1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1954
As an organization whose main functions are intelligence information collection, analysis, and collation, the Ministry of Security has its own set of methods for how to conduct information warfare in the environment of the seventeenth century, and has achieved fairly good results in the past few years.Although the current situation is a bit urgent, all those involved in the operation are well-trained professionals, and Zhang Qianzhi is still quite confident that it will be successful.

According to the information obtained by Wang Baisuo and his subordinates, there are indeed several underground brokers engaged in gray trading in the local area, and the business is not small. People from various countries who come and go to Danzhou have their direct or indirect customers.In addition to providing some information in the business field for multinational businessmen, these brokers also engage in some invisible transactions, such as connecting foreign businessmen with some local officials, or secretly selling materials that are officially prohibited from circulation, and other Some not-so-legal operations.

As long as the stability of the local area is not endangered, Wang Baisuo has always turned a blind eye to the existence of these brokers, and has not spent energy to dig into information such as their identities and backgrounds.It's not that he's neglecting his duties, but that the interests involved in these brokers are too complex, and there are many people in the government among them. If the Ministry of Security takes the initiative to intervene, it may be indirectly used as a tool for official struggles.Therefore, even if Wang Baisuo knew the existence of these situations, he usually just watched from the sidelines and would not easily intervene.

However, if these brokers were to be used to spread news and lure enemies who might be lurking in the dark, they would definitely not come forward to handle this matter in the name of the Ministry of Security.But of course, this is not a problem for Wang Baisuo. Apart from their positions in the Ministry of Security, these people under him also have their own identities on the surface. Most of them are officials in government offices and various official institutions. .In these identities, it is not so easy to be suspicious of the authenticity of the news about the itinerary of the son of Joseon to the broker.

"Everyone, this matter is very important. If there is any progress, I hope you can report back as soon as possible. If you can successfully lure the snake out of the hole this time and catch those criminals, I will personally ask Minister He for you after the case is over. achievement!"

Zhang Qianzhi knew that the success of the matter would depend on the performance of these subordinates, so he hurriedly gave a few more instructions, promised to pay back, and urged everyone to deal with the matter seriously.

Shrimp has its way of shrimp, and crab has its way of crab. These agents from the Ministry of Security have their own way of doing things. They did not rush to release news about North Koreans to the black market channels. Through the channels, they offered a price on the black market to acquire accurate information about the visit of the son of the Joseon Dynasty to Danzhou.

That's right, the Ministry of Security did the opposite, first creating the illusion that someone acquired the relevant news, and the price offered was not low.Of course, brokers in the black market cannot have information about North Koreans, but the high prices offered by buyers will drive them to actively spread the news in order to find a channel to get information about North Koreans as soon as possible, and then they will rush ahead to make the acquisition. Then resell it to buyers for a good price.The effect that the Ministry of Security wants to achieve is that the black market brokers will spontaneously announce this situation. If the opponent is lurking in Danzhou and trying to obtain the itinerary of the North Koreans, they will definitely notice this trend.

Such tactics may confuse opponents why anyone else is so interested in the North Koreans' itinerary besides them.But before they figure out what happened, the security department will take the next step.

In fact, because Xue Zheng was worried about exposing his whereabouts, and because he was not very familiar with the local situation in Danzhou, Xue Zheng did not arrange for his men to follow the intelligence transactions on the black market in real time.Using Mr. Huo's line to spend money to buy news is the only way out right now, and he has to bear a huge risk for this. Xue Zheng also dare not take the initiative to find other news channels, otherwise he will be caught by that powerful Huo. The husband noticed that if he didn't do it, he would pack up and sell his group to the government.

But despite Xue Zheng's cautious thinking, others may not think that he is so "honest".Not long after news came out that someone was bidding on the itinerary of the North Koreans on the black market, Mr. Huo sent someone to the inn where he was staying, questioning that he was trying to find another way to acquire information.

