1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1174 Retaliation
As one of the makers of this incident, Wang Yuan did not intend to carry on the responsibility of investigating the case. The situation had developed to the current level, and it was time for him to throw the blame away.As for the reasons for dumping the pot, the government does not have the authority to investigate the army, so this matter can only be handed over to the Judiciary, who has the authority to find out the truth.Whether or not Jin Yiwei and Dongchang would also intervene in the investigation after that was not something Wang Yuan needed to worry about.

Of course, it was because of Wang Yuan's private greeting that Lin De would appear in the government office again at this precise moment.Otherwise, it would be too early for the yamen on both sides to hand over the procedures, and it would be too late to throw out the blame; if it was too late, the procuratorate would directly announce that it would take over the investigation of the case, and Linde would not be able to play the role of guiding public opinion.

Sure enough, Linde immediately climbed up the pole, and performed another performance outside the government office. He justly accused each office of shirking responsibility, ignoring the interests of the victims, and deliberately delaying the investigation process. Cover up the murderer.

One of the effects of Linde's dedicated performance is that when the procuratorate takes over the case, he is charged with "incompetent handling of the case", and he knows that the procuratorate has no possibility of solving the case. , so no matter how hard you speak right now, it is impossible to get slapped in the face.As long as the public opinion is led in the direction of "the government and the army are colluding", the subsequent stagnant investigation of the case will naturally confirm this argument.

However, after this rhythm is over, Lin De has to run away as soon as possible. According to the Zhejiang Procuratorate and Cheng Xuan, the political envoy is the same person, and he is already the highest chief executive of the province. .If he is really arrested and punished at that time, the Haihan chiefs far away in Zhoushan will not have time to save him.Moreover, the matter has fermented to the current level, and the expected effect has been achieved. Linde's continued stay in Hangzhou City will have limited effect, but the risks will increase exponentially. It is time to get out and leave.

Before leaving Hangzhou, Linde's last task was to represent Haihan and submit an ultimatum to the government.Of course, this will not be done by sending a letter to each yamen. Linde has to take the initiative to publicize this matter so that the people of Hangzhou Prefecture can better understand the seriousness of the situation.

Therefore, on the second day after the procuratorial department took over the Tongsheng Wharf fire case, the Zhejiang Sansi Yamen, Hangzhou Fuya, and Qiantang County Yamen all received letters signed by the "Haihan State Donghai Dinghai Port Management Committee", in which The content of the letter is roughly the same, which is to ask the government to solve the case within a time limit and hand over the real culprit, otherwise Hai Han will take a series of retaliatory measures.The words in the letter were not too harsh, but they did not leave any room for the Zhejiang officials to defend themselves, and the time limit given was also very tight, leaving only five days from today.

Let alone five days, even if it was fifty days, the government would not even try to solve the case. The reason why the time limit was set aside was also a symbolic approach, to make Hai Han appear to be benevolent and righteous, and to occupy the moral high ground.At the same time, these five days also leave a certain amount of space to observe the reaction of the Zhejiang government. If there are clear-headed people in the government who have realized the seriousness of the matter, they may be able to achieve their goals without resorting to violence.

But the management committee didn't really pin their hopes on the Zhejiang government's complete concessions. After all, with Daming's long-standing temperament, even if it was unreasonable, it was absolutely impossible to bow to foreign diplomacy.What's more, they don't know the real purpose of Hai Han's ultimatum other than the murderer.

At the same time that the various yamen received the letter, Zhoushan Dinghai Port also quietly entered a state of preparation for war.Civilian ships entering and exiting the harbor are restricted to the waterway and activity area, keeping a distance from the military port where the fleet is moored.The naval soldiers who returned to Zhoushan and spent a short rest period have all returned to the camp and began to prepare for the next operation.

At present, Haihan's generals in Zhoushan are only Shi Diwen and Wang Tom, and Shi Diwen has been in Zhejiang for a relatively long time. Wang Tom is still the front-line commander of this operation, and Shi Diwen is in Zhoushan. Responsible for logistics scheduling and overall coordination.The Ministry of Security will use the Clippers to send back the latest progress of the incident from Hangzhou every day. Although there is a certain lag in timeliness, it is considered extremely efficient in this era.

