Chapter 858 Leading Party vs. Leading Party vs. Leading Party
Lin Xing had been to Sanya, and naturally he had heard the legendary stories of many maritime merchants in Fuzhou and Guangzhou who made a fortune quickly after getting involved with Haihan. In particular, the Li family in Panyu, Guangzhou, now known as the richest people in Guangdong and Guangxi, is an example that many maritime merchants want to imitate. Of course, making money is only one aspect of it. Being able to receive all-round support from Haihan is the condition that everyone values more. The Li family, which had long been affiliated with Haihan, has now become a real local power. Panyu County under Guangzhou Prefecture has completely become the private property of the Li family. Li Jifeng's words are even more effective than the local magistrate, and his militiamen The elite soldiers have also completely taken over the responsibilities of the local guard post, and have become the local emperors of Panyu County.
People in other places may just envy the Li family's privileges, but armed smugglers like Lin Xing, who are outlaws themselves, want more. When he went south to Sanya, the Sanlin Gang had already occupied a place on Liuheng Island. How to turn this situation of occupying the mountain into a real local separatist force is what Lin Xing wants to try. one. The Sanlin Gang does not have enough strength to copy Haihan's model, but if they want to follow the Li family's path to prosperity, the relative threshold will be much lower. As long as Haihan is willing to take action, it is not impossible to support local tycoons like this in other places. The problem is that Zhejiang, where the Sanlin Gang is located, is far away from Haihan's sphere of influence. At that time, Haihan was busy handling the Eighteenth Eighteenth Eighteenth-century China for the Fujian government. Due to Zhi's troubles, it seems that he has no plans to go north to Zhejiang to develop for the time being, but this idea has always remained in Lin Xing's mind.
Now that Haihan is heading north, and the army has arrived at his doorstep, this is both a danger and an opportunity for the Sanlin Gang. General Haihan's statement gave Lin Xing a glimmer of hope that his idea could be realized, so he naturally agreed first. Let’s talk about it later.
But his straightforwardness did not win Qian Tiandun's approval. Qian Tiandun said: "Don't rush to answer, we still have conditions. It won't be too late for you to make a decision after listening."
"General, please make it clear." Lin Xing responded quickly.
"First of all, all your people must be disarmed, and we must identify and reorganize them. We only need people who are obedient and can do things, and we don't need to do whatever we want. Do you understand what I mean?" Qian Tiandun asked.
Lin Xing frowned slightly, but quickly responded: "I will definitely follow the general's arrangements."
Of course, Lin Xing was not happy to accept such an arrangement. The measures mentioned by Qian Tiandun were undoubtedly to remove the foundation of the Sanlin Gang's rule in the northern area of Liuheng Island in one fell swoop. The people from the Sanlin Gang were handed over to Haihan to be broken up, identified and reorganized, so the three Lin brothers basically lost their main basis for bargaining with the Haihan people. But compared to being crushed by the Haihan fleet, or even having a double-take, this arrangement is not unacceptable.
Sure enough, Qian Tiandun then talked about the topic he was most concerned about: "Secondly, we are going to clean up the entire Zhoushan Islands area, including Liuheng Island. Who can be used and who must be eliminated? I also hope you can If you can sort out a rough charter for us as a reference, we will give you more opportunities in the future. Don’t limit your sights to the small area of Liu Heng Island.”
Lin Xing's heart skipped a beat again. As expected, the Haihan people saw a huge situation and did not regard Liuheng Island as an obstacle at all. Their thoughts were on how to capture the entire Zhoushan Islands. In comparison, Sanlin The weight of Bang and Liuheng Island is indeed lighter. However, Lin Xing believes that his understanding of the geographical conditions and power distribution of the entire Zhoushan Islands is worthy of the Haihan people paying enough attention to him. If he seizes this opportunity to give it a try, he may be able to turn the black chicken into a phoenix later.
Lin Xing quickly stood up again and clasped his fists and said: "I will live up to General Qian's appreciation, and I will do my best!"
When Lin Xing sat down, he saw that Ma Ling, who seemed to be in a state of concentration before, was staring directly at him, as if he saw a flower on his face. He was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that this Ma Ling could sit here and listen to the whole process. It was obvious that he had completely surrendered to the Haihan people and gained their trust before receiving such treatment. In this way, the Sanlin Gang is not the only local leading party that can provide intelligence to the Haihan people! If the Haihan people want to use themselves, they will undoubtedly take away the work that may originally belong to Ma Ling, so that the two sides will become competitors with each other.
