Chapter 66: Where Did The Gold Go?
“Verify intelligence?” Chen Yang frowned and said: “What intelligence?”
Song Yilin respectfully said: “The Nanjing Ministry of Finance will transport one ton of gold from Nanjing to Shanghai.”
“To be entrusted to the Yokohama Specie Bank. You should be aware of this matter, right?”
Aware? Far more than aware—all the details in this were arranged under Chen Yang’s instructions.
This one ton of gold was originally urgently sold off supplies by the Osaka Chamber of Commerce to raise funds for the New Government as startup funds for administrative operations.
The New Government was established on the 28th of last month, and this batch of gold went to Nanjing along with Finance Minister Chen Jintao at that time.
But the New Government had only been operating for less than a week when Mr. Liang discovered during a regular meeting that one ton of gold was far from enough for expenses.
Of course, the biggest reason among these was that Mr. Liang’s influence was limited.
The leaders of the major business circles in Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Shanghai, and Nanjing all looked down on him, which meant the New Government had no ability to raise funds at all.
Originally, Mr. Liang had pinned his hopes on the taxes from Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province.
However, the Pacification Headquarters in Zhejiang Province had always been in Qi Xieyuan’s hands, and after the supplies were transported to Nanjing, he took them away under the pretext of bandit suppression.
The remaining supplies couldn’t even sustain the New Government, let alone feed those doing odd jobs.
Funds were stretched thin, and the Japanese advisory group adopted a stance of “don’t come to me, I have no money either.”
At this point, if the financial issues weren’t resolved first, this New Government would probably be the shortest-lived government in history.
So, after discussing for half a day, everyone came up with an excellent idea.
Issue a new version of currency
Yes, that’s right—reformulate a version of currency in the name of the Nanjing New Government and issue it in areas like Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Shanghai, and Nanjing.
However, issuing currency requires gold reserves.
Without gold as backing, the new currency would be a joke; history has plenty of lessons, such as treasure notes.
Of course, unless you’re shameless enough and have powerful firepower backup, you could easily suppress the common people’s complaints, such as gold yuan coupons.
The New Government didn’t have such strong power, so now everyone could only pin their hopes on this batch of gold, send the gold to the Yokohama Specie Bank, and have the Yokohama Specie Bank provide guarantees.
Besides this, Sonoda Kumakichi, advisor to the Nanjing New Government, also specially contacted Yamamoto Kenszo as advisor for this currency issuance plan.
Although Yamamoto Kenszo isn’t well-known, his destructive power on China’s economy is considerable.
He was one of the planners and persons in charge of Japan’s “Cedar Plan” against China.
In just the 26th year of the Republic of China, he secretly printed over 100 million in legal tender using printing equipment.
With such an expert endorsing it, the New Government seemed to grasp a lifeline and actively carried out the new currency issuance plan codenamed “Pine Plan.”
To smoothly complete the “Pine Plan,” the New Government decided to use Shanghai as the first pilot, printing new currency while also mobilizing some business tycoons to support the new currency issuance.
Of course, the main reason was also that the currencies used in Shanghai were diverse—not only silver dollars, legal tender, and other mainstream Chinese currencies on the market.
Even pound sterling, US dollars, German marks, and francs could serve as transaction currencies.
In such a situation, adding one more new currency didn’t seem excessive.
So, from this perspective, this Song Yilin wouldn’t have much time with him; very likely, by the time that batch of material transaction was completed, she would already be in Shanghai.
Chen Yang looked at Song Yilin and said: “What? Headquarters wants to target this batch of gold?”
“It’s not that I look down on Hu Xinmin—with just the few people under him, thinking of targeting the gold would be underestimating the Japanese too much.”
Song Yilin was stunned for a moment upon hearing this; Hu Xinmin was the acting station chief of the Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai Station.
The new station chief Zhao Lijun was still in Linli County, Hunan, selecting agents for the Shanghai Station.
And the previous Revival Society Shanghai Special Action Office had been repeatedly swept by the Japanese devils’ Special Higher Police Affairs.
Now, there were only a few people left, capable only of intelligence collection work.
Once it involved large-scale actions, they really couldn’t muster the manpower.
After a moment of silence, Song Yilin braced herself and said: “Officer, Director Zheng gave the order.”
“Our task is to collect intelligence; as for whether to take action or hand it over to someone else, that’s not for us to worry about.”
“Since Headquarters issued the task, they must have their own action plan.”
This little girl was quite sharp-tongued.
Chen Yang pondered for a moment, then nodded and said: “What information does Headquarters need?”
Song Yilin respectfully said: “It would be best to get the transportation route map.”
“Mm, that’s not a big problem.” Chen Yang nodded slightly.
Almost blurting out: Do you want me to draw one for you right now?
The gold transport from Nanjing to Shanghai was originally his affair; from boarding to disembarking until entering the warehouse, it was all under his control.
But after leaving the warehouse, how it was transported to the Yokohama Specie Bank was not his concern.
Chen Yang picked up the hat on the table, put it on dashingly, and said: “By the way, how should I notify you after getting the blueprint?”
Song Yilin handed Chen Yang a note she had prepared in advance.
“Officer, there are three dead letter boxes listed above: the storage cabinet in the Tobacco Exchange Shop on Wutong Road.”
“The temporary storage box on the ground floor of Yong’an Department Store.”
“And one is the anonymous safe deposit box at Zhejiang Merchant Bank in Shanghai.”
“You can choose different dead letter boxes based on different levels of information.”
“After placing the intelligence, call the White Russian bread shop downstairs and select bread paired with different jams to indicate which dead letter box it is.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve investigated—these jams listed above are never out of stock.”
“If there’s really an accident, you can also call the Zhenji Flower Shop at the back door of Shanghai University.”
“Use these kinds of flowers as substitutes.”
“Right, there’s also a phone number for the White Rose coffee shop; every Thursday and Saturday afternoon, I’ll be working there part-time as a pianist.”
“You can reach me by calling that number.”
Chen Yang glanced at the handwriting above, quickly memorizing the various combinations for the dead letter box locations.
Then, he took out his matches and burned the note.
“I’ve memorized it. If there’s any situation, I’ll notify you in time.”
“Goodbye, Sakura.”
Shanghai, Director of the Economic Department’s Office.
After connecting with Sakura, Chen Yang felt somewhat conflicted.
The transportation route map for the gold wasn’t difficult for him; as soon as the gold boarded in Nanjing, the first section here would receive a telegram.
He was very clear on the entire route.
The problem was that being inside the bureau, he couldn’t act casually; otherwise, if the gold was hijacked, the entire Economic Department would face another round of screening.
Last time’s rural pacification action was such that no one could find any leverage, and no one believed someone could deduce the military’s structure and numbers from material supplies.
But the gold was different; the route was fixed.
Just as Chen Yang was conflicted and unsure how to handle it, knock knock knock—there was a knock at the door.
Secretary Li Ningyu pushed open the office door and said: “Officer, a telegram from Nanjing asking if the transportation plan has been confirmed.”
