Chapter 2004

Even at night, there were still many eyes staring at the two salt ships from Ningbo, so news of the brief fight that took place on the canal quickly spread among the local salt merchants.

"Wang Yu, are you okay? How come the person you sent to look for trouble was captured instead?"

In the He family manor, He Huan was angry with Wang Yu. Today he asked the salt merchants to take measures to show off their Ningbo counterparts, but Wang Yu's actions obviously failed to achieve this goal. Instead, the Ningbo salt merchants took the initiative.

This really hurts the face of the local salt merchants.

Wang Yu said with a look of shame: "Master He, I have indeed underestimated the strength of those Ningbo salt merchants, but fortunately there was no loss. Only one person was captured by mistake, and the others were slightly injured at most."

He Huan snorted coldly and said: "You think I don't know? The person who was caught is the leader of the team! If that person opens his mouth and bites randomly, it will give you a headache!"

Wang Yu apologized and said with a smile: "Those Ningbo salt merchants said they were going to sink the people into the river. Maybe the people are already dead at this time and there is no need to worry about leaking the secret."

He Huan said angrily: "Do you think your subordinate's loyalty can make him willing to die for you? In order to save his life, I won't do anything! If you don't have diamonds, don't take this porcelain job!"

Wang Yu was scolded by He Huan but did not dare to talk back. He arranged for people to go to the dock to trouble the Ningbo salt merchants. He did have the idea of ​​​​taking credit, but he seriously underestimated the difficulties and fell into a big trap as soon as he took action.

Somersault. However, he was a little dissatisfied with He Huan's nervousness. Even if the Ningbo salt merchants knew that he was the instigator behind the scenes, what would they do? Could they still organize a group of people to come to the door?

Of course, such thoughts could only exist in his mind, and he did not dare to speak out and challenge He Huan's authority. However, he also knew that although He Huan was angry, he was only dissatisfied with the result, not against him for taking the initiative.

There are opinions on the matter of action. As long as you don't try to continue to defend yourself at this time, He Huan's anger will be over after a while and everything will be fine.

Sure enough, He Huan calmed down before long and asked, "Where are the Lu Kangtai people? Why haven't they come yet?"

He Huan said that Cao Cao had arrived. As soon as He Huan finished speaking, a servant came in to report that Lu Kangtai had arrived.

After Lu Kangtai came in, he saw several people already in the study, all of whom were well-known figures in the Shanxi and Shaanxi salt merchants. He greeted everyone one by one, but he already understood something in his heart. These people were not resting at home in the middle of the night.

They all gathered at the He family manor, and naturally they came over after being notified by He Huan. The reason why He Huan was so anxious for them to come over was probably because of the brief fight that just happened by the canal.

"I wonder which man's subordinate was the one who went to the canal just now to trouble the Ningbo salt merchants?" Lu Kangtai took the initiative to ask after he sat down.

Wang Yugong cupped his hands and said, "These useless servants make Brother Lu laugh!"

Lu Kangtai smiled and said: "I was eating near the pier just now, and I happened to see this scene. Brother Wang, there is no need to be modest. From what I have seen, these Ningbo salt merchants are not simple!"

"Oh? Where do you start talking about this?" Wang Yu asked puzzledly.

Lu Kangtai said: "The opponent's manpower has obviously been specially trained and can handle this kind of situation with ease. Although Brother Wang's men have a large number of people, they have become a mess in front of the opponent. But Brother Wang's men are still very powerful.

, when you find you are losing, you will quickly retreat and you won’t be reluctant to fight, at least you won’t suffer any losses.”

Wang Yu's face turned red and he took the initiative to admit: "My people retreated because the leader of the team was caught by the other party. This is the reason why Brother Lu said there was a mess."

Lu Kangtai was far away at that time and did not see Gong Shiqi take action to restrain the leader of the gang. After listening to Wang Yu's words, he understood why the gang was killed by Ningbo Salt as soon as the two sides fought.

Shang's men were driven away. They were leaderless, and this group of people had not received formal training, so they naturally lost their will to fight. Rather than retreating on their own initiative, it would be more accurate to say they scattered in all directions.

