Chapter 1938
Although Xue Zheng and the group of people he led are not afraid of death, they also know that the overall situation must be the most important thing in this matter. It does not mean that surrendering one's life here will complete the mission. Before achieving the purpose of the operation, they must carefully hide their identities to avoid alerting the enemy and causing the entire operation plan to fail.
The sudden appearance of a group of cavalry made Xue Zheng immediately realize that nothing could be done. In desperation, he could only temporarily terminate the action and step aside to observe the movement. But soon he also noticed that some people began to gather in small groups on the nearby streets. This place was a busy production place, and there could not be so many idle people. They were most likely the plainclothes people discovered by his accomplices earlier. .
Xue Zheng felt that the gathering of these people near the workshop might be directly related to the carriage that arrived earlier. The carriage might be a high-ranking Haihan official, so security measures were temporarily strengthened. However, the two carts filled with coke that they abandoned earlier were nearby, and they would probably be discovered by these eyes and ears soon. If they did not leave this place quickly, they would be interrogated soon.
Xue Zheng quickly re-weighed the pros and cons and believed that there was basically no chance of success if he stayed. Instead, there was a risk of exposing his whereabouts. For the current plan, it was better to evacuate here first and conserve his strength before making plans.
Xue Zheng immediately issued instructions to his men to evacuate the place as soon as possible and rejoin at the port. Because he knew that there was no way to deal with the three large loads of coke at the moment, and these materials were left on the roadside in the industrial area, which would most likely lead to subsequent tracing. If they continued to stay nearby, it would be easy for them to classified as suspicious.
In fact, the response speed of Haihan's security force was faster than Xue Zheng expected. Someone had already discovered the coke trucks parked in two places, but the porters responsible for transporting them were completely missing. Fortunately, the destination of the goods transported on this truck can be known at a glance, and each truck has a unique body number. It is not difficult to determine its foreman and departure time.
However, the porters responsible for operating this kind of pallet truck are almost all new immigrants who have not yet been naturalized. Generally, they do not register their identity when undertaking this kind of menial work. They calculate their remuneration based on their number plate after completing the work, so it is difficult to determine specifically. Whoever left the car here ran away.
It will take a certain amount of time to find out the relationship between them clearly. When the relevant departments wanted to find the whereabouts of these irresponsible porters nearby, Xue Zheng and others took advantage of this time difference to quickly leave the site and mix with a group of returning empty trucks. The convoy withdrew from the industrial zone.
At the same time in the Wusan Workshop, Li Bo had no idea that a round of secret confrontation had already taken place outside with him as his target. His attention at this time was focused on the big shot who had just arrived - Bai Kesi, executive committee member. One of the senior officials of the Association, the official in charge of the Haihan Industry Department, is also in charge of the research and development and manufacturing of weapons, and is considered by the outside world to be the creator of many advanced weapons in Haihan.
As for North Korea, Bai Kes actually had another experience related to them, that is, he visited Liaodong in 1636 and personally organized and participated in the trilateral talks between Haihan, Ming and North Korea, paving the way for the three parties to establish new diplomatic relations. the way. Haihan later successfully concluded an alliance with North Korea, and Bai Kesi certainly contributed a lot.
Li Ming briefly met this senior official from Haihan on the day he arrived in Sanya, and then Bai Kesi went on a business trip to Danzhou to handle official business. Today I stopped by Changhua on my way back to Sanya from Danzhou to inspect the operation of several new local production units. However, this was an impromptu trip and Qiao Zhiya was not notified beforehand. After he got off the boat, he learned that Qiao Zhiya was accompanying the Prince of Joseon to visit the industrial area, so he came to join in the fun. Half of the cavalry escorting him were from the local establishment, and the other half were Baikes' exclusive guards.
Of course, Bai Kesi had no idea that his impromptu action would inadvertently foil an assassination plan against the Crown Prince of Joseon. His purpose of rushing over to meet the Crown Prince of Joseon was just to use this opportunity to let Li Bo see it from a higher perspective. To understand the long-term significance of cooperation between the two countries on industrial projects. To put it simply, it is to draw a cake for Li Bo so that he can realize the many benefits of long-term industrial cooperation with Haihan.
