Chapter 866 Jin Taicang, Salt Thief

Yangzhou, known as the Golden Taicang, is also the largest rice and grain producing area in Yangzhou. Friendly hand-to-hand hits

Five hundred years of Taicang, in this river like a ditch, natural rice production area, after five hundred years of continuous annexation, the fields of Taicang Mansion have been nearly 100 Taicang landlords into the bag, and the landlords of Taicang are not the kind of brain-filled, pot-bellied, extremely exploitative and stingy guys.

On the contrary, there are more than 100 landlords in Taicang today, each of whom has a centuries-old heritage, and each family has taken root in the land of Taicang, and locally, more than half of the population of most villages and towns is a surname.

In Taicang Mansion, the power of the government is very weak, and it can even be said that the official office of Taicang Mansion is controlled by these hundred landlord families, each landlord controls a considerable area of land, and the villages and towns in this field, from top to small, are regarded as servants of this landlord, or slave households.

Taicang Mansion, Zhu family, is one of the top ten large landowners in Taicang, the Zhu family operates more than 270,000 hectares of high-grade paddy fields, including the three counties under Taicang Mansion, and on the shore of Chengyang Lake, Zhujiabao stands in this feng shui treasure land.

In the scorching summer, the wind blowing from Chengyang Lake swept the scorching air waves, making Zhujiabao very cool, hundreds of ancient trees grew luxuriantly in the fort, and the crown of the giant water banyan tree that symbolized the flourishing of the Zhu family covered one-third of Zhujiabao.

Zhujiabao prohibits people with foreign surnames to come and go, the whole fort is surnamed Zhu, starting from the ancestors of the Zhu family, reproducing from generation to generation, Zhujiabao is already a small city of more than 100,000 people, the Zhu family is not like those big families, in the family is large to a certain extent, it is divided, the whole Zhujiabao is like a small independent kingdom, in a unique way to continue.

Zhujiabao is not unique to Taicang Mansion, more than 100 large landlords, nearly half of the landlords have adopted this model, when it is plain, these large landlords who occupy Taicang are very low-key, and they are also very mysterious, but only Taicang local and perennial people living in the surrounding areas know that the most unoffended in Taicang is not those officials, not those generals who lead troops, but those landlords who live in the countryside.

Zhujiabao, Liushui Building, this is a seven-story stone building rising from the ground, the tallest building in Zhujiabao, the water transported from the huge waterwheel next to the shore of Chengyang Lake, will pass through a precise mechanism, and finally flow into the roof here, and then pour down from eight directions, forming a water curtain.

On a sunny day, the hot sun shines on it, and a colorful rainbow emerges around the flowing water building, it can be said that this building is built skillfully, and this flowing water building is also the residence of each generation of the head of the Zhu family, the place of the director.

"Father, Prince Qing is too much, and he has been increasing various tax items before, but this time he actually sent us 200,000 loads of grain and grass and 100,000 gold coins in the name of the army mobilization and the Northern Expedition, and he regarded my Taicang as his own warehouse, and he wanted as much as he wanted!"

Zhu Yun showed anger on his face, so he almost got up and scolded him.

Zhu Ziwu picked up the teacup, calmed down, and took a sip of tea without hurrying, and then said leisurely: "Prince Qing is leaving!"

Zhu Yun, as the eldest son of the Zhu family, is only twenty years old, but he has been in the family for three or four years, although he was a little annoyed and angry just now, it does not mean that he is a violent and brainless person, and he can stand out among so many juniors of the Zhu family, but it is not just by favoring him.

Zhu Yun was stunned when he heard this, and sat down for a while, his brain turned quickly, but after thinking for a while, he still didn't understand the joints: "Will Prince Qing give up Taicang?

Zhu Ziwu smiled, took out something from his arms, threw it on the table, and said, "I didn't expect it, if I hadn't seen this, I really thought that this Qing Prince had risked provoking our hundred families to loot and be kicked in the head!"

"Then my father meant to spend money to eliminate the disaster and send Prince Qing away!" Zhu Yun glanced at it, Prince Qing actually wanted to go north in a desperate gamble, this news came not unexciting, but Prince Qing was so sure, you must know that leaving Yangzhou and wanting to come back is not so easy.

Zhu Ziwu sneered and said: "If it wasn't for the stability of Taicang and the fact that he didn't want to spoil the harvest, Prince Qing would have thought that our hundred families were afraid of him, and since he knew that he was leaving, he would knock on a stroke before leaving, and when our soft persimmons would not work!"

"If you refuse, will the other party ......!"

"Don't worry, he doesn't dare, unless he wants to force my Taicang people to the opposite side, but it won't be in the open, but not in the dark, there may not be a lot of rogues on the ground in Suzhou recently, attacking the village in all directions, and it is rumored that there are still Japanese people in it, these rogues have come out in the last two or three months, I think the other party has already calculated!"

