Chapter 1697: Putting things to rest
"These guys are just messing around! They actually went to find out the details of Chaosheng. How brave they are!" After Qiu Yuan read the investigation report sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau, he couldn't help but slap the table on the spot and lost his temper. .
For Qiu Yuan, who has just taken office, the first priority is to maintain the stability of social order in the Manila area. The series of actions taken by Chaosheng Commercial Store are all based on the instructions of the Interim Management Committee, with the purpose of stabilizing local products. A liquid market prevents profiteers from hoarding goods after the war and disrupting the market. Chaosheng Commercial Store has the support of many departments such as government, military, police, and business. It is not an exaggeration to say that it can make all the difference in the local area. However, there are still people who dare to take up the idea of Chaosheng Commercial Store. In Qiu Yuan's view, It's really audacious.
The reactivation of the Spanish officer Francis after the war was the result of Qiu Yuan's strong advocacy. He believed that Francis, who was influential locally, could make certain contributions to Haihan's management of the Spanish people, and could also help Haihan in official institutions. By setting a good example by employing Hispanic personnel in the Central Government, the positive role it can play in the Western Management Bureau will far outweigh the risks. But the reality was obviously somewhat different from his expectations. Francis, who originally seemed as rigid and stubborn as a stone, actually had a bold side, and actually united with others to carry out such a big move in secret.
Of course, Qiu Yuan did not ignore the real mastermind of this case, Ding Feng. If he had not been involved in the planning, Francis and Qin Huacheng would not have used their power to investigate the background of Chaosheng Commercial Store. Moreover, if they implemented their ideas If this continues, the biggest beneficiaries will probably be the Ding family, whose main business is business. According to the confession obtained by the Military Intelligence Bureau's investigation, Qin Huacheng claimed that these things were planned by Ding Feng, which was probably true.
Xiao Liang, who was sitting opposite him, had a wry smile on his face. He was also ill-prepared for such a situation. Although the local affairs of the Military Intelligence Bureau were under his command, he was mainly responsible for the monitoring and reconnaissance work of other Spanish colonies in the Philippine Islands. Although Fang Peng had submitted an investigation application to him, he did not It attracted his attention. After all, the subject of the investigation was just a newcomer who had just joined the police force. Who would have thought that so many messy things would be revealed later.
Fortunately, this group of people has not found out the details of Chaosheng Commercial Store and Ran Tianlu so far, and they have not done anything too excessive. It is not a serious crime, at most, it is just an "attempt to disrupt the market." . The Military Intelligence Bureau did not take it upon itself to continue arresting people. Instead, it first submitted a report to Xiao Liang and asked for instructions on the next step. After all, no matter how much Francis is a puppet, he is still an official appointed by the Provisional Management Committee. The Military Intelligence Bureau does not have the authority to arrest a bureau-level official who has just taken office - even if the Western Management Bureau is only a local civil affairs agency.
Xiao Liang felt helpless after reading the investigation report. This matter already involved the civil affairs field and was beyond his scope of authority. He could only come to Qiu Yuan to discuss how to deal with it.
After slapping the table, Qiu Yuan felt that his emotions were a little too exposed. He coughed twice, and then asked Xiao Liang: "Then Qin Huacheng is still with you now? Does anyone else know about this?"
"The man is being held in a place outside the city, and he has not been sentenced. It should be no big deal. But at this moment, his family is probably looking for someone everywhere." Xiao Liang responded: "According to what he said, who really participated There are only three people involved in this matter. If Ding Feng and Francis don’t leak the information, then only the three of them know.”
Qiu Yuan added: "The Military Intelligence Bureau directly intervened in the investigation, and only Qin Huacheng among the three knew about it."
Xiao Liang said: "You mean to seal Qin Huacheng's mouth and prevent this matter from leaking out?"
Qiu Yuandao: "If such messy things spread, it will definitely damage the official authority. I hope the matter ends here. As for Francis and Ding Feng... let's give priority to warning!"
