Chapter 278: Begin To Arrange The Action
Inside a private room on the second floor of the current Mingyue Foot Bath City, formerly Mingyue Dance Hall.
“Come, Cao Ye, let me massage your shoulders.”
“Cao Ye, you rack your brains every day for the people, for public order in Beiping, so you must be tired. Come, lie down, and I’ll soothe your body.”
Hey hey hey, so it’s soothing, not kneading, right?!
Wait, you soothe all you want, but why are you pulling down my trousers!
What?
Hey, you’ve really gotten me into trouble, causing me to degenerate to this point.
“Cao Ye, what do you think of these services? Satisfied?” Du Dan’s face was flushed, her features delicate and alluring, her watery eyes looking at Cao Weida, her gaze full of expectation, waiting for praise and affirmation.
“Not bad, I’m very satisfied with your service. You’ve put thought into it.”
“This place is yours from now on. Do a good job, and I won’t treat you poorly.”
Painting big pies, can’t stop, gotta give out a couple anytime, anywhere.
Of course, he wasn’t a black-hearted capitalist; for the pies he painted, as long as the other party didn’t betray his expectations, he never minded fulfilling them for the counterpart.
“Cao Ye, if you’re tired in the future, come here to rest. This private room is specially reserved for Cao Ye; you can come anytime.” A flash of dimness passed in Du Dan’s eyes, then she revealed an obedient smile.
She understood the subtext of Cao Weida’s words just now; she wasn’t accepted as one of his own yet.
A single “home away from home” experience wasn’t enough to capture this man’s heart.
Plus, she had been someone else’s mistress before.
However, she wasn’t disappointed; she believed that in the future, she would prove she was useful to Cao Weida!
Cao Weida hummed, then sternly warned: “That kind of transaction mode just now must be entirely voluntary on the woman’s part; absolutely no forcing good women into prostitution is allowed in the shop!”
“Don’t worry, Cao Ye. I remember everything you’ve said; there’s absolutely no coercion or inducement—it’s all voluntary for the technicians.” She chuckled inwardly; most of those technicians were hostesses transferred from Mingyue Dance Hall—those women didn’t need any coercion or inducement.
Of course, not all hostesses had fallen to that level, but there were definitely plenty.
Anyway, once they were at that point, after letting go of their bottom line, they’d find there was no bottom line at all.
“.”
That night, Cao Weida once again became the mysterious figure no one knew or saw, going out diligently to complete his KPI.
It was then that he discovered this patrol team actually led a dog with each team during patrols.
“Actions are pretty quick.” Cao Weida chuckled, glanced at it from afar, and ignored it; he hadn’t planned to provoke these patrol teams anyway.
After infiltrating a distance, Cao Weida suddenly stopped.
Because he saw a searchlight beam shining over from the distance.
His eyes darted, and he quickly headed that way.
After about twenty minutes, he finally reached the vicinity.
If he remembered correctly, this should have been a warehouse, but when the little devils attacked Beiping, an artillery shell had blasted it into ruins.
No one repaired it afterward, and over time, it became even more dilapidated.
As a result, this warehouse was eventually abandoned.
He didn’t know when, but it had been repaired, with a wall and electric fence added around it.
A bunker rose from the ground, with the searchlight mounted at the very top.
Not only that, barricades were piled at the entrance, sandbag positions built with sacks flanked the main gate, four guards hunkered in the two small positions, and heavy machine guns placed on the sandbags on both sides.
“A military warehouse?”
Seeing the defenses so strict, Cao Weida pondered.
He looked around and saw the area around the warehouse completely cleared; the nearest buildings, trees, or shelters were over a hundred meters away. Those Japanese didn’t seem like sleeping either.
“The devils have gotten smarter; looks like the last explosion taught the little devils a lesson.”
Not knowing if there were hidden sentries, Cao Weida shook his head; with defenses this tight, there was no opportunity.
Unless he pulled out a heavy machine gun and sprayed, it was impossible to silently kill four little devils from over a hundred meters away.
Beyond a hundred meters, he couldn’t ensure a one-shot kill on the little devils.
Either don’t do it, or make it a one-shot kill!
This was his trump card; he absolutely wouldn’t expose it unless in a desperate life-or-death moment.
He took a deep look toward the warehouse, shook his head, and decisively gave up on emptying and destroying it; he’d look for opportunities later.
The next day.
Zheng Chaoyang came to Cao Weida’s office again.
