Chapter 2012
When it comes to interrogation, this is Gong Shiqi's area of expertise. He has been engaged in intelligence work for nearly ten years. The number of subjects he has personally interrogated has reached three figures. Whether it is verbal intimidation or torture to extract confessions, he has rich practical experience. As for the fact that the interrogation subjects are a group of injured people, this is even more common for him, because even healthy people will often turn them into injured people during the interrogation process, which saves a lot of money. time.
But today Gong Shiqi obviously couldn't do anything to the interrogation subject himself. The injuries on his body forced him to sit on the chair and give orders. But this does not prevent him from using words to intimidate his interrogators and extract the information he needs from them.
For these prisoners, they are actually in a desperate situation at this time. If they do not receive timely and effective treatment, they will die in pain from the complications caused by the gunshot wounds within three to five days at most. Die. At this time, the desire to survive often overrides loyalty to their employer, and it is also the time when they are most likely to reveal the secrets in their minds. Gong Shiqi didn't waste much effort and extracted some valuable information from several interrogation subjects one after another.
These people admitted that the employer they worked for was Yangzhou salt merchant Lu Kangtai. Before joining the Musketeers, most of them worked under Lu Kangtai, and some were even originally from the Lu clan. The earliest training time for them was about half a year ago, and there were also newcomers who were selected into this team just two months ago.
As for the source of weapons and the collaborators who provide military training to salt merchants, which the Haihan Intelligence Department is most concerned about, we finally have some news.
According to the accounts of these prisoners, there were two commanders of this musketeer team. One was Lu Kangtai's cousin, and the other was a Franji man. But unfortunately, both of them died in the battle last night. The Franji man among them was the Western-looking corpse that Ji Yuanqing had noticed before. However, the prisoners could not tell how these weapons flowed into the hands of the Yangzhou salt merchants. After all, given their status, it was reasonable for them not to have access to these secrets.
The gun is a musket made in Spain, and one of the commanders is also a Spaniard. There is no doubt that this matter has something to do with the Spaniards. But there are still many things that cannot be explained for the time being. For example, how did the Spaniards bypass Haihan's blockade on the southeast coast and quietly enter the Yangzhou area? The two parties in this collaboration had no contact in the past. What brought them together? If there is someone in the middle who helps them connect, who is this middleman?
In addition, whether the clues from the Yangzhou salt merchants are related to the gun cases that occurred in Hainan Island and Liaodong are also key points that need to be paid attention to in the investigation. The Ministry of Security had previously suspected that the Spaniards had found helpers to be able to extend their tentacles from the South China Sea to the vicinity of the Ming Dynasty again. However, this is just an unconfirmed guess so far, and more evidence is still needed to confirm that this happened. possibility of this situation.
Gong Shiqi did not get any relevant clues from the prisoners who were temporarily interrogated. Although these people who work for the Yangzhou salt merchants can be regarded as reliable internal personnel, the information they have is still very limited. They have no knowledge of things outside Yangzhou and have never heard of Liaodong and Hainan Island. matter.
"We probably have to capture that Lu Kangtai!" Gong Shiqi came out of the cabin to get some air and smoke a cigarette, and exchanged the results of the interrogation with Ji Yuanqing: "In addition to being used as gunmen, these gangsters have done everything. I don’t know, it seems like I can’t expect them to give any key information.”
"Catch him back... I'm afraid he won't be able to leave if he is really caught!" Ji Yuanqing bowed and took the cigarette handed over by Gong Qiqi with his mouth, and responded vaguely: "It is said that Lu Kangtai is a salt merchant in Yangzhou. He is a famous person who has considerable influence in the local area. If you think about it, after his musketeers were defeated, he quickly organized hundreds of people and dozens of boats to chase him to the canal. If he were to catch him, that would be a big deal. Stirring a hornet's nest? ”
Gong Shiqi shook his head and said: "That's not necessarily the case. Think about it, the lives of these minions are definitely not as valuable as his. If you catch him, you will be a hostage who can really coerce the other party into submission. Whoever dares to catch up, I will hang him to the mast. , live and die with the ship! ”
If Gong Shiqi knew that the Lu Kangtai he was talking about was commanding the ship that was chasing them last night and fought with them all night, then his mind would probably change. Although that man was a bit obese, his behavior was very ruthless. Even if he could really catch the other person, he would probably still have to fight to the death, and he would not be able to get away as easily as Gong Shiqi thought.
