Chapter 1994
Chapter 1994
Chapter 1994
Although Ji Yuanqing claimed that this was just a map of Yangzhou city defense more than ten years ago, Gong Shiqi was not a layman who didn't know anything, he knew very well how troublesome it would be to get this thing from the Ming Dynasty officials.
The collection of city defense data for important cities in the Ming Dynasty, especially the coastal cities, has never stopped since the establishment of intelligence agencies such as the Ministry of Security. It can even be traced back to Haihan's reconnaissance operation against Yacheng.However, the collection of intelligence about the city defense situation is generally fragmented information. After screening, sorting, and summarizing, it becomes a reference material in the hands of intelligence agencies and the military.It is not easy for the Ministry of Security to really get the first-hand city defense deployment map. Gong Shiqi had been engaged in this field when he was performing field missions in the south, so it was very difficult for Ji Yuanqing's The city defense map is very careful.
However, he did not rashly ask Ji Yuanqing how the Military Intelligence Bureau obtained such top-secret information. After all, it is already a shame for people to share this information, and it would be a bit difficult for others to ask for the channel to obtain this information. .Naturally, Gong Shiqi was not such a ignorant person, so he didn't ask any more questions at the moment. He pulled up the stool and sat down, and together with Ji Yuanqing, he took a detailed look at the city defense deployment map many years ago.
This city defense map marked the main city defense fortifications such as several city gates, urns, and archery towers in Yangzhou City, as well as the direction of the main streets in the city, and the locations of several military camps and government offices inside and outside the city.And the moat built by using the local waterways extending in all directions can definitely be regarded as a highlight of the city defense of Yangzhou City.
Gong Shiqi was the first to give his opinion: "If the city defense can deploy some artillery with better performance, this place will be stable. However, with the military strength of Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that at most it is just a few old-fashioned artillery for symbolic appearance. .”
Ji Yuanqing agreed with this: "The waterways here extend in all directions. Even if there are strong enemy soldiers approaching the city, it will be difficult to form a siege. Unless the attacking side can far outnumber the defenders and form a long-term siege, it may be difficult to break through the city."
Of course, their point of view is not that the Haihan army is the hypothetical attacker. If the Haihan army attacked the city, it would not matter whether the defenders were equipped with artillery or not.After all, a fortified city guarded by Spanish troops like Manila can't withstand the Haihan army's offensive. It shouldn't be particularly difficult for the Haihan army to take this Yangzhou city.But if the contemporary armed forces attacked Yangzhou, I am afraid it would take a lot of trouble.
In the original history, only eight years later, the Qing army really went south to attack Yangzhou City.At that time, the strength of the Qing army was ten times that of the defenders, and they surrounded Yangzhou City in groups. There were several red-clothed cannons in the army as siege weapons, and they were still in a state of strong morale in successive battles and victories. It still took a full month It took only a short time to break through Yangzhou City guarded by Shi Kefa.But such a situation happened to coincide with Ji Yuanqing's opinion at this time.
Naturally, Ji Yuanqing does not have the ability to foresee the future, and his judgment is based on his own personal experience.However, the purpose of his study of this city defense map is not to lead the army to break the city in the future, but to be as familiar with the situation of Yangzhou City as possible, so that if there is an emergency evacuation of Yangzhou City, at least he can be more confident.And this purpose doesn't need to be stated specifically, Gong Shiqi can understand it by heart, this kind of tacit understanding saves a lot of trouble for both of them.
"Tomorrow morning, please trouble Brother Ji to arrange the spare carriages and horses first, and they must be in place as soon as possible." Gong Shiqi paused, and then added: "Perhaps we need to prepare an extra fast boat, in case we go by land No, the two boats have been stared to death again, so we have to find another way to leave this place."
Ji Yuanqing nodded and said: "Tomorrow morning, I will go to see my local colleagues to make arrangements for the carriage and horses. As for the spare Clippers, I will let people look for them first."
