Chapter 1108: The next best thing
The reason why Shangguan Ye was sent to take action was that among the three, only Shangguan Ye had ever dealt with Zhang Pucheng. Although there was no deep friendship, at least they knew each other. The core part of the action plan they formulated was to involve local officials who had already had contact with Haihan, use the trust that the Haihan people had in them to lure the snake out of the hole, and then take advantage of it unprepared to wait for an opportunity to attack important figures in Haihan. Capture.
Liao Jie believes that since the Haihan people are willing to hand over Wanmeng to Zhang Pucheng for success, this has shown from the side that they have a certain degree of trust in Zhang Pucheng and want to benefit him in this way. If we can bring Zhang Pucheng into the group and let him set up a trap to trick the Haihan people into leaving Zhifu Bay, the chances of success will definitely increase.
However, this idea obviously had deviations that they had not expected. Zhang Pucheng had a deep prejudice against Shangguanye because he had been bullied by Shangguan Ye before, and was unwilling to cooperate with him at all. After Shangguanye tried all his tactics of coercion and inducement, he still failed to persuade Zhang Pu to become Fan. The first step of his original plan hit a snag.
"Zhang Pucheng doesn't want to cooperate, so let him go. Write down this account first, and then find an opportunity to settle it with him slowly in the future. But our plan must continue to be implemented, and we can't give up just yet!" Liao Jie will not let it go. This setback caused him to give up his long-planned plan, because besides Zhang Pucheng, he also had other candidates: "Feng Qianhu from Qishan Institute, I met him once a year ago. He is a person who knows how to measure. We can try Invite him into the group.”
Qishan Qianhu Station is only a dozen miles away from Zhifu Bay, and Feng Fei, the top commander of the local garrison, will inevitably have to deal with the Haihan people. The official document sent by Qishan had been sent to Dengzhou City three days ago. As a senior official stationed in Dengzhou from Shandong Dusi, Liao Jie had also read the contents of the official document and could basically confirm that Feng Fei had had contact with the Haihan people. . But judging from the fact that the Haihan people handed over Wanmeng to the county government instead of Qishan Institute, the relationship between them should not be deep. Otherwise, it would be justifiable for this military merit to be renamed to Qishan Institute. This would make it easier to win over Feng Feiliu next. Down the activity space.
Feng Fei is from the military, and it is more convenient to communicate on some matters than with civilian officials like Zhang Pucheng, but it must be done in person. Dengzhou City is more than a hundred miles away from Qishansuo. To communicate with it, someone has to make a special trip, and the sooner the better. Feng Fei's current position should not be as inclined to Haihan as Zhang Pucheng, but as time goes by, Haihan might offer more benefits to win him over. When the time comes, Dengzhou will try to persuade him with words. It's difficult.
But the choice was a big problem. Among the three, only Shangguanye had ever been to Fushan County, so he naturally became the first choice. It was just the attitude shown by Zhang Pucheng before that made Shangguanye himself a little worried about whether Zhang Pucheng would sell him out when he went there. There was an old grudge between the two of them, and it was not impossible for Zhang Pucheng to take the opportunity to retaliate. If the Fushan County Government had colluded with the Haihan people, then Shangguanye would have thrown himself into a trap by going there.
"How about we go quietly, don't enter Fushan County, and don't contact the county government." Guo Xingning proposed a more helpless solution: "Brother Shangguan, just go directly to Qishan Institute and discuss the matter with Feng Fei alone."
This was obviously suspected of showing weakness. After hearing this, Shangguanye was a little unhappy: "Brother Guo, I'm afraid it's inappropriate to be timid before fighting. Even if the Haihan people are tyrannical, I have never heard of them daring to fight against the Ming Dynasty officials." If I rebel openly, what can they do?”
Guo Xingning knew he had made a mistake, so he quickly made up for it: "Brother Shangguan is right, but it's easy to hide from open guns and hidden arrows. Brother Liao's elder brother is also a well-known figure in Zhejiang, but even in the city of Hangzhou, something happened. The Haihan people have a lot of tricks, so be careful!”
Liao Xun's family disappeared overnight, which is considered a strange case in local history. People who know the inside story generally believe that Haihan is the biggest suspect, but how did Haihan achieve this strange result without leaving any trace? But no one can come up with relevant evidence. However, after this incident occurred, some officials in Zhejiang officialdom who originally supported Liao Xun and expressed hostility towards Haihan became silent and no longer expressed their opinions against Haihan in public. Even if someone wants to stand up, they must first consider whether they have more weight than Liao Xun, Guo Zheng, and Yu Pingfeng.
