Chapter 1994

Although Ji Yuanqing said that this was just a Yangzhou city defense map from more than ten years ago, Gong Qiqi was not a layman who knew nothing. He knew very well how troublesome it would be to get this thing from the Ming Dynasty officials.

The collection of urban defense information for important cities in the Ming Dynasty, especially the large 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 relevant city defense situation

Intelligence collection is generally fragmented information. After screening, sorting, and summarizing, it becomes a reference material for intelligence agencies and the military. To truly obtain first-hand city defense deployment maps, it is also important for the Ministry of Security.

It was by no means an easy task. Gong Shiqi had been engaged in this field when he was performing field missions in the south, so he was very interested in the city defense map in Ji Yuanqing's hands.

However, he did not have the temerity to ask Ji Yuanqing how the Military Intelligence Bureau obtained such top-secret information. After all, it would be a great honor for someone to share this information. It would be a bit overwhelming to ask for the channels through which this information was obtained to be announced.

Gong Shiqi was naturally not such an ignorant person, so he didn't ask any more questions at the moment. He pulled up a stool and sat down, and together with Ji Yuanqing, he and Ji Yuanqing studied the city defense deployment map many years ago.

This city defense map marks several city gates, barbicans, archery towers and other major city defense fortifications 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. The moat was built using local waterways extending in all directions.

It is definitely a highlight of Yangzhou city defense.

Gong Shiqi was the first to give his opinion: "If the city defense can deploy some better-performing artillery, this place will be stable. However, with the military strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that at most it will only be a symbolic installation of a few old-fashioned artillery.

.”

Ji Yuanqing agreed: "The waterways here extend in all directions. Even if a strong enemy approaches the city, it will be difficult to form an encirclement. Unless the attacking force can far exceed the defenders and form a long-term siege, it may be difficult to break the city."

Of course, their view is not that the Haihan Army is the imaginary attacker. If the Haihan Army attacks the city, it will not matter whether the defenders are equipped with artillery. After all, there are Spanish troops guarding cities like Manila.

The strong city of Yangzhou could not withstand the offensive of the Haihan Army. It should not be particularly difficult for the Haihan Army to capture Yangzhou City. But if the armed forces of the same era attacked Yangzhou, it would probably be very difficult.

Less trouble.

In the original history, only eight years later, the Qing army actually went south to attack Yangzhou City. At that time, the Qing army's strength was ten times that of the defenders, and they surrounded Yangzhou City. There were several red-coated soldiers in the army.

As a powerful siege weapon, artillery was still in a state of strong morale after consecutive battles and victories. It still took a full month to break through Yangzhou City guarded by Shi Kefa. This situation coincided with Ji Yuanqing's success at this time.

The views coincide.

Ji Yuanqing naturally does not have the superpower to foresee the future, and the judgments he makes are based on his own personal experience. However, his purpose in studying the city defense map is not to lead his army to break the city in the future, but to be as familiar with the situation of Yangzhou City as possible.

, in case there is an emergency evacuation of Yangzhou City, at least we can be more certain. And this purpose does not need to be stated specifically, Gong Shiqi can understand it, and this tacit understanding will save a lot of trouble for both of them.

"Early tomorrow morning, brother Ji, please help me arrange the spare carriages and horses. They must be in place as soon as possible." Gong Shiqi paused and added: "Perhaps we have to prepare a fast boat in case we go by land.

No, these two boats are being stared at again, so we have to find another way to leave this place."

Ji Yuanqing nodded and said: "Tomorrow morning I will meet with my local colleagues to finalize the car and horse arrangements. As for the spare clipper, I will also ask someone to look for it first."

Thinking about defeat before thinking about victory is not because Gong Shiqi is afraid of war, but rather to take preventive measures in the action links that may have loopholes and avoid unnecessary risks as much as possible. Of course, the possibility of action failure does exist.

If it really gets to that point, it will be their mission to bring these elites who participated in the operation safely back to Zhoushan. The Executive Committee, the Ministry of Security and the military have not issued a kill order for this mission, so regardless of

No matter what, the lives of these people are far more precious than the target. When necessary, ensuring the safety of our own personnel and retreating to Zhoushan is the first choice.

