Chapter 2050

Although the intelligence agency under Xu Xinsu was established after the Haihan Intelligence Department, and the key personnel had gone to Haihan to receive specialized training, the organization's organization, functions, and operating style were still relatively different from Haihan's intelligence department.

Obvious difference.

In order to avoid suspicion, the establishment of this organization was placed under the name of Xu Xinsu's Guards, and its function was to be loyal to Xu Xinsu alone and maintain the dominance of the interest group headed by him in Fujian. Since it was not established for a long time, this organization

The operation experience is still relatively small, and the collection and analysis of intelligence is not as professional as that of Haihan's colleagues. However, the members of this Guards unit are basically trained according to the standards of dead soldiers, so this organization has extremely strong capabilities when performing special field missions.

With strong operational capabilities, it will not rely on a limited number of field operations teams like the Haihan Intelligence Department.

Xu Yuxing is not the commander of the Guards, but his actual authority is still higher than that of a commander. He can recruit people from this unit to perform field tasks when necessary. For example, for the three people to be investigated this time

In order to achieve the target, Xu Yuxing temporarily transferred dozens more people from the Guards.

In order to avoid attracting too much attention from the outside world, this group of people participated in the operation in plain clothes. This detail also won Jin Ming's approval. He did not hope that the operation carried out in Zhangzhou would alert the snake, because there may still be people in Quanzhou, two hundred miles away.

There are other suspected targets. Once the wind is heard, the clues just grasped may be cut off again by the manipulator behind the scenes.

Since there was no way to launch actions against three targets at the same time, in line with the principle of easier things first and harder things later, Xu Yuxing chose the first target of action as the Guangli Trading Company under the name of Mr. Huang, the prefect of Zhangzhou.

Guangli Commercial Bank has Huang Zhifu as a big backer, and its resources and channels are therefore very convenient. Therefore, its operating conditions have always been good, and it is also ranked as a large commercial bank in Zhangzhou. Only in Zhangzhou, Guangli Commercial Bank

There are three branch offices and a shipping company, which support two to three hundred people inside and outside, and there are even thousands of people who rely on this business organization for their meals.

It would be a bit difficult for Xu Yuxing to check all the places of Guangli Trading Company. However, according to the normal business mode of the trading bank, the accounts and records related to the entry and exit of goods must be kept in the head office, so the head office of Guangli Trading Company in the city must be kept.

The store is the target of this operation.

Xu Yuxing was not joking when he said that he would start the operation early in the morning. For this reason, he specially kept Jin Ming for one night and gathered his men before dawn the next day to go out in order to minimize the impact of the operation.

For today's operation, Xu Yuxing summoned nearly a hundred people and sent out in two groups to block the front and back doors of Guangli Trading Company. They arrived at their destination quietly before Guangli Trading Company opened its doors.

Xu Yuxing ordered someone to knock on the door of the business. After waiting for a while, someone opened the door from inside, stuck his head out and said, "It's not time to open the door yet! Come back later!"

Before the man could retract his head, the people outside immediately pushed the door open and rushed in. The man was so frightened that he shouted: "What are you doing!"

"The government is handling the case, so be silent!" The leader waved his badge in front of him.

But the man didn't take this trick and immediately questioned their background: "My master is a government official, who are you!"

"Can't you understand? The Xu family is doing something!" The waistband was immediately in front of him. There was only a black seal character "Xu" on the blood-red waistband.

The man suddenly became excited and immediately stopped talking. He knew that although his master was in a high and powerful position, he could not afford to offend the owner of this belt. In fact, the power represented by this belt was in the entire Zhangzhou city.

No one dares to offend him. If he doesn't shut up quickly and the other party is cruel, no one will stand up for him afterwards. If anything happens, he will have to admit that he is unlucky.

"Watch the door. No one is allowed in or out without my order! If anyone resists, restrain them immediately!" Xu Yuxing gave the order with a serious look on his face as he quickly entered the business.

Although Xu Yuxing was still a little hesitant about the intensity of the action when planning the action, when it came time to take action, there would be no more hesitation. There was no turning back when the bow was fired, even if there was a conflict with the opponent at this time

, he must also use strong methods to calm the situation and complete the search for relevant evidence as soon as possible. The longer this delay is, the greater the possibility of side effects, and there are two investigation targets to deal with later, and he does not have time to waste time here.

