At four o'clock in the morning, banker Diego Martinez. Barrio was awakened by the nightmare, screamed, and sat up from his bed - the seventh nightmare he had all night, but never the last. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Realizing that he couldn't shake off the miserable howls he had heard, and the noose that the Filipino rebels had put around his neck in his dreams, Barrio had to give up sleep, wipe the cold sweat off his forehead, and put on his nightgown and go to the balcony to count the stars.

Then he saw his old "friend", the wealthy plantation owner Manuel . Portera. Torre Grossa was counting the stars on the balcony of the next room. Apparently, he also suffered from insomnia.

"Mr. Torre Grossa." Barrio walked over and greeted the plantation owner, who had been working against him, "It's a nice day. ”

Torre Grossa turned his head and laughed. "The weather? What an interesting thing you say, Mr. Barrio. Weather. He pondered the word for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "What a loud cry you just made." Another nightmare? I think that's the seventh time this evening. ”

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Torre Grossa." Barrio was embarrassed and annoyed. Torre Grossa has many advantages, but also many disadvantages, such as his penchant for speaking out about other people's problems. To Barrio's regret, even now, Torre Grosa has not fixed his bad habits.

"I don't mean anything else, Mr. Barrio." As if guessing something, Torre Grossa explained, "We have exactly the same problem. ”

Barrio froze for a moment, then realized what he was talking about. "Because of those screams?"

"Because the Americans are preparing to hand us over to the Filipinos." The plantation owner sighed, "You know, I have a little bit of a ...... with the Filipinos Paradoxically, if those guys catch me, they're going to hang me. This terrible future keeps me awake at night. ”

Barrio chuckled to himself. A small contradiction? This year alone, six Filipinos have died on the plantation in Torre Grossa, and if you add the cumulative figures from previous years, this is not a minor contradiction, but a serious murder. So Torre Grossa was right, the Filipinos would definitely hang him, as well as his wife, son and daughter. Those angry mobs can do such things.

However, Barrio himself is not a good man. Although he did not kill anyone directly, he had embezzled the deposits of Filipinos and Chinese on many occasions. Some of them committed suicide, but their loved ones were alive and knew what he had done. Now they're going to make him spit out every penny he swallows, and then hang him.

Filipinos and Chinese are able to do these things. The commander of the U.S. Army that occupied Manila was a Chinese, and there were also a large number of Chinese in that U.S. army, who would support their compatriots and Filipino allies in their plans for revenge, and no one would escape justice.

Barrio believes that his future is already dark. Of course, it was not entirely hopeless - perhaps the Royal Government had sent reinforcements, perhaps Spain could win the war, perhaps the US Government would send a white general to take charge of Philippine affairs - but these hopes were too slim to prevent Barrio from ending his life early.

He's still alive only because of the large sum of money he's saved...... Almost 860,000 silver pesos. The shiny silver coin is the spiritual pillar of Barrio and the hope of freedom...... Probably.

"Do you think," the banker, carefully picking each word, asked cautiously, "if we give the general a sum of money, will he let us go?" ”

"Maybe." Torre Grossa shrugged. He certainly wouldn't mind if he could buy freedom with money, but it wouldn't be that simple. "How much do you think it will take to buy that general?"

"Maybe we should find someone to give it a try." Barrio said. Of course, this person will not be him - bankers are always used to doing their own thing with other people's money and making a little profit by the way. The problem, however, is that plantation owners are not stupid either. "Who do you think is the right person to do this?"

"I think...... Let me think about it. "The problem can be a bit of a hassle. Barrio had quite a few acquaintances and friends, most of them in Manila, who were prisoners of war. But these are officials, lawyers, businessmen, or another banker. They all share one trait in common: they are cunning, like to lie, and therefore untrustworthy. They don't serve as a pathfinder stone, and they can't be put in charge of it.

He needs to think a little bit more and search carefully and identify someone he can trust and have the ability to take on the mission, but it will take up a lot of time.

However, time, no matter how you look at it, it is running out of time.

