Cicada Moving

Shancheng, No. 29 Luojiawan.

 The large office of the Intelligence Division of the Military Command Headquarters was full of little spies busy at work, and the phones were ringing and talking.

 As one of the most important business departments of the military command, countless intelligence is gathered here, sorted, analyzed, and then provided to high-level officials or the military as a basis for decision-making.

A female agent hurried over with documents in her hands, bypassed the noisy crowd, came to a small room and knocked on the door.

“Report, urgent call from the deputy seat.”

Wu Chunyang, who was signing documents in the room, immediately stood up, opened the door, took the message, waved the female agent away, and turned back to the table.

There are so many confidential documents in his office that no one except himself is allowed to enter at will.

After sitting back, Wu Chunyang quickly compared the codebook to translate the message, and a command appeared under the tip of his pen.

Looking at the contents on the paper, he stood up again, walked to the door, opened it with a creak, and clapped his hands to everyone.

Hearing the applause, the little spies present put down their work and looked at the director who started to lecture.

“Immediately collect the whereabouts of the staff around Yan Baichuan in the second theater, focusing on investigating whether anyone has left the Jin army-controlled area recently, especially military, political, and diplomatic officials.

There is evidence that some of them will negotiate with the Japanese on behalf of the Jin army and prepare to surrender to the Japanese. I won’t go into details about the seriousness of this matter. I believe you all know it.

  No one must be missed during the investigation. The whereabouts of each target must be confirmed. The investigation record must be signed by the operatives. Whoever has a problem should be dealt with. This is the meaning of the deputy director. "

　　After giving the order in a cold voice, Wu Chunyang looked down at his watch again and gave the deadline with a serious expression.

“You only have 12 hours to mobilize all lurking personnel in Jin Province and the Second War Zone, and take action immediately!”

"yes!"

The little spies raised their hands and saluted and shouted in unison. Then they made phone calls, sent telegrams, and checked information. The intelligence department was operating at full capacity.

Within an hour, the military special agents deployed in the Second Theater Command Headquarters and Qiulin Town, Yichuan County, and Yan Baichuan Mansion were awakened one by one.

These intelligence officers, who usually work as soldiers, clerks, chefs, and clerks, use all means to find and investigate Yan Baichuan's cronies.

On the other side, Wu Chunyang was not idle either. He personally went to the Second Division to invite Gu Qi and several senior agents from the Intelligence Department to take charge of internal monitoring.

 It concerns the theater commander, and the operation must be kept strictly confidential.

Once Yan Baichuan knows about this, he will definitely protest to Shancheng, and even cause conflicts between the national government and local governments. The military commander will be the one to take the blame.

Time passed by, one by one personnel files were moved to the office, and the analysts began to work.

 First of all, what they have to do is to select people who are qualified to serve as negotiators from Yan Baichuan's cronies, which is not difficult to do.

 Those who can negotiate with the Japanese on behalf of the Jin army must be senior members of the Jin army, otherwise others will not be convinced.

 The Jin army under the second theater consists of the 19th, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 61st, 83rd Army, the 1st Cavalry Army and the temporary 1st Army.

The negotiators are likely to be among the chief officers of these troops, because in troubled times, the people with the guns are the ones who really make the decisions.

In addition, Yan Baichuan’s staff are also suspicious.

To govern such a large area of ​​​​Jin Province, it is not enough to rely on the Jin army alone. A group of civilian officials responsible for managing local civil affairs are also needed.

 Yan Baichuan has recruited and hired many literati since 1911. These people may also represent the Jin army in making peace with the Japanese.

 Soon, a list was compiled.

After reading it, Wu Chunyang did not hesitate and immediately sent it to the frontline agents to sort out the people on the list.

Gucci, whose hair was getting thinner and thinner, walked around the office, stood next to him, handed him a cigarette, and said a reminder.

“Chunyang, this is Yan Baichuan, brothers, please pay attention. If something goes wrong, everyone in the bureau will be in trouble.”

“I understand that the personnel involved in this operation all carried poison and will never be captured alive by the Jin army.”

Wu Chunyang's tone was indifferent. Without evidence, even the commander of the theater cannot launch attacks at will. This is the rule of the game.

Gu Qi was startled. The cigarette he put in his mouth stopped in front of his mouth, and he sighed after a long time.

“Well, tell me, if you don’t fight the Japanese well, you insist on doing something that makes relatives happy and enemies happy. Chief Yan is confused.

 Besides, are the Japanese so easy to talk to? Doing so is tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger. Sooner or later, the other party will regret it. "

The intelligence report received from Wu Chunyang previously frightened Gu Qi. Who would have thought that the commander of the theater would surrender.

“Our Chief Yan often says that existence is truth. According to his logic, surrender is naturally justified. We have no control over these things.”

　　Received a copy of the latest information, Wu Chunyang read it with a sneer, and his tone was sarcastic.

 For big people, all doctrines and patriotism are false, only interests are eternal. After listening to what he said, Gu Qi shook his head and stopped talking. He stared at a secret agent and smoked a cigarette.

 Five hours later.

The first piece of valuable information was sent back. Li Fengzhou, the chief of staff of the 1st Cavalry Corps of the Jin Army, left the station 10 days ago. No one knew where he went.

What’s even more strange is that Li Fengzhou’s seal and signature are still included in the military’s daily official documents. Except for the fact that no one answers the phone, everything is as usual.

