Chapter 1713 Privileged Institution
Due to the special functions of intelligence agencies, the recruitment targets of the Haihan Security Department are not limited to those within the system. In fact, many security officials were not even registered as Haihan when they were first recruited. In terms of recruitment, they can It is said to be the most eclectic official institution. As the highest-level official of the Ministry of Security in the southern end of the South China Sea, Cheng Dapeng also has the authority to recruit personnel independently, but the quota must be approved by the Sanya headquarters. And this time he went to Xingdao to recruit special talents for Spain, and he had obtained permission from Sanya in terms of procedures, giving him the power to operate on his own.
However, this kind of delegation of power is somewhat helpless. The Ministry of Security is temporarily unable to provide Cheng Dapeng with the professionals he needs, and can only let Cheng Dapeng solve the problem locally. The only feasible way that Cheng Dapeng thought of was to recruit prisoners with suitable conditions from Xingdao, and then try to train the selected personnel into spies, and send them to areas in Matalan Country where Spanish people might appear to inquire about information.
The training methods that Cheng Dapeng can implement are naturally not as complete as those in Sanya, but the intelligence personnel he recruits and personally trains are definitely much better than those sent by Sanya. Cheng Dapeng has been in Batavia for several years, from a single-handed intelligence agent to a regional director. He gave up his position in Sanya and returned to Batavia because he wanted to make his own mark here. a career. Since the superiors had clearly stated the delegation of power, he naturally took advantage of this opportunity and began to build a team that would obey his orders.
For an intelligence officer working on the front line like Cheng Dapeng, being able to command his subordinates is very important. This is not only a matter of work efficiency and intelligence timeliness, but also about the quality of the people he commands. The personal safety of everyone in the intelligence network. Of course, subordinates who have been personally trained will be more reliable.
Cheng Dapeng couldn't say he had much appreciation for Qin Huacheng, but Qin Huacheng's personal conditions and experience seemed to him to be very suitable for the intelligence profession. As long as he spent some time training him to master the basic skills of an intelligence officer, he could be sent to the target. Regional intelligence gathering missions. Although Qin Huacheng's qualifications cannot yet be seen from this simple conversation, among the candidates currently selected by Cheng Dapeng, Qin Huacheng's conditions are already outstanding.
Qin Huacheng didn't know what arrangements the other party would make for him. He only knew that after agreeing to Cheng Dapeng, he would be able to leave the hard labor camp immediately. However, leaving this place does not mean that he has regained his freedom. Working in the Security Department also requires him to be bound by various rules and regulations. It's just that the Security Department's authority to act independently is far greater than that of ordinary official departments, and there are indeed many special benefits you can enjoy after joining.
Qin Huacheng returned to his temporary residence and waited anxiously for nearly two hours. Just when he was about to lose his patience, a guard came to notify him and asked him to quickly pack his things and prepare to leave.
Qin Huacheng said happily: "Can the villain really leave the hard labor camp?"
The guard responded impatiently: "Don't ask so many questions. You asked me several times every day before. Now that I let you go, you still don't want to leave? If you don't want to leave, don't leave!"
Qin Huacheng hurriedly waved his hand and said: "I won't ask anymore, I'll go pack my things now!"
In fact, Qin Huacheng didn't have much personal belongings. He only had a set of eating utensils, chopsticks and water cups that every prisoner had, a change of underwear, and a pillow made of rice husk core. They were all gone. It didn't matter to Qin Huacheng whether he took these things with him or not. Anyway, they were all things handed out by the prison after arriving at Star Island, and they were not considered his private property. All the things and clothes he had on board the ship from Manila were burned after landing due to the epidemic that occurred during the voyage. Qin Huacheng looked around and finally returned to the guard empty-handed, saying that he didn't need to pack anything anymore.
Cheng Dapeng selected three people, including Qin Huacheng, from the candidate list of the Second Battalion of Hard Labor, and then went to the warden Qin Bodu to handle the relevant personnel transfer procedures. Tan Juren had given Cheng Dapeng a warrant before, asking the hard labor camp to fully cooperate and give people the people they wanted. Naturally, Qin Bodu would not have any objections to this arrangement. In addition, these people selected by Cheng Dapeng were all of Han descent, and Qin Huacheng had already been exonerated by meritorious service. These people just gave it to them, and there was no loss to the prison authorities.
