Chapter 374: The Storm of Jianghuai (I)

Guangling County, which is Yangzhou, is more than 1,700 miles away from Chang'an. After the further development of Jiangnan from the Jin Dynasty, Yangzhou, located in the hinterland of the Jianghuai River, gradually became the economic center of the country. In order to enable Jianghuai materials to go north, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui began to build the Grand Canal. By the Tang Dynasty, the importance of canal transportation became increasingly prominent. After a century of hard work in the Tang Dynasty, political clarity and economic prosperity were organically combined, and finally the prosperous Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty.

That is, from the fifth year of Kaiyuan, the Chu family began to slowly embark on the political stage. After the Anshi Rebellion, the aristocratic family rose. The Chu family occupied the southeast, with Guangling County as its main sect. The power penetrated into dozens of counties and counties in Huainan and western Zhejiang, with tens of thousands of armies and thousands of warships. Finally, it became the fourth of the seven major families in the world. From the fifth year of Qingzhi, Chu Xingshui entered the court to serve as the Minister of Taifu Temple, more than twenty years passed in a flash, and the mountains and rivers were still the same. The aristocratic family was old. As the local warlord separatist became more and more intense, and with Zhang Huan rising in Longyou, the government affairs of the Tang family finally came to an end. Whether it was the Cui family, Pei family, Wei family, Zhang family, Yang family or Wang family, the six major families left the stage one after another in internal strife and war. Only the Chu family was in a corner without any damage. Just like the most gorgeous scene before the setting sun, the Chu family was destined to be the last family to end.

Guangling is also the commercial center of the Tang Dynasty. Tens of thousands of shops gathered in the city and merchants gathered. The terrain here is flat and the shipping is convenient. The Yangtze River is advantageous in the west. A large ship of thousands of stone can reach Bashu and Xiangyang. The vast sea can be reached in the east. It is connected to Silla in the north, Japan, Fujian and Guangdong in the south, and even across the ocean. It even crossed the ocean. It is a sea ship that can reach here. Guangling is the birthplace of canal transportation. For more than a hundred years, the continuous supply of Jianghuai materials has been transported to the Central Plains by a huge fleet. In addition, the salt industry monopoly system began during the Suzong period, and the salt tax gradually became the main fiscal revenue of the Tang Dynasty. The sea salt was abundant near Guangling, which made Guangling play an important role in the Tang Dynasty. For a long time, the salt iron supervision of the Tang Dynasty (equivalent to the current State Administration of Taxation) was located in Guangling.

April is the late spring season when green, red and thin, falling flowers are colorful. On a private dock in Jiangdu County, a small black boat is slowly docking. A man in his forties was sitting on the bow. He wore a veil hat and a green robe, with three long beards floating on his chest, and his eyes were shrewd. Behind him were two strong men, all of whom were wearing short black clothes and short collars, with no expression on his face. They were obviously the followers of the middle-aged man.

The boat leaned against the shore, and the boatman ran up to board the boat, "Callant, this is Song Kum Kee's pier, your destination has arrived."

The middle-aged man smiled slightly and gave a wink to the entourage behind him. One of the entourage put down the five-spin money, "This is your ship money. I have already told you that the five-spin money is a lot of money."

"No! No.!" The boatman took the money with great gratitude, but he said unsatisfiedly: "I heard that the guest's accent came from Chang'an, so be careful. Recently I heard that the Chu family is strictly investigating people from Chang'an."

"Thank you!" The middle-aged man bowed his hand and turned to the shore. On the river bank is a small street in the south of Jiangdu County, which is also a place with dense shops. Most of them operate various brocades, and the goods are mainly transported by water, so this small river has become a transportation channel for various shops. The small street is the back of the shops, and there are few pedestrians on the road, and only some people are transporting goods. Song Jinji is a medium-sized silk shop among these shops, mainly operating Shu Jin. Although the scale is medium, there are thousands of guan of funds entering and leaving every day. If it is in a small county, there are many in size.

The city is one of the best big shops. Unfortunately, it is in Yangzhou where business is prosperous. There are many big shops with 10,000 yuan a day. The Chu Motang in the Chu family has a total of 60,000 yuan in daily income, involving bulk materials such as grain, cloth, tea, etc., as well as Li Chenghong's Jinxiufang, which specializes in high-end silk and high-end porcelain, with 40,000 yuan in daily income. The Wuyuetang of Li Shen brothers is engaged in big food trade, with 35,000 yuan in daily income. This official and business store monopolizes the main business in Guangling, and the majority of small and medium-sized businessmen can only survive in the cracks.

However, Song Jinji has another special identity. It is a branch of the Longyou Internal Affairs Department in Guangling. It is in charge of intelligence collection in the entire Huainan area and has more than 100 members.

