Chapter 2027
Haihan's current industrial manufacturing capabilities and military technology are already considered first-class in this era, but the current production capacity is far from enough to continue exporting large quantities of arms. The delivery time for related bulk orders is often half a year or even one year. For more than 20 years, even those big customers who are willing to spend a lot of money need to wait patiently for the schedule.
The Philippine colonies under Spanish rule obviously did not have the same industrial production capacity. In addition, most of their military production sites were concentrated in the Manila area. In previous wars, many equipment and professional craftsmen failed to evacuate in time, making today's The production capacity of weapons and equipment has been greatly reduced, and it basically no longer has the ability to export large quantities of arms.
Therefore, there have always been objections within the colonial authorities to the plan to cause trouble for Haihan through military exports. They believed that this may not weaken Haihan, but it will definitely weaken its own military strength, because the colonies have been unable to produce sufficient numbers. weapons to support foreign forces, and can only use part of the weapons from its own troops to implement this plan.
In the eyes of the opponents, this is undoubtedly drinking poison to quench thirst. Once Haihan notices the risky approach of the colonial authorities, it is very likely that he will immediately launch a new round of offensive, and by then the Spanish armed forces, which have abandoned their martial arts, will have a hard time Respond to enemy attacks. The risks are not proportional to the results. This is also the main contradiction that the colonial authorities cannot solve at present.
But the news brought by Jose and others has brought new changes to this debate that has lasted for half a year - if the military export strategy has begun to play a more significant role overseas, then this is no longer the case. A risky behavior with little effect, but an effective means that could really help the colonial authorities curb Haihan's development momentum.
In this way, the Aragones faction that advocated military exports regained the upper hand. Since this plan worked, and there is no better way to deal with Haihan at the moment, then continue to implement this plan and expand the scale of military exports. It seemed to be the only option for the colonial authorities. After quickly communicating with the partners, a new round of trading of goods for weapons began.
However, perhaps thinking that the environment in Cebu was very safe, the colonial authorities did not take many measures to keep the transaction process secret, so that Paco, an outsider, accidentally entered the transaction site and witnessed Fernando sending arms to Haifaji. One scene. However, this Paco was not only knowledgeable but also a loudmouth. After returning to his place, he started to spray directly on his subordinates. He was happy after complaining, but the news slipped into the ears of interested people.
After returning to the temporary residence outside Cebu that night, Jose communicated with other companions responsible for surveillance, and finally believed that the situation described by Paco was indeed very credible, because Paco had seen it in Haifaji At approximately the same time as Fernando, other companions saw a group of Spanish soldiers escorting two carriages into Haifaji nearby. During this period, Paco also briefly came in and out, which was basically consistent with the description Jose heard.
Jose and others still haven't found any clues about the origin of Haifaji, but Jose realizes that this great achievement is getting closer and closer to him. If he can find out how Haifaji used this batch of arms Transporting it out of Cebu, or even finding out where it was transported, will definitely be rewarded by the superiors afterwards. And if the Military Intelligence Bureau can track the whereabouts of this batch of arms, it will not be too difficult to follow the clues and find out the true identity of the mastermind behind the scenes. At least it will be much better than guessing here in Cebu.
But at this time, how to send intelligence back to Manila in a timely manner became a more troublesome matter. They now have a ship available, but this ship needs eight to ten crew members to go to sea, and their team only has a total of twelve people. This means that either everyone evacuates together, or while others return to Manila to report the news, Jose is likely to have to stay in Cebu to perform the mission.
Another task assigned to Jose by the Military Intelligence Bureau is to establish a long-term intelligence network in Cebu. If he wants to complete this task, he will definitely not be able to leave Cebu easily, not to mention the current work of collecting intelligence. It went very smoothly, and he had no good reason to evacuate Cebu voluntarily.
The final result of everyone's discussion was to first try to confirm when the batch of arms traded to Haifaji by the colonial authorities would be shipped, and then decide whether to rush back to Manila to report the news.
