Chapter 1056 Liao Xun’s calculation
While Gao Qiaonan and Gong Shiqi were discussing the plan of action in a restaurant in the west of the city, the door of a house in the east of the city opened, and a four-person soft sedan came out silently, with two people in front and behind wearing colorful tulle flowers. The guards were dressed in uniform and carrying embroidered spring knives on their waists. This house is where Jin Yiwei's Yamen is located in Hangzhou City. However, unlike other government offices, there are no signboards, no stone lions in charge, and Yamen guards guarding the door. It looks no different from the houses of ordinary wealthy families.
This low profile is not to cater to the special nature of Jinyiwei's organization, but an adjustment made only after Liao Xun, the head of Jinyiwei in Hangzhou, took office. Liao Xun is a relatively pragmatic person. He believes that the Imperial Guards are the emperor's personal soldiers. There is no need to show their status through pomp and circumstance. The actual work results are far more important than pomp and circumstance. How much achievements can he make in his current position? , how many actual benefits can be obtained, this is the key point.
Of course, after cutting unnecessary ostentation, the funds saved did not go elsewhere, but were all pocketed by Liao Xun. Hangzhou is a place with developed commerce and relatively prosperous people. There are very few vicious cases or political incidents that require Jin Yiwei to deal with. Jin Yiwei can't even do as much in Hangzhou as Dongchang, which specializes in investigating local officials. Liao Xun found that there was nothing to gain from this place, so he naturally turned his attention in a more practical direction.
Guo Zheng from the Prosecution Department and Yu Pingfeng from the Command Department were officials he had known before he was assigned to Hangzhou by Nanzhen Fusi. After arriving here, the other two introduced him to Ningbo Prefecture Wang Jialin, a large-scale merchant, hit it off and quickly formed a private organization integrating government and business. With the various "conveniences" provided by these people, Wang Jialin quickly rose to prominence in just a few years, relying on the smuggling trade to become one of the largest households in the Zhoushan Islands. His influence also spread rapidly from Ningbo Prefecture to the entire Hangzhou Bay. Most of the maritime trade business is also controlled by him.
Liao Xun only had to write official documents and issue instructions in Hangzhou, and the benefits he received from Zhoushan each year amounted to tens of thousands of taels of silver. During this period, there were countless rare and precious treasures sent by Wang Jialin. Nowhere else can you find such light-hearted fatness. Liao Xun used the money to buy real estate and land in Hangzhou, raised several wives and concubines, and lived a happy life.
However, this perfect living condition was ruined by the arrival of the Haihan people last year. Although the Zhoushan Shipping Gang had made a lot of profits by reselling Haihan goods before, Liao Xun himself also benefited a lot from it, but the arrival of the Haihan people After Zhejiang, they did not leave any face for the "non-staff agents" of the Zhoushan Shipping Gang, and directly started to grab the territory.
The news of the Haihan people's landing at Shipu Port in Ningbo had just reached Hangzhou. Before there was any response, the news of the Haihan people's capture of Liuheng Island came one after another. Before Liao Xun and others could judge whether the Haihan people would attack Zhoushan When we started, war had already started in the East China Sea. By the time Hangzhou tried to stop the barbaric behavior of the Haihan people in an official capacity, the battle over the control of the Zhoushan Islands had ended. Zhoushan Island quickly fell under the land and sea attack of the Haihan army. The life and death of the island owner Wang Jialin unknown.
Only then did everyone realize that this group of southern barbarians were not just merchants who were proficient in maritime trade. Their combat power and ambition were far superior to the Japanese pirates and Westerners who harassed the East China Sea in the early years. Although Zhejiang Dusi sent an official document to the Ningbo garrison due to calm winds, asking them to respond to the violent acts of the Haihan people, the Ningbo garrison on the front line already knew that the Haihan army was powerful and not an ordinary pirate armed force. It is a genuine army, who is willing to go to sea to deliver food to the other party easily.
In addition, Haihan had secretly tried to get in the way of Ningbo officials and the military at this time. With free money to clear the way, the officials and garrison in Ningbo were also obeying the instructions issued by Hangzhou and deliberately delaying them. Therefore, Yu Pingfeng After the official document was sent to Ningbo, there was no response like a stone sinking into the sea. Liao Xun had no military power, and he could not use any strength in the process. He could only watch as Haihan took away control of Zhoushan.
