Chapter 262: Guess What I Found?
Two days later, Shanghai, Japanese residential area, Imperial Army Hospital.
At three in the afternoon, it was time for the doctor’s routine rounds.
A “doctor” wearing gold-rimmed glasses, a white coat, and carrying a folder appeared in the special care ward area.
His badge read “Attending Physician, Internal Medicine, Nohara Kazuo.” His demeanor was calm, his pace somewhat rapid, no different from the other hurried doctors in the hospital.
The guard at the entrance to the special care ward verified his credentials and then waved him through.
Inside the ward, Yoshida Hirohiro was half-reclining on the hospital bed, his face still pale, but seeming somewhat better than the previous days.
He was resting with his eyes closed when he heard the door open and slightly opened his eyes.
“Doctor Nohara? My attending physician isn’t Doctor Watanabe? No one notified me of a doctor change?” Yoshida was somewhat puzzled; he vaguely remembered that his attending physician was not this one.
“Yes, you’re right, Colonel Yoshida.” Xiang Fang slightly bowed, a professional mild smile on his face. “This was a temporary notice from Dean Matsumoto. Director Watanabe has to attend an emergency meeting, so I’m covering the rounds.”
“Please rest assured, Colonel Yoshida. I won’t be involved in your treatment process. My responsibility is to accurately record your physical condition and provide it to Director Watanabe for judgment. How are you feeling now? Is your chest still stuffy?”
As he spoke, he naturally walked to the bedside, picked up the medical record hanging by the bed, and examined it with great seriousness.
At the same time, he cleverly used his body to block the line of sight from the guard at the door.
“Not bad… just no strength.” Yoshida didn’t think much of it; after all, doctor rotations were common in army hospitals.
Xiang Fang set down the medical record and took out a stethoscope: “Let me listen to your heart and lung sounds again.”
He leaned down and placed the stethoscope on Yoshida’s chest; Yoshida cooperated by taking a deep breath.
“Breathe in. Is it stuffy here?” At that moment, the hand that seemed to be holding the stethoscope had, unbeknownst to anyone, acquired a poison needle as fine as a cow’s hair, gleaming with a faint blue sheen between his fingers.
His movement was as fast as lightning. Using the stethoscope head for cover, the poison needle precisely pierced an extremely concealed acupuncture point in the precordial area of Yoshida’s left chest.
“You…” Yoshida’s body suddenly stiffened, his eyes widening abruptly as if he wanted to say something, but Xiang Fang was already prepared. With his back to the guard, his right hand quickly covered the other’s mouth, and a extremely faint “gasp” came from Yoshida’s throat.
An indescribable heart-wrenching pain instantly assaulted him, far more violent than when he had vomited blood before!
His pupils dilated rapidly, and his consciousness was swiftly swallowed by darkness.
“Patient! The patient’s condition is off!” Xiang Fang had already tested the potency of this poison needle and had a firm grasp of its onset time. So, when he saw Yoshida’s breathing gradually cease, he immediately stepped back, a “panicked” expression on his face, and shouted loudly toward the door, “Quick! Rescue! Rescue!”
The guards and nurses at the door rushed in upon hearing the shout, and the ward instantly descended into chaos.
The doctor responsible for Yoshida had no time to question Xiang Fang’s identity; he and the nurses focused entirely on Yoshida, futilely attempting to resuscitate him.
No one noticed that the “Doctor Nohara” quietly slipped a crudely imitated badge into the side pocket of Yoshida’s patient gown amid the chaos.
At the same time, with extremely quick hand movements, he used a specially made engraving knife to carve a small Military Statistics Bureau traitor-elimination mark on the back of the bedside cabinet.
Having done all this, Xiang Fang took advantage of everyone’s attention being on the rescue efforts, retreating quietly like a drop of water merging into the sea, leaving the ward and disappearing at the end of the hospital corridor.
When the resuscitating doctors finally helplessly announced that Yoshida Hirohiro had died from “sudden malignant arrhythmia, resuscitation ineffective,” someone “accidentally” discovered the Military Statistics Bureau badge and the carving behind the bedside cabinet while sorting his belongings.
The news reached Kwantung Army Headquarters and South Manchuria Railway Headquarters, immediately causing an uproar!
Colonel Yoshida Hirohiro had actually been infiltrated and assassinated by a “Military Statistics Bureau” secret agent under the strict protection of the Army Hospital!
This was simply an utter humiliation!
Ume Agency and Special Higher Police Affairs flew into a rage, immediately launching large-scale internal investigations and external manhunts, with all suspicion pointing to the elusive “Military Statistics Bureau” operatives.
The news of Colonel Yoshida Hirohiro’s assassination by “Military Statistics Bureau” in the special care ward of the Army Hospital was like ice water thrown into boiling oil, causing an explosion among the Japanese puppet upper echelons.
