Zhan Gui had actually lived in Shengli Harbor for more than a year, and he had developed a certain adaptation to many of the strange rules imposed by the Haihan people. Although the Haihan people are good at business, they are not purely open-minded and sell everything, but there are still many things that are strictly controlled and rarely sold to the outside world, such as the advanced sailing ships built by shipyards are one of them.

Zhan Gui would go to the shipyard almost every month under various names to see the new sailing ships made by the Haihan people, and he had long been thinking of looking for an opportunity to buy a few, and when he heard that the corresponding certificates needed to be issued, he almost did not hesitate to start running the relationship. It happened that a cargo ship under his name arrived at the port today, so Zhan Gui took the manifest and found Zhou Hengxing first - there was a port department among the units required to issue a certificate by the shipyard, and Zhan Gui's ships are now docked at the Sanya River Port, and the leader in charge is Zhou Hengxing.

Zhan Gui's dual identity as a shareholder and representative is there, and he has always been good, Zhou Hengxing naturally would not embarrass him in this kind of place, and after making the call, he asked Zhan Gui to come in again, and then opened the certificate in front of him.

Zhan Gui didn't expect this thing to be done so smoothly, thinking that if he went to the Ming Mansion to do something, he probably wouldn't be able to do it in a few days, and it would depend on whether the joints in the yamen were in place. Although the rules of the Haihan people are strict and the procedures are a little cumbersome, they do not delay in doing things, which is also deeply appreciated by foreign businessmen like Zhan Gui. Zhan Gui sometimes thinks that if the Ming government can be so tolerant of maritime merchants, then the commercial ports along the coast of Daming will not only be so limited now, but the scale of foreign trade should be much better than the current situation.

Zhan Gui took the certificate written by Zhou Hengxing and thanked him again and again, and said that he would entertain Zhou Hengxing at a convenient time. He knew that these Haihan people would not accept anything in return in the form of gold and silver, and at most they would only agree to eat - even then it depended on whether the person concerned had enough face, and not every merchant who invited the Haihan chiefs to dinner would receive a positive response.

Zhou Hengxing said with a smile: "Boss Zhan is too polite, even if he doesn't help you with this, you are still inviting me to dinner every month." Don't worry, if this ship is going to be taken out, you will definitely be the first batch of users. ”

Zhan Gui sensitively noticed that what Zhou Hengxing said was the "first batch" rather than the "first one", but he was relieved in an instant-the "Fu Ruifeng" Li family was the number one partner of the Haihan people. Of course, it is impossible to miss this benefit. Zhan Gui also knew that the relationship with the Haihan people was not as good as that of the Li family, and the business scope of the two sides was not the same, and there was no direct competition, so he didn't have any thoughts about competing for superiority.

Zhan Gui was about to get up and say goodbye, but was stopped by Zhou Hengxing: "Boss Zhan sit down for a while, there is something to trouble you." ”

Zhan Gui hurriedly responded: "Director Zhou has something to order, but everything is within his power." Zhan will never shirk. ”

"It's not so strict. Zhou Hengxing smiled and said, "You wait here for a while, there are people from other departments who want to meet you." ”

Zhan Gui couldn't figure out Zhou Hengxing's intentions. But just now I gave myself a proof, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to think about it, so I sat back and waited according to the other party's instructions right now.

After a cup of tea, someone came to Zhou Hengxing's office. Zhan Gui saw that the person who came was a man in his thirties, with a thin figure, wearing the short cardigan and narrow trousers that the Haihan people usually wear. The man turned his head and glanced at Zhan Gui, who only felt as if he was a little distracted for a moment, because most of this person's eyes were dark-eyed. There are so few white eyes that you can barely see them, and when you look at them, you will only notice a pair of bottomless black pupils.

Zhou Hengxing saw this person appear at the door, so he took the initiative to get up and greet: "Brother Hao, you are here! Come on, come, let me introduce you." ”

Zhou Hengxing said that he stretched out his hand to Zhan Gui's side, and Zhan Gui quickly stood up when he saw this.

"This is the boss of Zhan's Shipping Company, Zhan Guizhan, who has always had a lot of business cooperation with us, and he can be regarded as an old friend. Zhou Hengxing finished introducing Zhan Gui. He turned his head again to introduce the comer: "This is Director Hao Wanqing Hao, and the specific work he is responsible for happens to have something to do with your business, so I have some business to talk to Boss Zhan." ”

Hao Wanqing arched his hand and said: "Boss Zhan, I have admired my name for a long time!"

