Chapter 2059
If someone had told Xu Yuxing two or three days ago that there would be armed resistance against the government troops in Zhangzhou City, he would have definitely thought that the other party was out of his mind. In Zhangzhou, which has been under the control of the Xu family in recent years, no one has dared to confront the Xu family. Even those who are dissatisfied with the Xu family find it difficult to think of fighting against the Xu family with force.
Xiamen Island outside Zhangzhou City is stationed with the largest naval force in the entire Ming Dynasty. The strength reported to the court is 3,000 people, but the actual strength is nearly 10,000, with more than 100 warships of all levels, and they are still there every year With continuous expansion, its actual combat effectiveness is enough to rank second after the Haihan Navy in East Asia.
In addition, there are thousands of army troops under the jurisdiction of Zhenhaiwei, deployed in various places in Zhangzhou Prefecture. Many of these troops had fought overseas with the Haihan Army, and their rich practical experience was rare among the Ming armies in the southeastern coastal areas.
In addition to the nearly 3,000 city defense troops in Zhangzhou City, there are also Xu Xinsu's Guards. These armed forces can be regarded as the elite of the Fujian Ming Army. Except for Haihan, I am afraid it will be difficult to pull out another one in the entire East Asia region. This army can defeat Xu Xinsu's men with equal strength.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zhangzhou City, which is under heavy protection, is the safest city in the Ming Dynasty coastal area, but if nothing happens to this place, it will be a major event that shakes the whole city. The smuggling of weapons, the participation of Jin Yiwei, and the armed resistance against the government and the army, any one of these factors is not a trivial matter if taken alone, and when all these factors are put together, the chaos that breaks out will indeed cause chaos in the city for a while.
Xu Yuxing knew that as the head of the intelligence agency, he was undoubtedly responsible for the current situation. Before Haihan made the request for assistance in the investigation, he had no idea that someone in the city was planning such a huge conspiracy. Imagine that if Haihan had not made any request and allowed these people to prepare and implement their plan in the city, the Xu family, who was completely unprepared, might have been caught off guard.
Fortunately, he was lucky. When he started investigating relevant clues, the hostile personnel in the city were still in the preparation stage, and the Jin Yiwei had not even had time to complete the training on using muskets. The city defense army blocked the city gate in time, cutting off the opponent's escape route out of the city, which also turned the subsequent arrest into a trap.
After finishing the task yesterday, Xu Yuxing once thought that all the enemies in the city had been captured, and the remaining work was just to collect physical evidence and interrogate the prisoners, but he did not expect that after one night, such a serious situation would happen again today. Xu Yuxing did not dare to make too much fuss this time, and honestly and Xu Jiaqi deployed the outer encirclement first, and took preventive measures against other emergencies that might occur in Zhangzhou City.
Before the operation against Zhengfuji began, Xu Jiaqi had ordered the implementation of stricter temporary military control in Zhangzhou City, suspended all applications for entry and exit from the city, and deployed additional troops around Xu Xinsu's residence to ensure that no dangerous elements would be allowed to enter the city. A chance to blend in.
Jin Ming, who has followed the entire investigation, is quite excited about the current situation. The middleman in the weapons smuggling activities that Haihan has always wanted to find seems to be showing his true identity bit by bit.
In order to break through Zhengfu Ji as soon as possible and complete the arrest, the offensive launched this time was not only launched from the front entrance, but also launched at the back entrance at the other end of the courtyard at the same time. However, compared with the main entrance, which is relatively open, the back entrance located in a narrow alley makes it difficult for the musketeers to form a formation to suppress fire. After the goal was broken, there were sporadic firings from inside, but it was difficult to launch an effective counterattack from the outside, so the progress was far less smooth than the offensive at the front door.
The commander found that the attack was unfavorable, so he could only ask the shield soldiers to hold the large shield against the door to attract the opponent to fire. This would at least consume the opponent's limited ammunition. If the opponent's shooting is interrupted, wait for an opportunity to forcefully advance.
Although this strategy is relatively passive, it is very effective, because the defense pressure at the front door is greater, and the people inside can only simply set up defenses at the back door, and having fewer guns means that the pause time after each firing will be very long. It's enough for the attacker to seize the opportunity.
