Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 210 Refutation
"How exactly did the problem occur?!" Li Shiqun demanded.

The captain, head bowed, reported, "The family's trip to the concession happened suddenly. This wasn't originally within our security scope. Our manpower and spies are mainly concentrated in the Chinese-controlled area."

"So you're not going to work as guards in the concession?!"

"We did it. They're going to explore so many alleys. To prevent people from Chongqing from infiltrating the alleys beforehand, we need to lay in ambush in every alley. We can't miss a single one. This results in our forces being dispersed a lot."

Our main area of ​​defense is the Chinese-controlled area. The guards in the concessions can't cover everything. They don't know if the girls are going to go shopping in the concessions or which alley they will come out from. So they can't prepare a large number of people in advance at the entrance of the alley where the incident will occur.

When they decided to go to the concession for sightseeing, I had already sent someone to notify other groups to come and provide security. However, we couldn't stop these officials' wives. They wanted to go out and wouldn't wait for us. I tried to communicate with them and asked them to wait for half an hour, but they refused.
I can only make arrangements among the existing personnel.

Of the more than 400 guards, half had to be dispersed from the streets. The remaining 200-plus guards were divided into ten alleys, with about 20 guards in each alley, and guards were needed at both ends of the alleys.

Most of the staff still need to protect these high-ranking officials, which inevitably means less protection for their wives and children. Sigh, Director, there's nothing I can do about it.”

"If you try to explain this to me, do you think the people from Hanoi will listen?!"
To the husbands of those who died, is it because their women were too stupid to go shopping? Is that how you expect me to explain it?!
Is it even useful?

Li Shiqun knew his subordinates were telling the truth, but he still shouted loudly.

It’s useless!
How to explain this?

The subordinate remained silent, head bowed in resignation; being assigned this task was truly the worst luck imaginable.

How did this happen?

"I asked my men, and they said that our people thought someone was acting suspiciously, so they went to investigate, and then a firefight broke out. Then a bunch of people rushed over."

We need to be in the open, while they're in the shadows. They only need to keep an eye on these people's movements, but we need to defend all areas, so we can't gather our forces as quickly as they can.

Li Shiqun closed his eyes, then opened them again and angrily said, "Which idiot didn't know to send people back when they discovered the danger?"

The captain didn't argue, but told the official's wife to back down. If there was something wrong, it would be fine, but if nothing was wrong, it would affect her mood and she wouldn't get away with it either. Such words are just hindsight.

"director."

"Don't call me Director! I'm about to lose this position! Now, right now, dig out the Military Intelligence Bureau for me. I don't care what methods you use. Let me tell you, if you dig it out, you'll atone for your crimes. If you don't, I might not even be able to save your life."

"Yes!"

After his subordinate left, Li Shiqun picked up the phone and called Wu Sibao.

"Hey, where's Wu Sibao? Where did he go?"
He's practically dead, and he's still trading stocks?!

Hospital in the International Settlement.

The operating room was surrounded by people.

Those who died today were all family members of high-ranking officials. Even someone as high-ranking as Wang Zhou had to accompany them, as they were all his trusted confidants.

After the initial emotional turmoil, everyone has now calmed down, or rather, is suppressing their emotions.

Apart from Gu Yansheng.

Good riddance.

These women really don't know they're traitors; they have no awareness whatsoever. They're happily touring Shanghai; how could they even think of that?

They should have learned their lesson by now.

Look at the remaining family members here, their sobbing and dazed expressions clearly showing they haven't recovered from the horrific events that just happened.

Once they wake up, they should have a basic understanding of the situation in Shanghai.

Being a traitor isn't so easy.

The Japanese are coming.

At the stairwell, there were Kagesa Yoshiaki, Imai Takeo, Miura Jiro, Hasegawa Jinkawa—almost all the high-ranking Japanese officials in Shanghai were there.

"I was shocked to hear of the great misfortune that befell Mr. Wang's family. Please accept my condolences." The Japanese man bowed deeply.

Wang was in a bad mood; the culprit behind everything that happened today was these Japanese.

If the Japanese hadn't set up their bank, they would have been waiting peacefully for the negotiations. If they hadn't suspected there were problems with the negotiations, they wouldn't have thought there were listening devices in the house, and they wouldn't have thought about exchanging houses together. If they hadn't exchanged houses together, this disaster wouldn't have happened today.

The root of it all is the Japanese!
He said coldly, "Thank you all for visiting, but the poor security situation in Shanghai is truly shocking!"

"I'm sorry! We do bear some responsibility for this problem." Jiro Miura bowed slightly, and the group of people behind him bowed slightly in acknowledgment.

"We will urge the Special Agents Headquarters to apprehend the perpetrator as soon as possible."

“The people are already dead. Doesn’t General Miura think it’s too late to say these things?” Wang Ni waved his hand. “I don’t want to talk about this. I want to ask something else. These people died today because they came here for our negotiations with you. They died for the negotiations.”

I just want to know, are you sincerely negotiating?

“Of course!” Miura Jiro said confidently, then asked, puzzled, “Aren’t we both working hard for peace talks? Does Mr. Wang think we’re not making enough progress?” “But Imai Takeo doesn’t seem to think so.” Wang Ni glanced at Imai Takeo. “According to my information, Imai Takeo is in contact with Chongqing. Do you think this is working for peace talks? This is wasting our feelings and trust! Wasting the lives of our families!”