He wanted to compete with Ming officers for a chance to get ahead under the Haihan people. Lin Xing didn't expect this to happen when he came, and his mind quickly began to calculate the pros and cons of both parties' conditions.
As a member of the Shipu Guards House, Ma Ling is obviously no less familiar with the area south of Xiangshan than the Sanlin Gang. However, due to the limitations of his jurisdiction, the waters of the Zhoushan Islands north of Xiangshan are not necessarily as familiar as those who have been there all year round. The Sanlin Gang, who operates in a sea area, Lin Xing believes that his side has a slight advantage in this regard.
However, the advantages of Ma Ling's special identity are completely unmatched by the Sanlin Gang. He can use his official identity to enter and exit all ports on the Ningbo coast at will, and has certain authority to mobilize local armed forces and supplies. Even if the Sanlin Gang is powerful in the East China Sea, they can't get rid of their identity as pirates and smugglers. When entering Ningbo Prefecture, they often have to change their names and disguise themselves, and they don't dare to show off publicly. If the Haihan people plan to organize and prepare supplies in Ningbo Prefecture, then Ma Ling's official status will obviously be easy to handle. Of course, the premise is that Haihan and the Ningbo government do not publicly break out and engage in armed conflict. As for what happened here in Shipu Port, it seems that the impact is still controllable. For the Haihan people, the chess piece Ma Ling can obviously still be used. This can be seen from the fact that he can sit in and watch. came out.
Lin Xing believes that there are only two reasons why Ma Ling took refuge with the Haihan people. One is greed for life and fear of death, and the other is profit-seeking. Needless to say about the previous one, after seeing the huge fleet docked by the Haihan people in Shipu Port, Lin Xing believed that most normal people would become greedy for life and afraid of death. Besides, the field soldiers at Shipu Guards Station did not have much fighting will. , and it is unlikely that he would choose to die generously for the honor of Ming Dynasty. Even if Ma Ling died in battle, it would be difficult to make up for the loss of his land, but Lin Xing believed that the Haihan people did not want the land here, and that occupying Shipu Port was just to eliminate the hidden dangers of the garrison here and use it as a transit and assembly place for the fleet. That’s all.
Based on the Haihan people's style of doing things, they probably gave Ma Ling some promises, such as continuing to maintain the nominal rule of the Ming Dynasty in Shipu Port. However, Lin Xing also knew that there were a lot of valuable goods in the city, and the Haihan people would probably not spit out the good things they had eaten. Ma Ling would not be able to explain to the owners of the goods, including himself, afterwards.
Thinking of this, Lin Xing suddenly realized that Ma Ling was not only greedy for life and afraid of death, but his only escape now fell on the Haihan people. If he could no longer stay in the Ming Dynasty, working for the Haihan people was indeed a good way out. When Lin Xing went to Sanya, he had seen that the local inspection department, navy, and guard army in Yazhou all obeyed the command and dispatch of the Haihan people. There were quite a few soldiers from the Ming Dynasty who served for them, and it was said that these people were also It's just that their qualities are generally not valued by the Haihan people. Almost all those who are truly capable have been picked up by the Haihan militia. Although this Ma Ling doesn't have any great abilities, he can manage dozens of miles around Shipu Port. Naturally, he can find a suitable job in the hands of the Haihan people. The more Lin Xing thought about it, the more reasonable he felt. When he looked at Ma Ling again, he couldn't help but feel a bit hostile.
It was already time to eat while they were talking, but Qian Tiandun relied on his status and would not condescend to dine with these little people who were fawning over Haihan. Not sure whether he did it intentionally or not, he arranged for Ma Ling to take Lin Xing to dinner.
After leaving the festival hall, Lin Xing saw that Qian Tiandun did not send anyone else to follow him, so he took the initiative and said to Ma Ling: "Master Ma, from now on we will all work for Haihan together. Please take care of me!" Ma Ling snorted. : "Boss Lin is very good at calculating. It's hard to say who will take care of whom in the future. There's no need to be so polite." Apparently he had just calculated the impact that Lin Xing would have on him after joining this bureau. It was really difficult for this competitor. What a good news.
Lin Xingqian smiled and said: "Master Ma, don't worry. I can't do your job, and it's hard for you to take away my job. In fact, there won't be any conflict. How about you and I cooperate well and conspire for great things."
Ma Ling looked at Lin Xing, shook his head and said, "Do you think you and I are the only ones working for the Haihan people in Ningbo? Think about it clearly, you and I have never met these Haihan people, why should they? Trust us? Did you hear what General Qian just said? They said that you should use your suggestions as a reference only. Don’t think that you have become the military advisor of the Haihan people.”
