Chapter 1711 New Way out
Of course, Qin Huacheng was not really sentenced to solitary confinement, but Qin Bodu considered that his identity as an internal agent might have been exposed, so he found an excuse to transfer him away from the prisoner group to ensure that he would be safe during the period before the Ministry of Justice's approval was issued. Personal safety.
During this period of hard labor, Qin Huacheng, as a meritorious officer, naturally no longer had to participate. But this does not mean that Qin Huacheng can be lazy. After all, the hard labor camp does not support idle people. Even if Qin Huacheng gets special care from the official, he still has to work. And given his current situation, the only one who can still serve the government is to continue to serve as a Spanish translator.
However, considering that his identity may have been exposed among the Spanish prisoners in Xiying District, Qin Bodu did not plan to arrange for him to have direct contact with the prisoners, and instead switched to behind-the-scenes work. One of Qin Huacheng's next most important tasks is to train the guards in Spanish so that the guards can direct the daily work of Hispanic prisoners. As for more complex daily conversations, it will not be achieved overnight, and he does not know what to do. How to teach Spanish systematically, everyone can only cross the river by feeling the stones.
In addition, Qin Huacheng will occasionally be assigned to participate in the interrogation of Hispanic prisoners, but during this period he will wear a hood specially prepared for him by the prison to avoid being seen through by the prisoners. The more than 20 principal criminals arrested by the prison in the early stage were already on the ship heading to Belitung Island. They had no chance like Qin Huacheng to slowly wait for the Ministry of Justice's approval in Xingdao. After the case was verified, they Roger signed off and sent these guys away. If nothing else goes wrong, these unlucky guys will spend the rest of their lives on Belitung Island, and the prisoners sent there will basically have no chance of turning around.
Qin Huacheng had no real idea of the fate of these people. After completing the investigation of this case, he had never seen the Spanish prisoners on the arrest list again. As for their whereabouts, Qin Huacheng had no idea and would not take the initiative to inquire again. Anyway, Qin Bodu said that the additional sentences of these people would be offset in proportion to his own three-year sentence. This is enough. Knowing too much about other things may not necessarily be a good thing.
Qin Huacheng was concerned about the situation at home and asked Qin Bodu to send a letter home to inform him of his well-being, but Qin Bodu refused on the grounds that it was against the rules. Because in the Xingdao hard labor camp, there has never been a precedent for prisoners to maintain correspondence with their families. Even though Qin Huacheng has now served his crime and enjoyed some special treatment, he is still a prisoner and some established rules are still insurmountable.
"When will the Ministry of Justice's approval come out and your sentence will end, then you will have the right to communicate with your family. Just wait!"
Faced with such a reply, Qin Huacheng was at his wits' end. In his current situation, he was indeed not qualified to put forward too many conditions to the authorities. What kind of treatment the prison authorities would give him would largely depend on Qin Bodu's mood. If Qin Bodu becomes impatient, then his "good days" in the hard labor camp may come to an end.
Although Qin Huacheng has worked as a security policeman in Manila for a period of time, the level of information that a temporary staff like him has access to is not high, and he is not clear about the power structure of the Haihan judicial system. He had no idea what procedures the cases in the Xingdao hard labor camp had to go through to be reported layer by layer, and which departments and individuals had to share the credit. He could only follow Qin Bodu's arrangements and wait for news.
Regarding the appointment of Qin Huacheng, Tan Juren actually quickly forgot about Qin Huacheng after the case in the hard labor camp came to an end, so Qin Bodu basically made the decision on subsequent arrangements. But Qin Huacheng didn't have any other skills. His only expertise in Spanish could be of some use locally. Therefore, although the superiors intended to transfer Qin Huacheng out of the hard labor camp, Qin Bodu still asked him to stay in the hard labor camp and continue to work. Translation can be regarded as making the best use of people’s talents and resources. But neither Tan Juren nor Qin Bodu could have imagined that another organization had already targeted Qin Huacheng and planned to poach him from Xingdao.
