Ning Qi didn't have many opportunities to travel on business after the crossing, but he also heard the expatriates talk about their experiences in the Damingkong district when they returned to Sanya to report on their work, and many of them provided ******** hospitality. It was evident that Morgan had noticed the little girl waiting outside when he came, and was in a hurry to leave—of course, it was more likely that the little girl who had been arranged by the master to serve him had already arrived first, and that this guy was just in a hurry to get back to eat meat.

Ningqi also has no moral cleanliness, the general environment and social atmosphere of this era are like this, and the men who abandoned the previous comfortable life and traveled to this time and space, the vast majority of people are still for various enjoyments after success, which naturally includes this private life. Since Xu Xinsu has already arranged this kind of after-show, Yu is public or private, and Ning Qi does not plan to refuse.

The next morning, Ning Qi had a rare night's sleep. When I was in Sanya, I was crammed with various jobs every day, and it was rare to have this opportunity to sleep until I woke up naturally.

Ning Qi went to the front yard after washing up, and saw that Morgan was already sitting in the flower hall enjoying breakfast. When Morgan saw Ning Qi coming in, he immediately frowned and asked, "It looks like you had a good rest last night!"

"You too!" replied implicitly. He asked the little girl last night, and sure enough, Xu Xinsu assigned a woman who was responsible for warming the bed to each Haihan official of the Haihan Mission, and he was also thoughtful in terms of reception measures.

Soon after breakfast, Haihan's clerk from Zhangzhou came to report his work. Sun Jin took the two naturalized people to the study, and then introduced them to Ning Qi and Morgan.

These two naturalized people are father and son, the father's name is Gong Ping, and the son's name is Gong Shaoqi, who are old immigrants collected from Yacheng when the crossing group just landed. Gong Ping was actually a prisoner in Yacheng Prison when he was recruited, he once served as the chief bookkeeper in a county in Jiangxi, although he was only a nine-grade official, but to say that he was born as a civil servant in the Ming Dynasty, and during his tenure he was in charge of grain and horses, tax administration, household registration, patrol and other affairs. But later, because of the corruption of his boss, Gong Ping was also implicated and sentenced to exile in Yazhou. And his son Gong Shaoqi was working as a head catcher in the county government at the time, and he was also affected by accident.

Not long after the father and son of the palace family arrived at Yacheng Prison, they rushed to Haihan's side and reached a deal with Yazhou Zhizhou, allowing the prisoners of Yacheng to go to Shengli Port to serve as cheap labor, so they were also loaded and transported to Haihan's construction site in a daze. Both father and son had worked in the yamen, and they could both read and write, and soon stood out from the ordinary prisoners and became foremen. Later, because of his good appearance, after serving more than half a year of hard labor, he got the opportunity to join the naturalization of Haihan.

The two fathers and sons combined, their guilty bodies, even after serving their sentences in Yacheng, had no chance to return to their official careers, but they were really involved in the thriving situation under the rule of Haihan, so they simply abandoned the past and chose to join the Haihan nationality to do things for the Haihan leaders.

Gong Ping was soon transferred to the diplomatic department because he was familiar with the official system of the Ming Dynasty. And Gong Shaoqi advanced to the police department and worked for a period of time, and then was asked to leave by the newly established Ministry of Security and joined the intelligence front. It has been more than a year since the two fathers and sons were transferred to Fujian to take charge of Haihan affairs, and when the mission entered the city yesterday, they had already had a brief contact with Sun Jin.

These two people can be regarded as "senior" naturalized citizens, so when they saw Ning Qi and the others, they didn't kneel or anything like that, but just bowed deeply according to Haihan's rules, and then reported their own names.

"Sit down. Ning Qi didn't have much to say, so let the two of them sit down first before talking.

"The news about Eighteen Zhi sending people to Zhangzhou to negotiate peace with the Fujian government was the first thing you collected, right?" Ning Qi didn't waste time talking about other issues, and directly cut into it. After all, the main purpose of the Executive Committee's mission to Fujian was to resolve the matter.

"It's the first news that the dog got it, so let's report it to the dog!" Gong Ping responded, and handed over the conversation to his son Gong Shaoqi.

