Chapter 347: Liu Fuqing

Not long after the surveillance began, they discovered that a young woman had left a secret sign here. To the surprise of the surveillance personnel, the young woman eventually entered the gates of the National Police Headquarters.

Soon, a detailed investigation result came out. She was a female police officer from the National Police’s Household Registration Department: Probationary Commander Li Yongxun.

This result greatly surprised the investigating officer. It was clear that there was more to this case than met the eye. Subsequently, in the archives of the State Security Bureau, the investigator found that this Li Yongxun was also a “person under controlled use,” which further increased her suspicion.

The investigator reported to his superiors on the one hand, and on the other hand, sent out more surveillance personnel to control the area within one kilometer of the secret sign to see if any other personnel were leaving secret signs here for contact.

However, in the following days, this kind of contact completely ceased. No one else went there to make contact. Not only were there no other people, but even Li Yongxun no longer went.

After obtaining Zhou Botao’s approval, the investigator sent an assistance request to the Ninth Section of General Affairs of the National Police, requesting a formal investigation and surveillance of Li Yongxun.

---

Zhou Botao rang the bell. His secretary appeared at the door, standing ramrod straight.

“Has Comrade Liu Fuqing arrived?”

“He is already waiting outside.”

“Please ask him to come in.”

A moment later, a middle-aged man appeared at the door. His hair was half-bald, and his forehead and the corners of his eyes were full of wrinkles. His small eyes were squinted, blinking from time to time. The black uniform of the State Security Bureau looked wrinkled and shabby on him, giving him a wretched appearance.

After a listless report, Zhou Botao asked him to sit down.

“How was the sea journey? Smooth?”

“Thanks to you, Chief, everything went smoothly,” Liu Fuqing said with a smile, blinking his small eyes. His words, like his person, had none of the “air” of the State Security Bureau.

“How long did you work in Jeju Island?”

Liu Fuqing didn’t know why the chief was asking this. It had been three years since he was appointed as a special commissioner of the State Security Bureau to Jeju Island. Although his return this time was a normal end-of-term return to the head office to await a new assignment, being summoned by a department-level superior as soon as he returned meant there must be an important task.

This former clerk of the Nanjing Ministry of Punishments was worldly and had inherited a sharp mind. Knowing that another opportunity for promotion had come, he quickly stood at attention and said, “Reporting to the Chief: I served as a special commissioner of the State Security Bureau in Jeju Island for a total of three years. This time, I have returned to report on my work after completing my term.”

“Don’t say ‘humble subordinate, humble subordinate.’ We don’t do that in the Senate. We are all comrades. Sit down, sit down,” Zhou Botao said, taking out a cigar and handing it to him. “I’ve read your file. You are indeed an old hand in the government, meticulous and capable.”

Liu Fuqing was flattered and took the cigar. This red-banded cigar was a special supply for the Yuanlao; ordinary naturalized citizens couldn’t afford it or buy it. “It’s all thanks to the wise leadership of the chiefs…”

He didn’t specify which chiefs, to prevent Zhou Botao from feeling “left out.” Secondly, it was hard to guarantee there were no frictions between the chiefs. It was better not to lay on the flattery too thick.

“Let’s skip the formalities. There’s a case now.” Zhou Botao lit his own cigar. “Your file mentions your participation in cracking the Jeju Island 315 counter-revolutionary case—you are quite experienced, so I plan to hand this case over to you.”

“Thank you for your trust, Chief!” Liu Fuqing was overjoyed, but also felt a wave of fear. Chief Zhou had specifically mentioned the 315 case, which had been classified as a “counter-revolutionary case.” In the Great Ming, this would be a “treasonous” case punishable by the extermination of nine generations!

He had handled the 315 case in Jeju Island back then. After solving the case, he not only received the “Director’s Award” but was also promoted one rank. This time, upon returning to Lingao, Chief Zhou had specifically named him to handle a case—this was a sign of a meteoric rise!

Although Liu Fuqing did not come from the various yamen on Hainan Island, because he had been a clerk, he belonged to the “retained faction” in the Senate’s political system. This faction consisted of officials, clerks, and yamen runners from various Ming yamen. They were accepted into the political system because they had taken the initiative to surrender or possessed a certain professional skill.

However, their origins meant they were not trusted by the Senate. Liu Fuqing knew that the chiefs trusted the naturalized citizens from Fangcaodi the most, followed by the “extremely poor households” who had been promoted from among the naturalized citizens and had received great favor from the Senate.

Liu Fuqing had at least “surrendered as a criminal,” which could be considered “having received great favor,” but he was well aware of the Yuanlao’s distrust of clerks. With this background, it was quite difficult to rise to prominence under the Senate’s rule. He was already in his fifties and could no longer learn the new ways of clicking his heels, saluting, and saying “for the service of the Senate” like the young people. The only proper way was to solve more cases.

“You are an old hand in our security bureau…” Zhou Botao said, blowing a smoke ring. Seeing the look of craving on Liu Fuqing’s face, he smiled. “You should have one too.” He handed him the cigar cutter.