Of course, it is definitely unrealistic to turn around and go back to Yangzhou to arrest people now, and there is no need for them to brave the wind and carry out another arrest mission at this time. Compared to taking a risk with a very low probability of success, it is more important to send the personal and material evidence obtained in Yangzhou back to Zhoushan as soon as possible. Moreover, there were a lot of casualties among our own personnel in this operation, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly reduced. It would be unwise to carry out high-risk operations with an exhausted body.
Although the two were extremely tired, after taking a short break and eating some hot food, they returned to the cabin to continue interrogating the prisoners. They hope to get as much information as possible from some of the dying prisoners before arriving in Zhoushan, otherwise these wounded prisoners may have long since arrived in Zhoushan.
One day later, they met up with the two Haihan warships who came to meet them at the predetermined location at the mouth of the Yangtze River. This finally reassured the group who had been worried along the way. As long as there are navy warships to escort them, the safety of these two ships is basically guaranteed. If there is another scene like being chased by a bunch of ships on the canal, having warships come forward can compare. Handled with ease.
The military doctors on board the two ships were also temporarily transferred to the two cargo ships to assist in treating the many injured on the ships. The casualties of the personnel participating in the Haihan operation were mainly concentrated on the ship that stayed behind. In order to ensure combat effectiveness, the personnel who stayed on the ship were mainly military personnel, and the field team of the Ministry of Security was not good at this kind of operations. So most of the people were transferred to another ship. This resulted in the majority of casualties being soldiers.
But compared to the results achieved by this operation, this seems to be an acceptable price. After all, the military had many inconveniences and it was difficult to send a special force to Yangzhou to exterminate the musketry team. This time, with the help of the cover provided by the Ministry of Security, it sneaked into Yangzhou and completed the task with relatively small casualties, and avoided confrontation with the Ming Dynasty. Diplomatic disputes arise. As one of the commanders in this operation, Ji Yuanqing will definitely receive commendations from high-level officials afterwards.
As for Gong Shiqi, he himself felt that his trip south to participate in the operation was quite rewarding. In addition to adding a few scars to his body and an extra experience of escaping, more importantly, he handed over many people during the operation. This friend is Ji Yuanqing.
Although the two men belong to different units, they are both intelligence officers. They have many common topics in work, and they cooperated so well during the operation that Gong Shiqi later forgot about the relationship between the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau. competitive relationship.
However, he knew that he would not stay in Zhoushan for long. At most, he would recover from his injuries for a few days and be almost able to move, then he would have to return to the north to continue his previous mission. And the next time I meet Ji Yuanqing, I don’t know what year or month it will be. When the fleet sailed out of Wusongkou and headed south from Hangzhou Bay, on the Liaodong Peninsula, two thousand miles away to the north, the lurking team led by Sun Bing finally obtained the information after many days of surveillance. progress.
At Wang Tom's insistence, the Marine Corps took over the task of investigating the Qing Army's musketry team. However, this task was not easy to handle. It had been more than ten days since Sun Bing had led this team into the enemy-controlled area. , during which the enemy camp was monitored around the clock, but no trace of the musketeers was ever found.
So much so that Sun Bing even doubted whether the other party had transferred the musketeers away from the Liaodong front and stationed elsewhere. In that case, even if he stayed here for a whole year, he still wouldn't get any relevant information.
However, the military orders were overwhelming, and the order he received was to find clues about the Musketeers from the enemy camp. Therefore, although he did not gain anything, as long as the military orders did not change, he had to continue to perform the current mission.
