The five members of the Standing Committee immediately gathered to discuss how to deal with the situation. Bayi Middle School?? Wenwang ≤≠≥.≈ Originally, Wang Yunpeng was going to return to Qingdao to preside over the work, but he had to stay in Tianjin for one more day.

There are three main topics in this discussion, first of all, the change in the direction of public opinion this time, and who is behind the planning. Although when they first heard the news, everyone's reaction was almost completely unanimous, this must be led by various countries, and in terms of motives, it is also reasonable, if they can't fight in a war, they will create new troubles in public opinion, which everyone has seen a lot in the old time and space, and the evidence is also clear, the newspapers of various countries have played a leading role in this public opinion offensive, and who would believe it if it has nothing to do with it.

But after Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng calmed down and seriously scrutinized, they believed that at least in terms of motives, it was not completely reasonable, and it was reasonable for countries to lose battles on the battlefield and hope to find a place in the field of public opinion, but what kind of goal did they want to achieve by doing this?

If countries really want to fight again, they don't need a reason at all? It is precisely because each country has its own reasons and interests that it cannot go to war again, that the countries intend to negotiate with the crossing bloc, and the two sides can negotiate peace, which is the best choice for the countries that are difficult to use military means at present.

If the Shanghai consuls of all countries think the same way, then they should all be dismissed, because by now, all countries should know very well that the crossers will not succumb to such pressure, and they are not afraid of self-defeating and make this negotiation a basis?

Based on these considerations, Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng believe that the leading actors behind this public opinion attack cannot be all countries, at least it cannot be the concerted action of all countries, and it may even be the behavior of individual countries. But it is difficult to say which country it is, because Russia, Britain, France, the United States, and even Germany and Japan are all possible, and there is also a major suspicion, that is, the Chun Ting, such speculation is reasonable in terms of motives, but with the mind of the Qing rulers, it is difficult to say whether they can come up with this solution.

And this leads to a new issue, under the current public opinion attack, there is no need for the traverser to negotiate with other countries, after all, this is one of the reasons to attack the traversal group.

However, Xia Bohai firmly believes that the negotiations must go on as usual, as long as countries do not cancel them. Because the first negotiation is in line with the interests of the current crossing group, and what the crossing and other countries have signed are not traitorous treaties, that is, there is no indemnity and no land cession, let alone a betrayal of national interests, and it is completely an equal treaty, so it is really unreasonable to rashly refuse to negotiate on the basis of these irresponsible public opinion attacks, and it is really unreasonable for the Qing court to sign no number of treaties on land cession and compensation for betrayal of the country. Of course, we must adhere to principles in the negotiations, and we must not allow the other side to have the illusion that they can take advantage of this public opinion attack.

This point is also resolutely supported by the other four people, and at this time it is absolutely impossible to back down, but the crossing group must not be indifferent to this public opinion attack, and must find a way to deal with it, and even counteract.

Xia Bohai said: "If you want to deal with and counter this public opinion attack, you must first find out who the instigator behind it is, and it is impossible for us to find out the instructor when we sit in Tianjin and guess the secret, so I think it should be handed over to the Ministry of Security, they are professionals after all." ”

Qin Zheng said: "I agree with this, but is it necessary for us to protest to various countries to try the reaction of various countries?"

Xia Bohai thought for a moment and said, "This can be had, but it's best to listen to the advice of the Ministry of Security before deciding to see if it is beneficial to their work." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "What can we do if we find the commander? How can we counteract and send someone to kill them?"

Qin Zheng shook his head again and again, and said: "No, no, no, this is engaging in state terrorism, and there is no need, since the other party wants to fight a public opinion war, then it is better for us to start with a public opinion war." Don't forget that we are all from modern society, are we still afraid of fighting a public opinion war with them? We have done very successful propaganda in Shanghai in the past few times, and we also have our own newspaper, and we are doing well in Shanghai, so we can completely fight a public opinion war with them?"

