At 2:30 in the morning on March 14, the Nanyang Fleet rescued a Dominican cargo ship that had been hijacked by "pirates" in the Strait of Malacca, and "accidentally" discovered Guangwu's younger brother Yuxuan and twenty large wooden boxes with wooden crates.
This is no different from the small box Mu Hu brought. These twenty boxes are all the same, wide and large, and require two people to carry them. Each box has a seal on it, and is also covered with the Ming Empire's Diplomacy
The seal proves that these are diplomatic baggage of the Ming Empire and enjoy the privilege of exemption from diplomatic inspection.
The Ming Marines also found a set of documents in Yu Xuan's box, proving that his name was Li Fuliang and that he was the counselor of the Ming Dynasty's Embassy in the Dominican Republic.
Then more than a dozen sets of documents were found, proving that this person was a Ming Dynasty diplomat stationed in France, a diplomat stationed in Switzerland, a diplomat stationed in the Netherlands, a diplomat stationed in Belgium, a diplomat stationed in Brazil, a diplomat stationed in Cuba, and a diplomat stationed in Argentina.
Official, diplomat in Panama, diplomat in Mexico, diplomat in the United States...
Basically, as long as Yuxuan may pass by this way, or may take a detour due to an accident, or change the destination country, they are all here. In addition, there is a pile of passports from more than n countries, all made for him alone.
.
Moreover, looking at the workmanship, color, printing, patterns, etc. of these documents, they seem to be more authentic than the real thing.
The Ming Army Marines all sighed: This is a royal escape after all. The conditions are just different.
…
The Marines who performed this mission were all sent directly by the Naval General Staff. The "pirates" were all agents of the People's Guard. The general manager reported the situation to the base via radio, and the base ordered them to take the ship back.
Base, and at the same time strictly guard the twenty boxes and not open them. At the same time, continue to search for Guangwu on the ship during the voyage.
The Marines gathered the crew in the mess hall to "cooperate with the investigation", and then the "pirates" and the remaining Marines let go and searched the entire ship thoroughly.
The cargo ship "San Juan", escorted by two Ming army patrol boats, turned around and turned south, heading for Palembang, the main base of the Nanyang Fleet.
In fact, this is also a common practice. In the past, when the Ming Navy rescued a hijacked ship, regardless of its nationality, it would first take the ship and escort the pirates back to Palembang. The investigation and evidence collection of piracy crimes required the cooperation of the ship. This
Although it is troublesome and will delay the trip, the ship owners are generally very cooperative. After all, escaping the disaster is what is important.
The Marines and agents turned the entire ship upside down, and even shone a flashlight into the fresh water tank, fearing that Guangmusu was hiding in the water. But still nothing was found. They interrogated Yu Xuan, and found out who this guy was.
Say nothing. The Marines can't force a confession from him. After all, his identity is here, and he will have to go to court in the future. When interrogating the crew, the crew also said that the only passengers on the ship were Yu Xuan and a few of his bodyguards.
, there is no such thing as an emperor.
Although it was impossible to force a confession from the Dominican crew, so many crew members were interrogated separately and all told the same thing. It didn't seem like they were lying. The Ming army even used large sums of money to lure him, and even promised to be the first to reveal Guangmu's hiding place.
It is useless for Dominican crew members to get Ming Dynasty green cards immediately. These crew members were drooling after hearing these conditions, but they still said they did not know.
The agents on the ship became more and more frustrated. They were still unwilling to give in. During the dozen or so hours they returned to Palembang, they searched all the places on the ship that people could enter, leaving only some places that people couldn't enter, such as the fuel tank.
, boilers, and the inside of the covers of some machinery and equipment... It's not that these cannot be disassembled and inspected, but they must be inspected at least after entering the port.
Of course, there is another possibility that Guangwu is hiding in one of the boxes. But this possibility is not very high. The boxes are all sealed well and the seals are not broken. It doesn't look like he hid in a hastily.
