Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 69: Troop Deployment
Seeing that Cai Qinghua still dared to stop him, Jishan sneered: "What else do you want?"
Cai Qinghua whispered something in Zhu Gui's ear. Zhu Gui looked solemn, but finally said , "Okay, well, let's burn our boats and fight this battle!"
The Yihehang people, who had originally breathed a sigh of relief, could not help but become nervous again after hearing this, and they all thought: "What is this going to do?"
Then Zhu Gui said, "Please stay for a while."
Cai Qinghua gave some instructions, and his attendant brought paper and pen. Zhu Gui turned his back to write on the spot, and then took out the seal he carried with him.
Jishan was slightly surprised and shouted, "Governor, what else do you want?"
Zhu Gui said, "You will know in a moment."
Zhu Qing had already taken his documents and rushed over there.
Zhu Gui stayed in Yihehang. Cai Qinghua went to get a chair for the host to sit down. Jishan didn't know what he was up to, so he didn't dare to leave. Everyone else didn't dare to move either. They were all nervous and apprehensive.
After a long while, I heard the sound of running approaching - it was not the sound of one or two people running, nor the sound of one or two groups of people running, but the sound of thousands of people running. Listening to the sound, it was like an army in motion.
Jishan's expression suddenly became even uglier, and he shouted to Zhu Gui, "Governor, you have mobilized troops? What are you going to do?"
Zhu Gui did not answer, but sat there like an old monk in meditation.
When the people from Yihe heard that troops were coming, they were all extremely nervous, except Zhou Yijin who remained calm.
Jishan rolled his eyes, called a servant over, whispered a few words to him, and the servant rushed out.
Cai Qinghua took a step forward, but before he could speak, Zhu Gui said, "It's okay."
At this time, the first group of soldiers and horses had already arrived outside the warehouse. They were indeed several teams of Green Camp soldiers. Ou Jiafu recognized the leader, who was the deputy general Wang Degong who had come to the Wu family last year. He has now been promoted to general. It is said that he was able to be promoted because he was appreciated by Governor Zhu Gui.
Wang Degong went forward to ask Zhu Gui for orders, and Zhu Gui said, "Follow my orders."
Wang Degong replied, "Yes," and went out to arrange the men.
The Green Camp soldiers came in camp after camp, and eventually their number exceeded a thousand, and there were actually several thousand men and horses - now was a peaceful time, and the sudden arrival of so many soldiers and horses in this important commercial area had alarmed the entire Nanhai County.
By the time the troops arrived, it was already night. Torches were lit, making the scene even more imposing in the darkness.
At this time, seven or eight out of ten of the onlookers had been scared away, but there were still a few hundred coolies scattered everywhere - there was the Hongmen secretly organizing them.
General Wang Degong came in again and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, my troops, six battalions and 4,300 men, have arrived and are only waiting for your order."
Zhu Gui nodded slightly and said, "Okay, command the troops to surround all the warehouses of the merchants in the Thirteen Hongs."
As soon as he gave this order, everyone present changed color.
Jishan shouted, "Governor, what are you going to do? Are you really going to change the world?"
Zhu Gui said calmly: "I am the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi. It is my duty to mobilize some troops. What's the point of saying that the world is changing?"
Jishan shouted, "But this is the Thirteenth Floor! It is the Emperor's Southern Treasury!"
Zhu Gui said, "Even if it is the Emperor's Southern Treasury, it is still the land of the Qing Dynasty. Since it is the land of Guangdong and Guangxi, as the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, I have the power to manage it." He said to Wang Degong, "Surround it."
Wang Degong took the order and soon, he had surrounded all the warehouses of the merchants in the Thirteen Hongs - the warehouses of the merchants in the Thirteen Hongs were crowded together, one next to the other, and if there were enough troops, it would not take much effort to surround them all.
Just at this moment, the servant who had been sent out earlier came back and whispered in Jishan's ear. Jishan's face suddenly turned pale green - he had sent the servant out just now to find the Guangzhou General.
The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi was in charge of the military and political affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi, but the Eight Banners Army led by the Guangzhou General was not under his jurisdiction. Seeing that Zhu Gui was going to use troops, Jishan wanted to move the Guangzhou General to check and balance Jishan - he was the only one with troops at the moment.
According to past experience, if there were conflicts between Manchu and Han officials, the Manchu officials would consciously or unconsciously stand together to oppress the Han officials. Zhu Gui, as a Han Chinese, was the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, which made him envied. Therefore, Jishan thought that the Guangzhou general would definitely come. However, when the news was passed on this time, the Guangzhou general did not come!
Jishan's eyes rolled, and he suddenly understood something. He secretly said hatefully: "Fuchang, Fuchang, you bastard!"
Although Guangzhou General Fuchang did not convey any words, Jishan could immediately guess that Jiaqing's accession to the throne had affected Guangdong: Zhu Gui was the new emperor's teacher, and Fuchang could rely on his status as a Manchu prince to intimidate Han officials, but he would have to think twice before targeting the emperor's teacher. Looking at the current situation, even if Fuchang had not already defected to Jiaqing, he was at least on the sidelines, fearing the new emperor and daring not to act rashly.
