Chapter 1682 Everyone uses their own methods
Qin Huacheng's trick was actually to pretend to be powerful, to bluff, to coax and intimidate the Ding family into paying for benefits, which to be honest was really worthless. If Haihan officials were aware of his actions, I'm afraid Qin Huacheng would be shot before little Francis. But Qin Huacheng was indeed brave enough. He expected that the Ding family would not take the initiative to publicize the matter to the outside world. There were only a few insiders of the whole matter, and the Ding family had no way of verifying whether he had actually followed through on his promise. He went to deal with government figures, so he dared to take risks and blackmail the Ding family.
Even a veteran like Ding Feng could not confirm in person whether what Qin Huacheng said was true or false. As for Qin Huacheng's claim that he could try to fix the joints and find an opportunity for someone to attack little Francis in Haihan Prison, he could not resist this temptation, but he did not dare to believe it. If he missed it or the news leaked, he would also do it. Put the Ding family in a position of eternal disaster. And he was very worried that Qin Huacheng was not reliable enough, but if he rejected Qin Huacheng's proposal immediately, he was also afraid that this guy would secretly do bad things due to his grudge. After all, a small person like Qin Huacheng who gained power at one time may not be able to succeed, but it would be difficult to fail. More than enough.
The Ding family is not short of money, but Ding Feng will not allow others to regard the Ding family as being taken advantage of and find any reason to arrange themselves. Although the amount of money Qin Huacheng asked for was not a small amount, the Ding family could come up with it if they were a little tighter, but Ding Feng was not going to leave it to chance as to where the money would go.
After seeing off Qin Huacheng, Ding Feng told Ding Pingsheng: "Find a few new faces and keep an eye on Qin Laoer from tomorrow. It's best to know where he has been and who he has met every day."
Ding Pingsheng said: "It turns out that my father still can't trust this person."
Ding Feng responded calmly: "Although shrimps have their own ways and crabs have their own ways, I still don't believe that with Qin Laoer's quality, he can have a deep relationship with the senior officials of Haihan. If he dares to be clever, , play tricks with us, and dad doesn’t mind teaching young people what the rules are!”
Qin Huacheng, however, was not aware of the trick at all, and hummed a little tune all the way back home. When his family members saw that he seemed to be in a good mood, when asked why, Qin Huacheng smiled and said nothing. He thought that his brain was not as useful as that of his eldest brother Qin Huaming, so his eldest brother went to work as a scribe in Haihan Yamen, while he could only be a security police patrolling the streets every day. But if this matter could be done, then he would also It is rare to complete a big deal alone. However, he also understood that this matter was very risky, and if more people knew about it, it would be more dangerous, so even if it was his family, he kept this secret very carefully. At least until it was done, he didn't intend to tell anyone else about his plan.
The real protagonists of this intrigue, the Spanish father and son Francis, are currently being imprisoned in a manor about ten miles away from Manila, completely isolated from the outside world.
The owner of this manor was a captain of the Manila Fleet, but he had been killed in a naval battle in Manila Bay before. After the Haihan army attacked here, they confiscated the manor as a trophy. The main building of the manor, a three-story Spanish-style building, was also used by the military as a place to imprison senior prisoners of war after the war.
An important reason why these high-level prisoners of war were sent to be detained outside the city was that the Haihan military was not worried about the environment in the city. After all, the Spaniards had been operating locally for generations, and their influence could not be eradicated overnight. If these high-level prisoners of war were imprisoned in the city, the military was worried that incidents such as prison escapes or silences would occur one after another, and the public would also be particularly concerned about these prisoners of war, which would not be conducive to Haihan's actions, so they might as well send them all outside the city. The estate is under house arrest. In this way, the social order in the city can be restored to normal as soon as possible, and the lives of these prisoners of war can be slightly easier.
Of course, there are actually only a few senior prisoners of war who are eligible to be included in this house arrest list. After sorting out the prisoners of war held in various places after the war, there are only less than a dozen people, plus people like little Francis. All immediate family members who were imprisoned after the war were all imprisoned in this place. Aragones, the former governor of the Philippines, was imprisoned here before he was released. In addition to the more than 20 armed guards living in the building, a company of troops was stationed outside, and a no-entry zone of about one hundred acres was set aside to ensure that no one would break into this place.
To be serious, little Francis would be imprisoned because he was implicated by his father. If it weren't for Francis' identity as the city defense commander, little Francis, who was just a businessman, would not have been caught here by the Haihan Army. The vast majority of Spanish merchants in Manila were safe after the war. As long as they did not take any armed resistance against the Haihan army during the war, most of them could regain their freedom after paying a ransom fee in proportion to their property. You can also choose whether you want to stay here or leave.
Of course, for little Francis, his family background is not something he can actively choose, and being placed under house arrest can only be regarded as fate. At first, he did not understand Haihan's measures. In his opinion, the defeated should either be sentenced to death or exiled to remote islands. However, the Haihan people had always provided these Spanish officials with good food and drink. It was his father who later explained Haihan's intentions to him. These high-ranking officials had each been in charge of specific affairs in a certain area of Manila in the past. However, the status of these areas they managed was often lacking clear and detailed records in written materials. Therefore, Haihan hopes to obtain more detailed confessions from these people to help them take over the rule of the Manila area as soon as possible.
Among the intelligence information that Francis possessed, what interested the Haihan people the most was naturally the Spanish colonial authorities' local military deployment and details of the armed organizations. Although his position was the city defense commander of Manila, he was actually responsible for organizing, training and deploying the colonial authorities' land-based armed forces throughout the Philippines. If we look at the armed strength alone, the armed forces that the colonial authorities could command were not bad at all. However, when they encountered the super powerful opponent of the Haihan Army, they could only be passively beaten throughout the process, and the combat effectiveness they exerted was only ten percent. Two or three, naturally ended up in a disastrous defeat.