Gong Shaoqi said: "The words of the head of Huining, the humble position was noticed at the beginning of last month, and the eighteen Zhi were sitting in several places in Zhangzhou City and suddenly became active. At that time, they thought that they were going to do something in the city, so they stepped up surveillance, and found that they secretly picked up a few people from Yuegang into the city, and the identity of one of them was Zheng Zhilong's staff. Later, he learned from the eyeliner in the Zhangzhou government that the people of Shibazhi had entrusted the people of the government to lobby Xu Xinsu and ask for peace talks. After receiving the news, he immediately wrote a report and ordered someone to send it back to Zhennan Port by clipper. ”

"Well done. Ning Qi first affirmed Gong Shaoqi's expression, and then raised his own question: "Eighteen Zhi arranged a sitting scout in Zhangzhou City, can this be hidden from Xu Xinsu's eyes?"

Gong Shaoqi said: "What the lowly position knows, Xu Xinsu naturally knows. However, although the battle between these eighteen Zhi and Xu Xinsu continues, the two sides still retain some news channels in private, which is probably a tacit understanding between them. ”

"Why did Xu Xinsu do this?" Morgan, who was in attendance, asked puzzled.

Xu Xinsu had a lot of business dealings with the Dutch, and although the war had a great impact in the past two years, he still managed to ship a large amount of raw silk and porcelain to Dayuan Island every year. And Eighteen Zhi also participated in this matter, although they would ban the merchant ships in Fujian, but they still did not dare to do anything about the goods purchased by the Dutch. Gong Shaoqi immediately explained.

"So these underground news channels are the balance between Xu Xinsu, Eighteen Zhi and the Dutch?" Ning Qi had already understood seven or eight points after listening to it.

Xu Xinsu and Shibazhi fought endlessly on the surface, but in private, both of them had trade dealings with the Dutch East India Company, a major customer, and the East India Company paid more attention to practical interests and did not focus on supporting one of them, so the three maintained a very subtle tacit understanding.

"Eighteen Zhi also has to buy a lot of materials from the mainland every year, most of the goods and ships they loot from the sea, most of them have to find a way to sell back to the mainland, even if Xu Xinsu doesn't do these businesses, other families will do it, so if you really talk about it, there are actually business dealings between Eighteen Zhi and Xu Xinsu, but both sides will not recognize this relationship. Gong Ping also added on the side.

"Doing business while fighting, these people really want to open up!" Ning Qi couldn't help but sigh when he heard it. It seems that the situation in Fujian is more complicated than the Executive Committee had anticipated, and there was not only a life-and-death military struggle between the two warring sides, but also mutually beneficial trade between the two sides.

"Is there any news about the progress of the contact between them?" After listening to the background information introduced by the Gong family's father and son, Ning Qi returned to the topic.

Gong Shaoqi responded: "According to the information that the lowly post knows, the envoy of the Eighteen Zhi has had at least two or three contacts with the people of the Xu family, but their negotiations are all one-on-one meetings, except for the parties concerned, no one knows the content of the negotiation at all, so the lowly post has no way to hear about the progress." However, judging from the daily situation of the garrison in Zhangzhou City, the armistice agreement between the two sides should not have been reached, and the change of defense between Zhangzhou and Zhongzuo Suocheng was still carried out according to the previous wartime arrangement, and the naval division on the Zhangjiang River had never lifted its vigilance. ”

"From last month to this month, it seems that there are some key interests between them that cannot be compromised. Ning Qi speculated.

"If there is a truce, then the Eighteen Zhi will inevitably demand the right to trade and trade on the coast of Fujian, otherwise it will be difficult for them to get more practical benefits from the armistice. Gong Ping opened his mouth and expressed his opinion: "Xu Xinsu can have today's status, relying on monopolizing most of Fujian's maritime trade business, and he will definitely not let others get involved." The negotiations between the two sides have not made progress, and it is estimated that they are stuck in this link. ”

"That makes sense. Ning Qi nodded and affirmed Gong Ping's opinion: "In that case, we still have time to do Xu Xinsu's work again and help him stabilize his discipline." ”

After listening to the report on intelligence work, Ning Qi also asked Gong Ping about the local political situation and the status of business and trade exchanges. The trade between Haihan and Fujian was basically based on Xu Xinsu's control of Fujian's sea power, so the political changes here were also one of the issues that the Executive Committee focused on.

