Chapter 1915 Security Vulnerabilities

Pepper, a spice crop, has actually been introduced to local cultivation by the Haihan Ministry of Agriculture a few years ago, and the varieties grown in Haihan are different from the peppers in Mindanao and the Spice Islands in the south. They can be identified by their appearance and taste.

.In addition to being used as an edible spice, this product also has considerable medicinal value, so its sales in the market have always been quite good.

Peppers produced in other regions have no price advantage in Sanya's spice market, and profits will even be diluted due to cross-sea freight. However, given the current situation of the Spaniards, they have to find ways to sell colonial products to ensure that they have funds to maintain operations.

The most important trade hub in the South China Sea is currently the Sanya area under Haihan's rule.

In fact, before this year's Battle of Manila, the Spaniards had been doing this kind of business secretly through middlemen. At that time, Haihan believed that this kind of trade could also bring profits to himself, so he turned a blind eye to such small actions. But after the war,

The conflict between the two countries has been made clear, and Haihan also intends to suppress Spanish forces in the South China Sea, so all trade related to Spain has been included in the blacklist. The middlemen have also been warned and are not allowed to sell goods to the sea anymore.

The Han market imports Spanish products—as for selling Haihan products to the Spaniards, this is not prohibited.

After the official issued a ban, these middlemen who had already registered with the Port Management Committee naturally did not dare to make mistakes and stopped their original gray transactions. There were a few who committed crimes with a sense of luck, but they were all arrested afterwards.

The punishment is painful. Of course, the most painful thing is probably the Spaniards thousands of miles away. As soon as Haihan's ban was issued, they lost a large chunk of the income they obtained from foreign trade and could only rely on shipping from the Americas once a year.

The silver sent supported the finances. Although the products of the Ming Dynasty and Haihan could still be purchased, the balance of money had become limited, which was still very uncomfortable for the Spaniards whose colonial area had greatly shrunk.

Now that the ban is still being implemented, and products from the Spanish colonies have appeared in Sanya, this may be a sign that someone is committing crimes against the wind.

An official from the management committee responded: "Even if someone secretly sells this kind of pepper in bulk, they may not put it on the market for retail. They can negotiate the price with the buyer and deliver it directly, so that the pepper can be sold without anyone noticing."

Complete the transaction. As long as the seller takes the initiative to lower the price below the market price, there should still be people who are greedy for profit and buy this kind of black market goods that avoid supervision. However, it is very risky to put this kind of goods in the market for retail, and we have set up a report.

Reward, generally speaking, it is unlikely that the situation envisioned by Section Chief Zhang will occur."

If he wants to completely ban the circulation of Spanish goods in the trade field, Haihan is currently powerless. After all, there is no way to check all ships entering and leaving the port and supervise private buying and selling. As long as Spanish goods can be

If the price is low enough, it will always be able to maintain a place in international trade. Even if it cannot openly enter the market operated by Haihan, it will be difficult for Haihan to play around and use the trade channels here to do some black market transactions.

Prevent.

Of course, if it was just about the black market trading of pepper, intelligence officials at the level of Zhang Qianzhi would not be allowed to directly inquire about it. Instead, the Ministry of Security realized that this kind of trade loophole might gradually evolve into a more serious security loophole, thus affecting more serious security loopholes.

profound level.

The existence of trade loopholes means the possibility of benefit transfer, and the Spanish espionage case uncovered in Port Victory in 1634 has always been one of the cases repeatedly studied by the Ministry of Security. Even with the reaction of the Haihan Security Ministry

Even though they have no espionage capabilities, they dare not guarantee that the country will be peaceful. If the Spaniards can complete the transfer of benefits to specific targets through black market trade, then it is impossible to say that Haihan still has people working for them.

But to conduct an investigation in this area without any clues, Zhang Qianzhi can only start from the trade field. But now it seems that this black market trade is not easy to find out. Even with professional guidance, he will still face practical difficulties.

.

"All middlemen who have registered with the Management Committee in the past will be investigated again. Especially if there are ships anchored at the Victory Port Pier in recent days, inspections must be focused. If there are officials or public servants who are implicated..."

