Due to the limited strength of Haihan's northern expedition to Zhoushan, it was difficult to continue to divide troops to attack Daishan, Qushan and other islands in the north after occupying Zhoushan Island. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 With the combat capability of the Haihan militia group, it is not difficult to capture these places, but there are no troops to garrison the local area, and the remaining armed forces in the local area already know the strength of the Haihan militia, and will not fight head-on again, and will come back after going around the sea to avoid the offensive of the Haihan militia. After two expulsion operations by the command headquarters, the results were not obvious, and the idea of eliminating them as soon as possible was dispelled, and the main energy was concentrated on the construction of the Zhoushan Dinghai Port. After all, banditry can only bring short-term one-time benefits, but the completion of a trading port can make the region prosperous, and the long-term benefits from commerce and trade will be even more considerable.

Of course, it was the Haihan who determined that the strength of the few small armed forces in the north was not strong enough to threaten the safety of the harbor, so they would let it continue to survive, and Ma Teng on Qushan Island was one of them. Ma Teng's territory is a little far away from Ningbo Prefecture, and it is separated by Zhoushan Island in the middle, so the destinations of his smuggling trade are mostly Shaoxing and Songjiang in the north shore of Hangzhou Bay. At present, Haihan's main trade area is still Ningbo, which is the closest to Zhoushan Island, so the conflict of interest in trade is not particularly significant.

However, it has always been common for armed forces in the East China Sea to do dirty work for the government, and it is part of their livelihood to kill people and steal goods at sea anyway. If the three people of Hangzhou Mansion go to the commander of Hainingwei to lobby and can say that he will join the gang to participate in the operation, then it is indeed possible to use the power of Ma Teng on Qushan Island. As for whether Ma Teng still has the courage to go against Haihan, that's another story.

Although Wang Jialin was once the dominant hegemon in the East China Sea, he was not very familiar with the situation in the officialdom of Zhejiang, and the relationship between the commanders and envoys of these guards was not clear, and even the rank of the people involved was not clear, and the information provided was actually of very limited value. It took Gong Seventeen less than an hour to pull out all the information he could get from him.

The captive's confession was limited, and Gong Qiqi could only personally lead the team to Jiaxing. Calculating the time, it has been six or seven days since Yu Pingfeng and the others went to find Wei Shan, and if they really planned to go to Jiaxing to lobby the commander of Hainingwei, they would already know at this time. If Hai Ningwei's side really wants to do it, there will be some signs of the event more or less.

After Gong XVII left the temporary detention place, he immediately gathered his men and prepared to leave for Jiaxing. There are more than 20 people in this field team under Gong 17, half of whom are his old subordinates brought from Guangdong, and the other half are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It seems that there are a lot of people, but this is all the field personnel currently deployed by the Ministry of Security in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and theoretically they are responsible for field operations in all areas north of Fujian, which is not an easy job.

The main task of the field team is to collect all kinds of intelligence in the Ming Dynasty, including but not limited to political, economic, military, cultural and other aspects, in addition, when necessary, it will also carry out unconventional tasks such as tracking, surveillance, and even kidnapping and assassination. Carrying out these tasks in the Ming Dynasty was very risky, as there was no way to get direct support from the powerful Haihan forces, and all they could rely on was their own expertise and the tight organizational system of the Ministry of Security.

Gong 17 specially found a cargo ship from the dock that originally belonged to the Zhoushan Boat Gang, and then transferred a batch of southern cargo from the warehouse on the island to load the ship, pretending to be a merchant from the south to go to Jiaxing Mansion.

Jiaxing began in the Qin Dynasty, since ancient times is a rich and prosperous place, is one of the most important grain production areas in the eastern coastal region, there is a "Zhejiang West Santun, Jiahe is big" saying. By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, the foreign trade of Zhapu, Pengpu, Qinglong and other ports gradually prospered, and the economy also caught up with the Suzhou and Hangzhou regions. During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, Jiaxing Prefecture was under the jurisdiction of seven counties, cotton silk began to be marketed in the north and south, the silk of Wangjiangjing Town and Puyuan Town, and the Weitang yarn of Jiashan were all very popular commodities.

