Chapter 1396 Cleaning
Even though Liu Shang had extremely good professional qualities, he was still inevitably moved after hearing the news. At first glance, this idea of changing defenses seemed okay, but Liu Shang had just come out of Majiazhuang, so he naturally knew how weird this thing was.
According to the information Liu Shang obtained after arriving in Shandong, Haihan deliberately reduced the size of the local garrison in order to promote the positioning of Majiazhuang as a trade distribution center, so as not to put too much pressure on Ming merchants coming in and out of the place. Therefore, Haihan's garrison in Majiazhuang has always been maintained at about two platoons, and at most it is only one company.
Only two months ago, when Chen Yixin set up an ambush here to encircle and suppress the assassins sent by the Ming Dynasty, he transferred an army company from Zhifu Island to help. However, after completing the mission, he quickly withdrew from Majiazhuang, leaving the garrison size still at the previous level. level. The army we saw in front of us had at least two companies, which greatly exceeded the normal size of the garrison in Majiazhuang. If it were another time, maybe Liu Shang wouldn't be particularly concerned about such details, but at this juncture, he couldn't help but wonder if there was something else going on in this defense change.
Of course, he didn't think that these soldiers would show up here because he stuffed a no-brainer report letter into the suggestion box in Majiazhuang last night, not to mention whether the report letter could get Chen Yixin's approval. Attention, even if the other party is really willing to launch an investigation on this letter, it is unlikely that they would have ordered the deployment of troops from Zhifu Island last night - these two ships of well-dressed soldiers arrived here early in the morning, obviously not early this morning Just received the order.
This means that Haihan mobilized troops first and reported him later. This is a reasonable timeline. Meeting him here should be just a coincidence. After Liu Shang came to this conclusion in his mind, he relaxed a little. However, Liu Shang then thought about it. Zeng Xiaowen found him in the cafeteria this morning. Obviously, he did not meet by chance, but came to assign him a task. He will detach himself from Majiazhuang in the shortest possible time and join this army. Is there any connection with the coming of ?
Liu Shang did not dare to ask the officer he knew about this. He knew that talking too much would lead to mistakes. If this unit arrived at Majiazhuang and the officer mentioned himself more when reporting to Chen Yixin, it might be possible. It will become a source of trouble. Therefore, although he really wanted to know the real reason why this unit would be transferred to Majiazhuang at this time, he still exercised restraint rationally and did not ask the officer he knew for any relevant information.
Liu Shang's mood was complicated as he watched the troops gather on the pier and then march on foot in an orderly queue toward Majiazhuang. Although there was no evidence, his intuition told him that the transfer of this unit might be directly related to the things he was investigating recently. Otherwise, he really couldn't think of any reasonable explanation for why Zeng Xiaowen suddenly removed himself from his job.
The immigration camp...something happened after all! Liu Shang suddenly regretted writing the report letter last night, because it would most likely draw the military's attention to his existence and dig out his true identity. He had no way of explaining to the Haihan military why they were able to see through the true identities of the Ming spies in the immigration camp. If the military originally planned to thoroughly investigate the issue of the immigration camp, then its own report letter would be the icing on the cake at best, and it would only reduce the military's interrogation workload. No, maybe it’s just superfluous and involves yourself!
If you were not so impulsive last night, think about it again and don't rush to write a letter to report. You should still receive Zeng Xiaowen's order to leave Majiazhuang early this morning. If you leave cleanly like that, you won't leave too many people behind. Too many side effects. As for the money Ma Bo forcibly left behind last night, Liu Shang didn't take it away at all. If someone found out about this later, he could withdraw the money immediately and put all the responsibility on Ma Bo. In this way, you can basically pick yourself clean and not be implicated by Ma Bo and others.
But unfortunately, there is no regret in the world. Now that everything has been done, Liu Shang has no way to take back the report letter he sent out. The only thing he can do now is to quickly think about how to separate himself from the mess of the immigration camp after the incident, so as not to be implicated by Mabo and others.
"Everyone who is going back to Zhifu Island, please get on the boat. This ferry has been cancelled. We will take over."
