"I asked Li Run, this person is the head of a wealthy family in Yangzhou, lives in Jiangyang County, and his son is Wu Theorium, a waiter of the Luoyang Imperial Court."

"No wonder!"

Guo Song snorted coldly and said: "Since he wants to take the risk of collaborating with the enemy, then fulfill him, send an army to raid his house, and behead this Wu Duo and his brothers and nephews for the crime of collaborating with the enemy!" ”

Guo Song paused and said: "There is also a dwarf who reported the news, catch him and behead him together!" ”

"Obey the order!"

Li Bing went in a hurry, and Guo Song went down to the city and came to Xue Lun's military office and palace, like Liu Pi's palace in Jiangling, Xue Lun's military office also has more than a dozen large warehouses, storing a large amount of money, grain and materials.

Wang Yu hurried over with two officials, one was Li Run, who had just been promoted to the commander of Jiangdu County, and the other was Wang Jinnian, the assassin of Yangzhou.

Wang Jinnian was originally the assassin of Chuzhou, quite talented, appreciated by Liu Sigu, recommended him as the Yangzhou assassin history, although he was working for Zhu Jun, but his official reputation is excellent, very popular with the people, before the people of Jiangdu were arrested more than 10,000 young people, originally sent by Xue Lun to dry salt, but in the end he tried his best to fight, Xue Lun promised to release people.

Therefore, in Guo Song's instructions to Li Bing and Wang Yu, this assassin Wang Jinnian is also an official to be retained.

Wang Yu introduced Li Run and Wang Jinnian to Guo Song, and the two hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

Guo Song invited them to sit down and asked, "What I am most concerned about is how to recover Yangzhou's business, do you have any ideas?" ”

Wang Jinnian sighed and said: "Zhu Jun squeezed Yangzhou too hard, at least plundered millions of wealth, Weichen believes that it is not impossible to restore Yangzhou's commercial prosperity, but it will take a long time, and there is a question of confidence." ”

Guo Song nodded, "Let's be specific!" ”

Wang Jinnian bowed slightly and said: "Businessmen need capital to do business first, and in recent years, Zhu Jun has robbed him of a lot of wealth, and most businessmen told me that they don't even have the capital to buy goods, and they don't know what to do in the future." ”

Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "Capital is not a problem, the imperial court can lend money to Yangzhou merchants at low interest, I think it is more important to have confidence!" ”

"Your Highness is right, most of the businessmen have left Yangzhou, some have gone to Chang'an, some have gone to Runzhou, and they are still willing to come back, this is a big problem, and then there is safety, whether Yangzhou will encounter war again, is also everyone worried, so I said that it will take a long time, and confidence can be built up slowly."

Guo Song took a few steps and said to the two: "It will take a long time to rebuild confidence, but as an official, you can take the initiative to fight for the interests of businessmen, create a good environment for business, and persuade all big businessmen to come back, at least open a branch in Yangzhou, as long as you do these things well, I think it can greatly shorten the time it takes to revive business." ”

Li Run added on the side: "Your Highness, the most important benefit for businessmen is probably low taxes, which must be approved by the imperial court!" ”

Guo Song said unhurriedly: "After we recovered Chengdu, Chengdu was exempted from commercial taxes for ten years, since Chengdu has set a precedent, I think Yangzhou can also enjoy the same, you can write to the political affairs hall, explain the specific difficulties to the imperial court, and believe that the government affairs hall will approve your application for tax exemption." ”

Wang Junian and Li Runnian were overjoyed, Wang Junnian hurriedly said: "If Yangzhou can be exempted from business tax for ten years, the attraction to businessmen will be too great, and the government can be exempted from shop rent at the same time, plus the imperial court is willing to lend money to businessmen as capital, it will not take ten years, and I think that it will be able to recover in five years at most." ”

Guo Song also said: "Commercial taxes can be exempted, but they do not include taxes on goods imported from overseas, and the taxes on such overseas goods are the same whether they are Guanzhong or Hekou, Mingzhou and Yangzhou, or even Sogdian merchants who transport goods from the West." ”

"It doesn't matter, the profits of seafood are too big, and I don't care about this tax."

At this time, a personal soldier ran over and knelt down on one knee in the hall to report, "Your Highness, there is an emergency!" ”

Guo Song nodded, and said to Wang Jinnian and Li Run: "The army will withdraw from the city at noon, you can appease the people, let all the shops open for business, and tell them that the war in Yangzhou is over!" ”

The two said goodbye and left, and Guo Song said to his soldiers: "What is the urgent matter?" ”

"Your Highness, General Luo Ziyu sent someone back just now to report that the scouts who rushed to the Huai River in advance found that there were warships of unknown origin on the Huai River, General Luo Ziyu implored His Highness for instructions!"

Guo Song frowned, turned around and asked Wang Yu next to him, "What do you think of the military advisor?" ”

"Your Highness, this must be Li Na's sailor coming."

