Chapter 2204

The third day of July is cloudy and everything is not suitable.

After nightfall, a large number of men in black suddenly gathered at a canal dock outside Yangzhou City that had been closed for several days. At the same time, several sailboats came from the north and docked quietly at the dock.

A carriage drove into the dock, and a plump man got out of the car. He was none other than Lu Kangtai, the representative of Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchants. Now the scheduled time for the operation has arrived. Although some key information has not been verified, Lu Kangtai

Kangtai was worried that the night would be long and he would have many dreams, and he no longer wanted to delay it any longer.

Although he failed to win over the high-ranking general to publicly support him, Lu Kangtai finally managed to get the high-ranking general to suspend the city defense army's patrols along the canal tonight, in order to facilitate the cross-river attack on Daijiazhuang.

Of course, this kind of special care cannot be obtained through friendship alone. For this reason, Lu Kangtai gave Gao Yongshou a considerable benefit.

Seeing Lu Kangtai's arrival, Xie Liang and Xun Fen hurriedly stepped forward to greet them. Lu Kangtai asked about the gathering and learned that all the people involved in the operation had arrived, so he immediately ordered someone to take out the boxes of silver he had brought.

Lu Kangtai knew very well that in times like this when his men needed to work hard, any beautiful words from the mobilization before the war would be less useful than rewards of real money and silver. After all, these people were willing to sacrifice their lives for themselves, and in the final analysis, it was all about money.

Lu Kangtai stood on a high place and announced loudly: "Everyone who participates in the operation tonight will receive fifty taels of silver. When this happens, each person will receive another hundred taels of silver as a reward! If you are injured or injured during the operation,

In the event of death, there will be generous pensions to ensure that your brothers’ families will have a worry-free life in the future!”

"Tonight's target, everyone should have seen the list. There are seventeen people listed above, and five hundred taels of dead people. As long as you can catch the alive ones, you will be rewarded with one thousand taels of silver! If you can capture the sea in the village,

Han people, the reward will be doubled! In addition, I, Lu Kangtai, will not take any of the property confiscated in Daijiazhuang, and the entire price will be divided equally among all the brothers present!"

The price offered by Lu Kangtai was astonishingly high. After hearing this, the men in black became excited. Their original uneasiness was immediately turned into excitement and courage by the high reward, as if they were waiting for them in the darkness across the river.

What they found was not a heavily guarded manor full of unknown dangers, but an undefended gold mine waiting for them to carve up.

Lu Kangtai didn't know that the main characters of the Seven Surnames had all hid in Daijiazhuang. Otherwise, his target list would have been several times more than the current list. But if he really understood the movements of the Seven Surnames,

, then they may reconsider the risk of attacking Daijiazhuang and not bet all the chips on hand so decisively.

In Lu Kangtai's view, as long as the Dai family is solved, it will give the Seven Great Surnames a heavy blow, causing them to lose their leadership. At the same time, they can no longer place their hopes on the assistance provided by the Haihan people. By then, Yangzhou will be in turmoil, and the Seven Great Surnames will

Without Dai Yingda as the backbone, there will definitely be chaos. I will seize the time to solve them one by one, and then go back to negotiate terms and reconciliation with the Haihan people. The overall situation in Yangzhou can be determined.

There is actually no big problem with Lu Kangtai's thinking, but the intelligence information he has is seriously lacking. There is still a relatively large cognitive bias in the comparison of the strengths of the two sides and Haihan's attitude. Naturally, it is difficult to make judgments based on this.

It is completely reasonable. He thought that the situation in Yangzhou would develop in the direction he pushed, but he did not realize that the main force driving the change in the situation was not him. All Yangzhou salt merchants, including him, were just part of this great era.

It's just some grass moving in the wind.

Lu Kangtai once again called Xie Liang and Xun Fen to his side, and told them: "Tonight, don't kill indiscriminately, but you can't let anyone in the village go. After you succeed, you will clear out Daijiazhuang according to the plan, no matter what

Life or death, everything must be shipped and shipped away before dawn. After you are done, remember to clean up the traces and leave no evidence behind! After the operation is over, all the rewards I promised you will be cashed in immediately, and I will not lie!"

