Chapter 110: It Can Actually Be Like This?
Cao Weida’s mouth twitched, and he taunted, “I didn’t expect this of you, Old Luo. When did you become so impulsive? You’re not trying to butter up that leader, are you?”
Old Luo’s face was stern as he said, “Don’t talk nonsense. I’m not doing this for the leader’s son-in-law. You just said yourself that a total of 76 compatriots are to be executed. We have a chance to rescue them, so how can we turn a blind eye?”
“Comrade Cao Weida, please do your best to gather the intelligence, of course, under the premise that your safety is absolutely guaranteed.”
Before he could finish speaking, Cao Weida interrupted, “There’s no need for such trouble. Actually, there’s a better way. Just buy it with money.”
“You can buy this with money?!” Old Luo was stunned. He had thought of many possibilities, but never in this direction.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t think of it, but he didn’t dare to!
“What’s the big deal? The devils aren’t all madmen with bushido spirits in their heads. They’re on their last legs now. Any discerning person can see that. Rather than clinging to some nonsense about the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, it’s more practical to get some money.”
“After all, when they return home, the money in their pockets is the most tangible thing.”
“Then how much do you think is appropriate?”
“I’ve looked into it for you. There are thirteen people in your group. Three people should be worth at least one gold bar.”
“Hiss~~”
“What, Old Luo, do you have a toothache?”
“My liver hurts. Four, or gold bars… I can’t let you be at a disadvantage. I won’t say more, but at least we need to gather five gold bars to show our sincerity. The organization can’t possibly come up with so much funding all at once,” Old Luo said with a distressed look.
If one gold bar could be exchanged for the lives of three comrades, was it expensive?
No, it was not only not expensive, but it was a very good deal.
However, their Beiping transportation station genuinely didn’t have that much money!
Even the organization would find it very difficult to come up with such a sum of money at once.
The main reason was that a lot of money had been spent on ‘procuring goods’.
But no matter what, the comrades absolutely had to be saved.
He gritted his teeth, “I’ll go out and raise the money later.”
No one could say for sure when the devils would execute the arrested people. Old Luo’s only option now was to quickly find a way to raise the money.
Even if it meant reselling some supplies, the money had to be raised.
Compared to supplies, the lives of the comrades were clearly more important.
“No rush. Given our relationship, you don’t need to worry about the hardship fee. I’ll front the money for you first, and you can just give me four gold bars later.”
“Oh, right. I have some intelligence for you too. It’s a map of the logistics transport route for the devil navy’s transport detachment.”
“Navy? They use ships to transport goods by sea, and we can’t reach them from afar.”
“You’re overthinking it. They don’t have that many transport ships to use, and the supplies they are transporting this time are going to the mainland, using land routes.”
Old Luo suddenly realized, “You mean this batch of supplies is going to Henan?”
“Yes, so, are you interested?”
The battlefield in Henan had already begun, known in history as the Yuzhong Campaign, with 400,000 troops from the Kuomintang army led by Tang Enbo resisting.
The devils had gone completely mad, and with the international situation being extremely grim, they could only try to make a desperate gamble in China.
In order to quickly eliminate China’s resistance forces and ensure the security of later transport, they had gathered 150,000 troops to attack Henan, with the aim of opening up the Pinghan Railway’s transportation line as quickly as possible.
“Interested, of course, I’m interested! You can even gather such top-secret intelligence?” Old Luo said excitedly, then added with sincere worry, “Comrade Cao Weida, although this intelligence is very important to us, I still want to say that for such dangerous matters, you should try not to get involved and prioritize your own safety!”
Cao Weida was too important to the organization. Just the supplies he had transported for the organization during this period could be described as immense.
When their underground transportation station was almost paralyzed, it was Cao Weida who provided them with a safe transportation station and also provided for the daily needs of these hardworking underground party members.
Therefore, whether for considerations of interest or for his contributions to the pro-Communist cause, they had to ensure Cao Weida’s safety to the greatest extent possible.
“Old Luo, don’t worry, I’m very fond of my life,” Cao Weida chuckled, “Let me tell you…”
After listening to Cao Weida’s account, Old Luo was completely stunned, his worldview somewhat shattered. Could things really be done like this?
However, considering the hostility between the devil army and navy, it seemed quite reasonable.
Old Luo lowered his head in thought, and after a long while, he spoke, “Alright. Li Huaide has been arrested, hasn’t he? After we rescue him this time, I’ll contact his superior and have them contact you to buy the intelligence. You absolutely must not contact us proactively.”
Cao Weida knew that the other party wanted to ensure his safety as much as possible, so he nodded, “Okay, let’s do it this way. I’ll go make arrangements first.”
After leaving, Cao Weida immediately went to the Gendarmerie Headquarters to find Fujita Sosuke and spoke directly,
“A total of twenty gold bars. I’ll deliver them tomorrow morning, but two names need to be added to the list.”