At the same time that the military escorted the more than 20 Hispanic prisoners onto the ship and sent them to Belitung Island in the south, a merchant ship from the south sailed into the harbor of Xingdao and docked. The flag flying on the top of the ship's mainmast is not the red and blue flag representing Haihan, but the symbol composed of VOC, the United East India Company. This ship came from Batavia. Although it flew the flag of the Dutch East India Company, this fuchuan-style sailing ship was not a merchant ship to which it belonged. It only flew a flag to facilitate entry and exit from the local port. However, the ship still flew the Dutch flag when it arrived at Star Island, so it was somewhat conspicuous in the port.
The visitor was so flamboyant, but kept a low profile after docking at the port. The port staff did not give special treatment to the sailboat from Batavia. They simply registered and let the people on board go ashore. There was a covered carriage waiting at the pier. After picking up the people who landed, they immediately left the pier and went straight to the location of the Star Island Management Committee located north of the pier.
The Sing Tao Management Committee was an organization formally established only after Tan Juren took office in 1635. Before that, local government affairs were naturally handled by Roger. The office building of the management committee was also built under the leadership of Tan Juren and was only completed last year. Although this three-story building cannot be said to be very impressive, it is already considered a big project in an environment like Star Island. The civil affairs agency that Tan Ju is in charge of and the military command agency that Roger is in charge of are all located in this office building, each occupying about half of the space.
The visitor got off the car in front of the office building and identified himself to the guard at the door. After waiting for a while, someone came and took him to Tan Juren's office.
When Tan Juren saw this person, he stood up to greet him. However, the visitor did not dare to make a mistake. He quickly stepped forward and bowed: "I have met Chief Tan!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Shopkeeper Cheng!" Tan Juren raised his hand to support him slightly, and then asked his secretary to serve tea.
The person Tan Juren calls shopkeeper Cheng is none other than Cheng Dapeng, the head of the Haihan Security Department in Batavia. During the Batavia War four years ago, it was Cheng Dapeng who collected a lot of military information for Haihan on the dangerous battlefield between the Dutch East India Company and the Matalan Kingdom. He also received the honorary title for his outstanding performance during this period. He was promoted from the head of a small intelligence station to the deputy director of the South China Sea Department of the Ministry of Security.
Cheng Dapeng was transferred back to Sanya for a period of time in the past two years, and stayed anonymous in the office of the Ministry of Security to direct the intelligence work in the South China Sea. However, this only lasted for about half a year. Cheng Dapeng, who could not bear the loneliness, returned Actively applied for transfer back to Batavia and continued to engage in front-line intelligence collection work.
During the Batavia War, Cheng Dapeng had a personal relationship with the current senior figures of the East India Company. In addition, he provided a considerable amount of food resources during the post-war reconstruction, which allowed him to establish a strong relationship with Batavia. Adam has gained a certain prestige among the upper class of local society. The officials of the East India Company never seemed to suspect that this Chinese businessman had another sensitive identity. They gave him a green light for various activities in the local area, and few people would make things difficult for him. In addition to paying attention to various trends of the East India Company, Haihan's local intelligence agency also relied on the trading port of Batavia to gradually move from Java to Sumatra, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi. and the Borneo Development Intelligence Network. Although Haihan has not established fixed colonies in these areas yet, relevant preparations have been underway for some time.
For intelligence officers like Cheng Dapeng who are far away in Java, the nearest Haihan colony is probably Xingdao at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca. When going to commercial ports in this direction for trade, Cheng Dapeng will also take a look. I'll take the opportunity to visit Roger and Tan Juren here on Xingdao. Although these two are not Cheng Dapeng's immediate superiors, they may be the only military force Cheng Dapeng can rely on when necessary, so this relationship must be maintained well.
However, Cheng Dapeng's visit to Xingdao was not just a passing trip, but he came with a purpose. In the process of penetrating into Sulawesi Island and the Maluku Sea, the Ministry of Security has increasingly come into contact with Spanish maritime forces. The number of spies in the Ministry of Security who understand Spanish can be counted on one hand. , almost all of which are deployed in the Manila area. Although things have changed over there and it has become the ruling area of Haihan, the superiors do not intend to transfer spies who understand Spanish to Batavia to serve as a large group of people. There is no other reason. Cheng Dapeng can obtain too little information about Spain, and the efficiency is far less than that of Luzon Island. The Ministry of Security naturally wants to invest limited resources in areas with rich harvests.
