Chapter 2218

"These guys...are simply doing whatever they want!"

Gao Yongshou, who arrived at Yijiang Gate, was still a step too late. When he went to the city wall to check the battle situation, the battle outside the city had been declared over, and only the mess on the ground was left, indicating that there had been a fierce fight here just now.

As for who the two sides were that caused this chaos outside the city, although Gao Yongshou had never seen it in person, he could guess that they were inseparable after listening to his subordinates reporting the battle situation. And the two sides who started the war did not shy away from saying so.

The battle started at the gate of the city. It was obvious that he did not listen to the warning of the city defense general. This kind of disregard also made him feel very angry.

Some people outside the city were loading the dead and wounded in the battle onto carriages and transporting them away, but this was obviously a bit of a cover-up. At least hundreds of people inside and outside the city had witnessed the battle just now. How could they just rely on cleaning the battlefield?

Covering up the past. But as long as no one reports it to the government afterwards, the government can pretend that nothing happened.

If Gao Yongshou ordered the door to be opened at this time and went out of the city to arrest the culprits, he would probably be able to catch some of the participants. It would not be difficult to follow the clues and find out the mastermind behind the scenes. But Gao Yongshou had to consider far more than that. He hesitated for a moment, or

Decide not to rush into this matter.

"Don't open the Yijiang Gate today. Keep an eye on the outside of the city. If there is any situation, report it to the officer immediately!" After Gao Yongshou gave the order, he left with a livid face without waiting for further instructions from his subordinates.

Gao Yongshou didn't care what weapons were used in the fighting outside the city or how many casualties were caused. He knew that someone would be responsible for cleaning up the mess and dealing with the aftermath, slowly eliminating the impact of this chaos. And if he wanted to order the arrest of the participants

, which is equivalent to making things bigger, which may have an impact on the richest businessmen in Yangzhou, and then affect all aspects that have interests in them. Gao Yongshou may not be able to bring about the consequences.

Affordable.

What Gao Yongshou needs to deal with immediately is not to pursue the fight outside the city, but to ensure that this level of fighting will not break out in the city. If chaos breaks out even in the city, then he, the city defense general, can

There was no way to shirk the responsibility. So he had to confirm immediately that whether they were Shanxi salt merchants or Huizhou salt merchants, their armed personnel had left Hangzhou city.

Gao Yongshou had previously heard a report from his subordinates that almost everyone on the side who broke out of the encirclement had a musket, and they fought in a well-organized manner. They looked more like an army than a militia. He had already guessed in his mind that these were Haihan people hired by the Seven Great Surnames. To him,

This is a more difficult entity to deal with than the local salt merchants. If the Haihan people want to cause trouble in Yangzhou, then the matter may not just be a fighting outside the city, and they must be careful and vigilant.

Lu Kangtai outside the city was a hundred times more irritable than Gao Yongshou at this time. The casualties among his men were actually not too serious. At least they were much better than the result of last year's battle. However, the purpose of the battle was completely failed to be achieved.

. He would rather lose a few more manpower to capture Dai Yingda.

But now that Dai Yingda has retreated safely, the combat objectives he set before the war have not been achieved at all. This is equivalent to all the resources invested before being wasted, and today all these people died in vain.

"All the previous efforts have been wasted!" Lu Kangtai couldn't help but secretly lament his own failure. He didn't think there was anything wrong with the battle plan and on-the-spot command he had made. The biggest change was the intervention of the Haihan people.

Although Lu Kangtai also expected that if Dai Yingda entered the city, he would definitely bring some Haihan guards with him, but he did not expect that these Haihan people were so powerful, and his layout was completely disrupted by just one encounter.

And after witnessing the battle at the scene today, Lu Kangtai also roughly understood why he was defeated miserably at the opponent's hands in last year's confrontation - the strength of his own armed forces is indeed quite different from that of the Haihan people. It is basically a militia.

Comparison with professional military.

Without Haihan's intervention, Lu Kangtai might have already turned his advantage into victory and defeated his competitor. But apart from lamenting the unfavorable times, Lu Kangtai seemed to be unable to think of any countermeasures. After all, he even provided him with

The backstage of weapons, equipment and combat training has also been wiped out by Haihan.

What happened in Yangzhou City today shows that the official connections that the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt merchants have been carefully managing are not so reliable, and they may be betrayed for profit at critical moments. The military attachés who have special military power are likely to be just because

Worried about getting burned, he just stood aside and watched the Haihan people's rampant behavior.

