The Australian Revolution of 1828

As the head of the intelligence section, Anping was simply an executor and didn't have many concerns.

In order to completely extract information from the foreigners and uncover everything they knew, the intelligence department acted swiftly, bringing all the arrested foreigners to their office.

Due to the urgency of the situation, Anping did not rest and conducted a surprise interrogation of all the foreigners overnight.

Once the foreign leader was secured to the interrogation chair, Anping revealed a hint of the unique characteristics of the intelligence department: ruthlessness from the inside out.

After glancing at the immigration office's interrogation records, Anping forced a friendly smile and said slowly, "Henry Holt, may I call you Mr. Henry?"

The translator accurately conveyed the message to Henry Holt, who remained calm and composed, a stark contrast to his cautious demeanor at the port, and replied, "Sir, of course!"

"You are the owner here, we should show you respect!"

Previously, because the port did not know his true identity, Henry Holt hoped to reduce the port's vigilance by showing weakness and goodwill, so as to leave Hanyang safely.

However, things didn't go as planned, and he ended up sitting in the interrogation chair.

Henry Holt knew he had missed the best opportunity to escape, and thus became much calmer. After all, Henry Holt was an adventurous colonist with a resilient character.

As for Anping, the head of the intelligence section, he also tried to be polite first, reminding the other party, "Mr. Henry, then we can have a good talk about your purpose in coming to the port, as well as the intelligence you have collected on the coastal water temperature and other information."

Henry initially assumed that the people of Hanyang Prefecture were local inhabitants and wouldn't necessarily recognize the English letters used to draw water temperature signs. He believed that as long as he withstood the pressure of interrogation, he would be released.

In the end, it was all in vain and meaningless!

Upon learning that Anping already knew the information hidden in the picture book, Henry tried his best to suppress his unease and fear, and said calmly, "Sir, you may have misunderstood. It's not intelligence; it's just a record of the coastal environment."

"As you know, I'm an ocean-going merchant, and I need to keep records of the land routes I take!"

"We are simply passing through and wish to replenish our food and fresh water for the rest of our voyage. We have absolutely no ill intentions. If you do not believe us, we can leave immediately and will not linger."

Henry Holt continued to repeat his previous statement, but Han Qingyun didn't believe him at all, let alone Anping.

At this moment, Anping revealed his irritable side, sternly rebuking Henry, saying, "Mr. Henry, don't be stubborn and ask for trouble."

"My patience is limited, and I don't have time to listen to your nonsense. If you want to leave here, you'd better tell me the purpose of your trip as soon as possible."

Henry, unperturbed, continued to conceal his true purpose, saying, "Sir, you've really misunderstood. Those data are nautical data, prepared in preparation for establishing commercial shipping routes."

If Han Qingyun hadn't given instructions, Anping would have already taken drastic measures; he wouldn't have argued with the foreigners.

Seeing that Henry remained stubbornly silent and refused to admit anything, Anping had to find another way, saying, "Mr. Henry, this is your first time here, so you may not be familiar with our working methods. Let me show you around our interrogation room!"

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 20 ...

It sounded like a discussion, but in reality, Henry wasn't given a choice.

To ensure "fairness" for both sides, Anping didn't give Henry Holt a chance to refuse. He directly dragged Henry to the window of another interrogation room, where they witnessed the entire interrogation process of one of the foreigners.

Perhaps the interrogation process was too "friendly," because even a hard-hearted man like Henry couldn't stand it anymore and said, cursing, "Sir, I'm warning you, we're white people, you can't treat us like this!"

"I want to see your governor. Tell him to come see me!"

A person can go from calm to furious in just one interrogation.

Anping didn't care about the foreigner's bad mood. He pulled Henry back into the private interrogation room and said, "If you want to see our governor, you have to explain your affairs first."

"If you can honestly explain the situation, perhaps our governor will actually see you."

"Mr. Henry, please consider this; it could be a win-win collaboration!"

I've said a lot of nice things, now it's up to Henry to see if he can understand!

