Chapter 1952
As an yamen with great authority for action, the Ministry of Security only accepts direct jurisdiction and orders from the Executive Committee, and the scope of affairs under its jurisdiction is wide, including public security, intelligence, internal security, etc., so it is It is a very special existence among Haihan's official institutions. On the one hand, it is administratively independent from other government agencies; on the other hand, when performing certain special tasks, it can require other government agencies to cooperate, and even mobilize the armed forces of the military and police departments.
Of course, if you look at it from another perspective, this is also the result of the serious lack of staffing in the Security Department. Although the Ministry of Security also has its own field operation team, if it is an operation that requires large-scale control or investigation, the manpower is far from enough. For example, in Changhua, although the investigation work was presided over by Zhang Qianzhi, the branch of the Ministry of Security in Changhua only had people No. 78 and could not carry out the investigation work required by Zhang Qianzhi, so the police and police had to be called in. garrison. It seems that manpower has been replenished, but it is difficult to coordinate operations and maintain confidentiality.
The current situation in Danzhou is similar to this. Although the staffing of the security department in Danzhou is several times larger than that in Changhua, and there is also a dedicated field team, but compared to the current size of Danzhou, if you want to It is still very difficult to complete the investigation of the urban area alone. Once the power of the military and police departments is called upon, the composition of the personnel involved in the operation becomes complicated, and it is difficult to completely avoid the leakage of information.
Xue Zheng, who had just found a place to live in Danzhou City, soon received the news sent by Mr. Huo. The garrison and police in Danzhou have recently been looking for a group of people coming from the direction of Changhua. Judging from the information Mr. Huo received, he believed that the target of the official search should be Xue Zheng and his group, so he told Xue Zheng not to travel in groups in recent days. , so as not to attract unnecessary attention.
The person who delivered the letter also specifically stated that because the news had nothing to do with the agreement reached earlier, Mr. Huo would not charge Xue Zheng any additional fees for this, which also made Xue Zheng a little bit dumbfounded. It seems that Mr. Huo is indeed a businessman and has to figure everything out clearly.
After sending the messenger away, Xue Zheng sat down to reflect on the matter and came up with some new ideas. Mr. Huo's local news channels are undoubtedly countless times stronger than his. Even the official investigation of the Changhua incident can inform him in time. It seems that the strength of this local snake is really not to be underestimated. This makes him have a lot of confidence in himself. The transaction with Mr. Huo added a little more confidence.
However, this news also shows that Haihan officials have indeed become wary of what happened in Changhua, and even judged that they may go to Danzhou to continue trying to launch attacks next. This is a signal that must be taken seriously, because this This means that when the Joseon Crown Prince appears in Danzhou, the security measures may be stricter than when he was in Changhua, and there may not be a suitable opportunity to make a move by then.
Of course, before that, Xue Zheng must first ensure that his group cannot be exposed in Danzhou. From the news coming from Mr. Huo, Xue Zheng judged that Haihan officials still regarded Danzhou Port as a key investigation area. This made him feel lucky that he had made the right decision and did not let the ship sail directly into Danzhou Port. He took the time to make a long circuitous route and entered Danzhou by land. While avoiding interrogation, he also changed his identity along the way. If they had gone straight to Danzhou Port, even if they were not caught on the spot, the lucky ship they were on would most likely have exposed their whereabouts.
However, Xue Zheng now no longer has to worry about the Haihan people being able to trace his whereabouts from the clue of the Fu Ship. The ship had already left Hainan Island after dropping them off, and would probably not come back in the short term. Even if Xue Zheng and others want to evacuate Hainan Island in the future, they will have to find other ways. It is impossible to count on the ship to come back to pick them up.
However, Xue Zheng did not dare to expect that the Haihan people would give up the investigation. Now that the other party has realized that the incident in Changhua Industrial Zone was not accidental and has launched a follow-up investigation, it is very likely that they will continue to control Danzhou to It is guaranteed that there will be no more problems in the subsequent itinerary of the Joseon Crown Prince. Fortunately, the new identity used as a cover will not attract attention. At present, as long as the time spent in public is reduced, the risk of exposure can be effectively reduced.
