Chapter 60: Conflict
One hour later, Li Shiqun held a swearing-in rally for his subordinates.
Due to 67’s weak foundation, a large portion of the team members were either tracking target individuals daily or on the road collecting clues.
This time could be said to be the first time 67 had all members assembled, even team members who had been tracking until midnight and only went back to sleep in the morning were called back.
There were only seventy or eighty people in total.
“Today, I’ve gathered everyone because there is a major operation.
I know everyone has worked hard, some were just falling asleep when called up, others were about to go to sleep but were called back.
Why do we work so hard? To make a name for ourselves!
Now, the opportunity has come.”
Li Shiqun gestured toward Ding Mocun beside him: “Today, I’m announcing some news to everyone!
Starting today, your days without formal establishment are over!
We will soon officially hang our plaque and establish Agent Headquarters, affiliated with the City Government, directly under the Gendarmerie Headquarters.
And the one beside me is the renowned Major General Division Chief of the original National Government, Division Chief Ding Mocun!
He has formally joined our Agent Headquarters and will serve as Director, while I will serve as Deputy Director.
Director Ding’s joining has directly brought us a large amount of intelligence. The Japanese have promised to disburse funding on time each month and grant great power.
That means, starting today, you will all have high salaries paid on time each month, with subsidies depending on the results of trial operations.
Free housing provided, free meals, work-related injuries fully reimbursed for medical expenses, income unchanged during rest time with additional recuperation fees, and if unfortunately killed in action, the compensation we pay is higher than the City Government’s standard.
For those with a wife, we will arrange work for her; for those with a child, I will find schools for you.
In short, you just need to devote yourselves fully to work, and Agent Headquarters will have specialized departments to solve all your life troubles.
And this treatment applies to all of you, whether old subordinates who followed me since the Central Statistics Bureau period, or those I later arrested and turned, or the Green Gang brothers originally brought by Sibao.
Because you are the veterans, the first batch of brothers in Agent Headquarters.
In the future, more people will definitely join us, but their treatment will absolutely not be as good as yours, and their starting point will not be as high as yours.
After Agent Headquarters is formally established, you veterans will all have formal files, ratings, and positions determined by merit.
Possibly Captain or Deputy Captain, Section Chief or Deputy Section Chief, even Division Chief or Deputy Division Chief.
And the most important scoring for determining your merit and position is this operation starting today.
Operation codename: Siege.
Operation objective: Completely annihilate the Central Statistics Bureau and Military Statistics Bureau in Shanghai, uproot them entirely!
Whoever arrests more, arrests faster, interrogates more, interrogates faster, will have more merit and higher position. Is that clear enough?”
“Clear!”
The emotions of all members were aroused; just this treatment better than the City Government’s was enough to make them very envious, and once they had formal establishment, they could lord over others in Shanghai no matter what they did.
This was a major opportunity to directly shed their civilian status.
“Establish merit today! Now assigning tasks. Everyone divide by area, according to the names recorded on the note, go find and arrest your targets, and send them back quickly for interrogation!”
“Yes!”
Team members stepped forward to take the pre-prepared notes from the table, which listed personnel aliases and their hidden identity information in Shanghai; anyway, they were all aliases, and who they caught in the end depended on their own luck.
Of course, mobilization was mobilization, but assigning positions purely by luck was impossible; at most, they’d give Squad Leader or Deputy Section Chief or something for fun.
“Sibao.”
Li Shiqun called Wu Sibao aside and handed him a note: “
There are four names on it. Two of these people can be confirmed in the Concession: one is the Telecommunications Division Chief of Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai District, one is the Postal and Telecommunications Division Chief of Central Statistics Bureau Shanghai District. The other two have very important identities; I guess they are also in the Concession.
One is the District Chief of Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai District, one is the Station Chief of Central Statistics Bureau Shanghai Station. We know their real names, but not their aliases.
Your task: first send people to find these two, but do not arrest them; keep them under tight surveillance.
Once the urban area operations start, there will definitely be fish that slip the net. These two hold high positions as Division Chiefs and will surely have informants notify them. Once they know, they will try to contact their respective Station Chiefs, then”
Li Shiqun said this and clenched his open hand into a claw.
“Understood.” Wu Sibao bowed his head.
Li Shiqun continued instructing, “Be patient. If they don’t move, don’t arrest. With such a big incident in Shanghai, the two leaders can endure for a while, but not forever. They will surely use the radio to contact Chongqing, either for reinforcements or instructions. That will be your best chance to establish merit.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll go arrange it right away.”
“Mm, you go first. Once you’re in position, call back, and then I’ll start the operation here.”
“Good. Liu San, A Qing, bring your people and come with me.”
Wu Sibao called his trusted subordinates and went out, had the underlings get in the cars respectively, then stepped aside to explain the task to Liu San and A Qing.
Both were Wu Sibao’s current trusted aides; A Qing was Wu Sibao’s old flame, Liu San the new favorite.
The main reason Liu San stood out among the crowd to become the new favorite was his clever idea to steal Gu Yansheng’s car: smart, promising, very much to Wu Sibao’s taste.
“You two divide your subordinates into two groups, each watching your own target. These two targets must be under 24-hour surveillance, and no dozing off. Got it?”
“Got it!”
“Good, set out first to find people. I’ll bring an extra group to guard the area between you; whichever side needs support, call me anytime.”
“Yes.”
The two confirmed locations were found very quickly. While Wu Sibao left to patrol the other group, Liu San turned a corner and found a phone booth.
