Chapter 1523 Underground World

He Guanzhi kept saying that what he was planning might involve the future national destiny of the Ming Dynasty, so he had to keep it strictly confidential. He also ordered his subordinates involved in the matter to swear a strong oath, but the content he ultimately discussed with his think tanks was nothing more than his private property.

The issue of business prospects. As the prefect of Hangzhou, he secretly carried out this act of abusing power for personal gain, which shows how deep Haihan's penetration and influence are in the local government.

Situations like his are not unique among officials in the coastal prefectures of the Ming Dynasty. Officials below the fourth rank have more or less received benefits from Haihan. Like He Guanzhi, he used his authority to run some businesses similar to Haihan's.

There are many related industries and there are many high-ranking officials who profit from them. In the case of Zhejiang, the open and semi-open transnational smuggling trade led by Haihan has formed an industry of staggering scale in the local area, and the beneficiaries have been far and wide.

Not only officials like He Guanzhi, but also many people also rely on this lucrative industry to survive.

It’s hard to say whether the opening of the coast to trade will have an immediate impact on the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty, but it will definitely have a greater or lesser impact on vested interests. And for every big shot like He Guanzhi, there will naturally be people who protect him.

Social forces. If Mr. Li wants to deal with the threat of competitors in private for his boss, he needs to use these forces that are rarely seen in the light. Of course, considering that the opponent is the Tong Sen, who is in charge of local criminal justice, this matter

Don't act rashly yet, at least not with local gangsters with names and surnames. Otherwise, it will be easy to follow the clues to find out the mastermind behind it. It will be very bad if He Guanzhi is involved.

The master named Li Mingsong was born in Shaoxing Prefecture, but he was dedicated to doing dirty work for He Guanzhi. Naturally, he also had some available manpower, lurking in and outside Hangzhou in various capacities.

Although it was already curfew time in the city, Li Song was a retainer of the prefect, so he naturally enjoyed privileges. After he came out of the side door of He Guanzhi's mansion, he went straight to a black-cloaked carriage, and then several of He Guanzhi's men

He was escorted by armed personal guards and headed to a place in the south of the city.

The carriage Li Song was riding in stopped outside Zhongguofang in the south of the city. After getting off the car, someone noticed the existence of their group. Several soldiers who were on duty nearby immediately came over to ask about their identity and purpose. It was quite a surprise.

Dutiful. However, it is also possible that these big-headed soldiers want to find an excuse to defraud some money from those who return late, so that the other party can spend money to avoid disasters, thereby gaining some benefits.

The guards who were traveling with Li Song immediately stepped forward and showed the prefect's warrant to keep these meddlesome soldiers away. Seeing that they were on official business, the junior colonel leading the team naturally stopped being meddlesome and asked a few of his subordinates to leave.

Here, Li Song got off the carriage, then walked into an alley in Zhongguofang, walked outside a certain family's yard and knocked on the door. After a while, the lights came on in the yard, and someone came out with a lantern and opened the door.

After finding out it was Li Song, he let him in.

Li Song seemed to be very familiar with this place. He walked into the house without waiting for the person who opened the door to lead the way. The person who opened the door also entered the house after him, and then bowed to Li Song and saluted: "I've met Mr. Li!"

Li Song nodded and said: "Hao Qing, how are you doing recently? Have you received your monthly salary on time?"

The man named Hao Qing responded: "Thanks to Mr. Li's care, I have a stable life. I only need to walk around the city every day. I can't find this job anywhere else."

Li Song added: "Then don't forget why you took this job!"

Hao Qing quickly lowered his head and responded: "The villain naturally understands that this miserable life was saved by Master Li, and it was also given by Master Li that he has such a free life now. The villain will just wait for Master Li's instructions, and he will not go through fire or water."

Frown your brows!”

Seeing his firm attitude, Li Song relaxed a little and asked him, "Do you still have reliable personnel under your command?"

Hao Qing nodded and said: "Back to Mr. Li, after the villain came out of prison, in order not to attract attention, there were not many manpower left in the city. There are still about twenty brothers outside the city. They usually work on the dock.

A life-long friendship is absolutely reliable. However, if Mr. Li plans to deal with someone in the city, he must plan carefully. Now the city is heavily patrolled by police officers, and there are patrols of the city defense army wandering around at night. You must look for loopholes.

Just take action."