So from now on, Lu Kangtai's goal had to be adjusted, and he had to face up to the changes in the strength of his competitors, changing from "how to deal with Huizhou salt merchants" to "how to deal with Huizhou salt merchants backed by Haihan".

Some of his subordinates came to report to him that among the dead and injured at the scene, there were eight passers-by who were innocently implicated, and asked him for instructions on how to deal with it.

"How to deal with it? Take away the dead ones, send the alive ones for treatment, spend money to clean up the matter if the identity can be verified, drag the nameless ones to dig a hole in a mass grave and bury them. These things are still

Do you want me to teach you how to do it one by one?" Lu Kangtai didn't have the mood to ask about these trivial things at this time, so he responded impatiently.

Lu Kangtai is actually not worried about being held accountable by the government because of the deaths and injuries of these innocent passers-by. He has a hundred ways to shirk responsibility, and he knows that the government will definitely be on his side. After all, if things get serious, this

It will become an international conflict between the Ming Dynasty and Haihan, and the imperial court is not willing to conflict with Haihan. If these troubles occur, the local officials will have to bear the responsibility. The lives of a few civilians are not as important as the overall situation.

Spending some money to settle the relevant people and not letting the situation escalate further is the best way to deal with it at the moment.

Then another subordinate came to report that Yijiangmen seemed to be closed for the time being. After Lu Kangtai heard this, he became more and more sure of his previous judgment. Even if the government knew the truth of the fight, they had no intention of actively intervening. This long-term situation in Yijiangmen

The closure showed that the government deliberately gave him time to clean up the battlefield.

Even if there are many rumors among the people afterwards, as long as there are no victims to report and no big shot from above takes the initiative to intervene, then the parties involved and the government will have a tacit agreement to treat it as nothing happened, so that everyone can save themselves less trouble.

At this time, Dai Yingda and his party had safely arrived at the south bank of the canal. Dai Yingfan, who saw the signal flare in Daijiazhuang, also led dozens of young men with swords and guns to the river to respond. However, south of the canal were mostly the estates of Huizhou salt merchants.

, so it has always been regarded as their sphere of influence, and people from Shanxi and Shaanxi salt merchants dare not invade here easily.

The day before yesterday, Lu Kangtai's men crossed the river at night and tried to sneak attack Daijiazhuang, which was a rare bold move in recent years. But if they were to come to the south bank of the canal to cause trouble during the day, Lu Kangtai would have some scruples. And that last year

The all-night pursuit with Haihan on the canal caused Lu Kangtai to lose many capable sailors. Therefore, in today's interception of Dai Yingda, he did not even specially arrange for ships to be on standby in the canal.

In order to prevent the other party from setting up an ambush on the canal, Yuan Tao also made corresponding plans and arrangements, but in the end they were all useless.

After confirming safety, Yuan Tao immediately inquired about his own casualties. A total of eight people under Dai Yingda, including Lin Zhong, were injured, and three died unfortunately, while Jin Dun suffered one death and four injuries.

Taking into account the strength and equipment of the opponent in the battle, as well as the combat environment at that time, Yuan Tao believed that his own casualties were not serious, and he achieved the combat goal at a relatively small cost.

Dai Yingda paid great attention to Lin Zhong's injury. After confirming that his injury was just a skin injury and not life-threatening, he had someone take a stretcher to carry Lin Zhong back to Daijiazhuang to recuperate.

To be able to escape from Yangzhou City smoothly this time, Dai Yingda really made a bet. Lin Zhong lived up to his expectations. The retreat route he planned played an extremely critical role, avoiding all possible places in the city where his opponents could ambush, without any risk.

Withdrew from Yangzhou City without obstruction.

Although Dai Yingda didn't say much, judging from his concern for Lin Zhong, a heavy reward afterward was definitely indispensable.

After Dai Yingda returned to Daijiazhuang, in front of Yuan Tao, he called the tribesman in charge of chores in the village to the study and asked him to prepare high-quality coffins as soon as possible for the people who died this time, set up a mourning hall, and handle the funeral affairs properly.

.In addition, all casualties, including Jindun's subordinates, will receive generous pensions. Dai Yingda even immediately arranged for a fast ship so that Yuan Tao could return the injured subordinates and the bones of the deceased to Zhoushan as soon as possible.

