Chapter 2053
Although the Xu family had great influence in Fujian, and had even gradually replaced the command of the imperial court and the Ministry of War in the military field, they were still nominally subjects of the Ming Dynasty, and they did not dare to violate some established rules easily. For example, Xu Xinsu would strictly order his subordinates to avoid conflicts with the Jinyiwei, who were known as the emperor's personal soldiers, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.
No matter how good the relationship with Jin Yiwei is, the yamen will not gain anything, but if it offends this group of people, the trouble will really continue. Xu Xinsu didn't want her family's businesses and connections outside Fujian to become Jin Yiwei's targets, so she always kept a respectful distance from Jin Yiwei and tried her best to avoid infringement.
But if Jin Yiwei is bold and wants to deceive him, that's another matter. Xu Yuxing noticed that the Jin Yiwei in this place was behaving badly and tried to engage in some unfriendly actions under the Xu family's nose, so naturally he would no longer exercise restraint. When it comes to the safety of the Xu family, there is no room for compromise.
After the city defense army and their subordinates conducted a preliminary search inside the Jinfa and determined that there were no safety hazards, Xu Jiaqi, Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming entered the place to check the real situation inside.
The Jinfa residence is quite large, with four courtyards in total. The city defense army has gathered all the people arrested here, as well as several people who were shot dead with muskets during the attack, into the second courtyard. In the patio.
Xu Yuxing and the others walked into the courtyard and saw a dense crowd of people kneeling in the courtyard, their hands shackled behind their backs. Various weapons seized from these people were placed in the open space next to them. In addition to a few hand crossbows, there were also several Jinyiwei standard waist knives and two long and short fire guns.
How could an ordinary businessman hide so many weapons in his own business? Just based on these seizures, it is basically confirmed that these people are not ordinary people.
"No badge?" Xu Yuxing glanced at it and asked the subordinate responsible for searching for evidence. If these people's identities are Jin Yiwei, then they will definitely carry Jin Yiwei's unique identity badges.
The subordinate was very smart. He leaned behind Xu Yuxing and lowered his voice and replied: "My lord, I have found the badge. I thought that putting this thing on display might make it difficult for you to deal with it, so I put it away first."< br>
Xu Yuxing glanced at him sideways and nodded slightly to confirm his approach: "You are quite smart...well done!"
If these people show their cards, the matter will become a public-to-public fight between the two yamen. Although Xu Yuxing is not afraid of Jin Yiwei, it will inevitably cause a lot of trouble in handling it. But after confiscating their badges first, even if these people self-reported their identities, Xu Yuxing could not accept them and treat them as a group of thugs who used force to fight against the government. Even if Jin Yiwei came forward to arrest the people afterwards, Xu Yuxing could plausibly argue that the identities of these people could not be confirmed at the time of arrest.
Of course, this also brings up another question. Since there are real Jin Yiwei inside, why don't they directly reveal their identities before, but choose to fight. Even after the city defense army arrives here, they still have a chance to reveal their identities. But why didn't they do it after all?
The answer lies in the third courtyard. Xu Yuxing saw a large pile of still smoking ashes here. Judging from the shape, it was not difficult to tell that these were the remains of a large amount of burned paper. In other words, when this place was besieged just now, the people inside gave up on expressing themselves. Identity and then surrendered the opportunity, seizing the time to destroy some information recorded on paper by burning it.
Xu Yuxing's face was very ugly, which meant that the situation that Jin Ming reminded him of earlier had become a reality, and the reason why he gave the other party an opportunity to take advantage of it was more or less due to his command errors. He originally wanted to show off his skills in front of Haihan's peers, but now it looks like he messed up.
Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on Xu Yuxing's poor command. If he had directly ordered a storm before mobilizing the city defense troops, there would of course be a chance to capture this stronghold and prevent the opponent from burning the evidence. But judging from the weapons captured, it must be necessary. It is possible to achieve the goal only by paying a certain amount of casualties, and this is exactly the situation Xu Yuxing strives to avoid.
