Chapter 2015

For Haihan, North Korea is currently one of the most important allies and the top priority of Haihan's diplomatic work in the past two years. This is related to Haihan's development plans in Northeast Asia in the next few years. For this reason, Haihan

In the past few years, a large amount of resources have been invested in North Korea, even at the expense of mobilizing troops to organize coalition forces to go to North Korea to help it expel foreign invasion. It has simultaneously exerted efforts in the fields of politics, economy, culture, military and other fields, with the purpose of pulling North Korea back.

Enter the international camp led by Haihan.

Under such a major policy, the political stance of the current and future rulers of North Korea has naturally become one of Haehan's goals in the diplomatic field. In addition to trying his best to win over King Li Jie, Haehan also has an interest in the throne.

The successor, Li Zhi, put in a lot of effort. For example, he arranged for Li Zhi to study in Haihan, hoping to take this opportunity to instill more ideas that were beneficial to Haihan so that he could continue to serve as a maritime power in North Korea after taking over the power of rule.

Allies of Han.

However, the matter of arranging for Li Zhi to study abroad in Haihan was still a secret to the outside world before Li Zhi set off from Seoul. The Spanish base was far away in the depths of the South China Sea. Logically speaking, it was impossible to learn of Li Zhi's visit in time.

According to the information about Haihan, why did Li Xie participate in the assassination operation not long after he arrived on Hainan Island? Moreover, the Spaniards seemed to have no motive for participating in this matter that could directly benefit them.

It is difficult for He Xi to provide a clear answer to Tao Donglai's question: "This probably won't be clear until we catch the Spaniards involved. But I think their participation is just to show their attitude, and the real messengers are

In fact, they are those unidentified southern maritime merchants."

"Oh? How do you say this?"

"According to the information we have, there are no official exchanges between Spain and North Korea, and there is no open trade, so they actually don't have much practical interests in North Korea. Even if Li Zhen is gone, the King of North Korea will have another heir.

, there is no direct benefit to Spain, but not necessarily to those maritime merchants. Before us, there were many Han maritime merchants trading with North Korea. If their partners in the country were officials who opposed Li Xie's succession,

, it is very likely that it will convey some wrong information to Han maritime merchants and induce them to take action against Li Zhi in our country."

The possibility that He Xi mentioned does indeed exist objectively, and the inference is more reasonable, because everyone has determined that if the Spaniards can intervene in the affairs of these areas, someone must be a matchmaker, and in the case of assassinating the crown prince of Joseon

The behind-the-scenes instigator revealed in the film seems to fit this setting exactly.

"But who are these Han maritime merchants? Is there any evidence to prove that they have interests entangled with North Korea?" Bai Kesi asked.

He Xi smiled bitterly and said: "This is exactly what we are investigating now. We know that these people are key figures, but we don't know their true identities. I have reason to suspect that the incidents that happened in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Liaodong were also caused by this group of people."

People are doing evil in secret. If their identities and origins are found out, perhaps the suspicious points in these cases can be revealed."

The Ministry of Security has actually thought of many ways to investigate the identities of these mysterious masterminds, but so far the progress is not very satisfactory. Although the people captured in Danzhou have confessed one after another, the information obtained from them is far from clear.

Far from meeting the expectations of the Ministry of Security. Most of their contacts with their employers are messengers through a single line. The other party will issue tasks to them at certain specific time points, as well as corresponding remuneration, but there are few opportunities to actually meet with their employers.

They are so rare that they may not happen even once in a year or two.

As for the true identity of the employer, the exact information these people could provide was too vague. He Xi had to mobilize members of the security department from overseas to slowly verify the authenticity of the information. But as to whether he could follow the clues to find the real owner, He Xi

Xi is actually not too optimistic, because many days have passed since the group was arrested and they began to confess. If their employer realizes that the group has lost contact, it is likely that all previous contact information will be deleted.

Although the true identity of the opponent is still unclear, He Xi can truly feel that the opponent's approach this time is different from the opponents he has encountered in the past. He does not follow the rules, does not care about the cost, and does not care about the cost. He is like a gangster.

