1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1711 New way out

Of course, Qin Huacheng was not really sentenced to confinement, but Qin Bodu, considering that his internal identity might have been exposed, found an excuse to remove him from the group of prisoners, so as to ensure his normal life before the Ministry of Justice's approval. Personal safety.

As for the hard labor during this period, Qin Huacheng naturally didn't have to participate in it as a meritorious person.But this does not mean that Qin Huacheng can be lazy. After all, the hard labor camp does not support idlers. Even if Qin Huacheng has received special care from the government, he still has to work.With his current situation, the only one who can still serve the government is to continue to act as a Spanish translator.

However, considering that his identity may have been exposed among the Spanish prisoners in Xiying District, Qin Bodu did not plan to arrange for him to have direct contact with the prisoners, but turned to work behind the scenes.One of Qin Huacheng's next most important tasks is to train the guards in Spanish, so that the guards can direct the daily work of the Hispanic prisoners, and the more complicated daily conversations will not be achieved overnight, and he does not know how to do it. How to teach Spanish systematically, everyone can only cross the river by feeling the stones.

In addition, Qin Huacheng will occasionally be transferred to participate in the interrogation of Hispanic prisoners, but during this period he will wear a hood specially prepared for him by the prison to avoid being seen through by the prisoners.The more than 20 principal criminals who were arrested by the prison in the early stage are already on the boat heading to Belitung Island at this time. They have no chance to wait for the Ministry of Justice's approval in Xingdao like Qin Huacheng. Roger signed off on these guys.Not surprisingly, these unlucky ghosts will spend the rest of their lives on Belitung Island, and the prisoners sent there will basically have no chance of turning over.

Qin Huacheng didn't have a real sense of what happened to these people. After completing the investigation of this case, he never saw the Spanish prisoners on the arrest list again. As for their whereabouts, Qin Huacheng didn't know and would not take the initiative to inquire again.Anyway, Qin Bodu said that he would increase the sentences of these people proportionally to offset his own three-year sentence, which is enough. Knowing too much about other things may not necessarily be a good thing.

Qin Huacheng was concerned about the situation at home, and asked Qin Bodu to send a letter home to tell him he was safe, but Qin Bodu refused on the grounds that it was not in compliance with the rules.Because in the Xingdao hard labor camp, there had never been a precedent for prisoners to keep in touch with their families by letter. Even though Qin Huacheng had committed crimes and performed meritorious service and enjoyed some special treatment, he was still a prisoner at present, and some customary rules were still insurmountable.

"When the Ministry of Justice's approval comes down, allowing your sentence to end, then you have the right to communicate with your family. Just wait!"

Faced with such an answer, Qin Huacheng had nothing to do. He was indeed in no position to put forward too many conditions to the authorities in his current situation. What kind of treatment the prison would give him would largely depend on Qin Bodu's mood.If Qin Bodu becomes impatient, then his "good days" in the hard labor camp may come to an end.

Although Qin Huacheng worked as a public security policeman in Manila for a period of time, the level of information he can access to temporary personnel is not high, and he is not clear about the power structure of the Haihan judicial system.He has no idea how the case of the Xingdao hard labor camp will be reported layer by layer, and which departments and individuals will be credited during the period. He can only follow Qin Bodu's arrangement and wait for the news.

As for the appointment of Qin Huacheng, Tan Juren actually forgot about Qin Huacheng soon after the case of the hard labor camp came to an end, so the follow-up arrangements were basically made by Qin Bodu.But Qin Huacheng doesn't have any other skills, only the specialty of knowing Spanish can be used in the local area, so although the higher-ups deliberately asked Qin Huacheng to be transferred out of the labor camp, Qin Bodu still let him stay in the labor camp to continue working as a laborer. Translation can be regarded as making the best use of people's abilities.But neither Tan Juren nor Qin Bodu could have imagined that other organizations had already targeted Qin Huacheng and planned to lure him away from Xingdao.

