Chapter 2046
To the outside world, the most famous among the descendants of the Xu family are Xu Yuzhuo, the fourth son of the Xu Xinsu family, and his nephew Xu Jiaqi. These two men respectively command the land and sea armies loyal to Xu Xinsu, and can be said to be the backbone of the Xu family. strength. Over the years, the Fujian Ming Army sent troops to participate in the military operations organized by Haihan, and most of them were led by the two of them.
Xu Yuxing, the third eldest son of the Xu family, is not that famous. Although many people have heard of him, they don't know what kind of business this third eldest son of the Xu family is doing. Very few people know that Xu Yuxing, the descendants of the Xu family who were originally sent to Sanya for training, in addition to the two current generals, actually went there as well. However, the training he received was different. It was not the military subjects studied by the other two, but the intelligence subjects selected for him by Xu Xinsu himself.
The reason for this arrangement was that Xu Xinsu had already realized the importance of intelligence warfare through her cooperation with Haihan, and therefore planned to follow Haihan's example and establish a specialized intelligence agency to assist her rule in Fujian. Xu Xinsu was obviously worried if this special institution was to be handed over to outsiders. After some consideration, he decided to hand over this important job to his third son, Xu Yuxing.
When Xu Xinsu decided on this candidate, in addition to safety considerations, another important point was that Xu Yuxing's own qualities were more suitable for this position. Xu Yuxing inherited one of Xu Xinsu's traits as a businessman very well. He showed his talent in mathematical calculations at a very young age. Moreover, he had a calm temperament and did not like to compete with other brothers for favor. In Xu Xinsu's opinion, It is in line with the many requirements that the Haihan people have for candidates.
The most important thing is that Xu Yuxing himself accepted this arrangement. You must know that after entering this industry, it is unlikely that he will have any glory. As the head of the intelligence system, he can only hide behind the scenes in a low-key manner, unable to Standing in front of the stage and being admired like his brothers was not that easy for the ambitious Xu family men to accept.
In order to avoid suspicion, the intelligence agency established by Xu Xinsu did not even have a formal yamen. It was directly placed under the name of his personal guard. From now on, it can basically only exist in obscurity. If it were other people, it probably wouldn't be like this. Accept arrangements willingly.
So Xu Yuxing was appointed as the person in charge of this organization and went to Sanya to study for a period of time. In order to keep his identity secret, Xu Yuxing remained anonymous even while studying abroad. Very few people in Sanya knew his true identity. After returning to Fujian after completing his studies, he rarely appeared in public. When asked by outsiders, the Xu family would only say that Mr. Xu was addicted to monasticism and did not like to go out. No one knew that Xu Yuxing secretly formed a group loyal to Xu Xinsu. intelligence agencies.
As for the main monitoring targets after the establishment of this organization, they are the two major espionage organizations, Jinyiwei and Dongchang. This is really ironic. A large part of the reason why the imperial court established these intelligence agencies was to monitor local areas and local officials. The main function of the intelligence agency under Xu Xinsu was to monitor the agencies sent by the imperial court to monitor itself. The intelligence agencies loyal to local warlords and the imperial espionage organizations monitored each other. This situation was probably unique in the entire Ming Dynasty.
However, Xu Xinsu didn't think there was anything wrong with doing this. Although he had no plans to separate himself and become king yet, he didn't want anyone to spy on him beside his bed. Taking some countermeasures against the imperial espionage organization is an effective means to protect one's own interests in Xu Xinsu's opinion, and this move can better connect with Haihan, and joint military operations between the two parties will proceed more smoothly in the future.
After waiting for about a stick of incense, Xu Yuxing arrived. He knew both the Gong family and his son as well as Jin Ming, so there was no need for any further introduction at the moment. Xu Xinsu said: "The adults in Haihan have important matters to discuss, and I specially asked you to come over and listen carefully to see if there is anything you can do to help."
Xu Yuxing responded: "Then please explain the situation!"
Immediately, Jin Ming introduced the circumstances and investigation progress of several recent shooting cases related to Spaniards, and pointed out that the clues obtained so far have brought the direction of the investigation to Fujian, and local officials are required to provide assistance in the investigation.
