Chapter 239: 238, How Did They Escape? Yoshida’s Spy Life, Yue Jinping Appears
The cargo ship that delivered the live cattle and sheep returned along the way, from Shajing Port to Huangpu River, then upstream into Jiaxing Prefecture.
Fang Wen and his group disembarked in Jiaxing Prefecture, switched to the Cloud Crane Seaplane, and flew directly to Wuhan.
After all this trouble, three hours had already passed.
Outside the small Western-style building in Hongkou.
The long wait made the Japanese Army very impatient.
But considering that a Naval Admiral was kidnapped inside, they could only endure it.
After an hour, the military officer finally couldn’t hold back and picked up the loudspeaker to shout: “How’s the consideration going?”
No one inside spoke.
The military officer became somewhat nervous.
“Could they have run away?”
This idea did not gain approval from his colleagues.
Over 1000 soldiers had the small Western-style building surrounded like an iron barrel, making it impossible to escape.
To avoid stimulating the kidnappers inside, they decided to wait a bit longer.
Another half hour passed, the sun was already overhead, and the third floor of the small Western-style building still showed no movement.
The Japanese military officer raised the loudspeaker again: “Haven’t you discussed it yet?”
Still no answer.
Realizing something was wrong, the military officer immediately asked again: “Are you still there?”
Still no answer.
He increasingly felt something was off, waved to summon his direct subordinate: “Go up and check, don’t attack proactively, report back immediately if there’s any situation.”
A small team of soldiers prepared to enter.
But the other military officers blocked them.
“No, three hostages are already dead, if our rash action angers the kidnappers again and the admiral gets hurt, what then?”
The military officer said coldly: “They’re not responding at all now, what if they committed suicide out of guilt? We must know if the admiral is dead or alive.”
These words immediately made the others share the same worry, and no one blocked them anymore.
The soldiers then cautiously ascended the broken stairs.
A few minutes passed, but it felt so long.
Until a soldier ran down to report: “Officer, the kidnappers are all gone, the admiral and the others are still there, but they have bombs tied to them, we didn’t dare approach.”
Hearing this report, the military officers eagerly rushed up.
But they stopped at the stairwell.
The power of last night’s bombs flashed in their minds; it was still very dangerous up there.
Only the military officer who had been leading the negotiations went up first, and seeing him go, the other military officers could only follow.
Along the way, they encountered no explosions; last night’s combat had consumed all the bombs, and they safely reached the third-floor room without accidental injury.
Two military officers and Nagano Shuu were blindfolded, earplugged, and gagged, quietly sitting in chairs.
Each of the three had a bomb hanging on their chest.
The military officer went over, removed the blindfold, and urgently asked Yoshida and the other: “Where are the people? Where are they?”
The others gathered around Nagano Shuu, fussing over him.
The bound military officer shook his head blankly: “I don’t know anything.”
Yoshida responded similarly: “Couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t shout, had no idea what was happening around me.”
“Yoshida, what are you doing? The most important thing now is to defuse the bombs.” The others scolded.
It turned out this one was named Yoshida Shiomi.
His military rank was not high, so he could only shut up.
Nagano Shuu spoke up instead: “Get someone here immediately to defuse the bombs, and catch the people too. Yoshida Shiomi, you’re in charge of catching them.”
Yoshida Shiomi stood at attention and accepted the order.
Immediately, both sides got busy.
On one side, technical military officers from the Japanese Naval Marines discussed how to dismantle the bombs.
On the other side, Yoshida Shiomi inspected every suspicious item in the room.
Yoshida Shiomi came to the window and found a loudspeaker under the black curtain.
This was the loudspeaker used by the kidnappers; Yoshida Shiomi picked it up to check, but unexpectedly saw a note pressed under the loudspeaker.
The note read.
“You let them go, we keep our promise too. The bombs on them are connected to the chairs, don’t move randomly, or they’ll explode.”
Seeing this, Yoshida Shiomi urgently said: “Don’t move, moving will make the bombs explode.”
Everyone immediately froze.
Yoshida Shiomi brought the note over, crouched down to carefully check.
He saw that all three had a wire connected to the chairs.
He took a deep breath, continued reading the note in his hand, and read it aloud.
“The bombs are connected to the chairs, don’t move randomly, or they’ll explode. But I keep my promise, you can save them. The bombs have two wires, one red, one blue; cut the red one to stop the explosion. Believe it or not, up to you.”
After reading, Yoshida Shiomi analyzed: “It looks like they left a fifty-fifty choice; whether we believe it or not, we have to pick one.”
To ensure the success rate of defusing, the technical military officer in charge said: “I need a test subject, who will be the first to have the bomb dismantled; success or failure, I can get the correct method from him.”
This test subject definitely wouldn’t be Nagano Shuu.
That left Yoshida and the other military officer.
That military officer struggled psychologically for a while, then shook his head desperately.
But Yoshida recalled what Fang Wen had said to him before the action.
