Chapter 575 Li Jin’s attitude
The data provided by the Ministry of Commerce was sent back to the Security Ministry Command Center in Danzhou City in the shortest possible time, which made several anxious naturalized cadres breathe a sigh of relief. The situation discovered by the frontline spies, combined with the recent pig iron sales data in Danzhou provided by the Ministry of Commerce, matched up with their previous inferences, which shows that the direction of the investigation so far is very correct.
Although these reactionaries have tried to avoid Haihan's detection and transported the purchased pig iron to blacksmith shops in the countryside to secretly make weapons, their anti-reconnaissance capabilities are not that high. In the face of investigation methods, suspicious behavior was quickly exposed.
Having found one of the sources preparing to provide weapons to the reactionaries, the subsequent investigation by the Ministry of Security will be easier. By keeping an eye on the blacksmith shop and the commander of the advance guard station, one can quickly find out the people involved with them in the nearby area.
After another seven days, the Ministry of Security's surveillance targets had expanded from the initial two or three to many towns and villages in Danzhou and nearby, and the list of people involved in the case had also increased to more than 20 people.
At this stage, the Ministry of Security's manpower in Danzhou has once again become stretched thin. In order to avoid scaring away the big fish that have not yet emerged, the Ministry of Security cannot immediately arrest these people and can only control the surveillance. scope, and issue advance warnings to other states and counties where reactionary elements may be hiding.
Zhang Qianzhi's lurking in Zhongming Academy also achieved certain results, and he identified several Confucian scholars who would participate in the assassination operations with him and be responsible for setting fires to disrupt order. However, the whereabouts of the Ming military attache Huang Zixing mentioned has not yet been found.
"As we expected, the Danzhou Chamber of Commerce has booked the Nanhai Restaurant in the city as the venue for Director Zhang's birthday." Wang Baisuo entered the house dusty and turned to Lin, who was immersed in studying the map of Danzhou. Nan and Li Qingyang said: "This restaurant is the place we visited specially a few days ago."
In order to prevent the news from leaking, the Ministry of Security did not make official arrangements for the venue of Zhang Xinshou's birthday in advance, but let the Danzhou Chamber of Commerce choose on its own. However, there are not many high-end restaurants in Danzhou City, and the range of choices is actually limited. The Security Department has visited all these candidate locations early to formulate an action plan in advance. The Nanhai Restaurant finally determined by the Danzhou Chamber of Commerce happened to be the place where the three of them had just visited five days ago, and they were quite impressed.
"Who owns this restaurant?" Lin Nanyan asked succinctly.
Wang Baisuo understood the key point immediately and responded immediately: "The owner of this restaurant is a native of Danzhou, his surname is Yu. He has never done anything against me, Haihan. As far as I know, this person is related to Danzhou People from the government have no direct relationship. Director Zhang often goes to this restaurant to eat. People from the Chamber of Commerce must have taken Director Zhang’s preferences into consideration.”
"On the day of your birthday, all the busboys, counters and kitchens in the restaurant will be replaced by our people. You can find a way to get the boss to cooperate with our arrangements." Lin Nan immediately made arrangements. After thinking about it, he added: "Qingyang , ask someone to check if there are any new employees in this restaurant in the past three months, and if anyone comes to ask for work in the next few days, if so, you know what to do."
Lin Nan would not trust Dadi to think that his opponent's assassination plan was just to arrange some assassins with sharp blades to carry out face-to-face assassinations at close range. If the opponent was smart enough, he would send people to sneak into the restaurant and directly put poison in the food and drinks to kill Chief Haihan. , that can achieve the same effect, and it will be easier to get out of trouble afterwards. Therefore, the staff of the restaurant are definitely one of the loopholes that must be guarded against. The safest and safest way is of course to replace all the people inside and outside the restaurant with your own people.
Wang Baisuo pointed to the map and said: "The residences and streets near Nanhai Restaurant need to be controlled as soon as possible. Later, I will ask people to find a few residents nearby who are willing to naturalize and let them free up their houses for a few days."< br>
"Be careful not to expose your identity!" Lin Nan reminded: "If this group of people finds something is wrong and backs down, then our big plan will be in vain."
With Haihan's current control in Danzhou, it is not difficult to expropriate private houses outside Nanhai Restaurant and set up a secret cordon. The main thing is to avoid making too much noise and exposing the intention of the layout.