As a result, the scene was a bit embarrassing. Lu Kangtai laughed dryly and said: "Brother Wang's men must have underestimated the Ningbo salt merchant and were not prepared for the sudden attack of the other party, so they were captured by mistake."

"You don't have to defend him. It's obvious that his people are not well prepared and unable to deal with it!" He Huan was not interested in listening to Lu Kangtai's excuse for Wang Yu, so he interrupted and said, "Tell me what you think.

"

Lu Kangtai said: "I think the other party is well prepared. They know what kind of trouble they may encounter in Yangzhou and have a proper response plan. And their manpower is likely to have received special training, which is not ordinary.

sailors and bodyguards.”

As the only person among the salt merchants in Shanxi and Shaanxi who has mastered high-level armed forces, Lu Kangtai's opinions are undoubtedly quite influential. If he believes that this opponent has the strength that must be faced seriously, it means that only ordinary market gangsters will be dispatched.

It is difficult to threaten the other party.

Wang Yu felt grateful after hearing this. He felt that Lu Kangtai exaggerated the opponent's strength, and one of his purposes was to help him absolve himself of the mistake. However, Lu Kangtai raised the opponent so high, and the only person who could handle this situation was probably

Only the mysterious armed force under his command was left. Wang Yu felt that this was Lu Kangtai's second purpose, to make others quit in the face of difficulties and let him take over the job. After the job was completed, he could enjoy the credit alone.

Not only did he think so, but most of the people present, including He Huan, also felt the same way. He Huan followed Lu Kangtai's words and asked: "Then it's up to you to deal with this group of people.

How about dropping it?"

Everyone thought that Lu Kangtai would agree to it, so that everyone could breathe a sigh of relief. However, Lu Kangtai's answer was beyond everyone's expectations: "It's not appropriate. In my opinion, it's best not to try it rashly."

Go and have another conflict with this group of people."

"Why is this?" He Huan asked in confusion: "If you send out your troops, how difficult will it be to capture this group of people?"

"I just said that this group of people is most likely well-prepared. Their purpose of coming to Yangzhou is not necessarily to sell salt. We have launched several previous attacks on Ningbo salt caravans, and the other party must also be trying to

When tracing the clues, no matter what evidence they find, they will definitely trace the source to Yangzhou in the end." Lu Kangtai explained: "I suspect that the purpose of these people coming to Yangzhou is to find out the whereabouts of the Musketeers. If we let

They have confirmed the whereabouts of the Musketeers, and there may be big trouble later!"

"What trouble could there be? Aren't we the ones who have the final say in Yangzhou?"

"Brother Lu is too careful. The other party is just a group of salt merchants who take risks to make money. Why do you talk like an army!"

"Since we know they are coming with bad intentions, why not strike first and keep this group of people in Yangzhou!"

Upon hearing what Lu Kangtai said, everyone expressed their opinions one after another, but without exception, they did not agree with Lu Kangtai's idea, and still hoped to use stronger means to deal with the Ningbo visitors by the canal.

Lu Kangtai smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone, you just saw that the previous few operations were relatively smooth, and you didn't realize the risks at all. Don't forget that the backers behind the Ningbo salt merchants are the very difficult Haihan people! Even

The imperial court has nothing to do with them, so if the Haihan people are really tempted to take action, what role can this musketeer team play?"

These salt merchants still have some knowledge of the strength level of the Haihan people. There are islands and ports occupied by the Haihan people along the coast of many places in the Ming Dynasty, and their troops even stationed in Liaodong and fought back and forth with the Qing army in the north.

This kind of military strength is definitely not something that Lu Kangtai's small musketry team can compete with. Even the local garrison will carefully avoid provoking the Haihan people.

However, since the conflict of interests between the two salt merchants, the Haihan people have never directly negotiated with the Yangzhou salt merchants, which has also made some people gradually forget who the real operator behind the Ningbo salt merchants was. At this time, when Lu Kangtai mentioned it, everyone

I also remembered that the backer behind the Ningbo salt merchant was not easy to deal with.

But He Huan still refused to give up so easily. He shook his head and said: "The Haihan people are Haihan people, and the salt merchants are salt merchants. There is currently no evidence to prove that this group of Ningbo salt merchants by the canal can make the Haihan people come forward. What are you worried about?