As for whether a local salt merchant would show up tomorrow, the two agreed that it was very likely. Even if they didn't show up, they would definitely have their subordinates come over to test it out. The place where they stopped the ship was actually close to where the local salt merchant shipped goods.

The wharf is already very close, and there are people who are definitely keeping an eye on the whereabouts of their two ships. The other party probably won't let them safely ship goods outside Yangzhou city.

However, in this lively place along the canal outside the South Gate, it is unlikely that the other party will attack openly. The previous attacks all occurred in areas outside Yangzhou, and they think it is very possible.

The people behind the scenes were also instigating a taboo to avoid doing anything on their own territory, so they came directly to Yangzhou to block the door. Perhaps this would really make the other party feel taboo and not dare to do anything violent at home.

But there is always a risk in everything, and no one can guarantee whether someone will take the risk and send a group of desperadoes to capture these two ships, so it is still necessary to make preparations in advance.

In this operation, the two departments dispatched a total of nearly thirty combat personnel, in addition to several technicians and more than twenty sailors from the navy, totaling fifty or sixty people. These dozens of people were armed

Standing up, and relying on the two salt transport ships with specially reinforced hulls as bunkers, they can deal with at least ten times more enemies - the specific situation depends on the opponent's combat effectiveness. If it is a civilian armed organization that only uses cold weapons,

Then this strength comparison coefficient is estimated to be larger.

But they don't want to start a direct battle with their opponents outside Yangzhou City. Even if such a battle can easily defeat the opponent, they will have to leave the place as soon as possible after the battle, which will not be conducive 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 take advantage of the conflict of interests between different camps of Yangzhou salt merchants to differentiate them. Gong Shiqi believed that not all

Salt merchants will choose to use force to deal with the entry of foreign salt. After all, some people should 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 depends on the future direction of the situation. But Gong Shiqi is quite confident in this, and everything should be compared soon after dawn.

A clear signal appears.

The two of them discussed until late at night before they packed up and rested. Gong Shiqi did not go back to the hotel on the shore, and slept all night on the boat. He was out and about all the year round, and he had a strong ability to adapt to the environment. This night, he stayed on the boat or on the shore.

, it doesn’t have much impact on him.

In fact, I didn't sleep for too long, and the sky began to turn white. The people staying in the hotel returned to the dock very early, even earlier than Ji Yuanqing left early in the morning. But this was not because Ji Yuanqing was too sleepy to get up.

, he had actually gotten up and packed up, but the local personnel arranged by the Military Intelligence Bureau lived in the city, so he could only go into the city to find people after the city gate opened in the early morning.

Gong Shiqi also appeared on the deck before Ji Yuanqing set off. After the two briefly exchanged a few words, Ji Yuanqing led several of his men into the city.

After another hour or so, the sky finally slowly became brighter, and the sailors who got up early to prepare for departure on the riverbank dock, the migrant workers who came to pick up work when there were fewer people, the fishermen who had caught the first batch of catch in the morning, and the fishermen who had started to

Businessmen discussing business transactions gradually made the place lively.

Gong Shiqi was sitting on the side of the boat, eating breakfast and observing the people coming and going on the pier. He couldn't help but be a little surprised at the prosperity of this place. Although he had heard before coming here that the shipping industry relying on the canal was very

Due to its development and the blessing of the salt industry, Yangzhou City has always been the trade center of the Jianghuai region. But seeing the prosperity here with his own eyes, Gong Qiqi immediately thought of the scene in Sanya.

Although the size of the port here is far less than that of Sanya, in terms of the prosperity of the dock area, it is indeed comparable. However, since the docks here are built on the edge of the canal, which is not very wide, it is left for ships

The docking space is very limited. In order to accommodate more ships, the only way is to extend the dock infinitely along the river bank until the entire river bank is turned into a series of small docks.

