Chapter 1987
At the same moment when the Marine Corps was hiding in the mountains and forests to monitor the Qing army camp, an inconspicuous sailing ship sailed into Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. It is nearing the end of the year, and there are many merchants coming here to purchase or sell the last batch of goods of the year. At least hundreds of small and medium-sized sailing ships like this are entering and leaving Zhoushan Port every day, and no one will notice their existence.
However, when the ship quietly sailed into the dock dedicated to official ships, it inevitably attracted the attention of neighboring ships. This dedicated wharf covers a large area, with six trestles used for parking ships. However, only government ships are allowed to dock here, and on weekdays, more than half of the seats are empty. Several official boats in Zhoushan are all expedition-grade civilian versions. Their huge hulls and unique mast shapes are quite eye-catching. The red and blue Haihan flags are also hung on the masts. This boat sailed into the special pier. The ship is obviously not included in this list.
Some ships that came to Zhoushan Port for the first time, because they were unfamiliar with the environment, did not pay attention to the notice boards erected on the dedicated pier and entered here by mistake. They were soon chased away by the officials on the pier. But the sailboat did not receive such treatment and entered the berth smoothly. Several carriages quickly came to the dock and picked up all the people who got off the boat. The sailors and crew members on the dock next to them who were about to watch the excitement shouted and looked away.
In fact, this is not because the onlookers are not discerning enough, but because the people on this boat do not intend to travel in a high-profile manner. It is just that ordinary civilian ships need to be boarded and inspected by staff after docking at Dinghai Port. If they encounter a large incoming ship, Most of the time, this process is quite time-consuming, and it takes a while to hire a carriage and horse to get to the destination after disembarking. The people on the boat wanted to avoid these troubles, so they chose to enter the official dedicated dock and directly call the official carriage to the destination.
These carriages later appeared in a compound at the foot of Xiaozhushan Mountain. A man in black got out of the first carriage. He had a strong build and sharp eyes. He was the security department who had just arrived in Zhoushan from Shandong. Senior official Gong Shiqi.
"Brother Gong, I haven't seen you for a long time. You look even better than before! It's been a long and hard journey. Please come and talk to me." Waiting to greet Gong Shiqi was Wan Fa, the head of the local branch of the Security Department. He and Gong Shiqi were old acquaintances. They had worked together during the beheading operation in Hangzhou in 1634. But after that, they went south and north, and the two never met again after that. Today, Wan Fa was quite emotional when he reunited with his old friend on Zhoushan Island.
"Congratulations to Brother Wan on your promotion!" Gong Shiqi was still straightforward and congratulated Wan Fa first.
In fact, after the action in Hangzhou City, Wanfa's promotion was basically a certainty. However, to truly get a position of real power, he would have to be sent back to Zhejiang in the near future to take charge of the command of the Ministry of Security in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. There are only about ten people in the Security Department with such a unique position in the overseas ruling area. It is no exaggeration to say that Wan Fa is now one of the top figures in the Haihan Security Department.
After the two greeted each other, Wan Fa introduced Gong Qi Qi into the house, while Wan Fa's subordinates were responsible for arranging rest for Gong Qi Qi's entourage. This time Gong Shiqi went south because he was dispatched by the headquarters and had an urgent mission. Both of them knew this very well, so they didn't waste time on red tape and took the time to start discussing business matters.
Regarding what happened in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, Gong Shiqi had a general understanding of what was happening in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas when he received the transfer telegram, but he did not know the details and needed Wan Fa to explain it to him.
"The situation is serious and time is urgent."
After sitting down, Wanfa first used two opening sentences to define the current situation. When reporting the situation to Sanya before, Wanfa did not expect that this matter would attract the focus of the Executive Committee, and asked the Zhoushan authorities to organize the two major intelligence agencies, the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security, to identify the shootings related to the salt industry as soon as possible The origins of the personnel and firearms involved in the incident. For this reason, the superiors even specially transferred Gong Qiqi back from Shandong to be responsible for the following field tasks.
Wan Fa, who had worked with Gong Shiqi in the security department, knew very well what status he had. This person who worked beside the big boss He Xi in his early years was only released to work three years ago. But this does not mean that Gong Shiqi has fallen out of favor in front of He Xi. On the contrary, this is a sign that the big boss intends to cultivate him. The beheading operation in Hangzhou that year was jointly carried out by the military and the Ministry of Security. The military was led by Gao Qiaonan, and the Ministry of Security was commanded by Gong Shiqi, which shows He Xi's trust in him. .