Thinking about defeat before winning is not because Gong Shiqi is afraid of fighting, but to take preventive measures for possible loopholes in the action link, and try to avoid unnecessary risks as much as possible.Of course, there is a possibility that the operation will fail. If that step is really reached, it will be the mission of the two of them to bring these elites who participated in the operation back to Zhoushan safely.The Executive Committee, the Ministry of Security, and the military did not issue a kill order for this mission, so in any case, their lives are far more precious than the target. When necessary, it is the first choice to ensure that their own personnel are safely withdrawn to Zhoushan.
Regarding whether there will be a local salt merchant who will take the initiative to show up tomorrow, the two agreed that the possibility is very high. Even if the deity does not show up, they will definitely let his subordinates come over to test it out.The place where they parked the ship was actually very close to the wharf where the local salt merchants shipped their goods. In addition, those who cared must be watching the whereabouts of the two ships. The other party probably would not let them ship safely outside Yangzhou City.
However, in this bustling place by the canal outside the south gate, the other party should and is unlikely to openly attack.The previous attacks all happened in areas outside Yangzhou. They thought that it was very likely that the behind-the-scenes messengers avoided doing things on their own territory, so coming directly to Yangzhou to block the door might really make the other party feel taboo , not dare to be rough at the door of the house easily.
But there is always an emergency in everything, and no one can guarantee that someone will take the risk and send a group of desperadoes to take these two ships, so it is still necessary to make preparations in advance.
In this operation, the two departments dispatched a total of nearly 20 combatants, in addition to several technicians and more than 60 sailors from the navy, adding up to [-] people.Armed with dozens of people, and relying on the two specially reinforced salt ships as a cover, they can deal with at least ten times more enemies—the specific situation depends on the combat effectiveness of the opponent.If it is a civilian armed organization that only uses cold weapons, then this strength comparison coefficient is estimated to be even larger.
But they don't want to start a direct firefight with their opponents outside Yangzhou City. Even if such a battle can easily win the opponent, they have to leave this place as soon as possible after the fight. In the end, it will not be beneficial to the investigation they need to conduct Work.
Moreover, in the action plan formulated by Gong Shiqi, fighting was not the first choice. They hoped to use the conflict of interests between different camps of Yangzhou salt merchants to divide them.Gong Shiqi believes that not all salt merchants will choose to use force to fight against the entry of foreign salt. After all, some people will choose to protect their own interests through negotiation and cooperation out of long-term considerations.
Of course, this is only Gong Shiqi's unilateral idea for the time being. Whether it can be realized or not depends on the next trend of the situation.But Gong Shiqi is quite confident about this, and there should be a clearer signal soon after dawn.
The two discussed until late at night before packing up and resting.Gong Shiqi didn't go back to the hotel on the shore either, so he slept soundly on the boat all night.He walks around all the year round and has a strong ability to adapt to the environment. Whether he lives on the boat or on the shore this night does not have much impact on him.
In fact, this sleep was not too long, and the sky began to turn white.The people staying in the hotel returned to the pier very early, even earlier than Ji Yuanqing who had to leave early in the morning.But it wasn't that Ji Yuanqing was sleepy, he had actually gotten up and tidied up, but the local manpower arranged by the Military Intelligence Bureau lived in the city, so he could only go into the city to find someone after the city gate opened in the morning.
Gong Shiqi also appeared on the deck before Ji Yuanqing set off. After a brief exchange between the two, Ji Yuanqing took a few of his men into the city.
After another hour or so, the sky finally gradually brightened, and the sailors on the riverside wharf who got up early and were ready to set off, the migrant workers who came to pick up work when there were few people, and the fishermen who had caught the first batch of fish in the early morning, and started The merchants discussing buying and selling transactions made this place gradually lively.
Gong Shiqi was sitting on the side of the boat, eating breakfast while observing the crowds coming and going on the pier, he couldn't help being a little surprised at the prosperity of this place.Although before coming here, I heard that the shipping industry relying on the canal is very developed here, and there is also the blessing of the salt industry, which makes Yangzhou City the trade center of the Jianghuai area all the time, but seeing the prosperity here with my own eyes is still amazing. Gong Shiqi immediately thought of the scene in Sanya.
