"Your Majesty, please take a look." Xu Ying presented the results of the interrogation.
Zhao Han didn't look through it because there was too much content. He said, "You pick out the important ones."
Xu Ying summarized: "Five salt merchants were arrested, three were sending news to the Tatars, one was sending news to Li Zicheng, and one was sending news to both the Tatars and Li Zicheng. Among the ginseng merchants in Nanjing and Yangzhou, except for one selling Korean ginseng
, and all the rest are selling Liao ginseng, all of which are secretly sending messages to the Tatars."
"It's a lot of detail." Zhao Han was not angry, but found it funny.
Xu Ying continued: "Some merchants can't even be called detailed craftsmen. They just inquire about all kinds of information and pass it on when they go to other places to sell goods. Sometimes, the trade route is blocked, and they only pass it on once a year or two.
.”
This kind of spy is a part-time spy, not a professional.
Zhao Han asked: "Have you caught the real details?"
"There is no real fine work." Xu Ying replied.
"No?" This answer surprised Zhao Han.
Xu Ying explained: "The Puppet Qing Dynasty did not have Jin Yiwei, nor did they have East or West factories. They relied entirely on merchants to pass on information. When the Ming Dynasty was still there, they also sent agents to bribe the beggars and gangsters of the Ming Dynasty. However, this kind of bribery
Only in Beizhili, not even in Shandong."
Zhao Han thought about it carefully and felt that it made sense.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had not even taken over Liaodong, would only focus on Beizhili and let merchants pass the news to the other provinces even if they personally engaged in spy wars.
The Ming Dynasty perished too quickly, the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the country too quickly, Huang Taiji died suddenly of illness, and Dorgon was busy fighting among himself, and then moved on a large scale, so how could he have the time and energy to expand the intelligence system?
At that time, the plague was rampant in Shandong and Henan, and the roads going south were blocked by the Datong Army. Even if there were fish that slipped through the net, people in villages and towns would work together to prevent and treat them. All foreigners were registered for quarantine. Merchants were not allowed to go south, and the people who visited relatives were resettled on the spot.
Settling... If the Tatars want to send spies here, their plans will be completely disrupted.
It is even possible that some spies, after being assigned households and assigned fields, felt that their lives were good and settled down to become farmers.
With the war in chaos and the plague raging, the Tatars could not find trouble with spies and could only treat them as missing persons.
Next, the Qing Dynasty retreated to Liaodong. Dorgon tried to restore the intelligence system, but all he could do was contact merchants.
Xu Ying said: "The person responsible for liaison went from Mongolia to Zhangjiakou, and then the Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou took action. The merchants arrested this time were bewitched by the Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou. Because of the passage from Liaodong to Shandong, they were captured by our Datong Army.
Cut off, even southern ginseng merchants have to go to Zhangjiakou to buy Liao ginseng. Yang Yiqin, a clerk under Cao Fengji, was caught and threatened by his son. It was someone from the school of salt merchant Zhang Wan."
Zhao Han asked: "Why did Zhang Wanxue sacrifice his life for the Tatars?"
Xu Ying replied: "One is to take revenge on the Datong court, and the other is that his family is doing fur business with the Tatars."
Zhao Han asked again: "Didn't the Tatars put people in his business?"
The spies sent by Xu Ying are mainly placed in business houses in various places. Or, they can directly recruit shop clerks to become non-staff personnel for collecting intelligence.
Xu Ying said: "The Tatars must have placed spies in the Chamber of Commerce, but there is no need to place them in the south. I guess that when the Tatars retreated to Liaodong, they left some spies in North Zhili for future raids or sieges.
.As for the south, Cao Fengji was already the biggest contributor, and the rest were the merchants who delivered the news. I tortured those merchants and found that none of them had connections in the south. They had to go to the north to do business in order to spread the news."
Zhao Han understood this clearly.
This is what ancient intelligence agencies were like, and the Jin Yiwei of the Ming Dynasty were a different kind.
Moreover, it was limited to the Jin Yiwei in the middle and early Ming Dynasty, and they could even go to the grasslands and Korea to work as spies. This was no longer possible in the late Ming Dynasty. The Tatars ravaged Northern Zhili and looted all the way to Shandong. The two sides fought for two months, and Chongzhen did not know that the Qing army was coming.
how many people.
Zhao Han knows very well how much it costs to maintain an intelligence system.
Last year's intelligence expenditure exceeded the royal family's expenses, with a total of more than 700,000 taels spent. In addition to paying salaries to intelligence personnel, a large number of contact points were established in the north, and even extended their tentacles to Li Zicheng's territory (last year's spy pension
A lot of money was spent on it, mainly due to sacrifices due to plague and war).
Zhao Han knew exactly what Li Zicheng was doing and could instigate certain wavering generals to rebel at any time.
There are also Xu Ying's people in the Western Liaoning Corridor, otherwise it would not have been so easy to attack Weiyuan Terrace by surprise last year.
"Where is Cao Fengji?" Zhao Han asked.
Xu Ying replied: "Run away. I heard that the Yangzhou merchant was arrested, and he ran away that day, taking only some silver coins with him. He didn't take away the business name, goods, or the money in the bill number."
…
Xuzhou.
Cao Fengji looked back to the south with lingering fear and said to himself: "I finally escaped. I have to speed up my journey. In a few days, there will be documents from the sea."
But Zuo Xiaocheng said: "Mr. Cao, there is no need to worry. There must be no pursuing troops and no documents for sea arrests."
"There must be!" Cao Fengji said, "Zhang Wanxue was arrested and Yang Yiqin was also arrested. How could they not confess us?"
Zuo Xiaocheng laughed: "I said it wouldn't happen, so it definitely won't happen."