The collapse of the Zhoushan Boat Gang caused huge economic losses to the interest groups behind it. The annual revenue sent to various yamen in Hangzhou alone amounted to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and no less than a hundred people in the official circles benefited from it. Vested interests such as Liao Xun, Yu Pingfeng, and Guo Zheng hated the Haihan gang of uninvited guests who disrupted the stability of the situation, and were unwilling to admit defeat.
However, Wang Jialin returned to Zhoushan Island later and tried to create chaos during the investment conference organized by Haihan, but he was still frustrated. Later, they encouraged Ma Yue, the commander of the Haining Guards in Jiaxing Prefecture, to send his men to pretend to be pirates and send ships to rob Haihan merchant ships at sea. However, this plan was discovered in advance by the other side, and Ma Yue died inexplicably at sea before the attack was successful. Although Liao Xun and others suspected that the matter had something to do with the Haihan people, there was no evidence to link it with the Haihan people. In the end, they could only blame the non-existent Japanese pirates.
After experiencing two major setbacks, Liao Xun and his group finally realized that their side did not have any advantages at sea. Unless they concentrated and dispatched the navy in East China on a large scale, there would be a lot of troubles involved. . And with the capabilities of the Haihan people, I am afraid that before the naval forces have completed their assembly, they are already ready for battle on Zhoushan Island.
It would be somewhat difficult to cross the sea with Ming army troops to attack an opponent equipped with a large number of artillery. Ten years ago, Fujian Governor Nangong Yi and General Soldier Yu Zigao led an army to attack Penghu Hongmao City. They used 200 warships, 10,000 troops, and spent 170,000 taels on the military. They fought for seven months before driving out the Hongmao people. Penghu. The Haihan people who occupied Zhoushan this time are said to have tamed the red-haired people in the south, and their combat power was so high that it was difficult for the Ming army to match them.
Zhejiang wants to use troops against Zhoushan. If they don't send an army of 30,000 to 50,000 people, they will probably humiliate themselves. Moreover, such large-scale military operations must be approved by the imperial court, and the documents must be sent to the Ministry of War, and then by the imperial court. The big bosses discussed it slowly, but within two or three months there was no result. Now that the imperial court is focusing its attention on quelling the civil strife in the Central Plains and resisting the Jin army outside the Pass, how can it spare the energy to deal with the maritime chaos in Zhejiang? Even if the Zhejiang Dusi sent a report to the Ministry of War, it would most likely be dismissed by the superiors as "taking the overall situation into consideration".
Using force didn't work, so Liao Xun and others changed their methods and began to look for other means to snipe Haihan. By studying the history of Haihan's rise, they soon discovered that the expansion of this armed organization was accompanied by trade. In most cases, it used trade to open the way. If it encountered resistance, it would decisively use force to remove the obstacle, and Haihan was in Zhejiang. The biggest obstacle to the development of trade is undoubtedly the so-called civil armed forces in the Zhoushan Islands that have monopolized more than half of Zhejiang's maritime trade. But what Liao Xun and others don't quite understand is why Haihan was so impatient when he arrived in Zhejiang and went straight to Zhoushan when he had negotiated with local officials on how to distribute benefits in places such as Fuguang in the south. Of course, Liao Xun and others did not expect that the reason why Haihan did this was that he was eager to go north and expand his sphere of influence to the periphery of the Bohai Sea, so that he could seize one or two footholds in the Jiaodong Peninsula during the recovery period of the Denglai Rebellion, and then expand his territory in Northeast Asia. The region opens up the situation. The Zhoushan Ship Gang inevitably became a stumbling block in the process. Haihan had no interest in slowly negotiating terms with a group of armed smugglers with pirate backgrounds, so he simply sent troops to push them over, just for training. . And comparing the military expenditures spent on this with the revenue that can be obtained from this area in the future, it is undoubtedly a very cost-effective deal.
The mystery of this is naturally unimaginable from the perspective of Liao Xun and others. Therefore, they can only think that Haihan's approach is to monopolize Zhejiang's maritime trade and not leave a way for others to survive. Although it is not realistic to use a large army to wipe out Zhoushan Island, with their influence in Zhejiang official circles, there are many opportunities to cause some trouble for the Haihan people.
