Chapter 2072
Yu Yao didn't know that this method was not very feasible, but now the information about Japan was very limited. Even if there was little hope, he could only try his best to investigate from every possible information channel. If the blind cat encounters a dead mouse, if this method really works, there may be a few more subjects to interrogate.
Of course, in addition to the purpose of investigating the previous series of cases, Yu Yao actually also wanted to take this opportunity to suppress the Dutch again.
The Dutch East India Company maintained trade relations with Japan. Of course Haihan had known about this for a long time, otherwise Yu Yao would not have taken the initiative to visit in order to investigate relevant clues. But if he hadn't taken a tough stance and asked the Dutch to cooperate, the other party would probably have continued to conceal the information and concealed relevant clues from Haihan. It's unknown to what extent this matter would have developed.
Although the Dutch made amends afterwards and indeed arrested the suspect, it was difficult for Yu Yao to be satisfied with his performance. Taking this opportunity to stumble the Dutch, it was also possible to make up for the regret of not catching anyone alive in Taiyuan Port.
Although the scale of the East India Company's trade with Japan cannot be said to be very large, it is one of its most important trading partners in Northeast Asia. The request made by Yu Yao is actually forcing the Dutch to fall out with the Hirado Domain. Once the matter is exposed, it may be difficult for the Dutch to maintain trade relations with Japan through the Hirado Domain. Hans refused to accept the task of continuing to deceive the Hirado Domain in every possible way, precisely because he knew that the consequences of doing so would definitely be a complete falling out with the Hirado Domain, which might cause the East India Company to lose this important trade channel. .
Yu Yao sneered and said: "Mr. Hans, you probably haven't realized the seriousness of this matter. Back then, the Fujian Strait was going through a lot of trouble over the Shibazhi matter. You were also one of the people who witnessed it, so I don't need to say more. It's a waste of time. You only need to know one thing. Our country's attitude towards the Eighteen Zhizhi is still the same now. If the Eighteen Zhizhi still wants to break out, another war may break out by the East India Company! If you want to stay out of it, it may be too late.”
At that time, the Shibazhi was the dominant family in the Fujian waters, and even the Western colonists had to avoid it. However, the newly-emerged Haihan Kingdom spent several years to gnaw out the Shibazhi. A tough guy, there were quite a lot of large-scale battles during this period. In the early days, the Dutch East India Company openly sided with Shibazhi and sent troops to fight Haihan. After suffering heavy losses, it gradually turned neutral and did not dare to participate in the war between Haihan and Shibazhi.
The East India Company colluded with Shiba Zhi, but Haihan did not pursue the matter in depth, and still left Damuan Port to the Dutch. But Yu Yao's current tone was that he suspected that the East India Company and the Eighteenth Party Committee were colluding again. If this guess is confirmed, it will probably mean that the old and new accounts will have to be settled together.
Hans was really in a dilemma at this time. He didn't want to let himself and his boss be involved in the feud between Haihan and Shibazhi again, but the people of Haihan didn't seem to want to give him the chance to sit back and watch.
He quickly weighed the pros and cons. If he didn't take sides, he would probably offend the Haihan people, and even incur military retaliation from Haihan. If we side with Haihan, it seems inevitable that we will lose Japan's trade channels, but preserving Taimu Port should not be a problem. The lesser of two evils, for myself and the East India Company, it is of course more important to keep the stronghold of Damuan Port. After all, going north from here, the Netherlands will no longer have any colonies. Yuan Port can at least preserve the main trade channel to the Ming Dynasty.
Hans took a deep breath and said to Yu Yao: "I don't know the internal situation of Hirado Bank, so the best I can do is block the news locally. If you want to follow the general's request, take the initiative to send people to peace. Reporting to Hu Fan might be counterproductive.”
All Hans can do now is to reduce the anger of the Haihan people as much as possible and reduce his own participation in this conflict, so as to avoid the losses that the East India Company will suffer in the future.