He then handed over a list with two names.
Upon hearing twenty gold bars, Fujita Sosuke’s eyes lit up. Nowadays, one gold bar was equivalent to 500 silver dollars!
Twenty bars, wouldn’t that be ten thousand silver dollars?!
That was no small sum!
“These two people are…”
“One from the Military Statistics Bureau, and one from the Underground Party. They were just arrested.”
“Yōshi, Cao Sang, you indeed haven’t disappointed me.” Fujita Sosuke didn’t care about the extra two people; he cared about the money!
“But, if we add these two, the price will increase. After all, they were just arrested, and I have to put in an appearance to mediate for you, which carries risks.”
What risks? He just wanted to inflate the price.
Cao Weida didn’t argue. As long as something could be solved with money, it wasn’t a problem.
“Alright. Two people, one gold bar each. However, the Kuomintang one and the Underground Party one must be separated.”
“Yōshi, that’s no problem at all. Since I’ve accepted the money, I’ll naturally provide good service.” Earning another two gold bars, Fujita Sosuke beamed, “Tomorrow morning, once the money is in place, I’ll prepare three trucks with capes to transport the 78 people separately.”
“I’ll arrange for the trucks to drive out of the city, and then you need to prepare 78 corpses, and at least ten living people to put on their clothes and then shoot them again.”
“Do a good job. After the execution, I’ll take photos for the records. I need to give an account to my superiors.”
“Understood. I’ll go notify them now.”
“Wait.”
“Fujita-kun, something else?”
“Cao Sang, don’t forget about the intelligence.”
“Tsk, look at my brain. Fortunately, Fujita-kun reminded me, or I would have forgotten. Okay, no problem, I’ll talk to them. However, they’ve already spent so much gold, I’m not sure if they’ll have more money to buy intelligence.”
Fujita Sosuke smiled slightly, “The price is negotiable, as long as it’s not less than five gold bars.”
“…” Cao Weida chuckled inwardly, how eager he was to see the devil navy fall.
Not long after, Cao Weida, who had left the Gendarmerie Headquarters, rushed to the prearranged contact point without delay.
“Old Xu.”
“…” Xu Jin’ge was speechless. I’m only in my early thirties, am I that old!!
I’m your superior! A Lieutenant Colonel!!
Forget it, the mission is important. “Jingzhe, how is it going?”
“It’s all settled. Go get the money, and prepare about sixty corpses and five living people. They must be ready before dawn tomorrow.”
He happened to have Tong Mazi’s five scapegoats at hand, so he could use them for the task.
Well, it seemed like it was going to be a busy night.
The weather was no longer that cold, and the temperature had warmed up. The number of homeless people freezing to death outside and inside the city was decreasing. It was not a simple matter to gather so many corpses at once.
It seemed like he would have to find some trouble with traitors and puppet troops tonight.
However,
“Why only about sixty corpses? Where are the others?” Xu Jin’ge frowned, “Cao Weida, you haven’t been in contact with the Communist Party, have you?”
“Otherwise?” Cao Weida retorted with a sideways glance, “Don’t you see what I’m doing now? If I don’t interact with them, how can I expand my business? What if they think I’m a traitor and secretly exterminate me? Who am I going to complain to?”
“This…” Xu Jin’ge was speechless for a moment; he really didn’t know how to answer.
The key was that what he said wasn’t wrong. Cao Weida was ostensibly working for the devils to make money, and he didn’t have much of a choice.
After a moment of hesitation, he said, “I understand, but you’d better try to minimize contact with them. The superiors are very concerned about this, so don’t cross them.”
“Don’t worry, I only have business dealings with them and don’t get involved in other matters.”
Xu Jin’ge thought about it, and it seemed reasonable. If the superiors hadn’t forced Cao Weida to join, he wouldn’t have needed to join the Military Statistics Bureau.
He was now wealthy, with two concubines, and his life was incredibly comfortable. He clearly wasn’t in the same league as the Communist Party members who ate coarse food and vegetables.
“Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing. Let’s meet before dawn!”
After parting ways, Cao Weida went to the police station to find Ono Shiota.
“Ono-kun, I haven’t failed you. I’ve made some progress, but they will only trade intelligence after their people are rescued.”
Ono Shiota was aware of and involved in this ‘transaction’.
“Moreover, they’ve offered a significant amount of money for this trade, so they probably won’t have much more to spare. I’ve already informed Fujita-kun in advance.”
Ono Shiota didn’t mind this. “Yōshi, thank you for your hard work, Cao Sang. Come see me tomorrow morning after things are settled.”
After leaving the police station, Cao Weida rushed to Ruixin General Store, thinking to himself, “I’m really destined to work hard!”
“Old Luo, it’s all settled. I’ll drive out of Dongbianmen at six o’clock tomorrow morning. After I leave the city, I’ll drop them off. You should send someone to meet them… Also, prepare about ten corpses.”
