Chapter 195: Section Chief Chen, Save Me!
Nantian Yangzi stared fixedly at Dohihara: “Teacher, what do you mean?”
Dohihara said earnestly: “Yangzi, it’s precisely because I don’t want you to become that kind of person that I’m desperately trying to stop you from taking that step.”
“You must know that sometimes, once a person makes the wrong choice, the consequences will be more terrifying than death.”
Nantian Yangzi frowned, still insisting: “Teacher, there’s no need for you to persuade me.”
“I know what I’m doing. Please give me a chance.”
“Yangzi, why put yourself through this?” Dohihara let out a long sigh, looking at Nantian’s stubborn expression: “Alright, I can take you to see Chief of Staff Kawabe.”
“I hope your Chongqing military deployment map can move him. I can’t do anything more.”
“However, I still have to say one more thing: I hope you won’t regret it.”
Nantian Yangzi bowed at a ninety-degree angle: “Teacher, I won’t regret it.”
Shanghai, New Year’s Day was also the time for the Japanese New Year.
Since the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese have set January 1st each year as New Year.
Just like the Chinese people, the shops in the Japanese residential area and various department stores were also providing various promotional activities to Japanese expatriates on this day to attract them to spend.
Not only that, on this day with the New Year approaching, the persons in charge of many units in the South arrived in Shanghai to submit a year’s work summary to the Army Department.
That is, the so-called reporting duty.
The Army Department would select those with outstanding political achievements from among them and recommend them to the Homeland, where the Homeland would decide whether to promote them further.
And for those whose ability was inadequate, the General Staff Department would adjust their position after discussion.
At the same time, the disturbance caused by Mr. Wang’s Yan Telegram had not subsided, and even showed signs of intensifying.
Universities such as Shanghai University and Tongji College in Shanghai raised the flag of class boycott one after another, opposing Mr. Wang’s remarks.
Not only them, even the labor union was secretly planning a major strike.
New Year’s Day, 10 a.m.
The air inside Shanghai University seemed to have been ignited.
This place was no longer the tranquility of the ivory tower of the past; slogans were plastered on walls and tree trunks like snowflakes, with dripping ink, shocking to the eye: “Severely punish the traitor Wang!”
“Oppose surrender, persist in the War of Resistance!”
“Study without forgetting to save the nation!”.
The students were filled with righteous indignation, gathering on the playground and in the auditorium, with passionate speech voices and angry slogan shouts rising one wave after another.
The classrooms were empty, and the professors either acquiesced, participated, or sighed helplessly.
Not just universities. Upon receiving the news, workers in several Japanese-owned cotton mills and wharf companies in the French Concession and International Settlement also responded and began a strike.
The workers walked out of the workshops and gathered at the factory gates, silently yet firmly expressing their protest against surrenderism.
Student and worker joint protest marches began appearing on the streets; they raised flags and slogans high, sang anti-Japanese songs, and marched toward the edge of the Japanese-occupied area like an unstoppable flood.
Wang’s “Yan Telegram” was like a huge stone thrown into stagnant water, thoroughly enraging the national conscience that had not yet been extinguished in this isolated island city.
Shanghai, No. 625 Daxi Road, Nanjing Special Affairs Committee Shanghai Office.
The atmosphere here was in stark contrast to the boiling outside, cold and stern.
The radio clicked incessantly, and the telephone bells rang sharply and piercingly. Secret agents wearing Zhongshan suits or suits hurried about with grave expressions.
Zuo Mingquan had just finished an urgent encrypted call from Nanjing, his face ashen enough to drip water.
He slammed down the phone and roared at the several action team captains waiting for orders in the office:
“Did you all hear that? Headquarters orders! Those fools at Shanghai University and the labor union actually dare to openly incite class boycotts and strikes, opposing the peace movement and slandering the government! This is counter-revolutionary behavior that sabotages Japan-China cooperation and the construction of the new order! It absolutely cannot be tolerated!”
He slammed the table hard: “Orders from above: Act immediately! Arrest all the ringleaders who are stirring up trouble and organizing marches, bring them all in! Be fast! Be ruthless! Kill one to warn a hundred! We absolutely cannot let this evil trend spread!”
The several action team captains replied in unison: “Yes!”
Near Shanghai University
The protest march was growing in momentum; students and workers merged together, emotions running high. They did not know that danger was quietly approaching.
Several black sedans and trucks loaded with plainclothes agents slipped in like ghosts, silently entering nearby streets and sealing off various intersections.
These action team members of the Nanjing Special Affairs Committee were different from ordinary police; their methods were more ruthless and unscrupulous.
Suddenly, a piercing whistle sounded!
“Move! Grab them!” Action Team Captain Ling Jing gave the order.
The secret agents of the action team charged from all directions toward the protest march like hungry wolves pouncing on prey!
They had clear targets, going straight for those students and worker leaders who were speaking, directing, or appeared to be organizers.
“What are you doing!”
“What right do you have to arrest people!”
“Patriotism is no crime!”
Shouts of alarm, angry rebukes, and struggling cries instantly replaced the previous slogan shouts.
The crowd fell into chaos. The agents showed no mercy, punching and kicking, smashing with pistol butts, roughly dragging the targets out and stuffing them into waiting cars.
Some students tried to resist and immediately suffered even more brutal beatings, blood staining the slogans red.
The scene was a complete pandemonium, with cries and curses unceasing.