Gong Ping responded: "Xu Xinsu has achieved a lot of success with the assistance of our side in recent years, and has been promoted all the way to the Fujian General Army, and he is currently a very influential figure in Fujian officialdom, and Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan values him very much. Here in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xu Xinsu can be said to cover the sky with one hand, and his words are more effective than the prefect. With his umbrella, the trade of Haihan in Zhangquan and Zhangquan Prefecture has developed relatively smoothly, and Haihan Bank has also begun to gradually promote vouchers here. Although it is not as convenient as Cheng Dù to Qiongzhou Island, the business house under the name of the Xu family is also assisting us in doing this, and it should be very good in another year or two. ”

After listening to the work report of the father and son of the Gong family, Ning Qi encouraged them and asked Sun Jin to lead them out.

Morgan shook his head and said, "I really don't understand, Xu Xinsu and Eighteen Zhi have been fighting for a few years, why do they have to make a deal in private? They are enemies!"

Ning Qi said with a smile: "You Americans' political wisdom is too low, I guess you won't be able to figure it out if you think about it for two or three months." You only need to understand one thing, whether it is war or peace, after all, it is for profit, and the same is true for Shibazhi and Xu Xinsu. ”

Morgan shrugged and said, "I don't know where you got your superiority, I'm a Haihan like you now, and if you laugh at me, you're laughing at yourself." ”

Ning Qi smiled dumbly and said, "Your brain is spinning quite fast now! Okay, it's my fault, I promise I won't laugh at you anymore." ”

Not long after the father and son of the Gong family left, Xu Xinsu sent someone over to invite Ning Qi to come over and talk about it. After all, yesterday's banquet was not a formal negotiation occasion, and today's private meeting is the time for a head-to-head confrontation. Because he was going to talk about the arrangements for the joint military exercise today, Morgan also went with him, and he did not forget to insert a Glock18 automatic pistol under each armpit on each side.

After Xu Xinsu met and sat down with the two, he took the initiative to ask: "Did you two rest well last night?"

"Very good, Lord Xu has a heart. Ning Qi replied without changing his face.

"Then it's best, if there is anything inconvenient, tell the steward, and let the people below do it. The old man has already instructed the following, as long as it is a request made by the mission, he must do his best to meet it. Xu Xinsu said with a smile.

After Ning Qi thanked him again, he began to introduce the topic: "This time the Executive Committee sent us to visit Fujian, in addition to increasing mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides, there is also a task, that is, to teach some maritime combat skills and tactics to the Fujian naval division. ”

Xu Xinsu said happily: "I don't know how this course should be arranged? How much space is needed, and can it accommodate junior officers to observe?"

"Master Xu, don't panic, listen to me first. Ning Qi continued: "In this lecture, we do not intend to explain the theory in the classroom, but plan to use the guò military exercise method, so that the soldiers of the Fujian Navy Division have the opportunity to observe and learn in person. ”

"Military exercises?" Xu Xinsu repeated. He is no stranger to military exercises, the Ming army also has a large drill every six months, but the Ming army's drills are not the same as Haihan's combat drills, most of them are just gathered together to practice combat formations, and rarely design actual combat scenes to conduct drills like Haihan. The reason is also very simple, it costs money to pull thousands of troops to the field or even the sea to conduct large-scale exercises, and it is quite troublesome to organize, even if most of the troops under Xu Xinsu's command now follow the trend and adopt the Haihan military system, but the number of military exercises is far less than that of the Shanghai Han militia.

Xu Xinsu was not reluctant to spend this money, but the Haihan militia did not garrison troops in Fujian at all, and only a few officers could go to Sanya to observe if they wanted to observe. Observation and actual participation are two completely different concepts, and Xu Xinsu is also a person who has led soldiers, so he naturally understands this truth. Now that the Haihan mission took the initiative to arrange a military exercise in Fujian, Xu Xinsu was overjoyed, but he did not forget to ponder the purpose of the Haihan people's actions.

Xu Xinsu knew that Haihan people were very shrewd businessmen, and any move had a purpose, and it was impossible to give himself this benefit in vain. Combined with the current situation in Fujian, it is not difficult for Xu Xinsu to link Ningqi's mention with the armistice and peace talks. In the light of the comparison, military exercises are not only useless to the armistice but also cost money, but the role of this incident in strengthening Fujian's military strength cannot be ignored, and Xu Xinsu was a little difficult to choose for a while.