1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1783 For the country and the people
All the prefectures and counties near the sea, including Ningbo Prefecture, are the main grain-producing areas in the Jiangnan area. It is indeed not difficult for Haihan to buy hundreds of thousands of catties of grain here.Moreover, after Haihan dispatched a fleet to blockade Hangzhou Bay early last year, he has never had any conflicts with the local government. Therefore, no matter whether it is the official or the private sector, they will not worry that Haihan's purpose of purchasing military supplies is to take action against the local area. ——The Haihan people really want to invade the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, so they don't need to bother to buy military rations. It's faster to just use robbing.

Although formally there is still a bidding process, but the He brothers understand very well that since Zhoushan sent someone to send the notice, most of the errands are handed over to themselves.As for whether this is what Shi Diwen meant or what his subordinates meant, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, after the matter is completed, the He Brotherhood will still take [-]% of the income as a kickback and secretly hand it over to the person in charge of the matter. Quartermaster.How the Haihan military will distribute the money internally, they don't know and don't want to know. As a businessman in charge of this matter, it is not good to know too much about such sensitive things.

However, this kind of thing is neither big nor small. Haihan's unabashed purchase of military rations in the market will definitely be noticed by the eyes and ears of the court.When the news spread to the capital, the dignitaries in the court inevitably became suspicious again, guessing the real intention of Hai Han's move.

Although Da Ming reached an agreement with Hai Han on the normalization of relations between the two countries last year, which can be regarded as the formal establishment of diplomatic relations in the official sense, but Da Ming's fear of Hai Han has not been completely eliminated.After all, from the South China Sea to Liaodong, Haihan occupied a lot of places on the Daming coastline, and after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, there was no intention of returning these places to their original owners.In other words, if Haihan wants to invade Daming from the coast, he basically doesn't have to pick a day, he can do it at any time.

Considering that Haihan has held back Jin Jin's southward movement in Liaodong for the past two years, and now he still needs the advanced weapons provided by Haihan to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, so Daming has always swallowed his anger for Haihan's various bad behaviors. Don't care about it.As long as Haihan doesn't openly declare war on Daming, then he will admit the loss he suffered before, but if there is any disturbance on Haihan's side, the court will inevitably worry that Haihan's ambition will explode and attack Daming.

Sure enough, within a few days, as soon as the bidding process for the procurement of military rations was completed, hundreds of Jinyiwei households from Nanjing rushed to Ningbo Mansion, went directly to the He brothers' home, and asked whether there was any risk behind Haihan's procurement of military rations.

"My lord Deng, this is a normal trade between the two countries. The Haihan people are not only trading in cash, but the purchase price is not low. Is there any risk in the transaction of money and goods?" He Xiao was originally from the yamen. With the support of the local magistrate behind him, he didn't have much scruples about Jin Yiwei who came to the door.Of course he knew what the other party meant by "risk", but he was quite displeased with this approach of coming directly to the door without prior notice, so he naturally wanted to manipulate the other party's words.

The surname of Jinyiwei sent by Nanjing is Deng Mingqing. He has been in this industry for more than ten years. He has seen a lot of people from all walks of life. And angry.He was able to find the He Brothers directly after he arrived in Ningbo. Naturally, he knew the identities and backgrounds of the two brothers. The Han people do business, and the big figures involved behind it cannot be shaken by themselves.

Deng Qingdao: "It seems that Mr. He has misunderstood. The official's visit this time is not to investigate people and handle cases, nor does it mean to trouble the two of you. It is just a duty, and we need to understand the intention of the Haihan people. If Mr. He can It's convenient, I will definitely remember this friendship."

He Xiao was able to work as an aide under the magistrate, so his brain was naturally easy to use, and he could hear the meaning of the other party's words, which was soft but hard - Deng Qing stated that he did not come to make trouble, and specifically emphasized that he would remember his actions If it is convenient, if you can remember your kindness, you will naturally also remember your grudges.Although He Xiao is not afraid that Deng Qing will make trouble for him, but if Jin Yiwei Yamen misses him, it will not be a good thing after all, and there is no need to provoke such an enemy.

After He Xiao quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind, he changed his face and said, "It's official business, so He should cooperate with Mr. Deng. I don't know what Mr. Deng wants to know?"