Hearing the sailor's greeting, Liu Shang came back to his senses and saw that a few people on the shore were walking along the gangplank to the troop ship, and he immediately followed them. No matter what, the task at hand still needs to be completed first. Staying away from Majiazhuang at this time can actually increase the safety factor.
After boarding the ship, Liu Shang looked back at the coast on the deck, and could still see the Haihan army two miles away. He couldn't help but murmured in a low voice: "I wonder if the higher ups will protect this guy Ma Bo... ”
At this time, a few miles away in Majiazhuang, Ma Bo sneezed loudly. He looked up at the gloomy weather, shook his head, and shrank his neck into his sheepskin jacket. Although he had done everything he needed to do yesterday, he still had a very restless sleep at night, and his eyes were twitching very hard. Ma Bo was a very superstitious person. He thought this sign was extremely bad, so he went out early in the morning without even bothering to eat, and went to a local temple a few miles west of Majiazhuang to burn a few coins. High column of incense.
Although this earth temple is small, it is said to be extremely efficacious and the incense is pretty good. At this time, Ma Bo was not in the mood to seek unrealistic goals such as high official position, rich salary, glory and wealth. He could only hope for peace and quiet.
When Ma Bo returned home and had breakfast, he remembered that he had not seen Liu Shang this morning, so he called his servant and asked. Hearing that Liu Shang had gone out, he knew that he had probably gone to the canteen, so he didn't feel anything strange at the moment. Although he is not very smart, he still has the ability to observe words and emotions. Liu Shang intends to keep a distance from himself, so he has naturally noticed it a long time ago. However, the other party did not do anything excessive, so Ma Bo let him go. If the main messenger behind the situation hadn't asked him to deal with the unstable factor of Liu Shang, he would not have been interested in persuading Liu Shang with a shy face again and again.
Ma Bo felt very sorry for the money he had given away last night. At present, apart from keeping Liu Shang away for a few days to facilitate his own affairs, it seemed that it had no other purpose. Although the money was provided by the boss behind the scenes, he still felt it was a waste to just give it to an "idle person" like Liu Shang. Moreover, the other party had no interest in accepting the money at all, which made him even more depressed. The trick that had been tried so many times in the past actually required him to threaten the other party with a black face in order to be effective. He couldn't help feeling that the officials from Haihan Capital did have a higher vision. Much more.
It's just that this official from the capital didn't look down on the benefits Ma Bo had given because of his high vision. The real reason, not to mention Ma Bo, even the main messenger behind him could not imagine. Ma Bo only saw this honest and humble official taking a few helpers to paint slogans outside Zhuangzi every day, but he never imagined that the other party had been silently investigating the immigration camp and some suspicious elements in the camp through various direct and indirect means these days. .
Ma Bo returned to the immigration camp, asked his men and learned that Liu Shang had not come to pick up the people today, so he decided to wait for him here and give him a few words of advice in person, lest Liu Shang forget the one-day appointment. .
However, he waited and waited and Liu Shang didn't come. When he was considering whether to go to the office building to inquire, Ma Bo heard some strange sounds coming from outside the house, like many people walking quickly, and The sound of clanking stones stopped unconsciously.
"Are these lazy guys slowing down their work again?" Mabo cursed, put down his tea cup and stood up. In this cold weather, he would rather sit in front of the brazier and doze off in a daze than work as a supervisor in the cold wind outside. He opened the door and walked out, already thinking about how to punish the guy who took the lead in the shutdown.
However, the situation in front of him made Ma Bo freeze at the door. He saw at least a hundred Haihan soldiers pouring into the immigration camp silently, blocking all entrances and exits. The expressions of the refugees who were knocking stones were just like him now, with their mouths wide open as they looked at the soldiers at a loss.
Mabo noticed that the rifles in the hands of these soldiers were already equipped with shiny bayonets, and there were many militiamen armed with swords, guns and clubs on the periphery, completely separating the immigration camp from Majiazhuang. He even saw a dozen Haihan cavalry in the distance moving slowly in the wilderness, but their eyes were fixed on the immigration camp. Obviously, this is not a drill, but the military is planning to arrest people in the immigration camp. After Mabo realized this, he couldn't help but feel nervous. He knew very well the situation in the immigration camp. With such a large formation, the military was afraid that the target they wanted to capture was not an ordinary character.
