Chapter 1783 For the Country and the People

The prefectures and counties near the sea, including Ningbo Prefecture, are the main grain-producing areas in the Jiangnan region. It is indeed not difficult for Haihan to buy hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain here. Moreover, Haihan was there the year before last.

After dispatching the fleet to blockade Hangzhou Bay for the first time, there has been no conflict with the local government. Therefore, neither the government nor the private sector are worried that Haihan's purpose of purchasing military rations is to take action against the local area - the Haihan people are really going to invade.

In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, there is no need to go to the trouble of purchasing military rations. It is faster to just grab them.

Although formally they still have to go through the bidding process, the He brothers understand very well that since Zhoushan sent someone to deliver the notice, the job is probably in their own hands. As for whether this is what Shi Diwen meant,

It doesn't really matter whether it is the intention of his subordinates. Anyway, after the matter is completed, the He Brotherhood will still take out 10% of the income as a kickback and secretly hand it over to the quartermaster in charge of the matter. Haihan Military Internal Meeting

How to distribute the money, they don't know and don't want to know. As businessmen in charge of this matter, it does no good to know too much about such a sensitive matter.

However, this kind of thing is neither big nor small. Haihan's unabashed purchase of military rations on the market will definitely be noticed by the eyes and ears of the court. When the news reaches the capital, the big shots in the court will inevitably

Surprised, he guessed the real intention of Haihan's move.

Although Ming Dynasty had reached an agreement with Haihan on the normalization of relations between the two countries last year, which can be regarded as the formal establishment of diplomatic relations in the official sense, Ming Dynasty's fear of Haihan has not been completely eliminated. After all, from the South China Sea to Liaodong, Haihan is in

There are quite a lot of places occupied on the coastline of the Ming Dynasty, and after the two countries established diplomatic relations, they had no intention of returning these places to their original owners. In other words, if Haihan wanted to invade the Ming Dynasty from the coast, he basically didn't have to pick a date.

You can take action at any time.

Considering that Haihan had held back Hou Jin's march south for Ming Dynasty in Liaodong for the past two years, and now he still needs the advanced weapons provided by Haihan to improve the combat effectiveness of his troops, Daming has always swallowed his anger in response to Haihan's various bad actions.

Don't worry about it. As long as Haihan doesn't openly declare war on the Ming Dynasty, he will admit the losses he suffered before. But if there is any trouble on the Haihan side, the court will inevitably worry that the ambitions of the Haihan people will explode and take action against the Ming Dynasty.

Sure enough, within a few days, as soon as the bidding process for the procurement of military rations was completed, hundreds of Jinyiwei from Nanjing rushed to Ningbo Prefecture, went directly to the He brothers' home, and asked Haihan whether there were any risks behind the purchase of military rations.

"Mr. Deng, this is a normal trade between the two countries. The Haihan people are not only trading in cash, but also the purchase price is not low. What are the risks in the transaction where everyone has both money and goods?" He Xiao was originally from the Yamen.

With the support of the local magistrate behind him, he didn't have much scruples about the Jin Yiwei who came to his door. Of course he knew what the "risk" the other party meant, but he was quite unhappy with this approach of coming directly to the door without informing him in advance.

Naturally, you have to control the other person's words.

The surname of the Jin Yiwei sent by Nanjing was Deng Mingqing. He had been in this business for more than ten years. He had seen a lot of people from all walks of life, including some from the city. He Xiao's answer was not as arrogant as a gun and a stick.

And angry. He was able to find the He brothers directly after arriving in Ningbo. Naturally, he knew the identities and backgrounds of the two brothers. The purpose of visiting was not to accuse them, because he knew very well that the He brothers could be confident.

The land was doing business with the Haihan people, and the big shots involved behind it were not something he could shake.

Deng Qing said: "It seems that Master He has misunderstood. My visit this time is not to investigate people and handle cases, nor does I mean to cause trouble for you two. It is just my duty and I need to understand the intention of the Haihan people. If Master He can

It's convenient, I will definitely remember this friendship."

He Xiao was able to work as a staff member under the magistrate, so his brain was naturally easy to use, and he also heard the soft-yet-hard meaning in the other party's words - Deng Qing stated that he was not looking for trouble, and specifically emphasized that he would remember his actions.

It is convenient for him to remember gratitude and he will naturally hold grudges. Although He Xiao is not afraid that Deng Qing will cause trouble for him, if the Jinyiwei Yamen takes notice of him, it will not be a good thing after all, and there is no need to provoke such an enemy.

