Chapter 414: Jinjiang County

Qian Shuixie swallowed hard. Millions in gold and silver—that was even more impressive than the “Flying Dutchman” plan they had been touting. He looked greedily at the nearby Kinmen Island, as if it were an island made of gold.

“To think that Old Zheng gets to swallow this fat piece of meat all by himself, I can’t stand it,” Qian Shuixie said, touching the pistol under his arm. He had already mixed his special reconnaissance team members among the sailors. Taking advantage of the opportunity to transport goods by small boat, they had conducted a beach survey of Kinmen Island and Anping Beach. They had also used the past few days of anchorage to calibrate the tide tables.

“Soon, soon. It will be ours soon.”

As they were talking, a sailor came in to report that someone had arrived from Jinjiang.

Xu Ke’s spirits lifted. As soon as the ship arrived in port, he had sent people ashore to check on Lin Shimao’s situation in Jinjiang County. According to his plan, he was going to kidnap Lin Shimao first.

Once they had the man, he would have no choice but to talk. Then they would send him, along with Li Shun and the others, plus their confessions and material evidence, to the Dutch, and the Westerly case would be solved.

“Have him report immediately.”

A moment later, a man dressed as a local fisherman was brought in from the deck. This man was a sailor Xu Ke had brought from the service company. He was a native of Jinjiang. This time, he had gone ashore in disguise specifically to “case the joint” in Jinjiang and act as an advance scout for the special reconnaissance team.

The investigator reported that everything was normal in Jinjiang County, and Lin Shimao’s casino was still open. There was nothing unusual.

Xu Ke had been worried that Lin Shimao had been silenced. Hearing that everything was normal, he was relieved. His next step was to personally lead a team into Jinjiang County to command the operation on site.

In addition to thoroughly investigating this case, he also planned to conduct a reconnaissance tour of the county town and Anping Town to fully grasp the local situation—after all, this was the primary duty of a naval intelligence officer.

He asked, “Are the team members ready?”

“They’re all ready, and so am I. We’re just waiting for your order to go ashore and make a move.”

“Good. Orderly!”

At Xu Ke’s call, a sailor immediately entered.

“Tell the fleet commander to return tomorrow morning!”

That night, a secret door was quietly opened in the shadow of the stern of the Dabo Shipping’s salt transport ship. A rope was lowered from the secret door, and ten black figures slid into the sea one by one from the secret door at the stern.

The last to slide into the sea was a small raft made of bamboo and an inflatable leather bag. Boxes and leather bags were secured on it.

Xu Ke and Qian Shuiting, along with eight team members, swam, pushing the raft, taking advantage of the tide, towards the shore. On the beach where they planned to land, a faint green light could be seen, like a will-o’-the-wisp.

The planned landing site was a beach seven or eight li away from Anping city, four thousand meters from the salt transport ship. This was nothing for the special reconnaissance team members, who all had to pass a ten-thousand-meter armed swimming test—not to mention that their equipment was all on the raft.

But for Xu Ke, these four thousand meters were a bit tiring. Qian Shuiting specially sent two team members to push him. Even so, they were still ten minutes late in landing on the beach.

Two men in black were already waiting on the beach. Xu Ke knew they were intelligence personnel deployed by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau in the local area. They were here to assist in their operation.

“Heaven punishes the eight-foot!” the man said.

“Return my public map!” Qian Shuixie replied with the countersign.

“This way,” the contact person hurriedly greeted them. Xu Ke was startled—not only was the person speaking standard Mandarin, but his voice was also very familiar.

This person must be a Senator! But before he could process the thought, he was surrounded by the special reconnaissance team members and started to jog.

The moon and stars were sparse, and the road was almost invisible. The chirping of insects was all around, but the guide seemed to know the way well, leading them on a brisk walk. After about twenty minutes of twisting and turning, they suddenly stopped.

“This is it,” he whispered.

Xu Ke looked closely. Before them was a courtyard, standing alone in a vegetable field. It looked like a small temple.

The guide knocked on the door lightly in a rhythmic pattern, and the door opened immediately. The group quickly slipped inside.

The courtyard was pitch black, with no lights. The group was still led by them, entering a house and going down a ladder. Just as he was disoriented and couldn’t tell which way was which, a small flame was lit in the room, and then the whole room was brightly lit. For a moment, Xu Ke couldn’t even open his eyes. After blinking for a while, he finally saw clearly that the person who had come to meet them was Chen Tianxiong.

Since making a name for himself in Leizhou, Chen Tianxiong had become an intelligence officer for the Leizhou station, disguised as a Taoist priest in charge of the Zou Heshang Temple. In the past two years, as Leizhou gradually became “Lingao-ized,” Chen Tianxiong couldn’t make much of a name for himself in Leizhou, so he applied to return to Lingao. He handed over the Zou Heshang Temple to the New Taoism. He helped out in the machinery department while taking classes at the Intelligence Bureau’s training class. Xu Ke had even taken his class on Ming Dynasty social life in Lingao. He was preparing for a second overseas assignment.

