This is a gloomy basement. Except for a heavy wooden door covered with leather, there are no windows in the whole room. It is as tight as a can. No sound from outside can come in at all. The people in the room can only
I heard the humming sound coming from the vents. The lights were on day and night, making the place bright and white, making it difficult to tell the difference between day and night. This is the underground prison interrogation room of the General Political Security Bureau.
The walls and floor of the room are covered with ceramic tiles, making it easier to clean blood stains and excrement. The room is empty, except for the table used by the interrogators, and there is only a hardwood chair in the middle that is reinforced with iron bars and firmly fixed to the ground.
Several full-time thugs from the Security Bureau were smoking cigarettes and standing aside watching the people on the chairs.
A woman with "chiluo" all over her body was fixed on a chair with handcuffs and shackles. Her head dropped to her chest, her long black hair was hanging down, her body was twitching and crying. Her body was already covered with purple whip marks. "Beep"
Black electrodes were fixed to the "Beep", and the wires continued from her body to the hand-cranked telephone on the table.
Zhou Dongtian stood in front of her, his coat had been taken off, and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up.
"Have you really said everything Hao Yuan said?"
"It's really... it's really..." The woman couldn't help but shook her head and cried, "I told you everything I know..."
"You are very dishonest." Zhou Dongtian said sternly, "You must know that you are not the only person we arrested. There were other people present at that meeting besides you."
“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…” Jia Le cried bitterly. From the time she was arrested to the time she was transferred to Lingao, she had lost the concept of time. Ever since she got off the ship and was sent here for torture, she felt like she was reading in hell almost every moment.
The interrogation and torture day and night tortured her to the point where her spirit was about to collapse.
In fact, she couldn't figure out how much time had passed. She had fainted and woke up several times. Every time she woke up, it was like crawling out of hell. She thought she had been reborn, but when she opened her eyes, she saw that
It's still dark.
The clothes on her body had long been stripped off, but she had no sense of shame at all. She only felt burning pain all over her body. Especially the "Beep" and "Beep" that were taped with tape and connected to black strings, except for her head and face.
, except for the hands and feet, there are scars almost everywhere.
These people alternately asked about two things: First, Hao Yuan's organization: What is its structure? How many people are it composed of? Who are the backbones? What are the usual activities? What are the theories Hao Yuan instilled in them?
The second is about Hao Yuan himself. What words does he often say? How is his daily behavior? Has he ever talked about his life, parents, relatives and friends...
These contents were interrogated over and over again, and even if she told everything she knew, it would not help. The thugs did not seem to believe her memory. Repeated torture forced her to continue to "recall". Any clue would be pursued.
The person who presided over this torture and extortion of confessions was Zhou Dongtian himself. In addition to his own disciples, there were also several yamen retained by various yamen.
"Director, your phone number." Just as Zhou Dongtian was pressing the question, someone came to report.
Zhou Dongtian walked out of the interrogation room and picked up the phone. He looked at his watch again. It was just after seven in the morning.
Zhao Manxiong called and asked if there was any new progress. Zhou Dongtian reported on the latest interrogation situation.
"Very good, you can seize the time and push it further to see if you can find any new content. There will be an internal security meeting at nine o'clock this morning. This case will be discussed at the meeting. The more detailed the materials, the better."
Zhou Dongtian put down the phone, wiped the sweat from his head, drank a large cup of herbal tea, stuffed a few snacks into his mouth and returned to the interrogation room.
"Think about it again. What do you remember about the meeting held by Hao Yuan?" Zhou Dongtian slowed down his tone and looked at the telephone on the table. A staff member approached the table.
"No, don't, don't-" Jia Le screamed, struggling and twisting, "I said. I said, I said anything..."
The weekly "Internal Security Meeting" is held as usual in the confidential conference room of the Executive Committee Courtyard. This is a joint working meeting of the powerful departments of the Senate, consisting of the General Administration of Political and Security, the Arbitration Tribunal Investigation and Enforcement Bureau, the Army, the Navy, and Foreign Intelligence
Representatives from the eight departments of the Bureau, National Police, Customs, and Cheka participated. The main purpose was to exchange information from the previous week, opinions and views on the current security situation, and inform the work of each department in the next week. When collaboration is needed
Communication is also carried out at the meeting. When "major security issues" need to be discussed, representatives of the Executive Committee and the Senate Standing Committee will also attend the meeting.
Today's meeting was like this, so there were a lot of people coming out of the meeting room when the meeting ended.