At the end of February, targets monitored by the Ministry of Security began to enter Danzhou City in batches. Most of these people have been identified, and most of them are former members of the Ming Guard Army and local regiment training. It's just that when they disguised themselves as various identities and entered the city, they probably didn't realize that they had fallen under the strict surveillance of the Haihan people.
Yan Mingjun and Li Jin both received an invitation letter from the Danzhou Chamber of Commerce on the last day of February, asking them to attend the birthday of Zhang Xin, director of the Danzhou Management Committee, at the Nanhai Restaurant in the city five days later.
Yan Mingjun had already met Huang Zixing before, and he actually knew what would happen on this birthday. However, for confidentiality reasons, he did not inform Li Jin before this. It was not until he received the formal invitation that Yan Mingjun invited Li Jin over and told him the truth.
Li Jin was also shocked after hearing this: "Brother Yan, are you saying that a group of scholars in Danzhou want to assassinate the Haihan people? Are these bookworms stupid because of their studies? With their little ability, is it possible that they want to kill the Haihan people? The Haihan people stretched their necks and waited for them to cut with their knives?”
Yan Mingjun shook his head and said: "I said just now that the scholar was just one of the initiators. How can I rest assured if it is really run by a group of scholars? According to what he said, in fact, there is also a Jinyiwei general who came down from Nanjing to be in charge of this operation. . As long as they can succeed, you and I will immediately take over the local military affairs and regain the land of Danzhou for the imperial court."
However, Li Jin's face did not show much joy for this, but continued to ask: "Brother Yan, does he know how many troops these people who are preparing to take action have? How do they plan to defend Danzhou and prevent the Haihan people from retaliating later? ”
"This..." Yan Mingjun also muttered. Regarding the details of the assassination plan, he only knew what Huang Zixing said. He only knew that he would capture or kill the Haihan people on Zhang Xinshou's birthday, and then Local officials immediately took over local government affairs and returned Danzhou to the Ming Dynasty. As for the details of the group responsible for the attack, and how they could defend Danzhou after they succeeded, Yan Mingjun did not delve into it. Of course, even if he takes the initiative to ask, Huang Zixing may not be able to tell him all these arrangements with confidence.
Li Jin continued: "Brother Yan, have you ever thought about whether you and I would be implicated if things fail? With the degree of control the Haihan people have on Qiongzhou Island today, if they want you and me to disappear completely, I'm afraid Nothing to be afraid of.”
"Brother Li, I haven't seen you for a few days, why have you become timid?" Yan Mingjun responded with some dissatisfaction. In Yan Mingjun's impression, Li Jin was a straight-tempered man who started fighting with others when he first arrived in Danzhou, and he was no less resentful towards Haihan than he was. If he wanted to become an enemy of Haihan, Yan Mingjun thought that Li Jin would definitely be very aggressive. Happy to stand up and lead the way. But listening to his remarks today, it seems that he is not too optimistic about the assassination.
Li Jin shook his head and did not respond to his question, but asked: "In the past few days since I came to Danzhou, Brother Yan must have gained an understanding of local people's sentiments. I dare to ask, Brother Yan thinks that the current situation in Danzhou is better than that of you and me when we were here earlier. How about Luodingzhou? ”
Although Yan Mingjun didn't know what he meant, he still responded honestly: "Danzhou has prosperous culture and education, prosperous commerce, and stable people. In terms of livability, it is better than Luodingzhou."
"This Haihan militia can be seen everywhere inside and outside the city. Brother Yan should have seen it too. How does it compare to my Ming army?" Li Jin continued to ask.
Lord Yan Ming responded: "The ships are strong, the guns are powerful, and the military discipline is strict. In terms of strength, it should be superior to the garrison on Qiongzhou Island."
Li Jin added: "In my opinion, not only the Qiongzhou Island garrison, but also the entire Guangdong and Guangxi, it is difficult to pull out a team that can compare with the Haihan Militia."
It is indeed difficult to refute Li Jin's point of view, because since a few years ago, the Haihan Militia has been clearing away those difficult bones for the Ming government and the military. From bandits to pirate lords, these bandit troubles that the Ming Dynasty could not eradicate were finally solved by the Haihan militia. Just judging from the results, the armed strength of the two sides is far from the same level.
