The power of Yandu is not a family, nor is it a wealthy family, the composition of the Yandu force is very complex, but no one dares to underestimate it, on the bright side, the most glamorous is the four major salt merchant families, but secretly, salt is a place with salt as a banner, but it gathers three religions and nine streams.

The salt merchants, headed by the four major salt merchants, hold the lifeblood of Huaishui salt, and downward, there are Huaishui salt gangs and boat gangs, these two major forces are born around salt, and on both sides of Huaishui, more than 200,000 people rely on the two forces to survive, and constitute a relatively tight organization.

And around the salt, there are not only these interest groups, but also smuggler salt dealers, salt bandits, although the salt works in Huaishui belong to the empire, but the salt of the empire has to go through the hands of these people to go around before it can be sold and collect taxes, otherwise, the empire will not want to receive a little tax.

Over the years, the chain around the salt industry has become more solid, the salt merchants are extremely rich, and the four major salt merchants are worth hundreds of millions, and if they have money, they can buy people's lives, so the strength of the salt capital in the open and in the dark cannot be underestimated.

Leng Zhuo doesn't have a good impression of salt, to put it bluntly, Yandu is almost a small country, a big reason is that the empire is decaying, the magistrates are fed, and most of the major families in the court who control the court are also involved in salt.

The emperor may not have realized the seriousness of the problem here, or he did not have so much determination, after all, if he wants to eradicate the salt capital, it is likely to cause a huge turmoil, and some weakening methods are not a cure for the symptoms but not the root cause, and they are completely ineffective.

Before the death of the old emperor, the salt capital was still respectful, and there was no disobedience, but the world was in chaos, and the salt capital became its own system, although the salt capital never made any public remarks, but whether it was Situ Yun's reign or Prince Qing's Northern Expedition, they all tried their best to win over the salt capital's forces, and now, the salt capital has become a tripartite co-optation existence.

"What happened to what I arranged for you to do?" Leng Zhuo killed the Cheng family's hometown, one of the four major salt merchants in Yandu, and he was very afraid of Yandu, and in the end, on the side of Yandu, the Cheng family only sent someone to take the Cheng family back, and did not say much about what Leng Zhuo did, but the tone of the other party at that time made Leng Zhuo quite unhappy.

When it came to Bai Qi, the forbidden army led by Zhao Yun controlled the southern part of Qingzhou, and the salt capital was under Leng Zhuo's nose, he was not the kind of person who could rub sand in his eyes, and at that time, in order to prevent the empire from mixing sand with the place and stabilizing the place, he sent Kong Mingchen over, and one of the tasks was to find a way to dismember the salt capital.

"Back to the young master, this matter has always been in charge of Kong Gechen, and we rarely ask about specific matters, but General Zhang is cooperating with this matter, and the last time he occasionally asked, it seems to be quite effective, and General Zhang has become the leader of the Salt Gang, and he has been in the limelight recently!"

"Yide has become the leader of the Salt Gang? I only know this!" The power of the Salt Gang is not small in Huaishui, Zhang Fei can be the leader of the Salt Gang, and he can gather at least seventy or eighty thousand young men under his hands.

Leng Zhuo learned about some military and political matters in Qingzhou, changed the topic, moved to Yangzhou, and said: "This letter to you, let you come, it is also after some thought, judging from the intelligence transmitted back from the north, Li Tang has completely completed the conquest of Yongliang and Yongliang, after more than half a year of stability, the rear has been decided, and the battlefield in Youzhou in the north has been fought for more than a year, and both sides can't fight, and the plague in Zhongzhou has also spread to the north, so that the war has come to an end!"

"Yangzhou is now in the hands of the upper and lower levels, the influence of the empire in Chu and Yangzhou has been weakened to the lowest point, and from the perspective of the situation in Kyushu, the empire, Li Tang, and my Great Chu are almost three-legged!"

"And the place where the war is most likely to break out is Youzhou, Qingzhou, and Shuzhou, the dispute between Youzhou is the dispute between the empire and Li Tang, and Shuzhou, this rich land, Li Tang will not let it go, and my Da Chu can't let it go, otherwise once Li Tang occupies the upper reaches of the Tianhe, it will be a catastrophe for my Da Chu!"

"The battle for Shuzhou, at most, is to fight for strength and confidence, but Qingzhou is likely to be a battle of the three major forces, Huaishui's salt is a tempting big cake, Li Tang, who lacks salt, can't let go of here, and the empire that is compressed in the north will not give up, and although we are not short of money, but the Huaishui line is an important line, and we can't let it!"

"The world has been decided, and you don't need to be caught in it, just wait for the Yangzhou widows to clean up, and you can openly stand on my side of Da Chu!" Leng Zhuo did not use a tone of discussion, because there was no need at all, and the hundred generals were the most firmly on Leng Zhuo's side.

"Obey the young master's orders!" Bai Qi, Zhao Yun, and Han Xin got up, saluted, and said.

"Well, but at the moment, it is necessary to stop these Japanese people in the Taihu Lake basin first, if they escape, it is a big trouble, and Hukou is particularly important here, once the Japanese army leaves Taihu Lake, it will definitely attack here, before Yangzhou City has a victory, I will ask you here!"

