Chapter 293: Are You Guys Even Capable Or Not?
“It’s best if that’s the case!”
Cao Weida snorted coldly, flung his hand away, and his expression softened a bit: “Xu Jin’ge, we still have some friendship, I trust your character, this time I’ll believe you once.”
“But remember, you promised the higher-ups, so you have to take responsibility!”
“If Liu Rusi is missing even a single hair, I, Cao Weida, will be the first to not spare you!”
Although Cao Weida’s attitude wasn’t great, Xu Jin’ge showed no dissatisfaction whatsoever.
After all, he was the one who was in the wrong first.
Seeing Xu Jin’ge like this, Cao Weida lost interest in blaming him; after all, this matter had nothing to do with Xu Jin’ge. He vented his temper, and since the other party had given assurances, holding on any longer would make him seem petty.
He plopped down on a chair and nodded: “Speak, what matter do you have for suddenly contacting me today.”
Xu Jin’ge’s expression turned serious, and he said gravely: “Deputy Section Chief Fang Jiamiao of the Military Intelligence Section killed the surveillance personnel and fled. According to reliable information, Fang Jiamiao has escaped to Beiping.”
“Our people wanted to intercept him on the road, but the little devils deliberately leaked Fang Jiamiao’s whereabouts, luring us into an ambush, and many brothers died.”
“This traitor possesses the military deployment for the upcoming Battle of Changsha. We must find and eliminate him before he leaks the intelligence!”
Hearing this news, Cao Weida was somewhat speechless; he laughed in anger: “Tell me, Xu Lieutenant Colonel, are you people even capable?”
“Why do I feel like your Kuomintang’s internals have been infiltrated like a sieve?!”
“Such an important department as the Military Statistics Bureau, and yet a deputy section chief position is given to someone like this?!”
What does war depend on?
The first is naturally economy, the second is intelligence!
A piece of important intelligence can completely reverse the outcome of a major campaign!
As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles. The battle hasn’t even started, and the military deployment is already known to the enemy—what’s the point of fighting?
As for redeploying military defenses…
Don’t make me laugh; large-scale military deployments aren’t something you can just move at will—there are too many aspects involved.
Moreover, once there’s a military transfer, all previously built defensive works will become useless and must be rebuilt.
But the Japanese aren’t fools; they won’t just watch you redeploy and rebuild.
Once they discover large-scale movements in the Kuomintang Army, the Japanese Army will definitely take the opportunity to attack.
In that case, the little devils might break through, causing the army to collapse at the first blow—this consequence is even more serious than losing the military intelligence!
Xu Jin’ge heard the mockery in his words; he looked embarrassed. Even he himself felt that such an incident was too humiliating and shouldn’t have happened.
But now wasn’t the time to worry about face; the matter had already occurred—the most important thing was to solve the problem!
“No one wanted to see this happen. Now’s not the time to assign blame. The higher-ups are taking this very seriously and are extremely anxious. What we need to do now is make that damned traitor shut up forever!”
“If Fang Jiamiao leaks the intelligence, it will be like a bolt from the blue for us!”
“How do you know Fang Jiamiao hasn’t already revealed the military deployment?” Cao Weida raised an eyebrow and said: “What if he has already leaked the military intelligence? Wouldn’t everything you’re doing now be in vain?”
“No, he definitely hasn’t said it—at least not now.” Xu Jin’ge pulled a folded piece of paper from the pocket inside his clothes and pushed it in front of Cao Weida.
This was from Fang Jiamiao’s family left in Shancheng; the words at the end, ‘Once the battle eases, I will fetch you and the child to the capital,’ were circled in red.
“His wife and child are still in Shancheng. Until the Japanese fulfill their promise to ‘escort the family,’ Fang Jiamiao absolutely won’t dare to take the gamble.”
He tapped the piece of paper with his fingertip. “This man is greedy for life, but even more afraid of death. He knows that once he hands over the intelligence, he’ll become a useless pawn.”
Cao Weida stared at the handwriting on the piece of paper and nodded to show understanding:
“That’s all well and good, but Beiping City is huge. For the Japanese to hide someone there is like burying a grain of sand on a beach.”
“The embassy district in Dongjiaomin Lane, the Military Police dormitories in North City, or even the large courtyard in South City—where can’t they hide someone? Our people can’t even step through the thresholds. Where am I supposed to find him for you?”