Haihan's ability to build such a big momentum in the south must have been due to more than just luck. Since Liao Jie and others were determined to confront Haihan, they naturally did not dare to underestimate this opponent. What happened to Liao Xun and others in Zhejiang can be regarded as a lesson. If you underestimate Haihan, you may pay a heavy price.
Liao Jie also agreed with Guo Xingning's view: "Brother Shangguan, what we are planning has a great impact. Even if we feel aggrieved for it, it is worth it. I think Brother Guo is right. It is better to be cautious. Don't lose the big because of the small. The whole picture! ”
Shangguanye didn't know the risks involved, so he just retorted a few words to save face. Since his companion had given him the ladder, he took advantage of it and came down. He nodded and said: "That makes sense, so whatever, I will only bring a small number of people to pretend to be Civilians, just don’t go to Fushan County.”
Liao Jie warned: "When Brother Shangguan arrives at Qishansuo, we'd better give him some advice and don't act too hastily. If we can get Feng Qianhu's help, we can save a lot of trouble."
While the three were plotting in the private room in the backyard of Shenxianju, Zhang Pucheng had already paid and left. The appearance of Shangguan Ye made him really have no appetite to finish the meal. Although he didn't completely believe what the other party said, it still made him have some doubts about the origin and purpose of the Haihan people. If the Haihan people really established their own country in the south, then what they did in Fushan County was indeed illegal. Even if they helped the local government deal with the bandits, if you think about it carefully, there are still many irregularities. .
Zhang Pucheng believed that Shangguanye was not just talking. Since he came to him for an interview, he must have a more detailed action plan. Perhaps Shangguanye would think that his plan had a certain degree of success, but Zhang Pucheng did not think so. He had witnessed the strength of the Haihan people with his own eyes, and the possibility of Shangguanye succeeding was only minimal. Zhang Pucheng was very sure of this conclusion. The only thing he was still a little undecided about was whether he should inform the Haihan people about this matter in order to obtain more actual rewards from them.
With the generosity shown by the Haihan people, they would undoubtedly give financial rewards after obtaining this extremely valuable information. If it were before hearing Shangguanye's remarks, Zhang Pucheng would definitely have done it without hesitation, but Now I am a little worried about the real purpose of the Haihan people coming here. If they really want to eclipse or even replace the local government, how should they deal with themselves in the future?
Resist? This is obviously a very unwise choice. Given the strength of the Haihan people, even if they want to capture Fushan County, it will only take half a day at most. If they really offend the Haihan people, it will be difficult to ask for free treatment. .
If we continue to cooperate with him, we have to worry about the accusation of Litongwaifan mentioned by Shangguanye. Last year, Kong Youde led his army across the sea to Liaodong to join the Hou Jin Dynasty. The imperial court was greatly angered by the treason. If similar incidents happen again in the future, it will definitely happen. Being punished severely. If what Shangguan Ye said is true, if the situation in Fushan County is reported and verified, it will probably not only be dismissed and lost, but also the head may be lost. Although Zhang Pucheng loved money, he did not want to throw away his life for money.
The situation suddenly became so complicated. Zhang Pucheng was afraid that Fushan would change and had no intention of staying in Dengzhou City any longer. After leaving Shenxianju, he summoned his men to leave the city and planned to return to Fushan County as soon as possible to keep an eye on the Haihan people. Will they really evade the government bit by bit as Shangguan Ye said? Although Zhang Pucheng was anxious, the two places were hundreds of miles apart, so he and his team hurriedly rushed back to the county seat until the evening of the next day. It only took three days from the time he escorted Wanmeng to Dengzhou City to the time he returned to Fushan County. During this period, he only spent two or three hours in Dengzhou City. The schedule was extremely tight.
When Huang Qu heard that he turned back like this, he thought something had happened on the way and hurried to the county government office to meet Zhang Pucheng. Hearing that the prisoner had been handed over to the prefect, he was slightly relieved: "Even so, why don't Master Zhang stay one more night in Dengzhou City, and then come back slowly after you have a good rest."