Dilly dawdling.

The shopkeeper of Guangli Trading Company did not live in the store. There was only one steward who guarded the store. He was quickly betrayed by the clerk and was taken out of the bed. After showing the special waist card of Xu Jiajuanwei, the steward seemed

He still wanted to be tough, saying that the account books and cargo records could not be shown to outsiders, and also advised Xu Yuxing not to be too arrogant, lest it would be difficult to explain when the prefect asked him later.

Xu Yuxing sneered, didn't say much, just gave him a look, and a strong man next to him strode forward, grabbed the steward's chest and clothes with one hand, grabbed him like a chicken, and opened his mouth with the other hand

Fan it down.

"Bah, bang, bang, bang!" After four hard slaps, the steward was beaten until the corner of his mouth bleeds, and he was immediately blinded. Xu Yuxing said: "The situation is serious now. If you refuse to cooperate, it will be a crime of collaborating with the enemy. Even if you are the prefect,

Even adults can't save you!"

The steward had obviously never seen much of the world. After being threatened and deceived, he immediately surrendered and told him where the relevant information was. Immediately, someone went to fetch the things and let Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming take a look.

There was a big stack of account books and related records, more than a foot thick. Sorting out these data was obviously not something that could be done right away. However, Xu Yuxing had his own way of dealing with it, and he immediately asked the manager to come over again.

.

At this time, the place where the man's face was beaten was swollen, and his expression was already depressed. He probably still hasn't figured out why a group of Xu family members broke in so early in the morning and beat him up without saying a word.

After a while, they said they were investigating a case. It was obvious that this group of people knew that Guangli Trading Company was the property of Huang Zhifu, but they were not afraid of it. It seemed that this matter was really not a small matter.

Xu Yuxing did not have time to let the steward slowly think about the whole matter, so he immediately asked him to point out the part of the pile of information related to the transaction with the Spaniards. The steward was about to shirk a few words, when someone next to him had already pulled out a stick more than a foot long.

The dagger was staring at him eagerly. It seemed that this time it was no longer just a slap in the face as a warning. If he didn't agree with it, he might be stabbed.

This manager is not really hard-core, otherwise the previous slaps would not be able to subdue him. When he saw this posture, he became even more panicked and responded quickly.

Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming checked the records provided by the stewards and found that there were indeed several transactions with Spanish people. However, the amounts involved in the transactions were not too large, and the contents did not seem suspicious. They were all Fujian soil sold by Guangli Trading Company.

Mainly specialties, and the purchased ones are various edible spices produced in the South China Sea, which is relatively normal.

According to records, the frequency of trade between the two parties is approximately once every three to four months, which is approximately the time it takes to conduct a transaction from Fujian to the Philippine Islands.

But these records alone do not prove that Guangli Trading Company is the middleman secretly exporting arms to the Spanish. It only shows that the three shopkeepers who compiled the list did not skip this object because of the background of Guangli Trading Company. Xu Yuxing said before

The three lists received are indeed genuine.

Of course, on the other hand, paper records alone cannot prove the innocence of Guangli Trading Company. In a business like smuggling arms, probably no one would be stupid enough to record it directly in the ledger of a regular business. But with these records,

Xu Yuxing can further investigate the time of each transaction, which can save a lot of time.

But now they don't have time to slowly sort out these details. They can only seal up all the collected information and take them away. Guangli Commercial Bank must also be temporarily sealed until further investigation conclusions are reached. Nothing else.

Mention, at least the warehouse in the business must be carefully checked before you can rest assured.

Although this method of handling is somewhat simple and crude, for Xu Yuxing, there seems to be no better way. They have to search three targets in one day, so the speed of action must be as fast as possible.

There is no way to take into account all aspects, so we can only deal with this area that does not seem to have obvious problems on the surface first.

After roughly taking care of Guangli Trading Company, people who got up early began to walk around in the streets outside. Xu Yuxing left a dozen people here to deal with the follow-up matters, and the others immediately took the carriage to the next Kowloon Boat Shop.

