Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

Chapter 180 Shanghai's Song and Dance Performances to Cease Tomorrow

On the evening of January 19, inside the safe house.

"I can only gamble on Lao Liu's calculation ability. Your first task is to deliver this note to the secret base of the Shanghai Special Branch while remaining unidentified. They know what to do, and you don't need to worry about anything else."

"Your mission is for one of you to go to the French Concession police station prison and the other to go to the British Concession Tilanqiao prison, and to arrange the rescue and evacuation routes."

"This is a telegram from the section chief. Three comrades arrested in the British Concession prison have been confirmed to be undetected. Try to rescue them while things are in chaos. If Lao Liu's shells don't hit their mark and you decide it's hopeless, don't force it. Come back and discuss it with them again."

"If all the shells miss their mark, you release this signal flare."

"There are two comrades in the French Concession, the same ones. This is a signal flare. Also, this red ribbon, if you get hit over there, wear it. The ones wearing the same red ribbon are comrades, they are responsible for creating chaos and covering your evacuation."

"If Lao Liu doesn't see any signal flares or only sees one, he'll assume it's a hit and will retreat. If he sees two signal flares, he'll continue to lie in wait on the flagship. Don't forget the signal flares!"

"Okay, what do we do after we rescue them, comrades?"

"The rescued secrets were sent to the Shanghai Special Branch. Those that could not be sent were temporarily housed. Here are the addresses and keys to safe houses near the two prisons. They contain medicine, food, and weapons."

"Can we take them away? Take them back to Jinling. I'm desperately short-staffed there."

"Are you treating this like a kidnapping? Trying to take them away? I suggest you abandon that idea. To be honest, the risk and the reward are not proportional."

"The section chief's information is from a few days ago. We can't confirm whether these comrades have defected in the last few days. You've already taken a risk by rescuing them. If you take them away, it could implicate many other people if problems arise."

"That's it."

"I remind you again, if things are beyond saving, give up immediately. There will be other opportunities later. There's no need to drag you into this."

"Also, there will be a welcome and farewell banquet at the Naval Club tomorrow night. Here is the invitation. You can sneak in as Japanese."

“There are two people who will most likely come to join the fun. I need you to take them out. If you can’t find an opportunity, at least remember their faces and take them out later.”

"Who is it that makes you hesitate to act rashly?"

"It's not that we're afraid to act rashly, it's that we don't have time to do it ourselves. There's a fat, big-eared guy named Tanaka Ryukichi, a major spy in the Kwantung Army. He was the one who orchestrated yesterday's Sanyu Industrial incident."

"There's another one named Yoshiko Kawashima, or Jin Bihui, who is a Chinese person adopted by the Japanese. I'm not sure if he'll appear in men's or women's clothing tomorrow. He's an out-and-out traitor."

"Once these two have dealt with you, leave Shanghai as soon as possible and return to your post."

"Comrade Zhao Shiyu, you go ahead. I will arrange for Qing Teng Liu to continue working with you. But you don't need to run the pharmacy seriously anymore. You can slowly embezzle the sales revenue. When the time is right, let Qing Teng Liu know, and Qing Mu Qingxuan will fire you."

"Preparing to decouple?"

"Yes, your main task is to build a secret team in Jinling, primarily responsible for eliminating traitors and assassinations."

"Organizational discipline: assassinations are strictly prohibited."

"I only kill Japanese and traitors."

"So, does that mean I also need to start decoupling in Chongqing?"

"You wish. Your mission continues. The food in this mountain city may be spicy, but you'll get used to it after a while."

"I will arrange for two Japanese maids to come to you from North China. They underwent desensitization tests in the mountain city and are familiar with the environment there. They will be assigned to your team and take your command."

"Huh? A Japanese maid?"

"I trust your people to use them." "They can use them however they want? What's their status?"

"Yes, they can pass on intelligence to the organization, as long as core secrets are not exposed. They are only loyal to me."

"Aoki, you gave two maids to Yamashiro. I remember you had nine maids, right? Jinling is such an important place, and you only sent one. Isn't that stingy? I'm short-handed too."

"Comrade Old Cat, look at you, you're always talking about organization and discipline, but now you're not talking about organization and discipline at all."

"What kind of organizational discipline is involved?"

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."

"Shouldn't you be asking that? Isn't that against organizational discipline?"

"Alright, didn't I already give you Qing Teng Liu? You two are old partners, one of you is worth two."

"If there's nothing else, you can go and make the arrangements. Go separately."

"Oh, by the way, Aoki, there's someone you should keep an eye on, the Japanese kid who survived with me in Lushun, his name is Ijuin Seiki. Apparently, his family has some influence in Japan. I talked to him a lot during our hospital stay."

"So the root of the problem was you. No wonder I was so surprised. He actually led his men back to carry out assassinations, causing chaos in the Kwantung Army."

"Have you found him?"

"Yes, I've already recruited him. I'm planning to send him back to the Northeast on a mission."

"Then I won't worry about it."
-
Dividing line —
On January 20, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the First Overseas Fleet, Koichi Shiozawa, arrived in Shanghai aboard a warship. At the mouth of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, the former Commander-in-Chief, Takashi Aoki, ordered the flagship Izumo to fire three rounds of main guns to welcome the new commander.

Subsequently, the two commanders completed the handover on the flagship. Chen Jiehua continued to monitor the situation from the flagship but did not see any signal flares!

After completing the handover, Chen Jiehua went home to pack his luggage, preparing to leave Shanghai for Japan the next day.

At the naval club, Colonel Masao Shibayama was personally arranging a welcome banquet for the new commander and a farewell banquet for the former commander, Takashi Aoki.

In the afternoon, the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai received diplomatic notes from the Municipal Council of the International Settlement and the French Consulate in the French Concession.

"The French Concession police station prison was bombed? Prisoners escaped? What does this have to do with us?"

"What is this? Tilanqiao Prison was hit by three shells, and several prison guards were injured. What does this have to do with us?"

"Upon verification, these shells are all main gun shells from your Japanese Navy flagship, the Izumo!"

"I witnessed the handover process of the new commander of the naval overseas fleet on the flagship Izumo. The flagship simply fired three rounds of salutes as is customary."

"Does your navy use live ammunition for the salute? Why not use fireworks?"

"Why use fireworks when gunboats are firing salutes? Our navy's salutes are always fired with live ammunition; the bullets will hit wherever they land!"

"..."

Representatives from the British and French consulates in Shanghai made multiple representations to the Japanese consulate, but the navy remained firm and ignored them.

Although the consulate rejected the representatives of the two consulates, insiders still felt that it was too much of a coincidence and should be investigated. Where did the eight main guns and 24 shells end up?
What a coincidence!

(End of this chapter)