Although Fujian has to pay a lot of money every year in exchange for all kinds of assistance from Haihan, for Xu Xinsu and others, how much money is not a problem, and it is the key to get this unique military assistance, after all, these sophisticated weapons and corresponding tactics ahead of the times are no other than Haihan. If Xu Xinsu and others want to protect their vested interests, they must hug Haihan's thigh. And a very important point is that the Haihan people are not like the Franco-Robot or the red-haired people, as long as they can afford the price, they will sell weapons to anyone, only recognize money and not people, and the asking price is much higher than the Haihan weapons.

However, the sale of weapons by the Haihan people in Fujian has always been limited to the Xu Xinsu group -- according to the Haihan people, this is to prevent these weapons from flowing into the hands of Shibazhi, the opponent of the Fujian official army. Although Haihan weapons are also not cheap, the supply is stable, and the quality is obviously better than that of Fanren's goods, and the cost performance is still very high.

But before that, Xu Xinsu had always had doubts about the reason and purpose for Haihan to support him so sparingly. As a businessman, he did not believe that the shrewd Haihan people did this only out of kindness or to join in the fun, or that they were worried that "the war would drag on for a long time and the people of Fujian would be harmed". In Xu Xinsu's view, the Haihan militia was able to train troops on their own, manufacture guns and even warships, and complete cross-sea expeditions.

Xu Xinsu has actually been waiting for a long time for an opportunity to have an open and honest conversation with high-level Haihan people like today. Although he had been to Guangzhou last time, Marik and He Xi were not considered to be the top figures of the Haihan power structure, so they did not dare to give Xu Xinsu too many guarantees for some major political affairs, and spent most of their time communicating with each other in the field of commerce and immigration. Therefore, although he went to Guangzhou last time to buy a considerable amount of Haihan arms, Xu Xinsu was not very satisfied with the results of the talks.

This time, Haihan took the initiative to send an envoy to Fujian to visit Wèn, and there was also a high-level Haihan like Ningqi to lead the team, and Xu Xinsu also thought that this was a good opportunity for the two sides to discuss some substantive issues. However, what Xu Xinsu didn't expect was that Ning Qi and his party had only been in Zhangzhou for two days, and they had caused such a big mess, and at this juncture, he really couldn't take the initiative to discuss such a strict and essential topic to the Haihan envoy. Fortunately, Ning Qi did not blindly blame the Fujian side for the assassination, but took the initiative to ask for talks at this time, and the content happened to be some questions that Xu Xinsu had been trying to understand but could not find the opportunity.

Although Ning Qi's explanations do sound credible, Xu Xinsu thinks that Ning Qi does not have much acting in the light of his words. The most important thing is that Xu Xinsu believes that there is no need for the Haihan people to make up lies to deceive themselves on this matter. And Ning Qi's evaluation of him undoubtedly injected him with a shot in the arm.

At least in Fujian, Haihan is only optimistic about Xu Xinsu. This conclusion made Xu Xinsu's originally somewhat uneasy mood suddenly relax a lot, and finally a smile appeared on his face: "Mr. Ning is really too awarded!

Ning Qi also responded with a smile: "Being able to manage Fujian Haiphong to today's situation has already shown the ability of Lord Xu. To tell the truth, we, the Haihan Executive Committee, are quite satisfied with what Master Xu has done during his tenure of office, which is why we have decided to further increase our military assistance to Fujian this year. ”

"If you can sell more weapons, ammunition, and warships to the old man, then what is there to fear about Eighteen Zhi? Within a year or two, the old man can smash his nest, destroy his wings, and make the word Eighteen Zhi completely disappear from the coastal areas of Fujian!" Xu Xinsu immediately lost no time in expressing his determination. He knew that the purchase of arms in the next period of time would not still be subject to the same restrictions as before, and it was likely that it would depend on the results of this meeting with Ning Qi, so he also seized the time to brush up his favor in front of Ning Qi.

Ning Qi responded: "Lord Xu doesn't need to be in a hurry, the matter of the arms order, you can wait for the end of our joint military exercise in two days, and then talk about the content slowly." Let you look at the things first, think the things are good, and then you will place an order to buy it. ”

"Yes, yes, or the leaders of Haihan have thought it through!" Xu Xinsu was careless, and also used the title he heard from the students under his command.