Both Wang Tom and Shi Diwen were very satisfied with Linde's performance in Hangzhou. They believed that he grasped the opportunity well, successfully played the role of a victim, and guided the public opinion in Hangzhou to be more favorable to Haihan. At least morally, it took the initiative, which is of great significance for Haihan's next action of sending troops to demonstrate.

"After Linde comes back, we can add some burdens to him!" Tom Wang suggested: "After this matter is over, we will definitely set up an office in Hangzhou. I think he should be able to do it."

Shi Diwen also agreed: "The three brothers of the Lin family are really easy to use, and it can be regarded as a great harvest for us after we arrived in Zhejiang."

In this operation, Lin De, the youngest of the three Lin brothers, played the leading role on stage, but his two older brothers, Lin Xing and Lin Si, also played important roles in the operation.When Lin De showed his personal acting skills on the bright side, the second child Lin Si was in charge of spreading all kinds of speeches in the city of Hangzhou, and was responsible for manipulating the ghost Cangshan ship to transport the corpses into the fire scene during the operation, and transport the living and valuables to the scene. It is the task of the boss Lin Xing to pick up the belongings.

This time, the bitter plan was successfully implemented, and the three brothers of the Lin family deserved their credit.And after they withdrew from Hangzhou City, they had to cooperate with the fleet to attack and serve as the guides of the navy during operations in the Hangzhou Bay and Qiantang River areas.After finishing this wave, the promotion of the three brothers is basically a certainty.

Of course, no matter how these three brothers are promoted in the future, they will only get opportunities in the fields of administration and trade. Due to their backgrounds, it is impossible to hold military power in the Haihan Army, and their commissions will not be issued by Wang Tom. And Shi Diwen, a big man in the army, came to sign it.If they really want their family to enter the Haihan military system, they can only hope for the next generation.

Haihan's set of combined punches has already been swung, and it has already hit the Zhejiang government in the face firmly.The ultimatum issued by the Haihan people did not actually create enough tension. In the eyes of the officials, it seemed more like a means of intimidation. They did not believe that the Haihan people really dared to use military means or other extreme methods to solve the problem. this incident.What disturbs the officials most now is actually how to clarify all kinds of outrageous rumors in the market and restore the reputation of the government.

To solve this problem, the most effective way is to solve the case as soon as possible. As long as the truth can be found out, the real culprit can be caught, the stolen goods can be recovered, and the murderer can be tried and dealt with publicly.

But the problem is that it is easier said than done, and it is not so easy to solve this case.The difficulty of solving the case does not lie in the fact that there is too little evidence for the investigators to investigate. From a certain point of view, the objective evidence of this case can provide too much information. reasons to cover up the fact of murder and arson.And all the known evidence points to the identity of the perpetrator to the Ming army, which made it impossible for the Hangzhou police who were in charge of investigating the case to continue the investigation.

Even after the Criminal Procuratorate took over the case and brought in Jin Yiwei to participate in the investigation, the investigation of the case still did not make more progress.All the clues came to an abrupt end at the step of the mysterious Cangshan ship. Although all the garrison strongholds equipped with Cangshan ships along the Qiantang River and Hangzhou Bay have been investigated, it is still impossible to confirm the person who appeared near Tongsheng Wharf on the day of the incident. Where did that ship come from.

Since no real evidence could be found, the military naturally yelled for injustice, thinking that the procuratorate responsible for handling the case deliberately suppressed it and was not willing to fully cooperate. However, the procuratorate believed that the military seemed to be deliberately concealing evidence.But the outside world generally believes that this is the evil result caused by the mutual protection of officials and officials. After all, the last time the bitter lord Lin De appeared outside the Yamen in Hangzhou, he said through gritted teeth that the government would definitely protect the murderer. As a result, it seems that he knows a lot of shocking inside stories.

Now that a few days have passed, not only has there been no progress in the arson case, but there have been many rumors of the three divisions arguing with each other, which has further confirmed the statement that someone in the government deliberately obstructed the investigation of the case.Even if Wang Ji, who is also the chief envoy and the procuratorial envoy, coordinates and asks the Zhejiang capital to cooperate, it will be difficult to promote the investigation of the case to make more progress.

