Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

In mid-April, Chen Jiehua received two secret messages about assassination plots almost simultaneously.

The first message arrived from Liu Junze in Shanghai. The incident stemmed from the fact that after the 19th Route Army and the 5th Army withdrew, the two sides in the Shanghai conflict were still negotiating. As a result, the Japanese Army and Navy planned to hold a "Victory Celebration Rally for the Battle of Shanghai" at Hongkou Park in Shanghai on April 29!
April 29th is the birthday of Emperor Showa of Japan, known as "Tencho-setsu".

When Jiang Guangnai, the commander-in-chief of the 19th Route Army, and Cai Tingkai, the army commander, heard the news, they were furious. "Damn it, you can celebrate a holiday, but why hold a 'Victory Celebration of the Battle of Shanghai'? Have you no shame?"
Just then, Chen Mingshu, the Premier of the Executive Yuan of the Nationalist Government, also felt that the Japanese had gone too far and wanted to curb their arrogance. He approached the 19th Route Army, and the two sides hit it off and decided to give them a "fireworks" show.

General Cai's first thought was Lao Liu, the artillery god. This guy was incredibly accurate with artillery. He just needed to find a hidden place, have him aim and fire a few shots, and that would be the end of it.

Old Liu dared not make the decision on his own. Although he really wanted to participate, discipline is discipline, and he had to report to Chen Jiehua.
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The news of the second assassination attempt came from Ozaki.

Some candidates at the Army Officer Candidate School, low-ranking naval officers who were unemployed, members of the Sakura Society, and a group of graduates who couldn't find "jobs" were secretly plotting a coup, planning to assassinate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi, Minister of the Interior Makino Nobuaki, and naval troll Aoki Takashi.

The participants in the coup had simple ideas. The unemployed young officers in the navy believed that the government's incompetence and the signing of the London Disarmament Treaty had led to their unemployment.

The army believes that both the prime minister and the army minister are conservatives who prohibit the army from expanding the war against China. Since they won't start a war, the army won't expand its ranks. Fine, they won't expand ranks, but they're actually pushing for troop reductions! That's outrageous.

If we don't expand recruitment, no military will want our newly graduated students. Why not just kill these two "bad guys" and replace them with two more?

Hearing this, Chen Jiehua was both amused and exasperated. These junior students from Lu Shi were just too naive.

“Ozaki, it’s obvious they’ve been misled. Investigate quietly; the Blood Pact should be behind this. The Kwantung Army is probably the most dissatisfied with the Prime Minister’s refusal to recognize Manchukuo.”

"That's what I think too, so I've already arranged for someone to investigate."

"But Aoki-kun, you should be careful. Your performance at the Army General Staff meeting in early April has spread throughout Tokyo, and you are one of their assassination targets."

“I understand, I’m not stupid enough to just stand there and let them kill me.”

"Ozaki-kun, you need to keep an eye on the Kwantung Army's secret unit in Manchuria, and let me know as soon as there are any new developments."

"Okay, Aoki-kun."
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Assassination? Yes, I have killed people, but those were to eliminate traitors, and they were the kind of assassinations that didn't require any thought.

The one in Shanghai is quite tempting, Hongkou Park? Isn't it right behind my house? The shells started from the house of former First Overseas Fleet Commander-in-Chief Aoki Takashi, bombarded Hongkou Park, and killed a bunch of naval and army generals?

What's the next step in this scenario?

Not long after stepping down as consul general, Shigemitsu Mamoru returned to Shanghai as the ambassador to China. He wasn't that foolish; he would definitely inspect the area within a radius of several kilometers and within the range of cannons.

Unless I can bring him there via spatial means, which is beyond Lao Liu's capabilities, getting caught would ruin everything and wouldn't be worth it.

Chen Jiehua's plan to have Lao Liu decline the assassination invitation was not actually because Lao Liu was incapable of doing so, but rather because of the current situation between the two countries.

