Chapter 1979
Zhang Qianzhi, who is in Danzhou, has no idea how important the musket found in Yangyue Village will be in investigating a series of strange situations that have recently occurred in various places. He could vaguely guess that the projectiles previously sent back to Sanya for inspection had led to the headquarters discovering some new clues, but he still focused on Xue Zheng and others as the breakthrough point in the case investigation.
As the investigation continued, in addition to realizing that this group of people had received special training and had certain anti-reconnaissance and anti-interrogation capabilities, Zhang Qianzhi also gradually confirmed some other information. For example, this group of people is very likely to belong to different forces, and they are unprepared to carry out this attack mission. There are many signs of hasty actions, etc. However, the interrogation of this group of people did not go smoothly. Even if Zhang Qianzhi tried his best, it was still difficult to obtain real and effective information from Xue Zheng and others.
After spending another half day in the interrogation room, Zhang Qianzhi finally ran out of patience. He decided to end the interrogation work in Danzhou as soon as possible and escort the captured prisoners back to Sanya. Zhang Qianzhi knows that his abilities are limited and he can no longer extract any more information from these people, but he has basically ruled out the possibility of another attack on the crown prince of Joseon in the near future, which can bring the relevant arrests to an end. .
Before leaving Danzhou, Zhang Qianzhi paid a special visit to the North Korean Crown Prince Li Bo and explained to him that he had other work commitments and was about to return to Sanya and could not accompany him to complete his subsequent itinerary. Li Ming felt a little regretful about this. He was not very clear about Zhang Qianzhi's real position. He just regarded him as a Haihan official who was similar in age to him and could get along well with him. However, after leaving Changhua, Mr. Zhang became a He was busy with other things and did not follow him to Annan. Li Bo probably thought that he would not accompany him anymore.
However, Li Pu knew that he would return to Sanya after completing this trip, so he took the initiative to make an appointment with Zhang Qianzhi. The North Korean Embassy would come forward in a while to invite the Haihan officials accompanying this trip to a gathering. Thanks for taking care of me all the way, Zhang Qianzhi must also attend.
And this was not the only invitation Zhang Qianzhi received before leaving Danzhou. When he later went to bid farewell to Gai Liangcai, Tian Zheng, Hong Jingwen and others, these people also took the initiative to make similar invitations. Of course, these people all know his true identity, and most people are rarely willing to take the initiative to deal with people in the yamen of the Security Department. This also makes Zhang Qianzhi feel a little emotional. It seems that he has made some official friends during this trip. The connections were an unexpected gain that I never thought of before setting off.
The last person Zhang Qianzhi visited before leaving Danzhou was Zhang Xin. This time he was able to set up a trap in Danzhou to capture Xue Zheng's group. Zhang Qianzhi's plan was important, but more important was Zhang Xin's support and trust in him. , and mobilized almost the entire Danzhou resources to cooperate with his plan. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to catch all the gangsters lurking in the dark so cleanly. Out of Zhang Xin's respect and gratitude, he must have met with Zhang Xin before leaving Danzhou.
Zhang Xin was not surprised by his arrival. He served hot tea and snacks, asked a few questions about the progress of the investigation, and then took the initiative to mention Zhang Qianzhi's next itinerary: "You want to escort the prisoner back to Sanya, call a civilian ship?" It’s so convenient, I’ve ordered someone to prepare a speedboat for you, and you can set off tomorrow.”
Zhang Qianzhi was flattered and quickly stood up to thank Zhang Xin. Although there are sea-going ships under the Ministry of Security's name, the number is very small, and almost all of them are concentrated in Sanya, and there are none in Danzhou. Zhang Qianzhi originally planned to ask Wang Baisuo to rent a civilian ship or temporarily recruit a troop transport ship from the navy stationed in Danzhou, but he did not expect that Zhang Xin had already arranged all these things quietly.
Zhang Xin continued: "The Crown Prince of Joseon will probably go to Haikou next, and then return to Sanya to study. If possible, you can also have more contact with him in the future. Victory Fort values this person very much, so maintain it well." Personal relationships will also be beneficial in your future work.”