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The Kowloon Boat Company is located on the banks of the Jiulong River outside Zhangzhou City. It is still a long way from the city. After finishing the work, you have to rush back to the city to deal with the third place. So in order to save time on the way back and forth, Xu Yuxing prepared it in advance.

Several horse-drawn carriages were used as transportation.

When a group of people hurried out of the city and arrived at the Kowloon Boat Company, the store was just opening for business. A dozen carriages came at once, blocking the door tightly. Then dozens of capable men got off the carriages.

They immediately poured into the Kowloon boat shop, and then closed the door they had just opened.

Different from the previous situation at Guangli Trading Company, the shopkeeper of Kowloon Shipping Company did not try to resist after seeing the cards shown by the newcomer, and honestly chose to cooperate.

He took Xu Yuxing and Jin Ming to his room, handed over all relevant information, and then pointed out the records of transactions with the Spanish as requested by Xu Yuxing.

Or because it specializes in shipping, the frequency of transactions between Kowloon Shipping Company and the Spanish is obviously much higher than that of Guangli Commercial Bank, with relevant records almost every month. This is not only the reason why Kowloon Shipping Company has sufficient shipping capacity, but also shows that the operators are very concerned about shipping.

This special trade channel was taken very seriously, and ships were frequently sent to the Spanish-controlled areas for trading.

However, judging from the records, the transaction content of Kowloon Shipping Company is roughly the same as that of Guangli Trading Company, selling more and buying less. This is probably because more than half of the things sold by the Spaniards in the Philippines can also be purchased in Haihan, and the prices are often higher.

Excellent, so most of the merchant ships going to the local area will leave after selling the goods they shipped, purchasing a few things symbolically.

This type of trade is actually not uncommon among Fujian maritime merchants. Before the Battle of Manila, the Xu family also maintained similar trade relations with the Spaniards. The Spaniards had enough silver to buy all the goods shipped to the local area and bid

It is also very generous, with considerable profits for each trip, which is indeed more cost-effective for maritime merchants than trading with the Haihan people.

"It doesn't seem like there's anything suspicious?" Xu Yuxing said to Jin Ming with a wry smile: "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

Jin Ming remained calm and responded after hearing this: "Anyone who maintains trade relations with the Spanish is suspected. These written records are only superficial evidence. We will wait for further verification before drawing a conclusion."

At this time, Jin Ming also discovered that the investigation of this matter was not as simple as expected. Even if he had already locked in three relatively suspicious targets in advance, he wanted to find out the truth about the trade between these commercial institutions and the Spanish.

It's not like you can immediately find out the truth just by searching a house. In addition to sorting out the information in these account books, you may also need to interrogate relevant people later to obtain detailed confession information. None of this work can be completed within a day or two.

But the shopkeepers of the Kowloon shipping company were willing to cooperate, perhaps because they believed that they had not done anything taboo. Even though Xu Xinsu had announced a ban on Fujian maritime merchants from trading with the Spaniards last year, such bans often

It can only deter ordinary businessmen, but it may not have much effect on commercial organizations with backgrounds. For example, the Kowloon Shipping Company, whose background is the commander of the Fujian Province, did not take the ban seriously at all and sent ships to the Philippine Islands.

Merchant ships still maintain a very high frequency.

"This Kowloon boat company has made a lot of money from the Spanish!" Jin Ming couldn't help but sigh after looking through the relevant records: "This matter has been repeatedly banned among the people, and it is also due to interests!"

Xu Yuxing responded: "It's just that my father is soft-hearted and doesn't want to cut off these people's financial opportunities, so he just turns a blind eye. If we really want to ban them, there's no reason why they can't be banned! Just like today we inspected these two places

In this place, if the relevant people are treated as collaborators and severely punished, no one will dare to break the ban easily again in the future!"

Jin Ming said: "That's the truth, but it's still not easy to operate. These trading houses and shipping companies are backed by officials. If they are too tough, it will definitely make it very difficult for Master Xu."

"It would be great if Mr. Jin can understand my father's difficulties." Xu Yuxing felt a little better after hearing Jin Ming's comments.
Chapter completed!