Chapter 606: Post-event investigation
"Fortunately, they are all non-fatal skin injuries." After examining the injuries on several assassins, Morgan finally came to a conclusion that made Xu Xinsu feel relieved.
When I came over just now and saw that the captured assassins were all covered in blood, Xu Xinsu almost had a fit on the spot and wanted to scold Yang Lu. Of course he knew that Yang Lu was also eager to solve the case, so he would punish the newly caught alive, but Yang Lu didn't understand the thoughts of the Haihan people at all. What they wanted was probably not just to make these assassins pay for their lives, but to figure out what happened. The most important thing about the mystery behind the incident is to find out the mastermind behind it. And Yang Lu probably thought that even if he couldn't catch the real culprit, he would cut off a few heads and deal with the Xianghai Han people. This idea seemed to Xu Xinsu to be too naive. If the Haihan people were so easy to deal with, how could they have created such a big situation in just a few years since they came to Ming Dynasty?
While Morgan was treating the wounds of several assassins, Xu Xinsu called Yang Lu aside and asked in front of Ning Qi: "Have these captured assassins confessed?"
Yang Lu shook his head helplessly and said: "They are all tight-lipped, but I will definitely find a way to pry their mouths open!"
Xu Xinsu was noncommittal about this statement and continued to ask: "What is the situation in the city at this time?"
"After I heard the news about the assassination of the distinguished member of the mission, I immediately ordered people to close all the city gates in Zhangzhou. No one was allowed to leave the city without permission from the city defense army. I had dispatched more than 700 people from the city defense army to cooperate with the Yamen to arrest the police. Searching for assassins' accomplices in the city. "Yang Lu reported honestly: "There are also two assassins on the run. I believe that the hiding place of the escaped assassins is probably where their accomplices are."
Ning Qi asked: "Are these assassins locals from Zhangzhou?"
Yang Lu hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said: "These people have mixed accents. They should be from Fuzhou and Guangzhou."
Ning Qi analyzed: "I also went to the street for a visit today on an impromptu basis, so these people probably didn't have much time to prepare for the attack at the teahouse. They probably followed the teahouse to see the environment there to facilitate their attack, and they launched it just when I was about to leave. There were more than a dozen people who carried out the attack. If they were outsiders, they probably lived in the same place, so that they could coordinate their actions. Pace.”
Xu Xinsu is also a good person, and she can tell the truth immediately, and immediately ordered Yang Lu: "Why are you still standing there stupidly? What Mr. Ning said is a clue! These outsiders are eating and living together in the city, so they will definitely stay There are clues! Hurry up and check the inns and hotels in the city, as well as those who like to hire foreigners! Anyone who behaves suspiciously will be arrested first! ”
Yang Lu responded with a sudden realization, and was about to rush to arrange the operation, but Xu Xinsu stopped him: "Wait a minute!"
"What other instructions do you have, sir?" Yang Lu asked puzzledly.
"The Zheng family's shop needs to be investigated intensively!" Xu Xinsu added an order before waving to Yang Lu to hurry up.
After Yang Lu left in a hurry, Xu Xinsu explained to Ning Qi: "Zheng Zhilong's distant relatives have opened a business in Zhangzhou, but they have no direct contact with Shiba Zhi, so they are not specifically prohibited from operating in this city."< br>
Ning Qi nodded, indicating that he understood Xu Xinsu's explanation. However, understanding is understanding, but he does not completely believe this statement. Earlier, he had heard the father and son of the Gong family who were stationed in the local area talk about the hidden stakes arranged by Shiba Zhi in Zhangzhou. Their method of concealing their identity was to disguise themselves as various trading houses in order to be able to process the treasures obtained by Shiba Zhi from sea raids. stolen stolen goods and purchased some necessary supplies from the mainland on his behalf. And Xu Xinsu specifically told Yang Lu to focus on investigating the properties under Shiba Zhi's name. Obviously, he also had doubts about the origins of this group of assassins.
