Chapter 1339 Unexpected
Compared with Liu Shang, who has no physical strength, Liao Yuan, who is obviously more capable than others, is more suitable for carrying out violent tasks such as murder and silence. Moreover, he has several subordinates with thick muscles and round waists at his disposal. A group of people should be very confident if they want to deal with a carpenter. Liu Shang hopes to get rid of Qin An's hidden danger through Liao Yuan's hands, but he is worried that if the matter is not handled cleanly enough, he will be implicated. After all, in his eyes, even Liao Yuan is classified as a "burden" and "hidden danger". Inside is one of the targets Liu Shang wants to get rid of quickly.
Liu Shang has a serious lack of trust in everyone around him, which makes it difficult for him to completely entrust others with such an important task that he considers to be a matter of life and death. If possible, he even hoped that all these people would disappear from Haihan so that he could focus all his energy on completing his mission.
Of course, this possibility can only be thought about. Liao Yuan is still the leader of the intelligence network set up by the Ming Dynasty in Sanya. Even if the superiors feel that Liu Shang's status and role are more important in the future, they must replace him and replace Liao Yuan. Location, that is not something that can be achieved in a short time, at least until Liu Shang returns from completing the mission of going north to aid the construction. As for using other unconventional methods to make Liao Yuan disappear, Liu Shang admitted that he was not that capable, so he just thought about it.
Liao Yuan insisted on making the final decision after meeting with Qin An, and it was difficult for Liu Shang to come up with sufficient reasons to persuade him. He could only ask Liao Yuan to clean up the matter when dealing with it, and not to let the Haihan people follow the clues. The intelligence network lurking in Sanya was brought out.
Liao Yuan responded in a deep voice: "I will naturally deal with this matter with caution. After two days, I will ask Boss Liu for a few days' leave, and then take people to Changhua to complete this matter and then come back."
No matter how worried Liu Shang was, he couldn't think of a better way to deal with it for the time being, so he could only agree to Liao Yuan's plan. Fortunately, he had repeatedly brainwashed Liao Yuan in these two interviews, describing Qin An as a troublemaker with an impulsive personality and disobedience to orders. If Qin An had not changed his mind significantly during this period, he would still stick to his strategy of entering Longtan alone. Liao Yuan would most likely act according to his own suggestion and silence him in order to achieve peace.
After all, one or two warship blueprints cannot change the gap in military strength between the two countries, but a spy who successfully infiltrates the upper echelons of Haihan official circles has the opportunity to play a greater role. Whether it is for public or selfish reasons, Liao Yuan You should all know how to deal with this situation.
Two days later, Liao Yuan sent someone to bring the news. Liu Shang saw that the person who delivered the letter did not know him, so he tried a few words to find out that he was not one of his own, but a so-called "courier" who was commonly paid to run errands in the local area. After sending him away, Liu Shang opened the letter and saw that Liao Yuan informed him in the letter in code that he had led a team from Sanya to Changhua. To be on the safe side, Liao Yuan has brought all his men with him, so Liu Shang needs to be careful during this period, otherwise no one will help him if something happens.
Liu Shang was afraid that Liao Yuan was playing some tricks, so he went to the place where Liao Yuan and his men worked to find out. Sure enough, these people asked the proprietor for a few days' leave for different reasons and disappeared without a trace at the same time. .
Liu Shang also didn't expect that Liao Yuan would be so decisive if he didn't do it. He brought the whole team there, apparently intending to handle Qin An's matter safely. This attitude made Liu Shang feel a little more at ease. He was also afraid that Liao Yuan would hesitate when the incident came. If Qin An saw through the murderous intention and took advantage of the loophole to escape, there would be big trouble. But since he brought the whole team there, he obviously didn't intend to leave any escape route for Qin An.
In the next few days, Liu Shang spent time with a strong sense of uneasiness. The daily work schedule is still very full, and his workload has not been reduced because he has been included in the list of construction aid personnel going north, but this level of busyness cannot completely alleviate his uneasiness. As long as he stops for a moment, his mind will immediately start to figure out where Liao Yuan's team should be, how far away from Changhua it is, and how to find Qin An after arriving there and take him away from the workplace.
