Chapter 11: Putting the "Shanghai District" to Work

After making their choices, Qi Siyuan, Lin Nansheng, and Gong Shu felt no regret. After all, when it came to firm bonds, they believed that the teacher-student relationship was far more reliable than a superior-subordinate relationship of merely a few days.

Moreover, their teacher had a boundless future, and there was no need to betray him for the sake of a temporary promotion.

Yu Zecheng and Jiang Sian shared similar sentiments, though Yu Zecheng felt somewhat that doing so was unethical—eating the food provided by the Shanghai Branch while secretly tracking other senior officers felt very much like biting the hand that fed them.

Even though they all belonged to the Secret Service system.

It was still somewhat unethical in the end.

However, neither of them was willing to betray their classmates and teacher. Though they felt a sense of guilt toward Chen Moqun, who had brought them out of the training camp, they had no intention of exposing him.

As for Qi Siyuan, he was Zhang Anping's prime second disciple, making a change of allegiance entirely unnecessary.

Lu Qiaoshan had entertained some petty thoughts, but Zhang Anping's backing was too formidable, and he favored him personally. Compared to Chen Moqun, who was currently clutching at straws thinking they could save his life, his own teacher had a much brighter future.

Therefore, after some hesitation, he chose not to report upward.

Li Ya, however, acted on his petty ambitions.

He was a "veteran operative" who had won the favor of the underground party and successfully infiltrated the training camp. Believing himself to be a veteran agent, he had assumed he would be exceptionally brilliant within the camp, only to discover upon arrival that he was not the absolute top-tier presence.

While others felt it unnecessary to betray their teacher for a promotion, Li Ya held a completely different perspective.

Because he also maintained an underground party identity, and Chen Moqun currently held evidence of his dual-agent status. Clinging to Zhang Anping might offer some future prospects, but how many students did Zhang Anping actually have?

Talented and capable individuals like Gong Shu, Li Bohan, and Lin Nansheng were a dime a dozen. With so many students in the mix, would he ever truly stand out?

It was highly unlikely!

Furthermore, as a veteran of the Secret Service who also carried the identity of an underground operative, his future was already promising by nature—why bother hitching his wagon to Zhang Anping?

Besides, his current direct superior happened to be Chen Moqun.

Although Chen Moqun's position was currently hanging by a thread, the fundamental reason was his lack of accomplishments—

Would travel reports from the East Asian Tongwen Shoin totaling over a billion, or even tens of billions of words, count as an achievement?

That was by no means a minor accomplishment!

"Teacher, oh teacher, it is not that I lack loyalty, but rather that... the intelligence you gave me is simply too precious!"

Li Ya murmured softly to himself.

That very night, when Chen Moqun came by to inspect, Li Ya gave him the prearranged signal indicating that there was a development.

At first, Chen Moqun assumed Li Ya had been activated, causing a surge of wild joy in his heart as he told himself heaven leaves no dead ends.

Maintaining a calm and unruffled expression after a round of questioning, he said, "It is likely the Communists have already made contact. Pack your things and prepare to withdraw."

He arranged the evacuation details, sending all three subordinates out on errands. Not long after leaving, Li Ya quietly slipped back inside.

Suppressing his excitement, Chen Moqun put on a placid demeanor and asked, "What is the situation?"

"Sir, are you aware that a new Shanghai Special Unit has been established by headquarters?"

"I have heard whispers of it," Chen Moqun replied with deliberate detachment.

Yet internally, his mind was utterly shattered!

The news regarding the formation of the Shanghai Special Unit was handled with extreme secrecy; the Secret Service had not made it public, and his channels in Nanjing had received no word whatsoever.

Meanwhile, local informants in Shanghai had brought word that operatives from the Secret Service had raided the "Salt Customs House," not only injuring Du Yuesheng's disciple Liu Fengqi but also installing a new puppet proxy named Qu Yuanmu—Chen Moqun had consistently believed that Deputy Station Chief Wang Shian was meddling behind his doors.

He had long since perceived Wang Shian's ambition to squeeze him out and take his position. With his own fortunes hanging by a thread, it was entirely normal for Wang Shian to pull strings behind his back.