Although the port size of this place is far smaller than that of Sanya, the prosperity of the port area alone is indeed comparable.However, since the piers here are all built on the edge of the not-so-wide canal, the berthing space for ships is very limited. In order to accommodate more ships, the only way is to extend the piers infinitely along the river bank. Go out until the entire river bank is turned into a series of small docks.
The place where Gong Shiqi's two ships docked was less than half a mile away from the local salt pier, but the salt pier over there was only open to local salt merchants and agents who came here to buy salt, so they didn't think about it at all. There have been situations like Gong Shiqi who transported salt to Yangzhou for sale.
And Gong Shiqi didn't intend to go to the salt wharf to make fun of himself. He knew that it would be impossible for the two salt ships to dock there to unload, so he purposely found a place that was relatively close.In this way, the actions he made here should soon reach the ears of the local salt merchants.
Gong Shiqi's method was very simple. He had people hang a huge sign on the ship's side - high-quality salt, low price.Each word is written with white paint on a two-foot-square board, which is particularly conspicuous on the ship's side with a dark background, and can be seen from a long distance.
Then sent a few smart men to the pier and prepared a few large packages of "samples". If anyone came to find out who was curious, they would show them this product to examine and taste.
The table salt produced by Haihan’s salt factory is more sophisticated because of the more sophisticated production process, so the purity of the salt is better than that of ordinary table salt sold in the Daming market. Ordinary people can immediately find this difference in quality as long as they compare the actual product .In order to seize the market, Haihan Salt adopts a low-price dumping strategy in new sales areas, first occupying the market and defeating competitors, and then slowly raising the price to a normal level.
Although this kind of sales routine is simple, it has been tried and tested repeatedly because of its simplicity, and Daming has no good way to deal with it.The production cost of Haihan salt is low, leaving more space for middlemen and local governments to operate, so it often appears on the market as official salt, and it is difficult to ban it.In recent years, the official salt farms in Fuguang and Guangxi in the south have basically either closed down directly, or been annexed by Haihan, and then shipped through backdoors. The two salt farms in Ningbo are taking the latter route. Let the produced salt obtain the status of official salt.
Yangzhou salt merchants had no choice but to resist Ningbo salt. They could not monopolize the sales of Ningbo salt, and the quality of table salt produced along the Jianghuai coast was not as good as Ningbo salt, let alone Ningbo salt. If they did not boycott, they would The sales of the salt on hand must be greatly reduced.Fortunately, the actions they took in the early stage were more effective. So far, there are not many large quantities of Ningbo salt sold in the Jianghuai market.
In this place where people come and go, some people soon noticed the eye-catching signboard hanging on the side of the ship, and they were surprised by this widely advertised way of selling salt, so they slowly gathered around to see what was going on.Seeing this, several men pretending to be buddies immediately greeted the onlookers and asked them to come forward to distinguish the difference between refined salt and ordinary table salt.
"This is fine-crafted top-quality sea salt. It has less impurities and has a good salty taste. A pound of fine salt can be used as a pound and a half of coarse salt. The price is even cheaper than coarse salt on the market. Except for our Donghaiji, you can buy it in other places. You can’t buy such cheap, high-quality salt!”
"Wholesale and retail are all available, starting at half a catty, the more you buy, the cheaper it will be. If you want to buy in large quantities, master, please go to the boat and negotiate with our boss face to face. We guarantee that you will be satisfied!"
Selling salt outside the city gate of Yangzhou in such a wild way naturally quickly attracted the attention of interested people.The salt merchant's wharf was close at hand, and after a while, several groups of people came to watch. These people didn't make trouble, but after watching for a while, they teamed up to drive the spectators to the side.
A man in his forties with a mustache walked up to the front with his hands behind his back, and said to the guys selling salt, "It's quite a skill to come here to sell salt... Who is your boss? Come out and meet!"
These guys had expected the current situation a long time ago, and one of them stepped forward and cupped his fists and said, "My lord, my boss is waiting for you on the boat right now, please come aboard and meet me on your own."
"This frame is not small!" Bazihu Wenyan narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked up at the two sailboats docked on the shore: "It seems that I have come prepared, okay! Then I will board the boat and have a look. Today What kind of extraordinary person came to Yangzhou City!"
