1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 434 Sense of Crisis

"Do you recognize the person clearly?" Xiao Liang stopped walking not far from the port center, and asked a militiaman behind him.

"Report to the chief, that Li Qingyang is the leader, I see it very clearly, I won't admit my mistake!" The militiaman stood at attention and said firmly.He was one of the members of the field team who followed Gong Shiqi on a surveillance mission in Guangzhou the day before. He Xi had seen the faces of these surveillance targets. He Xi sent him to Panyu specifically to let him come here to identify people. of.

However, in He Xi's plan, he does not plan to arrest them here, because Lijiazhuang is not only a cargo transfer terminal, but also the main transfer station for Haihan's large-scale immigration from the mainland, not far from the terminal. Thousands of immigrants have lived in the immigrant camps for a long time.Most of these people have to go to Haihan for their livelihood. Without a comprehensive understanding of Haihan, if an armed conflict occurs here because of the capture of Jinyiwei, these immigrants are likely to be frightened, and even As a result, they have some misunderstandings about their future employers.In addition, the waterways near Lijiazhuang extend in all directions, and it is possible that the Jinyiwei spies escaped during the arrest process, and the small number of mobile troops is not enough to set up an effective encirclement in this nearby area.If there are other spies nearby who were not found in the previous investigation, then the public arrest will be easy to startle the snake.

Xiao Liang brought people to the Harbor Center just to confirm the identity of Jin Yiwei's spies.After face-to-face confirmation, the next thing can be carried out according to the established process.

At this time, Li Qingyang was not aware of the fact that his identity was exposed, and after completing the procedures for picking up the goods with Song San, they returned to the pier together.Song San also kindly told him: "When the business is busy in the future, the shopkeeper will inevitably ask you to pick up and order the goods. You should remember the procedures just now, and then you can get things done properly."

"What Brother Song said is true, my younger brother will definitely remember it in his heart." Li Qingyang answered with cupped hands.

At this moment, he was not thinking about the responsibilities of the accountant, but worried about the action arrangements after he went to Sanya.Based on what he has seen so far, the Haihan people are very meticulous and organized in their work. In the area under the jurisdiction of this kind of people, it is difficult to have any big loopholes to exploit.After I went to Sanya, the first thing I had to consider was probably not how to detect the enemy's situation, but to cover up my identity and not show my feet.

Li Qingyang originally thought that he would wait for a while, but he didn't expect that the delivery team would follow them as soon as they arrived at the pier.Li Qingyang couldn't help but praised: "This doesn't waste any time!"

Song Sanying said: "There is a saying in the Haihan people that time is money. If it is at the Pearl River Wharf, it is not a problem to delay loading for a few hours, but in this place, after the goods are delivered to the warehouse, there is a stick of incense. If the goods are not shipped on time, the people at the warehouse will have to be punished.”

"But my little brother, it seems that the pier is not busy enough to load and unload goods?" Li Qingyang asked suspiciously.

Song San explained: "This is because the time of our ship's arrival is also a coincidence, just missing the busiest days around the first and fifteenth day of each month, but this is the rule of the Haihan people, regardless of leisure time and busy time. , when will it come, the loading and unloading speed is so fast. Think about it, it takes about a day to a day and a half for a big ship like ours to load in Guangzhou, but it can be done in half a day here, and the savings in a year There's enough time for a few more round trips."

"So that's how it is." Li Qingyang thought to himself that these Haihan people are indeed shrewd, they have even settled for such details, so it's no wonder that their reputation has spread to the north of the Yangtze River in just a year or two after they emerged, and they really have some knowledge .

The ship he was on this time mainly transported tea and porcelain to Sanya, and these goods had already been packed before they were put into storage.There was another person on the ship who was in charge of counting the goods. Li Qingyang had nothing to do, so he turned his head to look at another ship parked at the pier.

