As a result, he didn't play according to common sense and directly attacked their nests. How could they think of this?

If they had known this situation before, they would not have hit those private salts to death. Such a strong person would definitely have to make friends with them, and the two sides might not be unable to cooperate.

But it’s too late to say anything now. It can be seen that the person in front of him will be revenge. The current situation is that people are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are in the throne. Whether they can survive depends on the mood of the person in front of him.

So they kowtowed and knelt down, "Sir, we know we are wrong! We know we are wrong! We are willing to atone for our sins. As long as the sir's instructions, we will definitely do it!"

Seeing this scene, Kong Youde knew that this matter was fine, and the rest depends on how much things can be squeezed out.

"Liu Sigong's life is worth one million taels, and one child is worth two hundred thousand taels. He gave two million and five million taels, so eight more children survived! Liu Sigong is the first criminal, and you are all accomplices, so I'll give you a 20% discount. You should know what to do, right?"

The salt merchants present all looked as if they were ashamed. They saw the scene of beheading in person as soon as they came. And they all knew each other. Liu Sigong, the biological child of the president of the Chamber of Commerce, cut it off as soon as they said it was a problem.

Since Kong Youde wants money, then use it to save his life. Now is not the time to show off his power. Since this man has the courage to rebel against the court, he even defeated the imperial army more than a month ago, which shows that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Even if Kong Youde and his weaknesses are not something they can control. Now they can only cooperate obediently, and they have no intention of bargaining.

Seeing that the salt merchants expressed their willingness to cooperate, Kong Youde asked Huang Guizhong to continue to be responsible for the matter, and sent them back again, and then found all the money they could find and not let go of any of them.

After nightfall, the Tiance Army patrolled the important roads in the city, and during the day, they killed many people who took the opportunity to rob, so the city was quite peaceful.

Ordinary people basically hide in their houses and don’t even have the courage to look outside, for fear of attracting the attention of Japanese pirates.

However, not all places are so quiet. The houses of these salt merchants are brightly lit. Under the surveillance of the soldiers, the captured guards and yamen runners worked hard to dig out all the gold, silver and treasures buried deep in the ground.

Then all the goods were collected in the Yangzhou Fafu Office and registered. Kong Youde personally took charge of this matter. He originally planned to go to bed, but when he thought of the continuous income, he was so nervous that he couldn't sleep, so he simply took it himself.

The tricks for salt merchants are very good and very effective. They have learned from the past, so they dare not resist and can only hand over the money honestly.

However, there are exceptions. A guy only paid 800,000 taels to save his life, and the rest of his son was not stingy. It was obvious that he wanted money and didn’t want children. As long as he could survive, he would save it before. He would take a few concubines and have a lot of children.

Huang Guizhong also thought of a solution to such a stingy person and took out his children directly, and all the problems were solved.

Although his children, especially the sons who were born in the legitimate family, did not know all the places where the money was buried, they knew a little. After learning that his father ignored his money and survived, he gave everything he knew.

According to their confession, Huang Guizhong found hidden cellars everywhere and dug out more than 400,000 taels of gold, silver and treasures.

With this example, Huang Guizhong extended this method. Even if he cooperated normally, he would do this and gain something extraordinary.

Kong Youde himself was responsible for counting the plundered property and piled up mountains of treasures, allowing him to truly realize the wealth of these salt merchants, which can be said to be rich enough to rival a country.

Seeing these wealth, Kong Youde was also a little moved.

In the current Ming Dynasty, especially in the northwest and Central Plains, as well as southern Jiangxi, Sichuan and other places, wars broke out, and the court and refugees formed a group, but Jiangnan almost never received any impact. It was still a scene of singing and dancing, and living a life of drunkenness and dreaming of death.

It seemed that Jiangnan was not the same court as the north, and these incomes that were supposed to be included in the treasury fell into the hands of these businessmen who represented the interests of the bureaucratic group, making the treasury empty.