In the past two years, Gong Shiqi seemed to be silent in Shandong and had no notable achievements. However, Wanfa heard that Gong Shiqi was responsible for establishing an intelligence network in the northern inland area of the Ming Dynasty. This project is huge, and achieving results will definitely not happen overnight, but as long as Gong Shiqi can make a good start, he will definitely be the first to be rewarded based on his merits in the future.
Gong Shiqi's work at hand was so urgent, and his superiors still ordered him to be transferred to Zhoushan. This shows how seriously the superiors paid attention to the shooting case in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. When Wan Fa realized this, he naturally became more energetic and could not let Gong Qi Qi underestimate him.
Next, Wan Fa told Gong Shiqi one by one the relevant information he currently had. There were some confidential details, so the conversation was only between the two of them, and no subordinates of the two were present.
"Based on the information we currently have, Jianghuai salt merchants are undoubtedly the most suspected. Before the Korean War ended, we received news that salt merchants in the Jianghuai area organized militia groups in the name of protecting salt. However, there was no update at that time. The exact news did not attract enough attention, and the people in Ningbo Prefecture who obtained the qualifications to be agents of Xiangshan and Shipu Saltworks were almost all official figures. We did not expect that anyone would dare to attack them. ”
The Haihan Security Department and the Military Intelligence Bureau are not yamen that only eat dry food. In fact, these two yamen have always been paying attention to the attitude of Jianghuai salt merchants towards Haihan salt produced in Ningbo, and they have long expected Jianghuai Salt. Businessmen may take some confrontational measures to protect their own interests, but they didn't expect that they would go to such extreme lengths.
The standard muskets of unknown origin are far more important to Haihan than the confrontational attitude of the Jianghuai salt merchants. Even though the number of guns that have appeared in several shooting cases so far does not seem to be too many, the Ministry of Security and Military Intelligence The bureau did not dare to be careless at all. On the one hand, it collected the warheads and sent them to Sanya for inspection. On the other hand, it also consciously strengthened its monitoring of the movements of Jianghuai salt merchants.
Of course, the biggest reaction to this was not the Zhoushan authorities, but the Ningbo salt merchants who suffered heavy losses in the shooting. To be precise, it was the real bosses behind these new salt merchants, the civil and military officials of Ningbo Prefecture, large and small. .
When the two salt farms in Shipu and Xiangshan were being built, local officials secretly cooperated with Haihan and took shares or obtained distribution rights. In the early days, it was mainly the military leaders of the Weisuo Army. Later, some civil servants also boldly joined in. Now, more than 30 civil and military officials from Qu Yutong, the prefect, are involved. It can be said that Ningbo Prefecture Stakeholders in the officialdom already account for the majority. On the one hand, these officials wanted to profit from this business, but on the other hand, they had to hide their identity and not participate in the business in person. Therefore, a group of new-faced salt merchants appeared in Ningbo Prefecture to participate in the business activities on their behalf. The sea salt produced in Ningbo is transported to other state capitals for sale, and it is also operated by these puppet merchants.
Since these salts have already obtained legal production licenses in Ningbo Prefecture and are sold as official salt, the fleets and fleets transporting salt also travel openly. But precisely because of this, the itinerary of the salt transport team can easily be controlled by the outside world, and there are many opportunities for interested parties to attack them.
In several attacks that occurred not long ago, more than a dozen people were killed or injured in various salt transport teams. In addition, the salt being transported was also set on fire. According to the person who brought the message back, the attackers warned them that they would continue to carry out operations against the salt transport team from Ningbo. If they did not want to cause trouble again, they would not be allowed to transport salt out of Ningbo for sale.
This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the bosses behind the scenes who hope to make a fortune from the salt business. However, due to their status, they cannot directly come forward to investigate the matter. If their troops are sent to pretend to be civilians to serve as escorts, the cost will be high. It’s too high, and they don’t have enough wealth to slowly grind it out with the Jianghuai salt merchants.