“Also, don’t even think about me using my connections with old devils like Ono Shiota to inquire. That old devil Ono Shiota isn’t a fool; he definitely won’t tell me.”
“Moreover, Fang Jiamiao is so important that if I show any interest in him, I’ll be watched immediately.”
His meaning was clear between the lines: asking this old man to search for a needle in a haystack, with extreme danger in the process—impossible!
This old man hasn’t lived enough yet!
Xu Jin’ge made a calming gesture and tapped the tabletop with his fingertip, saying:
“Naturally, I won’t have you rashly inquire about Fang Jiamiao—that’s too risky, and the Japanese won’t talk anyway.”
He never intended to let Cao Weida take risks; it was both dangerous and ineffective—he wasn’t that stupid.
“Fang Jiamiao was in the intelligence section for eight years; we know him like the back of our hand.”
He pulled a yellowed piece of paper from his pocket, which had Fang Jiamiao’s notes recording ‘must get stomach medicine every three days’:
“He has severe gastric ulcers and relies on Japanese-made ‘Weixian U’ to stay alive. I’ve inquired—this medicine is only available at the Zhenghe Tang pharmacy next to the Six Nations Hotel.”
He pointed at the piece of paper with his fingertip. “The Japanese Army both needs to hide him and keep him alive to spit out the intelligence, so they must send someone regularly to buy medicine.”
“Zhenghe Tang.” Cao Weida pondered for a moment and frowned: “I have some impression of this pharmacy. I saw it when passing by on the way to eat at the Six Nations Hotel. It’s under Japanese protection. If I send someone to inquire, we’ll definitely be exposed.”
“No need to inquire.” Xu Jin’ge pulled a cloth bag from the drawer, inside which was a Military Statistics Bureau specially made miniature eavesdropping device:
“Have your people disguise as water pipe repairmen and install this thing in the wooden frame of the back window of Zhenghe Tang under the pretext of inspection.”
“The medicine buyer will inevitably mention the ‘Fang family’ code. Once we hear it, we can guess the location.”
Seeing that Xu Jin’ge had considered everything, Cao Weida said irritably: “Why don’t you arrange your own people to do this? Why make me do it?”
Just disguising as pipe repairmen, and he still needed to arrange people for that?
He felt a bit dissatisfied inside.
Xu Jin’ge smiled bitterly: “I wanted to, but our Military Statistics Bureau has a traitor. Now all Military Statistics Bureau personnel in Beiping are on high alert and dare not expose themselves casually.”
“Moreover, I suspect there might still be a mole in the team. This matter is too important. Until we confirm who the mole is, I really dare not trust anyone in the team.”
“So you grab me to shear wool?” Cao Weida grumbled. Wasn’t this bullying an honest man!
“Your Military Statistics Bureau has really become a sieve—traitors, traitors, moles popping up endlessly!”
Xu Jin’ge’s expression darkened: “No choice. Since the War of Resistance began, our Military Statistics Bureau’s assassinations of traitors and Japanese high-level figures have been constant, with too many brothers sacrificed.”
“The Military Statistics Bureau needs to replenish manpower and has absorbed a large number of talents, which means we can’t thoroughly vet everyone. Being infiltrated is inevitable.”
Cao Weida was immediately speechless, because what the other said was also fact.
War means death. To intimidate those fence-sitters and pro-Japanese elements domestically, the Military Statistics Bureau frequently assassinates and intimidates these traitors.
This inevitably leads to heavy sacrifices.
With sacrifices, new personnel must be supplemented.
With the situation tense and the nation in turmoil, plus tight timelines and heavy tasks, even if the Military Statistics Bureau wanted to carefully verify every individual’s identity, they lacked the ability and time.
Being infiltrated thus became inevitable.
Moreover, Japanese infiltration was far less severe than the Communist Party underground party’s infiltration…
“Forget it, no more on this. I know about this matter; I’ll arrange people to handle it.”
No matter what, on major issues of right and wrong, Cao Weida still had strong principles.
Fang Jiamiao held secrets of military deployment, concerning the lives of hundreds of thousands of Chinese warriors. Without involving personal danger, he was willing to help.
After hastily ending the conversation, Cao Weida went to the District Office.
Zheng Chaoyang knocked and entered, handing over a list: “Cao Ye, this is the ‘apology’ from those bosses. Please review it.”