If I had to find fault, I could only blame Xu Yuxing for not making thorough preparations in advance and for underestimating the difficulty of this mission. If he had activated the city defense troops to participate in the operation from the beginning, he would not have been kept out for so long. In the final analysis, this was an underestimation of Jin Yiwei's strength. He never expected that the other party would dare to make such a strong response in Zhangzhou City.
Jin Ming sighed secretly when he saw these ashes, thinking that after all, he was a step too late and allowed the other party to destroy the key evidence. I don’t know if any of these ashes are related to Haihan. If it involves the matter I am investigating, it will inevitably delay the investigation process greatly. Although a lot of people have been captured alive, these people are all specially trained personnel. It is probably not easy to obtain credible information from them. And because of the special status of these people, Xu Yuxing must also have a headache on how to deal with them.
Xu Yuxing said: "If there were only things on paper, they might not be so nervous. Search this place for me! What are they hiding? You have to dig three feet into the ground to find it!"
Most of Xu Yuxing's people had received training in investigation and search, and they also had corresponding skills in how to find hidden places in the house. At that moment, everyone split up and followed his request to find important evidence that might exist somewhere.
While Xu Yuxing was giving the order, Jin Ming was carefully observing the movements of the group of captured personnel. If there is really any great secret hidden here, Xu Yuxing's order to search again will surely make the insiders among them react.
And just as he expected, when hearing Xu Yuxing's loud orders, several of them turned their heads silently and exchanged glances with each other, seeming to be a little nervous about this situation.
Jin Ming immediately informed Xu Yuxing of his observations, and the latter, without the slightest hesitation, ordered the people identified by Jin Ming to be taken aside first. Since these people have reacted, they are likely to be insiders, and they can be interrogated later.
Although the courtyard of Jinfahao is not small, Xu Yuxing has transferred enough people this time, and even if he searches carefully foot by foot, it will be very fast. Xu Yuxing had three chairs brought out from the flower hall, and he sat in the patio with Xu Jiaqi and Jin Ming, settling down to wait for the result.
I have to say that the people under Xu Yuxing were quite capable. Within about a minute of burning incense, someone came to report that something had been discovered in the woodshed.
"Let's go take a look!" This is what Xu Yuxing was waiting for. He immediately jumped up from his chair and called Xu Jiaqi and Jin Ming to go check it out together. For a house with such a large area, the kitchen and woodshed are naturally indispensable, and these are often areas that are easily overlooked during the search. After all, most people usually hide important items in their daily living areas, which makes it easier to check them at any time. However, places like the kitchen and woodshed are not so convenient for servants to enter and exit. If an ordinary police officer came to search, he would probably go in and walk around and then come out, but Xu Yuxing's men were so down-to-earth that they actually moved out all the thousands of kilograms of firewood piled in the firewood shed, only to reveal the firewood hidden inside. Things underneath the pile.
These are three long wooden boxes stacked together, about six feet long, two feet wide, and seven inches thick. The surface of the box seems to be painted with a layer of darker paint. This treatment is mostly used to prevent water and moth. The top box had been opened by the searchers, and several muskets with their barrels wrapped in oilcloth were neatly placed inside. There were also many dry straws in the box for cushioning. It was obvious that the investigators realized that these items were important exhibits after opening the box, and immediately notified Xu Yuxing without rushing to further examine the contents of the box.
"Master Jin, you said they were hiding these things in the woodshed just now when they closed the door and kept silent?" Xu Yuxing couldn't help but smile when he saw the contents of the box.
Jin Ming echoed: "The third young master is right. They obviously have so many weapons, but they didn't use them just now. It seems they don't want us to find out that they have these things."
Xu Yuxing waved his hand and said: "It's too dark in this woodshed. Carry these boxes of things outside."
In the resistance just now, people like Jinfa would rather use crossbows than use these muskets. Either they don't know how to use such weapons, or they don't dare to expose these weapons to the broad daylight. In the view of Jin Ming and Xu Yuxing, it is most likely the latter situation. After all, one of their original intentions of investigating the Jinfa No. was to try to find a connection between this place and the Spanish arms smuggling case, and now It seems that they have discovered the most powerful evidence.
