If it weren't for being overly jealous of Han Qian's tricks and cooperating with Xuzhou, tolerating the Chishan Society to gain a foothold on the west bank of Fanliang Lake would only be good for Huaidong, and there would be no harm.

At present, nearly 3,000 people have gathered in the vicinity of Baijiegang, and if the scale continues to expand, it will be difficult to pose any substantial threat to Huaidong.

As long as the number of the old headquarters of the Zuo Guangde Army moved north reached a certain scale, even if the Huaidong side did not tell the informant, it was impossible for the Guangde Mansion, the Privy Council Division, the Jinyun Division, and the soldiers and horses of the forbidden army stationed in Chuzhou to be undetectable.

As long as the court connects the Chishan Society with Xuzhou and Han Qian, even if Xuzhou and Chishan will be docile, even if the court will be difficult to kill the Chishan Society in a short time, it will inevitably further strengthen the suspicion and vigilance against Xuzhou and Han Qian.

Huai'an will also be under much less pressure; Huai'an also urgently needed three to five years to stabilize and consolidate its internal rule.

Of course, it is impossible for Huai'an to casually allow the men, horses, and materials of the Xuzhou and Chishan armies to transit through Yangzhou.

The new law on drying salt does not work, and Yin Peng also put forward additional requirements at the moment: "Xuzhou has recently had two merchant ships enter Yangzhou, and Yangzhou will naturally not be in trouble, but Yangzhou cannot fail to comply with the system of extraction and purchase issued by the Salt and Iron Envoy, and Xuzhou must also be asked to abide by it." ”

To put it bluntly, whether it is Xuzhou or Chishanhui, commercial goods must transit from Huaidong, and Huaidong will take one out of ten for extraction, and then according to the proportion of four out of ten for parity as a tax.

On the one hand, it is also necessary to prevent a large number of elite armor, war weapons, and even warships from being transported into Baishugang by Han Qian, causing the Chishan Society to gather military forces west of Fanliang Lake that can threaten Huaidong.

In particular, Xuzhou's shipbuilding capacity is far stronger than that of Huaidong.

After Yin Peng and Wang Wenqian discussed, the first thing to restrict was to strictly prohibit large-scale elite warships from entering Fanliang Lake in Xuzhou.

"Okay." Han Qian accepted the conditions put forward by Yin Peng on behalf of Huaidong, and then further discussed more specific details.

Huaidong forbade large armed merchant ships from Xuzhou to directly enter Fanliang Lake, so the Chishan Society had to buy a house on the south side of Zhuyu Bay, at the riverbank wharf near Hangou, and build a warehouse for the transit of materials; At the same time, it was also necessary for Huaidong to allow the Chishan Society to send two small sailing ships with a capacity of 400 stones to transport these materials between Baijiegang and Zhuyu Bay.

Between Baihugang and Zhuyu Bay, there are more than 110 miles by water and more than 140 miles by land, but the materials of three or four thousand stones are often transported by water, even if they are transported by small canopy sailboats, it is much more convenient than by land.

In the absence of gallop roads and post roads, two small sailing ships are worth a land transport fleet of two or three hundred mules and horses.

Of course, Yin Peng's demand that the Xuzhou merchant ship divert from the Yangtze River waterway to Hangou, and that two small sailing ships cross the center line of Fanliang Lake to Zhuyu Bay, all need to be subject to Huaidong's supervision.

In short, Huaidong must do everything possible to supervise the movements of the Chishan Society on the west bank of Fanliang Lake.

Yin Peng even proposed that Yangzhou should directly send people into Baihogang, which was resolutely rejected by Han Qian.

After initially discussing all this, Han Qian took Feng Yi and Guo Xiao to Yangzhou with Yin Peng, and only after Huaidong officially agreed, the two of them directly arranged for the merchant ship to enter from Yangzhou, saving the twists and turns of returning to deliver the message.

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"Han Qian is in Baiho Gang, how long is he going to stay?"

It was easy to confirm that the refugees who had crossed the river to the north and gathered at Baijiegang, and Yangzhou itself was responsible for the monitoring and vigilance of Su, Chang, and Su in the south of the Yangtze River, as well as Tuzhou on the west side of Hangou.

In a serious sense, He Aba was still inserted by Yin Peng in the western region of Chuzhou.

Later, in order to control the passage in and out between Hongzepu and Fanliang Lake, Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters, moved an elite army to the western part of Dongyang County, which was located north of Fanliang Lake, and then the northeast and north of Chuzhou and the territory of Haozhou west of Hongzepu, and the matter of scouts was brought under the rule of Dongyang Xingying.