The shape of this boat was different from any sailboat Li Qingyang had seen in the past. The hull of the boat was a bit like the Canton Ship Fuchuan, but it was narrower and longer.What attracted Li Qingyang's attention the most was the rigging system on this ship. The mast was obviously much higher than that of ordinary sailing ships, but the sails used were not Chinese hard sails, but soft cloth sails similar to Western sailing ships.Li Qingyang had seen Western sailing ships in Fuzhou, but the soft sails seemed to be different from the sails on this ship—the sails of Westerners were in pieces, tied to the transom when furling, However, the sail of this ship is a whole piece, with several curved masts covering the outside, and it is not known how the sail of this ship is operated.

"Brother Song San, what is the origin of this ship next to it?" Li Qingyang finally couldn't hold back his curiosity, and asked Song San.

"This is the sailboat built by the Haihan people themselves. They call it an exploration ship. This ship is here to transport immigrants and send them back to Sanya. Seeing that the sails are up, the ship is probably going to leave soon." Song San Introduced.

Li Qingyang frowned and said, "Exploration ship? Then why are the sails and mast so strange?"

"This is where it is so powerful! This ship runs twice as fast as our ship when it runs on the sea, and it can take advantage of the wind regardless of whether it is downwind or headwind. This ship travels from Guangzhou to Sanya. We will arrive in four more days, but our ship will take at least seven days to go." Song San said enviously.

"There is such a fast boat!" Li Qingyang couldn't help being surprised.Before he came here, he had done some homework, such as the distance from Guangzhou to Sanya and the time required for the voyage, which he knew well.Song San said that the ship could arrive in three or four days, which completely broke through his knowledge of sailing ships.

"The Haihan people also have two faster boats, both white and flat, like a piece of eggshell floating on the water." Song San couldn't help showing off his knowledge: "Those two boats are said to be It was brought by the Haihan people from their country, and it travels extremely fast on the sea, at least half faster than this exploration ship, but it is a pity that it cannot be replicated in Daming, and it is said that the materials for shipbuilding cannot be found in Daming."

Li Qingyang said: "My little brother heard that last year the Haihan people defeated a group of very powerful pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River. Could it be that they also used this kind of sailboat?"

Song San looked around, and then said cautiously: "You are asking the right person. Last year, the Haihan militia fought with the pirate Liu Xiang. I, Song San, was the one who witnessed it!"

Li Qingyang immediately became interested when he heard this, and hurriedly asked further questions.

It turned out that Song San was a sailor on a cargo ship of "Fusheng" at that time, and the ship he was on happened to berth in Wanshan Port when the two sides were fighting, so he was fortunate to witness how the Haihan people used it on Wanshan Island. The terrain and fortifications of Wanshan Port killed Liu Xiang's pirate fleet.

This can be regarded as one of the few wonderful experiences in Song San's life, and Li Qingyang was secretly startled while listening to it.From Song San's description, at least a few things can be confirmed.

First, the Haihan people have a large fleet of warships, and all of these warships are equipped with several artillery pieces. During sea battles, they mainly use long-range artillery fire to sink and injure enemy ships.Second, the Haihan people privately built a fort on Wanshan Island, and they have very powerful firepower output - if Song San is not bragging, the fort in Wanshan Port has at least ten artillery pieces.Third, Wanshan Port is a larger smuggling port than Lijiazhuang Wharf. In addition to transshipment of goods in and out of Guangzhou, there are more merchant ships from Huizhou, Chaozhou and even Fujian.

With the existence of Wanshan Port, these ships originally going to Guangzhou or Qiongzhou can unload their cargo at the nearest Wanshan Port to complete the transaction.For these ship owners, on the one hand, it saves a long voyage; on the other hand, it also avoids the commercial tax levied by the Municipal Shipping Department, and the direct or indirect benefits they get every year will also be a great deal. small amount.Of course, there is no doubt that a considerable part of these proceeds went into the pockets of the Haihan people.