"According to our investigation, the group behind the scenes is very difficult to deal with. Not only do they collude with the Spanish to smuggle arms and equipment, but they also intentionally support armed forces from various countries to fight against our country. This is absolutely intolerable to our country. "Jin Ming stated his position very seriously: "If they have business in Fujian, we can take this opportunity to find out the true identity of this group of people!"
Xu Yuxing asked: "How does your country need us to assist in the investigation?"
Jin Ming said: "According to the clues we have, there are businessmen here shipping goods for the Spaniards and purchasing Ming specialties. I think if we follow this direction for investigation, it should not be difficult to find the target. But if we start this matter The investigation will inevitably cause a lot of inconvenience, so I hope Mr. Xu and the Third Young Master can help. Of course, we will also participate in the entire investigation process and provide the necessary information for the investigation as much as possible. "
Jin Ming's words were high-sounding, but there was no hint that he actually wanted to use this investigation task to gain some credit.
The expression on Xu Yuxing's face did not change, but there was a very brief exchange of eyes with Xu Xinsu, and then he responded: "According to what Mr. Jin just said, the person who acted as a middleman for the Spanish should be active in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. , maybe there are shops and warehouses, but Mr. Jin needs to know that there are at least thousands of merchants in these two places engaged in this kind of cross-border trade, and it will not be easy to find out the clues. "
Xu Yuxing explained the difficulties before agreeing, which sounded somewhat evasive to Jin Ming. However, this was actually what he had expected. If the other party immediately patted his chest and pledged to take over the matter as soon as he heard it, then he might not be able to safely and boldly hand over the job to the other party.
And as Jin Ming mentioned to the Gong family and his son before coming to the Xu Mansion, more than half of the most profitable import and export trade in Fujian is directly or indirectly controlled by the Xu family. It is impossible to say that the target Haihan wants to investigate is also related to the Xu family. The family is inextricably linked, and it won’t look good if the time comes to find out more and more. Jin Ming could imagine this situation, and the Xu family could naturally imagine it, so they naturally had to try to eliminate the hidden dangers as much as possible before the investigation began.
Buying more time now will give the Xu family more initiative. As for the statement that there are thousands of employees, it is just to find a few more justified reasons for this. Even if there are so many businessmen working in this industry, at least half of them are working for the Xu family. As long as Xu Yuxing asked the shopkeepers of several large trading houses under the Xu family's name, it would not be difficult to know which shops in Zhangzhou were selling local specialties shipped from Nanyang. By making a list, the scope of investigation would naturally be greatly reduced.
Of course, Jin Ming would not go out of his way to teach Xu Yuxing how to be a good person. These superficial investigative methods did not require him to talk at all. Xu Yuxing would definitely know them too. Speaking out would make the other party think that he was exerting pressure to investigate the case.
Jin Ming immediately responded: "This matter is indeed tricky, otherwise there would be no need to trouble Third Young Master to take action. However, with Third Young Master's familiarity with the local area, I believe he will not disappoint us." Jin Ming's main idea Although his profession is intelligence analysis, guessing other people's thoughts is also a basic skill of an intelligence officer, and his ability in this aspect is pretty good. He anticipated the other party's general plan, raised Xu Yuxing's hand with a few words, and made the other party not to hesitate. It's better to continue to shirk.
Sure enough, Xu Yuxing stopped emphasizing the difficulty after hearing this. After all, it is not a small responsibility to disappoint the most important ally. Even if Jin Ming may just say it casually, Xu Yuxing must deal with this matter with full vigor.
As for Jin Ming's suggestion that Haihan would also participate in the entire investigation process, this did not make Xu Yuxing feel there was any problem. In his opinion, this was natural, but it would be unavoidable if the investigation work was dictated by Haihan people. Somewhat not beautiful. Therefore, he still carefully confirmed the relevant arrangements with Jin Ming: "Then this investigation will be led by Mr. Jin?"
Jin Ming shook his head and said: "This matter requires relying on the power and information channels of the Third Young Master. The investigation will naturally be led by the Third Young Master."