Luzi's approach, but his skill is astonishingly large. Just this span of regions and countries is definitely not something that ordinary people can accomplish. He Xi even thinks that even the official intelligence agency of the Ming Dynasty may not be able to do it better than this group of people.

better.

Such a gang with experience, organization and financial resources suddenly appeared without warning. He Xi felt that this situation was unscientific. To be honest, on the entire southeast coast, almost all powerful maritime merchants were related to Haihan.

There are more or less entangled interests, and most of those businessmen who reject or even intend to fight Haihan slowly disappear from the shopping mall after a period of time.

It has basically become a consensus among maritime merchants along the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty that only by standing in the same camp as Haihan can you ensure that you can make big money safely. Under such circumstances, what are the reasons for those who have the audacity to play against Haihan under such circumstances?

, this is also a problem that He Xi has never figured out. The measure he can take is to conduct a large-scale investigation to investigate those businessmen who have had festivals or conflicts with Haihan. However, this kind of investigation is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

, then it is estimated that there will not be any special breakthrough in the short term.

Since the establishment of the Ministry of Security ten years ago, it seems that it has rarely encountered such a situation that cannot be opened during the investigation of cases, and this time it is not just the Ministry of Security who feels the difficulty in the investigation process, but also participates in the investigation

The Military Intelligence Bureau has also failed to make much progress. The two intelligence agencies, which have long been mainly in a competitive relationship, have become brothers this time and have to cooperate in part of the investigation work and share the intelligence information they possess.

"I think the investigation has reached a dead end. Have you ever considered changing the direction of the investigation?" Gu Kai, who had been silent, suddenly broke the awkward silence: "Think about what we have so far.

situation, who provided the weapons and who was using the weapons, in fact we have already found out the general situation. The biggest problem now is that we cannot find out who provided the channel for this cooperation, but our investigation focuses on

Why don't you try to conduct an investigation from the other side on the side of the weapons user?"

He Xi asked thoughtfully: "You mean, we directly investigate the Spaniards?"

Gu Kai nodded and said: "Yes, the Spaniards' current territory is far away from Hainan Island, so they probably won't get relevant news so quickly. I think you can consider trying this approach."

"It's not that I can't give it a try..." Although He Xi felt that Gu Kai's suggestion was a bit bold, it made sense after thinking about it carefully.

If the Spaniards were in contact with the forces on the mainland through the channels provided by intermediaries, then the feedback of information would be very slow for cooperation with such a large geographical span. After the Spaniards were defeated in Manila, their scope of activities had retreated southward to near the equator.

, are thousands of miles away from Hainan Island and Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Considering that they may have to pass through an intermediary to obtain information, the delay will definitely be relatively long, and it will be difficult to respond to changes on the mainland in a timely manner.

As for how to get to the areas controlled by Spain in the South China Sea, this is not impossible to solve. After the Manila War, although most Spaniards managed to escape the area, there are still a considerable number of Hispanic people who have no way to go and can only stay.

Accept the rule of Haihan locally.

In post-war Manila, it was not uncommon for Hispanic locals to choose to serve Haihan. For example, the former Spanish official Colonel Francis successfully changed his identity from the commander of the Manila City Defense to the director of the Hispanic People's Administration. And for those who were born in Manila,

For the young generation who grew up in Manila, their sense of belonging to the Spanish Empire was not that strong in the first place. Many of them wanted to take advantage of this opportunity of changing dynasties to seek an opportunity to break through their class.

Ran Tianlu, the local person in charge of the Ministry of Security, and Fang Peng, the local person in charge of the Military Intelligence Agency, were familiar with the situation in Manila, and after the war, they also successively recruited some people from the local area. These people were not all Han Chinese, and some of them were

A young Hispanic man with deep eyes and a high nose who can't even speak Chinese.

The purpose of absorbing these young Hispanics into the intelligence agency is of course to send them to perform missions against Spain one day. If we want to investigate the Spaniards far south of Manila, then it is undoubtedly the most appropriate way to send these Hispanic spies.

choice. But doing so will inevitably involve certain risks. First of all, these people have not been with Haihan for a long time, and their loyalty has not been sufficiently tested. Secondly, the training they have received may not be enough to perform such investigative tasks.