"Boss Xue, since you have already negotiated the price terms with my boss, just wait for the news. Why are you still releasing the news that you want to buy the itinerary of the North Koreans at a high price? You know that doing so will only be counterproductive, and my boss can't do it. Trust you again!"

The visitor spoke fiercely, and Monk Xue Zhengzhang was puzzled. He didn't know what happened. After persuading him with good words, he asked slowly, only to find out that someone offered [-] yuan to buy the itinerary for the son of the Joseon Dynasty to visit Danzhou.Although this price is much lower than Mr. Huo's asking price, it is considered a big deal in the market. After all, information that can sell for tens of thousands is not always available.So at the moment, big and small brokers in the Danzhou black market have started to act, hoping to find the news and earn the money.

But in fact, due to security issues in Changhua, the officials intentionally controlled news about the North Korean crown prince's visit to Danzhou, so this arrangement has not been made public locally, let alone a specific itinerary.And Mr. Huo, as one of the most famous local brokers and information dealers, of course, also received the news immediately. His first reaction was that Xue Zheng was worried about his ability to handle affairs, and wanted to find another way to collect information by himself and lower the price. I can't help being furious at the moment.

Mr. Huo doesn't think that this method of spreading the net can really buy relevant information, because his news channels should be far more reliable than most black market brokers, and he hasn't made any progress yet. Never mind anyone else.Even if Xue Zheng went out to buy at a high price, no one would be able to sell him real information.But because Danzhou has limited access to this kind of high-level diplomatic news, others may seek the news channel he controls, and in order to ensure exclusive possession of the news source, he has to come up with more information. High remuneration in order to be safe.

After such a tossing, there may be two results. One is that Mr. Huo bought the information in time with more rewards, or he did the deal with Xue Zheng, but the profit will be relatively reduced; the other possibility is to grasp After hearing the news, the relevant intelligence personnel skipped the step of asking Mr. Huo, the middleman, to earn the difference, and directly contacted Xue Zheng to sell the information to him, leaving Mr. Huo with nothing.But no matter what kind it was, it was unacceptable to Mr. Huo, so he immediately sent someone to warn Xue Zheng, asking Xue Zheng not to take things for granted.

Of course, Xue Zheng was confused about this, so that Mr. Huo's subordinates also murmured, not sure whether it was Xue Zheng's superb acting skills, or a misunderstanding really happened. People who collect information on the market Not him.

"Could it be that there is another group of people who are doing the same thing as me?" Xue Zheng couldn't help but have a strange thought in his heart.There are several forces behind his team. It is not impossible to send other teams to carry out this task at the same time, but he has not received any notification at all, and he cannot confirm whether his idea is true.

Xue Zheng could only explain to those who came that he did not release information about the purchase information through other channels, and he did not intend to make such an attempt, because this would likely expose the purpose and attract unnecessary attention, allowing the authorities to take precautions in advance.

"I also told Mr. Huo before that as long as we can get real and reliable news, the price is not a problem. You can go back and tell Mr. Huo that it doesn't matter to us if we spend tens of thousands more or less tens of thousands on this matter." , we will not change the agreement with Mr. Huo just to save some money, but it must be fast, we must get the news as soon as possible!"

Xue Zheng still quickly explained the whole story to Mr. Huo's subordinates, and persuaded the other party to trust him for the time being, and sent Mr. Huo a message back.In order to show that he is not short of money, Xue Zheng readily handed over one hundred yuan of Haihan coins to the visitor as his hard work fee.

Xue Zheng's complexion darkened immediately after sending the person away. He really didn't expect such an unexpected situation to occur, which almost completely disrupted his original plan.If Mr. Huo loses his trust because of this and interrupts the originally negotiated deal, he has to find another news channel at this time, and the outside world has already made a lot of noise about this matter, and the risk of exposure will undoubtedly be greatly increased. .