“Yes, yes.” Liu Fuqing bowed slightly, took the cigar, and carefully cut the end like Zhou Botao. As he was fumbling for a match, Zhou Botao held out a table lighter to him and lit it with a click.

Liu Fuqing was flattered and repeatedly said, “I don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve it,” taking a deep puff from the flame.

“You are also an old hand in the government. I believe the tricks of the Ming government’s people can’t escape your sharp eyes.”

“You flatter me, Chief.” Liu Fuqing, with his years of experience as an old official, knew at once that this case must involve the Ming court. He had surrendered to the short-hairs for many years and knew that although the Australians were holed up on this small Hainan Island, engrossed in farming, their real intention was to “replace them.”

Now that he saw the chief bringing it up so seriously, he immediately expressed his determination to do his best to handle the case assigned by the chief.

“This is the case file,” Zhou Botao handed him the file box. “This case may very well involve the Jinyiwei.” He said, paying attention to Liu Fuqing’s reaction.

Liu Fuqing was not too surprised. “That’s to be expected. The Jinyiwei has always been responsible for gathering intelligence on the border.”

“Are you familiar with the Jinyiwei?”

“I used to work in the Ministry of Punishments in Nanjing and had dealings with the Jinyiwei,” Liu Fuqing said slowly. “During the Tianqi era, it was a good time for the Eastern Depot. Many agents came out to handle cases—most of them were from the Jinyiwei. I had some contact with them and know a little.”

“Does the Jinyiwei have its own secret contact signs?”

“Yes,” Liu Fuqing said without hesitation.

“Do you understand the tricks?”

Liu Fuqing shook his head regretfully. “That’s their secret. Let alone an outsider like me, even ordinary Jinyiwei military households don’t know it. Only the officers in charge of investigation and reconnaissance know.”

Zhou Botao was not too surprised. If everyone knew, then the Security Bureau would have known long ago. He briefly introduced the case to Liu Fuqing and then said:

“Deputy Director Zhao’s meaning is to cast a long line to catch a big fish, to dig out the spies lurking in important agencies. I won’t give you a time limit for this case.”

“Yes, I understand completely.”

“I now appoint you as the leader of the Sun Umbrella Special Task Force, specifically to investigate this case!”

Besides him, there was also a deputy leader—Ke Yun. As Li Yongxun’s “monitor,” Ke Yun was very familiar with her personal and life trajectory, making her a very suitable deputy leader.

Liu Fuqing, flattered, left Zhou Botao’s office with the case file. He felt the file in his hands weighed a thousand jin. This was not just a few pages of paper; it was his own future and the future of his descendants!

But if he messed it up, it would also be the handcuffs and shackles that would send him to the eighteenth level of hell!

At this thought, his hands couldn’t help but tremble again.

In this complex mood, Liu Fuqing came to the office of the special task force. Ke Yun had not arrived yet. He began to study the materials on hand by himself.

Besides the materials Zhou Botao had given him, the archives had successively sent more materials. The case file roughly contained two parts of materials: the case of the infiltration of the Southern Limitless Sect personnel cracked in the Umbrella Special Case, and Li Yongxun’s materials.

Liu Fuqing carefully read all the materials. As a former clerk of the Ministry of Punishments, reading case files was a basic skill. An experienced clerk, without seeing the criminals, witnesses, and presiding officials, could roughly know the true facts of the case from the case file, whether there was any injustice or fraud, and whether the interrogating officials had made any mistakes in interrogation and sentencing. Of course, the clerk’s ability was not for judicial justice, but mainly as a way to make money.

Obviously, the Umbrella Special Case had little to offer. These people were all small fry, not even high-level members of the religious sect. Despite being repeatedly interrogated, they could not provide any important clues. They were useless except for proving the existence of spies familiar with the local area and the Senate’s government affairs.

If there was a breakthrough, Li Yongxun was indeed one. Directly arresting her for interrogation should yield some important clues, but this would violate the instruction to “cast a long line to catch a big fish.” Liu Fuqing felt that even if Li Yongxun was a Jinyiwei, she wouldn’t be a big fish. Besides, one point could roughly rule out her possibility: Li Yongxun was captured and brought to Lingao, not a voluntary surrender. To say that this was all planned by the Jinyiwei was too clever. Besides, how could the Jinyiwei guarantee that after Li Yongxun was captured and brought to Lingao, she would enter the National Police instead of being directly eliminated?

So where was the clue? Liu Fuqing thought for a long time and decided to start by investigating Li Yongxun’s surrounding social relationships. According to the report, Li Yongxun began to behave abnormally more than a month ago, smearing secret signs on the wall. Therefore, by analyzing her activities and the people who appeared around her before and after this time point, he could probably find out who might be problematic.

Li Yongxun was a “controlled use object.” The surveillance on her should be very comprehensive. As long as Ke Yun arrived and he asked her to comprehensively analyze the relevant surveillance materials, Liu Fuqing was confident that he could find useful clues.