Liu Shang's restlessness was even noticed by Yu Xiaobao, who came out to inspect the work one day. After being asked by Yu Xiaobao, Liu Shang realized that he had serious problems with his emotional management. If he was not careful, he would be in danger. Someone with ulterior motives will take advantage of you.
Fortunately, Xiaobao didn't think too much about Liu Shang's abnormal mood. After he used the excuse of illness for a few words, Yu Xiaobao didn't ask any more questions. He just asked him to see a doctor for treatment as soon as possible without delay. disease. Liu Shang secretly called him lucky, and quickly cheered up, not daring to show any signs of distraction in front of Yu Xiaobao.
Changhua County is actually not far from Sanya. It's just that the area is classified as a heavy industrial zone and the environment is relatively closed. There is a large section of no-man's land along the Changhua Railway. It can be said that looking for people there is not a problem. Easy errand. However, Liu Shang knew that Liao Yuan would naturally have a solution to this problem, and it would not be difficult for him to find Qin An's whereabouts. And if a craftsman goes missing in a sparsely populated place like Changshilu, it probably won't attract much official attention.
But this will also have a huge drawback, that is, there will probably not be any official information about Qin An's final whereabouts. The impact of a disappearance is too small, and Qin An doesn't have any relatives or friends in the area. The most that can be done is to add a missing person figure to the local government's year-end census report. In this way, Liu Shang's only source of information is probably Liao Yuan and others, and his trust in Liao Yuan is far from 100%, which is very uncomfortable.
Amidst such uneasiness, several days passed, and in a blink of an eye, the time limit set by the executive committee for each department came. The four people transferred from the Youth League have already been confirmed and notified, and they are ready to go at any time. Soon the situation of each department was also summarized to the executive committee. After a brief publicity and discussion, the list of more than 60 cadres going north to aid construction was signed and approved by Tao Donglai himself. The departure schedule was also quickly determined. In two days, a special passenger ship will carry this group of cadres and set off together with the freight fleet transporting supplies northward.
Liu Shang saw that nearly ten days had passed and he still had not seen Liao Yuan and others return, and he felt very uneasy. Logically speaking, excluding the time spent on the road, there would be at least four or five days for Liao Yuan and others to take action. And there has been no reply so far, so obviously this job is not going smoothly. Liu Shang had previously gone to the place where Liao Yuan and others worked to inquire about information. He heard that the leave he asked for was only seven days. Obviously, Liao Yuan's original plan did not expect it to take such a long time. I am afraid that something went wrong in the process. Some unexpected incident dragged them to Changhua.
Liu Shang no longer cares so much about Qin An's life and death. He is now more worried about the whereabouts of Liao Yuan and others, whether he exposed his whereabouts because he wanted to attack Qin An, and ended up being stuck in Changhua and unable to return. Liu Shang couldn't help but regret this series of actions. His original purpose was to plug the security loophole, but he didn't expect that the hole would get bigger and bigger. It became impossible to fill it, and the soil around his feet was loose. At any time, You may fall into this big hole you dug yourself.
Liu Shang even woke up from nightmares for two days in a row, dreaming that a group of Haihan spies broke in to arrest him, and the leaders were Zhang Qianzhi and Yu Xiaobao. Zhang Qianzhi also proudly told himself that thanks to his efforts, the Haihan Security Department was able to follow the clues and catch all the intelligence agents sent by Ming Dynasty to lurk in Haihan. Yu Xiaobao also looked at himself and smiled without saying a word, as if all these changes were within his expectations. Liu Shang did not dare to think carefully about how true and false this nightmare was, but he knew that the night was long and there were many dreams. If it continued, what awaited might not be the return of Liao Yuan and others, but the arrest of Haihan Security Department. Before his identity is completely exposed, he must try to save himself and escape from this place.
With one day left before the crew headed north, Liu Shang's patience finally ran out. He was unwilling to continue risking his personal safety and made up his mind to escape from Sanya.
Liu Shang simply packed some luggage, took almost all the Haihan banknotes on hand and the two gold bars at the bottom of the box, and headed straight to the Sanya Port Terminal. The reason why he did not choose the closer Victory Port was because he knew that most of the ships docked at Victory Port were owned by Haihan. Even if there were foreign ships, they were all merchants who had a deep cooperative relationship with Haihan. Moreover, Liu Shang has spent a lot of time in the Victory Port area recently due to his work. If he wants to escape by boat in Victory Port, the risk is quite high.