Zhang Qianzhi paused, looked around at everyone's expressions, and made sure that these people were listening to him, and then slowly said: "Be sure to report it to the Security Department as soon as possible!"

This may sound like making a fuss out of a molehill, but no one dares to turn a deaf ear to the Ministry of Security’s words. After all, this is an organization that is directly loyal to the Executive Committee, and the attitude of the Ministry of Security can also be equated to the wishes of the Executive Committee to a certain extent.

The naturalized officials present here have been repeatedly instilled with a consciousness when they joined the company, that is, they must obey the orders of the Executive Committee no matter what the circumstances.

Zhang Qianzhi is actually not sure whether any official personnel will be involved in this black market trade, but he believes that the possibility is not small. Since Haihan can bribe officials of other countries with benefits, theoretically other countries can also do the same.

Use a similar method to bribe Haihan officials. Once a traitor appears in an official organization, the consequences may not only become more rampant black market trade, so eliminating hidden dangers through investigation is the work that must be completed at the moment.

However, no substantive conclusions were drawn at this investigation and communication meeting. The identity of the drunkard and his confession need further verification, and the investigation of the previous Western goods middlemen may also take several days. Zhang

At the moment, Qianzhi can only deploy the task first, and wait for the investigation results to be available before making further arrangements.

Zhang Qianzhi came out of the meeting at the port center and received a message from a special person sent by He Xi, asking him to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as soon as possible to complete the registration of the accompanying persons for the Prince of Korea's inspection trip.

"Want to accompany the Crown Prince of Joseon on a tour around the island? This job sounds quite easy..." Zhang Qianzhi weighed a stack of trade-related information that he had just taken out from the port center, thinking that he might have to put this case aside first.

.Obviously, in the eyes of his superiors, the weight of the Joseon Crown Prince is greater than this black market trade.

Since it was the above meaning, Zhang Qianzhi could only accept it and implement it. When he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and found the official in charge of external relations, he basically understood the ins and outs of this visit and inspection.

It is certainly not the first time that Zhang Qianzhi has seen arrangements like this for foreign dignitaries to inspect some key domestic construction projects and prosperous areas. However, for such errands, the Ministry of Security will generally send field personnel with stronger operational capabilities, and civilians like Zhang Qianzhi

Officials are rarely assigned such tasks.

Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Qianzhi does not have any martial arts value at all. In fact, he has also received various related trainings, and he has also learned and practiced grappling and fighting. His hands may be stronger than most ordinary people.

Moreover, he is one of the few civilian officials in the Ministry of Security who carries a gun. His shooting skills with revolvers are quite good, and he can also take on the duties of a field armed officer when necessary.

Zhang Qianzhi looked at the list of entourage personnel compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and saw that there was an expedition-class warship and about a platoon of armed infantry among them, so he knew that his mission should be relatively easy. After all, most of the security work was undertaken by the military.

Yes, his participation in this event as an official of the Ministry of Security is mainly to ensure that certain sensitive projects that need to be kept confidential will not be temporarily included in the visit targets.

As for the accompanying officials from other departments, Zhang Qianzhi looked at the list. There were some he knew and some he didn't know, but they were basically young and strong officials. This was probably because the schedule was quite full and young officials could

Better adapt to arrangements.

The departure time is set for the next day, which means that the preparation time left for Zhang Qianzhi is only a little more than half a day. However, Zhang Qianzhi doesn’t think it’s a big problem. He doesn’t need to take much with him when he goes out. He will go back to pack in the evening.

It doesn’t take much time to make a package.

Zhang Qianzhi went back to the Security Department to report to He Xi. Although no useful clues had been found so far, he still gave a brief report to He Xi on the current situation and his deployment.

He Xi nodded and said: "Since no evidence has been found, this case will be handed over to other departments for implementation. You go and do the errands of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This time it is the person who is called by Minister Ning. Remember to get things done.

Be more beautiful!"

Zhang Qianzhi said: "Okay boss, but why does the executive committee pay so much attention to this North Korean prince? Could it be that the leaders want to help him sit on the throne as soon as possible?"

