Chapter 2097
Since ancient times, it has been a good job for the government to confiscate private property. Usually, the leading officials who perform such tasks will more or less intercept some benefits under various names and put them into their own pockets, so Cui Hongfang's approach is not surprising. However, he was not too greedy. Since Duan Tiancheng took the initiative to give this benefit to himself, he also reciprocated and took out part of it to borrow flowers and offer it to the Buddha as a gift to Duan Tiancheng.
Duan Tiancheng's attention was not on this windfall, so he accepted it half-heartedly after a few polite words. Just as Cui Hongfang said, he led a team to Ningbo City to perform a mission, and his brothers must also be hoping to get some benefits from this mission. However, when I return to Zhoushan, I still have to report it to my superiors, so as not to be found guilty of this kind of thing in the future and affect my career.
Duan Tiancheng is more concerned about other things found here, such as weapons such as muskets, so that he can convince the other party that this place is indeed a very dangerous pirate stronghold. If there is nothing, then he will undoubtedly appear a little too nervous after he has instructed Cui Hongfang to do so much preparation work in advance.
Fortunately, the search results of the dry goods store did not disappoint him in the end. He actually found a hidden compartment in the warehouse where the dry goods were stored, and found three muskets, several stainless steel waist knives, and a small amount of ammunition. Although these weapons are not enough to cause big trouble, if the people in the dry goods store are prepared in advance, the Ming army may still suffer casualties during the arrest.
"These bold thieves really deserve death!"
After confirming these weapons, Sun Feizhou and others were proven guilty. Cui Hongfang looked stern, but he was secretly relieved. Today, everyone who should be arrested has been caught, and the required evidence has been found. Officer Haihan seems to be satisfied with the result. This mission should be considered successfully completed.
Among the people captured in the dry goods store, except for Sun Feizhou, the leader who used his identity as the shopkeeper, who had committed suicide by taking poison, several others were captured alive. However, two of them resisted during the arrest and were anxiously arrested. The Ming army was directly chopped to the ground. The injuries were not serious, but for now, they could only simply bandage them. Whether they could survive it would depend on their fate.
According to the prior agreement between the two parties, all those captured alive will be taken away by the Haihan Army. The Haihan side will then notify the Ningbo government of the results of the interrogation. Duan Tiancheng will also bring all relevant important exhibits back to Zhoushan Island and hand them over to the Military Intelligence Bureau for further testing to determine whether the weapons found in Ningbo are of the same format as other places where the crime occurred.
Cui Hongfang and Duan Tian shared the stolen money, and then handed over the prisoners and evidence. Duan Tiancheng said goodbye to Cui Hongfang and left. He had to rush back to Zhoushan as soon as possible to resume his life.
"Master Cui helped a lot this time. When I have the opportunity next time, I will come to Ningbo to hold a banquet to thank Master Cui!" When Duan Tiancheng said goodbye, he expressed his gratitude to Cui Hongfang very politely.
"Mr. Duan, you're very polite. You must come to Ningbo City after this period of work. I will come down to host you. Let's all get closer and closer!" Cui Hongfang sent the Buddha to the west and even took the initiative to cover the expenses for the next meeting. He felt that the Haihan officer named Duan was relatively easy to deal with, and he might be able to obtain some scarce resources from Haihan through this channel in the future.
Cui Hongfang's intention was not to purchase arms in batches from Haihan to strengthen his own army. After all, his relationship with Haihan was not yet familiar enough, so it would be very rash to make such a request. He thought that if he could establish some kind of direct trade relationship with the Zhoushan authorities in his own name, he should be able to get a lot of benefits from it.
As for how to operate the business in the meantime, he has no worries. In the past two years, he has been at the Yongjiangkou pier and witnessed the changes in the trade environment of Ningbo Prefecture. He has already understood 70% to 80% of it. Cui Hongfang also basically knows which Haihan products sell best and which products are most profitable when sold to Haihan people. He just waits for a suitable opportunity to enter the industry.
And with his status as a guard commander, many things will be easier to operate, and he can even directly use military resources to operate transactions. This practice is not uncommon in several prefectures in Linhai, Zhejiang, but only in Dinghai Wei was right under the nose of the Ningbo Prefecture. There were some little tricks that he couldn't do too obviously to avoid being jealous of the prefect.