But in this case, there will inevitably be a paradox. The purpose of Xue Zheng and others coming to Danzhou is to get familiar with the local environment, and then choose the opportunity to ambush the target. But if they don't go out and walk around, there is no point in getting familiar with it. environment. There are thousands of houses inside and outside Danzhou City, roads extending in all directions, and large academies and markets everywhere. If you don’t get familiar with the environment first, you will inevitably fall into the same embarrassment as in Changhua when you start to do it. situation.
And when in Changhua, we can be sure that the Joseon Prince will definitely visit the industrial zone, but it is difficult to guess the target's itinerary in Danzhou. The main local industry is academies of all sizes, but there are many such educational institutions and The layout is scattered, and it is not easy for Xue Zheng to bet on it.
Although he had reached a deal with Mr. Huo, a local snake, and spent money to buy the North Korean prince's itinerary, Xue Zheng did not dare to put all his bets here, and still had to try to make his own judgment. The measure he can take now is to collect local information, especially the cultural education that exists as a characteristic industry in Danzhou. Presumably, if the prince of Joseon comes to Danzhou for inspection, he should go to one of the best local academies.
However, Xue Zheng soon discovered that the competition among local cultural and educational institutions was very fierce. As an outsider, it would be difficult to tell which academy was truly the best in Danzhou in a short period of time.
Several of his subordinates who pretended to be traveling scholars were sent out by Xue Zheng to learn about the situation of local academies. When they came back, everyone collected a lot of promotional materials from various academies. .
All of these academies boast of their own excellence. This one boasts that it has a strong teaching staff. How many teachers have received advanced training in Sanya, and it ranks first in the number of students enrolled every year. That school said that this college has the largest financial resources in Danzhou. Not only is the tuition fee extremely low, but you can also apply for scholarships and earn money to support yourself while studying. The other one very openly boasts that it has a strong background and official background. After completing the course, it can be recommended by the academy to take the yamen recruitment examination, and it will have a good chance of getting a golden job in the future. In short, every academy has a gimmick to brag about itself. Just looking at the admissions promotional materials, it is impossible to tell the true strength of each academy.
But Xue Zheng and others did not come to Danzhou to study. If they had to visit each house to fully understand the conditions of these academies, it would probably take another ten days and a half. But they obviously do not have that much money. Use the time to slowly investigate the local cultural and educational industry.
"There are always a few very famous academies, right?" Xue Zheng also felt a headache about this. He originally thought that he would get the answer after just asking about this kind of thing, but he did not expect that it would be like this. He does not come from a scholarly family, so he does not know how to distinguish the true strength of an academy. At present, he can only start from the simplest angle. Whoever is famous will be included in the investigation first.
Unexpectedly, this judgment may still not be accurate. The subordinate who went to inquire about the information told him that he did not believe the words of the people in charge of admissions. Later, he randomly found a few literati-looking people to inquire, but there was no unified conclusion. Opinion. To put it simply, many academies in Danzhou have their own areas of specialization. If you come here to study in different directions, you may consider the top academies to be different. "They are not all places where you can learn to write eight-part essays. How can there be such a difference!" Xue Zheng suddenly felt a little headache. He had wanted to enter Danzhou disguised as a traveling scholar, but luckily he didn't try this way, otherwise it would have taken him half a day. If you don't do it, your secret will be exposed in front of outsiders.
One of the subordinates responded: "Boss, the matter is not that simple. The scope of education taught by the academies in Danzhou is very complicated, and the imperial examination in Haihan places more emphasis on practical ability, and does not test the writing of eight-part essays, so the academic subjects taught by the academies here are At most, the relevant courses are literary research, official document writing, etc., but if you want a good career, it is said that these optical skills are not enough. You also need to know astronomy and geography, smelting, navigation, arithmetic, civil engineering, agriculture, and many more. You have to learn a skill or two.”
Another person also presented a promotional material and said: "Boss, look at this Qiongxi Academy. There are more than 20 teaching majors listed above, and there are countless course categories. I listened to the other party there. It took almost half an hour and I only heard about four or five majors from him.”