This was not just the loss of a senior official; it was the ultimate mockery of the Empire’s security forces!
Expeditionary Army Headquarters was furious and strictly ordered Ume Agency and Special Higher Police Affairs to jointly form a task force, to crack the case within a deadline and root out the lurking “Military Statistics Bureau” operatives as a warning to others.
The shock caused by Yoshida Hirohiro’s death within the Japanese puppet upper echelons was far from being quelled by the surface conclusion of “Military Statistics Bureau assassination.”
The Empire’s intelligence agencies were not fools; they would not be easily misled by a Military Statistics Bureau badge left behind.
Both Ume Agency and Special Higher Police Affairs agreed that the Military Statistics Bureau had no reason to target a transportation officer.
In a sense, they should prefer Yoshida alive, because the Empire moving against the bear would not only divert Chinese forces but also relieve pressure on the National Government. Why would they do something so thankless? It was clearly someone deliberately directing suspicion toward the Military Statistics Bureau.
And those currently in conflict of interest with Yoshida were undoubtedly people from the Transportation Department.
But the Transportation Department wouldn’t target a deputy minister without reason either.
Special Higher Police Affairs commander Fujita Go’s view was that there might be issues with the matters Yoshida was responsible for.
But this statement was quickly refuted by Ume Agency deputy head Haruki Keiin.
Ume Agency believed that many in the Transportation Department had seen Yoshida fall ill and be hospitalized due to his transportation failures.
In this transportation incident, Yoshida was the loser; Southern Transportation Department had no reason to act against a loser!
The key was that just before the incident, Chen Yang had represented all Transportation Department colleagues in visiting Yoshida at the Army Hospital.
If one insisted that Minister Chen was the problem, he could have easily avoided it. Why bother visiting Yoshida amid his busy schedule, thereby increasing his own suspicion?
For a time, both sides argued endlessly.
Ultimately, Expeditionary Army Headquarters commander Ooguchi Unnana issued the order.
This case would be jointly handled by Special Higher Police Affairs and Ume Agency.
Special Higher Police Affairs would be responsible for auditing Yoshida’s work and materials matters; Ume Agency would sort out Yoshida’s personal and official items, addressing both public and private to find the reason.
After accepting the orders, both sides immediately began investigations.
Special Higher Police Affairs assigned the audit task to Nantian Yangzi of Special Affairs Section One.
Nantian immediately selected the most skilled accounting experts in calculations and seasoned auditors familiar with railway operations, forming a small but highly professional special audit team.
Their nominal task was “to review Deputy Minister Yoshida Hirohiro’s work before his death, ensure smooth transportation connections, and identify management risks”!
In reality, they had extremely high authority to access all documents from Transportation Coordination Headquarters and relevant South Manchuria Railway departments since Yoshida took office, including vouchers, records, and even materials allocation lists marked “top secret,” “confidential,” or “military top secret.”
The audit team’s temporary office was set up in a relatively secluded wing near Mai Gen Road Material Warehouse, with windows blocked by heavy curtains, the room brightly lit day and night.
Box after box, cabinet after cabinet of files, dispatch logs, goods lists, and warehouse entry-exit vouchers were continuously delivered.
The air was filled with the scent of old paper, ink, and a stifling tense atmosphere.
The clacking of abacuses, the rustling of steel pens on paper, and the low and deep exchanges among auditors formed the main rhythm here.
The first few days, the work seemed to progress smoothly.
As a professionally trained officer and senior transportation expert, Yoshida Hirohiro’s handled documents had clear processes, rigorous annotations, neat handwriting, with almost no obvious flaws.
All materials applications, dispatch instructions, and railcar allocations strictly followed the “Nomonhan priority” principle, with internal logic consistent in all records.
However, Nantian Yangzi was no ordinary auditor; her own experiences gave her keen intuition and insight beyond mere numbers.
She was not deceived by the surface rigor of the processes but proposed a key audit approach: “endpoint backtracking” and “cross-verification.”
She instructed her team members not to just check consistency between documents but to go beyond the paper!
Compare the final dispatch instructions and materials lists issued by the coordination headquarters with actual pass-through records and temporary storage vouchers from major marshalling yards and hub nodes along the railway, as well as final destination…
Such as Hailar garrison, frontline division supply depots, field hospital warehouses, and other logistics sites’ official receiving receipts, conducting three independent rounds of comparison.
Nantian’s meaning was very clear: “Any perfect lie will reveal irregular edges in the three-dimensional space of data.”
The audit team followed this principle, comparing vast amounts of data…
Time passed continuously, with Special Higher Police Affairs making no effective progress, while Ume Agency first discovered some abnormalities…
The investigation of Yoshida’s death case was still led by Ume Agency deputy head Haruki Keiin!