He Xi said: "North Korea's national power is weak, and it is surrounded by two powerful neighbors, the Qing Dynasty and Japan. The former protective umbrella of Ming Dynasty is now difficult to protect itself, so it will currently rely on the force protection provided by our country. But in the long run, if we want to

The relationship between the two countries has become more stable, so a ruler who is close to our country is the best way. The current North Korean King Li Zhu is more hesitant to do things. Even on such major matters as the survival of the country, he has to wait until the enemy's troops are approaching before he can make a decision.

What do you think the situation would be like if there were another North Korean king who is close to our country?"

Zhang Qianzhi said: "It goes without saying that just like Fujian and Annan, they should open their doors to our country, and their military, economy, and politics should all follow our country's standards."

He Xi said: "The Crown Prince of Joseon came to our country not only for inspections, but more importantly, to study abroad in our country. However, it is said that the Crown Prince has not yet decided what major he wants to study, so he wanted to go around first to see what he really knows.

If you are interested, then let us arrange relevant courses.”

Zhang Qianzhi rolled his eyes and understood the purpose of this arrangement: "Then the executive committee should have already decided what major the prince should study."

"If the executive committee proposed it on its own, it would be too heavy-handed and might make North Koreans worry too much. Therefore, we arranged such an itinerary so that the Crown Prince of Joseon could slowly understand by himself what major he should study to best help him.

and his country." He Xi did not deny Zhang Qianzhi's speculation, but did not give a clear answer.

From the very beginning when Haihan proposed to North Korea to send a prince to study abroad in Haihan, he did not restrict the major of study. This was to appear generous and show that he had no selfish intentions, and secondly, to dispel the doubts of the North Koreans.

To prevent them from thinking that Haihan arranges study abroad courses for a certain purpose. And Li Bo has never thought about his study direction. This actually leaves Haihan room for maneuver. Since Li Bo can't figure it out himself, then

Haihan will definitely make some arrangements to guide Li Mu to choose the major that is most useful to Haihan.

This seems simple to say, but in practice, it still requires a lot of effort to avoid being noticed by Li Huang. Starting from Zhoushan Island, Li Huang's various visits and inspection arrangements on his way south were actually made consciously and subtly.

This allowed Li Pu to establish a positive impression of Haihan's governing ability. What Li Pu could gain from these trips was not only to broaden his horizons and increase his knowledge, but also to realize that Haihan's power was not limited to the military field that he had previously known.

And the reason for being strong is not just the strength of force.

What can be learned from Haihan is a question that Li Fu has been thinking about, and Haihan has been trying to guide his thinking. Li Fu has realized that just from Haihan, he can learn to lead troops to fight, build roads and bridges, and build buildings.

In fact, building ships, cars, or even that magical steam engine cannot make North Korea strong immediately, and even if he studies for two years, he will not do better than a professional.

How to move Haihan's advanced model back to North Korea has become a major question that Li Bo has been thinking about recently, and this is also a question that Haihan hopes he will think about deeply.

However, the authorities are obsessed with the onlookers, and Li Bo has been involved in the problem and has never been able to understand it. Zhang Qianzhi only listened to He Xi's brief talk and already understood 70-80% of it. He then said: "If he really chooses to study abroad in accordance with the intention of the executive committee,

Professional, then when he returns to China after completing his studies, it is indeed possible that he will not be satisfied with continuing to be the heir to the throne."

"If he wants to go back and give full play to the skills he has learned, he must gain real power. As long as he can firmly stand on our country's side, it will not be difficult to support him in power." He Xi said to Zhang Qianzhi.

The statement expressed affirmation and also pointed out the ultimate purpose of the executive committee.

"Then we still have to see whether this person is a smart person or a idiot, and whether he is worthy of the country's efforts to train him." Zhang Qianzhi couldn't help but feel a little sour when thinking that the crown prince of Joseon would be the leader of a country in the future.

He Xi smiled and said, "Okay, I'll add a task for you. Observe the prince's words and deeds during the trip, analyze his thoughts and values, and write a written report to me when he comes back!"

"Ah? I suddenly got extra tasks... Will the boss give me overtime pay?" Zhang Qianzhi has been a master and apprentice with He Xi for many years, and the atmosphere of conversation is relatively relaxed. From time to time, he can make a few jokes like this to lighten the atmosphere.
Chapter completed!