Chapter 1988

After Gong Shiqi read the case file prepared by Wan Fa, he was keenly aware of the omissions in it, so he asked Wan Fa about the matter while eating: "I just read the file, why is there no Jin Yiwei in it?"

News? It’s impossible that Jin Yiwei doesn’t know about such a big thing, right?”

As the official spy intelligence agency of the Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei has branches in almost every state capital. If it is completely unaware that civilian armed organizations are equipped with weapons that are far more powerful than the regular army, it must be a huge dereliction of duty. Gong Shiqi believes that

It is impossible for Jin Yiwei to make such a low-level mistake. Even if he had not noticed it before, he should have launched an investigation into it after many shooting cases. What he was interested in was Jin Yiwei's attitude towards the shooting case. This was very important to Haihan.

What strategy should be adopted to deal with this matter next is of extremely important reference significance.

There was no clear record of this information in the file, so he asked Wan Fa face to face. Gong Shiqi believed that this was not Wan Fa's negligence, and that there must be some reasons that he did not know yet.

Wanfa put down the chopsticks in his hand and responded with a solemn expression: "This is also a strange situation at the moment. According to the information we have, the Jinyiwei Yamen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas have remained silent on several gun cases that have occurred.

There is no intention to pursue it.”

Gong Shiqi was slightly stunned, then sneered: "It seems that the opponent's energy is not small, so that all the Jin Yiwei collectively pretended to be deaf and dumb!"

Wan Fa sighed: "Although there is no evidence, I think so too. It would cost a lot to make the Jinyiwei Yamen turn a blind eye to this."

Both of them have experience in dealing with Jin Yiwei, and they are relatively familiar with the style of this yamen. Jin Yiwei has great power, but because of this, many people in this yamen will use their power to pursue their goals.

Benefits. If the instigator behind the shooting case is really the Jianghuai salt merchant, then for Jin Yiwei, this is a first-rate job.

As for whether Jin Yiwei raised the price in a condescending manner, or whether the instigator behind the scenes took the initiative to offer hush money, the Ministry of Security has not yet collected specific information, but this does not prevent Gong Shiqi from making inferences about Jin Yiwei's silent reaction. To be honest, if Jin Yiwei did not borrow the money

If he takes this opportunity to make money, he will not believe it.

"But not speaking out does not mean that Jin Yiwei knows nothing about these situations." Gong Shiqi changed the topic: "They chose to remain silent. It may be that they have received benefits from certain people, or they may feel that the situation is

We are all under control, there is no need to rush to take action at this time."

Wan Fa responded: "If Jinyiwei doesn't use manpower to investigate, the information they have is probably not as good as ours. I have also managed to contact two Jinyiwei I know from Ningbo Prefecture before, and I feel that they are also familiar with the attack on the salt merchant."

Wu Shui, if it’s not a show for me, then there’s something wrong with Jin Yiwei’s internal communication.”

What Wan Fa said is true. In terms of the scale of the intelligence network, the Haihan Security Department cannot compare with the Jinyi Guards of the Ming Dynasty. However, it also has some special advantages in some areas. For example, Ningbo Mansion has been penetrated by Haihan.

In an area riddled with holes, and with the nearby Zhoushan Island garrison as a solid backing, the local Jinyiwei could only keep a low profile. Even though Ningbo Mansion was considered their home court, they did not dare to show off in front of their counterparts in Haihan.

Gong Shiqi said: "The attitude of Jinyiwei is unclear, so we should be more careful when we act. After all, we have had a rift with us in the past, and they might add insult to injury at a critical moment. We must be on guard."

The "Liang Zi" mentioned by Gong Shiqi naturally refers to the killing of Liao Xun and others from the Jin Yiwei family in Hangzhou three years ago. Although that case eventually became an unsolved case, the Jin Yiwei have not yet learned the truth.

But the other party can basically confirm that the "disappearance" of Liao Xun and others was actually caused by Haihan, and of course this account will also be recorded on Haihan. If Jinyiwei is given the opportunity to exact revenge on Haihan,

Then the other party probably won't show mercy.

After eating, Gong Shiqi quickly returned to the study and continued to study the case files provided by Wanfa.

