1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1934
The construction of the Changhua smelting area started almost simultaneously with the local port and populated areas, and it was put into production almost simultaneously with the Shilu Mine.With the increasing scale of production over the years, the production areas located in the north and northeast of the county have been gradually expanded, and the area is already much larger than the county itself.In this area, in addition to large and small smelting workshops, there are many supporting institutions such as processing plants that produce various metal products, and a relatively complete industrialized industrial chain has initially formed.

For example, the production site closest to the coal port is a coking plant that specializes in turning coal into coke. The coke it produces is one of the indispensable raw materials in the process of iron and steel smelting and casting, and even accounts for its production cost. nearly half of the proportion.About half of the large amount of coal that arrives here every month is made into coke here before being used in the next step.

How to heat coal to a high temperature of [-] degrees under the condition of isolation from air, and finally make coke through drying, pyrolysis, melting, bonding, solidification, shrinkage and other stages is naturally a technical work that requires attention to details. Front-line production positions must also be specially trained personnel.However, the amount of production materials entering and exiting the coking plant is huge, so there are also a large number of pure laborers who are responsible for handling work, as long as they are in good health.

Although the labor intensity of this job is very high, the income of the porters is actually very low because there is no technical content.Most of the people who have joined the Haihan nationality can find higher-income and more stable jobs, so those who are willing to carry are almost all new immigrants who have not yet been naturalized or Li Miao mountain people from the inland areas of the island.

It is precisely because of this relatively special composition of personnel that many people are engaged in porting work here in the form of part-time workers, resulting in relatively rough official control over the floating population, which is far inferior to that of the military at the smelting workshop. The controls are strict.

According to the current situation, Xue Zheng thought that it would be relatively easier to arrange people to enter the coking plant through this channel, and then use the porter's identity to enter the smelting workshop from the coking plant.Moreover, compared with setting up an ambush to intercept the official convoy route, the difficulty of action will be much less, and there will be a greater chance of approaching the target person.

"If you want everyone to pretend to be the craftsmen of the workshop, there may be loopholes, but if you want to pretend to be porters, it will be difficult for everyone?" Xue Zheng took no time to stir up the emotions of his group: "North Koreans will never sit Visiting in the carriage, as long as they get out of the carriage, they will have a chance to get close! You are all masters, so there is no need for Xue to teach you how to do it with an axe. Let me remind you again, the reward given to assassinate the son of Joseon , the first contribution is a thousand taels of gold, with this money, I won’t have to do this bloody business for the rest of my life!!”

Although the people who participated in this operation belonged to different camps, they all worked hard for money, especially for the reward of a thousand taels of gold for Li Luo. keep calm.Although this was not a secret to everyone, when Xue Zheng mentioned this tempting number again, everyone's breathing became short of breath.

At this time, no one would care whether the son of Joseon was protected by layers of protection or not, and how likely he was to succeed in launching an attack.In order to get this huge sum of money, each of them has the courage to block and kill gods and Buddhas. Even if the son of Joseon is surrounded by thousands of troops and horses to protect him, they will immediately ignore them.

Xue Zheng is very satisfied with this atmosphere. Without Lu Weng's inner ghost who questioned his decision-making, the internal atmosphere will be much better. What he needs is the complete obedience and reckless action of this group of people, even if there are not many people. , but he knows that his own advantage lies in being able to catch him by surprise, and the Haihan people should not have expected that there would be such an assassination team that has been secretly watching the North Korean group.As for the security measures taken by Haihan officials, Xue Zheng believed that they were all routines to scare ordinary people, and did not make any special arrangements for them.

Of course, whether these security measures are just a gimmick or a truly effective means of defense, I'm afraid that they can only verify it for themselves after they take action.Regardless of whether it was Xue Zheng or the group of people he commanded, they didn't want to think about this issue deeply at the moment, because apart from making them more scruples, it would actually have no practical positive effect.

At the same time, in Daling Manor, Gai Liangcai was also confirming the itinerary and security measures for the next day with Qiao Zhiya's officers.Although both parties believed that this was just routine and there was no known security threat, they still patiently confirmed each security measure one by one to avoid possible security loopholes.