Yet Li Ya's words instantly made Chen Moqun realize that the one who wrecked the "Salt Customs House" was not Wang Shian at all, but the Shanghai Special Unit that had quietly slipped into Shanghai!

Seeing Chen Moqun remain unfazed, Li Ya thought to himself: *As expected of a veteran of the Secret Service, his intelligence network is truly formidable.*

He proceeded to dump everything about Zhang Anping's appearance that evening onto Chen Moqun.

Hearing this, Chen Moqun's face turned as dark as charcoal.

*Zhang Shihao, oh Zhang Shihao, you actually dared to poach my men right under my nose, and you bloody well wanted to use them to carry out tasks for the Special Unit!*

*What on earth are you daydreaming about!*

*And here I was foolishly thinking you were a man worth befriending!*

Furious, Chen Moqun felt complete disappointment toward the other six individuals. He had originally thought that transferring seven newcomers over would provide him with a reliable inner circle, only to find they were all a bunch of ungrateful, ungrateable wolves!

Suppressing his simmering rage, Chen Moqun asked, "Is there any other intelligence?"

Li Ya lowered his voice and asked, "Station Chief, are you familiar with the East Asian Tongwen Shoin?"

"I am. It is a Japanese school. What about it?"

***

"Are you aware of the graduation grand tours undertaken by the students of the East Asian Tongwen Shoin?"

"I have heard brief mentions of them."

Li Ya then relayed to Chen Moqun all the information concerning the East Asian Tongwen Shoin that he had gleaned from Zhang Anping.

Upon hearing this, Chen Moqun's face was painted with sheer astonishment.

How was it possible that he had never paid attention to intelligence of this magnitude!

Research materials consisting of travel reports totaling upwards of a billion or even tens of billions of words? Just think of how vast a scope of Chinese intelligence must be implicated within them!

Yet, realization dawned upon him almost immediately—this was his golden opportunity.

This was a monumental meritorious service!

Handled properly, the dissatisfaction that the higher-ups held toward the Shanghai Station would instantly vanish.

"I understand. Li Ya, I am immensely pleased that you chose to stand forward this time. You are a man who understands protocol and values loyalty; I will not forget this. For the time being, continue to cooperate with Zhang Shihao. Whatever tasks he assigns, carry them out, and simply report back to me." Chen Moqun patted Li Ya warmly on the shoulder.

Overwhelmed with simulated gratitude, Li Ya professed his absolute readiness to shatter his body and soul in devotion to Chen Moqun.

"Very well, you may leave now. Make sure the others do not see you."

"Understood!"

On Zicca Wei Road, Lu Qiaoshan was lurking near the entrance of an alleyway, silently tracking the time.

He was feeling thoroughly smug at the moment.

For he had caught Li Ya red-handed running to Chen Moqun to snitch!

When Chen Moqun had previously assigned tasks under the guise of rewarding them, Lu Qiaoshan had not thought much of it, but shortly after leaving, a sudden realization struck him—*I previously harbored secret thoughts of selling out my teacher, so what about the others?*

Judging others by his own cynical standards, Lu Qiaoshan immediately ducked into the mouth of an alley, keeping a fixed, covert watch on the entrance to their safehouse.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Li Ya slinked back looking thoroughly shifty.

A smirk crept onto Lu Qiaoshan's face. *Li Ya, oh Li Ya, do not blame me for lacking loyalty—you were the one who betrayed the teacher first!*

He kept his eyes glued to his watch, waiting precisely eleven minutes before Li Ya emerged from the stronghold once more. Seeing him furtively scanning his surroundings, Lu Qiaoshan's smile widened even further.

*Teacher, you must surely be in dire need of a student as utterly loyal as myself!*

***

Having resolved the lingering complications left in the wake of the Salt Customs incident, Zhang Anping shifted his full focus to investigating the East Asian Tongwen Shoin.

The operatives under his command were all young men, and dressing the part of students felt entirely natural to them. He dispatched various teams into the East Asian Tongwen Shoin located in Xujiahui to investigate and scout around. Coupled with the assistance of the Green Gang, they swiftly pinpointed the exact storage location of the Tongwen Shoin's travel reports.

