1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 957 Murder Case
When the sky was just getting bright, the port of Shengli Port began to get busy. Teams of laborers entered the field one after another, and began to move the goods under the command of the foreman.It was winter, and although the temperature did not drop much, the day length had been shortened to about 11 hours, and it was getting dark at [-]:[-] pm, so the time left for dock workers to operate cargo loading and unloading was even more urgent.

In order to improve the operational efficiency of the terminal, the Ministry of Shipping has begun to implement standardized shipments for its own cargo ships a few years ago, dividing the bulk carrier terminal and general cargo terminal, supplemented by different cargo handling equipment.There is a belt conveyor driven by a steam engine on the bulk carrier wharf, which is specially used for loading and unloading bulk cargo such as coal and ore with a large transportation volume, while the general cargo wharf has tall hangers for lifting standardized wooden Containers and other goods with unified packaging.There are also several tracks on the terminal for fast transfer of goods between the railway station and the terminal.Point-to-point transshipment can be achieved within an hour at the fastest between the cargo ship in Shengli Port and the factory building in Tiandu Industrial Zone.

Compared with the trading ports of the same era, the operating efficiency of Victory Port is at least three or four times higher, which is one of the important reasons why businessmen from all over the world are willing to choose this place as an entrepot trade port.The price to be paid to achieve this operational efficiency is a huge amount of infrastructure investment and high-intensity labor arrangements. In the cargo terminal of Shengli Port alone, more than [-] laborers work in shifts every day to ensure that the goods The loading and unloading can be completed in the first time without being stuck in the port.

Except for the foreman, most of the laborers are new immigrants who have not obtained naturalization and lack of skills. They can only sell their labor here temporarily to make a living.Thousands of dock workers, plus sailors and crews entering and leaving the port, the population density of this port area is quite large. In order to maintain normal operation, various supporting management agencies and service facilities are also available, such as responsible The public security agency is the Shengli Port Police Station located next to the courtyard of the Yulin Inspection Department.

Although the inspection department still exists, Wei Ping, the former Yulin inspection inspector, has long since gone into business and neglected political affairs, and this organization is only used to facilitate the handling of disputes between some Ming businessmen or non-Han Chinese people.Of course, the people from the inspection department were involved in the handling of the matter, but the decision was made by the nearby police station under the Haihan Ministry of Justice. The two agencies are actually the same team now, they just set up two different yamen to handle affairs.

Huang Tongyang is the current director of the Shengli Port Police Station. He immigrated to Sanya from Guangdong in 1628, and then joined the Haihan Militia.However, he was injured in his back in the Battle of Annan and Hue the following year, and he was discharged from the army after returning to Sanya.Of course, the military did not pay him a demobilization fee, but arranged for him to be transferred to the judicial system and continue to serve in the police force.After a few years, Huang Tongyang was gradually promoted to the position of director by relying on his qualifications.

It is not an easy task to manage the security work of an area where thousands of migrants come and go every day.For example, fights between crew members and sailors after getting drunk are basically routine disputes that occur every day. Young and middle-aged people from different countries, regions and races gather in this port area. To effectively handle various international disputes, the staffing of Shengli Port Police Station also inherits the tradition of internationalization of Haihan. Among the police officers are not only Han, Li, and Miao, but also Annan and Dongying, as well as Portuguese and Malay. people of mixed race and so on.

Such a multi-national force with complex components is itself a kind of trouble, and Huang Tongyang not only has to manage this group of people well, but also let them maintain the law and order in the port area. The work pressure can be imagined.However, when Huang Tongyang went to Shengli Fort to attend the judicial system meeting a few days ago, the chief of the police department, Ren Liang, had already greeted him. If there is no accident, he will be promoted within the year, and his position and salary will be further improved.

It is precisely because the opportunity for promotion is imminent that Huang Tongyang dare not slack off. Recently, he arrives at the unit at dawn and leaves after dark.The reason he worked so hard was to ensure that there would be no trouble in his administrative area during the period before his promotion, so that he could react and deal with it immediately even if something unexpected happened.