The Shanghai ceasefire had just ended, and the agreement hadn't been signed yet. If there were any oversights in this assassination attempt, and it was determined to be orchestrated by the Kuomintang (KMT), and the 19th Route Army was confirmed to be involved, then it would become another diplomatic dispute, giving the Japanese army a new pretext for war. At that point, public opinion would no longer be on China's side. What's the point of killing a few insignificant high-ranking officials? The cost-benefit ratio is too low.

The telegram was sent to Liu Junze: Calling on the North Wind to cancel this invitation; it is not advisable. Tsai was reminded to consider diplomatic disputes and public opinion; if any such plan were to be devised, secrecy was paramount, and it would be best to enlist the help of anti-Japanese guerrillas in North Korea.

Alas, we are too far away to do anything about it; we can only fulfill our duty to remind you. Whether you listen or not is up to you.

In fact, before Liu Junze replied to General Cai, Cai and Jiang Guangnai had carefully considered the matter and decided that the 19th Route Army and the 5th Army had suffered heavy casualties and were no longer able to resist the second round of the war against the Japanese army.

Therefore, this assassination attempt could not give the Japanese any pretext, so it was considered best to find a Korean to carry it out.

Moreover, the Japanese set the tone that no Chinese people were allowed to participate in this "victory celebration," not even to get close.

We were thinking the same thing.

Ultimately, Chen Mingshu approached Wang Yaqiao, the "King of Assassinations" in Shanghai, who then orchestrated a plan to contact the Korean government-in-exile. The Kuomintang provided the funding, Wang Yaqiao provided the strategy, and Korea provided the manpower and resources.

Would Chen Jiehua be that cowardly?

When Chen Jiehua received another telegram from Beifeng, and it matched the information obtained by his intelligence network, he decided to lend a hand.
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The assassination plot in Tokyo, Japan, was supposed to be carried out in secret, but it involved a bunch of greenhorns with a mixed and diverse cast of people. Even Hotsumi Ozaki knew about it, so you can imagine that many high-ranking officials in the Army and Navy must have known about it too.
The probability of success is too low; there's absolutely no need to get involved. Chen Jiehua isn't even interested in stopping it. He thinks he can kill me? He's dreaming.
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On April 29, 1932, at a Japanese "victory celebration" in Hongkou Park, Shanghai, Korean anti-Japanese activist Yoon Bong-gil used a specially made bomb to kill Japanese Army General Yoshinori Shirakawa, commander of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army.

Due to the chaos, the smoke and noise from the bombs masked the sounds of sniper rifles with silencers in the distance.

Liu Junze lay prone on the roof of Chen Jiehua's house. In the chaos, he shot three more people with his gun. As Chen Jiehua had instructed, he left the American-made shell casings on the roof and quickly and quietly climbed over the wall to escape.

Ultimately, in addition to Yoshinori Shirakawa, the Japanese Consul General in Shanghai, Kuramatsu Murai, died; the Commander of the Third Fleet of the Navy, Kichisaburo Nomura, died; the Commander of the Ninth Division of the Army, Kenkichi Ueda, and the Minister to China, Mamoru Shigemitsu, were seriously injured and each had one leg amputated.

Yoon Bong-gil was arrested on the spot by military police for failing to detonate the last "lunchbox bomb" intended for suicide in time.

Japanese Special Higher Police investigator Kazuki Obata and Japanese Army Shanghai Investigation Section Chief Watanabe Watanabe found sniper rifle bullets in the body of the deceased.

"Hey! The person who caused the explosion had an accomplice! This accomplice is finishing off the attacker from a distance with a sniper rifle!"

After a thorough, fan-shaped search by the military police, Watanabe found three bullet casings on the roof of Aoki's house that the assassin hadn't had time to take with him.

The assassin carried out the assassination and follow-up shot on the roof of General Aoki's house. But should we search General Aoki's house?

Should we consult General Aoki before conducting a search? (End of Chapter)