(End of this chapter)
Although Ji Yuanqing claimed that this was just a map of Yangzhou city defense more than ten years ago, Gong Shiqi was not a layman who didn't know anything, he knew very well how troublesome it would be to get this thing from the Ming Dynasty officials.
The collection of city defense data for important cities in the Ming Dynasty, especially the coastal cities, has never stopped since the establishment of intelligence agencies such as the Ministry of Security. It can even be traced back to Haihan's reconnaissance operation against Yacheng.However, the collection of intelligence about the city defense situation is generally fragmented information. After screening, sorting, and summarizing, it becomes a reference material in the hands of intelligence agencies and the military.It is not easy for the Ministry of Security to really get the first-hand city defense deployment map. Gong Shiqi had been engaged in this field when he was performing field missions in the south, so it was very difficult for Ji Yuanqing's The city defense map is very careful.
However, he did not rashly ask Ji Yuanqing how the Military Intelligence Bureau obtained such top-secret information. After all, it is already a shame for people to share this information, and it would be a bit difficult for others to ask for the channel to obtain this information. .Naturally, Gong Shiqi was not such a ignorant person, so he didn't ask any more questions at the moment. He pulled up the stool and sat down, and together with Ji Yuanqing, he took a detailed look at the city defense deployment map many years ago.
This city defense map marked the main city defense fortifications such as several city gates, urns, and archery towers in Yangzhou City, as well as the direction of the main streets in the city, and the locations of several military camps and government offices inside and outside the city.And the moat built by using the local waterways extending in all directions can definitely be regarded as a highlight of the city defense of Yangzhou City.
Gong Shiqi was the first to give his opinion: "If the city defense can deploy some artillery with better performance, this place will be stable. However, with the military strength of Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that at most it is just a few old-fashioned artillery for symbolic appearance. .”
Ji Yuanqing agreed with this: "The waterways here extend in all directions. Even if there are strong enemy soldiers approaching the city, it will be difficult to form a siege. Unless the attacking side can far outnumber the defenders and form a long-term siege, it may be difficult to break through the city."
Of course, their point of view is not that the Haihan army is the hypothetical attacker. If the Haihan army attacked the city, it would not matter whether the defenders were equipped with artillery or not.After all, a fortified city guarded by Spanish troops like Manila can't withstand the Haihan army's offensive. It shouldn't be particularly difficult for the Haihan army to take this Yangzhou city.But if the contemporary armed forces attacked Yangzhou, I am afraid it would take a lot of trouble.
In the original history, only eight years later, the Qing army really went south to attack Yangzhou City.At that time, the strength of the Qing army was ten times that of the defenders, and they surrounded Yangzhou City in groups. There were several red-clothed cannons in the army as siege weapons, and they were still in a state of strong morale in successive battles and victories. It still took a full month It took only a short time to break through Yangzhou City guarded by Shi Kefa.But such a situation happened to coincide with Ji Yuanqing's opinion at this time.
Naturally, Ji Yuanqing does not have the ability to foresee the future, and his judgment is based on his own personal experience.However, the purpose of his study of this city defense map is not to lead the army to break the city in the future, but to be as familiar with the situation of Yangzhou City as possible, so that if there is an emergency evacuation of Yangzhou City, at least he can be more confident.And this purpose doesn't need to be stated specifically, Gong Shiqi can understand it by heart, this kind of tacit understanding saves a lot of trouble for both of them.
"Tomorrow morning, please trouble Brother Ji to arrange the spare carriages and horses first, and they must be in place as soon as possible." Gong Shiqi paused, and then added: "Perhaps we need to prepare an extra fast boat, in case we go by land No, the two boats have been stared to death again, so we have to find another way to leave this place."
Ji Yuanqing nodded and said: "Tomorrow morning, I will go to see my local colleagues to make arrangements for the carriage and horses. As for the spare Clippers, I will let people look for them first."
