Li Jifeng was so nervous, not because he was playing a trick for Schneider, but because he really felt fear. Wei Zhongxian, who is known as the nine-thousand-year-old is not a good stubble, most of the court officials who opposed him were killed, degraded, and exiled, and the remaining clans, relatives, and courtiers who were still in the court, and a considerable number of them took refuge in the eunuch party, and were proud to be Wei Zhongxian's minions. refers to Wei Zhongxian, because he is in a high position, no one dares to write his name directly.

In 1627 alone, Wei Zhongxian commanded as many as 17 Jinyi guards, and appointed more than 10 people such as clan grandchildren and in-laws to serve as governors, governors and governors, and other positions, and even the current military secretary Cui Chengxiu was directly appointed by him on behalf of the military. Wei Zhongxian's nephew Wei Liangqing even sacrificed to the Taimiao on behalf of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and there were quite a few people who believed that Wei Zhongxian might usurp power, and Li Jifeng was also one of them.

It can be said that the entire court now, from the cabinet, the six ministries to the governors and governors of the Quartet, most of them are Wei Zhongxian's people, in this one-sided situation, even if the new emperor is changed, it is still extremely difficult to bring down Wei Zhongxian, and Li Jifeng doesn't even think that what Schneider said can be realized. But Schneider's sworn appearance made Li Jifeng undecided. If this thing is operated well, the usable value is much greater than that of the new emperor's accession to the throne, but if the operation is wrong, it will definitely be the end of the extinction of the clan, which can be described as the coexistence of risks and opportunities.

Seeing Li Jifeng's hesitant look, Schneider opened his mouth to persuade: "Shopkeeper Li doesn't need to make any decision right away, when the news from the capital comes and confirms what I said earlier, you should consider whether to do it according to my plan." ”

Li Jifeng did not respond to Schneider immediately, he had already begun to think in his heart, which of his own business was related to the eunuchs, and if he wanted to draw a clear line with the eunuchs, what kind of means should be taken so as not to cause trouble. In his opinion, even if the eunuch party led by Wei Zhongxian will begin to decline after the new emperor ascends the throne, at most it will only lose momentum, and it may not develop to the point of life and death, so we have to think carefully about how to grasp this scale of keeping a distance.

Schneider coughed dryly a few times, and Li Jifeng came back from his contemplation and apologized again and again. Schneider didn't think about it either, he didn't know how much impact Wei Zhongxian's matter would have on the government and the people's sentiments at this time, so he didn't know Li Jifeng's tension at this time.

"Shopkeeper Li, I've already shown my sincerity, shouldn't you also show it here?" Schneider asked.

Spoilers have spoiled so much information, if Schneider can't exchange even a little valuable information, then he will definitely be looked down upon by He Xi, the head of the intelligence system, after going back. As a member of the Supreme Executive Committee and director of the Guangzhou Office, Schneider does not want to be looked down upon by others for reasons such as "poor intelligence gathering".

Li Jifeng was puzzled: "What does Mr. Shi mean?"

"I'm not in a hurry to know if it's too far away, but our two ships will soon set off for Victory Harbor, and it is said that pirates often haunt the Pearl River estuary, can you tell me a little bit about this?" Schneider asked. Regarding the situation on the southeast coast, especially the coastal area of Fujian, Schneider knew that the other side would definitely not disclose it lightly, at least until his "prophecy" was fulfilled, and then he would gain the trust and intelligence of the other side. At present, we can only settle for the next best thing, and first find out the situation in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary where the Military Police Department intends to set up a site in the future.

Li Jifeng pondered for a while, and finally spoke: "There are several battalions of sailors stationed in Xin'an County outside the mouth of the Pearl River, and pirates generally dare not haunt the waters near it. I heard from the dog that you have an extremely detailed map, and Mr. Shi must know that there are two large bays west of Xin'an, right?"