If the agents hadn't taken the risk to go to the other party's home and paid a large sum of money to bribe the servants in his house, the military commander would not have discovered that this person was missing.

 Li Fengzhou was born in Yan Baichuan's army, the 86th standard bearer of the new army of the former dynasty, and was an absolute veteran. He was quite popular among the generals of the Jin army.

 The chief of staff of a military-level unit abandoned his unit during the war and disappeared without a trace. This is very strange. Isn't he afraid of a sudden attack from the Japanese?

You must know that dereliction of duty and absence from duty are both capital offenses. The Military Law Office of the Second War Zone is composed of people from Shancheng, and they will not give Yan Baichuan such great honor.

Unless Li Fengzhou is sure that the Japanese will not attack while he is away, then a question arises, why is he so sure that his departure will not cause trouble.

The answer is obvious. Either his disappearance was to perform a normal secret mission, and even if something happened, it had nothing to do with him, or he, the Jin army, and the Japanese had a tacit understanding.

  "Retrieve the tasks and meeting minutes of the second theater, and then call the attendant's office to ask if the Jin army has reported a secret operation."

"yes."

In order to rule out the first possibility, Wu Chunyang immediately asked someone to bring the relevant records and ask the attendant's office for confirmation. No one could say for sure if Li Fengzhou was really on official business.

 The results came out quickly. Neither the records nor the feedback from the attendant's room showed that there were secret operations in the second theater.

Wu Chunyang knew for sure that Li Fengzhou was most likely the representative of the Jin army or one of them who was responsible for negotiating with the Japanese, so he gave the order decisively.

“Notify brothers in North China and Shanghai to do their best to detect Li Fengzhou’s whereabouts, telex his photos to the nearest site in the Kuomintang-controlled area, and use secret channels to send them to investigators as soon as possible.”

Years of front-line intelligence experience and nearly a year of training have made Wu Chunyang a qualified intelligence chief, able to handle cases in an orderly manner.

Under his command, good news came one after another. Except for Li Fengzhou, Yan Baichuan's most relied-upon and trusted secretary Jiade Town took leave half a month ago and returned to his hometown to visit his mother's grave.

 According to the investigation by the local military commander, Judd Town did come back and met with a famous local squire. However, he suddenly fell ill a few days later and refused to be visited by anyone. He lived in seclusion.

Through secret interviews, someone reported to the secret agent that one night several cars were seen leaving the back door of Jia's house. They did not even turn on the lights while driving, and their whereabouts were very mysterious.

 Li Fengzhou, Jiade Town.

 Each civil and military.

Yan Baichuan's two absolute confidants disappeared at almost the same time. It would be strange if there was no problem here. The grave sweeping was nothing more than a plan for the golden cicada to escape from its shell.

 Speaking of which, compared with Yan Yiting, these two people are indeed qualified to represent the Jin army. No matter they are civil servants or military generals, they are speechless.

However, Wu Chunyang did not jump to conclusions. There is still some time before the 12-hour deadline, and the investigation work can be done more solidly.

On the one hand, he sent people to send the files of Li and Jia directly to the port city by plane without any transfer.

On the other hand, we continued to investigate the whereabouts of Yan Baichuan's cronies, and expanded the scope of the investigation to the security forces of the Second Theater Command and the elite grassroots combat units of the Jin Army.

Assuming that Li Fengzhou and Juadzhen were really the negotiators, they could not have gone to the port city alone. There would have been chaos along the way, and they might have been slaughtered before reaching their destination, and they would have been accompanied by guards.

Of course, the Japanese will definitely send people to protect them after entering the occupied areas, but what is the difference between protection and surveillance on other people's territory?

 Once the bottom line of the negotiation is grasped by the Japanese, how can the Jin army get more benefits? Yan Baichuan and his men will not think of this.

Therefore, from the perspective of safety and confidentiality, bringing their own guards is the only option for Li Fengzhou and Juade Town. The soldiers who can perform such tasks must not only be elites, but also confidants.

The facts were as Wu Chunyang speculated. With a clear scope of investigation, it didn’t take long for the investigators to gain results.

—A platoon of officers and soldiers from the Pistol Company under the Security Regiment of the Second Theater Command Headquarters and their weapons are missing, totaling 30 people.

Histol Company, a unique military organization of the Republic of China, was an emergency product when automatic firepower was scarce and it was difficult to form effective suppressive firepower.

Members often sneak into the effective range of the shell guns through night raids, killing large numbers of enemy troops with ferocious melee firepower.

It is not easy to build a similar army. In addition to the configuration of weapons and equipment, the soldiers are also selected. Priority is given to those who are tall and skilled in martial arts, or selected from veterans who have recovered from wounded soldiers.

These people have extremely strong individual combat capabilities. At the same time, due to the need for close combat and high casualty rates, the pistol company's pay and treatment are much better than those of ordinary troops, so the loyalty of the personnel is also very high.

Wu Chunyang's face was gloomy. The 30 elite soldiers of the Guo army did not fight against the Japanese, but instead protected the traitors who made peace with the Japanese. Yan Baichuan was really willing to do so.

The next second, he ordered the small agent to send a report to Gangcheng Station to inform the headquarters of the investigation results. They did everything they could, and the only thing left was to wait.

Hand in Yichuan County, hundreds of miles away, a person came out of Yan Baichuan's mansion, stopped at a dental clinic for a while, and then returned to the headquarters of the Second War Zone Commander.