If there is any impact, it is probably that the Spanish teachers of the guards have to be replaced. However, this is not a big deal to Qin Bodu. Anyway, he has already cleaned up the heads of the prisoners. , the demand for Spanish-speaking talents is not so urgent.
Qin Bodu looked at the list, signed the release document with a single stroke of his pen, and handed it to Cheng Dapeng. In fact, he had not had much dealings with the Ministry of Security in the past, and he did not know what the official position of the shopkeeper surnamed Cheng was, but since the other party allowed Tan Juren to directly issue a warrant and ask for his cooperation, the background must not be trivial, and he would cooperate well. That’s it.
Cheng Dapeng thanked Qin Bodu and stood up to leave. He had to go to another hard labor camp on the island to see the situation and try to pick a few more suitable people to take with him. His trip this time was not just to pick people up on Star Island, but he also had to go to Malacca City to complete the spice trade with the Portuguese. He only stopped at Star Island in the name of supply and would not be here. Stayed too long.
When Cheng Dapeng left Xingdao that afternoon, he took six Han prisoners, including Qin Huacheng, with him. All the files of these six people were also taken away by him. If these six people can pass the next training and assessment, their personal files will be rewritten in the future, and their confidentiality will be much higher than that of ordinary people. Their disgraceful history of serving sentences in Star Island will also be sealed in the archives.
It wasn't until Qin Huacheng boarded the ship and put on the clothes prepared by Cheng Dapeng that he was truly convinced that he had indeed escaped from the hard labor camp. But seeing that there were several other people who were treated the same as him, Qin Huacheng couldn't help but feel a little sour in his heart. You must know that he had finally won the opportunity to make meritorious service for his crime, and completed the task well. If calculated according to the offset sentence, Then he must be the first among these people to be released after serving his sentence. But these people were immediately exempted from all their sentences just because they were favored by Cheng Dapeng, which made him feel a little psychologically unbalanced.
Especially when I think of Cheng Dapeng's tone when he interviewed me before, it seemed that he would only pick a suitable candidate from the hard labor camp and take him away, so he was determined to seize this opportunity. Who would have thought that this guy actually picked six people! Qin Huacheng couldn't help but feel like he was being teased. It seemed that this opportunity was not as precious as he thought. If he had known this, he felt that he might as well wait for news about the previous case in Xingdao. At least his personal safety would be better. Some protection.
As if he had seen through Qin Huacheng's thoughts, Cheng Dapeng called him to the side of the ship alone and said to him: "The six people who followed me on the ship, including you, are all just candidates. In the end, only those who pass the training review will be selected." Only then will you be considered qualified. There may be one or two people available at that time, or none at all. If you are not qualified, then I will arrange for you to return to Star Island.”
"Can you come back if you fail?" Qin Huacheng was a little stunned and couldn't help but feel excited. "Yes, you can come back, but the previously offset sentence will be invalid. You will have to serve three years of hard labor here before you can be released." How could Cheng Dapeng not guess what he was thinking, and immediately cut off his future with words? road.
"But the villain's previous sentence was all offset by the warden's promise!" Qin Huacheng quickly defended.
Cheng Dapeng shook his head and said: "That's a matter of the hard labor camp. When you agreed to go with me, all the deals between you and the hard labor camp were voided!"
"You... then you..." Qin Huacheng was furious. He wanted to break up with Cheng Dapeng immediately, but he was worried about his own fate and couldn't help but be speechless for a while.
However, Cheng Dapeng seemed not to notice Qin Huacheng's flushed face and continued to say unhurriedly: "If you want to enjoy your freedom as soon as possible, then follow the instructions well in the future. If you learn your skills well, you will naturally have success in the future. When you are superior to others.”