Wang Yunpeng said: "But we only have one newspaper, and the other party obviously has the support of most foreign newspapers in Shanghai, so it is difficult to win this public opinion war by relying on newspapers alone." ”

Xu Ji said: "Shanghai is not only foreign newspapers, there are also a lot of big Chinese newspapers, we can go to them, after our return, how much we have done for China is obvious to all, I don't believe that these Chinese newspapers have no conscience, if they can't do it, they will be bought with money." ”

Qin Zheng said: "The affairs of public opinion are mainly responsible for ***, I think it is better to listen to their ideas, professionals do professional things, maybe they have better ideas." ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "That's right, our stall is getting bigger and bigger, so we don't have to work hard in everything, otherwise what are we going to do with so many departments?" After a pause, he said, "Let's call the security department first." ”

After a short time, Shang Qisong and Jiang Shiwei, the chief and deputy ministers of the Ministry of Security, came to the conference room together. After meeting, Qin Zheng briefly told the two of them about his life. After listening to Qin Zheng's speech, the two asked a few more questions, mainly asking Qin Zheng's feelings during his stay in Shanghai, the attitudes of all strata in Shanghai towards the crossing group, and the attitudes of various countries, etc., and Qin Zheng also answered seriously one by one, but in the end, he deliberately emphasized that these are his own subjective understandings, and whether they are in line with the real situation, Qin Zheng cannot guarantee it.

After asking, Shang Qisong said: "As far as the current situation is concerned, we have very limited clues, so if we want to understand the real situation, we must go to Shanghai to investigate in person and protest to various countries, but we think that we can wait for our people to participate in it after they arrive in Shanghai, and take the opportunity to observe the reactions of various countries face to face." ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "This is okay, you can organize it, and you can arrange personnel to go to Shanghai." After a pause, he said: "In addition, our intelligence layout in Shanghai should also be launched immediately, otherwise if there is such a similar thing again, our response will not be so passive, so let's do it together by the way this time, how much money is needed, you can apply for it." ”

Shang Qisong said: "The matter of funds can be slowed down for the time being, the ministry still has some funds, and in addition, we have to go to Shanghai to actually inspect the situation in order to really how much it will cost, and what we need most now is to get the authorization of the Executive Committee, and whether extraordinary means can be used in Shanghai, such as kidnapping, coercion, torture and interrogation, and even assassination? How much power does the Ministry of Security have to carry out its activities, and there must be a clear authorization. ”

Jiang Shiwei added: "Our classification of Shanghai is green, that is, absolute neutrality, and we have very little influence in Shanghai, so it is difficult to investigate useful results without the power to use extraordinary means."

Xia Bohai and the others looked at each other and knew that what the two said was not wrong, and the nature of intelligence work determined that it was inseparable from kidnapping, coercion, and torture. Assassination and other means, otherwise there is really no way to do it, and the two of them raised this issue before, and did not make their own opinions, first cut and then play, which also made Xia Bohai and others very satisfied, the intelligence department has always been a double-edged sword, although it can deal with many shady things, but it is also easy to cause the intelligence department to sit big, act recklessly, cause a lot of trouble to the government, and have to ask the government to wipe their butts, and if they don't get it right, it will cause the government to fall. Fortunately, so far, there have been no signs of such a sign in the intelligence services.

It should be said that since the establishment of the Ministry of Security, its work has been fruitful, and it has initially established an intelligence network covering the entire Tianjin area, arranged as many as 100 intelligence collection outlets for non-staff personnel, more than 2o formal intelligence collection points, and deployed more than 10 informants, basically achieved comprehensive control over Tianjin, and successively cracked 1o intelligence activities of various countries against the crossing group, arrested 17 people who conspired between various countries, of which the majority were Japanese, reaching 8 people, and also found out 5 naturalized personnel of the crossing group who had been bought and sold by various countries, thus successfully maintaining the rule of the crossing group in Tianjin。 In addition, intelligence networks are being deployed in Beijing and Qingdao. It can be said that so far, the rule of the crossing group is stable, and the Ministry of Security has played a considerable role in it.

Xia Bohai thought for a while and said: "The principle is that the Ministry of Security can use all means when performing its tasks, but there are two principles, one is not to reveal one's identity during the operation, if the identity is exposed, the government will not admit it, and I hope the Ministry of Security can understand this." ”

Shang Qisong nodded and said, "We can understand that we won't make trouble for the government." "Engaging in intelligence is a shady job, so once the identity of an intelligence officer is revealed, the first thing the government does is to deny it completely. Of course, in the old time and space, governments also knew in their hearts, and if they caught the intelligence personnel of other countries, they would not be easily exposed under normal circumstances, but dealt with them secretly.

Xia Bohai said: "However, these measures are aimed at ordinary people, and for people with a certain status and social status, such as consuls of various countries and officialdom of the Qing court, they must apply to the Executive Committee and obtain the approval of the Executive Committee before they can act." Of course, you need to apply for those people's actions, and we can't make a detailed list, you need to know it yourself, understand!"

Shang Qisong nodded and said, "Understood, we will arrange personnel immediately, and it will be out in the next day or two, and we also need an authorization order from the Executive Committee to let the Shanghai office cooperate with our actions." ”