Chapter 8

8.27    There is a change in Yangzhou, intelligence analysis

"One of the three garrisons near Yangzhou is the secret son of the White Lotus Sect, and they have long been controlled by them. At the beginning of the civil unrest, they almost used these elite troops to capture Yangzhou.

Fortunately, Lord Lin was more skilled and used the elite salt stewards from the Salt Censorate's Office and Xu Fei's subordinates to defeat the rebels with his sharp armor.

Yangzhou is already rich, and because of the crisis, the major families began to have money to pay for money and some people to pay for it. After the other two thousand households were finished, they gathered more than 6,000 city defense troops.

However, these people's equipment is not very good, so we sent weapons twice, otherwise Lord Lin would not be able to hold on..." Saeko Mushima began to introduce the situation.

"Wait a minute, the top leader of Yangzhou City should be the prefect? ​​How could it be led by Lord Lin?" Wei Xu didn't hear it right.

"The original Yangzhou prefect was also arranged by the salt merchants, and it has always been inconsistent with Lord Lin. The civil unrest was resolved by Xu Fei at the beginning, and no new prefect has been brought to this day.

In fact, the Yangzhou families all guessed that it was Xu Fei's move. Because they were worried that they would encounter danger when they went up, they unanimously recommended Lord Lin as the person in charge." Saeko Mushima couldn't help laughing.

"This kid is very good at seizing the opportunity." Wei Xu chuckled, not taking a 5th-rank Yangzhou prefect seriously at all. "Aren't the above normal? What's wrong with it?"

"It's normal during war. Anyway, a bunch of people outside want them to die, so naturally no one dares to cause trouble. But the current war is no longer the same as before." Saeko Mushima said lightly.

This time, the chaos in Jiangnan was full of conspiracy from the beginning.

On the one hand, the noise was too big but the confidentiality was done too well. Even Wei Xu's own intelligence network only judged the problem based on the general direction, and the details were never controlled. This was not something that the White Lotus Sect could do.

On the other hand, the substantial war is completely inequality with the movement and stillness during the outbreak, which is what the saying goes, "thunder is loud and rain is small". The most prominent point is that so far, there has been no sign of integration of civil unrest in various parts of Jiangnan.

The leader of the White Lotus Sect is nominally Xu Haichuan, the Marquis of Chengen. Although it has always been the control of the Empress Xu Qingyan, since the civil unrest broke out in Jiangnan, Xu Haichuan naturally "gets the moon first when approaching the water", and it is reasonable to take the opportunity to control it.

However, not long after he started to sort out and integrate, he was completely destroyed by Wei Xu's ambush. He hurried in Jinling City and dared not go out. All the commands and commands rely on his subordinates to pass on the message.

The problem is that organizations like the White Lotus Sect that play cults cannot essentially talk about loyalty or centripetal force. Some of them are ambitious people. Since the core control does not have any strength, don’t blame them for their respective little ones.

For details, we can refer to the "White Lotus Rebellion" in real history. Although they all have the same name, the actual situation is another matter. Not only are the different people, but there is no substantial connection between them.

Not to mention anything else, there are at least several names such as Bagua Sect, Scented Incense Sect, and Tianli Sect. Although these people are all named "White Lotus Sect", the internal conflicts are even greater than those of the outside world.

In the past six months, although the court has never been able to quell the civil unrest in Jiangnan, it has not done anything. Although the surrounding provinces are unable to send troops to assist, it is still fine to clean up their own houses and block all exits.

As a result, when it has been compressed to the province of Jiangnan, the so-called "rebels" were divided into more than a dozen. Not to mention that Xu Haichuan could not control it by relying solely on "remote control", he would have no chance to come out even if he had the courage to come out.

This is also the objective background for Wei Xu to hide so easily and make a fortune in silence. If the millions of chaotic people are really united, God will be able to escape in a panic with only more than 30,000 troops in Wei Xu.

Especially in recent times, Wei Xu has basically completed the integration of garrisons in various places. Although he did not make every effort to quell the rebellion for the sake of delaying time, he also divided the "rebels" from various places into the county towns below.

As a result, although major prefectures and cities are generally surrounded, as the rebels outside the city lack stable supplies, they even eat hungry and full, and their combat effectiveness is nowhere to be discussed, so the pressure on the city is naturally becoming more and more limited.

Interestingly, under such a great "civilian chaos", the ones who suffered the most were the lower class people and small landlords. The impact of major families was really not a big deal. Instead, Wei Xu took the opportunity to take action and killed them and flowed into a river of blood.

In this case, you can basically see that the quelling of the civil unrest in Jiangnan is just a matter of time. Considering the distribution of interests after the war, the ideas of various companies have followed.

"What about the specific situation?" Wei Xu shook his head with a smile, and then asked.