"Your Majesty, it does take a lot of resources and time to build an industrial zone like Changhua, but please believe me, all this effort is worth it. As long as your country can persist in developing industry, it will take one or two generations to In just one person's time, we can become a regional power. By then, both the Qing Dynasty and Japan, and even the Ming Dynasty, will give your country enough respect! It deserves the word "powerful country"
Bai Kesi's words were quite provocative, which made Li Bo, who was already shocked by Changhua's large-scale metal smelting and processing industry, deepen his yearning for the so-called "Haihan style industrialization". Of course, he now only has a vague concept of the development model advocated by senior officials of Haihan. As for how to achieve national prosperity through industry, he can only think of applications in the military field for the time being, but this does not prevent him from giving birth to The idea of "I can do whatever I want", after all, Haihan Kingdom has set an example and can be followed. Aren't Annan and Fujian, Haihan's die-hard allies, doing the same thing?
As for what Bai Kesi mentioned about using one or two generations to realize North Korea's dream of becoming a powerful nation, Li Bo's understanding of this is more simple and straightforward - his father, King Li Bo, counts as one generation, and after he succeeds to the throne, he counts as one generation. This calculation is very simple. There is hope that this goal can be achieved during his administration.
Of course, Li Bo also knew that his father, Li Bo, was in his prime at this time, in the prime of his life, and would not be able to abdicate anytime soon. It will probably take several years for this succession to be realized. Li Zhuo was relatively conservative in power and may not be determined to invest large amounts of money in industrial projects in the long term, so he probably had to think of a way to persuade his father to change his mind in this regard.
In fact, the attitude expressed by Bai Kesi was very similar to Qiao Zhiya. However, as a senior official of the Executive Committee, Bai Kesi had a higher position and authority than Qiao Zhiya, so what he said would naturally be regarded as representing the attitude of the Executive Committee.
For Li Pu, the main purpose of this visit to Haihan is to broaden his horizons and learn from Haihan’s knowledge in advanced fields; the second is to promote diplomatic relations between the two countries and strive to gain opportunities in other fields besides military affairs. Also fully supported by Haihan. This second purpose naturally includes large-scale projects in industrial fields such as salt farms, shipyards, mineral mining, metal smelting, etc.
Although the two countries had reached an agreement on the cooperative development of these projects before Li Miao set off from North Korea, and even the construction land was circled, and construction would begin after the funds were in place, North Korea certainly wanted to know about Haihan's own operations. The current status and level of the industry, so Li Bo took the initiative to apply for such a field trip after arriving in Sanya. Although Changhua was only the second stop of this inspection, Li Bo could basically confirm based on what he saw and heard that Haihan's operating level in these industrial projects far exceeded expectations. Compared with North Korea's current operating conditions, It's even more different.
So trying to get the technical support provided by Haihan as much as possible, and bringing the country's level of operating these industries closer to Haihan, is what Li Bo is striving for now. As the industrial official of Haihan State, the statement made by Bai Kesi has a different meaning for North Korea.
Li Fu attentively listened to every word and every word said by Bai Kesi and kept it in his heart. Especially the word "powerful country" greatly stimulated him. North Korea has been humiliated by foreign enemies for decades. Generations of rulers have been thinking about making the country strong and defeating the enemies who invaded North Korea. But until now, it seems that they have not really seen the future. The possibility of wishes becoming reality. At this time, the cavalry on duty outside the workshop also noticed that the difficult porters had disappeared at some point, and actually abandoned the car of coke and ran away. However, they were not professional security personnel, and they did not realize the potential crisis at the first time. It was not until the news that two other trucks of unowned coke were found nearby that someone familiar with the inside story of the industrial zone finally realized something was wrong. —The coke must be unloaded in the workshop before it can receive a receipt number plate. Without the receipt number plate, these porters will not get a penny in compensation. There are at least a dozen people delivering these three carts of coke manually. So many people It’s certainly unjustifiable for people to give up their wages.
Where were these dozen porters, and why did they abandon the goods and leave immediately? A reasonable conjecture is that they have more important things to do than wages, but for these low-level porters who have not even applied for Haihan citizenship, what else is more important than the wages of living. Woolen cloth?