“It’s me. Chongqing High Command Ding Mocun has defected and provided a large list of Central Statistics Bureau and Military Statistics Bureau names. The arresting teams are already on the way. Tell everyone to evacuate fast! Try to contact the District Chief, tell him not to contact the Telecommunications Division Chief no matter what. Others still have time; this one has already been targeted!”
The first shot was fired at five in the afternoon.
Once the government gates closed, they knew nothing of the outside events.
By the time Gu Yansheng learned of it, an hour had passed.
It was near quitting time when he heard clerks discussing it in the corridor. He asked, and the clerk said that outside they were arresting Military Statistics Bureau agents, and even a translator from a City Government department had been grabbed by plainclothesmen who rushed in.
Actually, arrests and searches were very common at this time, but this time the City Government was affected, sparking discussion among the clerks, without causing much of a stir.
But when Gu Yansheng got off work and went home, encountering the gendarmes’ checkpoint, he knew this arrest operation was different from before.
Gendarmes posted on the roads, police checking passersby’s identities, far more Japanese Army on the roads than usual, and the situation looking very tense.
A crowd of off-duty pedestrians squeezed together, police checking each passerby like sifting through a sieve, very thoroughly.
Gu Yansheng’s car was blocked behind and couldn’t move.
Wen Yan pressed the horn.
Beep beep, the horn sound drew over a police officer.
Wen Yan flashed his identity: “Director Gu of the Judicial Department is in the back seat. Clear a path.”
“Yes, yes.” Hearing it was Judicial Department Director Gu, the police didn’t make any trouble at all, immediately moved the roadblock, letting Wen Yan pass through the gap.
As the car passed the police officer, Gu Yansheng had the car stop.
He rolled down the window and asked: “What’s going on?”
The police officer bent at the waist with a smile: “Catching Chongqing agents.”
“So many people, are there that many agents?”
“Lots, all our police have been deployed for a citywide manhunt. With this scale today, you can tell a big figure from Chongqing has been caught; otherwise, they wouldn’t mobilize so many people.”
“How do you know a big figure was caught?”
“How could we not know? The whole bureau mobilized, targeting specific locations; it’s clear someone leaked secrets, and it’s not just our bureau.”
This police officer probably wanted to leave a good impression in front of a City Government Division Chief, so he was quite talkative.
But what he said matched what Ling Xianwen and Fu Xiao’an had mentioned at the meeting a couple days ago: the Japanese were about to launch a major operation against the Military Statistics Bureau.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know any Military Statistics Bureau people, so he couldn’t pass on the information even if he wanted to.
They were all anti-Japanese fighters; catching one less was better. Gu Yansheng thought about what help he could provide within his power.
With such a large-scale arrest using all the police, Li Shiqun didn’t have enough staff; it was impossible to arrest everyone at the same time.
Thinking it over, Gu Yansheng said: “Wen Yan, find a telephone.
“Yes.”
The car pulled up to a public phone booth by the road; Gu Yansheng got out, picked up the phone, and called Ling Xianwen.
His tone quite dissatisfied: “Secretary-General, do you know about the ongoing arrest operation?”
“Yansheng, I heard about it. What’s wrong?”
“You can’t let them arrest people like this. If they keep arresting like this, how can I advance my peace plan? Won’t my plan be completely wasted?”
Ling Xianwen paused upon hearing this: “Hiss, this should be approved by the Gendarmerie Headquarters; hard to change. Does it affect your plan much?”
“Too much!”
Gu Yansheng grew more dissatisfied: “I’ve already arranged tomorrow’s newspaper headlines for news about my plan. Now with this incident, what do you think tomorrow’s headlines will be? Won’t they all be about his arrests?
Even if the papers I arranged still promote mine, how many people will care? Won’t all attention be drawn to the arrests?”
Ling Xianwen thought and hesitated: “Then delay the newspaper matter?”
“Delay? Wouldn’t that mean I take the blame for Li Shiqun, he gets the merit and I get scolded?
The timing for the whole plan is perfect right now; who knows when his will end? Drag on for a month or half? What about Mr. Hase’s side? What about the cargo ship smuggling again?”
Gu Yansheng’s string of questions put Ling Xianwen in a difficult spot; it really was tricky.
Thinking while saying: “Don’t be angry first. Arresting the Military Statistics Bureau was decided long ago; you know catching them makes us safer too. And it’s already started; can’t stop it. Like this: rethink the plan, I’ll talk to Mr. Hase for you, buy you time, come up with another plan.”
“It’s not a matter of time, Secretary-General. Plans require perfect timing and conditions; miss it, and it may not be so perfect anymore. Future plans might only have half the effect. Who bears that consequence? Anyway, Li Shiqun definitely won’t take it for me.”
“Sigh, dilemma. So what do you say? Arrests are Gendarmerie Headquarters’ business; definitely can’t stop.”
“No need to stop all, Secretary-General help me control the situation: urban area whatever he wants, but keep Li Shiqun’s people out of the Concession. Absolutely no fighting and killing in the Concession. As long as it doesn’t reach that point, my plan can still proceed.
I’m going to the Consulate now. You help hold him off for half an hour first, okay?”
“Okay, I’ll help you.”
It was the first time Gu Yansheng asked for help, and for the Consulate matter; Ling Xianwen had to help.
The method wasn’t difficult: arrests require guns. Li Shiqun, backed by Gendarmerie Headquarters, might not listen, but Concession entrances have police; strict body searches would prevent guns from getting in.
The Public Works Bureau itself didn’t like people bypassing them to enforce law inside, so notify them.