"How did you know..." Cao Fengji suddenly showed a look of horror, "You are... you are..."
Zuo Xiaocheng comforted him and said, "Mr. Cao, don't panic. If I really want to arrest you, I will arrest you in Nanjing. The superiors said that you are still useful and asked me to follow Mr. Cao to Zhangjiakou."
Cao Fengji felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. Not only had he been targeted for a long time, but he also knew that he was from Zhangjiakou.
Zuo Xiaocheng said seductively: "Mr. Cao, do you still remember the business agreement you made with His Majesty?"
Cao Fengji nodded and said, "Remember."
"These businesses can be done," Zuo Xiaocheng said. "Mr. Cao can't do it himself, but he can let someone else in the family do it. When His Majesty takes over the country, the wool business will be handed over to Mr. Cao."
Cao Fengji suddenly rose from hell to heaven. His parents were also captured by the Qing Dynasty. Not only did they save their lives, they also saved their property, and they also used it to make a lot of money from the national crisis.
Now it's his turn again, but with a different partner, an emperor who is more likely to dominate the world.
The money will only make more!
Zuo Xiaocheng took out a thick letter: "These information are all confidential. If you give them to the Tatars, they will definitely gain their trust. Mr. Zuo can lie and claim to obtain important information, which arouses the suspicion of the Nanjing court."
, escaped overnight, resulting in the arrest of those merchants in Yangzhou."
"Okay!" Cao Fengji swallowed, took the letter and kept it.
Xu Ying made the intelligence agency very big, so she thought that the Manchu and Qing dynasties were the same. As the investigation deepened, she found that the Manchu and Qing dynasty's meticulous operations were not a common practice in the south.
Then there is no need to play slowly.
Because Cao Fengji was so tired, he had not even contacted Concubine Tian or the former prince in Nanjing for half a year. If everything went according to the original plan, it is estimated that the Manchu Qing Dynasty would have been almost finished by the time Zuo Xiaocheng fled with him.
We can only use artificial catalyst to make Cao Fengji escape quickly and Zuo Xiaocheng follow him.
If you escape to Zhangjiakou, you can immediately come into contact with the Mongols, and then you may be able to break into the Manchus.
No matter who Zuo Xiaocheng is with, he will definitely be unlucky, but this guy is actually very smart. After all, he is a scholar, and he can still serve as an aide to the governor of Jiangxi. Can a fool be recognized by the governor?
Zuo Xiaocheng will definitely be able to do something when he arrives in the grasslands and Liaodong!
And Cao Fengji is a descendant of the Fan family, which belongs to the first of the "Eight Great Imperial Merchants" of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. When this person returns to Zhangjiakou, the entire Fan family can be a help, and the Fan family knows clearly who to serve.
Of course, they may be happy too early, and they will have to clean it in the future.
Because the money earned by those wealthy businessmen in Zhangjiakou is stained with blood!
They provided food to the Qing Dynasty, supported the Qing Dynasty in entering and plundering, and then sold the stolen goods to the Qing Dynasty. Behind every tael of silver, countless families in Beizhili and Shandong were broken, and there were endless souls waiting for justice.
The two fled all the way to the border of Henan, and the Nanjing court's sea arrest documents were finally sent to various officials.
Wanted Cao Fengji and Zuo Xiaocheng were official endorsements for them, making Dorgon trust these two people even more.
Zhangjiakou.
Cao Fengji quietly found Fan Yongdou: "Meet my uncle!"
Cao Fengji, whose real name is Fan Yuji.
Fan Yongdou was the leader of the Eight Great Imperial Merchants. His grandson later became the Minister of Taipu Temple in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He was a third-rank official and was specially allowed to wear second-rank official uniforms.
"Why are you back?" Fan Yongdou asked in surprise.
Cao Fengji told the truth about the situation and said: "Uncle, the Tatars are definitely in trouble. They have suffered many defeats one after another. This Emperor of Datong is not Chongzhen. When the southern army has sufficient supplies, he will definitely swear to the Northern Expedition. Sooner or later, Li Zicheng and the Tatars will be destroyed. This time
It’s a great opportunity to catch up with the new dynasty!”
Fan Yongdou had no doubt about this and was so happy that he was gearing up: "It is indeed a great fortune!"
Cao Fengji added: "His Majesty the Emperor of Datong, please let the Fan family continue to spread news to the Tatars. The more you spread the news, the better, and the more trusted you are by the Tatars, the better. And Zuo Liangcheng, you have to take the opportunity to introduce him to Dorgon. He is here
From the beginning of the Datong Emperor's rebellion, he was a sworn enemy of the Datong Emperor. Such a person will surely be reused by Dorgon, because he knows many of the important ministers of the Datong court."
"Not bad, not bad." Fan Yongdou nodded.
Cao Fengji added: "Nanjing has promised that as long as the world is unified, it will also issue us a salt industry franchise license. Many businesses of the Nanjing court, such as tea, salt, and ironware, require franchise licenses to operate. This can be passed on to future generations.
family business!"
Fan Yongdou raised his hand towards the south: "Your Majesty is really generous. He doesn't care about what our family has done in the past. The Fan family will be loyal to us from generation to generation in the future. We cannot neglect this matter and must actively contribute to it. Although the drought in the grassland has eased this year, we can't find anyone."
If we buy food locally, more people will starve to death in winter. Many Mongolian tribes are disheartened by the Tatars. We can take the opportunity to provoke and even persuade several Mongolian tribes to join the imperial court!"
Cao Fengji said happily: "With such merit, the Fan family will be reused by the imperial court, and their descendants will benefit from it for generations to come!"