Li Song snorted and said: "This is not a good thing that Tongpan Wang Yuan did. He said he was strengthening patrols and maintaining public order in the market... The public security in Hangzhou has always been good, except for the chaos when the Haihan people came two years ago.

, is there any public security problem? It’s just him trying to gain political achievements for himself!”

Li Song came overnight to look for this man named Hao Qing. He used to be a famous boat boss on the Qiantang River. He did both black and white business. At one time, he owned more than 40 boats in the Qiantang River basin and had nearly a thousand people working for him. Hao Qing had

After a certain amount of wealth was established, it was inevitable that he would start to expand his business, and he wanted to expand his business. However, since he had no official background, it was difficult to obtain the most popular Haihan goods on the market, so at the end of last year, he simply took his subordinates to Qiantang.

Two sailing ships carrying Haihan goods were robbed on the river. Unexpectedly, the owner of these goods was He Guanzhi, the prefect of Hangzhou. So the good days of Hao Qing and his group were over, and they were suppressed by the army in just a few days.

Everything was cleared, even Hao Qing was arrested and sent to prison.

In this robbery case, both the stolen goods and the stolen goods were conclusive, and the crime was conclusive. In addition, the owner of the goods was a local official. It would not be difficult to complete the case and get him to die. However, Li Song, who was in charge of the paperwork for the case at the time, believed that Hao Qing could stay.

, the reason is that Hao Qing is very familiar with the situation in the Qiantang River Basin, and in order to control the activities of Haihan ships in the Qiantang River, the government is recruiting such people who are familiar with the environment of the Qiantang River everywhere.

Of course, this is only a superficial reason. In fact, it is because Li Song is looking for suitable candidates for He Guanzhi who can handle some special situations where it is not appropriate to use official power for He Guanzhi when necessary.

The reason for such demand lies in the fact that the trade activities between Haihan and Ming Dynasty were not recognized by the imperial court and were still smuggling activities in nature. Although the Zhejiang government pinched its nose and admitted that this smuggling trade was

Although it has local legality, it has always maintained an attitude of not supporting, not opposing, and not encouraging, and it will not provide legal protection for this kind of behavior. If the object of Hao Qing's robbery was not He Guanzhi, the Hangzhou Prefecture would not even

Will accept this kind of robbery.

Who else can understand the psychology and methods of his peers better than the robbers? Li Song believes that Hao Qing is a very suitable candidate to carry out certain special tasks. Moreover, Hao Qing has parents, a wife and children, and he has been under control for a long time.

It would also be easier. After He Guanzhi listened to Li Song's suggestion, he handed over the matter to him, but Hao Qing was not allowed to know that he was involved behind the scenes.

So Li Song took Hao Qing out of prison and said that he would give him a chance to make up for his mistakes and avoid the death penalty. Hao Qing didn't expect that he would get a chance to escape death, so he naturally chose to cooperate with him. Half a month later

After that, several groups of armed water bandits similar to Hao Qing's group disappeared from the Qiantang River. However, the cooperation between the two parties did not end there. Li Song left Hao Qing in Hangzhou and asked him to monitor the docks outside the city on weekdays.

On the one hand, it is to prevent the Haihan people from resorting to the tactics used in the pier fire incident again, and on the other hand, it is also used to monitor other businesses that may compete with their own owners. If necessary, Hao Qing can take action to remove these obstacles.

.

Of course, those who were left behind in Hangzhou City with Hao Qing were his family members. Otherwise, how could Li Song rest assured that Hao Qing could enter and leave Hangzhou City freely and provide him with all kinds of conveniences. And Hao Qing also knew that if he wanted

To save his life and protect his family's safety, he must continue to work for Li Song. As for the big shot behind Li Song, Hao Qing doesn't know much about it. He only knows that the other person is willing to spend money to support him, and one day he will need him.

If this life can bring freedom and a stable life for the family, then it is worth it.

Li Song came to visit him in the middle of the night. Of course Hao Qing understood that this man did not come to visit him for free, but had a task for him to complete. He heard that Li Song even scolded the general magistrate of Hangzhou Prefecture casually,

I knew in my heart that this person's background would only be stronger than Tongpan, and I didn't dare to say anything at the moment.

After Li Song said this, he felt a little out of character. He coughed dryly and said: "Hao Qing, as the saying goes, it takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes only a moment to use it. I think I treat you well, and I even take care of your family. Now,

The time has come when your efforts are needed, are you willing to risk your life?"