Everything just comes from your intuition. If we pretend to be deaf and mute and ignore their existence in Yangzhou, wouldn't that be a blatant show of weakness to the other party?"

"There has been no movement across the river. I suspect they are also involved." Seeing that everyone did not accept this reason, Lu Kangtai dropped another bombshell.

Across the river are the old enemies of the Huizhou salt merchants, and if they were involved in this matter, the situation would be even more complicated.

When He Huan heard this, his expression changed and he said, "Do you have any evidence?"

"Not yet, but I met with Yang Chengye tonight and asked him to go back and inquire first to see if he has any inside information." Lu Kangtai responded: "Maybe we should wait a little longer.

Make sure this is not a trap before considering taking action."

Lu Kangtai was unwilling to take risks at home, partly because his intuition smelled the danger, and partly because of warnings from his partners. If the Musketeers were noticed by the Haihan people, it meant that their cooperation was likely

The meeting ended here, and Lu Kangtai did not want to ruin the great cooperation prospects because of a risky attack - he believed that as long as the cooperation could continue, it would only be a matter of time before the Huizhou salt merchants were driven out of Yangzhou and regained the lost market share.

.When the time comes, he has both prestige and strength, and it is only logical that he should hold the top position among the Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchants.

As for the Ningbo salt merchants, Lu Kangtai didn't think they could cause much trouble in Yangzhou, especially after his musketeers grew stronger, he would have more confidence to take tough measures to deal with them.

However, Lu Kangtai would definitely not express these small calculations, and could only find some more high-sounding reasons to shirk He Huan's request to send out the Musketeers.

But the more he acted like this, the more others felt that such caution was unnecessary. Some even thought that his statement was a bit alarmist. And at that moment, some people pointed out that Lu Kangtai’s Musketeers were not built by him alone, but were originally built by him.

A number of salt merchants came up with the initial capital in the form of contributions. The reason why the musketeers were given command by Lu Kangtai was just because the partners had a good relationship with him. In order to facilitate the subsequent purchase of weapons and ammunition from the other party and the arrangement of training matters

Wait, having Lu Kangtai in charge will save you a lot of unnecessary trouble.

"This musketeer team is our common property, and everyone here has the right to participate in the discussion on how to use it. I think this way, the minority will obey the majority. If you want to use the musketeer team, everyone will raise their hands.

!" Seeing that it was difficult for both parties to agree on an agreement and that Lu Kangtai was unwilling to give in, He Huan immediately proposed a seemingly compromise solution.

But Lu Kangtai knew very well that such a vote would only have one result. These people here only saw that their own interests might be damaged by the arrival of Ningbo salt merchants, but they did not realize that the potential risks were far greater than the economic impact.

The limited losses are even greater. Once things develop in an uncontrollable direction, the Shanshan Salt Merchant may lose more than just a musketry team.

The results of the show of hands vote made Lu Kangtai feel cold. Except for himself, everyone present said that the musketeers should be dispatched to attack this group of arrogant people. Although Lu Kangtai did not agree with this opinion, he also

There is no right to object to such a collective decision.

"Everyone, you are risking your own property. Once something happens, we will not have another chance to reorganize a musketry team." Lu Kangtai still wanted to try to persuade these companions who were already fighting, but

He soon realized that it seemed too late.

The previous operations that dispatched the Musketeers went so smoothly that everyone had a blindly optimistic attitude, thinking that with this armed force they could conquer the world. But Lu Kangtai knew very well that even if he provided them with weapons,

The partners of the ammunition are also very careful in everything, lest their whereabouts are exposed and noticed by the Haihan people. If the previous family is so low-key, how can the Shanxi salt merchants have the confidence to act arrogantly?

But his companions didn't think so. If the musketeers were not sent out to drive away these Ningbo salt merchants, it seemed that it would not be enough to deter competitors. And a beautiful victory, in addition to driving away potential competitors, would also allow

They have more confidence when facing local Anhui salt merchants.

"You see, this is what all of us mean. If you feel that you are not competent, then hand over the command of the Musketeers first, and then return it to you after the matter is settled." He Huan stared at Lu Kangtai's face,

The final decision was announced to him calmly.
Chapter completed!