Deng Qing said: "I have just asked once, what is the intention of the Haihan people to buy a large amount of grain and grass from the east of Zhejiang this time? Will it threaten the security of our country? Master He, this matter is of great importance, and we must not hide anything!"

He Xiao thought to himself what to hide and what not to hide, I don't know better than you?How confidential is the inside story of the Haihan people's military situation, how can they tell outsiders.But he also knew that if he didn't give a reasonable explanation, Deng Qing probably wouldn't give up, and he had to be sent away after all.

He Xiaoying said: "Master Deng, Haihan actually buys a large amount of grain on the market every two years in the name of purchasing military grain. This is not uncommon. If you have been paying attention to the trend of the grain market, I believe you should grasp As for the whereabouts of these grains, I don’t know too well, as it is a matter of military and national importance, so I dare not make random guesses.”

He Xiao's answer was very well proportioned, he didn't mention his role in Haihan's grain procurement process, and vaguely pointed out that Deng Qing made too much fuss about it.As for Haihan's purpose of buying grain, he even found a high-sounding reason to say that he didn't know.

Deng Qing frowned slightly, feeling that this man surnamed He was really naughty, and it was useless to say a word around him.If this was the target of his arrest, he would have long been unable to bear his temper and resorted to tricks.It's just that this Ningbo mansion is not a place where he can do whatever he wants. Even if he takes the He brothers now, he will definitely not be able to bring out Ningbo mansion. On the contrary, he may trap himself, so no matter how aggrieved he is, he can only bear with it.

The Jinyiwei yamen has actually noticed the indistinct changes in Ningbo Mansion in the past two years, and has even changed the Jinyiwei stationed in Ningbo twice. The reason is that Nanjing believes that the monitoring and intelligence collection work here Very incompetent.Of course, there may be many factors that caused this situation. In addition to the professional ability of these people, the higher-ups are also worried that they may be bribed to some extent because they have been in Ningbo for too long.

This kind of acquisition may not be done by Haihan, but it is more likely to be from local vested interests in Ningbo. After all, the annual import and export trade volume between Ningbo and Haihan is huge, and most of the people involved are upper-class people. If these When people perceive that someone is blocking the way, they are most likely to be the ones who most want to remove the stumbling block.Jin Yiwei wanted to monitor local movements, so he would naturally become the target of these people's bribes or attacks.

This time Deng Qing was sent to carry out the mission, to a certain extent, because he was a new face in Ningbo, and no one in the official circles knew him, so he could handle things with less scruples.And he chose to collect information by publicly visiting relevant personnel, mainly trying to use his own identity to deter these insiders.But judging from the current dialogue situation, this Mr. He, who works in the magistrate's yamen, obviously doesn't have much fear of the identity of "Jinyiwei", and the original plan seems to be not very effective.

Deng Qingdao: "As far as I know, this is not the first time that the business run by the He family has traded grain with Haihan. The Haihan people publicly claimed that the grain they purchased was for military use. I wonder what Master He thinks of it?"

"What do I think?" He Xiao responded with a chuckle: "If the Haihan people want to be unfavorable to me, Ming Dynasty, why should they publicize that the purchase of grain is for military use? Since they said it, of course it is to show that they have no bad intentions. Mr. Deng said, is this the truth?"

Deng Qing snorted coldly and said: "Even if the Haihan people have no bad intentions, stationing a large number of troops on Zhoushan Island will not be a good thing for my Ming Dynasty after all!"

When He Xiao heard his bad tone, his face sank slightly and he said: "Master Deng's words are a little biased. Haihan's procurement of military rations may be for the purpose of transporting them to the north. On the Liaodong battlefield, the stability of the Haihan army has to be relied on." Given the situation, thousands of people need to eat and drink, so we can’t go to war hungry, can we?”

The Liaodong war situation was a very difficult situation for Ming. The Haihan army entered Liaodong without the authorization of Ming Dynasty. In theory, it was regarded as a military invasion. However, after the Haihan army entered the area, they fought continuously with Hou Jin. It played the role of attracting firepower for Daming.If the Haihan Army withdrew from Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty would have to face the successive years of knocking off the post-gold iron cavalry. After weighing the pros and cons, the Ming court finally chose to remain silent on Haihan's reckless actions.At present, Daming is unable to take back Liaodong. Instead of letting the Jurchens occupy it, it is better to let Haihan occupy it first. After all, Daming still has room for negotiation with the Haihan people, but with the Jurchens, they can only die.