Every day before dawn, they set off from the temporary station on the seaside and march to the mountains near the enemy camp. Then they monitor the target area for a whole day, and then return to the seaside camp for the night after dark. Others can be on duty in rotation, but as the commander, he must go to the front line to participate in monitoring work every day. This is really a very time-consuming and frustrating job.
During the surveillance period, they are not allowed to move around at will and can only stay at a few confirmed hidden surveillance points. They are also not allowed to talk at will during the period. They must remain silent most of the time to reduce the possibility of exposing their whereabouts. Minimum level. The food only consisted of simple fried noodles, fried rice, compressed biscuits and other dry foods, which were swallowed with cold water, which was really uncomfortable in this season. Only after returning to the station every night can you have a hot meal.
After several heavy snowfalls in recent days, traveling in the mountains and forests has become increasingly difficult. The time spent on the journey has increased by at least one-third every day. When squatting at the monitoring point, due to the inability to move the body to a large extent for a long time, it is inevitable that Will shiver with cold.
However, just when they all thought that the Qing army should have died down and would not cause trouble again this winter, the musketry team suddenly appeared at the camp they were monitoring.
This musketry team rode into the camp one afternoon. After many days of observation, Sun Bing was already familiar with the various troops stationed here, and the appearance of this cavalry team immediately aroused his interest. Notice. In the telescope, he saw that these riders were all carrying a stick wrapped in cloth on their backs, about four or five feet in length. It was not an ordinary weapon of the Qing army, and he immediately thought of it. The target that I have been waiting for to appear.
After continuing to observe this cavalry team, Sun Bing could basically confirm that this should be the target he was looking for. As a secret weapon in the Qing army, this special force has a separate station in this camp. It is not a tent where ordinary soldiers live, but a residential house built by the Han people in the past. Although it is only a mud wall with a thatched roof configuration, but it is already a high-end building in this camp. Looking at the smoke coming from the chimney behind the house, it is obvious that the kang can be burned. The living conditions are much better than those in tents.
The most important thing is that after these people dismounted, they continued to carry the stick-shaped package behind them. Obviously, the contents inside were very important. Apart from muskets, Sun Bing couldn't think of any other weapon that would make these Qing soldiers care so much.
However, the place where this unit is stationed is still far away from the observation point of Sun Bing's team, and there are other Qing troops stationed on the periphery. It is basically impossible to sneak nearby to find out. Sun Bing could only continue to monitor and wait for a better opportunity.
On the same day that the Yangzhou salt merchant took action against Gong Qiqi, Sun Bing also looked forward to the opportunity he had been waiting for. This musketry team was probably training for fighting in the snow. They suddenly assembled one morning and then set off heading south. And the direction they were traveling in happened to be where Sun Bing's team was.
However, Sun Bing does not think that this unit will enter the mountainous area for training at this time. Most of them will just go to the hillside to practice target shooting. In daily training, the Marine Corps will find a hillside near the station to use as a shooting range and erect the target. In the direction of the hillside, this can effectively prevent stray bullets from hurting people.
As expected, the army stopped at the bottom of the hillside. It was actually only about twenty or thirty feet away from Sun Bing's position. However, considering the height difference, it was difficult for people at the bottom of the hillside to notice the movement in the forest high up the hillside. What's more, the monitoring points are specially disguised, and their existence cannot be detected from the bottom of the mountain. Therefore, Sun Bing continued to observe calmly and had no intention of moving.
The Qing army dug out several human-shaped breast targets made of wood from the snowdrifts at the foot of the hillside. Before that, this place had been a shooting range. But I don't know why this Qing army has not been stationed here recently, so this shooting range seems to have been abandoned for some time.
After the Qing army placed the targets, an officer walked aside, drew out his saber and shouted commands, asking the Qing army to form a battle formation. This is almost the same as the basic combat formation of muskets that Sun Bing knows. They use several rows of horizontal lines as the fire output surface, and fire and load in sequence to ensure the continuation of the fire output. However, Sun Bing's attention was not focused on the musketeers who were lining up. He stared at the commander through the telescope, as if there was something about this man that particularly interested him.
(End of chapter)