If they were to be held accountable, neither Francis nor Ding Feng would be able to run away, but the problem is that the consequences of doing so would most likely do more harm than good to the authorities. Francis is an official supported by the Provisional Management Committee, and the Ding family also has a relatively large influence in the local business community. If Chaosheng Commercial Store had not risen rapidly with official support, it is very likely that the Ding family would have served as the main role in post-war Manila. play similar roles. And this is probably the main reason why the Ding family regards Chaosheng Store as a rival and tries every means to investigate its details.
It is easy to arrest Francis and the Ding family, but this may make the social order that has just stabilized after the war become tense again. Especially those people who are still watching the Haihan New Deal with fear may have the idea of leaving the local area. . Moreover, what these two people committed was not a serious crime at all, and the official could not publicly impose severe punishment on them, otherwise it would be unfair.
The most appropriate way to deal with this is to dismiss Francis and Qin Huacheng from their posts and investigate, and impose heavy financial penalties on the Ding family. It's easy to say that Qin Huacheng is just a detachment leader, but after withdrawing Francis, who will find someone to take his place at this time? Even if someone is found to take over the responsibility, the authority of the Western Management Bureau will be greatly reduced. There is no reason for the top leader to be removed within a month of the opening of the new Yamen.
Of course, these are only superficial reasons. Dealing with Francis will greatly damage Qiu Yuan's face. This is the fundamental reason why he calmed down quickly after losing his temper and prepared to handle the matter simply.
Xiao Liang knew this well and would not reveal Qiu Yuan's thoughts to his face. However, how to seal Qin Huacheng's mouth and how to word his warning to the other two people still need to be carefully considered. It takes a while. The military has almost done what it should do, and Qiu Yuan should finish the rest.
"Then Qin Huacheng will turn it over to the Police Headquarters for handling?" Xiao Liang asked, "Or should I have someone handle it directly?"
Xiao Liang deliberately emphasized his tone in the second half of the sentence to test Qiu Yuan's attitude. As for how the military would deal with it, he believed that Qiu Yuan would understand what he meant without further explanation.
Qiu Yuan hesitated for a moment. He knew that Qin Huacheng was actually used as a gun in this case. Before the incident, he probably had no idea how much trouble his behavior would cause. But now the Military Intelligence Bureau has directly dispatched to arrest the person for interrogation. Qin Huacheng is even a fool and knows that Chaosheng Commercial Store is at least backed by the military. If this kind of secret is leaked, it will obviously affect the policy plan formulated by Qiu Yuan. produce adverse effects. But there are probably only two ways to silence Qin Huacheng completely, either to let him leave this place, or to become a dead person.
"His behavior has affected national security, but if the crime is not punishable by death, he should be exiled to another place." Qiu Yuan finally relented a little and did not issue a killing order.
"Okay." Xiao Liang responded calmly. The life and death of such a small person naturally doesn't matter to him. But if Qiu Yuan says not to kill him, then Qiu Yuan's opinion will prevail. After all, the security police also fall under Qiu Yuan's jurisdiction. It is not easy for the military to directly deal with such people. Things are dictated by fingers. As for where to exile the prisoners, the military has its own set of rules, so there is no need for Qiu Yuan to consider it. Haihan now has more and more colonies outside of Sanya, and there are many places that can be used to exile prisoners. Almost every colony located on the border of Haihan territory has a large number of exiled prisoners of war and prisoners serving as hard labor. Qin Huacheng was lucky enough to survive, and being exiled was considered a very tolerant treatment.
After Xiao Liang got Qiu Yuan's decision, he said goodbye and left. As for how to deal with the other two people, he believed that Qiu Yuan had his own safe way and would just wait for the other party's subsequent notification.
Qiu Yuan stayed alone in the office for a long time before asking his secretary to notify Francis and Ding Feng respectively to come to the management meeting.
Regarding what these two people did in private, Qiu Yuan was actually not that angry after he calmed down. The bustle in the world is for profit, and the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit. What they did can be summed up as "self-interest." "Two words. But if they don't strike in time, these two people may become more and more courageous in the future, and sooner or later they will get into trouble.
Francis was dealing with the household registration issue of a Hispanic household when he received the order from the Provisional Management Committee. The sudden summons made him inexplicably panicked. Although this meant being able to meet with senior officials of Haihan, the other party did not explain the reason in the order, which gave Francis a vague premonition. But he immediately put down what he was doing and rushed to the temporary management meeting, secretly praying that nothing would happen all the way.
