Chapter 1987

At the same moment when the Marine Corps was hiding in the mountains and forests to monitor the Qing army camp, an inconspicuous sailing ship sailed into Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. It was nearly the end of the year, and even the merchants who came here to purchase or sell the last batch of goods this year were even

There are at least hundreds of small and medium-sized sailing ships like this that come and go from Zhoushan Port every day. Naturally, no one notices their existence.

However, when the ship quietly sailed into the dock dedicated to official ships, it inevitably attracted the attention of neighboring ships. This dedicated dock covers a large area, and there are six trestles just for parking ships, but here

Only government ships are allowed to enter and dock, but on weekdays, more than half of the seats are empty. Several official boats in Zhoushan are all expedition-class civilian versions, with huge hulls and unique sail shapes that are quite eye-catching.

The red and blue Haihan flag will also be hoisted, and this ship sailing into the dedicated pier is obviously not one of them.

There are some ships that come to Zhoushan Port for the first time. Because they are not familiar with the environment, they do not pay attention to the signboards on the dedicated pier and enter here by mistake. They will soon be driven away by the officials on the pier. But this

However, the sailboat did not receive such treatment and entered the berth smoothly. Several carriages quickly came to the pier and picked up all the people who got off the ship. The sailors and crew members on the pier next to them who were ready to watch the excitement shouted "Look!"

Wandered away.

In fact, this is not because the onlookers are not discerning enough, but because the people who took this boat did not intend to travel in a high-profile way. It is just that ordinary civilian ships need to be boarded and inspected by staff after docking at Dinghai Port. If they encounter larger ships entering the port,

Most of the time, this process is quite time-consuming, and it takes a while to hire a carriage and horse to get to the destination after disembarking. People on the ship wanted to save themselves this trouble, so they chose to enter the official dedicated terminal and call directly

The official carriage goes to the destination.

These carriages later appeared in a compound at the foot of Xiaozhushan Mountain. A man in black got out of the first carriage. He had a strong build and sharp eyes. He was the security department who had just arrived in Zhoushan from Shandong.

Senior official Gong Shiqi.

"Brother Gong, I haven't seen you for a long time. You are even more elegant than before! It's been a long and hard journey. Please come and talk to us." Waiting to greet Gong Shiqi was Wan Fa, the head of the local branch of the Security Department. He and Gong Shi

Qi is an old acquaintance. They had worked together during the beheading operation in Hangzhou in 1634. But after that, they went south and north, and the two never met again after that. Today in Zhoushan

Wan Fa was also quite emotional when he reunited with his old friend on the island.

"Congratulations to Brother Wan on your promotion!" Gong Shiqi was still straightforward and congratulated Wan Fa first.

In fact, after the action in Hangzhou City, Wanfa's promotion was basically a certainty. However, to truly get a position of real power, he would have to be sent back to Zhejiang in the near future to take charge of the command of the Ministry of Security in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

There are only about ten people in the Security Department with such a unique position in the overseas ruling area. It is no exaggeration to say that Wan Fa is now considered one of the top figures in the Haihan Security Department.

After the two greeted each other, Wan Fa introduced Gong Shiqi into the house, while Wan Fa's subordinates were responsible for arranging rest for Gong Shiqi's entourage. This time Gong Shiqi went south because he was dispatched by the headquarters and had an urgent mission.

Both of them knew this very well, so they didn't waste time on red tape and took the time to start discussing the business.

Regarding what happened in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, Gong Shiqi had a general understanding of what was happening in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas when he received the transfer telegram, but he did not know the details and needed Wan Fa to explain it to him.

"The situation is serious and time is urgent."

After sitting down, Wanfa first used two opening sentences to define the current situation. When he reported the situation to Sanya before, Wanfa did not expect that this matter would attract the focus of the executive committee and asked the Zhoushan authorities to organize

The two major intelligence agencies, the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security, worked hard to find out the origins of the personnel and guns involved in the salt industry-related shootings as soon as possible. For this reason, Gong Shiqi was even specially transferred back from Shandong to take charge of the subsequent field tasks.

Wan Fa, who has worked with Gong Shiqi in the security department, knows very well what status he has. This person who worked beside the big boss He Xi in his early years was only released to work three years ago. But this is

It does not mean that Gong Shiqi fell out of favor in front of He Xi. On the contrary, this is a manifestation of the big boss' intention to cultivate him. The beheading operation in Hangzhou that year was jointly carried out by the military and the Ministry of Security. The military used Gao Qiaonan

As a leading figure, Gong Shiqi is in charge of the security department, which shows He Xi's trust in him.

