Chapter 1694 Dual Identity
"Go tell Zhangjia Shop to settle last month's payment first, and then Chaosheng will continue to supply them. If not, at least half must be paid first, otherwise there will be no discussion!" After Ran Tianlu finished speaking, he turned to the other person. A subordinate ordered: "For the medicinal materials that Shopkeeper Wang of Jishitang wants to buy, go to the warehouse and check the list to see if there are enough. If there are enough, allocate the goods to him first. Remember that he wants to rush it, and the price will be increased as usual. 30% counts!”
Ran Tianlu arranged the sales of seven or eight trading partners in one go, and finally had time to rest and take a sip of tea to moisten his throat. Next, he had to meet several other businessmen who came to discuss business, and inevitably there would be some laborious bargaining. But it is precisely because he maintains such a high frequency of business activities that no one in the local area will doubt his true identity anymore, let alone associate him with the Haihan Security Department. At most, they think Chaosheng Commercial Store is With the nature of an official and businessman, he would not think that Ran Tianlu was a member of the government.
Of course, this is also thanks to Ran Tianlu's solid professional skills in business. Otherwise, if he just uses his identity as a businessman as a prop to hide himself, it will be easy to expose his flaws in the current busy trading environment. Now, Ran Tianlu is running Chaosheng Commercial Store in an orderly manner, and many people even regard him as a business wizard who can control so many industries and business projects at the same time.
However, Ran Tianlu knew it well and understood that his rise in the local business community was not due to his outstanding business acumen, but the result of the many conveniences and support secretly provided by various departments of Haihan. This is completely different from the situation in the previous two years when only the Ministry of Security was the backer. It was also the first time that Ran Tianlu truly felt the huge driving force of having the country as his backing.
Although Manila is only one of Haihan's overseas colonies, as long as the country invests slightly more resources here, it can easily make Taran Tianlu a business giant in this region. The country needs an institution like Chaosheng Commercial Store to control the economic lifeline and key material supply of the new colony to avoid monopoly operations, price hikes and other disadvantages caused by other merchants becoming dominant.
But apart from doing business, Ran Tianlu didn't just give up on his job. His intelligence collection work was not only aimed at the field of military and political intelligence, but also collected information on the economy and people's livelihood. Haihan officials hope to fully control Manila's local economic lifeline, and the collection of information in this process is particularly important. In the future, Haihan will introduce financial institutions here and re-establish the currency circulation system and logistics system. To a certain extent, it will have to rely on the results of Ran Tianlu's previous work.
Of course, there is no risk in collecting information in these aspects in the current environment. At most, it is enough to pay a little attention to confidentiality measures and not be too purposeful and be discovered. Therefore, Ran Tianlu's current intelligence work is much easier than before the war. Although there are still many things that need to be handled personally, fortunately there is no external pressure and it is not difficult to get started.
In addition to its business functions, today's Chaosheng Commercial Warehouse has also been further upgraded as an intelligence station, and its staffing has also improved a lot compared to before the war. In addition, the armed guards stationed by the Military Intelligence Department at Chaosheng Commercial Store did not withdraw because of the end of the war. Fang Peng and others were still stationed here as guards of the commercial store. In Chaosheng Commercial Inn and surrounding areas, security forces continue to be deployed in accordance with the security standards of the intelligence agency, and Ran Tianlu's salary has also been upgraded. Now there are several guards responsible for his personal safety, and he has become an important figure in the intelligence agency.
When a strange-looking security policeman appeared near Chaosheng Commercial Store, the situation was quickly noticed by the surveillance personnel on the periphery, and was quickly reported to Fang Peng.
The reason why Qin Huacheng was noticed when he was sitting in the tea shop across the street was actually very simple. This tea shop was actually a property under the name of Chaosheng Merchant Store, but it was just for convenience and was not publicized to the outside world. People from all walks of life come and go in this place, and there is a lot of information that can be monitored. Qin Huacheng used this mixed place to inquire about the situation of Chaosheng Store, and Chaosheng's intelligence personnel were using this store to monitor Idle people working around here.