A serious-looking officer appeared in the immigration camp. Ma Bo hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and greeted with a smile: "Secretary Zeng, are we going to conduct another temporary inspection today?"
Zeng Xiaowen nodded and said: "Yes, please bring the roster. I want to count the people in the immigration camp."
Ma Bo thought to himself, "Why do you have to name names as soon as you come? Isn't this a deliberate attempt to embarrass me?" However, he did not dare to offend Zeng Xiaowen. The relationship between the other party and Chen Yixin was much closer than that of his cheap brother-in-law. At that moment, he had to lower his voice and said: "Secretary Zeng, it's freezing outside, why don't you take a rest in the room first?" Have a cup of hot tea? Just leave the roll call to me.”
The expression on Zeng Xiaowen's face did not change at all, and he did not pay attention to Ma Bo's words. He just said coldly: "Roster!"
Ma Bo didn't dare to fight with him anymore, so he had to ask his men to go inside the house and take out the refugee roster. However, he didn't panic too much, and the other party might not be able to tell that there was something fishy in the immigration camp. Even if he noticed that there were vacancies in the immigration camp through roll call, he might not have thought that there was a bigger fishery hidden in it. It's just some vacancies, which is at most a charge of "poor management". Zeng Xiaowen always has to take into account the relationship between Chen Yixin and the Ma family, and it is impossible to label himself as corrupt.
The only thing that made him uneasy was how Zeng Xiaowen could bring so many soldiers to conduct an inspection. This was not consistent with common sense. You must know that in the past when the military came for inspection, there would usually be no more than ten people including the accompanying guards. They would often invite them to the house for a cup of tea and get some benefits, but today Zeng Xiaowen's attitude is obviously much tougher. , which gave Mabo a hint of danger.
But as the manager of the immigration camp, he couldn't walk away at this time. He could only stand behind Zeng Xiaowen and watch the soldiers gather all the personnel in the open space and line up. Before the roll call began, dozens more soldiers entered the barracks where the refugees lived, seemingly searching room by room. This action made Ma Bo feel cold again. He knew that the Ming spies had managed to bring in weapons, and these weapons must have been hidden in their barracks. Of course no one would normally search their residence, but if these Haihan soldiers were allowed to search through boxes and cabinets slowly, they would definitely not be able to hide it from their eyes.
Mabo felt that he had to do something, otherwise he would inevitably be responsible for the oversight when the soldiers found contraband from the barracks later. He licked his dry lips and said cautiously to Zeng Xiaowen: "Secretary Zeng, can I ask what you are looking for?"
Zeng Xiaowen didn't even look back and said coldly: "Of course I'm looking for evidence that some people intend to cause trouble."
Ma Bo said: "Is this happening? If we catch the person later, he will be punished severely!"
When Zeng Xiaowen heard this, he turned around and smiled at him and said: "Yes, lurking in the immigration camp and plotting evil will not do without heavy punishment!"
Ma Bo could feel that the other party's words seemed to mean something, but he did not dare to continue to expand on this topic. He could not confirm what information Zeng Xiaowen had already mastered and what information he had not mastered. If he continued to talk about it, it might be counterproductive.
"Roll roll!" Zeng Xiaowen did not wait for the results of the search, but ordered the actions of both parties to be carried out simultaneously.
Immediately, a soldier came out holding the roster and began to call the names one by one according to the names registered on it.
Although the weather was very cold, Mabo felt cold sweat starting to form on his back. Because Zeng Xiaowen didn't seem to mean to just click on a few and go through the motions, but wanted his soldiers to click on everyone on the roster. With such a huge campaign, who are you trying to arrest?
Ma Bo suddenly wanted to leave here and go home, to ask the man hiding in his backyard what went wrong, which actually led to the army's raid on the Majiazhuang Immigration Camp. Of course, he may have another reason subconsciously, that is, Majiazhuang is a relatively safer environment, where he can have the protection of his family, and even if something happens, it won't cause too much trouble.
But at this moment, he saw another group of Haihan soldiers in the distance, led by Chen Yixin, quietly entering Majiazhuang.
(End of chapter)