Thinking about defeat before winning is not because Gong Shiqi is afraid of fighting, but to take preventive measures for possible loopholes in the action link, and try to avoid unnecessary risks as much as possible.Of course, there is a possibility that the operation will fail. If that step is really reached, it will be the mission of the two of them to bring these elites who participated in the operation back to Zhoushan safely.The Executive Committee, the Ministry of Security, and the military did not issue a kill order for this mission, so in any case, their lives are far more precious than the target. When necessary, it is the first choice to ensure that their own personnel are safely withdrawn to Zhoushan.
Regarding whether there will be a local salt merchant who will take the initiative to show up tomorrow, the two agreed that the possibility is very high. Even if the deity does not show up, they will definitely let his subordinates come over to test it out.The place where they parked the ship was actually very close to the wharf where the local salt merchants shipped their goods. In addition, those who cared must be watching the whereabouts of the two ships. The other party probably would not let them ship safely outside Yangzhou City.
However, in this bustling place by the canal outside the south gate, the other party should and is unlikely to openly attack.The previous attacks all happened in areas outside Yangzhou. They thought that it was very likely that the behind-the-scenes messengers avoided doing things on their own territory, so coming directly to Yangzhou to block the door might really make the other party feel taboo , not dare to be rough at the door of the house easily.
But there is always an emergency in everything, and no one can guarantee that someone will take the risk and send a group of desperadoes to take these two ships, so it is still necessary to make preparations in advance.
In this operation, the two departments dispatched a total of nearly 20 combatants, in addition to several technicians and more than 60 sailors from the navy, adding up to [-] people.Armed with dozens of people, and relying on the two specially reinforced salt ships as a cover, they can deal with at least ten times more enemies—the specific situation depends on the combat effectiveness of the opponent.If it is a civilian armed organization that only uses cold weapons, then this strength comparison coefficient is estimated to be even larger.
But they don't want to start a direct firefight with their opponents outside Yangzhou City. Even if such a battle can easily win the opponent, they have to leave this place as soon as possible after the fight. In the end, it will not be beneficial to the investigation they need to conduct Work.
Moreover, in the action plan formulated by Gong Shiqi, fighting was not the first choice. They hoped to use the conflict of interests between different camps of Yangzhou salt merchants to divide them.Gong Shiqi believes that not all salt merchants will choose to use force to fight against the entry of foreign salt. After all, some people will choose to protect their own interests through negotiation and cooperation out of long-term considerations.
Of course, this is only Gong Shiqi's unilateral idea for the time being. Whether it can be realized or not depends on the next trend of the situation.But Gong Shiqi is quite confident about this, and there should be a clearer signal soon after dawn.
The two discussed until late at night before packing up and resting.Gong Shiqi didn't go back to the hotel on the shore either, so he slept soundly on the boat all night.He walks around all the year round and has a strong ability to adapt to the environment. Whether he lives on the boat or on the shore this night does not have much impact on him.
In fact, this sleep was not too long, and the sky began to turn white.The people staying in the hotel returned to the pier very early, even earlier than Ji Yuanqing who had to leave early in the morning.But it wasn't that Ji Yuanqing was sleepy, he had actually gotten up and tidied up, but the local manpower arranged by the Military Intelligence Bureau lived in the city, so he could only go into the city to find someone after the city gate opened in the morning.
Gong Shiqi also appeared on the deck before Ji Yuanqing set off. After a brief exchange between the two, Ji Yuanqing took a few of his men into the city.
After another hour or so, the sky finally gradually brightened, and the sailors on the riverside wharf who got up early and were ready to set off, the migrant workers who came to pick up work when there were few people, and the fishermen who had caught the first batch of fish in the early morning, and started The merchants discussing buying and selling transactions made this place gradually lively.
Gong Shiqi was sitting on the side of the boat, eating breakfast while observing the crowds coming and going on the pier, he couldn't help being a little surprised at the prosperity of this place.Although before coming here, I heard that the shipping industry relying on the canal is very developed here, and there is also the blessing of the salt industry, which makes Yangzhou City the trade center of the Jianghuai area all the time, but seeing the prosperity here with my own eyes is still amazing. Gong Shiqi immediately thought of the scene in Sanya.
Although the port size of this place is far smaller than that of Sanya, the prosperity of the port area alone is indeed comparable.However, since the piers here are all built on the edge of the not-so-wide canal, the berthing space for ships is very limited. In order to accommodate more ships, the only way is to extend the piers infinitely along the river bank. Go out until the entire river bank is turned into a series of small docks.