So far, there have been a total of seven attacks on salt transport teams, all of which were outside Ningbo Prefecture. In four of the attacks, the opponent used muskets as weapons. There were casualties in the salt transport team, and the escort team

All the cargo was lost in these four incidents. In the other three attacks, the escorts successfully repelled the attackers without much loss.

Judging from the chronological order, several attacks that were repulsed came first, and several attacks that used muskets came later. It is obvious that there is a tendency that secret weapons were used only after the early actions were unfavorable. However, there is still a lack of clear evidence.

, proved that all seven attacks were carried out by the same group of people, but both the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau believed that these attacks were not independent incidents, but had unified planning and deployment.

Gong Shiqi read the file in one breath, then stood up to look at a five-foot-square map hanging on the wall, depicting the general situation of the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the several incidents were marked with conspicuous red marks.

The place where the shooting occurred.

The places where these crimes occurred have one obvious thing in common, that is, they are all located in the north of Hangzhou Bay. Except for one attack that occurred in Huzhou Prefecture, the other attacks all occurred in Jiangsu Province. But what is very subtle is that the salt merchants

There was not even a single attack in the base camps of Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture. In Gong Shiqi's view, this seemed to be a cover-up.

"Want to play tricks?" Gong Shiqi looked at the map and muttered to himself.

After a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Who are you playing with?"

In the struggle for interests between Jiangsu and Zhejiang salt merchants, Haihan can choose to remain neutral and not directly participate. However, if factors that make Haihan clearly appear during the fight, he will no longer remain a bystander. And these Ming salt merchants

If they think they can do whatever they want with a batch of muskets, then Gong Shiqi feels the need to teach them how to behave. This does not even require Zhoushan Island to send out a large number of troops. The field operations team of the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau should be able to solve the problem.

Of course, this is based on the premise that the scale and combat effectiveness of the salt merchant's private armed forces are limited, otherwise Gong Shiqi was too trustworthy. Judging from the information described in the file, the attackers were armed with approximately ten to three soldiers at the same time.

The reason why there is such a huge discrepancy in the number of ten muskets is mainly because the confessions of the parties involved are inconsistent. This is also reasonable. After all, it is impossible for everyone to remain calm enough to pay attention to the enemy's weapons when encountering an attack.

Regarding the equipment situation, many people have chosen to run away with their heads in their hands when they hear gunshots or see their companions fall down after being shot, without even daring to raise their heads to see how many men and horses the enemy has. So as to how many musketeers there are in this private armed force,

The statements are not so consistent.

However, Gong Shiqi's view on this matter tends to be optimistic. He believes that the scale of the salt merchants' private armed forces must not be too large. After all, it is impossible to completely hide this kind of thing from the eyes and ears of the local government. Although Jin Yiwei did not speak out, but that

It's because the situation is controllable. If these salt merchants make the situation too big, the Jinyi Guards and the garrison troops in various state capitals will no longer be able to remain blind.

Another point is that the training and combat level of these musketeers will be limited by the environment they are in. The Haihan Army has officers with rich combat experience to train the new recruits, and there are large and small combat opportunities to polish them, but

The military training that these civilian armed forces can receive is definitely not comparable to that of the regular army. As for the opportunities for actual combat, they probably only have tasks such as attacking salt transport teams. What level can the musketeers trained in this way reach? Gong

Seventeen thought that at most they were equivalent to the Haihan militia.

Of course, he did not forget the main goal of his trip, which was to find out the source of these muskets. Gong Shiqi's plan was actually very simple and crude. He would first find the whereabouts of these musketeers, and then try to get them together with the guns.

Once you get it, when the witnesses and physical evidence are complete, things will be much easier to handle. If the Musketeers don't know where they got their weapons, it doesn't matter. As long as they know who their boss is, the Musketeers can't answer the question.

question, I believe their boss will be able to give the answer.

Therefore, for Gong Shiqi, as long as the first step can be successfully completed, the subsequent investigation will be a matter of course. However, everything is difficult at the beginning. If you want to master these key information, it may not be enough to rely on Zhoushan Island to find a solution.

