Chapter 484 Jiangdong Tyrants
Chapter 484 Jiangdong Tyrants
Lu Shenyan said goodbye and left.
Xiao Xia stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, remaining silent for a long time.
The Lu family took sides and told him the most core secrets. The Guanlong nobles were secretly supporting the Jiangdong tyrants behind the scenes.
This is the confidence behind the powerful Shanyue people in Jiangdong's preparations for action, as the Long nobles are supporting them from behind.
That's why they dared to assassinate me in Piling County. It was indeed just a test.
It is precisely because of the support of the Long nobles behind the scenes that even the Jiangnan families lack confidence. This is a dangerous signal and they must take action.
The seven counties in the north of the Yangtze River are his base, and the three counties in the northeast of the Yangtze River, Danyang County, Piling County and Wu County, are important territories that he has just taken over. They have the largest population and are the richest. Whether it is marriage or sending troops, he must firmly control the three counties in the northeast of the Yangtze River in his hands.
Xiao Xia pondered for a long time, and then he wrote a handwritten order, ordering Luo Shixin to lead 10,000 troops to Wujun immediately and station them south of Wujun.
Xiao Xia called Captain Zhang Qing over, handed him his gold medal, and said, "Immediately take a few of your men and ride fast back to Jiangdu, and give the warrant and the gold medal to Pei Wen'an."
"I humbly obey my orders!"
Zhang Qing led several of his men and set out overnight, riding horses towards Jiangdu.
The next day, before dawn, Xiao Xia set off with Lu Xieting.
In Yuyao County, Kuaiji County, there are dozens of huge warehouses standing on the seashore. These are the dried fish warehouses of the Lan family of Kuaiji County. In the past few decades, the Lan family's dried fish have been supplied to the entire Jiangnan region. But at this time, half of these warehouses have been converted to other uses, or to be more precise, they have been converted into salt warehouses.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, Yuyao County had always been the most important salt producing area in the Southern Dynasties. After the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Southern Dynasties, the salt from Jiangdu moved south in large numbers and occupied the Jiangnan market. Under the dual constraints of the government and the market, Yuyao County gradually stopped producing salt and became an important place for producing dried fish.
But since October last year, the salt furnace that had been abandoned for nearly twenty years has been reignited, the brine pool has been filled up again, and Yuyao's Lanjia Salt Field has begun producing salt again.
Unlike Jiangdu, Yuyao mainly produces refined salt, but the cost is relatively high. The cost of one catty of salt is as high as twenty wen, mainly because firewood is too expensive. After being sold in the market, the price of each catty is forty or even fifty wen. Jiangdu salt has low cost and soon defeated Yuyao salt and occupied the entire Jiangnan market.
In a salt warehouse, Yuan Wenzhen, accompanied by Lan Zhaotian, the head of the Lan family, visited the mountains of salt bags in the warehouse.
Lan Zhaotian was not tall, but he was very strong and had a very rough appearance. He did not look like a Han Chinese. In fact, he was a descendant of the Shanyue people. Although the Shanyue people had been conquered by the Han people, walked out of the mountains and integrated into the farming era, they still inherited the unruly and rebellious spirit from their ancestors.
In the tenth year of Kaihuang, the great rebellion in the south of the Yangtze River was bloodily suppressed by the imperial court. The Shanyue people were severely injured and had to submit to the Sui Dynasty. However, as their vitality gradually recovered, the rebellious spirit was rekindled in their bones.
This was different from the rebellion in the tenth year of Kaihuang. That time they wanted to establish an independent country and did not accept the rule of the Sui Dynasty. This time, their rebellious spirit was more of a desire for revenge. Many people had experienced the massacre that year and still remembered the bloody killings by the Sui army.
But the Shanyue warlords were not fools. They knew very well that their strength was not enough to compete with the Sui army. But with external help, it would be a different matter. The external force that helped the Shanyue warlords was the Guanlong nobles.
As early as last year, they secretly sold a large number of weapons and armor to more than a dozen Shanyue warlords. On behalf of the Guanlong nobles, Yuan Wenzhen promised the more than a dozen Shanyue warlords that as long as the Shanyue warlords were willing to fight the imperial court to the end, the Guanlong nobles would support them to the end.
It was the unremitting support of the Guanlong nobles that strengthened the Shanyue warlords' desire for revenge.
Yuan Wenzhen looked at the mountain of salt in the warehouse and asked with a smile, "How much salt is in here?"
"One stone for one bag, fifteen thousand bags in total."
Yuan Wenzhen nodded, "If we count the salt stored in other places, there should be 200,000 stones!"
