Chapter 429 Gong Shiqi’s Difficulties
Although such inspection procedures are cumbersome and will greatly affect the efficiency of cargo handling at the terminal, under the current situation, the Ministry of Security and the Police Department are currently unable to come up with a more effective way to conduct the investigation. Before obtaining more detailed opponent information, relevant departments can only use this slightly primitive and clumsy method to strengthen local intelligence and defense work.
This kind of scene does not only appear at the docks of Sanya Inland Port. In fact, in the nearby Shengli Port, relevant departments have also made similar arrangements. Even Tieliang Port, which specializes in docking salt ships, has been notified. Conduct focused investigations on those who go to the place and try to stay.
In addition, the Lijiazhuang Immigration Transfer Station in the mainland and Wanshan Port, which is responsible for some cargo transfer tasks, have also received notices from the base camp, requiring them to strengthen the investigation of foreign personnel in the near future.
"If this kind of thing had not happened, the Executive Committee would not have realized the importance of our intelligence agencies!" He Xi took the towel handed over by Yu Xiaobao and wiped his face, and said angrily: "Last year, we made a report The Executive Committee expanded the staff of the Security Department, but the matter was delayed until the war in Hue was completed this year. Now all the new personnel are still being trained, and there are only a few people available in the field. How can we arrest them? "< br>
Yu Yao, who was sitting next to him, responded: "If you don't have enough manpower, then first transfer people from the guard company. If it's not enough, then transfer people from the golden shield escort team. If you put together two or three hundred people, you should still be able to have it." ”
"There is no one available at Jindun for the time being." He Xi shook his head and said, "I just went to ask today. They took a big job there and escorted a batch of goods to Shaoguan. The round trip is four hundred miles. I just went there the day before yesterday. Let's go. It's been a long journey from Guangzhou, and we won't be able to come back in less than ten days. We don't need to count on them now. Xiao Liang took half of the guard company to Panyu, and the rest are still needed. Looking at home, how can I dare to be transferred to the field at will? ”
"Don't just complain, isn't there Gong Shiqi here? This guy can be used as a team by himself, don't make it seem like you have no one to use." Yu Yao retorted with a smile. .
"Gong Qi Qi is capable, but there is only one! If there were ten or eight Gong Qi Qi, I wouldn't have to complain." He Xi defended helplessly.
Gong Shiqi was the one who was named by He Xi to the military after the Battle of Lijiazhuang last year. Because he was an artist who joined the army, and he had made military exploits and received awards in the army, so he was worthy of both combat ability and loyalty. trust. Before the naval battle at the Pearl River Estuary with Liu Xiang last year, it was Gong Shiqi who led his men to attack and uproot many of the hidden stake dens that Liu Xiang had arranged near Guangzhou. At the same time, he also seized nearly ten gold and silver belongings of the pirate group. Wan Liang can be said to have laid an excellent foundation for victory in subsequent naval battles.
He Xi was also very satisfied with Gong Shiqi's performance. In the written report submitted to the executive committee after the operation, he without hesitation called him "a target that can be focused on training" and applied for third-class personal merit for him. This time, after the intelligence agency of the General Office of the People's Republic of China received information about Jin Yiwei's actions, He Xi sent Gong Qiqi out again to collect information among the people.
As one of the first field personnel under the Ministry of Security, Gong Shiqi enjoys a level of treatment that is even higher than that of Lin Nan at the base camp. Not only is he equipped with a single-shot pistol and some other agent equipment, but he also has certain command authority. During the execution of the mission of the field team of the General Office of the People's Republic of China, Gong Shiqi has full authority to command operations.
While He Xi was complaining about the lack of manpower in the Guangzhou Liaison Office, Gong Shiqi was leading a team of people to lurk outside a restaurant in Guangzhou city. Gong Shiqi stood under the shadow of the eaves, slowly fanning the wind with his straw hat, and glanced at the wine shop opposite from time to time. There was a load of firewood placed in front of him. This was also the prop he used to hide his identity - pretending to be a farmer who went to the city to sell firewood.
