Chapter 238: Personnel
“In Shanghai, this plan will only be known to the three of us.
I will design and lead the early actions, you don’t need to worry about this, until one day I am arrested and enter No. 76, and the early work ends.
For the mid-term work, Gu Yansheng, you and I will complete it together, acting according to the situation. Before I gain the Japanese’s trust, I will definitely be monitored and suspected, so there will be no communication between you and me, everything depends on our own performance.
Chen Mo, your Iron Blood Assassination Group must stop all assassination actions, and this kind of random assassination action must be stopped in the future. When we carry out the early and mid-term actions, you must screen your own team to ensure there are no hidden dangers that could lead to you being implicated.
Among the three of us, you are the most likely point to make a mistake, make sure to ensure safety.
Once my early work is completed, you must enter standby mode, ready at any time to eliminate potential problems according to our needs, until we completely control No. 76.
Any problems?”
“No.”
“No.”
“My codename is Luoyi, currently no radio is needed. If there is information, it will go through your radio, Chen Mo. Only codenames are allowed, no information linking to my identity.
“No problem.”
“Good.” Wang Tianmu looked at the two, “You two, either succeed or die heroically. When the victory in the War of Resistance comes, we will reunite!”
Chen Mo and Gu Yansheng came out of the room and hurried to the house in the concession.
No matter how Chen Mo thought about it, it still felt off, “Abandoning hundreds of people in the Shanghai District, don’t you think that’s a bit too much?”
Although many of these people could join No. 76 and survive after being arrested later, many would definitely resist during the process and be killed.
Of course it’s too much; it’s not Wang Tianmu himself who dies. The fate of these people in the Shanghai District has been decided today—those who can escape are lucky, those who can’t will either die or become traitors.
Becoming this kind of traitor means, in a sense, even if they don’t die after the war, they won’t be able to turn their lives around for generations; a family’s fate for several generations is decided today.
But these words can’t be said to Gu Yansheng.
“Boss Dai’s decision is not something we can change. What we can do is try our best to complete this matter.” Gu Yansheng also sighed, putting on a full show on the surface.
If Chen Mo feels upset, he can go talk to his superior. Having seen the Military Statistics Bureau’s cruelty to its own people, if he wants to see Gu Yansheng’s reaction and try to recruit him to join the Red Party, that’s not impossible either.
After parting, Gu Yansheng returned to West Shanghai.
Getting arrested is a simple matter; just intensify the attacks, so Wang Tianmu’s early plan really doesn’t need to inform them.
But speaking of which, Wang Tianmu had long prepared this plan with Boss Dai, no wonder the Shanghai District isn’t ruling out risks now and is still fighting head-on against Li Shiqun’s pursuit.
For several days in a row, attacks in West Shanghai increased—who let the main residences of the representatives attending the Pseudo Sixth Congress be in West Shanghai.
Not only gunfights, but even operations to blow up entire buildings began, collapsing one house and killing several people in the shock.
On the other side, Wang Mansion.
Negotiations between Wang Faction personnel and the Japanese continued, advancing quite quickly, mainly due to compromises made during the Japan period; the psychological defense line had been breached, so as long as the conditions were slightly better, it felt like a gain.
Now they were about to confirm the final list of major new government officials with the Japanese, after all, the Sixth Congress was imminent, and these were matters to be clarified at the Sixth Congress meeting.
In the room, Wang Ni suddenly said upon hearing a name for a minister position.
“I disagree! Anyone can be this minister, just not him!”
Minister Zhou paused and frowned: “But Gao Zhongwu was previously the Director of Asian Affairs, and now he’s been in charge of the negotiations throughout. Not giving him even a minister position—isn’t that inappropriate?”
“What’s inappropriate? Even sending a dog wouldn’t negotiate as badly as him!”
Wang Ni could forgive anyone except this Gao Zhongwu, “He didn’t notice the Japanese intentions at all—how dare he be this minister? He even claims to be a negotiation expert. If not for his big talk back then, we wouldn’t have gone to Hanoi; we’d still be in Chongqing!
Anyone can be this minister, just not him!”
At this moment, Chen Biqun saw an opportunity and interjected: “I think Gao Zhongwu does bear responsibility. Why not arrange for him to be a vice minister first? It’s not wronging him much; he probably knows it himself.
Executive vice minister still has power.
As for leaving the minister position open, I think give it to Li Shengwu. His Minister of Judicial Administration position was taken by Gu Yansheng, so we can’t chill the heart of this veteran. He hasn’t made any mistakes, right?”
“Right, give it to him!” Wang Ni slapped the table, no problem at all.
