Chapter 2065

Compared with Sanya, large trading ports like Zhangzhou, which have frequent sea merchants from many countries, are obviously much smaller in number of foreign merchants traveling to and from Magong Port, Penghu, and the difficulty of checking the registration information is also much smaller. The relevant investigation did not take too long, so the information of the target person was found from the registration information of the Port Authority.

About half a year ago, two merchant ships visited Magong Port. The owner of the ship registered in the Port Authority was named Kenji Takawa, which was exactly the same as the confession of Sun Yongjun, a hundred household in the Jinyiwei of Zhangzhou. However, the two ships only stayed in Magong Port for three days, purchased a small amount of seafood and left, and did not set up a permanent agency locally.

"That's it?" Yu Yao felt a little lucky after hearing his subordinate's report, but he was also a little disappointed. Although he didn't want to cause trouble, if he could find more clues, perhaps when he was rewarded with merits afterwards, Penghu could also take up a share of it.

Yu Yao was a relatively cautious person. Although there was no evidence that Kenji Takawa came to Penghu for impure purposes, he ordered further expansion of the scope of investigation to check whether there were new commercial institutions in the local area, housing purchase and sale activities, and whether there had been any changes in the warehouse rental situation near the dock around this time.

This additional investigation was entirely based on Yu Yao's intuition, because since he took office in Penghu, few Japanese maritime merchants have visited Magonggang. As far as he knew, Japanese maritime merchants prefer to trade with the Ming Dynasty, and most of the transaction projects related to Haihan were completed in Zhoushan Dinghai Port, which is closer to Japan, and it is not Penghu, which is not rich in products and is not on the route between Japan and the Ming Dynasty.

A Japanese maritime merchant took two boats to take a detour and stayed for three days, and only purchased some seafood with limited value. This was a waste of time and energy. In Yu Yao's opinion, it was a bit strange.

Of course, if it weren't for investigation, no one would pay attention to such trivial matters. Magonggang rarely conducted special investigations on merchants from a certain country, or created thresholds for foreign merchants to set up commercial institutions in Penghu. However, Haihan's official registration information is very complete, so even if the matter has passed for a long time, relevant clues can still be found.

This search found new clues. Two days after Kenji Takawa left Penghu, a local store changed its ownership, and the new owner changed the name of the store to Zhengyuan Ji - only one word from Zhengfu Ji in Zhangzhou. This store itself is a commercial and residential integration and has a warehousing function, so when the business scale is not large, there is no need to find another residence or warehouse.

"Send a team of people to check the Zhengyuan Record immediately. I searched carefully inside and outside. If there is any suspicious person, I will be detained first." Yu Yao, with the idea of ​​beating a mistaken kill to let go, immediately ordered someone to check the situation of the store.

The adjutant was about to send an order, but Yu Yao remembered something and called him again: "It is said that the target to be investigated this time has many muskets in his hand. Zhangzhou has closed the city for three days and dispatched a strong attack by the city defense force. We finally took it down. Let's be careful to avoid being plotted against... More troops and seal the place first. If you encounter resistance, then deal with it according to the first level!"

The so-called first-level situation means that the troops are engaged in battle when they encounter an enemy, and that is not handled according to the standards of civil security incidents. The adjutant heard his superiors be cautious and did not dare to neglect at all. He then took the order and left.

Since Yu Yao had already warned about the seriousness of the situation, the adjutant transferred the infantry company stationed on the island to perform this mission in order to ensure safety. Of course, he did not forget to emphasize Yu Yao's warning to the company commander.

The company commander thought that since the operation was risky and the warnings above were ahead, if something went wrong, he would be unable to do his job. So he also prepared a cracking tool and heavy armored infantry in accordance with the plan of the attack, but also pulled a small-caliber field gun out of the arsenal to prepare for emergencies. Then he dispatched the only ten horses in the base to serve as periphery monitoring, chasing, and orders.

The two incidents that occurred in Zhangzhou City recently played a very powerful warning to latecomers. If it weren't for the Zhangzhou case, Yu Yao would have just notified the Military Intelligence Bureau and asked them to send someone to see if there were any abnormalities in the business situation of the store.