Duan Tiancheng didn't expect Cui Hongfang to have so many plans, so he just thought he was being polite to him. Cui Hongfang sent someone to escort Duan Tiancheng's team out of the city, while he stayed here to complete the follow-up finishing work. Although this underground stronghold has been cracked, the surrounding area still needs to be cleaned up and the handover with the government office is completed. The government officials will do some work to appease the people and investigate the outstanding clues.
It was inconvenient for Duan Tiancheng to spend the night in Ningbo Mansion while escorting the prisoners and evidence. After leaving the city, he took a boat to the Yongjiang River and returned to Zhoushan Island overnight. After he completed the handover with the Military Intelligence Bureau, the sky was already dark, but Duan Tiancheng was not in a hurry to go back to rest. Instead, he went to Shi Diwen's mansion first, waiting for his boss to get up early and report as soon as possible.
Duan Tiancheng waited for more than an hour, and Shi Diwen got up. I heard that Duan Tiancheng had rushed back from Ningbo City overnight, so I immediately tidied up briefly and went out to see him.
"Coming back so early, you must have stayed up all night hungry. Let's eat something together first, and then we'll talk about the mission after we finish." Shi Diwen motioned to Duan Tiancheng, who was saluting him as a military salute, to sit down first. He believed that with Duan Tiancheng's ability and prior arrangements, this operation would not go wrong, so he was not in a hurry to understand the results of the operation, but first arranged for the other party to have breakfast with him.
Shi Diwen's breakfast cannot be said to be luxurious, but it is definitely not something ordinary people can eat in the market. Because Shi Diwen lived in the West in his early years, his dining habits are still more Western-oriented. Bread, milk and jam in the morning are a must-have. However, this kind of breakfast is usually only prepared for him alone, so Duan Tiancheng cannot enjoy it. Shi Diwen asked the kitchen to cook him a large bowl of beef noodles and added two fried eggs, which was at least enough. The tube is full.
After breakfast, Shi Diwen's orderly brought him another pot of coffee as usual, and this time Duan Tiancheng was willing to share it.
"This is coffee produced in Wanning County, Hainan Island. Drink it to refresh yourself. You rushed back from Ningbo all night and stayed up all night. Just drink this to cheer up." Shi Diwen picked up a small spoon and poured it into the cup. Stirring slowly, he gave some guidance to Duan Tiancheng who was at a loss: "If it feels bitter, put a sugar in it to neutralize it. But I like the taste of bitterness, you can control it yourself!"
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Duan Tiancheng felt that these words seemed to mean something, and quickly responded: "You can endure hardships even in humble positions!"
Shi Diwen smiled and did not respond to this positive statement. He knew that Duan Tiancheng was a smart young man and was good at figuring out other people's thoughts and intentions. Although this statement was obviously intended to flatter him, it was harmless. It is actually a good pleasure to have such a smart person running errands for you. For this mission of arresting people in Ningbo City, he did not make detailed arrangements to Duan Tiancheng beforehand. He only asked him to follow the information provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau and ask the Ningbo Government to cooperate with him to arrest the remaining members of the Eighteenth Zhi Party hiding in Ningbo City. Caught back. Duan Tiancheng took the lead in determining the specific action plan with Dinghaiwei and executing the arrest mission. Shi Diwen also wanted to take this opportunity to test the young officer's ability to do things and see if he was worthy of a higher position.
Coffee is a drink that has not spread in this era. Its cultivation and production are monopolized by the Arabs, and no one knows it in the East. Its introduction to Europe has only begun to take shape in recent years. One of the cash crops introduced by the Haihan people after traveling to this time and space was coffee. However, because there is no sales market for this thing, there are not many coffee trees planted in Wanning, Hainan. The coffee beans produced are basically supplied to Haihan senior officials. . Drinking this special drink has not yet become a trend among the upper class of Haihan, and the vast majority of people still prefer traditional tea.
Duan Tiancheng had never drank coffee before. He imitated Shi Diwen and stirred it with a small spoon a few times. He smelled a unique aroma. Then he carefully picked up the cup and took a sip. Sure enough, there was a strong aroma immediately. The bitter taste reverberated in my mouth, but it wasn't too much to bear. Duan Tiancheng thought of the potion made from traditional Chinese medicine that he had taken when he was sick before, and it seemed to have a taste similar to this coffee.