"Father is wise!"

"Yun'er, it's time to let outsiders know that our Zhu family is not weak and bullied, the other party's action this time is very likely to come towards our Zhu family fort, our master family has accumulated wealth for hundreds of years, and there are hundreds of big granaries that are a big piece of fat, I won't want my Zhu family's things, I have to weigh them first to see if their teeth are good enough!"

Mirror Lake, a water fortress.

"Governor, can you let those landlords in Taicang deal with those rogues by themselves? Although our troops are tight, it is still possible to transfer a number of soldiers and horses!" Su Dingfang said.

Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "Counting the naval army, we are less than 100,000 people, and although the 40,000 soldiers and horses in your hands are not short of training, but to fight against Prince Qing's elite soldiers and horses, if the number is not advantageous, the probability of defeat is very high, and our task is not light, the five counties of Suzhou, plus the three counties of Hangzhou, must be taken over before the other party evacuates, even if they don't fight, they are already stretched, and there are really no extra soldiers and horses in Taicang." ”

"And don't underestimate those Taicang landlords, these landlords are not as easy to pinch as they seem, they are the head snake in Taicang, and even I, who have been operating in Suzhou for two or three years, have not yet figured out the bottom of these people in Taicang Mansion!

"And these guys, if they really can't resist, they won't lose anything to us, Taicang is ironclad, don't pry open a gap, but it's difficult to open the gap!"

At night, the stars are shining, the bright moon is in the sky, a touch of silver-white moonlight is sprinkled, and before you know it, it is the end of August.

The evening breeze carries the sultry air flow, making it a little difficult to breathe, between Suzhou and Taicang, a tightly guarded military camp.

"General Xia, the prince's secret letter, the army has begun to move, let you catch up with the army before September!"

"There are really a lot of guys who don't open their eyes, but it's okay, I've long seen those guys unpleasant!"

"General Xia, this time, His Royal Highness the Prince will not admit it, the soldiers under your command are not allowed to wear armor, and they are not allowed to wear military tokens, His Royal Highness said, if it is not possible, you can retreat, and the matter is done, you are allowed to keep two percent of the gold and silver, and the rest will be handed over!"

"Don't worry, this is what I Xia Leopard does, and I will definitely not disappoint His Highness, let His Highness be ready to receive it!"

"Tonight, I will take people to evacuate, and you and I will get drunk when we arrive in Qingzhou!"

Xia Leopard sent the people outside the camp tent, and then said to the guards: "Go, call the leaders!"

Xia Bao was the leader of the smuggling salt dealers, selling illicit salt near Huaishui, but because of the existence of the salt gang, they were not having a good time, and sometimes they would make a cameo appearance as bandits, gradually, the Huaishui smuggling salt dealers also set up a mountain, the mountains are all some people who lick blood with knife heads, although they are not as famous as the Taishan bandits, but the name of the salt thieves is also called in Qingzhou.

Prince Qing fought with the emperor ** in Huaishui, accepted the advice of his ministers, and incorporated these fierce salt thieves, forming an army alone, although this army has no discipline, but it is enough to play with life when fighting, and at some times, it is very useful, such as this time, these salt thieves have become Prince Qing's thugs who scrape the ground.

"Brothers, I Xia Leopard don't talk nonsense, we all survived on the banks of the Huaishui River, the Yan Gang can't help us, the government can't help us, even Yancheng doesn't have a problem with us, every brother doesn't survive with blood on the tip of the knife!"

"Our brothers have now become soldiers, and they are finally made by the official body, but with the official body, they are not as comfortable as before, eating money every day, although it is a drought and flood to ensure the income, but they can't make a lot of money, we people are like this, but who doesn't want to live a life of having a head and a face, going in and out of a group of servants, and a beautiful wife and concubine at home!"

"But it's not enough to have this skin, you can't live a good life without money, what can we do, we can't do anything except sell illicit salt and kill people, but it's enough to kill people, this time we got a good task, after the thing is done, there are two components!"

"Xia Tou, what a good task, you can be clear!"

"Hehe, ransack Taicang Mansion, we made a small fuss before, and we didn't toss out a bubble, this time we went to Taicang Mansion, those big landlords, in each family have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land, and accumulated for hundreds of years, as long as you grab three or two, even the lowest minions can find a place to be a small landlord, and you will have no worries about food and clothing for a lifetime!"

"It's done, Xia Tou, let's all listen to you, you can hit whichever you say!

"The closest to us is the Zhu family in Chengyang, the Mu family in Xixiang, the Chen family in Pei County, the Mu family, the Chen family is next to the Zhu family, but it is a small landlord, it is not comparable to the Zhu family, since it is a big fight, it is not necessary to fight the grass and scare the snake, and take the Zhu family, let's go to the Mu family, the Chen family, sweep this piece first!"

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