Zhan Gui didn't even dare to say anything, but he was wondering about the origin of this Director Hao in his heart. According to Zhan Gui's understanding of Haihan's official position, he knew that the largest position was the nine members of the executive committee. This is a real "chief" even among the Haihan people. The second is the "minister" of each "ministry", Zhan Gui believes that it can only be roughly similar to the functions of the six departments of officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers of the Ming Dynasty, but the division of labor of the Haihan people is more detailed, and most of the executive committee members also serve as ministers of various ministries. Further down, there are a variety of directors, such as the heads of the management committees of Sanya Port, Shengli Port, and Heitu Port, all of whom hold the positions of directors. The top leaders of Haihan's overseas institutions, such as the Ya Office and the Guangzhou Office, are also directors, but in addition, there are many departments that also have this position.

Zhan Gui had never seen this Director Hao before, and he hadn't even heard of his name. And Zhou Hengxing's introduction was very vague, and he didn't even explain the origin of the other party, which made it difficult for Zhan Gui to guess which way the other party was for a while.

"Boss Zhan, if it's convenient, I want to delay you for a little time to talk, okay?" Hao Wanqing stared at Zhan Gui's eyes, although he was asking Zhan Gui's opinion, there was a taste that could not be questioned.

"Convenient, convenient!" Zhan Gui hurriedly replied.

"My car is outside, please!" Hao Wanqing made a gesture of please.

The two said goodbye to Zhou Hengxing, and Zhan Gui saw a four-wheeled carriage with a sunshade roof parked on the side of the road outside. This type of carriage is not very common in the local area, because the limited number of horses are either arranged to carry goods in areas with poor traffic conditions, or they are kept in military cavalry bases, and they are rarely used to carry people or pull carts.

Zhan Gui noticed that there was more than one coachman sitting in front of the car, and there was also a Haihan militiaman with loaded guns next to him. However, what he was holding in his hand was not the Type 28 flintlock pistol, which was common in the army, but a special version of a double-barreled short-barreled musket. Although Zhan Gui often saw Haihan's armed men in Sanya, this was the first time he had seen this new type of short gun, so he couldn't help but take a few more looks.

After Zhan Gui and Hao Wanqing got into the carriage, the coachman waved his whip, and the two pack horses pulled the carriage and began to move slowly. Zhan Gui saw Hao Wanqing's eyes staring ahead, and he didn't seem to have any intention of talking to him, so he didn't dare to speak casually at the moment, so he sat quietly.

After the carriage left Sanya Port, it went down the avenue to Shengli Port in the northwest direction. Seeing Fort Victory getting closer and closer. Zhan Gui was about to ask if he had entered the fort, but the carriage turned in a different direction, passed through the west side of the fort, and continued to travel northwest.

Zhan Gui's main areas of activity in Sanya are concentrated in the vicinity of Shengli Port and Sanya Port, and he has never been to the Tiandu area, which is forbidden for outsiders to enter and leave at will. But the carriage did not follow the road all the way to Tiandu, and soon crossed the railway line to the west. Enter a path that is only one foot wide. Zhan Gui sat in the car and saw that the road was still loess, and he knew that there were not many people passing by here every day. Because of the large flow of people and goods, the Ministry of Construction almost all of them used Haihan cement to solidify the road surface.

After following the trail for a while in the direction of the mountain, Zhan Gui saw a courtyard appear in the woods in front of him. The building in this courtyard is somewhat similar to the Anju apartment that Zhan Gui had seen in Sanya New Town, divided into two floors, one floor and one bottom, and the architectural style is as always, with an inconspicuous gray appearance, but still luxuriously fully equipped Haihan specialty glass windows.

The carriage slowly stopped in the open space outside the courtyard, and Zhan Gui noticed that there were several other similar carriages here, and it seemed that the authority of the people working in this place should be quite small. Outside the gate of the courtyard stood two guards with guns. When he saw Hao Wanqing, he immediately raised his hand and gave a military salute.

Zhan Gui noticed that there was a not-so-conspicuous plaque hanging at the entrance of the courtyard, and there were only five words on the plaque in black on a white background: Haihan Security Department.

"What kind of department is this?" Zhan Gui muttered in his heart as he followed Hao Wanqing into the courtyard.