Hao Qing knew that he should not show hesitation in front of Li Song, otherwise the other party would be suspicious, so he quickly responded: "I have been waiting for this opportunity to repay my kindness for a long time, please give me your instructions from Master Li!"

Li Song said: "There are several new weaving workshops outside Yongjin Gate in the south of the city. Have you visited them?"

Hao Qing didn't know what he meant, but just nodded and said: "I took a look when I passed by there the day before yesterday. It seems that it is still under construction and there is still some time before it is completed."

"Then what method do you have to stop work at these construction sites? The longer the better!" Li Song deliberately wanted to test him to see if Hao Qing's sharp knife had become dull after such leisurely days.

Hao Qing responded without hesitation: "Then it depends on how big the fuss will be. It's easier to kill a few people, and then let the government seal those construction sites in the name of investigating the case. As for how long it can be sealed, I guess Mr. Li

I have my own plan."

Li Song responded noncommittally: "Let's talk about other ways."

When Hao Qing heard this, it seemed that Li Song was not satisfied with this method, so he immediately said: "If you want to make the noise bigger, then just burn the place with fire. It is best to burn a few more people to death in the fire."

, this way the government will have more solid reasons to investigate the case and close the site. Moreover, it will take longer to rebuild afterwards. What do you think, Mr. Li?"

Li Song leaned on the back of his chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the table. After a while, he said: "Two years ago, a warehouse was burned down outside Hangzhou, killing three court officials. Then it was burned down again.

A dock warehouse burned out the Haihan fleet. Are you causing another fire because you are afraid that some people will not think of the accident that happened before? "

Hao Qing heard that Li Song's tone seemed to be blaming, and he quickly accused him: "It's the villain who doesn't think well, don't blame Mr. Li!"

Li Song actually thinks that Hao Qing's idea is pretty good. At least the method he came up with is quite ruthless and has not been blunted by this period of leisure. But Hao Qing's idea in this matter is not the same.

It doesn't work, or the risk is too great, so Li Song doesn't dare to let him make such an attempt. Because the target he wants to attack this time is Wang Yuan, the general judge in charge of arresting criminals, and the criminal investigation resources he can mobilize must not be enough.

Contempt, once the clues are discovered, the matter will not end well.

But it was not easy for Li Song to tell Hao Qing all about the reason. He could only deny the method that Hao Qing came up with and asked him to think of other methods.

Although Hao Qing was quick-witted, he didn't understand Li Song's true purpose, so it was naturally difficult for him to come up with a suitable way to complete this task. After being denied several plans in a row, Hao Qing could only plead guilty again: "

Mr. Li, you are stupid and can't think of any other way. Why don't you give me some advice as to why it stopped working? Maybe you can think of other ways to start."

Li Song thought about it for a while and then said to Hao Qing: "Once these weaving workshops are built, the existing weaving business in Hangzhou Prefecture will be diverted, and the large merchants who originally controlled this business may be replaced by new ones.

Merchants have taken away part of their business. If measured in monetary terms, hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of business may be affected every year. Do you understand this?"

Hao Qing responded repeatedly: "I understand, I understand, I understand."

Speaking of which, Hao Qing is a fool if he doesn't understand. Li Song's decision to destroy these weaving workshops is not an ordinary personal grudge, but out of business competition. In fact, Hao Qing himself has done this before.

Similar things, such as killing a shipping competitor running the same route as him, are just that the amount involved is far less than the number Li Song mentioned just now. Moreover, Li Song obviously has a strong government background, so he would not be able to plan such a thing.

He has many scruples, but they are completely different from his wanton behavior in the world.

Hao Qing actually doesn't have a clear idea of ​​how big a business can be with an annual transaction volume of over one million taels. Among the transactions he has ever been involved in, the largest transaction was only a few thousand taels of silver. A million taels is very important to him.

Speaking, he was not even sure how many times it was one thousand taels of silver. But one thing he knew very well was that for such a large amount of wealth, there must be many people like Li Song who would not hesitate to do so.

Take risks and plan some dangerous methods.

"If you do this well, your family can move away from Hangzhou." Li Song gave Hao Qing a promise at the right time. He knew very well what Hao Qing wanted, and this condition would definitely stimulate the other party to do more.

To complete the task diligently.
Chapter completed!