Chapter 1915 Security Vulnerabilities
Pepper, a spice crop, has actually been introduced to local cultivation by the Ministry of Agriculture in Haihan a few years ago. Moreover, the varieties grown in Haihan are different from the peppers in Mindanao and the Spice Islands in the south. They can be identified by their appearance and taste. . In addition to being used as an edible spice, this thing also has considerable medicinal value, so its sales in the market have always been quite good.
Peppers produced in other regions have no price advantage in Sanya's spice market, and profits will even be diluted due to cross-sea freight. However, given the current situation of the Spaniards, they have to find ways to sell colonial products to ensure that they have funds to maintain operations. The most important trade hub in the South China Sea is currently the Sanya area under Haihan's rule.
In fact, before this year's Battle of Manila, the Spaniards had been doing this kind of business secretly through middlemen. At that time, Haihan believed that this kind of trade could also bring profits to himself, so he turned a blind eye to such small actions. However, the contradiction between the two countries after the war has been revealed, and Haihan also intended to suppress Spanish forces in the South China Sea, so all trade related to Spain was included in the blacklist. The middlemen have also been warned and are no longer allowed to import Spanish products to the Haihan market - as for selling Haihan products to Spanish hands, this is not prohibited.
After the official issued a ban, these middlemen who had already registered with the Port Management Committee naturally did not dare to make mistakes and stopped their original gray transactions. There were a few people who committed crimes with a sense of luck, but they were all punished very painfully afterwards. Of course, the most painful thing is probably the Spaniards thousands of miles away. As soon as Haihan's ban came out, they lost a large chunk of their income from foreign trade and could only rely on the silver sent from the Americas once a year. Finance. Although the products of the Ming Dynasty and Haihan could still be purchased, the books were no longer available, which was still very uncomfortable for the Spaniards whose colonial area had been greatly reduced.
Now that the ban is still being implemented, and products from the Spanish colonies have appeared in Sanya, this may be a sign that someone is committing crimes against the wind.
An official from the Management Committee responded: "Even if someone secretly sells this kind of pepper in bulk, they may not put it on the market for retail. They can negotiate the price with the buyer and deliver it directly, so that the pepper can be sold without anyone noticing." Complete the transaction. As long as the seller takes the initiative to lower the price below the market price, there should still be people who are greedy for profit and buy this kind of black market goods that avoid supervision. However, it is very risky to put this kind of goods in the market for retail. We have set up a report. Reward, generally speaking, it is unlikely that the situation envisioned by Section Chief Zhang will occur.”
In order to completely ban the circulation of Spanish goods in the trade field, Haihan is currently powerless. After all, there is no way to check all ships entering and leaving the port and supervise private buying and selling. As long as the price of Spanish goods can be kept low enough, they can always maintain a place in international trade. Even if they cannot openly enter the market operated by Haihan, they still have to play around and use the trade channels here to do some black market transactions. It was also difficult for Han to stop it.
Of course, if it was just about the black market trading of pepper, intelligence officers of Zhang Qianzhi’s level would not be asked to directly inquire about it. Instead, the Ministry of Security realized that this kind of trade loophole might gradually evolve into a more serious security loophole, thus affecting more serious security loopholes. profound level.
The existence of trade loopholes means the possibility of benefit transfer, and the Spanish espionage case uncovered in Port Victory in 1634 has always been one of the cases repeatedly studied by the Ministry of Security. Even with the counter-espionage capabilities of the Haihan Security Department, we dare not guarantee that the country is peaceful. If the Spaniards can complete the transfer of benefits to specific targets through black market trade, then it is impossible to say that Haihan still has people working for them. .
But to conduct an investigation in this area without any clues, Zhang Qianzhi can only start from the trade field. But now it seems that this black market trade is not easy to find out. Even with professional guidance, it will still face practical difficulties. .
"All middlemen who have registered with the Management Committee in the past will be investigated again. Especially if there are ships anchored at the Victory Port pier in recent days, inspections must be focused. If there are officials or public servants who are implicated..." Zhang Qianzhi paused, looked around at everyone's expressions, and made sure that these people were listening to him, then slowly said: "Be sure to report it to the Security Department as soon as possible!"