In order to deal with the bandits and the Tartars, the court continued to impose taxes and "three salaries". This made the lives of the people even more difficult, so the refugees were wiped out and again. The Ming Dynasty became increasingly empty in the continuous internal friction, and finally collapsed.

Since you are here, you cannot let this wealth be wasted. Now you can rely on force to make as much as you can.

By midnight, the estimated price of gold, silver and treasures transported over had exceeded 6 million taels, and they were still increasing. Kong Youde was really happy, and this trip was really profitable.

When it was ugly, the accumulated discount on the treasures recorded had exceeded 9 million taels, and Kong Youde could not hold on anymore, so he had to hand over this matter to Zhao Defang, and he was responsible for it, and then went to bed.

The next morning, Kong Youde came to check the gains of this wave of searches impatiently.

Seeing Kong Youde coming, Zhao Defang, who is the deputy of the Military Intelligence Bureau, came to report, "Sir, so far, there are a total of 7.15 million taels of silver, 200,000 taels of gold, and more than 500,000 stagnant of copper coins. The remaining treasures are estimated to start at 3 million taels! Now there are still gold and silver being sent here continuously!"

"Well, you did a great job! There is nothing you have to do with you. Now you can go down and rest!"

"I'm going to leave!" and then left.

"One Thousand Three Million Taxes!"

"One Thousand Three Million Taxes!"

"One Thousand Three Million Taxes!"

Looking at this wealth piled up like mountains, worth more than ten million taels of silver, Kong Youde was false not excited and kept muttering to himself. He never thought that he would have such a great gain, and these wealth would become his greatest help.

The next step is the attack on Nanjing. Despite so many gains, Kong Youde was not satisfied. Since he had come, he would definitely make more money if he could get more money.

This time they were completely unprepared. I believe that after this time, Jiangnan's defense will definitely be strengthened. If you want to make a comeback, it will not be so easy.

However, he would not just pile up these silver here. After all, Yangzhou City is not his own territory, and there will not be too many left-behind troops. If something goes wrong when he attacks Nanjing, wouldn’t these gains be wasted? But if it is transported back at one time, it is a bit unsafe.

Although the news has not been spread for a long time, it will definitely spread a lot in the next few days. If the Zhejiang navy or the Taihu navy goes north, there will still be some danger.

So Kong Youde made a compromise decision, sending the Jinghai and two lucky ships, paired with three sand ships, escorting half of the money back, and then transporting the other half. Even if an accident occurs, it will not be wasted.

After making a decision, Kong Youde arrived at the port and started the next offensive action.

Seeing the canal full of boats, Kong Youde was in a good mood and got better.

Not only is he rich, but he also has ships. The more than 100 ships parked here are now his Kong Youde.

Originally, the salt farm was robbed on the coastline of Nanzhili, and more than 130 ships were captured, most of which were rented to salt merchants under the Salt Chamber of Commerce. Kong Youde only brought more than 30 large ships as disguised and raided Yangzhou City.

After the battle was launched yesterday, the navy was mainly responsible for suppressing the firepower of Yangzhou City and did not attack the merchant ships on the canal.

But the docking merchant ships could not drive away quickly, and after the war began, most of the crew and sailors fled in panic, and these ships were not driven away, and basically became the spoils of the Tiance Army.

After the inspection, most of the ships here were from these salt merchants, which contained a lot of cargo, grain, tea, wood, cloth, salt, medicinal materials, and ore. Kong Youde naturally accepted it without hesitation.

In addition, some merchant ships did not hear the news later and returned to the port intermittently and fell into the trap. This became the spoils of the Tiance Army, and all the people, ships and cargo were detained.

So far, the number of merchant ships in the port has exceeded 120. There are all types, sizes and styles inside, including some exquisitely decorated building ships and the huge No. 1 Fu Ship, which can be said to be a big profit.

Although these ships are not all suitable as warships, it is not impossible to use as merchant ships. Kong Youde plans to bring all these ships back, so that he can quickly expand his strength and participate in maritime trade.

