The person in charge of interrogating Wu Huanzhi was Gong 17, a henchman specially transferred from Guangzhou by Minister of Security He Xi. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 For the time being, Gong XVII was solely responsible for intelligence gathering and internal security matters after the occupation of Zhoushan, as well as the formulation and implementation of some public security measures. If nothing else, after the local operation is put into orbit, Gong XVII will continue to be in charge of the intelligence and security work in this area.

Gong 17 was transferred to Guangzhou to follow He Xi from the beginning of the establishment of the Guangzhou Office, and was previously in charge of field tasks, mainly to carry out secret operations such as intelligence gathering, surveillance, tracking, kidnapping, and assassination, and he has accumulated considerable experience in the past few years. He Xi originally intended to find an opportunity to give him greater authority, but it was also the first time in his career to be in charge of intelligence and security affairs in a region. Moreover, the Zhoushan area has always been a paradise for sea adventurers in the past, and the security situation is also very complicated, and this position is a great challenge for Gong XVII.

From a security point of view, Gong 17 did not agree to rush to convene a trade promotion conference before the island was fully occupied, because the influx of large numbers of outsiders would exponentially increase the pressure on local security work. Although Gong Qiqi was also convinced that there were no armed forces in Zhoushan that could compete head-on with the Haihan militia army, if the people participating in the China Merchants Association were mixed in with hostile elements who deliberately caused trouble, and even took actions such as arson and poisoning, assassinating important figures, and organizing armed rebellions, it would be difficult for the Ministry of Security alone to achieve effective monitoring and management of the occupied areas.

But as soon as possible, a conference was held in the Zhoushan area to attract businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to join the Haihan trade system, this decision was made by the executive committee, and the people below could only implement it unconditionally instead of questioning it.

The Haihan Security Department has not yet established even a rudimentary intelligence network in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the so-called intelligence collection basically relies on the Belt and Road Party to provide information, and the results that can be achieved by such an operation mode are naturally very limited. Gong 17 could only rely on the deployment of the military for the monitoring of the docks, meeting venues, and food and accommodation places with the largest flow of people during the China Merchants Conference, but he only forcibly added a number of temporary regulations that must be notified to the security department in case of emergencies.

This passive monitoring method made it really difficult for Gong 17 to feel at ease, so he simply set up his headquarters in the port area of Dinghai Bay, Zhoushan, the gateway of the investment promotion. In this way, at least close monitoring can be achieved, in case there is any situation, it can be reacted in the shortest possible time, and the situation that happened later fully proves that this measure taken by Gong Qiqi still comes in handy.

Speaking of which, it is necessary to mention the security measures of the China Merchants Association, the military has deployed a large number of militia soldiers in several places with the largest flow of people, and at the same time, the scope of activities of people who have landed on the island has also been classified and restricted. In addition to the merchants and entourage who came to participate in the exhibition, a large number of sailors and crew members were restricted to the port area and were not allowed to enter the venue area. To this end, a fence consisting of bamboo fences, wooden fences, barbed wire, and buildings was set up in the port area, and people patrolled day and night, and notices were posted in the port area to warn sailors not to try to cross the line lightly, so as not to be treated as gangsters.

Although the supply of alcohol has been strictly restricted on the island, it is not a problem for sailors who have been running the sea all year round, because every sea ship will have some wine in stock to a greater or lesser extent, and the consequence of this is that the day before the China Merchants Conference, there were five or six incidents of drunken sailors in Dinghai Port. Fortunately, the militia soldiers on duty quickly quelled these small incidents, and the follow-up investigation by the Ministry of Security did not find any hidden dangers, after all, the people involved in the brawl were bare-handed, and the few injured guys were not too serious skin injuries.

And Gong 17's work is not only responsible for the security of the port area, a large number of pirate prisoners captured before are still being identified and interrogated, and there is too much information that he needs to sort out and classify and report to the Sanya headquarters. As for such trivial matters as sailors fighting and fighting, he didn't have much energy to ask about them all.