Huang Tongyang also arrived at the office early that day, and started to deal with the unfinished files from the previous day.Speaking of which, they were all trivial things, but the two theft cases were caught, and the stolen goods were taken away, so they can be sent to the labor camp today.There was also a drunken brawl. Fortunately, the police arrived in time and stopped them. They arrested both parties involved and put them in confinement. After this night, they probably woke up from the alcohol. Let the perpetrators pay a fine later. , and then he can be released after a warning.

After dealing with the unfinished business yesterday, Huang Tongyang has to arrange today's work in advance.According to the schedule, there should be an immigrant ship arriving at the port today, and there will be about [-] immigrants from the northern area of ​​Daming arriving with the ship. Huang Tongyang needs to coordinate with the civil affairs department to arrange the time, and then send people to the passenger terminal to maintain order. If necessary, it may be necessary to ask the military to send a little manpower to help.These northern immigrants lacked understanding of the situation in Haihan. Many people made a lot of noise after they came here and did not obey the rules. There have been incidents of immigrants attacking civil affairs workers before, so the police must also take some preventive measures.

Huang Tongyang looked through the calendar, and found that the monthly inspection by superiors should have happened in the last two days. Later, he had to organize his police officers to clean up the inside and outside of the police station courtyard, so that the inspectors would not see it again. Pick a bone and say something like "the police look is not clean".It just so happened that the people from the inspection department next door were relatively free, and they had to be called over to help with work later.

After Huang Tongyang finished planning today's affairs, before he had time to have breakfast, he came to the door with something.His subordinate Zheng Gao, who had just completed the handover with the night shift staff, came in and reported, "Director, someone reported the crime, something happened on the pier!"

"It's not that there was a homicide, so panic, wait until I have breakfast." Huang Tongyang said angrily.Reporting the case so early is probably due to conflicts between the owner of the cargo and the handyman who loaded and unloaded the goods. Every month, there are many cases where handymen accidentally break fragile goods and are turned here by the owner to claim compensation. This kind of thing can easily happen when the weather is bad in the morning and evening.And the police station generally can only mediate in the middle. After all, the income of those workers is too low, and they definitely cannot afford to pay full compensation.

"The director... really killed someone this time!" Zheng Gao hastily added.

"Damn, why didn't you say it earlier!" Huang Tongyang immediately canceled his plan to have breakfast when he heard this: "What's going on? Where is the person who reported the crime?"

"In the inspection department next door, there is a maritime merchant from Ming Dynasty. I have already brought him here, and he is waiting in the yard outside..."

"Then stop talking nonsense, walk around, go out and have a look!" Huang Tongyang ordered without waiting for Zheng Gao to finish speaking: "Hurry up and send people to the scene, don't mess with things, protect them first!"

"I have asked the inspection department to send someone there first." This Zheng Gao is quite shrewd in his work. He came to report the news and asked the inspection department to send the police first to deal with it.

When Huang Tongyang walked out of the yard, he saw the sea merchant. His face was quite calm, and there were two servants behind him.

"This is our Director Huang, please tell me what you saw today." Zheng Gao told the sea merchant.

"Little man Liao Zhen, I have met Master Huang!" The sea merchant bowed and answered.

"Don't be too polite, let's talk about business!" Huang Tongyang didn't have time to put on airs, and waved his hand to signal Liao Zhenzhi to say.

Liao Zhen straightened up and told Huang Tongyang what happened this morning.Because he was in a hurry to set off northward to Haikou port today, he went to the pier early in the morning to supervise the loading, but suddenly saw something floating on the water between the ship's side and the shore on the pier.At that time, the sky was not yet bright, so Liao Zhen asked someone to light a torch and hold it up to have a closer look, but there was a person floating face down on the water.

Liao Zhen was surprised, so he sent someone to report to the staff on the pier, and at the same time asked his men who were familiar with water skills to go to the sea to rescue people.However, after the drowning man was caught, he found that he had no heartbeat or breathing, and he had probably been dead for several hours.Since it was a fatality, the staff on the pier did not dare to neglect, so they asked Liao Zhen and others to report to the authorities immediately.However, Liao Zhen was not very familiar with the official organization of Shengli Port, so he went straight in when he saw the number plate of the inspection department.Little did they know that they couldn't manage such a major matter at all, so they quickly notified the incident to the police station next door after reporting it.

After hearing this, Huang Tongyang turned to Zheng Gao and asked, "Have you notified the higher-ups to send someone over there?"