"How can Li Na have a water army?" Guo Song asked puzzled.

"As far as the humble officials know, after Zhu Jun destroyed the Huaixi Army, he only got some warships on the Yangtze River, and hundreds of warships on the Huaihe River were obtained by Li Na."

Guo Song snorted coldly and said, "Since Li Na sent a big gift to the door, how could I not accept it?" ”

Guo Song immediately ordered Luo Ziyu to lead the naval army to the north with all his strength to encircle and suppress the warships on the Huai River.

.........

The Jin army was to seize the five prefectures of Huainan, including Chu, Yang, Hao, Tu, and He, and also to prepare for the next step of seizing Huaixi, so the blockade of the Huaihe River became an important means to prevent Zhu Zhu's reinforcements from going south.

This is also the first action after the merger of the Runzhou Navy and the Jiangling Navy into the Changjiang Water Army, they are also divided into two routes, Luo Ziyu led 600 warships to the north to block the Huai River, and the deputy general Zhang Kecheng led more than 300 warships to cruise on the Yangtze River to protect the safety of Jiangnan.

After receiving Guo Song's order, Luo Ziyu immediately led the fleet to the north, among the six hundred warships, there were two hundred thousand-stone warships, and the others were small and medium-sized warships of three or five hundred stones, and there were dozens of sentinel ships of about one hundred stones, totaling 10,000 sailors.

The navy sent by Li Na had only more than 200 warships, only 50 Qianshi warships, and 5,000 soldiers, which were commanded by Cao Guang, the general of the navy.

Cao Guangnian is about forty years old, a native of Xuzhou, he was originally one of the five generals under Li Na, because he grew up by the river since he was a child, and the water is very good, so he was appointed by Li Na as the commander of the water army, in fact, Cao Guang does not understand water warfare, and has no actual combat experience, this time Li Na ordered him to lead the army to block the Huai River, and Cao Guang also led soldiers and warships to the Huai River.

Cao Guang did not go west for the time being, he still had to meet the lord's army going south, and he also stationed the fleet in the area of Shanyang County.

On this afternoon, the fleet sailed on the Huai River in Shanyang County, and Cao Guang stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the canal in the distance on the south bank, his brows furrowed, and his slightly slender face was full of sorrow.

His sorrow came from the decision of the lord Li Na, he couldn't figure it out, how could the lord think of going south to seize Huainan?

Of course, Cao Guang knew Li Na's intentions, as early as the time of Li Na's father Li Zhengji, he had been eyeing Huainan Yangzhou for many years, and it was the Guo Song army that captured Jiangnan that made Li Na make up his mind to send troops to Yangzhou and seize Yangzhou before Guo Song.

But what Cao Guang didn't understand was that even if the lord Li Na seized Yangzhou, would Guo Song want to give Yangzhou away?

Just thinking about it, Cao Guang suddenly saw a small boat, which was speeding towards his fleet, and he recognized it at a glance, it was the small boat he sent to Chuzhou to inquire about the news, but this sentry ship only left yesterday, why did it come back today?

The sentinel ship approached quickly, and a soldier on the sentinel ship reported in a loud voice: "General Qiqi, we have found a warship fleet in the south, which is heading towards the Huai River, and it is less than forty miles away from here. ”

Cao Guang was taken aback for a moment, and asked urgently, "Where is the fleet?" ”

"There is no flag on the ship, I can't see it for the time being, there are about five or six hundred warships, and there are many thousand-stone warships!"

"So much?"

Cao Guang became nervous in his heart, and asked anxiously, "What else is the news?" ”

"Not yet."

"Let's find out!"

"Obey!"

The sentinel ship turned around and walked away, Cao Guang hurriedly found the deputy general Zheng Wende, Zheng Wende was originally a naval lieutenant under Li Xilie, a native of Haozhou, and went to Ziqing with the fleet, and now he is the only one of the few old qualified generals left in the old fleet, and was promoted by Li Na to the deputy governor of the navy, assisting Cao Guang.

After listening to Cao Guang's narration, Zheng Wende thought for a while and said: "There are two possibilities, one is that Zhu Zhu's fleet went north, and the sentinel ship did not see clearly, with a warship in front and a cargo ship behind, transporting salt taxes or other property, and the other possibility is Guo Song's warship, if it is Guo Song's warship, then I'm afraid Jiangdu will be in danger." ”

"So what are we going to do?" Cao Guang asked anxiously.

Zheng Wende pondered for a moment and said: "We can go to Baishuitang to take refuge, if it is Zhu Zhu's fleet, they will go north directly, if it is Guo Song's fleet, when they go west, we will come out and return to Haizhou, and wait for the order of the lord." ”

Cao Guang thought about it and made sense, the other party's momentum was too strong, so he avoided the edge first, and then he immediately ordered: "The fleet goes to Baishuitang!" ”

The fleet changed direction and headed for the White Water Pond, which was dozens of miles away.