The morning of the first day of the China Merchants Association was still calm, and it was not until noon that a little situation appeared. The staff of the Ministry of Commerce, who came from the meeting, asked the port staff to count and value the cargo on a cargo ship, because the cargo owner used the ship's cargo as collateral to exchange the commodity franchise. So the port staff went to the ship to find the owner's person to handle the relevant matters, but after the person got on the ship, there was no news, as if he had sunk into the sea. The staff waiting for news here was waiting impatiently, and happened to meet an old acquaintance of an officer who was leading the patrol at the port, so he asked him to help him go there to urge him.

So the officer went with a group of soldiers, and when he reached the dock, twenty or thirty meters away, he saw that the men on the boat actually shot their bows and arrows at his side. Fortunately, the elite soldiers of the special operations battalion on duty in the port area were all in danger, and although it was an emergency, they did not get out of shape because of this, and immediately launched a counterattack with muskets.

Gunshots rang out, and there was chaos on the dock. Then there were people on several other ships who took out their weapons and fought against the Haihan troops on the dock, which was obviously not an isolated incident, but a premeditated armed sneak attack. However, the military had already prepared for various situations that might arise during the China Merchants period, and even made corresponding preparations for large-scale anti-landing operations, so two companies of infantry soon rushed to the dock and went into battle.

Rifle fire quickly suppressed the ship's sporadic fire, and several warships rushed to the perimeter of the dock after being alerted, blocking the departure lane, and if the men on board tried to cut the cable and escape, they would be met with merciless shelling. As the Haihan soldiers advanced step by step, desperate bandits constantly jumped into the sea from the boat to escape, but the coastline of the port area blocked by the Haihan was several miles long, and it was not easy to escape from the water.

It is a very unscientific thing for stragglers who use primitive weapons and lack unified command to confront a well-trained and well-equipped professional army, and the result of defeat is doomed to be irreversible. It didn't take much effort for the people in the special operations battalion to quell the riot, and even the merchants who were a mile away to participate in the merchants were not aware of the situation in the port area.

The soldiers found the bodies of the port crew on the ship, apparently having been poisoned after embarking on board. In addition, there were seven or eight corpses and a dozen wounded people on board, as well as dozens of weapons such as knives and bows.

To the horror of the security personnel who came later, two almost brand-new Haihan standard rifles were also found on the ship. Although it was only an export-oriented arquebus in the early years, the effective range of this gun still reached 100 meters, just imagine if the assassin had been lurking on the ship, waiting for the important people on Haihan's side to appear on the dock to come and fire, even if he didn't hit, this responsibility was enough for the Ministry of Security to drink a pot.

Therefore, while escorting the captured bandits back for interrogation, the Haihan military also immediately sealed off the port, prohibiting all ships from entering and leaving the port, and began a comprehensive search of foreign ships docked at the seaside. If such a big thing happened, the ship bosses in the port area did not dare to say no to this kind of search, otherwise they would be regarded as accomplices of the bandits by Haihan and would be arrested immediately.

The first thing Gong Qiqi did after arriving at the scene was to ask where the owner and cargo owner of the boat were in the accident. The military's response was that the ship's owner had escaped by jumping overboard, and that the search was still ongoing, while the cargo owner appeared to be competing for the franchise on the island. The Ministry of Security soon found the still sluggish Ministry of Commerce staff on the dock and asked him about the whereabouts of the cargo owner. So he took a team of soldiers and went straight to the place where he ate and found Wu Huanzhi, who was unknown. And after a little interrogation of the prisoners here, someone confessed that he belonged to the Zhoushan Boat Gang.

Wu Huanzhi didn't know that in the short time he came out of the place where he went through the formalities, there was such a big mess in the port, Gong Qiqi asked a few words, and he could basically judge that this guy was also the object of deception. The boats that made trouble in the harbor this time were almost all in a similar situation, but the other boats were only mixed in with sporadic bandits, and the ship hired by Wu Huanzhi was all from the Zhoushan Boat Gang, except for him and his entourage.

It is very likely that Wu Huanzhi is innocent, but for the sake of insurance, it is impossible for Gong Qiqi to let him go at this juncture, so he immediately told him that he needed to stay here to cooperate with the investigation.

Although Wu Huanzhi tried his best to keep himself calm, he was still a little flustered when he heard that he was going to be detained, and hurriedly defended: "This military master, he really has nothing to do with the Zhoushan Boat Gang in Xia, and he has no disrespect for Haihan, so it's useless for you to detain him here!"