In fact, even the toughest man has his breaking point. The interrogators had barely set up their equipment, not even having made a move, when Henry, terrified, wet himself. His face contorted with fear, he stammered, "Sir, I'll talk!"

Once Henry's mentality collapsed, things became much easier.

Inside the interrogation room, An Ping sat upright, his demeanor extremely authoritative, and asked, "Where are you from? And what do you want to do at Hanyang Port?"

Although Henry was a ruthless man, he was ultimately no match for the interrogation equipment. He explained his origins in detail, saying, "We come from faraway Sydney, and are here on orders from the Sydney Governor's Office to establish a colony on the west coast of the continent."

Anping, who was in charge of the interrogation, was clear-headed and not easily fooled. He said, "If you are looking for a settlement, why is there a large section of coastline water temperature data missing from the brochure? Why did you go straight to Hanyang?"

At this moment, Henry's resolve crumbled, and he spoke without reservation, saying, "Sir, you may not know, but we didn't visit every single place."

"Only when we see smoke rising from chimneys and the signs of life will we go ashore to register important data such as rivers, temperature, and population, in preparation for the next stage of colonization."

That makes sense. The Mingzhou continent covers more than 700 million square kilometers. If you really wanted to see every place, several years would definitely not be enough.

Only by observing the signs of daily life, such as cooking smoke, can a truly suitable colony be found.

Fortunately, Hanyang Prefecture met these conditions. The steam engines in its factories and mines emitted smoke that reached straight into the sky, so it would be strange if foreigners couldn't see it.

After getting detailed information from Henry, Anping rushed to the governor's mansion to report the truth.

Clearly, Han Qingyun was eager to know the true purpose of Henry and his group and had not fallen asleep. Upon hearing that Anping had a clear result, he instructed the steward to bring the people in.

Holding the interrogation record, Han Qingyun looked at it for a long time, hesitating whether to silence him.

These foreigners are related to the lives of more than 6 people in Hanyang, as well as the stability and development of Hanyang Prefecture. Han Qingyun cannot be allowed to make such a low-level mistake.

Perhaps having decided to recruit him, Han Qingyun prepared to meet Henry and instructed Anping, "Bring Henry here; I want to ask him some questions!"

Henry was quickly brought to the Governor's residence, where Han Qingyun expressed his goodwill, saying, "Mr. Henry, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Henry, who had just been interrogated and looked somewhat dejected, said, "Your Excellency the Governor, I am your loyal subject. Please forgive my rudeness."

Seeing Henry so submissive, completely lacking the arrogance of an Englishman, Han Qingyun momentarily considered silencing him. This was a Goujian-like figure, capable of both yielding and standing firm.

If they accidentally run away, the consequences will be disastrous.

Of course, if Hanyang Prefecture had a population of over one million, Henry's escape wouldn't be a big problem. But the key issue is that Hanyang Prefecture only has a population of over 60,000, which is completely unable to withstand the attrition.

Thinking of this, Han Qingyun became even more resolute, deciding to leave no room for future trouble.

Of course, this kind of thing couldn't be done at the Governor's Mansion. Han Qingyun was still sensible and said, "Mr. Henry, I'm sorry to trouble you to stay here for a few days. We'll talk about this later."

After Anping left with Henry, Han Qingyun said, "Go and clean this up completely, don't leave any evidence! Erase all related interrogation records from the interrogation room."

"Also, send 500 silver dollars to Anping, and have everyone involved in the interrogation tonight share it, making sure the intelligence department never finds out about this!"

To avoid trouble, Han Qingyun was quite ruthless in his actions.

Given the current strength of Hanyang Prefecture, it is not enough to fight against the foreigners. Only by avoiding the discovery of Hanyang Prefecture can we achieve long-term stability.

If the foreigners are released now, the Governor-General of Sydney will surely send troops to attack within six months. At that time, even if the weak Governor-General of Sydney is defeated, there will still be the much stronger Governor-General of India.

How should the Hanyang Prefecture respond?