While the front gate was still suppressing the resistance in the yard with fire, the city defense troops at the back gate had caught the opponent's firing intervals and invaded Zhengfuji. Although the people inside also tried to resist again, the city defense army with superior strength and equipment quickly broke down their desperate struggle.
Once the back door was broken, the originally poorly thought-out defense line in Zhengfu Ji immediately collapsed. At this time, the resistance at the front gate could not withstand the intensive shooting of the city defense troops. In addition, when they heard the gunshots coming from the rear, it was difficult for the people inside to concentrate on resisting the influx of city defense troops from the gate.
Compared with Jinfahao, which had several people entering the courtyard, Zhengfuji is a much smaller place, and cleaning up the mess is relatively faster. In this brief battle, twelve people in the courtyard were directly killed by the city defense troops, and seven others were captured. In addition, during the search of various rooms, the city defense army also discovered traces of burned papers. Judging from the remaining heat, these should also be some written materials that had been burned just now.
Although it seemed that they were half a step too slow, allowing the other party time to destroy key information, when they later verified the identity of the captives, they discovered a big gain.
Sun Yongjun, who was originally thought to be not in Zhangzhou City, was actually among these prisoners. Although he was not wearing the uniform of a Jinyiwei and was covered in blood and looked very embarrassed, Xu Yuxing recognized him among the prisoners at a glance.
"Master Baihu, you are really easy for us to find!" Xu Yuxing took the initiative to walk over, squatted in front of Sun Yongjun, and said to him with a smile: "I heard from your subordinates that you left Zhangzhou City a few days ago. I thought I would never have the chance to say goodbye to Mr. Baihu in person, but I didn’t expect to meet again at this place.”
Sun Yongjun glanced at Xu Yuxing and said nothing. He slowly lowered his head, seeming to accept the current situation.
Catching this fish that slipped through the net in Zhengfuji basically confirmed the relationship between Jinyiwei and Zhengfuji. Next, we need to find out whether Zhengfuji is the middleman who transported weapons to the Ming Dynasty. Even if some physical evidence has been destroyed by them, now that they have found this, there will still be other directions for investigation, such as the industries, ships, warehouses, etc. under the name of Zhengfu Ji, instead of burning a few books Account books can completely cover up the past. And the money that Zhengfu Ji had withdrawn via the Hui Feng in the past should have gone somewhere.
"Congratulations to Mr. Xu. This time we captured the leader of the Jin Yiwei and confiscated a large number of muskets. This is a great achievement!" Jin Ming praised him knowingly.
Xu Yuxing did not forget how much he weighed because of this praise. He knew very well that his previous mistakes and omissions in handling local security issues far outweighed his achievements. Now these arrests can only be regarded as remedial measures to make up for the mistakes. Xu Yuxing hurriedly responded: "Master Jin has given you too much praise. All my responsibilities are within my scope. Thanks to Master Jin for providing clues and guiding the investigation this time. Otherwise, if these guys were allowed to prepare for a while, something big would happen!" ”
"These murderers have a big plan. Now that these two places have been destroyed, the news will definitely spread quickly. If we want to catch the real mastermind behind them, we have to hurry up!" Jin Ming immediately said after he finished blowing Returning to business, Xu Yuxing was reminded that the follow-up investigation work must be carried out as soon as possible.
Xu Yuxing said: "Master Jin is right, but Sun Yongjun has a special status. I'm afraid it will be inconvenient to interrogate him here. It would be better to take him to a more suitable place for another trial. Master Jin, would you like to interrogate this person together?"
"It's my wish, but I dare not invite you." Jin Ming responded with a smile.
About half an hour later, in a dark secret room in the city, Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming sat down and began to interrogate the leader of the Jin Yiwei.
Of course, Sun Yongjun was not as calm as them at this time. His hands and feet were shackled to an upright wooden frame, and his whole body showed a "big" posture. Next to him was a hot charcoal fire with several iron rods inserted in it, as well as two naked executioners.
"Sun Baihu, Sun Yongjun, I never thought I would meet you in such a situation. This is really a very sad thing. I believe you have your own reasons for reaching this point. But in fact, the current The situation can still be saved. As long as you are willing to cooperate with us and honestly reveal all the information you know, you will still have a chance to walk out of this place as Sun Baihu and continue to be your Jinyiwei. If you have any other conditions, For example, you can also name the amount of money and we can discuss it later.”