Initially, Liao Xun and others assigned the task to the people below to investigate the Haihan goods smuggled into Hangzhou City, in order to attack the trade offensive that Haihan was trying to launch. This method seemed feasible, but problems soon began to emerge in actual operation. Some people took advantage of their power to enrich themselves, sold part or all of the confiscated goods privately, and put the income into their own pockets. And these Haihan goods But it is still circulated to the market through other channels.
However, these situations that go against their original intentions are only the practices of a few people, and the targets are mostly small traders with little background. This is not where the real trouble is caused. After the sea trade rights originally controlled by the Zhoushan Ship Gang were transferred to another owner, the Haihan people quickly recruited a large number of agents in Jiangsu and Zhejiang through investment promotion associations, and participated in the Haihan trade system that divided the benefits. Most of these agents had Certain financial strength, as well as large or small official backers.
These people represent a new group of vested interests who filled the vacancies after the collapse of the Zhoushan Boat Gang. When the expected benefits were large enough, out of consideration of their own gains and losses, they chose to join the camp chaired by Haihan and tried to The local officials who blocked Haihan's trade in Zhejiang became a hateful stumbling block in front of these new vested interests. And many of the participants were backed by people that Liao Xun and the others did not dare to offend easily.
Due to such changes in the situation, the anti-Haihan actions advocated and carried out by Liao Xun and others have achieved very limited results. This year, instead of successfully preventing Haihan from starting trade in Zhejiang, the Haihan goods on the market have been The speed visible to the naked eye is constantly increasing, and when this kind of transnational smuggling trade has become a lucrative industry, it becomes very difficult to eliminate it with the power of a few people, not to mention that behind these trade channels, There are also the Haihan people on Zhoushan Island who are not very peaceful.
Since the end of last year, the Ningbo government has begun to clearly shirk the official documents sent to Hangzhou requiring strict control of maritime trade. It even claimed that some of the mandatory management measures for maritime trade would "cause public unrest" and therefore refused to implement them. Liao Xun knew that the people in Ningbo were not ordinary fishermen who went out to sea to fish, but numerous Ming maritime merchants and their trading partners, the Haihan people. According to the intelligence obtained by Liao Xun, the Haihan people have stated in public more than once that they will use force when necessary to safeguard their trading rights along the coast of Zhejiang and the interests of local business partners. This is almost a "war" Two words were spoken directly.
The Haihan people have built military ports, military camps, and coastal fortifications on Zhoushan Island, and stationed organized troops and combat fleets all year round. This is obviously far beyond their status as ordinary maritime merchants. In this case, it is reasonable for the local government not to provoke the other party. After all, if the two sides turn against each other, the first place to suffer after the war is the neighboring Ningbo Prefecture.
As a last resort, Yu Pingfeng and Guo Zheng could only place more of the burden of fighting Haihan on Liao Xun's shoulders, because the military power in their hands had gradually lost its deterrent effect, but they were in charge of the special intelligence agency Jinyiwei. Liao Xun may be able to find other ways to effectively attack Haihan.
Liao Xun did think of a method that might work. Through the intelligence he collected, he noticed that Haihan had been recruiting a large number of immigrants, especially young and skilled craftsmen. It was said that these immigrants were screened on Zhoushan Island. , some will be transported to the south for cultivation, and the other will be left to work on Zhoushan Island. Liao Xun's idea was to send some trained personnel to lurk on Zhoushan Island by participating in immigration, waiting for opportunities to kidnap or assassinate Haihan's senior figures - the leader of Haihan, who was called the "chief" by ordinary people.
Considering that Zhejiang’s officialdom has long been infiltrated by Haihan, if this project is not carried out confidentially, Haihan might have arrested people before they arrived in Zhoushan, so Liao Xun vacated a house in the north of the city. For training operations personnel. In order not to attract the attention of interested people, Liao Xun simply moved his family to the north of the city, so that he could return to his mansion every day and instruct his subordinates in special training.
The more than 20 people currently training under him are not all members of the Jinyiwei. Some of them are from the military, and a few of them are civilians who were recruited by Liao Xun because of their skills. Liao Xun is actually not sure whether these people can succeed in the future, but he knows that if he can't come up with any effective counterattack, the Haihan people will reach out to Hangzhou in about a year or two. If you think about it again, it will be a hundred times more difficult than it is now.
(End of chapter)