Schneider nodded and said that he understood, he had been to Shenzhen and Hong Kong many times before crossing, and he still knew the situation in that area relatively well. The two bays mentioned by Li Jifeng are Dapeng Bay and Daya Bay, which were located near Shenzhen in later generations.

"Four or five bands of pirates settled in these two bays, waiting for an opportunity to plunder the ships that sailed between the mouth of the Pearl River and Fujian. Li Jifeng said: "It is said that there are also pirate dens in the area of Dangan Island, responsible for plundering sea ships sailing from Xin'an to Qiongzhou, Nanyang and other places. ”

Schneider did a solid job of homework beforehand, and as soon as Li Jifeng said the name "Dangan Island", Schneider's mind immediately appeared where this place was located.

About 30 kilometers south of Kowloon in Hong Kong, Dangan Island is named "Dangan" because of its narrow and long shape that resembles a flat tan. This island covers an area of more than 10 square kilometers, and there are no other islands to the east or south of it, and all ships entering and leaving Hong Kong from the South China Sea must pass next to this island. In the later republics, this island was the first garrison area of the Wanshan Fortress Area, which can be regarded as an important strategic gateway to South China.

In the process of selecting a suitable location for establishing a stronghold at the mouth of the Pearl River, the Military Police Department also considered Tangan Island. Not only does the island have several natural harbors suitable for building docks, but there are also natural mineral water veins on the island, so it is not a problem to replenish fresh water in the future. However, the purpose of the Military Police Department is mainly to monitor the shipping route between Guangzhou and Qiongzhou and Nanyang, and Dangan Island is really far away from this shipping route, and it is not as advantageous as Wanshan Islands from a geographical point of view. In addition, the location of Tangan Island is too far to the east, and the Military Police Department believes that since it is well aware that there are pirates in the waters east of Hong Kong, the location of Tangan Island is very vulnerable to pirate attacks, and the Military Police Department does not intend to risk using this kind of surveillance base, because if there are really large-scale pirates attacking, the limited number of people left behind on the island may not be able to survive even an hour, and this kind of risk is really not worth taking.

And now Li Jifeng's words undoubtedly confirm the speculation of the Military Police Department, and the situation on Dangan Island is indeed a little troublesome. And it seems that the Military Police Department still has a headache on how to guard against or deal with the pirates on Dangan Island, because it is only more than 20 nautical miles away from Wanshan Island, Baili Island, and Dong'ao Island, which are favored by the Military Police Department.

But it's also a matter of the Military Police Department to have a headache, Schneider doesn't care about this, what he has to do now is to remember all the information that Li Jifeng said, and then sort out the relevant information and hand it over to professionals to deal with after he goes back.

"The pirate on this Dangan Island is called 'Sea Whirlwind', and the leader is said to be a native of Guangxi. They had only one or two hundred men in total and four or five ships, and they were very small pirates off the coast of Fukuang. Since Li Jifeng opened his mouth, he didn't keep anything more, and explained the situation of this pirate to Schneider in detail: "The sailor of Xin'an County is said to have gone to pay it twice, but probably because the news leaked, it was avoided in advance by the pirates on the island. The gang didn't come out very often, they had been on Dangan Island for more than two years, and it seemed that they had not heard of a few deals. ”

"Forgive me for taking the liberty of asking if Shopkeeper Li has been in contact with this group before?" Schneider asked straight to the point. This Dangan Island is so close to the location of the Military Police Department, I am afraid that sooner or later there will be armed clashes between the two sides, and it is best to know whether this "Fu Ruifeng" is involved or not, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings when the time comes.

Li Jifeng shook his head and denied: "This group of people has nothing to do with despicable behavior." At the beginning of this year, when a ship was heading to the South China Sea, it was stopped by this group, but their speed was too slow to intercept the ship at all. ”

That's the end of the beam, Schneider secretly commented on it in his heart.

"What are the origins of those pirates on the west side of Xin'an?" Schneider asked.

"Those pirates are actually a big proprietor, has Mr. Shi heard of Liu Xiang?" asked Li Jifeng.

