Chapter 609 The impact of the assassination
Although the Shibazhi can be regarded as the most powerful maritime force along the coast of Fujian because they need people and ships, their shortcomings are also very obvious, that is, their population base is too poor to support their long-term foreign affairs. Combat. The combined population of the Shibazhi's ruling areas in Penghu and Taiwan Island is less than 100,000, and the amount of war materials they can provide is limited. It is not a big problem to engage in maritime plunder in peacetime, but to maintain a long-term all-out war, The opponent is the most powerful empire in the Far East in this era, and behind it are the Haihan people who are beyond this era to provide arms support. The results that can be achieved are self-evident.
In the previous few years of fighting, Shibazhi had lost a considerable number of its elite manpower and a large amount of wealth. And this part of the loss can no longer be made up by their looting and smuggling. There are already many leaders in the camp who have objections to the hopeless war and are unwilling to continue to spend money and people against the Ming army.
It was at this time that the Dutch jumped out to be peacemakers, willing to pave the way for Shibazhi, provide communication channels for the peace talks between the two parties, and act as a middleman. After weighing the pros and cons, Zheng Zhilong gave up and sent his aide Zheng Xinzhi secretly to Zhangzhou to conduct peace talks with the Fujian government on behalf of Shibazhi.
At this stage, both sides were willing to cease war due to different reasons. After the initial communication, they hit it off and temporarily suspended hostilities in the waters near Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. However, this kind of truce is only a short-term behavior with a limited scope. The two sides still have to negotiate specific truce conditions, but this link does not go smoothly.
As the Haihan mission had previously predicted, the bottom line for Shibazhi was to at least obtain a stable trade window in Fujian, but this was a condition that Xu Xinsu, a businessman, found difficult to accept. Xu Xinsu is well aware of the benefits of monopolizing Fujian's maritime trade, and can foresee the changes in the situation after Shibazhi intervenes in this industry, so she will naturally not accept such a request. It was equally difficult for the Eighteen Zhizhi to accept the precondition that Xu Xinsu proposed to withdraw from Penghu and that all the Eighteenzhizhi armed personnel must unconditionally accept the Ming army's incorporation. So the two sides were in a stalemate until the news of the Haihan mission came out, and the situation changed. Changes began.
Xu Xinsu spends a large amount of money every year to purchase Haihan weapons, constantly sends personnel to Sanya for military training, and opens the Fujian market to Haihan merchants. These measures are not secret. Zheng Zhilong also knew how much influence Haihan had on Fujian and his attitude towards Shibazhi. And Haihan sent a mission to visit Fujian at this juncture of the peace talks between the two sides. It was obvious that he was not just a coincide.
Zheng Xinzhi, the envoy of Shibazhi, sent a letter back as soon as he got the news, asking for Zheng Zhilong's opinion, and suggested sending a fleet to intercept the Haihan delegation on the way. However, the feasibility of this plan was too low and was rejected directly - Xu Xinsu had already dispatched several ships south to prepare to meet the Haihan delegation on the way, and the two sides were in a truce period. If Xu Xinsu's ship had an accident in the nearby waters , then there is no need to continue the armistice negotiations.
The speeches made by Ning Qi and others at the reception banquet that night when the Haihan delegation arrived at Zhongzuosuo City had already reached Zheng Xinzhi's ears the next day. The Haihan people have made it clear that they will take the lead in fighting, and Zheng Xinzhi believes that Xu Xinsu will probably listen to the Haihan people's opinions in the end. After all, it is quite unwise to offend this big backer for Shiba Zhi. But in this case, the wish of the Eighteen Zhizhi to negotiate for peace will be completely frustrated, and if the fighting continues, the Eighteen Zhizhi will probably fall apart internally due to the excessive losses of the war.
To achieve an armistice, Haihan must be prevented from interfering in the negotiations. This was the conclusion that Zheng Xinzhi finally came to. There are only two ways to achieve this goal. One is to directly contact Haihan and reach a certain degree of understanding so that Haihan can withdraw from this situation. However, this possibility is extremely slim. In the past two years, Shibazhi has also tried to He made peace with Haihan through various channels, but Haihan's attitude has always been clear. He only recognizes Xu Xinsu in Fujian. Shibazhi can make peace if he wants, but Zheng Zhilong must surrender to the Fujian government on his own - this is obviously impossible. Things that can be done.