Li Qingyang also discovered another fact, that is, wherever the Haihan people went, all the land they occupied was used for business, from the Guangzhou Office outside the city of Guangzhou, to the Lijiazhuang Wharf in Panyu County, and then to the Pearl River The Wanshan Port at the mouth of the sea, and even the Sanya area on Qiongzhou Island, seem to have become a bustling business district under the management of the Haihan people.But what makes him feel uneasy is that the Haihan people have such a strong ability to make money, and I am afraid that their financial resources have already surpassed the enemy's wealth. Building a commercial port and building a fort on a small island hanging overseas is not an ordinary wealthy businessman. able to complete.

There are guns and cannons, an army and a navy, a population and a territory, and the most important thing is that it has a strong ability to make money. Such a force exists in the southern border of the Ming Dynasty, completely out of the control of the government, but the court is not at all Did not realize the danger of its existence.If Nanzhen Fusi hadn't received some information from the report, after two or three years, the Haihan people would have a solid foundation and full-fledged wings, and it might not be easy to move them again.Thinking of this, Li Qingyang felt even more how important the task he was undertaking this time was to the imperial court.As far as the news he has learned so far, if it is written into a memorial and reported to the court, it may be enough to cause a big shock in the court.

The boat docked next to the speaking room has slowly left the river bank and started to turn around in the middle of the river.Li Qingyang suddenly remembered something, and asked Song San: "Brother Song San, has there ever been a case of Haihan militiamen boarding a merchant ship in the past?"

Song San was stunned for a while, then shook his head and said, "I don't remember it, but this is the first time I've encountered it. The militiamen usually travel on warships, but during wartime, there have been temporary requisitions of civilian ships."

Li Qingyang pointed to the sailboat that was turning around towards the Pearl River and said, "That's the Haihan people's own boat. It set out before us, and it was faster. Why didn't that team of militiamen take that boat to Wanshan Port?"

"This..." Song San was obviously only aware of this problem, frowned for a while, then shook his head and said: "I don't know why, maybe this ship has no plan to stop at Wanshan Port."

This explanation obviously did not satisfy Li Qingyang, but only a person in a special industry like him would probably notice such an inconspicuous detail.People like Song San are already very excited to have the opportunity to help the Haihan people, so how can they think about the rationality of it carefully.

Li Qingyang faintly felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell why.Due to his professional sensitivity, he could sense a crisis lurking somewhere, and the wisest choice would be to immediately suspend his current actions, first find out the reason behind this uneasiness, and then make plans for the next step.But the environment he is in now does not allow him to freely make a choice to terminate the action. If he misses this opportunity, he will have to return to Guangzhou to repeat the previous experience again. The big taboo of doing this is no less dangerous than continuing the operation.Li Qingyang thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to continue to check the situation.

"When you get on the ship, you will follow. When you arrive at Wanshan Port, you will obey the orders of the local commander. Do you understand?" Xiao Liang sat in a room on the second floor of a shop next to the pier. From this position, he could observe The movement of the ship that Li Qingyang was on, but it was hard for the other party to notice that he was under surveillance.

The subordinate who was sent to Panyu by He Xi immediately bowed his hands and said, "I obey!"

Xiao Liang frowned, and said to the orderly next to him: "Teach him the rules of the army, don't show your feet on the boat!"

Some of He Xi's field personnel did not come from the Haihan military and police system, but were directly recruited locally in Guangzhou. The subordinate who was sent had never been trained in the militia, so his behavior inevitably had a certain The habits of the rivers and lakes.Xiao Liang was afraid that his business would be ruined because of such details, so he hurriedly asked someone to take him out to practice militia military salutes.

During the nearly two hours of loading the goods onto the ship, Li Qingyang was always in a state of anxiety.But what reassured him a little was that during this period of time, no strangers approached him, and militiamen never appeared on the pier, and he even had time to have a meal at the restaurant on the pier with his companions.When settling the accounts, Li Qingyang remembered what Song San said, and took out the circulation coupons paid in advance as wages to pay the bill, and sure enough, the store accepted it without any objection.Li Qingyang also confirmed that, it turned out that this colorful piece of paper could really be used as silver in the area controlled by the Haihan people, and it was a brand new experience for him.

(End of this chapter)