Chapter 2050
Although the intelligence agency under Xu Xinsu was established after the Haihan Intelligence Department, and its key personnel had gone to Haihan to receive specialized training, the organization's organization, functions, and operating style were still different from Haihan's intelligence department. Obvious difference.
In order to avoid suspicion, the establishment of this organization was placed under the name of Xu Xinsu's Guards, and its function was to be loyal to Xu Xinsu alone and maintain the dominance of the interest group headed by him in Fujian. Since it was established not long ago, this organization has relatively little operational experience, and its collection and analysis of intelligence is not as professional as that of Haihan's counterparts. However, the members of this Guards force are basically trained according to the standards of dead soldiers, so this organization is It has extremely strong operational capabilities when performing special field missions, and will not rely on a limited number of field operations teams like the Haihan Intelligence Department.
Xu Yuxing is not the commander of the Guards, but his actual authority is still higher than that of a commander. He can recruit people from this unit to perform field tasks when necessary. For example, for the three targets to be investigated this time, Xu Yuxing temporarily transferred dozens of people from the Guards.
In order to avoid attracting too much attention from the outside world, these people participated in the operation in plain clothes. This detail also won Jin Ming's approval. He did not hope that the action launched in Zhangzhou would alert the snake, because there may be other suspected targets in Quanzhou, two hundred miles away. Once the wind is heard, the clues just grasped may be cut off again by the manipulator behind the scenes.
Since there was no way to launch actions against three targets at the same time, in line with the principle of easy things first and difficult things later, Xu Yuxing chose the first target of action as the Guangli Trading Company under the name of Mr. Huang, the prefect of Zhangzhou.
Guangli Commercial Bank has Huang Zhifu as a big backer, and its resources and channels are therefore very convenient. Therefore, its operating conditions have always been good, and it is also ranked as a large commercial bank in Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou alone, Guangli Commercial Bank has three branches and a shipping company. It supports two to three hundred people inside and outside, and there are even thousands of people who rely on this commercial organization for their meals.
It would be a bit difficult for Xu Yuxing to check all the places of Guangli Trading Company. However, according to the normal business method of the trading bank, the accounts and related records of goods in and out must be kept in the head office, so the head office of Guangli Trading Company in the city The store is the target of this operation.
Xu Yuxing was not joking when he said that he would start the operation early in the morning. For this reason, he specially kept Jin Ming for one night and gathered his troops before dawn the next day to minimize the impact of the operation.
For today's operation, Xu Yuxing summoned nearly a hundred people and sent out in two groups to block the front and back doors of Guangli Trading Company. They arrived at their destination quietly before Guangli Commercial Bank opened its doors.
Xu Yuxing ordered someone to knock on the door of the business. After waiting for a while, someone opened the door from inside, stuck his head out and said: "It's not time to open the door yet! Come back later!"
Before the man could retract his head, the people outside immediately pushed the door open and rushed in. The man was so frightened that he shouted: "What are you doing!"
"The government is handling the case, so be silent!" The leader waved his badge in front of him.
But the man didn't take this trick and immediately questioned their background: "My master is a government official, who are you!"
"Can't you understand? The Xu family is doing something!" The waistband was immediately in front of him. There was only a black seal character "Xu" on the blood-red waistband.
The man suddenly became excited and immediately stopped talking. He knew that although his master had a high and powerful position, he could not afford to offend the owner of this prestigious position. In fact, no one in the entire Zhangzhou City dares to offend the power represented by this waist card. If he doesn't quickly silence his voice, and if the other party is cruel, no one will stand up for him afterwards, and he will have to deal with himself if anything happens. Accept bad luck.
"Watch the door. No one is allowed in or out without my order! If anyone resists, restrain them immediately!" Xu Yuxing gave the order with a serious face as he quickly entered the trading house.
Although Xu Yuxing was still a little hesitant about the intensity of the action when planning the action, when it came time to take action, there would be no more hesitation. There is no turning back. Even if there is a conflict with the opponent at this time, he must use strong methods to calm the situation and complete the search for relevant evidence as soon as possible. The longer this delay was, the greater the possibility of extraneous matters, and there were still two investigation subjects to deal with later, so he didn't have time to waste time here.