Shortly after Operation Engine began, Chen Tianxiong was sent by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau to Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian, to specifically handle the work related to Zheng Zhilong.

The place they were in was an abandoned side hall in the backyard. The windows on all four sides were blocked, and the ceiling was densely installed with wooden slats. The walls were lined with cabinets and shelves, piled with boxes and objects.

“So, what do you think of my place?” Chen Tianxiong said with a smile. “I’ve had someone prepare hot water for you. You can take a bath and change your clothes first!” As he spoke, someone had already brought over bags of clothes.

After the group had bathed and changed into local casual clothes, Qian Shuiting told the team members to go rest. He and Xu Ke were anxious to get first-hand information, so they had a secret talk with Chen Tianxiong under the light of a horse lantern.

Chen Tianxiong had been in the local area for several months. He was not a native of Quanzhou and found it difficult to integrate into society quickly, but he could speak Cantonese, so he appeared as a sugar merchant. At that time, there were many Cantonese people among the sugar merchants. Fujian was also an important sugar-producing area in the late Ming Dynasty. Since Yuegang was destroyed by Zheng Zhilong, Anping had become the main trading port in Fujian. A large amount of Fujian’s special products, such as sugar, indigo, tea, and export porcelain, were distributed here. Chen Tianxiong’s presence here as a merchant was not conspicuous at all.

As for this temple, he had just acquired it recently and had made it a secret base.

According to Chen Tianxiong, Jinjiang was basically Zheng Zhilong’s territory. Although the county’s officials were all appointed by the court, most of the county’s clerks and yamen runners listened to the Zheng family.

Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong was not interested in interfering in local politics. He only interfered with the government to allow the Zheng family to gain more benefits.

“…The Zheng family is now acquiring land throughout Quanzhou, and the momentum is very strong. It’s especially so here in Jinjiang,” Chen Tianxiong said. “The Zheng brothers are buying land like crazy. As long as there’s land for sale, they have to buy it. It’s a bit like robbery.”

Historically, the Zheng family had been acquiring land on a large scale in Fujian since Zheng Zhilong was recruited by the government, and they once became the largest landowners in both Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.

Of course, all this land, acquired with a large amount of maritime trade funds, eventually ended up benefiting the Qing.

“Is there a lot of public resentment?”

“It’s not that great among the common people. The Zheng family is engaged in maritime trade here, and many people without land rely on this for a living. Especially in Fujian, where there are many mountains and little land, the land is already very concentrated, and there are few self-cultivating farmers. Their robbery has little to do with the common people. It’s the local landlords, big and small, who have a lot of resentment.”

“Does the Zheng family have an agent here?”

“It’s only a few li from Anping. The Zheng family is a big shot in Quanzhou Prefecture, and many officials are eager to curry favor with them. If something really happens, a note from Anping Town can make the county magistrate run around in circles. There’s no need to send a special person.”

“I mean the local riff-raff…”

“Old Zheng doesn’t have time for them right now,” Chen Tianxiong said. “He has a lot on his plate, and Liu Laoxiang alone is enough to keep him busy.”

Xu Ke knew that in the past month, Liu Laoxiang had frequently launched raids on the coast of Fujian, and had even gone north to the waters of Zhejiang at one point. Although he had not been able to cut off Zheng Zhilong’s two main trade routes, north and south, he still put a lot of pressure on Zheng Zhilong.

“Only we…”

“That’s right, only we know the use of controlling the grassroots,” Chen Tianxiong said. “Zheng Zhilong doesn’t have this insight. He’s a remarkable big merchant, but his political insight is much worse.”

Although the Zheng family was once a dominant force on the southeast coast, in the chaotic situation of the late Ming and early Qing, apart from the impressive continental trade and intelligence network they established, they had no outstanding performance in administration and military management. Overall, they did not exceed the level of local tyrants.

Hearing that there was no Zheng Zhilong’s influence in Jinjiang city, Xu Ke’s confidence in entering the county town tomorrow to conduct reconnaissance and kidnapping operations increased by a few points. He decided to go to Jinjiang County tomorrow.

“You guys rest here first. I’ll go make arrangements and send someone to meet you in the city tomorrow,” Chen Tianxiong instructed.

“Is it difficult for the special reconnaissance team to bring weapons and equipment into the city?”

“No problem. They can be disguised.”

The next morning, Chen Tianxiong had already sent two people with two sedan chairs to pick up Qian Shuiting and Xu Ke. The sedan chairs were not just for show; they had a hidden compartment at the bottom for carrying weapons and other equipment. Therefore, the sedan chair bearers were all specially selected strong men.

The eight team members were all dressed in blue clothes and small hats. Some carried luggage on their shoulders, while others held packages, disguised as the entourage of a wealthy merchant. They entered the city through the city gate in a grand manner. Although there were yamen runners and soldiers at the city gate, they only checked the poor and traveling merchants and did not question such a wealthy-looking procession.

Following Chen Tianxiong’s prior arrangements, Xu Ke found a large inn in the city, stored the goods, and left a few team members to guard them. He changed into a decent set of clothes and, led by a guide, went out to the streets, pretending to be a visiting merchant from out of town.