After Han Qian left, Wang Wenqian confirmed very early that Chishan would be the foothold in the eastern part of Chuzhou, which was in Baijiegang, but he didn't expect that Han Qian did not return to Xuzhou, and even they couldn't confirm when Han Qian would leave Chuzhou.

"Daddy is starting to be suspicious again, right?" Wang Jun stood aside and laughed.

Yin Peng coughed lightly to resolve the embarrassing scene.

Wang Wenqian's old face turned red, glared at Wang Jun, and saw that she was reading through the booklet of the new method of drying salt, and asked, "Jun'er, do you think this new method of drying salt is available?" ”

"My daughter has never been a salt official or salt farmer, so how do you know that this new law is not feasible?" Wang Jun said, "If Daddy is eager to know, there are many officials and merchants in Yangzhou who know how to boil salt, so if you find two people to come and ask, you can see some clues." ”

"Then forget it." Wang Wenqian shook his head and said.

What they did by all means was to prevent the new law from reaching Jinling, and to find two old officials who were good at salt affairs to come over for consultation.

Wang Wenqian took the booklet of the salt drying law, sat down after walking to the case, opened it and read it carefully, while secretly scrutinizing and pondering, after a long time, he raised his head and sighed: "If this law is really verified, it can be widely practiced, and the imperial court has 40,000 salt households along the Huaidong coast, far from being able to produce three or four more sea salt, I am afraid it will be able to produce twice as much sea salt!" ”

"So much?" Yin Peng asked in shock.

The total demand for salt in Dachu is fixed, and after deducting private salt, the total annual demand is roughly maintained at about 1.2 million quintals.

It is useless for the Huaidong Salt Farm to produce twice as much sea salt, but on the other hand, the output of sea salt remains the same, and if the new method of drying salt is feasible, it actually means that nearly half of the labor can be saved?

The imperial court was able to vacate 20,000 stove households and salt farmers in the eastern part of Huaidong, and no matter what they did, it would make Huaidong doubly uncomfortable.

Han Qian made this law public to Huaidong, which was really to implement the threat to Huaidong, not a bluff.

"You lead Feng Yi and Guo Xiao to Chuzhou for another trip." Wang Wenqian told Yin Peng that the stakes were very high, and he still had no way to make any decisions, so Yin Peng took Feng Yi and Guo Xiao to Chuzhou, and went directly to Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters, to explain the matter.

King Xin sent people to attack Baihogang before, but he didn't greet Yangzhou, so it would be better for His Royal Highness King Xin to make a decision.

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Feng Yi and Guo Xiao rushed to Chuzhou with Yin Peng, but they did not see Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters, from beginning to end, and they were placed under house arrest in a small courtyard in Chuzhou City for half a month.

When Yin Peng appeared again, Yin Peng directly said that he had promised the king, and he rushed back to Yangzhou with them non-stop.

Feng Yi also guessed that Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters, should have summoned the old officials who were good at salt affairs to deliberate on the new law, and perhaps tried the new law first along the coast of Haizhou, which was under their control.

Feng Yi somewhat didn't understand why Han Qian wanted to reveal the new method of drying salt, but so far, the effect has been good, but he and Guo Xiao returned to Yangzhou on August 23.

Feng Yi and the others went to Yangzhou, and Wang Wenqian assigned a confidant to be responsible for the contact between the two sides, and then went south non-stop, rushed to Guazhou Port, Jiangdu County, hired a small boat, and boarded two Xuzhou merchant ships that had been anchored in the south of Guazhou Port for several days.

This time, the person in charge of supervising the eastward movement of merchant ships was Lin Zongjing.

A young man who was fourteen or fifteen years old, seven or eight years have passed, and now he is a young general with great spirit.

The merchant ships of Xuzhou are all armed merchant ships.

Although large and medium-sized weapons are not allowed to be loaded, and merchant ship guards are only allowed to be equipped with some ordinary blades and leather armor, Lin Zongjing led more than 120 shipwrights and guards, and on the Yangtze River, he was not afraid of small groups of river bandits and lake bandits.

"How are you, sir?" Picking up Feng Yi and Guo Xiao on the boat, Lin Zongjing avoided the officials sent by Yangzhou and asked.

"Okay." In the past month, Feng Yi has either hurried away, or has been placed under house arrest and surveillance, and his mood is extremely depressed.

"When will you return to Xuzhou?" Lin Zongjing asked with concern.

This is also the concern of all the generals who remained in Xuzhou.

