go." Gong Shiqi smiled and said: "Speak nicely, I won't hurt you!"

The strong man had slowly recovered from the shock after being restrained at the beginning. He acted quite tough at the moment and responded angrily: "If you dare to take action, then you will do it. I have so many brothers, I will take care of you for you."

I take revenge!"

"Okay, let's try it and see who will risk their lives to avenge you!" Gong Shiqi winked as he said this, and his men immediately came over to restrain the strong man.

"Since this good man is ready to die, I will let you do it." Gong Shiqi said loudly and deliberately: "Tie him up and put him in a sack, use ballast stones to sink him into the canal. From now on, your family will worship you and burn it by the canal.

Just light the incense and paper money!”

Before the man could struggle, someone had stuffed numbness cores into his mouth, and then tied a layer of cloth outside. He whined but could not speak. Several people pushed him to the ground, almost instantly

They tied his hands and feet behind him so that he could not move at all. Then four people lifted his hands and feet and carried him to the ship along the gangplank.

The men brought by the strong man did not completely stand by and watch, but Haihan had already formed a formation with eyebrow-level sticks to prevent the opponent from approaching. Several guys who tried to break through this line of defense were stabbed heavily in the chest with sticks one after another.

His stomach was immediately blocked. This kind of bayonet fighting technique used by two or three people was easily used to deal with these market gangsters.

The number of people on both sides is inversely proportional to their fighting strength. The Haihan side with fewer people actually took the initiative. Although the opposite side had the advantage in numbers, the leader was taken down as soon as he came up. At this time, there was no command. Some wanted to fight and others wanted to talk.

There were still people who wanted to wait and see, but when their ideas were not consistent, the counterattack naturally seemed messy and weak. The attempt to snatch back the strong man was disintegrated by the well-organized Haihan side in a very short period of time.

.

"Whose subordinate is this? He is such an incompetent person, so disgraceful!"

On the second floor of the restaurant in the distance, only Lu Kangtai's table was left, but he seemed to have no intention of paying and leaving. Instead, he ordered a few more dishes and a bottle of wine, and watched the scene on the pier with relish.

An ongoing conflict.

Although he was far away and could not see the specific details and did not know the content of the exchange between the two parties, Lu Kangtai could roughly judge what was happening at the dock. The group of people who went to trouble the Ningbo salt merchants were simply not prepared enough.

As soon as he came up, the other party took the initiative, and he was already at a disadvantage before he could take action. It seemed that one of them was captured. Lu Kangtai couldn't help but be disappointed. He thought he could see the scene of the two sides fighting, so he could make a judgment.

No matter how strong the opponent is, these trouble-seeking guys are too weak to let the opponent use their true abilities.

Lu Kangtai could clearly see that although the foreign salt merchants had taken the initiative, they did not use ruthless measures. They just relied on a well-trained system to block the opponent's offensive and at the same time wear down the opponent's will. This approach obviously left a certain amount of leeway.

.

Lu Kangtai raised his hand to signal, and immediately one of his subordinates came over quickly and bowed to listen to his instructions.

"Go and see what's going on nearby, and find out which family that group of people belongs to." Lu Kangtai pointed in the direction of the dock and gave the order.

Lu Kangtai took a sip of wine and sighed: "Yang Chengye left early. If we stay a little longer, we can watch this wonderful show together."

Little did they know that Yang Chengye was being scolded severely by his elder Ma Zhengping at home because he did not go to Daijiazhuang to participate in the discussion today.

"If you think about it clearly, if you only spend your time living and drinking and not doing business, then the status of the seven major surnames of the Yang family will be in jeopardy!" Ma Zhengping advised sadly: "If you are squeezed out of the seven major surnames, the Yang family will have a lot of business in the future.

You cannot directly participate, let alone participate in the discussions of Huizhou salt merchants, and all the efforts of your parents and ancestors will be in vain, do you understand?"
Chapter completed!