The middle-aged man walked into the street and walked into Song Jinji calmly through the back door with his hands behind his back. In the backyard, more than a dozen guys were busy sorting out the goods. When everyone saw him breaking in, one of them immediately came forward to ask, "If the customer is buying goods, please go to the front door, there will be no outsiders here."

"I neither buy nor sell goods, I will find your shopkeeper." The middle-aged man spoke a Beijing accent and immediately made all the friends alert. At this time, a 30-year-old man stepped forward and led them to a guest room. Seeing that there was no one around, he asked in a low voice: "Is there any question about the guest? What's the matter with us?"

The middle-aged man smiled without saying a word. A follower behind him took out a silver medal and shook it, and said coldly: "Please tell Manager Hou that my master's surname is Du."

The guy was shocked when he saw that the visitor showed a silver medal. He knew that the Internal Affairs Department had thousands of people under the jurisdiction of the Internal Affairs Department. The tokens were divided into four types: gold, silver, copper and iron. Only the governor and the Internal Affairs Department could hold the gold medal. There were only a few dozen people. The other leaders from all over the country only held bronze medals. The visitor actually held the silver medal. There was no doubt that this must be a senior official from Chang'an. The guy respected him and immediately gave a standard military salute, saying, "Please, Mr. Du, I will inform the shopkeeper later."

The guy hurried away, and the middle-aged man looked at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall with his hands behind his back, and a quiet smile was always on the corner of his mouth. His surname was Du, but in fact he was Zhang Huan's confidant Du Mei. He is currently the deputy chief of the Internal Affairs Department. This time he came to Guangling to carry out a special mission under the order of Zhang Huan. Wang Siyu's army, who was heading south from Hebei Road, has arrived in Pengjun, and the 60,000 Lin Jiuhan army deployed in eastern Zhejiang also advanced from Xuancheng to Dangtu. The clouds of war enveloped Huainan.

After a moment, a tall, thin, bearded man walked in quickly. He recognized Du Mei at a glance and immediately knelt down and saluted: "Hou Ming, please see Judge Du!"

Du Mei turned around and looked at him in surprise and said, "Shopkeeper Hou knows me?"

"Bei Yi was originally the governor's personal guard, and he has seen Judge Du more than once."

When Du Mei's face immediately became gentle when he heard that the other party was Zhang Huan's personal guard. He waved his hand and smiled, "Please sit down by the shopkeeper Hou!"

"I dare not do it." Hou Ming immediately ordered someone to close the door, and poured Du Mei a bowl of tea, then stood with his hands down, ready to answer his boss's questions at any time.

Du Mei picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of herbal tea, pondered for a while and asked, "What have been the changes in the officialdom in Guangling recently?"

"No, everything is as usual, but the magistrate of Jiangdu County asked for leave the day before yesterday to return to Danyang to attend the funeral for his father. Now the county magistrate is in charge of government affairs."

"Is the governor or Zhao Yan?" Du Mei asked slowly.

"Yes! Governor Zhao has a high prestige among the people and is a good official. I have never heard of him having any bad deeds."

Du Mei nodded and gently placed the tea bowl on the table and said, "Have the task Li Sizheng gave you progressed?"

Hou Ming immediately took out a thick stack of information and placed it in front of Du Mei. "This is the information of Datianzhuang in Huainan, eastern Zhejiang and western Zhejiang that his subordinates collected in three months, as well as detailed information from major officials and businessmen. Please refer to Judge Du for a review."

Du Mei took it and flipped it a little, immediately handed it to a follower and said, "Send it to the governor as fast as possible, no mistakes are allowed!"

"Yes!" The entourage took the information and put it in close proximity. He bowed and was about to leave, but Hou Ming stopped him and said anxiously: "The Chu family has been at various intersections these days, and they have to check passers-by. It is too dangerous to go out like this. It is better to go out with our cargo ship and leave tonight."

Du Mei thought for a while and said, "Okay! This information is of great importance. Don't be careless. Let's go out with the cargo ship tonight."

At this moment, Guangling County is already facing a great enemy. The Chu family's 100,000 troops have been fully deployed. In the south, 30,000 naval troops blocked the Yangtze River to defend Lin Jiuhan's army from north, while in the north, 60,000 troops were deployed on Yancheng, Huaiyin and Linhuai lines. In addition, the most elite 10,000 veterans of the Chu family were stationed in Guangling City.

Although the weather was not very hot, the atmosphere in Jiangdu City suddenly became tense. Teams of fully armed patrol soldiers could be seen walking through the streets and alleys, checking any suspicious people and carriages. In comparison, more than a hundred yamen runners in Guangling County and Jiangdu County seemed much thinner, and they would appear on the streets in groups of three or three, but their existence was meaningless. The entire Jiangdu City had been controlled by the army.