The other way to stop Haihan is more risky. Zheng Xinzhi believes that if something happens to the Haihan mission in Zhangzhou, it will most likely affect the cooperative relationship between Haihan and Xu Xinsu. You can use various public opinions to spread some unfavorable news about Xu Xinsu. It may be difficult for Haihan people thousands of miles away to tell the truth of the matter. At that time, they will definitely be suspicious of Xu Xinsu, and they may directly terminate military aid to Fujian. .
Zheng Xinzhi found out the identity of the leader of the Haihan mission without spending much time, and prepared a group of men in Zhangzhou City, all of whom were dead soldiers that Zheng Zhilong had supported for many years, intending to find an opportunity to assassinate Haihan envoy Ning Qi and others. However, since Ning Qi and others had no definite schedule for their itinerary, Zheng Xinzhi had no way to prepare for the assassination in advance. He could only understand the target's movements through surveillance and look for opportunities to strike.
Ning Qi went to the teahouse under the leadership of Wang Lin. Zheng Xinzhi, who was monitoring the situation, thought this was an excellent opportunity. So they sent three people pretending to be tea guests to ambush them, and then placed more than ten people at the entrance of the tea house. The dozen or so people outside were actually just a cover used by Zheng Xinzhi to attract the attention of the guards, while the three assassins who entered the teahouse disguised as guests were the main force behind the assassination.
The skills of these three people are considered to be the best among the Eighteen Zhi, and they have all mastered the unique skill of flying knives. The accuracy within three feet is quite remarkable. It is not an exaggeration to say that they can hit the target with every shot. Moreover, they were all determined to die. If they could not escape after the assassination, they would kill themselves to avoid implicating their masters.
Although Zheng Xinzhi also noticed that there were several personal guards wearing different clothes around Ning Qi, he had full confidence in his own people and believed that they could completely eliminate the other party's guards in a short time. But what he didn't expect was that although these assassins were very skilled, they were of no use in the face of melee weapons that were beyond their time. If they had known in advance the melee firearms equipped by the Haihan guards, they might have been able to make some targeted preparations, but unfortunately they would never have such an opportunity again.
After just throwing three throwing knives in a hurry, the assassins were knocked down by the pistol bullets of Haihan's guards, and they didn't even get a chance to fight in close combat. And none of these three flying knives hit the real target by accident, but Wang Lin, a humanoid sandbag, unintentionally blocked the knife for Ning Qi.
Zheng Xinzhi, who was directing the assassination operation from the outside, certainly did not wait for the results to come out before evacuating. In fact, he evacuated the scene immediately after giving the order to take action. He did this not entirely because he was afraid of death. Regardless of the outcome of the assassination, he had to leave here temporarily. First, he wanted to send news about the situation in Zhangzhou City to Zheng Zhilong, and second, he wanted to make the necessary decisions as soon as possible after getting the result. response.
As for his retreat route and hiding place, the group of dead soldiers was not informed. Therefore, although the interrogation method provided by Morgan worked, there was still no way to immediately learn the whereabouts of the main messenger Zheng Xinzhi. "If he evacuated quickly enough, he might have left Zhangzhou City after taking action." Morgan sighed with regret after learning the results of the interrogation.
The time from when the assassin took action outside the teahouse to when Yang Lu received the news and ordered the city gates to be closed was actually not long. However, the place where the incident occurred was only one mile away from the nearest city gate. If Zheng Xinzhi chose With this retreat route, there is indeed enough time to leave Zhangzhou City safely before the city gate closes.
"No matter what, my people will definitely continue to pursue the case, try their best to bring the people involved to justice, and bring justice to everyone in Haihan!" Xu Xinsu breathed a sigh of relief after the suspicion was cleared, but she did not forget to show that she was always The attitude of getting to the bottom of the case - whether or not the real culprit can be caught is secondary, but the attitude must be clear. Attitude is above all else. This is an important principle that Xu Xinsu has learned after dealing with Haihan for several years. People in Haihan value this even more than monetary interests in some cases.
Ning Qi did not forget to escalate the seriousness of the matter at any time: "This behavior of Shiba Zhi is not only a personal threat to me, but more importantly, it damages the friendly relationship between us! Although their assassination is It was targeted at me, but in fact both of us are victims. Mr. Xu will no longer talk about peace with these gangsters who talk sweetly to their faces and strike ruthlessly with knives behind their backs. Only by completely annihilating them can we get real peace. Peace!”
