Chapter 867 Shifting focus

Yan Guowei's response strategy is to remain unchanged in response to all changes, in other words, to delay until the situation becomes clear. At present, he can only have a rough understanding of the affairs of Liuheng Island, including Haihan people, Shipu Suo, Sanlin

These three groups have colluded together, but it is still difficult for him to make a clear judgment about the specific situation and how the situation will develop next, and he does not want to take the risk of taking responsibility to make decisions.

Although Zhejiang Dusi is the superior agency of Chang Guowei, Yan Guowei, the dignified commander of the guards, is not a little person who can be manipulated. At least in the three-thirds of an acre of Xiangshan County, what he says is definitely more effective than the official documents of Zhejiang Dusi.

.Unless Zhejiang Dusi comes to investigate and deal with it on his own, the official explanation for the Liuheng Island matter will still fall on Chang Guowei's side. Whether it is a private fight among the people or a bandit suppression by officers and soldiers, Yan Guowei does not want to rush to characterize this matter, because

He had a vague hunch that the appearance of the Haihan people would bring not only trouble, but also some potential benefits. The Lin brothers of the Sanlin Gang and Ma Ling of the Shipu Suo were both followers of the trend.

It is absolutely impossible for them to get involved with the Haihan people for no reason. There must be some objective factors that prompted them to make this choice.

But Yan Guowei would not just sit around and wait. He ordered his men to go to Shipu Port and Xinshuangyu Port on Liuheng Island to inquire about the news. He also ordered Qiancang and Juexi guard posts to enter a state of war preparation.

On the surface, he also sent an official document to Shipu, encouraging Ma Ling's approach and asking him to go to Chang Guowei as soon as possible to explain the specific situation. Yan Guowei knew that Ma Ling would probably not respond to the call, but it was necessary to pass this method

This method shows Chang Guowei's caring attitude to them, lest these people continue to treat Chang Guowei as if they are nothing.

On April 28, Shinobu Motegi, the leader of the Sea Sand Gang, who had been on the run for many days on Liuheng Island, and his men appeared in the northern part of the island. They were discovered by members of the Sanlin Gang who were stationed on the island while looking for supplies, and were soon discovered by

Hundreds of armed men arrived and besieged a civilian house. After a symbolic attempt to persuade them to surrender, the Sanlin Gang launched an attack. In the end, Motegi Shinobu and 27 of his men were all killed, and their heads were

They were all cut down and packed in boxes, and sent to the coalition headquarters in the south of the island to report their merits that day.

"Lin Xing is a very prudent person." After Qian Tiandun ordered his people to examine the sent heads, he was quite satisfied with the result. Although it took four days to eliminate the bandits, this was done by the coalition forces.

With basically no intervention, the operation organized and completed by the Sanlin Gang on its own could be considered a pass if it could achieve such a result. At least during this period, Shinobu Motegi and others did not cause any more trouble to the coalition forces on the island.

"General Qian, are these heads also sent to Changguo Guard?" Ma Ling was the person responsible for inspecting the heads. Although he was a little unwilling to hear Qian Tiandun's praise of Lin Xing, he still asked for instructions honestly.

A wave of heads harvested on Liuheng Island a few days ago were sent to Chang Guowei by boat yesterday. Unexpectedly, another wave of fresh heads were harvested today. This is also a means for the command to divert the attention of the outside world. There are so many

After the head is sent to Changguo Guard, how the commander of the guard handles it will become the focus of public attention. Whether to report military exploits or blame his men for indiscriminate killings, this problem is left to Ma Ling's boss Yan Guowei.

"Send it, of course you have to send it!" Qian Tiandun ordered: "But this time don't just send the head. Later you go to the military supplies office to get 10,000 taels of silver, and send them to Changguowei together. See if your boss accepts it.

receive."

"Based on my understanding, Master Yan will definitely collect the money even if he doesn't take the heads." Ma Ling responded. He could roughly figure out the intention of the Han people who went to sea, which was to test Yan Guowei by using the heads and money to ask for directions.

Attitude.

The hundreds of heads sent the first time were undoubtedly a warning to Yan Guowei not to easily intervene in the affairs of Liuheng Island. The second time they sent both heads and money, it was to see how Yan Guowei would do.

Chosen. If Yan Guowei accepts the money, there will be room for negotiation on subsequent matters. If he is resolute and unwilling to cooperate with Haihan, then Haihan people will surely have other means to deal with him. But in the final analysis, Ma

Ling still hopes that Yan Guowei will not be confused for a moment and provoke the great god Haihan. Otherwise, the Haihan people will attack Chang Guowei again in anger, and they will not be able to make up a story like Shipu Port to settle the matter.