To investigate this matter clearly, there is no need to start from Haifaji's store, because the only way to transport bulk goods out of Cebu is by shipping, as long as you keep an eye on the port. To be more specific, it is to find Haifaji's cargo ship at the port, and then try to find out its sailing date and destination by contacting the sailors on the ship. As long as specific information can be obtained, Manila will have a clearer goal when taking the next steps.
Wealth is found in danger, this is what Jose can think of at this time. If they withdraw to Manila after confirming the news, they can certainly claim credit and reward, but the current difficulty of this task is much lower than expected. It is better to try again and stay in Cebu to establish an intelligence network. I heard that my boss, Fang Peng, originally applied to work as an undercover agent in Manila, but now he has been promoted to the intelligence officer in charge of the Philippine Islands. Isn't this a practice worth emulating? When the army goes south to conquer Cebu in the future, he will definitely be a hero. Maybe he will have the opportunity to cross the identity threshold and become the first Hispanic senior official in the intelligence department, as his boss promised before setting off.
The next day, Jose's team further narrowed the scope of their investigation to the relevant personnel of Haifaji Store. Although Jose and others did not dare to risk entering the merchant house directly, the investigation at the port quickly made progress. With only a few bottles of fruit wine, several Han Chinese including Haifa Ji were found. There are only two cargo ships under the name of the business store berthed in Cebu Port, and one of them is currently undergoing repairs in the dock due to a leak in the hull. The construction period is estimated to be at least a month, so it is possible to transport goods abroad at this time. There is only one boat left.
After further narrowing the scope of the target, Jose's team will be able to devote more manpower and resources to investigate this target. Under their deliberate design, they quickly established relationships with individual sailors on the ship and got some valuable information from them.
One early morning half a month after arriving in Cebu, a sailboat quietly left Cebu Port and headed north. The ship left port on the grounds of fishing, but its destination was Manila, more than 400 nautical miles away. Jose was not on this ship. He and the other two Hispanic intelligence agents stayed in Cebu. However, he had personally written a secret report on the findings after arriving in Cebu, which would be sent back to Manila for submission by the ship. To MI.
Compared with when I came here, I couldn't find my way at all and had to rely on military charts and guesswork to get to my destination. When I set off on the return journey this time, the sailors on the ship seemed much more calm. . This time they arrived in Manila successfully in two days less than when they arrived.
After getting the news, Fang Peng went to the port in person and took these sailors directly to the Military Intelligence Bureau without letting them show their faces on the dock. Ran Tianlu, who received the notice, also rushed over quickly. Together with Fang Peng, he listened to the reports of these sailors, and then checked the secret letter written by Jose.
However, Jose's letter was all written in Spanish. Although Fang Peng and Ran Tianlu could also speak a little Spanish, they only stayed at the level of daily conversation. As for writing and reading, they were completely unable to do it, so they still hired someone to do it. After translating, it took a lot of effort to understand the results of Jose's investigation of the case.
"This Jose... is actually so powerful! Brother Fang, you have such a talented person under your command, and yet you keep complaining. Even I was almost deceived by you, okay!" After Ran Tianlu understood what happened, he couldn't help but say Feeling emotional. Fang Peng smiled bitterly and said: "How dare I deceive Brother Ran? This is really unexpected... The fact that he can do this is beyond my expectation!"
When the two intelligence agencies formulated this action plan, they both believed that it was unlikely to succeed. If the intelligence team composed of a group of novices could successfully arrive at the local area and settle down, it could be regarded as a relatively successful result. As for whether they could get the key information needed by the intelligence department, in fact, neither Ran Tianlu nor Fang Peng had high hopes, and were even mentally prepared to lose this group of people.
But he never expected that the team, commanded by Hispanic intelligence agent Jose, would be lucky. The situation they encountered after arriving in Cebu turned out to be even more ideal than the best situation expected in advance. Not only did they not attract the Spanish The suspicion of the colonial authorities actually made a series of methods prepared by the intelligence department come into use, making the Spaniards convinced of the information constructed by these evidences.