"It should be more than that, about 230,000 or 240,000 stones, you can transport it away at any time!"
After a pause, Lan Zhaotian said again: "Master Yuan, I have said before that we will not do business at a loss. Thirty cents per catty, we can't lower the price any further!" More than half of this batch of refined salt was to be used to pay for the military expenses of the Guanlong nobles, but the two parties had not yet reached a clear agreement on the price.
Yuan Wenzhen laughed, "Don't worry, Patriarch Lan. I have received a clear reply from Luoyang. The price is set at thirty coins per catty. We can cooperate for a long time."
Lan Zhaotian said happily: "If it is clarified, then the 30,000 crossbow arrows we agreed on before can be delivered!"
Yuan Wenzhen said slowly: "Master, don't worry. Although we have some inventory, the court is also keeping a close eye on it. We can only deliver the goods in many small batches. The first batch of 5,000 military crossbows will arrive in the next two days. Just pay attention to them."
"There won't be any problem going by sea. It's still the same place, and there are people specializing in receiving you."
The two men walked out of the warehouse. At this moment, a servant came galloping over on horseback. When he arrived in front of them, the servant dismounted and reported to Lan Zhaotian: "Master, Master Ming and Master Liu have arrived."
Lan Zhaotian nodded and said to Yuan Wenzhen: "The last two family heads have arrived, let's go back to the city!"
The two men immediately got on the carriage and headed for Yuyao County, which was more than ten miles away.
The heads or representatives of thirteen Shanyue powerful families from seven counties in Jiangdong, including Kuaiji County, Xin'an County, Su'an County, Dongyang County, Yuhang County, Yongjia County, and Jian'an County, gathered in Yuyao County to discuss their revenge plan that they had endured for twenty years.
There are three people taking the lead this time: Lan Zhaotian, the head of the Lan family in Kuaiji County, Shen Faxing, the representative of the Shen family in Wucheng County, Wu County, and Ming Zhongtian, the head of the Ming family in Yongjia County.
In the back hall of the Lan family, thirteen family heads had already sat down solemnly. Yuan Wenzhen, representing the Guanlong nobles, was explaining the current situation to them.
"Everyone, the Guanlong nobles are also actively preparing for war. We have secretly recruited 100,000 private soldiers in Guanzhong and Longyou. In addition, we have also recruited forces from the Northern Qi Baoguo in Hebei and Central Plains. They can mobilize 80,000 to 100,000 troops. Once an uprising breaks out in Jiangnan, we guarantee that Guanlong and Hebei will also rise up at the same time.
In addition, I will tell you a secret. Prince Yang of Qi secretly has 50,000 troops. He will soon launch a coup and force the emperor to abdicate. Therefore, our enemies in the south of the Yangtze River are only the 30,000 people in Jiangdu. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You have the right time, place, and people. I believe that the final victory will belong to you!"
Of course Yuan Wenzhen was trying his best to deceive people. The Guanlong nobles didn't have an army of 100,000. He spared no effort to deceive the Jiang heroes into rebelling.
He talked nonsense in a serious manner, but the content was detailed, well-reasoned and well-founded. In addition, Yuan Wenzhen was eloquent, so the powerful people in Jiangdu all believed him.
After Yuan Wenzhen finished speaking, everyone started discussing heatedly.
At this time, Lan Zhaotian said: "Let me introduce to you our current preparations."
The first day's meeting was over and everyone went back to rest. Yuan Wenzhen kept three members of the core families to discuss the matter separately.
Shen Faxing said slowly, "After inspecting Wu County, Xiao Xia returned to Jiangdu and canceled the originally planned inspection of Yuhang County. The second assassination we arranged in Qiantang County had to be canceled. According to the exact information given to me by Wu County, the main reason Xiao Xia canceled the inspection of Yuhang County was the assassination in Piling County. He interrogated and found that the assassins were all from Yuhang County. Maybe this made him very worried."
Although Shen Faxing was the representative of the Wujun Shen family, he himself served as the commander of the Xin'an County Military Headquarters and had two thousand state troops under his command. He was also one of the three major leaders of the Jiangdong warlords.
Lan Zhaotian frowned and asked, "Could it be that he discovered that we were going to start a rebellion?"
Shen Faxing nodded, "He must have noticed something. After all, Gao Huaidao and the others know a little bit about the situation. I am very worried that he will send troops to clear out the enemy."
Ming Zhongtian beside him was also worried: "We are not ready yet. The troops, food and supplies are all scattered, and the weapons and armor are not distributed in place. It will be troublesome if his army suddenly attacks us."
The three of them looked at Yuan Wenzhen together.
(End of this chapter)