The careful engagement of officers at all levels also allowed them to avoid casualties that might occur during the operation. Later, when the military tried to check the Zhengyuan Record, they were indeed obstructed by the operator of the store. The officers leading the team were not aware of the right knowledge and immediately ordered the arrest of the other party. Hundreds of Hai Han soldiers flocked into the store after receiving the signal and controlled the situation before the other party took further resistance.

During the later search, the soldiers found five muskets and nearly 100 rounds of ammunition from a dark compartment in the storehouse warehouse, as well as a batch of swords, bows and armor. It is obviously unreasonable to use the excuse of guarding the house or private collection. It is definitely not easy to hide these weapons in the storehouse.

After receiving the report, Yu Yao did not dare to neglect his scrutiny and immediately rushed to the scene to confirm the search results of his subordinates. Seeing the standard muskets with completely unified appearance and caliber, Yu Yao was also secretly shocked. If the other party caught the opportunity and used these muskets to assassinate himself on certain specific occasions, it would be extremely dangerous.

"Magong Port is temporarily closed, only entry and not exit. Find out all the local people related to Zhengyuanji, and no one can be let go!" Yu Yao issued an order with a gloomy face. Since Penghu has been infiltrated, the scope of investigation must be expanded. He dared not confirm that there is only Zhengyuanji, the local area is the only hidden danger.

Yu Yao immediately ordered the suspension of the naval fleet's action plan. Compared with the Japanese businessman Tian Chuan who didn't know where to hide, it was obvious that the new clues found at the doorstep of his home are more worthy of in-depth exploration. Yu Yao immediately asked someone to prepare the place and personally interrogated the criminals arrested in Zhengyuanji.

The shopkeeper of Zhengyuanji store and a total of twelve people. According to the account books collected in the store and the inlet and outflow records of goods, its main business project is to purchase dried fish, stone cabbage, seaweed, coral and other seafood from the local area, and then sell it to the Ming Dynasty after simple processing. This business method that increases the value of goods through rough processing has a good taste of the Haihan business model. However, in recent years, more and more merchants along the coast of the Ming Dynasty have been imitating the Haihan business model, so it is not too strange.

According to the official registration information, Lu Jiu, the shopkeeper of the store, was a Ming, but his fellow workers had a lot of sources, including not only Ming, but also Ryukyu, Japanese, as well as natives from Taiwan. Several people couldn't even speak Chinese well.

However, this situation is not uncommon in the local area. After the end of the Penghu Battle in 1632, only a few hundred indigenous people were left. In order to supplement the population on the island, the Penghu authorities relaxed restrictions on immigration, so that the number of people entering Penghu through various channels gradually increased. Moreover, in order to encourage population migration, those who have settled in Penghu for more than half a year without bad records can apply for naturalization to the Penghu authorities, and the conditions are much looser than those in Haihan.

Most immigrants who have come to Penghu and have not yet obtained the chance to be naturalized will choose to find a livelihood in the local area. For example, if they go to a store like Zhengyuanji, they can find a business that can carry on the pier. Therefore, the people living in Penghu are not all Ming people and Hai Han people, but also immigrants from other countries and regions.

Of course, Zhengyuan records whether there are innocent people among these people, so it still needs to be slowly identified after interrogation. In short, they must be treated as suspects at the moment. Even if someone is wronged, they can only endure it first.

Yu Yao personally interrogated Lu Jiu, the shopkeeper of Zhengyuanjiu. According to the report of his subordinates, something was wrong when the guy saw Hai Hanjun coming to the door, and tried to direct his friend to block Hai Hanjun's operation to search the store. He was obviously an insider.

"Lu Jiu, no matter whether this is your real name or a pseudonym, first of all, you have to know one thing..." Yu Yao's opening remark was simple and cold: "...If you die in Penghu, your name will be forgotten by everyone soon. No one will remember who you are, where you come from, and who you work for. If you want to see your family again and want to suffer less, it is best to work with us honestly and say everything you know!"

