I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 337 The Revenge of the Four Great Families

Tang Zhao sat on the deck, listening to Wu Yi'er report the latest news.

"The Yang, Jin, Jiang, and Zou families have sent their managers to buy salt everywhere. They have swept up all the salt produced by the Gao family's shops and the salt fields in the four counties. Now they are eagerly waiting by the sea, watching the salt field workers work day and night to dry the salt."

"Seven days isn't enough, is it?"

"Absolutely! The Yang family directly funded the expansion of the salt fields in Xiangshui County by a full three times!" Wu Yi'er gloated. "The other three families followed suit, expanding their salt fields and recruiting workers in the other three counties."

"Now, the people of the entire Suzhou Prefecture have heard the news and are heading to the salt fields in the four counties to work!"

Tang Zhao crossed his arms behind his head, lay back on the deck, and looked at the stars with his legs crossed.

"Guess how the four major families will retaliate against me?"

Wu Yi scratched his head, about to say he didn't know, when he heard a deep voice behind him, "According to the strategist's information, the four major families have trained countless assassins, specifically to eliminate those who oppose them. The former Vice Magistrate of Suzhou disappeared suddenly while investigating the four major families' illegal sale of government salt."

Gu Ci sat down next to Tang Zhao. "I just received news that Yang Fan's eldest son has mobilized five hundred men from the Yang family estate. They took a boat south from the Wanren Wharf and are chasing after our ship."

"Five hundred people?" Tang Zhao clicked his tongue. "The Yang family really has a big budget."

Tang Zhao had raised a private army before, so she knew how expensive it was to raise soldiers. If it weren't for the many profitable businesses under her control, the men in the Protector General's Mansion would have bankrupted her!
Now they have less than a hundred men, yet the Yang family has mobilized five hundred elite soldiers. Tang Zhao is very curious: if the Northwest Army really crosses the river, can the Yang family gather an army of tens of thousands to fight to the death?
Gu Ci added casually, "The Jiang family contributed three hundred people, the Jin family contributed three hundred people, and the Zou family contributed two hundred people."

Tang Zhao:. . . . . .

Is it really that bad?
Seeing Tang Zhao's complicated expression, Gu Ci suppressed a smile and said, "Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents."

"At most, it will only cripple them, it's far from ruining their families!" Tang Zhao complained. "Besides, if they were making money through legitimate means, I wouldn't have bothered with them."

Ultimately, it is they who take money from the country and the people to feed themselves. She is just asking them to return the money that does not belong to them. Is that wrong?
It’s not reasonable anymore!
“Powerful families like the four great clans would love to seize all the money and grain of the world for themselves; how can we expect them to know propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame?”

Not to mention the Yang family and their ilk, even the Ming family, the eldest sister-in-law's maternal family, a scholarly family with a history of over a hundred years, whose members constantly preached propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame, repeatedly enslaved and exploited the people.

Gu Ci lowered his eyes to look at Tang Zhao, his gaze gentle. If everyone were like Zhao Zhao, reasonable, principled, and law-abiding, Father Emperor would have so much less to worry about.

Tang Zhao's eyes flashed with wariness. "Why are you looking at me like that? Let me tell you, I'm not going to be subsidizing the country anymore."

Gu Ci smiled, about to say something to tease her, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flickering among the layers of islands in the distance.

Gu Ci stood up and walked to the side of the ship, gazing silently.

The dark figure seemed to have noticed Gu Ci's gaze, so it simply stopped hiding and revealed its true form from behind the island.

It turned out to be a seagoing vessel that was seventy meters long and fifty meters wide!

The personal guards of General Wu Yi, a second-class protector of the country, had grown up in the Northwest since childhood. This was their first time going to sea. They thought that the official ship they were riding on, which was built under the supervision of the government, was already very large. But when they saw the sea vessel that was twice the size of the official ship, they were stunned.

Tang Zhao didn't show much surprise.

Tang Zhao had sailed on cruise ships even larger than this ocean-going vessel countless times, and he had even visited aircraft carriers, a major national asset, on their open days.

She really didn't take such a small ship seriously.

Seeing the look of disgust on Tang Zhao's face, Gu Ci's words of comfort stuck in his throat, unable to come out.

The jet-black ship, which had been moving slowly, suddenly sped up and headed towards them.

Wu Bingsan's eyes widened. "Are they going to ram us?"

Tang Zhao patted him on the shoulder, agreeing with his guess. Wu Yi'er, who couldn't swim, anxiously asked, "Miss, what should we do?"

When it comes to warfare, Tang Zhao is still a novice. He turned to look at Gu Ci.

"Get back to shore as soon as possible," Gu Ci said, his lips pursed. They lacked experience in naval warfare, and most of his soldiers couldn't swim, so fighting at sea would be disadvantageous for them.

With that, Gu Ci led his men to turn the boat around and quickly rowed towards the shore.

While helping, Tang Zhao also explained how to save oneself in the water.

Wu Yier and the others carefully memorized it.

Chaohui asked timidly, "Princess, can people really float on the sea?"

"Yes!" Tang Zhao was certain. "The human abdominal cavity and lungs can hold a large amount of air, which can support our entire body to float on the surface of the water. As long as you don't struggle and let your body spread out naturally in a starfish position, it won't be a problem to float at sea for several days and nights!"

Chaohui swallowed and glanced cautiously at his master.

Gu Ci: "Have you written it all down?"

Chaohui's expression hardened. "I've got it."

As the distance between the two ships drew ever closer, with the massive hull of the ocean-going vessel practically overhead, Gu Ci glanced at the shore less than a hundred meters away and decisively ordered, "Abandon ship and jump into the sea!"

Looking at the dark, murky sea, Wu Yi'er felt dizzy and instinctively called out, "Miss!"

"Don't be afraid!" Tang Zhao pulled Wu Yi'er's arm. "I'll take you."

Wu Yi grabbed Tang Zhao's arm as if it were a lifeline, and the two jumped into the sea just before the two boats collided.

The official ship could not withstand the impact of the sea vessel, and in an instant, broken walls and debris were scattered on the sea surface. The ship also capsized and sank into the sea amidst violent rocking.

The sinking of the ship caused violent disturbances in the sea, and Tang Zhao was swept away by the water and tumbled several times before he could barely regain his balance.

Wu Yier swallowed several mouthfuls of seawater, and Tang Zhao quickly swam him towards the surface of the sea.

Wow!

The two emerged from the sea, and Tang Zhao grabbed a broken piece of wood and handed it to Wu Yi'er.

Wu Yi Er hugged the wooden board and coughed violently, as if he wanted to cough up his internal organs.

Whoosh! The sound of something cutting through the air came, and Tang Zhao instinctively raised the broken wooden board to block it.

Half of the arrow pierced through the wooden board and stopped just in front of Tang Zhao, its fletching still trembling.

"I rely on!"

Whoosh whoosh!
Several sharp arrows flashed with a cold light and shot towards Tang Zhao. Tang Zhao pulled Wu Yi'er and sank underwater to avoid them.

Sooner or later they would die in the sea if things continued like this. Tang Zhao pushed Wu Yi'er to the arriving Zhao Hui and told them to swim back to shore, while he swam towards the direction of the ship.

Pfft!Pfft!Pfft!
Countless masked men in black jumped into the sea, brandishing their knives and charging towards Tang Zhao.

Tang Zhao dodged to the side, drew his short sword from his waist, and stabbed it into the black-clad man's chest.