At noon, Chu Xingshui wore a purple gold helmet and fine armor. Under the escort of the 500 guards, he appeared at the largest official dock in Jiangdu. This was also the distribution center for the entire Jianghuai River. A huge warehouse group was elusive at a glance, covering an area of ​​thousands of hectares. The warehouse was filled with grain, copper coins, salt, silk, cloth and other canal transport supplies, and was guarded by the Huainan army of the two thousand Chu families.

Originally, the soldiers guarding this warehouse were not the army of the Chu family, but the thousand guards of the Salt and Iron Supervision. The Chu family, local governments, and the Salt and Iron Supervision have always been the three major forces in Guangling. They usually do not interfere with each other and do their own things, but now it is different. Chu Xingshui has ordered the army to block the canal transport fleet moored by the Yangtze River and take over all the warehouses of the canal transport department. Especially this largest warehouse in Jiangdu City, the canal transport will become the last move of the Chu family, which is the bargaining chip for negotiations with the court, or rather, Zhang Huan.

A few months ago, the Chu family and the Longyou Army were their closest allies, and they surrounded the Cui Qinggong Rebellion together. However, after only a few months, the conflict between the Chu family and Zhang Huan began to emerge. At the earliest, after Cui Qinggong's demise, Zhang Huan refused Chu Xingshui's request to expand its power to Huaibei. Instead, Li Shuangyu's army occupied a vast area north of the Huaihe River, and also sealed up all the money, grain and wealth in Luoyang, so that the Chu family did not receive any compensation after paying the price of participating in the suppression of the rebellion. They returned to Huainan and then Chu Xingshui

He also asked Lin Jiuhan's troops to leave western Zhejiang, but also failed. Not only did Lin Jiuhan's troops not leave, they also accepted the territory and forces of Han Huan, and deployed their troops in vast areas south of the Yangtze River, especially Yuhang County, to station 10,000 elite troops. This was like a sharp dagger that forced the Chu family to sleep and eat, making the Chu family unable to sleep or eat. In the subsequent deployment of power in the court, news came again that the Pei family and the Cui family would be reused again, and Chu Xingshui was only converted to the Minister of Revenue. In fact, their Chu family did not get any benefits.

Under Zhang Huan's deliberate suppression by various means, the Chu family finally tore up the alliance agreement with Zhang Huan, resolutely rejected Zhang Huan's request for the Chu family to abandon their troops, and did not hesitate to use force to fight against the Chu family to safeguard the Chu family's vital interests.

Chu Xingshui is an active advocate of using force to fight against force. In his opinion, it is meaningless to abandon troops from other major families. The family's internal strife has exhausted all the capital. The final abandonment of troops has actually not lost much, but has gained greater benefits.

But the Chu family is different. The Chu family has never hurt any vitality. If they abandoned their troops, it would mean that decades of hard work would be wasted, but Zhang Huan did not give them any compensation, which made Chu Xingshui feel at ease.

Early this morning, Chu Xingshui received news that Zhang Huan's army was approaching. The sudden news suddenly extinguished Chu Xingshui's anger. He thought that the court did not dare to destroy the prosperity of the Jianghuai River. After a period of stalemate, Zhang Huan would send important officials to Guangling to negotiate. If their Chu family took a step back, they could lay off half or even 70% of their troops and fully support him. Zhang Huan naturally also had to take a step back, ensuring the vested interests of the Chu family and improving their status in the new dynasty. In this way, both sides would be happy and reach a win-win situation.

But things did not develop as he thought. Zhang Huan's toughness made him unexpected. First, his eldest son Chu Wei was arrested in Chang'an, and then the army headed south, with signs of a war breaking out. Chu Xingshui had to calm down and consider the consequences of this matter. If the war finally started, would his Chu family resist Zhang Huan's most elite Anxi Army, whether he could withstand Zhang Huan's attacks, and whether he could deal with the attacks between the north and the south, as well as the sharpest secret weapon in the Anxi Army: Thunder of the Sky! Chu Xingshui felt that he was a little difficult to get off.

Chu Xingshui came to the warehouse, and the guard who was stationed in the warehouse came forward to report: "Report to the general, the situation in Jiangdu warehouse is calm and there is nothing abnormal."

Chu Xingshui nodded silently. He stared at the grain warehouses that were piled up like a hill, and finally sighed: "Go and tell Yang Zhuanhuo, just say that I will allow him to transport two million stones of grain and one million guan of money to the north first. Also, please ask him to set off before noon tomorrow!"
Chapter completed!