Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

Chapter 227 Nothing That Can't Be Solved with Alcohol

On the warship returning to Tokyo, Chen Jiehua sat alone on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze.

In Chen Jiehua's opinion, surely eliminating a single trading unit shouldn't trigger such a severe chain reaction? There must be something fishy about this, and he wasn't entirely comfortable leaving the investigation to Ozaki.

Okamura Yasuji is intelligent, knows himself well, is suspicious, has strong analytical skills, and most importantly, is ruthless. He is in charge of investigating the "Shulan-Beiyinhe Incident." Chen Jiehua is not confident, after all, the retreat was hasty. Although the bodies of his own people were taken away for burial, it was nighttime, and many weapons were not taken away.

Now that Qing Tengqi has been taken away by Tu Feiyuan, he can't help; Zhong Xigong is in the South Manchuria Railway Company, and it's unclear what position he holds. Apart from him, it seems there are no other people of their own that they can use.

Perhaps we need to have a more in-depth discussion with Ozaki in person.

Or, how can I discreetly make a trip to Northeast China to have a chat with Uncle Gangcun?

I've got an idea! Aren't those guys all at Army General Staff Headquarters?
Upon landing at the Tokyo military port, Chen Jiehua went straight to the House of Nobles, first to find Watanabe Wataru, or, in the eyes of outsiders, Aoki Seigen went directly to the new Speaker of the House of Nobles, Duke Konoe.

Upon arriving at the Noble House, Chen Jiehua saw Watanabe Wataru as soon as he entered. Watanabe Wataru was also very surprised and delighted to see Chen Jiehua come in, and gave him an exaggerated hug. What followed was a silly performance, like chatting on the street.

"Watanabe-kun, oh dear, Shanghai is really boring now. You've all gone back to Tokyo, leaving only Obata and me. It's so dull."

"So I accompanied my father-in-law to Yilan, Taiwan. Oh my, Yilan is so beautiful! The people there really like my father-in-law and always call him Governor-General. I just don't understand, since my father-in-law hasn't been Governor-General of Taiwan for twenty years, they still remember him!"

"Oh, I see." Watanabe Wataru chimed in at the right moment. Watanabe Wataru was living a very fulfilling life. He had gone from being a nobody at the Shanghai consulate to becoming the Duke of the Imperial Guard's assistant, and was in high demand. So he was genuinely happy to see Aoki Seigen. He put his work aside and pulled Aoki Seigen directly into his office to pour tea and chat.

"So my father-in-law suddenly had a whim and said he wanted to be the governor-general of Taiwan again, and even dragged Mio to stay with him. Sigh."

"So, Aoki-kun came back alone?"

"What do you think? I came here to invite you guys for drinks."

"Drinking? Isn't it a bit early?"

"Haha, what's the rush? Let's go, let's call Tang Chuan-kun and Miyazaki-kun, let's go for a drink together."

At the door of Watanabe Watari's office, Konoe watched the two chatting happily and was speechless. The two were too loud; almost the entire building knew that Aoki Seigen had returned.

Chen Jiehua sensed someone at the door and, using the corner of his eye, confirmed it was Konoe. He then pretended not to see him. By the time Watanabe got up and saw the boss at the door, the man had already been standing there for over a minute.

"Ah...ah, Lord Konoe, this Aoki-kun...Aoki-kun just returned..."

Chen Jiehua patted Watanabe on the shoulder, stepped forward, and opened his arms. Konoe smiled slightly and, in response, the two embraced. This was already an unspoken understanding; few words were needed, an embrace was enough.

"Watanabe, it's rare for Seigen to be back, why don't you two go have a drink?"

"Huh... huh?" Watanabe Wataru was a little confused and couldn't believe that his usually stern and unsmiling Konoe-sama would actually ask them to go drinking? Drinking by imperial decree?

"What do you mean 'huh'? Let's go, go call those two kids."

The information that needed to be given to Konoe Fumimaro had already been conveyed to him in that minute or so. In reality, Konoe just wanted to gossip about the reason why Duke Fujiwara had inexplicably requested to be appointed Governor-General of Taiwan. Upon arriving at the Army General Staff Headquarters, he naturally went to greet Masaki Jinzaburo and Obata Toshishiro, and then pretended to ask, "Where's Uncle Okamura?" "Oh, he went to the Kwantung Army?"

Deputy Chief of Staff? Wouldn't it be a bit of a waste for a Major General to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army? Let's stab him in the back from afar.

Next comes the important matter: finding Shuichi Miyazaki and Yasuo Karakawa, along with a few friends in Shanghai, and planning to go out for drinks together.

Kazuki Obata would report everything that happened in Shanghai to his uncle without missing a single detail, so Chen Jiehua didn't need to mention anything to Toshiro Obata at all. If I took the initiative to speak, I would be at a disadvantage.

General Obata really likes Aoki Seigen. He came excitedly, dragging his two assistants out for drinks, and there was also Watanabe Wataru, an assistant from the House of Nobles. I couldn't spoil their fun, so the plan that was halfway done had to be put on hold. You guys go ahead.

In one car, four friends, bickering and joking all the way, arrived at an izakaya (Japanese pub) near Senso-ji Temple.

Due to the economic downturn, there were far fewer people around Senso-ji Temple, and since it wasn't mealtime yet, the izakayas weren't packed. The group found a room further inside.

The information I want will be given to me by those ghosts at the izakaya.

I don't gather intelligence; intelligence comes to me on its own.

Once the boss had arranged the food and drinks, the gossip began.

A secret unit of the Kwantung Army, seemingly called the Kamo Unit, was personally approved and established by Prince Kan'in Kotohito. It was very mysterious. However, this mysterious unit was wiped out last month by an even more mysterious person in Beiyin River, North Manchuria. It was wiped out completely, without leaving a single one alive.

The supposedly omnipotent Doi-machi organization made a grave mistake in this matter, suffering a strategic misjudgment and falling for the enemy's feint and diversionary tactics. The subsequent investigation yielded no useful information, so the Prince was furious and replaced the commander of the Kwantung Army.

Next, based on the analysis of the weapons left at the scene, it was deduced that the weapons used by the mysterious Mr. Ye's team to destroy the Kamo troops all came from the Shulan Armory. The Kwantung Army bore an unshirkable responsibility, and all its high-ranking officers were replaced.

Major General Okamura's trip to northern Manchuria as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army was primarily to investigate the reasons for the leak of information from the Kamo Unit and the whereabouts of the mysterious unit led by Mr. Ye.

It is said that a week before the incident at the Shulan arsenal, someone from North Korea silently wiped out the garrison at Motianling on the border and crossed into Manchuria. That person should be Mr. Ye. Therefore, the military deduced that Mr. Ye should be a North Korean.

"All this gossip from you guys isn't what interests me."

"Haha, we'll keep what Aoki-kun is interested in."

“Aoki-kun will pay for this drink. We’ll tell you what’s going on.”

"Yes, we know who Aoki-kun is interested in."

"Look at you guys, so pathetic. I rarely come back, shouldn't you be treating me to this drink?"

“Aoki-kun, you have no idea how hard we are working. Since the Shanghai incident, our income has plummeted. With the meager salaries from headquarters, we can barely support our wives at home.”

He made sarcastic remarks, but he was secretly pleased with himself. He had planted a trap long ago, and it had silently changed the spending habits of these guys. It was hard to go from extravagance to frugality, and one thing led to another.

(End of this chapter)