If the situation in the first half was the result of the intelligence department's proper preparation in advance, then the investigation of the Han maritime merchants was mostly due to the on-the-spot performance of Jose and others. The intelligence department did set the direction of their investigation beforehand, instructing Jose to pay attention to the local Han maritime merchants, but the specific operation required Jose and others to control it themselves. Judging from the current results, what they have achieved The results have exceeded intelligence community expectations.
The matter was so important that the two of them did not dare to delay. Although it was almost midnight, they hurried to Qiu Yuan's official residence with the secret report sent back from Cebu to report this important development to him.
"Didn't you say it would take a month or two for the news to come back? Why so soon? Is the news reliable?"
Qiu Yuan had already fallen asleep, but because Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng reported urgent matters, the secretary woke him up again, and then met the two late-night visiting subordinates in the study. After listening to their report, Qiu Yuan was also a little surprised. He knew that besides Manila, there were several other places investigating the matter, and Manila should be the last place to intervene in the investigation, but now it seems that it has rushed ahead and seized more accurate information.
But as to whether the intelligence obtained by Jose and others in Cebu was reliable, Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng did not dare to vouch for it. After all, the group of people sent were all novices, and their judgment of the situation might be wrong. They could only tell Qiu Yuan that the intelligence sent back had a relatively high degree of credibility and further measures could be considered.
Although Qiu Yuan was a little doubtful, he still chose to believe in the opinion of the intelligence department. After all, he had cooperated with the intelligence department in writing the secret letter before, and he also hoped in his heart that the case could be investigated as soon as possible.
So a confidential telegram was sent from Manila to Sanya overnight. In the telegram, Qiu Yuan asked Fort Victory whether to take immediate follow-up measures.
At this time, the Executive Committee is also studying the information fed back from various places. In fact, in addition to Manila, investigation work in other places is also making progress.
The first is the local investigation of the Ministry of Security in Hainan. Zhang Qianzhi has visited and screened specific groups such as South Asian ethnic groups who have settled in Sanya, and with the assistance provided by Lanka, a local snake in their settlement area, they have found out the dead members of Xue Zheng's team. South Asian identity. These people had lived in Sanya for a period of time before they participated in the attack on the North Korean Crown Prince. They all lived in the South Asian ethnic area at the mouth of Sanya as immigrants temporarily, but they have not yet been given the opportunity to become naturalized.
According to the information found by Lanka, these South Asians are all from Luzon Island, and there are signs that they understand Spanish. This basically confirms the people they work for. After that, the Ministry of Security conducted a thorough search of the former residence of these people, and finally found a large amount of money from the floor mezzanine under their bed, and they were all large-denomination Haihan banknotes, far exceeding the amount of ordinary South Asian immigrants. level of property.
According to the speculation of the Ministry of Security, this should be their daily expenses or remuneration for operations, but this money was either earned or spent, and was eventually confiscated as stolen money.
According to the confessions of Xue Zheng and others, their group was assembled in Sanya. The people who participated in the operation were basically lurking in Sanya. If they had not received the summoning order, they might have remained in Sanya as civilians. Live on.
This situation also sounded the alarm to the Ministry of Security. Xue Zheng and others were just a group of bounty killers who were forced to reveal their identities in order to carry out the attack mission. However, there must be more than these hostile elements lurking in Sanya, and Xue Zheng could not provide any information on this. More information.
The only thing that is certain is that there must be lurkers one level higher than Xue Zheng and the others in Sanya, so that they can be summoned when necessary. And this kind of lurker who has hidden deeper may have obtained Haihan nationality, and may even have entered the work of an official organization. It will only be more difficult to dig them out. How to find these guys hiding in the dark is probably the key task that the Security Department needs to spend time completing next.
(End of chapter)