Chapter 2096

When Cui Hongfang first heard about this errand from Qu Yutong, he only thought that it was a credit to him who came to his door. He did not think carefully about why Qu Yutong asked him, the commander, to personally handle this kind of errand as long as hundreds of households came forward.

It was a small matter that could be settled. Later, after he met with Duan Tiancheng, the other party requested that the city gate be blocked during the arrest, traffic in the area around the target be cut off, and heavy armored infantry be sent to prepare for the attack. Only then did he realize what the Haihan people had told him.

The errand was not as simple as I expected.

The so-called secret strongholds of pirate gangs are not just as simple as lurking in the city of Ningbo to gather information. According to Duan Tiancheng, most of the underground strongholds seized by Haihan in the Fuguang area in the south have hidden muskets.

, knives, bows and other weapons, and the relevant personnel will fight to the death when being arrested. During this period, the arresting personnel have been killed or injured in the battle. Although Cui Hongfang has a high position and does not need to go into battle personally, he does not want to let his subordinates

In vain casualties can be avoided as much as possible by making arrangements in advance since the Haihan people have early warning.

Cui Hongfang also wanted to take this opportunity to please the Zhoushan authorities, so he asked Duan Tiancheng how to arrange the arrest operation. Then he followed Duan Tiancheng's instructions and mobilized manpower to make a comprehensive arrangement, and then began to seal off the city and arrest people. However, in the meantime, because of

Based on Duan Tiancheng's suggestion, Cui Hongfang arranged the attack time in the evening before sunset, which happened to allow some of the other party's personnel to seize this opportunity and sneak out of Ningbo City.

Roadblocks were set up on the outside, the streets were blocked, and heavy armored infantry, archers, and musketeers were deployed. After everything was prepared, Cui Hongcong ordered the clearing to begin.

At this time, the blocked area was actually closed to the public. People who wanted to leave were first taken to other streets and alleys. The police officers transferred from the Ningbo Prefecture verified their identities one by one and confirmed that they were completely connected to the dry goods store.

You can leave only when there is no relationship.

At this time, most of the shops facing the street were closed, and the dry goods store was no exception, so the arrest team did not encounter any trouble when cleaning up the surrounding area. However, in order to prevent the enemy from being alerted and prepare the target, the Ming army did not attack the dry goods store.

Neighbors were being cleaned up, but they were also included in the blockade and would be searched after the operation was over.

Then the heavy armored troops, shield bearers, and door-breaking teams and other combatants entered the combat position one after another, preparing to break in directly from the main entrance of the dry goods store. However, the local guard army in Ningbo Prefecture only has a small number of musketeers in its establishment, and their training level is limited.

, and had no actual combat experience. Cui Hongfang was worried that these musketeers would accidentally injure one of his own people by standing behind during the battle later, so he simply transferred them all to block the back door. As long as someone tried to escape through the back door, the musketeers would only have to fire at the person.

That's it. The task of providing fire support at the front door was handed over to more than thirty archers.

After everything was ready, Cui Hongfang gave the order to take action. Although these soldiers had not rehearsed beforehand, they were still elites under Cui Hongfang, and they were very neat in their actions. The door-breaking team carrying wooden stakes came forward in twos and threes.

Then he broke the latch of the door of the dry goods store, and then the shield soldiers followed closely behind the heavy armor soldiers, and poured in through the door.

The people inside were obviously unprepared for the sudden attack. Before they had time to use weapons to resist, they were overwhelmed by the rapid influx of dozens of heavy armored soldiers. Following closely behind the heavy armored soldiers,

Dozens of soldiers wearing cotton armor rushed in. They were responsible for quickly taking the subdued people out of the shop, stuffing hemp cores into their mouths, dragging them outside the dry goods shop, and shackling their hands and feet. It only took a moment.

, the Ming army had successfully controlled the situation.

The division of labor between the several arms units was clear beforehand, and their on-the-spot performance was almost perfect, leaving no opportunity for the other side to organize resistance. Therefore, the raid went very smoothly, and the performance of the arresters far exceeded the expectations of the two commanders.

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"Sir, the dry goods store has been cleaned up and you can go in." Later, soldiers came to report the results of the battle to Cui Hongfang.

Cui Hongfang did not leave in a hurry, but asked: "Has the leader of the thieves, Sun Feizhou, been caught?"

The soldier responded: "The leader of the thief has been captured, but he seems to have committed suicide by taking poison before we caught him. Military doctors are inside carrying out rescue operations."