This may sound like a trivial matter, but no one dares to turn a deaf ear to the words of the Ministry of Security. After all, this is an organization that is directly loyal to the Executive Committee. The attitude of the Ministry of Security can also be equated to the wishes of the Executive Committee to a certain extent. The naturalized officials present here have been repeatedly instilled with a consciousness when they joined the company, that is, they must obey the orders of the Executive Committee no matter what the circumstances.
Zhang Qianzhi is actually not sure whether any official personnel will be involved in this black market trade, but he believes that the possibility is not small. Since Haihan can bribe officials of other countries with benefits, theoretically other countries can also do the same. Use similar methods to bribe Haihan officials. Once a traitor appears in an official organization, the consequences may not only be more rampant black market trade, so eliminating hidden dangers through investigation is the work that must be completed at the moment.
However, no substantive conclusions were drawn at this investigation and communication meeting. The identity of the drunkard and his confession need further verification, and the investigation of the previous Western goods middlemen may also take several days. Zhang At the moment, Qianzhi can only deploy the task first, and then make further arrangements after the investigation results are available.
Zhang Qianzhi came out of the meeting at the port center and received a message from a special person sent by He Xi, asking him to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as soon as possible to complete the registration of the entourage of the Prince of Korea's inspection trip.
"Want to accompany the Crown Prince of Joseon on a tour around the island? This job sounds quite easy..." Zhang Qianzhi weighed a stack of trade-related information that he had just taken out from the port center, thinking that he might have to put this case aside first. . It was obvious that in the eyes of his boss, the Joseon Crown Prince's importance was greater than this black market trade.
Since this is the meaning above, Zhang Qianzhi can only accept it and execute it. When he arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked the official in charge of external relations, he basically understood the ins and outs of the visit.
It is certainly not the first time that Zhang Qianzhi has seen arrangements like this for foreign dignitaries to inspect some key domestic construction projects and prosperous areas. However, for this kind of errand, the Ministry of Security will generally send field personnel with stronger operational capabilities, and civilians like Zhang Qianzhi Officials are rarely assigned such tasks.
Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Qianzhi does not have any martial arts value at all. In fact, he has also received various related trainings, and he has also learned and practiced grappling and fighting. His hands may be stronger than most ordinary people. Moreover, he is one of the few civilian officials in the Ministry of Security who carries a gun. His shooting skills with revolvers are quite good, and he can also take on the duties of a field armed officer when necessary.
Zhang Qianzhi looked at the list of entourage personnel compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and saw that there was an expedition-class warship and about a platoon of armed infantry among them, so he knew that his mission should be relatively easy. After all, most of the security work was undertaken by the military. As an official of the Ministry of Security, his participation in this activity is mainly to ensure that certain sensitive projects that need to be kept confidential will not be temporarily included in the visit targets.
As for the accompanying officials from other departments, Zhang Qianzhi looked at the list. There were some he knew and some he didn't know, but they were basically young and strong officials. This is probably because the schedule is relatively full and young officials can better adapt to the arrangement. The departure time is set for the next day, which means that the preparation time left for Zhang Qianzhi is only a little more than half a day. However, Zhang Qianzhi didn't think it was a big problem. He didn't need to take much with him when he went out, and it wouldn't take much time to pack a bag when he went back at night.
Zhang Qianzhi went back to the Security Department to report to He Xi. Although no useful clues had been found so far, he still gave a brief report to He Xi on the current situation and his deployment.
He Xi nodded and said: "Since no evidence has been found, this case will be handed over to other departments for implementation. You go and do the errands of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This time it is Minister Ning who called to ask for it. Remember to do it." Be beautiful!”
Zhang Qianzhi said: "Okay boss, but why does the executive committee pay so much attention to this North Korean crown prince? Could it be that the leaders want to help him sit on the throne as soon as possible?"