Zhang Pucheng said that I would like to rest for one more day, but the situation is not forgiving. I won’t worry if I don’t rush back and watch! At the moment, he did not dare to elaborate on the inside story that Shangguan Ye had told him. He only asked the Haihan people outside the city if they had any new trends.
Huang Qu responded: "After Mr. Zhang set out, the Haihan people organized four to five hundred people to clean up the area outside the city. Now 90% of the people outside the county have dispersed, and most of them have chosen to join the Haihan people. They again A lot of supplies were shipped from Zhifu Bay, and the camp along the Jiahe River was expanded a lot. It is said that people will be sent to neighboring counties to continue recruiting refugees. "
Zhang Pucheng felt a little relieved after hearing this. As long as the Haihan people focused on immigration, they would not be disadvantageous to the Fushan County government. After all, immigrants recruited from other states and counties in the future will eventually have to pass through Fushan County to reach Zhifu Bay. Without the assistance of the local government, the credibility of the Haihan people will also decline, which will inevitably affect their recruitment of immigrants. process. Haihan took the initiative to express his goodwill to the government before, with the purpose of paving the way and clearing obstacles for subsequent recruitment of immigrants.
Zhang Pucheng continued to ask: "In the past few days since I have been away from the city, have any people from Haihan come to visit me?"
Huang Qu responded: "They cleaned up the outside of the county town and then returned to the camp. They have not been to the county town again in the past few days. However, there have been a lot more boats traveling on the Jiahe River in the past two days. Maybe the Haihan people are We plan to go upstream along the Jiahe River and rely on waterways to recruit immigrants to nearby areas.”
Zhang Pucheng also felt that it made sense. The navigation conditions of Jiahe River were good. Judging from the size of the hull sent by Haihan, it would be no problem to go upstream for another sixty or seventy miles in the southwest direction. There are many villages and towns along both sides of the river. If they take the notice issued by the county government to promote the people there, they will probably get good results.
However, remembering Shangguan Ye's words that the local government would be ousted by the Haihan people, he was still a little worried, and continued to ask: "Has there been any news coming back from outside the city in the past few days?"
Huang Qu nodded and said: "Captain Han has arranged for someone to be outside the city and will send back news every day. Mr. Zhang, what are you worried about?"
Zhang Pucheng said vaguely: "The Haihan people have food and soldiers, and they are stationed so close to the county seat. They are also a threat, so they must be paid attention to at all times. By the way, this time the prisoners were escorted to Dengzhou City. The prefect’s Yamen received a reward, and apart from the rewards given to the servants, there was also a share from Mr. Huang.”
Huang Quxi smiled and said: "Thank you, Mr. Zhang, for taking care of me!"
Zhang Pucheng and Huang Qu both enjoyed the success of Wanmeng's capture. Zhang Pucheng even went to Dengzhou to escort the prisoner, while Huang Qu basically did nothing. It was already a favor to get a share.
In the end, Zhang Pucheng did not tell Huang Qu the news he heard from Shangguan Ye. After all, the news came from Shangguan Ye's mouth, and the image of this person in Zhang Pucheng's heart was extremely negative. He did not want to tell the unconfirmed news to Huang Qu. Tell Huang Qu the news so that the other party will not be affected by the news and become confused. But this matter cannot remain unresolved forever. Zhang Pucheng plans to meet with the Haihan people again as soon as possible to verify some of his doubts.
Zhang Pu became uneasy about his future, but Haihan no longer focused on Fushan County Government. Although they did not send anyone into the county, the general situation in the city was clearly understood through the immigrants they recruited. For local governments that do not pose a military threat to themselves, Haihan has always put them aside after wooing them. As long as the other party does not take the initiative to confront Haihan, Haihan will not hesitate to let them continue to exist. Of course, how effective his decree will be after it leaves the county depends on whether it is conducive to Haihan's actions.
For Haihan, the immigration function of Zhifu Island is only one part of the various functions of this base. Now that the relevant work has begun to get on track, the headquarters has begun to shift its focus from immigration to other areas. For example, Wang Tom, who has gradually freed up his hands in recent days, has begun to plan the next step of conducting on-site inspections of the waters west of Zhifu Bay, especially the Miaodao Islands off the coast of Dengzhou City, which will be the focus of the next inspection. For this purpose, Wang Tom has mobilized more than ten warships, including a majestic-class flagship, to form a fleet and use this as a team to carry out this operation.
(End of chapter)