Chapter 160: Armaments

Zhao Yigong was generally confident about his personal safety on the surface. He had roughly formed a “community of interests” with a portion of the local gentry. However, he had already gained considerable fame in Hangzhou. As the saying goes, “a tall tree catches the wind.” It was very likely that he would attract the attention of “bandits,” so he had to be careful. The estate’s activities in the printing industry, silk industry, and the sale of “Australian goods” had touched upon the interests of many social strata, especially the interests of the common people. In the event of a mass incident, it would be impossible to rely on the government for protection. Even if the government was willing to chop off some heads to appease him afterwards, the lost money and time could not be recovered.

It seemed that his security measures also needed to be strengthened, not only to protect himself, but also Phoenix Mountain Estate and its various industries. They were all currently in a completely unprotected state.

He did have a “security” team on hand, which was the “Black Dragon Society” system directly under the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. The Black Dragon Society system had established a “fighting society” in Hangzhou, under the name “Wulong Society.” With personnel from the Foreign Intelligence Bureau as its core, it had established an “underground security team.”

The “Wulong Society” was formed by personnel from the Foreign Intelligence Bureau who had gathered a group of idlers in Hangzhou city. It was no different from the various “fighting societies” inside and outside the city, and the things they did were also the same. The last time there was a debate between the Catholic Church and the monks in Hangzhou city, which led to a conflict, they had been mobilized to protect the church personnel’s escape from the back door.

Although the leader was an agent of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, Zhao Yigong did not have direct contact with them. He only communicated through Zhao Tong as an intermediary, and the same was true for every action. The reputation of paying for a fighting society was not good. Although some gentry did have them as their backstage and used their power, no one would openly associate with them.

The Wulong Society was not large. The number of people who could be summoned at any time was only about forty, and with the peripheral personnel who needed to be summoned in advance, it was only a little over a hundred. It was not a large force in Hangzhou city and its surroundings. Zhao Yigong had no intention of letting them grow too large. The composition of this team was currently impure, a mixture of good and bad. If their power grew too large, it would be detrimental to future social order. The main tasks he had the Wulong Society do were to collect street intelligence and spread rumors. They were familiar with the local area, and their acquaintances were from all walks of life, making their sources of information very reliable.

Now it seemed that the Wulong Society’s team was too small, and its members were mostly riffraff. These people were good at being bullies and fighting, but they were useless in a real crisis when they needed to risk their lives.

He needed a reliable team: not only to maintain his own safety and that of the Hangzhou station, but also to have the ability to strike at opponents at any time.

The Special Reconnaissance Team was naturally good, but they were few in number and their deployment range was limited. The closest team to him was in Kaohsiung. As a strike force, their reaction speed was a major weakness.

A more reliable method was to form his own team. However, Hangzhou was the premier city of Jiangnan, and its social order was one of the best in the Ming Dynasty. It was not feasible for him to openly raise a Phoenix Mountain Estate militia. He could only do it secretly.

Currently, Phoenix Mountain Estate, Cihui Hall, and Wanbi Bookstore all had servants responsible for guarding the gates and courtyards, but they had not received any training. Their basic work was just opening and closing the gates on time, checking people coming in and out, and making rounds at night. Their role was limited.

Zhao Yigong summoned Zhao Tong. Zhao Tong was not only his personal bodyguard but also the head of the security department of the Hangzhou station.

After discussion, Zhao Yigong decided to completely reorganize the current security system. First, a quasi-military servant team would be formally established under the security department, codenamed “Budou Team.” Most of its members would be selected from the refugees from Zhejiang, northern Jiangsu, and Shandong who had been taken in.

Although they knew nothing about the Fanhaijin, they would receive a full set of security training and be managed militarily. They would perform guard, patrol, and escort duties for the various industries of the Hangzhou station and would be the main security force of the Hangzhou station.

In addition to the “Budou Team,” a small-scale personal security team would be established, codenamed “Neizhi Team.” It would be directly trained and managed by Zhao Tong, and some professional bodyguards would be recruited to strengthen the team. Its main responsibility would be to protect the personal and family safety of Zhao Yigong, the Traversers on business trips to the Hangzhou station, the dispatched naturalized cadres, and the local key personnel.

Finally, the Wulong Society would be divided into an outer team and an inner team. The outer team would be composed of the original members, while the inner team would be composed of newly recruited personnel, mostly desperadoes identified from among the refugees. Most of these people had committed murder and were ruthless and desperate individuals. Originally, such people were to be sent to Sanya to mine until they died. The Political Security General Bureau had selected some of them to be used as a “suicide squad.” They would be secretly and directly controlled by the security department cadres, not mobilized in normal times, and specifically used for “wet work.”