According to the itinerary, Qiao Zhiya and Joseon Prince and his party will depart from Daling Manor at [-]:[-] a.m. and head to Changhua Smelting Industrial Zone along the official road. After arriving in the area, they will visit two blast furnaces for smelting steel, two metal processing plants, and There may be one or two additional visits arranged temporarily.During the period, they will eat in a canteen in the industrial zone dedicated to senior technicians and officials. In the afternoon, depending on the time of the end of the visit, it will be decided whether to add or delete the visiting items according to the wishes of the King of Korea.

Since there are many dignitaries from various countries who come here to visit and study every year, there is already a standardized plan for such a visit itinerary, and at most some adjustments will be made on individual items.However, the itinerary that Li Min chose in Sanya was just a big tour. As for the specific visits after arriving in Changhua, they are all arranged by the local government. Li Min can make suggestions on the visits, but whether they are implemented or not is still up to the local supervisor. officials to decide.

Regarding Qiao Zhiya's arrangement, Li Wei has no objection here, so the next job is for the relevant agencies to arrange the travel process and provide security.As the accompanying military officer, Gai Liangcai's main task was to provide personal guards for Li Mo and his party, while Qiao Zhiya's subordinates who were familiar with the local conditions were all in charge of opening the way, guarding, and interrupting the rear of the team.

In fact, providing protection and security for important people was not the direction of Gai Liangcai's work in the past. As an active army captain and infantry company commander, he is best at leading troops to carry out combat missions. In fact, he does not have much experience in security.Gai Liangcai knew that he was not professional enough, and he relied on some special contacts to get this mission intended to be gilded, so he couldn't make mistakes, otherwise he might implicate the people behind him who helped him.So after setting off from Sanya, Gai Liangcai never dared to relax in the slightest, carefully deploying every detail of the security work.

In the two stations of Yinggehai and Changhua, apart from coordinating with local garrisons and private guards, Ge Liangcai actually made a special effort to build a good relationship with Zhang Qianzhi, one of the accompanying officials.He knows Zhang Qianzhi's true identity, and also understands certain privileges that the special agency of the Ministry of Security has in this country. He thinks that Zhang Qianzhi may give him some kind of support when necessary, such as intelligence information, his own sources Certainly it cannot be compared with the security department.

Moreover, Gai Liangcai once heard that the Ministry of Security has a field department that is responsible for special operations tasks. Although he felt that there might not be a serious situation where the Ministry of Security would send out armed personnel to help, he had a good relationship with the officials of the Ministry of Security. It is always right to leave an extra path for yourself.So after checking the security deployment with Qiao Zhiya's men, he didn't go back to his room to rest immediately, but took the initiative to find Zhang Qianzhi.

Qiao Zhiya's manor was quite large in scale, and there were more than ten bedrooms for entertaining guests, which was comparable to a hotel. Zhang Qianzhi and other accompanying officials also received preferential treatment of single rooms.

Zhang Qianzhi was not surprised to see Gai Liangcai coming to visit him. These days, the other party came to chat with him almost every day.As for Gai Liangcai's purpose of making friends with him, Zhang Qianzhi is also well aware.He entered the officialdom when he was a teenager, and he was engaged in special work in the security field. He had contact with all kinds of people in the past ten years, and his experience in dealing with other officials was far richer than that of Gai Liangcai.However, he doesn't dislike Gai Liangcai's purposeful way of making friends. In his opinion, the other party is mostly for business affairs, not necessarily to seek any personal gain from him, or have other nefarious intentions. .

"Brother Gai is really in a good mood. Are you going to have a drink at this time?" Zhang Qianzhi couldn't help but tease when he saw that Gai Liangcai was holding a flagon in one hand and a bamboo basket in the other.

Gai Liangcai said with a smile: "During the meal earlier, the son of Joseon wanted to hear about the battlefield, but he only cared about telling him stories, and didn't pay much attention to eating. Just now, after talking about work with Mr. Qiao's subordinates, I feel I was hungry, so I went to the kitchen for a walk and searched for a few cold dishes. Anyway, I don’t have to be on duty now, so I can drink some wine and relax. Brother Zhang, if you don’t mind, why don’t we have a drink together?”