Ning Qi said without hesitation: "Actually, after what happened just now, the object of my suspicion was also Shibazhi. Because if our mission is attacked, they should be the ones who benefit the most. The first one who can attack us Haihan It will cause a certain blow to our reputation and undermine our visit to Fujian. Secondly, it can split the relationship between you and us, and may even turn us against each other, causing the Fujian government to lose Haihan as a backing. "
Xu Xinsu said solemnly: "Fortunately, Mr. Ning was not injured, otherwise I really don't know how to explain to the Haihan Executive Committee. In short, no matter who is the mastermind behind these assassins, I will dig him out. Strictly speaking, I will dig him out." Take action to serve as a warning to others!”
However, what Ning Qi said was only part of his inner thoughts. In fact, who instigated these people to assassinate in broad daylight, Ning Qi thought it was secondary. How to use the current situation to promote a favorable outcome for Haihan? This is the main issue that Ning Qi is considering now.
The main purpose of the Haihan mission coming to Fujian this time is to try to terminate the armistice peace talks that may already be in progress between the Fujian government and Shibazhi. As for what methods to use to achieve this goal, the Executive Committee did put forward some plans before departure, such as increasing trade preferential conditions to induce benefits, or showing force to frighten Fujian officials, using coercion and inducements. All. However, Ning Qi suddenly thought that this was an excellent opportunity for Xu Xinsu to express his attitude on behalf of Fujian officials.
Whether or not Shibazhi was behind this matter has actually become a secondary issue. As long as Haihan firmly places the blame on Shibazhi, Xu Xinsu will have to make a choice to take care of her old friend's emotions. , you still have to protect your old enemy, and this choice is obviously not too difficult.
If Xu Xinsu doesn't take the initiative to put the fire on Shiba Zhi's head, then Ning Qi will turn the topic to this aspect to see if Xu Xinsu will protect Shiba Zhi because of the ghost in his heart. However, judging from Xu Xinsu's reaction, Ning Qi must have been overly worried. Xu Xinsu was obviously very anxious to clarify her feelings, and she probably didn't care about the truce and peace talks.
While Ning Qi and Xu Xinsu were talking here, it seemed like a pot had already been boiling in Zhangzhou City. Ordinary people had no idea what was going on. They only knew that the officers and soldiers closed the city gates and began searching from house to house, street by street. All non-local residents were cleared out and identified and checked one by one by the people from the yamen. However, it will still take a long time to investigate the tens of thousands of residents in this city with limited manpower.
The orders received by the soldiers and police officers on duty were to arrest all suspects first and then slowly conduct an investigation. As a result, suspects tied with ropes in long lines could be seen everywhere on the street.
As for the several trading firms that secretly worked for Shiba Zhi, they were all shut down directly. According to the instructions from above, everyone from the bosses to the clerks, from the accountants to the laborers carrying the bags in these firms had to be detained. Yang Lu personally led people to the "Zhengfeng Hao" in Nancheng, which was the business run by Zheng Zhilong's distant relatives as Xu Xinsu said. This shop usually specializes in deer skins, antlers and other specialties from Daguang Island, and its background speaks for itself. Yang Lu asked his officers to lead people to block the front and back doors, and then sent someone to call the door.
After knocking on the door for a long time, there was no response. Yang Lu was too lazy to wait any longer, so he asked his men to climb in from the wall and open the door. He did not encounter any resistance during this process, but the result made Yang Lu very angry. The store was completely empty, and not even a single person was left. Obviously, they probably expected that the Ming army would come to clean up this place, and they had already moved it in advance.
"These guys..." Yang Lu was so angry that he waved his hand and ordered: "Block all the things in this store! Transport all the valuable property back!"
This time, I gained a lot. There was a large amount of deer skins and antlers stored in the warehouse of the company, which were worth at least 18,000 taels of silver. In addition, some gold and silver were also copied. Yang Lu thought that this could help subsidize the cost of the city-wide manhunt.
Now that Shibazhi's people have chosen to run away in advance, no matter who is responsible for assassinating Haihan's wanted man on the street, Shibazhi must take the blame first. Yang Lu immediately asked someone to pass the documents, and immediately started writing the relevant wanted order in the "Zhengfenghao" shop. At the same time, he immediately sent someone to report the news to Xu Xinsu.
Xu Xinsu was silent for a while after hearing the news, and then issued a new order: "In Zhangquan and Quanzhou, all people related to Shibazhi should be arrested first!"
Ning Qi heard clearly from the side and thought that now he was completely broken.