Regarding how to control these murderers who had committed murder and arson without batting an eye, the Standing Committee of the Fanhaijin had once raised questions. After all, if these people were to be used, once they were in a free environment, they would probably be uncontrollable, and the naturalized personnel and Traversers who used them might even be harmed.

Wu Mu of the Political Security General Bureau’s answer at the secret hearing was: According to the report of the psychologist Jiang Qiuyan, who was invited by the Political Security Bureau, after a comprehensive psychological test using psychological test questions, hypnosis, and interviews, it was believed that some of them were inherently good-natured and had taken the evil path for some unavoidable reasons. They were people who could be reformed and utilized at a relatively low cost.

As for the others, although they were considered difficult or too costly to reform, they had great “use value.” Therefore, the Political Security General Bureau, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, the People’s Committee of Health, and the New Taoism had cooperated to develop “drug control” technical means to ensure their loyalty when they were on missions. For this purpose, he had specially distributed a “read and return” report to the members of the Standing Committee.

“The outer and inner teams, it’s easy for people to associate them together,” Zhao Yigong put down his teacup and said to Zhao Tong, who was listening attentively. “I think we should call it the ‘Nian’gan Chu’!”

“As you say, master,” Zhao Tong bowed and scraped. Although he did not understand the meaning of this strange name, he would never say anything more.

“You will be directly responsible for the residences of these people. Except for you and a few of your subordinates, no one else can know of their existence,” Zhao Yigong said, standing up. He walked into the inner room, selected a key from his keychain, and opened the safe embedded in the wall, taking out a porcelain bottle.

He locked the safe, came out of the room, and handed the bottle to Zhao Tong.

“Be especially careful with these drugs,” Zhao Yigong instructed. “Except for those few people, no one else can take them. You will personally keep them. The whereabouts of every single pill must be recorded.”

“Yes! I understand,” Zhao Tong knew this was a secret of the Traversers. As a bodyguard of the Fanhaijin, he had much more contact with the Traversers than ordinary naturalized citizens. Unlike the worship and admiration of ordinary naturalized citizens, he knew that there were many secrets hidden behind the Fanhaijin. Now that the chief was so solemnly instructing him, it must contain a terrible secret. He felt a sweat on his back.

“Although we try not to have direct contact with the outer team, we still need to choose a usable person to control it. The original leader, Huang Lao’er, died recently. It’s good that he died; I didn’t think he was very suitable anyway. Who do you think should be the leader of the Wulong Society?”

“Zhuang Haoren.”

Zhao Yigong nodded. He knew this person: he was a man with a large, flat face and a jujube-shaped head, tall and with a pair of bright little eyes, a Fu Manchu mustache, and a thin neck with a large head. He often came to the Wanbi Bookstore to read and chat with people about Wang Yangming’s “School of the Mind.”

Zhuang Haoren was a typical local “loafer.” It was said that he was originally from a scholar’s family, but his family had declined, and he had failed in his studies, becoming an “idler” and a “hanger-on.”

He had only joined the society half a year ago. Although most of the members of the society were street idlers, literate people were rare in those days. Zhuang Haoren had some status in the society. People who had read a lot had many twists and turns in their minds, and he soon became a “Zhuge Liang” type of figure.

Although Zhao Yigong had not talked to him, he had heard reports about him. This person’s fighting skills were limited, but he had a lot of miscellaneous knowledge and could be called a “polymath.” He had extensive social connections and was particularly well-known in the brothels. He was a very good source of information. He was cunning, but he still had some bottom line in his dealings with people and could be used.

“Can he command respect?” Zhao Yigong asked.

“In my opinion, it’s best if he can command respect. If he can’t, it means he doesn’t have the ability. We’ll just replace him.”

“Good, let him be the leader. The treatment will be the same as before,” Zhao Yigong nodded. “Tell him to pay more attention to the news on the streets these days.”

Seeing that he had no more to say, Zhao Tong quickly withdrew.

Gradually, the work of the Budou Team unfolded rapidly. Zhao Yigong decided to set the number at three hundred for the time being, roughly the size of a public security battalion. All of them would be selected from the indentured servants among the refugees. The selection criteria were that they must have parents, but no wife or children. Those with parents had ties and were easy to control. Men with wives and children had weaker courage. Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary in wartime, the armies of all countries were generally unwilling to recruit married men with children.

Like ordinary servants, they wore blue straight robes and six-in-one hats, but they wore a black belt for identification. They were organized according to the model of the National Army, with centralized accommodation and military management. They were stationed at various duty points in companies, platoons, and squads as needed. When not on duty, they could also be used as a formed labor force.

Because they were in the relatively peaceful Jiangnan, it was too conspicuous to openly equip them with swords and spears. Therefore, although the Budou Team learned to fight with swords and long spears, they only used long and short clubs in their daily training and duty. They were also equipped with a large number of rattan helmets as protection in case they had to be pulled out for a group fight one day.