Chapter 2181
The waiter who was in charge of receiving merchants in the store saw the two Haihan officers arriving hand in hand. He quickly stepped forward to greet them. After asking them their purpose, he took them to a private room in the back hall to sit down.
"Both of you, please wait a moment. I will inform the big shopkeeper now."
For paramilitary organizations like Golden Shield, the shopkeepers of each branch are basically veterans who have served as officers in the military. They have certain military command capabilities and can cooperate with local garrison to carry out various tasks. a special task. The most important thing is that these people have relatively high loyalty to the Haihan Kingdom, so that they can be assured of controlling the special power of the Golden Shield.
Although the staffing of each branch may only be one or two hundred people, the shopkeeper has to be responsible for a lot of things. In addition to the apparent business projects, the shopkeeper also has to deal with people from all walks of life and select the best ones from them. Useful information for Haihan. Haihan's two major intelligence agencies, the Security Department and the Military Intelligence Bureau, often send people to work in Jindunli to collect various intelligence in the Ming Dynasty by taking advantage of the opportunity of performing escort missions.
Because of this, although the shopkeepers in charge of operations in overseas colonies are civilians, most of them will still enjoy official treatment to facilitate the handover of work with the military and intelligence agencies. Although Duan Tiancheng and Ji Yuanqing were military attaches, they did not rely on their status to sit in the Yamen and summon the local Golden Shield shopkeeper, but took the initiative to visit him.
"You two have been waiting for a long time!" A dark-skinned middle-aged man pushed open the door and greeted the two of them with cupped fists.
As soon as Duan Tiancheng and Ji Yuanqing saw the visitor, they both stood up and returned the greeting: "I've met Shopkeeper Yuan!"
Yuan Tao is the big boss in charge of Jindun's Zhoushan branch. All public business activities of Jindun in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as various secret cooperation with the Zhoushan authorities, are all coordinated and directed by Yuan Tao. Shi Diwen decided to help the Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou, and the Golden Shield escort had to be in front to help the Huizhou salt merchants buy time. Of course, this errand must be explained clearly to Yuan Tao.
Yuan Tao enlisted in the army earlier than these two people. He was already a member of the naval force before Haihan unified Hainan Island. However, during the battle of Haihan's attack on Qiongzhou Fucheng, Yuan Tao did not strictly abide by military orders and impulsively killed several Ming officials whom the senior officials had planned to recruit. He was punished afterwards and retired from the army early.
Although the reason for his retirement was not particularly glorious, it could not overshadow Yuan Tao's military exploits during his service. The senior management believed that he was a useful talent, so after retiring, Yuan Tao immediately changed his career to the Golden Shield escort and was sent overseas. Work.
Compared with the strictly disciplined army, the working atmosphere of Golden Shield Escort is obviously much more relaxed, and the risks of operating outside are much smaller. After all, the opponents are no longer fully armed professional troops, but only small groups of bandits that occasionally appear. Just a bandit. With the personnel composition and equipment level of the Golden Shield, it is no problem to deal with such stragglers.
After Yuan Tao stayed at Jindun for two years, he gradually demonstrated his outstanding abilities in the process of executing tasks and successfully completed several troublesome transactions. Then he got the opportunity for further training and returned to Sanya to learn business. Expertise in operations and intelligence gathering.
With ability, qualifications and academic qualifications, subsequent promotions will become a matter of course. Yuan Tao slowly climbed up the ranks from deputy team leader, team leader, and steward. By the time he was transferred to Zhoushan a few years ago, he had already become a semicolon. Shopkeeper.
After Haihan stationed in the Zhoushan Islands and cleaned up various maritime armed forces in this area, there have been very few large-scale bandit activities along the coasts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, because Golden Shield Escort is an armed escort officially bound to Haihan, and Yuan Tao manages the business well, so the Zhoushan branch is still doing well. On average, it receives a few businesses every month. Although the income may not be huge, it can at least cover the basic expenses of the Zhoushan Branch without needing subsidies from the state treasury.
Of course, the official purpose of setting up an organization like Golden Shield is not to make money, but to use this organization to complete some tasks that are inconvenient for the government to do directly. Therefore, there have never been any requirements for the profitability of Golden Shield, and funds are insufficient. There will also be special subsidies from the national treasury to ensure the normal operation of its daily operations.