According to the advice of his subordinates from local origin, Gong XVII set his destination at Zhapu Port in Jiaxing, which is also the closest trading port in Jiaxing Prefecture to Zhoushan Island, and the voyage of more than 60 nautical miles can be reached in about one day. Zhapu Port is located about thirty miles east of the Hainingwei Acropolis, and Gong XVII thinks that he should be able to find out some news about Hainingwei in the local area.

After the ship arrived in the local area, Gong XVII took a few of his subordinates to the town on the shore in the name of discussing business. Although it was their first time in this place, with their past experience, they soon found out about the location of a teahouse in Zhapu Town, where all kinds of information were concentrated. It is said that about 50% of the local transactions are negotiated in this teahouse, and most of the merchants who come here to trade here will use this place as their first stop after going ashore.

After Gong Qiqi arrived at this place, he found that it was more like a trading market than a teahouse, and the two-story teahouse was almost full, and there were even additional seats under the eaves of the street. And what attracts so many tea customers is not that there is any great tea here, but because most of the buyers and sellers of silk fabrics in the seven counties of Jiaxing Prefecture are concentrated here. The subordinates who pretended to be entourages grabbed a passing Xiao Er and stuffed a piece of broken silver for him, and then arranged a table for them in the corner of the first floor. Although the location is not ideal, it is enough for Gong Qiqi.

Gong Qiqi does not dislike the noisy and disorderly place, on the contrary, it is this kind of place that makes him really feel like a fish in water. There were at least thirty or forty merchants from other places upstairs and downstairs in this teahouse, and no one would particularly notice his presence. And in the conversations of these businessmen who come and go, there will always be some intelligence information that is inadvertently revealed. Perhaps the person who said it himself will not realize the value of this information, but for those who have a heart, the meaning is different.

Gong XVII had already carefully considered how to start on the way to Jiaxing from Zhoushan Island, he was a senior intelligence officer who had been personally trained by He Xi, and his thinking was more flexible, and he was not thinking about "how to prove that Hainingwei was preparing to take hostile actions against Haihan", but "if Hainingwei were going to take action, then what would they do".

Gong XVII put himself in the position of his opponent to think about this problem, and came to the conclusion that the local garrison must first collect relevant information through various channels and methods, such as which merchants in Jiaxing Prefecture have already connected with Zhoushan, which can be moved and which cannot be moved, how many troops of the Haihan people on Zhoushan Island are deployed near Hangzhou Bay, how often they sail, whether they will board and inspect civilian ships at sea, and so on. Most of the questions related to Haihan have to be answered by people who have been to Zhoushan Island, and if Hainingwei directly summons these insiders, it will inevitably cause a wide range of suspicions, and it is very likely that the news will leak in advance. The best way to do this is to choose an open place for the exchange of information, monitor it, and then sort through the information collected and select the useful parts of it.

As the closest port to Zhoushan Island in Jiaxing Prefecture, most of the local merchants who go to Zhoushan to trade with Haihan will start from this port, and the information about Haihan that can be collected here is probably the most comprehensive and the most. If the person in charge of Hainingwei had a brain, he probably wouldn't let go of this window to understand Haihan. And what Gong Seventeen expects is to find Hai Ningwei's spies here.

This matter may sound difficult, but Gong Qiqi has his own way of distinguishing it. First of all, the nature of the matter of the interception of civilian merchant ships organized by the officials and soldiers was very bad, and even if Hainingwei wanted to participate, he had to keep it a strict secret, and the information they wanted to investigate was too targeted, and it was unlikely that such an important task would be handed over to outsiders, otherwise he would be startled by surprise and his achievements would be wasted if he was not careful.

If it is a military person who comes to inquire about the news, even if the other party is dressed as a businessman, it is difficult to pretend to be presentable. Acting skills are such a thing, even if they are talented, they still need to be honed the day after tomorrow, and what Gong Qiqi is secretly observing is that there is no one here who shows his feet because of his clumsy acting skills.

But it didn't take long for Gong XVII to realize that he was a little too smart. His opponent apparently didn't think about so many scruples, and didn't seem to be worried about leaking the news, because he had already seen several Ming soldiers enter the teahouse surrounded by an officer wearing a general uniform.