Zhang Qianzhi turned sideways to give way to the house, and said in his mouth: "Brother Gai's proposal is also in line with my wishes, please!"

Gai Liang went into the room to put down the jug and basket, and seeing a copy of "The Rise of the South China Sea" on the table, he said with a smile, "Brother Zhang is studying behind closed doors at night, so I'm bothering you."

Zhang Qianzhi said: "The son of Joseon has been very interested in this book recently, and I heard that he spends time reading it every day, so I also came to have a look, and speculate on his thoughts by the way."

"Oh? Then I wonder what brother Zhang has gained?" Gai Liangcai asked Zhang Qianzhi while taking cold vegetables out of the food basket.

Zhang Qianzhi didn't immediately respond to his question, but instead asked: "Brother Gai has been in contact with this North Korean prince for several days, what do you think of him?"

Gai Liangcai's movements slowed down, and he thought for a while before answering: "It can be seen from his words and demeanor that the prince is relatively cautious in character; The conference took the initiative to ask some questions, which shows that it is very interested in the investigation."

Gai Liang paused for a moment before adding another item: "In fact, I have read this "The Rise of the South China Sea", but the way we read this book is definitely different from how foreigners read it. We feel proud after reading it. It’s over, but I think after reading this book, the son of Joseon will probably think about what successful experiences his country can emulate.”

Zhang Qianzhi nodded in praise and said, "Brother Gai is meticulous in his observations and thoughtful, and his views are similar to mine. Especially the thoughts about this book really coincide with mine!"

Gai Liang just smiled, picked up the wine jug and poured wine into two cups, handed one of the cups to Zhang Qianzhi and said, "Don't just have a lively chat, drink a cup to moisten your throat first!"

Zhang Qianzhi took the wine glass and said: "Your drinking capacity is limited, Brother Gai, don't come too fast!"

"It's okay. This is the fruit wine produced in Danzhou. It's not as intoxicating as baijiu. Brother Zhang will know after trying it." Gai Liang suddenly felt a little inappropriate after saying this, so he took the initiative to say: "I forgot Brother Zhang used to work in Danzhou, so he should be more familiar with this fruit wine than I am."

Zhang Qianzhi said: "Brother Gai knows a lot of things, even the old things like my job in Danzhou."

Gai Liangcai said: "Brother Zhang, don't be surprised. You made great achievements in Danzhou back then. Although the outside world didn't report this matter, there are actually quite a few people who know about it. I also heard about it by chance, but I will tell Brother Zhang about it." I have added admiration!"

The Danzhou assassination case in 1631 was a serious case that the Ministry of Security investigated and handled with all its strength. At that time, Zhang Qianzhi was lurking in a certain academy in Danzhou as an undercover agent, and collected a lot of key clues for the subsequent detection and arrest work. One of the biggest contributors to the investigation and handling of this case by the Ministry of Security.And since then, Zhang Qianzhi has really embarked on a career path, which can be said to be one of the turning points in his career.

This case caused quite a stir in Haihan at that time, and a large number of people in the Qiongbei area were also involved in it later.The large-scale prisoner riots that occurred in the Shilu mining area in the same year are also inextricably linked with the incident in Danzhou.At that time, the military also mobilized a lot of troops to participate in the quelling and arresting work, and screened most of Qiongzhong and Qiongbei. Therefore, some inside stories about the investigation and handling of cases by the Ministry of Security at that time were actually circulated in the military. .

Gai Liangcai was only a sergeant at that time, and he was promoted to a second lieutenant by virtue of his military exploits after the Qiongzhong Qing mission was completed.But about Zhang Qianzhi's story, he didn't know about it at that time, but only learned about it by chance after a long time, and he took advantage of this opportunity to tell a set of tricks.

Zhang Qianzhi smiled and said: "A few small things, it makes brother Gai laugh!"

The two looked at each other with a smile, toasted to each other, and tacitly agreed not to mention the authenticity of these old events.

(End of this chapter)