To such an extent, rashly sending them to Spanish-controlled areas to collect intelligence may not necessarily achieve the expected results.

But the current investigation has indeed reached a dead end as Gu Kai described. Increasing the direction of the investigation and launching related investigations against the Spaniards in the South China Sea is a way to solve the problem. If done well, information can be harvested while also

Being able to train a group of Hispanic intelligence officers can be said to kill two birds with one stone. If it doesn't go so smoothly, it will just get nothing, and it will not be worse than the current situation. At most, it will lose a few Hispanic newcomers, which will have a negative impact on the Ministry of Security and Military Intelligence.

It can't be said that there was much loss in the round.

While He Xi was still weighing the pros and cons, Yan Chujie first expressed his position on behalf of the military: "Gu Kaiti can try this method. Even if he doesn't get any information related to the several cases here, he can still collect some other information.

"

Yan Chujie's idea is to first cast a net to catch a few fish if there are no fish. If you can't catch big fish, it will be considered a waste if you can catch some small fish and shrimps. For Haihan, the current situation of Spanish colonists in the South China Sea is

There is valuable information, even if you just send someone over to take a look, this trip will definitely not be in vain.

This idea is very practical. Probably only the military would consider the pros and cons so directly. Yan Chujie's statement basically represents the attitude of the Military Intelligence Bureau. If He Xi does not follow up, then this is a lost move.

, and could only respond at the moment: "Minister Yan is right, I will send a telegram as soon as possible after the meeting and let Manila arrange the action."

It only took a few words for the big shots in the executive committee to make such a decision, but He Xi knew that it would keep the people below busy for a long time. He formulated an action plan, selected personnel to carry out the task, and sent people to the unknown areas of the South China Sea.

, and then completing the survey to obtain feedback, no matter how efficient it is, it will inevitably take one or two months. But at present, it seems that since this is one of the few feasible survey directions, and there may be additional gains, then

So we can only implement the decision of the Executive Committee accordingly.

However, as Yan Chujie said, this kind of mission actually involves the collection of intelligence in many fields. He Xi is also prepared to make full use of this mission to maximize the possible effects. For example, taking this opportunity to start Spanish control in the South China Sea

It may be a good time for the district to establish an intelligence network with mainly Hispanic intelligence personnel.

Of course, it is not that easy to establish an intelligence network in enemy-controlled areas. It requires thorough planning, a lot of investment, and capable and reliable execution personnel. Although the members of the Security Department currently stationed in Manila are of good quality

, but the number is really limited. If you want to carry out such a task, you really have to rely on local Hispanic intelligence personnel.

"Both the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau let it go!" Tao Donglai quickly set the tone for this matter: "The recent series of events have shown that the struggle between us and Spain will not end soon, so for

The Spanish intelligence work still needs to be carried out unremittingly. Regardless of whether the subsequent investigation goes smoothly, we must establish a monitoring system for the Spaniards, and we must try to limit their scope of activities south of Luzon Island!"

Tao Donglai's attitude basically represents the attitude of the Executive Committee. As long as the Executive Committee expresses its approval, the resources and funds required for follow-up actions should not be a problem, and it will also help them eliminate problems to a certain extent.

No worries.

Sure enough, in the later voting session, the Executive Committee passed a resolution on launching a special investigation into the Spanish-controlled areas, and authorized the Ministry of Security and Military Intelligence to implement this resolution and take all measures within their scope of functions to ensure the implementation of this resolution.

Implementation.

After the meeting, the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau held separate meetings and began to deploy relevant tasks. Later that day, the relevant resolutions were sent to Manila via telegram. By this time, the arrest of the Danzhou case had already passed.

It has been more than twenty days, and it has been three days since Gong Shiqi's team returned to Zhoushan. In the distant Liaodong, Sun Bing has just discovered traces of Spanish activities. Investigations in various places seem to have failed to make major progress, but the discoveries found in various places have

But the clues slowly connected together, all pointing to the Spaniards in the South China Sea.
Chapter completed!