Lin Xing frowned and said, "Master Ma, do you mean there is someone else under Haihan who is responsible for providing intelligence?"
Ma Ling nodded and replied, "Yes, boss Xu Kexu from Xiangshan County just came back from Liuheng Island yesterday."
"Xuke?" Lin Xing frowned and said, "This name is somewhat impressive. He seems to be a rich man. This Xiangshan County is still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Why did this man work under the Haihan people?"
"I don't know, but it seems that the Haihan people are the spies planted in Xiangshan." Ma Ling lowered his voice and said: "Since the Haihan people want to take action in Zhejiang, they must have already made a plan. There are hidden stakes like this Xu Ke. I don’t know how many people are lurking in Ningbo.”
After hearing what Ma Ling said, Lin Xing felt that his previous idea was too simple. This Haihan man has always been meticulous in his actions, how could he leave such an obvious loophole in hiring people? Most likely, as Ma Ling said, the Haihan people would compare the intelligence they collected with the information provided by the Ming Dynasty generals and the Sanlin Gang, and then select the valuable parts for use. If there is a conflict in the intelligence information, I am afraid that the Haihan people will trust their own intelligence sources more.
Thinking of this, Lin Xing couldn't help but feel a little unhappy: "This person named Xu actually secretly went to Liuheng Island to explore my true identity. No wonder General Qian just now knows so clearly about the situation of our Sanlin Gang!"
"Just be lucky. If Xu hadn't told you about the many measures taken by the Sanlin Gang to imitate Haihan, General Qian wouldn't have had any interest in you. Even if you took the initiative to come to Shipu Port to build relationships, the most he could do was disarm you. Will surrendering and disarming give you a chance to cooperate?" Ma Ling said with jealousy.
"In that case, I would like to thank him for speaking kindly to me in front of General Qian?" Lin Xing did not expect that there would be such twists and turns.
"If you want to thank you, you can thank me in person." Ma Ling said in front of him: "Well, that person is Xu Ke."
After Xu Ke returned to Shipu Port yesterday, he and Zhao Cheng reported to the headquarters what they had seen and heard on Liuheng Island and the intelligence information they collected. Regarding the Sanlin Gang's various business practices that imitated Haihan, he only told the truth and did not go out of his way to speak favorably for the Sanlin Gang. But after listening to their reports, several senior officials couldn't help but feel some affinity with the leader of the Sanlin Gang. Lin Xing took the initiative to visit today, and his goodwill was reinforced again, so Qian Tiandun gave him a chance.
Although he has returned to his real name in front of Qian Tiandun, Shi Diwen, Xu Yuzhuo and others, he still maintains the identity of "Xuke" at other times, so as not to cause people to associate things with the Xu family in Fujian. Even Ma Ling, a demoted general who has obtained the right to observe, does not know the true identity of the boss Xiang Shanxu.
Ma Ling stopped Xu Ke and introduced Lin Xing's identity to him. In fact, no special introduction was needed. Xu Ke also recognized Lin Xing. He had met him before when he went to Liuheng Island, but the two parties had never really dealt with him face to face. Xu Ke did not attend the meeting between Lin Xing and Qian Tiandun just now, but he had already heard that Lin Xing came to Shipu Port in person, and he did not expect to meet so soon.
"I heard that Boss Xu just came back from Liuheng Island yesterday and went to the dock of my Sanlin gang. Why didn't you say hello so that I could have the opportunity to entertain you?" Lin Xing had a complaining tone, but his words were Faintly thorny: "Now that you and I both work for Haihan, we need to get closer to him."
Xu Ke was also considered a shrewd person. Hearing this, he immediately glanced at Ma Ling, but Ma Ling deliberately avoided his eyes. He did not meet the Lin brothers when he went to Liuheng Island this time. Ma Linggang obviously told him about this. Xu Ke didn't believe that Ma Ling had accidentally spilled the beans. After all, it was impossible for a person from a dignified family to casually reveal military secrets. Lin Xing said in words that he had taken refuge in Haihan, which was obviously a statement to himself. Ma Ling's purpose in telling Lin Xing about this matter could only be understood by Xu Ke as sowing discord.
"I have a mission to go to Liuheng Island this time. I don't want to disturb Boss Lin. I'll forgive you if I offend you!" Xu Ke bowed his hand to Lin Xinggong and responded in a neither humble nor overbearing manner.
(End of chapter)