It was situated inside a sealed building on the eastern edge of the campus. Unlike other areas of the campus which permitted free access, this particular building was heavily guarded; individuals of non-Japanese nationality were strictly prohibited from approaching, and even Japanese students were required to present specialized entry passes to gain admittance.

"Teacher, these are the photographs I managed to take over the past few days capturing the Japanese students entering that building." Gu Yufei displayed the fruits of her labor over the past several days, sorting out a selection of photographs as she explained:

"Teacher, look at these individuals. The slightly older ones are dressed in the attire of campus administrative staff, while the younger ones are dressed as students. However, through our verification, none of them actually belong to the school's staff or student body."

"And this person here—he also entered under the guise of school staff, but according to our identification, his true identity is actually an officer belonging to the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese 11th Division."

"We suspect that all these individuals entering this teaching building under the guise of school staff and students are actually officers of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy. Therefore, we can definitively confirm that this building is the repository for the travel reports."

When Gu Yufei finished her report, Li Bohan, Qi Peilin, Zuo Qiuming, and Chen Ming all cast fierce, predatory gazes toward Zhang Anping, eagerly awaiting his deployment plan.

Zhang Anping did not rush to issue orders. Instead, he asked Li Bohan:

"Over the past four days of reconnaissance, did your team spot any suspicious individuals?"

Suspicious individuals?

Li Bohan immediately replied, "There certainly were suspicious figures. Initially, I assumed they were covert sentries organized by the school, but after prolonged observation, I realized they were also monitoring that building."

"Do you believe they were gang members or同行 (fellow operatives)?"

"They must be fellow operatives; gang members lack that level of professionalism," Li Bohan asserted with conviction. "They... should be colleagues from the Shanghai Station."

Zhang Anping cast an appreciative glance at Li Bohan and said, "I thought you lot hadn't noticed them at all! The very day you went to scout, our colleagues from the Shanghai Station were already conducting reconnaissance there. They even deliberately avoided your path, and I assumed none of you had caught on!"

The group was dumbfounded. Colleagues from the Shanghai Station had been working on the exact same target?

Qi Peilin immediately chimed in, "Teacher, we must strike as soon as possible, lest the Shanghai Station snatches the credit away from us!"

Realization dawning upon them, the others hastily chimed in, chorusing recommendations for an immediate strike.

"Strike?" Zhang Anping looked at these students, who were burning with impatience to achieve merit, and said calmly:

"I'll give you a chance to conduct a tactical drill. Plan out how an operation should be executed. Discuss it in groups, and report back to me in half an hour."

The group acknowledged the order in unison, immediately plunging into a fiery, heated debate.

***

Through their days of reconnaissance, they had grown thoroughly familiar with the layout surrounding the building that housed countless geographic surveys of China. Each team quickly sketched out rough diagrams and launched into intense deliberations.

All five groups independently arrived at the exact same method: arson.

The sole difference lay in the execution steps.

Half an hour flashed by in an instant. Zhang Anping went from group to group listening to their reports, maintaining a completely poker-faced silence throughout. This deliberate withholding of feedback left all five groups walking on pins and needles, terrified that their formulated plans harbored fatal flaws.

It took the five groups nearly thirty minutes to conclude their respective briefings. Once Group F finished their presentation, they held their collective breath, waiting for Zhang Anping's critique.

"Let's start with Group F." The moment Zhang Anping spoke, every ear perked up.

The members of Group F tensed even further, bracing themselves for the verdict.

"If the lot of you are ever assigned to an action squad, remember to write your wills before any operation, ensure your wives and children are properly provided for, and for those without wives and children, at least express some remorse for failing to repay your parents' upbringing."

As soon as Zhang Anping finished speaking, the faces of everyone in Group F flushed bright red.

Those words were... utterly venomous!

"Group C—" Zhang Anping turned his gaze toward Yu Xiuning, who instinctively snapped to attention.

"Yu Xiuning, oh Yu Xiuning, are you completely unaware of how disastrous Xu Zhongyi's track record is? You got burned by him the moment you arrived in Shanghai, yet you learned nothing from it and still dared to listen to his suggestions? Doing the exact opposite of what he says would have yielded better results!"