He Xi said: "North Korea's national power is weak, and it is surrounded by two powerful neighbors, the Qing Dynasty and Japan. The former protective umbrella of Ming Dynasty is now difficult to protect itself, so it will currently rely on the force protection provided by our country. But in the long run, if we want to The relationship between the two countries has become more stable, so a ruler who is close to our country is the best way. The current King of North Korea, Li Zhu, is more hesitant to do things. Even on such major matters as the survival of the country, he has to wait until the enemy's troops are approaching before he can make a decision. What do you think the situation would be like if it were a North Korean king who is close to our country?”
Zhang Qianzhi said: "It goes without saying that just like Fujian and Annan, they should open their doors to our country, and their military, economy, and politics should all follow our country's standards."
He Xi said: "The Crown Prince of Joseon came to our country not only for inspections, but more importantly, to study abroad in our country. However, it is said that the Crown Prince has not yet decided what major he wants to study, so he wanted to go around first to see what he really has. If you are interested, then let us arrange relevant courses.”
Zhang Qianzhi rolled his eyes and understood the purpose of this arrangement: "Then the executive committee should have already decided what major the prince should study."
"If the executive committee proposed it on its own, it would be too heavy-handed and might make North Koreans worry too much. Therefore, we arranged such an itinerary so that the prince of Joseon could slowly understand by himself what major he should study to help him to the greatest extent. and his country." He Xi did not deny Zhang Qianzhi's speculation, but did not give a clear answer.
From the very beginning when Haihan proposed to North Korea to send a prince to study abroad in Haihan, he did not restrict the major of study. This was to appear generous and show that he had no selfish intentions. Secondly, it was to dispel the doubts of the North Koreans. To prevent them from thinking that Haihan arranges study abroad courses for some purpose. Li Pu has never considered the direction of his studies. This actually leaves Haihan room for maneuver. Since Li Pu can't figure it out himself, Haihan will definitely make some arrangements to guide Li Pu to choose the right one. Haihan's most useful major.
This seems simple to say, but in practice it still takes a lot of effort to avoid being noticed by Li Shu. Starting from Zhoushan Island, Li Huang's various visits and inspection arrangements on his way south were actually intended to subconsciously establish a positive impression on Li Huang of Haihan's ability to govern. What Li Pu was able to gain from these trips was not only to broaden his horizons and gain insights, but also to realize that Haihan's power was not limited to the military field he had previously known, and the reason for his power was not just the strength of force.
What can be learned from Haihan is a question that Li Bo has been thinking about, and Haihan has been trying to guide his thinking. Li Bo has realized that just learning from the Haihan Kingdom to lead troops to fight, build roads and bridges, build ships and vehicles, or even make the miraculous steam engine will not make North Korea immediately strong, and even if he learns You won't do better than professionals in the last two years.
How to move Haihan's advanced model back to North Korea has become a major issue that Li Ming has been pondering recently, and this is also a question that Haihan hopes he will think deeply about.
However, the authorities are obsessed with the onlookers, and Li Bo was involved in the situation and could not understand the problem. Zhang Qianzhi only listened to He Xi's brief talk and already understood 70-80% of it. He then said: "If he really chooses to study abroad in accordance with the intention of the executive committee, Professional, then when he returns to China after completing his studies, he may not be satisfied with continuing to be the heir to the throne.”
"If he wants to go back and give full play to the skills he has learned, he must gain real power. As long as he can firmly stand on our country's side, it will not be difficult to support him in power." He Xi said to Zhang Qianzhi The statement expressed affirmation and also pointed out the ultimate purpose of the executive committee.
"Then we still have to see whether this person is a smart person or a idiot, and whether it is worth the country's efforts to train him." Zhang Qianzhi couldn't help but feel a little sour at the thought that this North Korean prince would be the leader of a country in the future.
He Xi smiled and said: "Okay, I'll add a task for you. Observe the prince's words and deeds during the trip, analyze his thoughts and values, and write a written report to me when he comes back!"
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"Huh? I suddenly got extra tasks... Will the boss give me overtime pay?" Zhang Qianzhi has been a master and apprentice with He Xi for many years, and the atmosphere when talking is relatively relaxed. From time to time, he can make a few jokes like this to lighten the atmosphere.
(End of chapter)