Moreover, Qin Lang's people were not idle—Qin Lang was not prepared to wait for the Spaniards to find him, beg him, and offer the conditions he wanted; Even though all the means had been taken to induce the Spaniards to voluntarily surrender the wealth in their possession, he got several of the Ministry of the Interior investigators who followed him to act aggressively and continue to exert pressure.

Of course, according to his request, these actions were civilized, polite and non-violent, not like an inquiry but like a cordial and friendly tea party - it should be pointed out in particular that Qin Lang did have the investigator in charge of the inquiry prepare tea and snacks for the invited Spaniards, showing that he was indeed only inviting them to tea.

"You see, I did just invite you to tea, Mr. Barrio." Investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Jacob Brown. Keith pointed to the tea set and snacks on the table and motioned for the banker to sit down. But as soon as Barrio recovered from the fear he had at the invitation, he noticed that the tea set seemed to be the one he had abandoned at home and had not had time to transfer.

"Despicable Americans." He grunted in his stomach and sat down at the table.

Then Keith sat down as well, poured himself two cups of tea and handed one of them to Barrio, then took his own. But instead of drinking it, he asked casually, "Mr. Barrio, it is said that you have been sleeping badly lately." ”

"yes, it sucks." Barrio furrowed his eyebrows, "I haven't slept for four days in a row. ”

"It's terrible." The investigator put down the teacup and put on a serious expression: "Can you tell me why?" Is it because our soldiers are affecting your sleep, or is someone deliberately causing trouble? ”

"Not really, Mr. Case." Barrio shook his head. In fact, he found Case's problem ridiculous: as a member of the U.S. Army, a gendarmerie officer, Keys must have known the cause of his poor sleep, and now pretended to be unaware, and there was nothing more comical than that.

Of course, since Mr. Case wants to play the game, he can accompany him. "You know," said the banker, placing his teacup on the table, then spreading his hands, "there have been a lot of intractable problems that have plagued me lately -- the problems of this damned, inexplicable war. ”

"For you, the war is over."

"Maybe." Barrio said noncommittally. Then he was silent for a moment, and asked, "What are you inviting me for, Mr. Case?" Just drinking tea? ”

Keith hesitated for a moment. "One thing I have to inform you, Mr. Barrio, that you have been arrested."

"What!"

"You have been accused of forging documents and embezzling depositors' property. General Qin has authorized us to conduct a full investigation into you, and a trial will take place soon. The investigator looked very serious, and he looked absolutely not joking.

Of course, even if he was joking, Barrio would think he wasn't. This was to be expected, except that Barrio did not expect the Filipino revenge to be so swift and sudden. If he was given a little more time, he would be able to figure out who should go out for an interview to explore the possibility of buying Qin Lang.

The situation was urgent, and he had to come forward in person.

"I ask to see your general." Until this moment, Barrio was still calm, but the next moment he began to panic.

"It's a pity, Mr. Barrio, but that's impossible." Keith refused. Then he stood up and began to read out Barrio's powers. "You have the right to remain silent, but every word you say will be used as evidence in court; You can hire a lawyer, and if you don't have the money to hire a lawyer, we'll assign you a ......"

"You can't do that! You have no authority to do that! The banker screamed, but the investigator didn't care what he said. Keith mechanically recited the long line - and at the same time trying to keep himself from laughing out loud, he called two mercenaries to take the tea set and snacks, and placed a thick-looking file on the table. "Mr. Barrio, I have a few questions that you need to answer."

Barrio was not the only one to be questioned, others were invited, but they were not in the same situation. In the adjoining interrogation room, the banker's servant was fastened to a chair by a few ropes, and enjoyed the dazzling light of a hundred-watt incandescent bulb that nearly blinded him, and he had no chance to look away or close his eyes.

There is no doubt that sooner or later something will go wrong with his eyes. Fortunately, the investigator in charge of the interrogation didn't need him to see anything, just that he listened carefully. "Mr. López, I'm sure you are well aware of the total amount of your master's property, and what he did when he embezzled depositors' deposits. I suggest that for the sake of your safety and health, you'd better tell me everything you know......" (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )