Chapter 147: Early Action
In August of Year 27 of the Republic, the Wuhan Battle entered a stalemate, the Blue Army was inferior to the Japanese Army in equipment, but had the advantage in numbers.
Saying they were evenly matched would clearly be overestimating the Blue Army’s strength.
However, relying on their numerical advantage, the Blue Army advanced layer by layer with Wuhan as the center, and the Japanese Army had to pay a price for every step forward.
Seeing they could not gain absolute superiority in the war, the Japanese Army changed strategy, launching a public opinion war to strike at the Blue Army’s morale, and the North China Information Section sent a large number of agents to infiltrate Chongqing.
In the East China region, the Special Higher Police Affairs and the Southern China Association targeted the anti-Japanese organizations in the South.
Meanwhile, the Iwai Agency in Shanghai widely propagated the news that former Premier Tang Shaoyi was about to join the Jinling Government.
《Declaration》, 《Shanghai Workers’ Daily》, and 《Economic Daily》 and other newspapers successively published news of Tang Shaoyi secretly meeting with Wen Zongyao, Dean of the Jinling Government Prosecutor’s Office, to discuss current affairs.
As soon as this news came out, it quickly triggered a chain reaction, and some wavering people in the South began to lean towards the Japanese…
Shanghai, French Concession…
The vegetable market behind Fukaisen Road in the morning mist had just awakened, and vendors were busy unloading and setting up stalls.
With a creak, Tang Mansion’s back door steward Tang Ping, as usual, walked over slowly carrying a wicker vegetable basket slung over his arm.
He had deliberately worn a half-worn dark blue long gown today, with a small piece of white gauze wrapped around his left wrist, which was the agreed-upon contact signal.
Tang Ping was the needle that the Military Statistics Bureau had planted beside Tang Shaoyi; he was from Zhongshan, Guangdong, and was actually a clansman of both the butler Tang De and Tang Shaoyi.
It was precisely this identity that earned him Tang De’s trust, making him the steward of Tang Mansion.
Hurrying along, Tang Ping soon arrived at the entrance of the vegetable market…
“Steward Tang, good morning! The crabs are fat this morning!” Boss Wang of the seafood stall greeted enthusiastically.
Tang Ping waved with a smile: “The Master has had a poor appetite these past two days. Get me some shad, about a jin and a half.”
“Right away! There are a few fresh ones just this morning. I’ll arrange it for you.” Boss Wang bent down to rummage in the wooden basin, then lowered his voice: “Bai Yang wants to see you. He’s at the tobacco stall at the alley mouth.”
Bai Yang was their team leader, and for him to suddenly request a meeting at this time made Tang Ping pause slightly, knowing that his superior could no longer sit still.
At that moment, Tang Ping caught sight of two men in black suits lingering near the fruit stall not far away.
He took the fish without changing expression, deliberately raising his voice: “Old Wang, make sure to scrape these scales clean for me.”
“Got it!” Boss Wang understood and deliberately processed the fish slowly.
Tang Ping took the opportunity to observe the surroundings and found shadows moving at several entrances and exits of the vegetable market.
His heart tightened; today’s surveillance was much stricter than usual.
Ten minutes later, Tang Ping picked up the processed fish and left the stall.
On his way out, he deliberately detoured to the dry goods area, and while buying shiitake mushrooms, he suddenly squatted down to tie his shoelace, and sure enough, he saw a man in a felt hat five meters behind him hurriedly turn toward the adjacent stall.
The corner of Tang Ping’s mouth curved slightly; upon standing, he suddenly quickened his pace, twisting and turning into a narrow alley piled with vegetable baskets.
Deep in the alley, a young man wearing round-rimmed glasses was arranging his tobacco stall.
Tang Ping strode forward: “Boss, give me some Sanpaotai.”
The young man didn’t look up: “Sanpaotai is sold out. Want some Old Knife Cigarettes?”
“Then give me a pack of Hard Gate Cigarettes.” Tang Ping handed over a folded legal tender note.
The young man took the money and lowered his voice: “The situation has changed. Last night we received an inside contact’s secret report that the Jinling Special Affairs Committee already suspects there’s an internal spy lurking in Tang Mansion.”
“Boss Dai orders that we must obtain solid evidence tonight.”
Tang Ping frowned slightly: “Tang Shaoyi’s study is guarded day and night now. Except for the butler Tang De, even I can’t enter alone.”
The young man lowered his voice: “Find a way to get the evidence no matter what.”
“This is a death order from above.”
While pretending to carefully select cigarettes, Tang Ping said: “I’ll think of a way to see if there’s a chance to get into the study.”
“Mm, someone tailing you?” The young man glanced sideways and caught a shadow flashing at the alley mouth.
“They’re from the Jinling Special Affairs Committee. Tang Mansion front and back are all guarded by their people.” Tang Ping replied softly, then immediately raised his voice the next second: “This tobacco strands is too damp!”
Immediately after, he quickly whispered: “If successful, old rules, six PM, trash truck.”
The young man understood and deliberately said loudly: “Sorry about that! My newly arrived ‘Beautiful Brand Cigarettes’ are guaranteed dry!”
With that, he took an oiled paper packet from under the counter.
At the moment of the handoff, a sharp shout suddenly came from the alley mouth: “What are you doing!”
Three secret agents approached with guns drawn; the leader was none other than Team Leader Ling from the Action Department of the Jinling Special Affairs Committee.
The men behind him were all members of the first team.
Tang Ping reacted extremely quickly, immediately feigning a startled expression as the fish in his hand dropped to the ground with a “plop,” and the oiled paper packet slid into the nearby drainage ditch.
“O-Officer.” Tang Ping stammered, “I was just here to buy cigarettes.”
Team Leader Ling grabbed Tang Ping’s collar: “Kid, we’ve had eyes on you for a long time. Does buying cigarettes require acting so sneaky?”
He turned to the tobacco stall boss: “Open the counter!”
The young man tremblingly opened the counter, which contained nothing but cigarettes.
At this moment, the shad on the ground suddenly started flopping, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Don’t, don’t let the fish get away.”
Tang Ping instinctively reached to grab the fish, and at that moment, the secret agents also noticed the oiled paper packet beside it.
“Don’t move. Is this what he just gave you?”
“What’s inside?”
Tang Ping grabbed the fish and said: “O-Officer, this is the cigarettes I just bought. The Sanpaotai tobacco strands was too damp; the steward Tang doesn’t like it.”
“This Beautiful Brand Cigarettes was specially saved for me by the boss.”
“Open it! I told you to open it…” Team Leader Ling’s voice suddenly rose sharply.
Tang Ping clumsily set the fish aside and opened the oiled paper packet; sure enough, as he said, it only contained a few packs of cigarettes.
“O-Officer, these, these cigarettes don’t get much demand usually.” The young man explained tremblingly: “Steward Tang wanted a whole one, but I couldn’t make it up.”
“I only had six packs here, so I wrapped them in oiled paper to keep out the damp.”
Team Leader Ling frowned, examined the packs back and forth several times, then tore open one to inspect it thoroughly, still finding nothing amiss.
At this point, another secret agent ran up from the alley mouth and whispered something in his ear.
Team Leader Ling glared unwillingly at Tang Ping, then grudgingly led his men away.
Once the footsteps faded, the young man let out a long breath, but saw Tang Ping’s face even more grave: “They’ve grown suspicious. We must act ahead of schedule.”
The young man nodded solemnly; Tang Ping finally instructed: “Under the third loose brick in the west wall of Tang Mansion, there’s a spare key.”
“If something happens to me, remember to pass a message to Qiuping for me: I’m not a traitor…”