The place where Gong Shiqi's two ships docked was less than half a mile away from the local salt pier, but the salt pier over there was only open to local salt merchants and agents who came here to buy salt, so they didn't think about it at all. There have been situations like Gong Shiqi who transported salt to Yangzhou for sale.
And Gong Shiqi didn't intend to go to the salt wharf to make fun of himself. He knew that it would be impossible for the two salt ships to dock there to unload, so he purposely found a place that was relatively close.In this way, the actions he made here should soon reach the ears of the local salt merchants.
Gong Shiqi's method was very simple. He had people hang a huge sign on the ship's side - high-quality salt, low price.Each word is written with white paint on a two-foot-square board, which is particularly conspicuous on the ship's side with a dark background, and can be seen from a long distance.
Then sent a few smart men to the pier and prepared a few large packages of "samples". If anyone came to find out who was curious, they would show them this product to examine and taste.
The table salt produced by Haihan’s salt factory is more sophisticated because of the more sophisticated production process, so the purity of the salt is better than that of ordinary table salt sold in the Daming market. Ordinary people can immediately find this difference in quality as long as they compare the actual product .In order to seize the market, Haihan Salt adopts a low-price dumping strategy in new sales areas, first occupying the market and defeating competitors, and then slowly raising the price to a normal level.
Although this kind of sales routine is simple, it has been tried and tested repeatedly because of its simplicity, and Daming has no good way to deal with it.The production cost of Haihan salt is low, leaving more space for middlemen and local governments to operate, so it often appears on the market as official salt, and it is difficult to ban it.In recent years, the official salt farms in Fuguang and Guangxi in the south have basically either closed down directly, or been annexed by Haihan, and then shipped through backdoors. The two salt farms in Ningbo are taking the latter route. Let the produced salt obtain the status of official salt.
Yangzhou salt merchants had no choice but to resist Ningbo salt. They could not monopolize the sales of Ningbo salt, and the quality of table salt produced along the Jianghuai coast was not as good as Ningbo salt, let alone Ningbo salt. If they did not boycott, they would The sales of the salt on hand must be greatly reduced.Fortunately, the actions they took in the early stage were more effective. So far, there are not many large quantities of Ningbo salt sold in the Jianghuai market.
In this place where people come and go, some people soon noticed the eye-catching signboard hanging on the side of the ship, and they were surprised by this widely advertised way of selling salt, so they slowly gathered around to see what was going on.Seeing this, several men pretending to be buddies immediately greeted the onlookers and asked them to come forward to distinguish the difference between refined salt and ordinary table salt.
"This is fine-crafted top-quality sea salt. It has less impurities and has a good salty taste. A pound of fine salt can be used as a pound and a half of coarse salt. The price is even cheaper than coarse salt on the market. Except for our Donghaiji, you can buy it in other places. You can’t buy such cheap, high-quality salt!”
"Wholesale and retail are all available, starting at half a catty, the more you buy, the cheaper it will be. If you want to buy in large quantities, master, please go to the boat and negotiate with our boss face to face. We guarantee that you will be satisfied!"
Selling salt outside the city gate of Yangzhou in such a wild way naturally quickly attracted the attention of interested people.The salt merchant's wharf was close at hand, and after a while, several groups of people came to watch. These people didn't make trouble, but after watching for a while, they teamed up to drive the spectators to the side.
A man in his forties with a mustache walked up to the front with his hands behind his back, and said to the guys selling salt, "It's quite a skill to come here to sell salt... Who is your boss? Come out and meet!"
These guys had expected the current situation a long time ago, and one of them stepped forward and cupped his fists and said, "My lord, my boss is waiting for you on the boat right now, please come aboard and meet me on your own."
"This frame is not small!" Bazihu Wenyan narrowed his eyes slightly, and looked up at the two sailboats docked on the shore: "It seems that I have come prepared, okay! Then I will board the boat and have a look. Today What kind of extraordinary person came to Yangzhou City!"
(End of this chapter)