Chapter 1523 Underground World
He Guanzhi kept saying that what he was planning might involve the future destiny of the Ming Dynasty, so he had to keep it strictly confidential. He also ordered his subordinates involved in the matter to swear a strong oath, but the content he ultimately discussed with his think tanks was nothing more than his private property. Business prospects issues. As the prefect of Hangzhou, he secretly used power for personal gain, which shows how deep Haihan's penetration and influence are in the local government.
Situations like his are not unique among officials in the coastal prefectures of the Ming Dynasty. Officials below the fourth rank have more or less received benefits from Haihan. He Guanzhi, like He Guanzhi, used his authority to run some businesses similar to Haihan's. There are many high-ranking officials arbitraging related industries. In the case of Zhejiang, the open and semi-open transnational smuggling trade led by Haihan has formed an industry of staggering scale in the local area, and the beneficiaries are not only officials like He Guanzhi, but also many people who are also relying on this profit. Generous industrial survival.
It is hard to say whether the opening of the coast to trade will have an immediate impact on the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty, but it will definitely have a large or small impact on vested interests. And behind every big shot like He Guanzhi, there are naturally social forces that protect him. If Mr. Li wants to deal with the threat of competitors in private for his boss, he needs to use these forces that are rarely seen in the light. Of course, considering that the opponent is the Tong Sen, who is in charge of local criminal justice, this matter cannot be done lightly. At least local gangsters with names and surnames are not available, otherwise it will be easy to follow the clues to find out the mastermind behind it. It would be very bad to involve He Guanzhi at that time.
The master named Li Mingsong was born in Shaoxing Prefecture, but he was dedicated to doing dirty work for He Guanzhi. Naturally, he also had some available manpower, lurking in and outside Hangzhou in various capacities.
Although it was already curfew time in the city, Li Song was a retainer of the prefect, so he naturally enjoyed privileges. After he came out of the side door of He Guanzhi's mansion, he went straight into a black-covered carriage, and then escorted by several armed guards under He Guanzhi, he headed to a place in the south of the city.
The carriage Li Song was riding in stopped outside Zhongguofang in the south of the city. After getting off the car, someone noticed the existence of their group. Several soldiers who were on duty nearby immediately came over to ask about their identity and purpose. It was quite a surprise. Dutiful. However, it is also possible that these big-headed soldiers are trying to find an excuse to defraud some money from the late returnees, so that they can spend money to avoid disasters, thereby gaining some benefits.
The guards accompanying Li Song immediately stepped forward and showed the prefect's warrant to keep these meddlesome soldiers away. The primary school leader who led the team saw that he was on official business, so he naturally stopped fussing and called a few of his subordinates to leave. Li Song then got off the carriage, walked into an alley in Zhongguofang, walked outside a certain house's yard and knocked on the door. Not long after, the lights came on in the courtyard, and someone came out with a lantern and opened the courtyard door. After seeing clearly that it was Li Song, they let him in.
Li Song seemed to be very familiar with this place. He entered the house with familiarity without waiting for the person who opened the door to lead the way. The person who opened the door also followed him into the house, and then bowed to Li Song and saluted: "I have met Mr. Li!"
Li Song nodded and said: "Hao Qing, how are you doing recently? Have you received your monthly salary on time?"
The man named Hao Qing responded: "Thanks to Mr. Li's care, I have a stable life. I only need to walk around the city every day, and I can't find this job anywhere else."
Li Song added: "Then don't forget why you took this job!"
Hao Qing quickly lowered his head and responded: "The villain naturally understands that this miserable life was saved by Master Li, and it was also given by Master Li that he has such a leisurely life now. The villain will just wait for Master Li's instructions, and he will not go through fire or water." Frown!”
Seeing his resolute attitude, Li Song relaxed a little and asked him, "Do you still have reliable people under your command?"
Hao Qing nodded and said: "Back to Mr. Li, after the villain came out of prison, in order not to attract attention, there were not many manpower left in the city. There are still about twenty brothers outside the city. They usually work on the dock. A life-long friendship is absolutely reliable. However, if Mr. Li plans to deal with someone in the city, he must plan carefully. The city is now heavily patrolled by police officers, and there are patrols of the city defense army wandering around at night, so they must look for loopholes. Just do it.”