"Young master and rest assured, this time 20,000 soldiers and horses have been mobilized from Qingzhou, and tens of thousands of young people are rushing to work day and night, it will not take ten days, the area around the mouth of Taihu Lake will definitely be solid, and the Japanese army and sea ships will not want to leave Taihu Lake for half a step!"

Around the mouth of Taihu Lake, not only on the hills and mountains, is set up as a catapult position, the giant trebuchet dismantled from the warship is installed here one after another, and even around these positions, a large village camp has been built, forming a fort, once formed, the two sides of the lake mouth will form two huge pincers, clamping the lake mouth, any ship that wants to enter and exit, will face the cover of hundreds of catapults.

However, it is not a small project to make these two big pincers play their due role, and in order to prevent the Japanese people of Yangzhou City from discovering their intentions prematurely, a warship of the Xuanwu Legion also drove into Taihu Lake, harassed it, and blocked the northern part of Taihu Lake.

The huge project is still continuing, from Qingzhou, from the upstream Chuzhou materials are constantly transported, the oil is the largest material, followed by the boulders, almost day and night to transport these things on every built catapult position, to ensure that there is enough oil, the boulders block the mouth of the lake.

After staying in the canal water city for a day, Han Xin returned to Qingzhou, since Leng Zhuo planned not to cover up, then the reorganization of the Qingzhou army had to be prepared in advance, after all, the Japanese army could not stay in Yangzhou City for too long, and once the Japanese could not enter the Tianhe waterway from the mouth of the lake, then the defeat of this lonely army was ironclad.

Bai Qi, after Han Xin went back, Zhao Yun stayed in the canal water city, responsible for supervising the construction sites of the two places, commanding the soldiers and horses that had arrived, and Sun Wu also began to dispatch troops, after all, locking the mouth of Taihu Lake is not a victory, the waters of Taihu Lake are very wide, and the coastal area is even more vast, and once the Japanese people who are sealed in Taihu Lake are short of food and grass, they will definitely go crazy to plunder.

In addition to the Thunder God Army under the city of Yangzhou, the other four armies under the jurisdiction of the forbidden army, the Tiger Wing Army was deployed in Yixing County, the Rhino Horn Army was deployed in Nanhu County, and the Lion Roaring Army and the War Mastiff Army were deployed in Taihu County in the west.

With 3,000 soldiers and horses as a part, they were divided into various key points, and the two armies were not more than 200 miles apart, and a large number of scouts were also sent to detect the movements of the Japanese army, so as to ensure that when the Japanese army landed from any place, there would be soldiers and horses who could rush forward in time and kill them.

Time, day by day, under the city of Yangzhou, Leng Zhuo was not in a hurry to launch a counterattack on Yangzhou City, and in recent days, even the most basic siege has been omitted, just besieging the eastern, southern, and northern gates of Yangzhou.

"Hey, that's not the Giant Ape King Kong, isn't it escorting the property back to the Penglai Islands, how can it come back after only three days!" A Japanese warship patrolling the lake, a lookout looked at the shadow of the ship in the distance, and soon found that the incoming ship was actually a quite familiar warship, and quickly stabbed his companion beside him.

"It's really good, no, the giant ape King Kong seems to have broken a mast, and the hull seems to have been damaged, could it be that it ran into an enemy ship?"

"No, it's King Kong, but it's a giant beast warship, one can deal with ten ordinary naval warships, not to mention that there are more than twenty warships with it, but it is also equipped with a thousand seahorse cavalry, even if it encounters an enemy ship, it is not without the power to fight, why is it so embarrassed?"

"You ask me, how do I know, hurry down and report!"

When the King Kong and three damaged naval warships docked on the Yangzhou wharf, the entire Yangzhou city was violent, Inoue Shunji heard the news, and hurriedly rushed to the west wharf of the city, in order to facilitate the retreat, the main force of the Japanese army was stationed in Xicheng District, not far from the wharf.

"Uejima-kun, what's going on!" Inoue Shunji met Yamato Uejima, the owner of the Kongo, who was also a well-known general in Wajima, and this time he also led the warship to lead the loot back to Penglai.

"General Hui, we encountered an ambush by the Chu army at the mouth of Taihu Lake, more than 20 warships were sunk and more than a dozen ships, we were able to escape back, it is a great luck!"

"Ah, how many warships are there in ambush for you, how can they be so miserably defeated!" Inoue Shunji was also slightly surprised, even if there were many enemy ships, they were not defeated, and they would be able to retreat, after all, there were a thousand seahorse cavalry, and the enemy's warships were rampant.

"It's not a warship, it's on land, they built countless catapult positions on both sides of the lake, we just entered the lakemouth waterway, from both sides there are countless boulders falling down, we didn't even see the enemy, there were several warships sunk, the opponent's attack did not stop at all, until we withdrew, more than 20 warships, only seven or eight remained, and the other side on both sides of the warship surrounded, a fight, and lost three, only four of us were left to rush out!"

"What!"