Zheng Gao responded: "Someone has already sent a notification, but Wu Zuo probably didn't go to work so early, maybe he hasn't rushed there yet."

"Let's go, let's go and have a look first." Huang Tongyang didn't delay, and immediately took Zheng Gao, Liao Zhen and others to the scene of the incident.

The incident took place at Wharf No. [-] of Shengli Port, which is just at the southern end of Landscape Avenue. The ships that docked were mainly small and medium-sized merchant ships and cargo ships. Most of the ships are owned by merchants who have a close relationship with Haihan, and the crew can freely enter and exit the commercial area of ​​Scenic Avenue.

Huang Tongyang asked casually: "Boss Liao seems to be coming to Sanya for the first time, right? I wonder if he is doing business by himself or is he affiliated with a firm?"

Liao Zhenying said: "The villain is the shopkeeper of the Leizhou branch of 'Qiong Lianfa'. It is the first time I have come to Sanya. I didn't expect to encounter such a thing."

Huang Tongyang nodded slightly, thinking that he was his own, no wonder he was allowed to dock at Pier No. [-] for the first time.However, only a small number of the employees of "Qiong Lianfa" are Haihan citizens. Judging from the degree of Liao Zhen's unfamiliarity with the Haihan organization, they are probably not naturalized citizens.

The inspectors who arrived earlier had already used a few bamboo poles they had found temporarily to encircle a two-foot-square area on the shore of the wharf, isolating irrelevant people out.And the drowned body was placed on the ground, covered with a straw mat.

It is not uncommon for people to drown at Victory Port Pier, and similar things happen almost every month.It's not that the safety work at the pier is not in place, but that this place is too close to the commercial area, and it's inevitable that some drunk guys will wander here at night to enjoy the sea breeze, and if they accidentally fall into the water, they won't be able to get up .Therefore, there will always be ten or eight unlucky ghosts who drown here in a year.

Originally, there was no need for Huang Tongyang to come forward for such a small matter, all he had to do was wait for the body to be examined and a report would be fine.However, he happened to be going to the pier today to deploy the work of receiving new immigrants, so he stopped by to see the situation.

Zheng Gao bent down and lifted the straw mat covering the corpse, revealing the face of this man.After seeing it, Huang Tongyang was a little surprised and said, "This...is a fan?"

The corpse had not been soaked in seawater for too long, and its face could still be seen clearly. With its deep eyes and high nose, it was indeed a Westerner.Looking at his thick curly beard, the gleaming ring on his hand and the clothes on his body, Huang Tongyang has already made a rough judgment of his identity: "It's a Persian businessman."

Zheng Gao got closer to the corpse, raised his head and said to Huang Tongyang: "Boss, this man can still smell alcohol, he looks like another unlucky drunk!"

Huang Tongyang also took it seriously, nodded and said: "It's probably because I drank too much in a nearby restaurant yesterday, and when I got to the beach, I felt sick when the sea breeze blew, and as a result, I fell into the sea when I slipped and couldn't get up."

"Then wait for Wu Zuo to come for the autopsy?" Zheng Gao covered the straw mat, got up and asked for instructions.

"Ah, what we saw was only the appearance of drowning, and we still have to have a doctor to see it." Although Huang Tongyang felt that his speculation should be the truth, he did not draw a conclusion arbitrarily.A murder case must have the conclusion of an autopsy to be closed as an accidental death. Otherwise, if you submit the report like this, you will probably be reprimanded by your superiors.Besides, let Wu Zuo look at his physical characteristics, and it is also convenient to post a notice afterwards for people who know him to identify the body.

"Zheng Gao, go to a few nearby hotels that can accommodate Persians and ask if there is such a person." Huang Tongyang intends to test the observation skills of his subordinates: "You have memorized the height, face, and clothing features just now. Bar?"

"This man is about six feet tall, with black curly hair and a big beard. It's just that this person looks old, and his age is hard to deduce. He wears a black silk robe, brown calfskin boots, and a ring inlaid with gemstones on the middle finger of his right hand and the index finger of his left hand. .” Zheng Gao was quite careful, and immediately described it.

Huang Tongyang nodded approvingly and said, "That's right, then hurry up to find out the news, if anyone knows him, hurry up and bring him to identify the corpse."

(End of this chapter)