The two of them clenched their fists in response, with the fire of desire shining in their eyes. The reward Lu Kangtai promised to them was very generous, enough for them to sell their lives to Lu Kangtai without hesitation. After finishing this job

, even if they retire from the world immediately, the reward will be enough to make them live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

Under the command of Xie Liang and Xun Fen, these men in black boarded the ship that had just docked at the dock in batches, and then quickly moved to the other side.

This section of the canal is actually not wide, just over ten feet long. If it weren’t for the fact that most of these people were equipped with muskets, swimming across the river would be the most secretive way to cross the river. However, the time required to cross the river by boat is also extremely short.

, Lu Kangtai only hoped that the other side of the river would not monitor this section of the river all night, so that his people could silently enter the territory of Daijiazhuang on the south bank.

The ships transporting his men and horses will also be temporarily docked on the other side, waiting to be completed before sending away all the living and dead they transported from Daijiazhuang. Lu Kangtai stayed on the north bank of the canal, and of course he could not see the Daijiazhuang.

There is no movement in the village, but the lights on the ships parked on the other side can be seen. As long as those ships are okay, it means that the operation ahead is still going smoothly.

After Xie Liang and Xun Fen led their troops ashore, they divided into two teams and moved towards Daijiazhuang. In addition to the more than 100 people from the Musketeers who participated in this operation, Lu Kangtai also gathered several other mountain troops.

Although these elite men of Shaanxi salt merchants only know how to use cold weapons, in this kind of night attack, cold weapons are exactly the best configuration for the vanguard.

However, last year's battle with the Haihan people had already caused the Shanshan and Shaanxi salt merchants to lose many good players. This time, the other few people handed over to Lu Kangtai's command were almost all the remaining assets. If there are losses again this time, I am afraid that in the short term

It will be difficult to recover.

Xie Liang led this improvised group of troops to lead the way, while Xun Fen commanded the musketeers to take the rear. Daijiazhuang was surrounded by farmland, and they did not dare to light up torches and lanterns with open fire. They could only rely on the occasional light from the sky.

Illuminated by the moonlight, I marched one foot deep and one foot shallow on the field ridge.

According to the drill beforehand, everyone had to keep silent during the march, but if someone slipped and fell in the field, they would inevitably curse a few words in a low voice.

The further Xie Liang walked, the more he felt a chill on his back. Usually in this kind of countryside, farmers would keep dogs. These guard dogs would definitely bark when they heard any noise outside, and they were also prepared accordingly. However, there were two to three hundred people in the fields.

After walking for almost a mile, I didn't even hear a bark of a dog. This situation is really unreasonable.

But now the arrow is on the string and he has to take action. Even if he realizes that the current situation is a bit unusual, there is no turning back at this time.

After walking about another mile, we could already see the white walls of the outer buildings of Daijiazhuang in front of us. However, looking from the outside, there was no light or any sound in the village, and it looked completely lifeless.

Xie Liang did not rush into action, but first waited for Xun Fen to catch up and join him. Next, they had to take action against Daijiazhuang. They had to act together. Although they had already formulated an action plan in advance, they still had to confirm it before taking action.

As for the details, everyone will have to work on it separately.

"Brother Xun, something doesn't seem right here. I suspect that the other party has noticed and has set up an ambush! What do you think?" After Xie Liang and Xun Fen met, they decisively shared their opinions with each other.

Xunfen was silent for a moment before responding: "Even so, you and I can't let it go. Otherwise, how will we explain to the boss when we go back?"

Xie Liang and Xun Fen had worked together for a long time. When they heard what the other party said, they knew that Xun Fen had actually noticed something was wrong, but the problem Xun Fen raised was the one that really couldn't be avoided.

They had already taken advantage of Lu Kangtai and promised that they would try their best to capture Daijiazhuang, so they would definitely not be able to go home without doing anything. If Lu Kangtai asked the reason, could they say it was because they felt something was wrong?

Xun Fen said: "Now that the matter has come to this, we can only act according to the original plan. Even if the opponent is prepared, we still have to try to see if we can break into the village. If we can, we still have a chance of victory."

In fact, they don't care too much about Daijiazhuang's defense methods. What really scares them is the group of Haihan people currently stationed in Daijiazhuang.