Xu Yuxing felt a little more relaxed after hearing this. He was actually a little worried that Haihan intended to use this matter to interfere in local affairs. In the cooperative relationship between the two parties, it has been acquiesced that Haihan cannot take the initiative to interfere in local affairs in Fujian, so as to ensure Xu Xinsu's influence and ruling foundation in Fujian.
Xu Yuxing is not sure whether Haihan will be satisfied with such a tacit understanding. If Haihan wants to find a reason such as investigating a case to interfere with the distribution of trade-related benefits in Fujian, thereby affecting the Xu family's share of the local economic and trade field, it will be difficult to deal with. But since the other party took the initiative to give him the initiative to investigate the case, it means that he should be worrying too much.
The two briefly discussed how to communicate information and coordinate actions next, and the matter was basically finalized.
After the three people from Haihan finished talking and left, only the Xu family and his son were left in the study. Only then did Xu Xinsu ask, "Do you think they have another purpose in setting up this matter?"
Xu Yuxing pondered: "My child initially thought that they might want to use this to take action on the local import and export business, but judging from what Mr. Jin said, it didn't look like an excuse. I heard that this matter was involved Liaodong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Manila, and Haihan are all conducting investigations. It seems that the Haihan people are really eager to find out who is helping the Spanish resell weapons."
Xu Xinsu said: "There are actually only a hundred or so merchants selling Nanyang goods in Zhangquan and Quanzhou. You first make a list of which ones are our own businesses, and call all the relevant people to ask and see if there are any." It’s better for us to catch people out for their unruly actions than to let the Haihan people catch them, do you understand what I mean?”
Xu Yuxing responded: "My child understands!"
There is a rule in transnational trade: the farther away the goods are, the rarer the goods are, and the profits from trafficking the goods are higher. This is also the main reason why Western colonists crossed thousands of miles of sea territory to transport Eastern specialties back to Europe for sale.
In the same way, for cross-border trade with Fujian as the destination, the further away from Fujian, the higher the value of the goods and the more substantial the profit from the transaction. In recent years, many products produced in the West have been impacted by the cheaper and better-quality Haihan industrial products, and their sales have been much lower than before. However, there are still some local specialties produced in the colonies that still have a certain market in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, Spain would ship a large amount of silver from the Americas every year to purchase various commodities from the Ming Dynasty, and its strong purchasing power made it difficult for merchants to refuse.
Therefore, before the outbreak of the Manila War last year, there were many products from the Philippine Islands on the market in Fujian. These spices, gems and other products from distant foreign countries had quite good sales in the prosperous areas of Ming Dynasty, and the profits were naturally very high. rich.
A considerable part of such lucrative trade was indeed controlled by the Xu family. Until the war with the Spanish last year, Fujian merchant ships were still trading in Manila. At peak times, there were at least fifty Fujian merchant ships running this route from Manila, and at least half of them were working for the Xu family. Their annual turnover could be hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
After the war, the trade route from Fujian to Manila remained, but the trade objects were changed from the Spaniards to the Haihan people. Since the local social order has not yet been fully restored, the production capacity of many local products has experienced a cliff-like decline. Fujian does not dare to skip Haihan and directly go to the Spaniards. Therefore, the scale of trade has shrunk a lot compared with before the war. It is no longer as large as before. It used to be so profitable.
But it is inevitable that some of them will take risks for the sake of money and continue to trade in areas ruled by the Spanish. After all, their bids for Ming products were much higher than the standards of the Haihan people, and the rewards from a trip were far greater than in Manila under the rule of the Haihan people. These products shipped back to Fujian from the Philippine Islands are often sold in the Fujian market under the name of "purchased from the Manila area".
It is precisely because of this that neither Xu Xinsu nor Xu Yuxing mentioned that their firm was not involved in such unruly business practices when they were talking to Jin Ming and others. At one point, they even suspected that the Haihan people had obtained some evidence and deliberately used the name of investigating the case to beat themselves up.
Even though Jin Ming's attitude had dispelled their suspicion, out of caution, they had to try to avoid being caught by the Haihan people. If there were some unclean places, they had to clean them first. As for whether anyone in the Xu family is secretly selling arms for the Spanish, we can only find out after an investigation.
(End of chapter)