Qin Huacheng didn't understand what Cheng Dapeng was referring to at all, but he could also understand from the other party's actions of taking so many people away from the hard labor camp that the other party's energy was indeed not small. If he and Cheng Dapeng fall out, the other party will definitely not be the unlucky one. Just make peace with it as it comes and see what arrangements he has made first. After figuring out the reason, Qin Huacheng's mood finally calmed down.
Qin Huacheng and others were arranged to live in the cabin below the deck, but they were no longer detained, but mixed with other sailors and crew members on the ship. Cheng Dapeng had no intention of isolating them alone. He just asked them not to move around the ship without permission, including going on the deck.
After leaving Sing Tao Port, the lucky ship continued to sail northwest along the channel channel, heading for the city of Malacca, four hundred miles away.
Since occupying the city of Malacca in the early 16th century, the Portuguese have been operating in this place for more than a hundred years. Relying on the geographical advantage of connecting the two oceans, Portugal built a commercial port city based on the original city of Malacca. And it once became the trading center of the Strait of Malacca.
However, since the Dutch operated Batavia City near the Sunda Strait, the commercial status of Malacca City has been greatly challenged. In particular, some spice crops originating from the west of Java Island have been almost monopolized by the Dutch. , which greatly affected the operation of the spice market in Malacca City. Businessmen from the Indian Peninsula and the Middle East diverted their routes to Batavia, which greatly hurt the Portuguese. However, the Portuguese armed forces in the Far East were not enough to eliminate the city of Batavia controlled by the East India Company. They could only watch the Dutch take away their market share.
This situation did not change until the appearance of the Haihan people. The spices and tropical crops that had been monopolized by the Dutch somehow appeared in the large and small plantations of the Haihan people. The Portuguese finally found a new supply.
But the Portuguese were not happy for long. Haihan's rise in the South China Sea was much faster than they expected. Within a few years, it moved south from Hainan Island along the Indochina Peninsula. After occupying the Amborna Islands, it continued southward. A colony was founded on Star Island at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. This place is located just at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, guarding the throat channel, and only four hundred miles away from the city of Malacca. Although Haihan kept saying that this location was chosen to open a port to facilitate the allies to coordinate with each other, its obvious intention to replace the city of Malacca made the Portuguese very worried and they had to always be wary of this neighbor. .
Although the two sides are allies in name, they are inevitably in different beds in this environment. Haihan also knows that Portugal has also coveted Star Island for a long time. Therefore, at the beginning of this year, Haihan mobilized troops from Xingdao to march eastward to Manila. He would rather borrow troops from Annan, which is further away, to go south to guard Xingdao, rather than entrusting the safety of Xingdao to the nearby Portuguese allies.
For Cheng Dapeng, the conflicts between these countries do not have much impact on him. A multinational businessman like him with a large scale of operations is a popular target no matter which country he goes to. For example, on this trip from Batavia to Malacca, the Portuguese here did not care that he came from the territory of the Dutch. This was not the first time they had traded with Cheng Dapeng, and they knew very well that this businessman could get almost all the goods. A specialty of Java that has been monopolized by the Dutch. Moreover, they can also resell the products produced in the Portuguese colonies to the Batavia market at a good price through Cheng Dapeng's channels.
Qin Huacheng and others were driven back to the cabin when the ship entered the port and were forbidden to show their faces, so they could not see the daytime scene of the most prosperous port in the Strait of Malacca. However, after nightfall, they were allowed to go up to the deck to get some air, but at night they could only see a few lights on the shore, so it was naturally difficult to intuitively understand the extraordinary features of this port city.
The ship stayed in Malacca Port for three full days, and Qin Huacheng and others were only allowed to go on the deck after nightfall. Their curiosity about the city of Malacca was quickly wiped out under this arrangement, and they wished they could leave this boring place as soon as possible. Even if they are sailing on the endless sea, it is better than anchoring here. At least during the sea voyage, they can have more time to stay on the deck and enjoy the sea breeze and sunshine.
When leaving the port of Malacca, Qin Huacheng and others were greatly relieved. At least from this moment on, they no longer had to be bored in the cabin. But just when they thought they could relax, Cheng Dapeng gave them a difficult problem.
(End of chapter)