The cultural and educational industry in Danzhou is completely different from what it was during the Ming Dynasty ten years ago. The Classics and History Collection and related Confucian works are no longer the main content of teaching and learning, and the teaching direction is not the imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty. Based on its own development needs, Haihan vigorously advocates vocational education in the field of culture and education, allowing private educational institutions to focus on training industrial workers as their main development direction.
This transformation has given birth to a large number of vocational education institutions such as Qiongxi Academy in Danzhou, but outsiders often do not know much about such new business formats. Xue Zheng previously only knew that Danzhou was famous for its prosperous cultural and educational industry, but he never imagined that the way of this prosperity was very different from his own knowledge. At the moment, they are not even sure what kind of academy is the best local educational institution.
It seems that it is no longer enough to rely on reputation to judge the strength of academies. Based on the way these academies promote their recruitment of students, Xue Zheng really wants to give them a ranking list of "the most bragging academy in Danzhou".
So maybe the school scale can be a more reliable reference standard? But Xue Zheng was shocked again by his subordinate's answer.
Among the various majors offered by local colleges, those with low thresholds and low tuition fees are naturally the easiest to recruit. Students can be recommended for employment after passing short-term training. However, such majors are often not very technical, such as navigation majors, which can be employed as soon as possible. After graduating in sixty days, you will be assigned to serve as a trainee helmsman or navigator on a seagoing ship. The rapid development of Haihan's navigation industry has put the demand for such skilled sailors with a certain theoretical knowledge base in short supply, so most academies with navigation majors have a large number of students.
Those colleges that offer advanced majors have certain requirements for the basic and personal conditions of the applicants, so the number of students will be smaller, but their employment situation after graduation is much better. For example, students majoring in finance and trade-related majors often go to state-owned commercial institutions under the Ministry of Commerce, Haihan Bank, and foreign affairs offices after graduation. Even if you can't get into these yamen, there are still a lot of private business firms waiting for you. However, to study these majors, students often need to have a certain professional foundation, and the training period is long and the tuition fees are high. It is often difficult for ordinary people to have sufficient conditions.
Although the number of students in this type of academies is small, the quality is outstanding, and the finished products of training often have one foot in the social elite. In terms of school scale, this type of academy may not even rank among the top ten in the local area, but its true strength is hard to ignore.
Xue Zheng felt dizzy after hearing this, and it was even more difficult to make a decision at the moment. The reality was far more complicated than he had imagined beforehand. He seemed to understand a little bit why Mr. Huo quoted such a high price for the information he was selling. It would take a lot of trouble for him to identify an academy that the prince of Joseon must go to.
After further exploration and reporting, Xue Zheng could only give this instruction now. He must have clearer information before he can make a judgment, and the dazzling pile of academy promotional materials in front of him can only serve to interfere and mislead. Xue Zheng decided to try to check local chronicles, or try to visit the local government office in charge of cultural and educational industries to see if he could find some useful information through another way.
Zhang Qianzhi never expected that his opponent would be in a dilemma because there were too many academies in Danzhou. After he and Wang Baisuo determined the policy, they went to the local administrator Zhang Xin and reported to him. own plans.
Zhang Qianzhi made great contributions in the Danzhou assassination case, and Zhang Xin also admired his performance very much. Since the two of them had the same surname, he always regarded Zhang Qianzhi as his nephew. This time Zhang Qianzhi went to Danzhou to handle a case again. Zhang Xin also greeted various departments early and tried his best to cooperate with Zhang Qianzhi. However, despite this, Zhang Xin did not dare to express his support immediately after hearing Zhang Qianzhi's plan.
"That is to say, we have no idea whether our opponent is in Danzhou now, but we still have to put on a big show. The purpose is to lure the snake out of the hole and let these people expose themselves. Is my understanding correct?" Zhang Xin confirmed to Zhang Qianzhi after listening. Is your interpretation of this plan accurate?
Zhang Qianzhi bowed and responded: "This is exactly the plan of humble post. If we can induce them to show up and take action, we can eliminate the hidden danger before the Koreans arrive in Danzhou."
(End of chapter)