After He Xiao quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind, he put on a different face and said: "It is official business, and He must cooperate with Mr. Deng. I wonder what Mr. Deng wants to know?"

Deng Qing said: "I have just asked you once, what are the intentions of the Haihan people in purchasing a large amount of grain and grass from eastern Zhejiang? Will it threaten the security of our country? Master He, this matter is of great importance, and you must not hide anything!"

I don’t know better than you what He Xiao knows about what should and shouldn’t be concealed? The Haihan people’s military intelligence is so secret, how can they tell outsiders? But he also knows that if he doesn’t give a reasonable explanation, Deng Qing will probably not

Let's give it up, we still have to send this guy away after all.

He Xiao responded: "Master Deng, Haihan actually purchases a large amount of grain on the market every two years in the name of purchasing military grain. This is not a rare thing. If you have been paying attention to the trends in the grain market, I believe you should also be aware of it.

This situation has arisen. As for the whereabouts of this food, I don’t know much about it. It is a major military matter, so I don’t dare to make random guesses.”

He Xiao's answer was very well-measured. He did not mention his role in Haihan's purchase of grain at all. He also vaguely pointed out that Deng Qing was making too much fuss about it. As for Haihan's purpose of purchasing grain,

He even found a high-sounding reason to say he didn't know.

Deng Qing frowned slightly, feeling that this person surnamed He was really slippery and couldn't find any useful words after going around and around. If this was the target of his arrest, he would have lost his temper and resorted to tactics. But this Ningbo Mansion is not a place where he can do whatever he wants.

, even if he takes the two He brothers now, he will never be able to take them out of Ningbo Mansion. On the contrary, he may get himself trapped, so no matter how aggrieved he is, he can only endure it.

The Jinyiwei Yamen has actually been aware of the subtle changes in Ningbo Prefecture in the past two years, and has even replaced two groups of Jinyiwei stationed in Ningbo. The reason is because Nanjing believes that the monitoring and intelligence collection work here is

Very incompetent. Of course, there may be many factors causing this situation. In addition to the professional abilities of these people, the higher-ups are also worried that they may be bribed to some extent if they stay in Ningbo for too long.

This kind of bribery is not necessarily done by Haihan, but more likely by local vested interests from Ningbo. After all, the import and export trade volume reached between Ningbo and Haihan every year is huge, and most of the people involved are the upper class of society. If these

When people notice that someone is blocking the way, they are most likely the ones who want to remove the stumbling block. Jin Yiwei wants to monitor local trends, so he will naturally become the target of bribery or attack by these people.

This time Deng Qing was sent to perform the task, partly because he was a new face in Ningbo. No one in the officialdom or the public knew him, so he could do things with less scruples. And he chose to collect information by publicly visiting relevant personnel.

, mainly trying to use his identity to scare these insiders. But judging from the current conversation, Master He, who works in the prefect’s Yamen, obviously does not have much fear of the identity of "Jinyiwei". It turns out that

The planned plan seems to be not working very well.

Deng Qing said: "As far as I know, this is not the first time that the trading firm run by the He family has traded grain with Haihan. The Haihan people publicly claimed that the grain they purchased was for military use. I wonder what Master He thinks of it?"

"What do I think?" He Xiao chuckled and replied: "If the Haihan people want to be detrimental to our Ming Dynasty, why should they openly say that the food they purchase is for military use? Since they said it, of course it is to show that they have no bad intentions.

Lord Deng, is this the truth?"

Deng Qing snorted coldly and said: "Even if the Haihan people don't have any bad intentions, stationing a large number of troops on Zhoushan Island will not be a good thing for our Ming Dynasty after all!"

He Xiao's face darkened slightly when he heard his unkind tone and said: "Master Deng's words are a bit biased. Haihan's purchase of military rations may be for transportation to the north. On the Liaodong battlefield, we still have to rely on the Haihan army to stabilize the situation."

Given the situation, thousands of people need to eat and drink, so we can’t go to war hungry, right?”

The Liaodong War was a very difficult situation for the Ming Dynasty to deal with. The Haihan Army entered Liaodong without the authorization of the Ming Dynasty. In theory, it was considered a military invasion. However, after the Haihan Army entered the area, it continued to fight with Hou Jin. In fact,

It played the role of attracting firepower for the Ming Dynasty. If the Haihan army withdraws from Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty will inevitably have to face the Houjin Iron Cavalry knocking on the door for many years. After weighing the pros and cons, the Ming court finally chose to remain silent against Haihan's wanton actions. At the moment

The Ming Dynasty was unable to take back Liaodong. Instead of letting the Jurchens occupy it, it would be better to let the Haihan people occupy it first. After all, the Ming Dynasty still had room for negotiation with the Haihan people, but it could only fight to the death with the Jurchens.