Moreover, almost two hours have passed since the "ship hijacking". If I had really been hiding in there, I would have been unbearably bored.
However, there were death orders from above not to open these boxes. They left two agents in the storage room to guard the boxes before transporting them back. Even if Guangwu really hid in the boxes, he would not be able to escape.
…
The news was sent back to Nanjing and Beijing from Palembang. Xiang Xiaoqiang and others were also stunned.
...Why, couldn't there be more than one ship to meet Guangwu?
The General Maritime Staff immediately ordered the Nanyang Fleet to closely monitor the vicinity of the Strait of Malacca to ensure that the same thing could be done again when a Dominican ship passes by. At the same time, it ordered the aircraft carrier fleet in the Western Pacific not to return for the time being and to continue the search after dawn.
A few hours later, it dawned. The aircraft carrier fleet in the Western Pacific immediately released aircraft. This time not only reconnaissance aircraft and dive bombers were released, but even short-range fighter jets were released. So much so that there were only the last twelve fighter jets parked on the deck.
,in case.
At around one o'clock at noon, the San Juan sailed into Palembang.
Before the mooring rope was tied, the long-awaited agents of the People's Guard swarmed onto the ship.
The "rescued" Dominican crew members were immediately taken to rest, and Yu Xuan and his accompanying bodyguards were also put on black hoods, stuffed into trucks, and transported away to be held separately for interrogation.
Only the People's Guard agents were left on the ship.
They entered the warehouse where the boxes were stored and unpacked them to inspect the goods. Twenty boxes were filled with various tightly packed utensils. They unpacked two items from each box, including porcelain, bronze, calligraphy and painting, jade, etc. Finally,
One box contains large bonds in dollars and pounds.
Under mutual surveillance, the ten boxes were immediately sealed and carefully transported off the ship. Palembang was fully prepared and was directly loaded onto another heavy cruiser under heavy guard.
Immediately, the heavy cruiser, escorted by four destroyers, set sail out of the port and sailed to Daming.
…
Next, a group of shipyard technicians and workers boarded the cargo ship with various tools. With the enthusiasm of "breaking the ship into pieces", they took apart almost every part that could be dismantled. Then a few wolf dogs
After being led onto the boat, the handler sniffed every nook and cranny of the entire boat.
I have been struggling like this all afternoon, but I still can't find Guang Wu.
The interrogation of the crew is also ongoing.
The captain of the San Juan said that they were originally going to the Port of Marseille, France. When they arrived at the Port of Marseille, they had to send the guests ashore and wait in the port. The guests would come back within ten days. At that time, the guests would be sent to the port.
dominican.
The captain was also very innocent, with a grimace on his face, and said quickly in Spanish:
"We don't know who the Manchu royal family are at all. We only know that they are your Ming Dynasty diplomats. Certificates? Of course they have the certificates, but we can't understand them, and we won't read them. Our errand is sent by our government...
...What? Seaplane? No, no, no, my friend, I have never seen any seaplane. We met another ship at sea and transported them and the boxes over in a lifeboat..."
The two People's Guard agents who were interrogating looked at each other, very surprised.
They were going to Marseille, which was expected. This was nothing more than going to Switzerland via France, depositing the treasure in the bank. After depositing the treasure, they would take a boat to the Dominican Republic.
But now on this ship, everyone from the captain to the crew said they had never seen a seaplane, and they also said that people and boxes were transported from another ship. That means there is another ship. Guangwu is also very likely
Right on that ship.
"What kind of ship is that ship?"
"It's the San Pedro."
"What nationality?"
“Dominican, too.”
"In which direction were you traveling?"
"east."
Heading east! That is to say, directly crossing the Pacific Ocean and heading to Central America! Guangwu's escape was extremely meticulously arranged, and he even adopted the method of "separating people and goods" even when they reached the sea...
That is to say, Guangwu is still in the Western Pacific.