In July of the second year of Tianqi, another typhoon passed through the Qiongzhou Strait, and Qiongzhou Prefecture ushered in the hottest weather of the year.
The local official Chen Dong was organizing the first local council meeting the day before. He held talks with local gentry and merchants in Qiongzhou in the government office for a whole day, dealing with all parties and speaking sincerely. Early the next morning, he sent his servant to The yamen said that he was not feeling well and was recuperating at home. Please don't disturb me.
Qiongzhou Prefecture is not big. Compared with the state-level cities on the mainland, its scale is even smaller than some counties in the south of the Yangtze River. In recent years, businessmen from all over the country are keen on the island's minerals, which has led to the rapid development of the seaside side of Qiongzhou Prefecture outside the city wall. It formed a new urban area mixed with countless cargo warehouses, shipbuilding yards, lumber factories and small smelting workshops. It was noisy and chaotic but full of vitality.
The Hainan garrison of the Chinese Army is nominally under the control of military and political affairs. In fact, it is only responsible for civil affairs. Its subordinate institutions include the Military Affairs Section, the Internal Affairs Section, the Civil Affairs Section, the Civil Affairs Section, the Branch Section, the Academic Affairs Section, the Law Section, the Agriculture, Industry and Commerce Section, etc. The Internal Affairs Section is In charge of the local security team and the village team, only the Military Affairs Section, Duzhi Section, etc. are under the jurisdiction of the local garrison of the Chinese Army, and their functions are limited to military logistics support.
When the garrison was first built, it was indeed the government, military, and judicial affairs that were in charge. However, in recent years, it has gradually transformed and reformed into what it is now.
The local garrison offices are in charge of civil affairs. Their administrative structures are different from the original local governments of the Ming Dynasty. Local officials do not directly try civil and criminal cases. Instead, they are tried by the circuit courts temporarily stationed in the local area selected by the Prince of China in Taiwan, and rotated every five years. The circuit court chief and the Law Section only serve as liaisons with the circuit court and paperwork. When the circuit court chief is not local, he has the authority to hear cases that do not involve the death penalty.
This approach limited the power of local officials and made it difficult for judges and local gentry to collude to oppress the common people.
Because Chen Dong handled matters efficiently and had a good reputation in Hainan, he stayed in Qiongzhou for a relatively long time. When he chose his own government office, he did not choose the government office left for him by the former prefect of Qiongzhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty. , but chose to build a new town government office in a secluded corner of the new city outside the old city, near the seaside Zhonghua Company’s exclusive dock warehouse, so that it is convenient to deal with businessmen and to learn about the various colors in the new city in a timely manner. The movements of people.
On the other hand, Chen Dong intentionally or unintentionally took this action to express a clear break with the old Ming Dynasty officialdom. Unfortunately, he wanted to say goodbye to the past, but this "past" still haunted him.
On a hot day, Chen Dong was sweating profusely in the study room of his government office, not because the weather was too hot, but because of the three people standing in front of him.
Most of his family members live in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He has a 16-year-old son who is studying at the soon-to-be-established Chung Hwa University School of Government Affairs. With him is a concubine who was raised locally in Hainan and is currently being locked up in the inner house and being supervised. .
The three people standing in front of his desk represent the Internal Affairs Department of the King of China, the Military Supervision Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the Domestic Bureau of the Military Intelligence Department.
The tall and handsome young man from the Civil Service Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the deputy section chief Li Yu, the director of the factory department of the China Company, and the son of director Li Yue. From the Military Supervision Department is a lieutenant military judge who will take over the Hainan garrison of the Chinese Army. As a brigade supervisory officer, another officer from the Military Intelligence Department was dressed in casual clothes. He was short and dark-skinned. His hair was messy due to years of sea breeze. He had the appearance of a fisherman who had been "running the sea" for many years, a typical image of a gangster.
They arrived at Qiongzhou from Taiwan Port last night after five days and nights of sea voyage. This group of people did not rest for a moment after landing. They sent people to contact the local Chinese army garrison. At the same time, they entered the Hainan garrison and Chen Donghou overnight. Chen Dong's residence was accompanied by an outpost of the Taiwan Fleet Marine Corps of the Chinese Army. These more than a hundred Marines in dark blue uniforms and hats were led by the Internal Affairs Bureau personnel who had been lurking in Chen Dong's residence for a long time. He quickly took control of the entire Hainan garrison, including Chen Dong's back house.
Led by Li Yu from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, these people did not wake up Chen Dong and others at first. When the noise of the house search was too loud and woke up Chen Dong, Li Yu and others began to search his study without ceremony. Documents and letters.
If Yin Feng hadn't repeatedly asked him to "be polite to Chen Dong" before leaving, Li Yu and others would have burst into the inner house and dragged Chen Dong up from the bed beside his concubine.
Literary men like Chen Dong, elders of the China United Company such as Li Yue, Lu Dahai, and Chen Zhongji, or the first batch of officers of the Chinese army such as Zhao Tie and Li Xing, would all show respect to them, and now they come to Hainan to guard These young people in the government grew up in the education system presided over by Yin Feng. They saw and heard about the general trends of the world and learned about Eastern and Western cultures. Therefore, they lacked respect for traditional scholars and Confucian scholars.
Now, Li Yu spoke in a purely business-like tone: "...Mr. Chen, the king has given you a wide berth. You'd better be aware of current affairs, hand over all the relevant documents you have, and report all the traitors you know. ,"
He looked at the lieutenant military judge supervising the military department. The military judge immediately took out a letter from his arms, held it in both hands and handed it to him.