"Mr. Ning is absolutely right. Anyone who mentions peace talks in front of me from now on will be regarded as a comrade of Shiba Zhi!" Xu Xinsu had indeed given up on any further peace talks with Shiba Zhi at this time. General Zheng Xinzhi He was so passive that Xu Xinsu could not wait to get rid of him.
Two days later, Xu Xinsu, in accordance with the wishes of the Haihan Mission, held a public trial in Zhangzhou City for those captured in the assassination case. After the trial, they were taken directly to Caishikou and executed, and their heads were beheaded and hung at the city gate for half a month. . In this three-thirds of an acre of land in Zhangzhou, Xu Xinsu can basically follow the law and do what he says. There is no such thing as waiting for execution after the death penalty. What he wants is a deterrent effect.
And this public handling means a complete break between the Fujian official and Shibazhi. The previous situation of turning a blind eye and still having economic exchanges in private while fighting openly will probably not happen in the future. Will continue to appear in the coastal areas of Fujian. Xu Xinsu issued several orders on the day the trial results came out to arrest those who worked for Shibazhi in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Fuzhou and other places.
Of course, such an arrest would cause a lot of trouble, but for Xu Xinsu, she no longer had too many worries. Ning Qi has already expressed his position to him. As long as he stands on Haihan's side, no matter how the situation in Fujian develops in the future, Haihan can ensure that the Xu family is rich and safe - at worst, if he can't survive and resigns as the Fujian general soldier, Haihan will immediately You can set up a port city under construction overseas for the Xu family to operate.
There is nothing to criticize about this kind of support. With this escape route, Xu Xinsu's idea becomes much simpler. As for the distribution of Haihan's interests in Fujian after the elimination of Shibazhi, Ning Qi has also expressed his attitude on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee. As long as each port has free trade rights, he will not take the initiative to station troops in Fujian - of course in the near future. The militia troops that will be dispatched to Fujian do not fall within the category of "active". Since the Haihan people were willing to support him with such great strength and determination, Xu Xinsu's original worries were completely gone.
After handling the assassination case, the content of the talks between the two parties shifted from military cooperation to the field of business and trade. The two parties agreed to inject no less than 150,000 taels of silver each into the jointly operated "Fujian Haixing" in the next three years to build large merchant ships, explore new routes in the Far East, and build special docks and terminals along the southeastern coast. Supply point.
After expanding its business scale, the "Fujian Sea Trip" will not only provide transportation services for the increasing maritime trade between the two places, but will also undertake the transportation task of large-scale transportation of immigrants from Fujian to Hainan Island. Although the local immigrant population in Fujian will be relatively limited, Xu Xinsu will try to organize immigrants from Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places bordering Fujian. The immigration policy given to Fujian by Haihan is very flexible. These immigrants can either settle cash with Haihan on a per-capita basis, or they can be counted as Xu Xinsu's investment shares in areas under Haihan's rule to obtain long-term returns. Although the price is not much different from the early days when private traffickers organized piglets to go to Southeast Asia, Xu Xinsu is obviously more interested in the political effect of this kind of cooperation.
Moreover, in recent years, due to the chaos and food harvest in the north, a considerable number of refugees have fled to the south, where the situation is relatively stable. It is not too difficult to collect refugees at a low cost. There may be natural geographical barriers for the Haihan people located in the remote Hainan Island, but it is much easier for Fujian.
Of course, all this cooperation has a prerequisite that must be achieved first, and that is the safety of sea lanes. And to achieve this, solving Shibazhi has become an imperative move. Earlier, Fujian officials wanted to cease the war because the cost of fighting had exceeded the expected benefits. But now that the expected benefits promised by Haihan are much higher than before, fighting against Shibazhi has become profitable again. things. The benefits Fujian will gain from this increase will even greatly exceed the income from trade with the red-haired people. There is no need to say which side Xu Xinsu and other Fujian officials prefer.
After living in Zhangzhou City for nearly ten days, Xu Xinsu finally left the city with the Haihan delegation and returned to the Zhongzuo Institute, preparing to participate in the next joint military exercise.
(End of chapter)