However, the only thing to worry about is the sailor problem. The number of sailors in the navy is so large. Originally, he only trained the personnel of three Garen ships. Later, after defeating Guo Huaiyi, he trained another group and surrendered a group from the pirates, which was barely enough.

Now that the number of ships has exceeded so many times, there are not enough sailors, which is a big problem.

"Zhang Hua, in the next few days, you will be responsible for staying in Yangzhou! On the one hand, you will guard Caibao and guard the retreat for us. On the other hand, you must find a way to get these ships back to Dengzhou!

I have figured out the solution. As a major waterway in Yangzhou, there must be a lot of sailors and crew members. You are responsible for getting them out, whether it is forcing or tempting, as long as they can be allowed to control these ships! Can it be done?"

"I will definitely do it!"

Kong Youde nodded and boarded the flagship Weihai.

Half an hour later, all the ministries were ready. "Let's go to Nanjing!"

Standing at the bow of the Weihai ship, Kong Youde said with a high spirit.

Soon, the Weihai and Jinghai took the lead in moving, and the subsequent dozens of warships and more than twenty cargo ships set sail one after another.

This time, the navy's twenty warships were divided into three parts, six of which transported the treasures back to Dengzhou, eight warships were responsible for staying in Yangzhou, and the rest of the warships participated in the attack on Nanjing.

After entering the Yangtze River from the canal again, the entire river surface was extremely deserted and no longer the prosperity of yesterday. After nearly a day of fermentation, the attack on Yangzhou City had spread on the river surface. After the merchant ships coming and going, they all knew about these things.

Their merchant ships were basically not armed, so they naturally could not fight against the warships. They could only avoid this place temporarily. This area of ​​water has become a place they could not avoid.

However, there are not completely no ships on the river. Looking through the telescope, there are more than a dozen ships wandering around the Zhenjiang waters across the Yangtze River at this moment, and it seems that they should be warships.

"Sir, look at the enemy ship's banner, it is mostly the Taihu Navy's warship!" Xu Wenyi said with a telescope.

Kong Youde also nodded. The ten or so ships had not tonnage. The leading one was the No. 2 Fu Ship, and the No. 3 Fu Ship, and the rest were Haicang ships, Cangshan ships, bird ships, and cliff ships, and even the Flang machine cannons could not be installed.

It is estimated that they also received orders from their superiors to come to help Yangzhou. However, yesterday the warship of the Zhenjiang Inspection Department was beaten up. They also knew that they would have the same fate when they came up, but they did not dare to disobey and could only wait and see from a distance.

These warships did not pose any threat to the Tiance Army Navy. Not only were they small tonnage and weak firepower, but they also seemed to be very old. It should have been a long time since they fought. One of the No. 2 lucky ships of the Tiance Army could easily solve them all.

Although there is no threat, Kong Youde still intends to drive them away. "Old Xu, send a boat to go down and scare them. It is best to kill one or two! Don't always wander here. If you are haunted by them, our identity will be bad! But don't chase them too far!"

"clear!"

Xu Wenyi went down to arrange it. The one who was sent was a No. 3 Fu Ship. Although the tonnage was not large, the firepower configuration was quite complete, with a total of ten Flang aircraft.

The commander was Qiao Tai, a young man who was only twenty years old in the grade. He was originally just a talented man, but he was quite brave in fighting. He made a lot of contributions in the previous naval battles. After the war, he was promoted to Yuanzheng and became the captain of this No. 3 Fu Ship.

When they found that the enemy warship was coming towards them, the Ming navy, who was watching, immediately responded and was ready to escape at any time. After all, judging from the size of the enemy fleet, they were not able to compete with them.

After they were ready, they found that only one No. 3 lucky ship came, and the rest of the fleet turned westward and headed towards the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. They couldn't help but feel energetic.

"Brothers, it's time for us to make contributions! These Japanese pirates look down on us and dare to come to trouble us in a boat. If we are scared away, how can we gain a foothold in the future?"

"Everyone is ready to fight. Kill this enemy ship and everyone can be promoted and made a fortune!"
Chapter completed!