The three wooden boxes were carried outside the woodshed by Xu Yuxing's men. Xu Yuxing made a gesture of invitation to Jin Ming, meaning that he would be the first to check the origin of these weapons.
Jin Ming came here for this purpose, so he didn't refuse immediately. He reached out and took out a musket from the box, and removed the oilcloth tied to the gun body, revealing the complete gun body.
Although he was not a soldier, he had a lot of knowledge about weapons due to his work. He could tell at a glance that this thing was not made by the Ming Dynasty or Haihan. After a closer look, he already had a preliminary understanding. judge.
Jin Ming handed the musket to Xu Yuxing and said: "Third Young Master, General Xu, please take a look. The patterns on this gun are the characters used by the Spanish!"
After Xu Yuxing examined it, he sneered: "Jin Yiwei dared to secretly collude with the Spaniards, how good it is!"
Although he didn't know Spanish, he knew that Jin Ming would never joke about such a thing. There are actually Spanish muskets hidden in Jinyiwei's stronghold. This matter may not be easy to clear up. Although the Ming Dynasty did not have bad relations with Spain, it also did not formally establish diplomatic relations. The charge of smuggling arms must not be avoided.
Jin Ming was actually more shocked. Although the intelligence department had previously suspected that the Spaniards' export of arms was supported by some special agencies in the Ming Dynasty, no relevant evidence had been found. This time in Zhangzhou The weapons seized in the city provide strong evidence for this speculation.
However, just the discovery of these weapons is not enough to form a complete chain of evidence to prove that the mastermind behind the import of Spanish weapons into the north was Jin Yiwei. Because in any case, it is impossible for the Jin Yiwei to help Spain provide military assistance to the Qing Dynasty, its mortal enemy. This matter is unreasonable both emotionally and logically. Only by clarifying the specific channels through which these weapons entered this place can we confirm the role of Jin Yiwei in this matter.
Judging from the previous resistance and destruction of evidence by the Jin Yiwei here, they obviously do not want people to find out that they possess these weapons - they have so many muskets secretly hidden in Zhangzhou City, and they intend to use these weapons against someone. The goal seems self-evident.
Xu Yuxing and Xu Jiaqi have obviously thought of this. Xu Jiaqi held a musket in his hand and inspected it carefully. His face was as dark as coal. It was impossible to guard against how much trouble this thing could do in the hands of Jin Yiwei. If it weren't for the good luck in seizing these weapons here today and allowing Jin Yiwei to put them to use, Fujian would have been in chaos.
"This matter needs to be reported to your lord immediately." Xu Jiaqi said solemnly: "Since it is related to Jin Yiwei, then Jin Yiwei's other places to stay in the city must also be carefully investigated!"
"More than that, the relevant people must be detained as soon as possible to find out the truth. If Jin Yiwei can't come up with a reasonable explanation, it can only mean one thing." Xu Yuxing stopped abruptly and did not continue. After all, this kind of thing can only be thought about and cannot be spoken out, otherwise it is very likely to cause disaster to the Xu family.
Jin Ming had already understood what Xu Yuxing wanted to express. If Jin Yiwei cannot give a reasonable explanation for why they smuggled guns into Zhangzhou City and resisted the search by the local army, it can only mean that this arrangement was not planned by Jin Yiwei, but came from instructions from a higher level.
If the people in power in the court have made plans to use some special means to dismantle Xu Xinsu's dominance in Fujian, it means that the superficial harmony between the two parties has come to an end, and there is no way to maintain the current superficial relationship between monarch and minister.
This will undoubtedly be a huge test for Xu Xinsu, who has never planned to separate himself from the mountain and become king. He must decide whether to handle the matter in a low-key manner and continue to maintain a superior-subordinate relationship with Mingting, or simply use the This is an opportunity to raise a flag to rebel and start a new chapter. But open rebellion is taboo at any time. Even if the Xu family is a local snake in Fujian, Xu Yuxing dare not talk about it in public.
(End of chapter)