Yu Yao was silent for a while, and then put forward a new condition: "Since you can't help much, then my people must participate in the search of Hirado Bank. All kinds of evidence seized here, including weapons, , accounts, and personal belongings must all be handed over to us. ”
This condition is much easier than the previous request. Hans nodded and said: "Then it's a deal!"
After he agreed, he noticed that Yu Yao's expression relaxed, and he immediately knew that he must have fallen into the opponent's trap. The other party first deliberately puts forward a condition that makes it very difficult for him, and then waits for him to complain before putting forward real conditions in a concessionary manner, which makes it difficult for him to bargain with him. Hans could only sigh secretly, no matter whether it was Haihan or the Hirado clan, the people he met were not kind.
When night fell, the search for Hirado Bank was still not over, but Yu Yao did not choose to stay in Taiyuan Port for the night. He boarded the ship and left the place before dark, leaving only a few people to continue here. Completed search and evidence collection tasks. The harvest of this trip has far exceeded his expectations. Originally, he just wanted to try his luck at Taiyuan Port and see if he could get some information from the Dutch side, but unexpectedly, he implemented several pieces of information. Very important clue.
At present, it can be basically confirmed that the person behind the series of arms smuggling cases has a very close relationship with the Hirado Domain of Japan, and it is very likely that he was once affiliated with Shiba Shiba and escaped from the battle of Miyakojima. fish.
These people spent a lot of effort to deploy a large number of institutions under the cover of commercial activities along the southeastern coast, and through these institutions they found local targets for military assistance and provided them with muskets and weapons made in Spain. And this can also explain why the forces that obtained these weapons were mostly concentrated in the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, and they all targeted Haihan or Haihan's allies - this area belonged to the Eighteen Zhizhi a few years ago. Controlled sphere of influence.
Of course, the remnants of Shibazhi are very familiar with the geography and culture of these trading ports, and they may even have many local connections. Therefore, it is not difficult to operate some commercial institutions in this area in a low-key manner. Even Xu Xinsu Zhangzhou, the home base that has been managed for many years, has also been penetrated by it.
Victory Fort received a long telegram from Penghu the next morning. Yu Yao detailed what he had gained in Damuan Port the previous day and attached some personal opinions. Then the executive committee immediately summoned relevant officials to hold a meeting to discuss how to handle the matter next.
"Shibazhi...this group of people is really lingering!" After listening to Yan Chujie read out the contents of the message, Tao Donglai couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect that after several years, we would have to talk to Shibazhi again. Deal!" "This group of people should be very different from the Shiba Zhi who were eliminated by us back then." Yan Chujie reminded after putting down the message: "The leaders of Shiba Zhi, including Zheng Zhilong, were involved in several major events. They all died one after another in the battle. The current group is more likely to be composed of their subordinates, relatives and friends, and careerists under their banner."
"You are right. We should examine its existence from a more objective perspective." Tao Donglai nodded in agreement with Yan Chujie's opinion. After thinking about it, he asked He Xi, "What do you think?"
"According to the information obtained by Yu Yao from his investigation in Taiyuan Port, this group of people is probably attached to the Hirado Domain of Japan, or has a very close cooperative relationship with it." He Xi slowly analyzed: "Because that year The main force of Shiba Zhi has been wiped out by us, and there are basically no people who can lead troops to fight. Therefore, although this group of people is very likely to have a deep connection with Shiba Zhi, the way they act has changed Fundamental changes.”
"This group of people is better at business than fighting, so they chose a trading company as a cover for their identity, and slowly cultivated local armed forces that they could use for their own use. Unfortunately, it was too early for them to reveal their flaws. If they were allowed to do so again, They have been operating quietly for several years, and if they seize an opportunity to join forces in various places at the same time, it is really hard to say what the result will be.”
After listening to He Xi's analysis, everyone in the meeting couldn't help but recall the beginning of this series of events that attracted the attention of the Executive Committee, the attempted assassination of the Joseon Crown Prince in Hainan Island, and the sneak attack by the Qing Army's musketeers in Liaodong. It was precisely because of the presence of muskets of unknown origin in these two incidents of a special nature that the intelligence agencies invested a large amount of manpower in the investigation, which slowly led to a series of shocking discoveries following clues.