"As long as he is willing to collect money, it will be easy." Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "I will leave it to you to deal with the communication with Chang Guowei. Remember, you can make any arrangement that you think is unfavorable to you.

Choose not to pay attention. You are working for us now. If anyone wants to embarrass you, we will embarrass them. Do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand! Thank you General Qian for taking care of me!" Ma Ling responded hurriedly.

Although doing things for the Haihan people feels a bit humiliating, at least the Haihan people keep their word. If they say they are covered, they will be covered tightly and watertight. An official document from Chang Guowei asking Ma Ling to explain the situation was sent directly to Liuheng Island.

After Qian Tiandun read it, he crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket in front of Ma Ling. He said lightly, "Don't pay attention to it." This arrogance shocked Ma Ling so much that he didn't dare to say anything at the time -

At least Yan Guowei would never dare to deal with the official document sent by Zhejiang Dusi in this way in front of him.

Of course, the Haihan people are not under the direct jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty government, so it is reasonable not to give this face. But Ma Ling can clearly feel that the Haihan people do not maintain enough respect for the Ming Dynasty like other overseas visitors, but always feel that they are in awe of the Ming Dynasty.

They all show a condescending sense of superiority.

Ma Ling later discussed this issue privately with Lin Xing. Lin Xing's answer at the time was quite interesting: "Do you have as much money as the Haihan people? Can you beat the Haihan people with force? If you can't beat them, they have a sense of superiority.

Isn’t it natural?”

Although Lin Xing's words have certain limitations, they are crude but not crude. To a certain extent, they also reflect the current strength comparison between the two sides. Although the Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, when it comes to a specific province, in addition to the population, it is definitely larger than that of Haihan.

There are more control areas, and most of the other comparable parameters are at a disadvantage. Especially in the economic and military aspects that depend on productivity and technological level, Haihan has an absolute advantage. Among the Haihan systems such as Ma Ling and Lin Xing

Outsiders don't understand how this situation came to be, but they have indeed felt Haihan's super strength in these aspects from their brief contact.

One of these two people is an armed smuggler, and the other is a border guard officer. They both have their own opinions on how much money it will cost to build the fleet coming to Zhejiang, and at least one thing is that the two have reached a consensus - Zhejiang

The government would never be able to build and maintain a combat fleet of the same size, let alone send it to fight in an unfamiliar environment thousands of miles away. And the proficiency shown by the Haihan people in combat also shows that they are by no means simple.

The nouveau riche who rely on sharp guns to fight are instead well-trained professional troops with clear combat objectives. The elites of the Ming Dynasty's Beijing camp may be able to fight with them, but it is difficult for any army in Zhejiang to match them.

.

It is difficult for the government and the army to match, let alone these chaotic civilian armed forces in the East China Sea. After Lin Xing witnessed the process of the Haihan militia to clean up the Haisha Gang, Lin Xing was convinced that there would no longer be any force in the Zhoushan Islands that could stop Haihan from doing anything.

, the only thing that is uncertain is probably how long it will take the Haihan militia to calm down this sea area. So his advice to Ma Ling is to hold on tightly to this thigh, and try to bring the Changguo Guard up and down together if necessary.

Pull down the water.

Yan Guowei really didn't know whether to laugh or cry after receiving the pirate heads sent by Ma Ling. Of course, he could realize that this was Ma Ling's conscious attempt to shirk responsibility and leave the official direction of the matter in his own hands. If

Yan Guowei suppressed this matter and did not report it. If Zhejiang Dusi investigates the responsibility in the future, he will definitely make trouble for Yan Guowei first. If he reported it to the police in the name of suppressing bandits, then Ma Ling will undoubtedly have made a great contribution, but Dusi did not

Bian, a big shot with interests in the Haisha Gang, would definitely put this account on his head, Yan Guowei.

Yan Guowei still has a way out, which is to simply report Ma Ling to the superiors for killing Liang Liang and taking credit, shifting all the relevant responsibilities to Ma Ling, and by the way clearing himself of his involvement in the Liuheng Island incident. But doing so is a huge hidden danger.

, that is to push Ma Ling completely to the side of the Haihan people and to oppose himself to the Haihan people. This is not a wise decision when the current situation is still unclear.

It's not that he is afraid that the Haihan people will raise troops to attack Chang Guowei, but it is currently unclear whether there are other hidden forces behind the combined efforts of the Haihan, Sanlin Gang and Shipu Institute. After all, there are almost no armed forces in the East China Sea.

