Chapter 3408
Under Wansong Ridge in the south of Hangzhou, there is a very secluded manor called Yuzheng Garden.
Yuzheng Garden was originally the property of Wansong Academy and was the former residence of a certain dean. In the early years, the academy held many poetry and calligraphy conferences here, so this place was quite famous in the local literati circle.
But now Yuzheng Garden has nothing to do with Wansong Academy, because Su Sixiao, the current dean of Wansong Academy, quietly sold Yuzheng Garden not long after Haihan announced that he would move the capital to Hangzhou.
Very few people in the market knew about this transaction, and the identity of the mysterious buyer had never been disclosed. Su Sixiao even said nothing about the transaction, as if nothing had happened. But the once-famous "Yuzheng Poetry Society" came to an end.
The branch road leading from Fengshan Road in the south of the city to this manor had roadblocks installed at some point and was guarded by dedicated personnel, making this place a no-no.
Even the woodcutter, herb farmer, and hunter who used to take the road here to go up the mountain can only go in a big circle and go elsewhere. As for the literati who wanted to come here to check in as a souvenir, they were all persuaded to leave and could no longer see the true appearance of Yu Zhengyuan.
At this time, a black four-wheeled carriage turned into this fork from Fengshan Road. Although there was no sign on the carriage, the number of men in black riding behind it and carrying muskets had already indicated the identity of the people in the carriage. Extraordinary status.
When the guards saw this group of carriages and horses approaching, they moved the roadblock to the side early, bowed and clasped their fists to welcome the arrival of this group of people.
This group of people walked along the forest path straight to the gate of Yuzheng Garden before stopping. The man who got off the car had gray hair on his temples, a tired face but cold eyes. He was the core figure of Haihan Security Department. One of them is Gong Shiqi.
Gong Shiqi just returned to Hangzhou two days ago. After the Second War against the Ming Dynasty, he was transferred to Nanjing for three months to set up a branch of the Ministry of Security in Nanjing. He also assisted Tao Hongfang and Shi Chengwu in clearing out the local hidden spies left by the Ming Dynasty and investigating the local Some special cases that the police do not have the authority to handle.
After the scaffolding in Nanjing was set up and in normal operation, he returned to Hangzhou to resume his duties. But before he had a good few days' rest, another urgent official duty was assigned to him.
Fortunately, there is no need to go out of town to deal with the matters that need to be dealt with this time, eliminating the hardship of traveling and traveling.
After Gong Shiqi got out of the car, someone led him inside. There were no servants in this manor that you would see in a large family. Instead, all the people who came in and out were men in black uniforms. When they saw Gong Shiqi, they stopped and bowed. This was obviously not a vacation. place.
The group of people quickly arrived at a warehouse in the manor. Through the light from the open tiles on the roof, they could see that six people in the warehouse were tied to chairs, with black cloths covering their heads to cover their faces.
"Is everyone here?" Gong Shiqi asked softly.
The subordinate bowed and responded: "Yes, sir."
Gong Shiqi nodded and said: "Then hurry up and start the interrogation!"
Yuzhengyuan at the foot of Wansongling is not Gong Shiqi’s private residence, but one of the offices of the Ministry of Security in Hangzhou. The reason why the Ministry of Security wanted to buy this place was that Wansongling's relatively quiet environment could minimize outside attention.
The functions here are different from those of the Security Department in the city. It is mainly used to imprison and interrogate some prisoners with relatively sensitive identities. If necessary, some people can also be allowed to disappear into the dense mountains and forests of Wansongling.
These guys whose heads were covered with black cloth could be brought to this place for interrogation, and Gong Shiqi was personally present to supervise them, so their identities were naturally unusual. Several big men carried one of them out, including the chair and the person, and then pulled off the black cloth on the man's head.
This guy's conspicuous Tsukiyo hair style shows his identity. He should be a samurai from Japan. This man had cloth strips stuffed in his mouth and ears, completely cutting him off from the outside world. Only then were they removed one by one.
Gong Shiqi did not intend to preside over the interrogation personally. He just sat silently in the shadow of the corner, closing his eyes and listening to the interrogation process.
The cause of the incident was several recent bloody incidents in Hangzhou. So far, more than ten people have been killed in these bloody incidents, and the number of injured has been several times that.
Haihan officials have always had extremely high requirements for public security in the area under their jurisdiction. What's more, Hangzhou is now the capital of Haihan. The continuous occurrence of such vicious cases causing death and injury has seriously affected the people's sense of security. The executive committee has also issued a death order. , requiring several yamen related to public security to suppress this bad momentum as soon as possible, arrest those involved in the case, and severely punish them.
The people below naturally did not dare to neglect the cases handled by the Executive Committee themselves. The police, the Ministry of Security, the Military Intelligence Bureau, and several major government offices jointly launched a joint attack. Within a few days, several people involved in the case had been arrested.
But these guys caught so far are all from Japan, not Haihan nationals. The matter involved the diplomatic field and it was not convenient to conduct a public investigation, so the Ministry of Security took over the subsequent trial work and secretly transported them to Yuzhengyuan outside the city for custody.
The first warrior to be interrogated was obviously unwilling to cooperate and refused to answer all questions, as if he was mute.
However, this did not trouble the torture experts of the Security Department. After asking Gong Qiqi for instructions, they immediately used methods on this stubborn guy.
As a result, this man didn't even have time for a cup of tea. After only two or three punishments, he couldn't bear it anymore and was willing to confess.
According to this person's confession, he was a samurai serving the Satsuma clan, and the several armed fights and assassinations he had participated in recently were all aimed at diplomats stationed in Hangzhou by the shogunate.
The instructions he received were to disrupt all activities of the shogunate in Hangzhou as much as possible and prevent shogunate personnel from contacting Haihan officials at all costs.
As far as he knew, the Satsuma clan was not the only one taking similar actions at the same time. The shogunate also sent assassins to try to kill the diplomats stationed in Hangzhou from various Kyushu clans.
The confessions obtained from the subsequent interrogation of several other people basically confirmed this person's confession.
These people work for different masters, but they perform similar tasks, which are to eradicate their opponents' personnel in Hangzhou.
As for which side took the lead in taking action at the beginning, everyone has different opinions. In short, they accuse their opponents of not practicing martial ethics and that their own actions are just retaliation.
The intra-island struggle that occurred thousands of miles away does not seem to have attracted public attention in Haihan yet, but the impact has already affected the personnel and institutions stationed in Haihan by various forces in the island country.
However, after Gong Shiqi learned the inside story, he breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter how many Japanese people died or were injured in internal fighting, he would not care at all. It's just that these people treat Hangzhou as a battlefield and make the Executive Committee unhappy, so the Ministry of Security will have to take action to calm the situation.