Unless... they are not porters who need to sell their labor to make a living.
After figuring out the key point, the officer responsible for commanding peripheral security immediately ordered martial law for the entire Wu-zi area, mobilized reinforcements from the garrison camp, and requested the cooperation of nearby police officers to immediately send people to clean up the surrounding workshops.
In fact, when this series of orders were issued, Xue Zheng and his group had not even left the industrial area, but the officer commanding the security work only thought that these missing porters might be hiding somewhere nearby and plotting evil intentions, so Baimi Yishu did not give the order. Immediately blocking the access to and from the industrial zone still left a way for Xue Zheng and his group to escape.
Soon Zhang Qianzhi and Gai Liangcai, who were in the workshop, also received the news. Gai Liangcai left in a hurry and gathered his men outside to instruct them to set up defenses. Although there is no evidence so far that this is a conspiracy against important people in the workshop, it is always good to be prepared and deploy defensive measures first.
Qiao Zhiya also received the report from his subordinates at the same time. He was obviously more experienced than the officers commanding the defense outside. He immediately ordered the blockade to be expanded and the inspections of several access channels in and out of the industrial zone to be intensified.
"Is something happening outside?" Bai Kesi saw soldiers constantly coming in and out to report and ask for instructions, and he guessed at the moment.
"I'm not sure yet, but it shouldn't be a serious problem. It's probably because there are some smelly fish and rotten shrimps that I can't hold back and want to jump around a few times... My people are already dealing with it." Qiao Zhiya responded calmly, looking very satisfied. Calm.
Li Fu was also smart. He knew that something must be happening outside when he heard it. However, he did not think of it at all. After all, the Haihan people did not publicize his arrival locally with great fanfare, whether he was going to Shilu or currently in Changhua. The industrial area no longer organized the slightly exaggerated welcome ceremony. The only people who knew his whereabouts were probably the Haihan officials accompanying him and the local reception organizers.
Of course, the most important reason is that Li Bo does not think that anyone will target him. North Korea has no hostile countries in the South China Sea. Its real opponents are in the far north, and it is obviously impossible for the Qing Dynasty to send people all the way to Hainan Island to deal with it. Own. As for the purpose of destroying Haihan's diplomatic relations with North Korea by attacking him, he did not consider going in such a biased direction at all.
In fact, not only Li Bo could not think of this direction, but basically none of the people present had thought that this strange phenomenon was directed at the North Koreans. Even Gai Liangcai, who ordered his men to deploy close defenses in the workshop, did not think that the situation outside was related to Li Bo. At this time, there were two senior officials, Bai Kesi and Qiao Zhiya, present in the workshop. Either one of them was more important than the Crown Prince of Joseon. Much more.
About ten minutes later, another infantry platoon garrison arrived outside the Wusan Workshop and set up iron barricades to temporarily block traffic in several nearby streets. The local police have begun to conduct searches in nearby workshops, counting the people in the workshops one by one to confirm whether there are any idlers sneaking in. All cargo haulers in the blocked area were gathered together to check their identities and corresponding freight trucks. Even those without suspicion were temporarily detained pending further identity checks.
The dozen or so people whose whereabouts were suddenly unknown have not been found, and the scope of the search has gradually expanded outwards, centered on Wusan Workshop. At this time, the foreman in charge of shipping at the coke factory had been controlled, and a special person was interrogating him.
The foreman never dreamed that disaster would fall from the sky, but he actually didn't quite understand why a dozen porters were missing, and a group of soldiers suddenly came to arrest him for interrogation.
"Master Jun, there are new faces coming here to do odd jobs every day. How can I remember that there are so many people... There were more than 70 carts of coke shipped out from here this morning. Excluding the carts drawn by mules, at least there are Forty or fifty trucks were pulled by porters, and there were a hundred or two hundred people there!" The foreman cried and tried his best to help himself.
"Do you have a record of the goods sent out here? Look through it quickly and compare it with the body number!" The soldier in charge of the interrogation threw a piece of paper in front of the foreman. It was the body number of the three trucks: "What is your last It’s good to think of something, otherwise you’ll be in trouble later!”
(End of chapter)