Chapter 3174
According to the process arranged by the local government, when the Executive Committee arrives in Hangzhou City, officials will hold a brief ceremony outside Qingchun Gate to express the local people's enthusiasm for welcoming the Executive Committee.
For this reason, a large area was specially circled next to the official road outside Qingchun Gate for performances.
The position where Gong Shiqi is standing now is probably where senior officials of the executive committee will watch the performance and deliver speeches later. Several electric speakers specially shipped from Hainan Island were installed on the tower last night by technicians. Once this thing is turned on, the speech on the tower should be heard within a few miles.
Gong Shiqi put his hands on the crenellations of the city wall and looked down, seeing that at least tens of thousands of onlookers had gathered outside Qingchun Gate. If it weren't for the thousands of city defense troops and policemen lined up along both sides of the official road to maintain order, the city gate would have been blocked long ago.
The terrain outside Qingchun Gate is flat. In order to get a better view, many onlookers brought their own stools, and some climbed to the nearby big trees early. It is said that several unlucky people fell from trees early in the morning and injured their hands and feet.
However, for security reasons, Gong Shiqi had ordered that all those who climbed into the trees near the official road should be removed. Risky commanding heights like this must be cleared before the arrival of the executive committee.
Of course, the vantage point with the best view here is the tower of Qingchun Gate. The main road that runs through the city of Hangzhou from east to west to the canal dock in the east of the city passes through Qingchun Gate. From here, you can have a clear view of the route of the Executive Committee into the city.
So starting from yesterday, Gong Shiqi strictly ordered that no idlers should appear at Qingchun Gate and the city walls within three miles to the left and right, including the city defense troops that Gong Shiqi distrusted.
The defense of this area was temporarily taken over by Dai Chengrong's troops.
Gong Shiqi was convinced that if the assassin wanted to take action against the Executive Committee, then today's entry into the city would probably be the best time.
The best places are, first, outside Qingchun Gate where the largest number of onlookers are, and second, on Qingchun Road, which passes through the city after entering the city.
The crowds of onlookers outside the city are already crowded together. It is not easy to mix with the crowd with a rifle and wait for the opportunity. By then, you may not even be able to lift the gun. If this assassin wanted to succeed with one strike, he would not choose such an uncontrollable environment.
Gong Shiqi believed that the most likely location was within the city. There were a large number of street shops and houses on both sides of Qingchun Road. In his opinion, every window and roof could be a shooting position for assassins.
Even if a large number of manpower has been invested, it is impossible to fully monitor this main road, which is about five miles long. All that can be done is to put seals on some relatively tall buildings near Qingchun Road and temporarily prohibit their use.
However, Gong Shiqi understood that the effect of these methods was extremely limited. Only by clearing both sides of the road and prohibiting people from watching, could all hidden dangers be eliminated. But that would obviously run counter to the purpose of holding a city entry ceremony, and the executive committee rejected such a proposal yesterday.
Of the people captured yesterday, two of the wounded had already died during the torture process, and the only one alive was also dying. No valuable information could be extracted, and the whereabouts of the other teams of assassins were still not found.
Gong Shiqi picked up the telescope and looked east again. The largest ship, the Zhoushan, had already docked, and it seemed that he had less and less time left for him.
While Gong Shiqi was anxious, good news suddenly came from the field operations team.
The reward announced yesterday really worked. Someone reported to the government this morning that there were a few sneaky outsiders in a private house in the city. They had been staying behind closed doors for the past few days and their behavior was very abnormal.
When the field team saw this location, it was right next to Qingchun Road, which was the focus of the investigation. Dangjie immediately contacted Dai Chengrong's troops and asked them to send a platoon as reinforcements. Then, without waiting for Gong Shiqi's instructions, they quickly raided this place.
The result was just like yesterday's arrest operation. After successfully capturing the target, the field team seized four Type 33 rifles and a small amount of ammunition at the scene. They should also belong to the batch of guns that Wang Yuan smuggled into the city yesterday. Gong Shiqi perked up after hearing the news and quickly asked: "How many people were caught alive? Are there any casualties on our side?"
The subordinates responded excitedly: "Sir, all four gangsters were captured alive, and none of them escaped the net. However, two of them were shot and wounded by us. There were no casualties on our side. The arrest process went very smoothly."
Gong Shiqi was slightly surprised: "The other party didn't use the rifle they got?"
The subordinate responded: "Sir, this is a coincidence. When our people rushed in, they had indeed loaded their rifles and were ready to fight us desperately, so we chose to shoot. But from the beginning to the end, they were all The gun was not fired. Later we checked the rifles and found that they seemed to be jammed.”
Gong Shiqi's face changed slightly, and he frowned and asked: "Are you saying that the four guns they had jammed at that time?"
The subordinate nodded and said: "Maybe God also thinks that what they did is rebellious, so he punished them, which saves us a lot of trouble!"
Gong Shiqi remained silent. The Type 33 rifle was no stranger to him. This weapon has been in the military for more than 20 years without being eliminated. Its greatest advantage is its stable performance. As far as his personal experience is concerned, he has never encountered any jamming.
Generally speaking, although jamming cannot be completely eliminated, the probability of such a failure is not high. If you randomly inspect ten rifles and fire ten bullets each, it is unlikely that any of them will jam.
If four rifles in a team jam at the same time on the battlefield, the gunsmith and the ordnance officer of the unit may have to go to court martial.
And it just so happened that these four problematic rifles were put together, and they happened to be bought by the enemy to be used to assassinate important people. They also happened to jam at the same time when they were doing it.
Is there really such a bizarre coincidence in the world?
Gong Shiqi has traveled all over the world and has seen a lot, but he will not believe in God's vision.
One or two coincidences can be said to be due to luck, but if there are unexpected coincidences in every link, it is probably not suitable to be explained by metaphysics.
Gong Shiqi recalled the investigation process of this case and felt more and more that there were too many "coincidences" like this.
A series of thoughts suddenly came to his mind: "If this is not a coincidence, how can we explain it?"
"If this team of assassins is not discovered in time, will these guns still jam when they officially take action?"
"Will the weapons in the hands of the other two teams of assassins that have not been caught happen to have the same problem?"
Thinking of this, Gong Shiqi suddenly had an idea and immediately ordered: "Get the rifles seized yesterday, together with the ammunition, and be quick!"
(End of chapter)