According to the information currently known, the Haihan people stationed in Daijiazhuang are the armed escorts of Jindun. Last year, when they were ordered to rob the salt transport team from the south, they actually fought with Jindun. Although it was Lu Kangtai's

The Musketeers took advantage, but it was also because they set up an ambush in the wild to catch the opponent off guard, and they had an absolute advantage in strength. If they really wanted to fight in a battle formation, their chances of winning would be much slimmer.

The most important thing is that they know that the men of Jindun are also equipped with muskets, which means that the team hiding in Daijiazhuang is likely to be as effective as their musketeers. If the other party has any intention of their arrival

To be prepared, that is to face this ambush. They generally know what it will be like to be ambushed by a musketeer team.

In the plan they made in advance, they wanted to sneak into Daijiazhuang quietly while the other party was unprepared, and control the situation before the other party resisted. But now it seems that the actual situation is somewhat different from their plan. The other party seems to be

They have been on guard in advance. Now they can only hope to break through the defense of Daijiazhuang and start a melee in the village. Then their side may be able to rely on their strength advantage to suppress the opponents who use muskets in close combat. Only in this way can they win.

possible.

After making simple changes to the action plan, Xie Liang commanded his team and quietly approached Daijiazhuang from the east. He did not choose to enter Daijiazhuang from the north because he knew that two intersections in that direction had been built.

The watchtowers will definitely be guarded by guards at night. The east side is full of fields, and the several field paths leading to Daijiazhuang are not guarded. You may be able to find a way to sneak into the village.

Xie Liang did quickly find a road leading to the village, but after a closer look, he found that there was something obviously weird about this road, which made him afraid to rush in rashly.

The road is only five feet wide, but the gates on both sides of the road are all blocked with stones, logs, bricks, etc. Every side road that you see is also blocked by a horse that is as tall as a person.

Death makes those who enter this road can only move forward in a daze, and in the dark night, they cannot see what is at the end of this road.

Xie Liang was standing at this intersection. There was no trace of human beings in the visible area in front of him, but he could faintly feel that there was a fatal danger lurking in front of him that he couldn't see. This kind of weird defense method would definitely not be completed in a short time.

It is obvious that Daijiazhuang has already taken precautionary measures against intruders from the outside world.

Jie Liang knew something was wrong, but he couldn't order a retreat. He could only bite the bullet and order his men to climb over the wall and enter the house to see if they could find another way to open a road from the house next to this road.

There were many people under him who had various roles. At that moment, several people obeyed the order and came out, took out the rope hooks and threw them on the wall, hooked on the eaves of the wall, and then climbed the ropes to the room. They quickly climbed over the wall and disappeared into the night.

However, after these people climbed over the wall, they did not give the agreed signal for a long time, and they could not hear any noise on the other side of the wall, as if they were swallowed up by the night silently.

Jie Liang knew something was wrong, so he sent someone to notify Xun Fen who was waiting for news behind him, so that he could prepare to cover his retreat. Daijiazhuang was obviously on guard. If he tried to rush in like this, he would be risking himself.

His life is a joke. Although the reward given by Lu Kangtai is extremely tempting, if you have money to get it, you have to spend your life. Of course, saving your life is the priority.

At this time, at the other end of the road, Yuan Tao, Dai Yingda, and Dai Yingfan were standing in the night, looking at the crowd outside the village that was about to move. In front of them were fifty musketeers who had already formed a battle formation.

, if people from outside want to rush in along this road, they will be greeted by a dense hail of bullets.

"It seems that they have discovered something and don't dare to go further inside." Dai Yingda was slightly disappointed when he saw this scene. If he ordered to fire at this time, the opponent would definitely be frightened and would immediately turn around and run away. He should not be hurt much.

Personally. But he felt unwilling to watch the other party retreat unscathed. After all, Daijiazhuang had made so many preparations for this and invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. He would not take this opportunity to give the other party

If it causes some substantial blows, it always feels like a loss-making business.

Dai Yingfan said: "It seems that our fortifications are still too obvious. Anyone who is not a fool would dare to break in like this!"

Yuan Tao said: "My mission on this trip is first to ensure the safety of Daijiazhuang, and secondly to wait for opportunities to kill the enemy. If I can make the opponent retreat before the difficulties, then there will be no casualties in Daijiazhuang. Isn't this right now?

Best outcome?”
Chapter completed!