Li Song snorted and said: "This is not a good thing that Tongpan Wang Yuan did. He said he was strengthening patrols and maintaining public order in the market... The public order in Hangzhou has always been good, except for the chaos when the Haihan people came two years ago. , is there any security problem? It’s just him trying to gain political achievements for himself!”
Li Song came overnight to look for this man named Hao Qing. He used to be a famous boat boss on the Qiantang River. He did both black and white business. At one time, he owned more than 40 boats in the Qiantang River basin, and nearly a thousand people worked for him. After Hao Qing gained a certain amount of wealth, he inevitably began to swell and wanted to expand his business. However, since he did not have an official background, it was difficult to obtain the most popular Haihan goods on the market, so at the end of last year he simply brought His men hijacked two sailboats carrying Haihan cargo on the Qiantang River. Unexpectedly, the owner behind this batch of goods was He Guanzhi, the prefect of Hangzhou. So the good days of Hao Qing and his gang were over. They were wiped out by the army in just a few days, and even Hao Qing was arrested. Went to prison.
In this robbery case, both the person and the person took the stolen goods, and the crime was conclusive. In addition, the owner of the goods was a local official, so it was not difficult to complete the case and get him executed. However, Li Song, who was in charge of the case documents at the time, believed that Hao Qing could stay. The reason was that Hao Qing was very familiar with the situation in the Qiantang River Basin, and the government was recruiting such people everywhere in order to control the activities of Haihan ships in the Qiantang River. People who are familiar with the Qiantang River environment.
Of course, this is only a superficial reason. In fact, it is because Li Song is looking for suitable candidates for He Guanzhi who can handle some special situations where it is not appropriate to use official power for He Guanzhi when necessary.
The reason for such demand lies in the fact that the trade activities between Haihan and Ming Dynasty were not recognized by the court and were still smuggling activities in nature. Although the Zhejiang government pinched its nose and admitted the local legality of this smuggling trade, it has always maintained an attitude of not supporting, opposing, or encouraging, let alone providing legal protection for this behavior. If the target of Hao Qing's robbery was not He Guanzhi, Hangzhou Prefecture might not even accept such a robbery.
Who else can understand the psychology and methods of their peers better than the robbers? Li Song believes that Hao Qing is a very suitable candidate to perform certain special tasks. Moreover, Hao Qing has parents above him and a wife and children below him, so it will be easier to control him in the long run. After He Guanzhi listened to Li Song's suggestion, he left the matter to him, but Hao Qing was not allowed to know that he was involved behind the scenes.
So Li Song took Hao Qing out of prison and said that he would give him a chance to make amends and avoid the death penalty. Hao Qing didn't expect that he would have a chance to escape death, so he naturally chose to cooperate with him. Half a month later, there were fewer groups of armed water bandits similar to Hao Qing's group on the Qiantang River. However, the cooperation between the two parties did not end there. Li Song left Hao Qing in Hangzhou and asked him to monitor the movements on the dock outside the city on weekdays. On the one hand, he was to prevent the Haihan people from using the same tactics as in the dock fire case again. On the other hand, it is also used to monitor other businesses that may compete with his own business, so that Hao Qing can take action to remove these obstacles when necessary.
Of course, those who were left behind in Hangzhou with Hao Qing were his family. Otherwise, how could Li Song safely allow Hao Qing to enter and leave Hangzhou freely and provide him with various conveniences. And Hao Qing also understood that if he wanted to save his life and protect the safety of his family, he had to continue to serve Li Song. As for the big shot behind Li Song, Hao Qing didn't know much about it. He only knew that the other person was willing to spend money to support him, and one day he would have to sacrifice his life. If this life could buy freedom and stability for his family, Life is worth it. Li Song came to visit him in the middle of the night. Of course, Hao Qing understood that this man did not come to visit him for free, but had a task for him to complete. He heard that Li Song even casually scolded the Tongpan of Hangzhou Prefecture. He knew that this person's background would only be stronger than that of Tongpan, and he did not dare to say anything casually at the moment.