In the past two years, Gong Shiqi seemed to be silent in Shandong and had no notable achievements. However, Wanfa heard that Gong Shiqi was responsible for establishing an intelligence network in the northern inland area of ​​the Ming Dynasty. This project is huge and requires great achievements.

Achievements are definitely not achieved overnight, but as long as Gong Shiqi can make a good start, he will definitely be the first to be rewarded based on his merits in the future.

Gong Shiqi's work at hand was so urgent, and the superiors still ordered him to be transferred to Zhoushan. This shows how seriously the superiors paid attention to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang shooting cases. Wanfa realized this, and naturally he was also very concerned.

Spirit, don't let Gong Qiqi underestimate yourself.

Next, Wanfa told Gong Shiqi one by one the relevant information he had so far. There were some confidential details, so the conversation was only between the two of them, and there were no two people.

of subordinates participated in the observation.

"Based on the information we currently have, Jianghuai salt merchants are undoubtedly the most suspected. Before the Korean War ended, we received news that salt merchants in the Jianghuai area organized militia groups in the name of protecting salt. However, there was no update at that time.

The exact news did not attract enough attention, and the Ningbo Prefecture who obtained the qualifications to act as agents for the two salt fields in Xiangshan and Shipu were almost all official figures. We did not expect that anyone would dare to attack them.

"

The Haihan Security Department and the Military Intelligence Bureau are not yamen that only eat dry food. In fact, these two yamen have always been paying attention to the attitude of the Jianghuai salt merchants towards the Haihan salt produced in Ningbo, and they have long expected the Jianghuai salt.

Businessmen may take certain confrontational measures to protect their own interests, but they didn't expect that they would go to such extreme lengths.

The standard muskets of unknown origin are far more important to Haihan than the confrontational attitude of the Jianghuai salt merchants. Even though the number of guns that have appeared in several shooting cases so far does not seem to be too many, the Ministry of Security and Military Intelligence

The bureau did not dare to be careless at all. On the one hand, it collected the warheads and sent them to Sanya for inspection. On the other hand, it also consciously strengthened its monitoring of the movements of Jianghuai salt merchants.

Of course, the biggest reaction to this was not the Zhoushan authorities, but the Ningbo salt merchants who suffered heavy losses in the shooting. To be precise, it was the real bosses behind these new salt merchants, the civil and military officials of Ningbo Prefecture, large and small.

.

When the two salt fields in Shipu and Xiangshan were being prepared for construction, local officials secretly cooperated with Haihan, taking shares or obtaining distribution rights. In the early days, the leaders of the Weisuo Army were the main ones.

One after another, some civil servants have the courage to join in. Up to now, more than 30 civil and military officials below Qu Yutong, the prefect, have been involved. It can be said that the relevant stakeholders in the officialdom of Ningbo Prefecture have occupied the majority.

On the one hand, these officials wanted to profit from this business, but on the other hand, they had to hide their identity and not participate in the business in person. Therefore, a group of new-faced salt merchants appeared in Ningbo Prefecture to participate in business activities on their behalf. The sea salt produced in Ningbo was

Transporting it to other state capitals for sale is also handled by these puppet merchants.

Since this salt has already obtained a legal production license in Ningbo Prefecture and is sold as official salt, the fleets and fleets transporting salt also travel openly. But it is precisely because of this that the itinerary of the salt transport team

It is easy to be grasped by the outside world, and there are many opportunities for those who want to attack it.

In several attacks that occurred not long ago, more than a dozen people were killed or injured in various salt transport teams. In addition, the salt being transported was also set on fire. According to those who brought the news back, the attackers

They were warned that they would continue to take action against the salt transport team from Ningbo. If they did not want to cause trouble again, they would no longer be allowed to transport salt out of Ningbo for sale.

This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the bosses behind the scenes who hope to make a fortune from the salt business. However, due to their status, they cannot directly come forward to investigate the matter. If they send their troops to pretend to be civilians to serve as escorts, the cost will be high.

And it was really too high. They didn’t have enough wealth to slowly grind it out with the Jianghuai salt merchants.

