Episode 59 Gold Intelligence

On the last day of October, at half past nine in the morning of the 30th, the Qing army in Hanzhong officially surrendered to the Ming army.

Hanzhong is surrounded by mountains, and it is also an easy place to defend and difficult to attack. Originally, the division commander of Hanzhong still wanted to hold the Guangyuan Pass and bargain with the Ming army. The reward of 100,000 Mingyang is certainly a lot, but he wants more. But now that he suddenly received an order from Beijing to surrender, he suddenly felt that the sky had fallen, and he said that the sky should not be called the earth and the earth. was forced to surrender, so that not to mention bargaining, there was no more than 100,000 Mingyang who "took the initiative to surrender".

But he did not dare not surrender yet. This is a surrender ordered by the Holy Decree. The emperor's decree did not elaborate on the reason, but the word "peace talks" was mentioned. The commander of the Qing army in Hanzhong understood that he was just a pawn at this time, and if he insisted on not surrendering for the sake of bargaining, it would ruin the good thing of the emperor's peace talks.

The Hanzhong area is composed of two basins, one large and one small, with the large basin in the west being the Hanzhong Basin and the center being Hanzhong City. A small basin to the east is the Ankang Basin, and the center is the city of Ankang. The two basins are separated by dozens of kilometers of mountainous terrain, which are connected only by winding mountain roads. By the morning of the 30th, the troops of the Ming army in Sichuan had already moved into the Hanzhong Basin, but there was no movement in the Ankang Basin to the east.

Xiang Xiaoqiang tossed Yonggui all night, making him so hard that he couldn't survive and couldn't die, and even used mustard sauce, and it was only in the morning that he took the Hanzhong Basin. This can be regarded as a substantial result, Yonggui is now half-dead, and he can't maintain his sobriety by normal means, and if he goes on, he will have to use the "criminal investigation method" of hundreds of hours of uninterrupted interrogation. Now obviously not, no matter what people say, they are still negotiators, and they can't go too far. The use of mustard can be interpreted as a "well-intentioned prank", but if it goes any further, it will tear the skin of the face.

So after receiving the news of the surrender of the Hanzhong Basin, Xiang Xiaoqiang reluctantly "released" Yonggui to sleep.

As for Ankang, Xiang Xiaoqiang began to put all his efforts on Yonggui's three assistants. Yonggui's three assistants knew how Xiang Xiaoqiang "brutally tortured" Yonggui last night, and they were all very nervous, and they didn't need to threaten Xiaoqiang, so they sent telegrams to Beijing one after another to inquire about the progress of Ankang. Beijing's reply was that "arrangements are being made" and "coordination is being made", asking them to ask the Ming side to calm down, that kind of scattered garrison troops are not so quick to order and prohibit, and the central government of the Qing Dynasty is trying to coordinate.

Fourteen Gege could see at a glance that this was a delaying method played by Guangwu. She asked Xiang Xiaoqiang to remind the command that they must not relax, and they must bite tightly. There is still Qinling in front of you, if you let the Ankang Basin drag on for a day or two, then when you take Qinling, maybe a week will have passed.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also felt that it made sense, and he also felt that Guangwu had done this kind of thing, but he, like the command, felt that he couldn't do anything now. He reminded the Command, the old men in the Command were better than him, they were already very satisfied with the current situation, and they saw that it only took about ten hours, and once they took the Hanzhong Basin without a single shot, they felt that it was already good. Moreover, they are more understanding of the Beijing government and believe that Guangwu still keeps its promises. After all, comparing your heart to your heart, such a large Hanzhong region can't be handed over to you here, and it will be handed over to you right away, right?

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt very helpless, and Fourteen Gege insisted that Guangwu was playing Nanjing. But there's not much the two of them can do right now. - The most tricky thing is that the Northern Qing Dynasty did not openly violate the agreement, they are handing over the Hanzhong region and the Qinling region to you, but there is just a process.

Xiang Xiaoqiang stayed up all night, and now he can't hold it anymore, and he can't do anything to see that he can't do anything, so he just told Fourteen Gege, Stomach Ache, and Xiuxiu to keep an eye on this matter and go to sleep by himself.

……

By now, the negotiations between the Ming and Qing dynasties "can't contain the fire in the paper". Of course, it only refers to the Ming side. Globally, the whole world, except for the Northern Qing Dynasty, the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy and a few other closed areas of news, will soon know the news.

The first to react were the reporters accompanying the Ming army in Shanxi.