Zhang Xin's remarks were consistent with He Xi's earlier views, and Zhang Qianzhi quickly agreed. He roughly knew that Fort Victory intended to support the heir to the throne of Korea, and Zhang Xinyuan also noticed this momentum in Danzhou, purely due to his vision and smell. As for taking the initiative to mention Zhang Qianzhi, it was purely out of personal friendship, and not just anyone could receive such treatment.
Zhang Qianzhi had nothing to repay for such care, so he could only secretly remember this favor, and try to do what he could for Zhang Xin the next time he returned to Sanya.
Early the next morning, Zhang Qianzhi and Wang Baisuo personally led a team to escort Xue Zheng and his group to Baimajing Pier in Danzhou Bay, where the clipper Zhang Xin had prepared for him in advance was parked here. After putting all the prisoners on board, Zhang Qianzhi said goodbye to Wang Baisuo and asked him not to relax just because the investigation work came to an end. He must still pay more attention to Li Bo's security work.
The ship arranged by Zhang Xin was indeed very fast, and Zhang Qianzhi was eager to return home. He did not stop at the shore to rest during the trip, and arrived at Victory Port the next morning. The Security Department, which had been notified by telegram in advance, had arranged for several carriages to wait at the dock and picked up all the prisoners who had been escorted back as soon as possible.
Zhang Qianzhi returned to the small gray building of the Security Department, and first went to He Xi to report on the investigation. In fact, his main mission during this trip was to accompany Li Bo to complete the tour. However, because of the attack, his mission was adjusted to detection and investigation. After capturing Xue Zheng and his gang, considering the need to find out the truth as soon as possible, after asking He Xi for instructions, he terminated his original security mission and escorted these prisoners back to Sanya to complete the subsequent interrogation work.
"The reason why I asked you to come back first is because I feel it is necessary to let you know some of the recent situations..."
While He Xi carefully examined the handgun brought back from Danzhou with a magnifying glass, he said to Zhang Qianzhi who was standing in front of him: "We will know soon whether the projectiles you sent back before came from this gun. .”
At this time, someone was already using the found bullet-making pliers to make lead bullets. The answer will be known later when compared with the bullets sent back by Zhang Qianzhi earlier. Zhang Qianzhi estimated that the gangsters should have brought more projectiles with them, but they should have scattered them into the pond when disposing of the weapons. It was not so easy to find those little things in the mud, so they could only start again at the moment. Create bullets to test their speculations.
However, He Xi immediately added: "Actually, with this gun, it is no longer important whether the bullet can hit the mark. When the knowledgeable big shots on the executive committee see this gun later, they will definitely feel sorry for it." Excited about this.”
Zhang Qianzhi didn't quite understand what He Xi meant, but he didn't rush to ask questions and waited quietly for He Xi to explain the situation.
Not long after, the bullet comparison report was sent. This gun was completely consistent with the fatal bullet sent back before. Although there was no confession from the suspect, it was determined that someone used the gun to shoot an accomplice during an internal dispute that occurred on the night of the arrest. "The projectile you sent back before was immediately taken to Tiandu Industrial Zone. Several experts from Haihan Ordnance Industry conducted a detailed inspection on it and confirmed its composition." He Xina Picking up the projectile, he said: "Before this, a batch of projectile samples were sent back from Zhejiang. The composition ratio is exactly the same as this projectile. Do you think this is a coincidence? However, no weapons were found there, so there is no news for the time being. There is no way to confirm its origin, but now it is only confirmed that it is not a military standard weapon produced by our country or the Ming Dynasty.”
Zhang Qianzhi immediately understood why Sanya was so anxious to find weapons that matched the projectiles, because this not only involved the group captured in Danzhou, but also was more likely to be involved in another incident in Zhejiang. Although He Xi has not explained what the case in Zhejiang is, but considering that the projectiles were sent all the way back to Sanya for inspection, it should be no small matter.
"The things in Zhejiang are also related to the Koreans?" Zhang Qianzhi asked tentatively. His first reaction was that the events in the two places were related. There might be other factors besides weapons.
But He Xi shook his head and said: "Judging from the current situation, what happened in Zhejiang has nothing to do with the Koreans."