Ning Qi smiled slightly and said, "This assassin case needs to be investigated, but the matter of the joint military exercise also asks Lord Xu to hurry up and prepare." We have limited time on this trip, and we want to see if we can go further north. ”

"Your delegation wants to go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang?" Xu Xinsu immediately asked very sensitively.

Ning Qi nodded and said, "If there is enough time, I have this plan." But it's hard to say yet, let's wait until after the military exercise. ”

"The old man turned around and urged his subordinates, let them hurry up and prepare, and within three days, he replied to Mr. Ning, how is it?" Xu Xinsu is now quite cooperative, and he is almost obedient to Ning Qi's words.

Ning Qi nodded and said, "Then I'll wait for the good news from Lord Xu." By the way, regarding the progress of the investigation of the assassin case, I also hope that Lord Xu can inform me in time. ”

"It must be certain, if there is news, I must inform Mr. Ning as soon as possible. Xu Xinsu hurriedly responded.

After leaving the hall, Xu Xinsu immediately sent a letter to the Zhongzuo Institute, and asked Xu Yuzhuo, who was stationed there, to immediately contact the senior officers of the Haihan fleet about the exercise, and report as much as possible the size of the troops to be mobilized, the status of supplies, and the specific arrangements for sailing for the sea exercise.

That night, the oral order was sent to the Zhongzuo Institute along with the latest progress of the investigation of the assassination, and after reading the contents, Xu Yuzhuo hurried to find Shi Diwen and report the situation to him: "Today, an assassin tried to assassinate Mr. Ning in Zhangzhou City, but fortunately, the guards were appropriate, and Mr. Ning escaped the disaster safe and sound. ”

He didn't know that Shi Diwen had already learned about the assassination in Zhangzhou City from the telegram a few hours ago, and even the results of Ning Qi's meeting with Xu Xinsu had already been sent by wireless telegraph.

Shi Diwen also wanted to tease Xu Yuzhuo, and responded with a smile: "Don't say it yet, let me guess what other good news there is...... Well, Lord Xu should have arranged a joint military exercise between the two armies. ”

Xu Yu's eyes widened suddenly, and he subconsciously said, "How did Mr. Shi learn about this......

But before he finished speaking, he had already reacted: "...... Could it be that he used the Haihan Thousands of Miles Transmission Technique?"

Shi Diwen saw that the trick was seen through by Xu Yu, so he didn't continue to play, nodded and said, "Let's talk about it, what instructions does Lord Xu have for you." ”

Xu Yu replied: "Lord Xu ordered him to do his duty and Mr. Shi to list the action plan and the scale of materials and personnel needed for the joint military exercise, and report this plan to Zhangzhou. ”

"It's simple. Shi Diwen immediately took out a pen and paper and began to explain to Xu Yuzhuo: "Our side will dispatch two of the three warships and four supply ships, a total of five combat ships. The personnel quota is about 540 people. Assuming that the number of men dispatched by the Ming army is close to ours, because the ships of the Ming army are small, I estimate that you will need to dispatch twelve to fifteen ships, is this number a big error?"

"That's about it. Xu Yuzhuo nodded and affirmed Shi Diwen's calculation: "It depends on the current maintenance status of the ship, if the condition of those big ships is suitable for going to sea, then almost twelve ships should be enough." ”

"Okay, then we can prepare supplies on the scale of about 1,200 people, how many...... The duration of our planned exercise is two to three days, but I ask for at least seven days or so of fresh water and food to be prepared in case anything changes last. Shi Diwen continued as he wrote on the paper.

The content recorded by Shi Diwen on the paper is very simple, in fact, it is just a row of abbreviated Arabic numerals, if Xu Yuzhuo had not studied in Shengli Port, he probably wouldn't understand the meaning of these ghostly things. While listening to Shi Diwen's explanation, Xu Yuzhuo was silently calculating in his heart how much supplies he needed to prepare according to the plan proposed by the other party.

"Then during the exercise, will we stop at the coast of Fujian and resupply?" Xu Yuzhuo asked.