Cao Weida took the list and flipped through it, saying as he looked: “Brother Chaoyang, help me contact Hao Pingchuan. I have something I want to trouble him with.”
“Alright, I’ll contact him right away.” Zheng Chaoyang made no inquiries and immediately agreed.
Because he knew Cao Weida wouldn’t contact Hao Pingchuan for no reason; it must be something important.
A moment later, Cao Weida set down the list in his hand, rubbed his chin, and murmured: “Looks like these bosses are quite sensible; all the people who should be sent have been sent.”
“Just don’t know if anyone tried to be clever and replaced someone who should have been handed over.”
At that moment, the telephone rang.
Cao Weida picked up: “Hello, who is it.”
“Cao’er, it’s me, Duomen.”
“Yo, it’s Master Duo. What instructions do you have?” Cao Weida said jokingly.
Before he was transferred to this District Office, he had promoted Duomen to Patrol Officer and hadn’t brought him over.
It wasn’t that he had any issue with Duomen, but rather he wanted to leave Duomen at the Police Station so that in case of any disturbances, he could contact him immediately.
Duomen was the person he trusted most in this world—without question—and with Duomen being mature, steady, and meticulous, he was the most suitable among those he could mobilize to stay behind for coordination.
“Don’t joke with me. I’m just a mere Patrol Officer; what right do I have to instruct you, the Director? You’d be more likely to instruct me.” Duomen laughed and cursed, then said self-mockingly:
“Per your instructions, I found out who is selling air conditioners. He has five units unsold. Someone wants to buy them, but I’ve held them off for now. I’m calling you to await your next instructions.”
“Oh my, you’ve really gone to great trouble.” Hearing there was air conditioner news, Cao Weida immediately cheered up.
In this era, he had accumulated some wealth and background, and money was no issue. He enjoyed basically everything available in this time.
One could say that materially, it was far better than before his transmigration.
But due to the technological gap, some things were inevitably inferior to modern times.
For example, cell phones, computers, and, for instance, air conditioners.
With the weather growing hotter, Cao Weida had started missing the convenience of air conditioners earlier.
Now with air conditioner news, he was naturally delighted.
“Master Duo, tell that computer dealer that I want all five air conditioners. Pay directly with silver dollars. Once bought, I’ll give you one as reward for your hard work, so you can enjoy the summer coolness too!”
“Deal, you said it—I won’t stand on ceremony. You hyped air conditioners to the skies before; I really want to try if they’re as good as you say.” Duomen unhesitatingly agreed.
He knew Cao Weida had money; a few hundred silver dollars was nothing to him.
With their relationship, being too polite would seem distant.
“Try it—you’ll be speechless after one try!”
“.”
After hanging up, seeing nothing else pressing, Cao Weida decisively skipped work and went home.
Just as he left the office, he ran into Little Ear coming from the opposite direction.
“Big Brother Cao, are you heading back?”
Seeing Cao Weida nod in admission, he signaled for him to speak quickly or get to the point.
Little Ear was speechless inside; few could play the hands-off boss like this.
But he didn’t find it strange.
This wasn’t just since becoming Director; back at the Police Station, Cao Weida was already quite proficient at it.
At that time, Zheng Chaoyang hadn’t been transferred to the patrol team or become Cao Weida’s secretary. Cao Weida was still a Patrol Officer, and he handed many documents and such to Duomen to handle.
Now as the big boss of the District Office, skipping work was even easier.
Though he no longer had Duomen to handle files, wasn’t there Zheng Chaoyang now?
“Big Brother Cao, what about Ji Hongxin and Lin Angxiong? They’re still under house arrest, cursing in their room every day.”
“Tsk, almost forgot about those two.” Cao Weida scratched his head. With so much going on these past two days—dealing with those bosses, connecting with Liu Rusi—he had truly forgotten those two.
Little Ear: “.”
Well then, they hated you with gritted teeth every day in their room, seeing you as their biggest imaginary enemy.
And you actually forgot about them…
If Ji Hongxin and the other found out, they’d probably be even angrier, right?
For Ji Hongxin, this was nothing short of an insult.
“Big Brother Cao, this is some information I’ve gathered on Ji Hongxin these past two days.”
Little Ear handed him a document bag and grinned: “This Ji Hongxin isn’t very popular. I just started collecting, and those section chiefs came to chat, drink tea, and smoke with me, ‘accidentally’ leaving all the evidence ‘forgotten’ in front of me.”