The shopkeeper of Guangli Trading Company did not live in the store. There was only one steward who guarded the store. He was soon betrayed by the clerk and was taken out of the bed. After showing the Xu family's special badge, the steward seemed to want to be tough, saying that the account books and cargo records could not be shown to outsiders, and also advised Xu Yuxing not to be too arrogant, so as not to make it difficult for the prefect to explain later.
Xu Yuxing sneered, didn't say much, and just gave him a look. A strong man next to him strode forward, grabbed the steward's chest and clothes with one hand, and picked him up like a chicken. With the other hand, he opened his mouth. Fan it down.
After four hard slaps, the steward was beaten until the corners of his mouth were bleeding and he was immediately blinded. Xu Yuxing said: "The situation is serious now. If you refuse to cooperate, you will be guilty of collaborating with the enemy. Even the prefect cannot save you!"
This manager had obviously never seen much of the world. After being threatened and deceived, he immediately surrendered and obediently told where the relevant information was. Immediately, someone went to fetch the things and let Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming take a look.
This pile of account books and related records is more than a foot thick. Sorting out these data is obviously not something that can be completed immediately. However, Xu Yuxing had his own way of dealing with it, and immediately asked someone to bring the steward over again.
At this time, the place where the man's face had been beaten was swollen, and his expression was already sluggish. He probably still hasn't figured out why a group of Xu family members broke in so early in the morning and beat him up without saying a word. After a while, they said they were investigating a case. Obviously, this group of people knew that Guangli Trading Company was the property of Huang Zhifu, but they were not afraid of it. It seemed that this matter was really not a small matter.
Xu Yuxing did not have time to let the steward slowly think about the whole matter, so he immediately asked him to point out the part of the pile of information related to the transaction with the Spaniards. Just as the steward was about to excuse himself, someone next to him had already pulled out a short knife more than a foot long and stared at him eagerly. It seemed that this time it was not just a slap in the face, but a knife if he didn't agree with it.
This steward is not really hard-nosed, otherwise the previous slaps in the face would not be able to subdue him. Seeing this posture, he became even more panicked and responded quickly. Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming checked the records provided by the steward and found that they indeed contained the contents of numerous transactions with the Spaniards. However, the amounts involved in the transactions were not too large, and the contents did not seem suspicious. They were mainly Fujian local specialties sold by Guangli Commercial Bank, and the purchases were various edible spices produced in Nanhai, which is considered a relatively normal situation. .
According to records, the frequency of trade between the two parties is approximately once every three to four months, which is approximately the time it takes to conduct a transaction from Fujian to the Philippine Islands.
But these records alone do not prove that Guangli Trading Company is the middleman secretly exporting arms to the Spanish. It only shows that the three shopkeepers who compiled the list did not skip this object because of the background of Guangli Trading Company. Xu Yuxing said before The three lists received are indeed genuine.
Of course, conversely, paper records alone cannot prove the innocence of Guangli Trading Company. In a business like smuggling arms, no one would be stupid enough to record it directly in the ledger of a regular business. However, with these records, Xu Yuxing can further investigate the time of each transaction, which can save a lot of time.
But now they don't have time to slowly sort out these details. They can only seal up all the collected information and take them away. Guangli Commercial Bank must also be temporarily sealed until further investigation conclusions are made. Not to mention anything else, at least the warehouse in the business must be carefully checked before you can rest assured.
Although this method of handling is somewhat simple and crude, for Xu Yuxing, there seems to be no better way. They had to search three targets in one day, so they had to move as fast as possible. If they moved too fast, they wouldn't be able to take into account all aspects, so they could only deal with this place that didn't seem to have any obvious problems first.
After roughly finishing the work at Guangli Trading Company, people who got up early began to walk around on the streets outside. Xu Yuxing left a dozen people here to deal with the follow-up matters, while the others immediately took the carriage to the next Kowloon Boat Shop. .