The situation here seemed to be no different from the Haihan institutions that Zhan Gui had been to before, but Zhan Gui still quickly noticed an unusual place, except for the staff who hurried through the corridor with Wen Jiàn, there were no outsiders dressed in Daming or other local costumes - except for himself, all the people here were wearing short clothes and trousers.

Reminiscent of the secluded location of this place. Zhan Gui could conclude that this was not a place open to the public. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous, because he suddenly remembered that in the process of chatting with high-ranking officials of Haihan, he seemed to have heard the word "Ministry of Security" - this is the same organ as Dongchang and Jinyiwei set up by Haihan people!

Dongchang and Jinyiwei are really wolf-like images in the minds of the people of Daming, and most of the people who are targeted by these two yamen have to shed their skin if they don't die. Although the Haihan people often hang on the "rule of law" casually, Zhan Gui also knows that these people will never show mercy when they should be ruthless. When Sanya New City was developed. Zhan Gui also knew that some of the practices of the Haihan people that had not been exposed, those who were unwilling to move out and tried to violently resist the land expropriation in the local area were all packed and sent to the cargo ship to Heitu Port by the Haihan militia, and those who were unlucky probably had to dig coal in the coal mines of Heitu Port until they died, and at that time, the Haihan people did not mention any "rule of law", and even later dealt with people without communicating with the Yacheng government.

When Zhan Gui thought of this, his breathing couldn't help but be a little short. He admits that he has never done anything to be sorry for the Haihan people-well, that is, there were some shoddy methods in the early stage of trade. But that was more than a year ago, and the amount of money involved was not large, so the Haihan people didn't need to make such a big deal out of it, right? It was easy for the Ministry of Security to get in, but it was not necessary to get out, and if the Haihan people didn't let them go, what would happen to their own families? How should they deal with so much family property? Will the Haihan people swallow all their family property directly after they have dealt with themselves?

While Zhan Gui was thinking wildly, Hao Wanqing, who was leading the way in front, suddenly turned around and said, "Boss Zhan doesn't need to be nervous, just ask you to come over and chat, and there is no other meaning." ”

Zhan Gui came back to his senses and hurriedly responded: "No, no, there is no misunderstanding here." ”

Hao Wanqing smiled, didn't say anything, and took Zhan Gui to an office on the second floor. Zhan Gui saw that the windows of this room were bright and clean, and the furnishings in the room were no different from the offices of ordinary Haihan organs, and there were no imaginary torture instruments and the pungent smell of blood, so he relaxed a little and sat down on the rattan chair opposite Hao Wanqing.

Hao Wanqing instructed someone to pour tea, and then said to Zhan Gui: "There are some things that I didn't say clearly from Director Zhou just now, let me introduce myself first, I am Hao Wanqing, director of the Nanyang Affairs Office of the Haihan Security Department." Does Boss Zhan know what the functions of our department are?"

Zhan Guixin said in his heart, how dare he chew his tongue in front of you for such a thing, and hurriedly responded: "The villain doesn't know, please ask Director Hao to make it clear!"

Hao Wanqing nodded and said: "The main function of our department is to collect all kinds of intelligence and information from the outside world, sort out those parts that may pose a threat to Haihan, and then take corresponding measures to solve these threats." ”

Zhan Gui couldn't understand it, but he still kept nodding his head to show that he was listening carefully.

"I probably don't understand it very well at that time, let's take an analogy, it's the same nature as your Ming Dongchang Jinyi Guard!" Hao Wanqing simply opened the skylight and said brightly: "But the difference is that what we do is not loyal to a certain person, but for the collective allegiance of Haihan." ”

Zhan Gui was already so frightened at this time that his tongue was a little unshy: "Yes...... Be...... The villain is ...... Understood!"

"Boss Zhan, you don't have to be so nervous, I didn't have any ill will towards you by inviting you over today. At this time, the staff came in with tea, and Hao Wanqing stopped talking and said, "Drink tea first to relieve the tension." ”

Zhan Gui drank two sips of hot tea according to his words, and only then did he relax a little. The tea leaves brewed in this teacup are not bad, Zhan Gui took a sip and tasted that this is Tieguanyin from Anxi, Fujian, and it is a top grade, it seems that Hao Wanqing's words should not be a joke, after all, no matter how rich they are, they will not use such a good thing to entertain the prisoners.

"Actually, I invited you over today because I want to ask Boss Zhan for help. Hao Wanqing's words made Zhan Gui also take a small startle.