Thinking of this, Jishan became even more discouraged. He had no soldiers, his rank was lower than the other party, and his power was weaker than the other party. His only support was his status as a Manchu, which was offset by the other party's status as the emperor's teacher. For a moment, he couldn't stand up straight when facing Zhu Gui.
At this time Zhou Yijin also sighed, knowing that the situation was hopeless - even if his ability to strategize was better than his master, the power gap was too big. Wu Chengjian was just a businessman after all. Once Zhu Gui made up his mind, the Wu family would become a prey.
He picked up the teacup and took a sip, then said to Wu Xiaojiu, "This tea is too weak. Go get me some, I want oolong."
Wu Xiaojiu was about to leave, but was stopped by an official.
Cai Qinghua waved his hand, and the officer let him go.
Wu Xiaojiu rushed to Shenxianzhou and went straight to Qiubinju. Shenxianzhou was originally the news distribution center of Guangzhou Prefecture. What happened in Baietan had already spread everywhere, so the atmosphere at this time was quite tense.
After Wu Xiaojiu came up, he said to Wu Chengjian: "Master said that the tea is weak and asked me to bring some tea over."
Wu Chengjian asked, "What kind of tea would you like?"
Wu Xiaojiu said: "Oolong."
Wu Chengjian said, "You can take it yourself."
Wu Xiaojiu lowered his head, found a box of Oolong and went.
Seeing that he remained silent, Yu Lian'er could not help but say, "Hao, Guan." Although she was young, she grew up in a brothel after all. In the past few months, she had experienced the training of high-end entertainment venues, and her eyesight was not bad. So there was a sense of comfort in her voice, but she didn't know what to say.
Wu Chengjian glanced at her and suddenly said, "Shenxianzhou is not a place to stay for long. Go to Huachahao tonight and let Sanniang arrange your way."
After he said that, he lifted the curtain and left.
Yu Lian'er was stunned for a moment, but still obeyed. She turned around and went to the dock, took a boat to Huachahao, and told Tan Sanniang what Wu Chengjian said.
Tan Sanniang was silent for a while, and finally sighed, "You..." It was obvious that the word "you" was not referring to Yu Lian'er in front of her.
Bi He said beside her: "Miss, is something going to happen again?"
Tan Sanniang hesitated, and seeing that there were only three people in the cabin, she nodded and said, "It's already this time, and he's still..." She wanted to say that Hao Guan was about to fall into a situation where he could not save himself, but he could still think of Yu Lian'er's escape route at this time. However, it was not easy to say it out loud, so she shook her head and said, "Alas, he has always been like this."
Bihe and Yu Lian'er didn't quite understand what she was saying. Tan Sanniang said, "Just follow the orders of Officer Hao. Sister Lian'er, where do you want to go?"
Yu Lian'er said, "If I were here, normally, I would just listen to my sister's instructions, but now, I won't leave."
Tan Sanniang was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "It's rare that my sister is thoughtful."
At this time, the situation at least didn't seem to be too bad, so Tan Sanniang didn't force him to persuade her. Yu Lian'er stayed for a while and then returned to Shenxianzhou. When she returned to Qiubinju, she saw a young man like a monkey coming out and hugging her. Yu Lian'er was startled, and then she saw that it was Pan Zhenghuan, so she let him hug her, but she couldn't help asking: "Yihe, is there something wrong again?"
Pan Zhenghuan said: "Who knows? Who cares!"
Yu Lian'er said: "If something happens, you must protect me."
Pan Zhenghuan said with a smile: "Don't worry, even if the Thirteenth Line turns upside down, it won't be able to cause any trouble to our Tonghe Line."
Pan Zhenghuan's mysterious confidence was extremely wrong.
After Wang Degong's troops were ready, Zhu Gui and others ordered the encirclement of the entire Thirteen Hongs. After the encirclement was completed, they ordered a search and suppression, and the first stop was to search and suppress Tonghehang.
Manager Liu quickly brought people out to welcome them - it was said to be welcoming, but in fact it was rejecting them.
Cai Qinghua stepped forward and said, "The Governor-General said that this time we will only search and seize items stolen from the palace, and will not take care of the rest."
This statement almost makes it clear that this large-scale raid will not affect other things, and even if some other prohibited items are found, there will be no punishment. This is also Zhu Gui's ability. He knows how to grasp the current main contradiction and ignore the rest in order to reduce resistance to the action.
As expected, Manager Liu allowed the order as soon as he heard it, but he required that every soldier and runner who entered the warehouse to search and raid must be accompanied by a fellow trader from the same bank. Cai Qinghua also had no objection.
Searching the warehouse of Tonghe Bank in this way took more time than searching the warehouse of Yihe Bank twice - after all, the foundation of Tonghe Bank was incomparable to that of the upstart Yihe Bank.
After this round of search, nothing , so Cai Qinghua took people to search the Lu family's warehouse. By then, it was already dawn.