The major yamen in Hangzhou were all overwhelmed by this case, but no one seemed to notice that the five-day limit stated in Haihan's ultimatum had arrived before they knew it.While the officials were still debating whether to thoroughly investigate the garrison of the coastal state capital for this case, news came from Ningbo Prefecture that the Haihan warships had launched a large-scale dispatch from the Zhoushan Islands.

Qu Yutong, the prefect of Ningbo, is a very controversial figure in Zhejiang official circles. Some people think that he allowed the Haihan people to occupy Zhoushan County for his own selfishness, which is tantamount to betraying the country.But there are also many people who think that Zhoushan has been outside the jurisdiction of the government for a long time, and there is no harm in changing to a law-abiding owner. At least the Haihan people are more disciplined than the armed smugglers who occupied the place before. Daming also only put forward the requirements for trade.

After Haihan cleaned up the Zhoushan Islands, the local Japanese pirates and pirates were wiped out. On the contrary, it brought a better development environment for Zhejiang's maritime trade.And Qu Yutong was able to handle the relationship between the local government and Haihan well, without intensifying the conflict and triggering a war between Daming and Haihan, which already showed his ability as an official.

As for why some people desperately oppose the arrival of the Haihan people, in fact, people with discerning eyes are very clear.For example, the three officials known to be anti-Hai Han who disappeared without reason last year, their private relationship with the original owner of Zhoushan, Wang Jialin, is not unknown. They opposed Hai Han because of their own interests, so there must be some people now because they came from Haihan got benefits and chose to stand in line.

However, the current main trend in Zhejiang official circles is still to curb Haihan's behavior, and a few people hope to replace Qu Yutong and give up the lucrative territory of Ningbo Mansion. Ji has also been considering whether to write to the court to adjust Qu Yutong's appointment.However, when he was pending, there was a fire at Tongsheng Wharf in Hangzhou, so the matter of Qu Yutong could only be put aside for the time being.

If it wasn't for the urgent military situation from Ningbo Mansion, Wang Ji would have forgotten that he received the seemingly joking ultimatum a few days ago.But after reading the news sent by Ningbo, he knew that the Haihan people were not just talking and joking this time.

It is reported that Haihan dispatched dozens of combat ships this time, and immediately approached the Zhaobaoshan stronghold at the mouth of the Yongjiang River in Ningbo Prefecture, and carried out a symbolic bombardment of the local area.Although no Ming army casualties were caused, it caused great panic in Ningbo Mansion. People outside the city flocked into the city to seek refuge, fearing that the Haihan people would come ashore.

However, the Haihan Haihan people did not stay in Ningbo for too long, and soon the fleet sailed out of the Yongjiang River and entered Hangzhou Bay northward.Qu Yutong claimed in his report that "there are so many warships in Haihan, and the garrison is outnumbered. In order to preserve our strength, we only sent speedboats to follow and monitor."

Only one day later, the Jiaxing government also sent an urgent military message, saying that the two guards of Zhapu and Ganpu under the Haining Guard were attacked by the Haihan fleet. Although the Haihan people did not land and attack the city, they did not They mercilessly sank all the Ming army sailboats they could find docked on the coast, and there were also single-digit Ming army casualties during the period.At present, Jiaxing Mansion has gathered all the troops to guard against Haihan's sudden landing and launch a larger-scale offensive.

The initiative of the Haihan people finally attracted the attention of the top officials in Zhejiang. At this time, everyone suddenly realized that the impact of the arson case that happened outside Hangzhou a few days ago had not subsided slowly due to the passage of time. The Han people did not accept their fate because of the stagnation in the investigation of the case. They wanted to seek justice from the Zhejiang government in their own way.

Regardless of whether the real culprit of the arson case is the Ming army, it is an indisputable fact that Haihan launched a war in the coastal areas of Zhejiang, and Daming has always faced such a situation head-on and will not choose to escape.The correct way to deal with it is for the Zhejiang capital to immediately mobilize troops from various states to rush to the area where the incident occurred, and ruthlessly attack the daring Haihan people, and let them know the terrible consequences of invading the Ming Empire.

But at present, there is a small problem in front of Zhejiang officials, that is, including the Hangzhou garrison, more than [-] elites mobilized from various prefectures in Zhejiang have just received an order from the imperial court to go north to Henan five days ago to participate in the The operation to wipe out the peasant army has gone.

(End of this chapter)