But it's impossible to just swallow their anger after suffering a loss. If they can't come forward themselves, aren't there still the Haihan people on Zhoushan Island who are in charge? These local officials came to Shi Diwen one after another and asked Haihan to take measures to deal with the current situation as soon as possible to change this passive situation. Of course, they don't intend to sit back and watch the fight between tigers and tigers. As long as Haihan is willing to come forward to solve the trouble, they can also provide money and efforts.
The main reason why these local officials pin their hopes on Haihan is the level of force that Haihan has displayed along the coast of Zhejiang over the years, which makes them feel that as long as the Haihan people are willing to use force, they can quickly solve the problem. . After all, just half a year ago, the Haihan Army held a large-scale military exercise in Hangzhou Bay to show off its muscles. This made Ningbo officials who had attended the scene generally have a blind trust in the power of Haihan.
In the end, even Qu Yutong came forward in person, hoping that Shi Diwen could use the strength of the Zhoushan garrison to resolve the matter, but Shi Diwen did not agree to the other party's request.
Haihan and Ming Dynasty have officially established diplomatic relations. No matter what the name is, if they openly use force against targets in Ming Dynasty, it is actually tantamount to invasion. Although the local government is likely to be unable to resist Haihan's military measures, such an incident will not only undermine the normalizing diplomatic relations between the two countries, but will also have an impact on Haihan's international reputation. After all, there are a lot of merchants from various countries who trade with Zhoushan Island. If the Zhoushan garrison is dispatched, it will be difficult to hide it from the public's sight.
In addition, at this time, the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security have noticed something fishy in the shooting case and are trying to investigate it. Naturally, they cannot send out large-scale troops at this time, otherwise the clues will most likely be interrupted.
Shi Diwen could only comfort the local officials, saying that they needed to exercise restraint and help Haihan collect more relevant intelligence, so that Haihan could have a clearer judgment on the current situation, and then consider what measures to take. means to solve the problem.
Of course, considering that most of these officials' influence is limited to Ningbo, Shi Diwen does not have high expectations for the assistance they can provide. The final work is estimated to have to be completed by his own strength. The Ministry of Security had the same intention in transferring Gong Qiqi back from Shandong. After all, Gong Qiqi had rich experience in commanding special operations. When necessary, he could lead a team into the Jianghuai area and carry out targeted elimination of certain key targets without the need for a major war. The troops were dispatched.
After Gong Shiqi listened to Wan Fa's introduction, he was not very interested in the reactions of local officials, but the details of several shooting cases made him interested in studying them. Wan Fa immediately ordered someone to fetch the case files and give them to Gong Qiqi for review.
Most of these files come from the parties' statements about the incident. Although they are somewhat subjective, they can basically restore the general situation at the time of the incident. There is also a small part of the Ministry of Security's early collection of relevant information on Jianghuai salt merchants, as well as some shared information reported by the Military Intelligence Bureau.
"It's getting late, why don't we have dinner first and then continue studying the case?" Wan Fa saw that it was already dinner time, so he took the initiative to seek Gong Shiqi's opinion. Although there is no need to arrange a grand reception banquet, with Gong Shiqi's rank here, the dinner that should be entertained will definitely not be ambiguous.
But Gong Shiqi really didn't care much about these eating and drinking matters. He just hummed when he heard this and continued to stare at the file in front of him. After another long while, he raised his head and said: "I think we can solve it here. It's a lot of trouble." Brother asked the kitchen to cook a bowl of noodles, and I ate it in a few seconds without delaying business.”
Wan Fa couldn't laugh or cry and said: "Brother Gong, there is no rush to handle the case at this moment. Otherwise, Master Shi will know that you came all the way and were treated like this, and he will have to call me to teach you a lesson. Otherwise, I'd better let the kitchen prepare a few It’s a side dish and it won’t take too long to have a meal.”
"Okay, just follow Brother Wan's wishes." Gong Shiqi didn't even raise his head this time, obviously not wanting to spend too much time on this kind of thing.
Although Wan Fa said it politely, when the meal started later, there was still a large table full of chicken, duck and fish. When Gong Shiqi saw this, he didn't refuse anymore. He sat down to eat peacefully and even took the initiative to have two drinks with Wan Fa. However, the topics discussed during the meeting were still dominated by the recent shooting cases.
(End of chapter)