This kind of monitoring intensity is far better than before the war, but making such a deployment is somewhat helpless. After the war, Chaosheng Trading Post acted in a high-profile manner and accumulated a large amount of wealth, which would inevitably attract the covetousness of those with ulterior motives. Earlier, someone tried to sneak into the store and steal property, but before they could succeed, they were captured by armed guards. In fact, property is secondary. What Fang Peng is most worried about is that because Chaosheng Commercial Store has robbed too many people's jobs, someone will hold a grudge against Ran Tianlu and take revenge. If something happens to Ran Tianlu, then he, the leader in charge of security work, may You have to lose your official position.
Therefore, Fang Peng redesigned the security system and execution standards of the store, and set up several observation points outside the store to monitor people nearby who had unexpected identities or behaved strangely. The security police in this area in the south of the city were all familiar faces. Qin Huacheng was already exposed as soon as he appeared. While he was still listening to the conversation of the coachmen, he did not expect that the anti-monitoring arrangement of the store had already been launched.
Fang Peng even walked around the street in person, taking a few glances at Qin Huacheng who was still sitting in the tea shop. He was sure that he had no impression of this person before, and he was also wondering why there were security police running around. Come here.
The public security police detachment in the south of the city had already been warned by the Police Headquarters and would not take the initiative to show its presence near Chaosheng Store. It was obvious that the unfamiliar-faced security police should be from other jurisdictions. But this man had been sitting at the tea shop across the street for an hour, neither looking like waiting for someone nor investigating a case, which inevitably made Fang Peng suspicious.
Although the security police can be regarded as people in the government yamen establishment, Fang Peng does not have much favorable impression of this group because the security police are almost all young and strong people recruited from the local area. Although the recruitment is mainly Han Chinese, among them There are still many gangsters and veterans who have served in Spanish armed organizations. These people only received a very short on-the-job training, and after changing their skins, they suddenly became law enforcers. As you can imagine, their quality varies greatly. In the view of Fang Peng, who is a soldier, the security police are just a bunch of rabble and cannot be trusted at all.
This view is not unique to Fang Peng. The military has similar views from top to bottom. Therefore, there has never been any security police activity around the Chaosheng Store where military intelligence personnel are stationed. This is also the opinion of senior military officials. I wanted to prevent this mess of security police from interfering with the daily operations of the store. But Qin Huacheng didn't know the situation in the south of the city, so when he suddenly appeared outside Chaosheng Store, he immediately became the target of surveillance by the store's security personnel.
Fang Peng did not rush over to inquire about Qin Huacheng's purpose, but only ordered his subordinates to strengthen surveillance of this person. This so-called strengthening is not just about keeping an eye on Qin Huacheng here, but also to carry out comprehensive monitoring, grasp this person's whereabouts, and trace his identity and purpose. With the capabilities of the Military Intelligence Bureau, it is not difficult to do this.
Qin Huacheng had no consciousness of being monitored at all. He chose this place just because he could completely observe the entrance and exit of the store's gate, which made it easier to understand the daily operations of Chaosheng Store. By the way, let's listen to the various things these tea drinkers talked about. Many of them are related to Chaosheng Store, but the information value is not high.
After sitting here for a long time, Qin Huacheng was sure of only two things. One was that the backstage of Chaosheng Commercial Store was extremely strong, and he could even ignore the security police and the city defense army. Secondly, Ran Tianlu lives in seclusion. It is said that he can only have a chance to see him by asking for an audience at a business store. If he continues to wait here, it may be difficult for him to even meet people.
Of course, regarding this second point, it was actually Qin Huacheng's misunderstanding. Ran Tianlu was not reclusive, it was just that he had too many things to do and had no time to show his face. If he had a choice, Ran Tianlu would definitely not want to stay in this store all day.
Qin Huacheng waited to no avail. Seeing that it was getting late, he settled the tea money and left. However, he did not notice that when he left, two men fell behind him one after another. That night, Qin Huacheng's identity information had been found out and reported to Fang Peng. Fang Peng had no intention of eating alone, so he called Ran Tianlu together and informed him of the matter.
"This man just stayed outside the store for a while. He didn't do anything or say anything. This doesn't prove that he has any bad intentions towards the store, right? What's more, looking at the Qin family's information, his brother is here The two brothers are working for the Immigration Department, so they can be considered one of our own, right?" After hearing the investigation, Ran Tianlu thought that Fang Peng was making a mountain out of a molehill.