"Is that so?" Jiro Miura was shocked, not feigning shock, and turned to Takeo Imai. "Imai, what's going on!"

In fact, all the Japanese people were watching Takeo Imai and seemed unaware of this matter.

Imai frowned, paused, and instead of asking about the source of Wang's intelligence, explained in a deep voice: "Mr. Wang, peaceful nation-building and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere have always been our principles."

My negotiations with you are sincere, and I can assure you of that with my integrity.

I think you can't deny that even if we reach an agreement and establish a regime, we will still face war, because the Chiang Kai-shek regime has not yet ceased hostilities.

However, if we can persuade the Chiang Kai-shek government to make peace and resolve this conflict peacefully, leaving only a small number of Red Party members, we can easily annihilate them.

Then China would have completely ended the war.

And you've achieved your ultimate goal: peace, saving 400 million Chinese people, haven't you?

"Then you should have told me beforehand! Instead of negotiating with Chiang Kai-shek behind my back! Do you think that's sincerity? If you were sincere, why didn't you tell me?"

Wang Ni flew into a rage and retorted coldly, "From your actions, I see only concealment, not sincerity!"

"Mr. Wang, please calm down and listen to my explanation."

"No need to listen anymore!" Wang Ni waved his hand and turned his face away. "You heard what he said. It's not that I don't want to talk, but that you yourselves are not sincere in talking. Since that's the case, then let's not talk anymore. Go talk to Old Chiang."

Innocent!

madness! "

Wang swept his gaze across each person, shouting and cursing, "I know better than any of you what kind of person Chiang Kai-shek is. If he had been willing to negotiate, China would not be in this situation today."
"I've talked to him for years, I've spoken of peace for years, don't you intelligence agencies know that?"

The Japanese were also surprised that what Wang Ni said was true, and they all frowned.

Just when the peace talks were about to succeed, this unexpected turn of events shows how fickle the military can be.

Especially Kageyama Yoshiaki, who was in a very bad mood, was completely unaware of this matter.

Negotiating with the Wang Jingwei faction is his most important achievement these days. If he loses that, all his work in China will have been in vain.

Jiro Miura asked to confirm, "Imai, have you received authorization from the military for this?"

Imai nodded: "Of course."

"What was the reason given by the military?" Jiro Miura pressed.

Takeo Imai glanced at the Wang faction and hesitated whether to speak.

Jiro Miura frowned and shouted, "You should explain this to Mr. Wang clearly. There's no need to hide it! If you think you can successfully negotiate with the Chiang regime, there's no need to hide it. If you think you can't succeed and aren't confident, then you shouldn't hide it now!"

After thinking for a moment, Takeo Imai said, "According to the investigation by the China Division, after we occupied Nanjing, a faction advocating peace emerged within the Nationalist government, and Mr. Wang was one of them."

After Mr. Wang agreed to negotiate with us, the voices of the pro-peace faction were amplified again within the Chongqing government.

The fall of Wuhan and the fall of Nanchang deepened the despair of Chongqing government officials with each defeat in the war.

It can be said that the will of these officials has reached a critical point.

Today, more than fifty aircraft have departed from Hankou to bomb Chongqing, further demoralizing these officials.

Once this critical point is reached, I believe that even President Jiang in Chongqing will not be able to suppress this overwhelming will to collapse.

Mr. Wang, as I just said, if we can reach a peace agreement directly with President Chiang, wouldn't peace arrive first for China and for all of us?

Perhaps Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to negotiate in the past, but times have changed. The situation will compel him to negotiate, and his subordinates and generals will also urge him to negotiate; this is the inevitable trend.

The Japanese frowned in thought and remained silent. Upon closer examination, this explanation was not impossible. Their intelligence network had indeed received such information. The people of Chongqing were unsettled, and this was an opportunity worth trying.

But Wang retorted angrily, "Naive! You are really naive. You don't understand Chiang Kai-shek at all. Chiang Kai-shek will never negotiate with you!"
If Nanjing is gone, he can run to Wuhan! If Wuhan is gone, he can run to Chongqing!
If he loses Chongqing, he can run to Kunming!
If Kunming is gone, he can run to Myanmar!
Even if Myanmar is gone, he still has his American daddy!

He wants to negotiate with you? Ask yourself, what gives him the right?
With your Japanese economy that's barely hanging on?

With the logistics and supplies of this occupied zone in Shanghai, where gunfights are raging everywhere, how many years can you hold out against them by just fighting?
What can you offer him if he negotiates with you?
In order to stop you from attacking Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the destruction of the Huayuankou Dam, which resulted in the drowning of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people!

Does he care about the people? He doesn't care at all!

If you lose territory, you lose it; if you want to kill people, you kill them. What can you do about it? What can you do about the four major families?
Why is he negotiating with you?
So you'd make me a traitorous vice president?

How childish! Absolutely childish!

Wang Ni looked at the group with disdain, shook his head vigorously, and pointed outside, "Leave, all of you. With your political wisdom, you really don't know anything. Get out of here, you're not welcome."

(End of this chapter)