Only when they got up this morning, they found that the troops were not preparing to pull out the camp, but were reinforcing their defensive positions, continuing to dig deep trenches, loading sandbags and fortifications, reinforcing anti-aircraft artillery positions, pulling barbed wire, occupying nearby commanding heights, arranging machine-gun positions, and building front-line airfields...... Looks like he's ready to go on the defensive.

They immediately understood that either there was the main force of the Qing army in front, or there was a major change in the strategic deployment of the Ming army. The importance of seizing Shanxi is also well known to the reporters accompanying the army. Now the vanguard of the Ming army is only 50 kilometers away from Taiyuan, and the first reaction of the reporters accompanying the army is to think that the Taiyuan in front is close to the ground and has encountered a strong Qing army defenders, and now the Ming army is consolidating its position, confronting the Qing army, and preparing for the next stage of the Taiyuan campaign.

The reporters immediately sought out all the officers they could find, interviewed them, and tried to find out the inside story from their mouths. But most reporters can only find those battalion commanders and regiment commanders, and it is not easy to see the division commanders and army commanders above them. Because the advance queue of a division is very long, the reporters accompanying the army are generally in the grass-roots units and report on what they have seen and heard on the battlefield at any time, and the distance of more than 10 kilometers from their station to the division headquarters is very normal.

Occasionally, some reporters who were "well-founded" with the army, whether they were riding a herald's motorcycle, getting a bicycle, or renting a common man's donkey, finally found the division headquarters or even the army headquarters. But they were either kept out or sent away by a barrage of "no comment".

This kind of result will certainly not satisfy these dedicated journalists. They used the "media radio station" provided by the People's Guard's Political Work Corps to send the news back to their respective newspapers. Almost immediately, in Nanjing and the interior of the Ming Dynasty, all major newspapers organized articles such as "Shanxi Wangshi suddenly stopped advancing and was stationed in place for unknown reasons", which were ready to be published in the newspapers of the day.

At the same time, under the winding road of the Purple Mountain Fortress, at the checkpoint of the "military restricted area," a large group of reporters gathered around them, seizing every opportunity to interview the officers entering and leaving. It's just that these recent Ming "central" officers have become very talkative, basically shaking their heads and smiling, saying "no comment", or saying something that everyone already knows. Or when he encounters a certain hot-tempered chief, he will disregard the face of the media, take out a shelf and reprimand a few words.

In addition to the headquarters of the Purple Mountain Fortress, the official residence of the First and Auxiliary Ministers, the War Department, the East Factory, the Army General Staff, the People's Guard Headquarters, and even the Imperial Palace have also become places for the media to besiege them.

In the face of official "ignorance", Nanjing's media stopped working. In the evening, it was reflected on the radio station.

The Jinling Broadcasting Company, known as the "BBC of the Ming Dynasty", has always taken a more official stance, and only reported the cessation of the Ming army in Shanxi and the speculation of the media and the public in Nanjing. But another competitor, "The Voice of China", is not so polite. This is a purely privately-invested broadcaster, and it has always been a competitor of Jinling Broadcasting, with sharper words, bolder criticism, and better at attracting the public. Sometimes, when the Jinling Broadcasting Company tried to smear some grease for the government, the Huaxia Broadcasting Company always unceremoniously exposed it and scraped off the grease that had just been smeared. In such repeated confrontations between positive and negative, the people also have the opportunity to listen and compare, and they can form their own judgments on many things and keep a clear head.

At this moment, a voice in "The Voice of China" is saying unhurriedly:

“…… We pay taxes to feed the army, we pay taxes to feed the government, we pay taxes to feed the ministers, we pay taxes to feed Shen Gelao, we pay taxes to feed Zhang Zhaoxian, and we pay taxes to feed Xiang Xiaoqiang...... Including the current war, every penny spent, every bullet shot, and every liter of gasoline burned are paid for by us taxpayers...... But what? When we taxpayers want to know why they stopped moving forward, when the reporters ask us what happened, what is the reaction of the old men we feed? They nostrils turned to the sky and said in an official manner: No comment!

“…… I would like to ask, when they say this, have they ever thought that the dinner they are eating is paid for by us taxpayers? …… Those people eat us, they wear us, they spend the wages we pay them, and when they are confronted with our questioning, please...... How so, at least not so arrogant? ”

……

This afternoon, the Ming and Qing dynasties coordinated another afternoon on the issue of Ankang's surrender, and they are now having dinner. The restaurant kept the radio on as usual and listened to the news. Now the representatives of the Ming and Qing dynasties are eating while listening to the voice of the anchor of "Voice of China".