The place where the two ships of Gong Shiqi docked was less than half a mile away from the local salt industry wharf. However, the salt wharf over there was only open to local salt merchants and agents from other places who came to buy salt. It was not considered at all.

There have been situations like Gong Shiqi's case of transporting salt to Yangzhou for sale.

And Gong Shiqi had no intention of going to the Salt Wharf to ask for trouble. He knew that it would be impossible for the two salt ships to dock and unload, so he specially found a place that was relatively close. Such was the action he made here.

, should soon spread to the ears of local salt merchants.

Gong Shiqi's method was very simple, that is, he had people hang up a huge sign on the side of the ship - top quality salt, low price. Each word was written in white paint on a two-foot-square board.

The rows of boats on the dark background are particularly conspicuous and can be seen from a long distance.

Then he sent a few smart men to the dock and prepared several large packages of "samples". If anyone was curious and came to find out, the samples would be given to them for inspection and tasting.

Because the production process of the salt produced by Haihan's salt factory is more exquisite, the purity of the salt is better than the ordinary salt sold in the Ming Dynasty market. Ordinary people can immediately notice this quality difference by comparing it with the real thing.

In order to seize the market, Haihan Salt adopts the strategy of low-price dumping in new sales areas. It first captures the market and defeats competitors, and then slowly increases the price to normal levels.

Although this sales routine is simple, it has been tried and true because of its simplicity, and Ming Dynasty did not have a good way to deal with it. The production cost of Haihan salt is low, leaving more room for middlemen and local governments to operate, so it is often

It appears on the market as official salt, so it is difficult to ban it. In recent years, the official salt salt fields in Fuzhou and Guangzhou in the south have either closed down directly, or been merged by Haihan, and then sold out by backdoor.

goods, and the two salt farms in Ningbo took the latter route, allowing the salt they produced to obtain the status of official salt.

Yangzhou salt merchants have no choice but to resist Ningbo salt. They cannot monopolize the sales of Ningbo salt, and the quality of salt produced along the Jianghuai coast is not as good as Ningbo salt, not to mention that Ningbo salt is still low-priced. If they do not resist, they will

The sales volume of the salt on hand will definitely be greatly reduced. But fortunately, the actions they took in the early stage were relatively effective. So far, large quantities of Ningbo salt have not been sold in Jianghuai market.

In this place where people were coming and going, someone soon noticed the eye-catching sign hanging on the side of the ship. They were surprised by this widely advertised method of selling salt, and slowly gathered around to see what was going on. Several people gathered around to see what was going on.

Upon seeing this, the man pretending to be a waiter immediately called to the onlookers and asked them to come forward to identify the difference between refined salt and ordinary table salt.

"This is fine sea salt made with precision. It has less impurities and a good salty taste. One pound of fine salt can be used as one and a half pounds of coarse salt. The price is cheaper than the coarse salt on the market. Except for our Donghaiji, other places can

You can’t buy good quality salt so cheaply!”

"Both wholesale and retail are available. The starting price is half a catty. The more you buy, the cheaper it is. If you want to buy in large quantities, please go to the ship and negotiate with our boss face to face. We guarantee your satisfaction!"

Selling salt out of Yangzhou City Gate in such a wild way naturally quickly attracted the attention of interested people. The Salt Merchant Wharf was just around the corner, and soon several groups of people came to watch. These people did not cause trouble, but

After watching for a while, they joined forces to drive the spectators aside.

A man in his forties with a mustache clasped his hands behind his back, walked to the front unsteadily, and said to the salt sellers: "You are really capable of selling salt here..."

Who is your boss? Come out and meet him!"

These guys had already expected the current situation. One of them stepped forward and said with a fist in his hand: "Master, my boss is waiting for you on the ship at this time. Please come on board and meet me."

"This is not a small show!" Hearing this, the mustached man squinted his eyes slightly and looked up at the two sailboats docked on the shore: "It seems that he is well prepared, okay! Then I will get on the boat and take a look. Today

What kind of extraordinary person came to Yangzhou City!"
Chapter completed!