The originally passionate protest activity instantly turned into a terrifying scene of violent arrests.
Shanghai, Southern Transportation Department.
The tension of continuous days of work and the gloom of suppression made Chen Yang, deputy director of the Nanjing Special Affairs Committee, feel extremely fatigued.
Just as he returned to the office door, a figure in a silk long gown, unable to hide his anxiety and fear, suddenly rushed out from the shadows and nearly collided with him.
“Section Chief Chen! Section Chief Chen! Save me! Please save me!”
Chen Yang looked closely and saw it was Boss Shen Xing Shan, a “Tong” generation big shot of the Green Gang on the Shanghai Bund.
Previously, the two sides had cooperated; Chen Yang handed Zhang Xiaolin’s opium business to Shen Xing Shan, and Shen Xing Shan joined with Ji Yunqing and a group of Bagudang to deal with Zhang Xiaolin’s men.
Now, their private goods also went through Chen Yang’s transportation network, making them a major client.
At this moment, Shen Xing Shan had completely lost his former composure and air of a gang boss; his hair was disheveled, eyes sunken, face covered in greasy sweat and panic, clutching Chen Yang’s arm desperately like grasping the last straw for survival.
“Boss Shen? What’s this…” Chen Yang was startled inside but kept calm on the surface, trying to free his arm, “What happened? Come into the office and talk slowly.”
“It’s my unworthy daughter! Qingyao! Section Chief Chen, you must save her!” Shen Xing Shan’s voice carried a sobbing tone, incoherent, “She… she joined the march at Shanghai University! She was grabbed by those damned secret agents from the Special Affairs Committee!”
“I have only this one daughter! Her mother died early, I raised her, sent her to university, who knew she… she would get involved in these head-chopping activities!”
Chen Yang immediately understood.
Shen Qingyao, a female student at Shanghai University, progressive in thought, had long been on the arrest list; unexpectedly she was Shen Xing Shan’s daughter and had become a typical leader arrested this time.
“Boss Shen, this…” Chen Yang tried to keep his voice steady, “Sigh, the Special Affairs Committee is also acting on orders from the Japanese.”
“As for that side… well, the wind is tight right now, you know about Mr. Wang’s matter, their arrests all have approval from above, I’m afraid…”
“I know it’s difficult! I know it’s difficult!” Shen Xing Shan interrupted eagerly before he finished, almost kneeling down, “Section Chief Chen, who doesn’t know you have influence with the Japanese and in the New Government!”
“Not to mention your position as director of the Special Affairs Office, just as section chief of the Army Transportation Section, you control water and land routes and have connections everywhere!”
“Please, for the sake of my old Shen being somewhat useful in the past, running errands for you, think of some way no matter what!”
“Any amount of money is fine! I’ll accept going bankrupt! I have only this one daughter!”
Shen Xing Shan had been in the underworld for years and knew these people’s methods well; once inside, one wouldn’t die but would shed a layer of skin, and his pampered daughter, a female student, where could she withstand such torture?
At this moment, he was not some Green Gang boss, just a desperate father.
Chen Yang felt extremely troubled; publicly, his overt identity was an official of the puppet government, intervening in “saboteurs,” especially typical cases arrested in the sensitive period after the “Yan Telegram,” was extremely likely to bring fire upon himself and arouse suspicion from Kagesa and Fujita.
Privately, he had no particular fondness for Shen Xing Shan; it was just a mutually utilitarian relationship.
But… Shen Qingyao was just a student who had fallen into this plight for patriotic actions; he could not turn a blind eye to the conscience deep in his heart.
Moreover, Shen Xing Shan had deep-rooted influence on the Shanghai Bund; if he could use this to bestow a favor, it might benefit future work.
“Boss Shen, it’s not that I won’t help…” Chen Yang weighed his words, “If I rashly go to demand her release, not only might I fail, but it could harm your daughter.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Xing Shan’s face turned ashen, old tears streaming down: “Then… what to do? Am I to watch her… Section Chief Chen, you must have a way! Please pull some strings, even just pass a message! As long as she gets out, I, Shen Xing Shan, will be your ox or horse for life to repay you!”
Chen Yang pondered for a moment and lowered his voice: “Releasing her directly is probably impossible. But perhaps… I can arrange things inside, at least ensure your daughter avoids torture, suffers less, and preserves her life.”
“I’ll also try to find out how much evidence they have and where the case will ultimately go.”
“As long as she’s alive and not sentenced to death, there will always be room to maneuver later.”
This was the most realistic and feasible option currently. Directly fishing her out carried too much risk, but bribing jailers, buying off insiders to improve treatment, and probing information was relatively feasible, though it required extreme caution.
Shen Xing Shan seemed to grasp a sliver of hope, nodding repeatedly: “Good, good, good! Avoid suffering! Preserve her life! That’s good! That’s good! How much money is needed? I’ll prepare it right away! Gold bars, US dollars, or antique calligraphy and paintings? You name it!”
“Whatever I have, I won’t haggle!”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Chen Yang waved his hand and vigilantly looked around, “This matter is no small thing; it cannot be publicized too much.”
“Boss Shen, you go back and wait for news first. Remember not to seek help from others yourself, especially not to make a fuss, or it will only backfire.”
“Also, if your daughter gets out, hide her well; at least don’t let her come out for a short time.”
Chen Yang earnestly patted Shen Xing Shan’s shoulder: “This is for her own good.”