Jiang Shan walked out of the conference room quickly among the crowd. Unlike other people who were whispering about the content of the meeting, he didn't say hello to anyone. He walked out of the crowd and walked quickly towards Wu Mu, who was about to walk out of the door.
.
"Comrade Wumu!" he greeted in a low voice, "I want to talk to you."
Wu Mu blinked. The Foreign Intelligence Service and the Political Security Bureau had some overlap in business, but they had very little contact with each other, let alone direct requests from the other party to "talk."
He immediately realized that Jiang Shan wanted to discuss Hao Yuan's case with him.
This matter has been listed as the number one case investigated by the General Administration of Political Security. At today's internal security meeting, the introduction and discussion of this case took up more than half of the meeting.
"I have to go back to the office to do something now. Why don't you take the same car back with me?"
It takes fifteen minutes to walk from the headquarters compound of the Foreign Intelligence Service to the headquarters compound of the Political Security Administration, but Jiang Shan believes that the trip is worth it.
Jiang Shan nodded, and after leaving the courtyard gate, he whispered a few words to the security secretary who came with him, and sent them and his carriage back first. The two of them boarded Wu Mu's Dongfeng carriage together.
The carriage was driving on the cinder road. The two of them were silent for a while. Jiang Shan knew very well that the man next to him, who had an unattractive appearance and a temperament like a clerk who had worked in an office for ten years, was the second-ranking figure in the General Political Security Bureau and also the leader of the Communist Party of China.
The highest-ranking head of the General Political Security Bureau with whom most senators have access.
"Don't you have a feeling: Hao Yuan and Hale have some kind of connection." Jiang Shan said slowly.
Wu Mu was cautiously silent for a moment and said, "You mean, they all have certain characteristics that only those who travel through time have?"
"Yes." Jiang Shan nodded.
"But the autopsy report tends to conclude that Hao Yuan is a native of this time and space."
"It is precisely because Hao Yuan is an indigenous person physically, but his thinking is that of a time traveler, that's why I say that Hale and Hao Yuan have some kind of connection."
"You mean: Hao Yuan's thinking comes from Hale?"
"Exactly. Unless you believe that there are souls traveling through our time and space."
"Your speculation is very reasonable, but even this does not completely prove that Hao Yuan had direct contact with Hale - you must know that Hale is in Manila and Hao Yuan is Chinese."
"Hao Yuan is a Chinese, but he is not a native of Hangzhou. According to intelligence, he only appeared in Hangzhou City after the summer of 1632. According to the intelligence obtained by interrogating the prisoners: Hale came to the Zheng Group many times during negotiations in 1631
After crossing the coast of China, it was only then possible for him to obtain first-hand domestic intelligence. If he had known the news about Zhao Yingong at that time, then whether he assigned Hao Yuanlai from Manila or Hao Yuan developed on the spot, he would have had enough time.
.”
"But there is no direct evidence."
"Yes, there is no direct evidence yet. Hao Yuan is dead, but there are still prisoners," Jiang Shan said, "Mr. Lando has written a collection of Hale's remarks. If we can collect enough of Hao Yuan's
By comparing the two, we can know where Hao Yuan's modern thinking comes from and whether there is any relationship between them."
Including Xihua, Jia Le and several other arrested Hangzhou natives have been transported to Lingao and are currently being held in a secret prison of the General Administration of Political Security for interrogation.
Wu Mu fully understood what he meant: "You want to get those interrogation records and secret reports."
"Yes"
"Are you doing this for Mr. Lando?"
"It's because of our actions in Manila. I'm very worried now: our opponent may be an unprecedentedly difficult person." Jiang Shan said seriously, "Hao Yuan's appearance made me see a dangerous signal."
Not a cannon, not a musket, and not a reverberatory furnace - from the few words about Hale and Hao Yuan revealed in the meeting report, he realized that Hale was probably teaching his ideas systematically. In his opinion,
These ideas are far more dangerous than any technological innovation that Hale made in Manila. To the Senate, any army, fleet, or empire in this time and space is insignificant. Even if Hale has three heads and six arms, he can build a new artillery factory and build a few guns.
What will happen if the super-era cannons come? They will not be crushed. However, if that little spark is not extinguished in time, sooner or later it will turn into a fire that engulfs the Senate!
Therefore, he was eager to know whether Hao Yuan was his student and to what extent Hale and Hao Yuan spread these ideas.
"Okay," Wu Mu said, "let's agree on this: We will give you a copy of the Hao Yuan case file... I guarantee that all future interrogation and report materials on this case will also be copied to the Intelligence Bureau.
.But we must control how much and what to copy. Due to the principle of reciprocity, you must also hand over Lando's materials in Manila to us."