1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2181
The guy in charge of receiving merchants in the store saw the two Haihan officers coming hand in hand, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet them, and after asking about their purpose, he took them to the private room in the back hall to sit down.

"You two, please wait for a moment, and the villain will go to inform the shopkeeper."

For a paramilitary organization like Golden Shield Escort, the treasurers of each of its branches are basically veterans who have served as officers in the army. They have certain military command capabilities and can cooperate with local garrisons to execute various tasks. special task.The most important thing is that these people have a relatively high degree of loyalty to Hai Han, so they can rest assured that they can control the special force of the Golden Shield.

Although the staffing of each branch may be only one or two hundred people, the shopkeeper has to be responsible for a lot of things. In addition to the obvious business projects, the shopkeeper also has to deal with all kinds of people and select from them. Useful information for Haihan.Haihan's two major intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau, also often send people to work in Jindunli, taking advantage of the opportunity of carrying out escort missions to collect various intelligence in the territory of Ming Dynasty.

It is also because of this that although the shopkeepers in charge of operations in overseas colonies are civilians, most of them still enjoy official treatment so that they can hand over work to the military and intelligence agencies.Although Duan Tiancheng and Ji Yuanqing were military officers, they did not sit in the yamen and summon the local shopkeeper Jindun, but took the initiative to visit.

"You two have been waiting for a long time!" A dark-skinned middle-aged man pushed the door in and greeted the two with cupped hands.

As soon as Duan Tiancheng and Ji Yuanqing saw the visitor, they both got up and returned their greetings: "I've seen Shopkeeper Yuan!"

Yuan Tao is the big shopkeeper in charge of the Zhoushan Branch of Golden Shield Escort. All of Golden Shield's public business activities in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, as well as various secret cooperation with the Zhoushan authorities, are all coordinated and directed by Yuan Tao.Shi Diwen made a decision to win over the Huizhou salt merchants in Yangzhou, and the Golden Shield escort had to go ahead to help the Huizhou salt merchants buy time. Of course, this errand must be clearly explained to Yuan Tao.

Yuan Tao joined the army earlier than these two. Before Haihan unified Hainan Island, he was already a member of the navy.However, during the battle that Haihan attacked Qiongzhou Fucheng that year, because Yuan Tao did not strictly abide by the military order, he impulsively killed several Ming officials who were originally planned to be recruited by the high-level officials. Afterwards, he was punished and retired from the army early.

Although the reason for retiring is not particularly glorious, it cannot conceal Yuan Tao's military exploits during his service. The senior management thinks he is a useful talent, so after retiring, Yuan Tao immediately transferred to the Golden Shield and was sent overseas Work.

Compared with the strictly disciplined army, the working atmosphere of the Golden Shield Escort is obviously much more relaxed, and the risk of outside operations is much smaller. After all, the opponent is no longer a fully armed professional army, but a small group of bandits that occasionally appear Bandit only.With Golden Shield's personnel composition and equipment level, it is no problem to deal with this kind of stragglers.

After Yuan Tao stayed in Jindun for two years, he slowly demonstrated his outstanding ability in the process of performing tasks, successfully completed several troublesome transactions, and then got the opportunity for further training, and returned to Sanya to study business Expertise in operations and intelligence gathering.

With the ability, qualifications and education, the next promotion became a matter of course. Yuan Tao slowly climbed up from the deputy team, the captain, and the manager. When he was transferred to Zhoushan a few years ago, he had already become a semicolon dispensers.

After Haihan entered the Zhoushan Islands and cleaned up all the maritime armed forces in this sea area, there were very few large bandit activities along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Yuantao manages well, so the Zhoushan branch is still doing good business, and on average, it can receive several business deals every month.Although there may not be many huge profits, at least the basic expenses of the Zhoushan branch can be covered, so that there is no need for state treasury subsidies.

Of course, the official purpose of setting up such an organization as the Golden Shield Escort was not to make money, but to use this organization to complete some tasks that the government would not be able to deal directly with. Therefore, there has never been any requirement for the profitability of the Golden Shield, and the funds are insufficient. Sometimes there will be special subsidies from the state treasury to ensure the normal operation of its daily operations.

However, Yuan Tao's operation of the Zhoushan branch to a slightly profitable level has proved that his professional ability is indeed worthy of the position of the shopkeeper of the branch.After the Xiangshan Salt Field was put into operation, almost all the private salt shipped to the area north of Hangzhou Bay was handed over to Jindun for escort, which also fully demonstrated Shi Diwen's trust in Yuan Tao.