However, Yuan Tao managed Zhoushan Semicolon to a slightly profitable level, which has proved that his professional ability is indeed worthy of the position of semicolon manager. After the Xiangshan Salt Farm was put into operation, almost all private salt shipped to the north of Hangzhou Bay was handed over to Jindun for escort, which fully reflected Shi Diwen's trust in Yuan Tao.
It was just that Yuan Tao had underestimated the risks from the traditional salt merchants in Yangzhou at that time. During the transportation of salt, he was attacked several times in the wild by the salt merchants' musketeers. The loss of goods was small, but the loss of manpower made Yuan Tao Thao couldn't bear it. Although he later got his revenge, the relationship he created left a knot in Yuan Tao's heart that he couldn't get rid of.
After Ji Yuanqing succinctly explained his purpose, Yuan Tao agreed without hesitation: "Go to Yangzhou? Okay! I wanted to go with you last time when your Military Intelligence Bureau went to Yangzhou, but it's a pity that you refused to take me with you, Mr. Ji." Play!”
Ji Yuanqing joined the army much later than Yuan Tao. Although Yuan Tao had retired, Ji Yuanqing could only act as a junior in front of him. He quickly explained: "Brother Yuan wrongly blamed me. The action plan at that time was that General Shi personally The personnel participating in the operation are also designated by General Shi. I am only the leading officer, but I have no right to decide who to take or not to take!”
Yuan Tao glared and said, "Then are you trying to pass the blame to General Shi?"
Ji Yuanqing quickly denied it: "I didn't mean to shirk the blame. I was just stating the facts... Whatever, Brother Yuan, if you want to blame me, blame me. It's true that I didn't think carefully when I made the list of personnel."
Compared with offending Yuan Tao, the consequences of shifting the responsibility to his boss were of course more serious. Ji Yuanqing could only choose the lesser of two evils and admitted the "crime" that Yuan Tao had forced on him.
Duan Tiancheng secretly laughed when he heard this, and then he began to persuade: "Brother Yuan, don't embarrass Brother Ji, let's hurry up and discuss business matters!"
Yuan Tao has been in Zhoushan for several years and is actually quite familiar with these two people. His complaint just now was actually only half-joking. Didn't he know that the secret operation to Yangzhou at the end of last year was extremely dangerous? Although all the people who went there were elites from the Ministry of Security and the Zhoushan garrison, they still lost some men in the fight with the salt merchants' armed forces. Of course, a veteran like him is unlikely to directly participate in special operations organized by the military. He can only complain when Ji Yuanqing takes the initiative.
But now he actually has the opportunity to lead a team to Yangzhou to perform a mission, which finally makes Yuan Tao feel proud. Although according to Ji Yuanqing, Jindun's mission is only to protect the personal safety of local Huizhou salt merchants, rather than directly participating in the battles between salt merchant gangs, let alone seeking revenge, Yuan Tao subconsciously believes that as long as he goes to After reaching the local area, the opportunity for revenge that he has been waiting for for a long time will appear.
Ji Yuanqing now needs to confirm several things with Yuan Tao. One is the purpose of the operation, the other is the contact and cooperation with the local salt merchants, and the third is the personnel and materials that Jindun needs to mobilize.
"Nowadays, salt merchants from Huizhou come to us and want to cooperate with us. On the one hand, it is because they are in a difficult situation in the competition and must find external support to maintain their position in Yangzhou. On the other hand, they also have the idea of killing someone with a borrowed knife. Encourage us to take action to destroy their competitors."
Ji Yuanqing analyzed: "But it is inconvenient for our country to send a large number of troops deep into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. You also know this situation, so the task of protecting Hui salt merchants can only be left to Jin Dun. But if they want to use Jin Dun to achieve other purposes, Yuan Brother, remember not to be fooled!”
When talking about business, Yuan Tao also put away his playful and angry side and listened seriously to Ji Yuanqing's analysis. Last year, we suffered a loss at the hands of armed salt merchants because of insufficient preparation. We must not make the same mistake again this time when we fight against Yangzhou salt merchants. Whether the next operation goes smoothly or not depends largely on the intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau. Yuan Tao said: "Although I have to guard against them borrowing knives to kill people, if the other party comes to bully me, then I will not hold back!"
"Just don't kill until you feel like you can't stop!" Ji Yuanqing also knew why this senior retired sadly after making meritorious deeds, so he quickly reminded him.
Yuan Tao nodded solemnly and said: "Of course. If he makes another mistake, Yuan will have no choice but to resign and go back to the south to farm."