However, the Haihan Army did not underestimate the Spanish armed forces because of this. After the war, Francis was still interrogated many times, sometimes as often as two or three times a day. The Haihan Army had a strong interest in many details such as the recruitment, training, organization, equipment, and combat tactics of the Spanish army, and Francis was undoubtedly the best source of information. Therefore, during the post-war period, Francis was probably considered here. One of the most interrogated prisoners in the prison.
Little Francis also thought about trying to raise a sum of money in exchange for the freedom of the father and son, but unfortunately the Haihan people did not intend to let Francis go for the time being, and little Francis's ransom request was rejected, and he could only continue to be under house arrest here. Fortunately, the Haihan people's detention of the father and son was not too harsh. At least they could live in the same room and take care of each other.
Little Francis once placed his hopes on his father-in-law. He believed that the Ding family was of Han origin and was of the same race as the Haihan people. He might be able to find a way to reconcile the relationship and at least spend money to save the lives of his father and son. But Francis did not agree with his son's idea. He had different views on the marriage relationship between the two families.
During the Spanish rule, the marriage between the Francis family and the Ding family was indeed a win-win situation. The Ding family gained a strong official protection umbrella, and the shipyard's business scale further expanded, while the Francis family received business resources and the support of the local Han ethnic group. , the official position of the city defense commander became more and more consolidated, and little Francis also got many business opportunities. He made a lot of money in just one or two years after his marriage. But this kind of marriage relationship based on interests has little stability when the current situation is turbulent. Francis knew that there was a Chinese proverb called "When disaster strikes, we all fly away." Although this is a sentence used to describe the relationship between husband and wife, it seems to be quite appropriate to use it to describe two families in cross-border marriages at the moment. Even if there was no news from the outside world, Francis could still imagine that the calculating old man of the Ding family was not trying to rescue his father and son at this time, but was probably trying hard to distance himself from the Francis family in order to protect himself. His son was really overthinking it if he expected the Ding family to come forward to rescue him.
But the father and son have had many arguments about this issue, and neither one can convince the other to accept his point of view. After all, the environment they are in is completely unable to receive information from the outside world, and there is no way to prove that their ideas are correct.
However, the father and son changed the topic of discussion today, because during the just-concluded arraignment, Officer Haihan made a suggestion to Francis, which moved him quite a bit. However, Francis did not agree on the spot, only saying that he still needed time to think about it, and talked about it with his son when he came back.
"You mean the Haihan people are not only willing to give us freedom, but also want... to ask you to become an official? God, this... how is this possible?" Little Francis couldn't believe his ears. He has been working here for more than ten years. Imprisoned for days, his hope for release was decreasing day by day, and the turnaround that occurred at this time was so great that it even far exceeded his initial expectations.
"Of course this is not a benefit given to me unconditionally. There is nothing so cheap in the world." There was not much excitement on Francis's face. It was obvious that this matter was not as simple as it seemed: "This official... is not that simple. Good job.”
"I don't understand what you mean. What do the Haihan people want you to do?" little Francis asked.
"They want to set up a local puppet agency responsible for appeasing and managing the Hispanic people. It will be difficult for this agency to convince the public if officials from Haihan are placed in charge, so they need to find a puppet to sit in this position. The local people Of course, someone who knows everyone is ideal. Aragones has escaped, so they are now focusing on me." Francis briefly introduced the Haihan people's plans to his son.
"Puppet..." Little Francis repeated this word in his mouth, with a bitterness that could not be concealed in his tone.
Francis' words have made it very clear that the Haihan people are not good people, and the price they have to pay for this freedom is really not small. If you really act as a puppet for the Haihan people, it will be equivalent to completely betraying your motherland, and you may never be able to return to the country safely in the future - of course, in the current environment, talking about returning to the country seems to be just a luxury.
Little Francis knew very well that his father was not the kind of villain who could act according to the changing circumstances, nor was he as selfish and cowardly as Governor Aragones, who would choose to betray the country and the people for his own gain. If he had chosen to surrender, he would not have resisted until the last moment in the city. Now that the Haihan people wanted him to be their puppet, how could he agree to such a ridiculous request?
But little Francis still felt that something was wrong. Based on his understanding of his father, he should have rejected the Haihan people's unreasonable request on the spot. Then why did he tell the other party that he needed time to think about it again? What else needs to be considered? Is it necessary? Little Francis raised his doubts, and the answer shocked him again.
"If I refuse the Haihan people's proposal, then they will exile us to work as coolies somewhere overseas. This is not the point. The most important thing is that they will separate us. My dear son, maybe we will all be separated from each other in the future. There is no way to talk face to face like this!" Francis' expression was very painful, and his tone was full of helplessness. It was obvious that this situation might be more painful and unacceptable to him than the imprisonment and exile itself.
Francis was not afraid of dying in battle, nor was he afraid of being executed by his opponents after the war, but the Haihan people's methods were obviously more sophisticated. He even suspected that during this period, the other party arranged for the father and son to live together in order to Create an opportunity for them to part ways to break his will.
As the commander of the defeated side, Francis could be said to have lost everything. What concerned him most at the moment was his son Francis Jr. The Haihan people arrested and imprisoned his son. In fact, he also expected that this might be used to threaten him into submission one day, but he did not expect that the other party's purpose was to make him come forward to be a puppet, and the price of refusal would probably be to never see him again for the rest of his life. I can't see my son anymore. Even if his heart was as strong as iron, it would be difficult for him to refuse the Haihan people's request on the spot.
Little Francis didn't know how to face such a problem. He didn't want his father to betray the Kingdom of Spain, but he didn't want his father to be forced to separate and never see each other again.
(End of chapter)