Li Yu also accepted the letter with both hands, and said to Chen Dong with a sneer: "Here is a letter written by the king. The king is unparalleled in his benevolence and righteousness. He has given your family a way to survive. Now, it depends on whether you can understand the current affairs."
Chen Dong's face turned pale and red, and his whole body was almost soaked with sweat.
He stood up, took Yin Feng's letter with trembling hands, opened it carefully, and read it slowly, wiping sweat from time to time.
While Li Yu was reading the letter, he kept fanning himself with his sleeves, showing his impatience.
Before Chen Dong could finish reading the letter, Li Yu continued: "The king will also reserve your shares in the Zhonghua Company for you. Your family can still manage the land assigned to you, and your official rank will also be reserved for you by the king." , I just want you to serve in overseas colonies, and you are not allowed to return to the inland coast before the Zhu family's court is overthrown. Look, how the king treats you, it can be said to be the most benevolent and righteous, right?"
"Yes, yes, the ship owner's generosity and righteousness will never be forgotten by me. The ship owner's letter mentioned Xiao Ke's past, which is really... shameful." Chen Dong stood up behind the desk, bent over and handed over Yin Feng's letter. , smiled bitterly and said: "It's just that, although I am General Shen's staff, I really don't know anything about his situation. The imperial court...oh, whether the government sent people to lurk in Taiwan, I really don't know anything about the specific situation. ,"
The lieutenant military judge of the Military Intelligence Department said in a stern tone: "So, it is impossible for you to be the only one pulling the strings regarding the imperial court's purchase of Western cannons. We have checked and found that you had not left Hainan in five months. During this period, no one from the imperial court was involved. I only looked for you once, the specific time was..."
Chen Dong raised his head and sighed bitterly: "Your Excellency is right. I was involved in the Western cannons. It was just this time. I just wrote a letter of recommendation to Jin Nige, the deputy bishop of the Western Jesuits in Taiwan. Later, they really The matter was accomplished, but I was quite surprised..." The military judge turned his head to look at the Military Intelligence officer suspiciously. Seeing him nodding expressionlessly, he turned back and said, "We will investigate this matter to the end. "No one can shirk responsibility. Did you leave a copy of your letter to Jinnige?"
"It's burned, it's indeed burned," Chen Dong heard from the military judge's tone that they had actually mastered everything, and now they were interrogating him just to hear a formal admission from his own mouth.
"As far as I know, you are definitely not the only one who was sent to Taiwan by Commander-in-Chief Shen Yourong. There are at least two people who came to Taiwan with you," Li Yu said with a sneer: "In addition, your old servant He is also a subordinate of General Shen, right? He left your house three years ago, so where is he now?"
"Old Chentou is very old. I sent him back to his hometown three years ago to take care of himself."
"Yes, we have invited him back to Taiwan from his hometown of Jianning. So, who is the person who came to Taiwan with you to act as a backstop?" Li Yu pressed relentlessly.
Chen Dong sat down slowly, looked up to the sky and let out a long sigh. After a long time, he said with a grimace: "There are two other people who came to Taiwan with me. They are...the two brothers Guo Yi and Guo Yan. Quanzhou people,"
In order to protect himself, his family, and his own interests, Chen Dong finally betrayed the Guo brothers.
…
Three days later, the Hainan garrison posted a notice announcing that garrison Chen Dong was seriously ill and had taken a boat to Taiwan for treatment. At the same time, the new acting garrison Li Yu took office. At the same time, Han Yueming, the manager of Huaxing Alliance Qiongya Commercial Store, was arrested. The charge is embezzlement of company funds.
After Chen Dong confessed his accomplices, detailed information was immediately sent to Taiwan using carrier pigeons and communication ships. Soon, the Supervisory Military Department and the Military Intelligence Department found out the whereabouts of brothers Guo Yi and Guo Yan. Both of them were already wealthy. Family property, has lived in Taiwan for many years, but still has contact with Fujian Commander-in-Chief Shen Yourong. The elder brother of the Guo brothers, Guo Yi, is now a helmsman of the Third Squadron of the Taiwan Fleet of the Navy. The younger brother Guo Yan is owned by the China Company. The captain of one of the thousands of merchant ships belonged to the Han Ping family's Nanyang fleet. The ship that transported Western cannon across the Strait of Malacca was indeed an internal ship of the China Company, and it was the three-masted Fuzhou ship commanded by Guo Yan. The mission of smuggling artillery.
The two brothers happened to be in Taiwan at the moment and were arrested immediately. As the investigation activities were carried out in various places, more and more evidences made the members of the board of directors of China United Company all pale, fearing that this purge would affect them. Jinni Jin Nige was in Beijing at this time and received a private warning from the personnel of the China Company. Yin Feng announced to the Jesuits that Jin Nige must be removed from his post and sent to any jurisdiction of the China Company to await trial.
Soon, the big director Huang Qian was also found out about his family's secret collusion with the Fujian government. However, he owned a big family and quickly found someone who claimed to have committed the crime and stood up for him.
The Western Cannon incident gradually came to light, but the purge activities did not stop. Instead, on the grounds that the Han family's children had embezzled public funds, a large-scale inspection of the financial situation of the branches and merchants of the Chinese Company began. The purge gradually moved from tracing the Western Cannon and the traitor to completely It became an internal purge in the area ruled by the King of China,