“In the army, your biggest advantage is being Nagano Shuu’s adjutant, giving you a higher starting point than others. But that won’t make Nagano Shuu think highly of you. He’ll have other adjutants in the future; you’re just a process of repaying a favor. To earn his respect, you need loyalty and something that moves him, like taking a risk for him. So at the last moment, you must bravely step forward.”
Yoshida remembered, the mysterious eldest brother had said he wouldn’t let him and Nagano Shuu die, so could it be understood that the bombs on him and Nagano Shuu definitely wouldn’t explode.
With this thought, he calmly and firmly said: “I’m willing to test the correct bomb defusing method for the admiral, let me do it.”
These words surprised the military officers and made Nagano Shuu look at him highly; this child, worthy of being his old friend’s, facing death fearlessly, noble character.
Then, Yoshida, with a frank expression, was surrounded by sandbags, and the technical military officer carefully removed the bomb’s outer cover.
“You can choose which one to cut.”
At this point, Yoshida spoke: “I choose to cut the red one.”
Snip, the technical military officer cut the red wire, then quickly ran away and crouched down.
Yoshida bravely stood up, no explosion occurred.
He succeeded, then the technical military officer carefully defused the bombs on Nagano Shuu and the other military officer, also successfully.
Having escaped death, Nagano Shuu brewed boundless rage in his heart, his first reaction was to issue an order: “Catch those people, find them. Yoshida Shiomi, it’s yours now; you can deploy all forces in Shanghai.”
With full support from his superior, Yoshida Shiomi replied: “Admiral, we must know how these people escaped.”
Right, that was the key to the matter, otherwise it couldn’t be explained.
Could those people be invisible, flying through the sky and earth?
How exactly did they vanish without a trace under the encirclement of over 1000 soldiers.
Some military officers even suspected it was done by Chinese gods and ghosts, otherwise how could it be so supernatural.
But Yoshida Shiomi didn’t believe in ghosts and gods; he believed there must be a reason, just like a magic trick.
With this conviction, he carefully searched the room.
After all, this was the only activity area; they must have used their means here.
After a very thorough search, he finally found it.
There was a mat under the wooden cabinet; removing it revealed a clamp board, and opening the clamp board showed the layer below.
It seemed the people had escaped from here.
Yoshida Shiomi immediately had soldiers crawl down to check.
Subsequently, they discovered a similar hidden hole in the study room on the second floor, leading to the kitchen on the first floor.
But in the kitchen, they found the corpse of a Japanese soldier.
A military officer downstairs immediately rushed over to check.
But while moving the corpse, he triggered a bomb and was killed instantly.
Another one dead.
Yoshida Shiomi looked at the two mutilated corpses and had them investigated.
After investigation, it was found to be a special action team member of the Japanese Naval Marines.
He had participated in last night’s combat but didn’t exit the small Western-style building, instead hiding in the kitchen privately.
Unfortunately, he didn’t discover the hidden hole overhead and was taken out by those people.
Yoshida Shiomi judged that their final disappearance point was the kitchen; there must be something wrong here.
After searching, they found the basement and followed the underground pipeline from the basement to the Shajing Port riverbank.
At this point, all of Fang Wen’s plan was laid bare before Yoshida Shiomi, leaving him amazed.
Immediately, he returned to report to Nagano Shuu.
“Admiral, I’ve figured it out; their escape route was underground, exiting via waterway. I’ve sent people to investigate, but I’m afraid we won’t catch them.”
Nagano Shuu changed into a set of clothes and had the others leave, keeping only Yoshida and Yoshida Shiomi.
He asked: “Who do you think did this? Volunteer Army, National Government, British people, French, or others?”
Yoshida Shiomi analyzed: “Couldn’t be the Volunteer Army, they couldn’t do it. The National Government’s newly formed Blue Shirts Society and Revival Society can’t either. I think it’s a foreign secret organization; only they have this kind of organization and action capability.”
“Why?” Nagano Shuu asked.
Yoshida Shiomi picked up the bulletproof shield: “This thing is very clever and expensive, requires a special mechanical department to manufacture. Their weapons used American Thompson submachine guns, British grenades, and various ingenious bombs, even remotely detonated. None of this is possible for the Volunteer Army or National Government.”
Pausing, Yoshida Shiomi added: “And their plan, one ring after another, extremely ingenious, even including psychology. I think only British MI6, American Office of Strategic Services, or Russia’s GUGB have this organizational capability. I suspect it’s a secret action organized by GUGB.”
Nagano Shuu nodded involuntarily: “I’m about to go to London for the Anglo-American-Japanese Three Kingdoms naval conference; Russia has reason to stop me. But why did they let me go in the end?”
This question was sharp; Yoshida Shiomi analyzed: “Perhaps they temporarily changed plans, not wanting to strain relations between the two countries, or maybe.”
“No need to think more, I think that’s it.” Nagano Shuu looked at Yoshida: “You and Yoshida Shiomi write a report on this, I need to return home and explain the situation to the Military Department.”
A bizarre Naval Admiral kidnapping case ended just like that.
The matter ultimately became another story.