The environment at Sanya Port is relatively relaxed. Ships and sailors from all over the world gather here, and the controls are not so strict. Moreover, Liu Shang worked at Xinlong Tea House near Sanya Port in the first month of his arrival in Sanya. He was quite familiar with the environment of the port area. He at least knew where to go to inquire about the boat schedules entering and leaving the port, so that he would not be confused.
Liu Shang first went to a shop at the port to store his parcel, so as not to be seen by acquaintances in his hurry. When he used to tell stories at Xinlong Tea House, many of his regular customers were sailors and crew members who made a living in the port area. There are many maritime merchants from all walks of life who recognize him. If someone sees the clues and reports it to the nearby police station or port center, things will be in trouble.
According to past memories, Liu Shang went straight to a dock where the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants were concentrated. There were ships going in and out between Daming and Sanya Port almost every day. He wanted to escape back to the Ming Dynasty and find a ship that was about to leave here. Boat is the fastest way. If financial resources and expenses were not considered, Liu Shang could even charter a boat here and set off immediately.
Liu Shang asked the sailors of four or five ships in succession. The fastest one would not leave the port until two days later, but he obviously could not wait until that time. Just when Liu Shang started to get anxious, a sailor pointed him to another ship: "That cargo ship came from Changhua this morning to transport iron ingots. After loading the goods here, it will leave for Haikou Port. It is estimated that it will arrive today." If you are in a hurry, you can take a boat to Haikou first, and then find a boat from Haikou to Daming.”
Liu Shang thought that his purpose was just to leave Haihan, and the Ming Dynasty's closest territory to Hainan Island was the Leizhou Peninsula, which was only separated from Haikou Port by the Qiongzhou Strait. He remembered that when he visited Haikou Port before, he had been told by local officials that there were very close shipping connections with the Leizhou Peninsula. When he arrived there, he should be able to find a ship to Leizhou without leaving the dock, which was a feasible way. He immediately thanked the sailor and went to find the owner of the cargo ship docked next to him.
Although this ship is carrying goods for the Haihan official, it is not an official ship, but a heavy-duty cargo ship belonging to the large merchant "Zhan's Shipping". After unloading a batch of iron ingots at Sanya Port , and then ship another batch of materials to Haikou. Although this kind of ship is mainly used for cargo, it is normal to occasionally carry a few individual passengers along the way. The ship owner heard that Liu Shang was eager to go to Haikou, so he immediately quoted a price. Liu Shang didn't bother to bargain with him, so he agreed and immediately paid in cash.
"Can we set off before dark?" Liu Shang asked with great concern. If you leave Sanya earlier, you will have more security. If you stay one more night, you will bear more risks.
"It's hard to say. There are still a few guests on the ship. We have to wait for the government to come and pick them up." The ship owner responded smoothly: "If everything goes well, we can leave before dark."
"Who is he? You have to wait for the government to pick him up?" Liu Shang suddenly became alert. If there are any important people on the ship, the police may come to isolate the place later, and there will inevitably be additional people. risk.
The owner of the ship explained: "No wonder, sir, my ship encountered a ship that capsized due to wind and waves on the way to Sanya. Although I tried my best to rescue him, the opportunity was missed when we met, so I could only collect the bodies of the crew members who died." They fished it out and transported it back to Sanya for official funeral arrangements. They had already come to do the autopsy before, but because of the large number of victims, they had to use a car to take away the body. Well, the body was on the bow deck. That’s what the canvas covers.”
Liu Shang somehow asked in a strange way: "I have relatives and friends who went to Changhua recently. If something happens to the ship he is on, can you let me go and check it out?"
Of course the ship owner would not object to this request and nodded to Liu Shang to help himself. A large area was covered with canvas on the bow deck. Judging from the outline, there were probably as many as ten corpses.
Liu Shang walked over and squatted down, slowly lifting the canvas covering the body. The face that came into view made Liu Shang almost cry out. Although the face was somewhat deformed by the sea water, Liu Shang still recognized his identity at a glance. It was Liao Yuan who had not yet appeared after the agreed time limit.
(End of chapter)