He Xi then briefly explained the conflict of interest in Zhejiang caused by the sea salt produced in Ningbo Prefecture, as well as several subsequent attacks on salt caravans. After hearing this, Zhang Qianzhi understood that what attracted Sanya's attention was not the conflict between the old and new salt merchants, but that the weapons and equipment used by one of the parties in the conflict were beyond Haihan's control. The real focus of the investigation is not who attacked the salt caravan in Ningbo Prefecture, but who provided so many muskets of unknown origin to the Jianghuai salt merchants.
But the Zhejiang side was a private fight between local salt merchants, and the Hainan Island side was an unknown organization’s attack on the crown prince of Joseon. The two incidents did not seem to be necessarily connected—if it hadn’t happened to find common ground in the testing process of bullets, Probably no one would associate these two completely unrelated things together.
"What do you think?" He Xi also wanted to hear his beloved disciple's opinion. Many times Zhang Qianzhi's ideas may not be so comprehensive, but he will also provide some ideas with more reference value.
Zhang Qianzhi thought for a while before responding: "I think there are two possibilities. One is that the group captured in Danzhou is related to the Jianghuai salt merchants, and may even be driven by them. However, there is currently no evidence to support this speculation. . Another possibility is that the same customer supplies weapons and ammunition to these two places, so the projectiles they use are exactly the same.”
He Xi nodded and said: "Now the people in the executive committee who know the news probably hold this view, and more people are leaning towards the latter possibility."
Seeing that his idea was recognized, Zhang Qianzhi continued: "But training a group of musketeers who can act together does not happen overnight. For example, among the gangsters captured in Danzhou, it is likely that only one can use People with muskets, so this musket was also found in their equipment, and the other weapons were all ordinary weapons. The people in Zhejiang must have obtained the weapons much earlier than the people in Hainan Island, at least a few months ago. Trained.”
He Xi said: "If we count from the time when our salt farm in Ningbo started production, it has been more than half a year from now. The real impact on the Jianghuai Salt Merchant's business is estimated to be less than half a year. So if we start secretly organizing manpower from that time on, After three months of training, we will almost be able to form effective combat effectiveness, which is consistent with your speculation.”
Zhang Qianzhi said: "But I still have one thing that I don't understand. If attacking the Joseon Crown Prince can damage our country's diplomacy and make North Korea lose its trust in our country, then the salt merchants' fight in Zhejiang will have a very limited impact on our country. Is that possible? Those who provide weapons to salt merchants have no intention of targeting our country.”
He Xi said: "Before I saw the gun you brought back, I actually had similar thoughts. Could it be that there are transnational arms dealers, selling weapons to various camps indiscriminately, just to make money and not to fight against my country? But now I don’t think so. The events in these two places are probably not just coincidence. There will probably be similar situations in the third and fourth places.”
Zhang Qianzhi said: "Is there any explanation for this gun?"
He Xi pointed to the decorative patterns on the gun handle and said: "Although I am not a weapons expert, I can still identify that this is a musket from a Western country. We can ask experts to identify the patterns on this later."
The appearance of this kind of handgun is not completely unfamiliar to He Xi. He has seen similar weapons a few years ago - Thomas, the Portuguese Ambassador to Sanya, often hangs one on his waist. A flintlock handgun that looks somewhat similar to this. However, his sidearm actually only functions as an accessory. It is not usually loaded with ammunition, and the workmanship is much more gorgeous than this gun. He Xi can see the flash on the handle of the gun every time from a distance. Reflective gems.
Will the Portuguese sell weapons to the Ming Dynasty? The answer is of course yes. Long before the Haihan people came to this time and space, the Portuguese were already selling weapons to the Ming Dynasty officials and assisting them in training musketeers and artillery. There were actually a lot of guns and artillery that flowed into the Ming Dynasty through the Portuguese. Even the Han flags of the Qing army were equipped with Portuguese-made guns and artillery that were brought to Liaodong by the rebels from Dengzhou City during the Denglai Rebellion.
But that was a long time ago. The Portuguese had already chosen to side with Haihan and purchased weapons from Haihan almost every year. Some of them were used to arm themselves, and some were sold to distant places. The Middle East, and even transported thousands of miles back to Europe where the fierce war was raging, and sold them to all parties involved in the war at high prices. As for the Ming Dynasty, Portugal has basically given up the arms trade in this region due to the need to directly compete with Haihan.
(End of chapter)