After listening to the Gong family's father and son talking about the complicated interest entanglement between Xu Xinsu and Shibazhi, Ning Qi actually understood why the war in Fujian had lasted for several years and had not ended, except for the fact that the maritime armed forces under Xu Xinsu were slightly stronger. In addition to shortcomings, the secret entanglement of interests between the two sides also affected the direction of the war. On the one hand, the two sides are at war, on the other hand, they use other identities as cover to conduct underground transactions.
Shibazhi blocked part of the sea routes, which certainly affected Xu Xinsu's maritime trade business. However, Shibazhi also had to spend a lot of money every year to purchase various materials from the mainland through Xu Xinsu's trading firms. Xu Xinsu actually regained a considerable part of the interests he lost in sea trade through this method from Shiba Zhi. Moreover, both groups had business dealings with the Dutch. This common interest allowed them to maintain a strange tacit understanding despite the war.
How many people have been deployed by Shiba Zhi in the cities along the coast of Fujian? A local snake like Xu Xinsu would not know at all, and now issuing orders to clear out these places can be regarded as a ruthless measure to cut off the retreat of Shiba Zhi. It would be difficult for Shibazhi to grow enough food for tens of thousands of people on the island of Taiwan with just the few immigrants under his command. Now without the operation of these trading houses, Shibazhi's own material supply will become a very troublesome problem.
Of course, they will definitely find other solutions, such as purchasing grain from farther away in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but this will undoubtedly increase operating costs, and it is difficult to guarantee the stability of supply. After all, unlike the Haihan people who are entrenched on Hainan Island, they have a rear granary like Annan where they can purchase large amounts of food at any time.
Ning Qi asked deliberately: "If Shibazhi has personnel stationed in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, then we might as well invite their person in charge to explain it in person. Maybe there is someone else who did this."
Xu Xinsu shook her head and said: "Everyone has run away. This is obviously a guilty conscience. What else can I say? If I get the person in charge of them, I will definitely send it to Mr. Ning, and Mr. Ning will ask him personally!"
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Ning Qi thought to himself that if you send it to me, even if it is not made by Shiba Zhi, it will be made by Shiba Zhi. But since the people from Shibazhi have chosen to run away, it seems that they are indeed causing trouble in secret.
After Morgan treated several injured assassins, he began to continue questioning. However, in order to temporarily save the lives of these assassins, Morgan forbade the officers responsible for interrogating them from using torture. Instead, he taught them a new method that did not hurt the flesh, which was the 24-hour fatigue bombing tactic.
Fatigue interrogation relies on rotating interrogators, asking suspects questions continuously, and using various methods to prevent them from getting information. This method does not seem to cause direct physical torture, but it is very severe in terms of mental torture. Even those tough guys who can withstand various punishments will often gradually lose their minds during days and nights of non-stop interrogation. , losing the ideological defense line. In the time and space before the time traveler arrived, this interrogation method was already included in the category of torture to extract confessions by the legal profession, and it was an unfair interrogation method. Of course, in this time and space, there are not so many taboos. As long as a confession can be obtained, no one will care about the life or death of these prisoners - anyway, from the moment they are caught, the final result is already determined.
Morgan was convinced that this interrogation method would yield some useful information. As long as he continued to stimulate the prisoners' spirits in various ways and prevented them from falling asleep, sooner or later their defenses would collapse due to mental fatigue. The only problem is that this interrogation method often takes a long time, and it may take two or three days or even longer when encountering some more determined people.
However, Ning Qi didn't mind if the interrogation took a little longer. Anyway, the city search operation here would still take a certain amount of time, and it might not be possible to catch the prisoners' accomplices outside before they confessed.
Shi Diwen, who was stationed at the Zhongzuo Institute, sent a telegram three hours after the incident, asking if anyone or a ship needed to be sent to pick them up. Ning Qi called back and declined Shi Diwen's kindness. It was obvious that the other party's assassination method was just a flurry, and he probably didn't have time to prepare any follow-up actions in a hurry. Now the entire Zhangzhou City is under martial law, and Ning Qi is thirty meters away. With at least one or two hundred guards inside, personal safety is no longer a problem at all. Instead, we must seize this time and destroy the peace talks between Xu Xinsu and Shibazhi first.
(End of chapter)