Schneider shook his head, and said in his heart Liu Xiang, I know who Liu Xiang is.

Li Jifeng smiled, but he didn't continue. Since Schneider didn't know who Liu Xiang was, he naturally wouldn't be in a hurry to show the cards in his hand to the other party.

Although Schneider didn't know who Liu Xiang was, he still wrote down the name first, and it would be clear when he went back and asked the people in the military police department.

"Apart from them, are there any other pirate forces at the mouth of the Pearl River?" Schneider continued to ask when he saw Li Jifeng stop.

Li Jifeng shook his head and said: "As far as I know, from there all the way to Nanao Island in Chaozhou Prefecture, it is all within Liu Xiang's sphere of influence. ”

"Oh?" Schneider came back to his senses, and dared to love the "Liu Xiang" that Li Jifeng said was not an ordinary pirate leader, but a pirate with considerable strength!

When it came to this, Li Jifeng kept silent, and after the two chatted a few more words, they didn't have the heart to continue talking, and Schneider said goodbye to Li Jifeng and left.

"Mr. Shi!" Yu Xiaobao, who had been waiting outside, walked over quickly and took his briefcase from Schneider. After Yu Xiaobao arrived at the Guangzhou Office this time, he was arranged to work beside Schneider, and his little partner Zhang Qianzhi followed He Xi. Schneider actually didn't have much interest in bringing a follower apprentice, but Ning Qi specially brought him news this time and asked him to take care of Yu Xiaobao. Working in the same executive committee, Schneider still has to give enough face, so Yu Xiaobao has become Schneider's little tail, as long as Schneider is out of the yard of the Guangzhou Office, Yu Xiaobao will definitely follow behind with his bag.

Yu Xiaobao didn't think that carrying a bag was so cheap, although he didn't have a servile idea in his mind that "being able to carry a bag for the leader is a blessing", but he also knew that even if it was this kind of bag-carrying work, many people in Shengli Harbor couldn't grab it if they wanted to. After all, this is a work done by the side of the head of Haihan, and it is rare to see a post like this around the clock. Speaking of which, there was a successful example of Takahashi Minami before the head of the shadow mix. At the beginning, it was precisely because Takahashi Nan was a shadow of Ren Liang every day in the labor camp that he had the opportunity to show his ability and was promoted. It is said that in the telegram recently sent back from Heitu Port, Qian Tiandun, the military commander, had already asked Gao Qiao Nan to be in charge of the local militia training affairs, and it seemed that he would be promoted and raised in the future and integrate into the mainstream society of Haihan. In just a few months, this guy has changed from a local chicken to a phoenix.

It is not without people who are famous in history, Yu Xiaobao remembers that when he was in Shengli Port, Ning Qi once told him a story. In the distant Northern Empire, there was a young man from a civilian background, who once got a very rare job, that is, carrying bags for the head of the country, and later this young man became the new emperor of the Northern Empire, and reigned for twenty years.

Of course, not everyone who carries a bag for the leader has the opportunity to become an emperor, and there are countless stories between carrying a bag and ascending to the throne that are not known. However, Yu Xiaobao has already understood the true meaning of Ning Qi's story, even if he is a powerful emperor, he may have been just a bun boy at the beginning, even if he is just an ordinary bag boy, he also has the opportunity to become a big man. If you want to change your fate, you can only rely on yourself to fight for it, and only if you fight for it will you have a chance, otherwise it will be like the thousands of bunkers who have not become big shots.

Schneider touched Yu Xiaobao's head and walked straight forward. He didn't take two steps when he suddenly stopped, turned to Xiaobao and asked, "Xiaobao, I heard Mr. Ning say that you are very smart, probably the smartest child in Victory Harbor, so can I ask you a question?"

Yu Xiaobao nodded hurriedly, it was rare to meet Schneider Ken who took the initiative to talk to him, and this kind of opportunity could not be let go lightly.