Cui Hongfang nodded and said to Duan Tiancheng next to him: "In that case, Sir Duan, would you like to go in and have a look together?"

Of course, Duan Tiancheng would not refuse to review the results, and responded with a smile: "Master Cui, please!"

The two dismounted and walked to the door of the dry goods store. There was a row of people against the wall who were shackled behind their backs and lying face down on the ground with their hands. A soldier stood next to each person and stepped on his waist to prevent him from moving.

, I couldn’t tell whether these people were dead or alive for a moment.

Entering the dry goods store, it was already in a mess. In addition to the various traces of fighting left during the arrest just now, the people who entered the place later and were performing search tasks were even more likely to dig into the ground.

This house has been demolished.

The soldiers led the way through the shop and the patio at the back, and entered a study room at the back. The military doctor the soldiers mentioned was treating an old man lying on the ground, but Duan Tiancheng saw that the old man's eyes were tight.

He closed his mouth, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and there was no sign of breathing. It was obvious that he was in danger.

"Can it be saved?" Cui Hongfang didn't care about this person's life or death, but he saw that Duan Tiancheng should be more concerned about it, so he took the initiative to ask the military doctor.

The military doctor did not dare to stop what he was doing and responded: "Your Majesty, the poison this man has taken is something I have never seen before, so I can't give him the right treatment. I can only try to see if he can revive his life."

Delay for a moment."

"Try your best to treat him. If you can be rescued, I will reward you with a hundred taels of silver!" In front of Duan Tiancheng, Cui Hongfang naturally wanted to show that he paid enough attention to this matter and immediately issued a reward.

The military doctor responded quickly, but he was secretly complaining. He had checked this person's pulse when he came in, and it was already weak and about to stop. If he hadn't used silver needles to prick a few acupuncture points that stimulated vitality, he might have died before Cui Hongfang came in.

He has already expired. It is not easy to rescue him in this situation. Even if Cui Hongfang offers ten times more rewards, he will not have the incredible ability to get the money. Now I just hope that this person will die after he is poisoned.

, Cui Hongfang should not accuse himself of failing to provide adequate treatment.

However, Duan Tiancheng didn't seem to care that much about Sun Feizhou's life and death. After listening to the military doctor's explanation of the situation, he turned his attention to the furnishings in the study. After walking around the room with his hands behind his back, Duan Tiancheng stopped.

In front of the bookshelf.

Before he joined the army, he had attended a private school and knew some words. After joining the army, because he was smarter and performed better in previous missions, he was selected by his superiors as a staff officer to receive further education. Over the past few years, his cultural level has also improved.

Quite a few, and there is no problem in understanding ordinary books. However, the book that caught his attention was not a common reading material such as the Four Books and Five Classics, but a book officially published by Haihan.

Duan Tiancheng was able to see this book at a glance, not because he had read it, but because the characters on the spine were clearly the simplified characters commonly used in the Haihan Kingdom, which were slightly different from the characters used in the Ming Dynasty.

Duan Tiancheng reached out and slowly pulled out the "South China Sea Customs Chronicles" from the bookshelf. As expected, in addition to the big book title, there was also a line of small words "Sanya Publishing House" on the cover, indicating that the source of this book was indeed from Haihan.

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Duan Tiancheng casually flipped through a few pages. The content was actually just a relatively superficial introduction to the customs and customs. However, this book was particularly special because it came with a more detailed map of the South China Sea, including the many overseas colonies ruled by Haihan in the south of Hainan Island.

They are all marked, and all are accompanied by a brief introduction. For example, the book not only marks the geographical location of Amborna Island in the center of the South China Sea, but also introduces the island's unique tourism industry. And the Star Island further south

, is called "the important southern border town of Haihan Kingdom", which emphasizes the importance of the local strategic location.

As for the introduction to Haihan Kingdom, it is obviously the content that the owner of this book focuses on reading. Some key words and sentences are underlined in very fine handwriting, and there are also some annotations. However, these handwritings are small and dense, and Duan Tiancheng

It took a lot of effort to read through a few sentences.

"Controlling the sea is a strategy for the development of Haihan, and the size of the sea area controlled by Haihan has surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty"; "There are Haihan strongholds in the south, east, northwest and middle of the South China Sea, and the climate has been established"; "If you develop southward, you will definitely conflict with Haihan

, is extremely unwise.” Comments like these made Duan Tiancheng realize that this commentator had some insights into the general trend of the world. If this person was Sun Feizhou who committed suicide by taking poison, it would indeed be a pity. This person has

With such insight, as a member of the Eighteenth Party Committee, he should have a lot of inside information.