"The current situation in Yangzhou has changed. Yangzhou salt merchants who have always been in charge of logistics are no longer satisfied with being a marginal spectator. Not to mention anything else, they are the Yangzhou City Defense Forces who pay to support them. Why should Lord Lin have the final say?

Once these things get up, they can only be over when one side loses completely. Lord Lin, Xu Fei and the other seven salt merchants' "honeymoon period" ends soon, and the two sides have been fighting for some days.

Even the Jiang family and Huang family, which had originally reached an alliance, have "returned" to the right path and led Yangzhou salt merchants to make trouble again. The simplest thing is that even the city defense force's money and grain supply is no longer as happy as it was at the beginning.

In the Yangzhou city, salt merchants have restricted the supply of materials in major shops in order to suppress Lord Lin. Now people in Yangzhou city are in panic. If they don’t find a way, they are afraid that external chaos will not be cleared and civil strife will start again.” Saeko Mushima continued to introduce.

"Don't tell me that when Xu Fei helped Lord Lin rebuild the city defense force, he really didn't leave any backup plan? Then I would really catch that kid back and beat the board." Wei Xu said disdainfully.

"He came back to ask for help, but it wasn't that he couldn't stand it anymore, but he wasn't sure to clean it up at once." Saeko Mushima couldn't help laughing, "After all, others have limited staff, and it's impossible for him to really control the entire Yangzhou City Defense Forces.

Now, in the four directions of Yangzhou city wall, the city defense force is naturally divided into four parts. The west and south directions facing us are controlled by Xu Fei, while the other two parts belong to the salt merchants.

If we take action, our city defense force will definitely have the advantage in combat effectiveness. After all, the grassroots officers were trained by Xu Fei according to the master's standards, and even if they only reach 60% or 70%, they are not comparable to those outsiders."

"Husband, if you do something, the chaotic people outside the city will definitely not sit idly by. No matter how stupid they are, they will understand the principle of attacking in the chaos." Qin Keqing said worriedly.

"The fundamental reason why Xu Fei asked for help is here. He is confident of solving the salt merchants, but the city defense force is currently evenly matched outside the city. This requires us to take action and delay these rioters. He can solve the problems in the city by himself." Saeko Mushima told the problem.

"It seems that we can only 'recapture' Yangzhou in advance." Wei Xu said lightly, "The chaotic people outside the city are not a big problem. If we integrate from near Yangzhou now, it will be fine to gather more than 10,000 people.

In addition, the two cavalry families in Dongfang who were basically not damaged were completely wiped out, and it would be impossible to wipe out the more than 100,000 chaotic people. It would be not difficult to defeat them. Do we have any other problems?"

"In the civil unrest near Yangzhou, the strongest combat power is definitely not the rioters surrounding Yangzhou City, but the thousand households originally controlled by the White Lotus Sect, which have now expanded to nearly 10,000 people.

These people are the foundation of the White Lotus Sect's hard work for many years. Everyone uses military-style weapons, but the number of armor is not large, and the armor rate is less than 20%, which is incomparable to us.

If we want to solve the chaos in Yangzhou, we must first solve this chaos army. If we are trampled on the way out when we are fighting with the chaos, even if we are undefeated, we will suffer heavy losses." Saeko Mushima's intelligence has never disappointed.

"Husband, are you leaving again?" Qin Keqing said sadly. Pregnant women are prone to worrying a lot, and even have "syndrome". Even Ju Chuan Shizuka, who has always been confused in Wei Xu's arms, also showed a resentful look on his face at this time.

"Ke'er, Shizuka, I'm sorry!" Even if I was reluctant to leave, Wei Xu would not dare to let Lin Ruhai ignore it. "Yangzhou is also our foundation. Lord Lin is Yu'er's father, so I can't sit by and watch them suffer."

"Brother Xu, logistics supply can be directly passed by water. This requires taking down Yangzhou Wharf in advance, otherwise there will be no way to transport materials. Sister Bai will not be easy to complete this task, and it will take a lot of time." Xue Baochai said softly.

"Yangzhou is just the internal conflicts beginning to intensify, and it is still far from the outbreak. The two sides are still fighting for dominance, and they have not reached the point of never ending. Only Xu Fei really wants to take action.

Even Lord Lin has been communicating and negotiating with salt merchants, and both sides have made concessions. If they keep talking, it is not impossible for the negotiation to be completed." Saeko Mushima said softly.

"Xu Fei is right. If the salt merchants don't abandon it, we will leave a cancer in the future when we control Jiangnan. At least the salt reform I planned is beyond our reach, but since I have time, let's delay it.

Keer, Shizuka, I will be with you these days, so I will be happy for half a month? I guess Dongfang will solve the problem too," Wei Xu said softly.
Chapter completed!