Han Qian left Xuzhou in April, and it was already the end of August in the blink of an eye.

"Who knows when he'll be able to play enough?" Feng Yi spread his hands and said.

Theoretically speaking, things have come to this point, and the rest of the things are left by Han Donghu, Su Lie, Dou Rong, He Liufeng and others to command the old headquarters of Zuoguang's German army to carry out according to the plan, and Xuzhou also transferred a group of craftsmen to support the construction of the camp, and there are no big leaks.

Otherwise, it is enough to leave his brother Feng Yi in Jinling to respond and contact all parties.

Feng Yi also felt that there was no need for Han Qian to stay in danger at the risk of sneaking, and staying would not play much of a role.

Especially in Huaidong, there are not ten but eight people who know their whereabouts accurately, who knows if any of these people will secretly release the news?

However, based on Feng Yi's understanding of Han Qian, it is guessed that Han Qian may be worried about the changes in the Jianghuai situation in the near future, so he will not return to Xuzhou for a long time, right?

Of course, there is no way to explain this speculation to Lin Zongjing in detail, it is purely Feng Yi's own intuition.

"What is that ship for?"

Feng Yi noticed that Lin Zongjing had asked his subordinates to take a telescope to observe a ship that was slowly moving from west to east on the south bank of the Yangtze River, he saw that there was nothing special about the ship from a distance, and asked curiously.

"It's the procurement ship of the Weaving Bureau out of Jinling, but in the past few days, there have been three procurement ships that are almost the same!" Lin Zongjing said.

The Weaving Bureau is subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and is responsible for the procurement and weaving of clothing and fabrics for the court and courtiers.

In the past, the Weaving Bureau used to use official slaves and maids to be responsible for weaving, but the Queen Mother disliked the rude workmanship of official slaves and maids, and recently set up weaving institutes in Suhu Yuehong and other places to specialize in procurement.

This actually means that after the dissolution of the Late Red Mansion, the Weaving Bureau became the eyes and ears of the Queen Mother and Lu Qingxia and others inside and outside the palace ban, and Yang Yuanpu also ordered the state and county to cooperate with the Weaving Bureau in various places to procure things - this is almost the result of the compromise between Yang Yuanpu and Cishou Palace.

If there is an occasional procurement ship of the Weaving Bureau passing by, it is ordinary, in just a few days there are three procurement ships passing by, it is obvious that they will park the merchant ship in the south of Yangzhou in the heart of the river, have already attracted the attention of the Queen Mother, Lu Qingxia and others.

That's not to mention Jinyunji.

"Xuzhou and Huaidong, which are currently the two major feudal forces of Great Chu, collude together to resist the pressure of the imperial court, it is inevitable, I believe that the princes of the court have long had such an awareness." Feng Yi didn't care much about the merchant ships led by Lin Zongjing this time would attract the attention of Jinling, which was also something they had expected in advance, but in any case, the imperial court could not prohibit the normal trade between Xuzhou and Huaidong for no reason.

Feng Yi took the telescope from the person next to him and looked south.

The Weaving Bureau's procurement ship hoisted the dragon and phoenix flags, with the words "Inner Servant Weaving" and "Weaving", and there were armor guards in brown uniforms on the ship, although the number was not large, but it was enough to deter the local states and counties to obey orders.

Feng Yi pointed his telescope at the bow of the ship, and saw that in a group of eunuchs and female officials, Chun Shisanniang and Yao Xishui were looking over by the railing, and he was slightly stunned.

"If they want to see it, let them see it," Feng Yi shrunk the binoculars, handed them back to Lin Zongjing's subordinates, and asked Lin Zongjing, "When I left Baihogang Gang, I said that I was going to arrange a group of congregations to Jiangxinzhou near here, waiting to enter Yangzhou with you, why didn't I see them on the boat?" ”

"Han Donghu and Su Lie are on the right and left, but the people in the Cishou Palace are eyeing them, and they don't dare to act easily for the time being." Lin Zongjing said worriedly.

Strong women and some healthy and vigorous teenagers, scattered across the river, under the guidance of the guide, it is very easy to walk a few days by land to Baihogang.

However, there were a large number of old, sick, and young children in the old headquarters of the German army in Zuoguang, and it was difficult for them to disperse and transfer.

According to the established plan, they were transported by boat from Dingjiagou through the Taihu Lake waterway to the Yangtze River Sand Island to hide, and then escorted to Baijiegang through Yangzhou.

In this way, you can arrange vehicles and boats along the way, and you will have to travel by land less hard.