But it was impossible to just swallow their anger after suffering a loss. If they couldn't come forward themselves, wouldn't there be Haihan people on Zhoushan Island sitting in charge? These local officials came to Shi Diwen one after another and asked Haihan to report the situation as soon as possible.

Take countermeasures to change this passive situation. Of course, they are not planning to sit back and watch the fight between tigers and tigers. As long as Haihan is willing to step forward to solve the problem, they can also contribute money and efforts.

The main reason why these local officials pin their hopes on Haihan is the level of force that Haihan has displayed along the coast of Zhejiang over the years, which makes them feel that as long as the Haihan people are willing to use force, they can quickly solve the problem.

.After all, just half a year ago, the Haihan Army held a large-scale military exercise in Hangzhou Bay to show off its muscles. This made Ningbo officials who had attended the scene generally have a blind trust in the power of Haihan.

In the end, even Qu Yutong came forward in person, hoping that Shi Diwen could use the strength of the Zhoushan garrison to resolve the matter, but Shi Diwen did not agree to the other party's request.

Haihan and the Ming Dynasty have officially established diplomatic relations. No matter what the name is, if they openly use force against targets in the Ming Dynasty, it is actually tantamount to an invasion. Although the local government may not be able to resist Haihan's military methods, this kind of thing is not only

It will damage the normalizing diplomatic relations between the two countries, and will also affect Haihan's international reputation. After all, there are a lot of businessmen from various countries who trade with Zhoushan Island. If the Zhoushan garrison is dispatched, it will be difficult to hide it from the public's sight.

.

In addition, at this time, the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security have noticed something fishy in the shooting case and are trying to investigate it. Naturally, they cannot send out large-scale troops at this time, otherwise the clues will most likely be interrupted.

Shi Diwen could only comfort the local officials, saying that they needed to exercise restraint and help Haihan collect more relevant intelligence, so that Haihan could have a clearer judgment on the current situation, and then consider what measures to take.

means to solve the problem.

Of course, considering that most of these officials' influence is limited to Ningbo, Shi Diwen does not have high expectations for the assistance they can provide. The final work is estimated to have to be completed by his own strength. The Ministry of Security will Gong

Shiqi was transferred back from Shandong with the same intention. After all, Gong Shiqi had rich experience in commanding special operations. When necessary, he could lead a team into the Jianghuai area and carry out targeted elimination of certain key targets without having to mobilize troops in a big way.

After Gong Qiqi listened to Wan Fa's introduction, he was not very interested in the reaction of local officials, but the details of several gun cases made him interested in research. Wan Fa immediately ordered someone to fetch the case files and handed them over

Gong Shiqi took a look.

Most of these files come from the parties' statements about the incident process. Although they are somewhat subjective, they can basically restore the general situation at the time of the incident. There is also a small part of the Ministry of Security's early investigation of Jianghuai Salt.

Collection of relevant information about businessmen, as well as some shared information reported by the Military Intelligence Bureau.

"It's getting late, why don't we have dinner first and then continue studying the case?" Seeing that it was already dinner time, Wan Fa took the initiative to seek Gong Shiqi's opinion. Although there was no need to arrange a grand reception banquet, Gong Shiqi's

With the level here, the dinner that should be served will definitely not be ambiguous.

But Gong Shiqi really didn't care much about these eating and drinking matters. He just hummed when he heard this and continued to stare at the file in front of him. After another long while, he raised his head and said: "I think we can solve it here. It's a lot of trouble."

Brother asked the kitchen to cook a bowl of noodles, and I ate it in just a few minutes without delaying my business."

Wan Fa couldn't laugh or cry and said: "Brother Gong, there is no rush to handle the case at this moment. Otherwise, Master Shi will know that you came all the way and were treated like this, and he will have to call me to teach you a lesson. Otherwise, I'll let the kitchen prepare some."

It’s just a side dish and it won’t take too long to have a meal.”

"Okay, let's just follow Brother Wan's wishes." Gong Shiqi didn't even raise his head this time, obviously not wanting to spend too much time on this kind of thing.

Although Wan Fa said politely, when the meal was served later, there was still a large table full of chicken, duck, and fish. Seeing this, Gong Shiqi did not refuse, and sat down to eat in peace, and even took the initiative to drink with Wan Fa.

We had two drinks. However, the topics discussed during the dinner were still mainly about the recent shooting cases.
Chapter completed!