Of course, there is another reason that everyone knows, but no one will say: If the Ming Dynasty wants to force Haihan to withdraw from Liaodong, it will probably only ask for trouble, because at present, the Bohai Sea area to the north of the Ming Dynasty is almost impossible to pull out.

A decent armed fleet cannot threaten the Haihan Army stationed in Liaodong. There was originally a Dongjiang Zhenming Army with a small number of combat ships, but now it has semi-openly defected to the Haihan Army, and it is estimated that it will not return.

Under the Ming Dynasty.

Precisely because the Haihan army in Liaodong held back Houjin's march south for the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty turned a blind eye to Haihan's material purchases in Shandong, Zhejiang and other places in the past two years, and did not forcibly block trade.

Channel. Of course, the decision-makers of the Ming Dynasty may not have any good intentions towards Haihan. They made such a choice just in the hope that both families would suffer losses in Liaodong.

However, I know that Da Ming does not dare to relax its surveillance of Haihan's movements at all. Otherwise, if one day the Haihan people out of mind make a move against Da Ming, it is better to be prepared than unprepared. So even though Haihan is in Zhejiang

Although the grain procurement was carried out openly, Jinyiwei Yamen still had to do its due diligence to find out the purpose of Haihan's move.

Although Deng Qing had expected the resistance he would encounter during the investigation, he was still a little angry after being rebuffed by He Xiao over and over again. The Jinyi Guards were the emperor's own soldiers, a first-class privileged yamen.

When he was so offended, he couldn't help but reply: "Master He, be careful what you say, it is related to the dignity of the country. Don't think you can talk nonsense just because you have the support of the prefect! If the Haihan people behave badly, be careful not to involve your family members."

Also dragged into the water!"

He Xiao did not accept his threat at all, and said with disdain: "Master Deng, you are so loud! Since you are so powerful, why not go directly to Zhoushan Island to capture a few of the high-ranking officials from Haihan, and escort them back to the Jinyiwei Yamen for detailed investigation?

Do you want to know more clearly?"

"you……"

"My prefect, in order to maintain peace, tried his best to deal with the Haihan people repeatedly, so that Zhejiang has peace today. Master Deng threatened me both inside and outside his words. He probably wanted to use me as a handle to punish the prefect.

?It’s a pity that Mr. Qu devoted his whole life to serving the country and the people, but he was regarded as an enemy by you and others!"

"I……"

"You don't have to quibble. Let me ask you, where were you when the Haihan army blocked the Qiantang River two years ago? Have you ever done anything to save the crisis? That time, if Magistrate Qu hadn't risked his life to negotiate with senior Haihan officials and persuade them

If we withdraw our troops and make a truce, I am afraid that the city of Hangzhou will fall into the flames of war! Now you actually want to frame Master Qu by making false accusations, it is really abominable!"

He Xiao was so eloquent that he didn't give Deng Qing a chance to speak again. His barrage of words made Deng Qing's face so gloomy that it was about to drip with water. If he hadn't been on a mission, he would have wanted to kill He Xiao right away.

Xiao took it down and took it back to the Yamen to teach him a lesson. Then he would resort to methods of breaking bones and tendons to see if He could still talk such nonsense.

"We don't agree with each other. I have nothing to say to Mr. He. If there is nothing else, Mr. He, please come back!" After He Xiao finished his operation, he simply issued an order to expel Deng Qing.

Deng Qing knew that he and He Xiao could no longer have a good conversation, so he stood up and left with a cold snort, not even bothering to say hello.

After Deng Qing left, He Li, who had been watching from the side, gave his brother a thumbs up and praised him: "Big brother is so awesome. He trained those hundreds of households until they couldn't talk back!"

He Xiao sighed and said: "Actually, I didn't want to say it so harshly at the beginning, but this guy really doesn't know what to do. He insists on making me angry. Why bother! Check, check, there is nothing to find out. Jin Yiwei used to be in Ningbo

We have earned a lot of money, and we have always gotten along well with each other. If he talks nicely, don't I know what to do? Forget it, send someone to come and let the Haihan people know.

Will say something."
Chapter completed!