If according to what He Xi said, the other party was not in a hurry to launch these two attacks at the end of last year, but continued to operate their industry in a low-key manner and did not take the initiative to expose themselves, then it would probably be difficult for Haihan to discover the activities they were doing. .
"Then the question is, why did they choose this time at the end of last year to launch?" Tao Donglai asked: "Especially in Liaodong, the Qing army exposed a group of people they had trained so hard just to destroy one of our patrols. Team Musketeers, this does not seem like a decision that a calculating person would make.”
"I think the attack on the patrol in Liaodong was not necessarily initiated by this group of people. They should not have such great influence to influence the Qing army's combat arrangements." Yan Chujie responded: "That incident is more likely to be caused by A senior officer of the Qing army was hot-headed and wanted to arrange a practical operation to verify whether the troops equipped with new muskets could meet their expectations. As for the consequences, the Qing army probably never imagined that we would investigate from a small-scale battle. They must have produced so many things, otherwise they should have transferred the musketry team away from the Jinshitan Camp.”
The situation speculated by Yan Chujie was undoubtedly closer to the truth. The purpose of the Qing army's attack was not clear, and there was no plan for the arrangements after the victory was achieved. He did not expect that the Haihan army would formulate it in a short period of time. The battle plan for this musketeer team resulted in the nascent musketeer team being annihilated by the Haihan army that sneaked into enemy lines. Compared with the limited results they achieved, the losses outweighed the gains in the end, and it would be difficult to rebuild a second musketeer team of the same size in the short term.
However, the investigation work related to the attack on Joseon Crown Prince Li Zhi is at a standstill. The group of people captured in Danzhou were all bounty killers who came for money. They only knew that the target of their operation was Li Xie, but they did not know what the real purpose of this operation was. The employers who hired these killers also cut off relevant clues before Haihan could pursue them.
The Ministry of Security speculates that the purpose of the mastermind is to undermine the relationship between Haihan and North Korea, but there is another unconfirmed view that this attack on Li Zhi should be related to the change of royal power in North Korea.
After all, the Korean royal family has experienced many situations in which members of the royal family fought against each other for power in the past few hundred years. It is normal for similar situations to occur here with Li Zhen. Moreover, after Li Zhi goes to Haihan as an envoy to study abroad, Haihan will support him to inherit the throne of Joseon as the crown prince. This will undoubtedly make it more difficult for others who are obsessed with the throne to usurp the throne. Quite a few. And if Li Xie can be killed when he is not in the country, not only will his competitors be eliminated, but he will also be able to get rid of suspicion easily.
This conspiracy theory view has many supporters among Haihan senior officials, but due to the lack of empirical evidence, it is still just a speculation. However, since then, the protection provided by Haihan for Li Zhi has been strengthened a lot, in order to ensure Li Zhi's personal safety while studying abroad in Haihan.
To find out this matter, I am afraid we have to hope that new clues will emerge in North Korea. However, considering that this kind of struggle for power is extremely sensitive, even if there is something going on within the royal family, most likely they will not take the initiative to inform Haehan and proceed. The investigation is extremely difficult.
Recent investigation results have given rise to a third possibility for the purpose of this attack, that is, the Japanese Hirado clan, or the remnants of Shiba Shiba, also participated in the attack against the crown prince of Joseon for some reason.
As for the time the other party chose to take action, according to the interrogation of Xue Zheng and others, their actions seriously lacked sufficient preparation, and they did not even formulate a specific action plan in advance. Therefore, Haihan executives generally believed that this was for To seize the opportunity that Li Zhi had just arrived in Haihan, the relevant security measures were not so strict. In fact, if Xue Zheng and his group were not too eager to take action before Li Zhi completed the inspection around the island, they would have postponed it for a while. On that day, there may be a better opportunity to take action.
And this kind of attempt cannot be repeated. Once it fails, it will be difficult to get a second chance. It's just that the relevant investigation work of the Ministry of Security has stalled. He Xi can't help but feel a little embarrassed every time he talks about this issue.
(End of chapter)