Everyone has a backer, and no one can say whether the Liuheng Island incident will be inspired by some big shot in the officialdom. Yan Guowei will retire soon, and has no pursuit of further advancement. He only wants to wait until the end of his official career in peace.

, so whenever there is a risk, he will avoid it in advance as much as possible.

Before Yan Guowei could think about it properly, Ma Ling's men sent a second batch of heads, including the head of the bandit leader Motegi Shinobu. Yan Guowei had also met Motegi Shinobu several times.

Tiandu's face was expressionless. He didn't know whether it was because he was born with facial paralysis or because the whole world owed him money. He felt that it was difficult to deal with him. He didn't expect that he would fall into the hands of the Haihan people this time.

Yan Guowei didn't know that when Haihan attacked Liuheng Island, Motegi Shinobi escaped from the encirclement. He thought that the head was deliberately sent in two parts, and the 10,000 taels of silver sent with the head this time were

Yan Guowei thought about it for a long time.

What Yan Guowei was thinking about was not whether to accept the money, but how to explain what happened on Liuheng Island to the Zhejiang Metropolitan Commander's Office after accepting the money. He thought for a long time but still couldn't make up his mind, and finally had to ask

My own staff, Mr. Zhang, helped me with the details.

Master Zhang was also a sensible person. After hearing the whole story, he asked directly: "Your Excellency, you want to accept this money, but you are worried that you won't be able to explain it to your superiors?"

Yan Guowei nodded silently, agreeing with Master Zhang's guess.

Master Zhang thought for a while and said: "Why do you need to worry about this matter? What does it say in the official document handed over by Ma Qianhu? You can just copy it. Or you can simply send the official document from Ma Qianhu directly to Hangzhou. The above

Your Excellency, you can think whatever you like. This matter was not instigated by Your Excellency, and Chang Guowei was not involved in it. It was all done by Ma Qianhu alone."

"How to deal with the head?" Yan Guowei thought it made sense and asked again.

"The head is indeed a difficult problem, so we leave it to the adults of the Capital Command and Envoy Department to handle it." Master Zhang explained: "They think it is military merit, that is merit, and they think it is killing a good person and taking merit, that is merit.

Fault. But regardless of merit or demerit, it is all done by Ma Qianhu. There is no need for you to take credit or take the blame for others."

Yan Guowei hesitated and said: "I'm afraid that this statement will not be convincing to the people in Dusi."

Master Zhang said: "If you don't believe it, then that's because Ma Qianhu's rhetoric is faulty, and it has nothing to do with you. Didn't the Dusi want to summon Ma Qianhu? Then he told the truth. The person who didn't obey the military order was Ma Qianhu, wasn't he?

Your Excellency!"

"But if this happens, I will inevitably be hated by others!" Yan Guowei was still a little hesitant.

"Sir, as a commander, the most you can do is resign next year. Even if someone has a grudge against you, what can you do?" Master Zhang was so anxious that he was about to knock on the table: "Those who hate you can still rob this money.

Can’t leave?”

Yan Guowei thought about it and realized that it was true. How could money matter about these messy things? Even if someone in Dusi hated him for this, there would be no time left for the other party to slowly find an opportunity to target him. Once he got the ten thousand taels of silver, he returned to

I can build a three-inch yard in my hometown and buy hundreds of acres of land. Then, whether the horse kills the cow or the cow kills the horse in the East China Sea, it will not hinder Mr. Yan from enjoying happiness in the countryside.

"Just do as you say. Write an official letter to the Zhejiang Dusi. They want to come to inspect the head, so they send someone to inspect it. If they want to find Ma Ling, let them send people to the East China Sea to find it. I accept it.

With this amount of money, you can't offend either of them, just pretend to be deaf and dumb." Yan Guowei made up his mind and gave the order to Master Zhang. At the end, he generously rewarded Master Zhang with twenty taels of silver as a reward for his contribution to the plan.

.

With an official document, Yan Guowei kicked the ball back to Zhejiang Dusi. Although the stakeholders in Dusi were extremely dissatisfied with Chang Guowei's attitude, they had no effective way to change the status quo and could only send people on their own.

Go to Ningbo to investigate the truth of the matter.

While the Ming army was still wrangling internally, the Ningbo government had already begun private activities. The Sanlin Gang acted as a go-between and arranged for the prefect's staff to go to the island to meet secretly with the Haihan people to discuss a solution to the matter.
Chapter completed!