It's just that Yuan Tao underestimated the risks from the traditional salt merchants in Yangzhou at that time. In the beginning, he was attacked by the salt merchants' musketeers in the wild several times during the salt transportation process. Thao couldn't bear it.Although he avenged his revenge later on, Yuan Tao had a knot in Yuan Tao's heart that couldn't be removed.

After Ji Yuanqing succinctly stated his purpose, Yuan Tao agreed without hesitation: "Go to Yangzhou? Okay! Last time when your Military Intelligence Bureau went to Yangzhou, I wanted to go with you. Unfortunately, Mr. Ji, you refused to take me with you. play!"

Ji Yuanqing joined the army much later than Yuan Tao. Although Yuan Tao has already retired, Ji Yuanqing can only perform the gift of a junior in front of him, and quickly explained: "Brother Yuan wrongly blamed me. The action plan at that time was General Shi himself. The personnel involved in the operation are also on the list made by General Shi, I am just the officer who leads the team, but I have no right to decide who to take and who not to take!"

Yuan Tao stared and said, "Then you are going to throw the blame on General Shi?"

Ji Yuanqing quickly denied it: "I don't mean to throw blame, I'm just stating the facts... Anyway, Brother Yuan, blame me if you want to blame, it's true that I didn't think carefully when I made the list."

Compared to offending Yuan Tao, of course, the consequences of throwing the blame on the boss are more serious. Ji Yuanqing can only choose the lesser of two evils, and admits the "crime" that Yuan Tao forced on him.

Duan Tiancheng laughed secretly when he heard it, and then he began to persuade: "Brother Yuan, don't embarrass Brother Ji, let's hurry up and discuss business matters!"

Yuan Tao has been in Zhoushan for several years, and he is actually quite familiar with these two people, so his complaint just now was only half-joking.He didn't know that the secret operation to Yangzhou at the end of last year was extremely dangerous. Although all the elites from the Ministry of Security and the Zhoushan garrison went there, some people were lost in the confrontation with the salt merchants' armed forces.And veterans like him, of course, are unlikely to directly participate in special combat operations organized by the military, so they can only complain when Ji Yuanqing comes to the door on his own initiative.

But now he actually has the opportunity to lead a team to Yangzhou to perform a mission, which finally makes Yuan Tao feel elated.Although according to Ji Yuanqing, Jindun's mission is only to protect the personal safety of the local Hui nationality salt merchants, not to directly participate in the struggle between the salt merchant gangs, let alone let him seek revenge, but Yuan Tao subconsciously believes that as long as he goes to After going there, the opportunity for revenge that he has been waiting for for a long time may appear.

Ji Yuanqing needs to confirm a few things with Yuan Tao right now. The first is the purpose of this operation, the second is the contact and cooperation with the local salt merchants, and the third is the personnel and materials that Jindun needs to mobilize.

"Nowadays, salt merchants from Hui nationality have come to cooperate with us. On the one hand, it is because they are in a difficult position in the competition and must seek external support to maintain their position in Yangzhou. On the other hand, they also have the idea of ​​​​killing people with a knife. Encourage us to take action to destroy their competitors."

Ji Yuanqing analyzed: "However, it is inconvenient for our country to send large-scale troops to penetrate into the territory of Ming Dynasty. You are also aware of this situation. Therefore, the task of protecting Huizhou salt merchants can only be entrusted to Jin Dun. But if they want to use Jin Shield to achieve other purposes, Yuan Brother, remember not to be fooled!"

When talking about serious matters, Yuan Tao also put away his laughing and cursing side, and listened to Ji Yuanqing's analysis seriously.Last year, it was because of insufficient preparation that it suffered a loss at the hands of the salt merchants. This time, it must not repeat the same mistakes again when fighting against the Yangzhou salt merchants.Whether the next operation will be smooth or not will largely depend on the information provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Yuan Tao said: "Although I want to prevent them from killing people with a knife, if the other party comes to the door, then I will not hold back!"

"As long as you don't kill until Xingqi can't stop!" Ji Yuanqing also knew why this senior retired sadly after his meritorious service, so he quickly reminded him.

Yuan Tao nodded solemnly and said, "Of course, if he makes another mistake, Yuan has no choice but to take the blame and resign and go back to farming in the south."