Lu Jiu was about forty years old and seemed to be a little listless, but he responded to Yu Yao without hesitation: "Mr. Yu, this life has been gone many years ago, and it doesn't matter to me at all. As for my family... I can only see them after I die. If Lord Yu wants to threaten with death, he may not have any effect."

Yu Yao was slightly surprised to hear his response. If what he said was true, it meant that his family had already died, and now he was the only one left, and he had long regarded life and death indifferently and would not be afraid of Yu Yao's death threat.

"So you are coming to Penghu with the will of death? I guess what you did in Penghu will definitely help untie your knot... Let me guess that your purpose is to take revenge, so even if there are very big risks, you still have to stay here and wait for a chance to take revenge!"

Since the death threat is not working, we can only change our means. Yu Yao said while paying attention to Lu Jiu's expression, trying to find some subtle emotional reactions on his face, and then he can make immediate adjustments to his interrogation strategy.

Lu Jiu was very calm, his eyes closed slightly to rest, and did not respond to Yu Yao's words again. But Yu Yao noticed that the person's clenched fists tightened again, and even the blue veins on the back of his hand bulged out, as if he was stimulated by Yu Yao's words.

Yu Yao immediately beat the snake and went on the stick, and continued, "I have been transferred to Penghu for more than four years and almost five years. During this period, Penghu was basically peaceful. No major incidents have happened, and I have never heard of any family massacres or other things. So you said that your family is dead and you are still living in the world. I guess this accident should not have happened in recent years, or the location is not in Penghu. Of course, the most likely situation is that the culprit of the murder of your family is here, such as me, or someone else."

Yu Yao noticed that although this man tried hard to control his emotions, his subtle physical movements still exposed that he was responding to the situation he had speculated. However, Yu Yao did not think that the other party's enemy was him, because when he came in, he had a brief look at the other party and did not feel any hatred. Instead, his anger and unwillingness were more obvious.

Although the other party was unwilling to respond to him, Yu Yao believed that his speculation should be the correct direction, because when he threatened him with death, the guy immediately responded to this impossible hypothesis.

However, the other party refused to respond now, so Yu Yao could not continue to speculate out of thin air. However, judging from the other party's attitude of not getting into the air, it was probably difficult to make him speak through words. He could only take more direct measures to try to defeat the other party's psychological defense.

"Although you are not afraid of death, there are actually many more difficult and painful things in this world than death. If you are unwilling to cooperate well, then I can only give you some pain." Yu Yao waved his hand and signaled to Lu Jiu to give him some tricks, who had been ready to go beside him.

Yu Yao did not think that Lu Jiu's will was strong, and those who were not afraid of death might not be able to bear the pain. According to Hai Han's interrogation experience over the years, there were many interrogation subjects who claimed to be not afraid of death, and they chose to confess because they could not bear the pain during the torture process. There were also some tough-minded elements and outlaws among them, but a group of torture experts trained by Hai Han over the years have summarized many effective means of execution, which will cause the subjects to be tried to suffer physiological pain that ordinary people cannot bear in a short period of time.

Of course, there is no need to equip special torture experts in a small place like Penghu, which cannot have several public security incidents within a year, but Lu Jiu's luck is really bad. In the past two days, a ship from the Military Intelligence Bureau stopped at Magong Port to replenish supplies. On the ship were several agents returning from Zhoushan to Sanya, one of which was an expert who specialized in torture and forced confessions. After arresting the person from Zhengyuanji, Yu Yao felt that it might be useful torture experts, so he specially transferred him to the formation.

After the torture expert got the order, he saluted Yu Yao first, then walked to Lu Jiu, who was tied to a chair and couldn't move. He reached out and pinched him a few times, and put his finger on the side of his neck for a moment, as if he was measuring his pulse.

Yu Yao saw the novelty and couldn't help asking him what he meant. The man quickly responded: "Bei Zhi first check the suspect's physical condition so as not to impose improper punishment and let him die too quickly. This person has a strong body and a strong pulse. Bei Zhi can execute the punishment."
Chapter completed!