Chapter 262: Gathering clues.

"Put the matter of Butler Zhou aside for now, and let the Eighth Division of the Supervisory Council take action to deal with it first and change the public opinion in Jiangnan! The rumors spreading outside are getting more and more bizarre!"

No one knew who came up with the idea for the Ming family, but they showed weakness for two months and created an image of being oppressed by the government. This was a means to tarnish Fan Xian's reputation.

When things develop, Fan Xian will lose his reputation regardless of success or failure, and by then, the people under his command will also be disheartened.

After all, even if the Ming family is gone in Jiangnan, there will still be the next Cui family or Xiong family!
If they help Fan Xian, then they will become the next "Ming Family"! Who would dare to help Fan Xian?
It is not easy to be an imperial merchant these days, especially for the imperial merchant of Qing Kingdom, where the whole family may lose their heads easily!

"There are two goals for this operation." Fan Xian held up two fingers, "The first is to make a big noise, and the second is to kill as few people as possible!"

Although Fan Xian's instructions were contradictory, Wang Qinian understood the deeper meaning behind them.

"Your Excellency is wise!"

"Don't be so frivolous. How long will it take to prepare all these things?" Fan Xian asked.

Wang Qinian thought about it and gave the answer: "Seven days!"

This is already a very short time. Not to mention the Suzhou City Guards, even if we notify the Black Cavalry, it will take time for them to rush into the city.

"When will the old lady of the Ming family hold her birthday banquet?" Fan Xian smiled slightly and had an idea in his mind.

Wang Qinian also laughed, his expression was indescribably vulgar: "Ten days later!"

"Well!"

Fan Xian exhaled and said loudly, "Then we will launch it in ten days. Let me give a good gift to this damn old lady of the Ming family!"

Having said that, Fan Xian was not just imagining things, nor did he have any patriarchal ideas.

This was an era of ancient feudal dynasties.

What is the situation in Qing Kingdom?

In Kyoto, although Emperor Qing is extremely domineering and his words are law, the women in the palace are causing trouble and hindering him. Not to mention the Queen Mother and the eldest princess, even the most inconspicuous and stupid Queen has her own tricks.

And what about Jiangnan, which is far south of Qing State?

The old man of the Ming family passed away early, leaving this big business in a mess. The old lady Ming stepped forward to support the family, which only makes people give her a thumbs up and praise her for being as good as men.

But the other party was in collusion with officials and businessmen, and even had connections with the military.

Not only did he make money in a dishonest way, but as an imperial merchant, he even colluded with Hai Dao and took advantage of the inner treasury.
The first one is the chaos in the harem, and the second one is the limitation of being a woman in this era. To put it bluntly, the pattern is not open.
After Fan Xian finished sighing, he returned to business: "Did the people who went to Quanzhou send back any news?"

"I sent two groups of people to act separately." Wang Qinian replied respectfully: "The first group went to the concubine's hometown and reported back that she did not return to the village. In addition, there has been no news of banditry along the way recently."

"The second group of people investigated the city gate order and found no record of this woman leaving the city. They are now looking for her whereabouts in the city, but have not found her yet!"

"It's impossible for a person to remain silent for several months!" Fan Xian guessed, "He must have been silenced in Suzhou City!"

"Have you found anything else in that village?"

Fan Xian said in a deep voice: "In the fishing village where the island leader was born, doesn't he have any relatives or fellow villagers doing business with him? Just ask around and you will know what the young people in the village have done! Now that the Ming family has contacted the military to destroy the island, it is equivalent to killing all their nephews and nephews. Will they still help the Ming family?"

"That village is deserted!" Wang Qinian lowered his head and said helplessly, "Please punish me, sir. I was one step behind the enemy in my thinking!"

"Was he killed or..."

There are nothing more than some dirty tricks, the most likely one is to use money to silence them.

"Some people disappeared, and the rest received compensation and relocated their families to other states."

This is the information Wang Qinian obtained from local officials.

After all, if all the people in a village were killed and disappeared, it would be considered a special case. It is not so easy to suppress it. There must always be a story about bandits passing through or visiting an island to cover it up.

After being bribed with silver to move to another place, one always has to go to the government to handle matters such as travel permits, and even the household registration has to be moved. This allowed Wang Qinian and others to find some clues.

“They just have too much money!”

Fan Xian sneered and said no, thinking that in addition to the open accounts, the other party must have accumulated a huge amount of wealth privately by relying on pirates!

"Sir, do you want us to kidnap Ming Lanshi and interrogate him for information? We can use the island leader's sister as a breakthrough point. He has a mistress, so it's impossible that no one knows about it. He must have arranged for servants to deliver food, drinks and daily necessities, right? I don't believe that we can't get anything out of him!"

Wang Qinian said hurriedly that maybe one or two things could be made up for.

Fan Xian shook his head: "There's no need to alert the enemy. Those servants who delivered the gifts would have been killed long ago."

"By the way, has the 'Crow' that sneaked into the pirates recovered?"

"Thank you for your concern, I have recovered!"

"That's good!" Fan Xian nodded and asked, "Some time has passed. Can you confirm which navy it is?"

"Back then, the Quanzhou Navy was known as the most powerful underwater force." Wang Qinian took out a simple map from his pocket and spread it on the table in the carriage. He pointed at the location of Quanzhou and frowned, "However, after the incident with Ye Liuyun and Xuankong Mountain, the court quietly reduced the influence of the Ye family in the Quanzhou Navy. After several disarmaments, the Quanzhou Navy is now divided into three!"

"Except for the Quanzhou Navy that is still in place, the Jiangnan Navy is now the nominal leader of the navy. Its office that oversees all affairs is in Shazhou!"

"When you first came to Suzhou, you met the officials of Shazhou. You naturally understand that if you send troops from Shazhou to this island to kill people, the journey will be very long and easy to be discovered. It will be a waste of effort to leave traces of the voyage."

The implication is that it can be ruled out.

Fan Xian nodded, agreeing with Wang Qinian's guess.

As for the taboos about the Ye family in his words, Fan Xian didn't feel anything.

"The last place is the people in the north!"

Wang Qinian glanced at Fan Xian, his eyes sparkling as he said, "The 'Crow' said earlier that the official ship went to the island late at night. In order to avoid so many hidden reefs and whirlpools, it must be a regular navy. The soldiers on the ship must also be professional navy, because the infantry will not have much combat power left after such a toss!"

"He looked at some people's faces, and they were obviously from the north!"

"The navy of Dongyi City?" Fan Xian frowned and stated a possibility.

(End of this chapter)