After Li Song said this, he felt a little out of character. He coughed dryly and said: "Hao Qing, as the saying goes, it takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes a moment to use it. I think I treat you well, and I even take care of your family. Now, The time has come when your efforts are needed, are you willing to risk your life?”
Hao Qing knew that he must not show hesitation in front of Li Song, otherwise the other party would be suspicious, so he quickly responded: "I have been waiting for this opportunity to repay my kindness for a long time. Please give me your instructions!"
Li Song said: "There are several new weaving workshops outside Yongjin Gate in the south of the city. Have you visited them?"
Hao Qing didn't know what he meant, but just nodded and said: "I took a look when I passed by there the day before yesterday. It seems that it is still under construction and there will still be some time before it is completed."
"Then do you have any way to stop work at these construction sites? The longer the better!" Li Song deliberately wanted to test him to see if Hao Qing's sharp knife had become dull after such leisurely days.
Hao Qing responded without hesitation: "Then it depends on how big the fuss will be. It's easier to kill a few people, and then let the government seal those construction sites in the name of investigating the case. As for how long it can be sealed, I guess Mr. Li Have your own plan.”
Li Song responded noncommittally: "Let's talk about other ways."
When Hao Qing heard this, it seemed that Li Song was not satisfied with this method, so he immediately said: "If you want to make a bigger noise, then just burn the place with fire. It is best to burn a few more people to death in the fire." , This way the government will have more solid reasons to investigate the case, and it will take longer to rebuild afterwards. "
Li Song leaned back on the chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the table. After a while, he said: "Two years ago, a warehouse was burned outside Hangzhou, killing three court officials. Then it was burned again. A dock warehouse burned out the Haihan fleet. Are you afraid that if you cause another fire, people will not think of the previous accident?"
Hao Qing heard that Li Song's tone seemed to be blaming, and he quickly accused him: "It's the villain who doesn't think well, don't blame Mr. Li!"
Li Song actually felt that Hao Qing's idea was pretty good. At least the method he came up with was quite ruthless and had not been blunted by his leisure time. But Hao Qing's idea didn't work in this matter, or the risk was so great that Li Song didn't dare let him make such an attempt. Because the target of the attack this time is Wang Yuan, the general judge in charge of arrests. The criminal investigation resources he can mobilize must not be underestimated. Once he discovers any clues, the matter will not end well.
But Li Song couldn't tell Hao Qing the whole reason now. He could only deny the method Hao Qing came up with and asked him to plan other methods.
Although Hao Qing has a quick mind, he does not understand Li Song's true purpose, so it is naturally difficult for him to come up with a suitable way to complete this task. After being denied several plans in a row, Hao Qing could only accuse him again: "Master Li, you are stupid and can't think of any other way. Why don't you give me some advice?" What is it? Maybe you can think of starting somewhere else.”
Li Song thought about it for a while and then said to Hao Qing: "Once these weaving workshops are built, the existing weaving business in Hangzhou Prefecture will be diverted, and the large merchants who originally controlled this business may be replaced by new ones. If measured in monetary terms, hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of business will be affected. Do you understand? ”
Hao Qing responded repeatedly: "I understand, I understand, I understand."
Speaking of which, Hao Qing would be a fool if he didn't understand. Li Song's intention to get rid of these weaving workshops was not an ordinary personal grudge, but out of business competition considerations. In fact, Hao Qing himself has done similar things before, such as killing shipping competitors who ran the same flight segment as him, but the amount involved was far less than the figure Li Song mentioned just now. Moreover, Li Song obviously has a strong government background, and he would have many scruples when planning such a thing, but it is very different from him acting recklessly in the world.
Hao Qing actually didn't have a clear idea of how big a business that could reach millions of taels of silver in annual transactions was. The largest transaction he had ever been involved in was only a few thousand taels of silver. To him, one million taels was a bit of a calculation, and he didn't quite know how many times it was one thousand taels of silver. But one thing he knew very well was that for such a large amount of wealth, there must be many people like Li Song who would not hesitate to take risks and plan some dangerous methods.
"If you do this well, your family can move away from Hangzhou." Li Song made a promise to Hao Qing in a timely manner. He knew very well what Hao Qing wanted, and this condition would definitely stimulate the other party to work harder to complete the task.
(End of chapter)