Chapter 53: See You Tomorrow
The next day, Shanghai City Hall, Director of the Economic Department’s Office.
Chen Yang had just walked into the office and hadn’t had time to put down his briefcase when Secretary Li Ningyu followed him in,
“Officer, let me report your itinerary and work schedule for today.”
“You need to go to the material warehouse in the morning to verify the stored materials situation with Minister Liu of the Peaceful National Construction Army Logistics Department.”
“Originally, this was the Tongji Office Director’s job, but now the Director position is still vacant, and Deputy Director Feng doesn’t know much about these things, so you still need to handle it personally.”
Chen Yang nodded slightly and said: “No problem with that, Secretary Li, confirm the time with them, around what time to meet at the material warehouse.”
Li Ningyu nodded, quickly took out a steel pen, and made a note behind.
Immediately after, Li Ningyu said respectfully: “At two o’clock in the afternoon, Commissioner Xie Fukuang from the Zhejiang Province Sui-Jin Commissioner’s Office will come to the office to report to you on Zhejiang Province’s material collection situation from last year.”
“He will also confirm the material dispatch time with you.”
“Secretary Xu called specifically this morning to confirm it with me again.”
“The various organizations in Nanjing have just started working, and all processes require funding support.”
“Alright,” Chen Yang waved his hand impatiently: “You don’t need to remind me about government internal affairs.”
“Whether it’s two o’clock in the afternoon or not, I’ll be here waiting for him then.”
“Secretary Li, you go arrange the material warehouse matter first, and by the way, bring in the list so I can take a look and have an idea.”
Li Ningyu bowed slightly, turned around, and went out to prepare the materials.
Chen Yang flipped through the documents on the table; the Economic Department’s work had not been going on for long.
These were various reports sent up from the First Section and Second Section below.
The work of these two sections, to put it bluntly, one collects materials inward, and the other distributes materials outward.
The work isn’t very complicated, but the process is quite tedious, and the things needed to prepare are also very complex; all numbers need to be absolutely correct.
These jobs that others see as boring to death, Chen Yang liked the most, because these cold data were as simple to him as one plus one.
What his system needed most now was a large amount of Republic of China Era various data support and feeding to improve the system’s computing power…
Don’t doubt it; once big data is formed, the system’s computing power is extremely terrifying.
Not to mention some material allocations; it’s even possible to infer war outcomes from material losses…
After waiting a while, Li Ningyu brought in the supply details from the Peaceful National Construction Army Logistics Department.
Chen Yang nodded to indicate she should place the material list aside.
All the reports were finished in just ten minutes; Chen Yang looked at the material allocation form in his hand and suddenly had an idea…
Could he use material inflows and outflows, as well as daily loss situations, to infer the normal structure of the troops.
He tried simulating and deducing with the successfully entered data, but the prompts in his mind were a series of errors.
That is to say, it couldn’t be calculated just from this; that’s not scientific—how much was used, how much remained, how much normal loss; these things all have data.
Moreover, the materials received each time and the supplies they request all follow patterns; if these are all errors…
Chen Yang patted his head, secretly scolding himself for being muddled; even with these detailed data, it was indeed hard to judge, because the data was made by people—he could trust the data wouldn’t lie, but he overlooked that people can lie.
Of course, this doesn’t mean someone is deceiving him, but that the human-operated data is deceiving him.
The reason is simple; from beginning to end, he overlooked the most important point—these officers have one most important skill: drinking soldier’s blood, eating empty pay.
Therefore, this data shouldn’t start from inflows and outflows losses, but should be reverse-inferred from troop numbers.
Take the current Peaceful National Construction Army as an example; the Peaceful National Construction Army was originally Zhang Lanfeng’s Thirteenth Army, and after entering Shanghai, it added three security regiments, and the Japanese side sent several military advisors.
All personnel according to the Logistics Department report total 14,219 people.
Using their losses as a model, adding normal loss ratios, then adding Logistics Department supply details, this way he could derive the Peaceful National Construction Army’s normal losses, as well as some excess losses.
Then, apply this model to Qi Xieyuan’s subordinate 107th Division that is about to launch the clearance operation, and the two security regiments cooperating in the action.
The first result was obviously wrong compared to the losses, fifteen percent more than normal losses.
Chen Yang adjusted the data several times, tried a few more times, and finally all the various data in his mind matched up.
Beep beep beep, three seconds later, a long segment of weapons and personnel configurations, supplies materials, and other detailed structure breakdown diagrams appeared in his mind.
Chen Yang copied down all the information, thought for a moment, and finally wrote at the end page that the data was for reference only.
After finishing everything, Chen Yang stood up, took his briefcase, walked to the door, and said to Li Ningyu who was working in the opposite office: “Secretary Li, notify them to arrange a car to send me to the material warehouse.”
Shanghai, Yi Ding Pan Road, second floor of a civilian house opposite the Peaceful National Construction Army Headquarters.
Outside the window, dusk was gradually falling, and in the distance came the ding-ding-dang-dang sound of a tram; on the second floor of the civilian house, a tall figure walked into the room, took off his hat, quickly walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked toward the Peaceful National Construction Army Headquarters opposite with the “Save the Nation” sign.
At this time at the entrance, a row of heavy trucks lined up like a dragon, slowly driving inside.
“Where have so many materials been sent?” The man was somewhat puzzled; since early this morning, the Peaceful National Construction Army had been continuously transporting materials outward.
According to his records, the materials transported today probably amounted to thousands of tons.
So many materials, could they be sent to the front lines for the Japanese?
He looked at the time on his watch, sat down by the room radio, and skillfully turned the frequency dial on the radio.
Soon, the radio transmitted a Yue opera《Legend of the White Snake》 segment “Broken Bridge.”
“The West Lake mountains and waters remain the same”
A gentle and drawn-out opening tune; the flower dan playing Bai Suzhen’s singing was indeed superb, instantly giving the feeling of being abandoned by a man a dozen times.
After one song segment finished, the radio transmitted a female announcer’s voice: “Yue opera classic piece《Legend of the White Snake》 broadcast complete, thank you for listening, next is prose poetry recitation.”
It came; the man listened intently to the radio voice and continuously recorded key information.
This method of transmitting intelligence very much tests the speed and reaction of intelligence personnel.
As a veteran intelligence liaison, the man held his breath and concentrated, not daring to miss a single character.
In just a few minutes, a prose poem had already been recited, and static electricity sounds arose from the radio.
The man walked in front of the wall calendar, lifted the calendar, and gently pushed the wall surface; below popped out a small box.
The man took out the cipher book inside and compared it with the previously recorded information, quickly deciphering the meaning.
“Tomorrow at noon twelve o’clock, second floor of Dingxiang Ji, urgent intelligence.