Under Zhang Anping's scathing rebuke, Yu Xiuning lowered her head in shame.

Seeing this, Chen Ming glared fiercely at Xu Zhongyi and hurriedly attempted to offer an explanation, only to be ruthlessly cut off by Zhang Anping.

"And you! You're supposed to be a secret agent! How is it that your brains seem entirely absent? Agreeing with everything Xiuning says—'You're right, Xiuning'—if you keep this up, Chen Ming, I'll have to seriously consider splitting you and Yu Xiuning into separate teams!"

Next came Group E. Xue Jingzong was similarly subjected to a verbal flaying that made him question the meaning of life, and Zuo Qiuming of Group D fared no better.

The only group to receive a shred of "praise" was Group B.

"Group B's plan at least has some semblance of structure. Infiltration, arson, and extraction were laid out reasonably well. Following Group B's plan, we'd probably only have seven or eight people captured—well, if your luck runs particularly foul, maybe only two or three of you will die. You can actually place bets beforehand to see whose luck is rotten enough to get killed."

Li Bohan felt deeply aggrieved; his plan had been meticulously refined since the very start of reconnaissance, so how could it possibly be described as utterly incompetent?

Seeing Li Bohan's unconvinced expression, Zhang Anping pulled Group F's crude map over and rapidly circled several positions with strokes of his pencil.

"These four locations—do you have any idea what they are used for? Did none of you ever notice that there are sentries stationed here?"

"And this building itself—do you have the faintest idea how many guards are posted inside? You keep mentioning three deliveries of food a day, but did a single one of you bloody well check the actual volume of the food being delivered?"

"Did reconnaissance just magically stop when night fell? You bunch of idiots, you couldn't even manage to find out how many guards are on night duty before reporting to me!"

"And what about weaponry!"

"You bunch of brainless fools, use your heads for once! Everything inside this place consists of survey reports covering every corner of our country! What makes you think they wouldn't be armed? Just because this is a school, you assumed they wouldn't carry weapons?"

"The fundamental nature of this school is an espionage institution! Can you please engage your brains for a moment!"

"Furthermore, you are intelligence operatives! Not disposable, one-time thugs! Have any of you ever stopped to consider how many lives a thoughtless, careless plan would cost?"

Faced with Zhang Anping's severe reprimand, the swarm of greenhorns drooped like frost-bitten eggplants, wilting completely.

The issue of weaponry was something none of them had even considered, having lazily assumed that whatever guards were inside would merely be unarmed security personnel.

Only after being thoroughly dressed down by Zhang Anping did they realize the monumental scale of the errors they had committed.

Seeing that Zhang Anping had finished tearing into them for the most part, Xu Zhongyi stepped forward cautiously and said,

"Teacher, since you've pointed all this out, why don't you grace us with a proper strategy to guide us?"

"Me?" Zhang Anping let out a cold, derisive snort.

"If it were up to me, I'd simply sit back and wait for the Shanghai Station to do all the free labor for us!"

***

*(A brief historical note regarding the East Asian Tongwen Shoin:)*

*(In 1945, due to its status as a core espionage institution, it was ordered to close by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. However, in 1946, its final president, alongside a cohort of faculty members, established Aichi University in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Its alumni [students who graduated from the East Asian Tongwen Shoin] began operating under the moniker of the "Shuyu Society" and subsequently established the "Kasumiyama Club" in 1948—sharing the exact same organizational nature as the original East Asian Tongwen Society.)*

*(In 1957, these spies established the Shuyu Magazine.)*

*(In 1967, the Kasumiyama Association founded the East Asian Academy in Tokyo—yes, had they retained the characters for "Tongwen," it would once again be the East Asian Tongwen Shoin. It established a Chinese language department supplemented by an Institute of East Asian Culture.)*

*(Be mindful that this institution remained subordinate to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and continued to operate as an intelligence apparatus.)*

*(Following our country's Reform and Opening-up, these bastards wormed their way back into China under the hypocritical banner of educational exchange to resume their activities. Their underlying intentions are truly treacherous and deserving of utmost vigilance!)*