Of course, there is another reason that everyone understands, but no one will say it: If Daming wants to force Haihan to withdraw from Liaodong, he will probably have to make fun of himself, because at present, the Bohai Sea area in the north of Daming can hardly pull out one. A decent armed fleet can't threaten the Haihan Army stationed in Liaodong at all.Originally, there was still a Dongjiang Zhenming army with a small number of combat ships, but now it is semi-openly taking refuge in the Haihan people, and it is estimated that it will not return to the Ming Dynasty.

It is also precisely because the Haihan army held back the pace of Houjin's southward movement for Daming in Liaodong, so in the past two years, Daming has turned a blind eye to Haihan's material purchases in Shandong, Zhejiang and other places, and has not forcibly blocked the trade. aisle.Of course, the decision makers of Ming Dynasty may not have any good intentions towards Haihan. They made such a choice because they hoped that both of them would suffer a loss in Liaodong.

But if you know it, you know it, Da Ming doesn't dare to let go of monitoring Hai Han's movements, otherwise, if one day Hai Han people can't think about it and make a move against Da Ming, it's better to be prepared than to be unprepared.So even though Haihan's grain purchases in Zhejiang were done openly, Jinyiwei Yamen still had to do their due diligence to find out the purpose of Haihan's move.

Although Deng Qing had anticipated the resistance he would encounter during the investigation process, he still felt a little angry when he was repeatedly beaten back by He Xiao.Jin Yiwei is the emperor's pro-army, a privileged yamen with first-class privileges, how can he be so angry, he can't help but reply immediately: "Master He, be careful what you say, it is related to the dignity of the country, don't think that you have the support of the magistrate behind you, so you can talk nonsense Nonsense! If the Haihan people behave badly, be careful that even your adults will be dragged into the water!"

He Xiao didn't accept his threat at all, and immediately said with disdain: "Master Deng is so arrogant! Since you are so powerful, why not go directly to Zhoushan Island to capture some of the high-ranking Haihan officials, and escort them back to the Jinyiwei Yamen to investigate carefully. Do you understand?"

"you……"

"In order to keep the peace of our side, the magistrate of my family tried his best to deal with the Haihan people repeatedly, so that Zhejiang has peace today. Mr. Deng threatened me in both words and deeds. Presumably, he wanted to use me as an excuse to punish the magistrate. It's a pity that Mr. Qu is dedicated to serving the country and the people, but he is regarded as an enemy by you!"

"I……"

"You don't have to quibble, let me ask you, where were you when the Haihan army blocked the Qiantang River two years ago? Have you ever done anything to save the crisis? If prefect Qu hadn't risked his life to negotiate with senior Haihan officials and persuade them Withdrawing the troops and truce, I am afraid that Hangzhou City will fall into the flames of war! Now you want to make a crime to frame Mr. Qu, it is really abhorrent!"

He Xiao was so eloquent that he didn't give Deng Qing a chance to speak again, and Deng Qing's face was so gloomy that it was about to drip water.If he hadn't been on a mission, he really wanted to take this He Xiao down immediately, take him back to the Yamen to teach him a lesson, and then use the method of breaking bones and tendons to see if this surname He can still spit like this Talk nonsense.

"Differences do not conspire with each other, and I have nothing to say with Mr. He. If there is nothing else, Mr. He, please go back!" After He Xiao finished the operation, he simply issued an order to expel Deng Qing.

Deng Qing knew that he and He Xiao couldn't talk anymore, so he got up and left with a cold snort, and didn't even bother to say hello.

After Deng Qing left, He Lichao, who had been watching from the side, gave his elder brother a thumbs up and praised: "Brother is so good, he trained those hundred households so hard that they can't even talk back!"

He Xiao sighed and said: "Actually, I didn't intend to speak so harshly at first, but this guy really doesn't know how to make me angry. Why bother! Check, check, what is there to find out, Jin Yiwei used to be in Ningbo I have taken a lot of money, and everyone has always been on good terms with each other. If he speaks well, don’t I know what to do? Forget it, send someone to go quickly and let the Haihan people know I will."

(End of this chapter)