Yonggui is the deputy director of the sticky pole department and stays in Beijing, and Beijing cannot receive the medium-wave programs in Nanming, and can only receive the short-wave programs broadcast to the Qing Dynasty. Originally, there was a department in Jianghuai City that specialized in listening to the domestic radio of Nanming, and after listening, it was recorded on paper, and after analysis and screening, it was considered useful, and it was shipped to Beijing.

However, it was the first time for Yonggui to hear a living voice directly from the radio speaker.

Although he had been mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but be frightened. Although there is traditionally a saying that "the king is light on the people", it is just a beautiful word in the book of sages, and it is enough to talk about it. But it seems that here in Nanming, people take it seriously. Commoners not only own newspapers and radio stations, but can also point their fingers at the nose of the imperial court in newspapers and radio stations, as if they are "employers...... Heaven, in our Qing Dynasty, "the court to feed the people" has been so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so natural, because a good court can eat enough, a bad court can not eat enough, whether the people can eat enough depends on what court "stall" is, isn't it natural? Co-authored in Nanming, the whole person was turned upside down......

However, he seems to be the only one who feels the same way.

"If you're full," Xiang Xiaoqiang sneered as he drank the juice, "These reporters want to inquire about everything, and they can't wait to get their hands on our army's next military plan, and then publish it in the newspaper, and they will be comfortable...... The government is transparent, and what does it matter, and this kind of military secrets are also easy to disclose casually? Ziteng, are you right? ”

Stomach ache glanced at him, then at Yonggui, hesitated, but still smiled:

"Huh...... Adults, it's not all ...... In the current situation, our Shanxi army has arranged for reporters accompanying the army to report the battlefield movements to the country at any time, and this cannot be regarded as a military secret...... Hehe......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was embarrassed for a while, and just didn't know what to say, Hu Jiong came in and whispered to him:

"My lord, please come here."

Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't know what was going on, but he took the opportunity to escape. When he got outside, Hu Jiong told him two things. The first thing is that those reporters didn't know what was going on, and they actually heard that there were representatives of the Northern Qing Dynasty here in Wuwang Villa, and there were already many reporters at the gate of the villa, God knows how they heard about it; The second thing is that a "gold-level" piece of information came from Beijing, and Fourteen Gege asked him to go there.

"What information?"

whispered to Xiaoqiang, Hu Jiong obviously didn't know, but just took Xiang Xiaoqiang to the temporary office of Fourteen Gege.

……

Entering the office, Hu Jiong stepped back. Fourteen Gege saw Xiang Xiaoqiang, and without saying a word, he came up and whispered excitedly:

"Xiaoqiang, Beijing Guadexin has provided a piece of information!"

"Guadexin?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang remembered that this was the representative of the Qing side during the Lushun negotiations, the Gua Master who was bought by his two big diamonds, the Minister of Military Aircraft Guadxin.

When Gua returned to Beijing, he was forced to receive two huge sums of money from the People's Guard spies, and he was also photographed and secretly recorded. Now that he has gotten on the thief ship and can't get off, he has pinched the handle in Nanming's hands, and he has to do it if he doesn't do it, so he can only be a spy for Nanming. Otherwise, if the emperor knows, the whole family will not survive.

So far, Guadxin is also the highest-level spy in Nanming's spy network developed in Beijing. All the information he provides is generally quite high-level and important, and is called "gold-level intelligence".

"Let's go," Xiang Xiaoqiang pulled fourteen squares and went out, "to the outside. ”

Hearing such high-level news, Xiang Xiaoqiang's first instinctive reaction was to go outdoors and say it in an open area. This is not the headquarters of the People's Guard, nor is it the headquarters, it is just a private residence of noble relatives, and the security is very low, in case it is tampered with, such as being installed with a tape recorder by a spy in the Northern Qing Dynasty...... It's a small possibility, but if it is, it's troublesome.

Fourteen Gege grabbed his hand and chuckled:

"Look at you...... I'm telling you, the whole lodge has been inspected, this room has been thoroughly inspected, and there is nothing wrong with it...... Hey, you're worrying too much......"

But Xiang Xiaoqiang still insisted on holding her waist, avoiding the maid all the way, and the two of them came to the courtyard outside half-hugging, half-serious and half-laughing.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at no one on the left and right, and then laughed in a low voice:

"Alright, let's talk."

Fourteen Gege also looked left and right, leaned in his ear with a smile, lightly opened his lips, and spit out a few words:

Molotov...... It's time to Beijing......"