Although the title of field commander sounds good, in fact the field staff of the General Office of the People's Republic of China only has eight people in total, so they often have to turn to the security company of the General Office of the People's Republic of China for help. Last year, Gong Shiqi led a team to seize Liu Xiang's underground bank in Xin'an County. At that time, due to lack of manpower, people had to be transferred from Lijiazhuang to transport the money. However, due to the high level of confidentiality involved in today's operation, Gong Qiqi did not ask for people from the security company in advance, but only brought people from the field team.
In addition to Gong Shiqi, there were several other people pretending to be passers-by, vendors selling groceries, beggars, etc., and were monitoring the restaurant. In addition, there was a covered carriage parked behind the street. . According to the information Gong Shiqi had received before, this wine shop was actually one of the secret strongholds of Jinyiwei, and it was directly under the jurisdiction of Nanzhen Fusi. This information was worth a full five hundred taels of silver. He Xi signed the contract without saying a word. After placing the order, if Gong Qiqi failed to dig out anything valuable from this in the end, it would probably be difficult for him to explain to He Xi the purpose of the money.
Gong Shiqi has led the team to monitor here for two days. He believes that if someone comes from Nanzhen Fusi in Nanjing, they may appear in this place. However, because he got the news too late, he was not sure whether the people from Nanjing had been here. He could only treat a dead horse as a living horse, hoping to obtain more detailed information by monitoring this place.
It has to be said that the official intelligence agencies of this era are still seriously lacking in vigilance in intelligence operations. The people in this wine shop still have the aura of public servants who cannot conceal themselves. Gong Shiqi has seen several people in the shop in the past two days. The waiter was not familiar with the liquor-selling business, and yesterday he sent someone into the store to deliberately make things difficult for the waiter, but the result turned out to be that the waiter shouted bad words at him.
This very unprofessional performance basically confirmed the information that Gong Shiqi had paid for before. Of course, the Jin Yiwei who pretended to be ordinary people in the wine shop probably never thought that someone would be bold enough to spy on them. For this kind of reaction, Surveillance lacks defensiveness.
Since the number of personnel in the field team was really limited and there was no way to investigate more places by casting a net, Gong Shiqi decided to take a risk this time and concentrate the power of the field team to monitor this place. If he's lucky and his bet is right, then maybe this will be the starting point for his future success.
Seeing that it was already noon, Gong Shiqi took out the steamed buns wrapped in cloth from his arms, broke them open and ate them bit by bit. This kind of fixed-point surveillance is not particularly demanding on physical strength, but the hot weather has become the biggest enemy. Even if Gong Qiqi has been standing under the eaves for shade, he has sweated a lot in half a day. However, he did not dare to be distracted at all, because this operation was very likely to affect his future career, and its importance was unmatched by past field tasks.
Although Gong Shiqi was born and raised in Ming Dynasty, he really didn't have much respect for the Ming Dynasty court, let alone loyalty. If he had not been oppressed by the government, he would not have lost his family and finally fled to Shengli Port. He knew very well how much power these overseas visitors for whom he worked hard had. Let alone dealing with a few imperial guards, he would not be shocked even if one day they sent troops to attack Guangzhou City. So when He Xi excused him before taking action, he comforted He Xi that there was no need to worry, and at the same time expressed his loyalty.
Gong Shiqi had already had a case in his mind. If the Jin Yiwei from Nanjing really showed up, he would have to do everything possible to keep them all in Guangzhou City. As for whether it is assassination or kidnapping, it depends on the specific circumstances.
When Gong Shiqi took out the second steamed bun and was halfway through chewing it, he noticed a few suspicious characters appearing on the street. These five people were also dressed as ordinary people, but Gong Shiqi could feel from the way they walked that these people should be practicing practitioners. Their feet were obviously much more stable than ordinary people, and their eyes were sharp. They looked left and right as they walked, obviously. Observe the surrounding environment very professionally.
When these five people walked to the door of the wine shop, they did not rush in directly. Instead, they stopped at the door for a while. The three of them went in first. The two stood at the door and looked around before following in. Gong Shiqi noticed that after these people entered, the waiter quickly invited the only two customers out of the store and began to close the door. This is the first time that this wine shop has closed early since the surveillance operation began. It is obvious that the identities of the five guests who entered the store are somewhat unusual, and the only thing Gong Shiqi can think of is to connect them with the actions of Nanzhen Fusi Come together.
