Chapter 2539
Upon hearing this, Tao Hongfang felt that Wan Yan's words made sense. This kind of investigative supervision work is somewhat beyond the capabilities of the Ministry of Commerce, and it seems more appropriate to classify it as a function of the security intelligence department.
Thinking of this, Tao Hongconveniently asked: "Have Director Wan contacted the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau to see if they can investigate the clues on their behalf?"
Wan Yan smiled and said: "My father is a retired official from the Ministry of Security. Naturally, I have thought of this method for a long time, but this kind of thing seems simple, but it is a lot of trouble to do."
Haihan's security intelligence department has a very close relationship with the Ministry of Commerce itself. In the early years, most of the intelligence personnel sent to the Ming Dynasty were disguised as businessmen. For example, when Wan Yan's father, Wan Fa, was hiding in Hangzhou, his public identity was that of a warehouse manager. As a businessman, you have more opportunities to access all aspects of information, so this routine has been continued by these special departments.
However, the intelligence department also faces the problem of limited manpower, and its monitoring scope is often limited to the area under Haihan's actual control. Even if they intend to supervise cross-regional commercial activities, the intelligence department is also unable to control the whereabouts of materials and funds after leaving Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Moreover, it is not as convenient as before for the intelligence department to deploy personnel to various commercial organizations. The intelligence personnel assigned to serve in the organizations are of a lower level and do not have access to valuable information. If the level of the intelligence personnel is higher, they may affect the normal functioning of these commercial establishments.
Tao Hongfang was a little puzzled when he heard this: "The Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau are both privileged departments. Do they still need to look at the faces of commercial organizations?"
Wan Yan smiled and said: "Although you have great power, you can't just investigate whatever you want. There are some transactions that even the Ministry of Security cannot get involved in."
"What's the explanation?" Tao Hongfang asked.
Wan Yan hesitated for a moment, and then explained in a low voice: "I have said before that there are some local businessmen who used to work for the relatives of the Ming Dynasty...Similar situations actually exist in our country."
Tao Hongfang suddenly realized why Wan Yan was a little taboo about this matter. Are the royal relatives of Haihan Kingdom not talking about this special group including Tao Hongfang himself?
As a second-generation man, Tao Hongfang, whose father has been a high-ranking official who has been in charge of Haihan for many years, naturally has a certain understanding of this special group to which he belongs. He knew that although his father's generation was basically Han Chinese, they were not from the Ming Dynasty, and it had only been more than 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
But in the past twenty years, the area ruled by Haihan has expanded hundreds or thousands of times, and the power and wealth held by the ruler have also continued to increase. At the same time, many relatives have been married to Haihan travelers. And become prosperous. To the outside world, these families are no different from royal relatives. The various industries and businesses under their names are of course taboos that ordinary people cannot touch.
Tao Hongfang said: "Listen to Director Wan, have there been any misunderstandings in this regard before?"
Wan Yan nodded and said: "I heard that there was a case before. The Military Intelligence Bureau investigated the case all the way to Sanya, and found out that the owner of the cargo was a big shot in Fort Victory... As a result, the intelligence officer in charge of the case resigned and was transferred overseas. Went somewhere small.”
To put it nicely, this is called a transfer, but to put it poorly, it means being sent to the frontier, and it is very likely that his career will be affected and terminated. Tao Hongfang has been working in the Ministry of Commerce for so long that he has actually heard about such gray incidents. Many people in Haihan will buy and sell some in-demand or even banned commodities through private trade channels, thereby obtaining huge economic benefits. Of course, these business activities are often not attended by high-ranking officials in person, but are operated on behalf of some private businessmen. It is inevitable that the intelligence agencies will fail to observe this.
Tao Hongfang remembered that before he left Sanya, his father had given him a list, saying that if he encountered any inconvenience in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he could go to these people for help, but these people were not public servants. officials. Now that I think about it, the people on this list are probably agents working for their families here.
I'm afraid no one can tell how much business in the market is directly or indirectly controlled by rulers like Haihan. The Ministry of Commerce and the intelligence agencies want to implement comprehensive supervision of cross-regional commercial activities, and even launch investigations into certain suspicious commercial transactions. It is easy to step into restricted areas and offend certain powerful figures. The officials responsible for these tasks are not fools. Since they have learned from the experience that overdoing more often leads to mistakes, of course it is better to do less than to do more.
Tao Hongfang smiled bitterly and said: "That is indeed embarrassing for the intelligence department!"
Wan Yan said: "Actually, offending the big shots above is secondary. The main reason is that the confidentiality of some things is so high that even people in the intelligence department don't know the inside story. Supervisory measures may become a stumbling block for oneself."
Wan Yan then gave Tao Hongfang an example. A few years ago, a batch of goods was seized by officials when passing through Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, and a large number of weapons and ammunition produced by Haihan were found in the mezzanine of the packaging box. At that time, the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau of the Donghai Region felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy. They immediately launched an investigation into this matter as a major case, and reported the news to the Executive Committee layer by layer.
In the end, the investigation work was stopped under the order of the Executive Committee, because this batch of arms was specially approved by the Executive Committee to be sold to a certain place in the interior as a condition for Haihan to bribe a certain general. Because the level of confidentiality was too high, local intelligence personnel did not grasp the relevant information in advance, so they made a big mistake, and the plan to instigate the Ming army leader came to an abrupt end.
Although no one was punished for this, it was a big blow to the security department who had done a lot of investigation work in the early stage and thought they had caught a big fish.
"Because the level of authority is insufficient, our overseas officials will not be notified at all of many secret operations decided by Fort Victory. This leads to the possibility that if we want to supervise all suspicious business activities, we will have to Floods occurred and the Dragon King Temple was flooded.”
Speaking of this, Wan Yan couldn't help but stop and sigh: "The people below have too many concerns about doing things, and they are inevitably timid. It is also difficult to achieve the expected results in related supervision work."
Tao Hongfang could only remain silent about this. He could understand Wan Yan's dilemma, but he could not think of any effective solution. He is just a civilian official in the Ministry of Commerce. He has almost no relevant operational experience in matters that require cross-department communication or even reporting and application to the executive committee, and he does not know where to start to solve the problem.
(End of chapter)