"Mr. Francis, do you know why I specially called you here?" Qiu Yuan looked at Francis standing opposite him with a rather playful look. He wanted to see if this guy was still facing him. Will continue to play tricks. If Francis still tried to act to fool himself, Qiu Yuan would not mind giving him some decent punishment.
After listening to what the translator conveyed, Francis' feeling of uneasiness became even stronger. He hasn't made any mistakes at work these days, but he also hasn't performed well. Qiu Yuan probably didn't call him here to ask about his daily work. As for the rest, probably only his cooperation with Ding Feng and Qin Huacheng would arouse Qiu Yuan's interest. But most of these things were hidden from the light, so how could he expose his shortcomings to Qiu Yuan.
"Then let me remind you." Qiu Yuan saw that Francis was expressionless and silent, knowing that this man might not have given up his struggle in his heart, so he said to him again: "Before, you dealt with a case of Hispanic personnel making trouble after drinking. Incident, I remember that I never praised you in person for your actions.”
Francis responded: "That's just my duty."
"What a duty you should fulfill!" Qiu Yuan said with a smile: "Find a group of people to pretend to be drunkards to create opportunities for you to gain your existence. You are very good! What happened in that matter? Can you tell me now? ?”
There was a buzz in Francis's head, and cold sweat immediately broke out on his head. At that time, in order to attract the attention of senior officials in Haihan, he, Ding Feng, and Qin Huacheng jointly planned a public security case, allowing Hispanics to cause trouble in Qin Huacheng's jurisdiction, and then he came forward on behalf of the Western Management Bureau to quell the chaos. As a result, Qiu Yuan was appreciated for this, and he finally had something to do in the Western Management Bureau, and was no longer just a puppet director.
At that time, the three people celebrated this, thinking that this plan successfully deceived the trust of senior officials in Haihan. But many days later, Qiu Yuan revealed the matter, and if he brought it up again at this time, it was obviously not to commend Francis. As long as Qiu Yuan wanted to impose sanctions on him by falsely reporting a security case to deceive his superiors, this crime would be enough to make him, Francis, a prisoner again.
"Chief, that thing... was all what Ding Feng ordered me to do!" Francis was in a hurry and did not dare to deny that there was something wrong. He just blamed Ding Feng, who was not present. But he still didn't understand where the truth of this matter leaked.
"Ding Feng instructs you? Just do what he instructs you to do. Don't you have any brains yourself?" Qiu Yuan scolded, without giving any face to Francis: "What is going on? You just do it now." Tell me clearly! I remind you, don’t take any chances!”
Francis didn't know where Qiu Yuan's news came from, and how much he knew about the truth of the matter. After hearing this warning, he immediately gave up the idea of luck in his heart. If you deceive someone once, it is already a felony. If you deceive someone a second time, the felony may become a capital crime.
Francis didn't dare to hide anything anymore, so he told everything about how the three people calculated the matter, how they found someone to implement it, and how they reported it afterwards. Of course, in his confession, he cleverly put most of the blame on Ding Feng and Qin Huacheng, and described himself as temporarily confused, hoping to gain the appreciation of his superiors in this way. This is consistent with what the Military Intelligence Bureau said when interrogating Qin Huacheng. The confessions obtained were quite similar.
While listening to the confession translated into Chinese, Qiu Yuan silently compared the interrogation records sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau, and gained a more comprehensive understanding of the incident at that time. He did not expect at the time that this security incident was artificially caused by the investigators, and that it was a joint effort between the security police and officials from the Western Management Bureau. At this time, when he heard Francis admit it personally, Qiu Yuan's anger, which had calmed down a lot, rose again.
"I'm not giving you the opportunity to re-enter the official position just to make this kind of stunt to deceive me... Mr. Francis, you really disappoint me!" Qiu Yuan shook his head and said, "Then let's talk about other things. Well, I thought you might have something else to tell me.”
Francis swallowed hard, thinking to himself that this time the matter was so completely exposed, one of the three parties must have been arrested before him, but he didn't know whether the unlucky guy was Ding Feng or Qin Huacheng.
(End of chapter)