Gong Shiqi turned his head towards the street corner and made an inconspicuous gesture, and immediately a passerby came over and asked: "Brother, how do you sell this load of firewood?"
Gong Shiqi lowered his voice and said: "I rushed back to mobilize people and said that the right idea may have arrived!"
The passerby raised his voice and said, "What? You want three coins? You poor guy, you are crazy about money!" After that, he walked away.
Gong Shiqi watched his companion turn the corner, and then returned his attention to the wine shop opposite. It took more than half an hour to rush from here to the Guangzhou Liaison Office outside the city, find He Xi to apply for a transfer order, and then rush back with the security company. The only thing Gong Shiqi could do was to pray that these people wouldn't leave too soon, otherwise with the few people he was commanding now, he might not be able to keep this group of visitors in the wine shop.
Gong Shiqi held the straw hat in front of him, reached into his arms with one hand, checked the flintlock pistol inserted in the gun bag under his arm, and then reached for the dagger on his waist. Touching the handle of the weapon made him feel a little more at ease. Although he also had skills, he was not a master who could fight one against ten. When he was not sure of the opponent's strength, it was best to use the weapon directly. He clearly remembered He Xi once said in the training class that when performing field missions, you must use the fastest way to disable the opponent's combat capabilities. When you can use weapons to solve problems, don't rely too much on your fists.
He was not the only one carrying a gun in this field operation. The eight-person team was issued a total of four pistols. If used properly, it would not be difficult to defeat the opponents of a five-person team. The real problem is that the loud sound of flintlock gunfire cannot be concealed. If a few shots are fired during the operation, it will probably attract the defenders and police officers in the city. How to escape quickly after the operation is also a very delicate matter.
Although this wine shop is not located in a busy city, there are still many residents around it. The possibility of causing trouble in the street is very high, and once it is noticed by the government, half of the purpose of this operation will be defeated—— What He Xi hoped was to quietly deal with the group of people sent by Nanzhen Fusi to Qiongzhou, instead of making big news that filled the city.
This undoubtedly placed extremely high demands on the field team. Gong Shiqi thought about it for a long time, but could not figure out how to complete the task without alerting the enemy. Just when Gong Shiqi felt very anxious, the partners sent back to ask for reinforcements had come back, and they also brought back a person who should not have been here in the first place.
As soon as Gong Shiqi saw this person, he immediately gave a secret signal to let someone take over his task, then picked up the load of firewood and quickly left his original position.
After Gong Shiqi walked around the streets for a while carrying firewood, he met up with his returning companions: "Where are the reinforcements? Why did you bring outsiders here?"
The man quickly explained: "The security company came with three carriages and more than a dozen people, all parked in the yard of the 'Fu Ruifeng' store on West Street... As for Master Li, the boss asked him to be brought here."< br>
The "boss" he refers to naturally refers to He Xi, the big boss of the intelligence agency. As for Master Li, it is Li Nai, the good third young master of "Fu Ruifeng".
Li Nai now spends at least half of the year hanging out with He Xi and others at the General Office of the People's Republic of China in Guangdong Province. Naturally, Gong Shiqi also knows him. Although there is a difference between superiority and inferiority, Gong Shiqi still couldn't help complaining: "Third Young Master, I'm doing something now, and this is not a fun time! You'd better invite me back first!"
Li Nai shook his head and said: "You don't even know what I'm here for and you want to drive me away? I was invited by your boss to help!"
"Help?" Gong Shiqi said with a suspicious look on his face: "Does the third young master know what we are doing?"
"I know! Your boss has told me." Li Nai responded calmly: "Aren't there just a few people with ulterior motives who are planning to sneak into Sanya? You are just thinking about how you can do this quietly. Keep them under control, right?”
"Absolutely..." Gong Shiqi knew as soon as he heard that this was indeed He Xi who revealed the inside story to him. It seemed that Li Nai was really not bragging, but he didn't believe that this young scholar who could only pick up a pen and write, to this How can this action help?
"I know you have guns, but if you shoot in Guangzhou, even if you kill these people, the matter will become a big deal. And your boss doesn't want to make this matter open, so I came here." I’ll help you here,” Li Nai said proudly.
Gong Shiqi couldn't help but ask: "Excuse me, Third Young Master, how do you plan to help?"
(End of chapter)