Yuan Tao was forced to retire from the military because of his mistakes. This is something that Yuan Tao has never been able to let go of. If he had a chance to do it again, he would definitely not take the initiative to violate military orders again.
Yuan Tao may not fully understand why the higher-ups arranged such a complicated plan instead of directly sending troops to attack the salt merchants' lair, but since this is an order, it must be resolutely implemented. Although he has taken off his military uniform for several years, he has always held himself to the standards of a soldier and always reminded himself not to make the same mistakes again.
Ji Yuanqing continued: "The person who came to the island to negotiate with us this time is a salt merchant named Ma Zhengping. I will arrange for you to meet later. He will contact you for the specific arrangements after arriving in Yangzhou."
Duan Tiancheng added: "This person is generous and will not treat Jindun's brothers badly. If Brother Yuan has any requests, I believe he will try his best to satisfy them."
Yuan Tao smiled and said: "Are you reminding me not to let go of the blackmail you can get?"
Duan Tiancheng responded seriously: "I never meant this. Brother Yuan understands that something went wrong. You can't blame me."
Of course, Jin Dun could not carry out this task at his own expense. Instead, he accepted Ma Zhengping's employment and went to Yangzhou in such a reasonable way. As for the specific cost, of course it would be up to Yuan Tao to discuss it with Ma Zhengping. With Duan Tiancheng giving him this reminder, Yuan Tao would be able to roughly grasp the price of the bid.
Regarding the personnel and materials to be dispatched for this operation, it is up to Yuan Tao to make specific requirements.
"Golden Shield Zhoushan branch currently has 227 employees. Excluding 33 clerical, clerical and other internal staff, the remaining 194 people including me can participate in field operations. However, there are currently two Two teams are performing tasks in Ningbo Prefecture and Shaoxing Prefecture, and more than ten people have been transferred to Shandong to support the local branch, so the number of people currently available for the task is about... one hundred and thirty people. "Yuan Tao took the lead. He counted on his fingers the number of manpower currently available.
"That should be enough. After all, you are not going to fight, but just to express our attitude to the local salt merchants. With more than a hundred people, an infantry company, I think the local civilian armed forces are not capable of challenging you." Duan Tiancheng said to Jin Dun. quite confident in its strength.
Yuan Tao also nodded in agreement: "If this still can't suppress the evil, then we can only dispatch the regular army."
"Are there any requirements for equipment and materials?" Duan Tiancheng asked.
Yuan Tao said: "Every man must have a rifle, and he must bring 10% of the spare guns. After all, we don't know how long we will be stationed on this trip. It will be very troublesome if something goes wrong with the guns. Bring more just in case." Just in case. There are also grenades equipped by the army. Can you apply for some? I saw them at the training ground last time. They seem to be very lethal."
Duan Tiancheng shook his head slightly and said: "Hand grenades must receive special training, otherwise there will be great risks in using them in battle, and they may cause more damage to themselves... None of the brothers in Jindun have any training experience or actual combat use. Experience, don’t force it.”
Yuan Tao was not discouraged after being rejected, and instead came up with another idea: "Then let's get a few more revolvers! Maybe there will be a need to protect important people in public places, and it would be more convenient to carry a short gun. ”
Duan Tiancheng and Ji Yuanqing exchanged glances, nodded and said: "You can have this. You can write it down on the equipment list later, and I will take it back to General Shi for approval."
"There don't seem to be any other special needs. Anyway, when I arrive in Yangzhou, my employer will provide food, clothing, housing and transportation. I shouldn't have to worry about daily necessities. Just bring some marching rations that can be easily stored." Yuan Tao thought for a while and felt that it should be nothing. material requirements.
"There seems to be a batch of idle army equipment in the munitions warehouse, including backpacks, shoes, belts, daggers and the like. How about applying for it for you?"
"Okay!" Yuan Tao would not refuse such a good thing and agreed immediately.
"That's it, you should make preparations first and arrange a meeting with Ma Zhengping later." Duan Tiancheng felt that the matter was almost done, so he motioned to Ji Yuanqing to stand up and leave.
Yuan Tao sent them outside the gate, cupping his fists and saying: "If this errand can be successful, when I come back from Yangzhou, Yuan will invite you two to have a good time in Ningbo city!"
"Okay, let's wait for your triumphant return!"
(End of chapter)