Duan Tiancheng then thought about it, if it weren't for knowing too much and knowing that he would have no justice after being arrested, Sun Feizhou probably wouldn't have chosen to kill himself so decisively. He would have used suicide to keep the secrets in his mind.

Information, this Sun Feizhou can be considered a ruthless person.

However, this "South China Sea Customs Chronicle" itself is a publicly printed and distributed reading material, and it does not involve many real military secrets, so it is not unusual for Sun Feizhou to obtain this book. Of course, apart from going to Sanya in person

In addition to consulting relevant materials in the library, this kind of books that introduce the customs and customs of Haihan are probably one of the few media through which the outside world can learn detailed information about the territory of Haihan. And whether it can be extracted from the rough information provided by this kind of reading material

Some views from a higher perspective depend on the reader's own quality, and Sun Feizhou is obviously one of the best among readers.

"Master Duan, is there anything strange about this book?" Cui Hongfang saw that Duan Tiancheng did not ask about Sun Feizhou's life and death, but he took the book and flipped through it for a long time, so he came over to find out.

Duan Tiancheng closed the book, smiled and said: "This book contains a lot of information about our country, Haihan. It seems that Sun Feizhou must have put a lot of effort into studying this information."

Cui Hongfang, however, somewhat misunderstood what he meant: "This thief is very courageous and dares to take advantage of your country. He is really capable of anything if he is tired of living!"

Duan Tiancheng said: "They can only think about it. If they dare to cause trouble in our country, they will never come back!"

Cui Hongfang thought that it was the same reason that these thieves came to Ming Dynasty to cause trouble, and it was not just you, Haihan Kingdom, who knew how to arrest people. However, he did not show any impatience on his face, and instead asked Duan Tiancheng for his opinion on how to deal with Sun Feizhou: "This thief

The poison you took is quite strong, and it seems difficult to save it. Do you need to transport it to Zhoushan Island and have it treated by your country’s doctors?”

Duan Tiancheng glanced at the military doctor who was already paralyzed on the ground and Sun Feizhou who was not breathing. He shook his head and said, "Since we can't save him, don't force it. General Shi didn't say that he must capture the thief's leader alive. As long as he doesn't let him

Just run away! Even if he is captured alive, it looks like he won't cooperate with us honestly."

Cui Hongfang said: "In addition to the captured thieves, does Mr. Duan need to take away the things found here?"

Duan Tiancheng said: "If we find weapons and equipment, or other things that can indicate the identity of this group of people, I need to take them back to General Shi. As for the other things..."

Duan Tiancheng lowered his voice when he said this, reached out and patted Cui Hongfang's shoulder gently and said: "Master Cui has worked hard today and made a lot of efforts. He should also take some benefits back to reward his brothers. The rest will be left to Master Cui."

I made my own arrangements.”

An important clue that Haihan was able to find out about this dry goods store was that the flow of money here greatly exceeded the daily operating conditions. Duan Tiancheng was basically sure before coming here that there must be a lot of money hidden in this place.

The stronghold's daily operating funds. Haihan is rich and doesn't care too much about where this kind of money goes. It's perfect to use it to sell Cui Hongfang a favor. This way, whether Duan Tiancheng wants to take away suspects or evidence from here, it will be easier for Cui Hongfang

Agree.

Seeing Duan Tiancheng's ambiguous eyes, Cui Hongfang stopped acting immediately. He called his soldiers over and asked the soldiers in front of Duan Tiancheng if they had found any valuables.

The soldier did not dare to hide anything and quickly reported the results of the current search. Various banknotes plus cash amounted to about ten thousand taels. In addition, several small gold bars and several jade stones of high quality were also found.

There are also two to three thousand taels of silver.

After Cui Hongfang heard this, he ordered: "Go and wrap up all the gold bars and jade stones and hand them over to Master Duan's men."

Duan Tiancheng quickly declined: "How to do this?"

"How could it not be possible? How could this errand go so smoothly if it weren't for Mr. Duan's guidance? Besides, Mr. Duan led a team to Ningbo to run an errand, so he couldn't let his brothers go in vain, right? Some money should be given to the brothers.

Now that the money for the drinks has been paid, Mr. Duan, please stop refusing!" Cui Hongfang seemed extremely polite and immediately thought up a reason for Duan Tiancheng to share the benefits.
Chapter completed!