Xu Yuxing did not order the execution of the other party at the beginning. He still hoped to proceed step by step. It would be best to use exchange conditions to directly persuade the other party to give up resistance, which would save a lot of trouble. Of course, if Sun Yongjun really chooses to confess, Xu Yuxing will not let him return to his post as Jinyiwei. He will only take him into custody as a key witness. He may be useful in the future, such as letting Jinyiwei Lower your head and completely withdraw from several key areas in Fujian.
"The matter has come to an end, there is no need to discuss it any more. I know what you are planning, and I also know that I can't escape at all. Why don't you just give me a break, so that everyone can save trouble!" After Sun Yongjun spoke, he revealed He obviously wanted to die and didn't believe the conditions Xu Yuxing said.
"We don't want you to die." Xu Yuxing slowly shook his head and said, "At least we won't let you die too happily. I know seventy-eight ways to make your life worse than death, and even after trying them all, you still can't die. Do you want to try it? ”
Sun Yongjun did not answer the question. He also knew that Xu Yuxing was his colleague, and the third young master of the Xu family was not inferior to him in the ruthless temperament unique to this profession. These harsh words were more than mere verbal threats. Although Sun Yongjun already had the intention to die, he did not want to be tortured by the other party again with various cruel methods before death.
"Let me say a few words." Seeing that the other party did not accept Xu Yuxing's words, Jin Ming took the initiative to join in: "Let me introduce myself first. I am Jin Ming, the special affairs officer stationed in Zhangzhou from the Haihan Kingdom. I have been in Zhangzhou City these two days. The arrest operation launched is the request made by me to Mr. Xu.”
Sun Yongjun glanced at Jin Ming and snorted, but still did not answer.
Jin Ming continued: "You may not know why you, the Haihan Kingdom, are involved in these small actions you are doing in Zhangzhou. In fact, I am not afraid to tell you that regarding these muskets flowing into various places through special channels, our country is We conducted a follow-up investigation and got a lot of information. Otherwise, how could we have found Jinfahao and Zhengfuji in one investigation?”
"You Jin Yiwei may have a last resort reason for using these muskets to cause chaos in Zhangzhou, but you probably don't know that the middlemen who provide you with these weapons are also supplying weapons to the Qing Dynasty in Liaodong, and the Qing army has already transferred the weapons they obtained. The muskets were deployed into the army and went into battle. Sun Baihu, do you know what this means? The people who provide you with weapons are not trying to help your Jin Yiwei deal with Master Xu, but they are trying to create internal and external troubles in the Ming Dynasty. , take advantage of the chaos to profit!”
"They plotted to assassinate visiting foreign dignitaries in Haihan Kingdom, provided weapons to the Qing army in Liaodong, instigated civil strife for salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and asked you Jin Yiwei to commit suicide in Fujian. This group of people is not what you think. Maritime merchants, but a group of conspirators who are hiding behind the scenes to manipulate the current situation! Sun Baihu, if you die in Zhangzhou City today, you will probably think that you died for the country and died well, but in fact it is not the case. You, your men, and the entire Zhangzhou Jinyiwei are all just tools to be used!”
"Do you think you can keep all the secrets without opening your mouth? It's impossible. Your attitude at this time is just to protect the mastermind who killed you!"
After Jin Ming's admonishing speech, Sun Yongjun's expression changed, but it was obvious that he still didn't believe Jin Ming's unilateral remarks. After all, he is just a small household, and the information he has access to is actually very limited. Even in places far away in Fujian, it is difficult to transmit information in a timely manner, let alone what is happening in other countries in other provinces.
Moreover, the amount of information in Jin Ming's words was too great. With his cognitive level, it was difficult to digest the contents in a short time. For example, when Ming Dynasty created internal and external troubles, it was difficult for him to understand the purpose of this behavior for a while.
Jin Ming was not in a hurry, and turned to Xu Yuxing and said: "Third Young Master, let's assume that if what these Jin Yiwei planned is accomplished, for example, they use muskets to hurt Mr. Xu, what will happen next? ”
(End of chapter)