Although he knew that Dai Yingda made these arrangements in person to win people's hearts, Yuan Tao was still very pleased with this high-EQ operation. Whether it was due to the instructions of his boss or the employment relationship with the Seven Big Surnames, his trip to Yangzhou was certainly the same

He is mentally prepared for casualties, and even if there are some bumps in the cooperation with the salt merchants, he will try his best to complete his task.

However, the attitude of the Seven Surnames was obviously much better than he expected. Not only did they give Jindun full trust and cooperation in deploying defense plans and personnel deployment, but they also made many humane arrangements to provide Jindun with a comparative advantage.

Good living conditions and enough respect from the salt merchants made Yuan Tao and his brothers work harder during their missions.

"Boss Dai is so thoughtful! I'll thank you on behalf of the brothers first!" Since Dai Yingda took the initiative to express his gratitude, Yuan Tao would not turn a blind eye. Seeing that the other party had finished his instructions and everyone else had already exited the study, he immediately stepped forward and cupped his fists to thank him.

Follow his arrangements.

Dai Yingda said: "Shopkeeper Yuan is out of touch! Now that I have worked with the brothers of Jindun several times to overcome difficulties, I no longer treat you as outsiders. Since the brothers have lived and died for my seven surnames, of course I cannot treat them badly.

You guys! Shopkeeper Yuan, I have something else that I don’t know whether to talk about or not!”

Yuan Tao said: "Boss Dai, it doesn't matter if you say so!"

Dai Yingda said: "I think that I am lucky enough to be able to make friends with such an outstanding person as Shopkeeper Yuan. If Shopkeeper Yuan doesn't despise me as a businessman, Dai would like to become brothers with Shopkeeper Yuan!"

Yuan Tao didn't expect that Dai Yingda would actually make such a request, and he didn't know whether to refuse or agree. He didn't have any ill feelings towards Dai Yingda, and they could even be considered relatively friendly, but the relationship didn't seem to be compatible enough to be the leader.

degree.

Dai Yingda saw the hesitation on Yuan Tao's face, so he added: "My request is indeed a bit high, and it puts shopkeeper Yuan in trouble! But if I can sworn sworn brothers with shopkeeper Yuan, then in the future the seven major surnames in Yangzhou will be supported by shopkeeper Yuan.

Hey, if Shopkeeper Yuan has any needs in the future, the seven major surnames will provide money and help without any ambiguity!"

Dai Yingda's words were very explicit. Yuan Tao was not slow. Naturally, he knew the meaning after hearing the song and understood what Dai Yingda had in mind.

Of course, what Dai Yingda was interested in was not only Yuan Tao's ability, but more importantly, his powerful identity as the head of Jindun Semicolon. He had hundreds of military personnel at his disposal, capable of performing various combat missions.

It's just a small army.

In the future, the seven major surnames will form their own militia groups. If they can establish a relationship with Jindun and exchange knowledge, it will definitely have many benefits in strengthening their own strength. And with the influence of the seven major surnames in Yangzhou, they can simply use their own children as the foundation to start a group in Yangzhou.

Wouldn't a Golden Shield branch be able to legally support a group of full-time armed personnel?

Of course, the prerequisite for this is to obtain the recognition and support of Haihan, and the role that Yuan Tao can play in this process will definitely be very important. Dai Yingda believes that if he can get Yuan Tao's support, then he and Haihan can

Cooperation in this field may be possible.

Of course, this kind of support will not be just one-sided. Dai Yingda's statement is to reassure Yuan Tao that with the resources and financial resources owned by the seven surnames, he can also support him to obtain a higher status and power in Haihan.

It was impossible for Tao not to be tempted.

While he was in Yangzhou, he had personally felt the amazing financial resources of these salt merchants. Although money may not be everything, how many problems in the world can't be solved by money? If the Yangzhou salt merchants are willing to provide him with support behind the scenes, then Zhoushan Semicolon

The business volume will definitely increase greatly, which will win Yuan Tao more attention from the top management, and the hope of promotion will also increase a lot.

Although there are still many uncertain factors, this kind of cooperation based on special interpersonal relationships can indeed achieve a win-win effect. Yuan Tao, who realizes this, can't help but admire Dai Yingda's scheming and will not let go of anyone who wants to harm him.

favorable conditions.

Yuan Tao responded: "What are you talking about? Boss Dai's words are too outrageous. I have never had such an idea! I was just a martial artist, and now I have become a Haihan nationality. If we become brothers,

I’m afraid it will bring a lot of inconvenience to Boss Dai.”
Chapter completed!