While the military escorted the more than 20 Hispanic prisoners onto the ship and sent them to Belitung Island in the south, a merchant ship from the south sailed into the harbor of Sing Tao and docked.The flag flying on the top of the mainmast of this ship does not represent the red and blue double flag of Haihan, but the symbol composed of VOC, the United East India Company.The ship came from Batavia. Although it flew the flag of the Dutch East India Company, this fuchuan-style sailing ship was not a merchant ship to which it belonged, but only hung a flag to facilitate entry and exit in the local port.However, the ship was still flying the Dutch flag when it arrived at Xingdao, so it was unavoidably conspicuous in the port.

The visitor was so ostentatious, but kept a low profile after docking at the port, and the port staff did not treat the sailing ship from Batavia any special, and only after a simple registration, they let the people on board go ashore.There was already a covered horse-drawn carriage waiting on the pier, and after picking up the landing staff, they immediately left the pier and went straight to the location of the Xingdao Management Committee, which is located north of the pier.

The Xingdao Management Committee was officially established after Tan Juren took office in 1635. Before that, the local government affairs were naturally handled by Roger.The office of the management committee was also presided over by Tan Juren, and it was only completed last year.Although this three-storey building does not have much grandeur, it is already considered a major project in the environment of Xingdao.The civil affairs agency under the supervision of Tan Ju and the military command organization under the supervision of Roger are all located in this office building, each occupying about half of the space.

The visitor got off the car in front of the office building and reported his identity to the guard at the door. After waiting for a while, someone came and took him to Tan Juren's office.

When Tan Juren saw this person, he stood up and greeted him very rarely, but the visitor didn't dare to make a fuss, so he quickly stepped forward and bowed and said, "I've met Chief Tan!"

"Shopkeeper Cheng has worked hard all the way!" Tan Juren raised his hand to help, and then ordered the secretary to serve tea.

The person Tan Juren referred to as Cheng's shopkeeper was Cheng Dapeng, the person in charge of Haihan's security department in Batavia.During the Battle of Batavia four years ago, it was Cheng Dapeng who collected a lot of military information for Haihan on the dangerous battlefield, and he was also recognized for his outstanding performance during this period. In order to be promoted, he was promoted from the head of a small intelligence station to the deputy director of the South China Sea Department of the Ministry of Security.

Cheng Dapeng had been transferred back to Sanya for a period of time in the past two years, and was incognito in the office of the Ministry of Security to direct the intelligence work in the South China Sea, but it only lasted for more than half a year. Voluntarily applied to be transferred back to Batavia to continue to engage in front-line intelligence gathering work.

During the Batavia War, Cheng Dapeng formed a personal relationship with the current high-level figures of the East India Company. In addition, he provided a considerable amount of food resources in the post-war reconstruction, which made him a leader in Badawi. Adam has a certain prestige among the upper class of society.It seems that the officials of the East India Company never suspected that this Chinese businessman had another sensitive identity. He gave the green light to various activities in the local area, and very few people would make things difficult for him.

In addition to paying attention to the various movements of the East India Company, Haihan’s local intelligence agency also relied on the Batavia trade port as a basis to gradually move from Java Island to Sumatra Island, Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi Island. and the Borneo Development Intelligence Network.Although Haihan has not yet set up fixed colonies in these areas, the relevant preparations have been going on for some time.

For intelligence personnel like Cheng Dapeng who are far away on Java Island, the nearest Haihan colony is probably Xingdao at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca. Come to Xing Tao to pay a visit to Luo Jie and Tan Juren when the opportunity arises.Although these two are not Cheng Dapeng's immediate superiors, they may be the only military force Cheng Dapeng can rely on when necessary, so this relationship must be maintained.

However, Cheng Dapeng's trip to Xingdao was not completely passing by, but came with a purpose.In the process of penetrating into Sulawesi Island and the Maluku Sea, the Ministry of Security has come into contact with more and more Spanish maritime forces, and the number of spies in the Ministry of Security who can speak Spanish can be counted on one hand. , almost all of which are deployed in the Manila area.Although the sky has changed over there now, and it has become Haihan's ruled area, but the superiors do not intend to transfer the spies who can speak Spanish to Batavia to be dispatched by Cheng Dapeng.There is no other reason. Cheng Dapeng can get too little information about Spain, and the efficiency is far less than that of Luzon Island. The Ministry of Security naturally wants to invest limited resources in areas with rich harvest.