As a core member of the task force, he personally led the team in the most thorough search of Yoshida Hirohiro’s residence, a standalone small building in the South Manchuria Railway senior staff dormitory area.
Hoping to find clues of Yoshida’s suspicious external contacts or other traces possibly left by the murderer.
The search was meticulous yet brutal.
Bookshelves were emptied, drawers pulled out, floors and walls tapped to check for hidden compartments.
Haruki Keiin stood grim-faced in the center of the living room, watching his subordinates classify and inspect items one by one.
Most items fit the identity of an Empire senior officer and South Manchuria Railway executive: military books, internal South Manchuria Railway documents, some ordinary family letters, and financial records.
However, when an agent pulled out an unmarked hard-shell folder from under a pile of seemingly irrelevant old newspapers and magazines at the bottom of the study bookshelf, Haruki Keiin keenly sensed something unusual.
He stepped forward, took the folder, and opened it.
Inside were not the expected confidential documents or Military Statistics Bureau contact records, but several roughly printed, yellowed pamphlets and some handwritten notes.
“《The Tale of Genji》, 《Hiraida Family Letters》…”
Seemingly nothing suspicious, Haruki Keiin casually flipped one open, and the next second, his pupils contracted sharply, his breathing halting!
He incredulously quickly flipped through the pamphlets and related notes; the contents were without exception, and the handwriting on the notes, after preliminary comparison with those letters, was confirmed to be Yoshida Hirohiro’s own hand!
There were also some annotations and thought fragments he wrote while reading, containing criticism but more traces of… deep study and attempts to understand!
“This… how is this possible?” Haruki Keiin felt a chill rush from his feet to the top of his head, his hand holding the folder trembling slightly.
Yoshida Hirohiro, Imperial Army colonel, one of South Manchuria Railway Headquarters’ top executives, Transportation Department deputy minister with real power, was secretly reading such books in private!
This was more shocking than discovering collusion with the Military Statistics Bureau! The Military Statistics Bureau was the enemy, but a clear opponent after all.
But the things in his hands had always been explicitly prohibited by the Empire.
Hiss, he immediately realized the severity of this matter far exceeded the “assassination case” itself.
This was no longer just sabotage by enemy forces but possibly involved ideological infiltration and “ideological wavering” among internal high-levels!
“Everyone! Stop the search immediately!” Haruki Keiin shouted sharply, his voice somewhat altered by extreme shock and realization of the gravity.
“Seal the scene! Everything found here is top secret! Without my order, no one may leak a single word! Violators will be shot!
“Hai!” Ume Agency agents didn’t know what happened, but Haruki Keiin’s actions alone proved this matter had an unusual flavor!
Ignoring the crowd’s thoughts, Haruki Keiin ordered assistant Tanimura Masataro to immediately seal these materials. He took the documents straight to the Deputy Minister of Southern Transportation’s office!
At this moment, Haruki had to report to Chen Yang immediately!
Yoshida Hirohiro’s death was probably far more complex than it appeared on the surface.
Could it be that he was eliminated by internal “cleaners” for reading these?
Or did contacting these ideas bring him mortal danger?
Or… his death was part of some deeper conspiracy, and the Military Statistics Bureau cover was just to hide this even more unspeakable secret?
Haruki Keiin felt dizzy; he didn’t dare delay, personally escorting the folder full of “banned books” and notes, striding away from Yoshida’s residence.
Shanghai, Southern Transportation Department Deputy Minister’s Office.
After a period of Joint Sea and Land Transportation, the backlog of materials had been greatly alleviated.
Chen Yang cooperated quite well with the South Manchuria Railway professional transportation teams; those people were deeply impressed by Chen Yang’s abilities.
Now, they just needed to follow the transportation plan designed by Chen Yang and execute it step by step; it was nothing like the exhaustion before.
Boom, the door was violently pushed open; Chen Yang was startled and looked up to see Haruki Keiin bursting in.
“Mr. Chen, big trouble! Guess what I found?”
Haruki Keiin shut the office door behind him and placed the folder containing several notes and books on the desk!
“The Tale of Genji, Hiraida Family Letters—these are normal books, Haruki-kun, what’s going on?” Chen Yang was somewhat puzzled.
“Mr. Chen, take another look!”
Chen Yang flipped open the books with a face full of confusion; what met his eyes was not the 《The Tale of Genji》 from his memory—this content, hmm, why so familiar.
Wait, this couldn’t be…
Chen Yang shuddered, throwing the books aside like a hot potato.
“Haruki-kun, what did you show me? Don’t tell me…”
Haruki Keiin nodded: “Mr. Chen, you saw it right. This is 《On Protracted War》 personally authored by that person in Yan’an…”
“Yoshida, Yoshida likely has a problem…”