Minister Zhou frowned and thought; it’s a bit immoral to let the executor take the blame. After all, the Japanese hid it too well; it’s not entirely the negotiators’ responsibility.
But since Mr. Wang doesn’t like it and picks this one to emphasize, there’s no need to push back.
“Good, I respect your opinions, so we’ll move Gao Zhongwu’s position to vice minister.
“He shouldn’t even be vice minister, this waste, worse than pigs and dogs.” Wang Ni was still cursing.
“Don’t be angry.” Minister Zhou thought and said: “How do you plan to arrange Chu Minyi?”
This man is Mr. Wang’s brother-in-law, so Minister Zhou couldn’t decide.
Wang Ni looked at Chen Biqun, “Biqun, your family relative—what do you think he can do?”
Chen Biqun was already prepared, “For our own people, I think they should be placed in key positions. Some positions are more reassuring if we control them ourselves. I think make him Minister of the Navy— we can’t give the army to others.”
“What? Minister of the Navy?” Minister Zhou thought he misheard, his mind a bit dazed.
Originally thought for a medical school guy, giving him a secretary-general role or opening an Internal Affairs Health Department as minister would be fine, but actually wanting the Navy? Chen Biqun’s appetite is really big.
“Absolutely not!
The Navy needs professional generals to lead operations. Chu Minyi’s loyalty is no problem, but he’s never done Navy work, hasn’t even been a soldier—how can he be Minister of the Navy?
He’d get seasick on a ship; if he went to the constables, standing on deck with a wave coming, he’d probably vomit right on the deck—what a joke that would be?”
“If he hasn’t done it, he can train. If he doesn’t know, he can find someone who does to be the vice minister, right?”
Chen Biqun analogized: “Generals mainly manage people; they don’t need to fight at sea themselves. Fohai, you were in charge of propaganda in Chongqing before— if I said now you don’t know how to manage finance or the economy of so many places nationwide, could you not be this minister?”
Minister Zhou was displeased and retorted: “How is that the same? The most important work of the Finance Minister is finding money! From the Japanese, I’ve negotiated 3 million Japanese yen in funding support per month—I can find this money, others can’t.
The most important work of the Minister of the Navy is finding ships. Can he, Chu Minyi, get an aircraft carrier from the Japanese? Even one, and I’d recognize him as Minister of the Navy.”
“An aircraft carrier is a bit too much to ask, isn’t it?” Chen Biqun wasn’t stupid; she wouldn’t agree to fanciful demands.
Fine, Minister Zhou conceded a step, “Alright, for the sake of our Navy troop construction, if he can get three destroyers, I’d also recognize him as Minister of the Navy.”
“Three ships—you’re still making it impossible!” Chen Biqun frowned: “It’s wartime now; the Japanese themselves lack ships—how can they give us several at a time?”
“Then why should he be this minister! If getting a few sampans qualifies him as Minister of the Navy, there are plenty like that on the Huangpu River. If you give positions to them, they could even bring their own ships to work!”
Chen Biqun was very unhappy, “Fohai, what’s wrong with you? If you won’t let Chu Minyi be this minister, who can be Minister of the Navy? We don’t have a single Navy talent among us—can we trust just using others?”
“If we can’t trust, leave it empty—the Minister of the Navy can’t be appointed casually!”
“Since there’s no one, just let him take it first.”
“No! The first Minister relates to the construction of the entire troop. Saying out that the Minister of the Navy was a schoolteacher before—wouldn’t Chongqing laugh if they knew?”
Chen Biqun angrily said: “You have to have limits on grabbing positions too! You took Finance, went to Nanjing and took Ren Yuandao for Army, recommended the Agent Headquarters personnel yourself, and now you want the Navy position too? Giving you military power and financial power? Why not be this chairman yourself!”
“I’m considering it for the public good, not personal gain!” Minister Zhou’s anger was ignited but still suppressed, “Every person I recommend has impeccable reasons—they are the most suitable.
Let Chu Minyi be Minister of Health, I have no objection!
But making him Minister of the Navy—he could at most set up a few more inspection stations on the Yangtze River, collecting more tolls in the name of epidemic prevention—what else can he do?
At least make him convince me on one point, convince everyone, right?
Just one point—even if really just one, does he have it?”
“He’s reliable!” Chen Biqun threw out a point on the spot, “If we don’t trust our own people, who can we trust? Isn’t trust the most important for army generals?”
Minister Zhou’s brows furrowed tightly; when a woman gets unreasonable and stubborn, she really doesn’t listen to reason—truly troublesome.