Gong Qiqi replied coldly: "There may still be their comrades on the island, I can let you go, if the news leaks and the fish escapes, can you afford this responsibility? You stay here honestly, and when the investigation of the case is clear and your innocence is proven, we will naturally let you go." ”

Wu Huanzhi hurriedly said: "Then I spent a few thousand taels of silver to get the franchise, so what?"

Gong Qiqi said: "Don't worry, doing business with us will not make you suffer, as long as you are innocent and the previous agreement is still valid, we will also give you appropriate compensation." All you have to do now is cooperate with us, wait here for news, and the sooner we find out the truth, the sooner you can regain your freedom. ”

Wu Huanzhi has no other way to think about it than to think that he is unlucky. The current situation is no longer affected by his status as a merchant, and this Zhoushan Island is not a place that the Ming Dynasty can directly govern, and it is the Haihan people who now occupy this place that are in charge. These people are extremely shrewd, and they are not the ones to fool with a few nice words or a few pieces of silver. Wu Huanzhi not only secretly regretted a little, why didn't he ask Zhou Hai, the boss of the boat, a few more words when renting the boat, maybe he would have the opportunity to recognize the other party and avoid the trouble he would encounter when he came to Zhoushan this time.

Gong Qiqi didn't have time to care about Wu Huanzhi's feelings, if he found out that what Wu Huanzhi said was fraudulent, in fact, he was secretly colluding with the Zhoushan Boat Gang, then Wu Huanzhi would not have a chance to leave here safely. But judging from what is known so far, there is indeed a high possibility that Wu Huanzhi is an innocent person who was implicated.

As the interrogation progressed, the general story of the entire incident was presented to Gong XVII. This gang of bandits who took the opportunity of the Merchants Association to lurk on the island was indeed owned by the Zhoushan Boat Gang, and they were personally commanded by the leader Wang Jialin. These people had already broken into pieces a few days in advance, and lurked as sailors on a number of ships that were about to come to Zhoushan Island to participate in the investment promotion, intending to find opportunities on the island.

However, this group obviously did not expect Haihan to seal off the entire port area and restrict the movement of outsiders. Most of the ships docked in this port are foreign ships, and the Haihan warships are all parked near Panzhi Island and Dongqi Island on the outskirts of the harbor, even if they can burn all the ships here with a single fire, they will not be able to hurt Haihan's fur.

In desperation, these people can only temporarily lurk in the port and wait for an opportunity. At noon, when the port personnel were about to board the ship to count the goods, it happened that Wang Jialin, the leader of the bandits, gathered everyone on the ship to distribute weapons and discuss the next move. The bandits did not dare to refuse to let him board the ship, which would easily attract the attention of the Han soldiers at the dock, so they let him board the ship and then take him into the cabin to be killed. Later, when the patrol team was about to go to find the staff, the people on the boat thought that their identities had been exposed, which attracted the encirclement and suppression of the Haihan army, so they temporarily tried to resist, but this futile action instead attracted more opponents.

In the battle time of only about ten minutes, the Haihan side only paid the price of one serious injury and five minor injuries, and defeated the dying struggle of the Zhoushan boat gang. After the war, a total of 23 bandits were killed on the spot, 11 were captured, and according to the number of bandits who confessed, there were still seven people at large, including the bandit leader Wang Jialin.

Knowing that the bandit leader was still on the island, Gong Qiqi personally led the team to the dock again to preside over the search and arrest work, and at the same time reported the news to the headquarters and asked for reinforcements. After Qian Tiandun got the news, he also attached great importance to it, and sent Gao Qiaonan to the dock with the elite soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon to support Gong 17. At the same time, Shi Diwen also returned to the flagship Enterprise and ordered all personnel of the Navy to cancel their vacations and return to their posts to prepare for war. The reconnaissance ship immediately left the harbor and searched the sea within a radius of five nautical miles in case the other side had any behind.

However, the venue was still a lively scene, and the merchants, who had no idea that something was happening at the port, were still immersed in the exciting game of fighting for franchise rights. For them, there is nothing more important right now than getting the opportunity to make a fortune in the next two years. (To be continued.) )