"It turns out that the general relies on drinking medicine to maintain his energy..." Duan Tiancheng turned this thought in his mind, and suddenly realized that this idea was really disrespectful, and quickly changed his mind to think about it: "This thing is actually the same as It’s the same as tea, but I don’t know what kind of medicinal materials are ground into powder.”
"How does it taste?" Shi Diwen asked with interest. He has also tried to promote this special drink to people around him, but it seems to be unpopular so far. Even his wife disliked the "potion" after trying it twice.
Duan Tiancheng responded: "It's not delicious, but it's not bad either. Although it's a bit bitter in the mouth, it's quite mild after entering the throat. It should be similar to tea."
Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Your feeling is almost right. The effect of this coffee is indeed similar to that of tea. If you feel you are used to it and report to work in the future, I will have someone make you a cup too."
It's not that Shi Diwen was reluctant to give some coffee to his subordinates to try, but he drank hand-ground coffee. For this reason, he also spent time to personally conduct technical training for the orderlies. If he just gave the coffee beans to Duan Tiancheng, it would be a waste of money, so he simply asked Duan Tiancheng to drink it at his place.
Duan Tiancheng was astute and quickly responded: "I'll thank the general for this humble post!"
For an officer of his level, building a good relationship with a local official like Shi Diwen could probably save several years of struggle. In addition to work performance, doing what you like is a very important means. If you often have similar opportunities to chat with your boss, let alone drinking this coffee, even if you really drink medicine, he won't mind it.
Shi Diwen then brought the topic back to business: "Did things go smoothly when we went to Ningbo this time?"
Duan Tiancheng quickly put down the cup in his hand and responded seriously: "Report to the general, after I arrived in Ningbo, I have arranged for Cui Hongfang, commander of the Dinghai Guards, to contact me. This person is a bit of a philistine, but his ability is not bad. According to the regulations of I It was recommended that detailed and thorough pre-war deployments be made, and the command operations were relatively organized. We successfully captured the dry goods store without basically encountering any resistance. There were no casualties among the Ming troops involved in the operation. None of the thieves escaped. However, the leader of the thieves, Sun Feizhou, took poison and committed suicide before being arrested. Although the accompanying military doctors tried their best to save him, they were unable to bring him back from the prison. "
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Shi Diwen didn't know Sun Feizhou's identity and role in the Eighteen Zhiyu Party. He only regarded him as the person in charge of this stronghold in Ningbo City, so he didn't care much about his life and death. He nodded and asked: "Did you find anything from that place?"
Duan Tiancheng said: "Several muskets and other weapons were found in the warehouse, and I have brought them back to the military intelligence bureau. In addition, some gold and silver property was copied, and Cui Hongfang also forcibly gave some to me."
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Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Follow the military rules, register and hand over half of your property yourself, and you can arrange the rest by yourself!"
The Haihan Army has always been relatively loose with the property seized in combat operations, leaving more benefits to the personnel involved in the operation, in order to stimulate the combatants' desire to fight. Since Duan Tiancheng made the declaration on his own initiative, Shi Diwen didn't ask about the detailed amount.
Duan Tiancheng quickly thanked Shi Diwen. He remembered something again and took out the "South China Sea Customs and Land Chronicles" found in the study from his arms and handed it to Shi Diwen.
"General, this is a book I found in the study of the thief leader Sun Feizhou. There are many annotations in the book. I thought the general might be interested, so I brought this book back."
Shi Diwen nodded and looked through it immediately. Of course, his education level and vision were much higher than those of Duan Tiancheng. He soon realized that the commentators' ideas had many unique features. He had a clearer understanding of the situation in East Asia and Haihan's expansion intentions, and even made some mistakes in what he said. Above most of the Ming Dynasty officials I have come into contact with.
It is obviously impossible for the shopkeeper of a dry goods shop in Ningbo city to have such far-sighted insights. Even if this person's true identity is a member of the Eighteen Zhiyu Party, he is definitely a rare talent. Shi Diwen really couldn't understand that such a person would manage a dry goods store in Ningbo City. To be exaggerated, it shouldn't be too difficult to govern a state and a prefecture with this ability. It seems that these 18 Zhiyu Party really don't know how to employ people.
(End of chapter)