"Probably not, I advise you to prepare for actual combat in advance, and what will happen after you go to sea, none of us can predict. Shi Diwen said.

In fact, even if he didn't tell him, Xu Yuzhuo would probably make corresponding preparations, after all, there are often groups of pirate ships of Eighteen Zhi off the coast of Fujian, and one will be hit by accident. And this time there are Haihan warships with them, and the Fujian sailors no longer have to avoid being besieged by pirate ships, if they really encounter the ship of Eighteen Zhi again, then the sailors' men and horses will seize the opportunity to show their respects.

"Next, we have to do the most difficult part, to see how to arrange the voyage of this exercise and the corresponding combat drill plan. Shi Diwen opened his briefcase and took out a hand-drawn map of the Fujian coast.

Shi Diwen did not shy away from Xu Yuchuang, because when the other party was training in Shengli Port, he had already seen accurate charts like this, which was not surprising. In addition to marking the outline of the Fujian coastline, this map also marks the various guard posts where the Ming army was stationed along the coast.

Of course, it is not enough to have such a detailed map, and the Haihan fleet, as an outsider, is not at all clear about the sea conditions along the coast of Fujian, and only the sailors and crews who have been active in the local waters for a long time can be proficient in the weather conditions here, the direction of the currents, and so on. For the Fujian Ming Army, this was a joint military exercise with a large and a small trumpet, but for Haihan, it was a good opportunity to familiarize himself with the sea conditions in Fujian in advance.

While the Central Left Institute was intensively planning joint military exercises, the interrogation in the prison of the Zhangzhou City Defense Army did not stop for a moment. Although the interrogation lasted only a few hours, the mentally awesome of the wounded and hungry Assassins were already in terrible condition. According to the method taught by Morgan, the interrogators lit several torches in the secret room to make the little dark room bright and dazzling, and prepared ice water, acupuncture and other means to constantly stimulate the drowsy interrogators, so that they woke up again and again from their semi-trance.

And every time they wake up, the interrogators repeat the same questions -- where do you come from? Who do you obey? Where are your accomplices hiding?

Every other hour, the interrogators would change shifts to make sure that their repeated questioning would not hypnotize themselves. Morgan came to see him twice and instructed his interrogators to give the Assassin some brown sugar water at regular intervals to keep him from fainting from starvation.

The effect of this method was unexpectedly good, and the next morning, someone chose to confess because he could not bear such mental torture. The intermittent confessions from the mouth of the Assassin in a trance basically confirmed the connection between the assassination case and the Eighteen Zhi Pirate Group.

A month and a half ago, Shibazhi had already asked Xu Xinsu for peace talks through some unofficial channels. Later, Zheng Zhilong sent Zheng Xinzhi, one of his staff, to secretly infiltrate Zhangzhou and seek an opportunity to have face-to-face contact with Xu Xinsu's side. But this kind of self-contained contact between the two sides was not so safe, not only did the Haihan intelligence agency quickly learn the relevant information, but even Chen Lin, a timber merchant who came to Zhangzhou to do business, also inadvertently learned the news. So after the news leaked, Haihan's side reacted very quickly and wanted to send a mission to Fujian to visit Wèn.

Originally, this news should also be kept secret from the outside world, but Xu Xinsu's subordinates were not monolithic, and the news was transmitted to Zheng Xinzhi under the operation of someone with a heart. And the news of the visit of the Haihan mission made Zheng Xinzhi feel very panicked.

Eighteen Zhi is not a fool, in the past few years, there have been continuous defeats, and the territory of control is shrinking day by day, of course they know where Xu Xinsu's tough backstage is. Even if it was not clear at first, it was already clear after the Battle of the Pearl River at the end of 1628. How strong the strength of the Haihan people is, you can find out without any troublesome means, and Eighteen Zhi knows that he can't go to Qiongzhou Island to fight with the fleet of the Haihan people, so he can only endure this breath and retreat back to the Fujian Strait. But if Eighteen Zhi wants to consolidate his sphere of influence here, he must eradicate the stumbling block of Xu Xinsu, but in the next two years, he will still be defeated repeatedly, and he can no longer fight.