, after all, you still have to get out first.

Wanfa chose to collect information through the investigation of the intelligence network and personal connections, while Gong Shiqifu decided to take action as soon as possible as soon as he arrived in Zhoushan. This can be said to be two completely different ideas, and it is also related to their respective work styles.

Wanfa places more emphasis on strategy, planning, intelligence collection and compilation, while Gong Qiqi leads the team to perform various field tasks all year round, so his problem-solving methods are more direct and often more effective.

But this cannot be said to be better or worse. The several files collected and compiled by Wanfa also provide important reference for Gong Qiyi's decision-making. Although Gong Qiyi's method is directly effective, it also requires responsibilities.

The risks will also increase exponentially. It can be said that the choices of the two people have their own pros and cons.

When Gong Shiqi went south this time, he also brought a group of capable people, and even weapons and equipment were shipped over by ship. However, if he wanted to take more radical measures, the manpower he brought alone should not be enough.

It requires cooperation from Zhoushan. And according to the system of the Ministry of Security, Gong Shiqi needs to accept the jurisdiction and command of the local commander during the operation, so his action plan must be reported to Shi Diwen first, and can only be implemented after obtaining permission.

.But Shi Diwen was not on the island at this time, so he had to wait patiently.

When Gong Shiqi arrived at Zhoushan Island, Shi Diwen was negotiating with Qu Yu and other local officials in Ningbo City on how to deal with the current troubles. Of course, the people qualified to participate in this negotiation were basically Ningbo Salt

Industry stakeholders, and the many attacks that have occurred recently have affected their vital interests to a greater or lesser extent, so they are particularly concerned about Haihan's attitude.

In fact, Shi Diwen had already met with a few senior officials such as Qu Yu before this and explained Haihan's attitude to them, hoping to make a decision after the situation became clearer. However, not everyone can be like Shi Di

Wen was so calm that many officials made excuses to go to the prefect's Yamen almost every two or three days, hoping that Qu Yutong could come forward to persuade the Haihan people to intervene. Qu Yutong himself was actually a little uneasy, so he sent him to the prefect's office.

Shi Diwen invited him to Ningbo City and asked him to personally answer the questions of these officials.

More than 80% of the trade carried out by Haihan in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas is through Ningbo Prefecture, and the positions of these local officials involved in the salt industry are basically close to Haihan. In addition to the salt industry, in daily life

Trade, immigration, finance and other fields are also of great value to Haihan, so Shi Diwen had to pay attention to the attitudes of these people and had to go to Ningbo Mansion in person to appease people's hearts.

"Everyone, the matter is not as serious as you think. We have also used the power at hand to investigate the identities of these musketeers and where the weapons they used came from. But the investigation will take a certain amount of time, and considering that

With the current diplomatic relations between the two countries, we cannot take radical military measures to solve the problem for the time being, so I hope you can be more patient and give us more time to find ways to properly handle the current situation..."

It is also difficult for Shi Diwen to persuade these officials whose interests have been harmed to be patient. He has said a lot of truths, but what they want to see is the result. As for Haihan, he needs to consider during this process.

These officials may not really care about the many issues.

At any rate, Shi Diwen drank several large cups of tea, and finally convinced these officials that Haihan would try his best to resolve the matter before the end of the year. But before that, the salt produced by the two salt farms in Xiangshan and Shipu,

We must first make some adjustments to the sales direction and suspend sales to the north to the Jianghuai region to avoid continued conflicts of interest with local salt merchants.

This is still a bit disappointing for the officials. When they originally set the north as the main sales direction, they had the intention to defeat the Jianghuai salt merchants in the shortest possible time. As long as they can seize the salt market in the lower Jianghuai area,

The next step is to control the local salt production, and then the business will grow bigger and bigger, allowing Ningbo salt merchants to slowly replace the old salt merchants.

Of course, the wish is beautiful, but the reality is not so easy to achieve. How can the Jianghuai salt merchants, who are extremely wealthy, be willing to hand over their industries to others? Even if your Ningbo salt merchants are backed by the government - there are only a few behind them.

What about the important people who can speak in the court?
Chapter completed!