"It's precisely because he didn't say anything or do anything that I felt suspicious!" Fang Peng analyzed: "This Qin Huacheng is the detachment leader of the Hong Kong Public Security Police. Think about it, he is a detachment leader and he doesn't take care of himself during the day. I was on duty in the district, so I came here across the district and stayed quietly at the tea shop across the street for a long time. What was the purpose? ”
"Perhaps he is waiting for someone to meet." Ran Tianlu casually raised a possibility.
"The captain of the public security police detachment is also considered a powerful bureaucrat among the people. How big a deal does the other party have to allow him to sneak away so far to meet during duty hours?" Fang Peng shook his head and said: "Here in the south of the city, even if it's It is impossible for us to shout around at a detachment leader. To put it bluntly, if there is an official who really wants to summon him to meet, there is no need to meet him outside the city. "
"Maybe the appointment outside the city is to avoid suspicion?" Ran Tianlu still refused to give up his point of view.
Fang Peng sighed and said: "But this man is wearing a security police uniform, how can he avoid suspicion? If he really came here in civilian clothes, our people would not notice his existence."
Ran Tianlu had nothing to say now. Although he could continue to argue if he wanted to, he also understood that there could not be so many coincidences. No matter what the purpose of this person is, the way he appears at Chaosheng Commercial Inn today is unreasonable. It makes sense for Fang Peng to be suspicious of this person.
Ran Tianlu picked up the document that Fang Peng put on the table again. It contained Qin Huacheng's information. He had actually read it once just now, but now that he found something fishy, Ran Tianlu was not the kind to avoid hitting the wall. Those who don't look back will naturally want to study Fang Peng's investigation results again.
Ran Tianlu didn't need to ask about Qin Huacheng's personal information. Fang Peng must have obtained it through the Military Intelligence Agency. According to what is said above, Qin Huacheng joined the Spanish armed forces before the war, but did not participate in the war in Manila. After the war, the whole Qin family decisively surrendered to Haihan, and the two Qin brothers, both civil and military, also joined the Haihan Yamen. Qin Huacheng was appointed captain of the Hong Kong Public Security Police Detachment because of his outstanding performance during the training. There should be nothing wrong with this.
"Do you think there is anything wrong with this information?" Ran Tianlu looked at Qin Huacheng's information again and found that apart from having participated in the Spanish armed forces, there seemed to be no obvious problems.
"No." Fang Peng admitted frankly: "I did not find the motive for his strange behavior from his file. But I still insist that there is something wrong with this person. I think he has feelings for Chaosheng Commercial Store, or Say that someone in the store, like you, has some ulterior motive.”
Ran Tianlu reminded: "Brother Fang, even if this person really has a problem, you can't arrest him. Your current identity is still the guard of Chaosheng Commercial Store, this person is the leader of the security police detachment, you are a citizen and he is an official , you have to remember this.”
"This is what makes me feel most unhappy!" Fang Peng shook his head and said, "If we just report this matter to the Police Headquarters, I dare say that 90% of the time it will be ignored. Those people at the Police Headquarters will definitely not If we are as alert as we are, we will most likely be fooled by him making up any excuses.”
"Then you plan to let the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security intervene, just for your intuition?" Ran Tianlu also shook his head and said: "This is against the rules."
"We should at least monitor him for a period of time to make sure he is harmless." Fang Peng suggested: "I have the manpower here, but your security department should have other ways to find out his details. I hope you It can be activated here too.”
Ran Tianlu said: "If you want to use public resources to investigate, you have to file a report. How do you think this matter should be written? You can't say it, because you suspect that there is something wrong with Qin Huacheng who slipped out of the jurisdiction to drink tea while on duty!"
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Fang Peng said sternly: "Our Military Intelligence Bureau is not very particular about investigating cases. As long as it is believed that someone or something may affect the security of the local military intelligence, it can launch an investigation. Wait until there is evidence to investigate. That is the way of the police. Military Intelligence The Bureau will not be so conservative.”
(End of chapter)