Japanese wealthy merchant kidnapped, Japanese Naval Marines actively capture the criminals.
In the end, all kidnappers killed, wealthy merchant rescued.
This story, illustrated richly, true and false indistinguishable, covered up the truth.
Afterward, Nagano Shuu and Yoshida returned to Japan, explaining to the Military Department with Yoshida Shiomi’s report content.
What he wanted was an excuse; with this excuse, he could gloss over the whole matter.
Thus, this became, after the night strategic bomber, Russia’s another vile secret military action.
Meanwhile, Fang Wen flying to Wuhan, while managing various affairs of the new headquarters, also searched for news of Yue Jinping.
Another month passed.
Taishan Airlines Headquarters had been moved to Wuhan for nearly a month and a half.
Two different major cities of the Republic of China had great differences; employees stationed here long-term took some time to adapt.
The climate was fine, all with distinct four seasons, cold winters and hot summers.
Mainly the tastes.
Shanghai’s tastes were: heavy oil and sauce, three meals a day with soup, light in summer and autumn, rich in winter and spring.
Wuhan tastes were more inclusive: sour, spicy, sweet, salty all embraced, especially snacks, many varieties, great with rice.
But Taishan Airlines’ canteen could solve this taste issue; Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, the head chefs in the canteen could all make.
Everything seemed to return to normal, Taishan Airlines continued its rapid development.
But this was only surface; the all-out War of Resistance was only two years away from erupting.
Fang Wen’s time was very tight; he had to return to Yangon to continue developing his airplane industry.
He must produce his own military aircraft before the all-out War of Resistance erupted to play a greater role in the War of Resistance.
But before going to Yangon, Fang Wen must meet Yue Jinping once to feel at ease.
This wish, however, had not succeeded; Yue Jinping had vanished like evaporated from the world, no matter what methods Fang Wen used, he couldn’t find her whereabouts.
Until mid-June, he received a secret letter.
“General Manager, there’s a letter for you, in the reception room; the sender disappeared.” The new captain of the headquarters security team, Zhao Shanhu, came to the fifth floor of the new headquarters building, to the General Manager’s office, and took out a letter.
Zhao Shanhu was someone Fang Wen had always wanted to bring into his small circle, but hadn’t decided yet, just let him be security captain first for observation.
“Put it on the desk, I’ll look later.” Fang Wen, looking at documents, replied.
After Zhao Shanhu left, Fang Wen took out gloves to wear, picked up the envelope to check.
The envelope had only one signature: Fang Wen’s old friend.
Fang Wen carefully opened it with the paper cutter.
Seeing the content of the letter, he was immediately excited.
The handwriting inside used the secret code between him and Yue Jinping.
Only he and Yue Jinping knew it.
“After the Tianjin incident, body and mind both wounded, no face to see you; now I’ve thought it through, what’s the harm in meeting. Meet today at the old site of Yellow Crane Tower.”
Suppressing his inner excitement, Fang Wen was now more cautious than before; he wouldn’t act rashly on emotions.
He called the Special Action Team’s telephone, had action team members follow him there.
Immediately, two cars headed toward Wuchang.
Fang Wen drove to the old site of Yellow Crane Tower and stopped; the action team members parked far away, then dispersed around to guard.
Time passed bit by bit, Fang Wen silently waited.
Half an hour later, someone in a trench coat and round hat approached face-on.
The hat brim shaded the front, and the person was looking down, impossible to see the face clearly.
Until reaching Fang Wen, then looked up.
It was Yue Jinping, but changed appearance.
Right eye covered completely by an eyepatch, a fine beauty turned into a one-eyed dragon.
Yet with a unique beauty.
“What happened to your eye?” Fang Wen couldn’t help asking.
“Not blind, but there’s a scar; I don’t like others seeing that scar.”
Yue Jinping said she didn’t like others seeing it, yet proactively removed the eyepatch, revealing the scar.
A scar horizontally crossing the eye corner top to bottom, destroying her beauty.
Fang Wen reached out, pulled the eyepatch down: “It can be fixed; I’ll take you to the United States, they have the best cosmetic doctors.”
“No need, it will make me stronger.” Yue Jinping smiled and shook her head in refusal; clearly, she had changed greatly in that upheaval.
Fang Wen sighed inwardly, walked with Yue Jinping toward the old site of Yellow Crane Tower.
（The old site of Yellow Crane Tower during the Republic of China era had an alarm bell tower built in the original location）
Yue Jinping, wounded in body and heart, sighed: “It’s destroyed too.”
Fang Wen comforted: “It’s been destroyed more than once; over a thousand years, rebuilt time and again; each rebuilding is a continuation of civilization. You’re like it, can phoenix rebirth too.”
Yue Jinping nodded, touched the eyepatch: “I applied to transfer to the intelligence group; before my rebirth, I must avenge this. That androgynous guy will die by my hand eventually.”
“Who are you talking about?” Fang Wen asked in surprise.
“She said she has many names, but likes Kawashima Yoshiko the most.” Yue Jinping said, her left eye blazing with vengeful fury.