These people went straight to the second floor, and soon some people came down from the second floor, and it is said that they were driven out to make room for the military masters. Not long ago, a small soldier came down from the upstairs and asked if anyone had come from Zhoushan Island, and the general manager upstairs wanted to buy some Haihan goods, and the price was negotiable. I don't know if the merchants were worried about paying the bills or getting into other trouble, but after he asked twice, few people answered, and they didn't seem to be interested in the matter.

The little soldier snorted coldly and said: "It's all shameless! When the time comes, it will be found that there are Haihan goods on the ship, and they will be detained together with the ship's goods, but don't come to Hainingwei to cry on your knees!"

Gong Qiqi was confident that no one here recognized him, so he immediately got up and responded: "I just came from Zhoushan, I don't know what Haihan goods the general needs here?" ”

The soldier did not respond to his question, but beckoned him upstairs. Gong Qiqi made a gesture so that several of his subordinates did not have to follow him, and followed the little soldier up to the second floor alone.

The side facing the street on the second floor has been vacated, and this one person is sitting against the railing, and the other subordinates are standing far away. Gong Qiqi slowly walked over and arched his hand: "Gong Shi, a maritime merchant in Xiaguang, has seen an adult!"

The boss didn't have much of a stand, beckoning him to sit down and talk. After asking a few questions about what Haihan goods Gong Qiqi's ship was carrying, he began to inquire about the situation on Zhoushan Island, and seemed to be more interested in the local operation of the Haihan people.

Gong Qiqi originally came with a purpose, and naturally became vigilant when he heard these questions, but one of the two sides knew Haihan well, and the other only knew a little about it, Gong Qiqi casually made up a little news to deceive the other party and did not have to worry about being exposed, and the entire Jiaxing Mansion probably couldn't find a second person who could understand the situation in Zhoushan like him. Of course, he will not tell the information he knows, how to play a good role as a maritime merchant who passes by Zhoushan and purchases some goods locally, Gong Qiqi also has a good grasp of the measure.

"How long is Boss Gong going to stay in Jiaxing this time?"

Gong Qiqi couldn't figure out the other party's intentions, so he could only respond cautiously: "I just arrived in Zhapu today, and I haven't looked for a place to live yet, so I probably want to find a hotel to stay in here and stay, as for staying for a few days, it depends on whether the transaction goes smoothly." ”

The boss nodded and said: "Wait a minute, you go to the auspicious inn on the north street, just say that the king of Hainingwei asked you to come, you can stay, and it is convenient to ask you when you turn back." ”

Gong Qiqi pretended to be scared and said: "My lord, I am just a businessman in the next place, and there is no violation of the law of the country, if I can't go to Zhoushan Island, I won't go after I go down!" After that, he reached into his arms, took out a piece of silver and put it on the table.

The general manager coughed dryly, and with a flick of his hand on the table, the silver ingot disappeared without a trace: "Don't be afraid, it's not to cure your crimes, but there may be some things to ask you about clearly." Don't mention what you just asked, remember!"

"Yes, yes, I remember, please rest assured, my lord!" Gong Qizhan got up and retreated tremblingly, and when he walked to the staircase, his feet were weak and he almost fell, and several soldiers next to him laughed out loud.

Gong Qiqi slowly walked downstairs with his support on the railing, and his face had returned to normal. Hainingwei's officers actually collected Haihan intelligence in the market in such a semi-open way, which was a situation he had not imagined at all before he came here. However, this is good, but it saves a lot of trouble, otherwise it is really necessary to rely on reconnaissance methods to collect information little by little, and it is impossible to discover the movements of Haining Weiming's army so quickly.

Gong Qiqi did not leave in a hurry, but continued to sit downstairs and watch. After a few small talks with the local merchant at the next table, he realized that the king had been here for the third day in a row to do the same thing. There were not many new merchants today, so only Gong Qiyi responded to the situation, and it is said that more people went upstairs to talk to Wang General Manager two days ago.

This can at least show that Hainingwei is collecting information about Haihan in a targeted manner, and it is not an act of a certain person on a whim. Although it was not yet possible to prove that Hai Ningwei was overtly hostile to Hai Han, Gong XVII's intuition had already told him that things might be going in a bad direction. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing for the Zhoushan Command, which is bent on setting a trap to lure out the hidden hostile forces. (To be continued.) )