"Father-in-law, you are a local snake here in Yangzhou, you must know a lot about Taicang!" Leng Zhuo changed the topic, but pointed to Taicang, although there was some information about Taicang sent back by Zhou Yu, but for the situation of this Taicang Mansion, it is obvious that the Nangong family, who has been a neighbor of him for hundreds of years in Yangzhou, is more familiar.

Nangong Lie heard Leng Zhuo mention Taicang, but showed a wry smile, and said: "Taicang, that's a hornet's nest, you plan to attack there, this is not a good idea, even my Nangong family is not willing to provoke that group of landlords!"

"A place called Zhujiabao in Taicang Prefecture exterminated a salt thief of no less than 3,000 people ten days ago, and our spies waited outside for two days, and did not find a single living salt thief, and the town then returned to normal!"

"This group of salt thieves, as far as I know, are dead salt dealers near Huaishui in Qingzhou, and they are also engaged in robbing houses and houses, even if they are salt gangs, they dare to touch them, it can be said that they are very fierce, but the three thousand salt thieves threw them in and didn't even make a splash, this thing is really too weird!"

"And I heard that these landlords in Taicang, the clan power is very strong, often the people in a town are a clan, the official mansion is simply a decoration, they are the emperor of the land in Taicang, if these people want to, they can make up more than 200,000 soldiers and horses, I don't know if this is true!"

Nangong Lie glanced at Leng Zhuo, sighed for a while, and said: "What you said is right, although Taicang Mansion is still an imperial territory, but in fact, since a hundred years ago, this Taicang Mansion has been a relatively independent government, although the appointment of officials here in the empire is still smooth, and the annual taxes can be collected on time, but in fact, the yamen of Taicang Mansion is a puppet ornament!"

"What can really be said in Taicang is the alliance of large landowners, who occupy more than ninety percent of the land in Taicang Prefecture, and among the six counties and fifty counties of Taicang, there are nine largest landlords, Zhang, Wang, Zheng, Mao, Qian, Zhu, Li, Zhou, and Xiang, each of these nine families owns more than 200,000 hectares of fertile land, more than two million peasant households work for them, and they also own hundreds of thousands of slaves.

"It's hard to guess how many Taicang landlords have, but Taicang is known as the golden Taicang, they control the grain road, supply Yangzhou tens of millions of people to eat and drink, Taicang does not put grain, half of Yangzhou has to be hungry, but only food, my Nangong family has already moved them!"

"Speaking of which, this is still a matter of my grandfather's generation, at that time, my Nangong family was ordered to clean up Yangzhou for the empire, restore local taxes, and deal with the landlords of Taicang, originally my grandfather was behind the support of Emperor Qu, and there was a storm in Yangzhou, but when the limelight was at its strongest, it hit a wall in Taicang!"

"At that time, after my grandfather hit a wall in Taicang, he directly took the holy decree and invited the local garrison, and he wanted to sweep away these guys, but he didn't want to, at that time, tens of thousands of Shenwu troops attacked the opponent's town and tossed for three days, and all 10,000 Shenwu soldiers were captured alive and thrown out of the town!"

"My grandfather is angry, he really wants to mobilize a large army, use ordnance, and directly level the town, but he doesn't want to be surrounded by 50,000 soldiers and horses several times his size overnight, and almost cause a big mess!"

"Fortunately, the other party did not object, and finally gave a step, this matter is over, but this matter is a great shame in my Nangong family, my grandfather until he died, he can't let go of this matter, but the landlord of Taicang for a hundred years, like the emperor behind the scenes, is very low-key, as long as they don't violate, they don't care about the outside world!"

"After the collapse of Emperor Shenwu, the Tianlong Dynasty began to decline again, the Shenwu Nine Army that fought in Kyushu was also unbearable to fight again, and gradually abandoned, and there was no power in Yangzhou to resist the landlords of Taicang, at this time, those guys in Taicang did not prick their heads, we are thankful!"

"I know that you are arrogant, only in your twenties, you are already the king of Chuzhou, with millions of soldiers and horses, and now you are the king of Yangzhou, and the territory is more than doubled, but this Taicang Mansion is really untouchable, once you anger those landowners, the whole Yangzhou will be in chaos, and you want to clean it up, you don't have to think about other things in three or five years!"

"Do you want these guys to exist!" Leng Zhuo suddenly had a feeling like a fish in his throat, he felt that if he didn't clean up these landlords in Taicang, he, the king of Yangzhou, would be unstable.

Nangong Lie didn't know how to answer, although he also wanted to avenge the revenge back then, but reason told him that this hornet's nest couldn't be poked, and once it was stabbed, it would be difficult to end it.

"Actually, if you want to defeat the Taicang snake, you don't have to use troops and horses! And I am very much in favor of taking action to kill this tumor, in fact, in Yangzhou, the more entrenched force than my Nangong family is the Taicang landlord, don't look at them are very low-key, but it is because of the low-key, so the power they have buried is deeper, if they are allowed to take root, even if we occupy Yangzhou on the surface, but it is not worth a word from others!" Nangong Yuhu said.

"What can you do, tell me about it!"

"My method is very simple, they don't operate Taicang like a bucket, then let's add a layer of skin to this bucket, trap it in the bucket, and then boil it in warm water, first open Ping An Bank, widely accept deposits, Taicang wants to trade, you have to deal with the bank, money flows, and finally Ping An silver bills, over time, the other party's money is stored in the bank in large quantities, we hold the other party's tail!"

"And then, through the bank, those businessmen who are closely related to Taicang, local wealthy families are pulled out, cut off these connections little by little, so that their power will shrink continuously, and finally, it is to deal with the bucket of Taicang Mansion, Taicang Mansion has food, but people are alive, and food alone is not enough, we can stick to their necks, raise the price of Taicang, and hollow out the other party's family fund little by little!"

