There was a seal on this wooden box, and the cover was nailed shut. It seemed that the people who received the goods were chased here and ransacked by the security department before they had time to open the box and inspect the goods.
Gong Shiqi took the waist knife he had just captured, used it as a crowbar, and pried open the cover of the box in a few clicks.
This wooden box, which is one foot wide and four feet long, is also wrapped in a layer of oilcloth. After tearing open the oilcloth, when the onlookers saw what was inside, their expressions changed greatly, and some even exclaimed.
There were actually four rifles neatly placed on the oil cloth, and the gaps were filled with dry straw.
Gong Shiqi remained silent, stretched out his hand and took out one of the rifles, weighed it in his hand, checked the gun body again, and then said to Qu Shengfeng: "Type 33 rifle, the gun number has been rubbed off. This I helped this guy sneak into Hangzhou to do something big!”
While he was talking, he took out another box of bullets from the straw. The outside was sealed with oil paper, but the number printed on the package had also been torn off.
Qu Shengfeng was also quite surprised at this time: "So the few boxes of things they transported into the city with Wang Yuan's help are all rifles!"
Gong Shiqi said with a gloomy face: "It seems that we can't just rely on ourselves to investigate this case... You should notify the places where notifications should be sent as soon as possible and ask them to send people to meet here... I will go to the trial first. Prisoner!”
Qu Shengfeng did not dare to neglect, and quickly sent his subordinates to notify the various yamen related to this.
The Type 33 rifle is a rifle model that the Sanyatian Independent Ordnance Factory began mass production in 1633 and was installed in the army. Although this is an old weapon from more than 20 years ago, due to its relatively stable performance, simple structure and easy maintenance, it is still in production today, and the military has always maintained a considerable equipment scale.
There are at least a thousand Type 33 rifles that reach the normal end of life every year. These scrapped rifles may fall into the hands of some unknown buyers at high prices through smuggling channels and the underground black market.
The gun number engraved on the gun body is information that can be used to track the source of the gun, and will naturally be cleared by the seller in advance. Most of these rifles with their gun numbers worn off were resold from the arsenal of a certain army as scrapped.
But even if there is no gun serial number, it is not impossible to trace it. For example, now that we have captured the downstream buyers, we should be able to find more or less relevant information.
However, tracing the source of the guns can be delayed for a while. The most important task at the moment is to quickly find the whereabouts of the other boxes, otherwise there will be a big mess next.
Among the four people blocked in the yard, one was shot dead on the spot, two were shot and injured and are receiving treatment, and only one surrendered in time without being shot.
The subject of Gong Shiqi's interrogation was this guy who surrendered. Since this person did not dare to fight to the end just now, it means that his determination to die is not so firm, and it should be easier to open a breakthrough from him.
Gong Shiqi walked into the house and saw the guy was handcuffed behind his back and kneeling on the ground. Two people behind him put their hands on his shoulders to prevent him from violently resisting.
Gong Qi Qi sat down on the chair with great speed and said to the man: "I am Gong Qi Qi from the Haihan Security Department. Since you are a Jin Yiwei, you should have heard of my name."
When the man heard Gong Qi Qi announcing his identity, his body couldn't help but tremble.
Gong Shiqi's reputation in the Ming Dynasty's intelligence department was like that of a demon from hell. According to legend, anyone who fell into his hands would not escape the fate of being skinned and cramped. Jin Yiwei even once issued a large reward for Gong Shiqi, but those who tried to take the money basically never returned. Even the commander who set up the bounty died unexpectedly during a patrol in the south of the Yangtze River, and no one mentioned it again after that.
Gong Shiqi said in a deep voice: "Listen carefully, I will only give you one chance to live! If you confess honestly, I will guarantee that you will not die. If you want to play tricks on me, I will let you see with your own eyes whether your skin is How did you get ripped off?”
The man pursed his dry lips and asked tentatively: "Really...can I not die?"
Gong Shiqi said: "If you want to save your life, you have to make meritorious service. Do you understand? The information you recruited can come in handy, and only then can your life be saved!"
About an hour later, the heads of various relevant departments rushed to the small courtyard where the incident occurred.
Dai Chengrong, the leader of the Second Regiment of the 7th Lu Division of the Hangzhou Garrison, Li Qingyang, the head of the Donghai Region’s Special Liaison Office, Qu Shengfeng’s immediate boss, Lin Nan, the head of the Security Department in charge of the Donghai Region, and some other local officials. I rushed over as soon as I received the news.
After checking the box of seized Type 33 rifles, they all gasped.
It would be fine if this happened at another time, and we would just slowly track down the clues. But tomorrow, all the big shots from the executive committee will come to Hangzhou for inspection. At this juncture, it was discovered that a batch of rifles had been smuggled into the city by people suspected of being members of the Jinyi Guards of the Ming Dynasty. , who dares to sit idly by and ignore this.
Gong Shiqi briefly explained to them the current situation: "At least four such boxes were transported into Hangzhou this morning, and what you see is only one of them."
"There is currently no exact information about the whereabouts of the other boxes. Our opponent is the Jinyiwei. They are divided into several teams. Each team has an independent action plan. The person we captured does not know the other teams. ”
"But one thing we have confirmed is that their purpose of sneaking into Hangzhou city is to wait for an opportunity to assassinate important figures in our country in the near future! These people also received a month of shooting training before coming to Hangzhou."
"These rifles have had their gun serial numbers worn off, and the ship that delivered them to Hangzhou has also fled, so it is not yet possible to trace their origin, nor to confirm whether any weapons have been transported into the city through other channels."
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"Everyone, I don't need to say more about what day tomorrow is. If something happens, you won't be able to compensate even if you have ten heads. We must take action as soon as possible to catch these dangerous people before tomorrow!"< br>
After listening to Gong Shiqi's explanation, everyone's expressions were not very good.
Of course, this was not the first time that the Ming Dynasty factory guards had formulated such an assassination plan. In the past thirty years, Haihan had foiled as many as eighty similar plans.
But before that, most of the plans of the Ming Dynasty factory guards were to use tricks such as poisoning, assassination, and kidnapping. The weapons were at the level of short-fire muskets and crossbows at most, but using the Haihan standard rifle, this was still For the first time ever.
The effective range of the Type 33 rifle exceeds 100 feet, which is far beyond the warning distance of personal guards. Its lethality is even more unmatched by traditional weapons. In a big city environment like Hangzhou, it is not easy to rely on traditional security methods to prevent rifles from being aimed at long distances.