Of course, there is a big difference between the rumors and the actual experience. Before Li Jin came to Qiongzhou Island, he had a lot of doubts about some rumors that were about to blow the Haihan militia to the sky. But all the way from Guangzhou to Qiongzhou, he kept After seeing the amazing strength displayed by the Haihan Militia, Li Jin's doubts have been eliminated. Although the experience in the first few days after arriving in Danzhou was not so pleasant, he later had many opportunities to have close contact with the Haihan Militia, and his feeling for its strength became even more profound.
Lord Yan Ming said: "Brother Li, you are trying to increase other people's ambitions and destroy your own prestige! Although the Haihan people's regiment is stronger than the Ming army, they are still unorthodox here..."
"Brother Yan, there is something wrong with you scholars, you just like to talk nonsense like orthodoxy!" Li Jin shook his head and interrupted Yan Mingjun: "If orthodoxy is useful, the imperial court can win the war in the north and the Central Plains. Is it so difficult? We still need the three armies to work hard. Wouldn’t it be better to just use these two words to ask the enemy to surrender?”
In the past two years, the wars faced by the Ming Dynasty have become more and more intensive. In addition to the wild boar skins that have been knocked down every year in the north, banditry has also been rife in the Central Plains since the first year of Chongzhen. Because of the famine and food shortage, and the court's inability to provide disaster relief, Wang Jiayin organized the victims to rise up in Fugu, Shaanxi. Responders flocked to him, and leaders such as Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Zicheng all served under his command. Soon the flames of war spread throughout Shaanxi, and spread to Shanxi, Shanxi, and other provinces. In Ningxia and Gansu provinces, the size of the armed forces reached tens of thousands.
Although the place where the accident occurred is still far away from Guangdong in the south, the indirect impact has begun to appear. In addition to the gradual reduction in supply of various products from the Central Plains region on the market, the imperial court has collected wages from the south in the past two years. The intensity is also increasing. The reason is also very simple. Those provinces cannot collect wages, and the court wants to increase troops for war, so the money must be allocated to other provinces that are not in trouble.
As a soldier, Li Jin was naturally much more concerned about these wars than Yan Mingjun. He became a little anxious when he heard that Yan Mingjun was talking about orthodoxy - civil servants always believed that adhering to righteousness would lead to victory on the battlefield, but little did he know that In a war, someone needs to fight hard, and money needs to be spent continuously. Having said that, if the war is really so easy to solve, when there was banditry in Qiongzhou Island last year, why did the Guangdong government pretend to be dead and let the Haihan people step in to clean up the mess?
Yan Mingjun didn't expect that Li Jin would refute him like this, and he was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to answer.
Li Jin continued: "These days, I go out to the city every day to watch the Haihan Militia's drills, and I know a little about their tactics. To be honest, if I were to lead troops to fight against them now, I really don't have much confidence. ”
Yan Mingjun said: "Brother Li, did you take money from the Haihan people again, so you spoke for them?"
Li Jin shook his head and said: "Brother Yan, I have figured it out. The Haihan people took the initiative to give us money, not because they are afraid of us, but because they don't want to cause more trouble. For them, giving us this little money is far more valuable than bringing the army out to fight. The money spent is much less. But these people are not afraid of war, but are always preparing for war! If we remain silent, they will not take the initiative to break up with Ming Dynasty. Look at Danzhou, at least it is still there now. Acknowledge the existence of the Ming government. If they really kill the Haihan people in Danzhou, do you think they will give up? If the Haihan people want to go to war with the Ming Dynasty, do you think the Guangdong army can stop them? ? Will the imperial court hope to see a new battlefield opened in Guangdong and Guangxi? ”
Li Jin's words made Yan Mingjun speechless again. It was definitely wrong not to resist Haihan's encroachment. One of their original intentions when they came to Danzhou was to regain control of this place for the Ming Dynasty and the imperial court. However, Li Jin's current attitude is that he cannot take drastic actions and start a war with Haihan. The consequences of doing so will probably exceed the loss of Ming Dynasty in losing Qiongzhou Island.
Yan Mingjun did not want to admit the existence of this possibility. After all, it was an extremely embarrassing thing for Daming. But judging from what Li Jin said, the retaliation caused by angering the Haihan people may indeed lead to more serious consequences - this is not a responsibility that he or Li Jin can afford.
Yan Mingjun hesitated for a moment before speaking: "But if the Haihan people are allowed to act recklessly, this Qiongzhou Island will be annexed by them sooner or later. When the court blames them, it will be your and my responsibility as well!"
(End of chapter)