But Xue Zheng also had to consider another possibility, that is, some insiders would choose to sell the information to other buyers because of the bids on the black market.The source of Mr. Huo's information may be very appropriate, but it may not be the only source of information on the market, so Xue Zheng made a special request to Mr. Huo, and he must get the relevant information as soon as possible.

At the same time, he must also consider the more extreme situation, that is, if Mr. Huo fails to obtain the information in time, then he may have to take this kind of operation on the current black market and directly pay a high price to buy the information - that is undoubtedly It would be a very risky operation.

Xue Zheng couldn't help sighing. He originally thought that arriving in Danzhou earlier would give him the upper hand, and he would be able to deploy an action plan to deal with the North Koreans more calmly, but the reality is far more difficult than he imagined. The itinerary of the North Koreans has consumed a lot of their energy, and they are taking huge risks all the time, but now they are still not sure at all.

Is the life of this North Korean so good?Xue Zheng couldn't help but murmur in his heart. When he was in Changhua earlier, it was because of an unexpected situation that disrupted his plan, so he had to temporarily stop the operation and evacuate voluntarily.Is it necessary to repeat a similar situation in Danzhou again, and declare failure without even seeing the North Koreans?
Xue Zheng shook his head. If this is the result, he has no way to go back to work.In any case, he couldn't fall short without even trying, and he didn't plan to save the action until the next stop of the North Koreans. God knows if there will be a chance to do it after making another concession.

When Xue Zheng was troubled by the poor information collection in Danzhou, Li Wei, who didn't know it, was still visiting Heitu Port.What touched him the most was not the advanced management system and various production technologies that Haihan used in the process of mining coal mines here. After all, relatively high production efficiency is already a basic operation for Haihan, and he has already seen it. Strange, but it is Haihan's overseas colony based on mining in Heitu Port, which has given Li Luo a better understanding of Haihan's external expansion methods.

Since he went abroad to the south, he has visited many Haihan overseas ruled areas, but almost all of these areas are seaports, supplemented by the development of sea trade, agriculture, and fishery. Natural resource-based domination area.It can be said that Haihan built such a coastal city because of the coal resources buried in the ground here. This shows how strong Haihan's thirst for important resources is.

However, for the time being, Li Lu doesn't have to worry that Haihan will take the coal mines in the Datong River Basin of his country as his own. All the coal is clean coal shipped from here, and unless it is absolutely necessary, other coals of relatively poor quality will not be supplemented overseas, so the coal mines near Pyongyang City are not very attractive to Haihan.

What Li Min is worried about is actually the iron mine that has been proven to be mined at the estuary of the Datong River. If North Korea does not have enough manpower and material resources to activate this mine, then the Haihan people will look at this place right under their noses and not go. touch?Li Wei does not think that the Haihan people are so honest. He has witnessed that the Haihan people have laid more than 80 miles of railway tracks from the seaside in order to mine the Shilu iron mine located in the inland mountainous area, and opened up the Shilu Railway regardless of the cost. The channel between the mine and the outside world.Looking at the coal mine in front of him, which is five hundred miles away from the mainland of Haihan, he has no doubt that the people of Haihan will do everything in order to occupy a high-quality mine.

Moreover, the Haihan people don’t just open the mine and finish the job. The black earth port has become the territory of Haihan in a few years. If the domestic mineral deposits are also sold by the Haihan people in the name of mining, it can’t be said that in a few years it will be in North Korea. There will be the next Black Earth Port, Red Earth Port, and White Earth Port...

Of course, Li Luo would not express his worries in front of Haihan senior officials, but he still asked Xie Chun and others in detail about how Haihan developed the Black Earth Port back then.But the more he learned, the more he felt that there were many similarities between the situation of Annan at that time and the situation of North Korea today. Now he secretly made up his mind to write up his experience here as a secret memorial and send it back to China as soon as possible, urging his father. Wang started the Datongjiang iron ore project as soon as possible, so as not to leave more room for Haihan to operate.

(End of this chapter)