"And at this time, they should also know that they are powerful, so they will take the opportunity to draw together and divide, so that there will be a crack in your alliance, and if they can't bear it and raise troops, then it's even better, as long as they leave the nest that they have worked hard for many years, and go outside, it's not so easy to go back!"

"What a boiled frog in warm water, since it can't be cut across the board, then let's boil it and see who can survive whom!" Leng Zhuo laughed and said, Taicang is only one house, but he is standing above the whole Yangzhou, and the two sides are not on the same level, and they still want to fight with me.

"I'll leave it to you how to cook this frog!" Leng Zhuo directly handed over this matter to Nangong Yuhu, speaking of which, Nangong Yuhu is better at calculating people than settling accounts.

In September, the eight prefectures of Yangzhou have been in the bag, but Leng Zhuo is still a Chuzhou soldier and horse envoy and does not have a title in Yangzhou, but Yangzhou has begun to carry out a series of innovations.

Part of the Inner Mansion moved into Yangzhou City, and there were more Zhou Yu, Nangong Lie, and even Wang and Xie in the Inner Mansion, and the local government affairs began to reform in small steps with the active cooperation of the Nangong family.

First of all, Ping An Bank is popular, originally Ping An Bank has blossomed all over Yangzhou, but the coverage is far less than Chuzhou, and this time, it was opened to the county and town level at one time, and the first reform is the separation of taxes.

In Chuzhou, the way of participating in the politics of the inner government and directly leading the local counties is naturally impossible to replicate in Yangzhou, after all, Yangzhou has not gone through many wars, and the yamen are complete, and the local forces have not been affected, so Yangzhou's rule can only be carried out in small steps, just like boiling a frog in warm water.

There was no drastic reform, and there was the lubrication of local forces in Yangzhou such as the Nangong family, Yangzhou was very calm, but because of Chuzhou, there were no other forces between the two states, and the trade between the two states gradually flourished.

In September, Situ Hao, who retreated to Qingzhou, finally showed his sword, and the three major legions under his command who had completed the reorganization once again launched a full-line attack on the Huaishui line, and at the same time, the Youqing King also began to frequently mobilize troops and horses to contain Yunzhou's soldiers and horses in the west.

In the northeast of Qingzhou, Bai Qi's army was entangled with Situ Buer, although Situ Buer was already at a disadvantage and had to retreat towards the Taishan Mountains, but most of the troops were still there.

At this time, the Qingzhou Army went north on the whole line, which can be said to be like a bamboo, and the Huaishui line soon began to fall, and the Qingzhou Army began to cross the Huaishui, along the Taishan West Road, and went straight to Gyeonggi.

Situ Ming, who was still having the upper hand in the battle, suddenly fell behind, and the Tang army was not willing to be lonely and sent soldiers and horses in Shennong Dingjia, and for a time Yunzhou Gyeonggi became the center of everyone's attention

However, Situ Hao wants to go north to attack Gyeonggi, as well as the Qinluo River, you must know that the new emperor of Yunzhou can hold a powerful naval army in his hands, and even the Dongfang family is also pinching the northern sea army of the empire, which is also a very powerful force!

Yangzhou, Suzhou City, although Yangzhou is the center of Yangzhou, Suzhou obviously makes Leng Zhuo feel more comfortable, because in this city, there will be no such entangled forces, and this is the place that belongs to him.

"Judging from the intelligence sent back from the north, if the Qingzhou Army wants to attack Gyeonggi, the Qinluo River will be a difficult defense line to cross, although the Qingzhou Navy is also a little large, but it will definitely not be the opponent of the Yunzhou Navy Army!"

"The Dongfang family who helped the new emperor has controlled the northern navy for many years, and compared with the southern navy in Yangzhou, the northern navy is larger, and all kinds of warships are well-maintained and updated frequently, and the Dongfang family regards the navy as their own forbidden body, and has always been stingy with money, so this navy is quite powerful, as long as the navy blocks the Qinluo River, the Qingzhou army can only look at the river and sigh!"

"And on the Qingzhou Peninsula, the 200,000 elite forbidden army of the empire under the command of Marshal Bai Qi may bypass Mount Tai from here at any time, kill to Huaishui, and cut off the return route of the Qingzhou army, the rich southern part of Qingzhou can raise 300,000 troops, but in the north, it is the mountainous area of Taishan, but it can't raise 300,000 troops, and the Qingzhou army is likely to be defeated here!"

Leng Zhuo shook his head and said: "I think we can think of this, the Qingzhou army will not be unexpected, but judging from the intelligence, the other party is indeed pouring out, and the soldiers and horses left in the south of Qingzhou do not exceed 50,000, even if we don't cross the Tianhe River to the north, but the Zhongzhou Tang Army sends a partial division, which is enough to capture this place!"

"The Qingzhou army will definitely not find a place to die by itself, and then jump in, there must be other follow-ups, Youzhou Army? As long as the Qingzhou Army hits the edge of the Qinluo River, the Youzhou Army will definitely send troops to attack Gyeonggi, but even so, the Navy Army is still a Kan that cannot be bypassed!"

"What the hell!" Leng Zhuo knew that there must be a chess piece that he didn't know, and this chess piece would be a turning point.

"General Bai Qi should have received the letter from the young master, but I don't know if General Bai Qi will choose to go south or go north!"

"We can only talk on paper here, and the final choice still depends on that side, but no matter which choice we choose, it's very powerful for us, isn't it!" Leng Zhuo smiled, Bai Qi's existence itself makes Leng Zhuo invincible, no matter how the situation in the north develops, he will benefit the most in the end!