If Han Donghu and Su Lie are around, it means that there are quite a few women and children who have been transferred to nearby Sand Island to hide.

The Yangtze River from Chaozhou to the east, it enters the downstream basin, because there is no embankment on both sides of the constraints, the river is vast, when the water level rises sharply in summer and autumn, the river surface is even hundreds of miles wide.

When the Yangtze River water arrives here, the flow rate slows down suddenly, and the sediment accumulates, from Runzhou to the east to the estuary, there are countless large and small sand islands.

Because Darensha Island is located in the middle of the river, it is flooded and impacted by the river, and the terrain is extremely unstable, so it has little development value in the world, but it is a rare shelter for landless farmers or refugees fleeing the war.

Therefore, Han Donghu and Su Lie took people to hide on the sand island, and they would not attract special attention.

Of course, in order to prevent the breeding of bandits, the water camps in Jinling and local prefectures and counties will regularly send troops and horses to drive away the displaced people.

Calling Cishou Palace's eyeliner, Lin Zongjing still couldn't go directly to pick up the old headquarters of Zuo Guang's German army hiding in the sand island to board the ship and go to Yangzhou.

What's more, they couldn't confirm whether Cishou Palace's eyeliner was only the procurement ship in front of them.

There are many boats on the left and right rivers, these are all civilian ships, there are merchant ships, there are fishing boats, and ferries, there are no obvious signs, it is difficult to confirm whether there are people in Cishou Palace.

Lin Jingzong is more inclined to think that there is a high probability that there are other eyeliners hidden in Cishou Palace.

"This is also easy, I have known Miss Yao and Chun Thirteen Niang for an old acquaintance, and I can't help but say hello when I see each other," Feng Yi pondered for a while, and said to Lin Zongjing, "You send me over to say hello to Miss Yao and them, and see if there is any change left and right!" ”

It's a ploy to startle the snake.

Lin Zongjing immediately ordered another merchant ship to stay where it was, responsible for receiving the officials sent by Yangzhou, and he ordered the merchant ship under his feet to anchor and raise its sails to intercept the procurement ship of the Weaving Bureau.

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The merchant ships sent by Xuzhou at this time were all 4,000 stone ships, even if they were not built like a building ship on the side of the ship, the hull was much more majestic than the 800 stone ship of the Weaving Bureau.

Lin Zongjing thought of a plan to scare the grass and snakes, to see how many Cishou Palace or Jinyun Si hidden secret rooms were in the left and right boats, and ordered the three masts and thirteen giant sails to be full, and they drove on the vast river, as fast as an arrow off the string, and quickly went to the weaving bureau to purchase and approach the past, which seemed somewhat violent.

The left and right generals and the other courtiers standing at the bow of the ship were all worried, Yao Xishui's beautiful eyes stared at the approaching Xuzhou merchant ship, she and Chun Shisanniang had already seen Feng Yi's hanging face at this time, and their faces were only slightly gloomy.

Seeing the Xuzhou merchant ship lowering its sails and slowing down, and the side of the ship approaching, Yao Xishui frowned and opened his mouth to say: "Do you know that you are approaching the palace ship for no reason, and you will be killed like a bandit?" ”

"In the past, Miss Yao forgot all the scenes of the banquet together? We didn't say goodbye to shaking hands and jumping with joy when we met, but we don't have to be so ruthless, right? I, Feng Yi, haven't I ever done anything to hurt Miss Yao? Feng Yishui said with a smile, "I was still happy to meet the old man on the river just now, it seems that I am self-inflicted." ”

Yao Xishui saw that two people on the Xuzhou merchant ship were looking at the river surface on the left and right with a telescope, and naturally knew that Feng Yi's move was intended to startle the snakes, and to alarm their hidden eyeliner on the left and right, so that they could better hide the secret work of Xuzhou and Huaidong.

"Xuzhou merchant ships enter and leave the Ruanjiang River, personnel and goods need to be reported to Yousi, but I didn't see Feng Yi's name from the company's list......" Yao Xishui didn't flirt with Feng Yi, stared at Feng Yi's playful face and asked.

"On the birthday of the eldest lady of the Wang family in the past few days, Han Qian prepared a gift for me to send to Yangzhou. This is a private matter, and it also saves Miss Yao that you people will guess and think, so you didn't say a word, could it be that Miss Yao wants to take me to Jinling to ask for guilt? Feng Yi asked with a mouthful of nonsense.

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has a heart.

Hearing Feng Yi say this, Yao Xishui's face became even more gloomy......