Regarding Cheng Dapeng's application, the Ministry of Security only asked him to solve it by himself, and at the same time gave him a piece of information that a considerable part of the local prisoners of war and prisoners in Manila were exiled to Xingdao, and there were many Han descendants among them.After Cheng Dapeng learned the news, he managed to contact Sing Tao by radio, and confirmed that there were indeed many prisoners of Han descent from Manila in Sing Tao.So Cheng Dapeng found a deal as a cover, and went to Xingdao himself to pick someone up.

Tan Juren was aware of Cheng Dapeng's intentions, but he was a little uneasy about the operation of the Ministry of Security: "You plan to pick people from the prisoners here and send them to collect intelligence. Can you rest assured?"

Cheng Dapeng said: "Reporting to the chief, this matter is not about picking people randomly, there are also many considerations in the middle. The Ministry of Security has corresponding standards for who can be used and who cannot be used. And if the right person is selected, then It’s not like sending them out to perform tasks right away, they have to train for a period of time to master basic professional skills.”

Tan Juren nodded slowly while listening and said: "That makes sense. Then if it doesn't involve specific arrangements, can you tell me how to spy on the Spaniards?"

Cheng Dapeng saw a map of the South China Sea hanging on the wall of Tan Juren's office, so he got up and said, "Please borrow this map, Chief."

Cheng Dapeng walked to the map and pointed to the location of Luzon Island: "The Spaniards' colonial rule in the South China Sea was centered on Manila Bay on Luzon Island, but this is not the only colony in the Philippine Islands. According to the information we have, there are Batangas, Cebu, Zamboanga, Santos City and other places, but the scale of operation is not as good as that in Manila.”

The place pointed by Cheng Dapeng's hand is gradually moving south: "After my country conquered Manila, the Spanish colonial center in the Philippine Islands will inevitably migrate south to avoid my country's edge. We judge that they may continue to expand south from Mindanao , crossed the Celebes Sea into Sulawesi Island, and then continued its activities from south to east. Therefore, the humble staff thought that it was necessary to plan ahead and make preparations for contact with the Spaniards, so as to gain the upper hand."

The places that Cheng Dapeng pointed out on the map are quite far from Xingdao, almost two thousand kilometers away, with not only the sea in the middle, but also Borneo, the third largest island in the world.How the situation changes over there is unlikely to affect Xingdao in the short term, but for Cheng Dapeng, who is in Batavia and directs the intelligence work in the South China Sea, it will be included in his area of ​​responsibility.

Tan Juren said: "If Spaniards enter the places you mentioned, shouldn't the Dutch and Matalan people be more nervous?"

Cheng Dapeng said: "Both the Dutch and the Matalan people have received the news that the Spaniards were defeated in Manila. They are actually a little eager to try and follow us to fight the dog in the water. However, the Spaniards have operated several times in the Philippine Islands. Ten years, although this battle has seriously hurt their vitality, it has not yet reached the point where anyone can step on it. The Matalan people have fought against the Spaniards last month, but they have not taken advantage of the slightest advantage Instead, several ships were sunk."

Tan Juren laughed and said, "Matalan people really think that buying a batch of weapons from our country will make them invincible!"

Last year, the arms bid between Matalam State and the Dutch East India Company in Sanya was one of the annual news of Haihan State. Regarding the ins and outs of this drama, Tan Juren had already obtained detailed information a few months ago.Regarding the big purchases made by these two big bosses, Tan Juren is holding the mentality of watching a show, but he also knows that Mata Languo has purchased a large amount of weapons and equipment, but he has not bought Haihan's combat ships alone, so that the East India Company Snatched away.In this way, the effectiveness of the weapons and equipment purchased by Matalanhua from Haihan at a sky-high price will be greatly reduced, and the battle with Spain, an old maritime power, will naturally reveal its bottom line.

Cheng Dapeng said: "The Matalan people have suffered this loss, and they also know that relying on their own ships will not work. It is said that they are preparing to submit a new military purchase application to our country and want to order another batch of combat ships."

(End of this chapter)