The Kowloon Boat Company is located on the banks of the Jiulong River outside Zhangzhou City. It is still a long way from the city. After finishing the work, you have to rush back to the city to deal with the third place. So in order to save time on the way back and forth, Xu Yuxing prepared it in advance. Several horse-drawn carriages served as transportation.
When the group of people hurried out of the city and arrived at the Kowloon Boat Shop, the store was just opening for business, and a dozen carriages came at once, blocking the door tightly. Then dozens of capable men got off the carriage and immediately poured into the Kowloon Boat Shop, and then closed the door that had just been opened again.
Different from the previous situation in Guangli Trading Company, the shopkeeper of Kowloon Shipping Company did not try to resist after seeing the waist card shown by the newcomer, and honestly chose to cooperate.
He brought Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming to his room, handed over all relevant information, and then pointed out the records of transactions with the Spanish as requested by Xu Yuxing.
Perhaps because it specializes in shipping, the frequency of transactions between Kowloon Shipping Company and the Spanish is obviously much higher than that of Guangli Trading Company, with relevant records recorded almost every month. In addition to the sufficient shipping capacity of Kowloon shipping, this also shows that operators attach great importance to this special trade channel and frequently send ships to the Spanish-controlled areas for transactions.
However, judging from the records, the transaction content of Kowloon Shipping Company is roughly similar to that of Guangli Trading Company, with both selling more and buying less. This is probably because more than half of the things sold by the Spanish in the Philippines can also be bought in Haihan, and the prices are often better. Therefore, most of the merchant ships going to the local area make a symbolic purchase after selling the goods shipped. Just left.
This type of trade is actually not uncommon among Fujian maritime merchants. Before the Battle of Manila, the Xu family had maintained similar trade relations with the Spanish. The Spaniards had enough silver to buy all the goods shipped to the local area, and their bids were very generous. Each trip made a considerable profit, which was indeed more cost-effective for the maritime merchants than trading with the Haihan people.
"There doesn't seem to be anything suspicious?" Xu Yuxing said to Jin Ming with a wry smile: "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
Jin Ming remained calm and responded after hearing this: "Anyone who maintains trade relations with the Spanish is suspected. These written records are only superficial evidence. We will wait for further verification before drawing a conclusion."
At this time, Jin Ming also discovered that the investigation of this matter was not as simple as expected. Even if he had already locked three highly suspicious targets in advance, he wanted to find out the truth about the trade between these commercial institutions and the Spanish. It doesn't mean that just by searching a house, the truth will come to light immediately. In addition to sorting out the information in these account books, relevant persons may need to be interrogated later to obtain detailed confessions. None of this work can be completed within a day or two.
But the shopkeepers of Kowloon Boat Shop were willing to cooperate, perhaps partly because they believed that they had not done anything taboo. Even though Xu Xinsu had announced a ban on Fujian maritime merchants from trading with the Spaniards last year, such a ban could only deter ordinary businessmen, and it might not have much effect on business organizations with backgrounds. For example, the Kowloon Shipping Company, whose background was the commander of Fujian Province, did not take the ban seriously at all, and the merchant ships sent to the Philippine Islands still maintained a very high frequency.
"This Kowloon boat company has made a lot of money from the Spaniards!" Jin Ming couldn't help but sigh after looking through the relevant records: "This matter has been repeatedly banned among the people, and it is also due to interests!"
Xu Yuxing responded: "It's just that my father is soft-hearted and doesn't want to cut off these people's wealth, so he just turns a blind eye. If we really want to ban them, there is no reason why we can't! Just like today we inspected these two places If the relevant people are treated as collaborators and severely punished, no one will dare to violate the ban again. ”
Jin Ming said: "That's the truth, but it's still not easy to operate. These trading houses and shipping companies are backed by officials. If they are too tough, it will definitely make it very difficult for Mr. Xu."
"It would be great if Mr. Jin could understand my father's difficulties." Xu Yuxing felt a little better after hearing Jin Ming's comments.
(End of chapter)