Yuan Tao was forced to retire because of a mistake back then. This is something Yuan Tao has never been able to let go of. If he had the chance to do it all over again, he would definitely not take the initiative to violate the military order again.

Yuan Tao may not be able to fully understand why the higher ups arranged such a complicated plan instead of directly sending troops to take over the old dens of the salt merchants, but since this is an order, it must be resolutely carried out.Although he has taken off his military uniform for several years, he has always demanded himself according to the standards of a soldier, and he always reminds himself not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Ji Yuanqing went on to say: "This time the person who came to the island to negotiate with us is a salt merchant named Ma Zhengping. He will arrange for you to meet later, and he will contact you for the specific arrangements after arriving in Yangzhou."

Duan Tiancheng added: "This person is generous, and he should not treat Jin Dun's brother badly. If Brother Yuan has any requests, I believe he will try his best to meet them."

Yuan Tao laughed and said, "Are you reminding me not to let go of what can be ripped off?"

Duan Tiancheng replied solemnly: "Little brother absolutely has no such intentions. Brother Yuan misunderstood, so I can't blame my brother."

Of course, it was impossible for Jin Dun to carry out this mission at his own expense. Instead, he was hired by Ma Zhengping to go to Yangzhou in such a reasonable way.As for the specific fee, of course it was up to Yuan Tao to discuss with Ma Zhengping. Once Duan Tiancheng gave him this reminder, Yuan Tao could roughly grasp the level of the bid.

As for the personnel and materials to be dispatched for this operation, it was up to Yuan Tao to put forward specific requirements.

"Jindun Zhoushan Branch currently employs 220 seven people. Excluding 33 internal affairs personnel such as miscellaneous and clerical personnel, the remaining 190 four people including me can participate in field operations. However, there are currently two teams in Ningbo and Shaoxing. There are more than ten people who have been transferred to Shandong to support the local branch, so there are about... 130 people who can do the mission at present." Yuan Tao first counted the number of people who can be mobilized at present.

"It should be enough. After all, you are not going to fight, but to show our attitude to the local salt merchants. With more than 100 people and an infantry company, the local civilian armed forces must not be able to challenge you." Duan Tiancheng said to Jin Dun. The strength is quite confident.

Yuan Tao also nodded in agreement: "If this can't suppress the evil, then we can only dispatch the regular army."

"Are there any requirements for equipment and materials?" Duan Tiancheng asked.

Yuan Tao said: "It is necessary to have a rifle in hand. In addition, you must bring [-]% of the spare guns. After all, you don't know how long you will be stationed in the past. It will be very troublesome if the guns are out, so bring more just in case. Just in case. There is also a grenade equipped by the army, can you apply for some, I went to the training ground last time to see it, and that thing seems to have a good lethality."

Duan Tiancheng shook his head slightly and said: "Using a grenade requires special training, otherwise it will be very risky to use it in battle, and it may cause more damage to oneself... None of the brothers of Jindun have any training experience or use it in actual combat. experience, don’t force yourself.”

After Yuan Tao was rejected, he was not discouraged, so he came up with other ideas: "Then give me a few more revolvers! Maybe there will be a need to personally protect important people in public, and it is more convenient to carry a short gun. "

Duan Tiancheng and Ji Yuanqing exchanged glances, nodded and said: "You can have this, you can write it down on the equipment list later, and I will take it back to General Shi for approval."

"I don't seem to have any other special needs. Anyway, when you arrive in Yangzhou, the employer will pay for food, clothing, housing and transportation. You should not have to worry about daily necessities. Just bring some convenient rations for storage." Yuan Tao thought for a while and thought it should be nothing. material requirements.

"There seems to be a batch of unused army equipment in the military supply warehouse, including backpacks, shoes, belts, daggers, etc. How about applying for it for you?"

"Okay!" Yuan Tao would not refuse such a good thing, so he agreed immediately.

"Then let's put it this way, you should make preparations first, and arrange a meeting with Ma Zhengping later." Duan Tiancheng felt that the matter was almost finished, so he signaled Ji Yuanqing to get up and leave.

Yuan Tao sent them outside the gate, clasped his fists and said, "If you can make meritorious service on this errand, when you come back from Yangzhou, Yuan will be your host and invite you two to have a good time in Ningbo City!"

"Okay, let's wait for your triumphant return!"

(End of this chapter)