The sky was covered with clouds, and the weather was so sultry that there was not even a breath of wind. Even if you stayed on the bank of the White River, you still felt the unbearable heat of summer.
Hattori Hikoo sat on a bamboo chair, shaking a folding fan in his hand, looking at the fish floats on the river. The Sanliqiao Pier on the other side was empty.
At around ten o'clock in the morning, the barge Yongchang appeared in Hattori Hikoo's sight. When it reached the fork of the river at Sanliqiao Pier, the Yongchang slowed down and drove in slowly.
About ten minutes later, a cargo ship with a larger tonnage approached from the other direction. A sun flag hung on the flagpole at the stern and three large characters were written on the bow: Success Pills.
There is no doubt that this is a Japanese ship. This type of ship enjoys a very high status in occupied areas. Unless there are special reasons, it will not be searched under normal circumstances.
Arriving at the Sanliqiao Pier, the Chenggong Maru also slowed down and drove in, slowly docking on the Yongchang side. Ten minutes later, several crew members set up a gangplank between the two ships.
More than a dozen people who looked like coolies at the wharf carried out entire bags of refined salt from the Chenggong Maru and carried them along the gangplank to the cabin of the Yongchang.
What is this doing?
Sanliqiao Pier has been abandoned for too long and is overgrown with reeds. The two ships deliberately hid in it, which is definitely not an aboveboard thing.
If there are ships passing by on the river, you can't see the situation in the dock at all. Only on the higher embankment, you can see the general situation using a telescope.
Hattori Hikoo held up the telescope and looked for a while, and saw two people standing on the deck of the Success Maru, smoking and talking. It seemed that they were the people in charge of both parties.
It seems unlikely that the rebels are smuggling smuggled salt. The Chenggong Maru is a Japanese-registered ship. From the captain to the sailors, most of them are Japanese. It is possible for one or two people to treason, but everyone is treason?
After another half hour or so, the refined salt was transported, the crew removed the gangplank, and the two ships successively left Sanliqiao Pier.
Hattori Hikoo looked around with a telescope, and suddenly found a face appearing in the lens, holding a telescope in his hand, looking towards him.
The look of this man couldn't be more familiar. He is Hattori Hikoo's old subordinate Sakai Jiro!
Putting down the telescope, Hattori Hikoo mentally estimated the distance. The distance between the two was no more than a hundred meters. If there were no trees and weeds blocking the view, they would have seen each other long ago.
Hattori Hikoo strode along the river embankment. Sakai, dressed in casual clothes, stood there, holding a telescope in his hand, and a fishing rod was also set up on the bank.
"Major, what a coincidence." Sakai greeted slightly awkwardly.
Hattori Hikoo looked at him and said coldly: "Sakai-kun, why are you here?"
"Uh... I'm here to fish."
"How come I never knew you had this hobby?"
"Nothing to do..."
"Come fishing with a telescope when you have nothing to do?"
"This, this..."
"If my guess is right, are you spying on me?"
Sakai was startled, and quickly bowed and said: "I don't dare to do this for a humble job, Major, please don't worry too much...it is indeed a chance encounter!"
Hattori Hikoo walked up to the bucket, opened the lid and took a look. There was no fish inside, and what was even more outrageous was that there was no bait on the hook.
"So, Sakai-kun, tell me, are you here to fish?" Hattori Hikoo threw the fishing rod to the ground with all his strength.
Sakai hesitated for a moment and said: "Major, there is no need to hide it from you. In fact, my humble duty is to monitor Sanliqiao Pier."
He looked at the telescope in Hattori Hikoo's hand and said: "I believe that you also discovered something unusual, so you asked your humble job to borrow the telescope."
Hattori Hikoo stared at Sakai for a while and said, "What's going on with the Success Maru and Yongchang?"
"Major, please don't get involved in this matter. As long as concrete evidence is found, the gendarmerie will soon arrest the person."
"Are they rebels?"
"No. Did you see those two people on the deck?"
"What are they
people?"
"The one in the khaki mandarin jacket is Hang Laokan from Baihe Wharf, and the other is Captain Iwase from the Success Maru!"
"what are they doing?"
"According to the information I have, this batch of salt is all private salt. Section Chief Ono of the salt factory forged documents to sell the salt to Manchuria at a high price. Hang Laokan is responsible for the specific matters..."
Hattori Hikoo sneered: "The information you have?"
"Of course, when I monitored Jiang Xinyu's phone calls, I found the clues. This time I just followed the clues."
"There is a new captain in the gendarmerie. You want to express yourself, so you started to monitor Hanglaokan, right?"
"Yes." Sakai did not deny it.
"Does Captain Matsui know about this?"
"We don't know yet. I want to wait until the evidence is conclusive before reporting it to Captain Matsui!"
Hattori Hikoo pondered for a moment and said, "Sakai-kun, please stop investigating this matter."
Sakai's eyes flashed and he said: "Major, although this matter may involve Jiang Xinyu, for the benefit of the empire, I have no choice but to apologize for my humble position. I'm sorry!"
Hattori Hikoo looked into Sakai's eyes and said slowly: "Do you think I will protect Jiang Xinyu?"
Sakai lowered his head, avoiding Hattori Hikoo's sharp gaze, and said: "After all, Jiang Xinyu is Miss Mina's husband, so I can completely understand..."
Hattori Hikoo said in a calm tone: "You have misunderstood me. At any time, there will never be any private matter with me! I won't let you investigate because there are more important cases to investigate than selling illegal salt.
!”
"May I ask, what is the case?"
"I just have some clues for now, I don't want more people to know the inside story."
"Oh... I don't understand. Is there any conflict between the case you mentioned and the sale of illegal salt?"
"As long as you arrest someone, you will definitely alert the snake, and it will be even harder to wait for them to reveal their flaws!"
"Major, according to what you said, how long will it take to find their flaw?"
"I believe it won't be too long!"
"But, I can't wait indefinitely, so can you give me a timetable..."
Regarding this guy who repeatedly offended his dignity, Hattori Hikoo suppressed the anger in his heart, pondered for a while, and said: "Ten days!"
"Well, in ten days, the humble official will start arresting people!"
"Can!"
Hattori Hikoo put the telescope into Sakai's hand and said, "Thank you, Sakai-kun, for giving me some face!"
After saying this, he turned around and left.
Looking at Hattori Hikoo's straight back, Sakai said to himself: "Everyone can say nice things!"
In his heart, he naturally believed that Hattori Hikoo was selfish and did not want Jiang Xinyu to be involved. Within ten days, he might use all means to wash away the stain as much as possible.