“Cao Ye, everything is ready on our end, just waiting for you. Once you act, we can immediately swap and transport the medicine.”
“Good, I’ll start arranging now.”
1 a.m.
In the police station meeting room.
Cao Weida stood at the front of the long square table, with the sergeants and patrol officers he selected sitting on both sides.
He glanced around and raised his voice: “You’ve all received the action details by now, so I won’t say more about the specifics.”
“Now, we’ll proceed with action deployment and arrangements.”
“All patrol officers will serve as captains for this action, ordered by seating.”
“Patrol Officer Lu, you’re Team One captain; Du Patrol Officer, you’re Team Two captain.”
The two rows of officers sat upright; though there were patrol officers among them whose status wasn’t lower than Cao Weida’s, none showed any dissatisfaction. They all perked up and listened intently.
Before coming, they’d received notice that this mission was extremely important, with no room for errors.
This action concerned not only the police station’s honor but also the future authority of these officers!
If anyone didn’t cooperate, the blame from above wasn’t something their small frames could bear.
“Each time Liu Changjiang comes for contact, he brings at most twenty-something people. He’ll wait at the edge of the dense forest, sending little minions out first; only if nothing’s wrong will he show himself.”
“So Teams One and Two, ambush in the dense forest on the hill and surround them when you hear movement.”
Cao Weida held a thin stick, pointing at the map of Changping surroundings on the wall, and continued:
“Set up two machine guns at these two intersections, and you can blockade the whole road.”
“For the bandits, dead or alive is fine.”
These bandits burned, killed, looted, and abducted women as if it were routine; their deeds were utterly heinous!
Countless locals had their families destroyed by them; facing such people, he couldn’t muster any pity.
What?
Maybe some were forced into it?
Maybe at first, but once they stained their hands with the people’s blood, they were no longer innocent.
As for those who still had a conscience and hadn’t done anything heinous… tough luck for them.
Seeing no little devils in Cao Weida’s arrangements, Lu Ju asked doubtfully: “Weren’t the Taijun supposed to join us this time? Where are the Taijun’s people?”
“No, they’re just sending a small unit of a dozen or so to follow us.”
“Of course, don’t worry about them. The Military Police started military movements last night; once we act, they and our dispatched police brigade will attack the bandits’ mountain lair.”
Beiping’s police bureau had combat troops, fully seven police brigades totaling four or five thousand men.
They were well-equipped, with cars for good mobility.
These police brigade members had excellent welfare and salaries far higher than regular patrolmen.
They were mostly used to maintain Japanese puppet regime order and suppress anti-Japanese activities.
However, when combat missions requiring assistance came, they had to pick up guns and fight too.
After all, the Japanese didn’t pay them so much for nothing.
The Japanese wouldn’t be that generous; good welfare meant more to give back.
Regrettably, this force was always controlled by the little devils; even Bureau Chief Du of the headquarters and Xu Hancheng, Bureau Chief Xu of the Outer Fifth District, had no authority to mobilize or interfere.
Lu Ju nodded in understanding and asked: “Then when does our action start?”
“Start simultaneously; once gunfire sounds here, act immediately there.” At this point, Cao Weida cautioned:
“Try to avoid bloodshed there; capture alive if possible.”
Patrol Officers Lu Ju and Du Chengye nodded in acknowledgment.
Seeing no more questions, Cao Weida continued:
“This is our police station’s rare large-scale action; Ono Shōsa has been following it closely. Let me relay his hope that we unite and achieve great success.”
“Also hoping our police station colleagues fight bravely to exterminate the remaining bandits.”
“Wishing everyone success!”
All attending officers stood together: “Yes!”
After the meeting, everyone immediately took their men to the armory to collect weapons and ammunition.
The armory was already prepared; the warehouse door opened, and stacks of ready weapons were moved out.
The police station didn’t originally have so many weapons, let alone light machine guns like these battlefield killers.
Most here were temporarily transferred from Garrison Command, far better than the police station’s previous near-obsolete guns.
While everyone collected weapons, Cao Weida sent away those nearby and kept Zheng Chaoyang alone.
“Everything’s confirmed ready on your end, right? No oversights.”
Zheng Chaoyang gave a reassuring look and said confidently: “Don’t worry, Cao Ye; everything’s been properly arranged.”
“Good.”
Cao Weida said no more, quietly watching teams of patrolmen with weapons file out of the office building and line up.