Schneider asked, "If we are going to buy a house in one place, but the house next door is a bad person, but if we get rid of this bad person, we may live in a worse family, what do you think we should do in this situation?"

Yu Xiaobao blinked and responded, "Then buy a house in a different place?"

Schneider shook his head and said, "The place can't be changed, think again!"

Yu Xiaobao rolled his eyes and continued to answer: "After driving away that family, even buy the house next door, so you don't have to worry about that problem." ”

Schneider grinned and said, "Sure enough, Mr. Ning is not wrong!"

After returning to the Guangzhou Office, Schneider asked Yu Xiaobao to notify the three people from the Military Police Department to come over for a meeting. However, after waiting for a while, Xiao Liang and Yu Yao came, He Xi said that he went out to run errands, but no one knew where he went. Schneider was accustomed to He Xi's style, but he didn't pay much attention to it, and directly pulled the two to sit down for a meeting.

Schneider told the process of today's conversation with Li Jifeng as it was, and then informed the two of them of the information he exchanged. Xiao Liang and Yu Yao exchanged glances after listening, but did not speak.

Schneider felt that the atmosphere was a little wrong, and hurriedly asked: "Is it that I have too many spoilers?" But the things I said to Li Jifeng were all approved by the base camp, and if they hadn't written the materials and sent them over, I wouldn't have been able to reveal them to him!"

Xiao Liang shook his head and said, "It's not this question, it's the information you obtained...... It's that Liu Xiang's matter, I'm afraid it will be more troublesome. ”

Schneider seemed to have all the understanding: "The tone I heard Li Jifeng speak at that time, it seems that this Liu Xiang is quite big. ”

"It's not big, it's very big. Xiao Liang corrected his statement: "Who is the most threatening maritime adversary for us in the next few years?"

"Zheng Zhilong's eighteen Zhis!" Schneider replied without thinking. In the past few days of work discussions, as long as it involves the content of maritime trade, it is almost impossible to bypass this topic. The primary target of all the intelligence gathering work in the direction of Fujian is also this pirate gang named "Eighteen Zhi". Although the two sides had never met each other, and they could not even talk about contact at all, the relevant departments still began to make preparations for the future conflict with the "Eighteen Zhi" as early as possible, and the commercial and trade department in charge of Schneider also formulated the arms sales policy for the Fujian side almost exclusively for the "Eighteen Zhi."

"Zheng Zhilong is Liu Xiang's brother who has beheaded a chicken with rice wine and worshipped the handle!" Yu Yao took over and said, "To put it simply, Liu Xiang is also one of the pirate leaders of the 'Eighteen Zhi'. ”

Schneider swallowed with difficulty: "This means that we will soon face the threat from the 'Eighteen Zhi'?"

Xiao Liang nodded, and replied with a solemn face: "Very likely." According to what Li Jifeng said, from the west of Hong Kong to the waters near Chaozhou, it is Liu Xiang's territory, so there are thousands of people under his hands, and hundreds of ships can control such a large sea area. Even if our armed forces are dispatched, they may not be able to defeat him at sea. ”

"It's not necessarily necessarily going to be a fight, right?" Schneider still had a glimmer of hope on this matter: "I thought about it for a while, when Li Jifeng talked about Liu Xiang, he didn't feel that there was much awe, and it was hard to imagine that he had a personal connection with Liu Xiang's gang. ”

"Just because he has a connection doesn't mean he can talk about things. Yu Yao did not agree with Schneider's optimism: "Can Li Jifeng persuade Liu Xiang to do what not to do? Even if we don't set up a base at the mouth of the Pearl River now, when our influence expands to the coast of Guangdong in the future, there will still be a day when we will fight against Liu Xiang." Li Jifeng is just a businessman after all, at most he can help talk in the early stage, but when it comes to grabbing land and fighting for the right to survive, who will take his words seriously? Will you?"

Schneider shook his head slightly, and had to admit that Yu Yao's words were also reasonable.