Regarding Cheng Dapeng's application, the Ministry of Security just asked him to solve the problem on his own, and at the same time gave him the information that a considerable number of local prisoners of war and prisoners in Manila were exiled to Star Island, including some of Han descent. After Cheng Dapeng learned the news, he tried to contact Xingdao via the radio and confirmed that there were indeed many Chinese prisoners from Manila detained in Xingdao. So Cheng Dapeng found a deal as a cover and went to Xingdao himself to select people.
Tan Juren knew Cheng Dapeng's purpose, but he was a little uneasy about the way the security department operated: "You plan to select people from the prisoners here and send them to collect intelligence. This... can Are you relieved?”
Cheng Dapeng said: "Reporting to the chief, this matter is not just about picking people randomly. There are also many things to pay attention to. The Ministry of Security has corresponding standards for who can be used and who cannot be used. And if the right person is selected, then They are not sent out to perform tasks right away. They need to be trained for a period of time to master basic professional skills.”
Tan Juren nodded slowly while listening: "That makes sense. If it doesn't involve specific arrangements, can you tell me how to spy on the Spanish information?"
When Cheng Dapeng saw a map of the South China Sea hanging on the wall of Tan Juren's office, he stood up and said, "Please let the chief borrow this map."
Cheng Dapeng walked to the map and raised his hand to point to the location of Luzon Island: "The Spanish colonial rule in the South China Sea was centered on Manila Bay on Luzon Island, but this is not the only colony in the Philippine Islands. According to the information we have, there are other places such as Batangas, Cebu, Zamboanga, Santos City, etc., but the scale of operations is not as large as that in Manila.”
The place pointed by Cheng Dapeng's hand gradually moved south: "After our country captured Manila, the Spanish colonial center in the Philippine Islands will inevitably move south to avoid our country's edge. We judge that they may continue to expand southward from Mindanao. , crossed the Celebes Sea, entered Sulawesi, and continued moving south and east, so I thought it was necessary to be prepared for contact with the Spaniards in order to gain an advantage."
The places pointed out by Cheng Dapeng on the map are quite far away from Xingdao, almost two thousand kilometers away. Not only is there the sea in the middle, but also the world's third largest island, Borneo, is separated from them. How the situation changes there is unlikely to affect Star Island in the short term, but for Cheng Dapeng, who is based in Batavia and directs intelligence work in the South China Sea, it will be included in the area he is responsible for.
Tan Juren said: "If Spaniards enter these places you mentioned, shouldn't the Dutch and Matalan people be more nervous?"
Cheng Dapeng said: "Both the Dutch and the Malayan people have received the news of the Spanish defeat in Manila. They are actually a little eager to try and follow us to fight the drowned dogs. However, the Spanish have operated several times in the Philippine Islands. Ten years later, although this battle has severely damaged their vitality, it is not yet to the point where anyone can take advantage of them. The Malayans already played against the Spaniards last month, but they did not gain any advantage. , but several ships were sunk.”
Tan Juren laughed and said: "The people from Ma Dalan really think that they can become invincible by buying a batch of weapons from our country!"
Last year's weapons bidding in Sanya between the Matalan Kingdom and the Dutch East India Company was one of the annual news in Haihan Kingdom. Regarding the ins and outs of this drama, Tan Juren had already received detailed information a few months ago. Regarding the large purchases made by these two enemies, Tan Juren had the mentality of watching a show, but he also knew that the Matalan Kingdom purchased a large amount of weapons and equipment, but did not purchase Haihan's combat ships, leaving the enemy East India Company It was snatched away. As a result, the role of the weapons and equipment purchased from Haihan at a sky-high price will have to be greatly reduced, and the bottom line will naturally be exposed in the battle with an established maritime power like Spain.
Cheng Dapeng said: "The Matalan people have suffered this loss and know that they can no longer rely on the ships they built themselves. It is said that they are preparing to submit a new arms purchase application to our country and want to order a batch of combat ships."< br>
(End of chapter)