Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 232 Three Eagles
Military Police Headquarters, Duty Room.

A strange phone call came in.

Since the incident involved the deputy director of the Special Operations Headquarters, the operator reported it up the chain of command, and the message eventually reached the office of Military Police Commander Jiro Miura.

Jiro Miura wasn't an expert in this area, so he made a phone call to the Special Higher Police.

A man dressed in Japanese military uniform appeared in the office; he was Lin Xiucheng, the head of the Special Higher Police in Shanghai.

"Just that one sentence?" Lin Xiucheng didn't react much to the phone conversation that Miura Jiro relayed to him.

Jiro Miura nodded: "The operator's report was indeed only this one sentence. The operator asked for his identity, but the caller did not answer and chose to hang up."

Li Shiqun was arresting Kuomintang agents in Shanghai when an anonymous tip-off came in. Don't you find that interesting?

Lin Xiucheng nodded and pondered, "It is indeed very interesting. After the attack on Wang Jingwei's men, No. 76 has indeed intensified its search and arrest efforts against Chongqing elements."

According to Shibuya News, yesterday, Li Shiqun arrested a personnel section chief of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Given this person's rank, it is reasonable to assume that he could be used to find higher-ups within the Military Intelligence Bureau.

However, Shibuya did not give me any new reports, which proves that Li Shiqun has not made any new gains. Despite his frequent actions at No. 76, Li Shiqun has not achieved any better results.

Judging from the results, the whistleblowing wasn't entirely unfounded.

Lieutenant Shibuya is a military police squad dispatched by the Special Higher Police to the 76th Division. Their purpose is to monitor the 76th Division's activities, though nominally they are there to assist the 76th Division in its work.

However, surveillance is unlikely to be as effective as imagined. Apart from the early gang members, all the later members of 76 are experienced agents, and it wouldn't be too many for each of them to be a hundred times more cunning.

Expecting the military police to be able to keep an eye on secret agents is wishful thinking.

Moreover, a military police squad only has a few people, while the 76th Division has hundreds of people, making it impossible for them to keep an eye on them.

Therefore, its current role is more to intimidate those in the No. 76 unit.

The symbolic meaning outweighs the practical meaning.

Of course, it's still possible to find out information about the arrests during the operation.

"Who do you think the whistleblower is?" Jiro Miura asked.

Lin Xiucheng replied, "First of all, it can be confirmed that it must be an insider from No. 76."

Based on the content of the report, "Li Shiqun has been turned and secretly hid clues about high-ranking military intelligence officers during the operation." Therefore, in terms of identity, the informant is either someone in the interrogation room or a mid-to-high-ranking member of the 76th Division who has access to Li Shiqun and the operation.

Another one is Ding Mocun.

Shibuya reported that Ding Mocun and Li Shiqun had a long-standing feud, and that Ding Mocun had the ability to obtain information and the motive to report it.

Judging from the fact that the whistleblower was unwilling to provide his name, Ding Mocun is the most suspicious, followed by the action team leader under Li Shiqun.

If they were captains under Ding Mocun, they could report to Ding Mocun first and have him come forward to accuse Li Shiqun. With witnesses, Ding Mocun would not give Li Shiqun any face.

Since there isn't one now, this person must be one of Li Shiqun's own people, who chose to remain anonymous to avoid being discovered by Li Shiqun.

"So you're right that Li Shiqun is hiding clues?"

“It must be true. A lie is very easy to expose. No matter who the whistleblower is in the 76th Division, they will not benefit from it.”

Jiro Miura nodded in agreement. "The 76th Division wielded considerable power in Shanghai. The municipal government once proposed reclaiming the 76th Division's law enforcement powers, excluding those of secret agents. However, due to other considerations at the time, I did not agree to their proposal."

Actually, it makes no difference to us whether this power is given to the municipal government or No. 76.

The only thing to be careful about is that this power must be used for our own purposes.

Thoroughly investigate No. 76 to ensure Li Shiqun's purity.

"Hi."

An hour later, at 76 Jessfield Road.

Two Japanese military vehicles carrying military police suddenly arrived, causing panic among everyone inside No. 76.

The Japanese leader usually came alone, with one or two men. The arrival of such a large force, fully armed, was simply too frightening.

Li Shiqun and Ding Mocun were both bewildered, and quickly went downstairs to greet them.

Upon seeing that the visitor was Lin Xiucheng from the Special Higher Police, he went up to greet him directly.

Lin Xiucheng scanned the crowd, wanting to quickly find a breakthrough and investigate the whole matter. The first thing to do was to tear apart Li Shiqun's dominance in No. 76.

"Deputy Director Li, we received a report that you are colluding with the Military Intelligence Bureau. Come with me to the Military Police Headquarters."

Upon hearing this, Li Shiqun and Ding Mocun immediately understood what was going on.

As for the others, they were in an uproar. Li Shiqun was actually a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Many people in the Special Agent Headquarters felt like innocent little rabbits. They couldn't believe it at all. Director Li, you hid it too well.

Li Shiqun suddenly looked at Ding Mocun, his eyes filled with anger.

Ding Mocun was wronged. You can tell from Li Shiqun's eyes that he suspects that Ding Mocun was the one who reported him, but it really wasn't him.

Good for reporting!

Who did this?!

Hahahaha.

Ding Mocun frowned sadly and said, "There must be some mistake? How could Deputy Director Li be colluding with the Military Intelligence Bureau?"

Lin Xiucheng looked at Ding Mochun and said, "From today onwards, all affairs of the Special Agent Headquarters will be handled by Director Ding. Director Ding, the pursuit of the Military Intelligence Bureau must continue. Thank you for your hard work."

No hardship at all, good things come in pairs!

Ding Mocun stood at attention and bowed his head: "Serving the empire is my duty, no matter how hard it may be."

Lin Xiucheng nodded slightly. "Which other captains participated in this operation to arrest the Military Intelligence Bureau? Step forward."

The team leaders were terrified, but they had no choice but to step forward; otherwise, the problem would be even bigger.

Lin Xiucheng waved her hand, "Take him away."

The Japanese came quickly and left quickly.

Suddenly, the heads of other departments and section chiefs gathered around.

"Director Ding, what's going on?"

"Yes, Director Li, no, how could Deputy Director Li be from the Military Intelligence Bureau? Really?" Ding Mochun straightened his back, exuding an imposing aura without anger, experiencing for the first time the full feeling of being the head of the Special Agent Headquarters.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Didn't you hear what the Japanese said? The arrests by the Military Intelligence Bureau must continue. Call a meeting immediately!"

Since Li Shiqun was in charge of the entire arrest operation from beginning to end, Ding Mocun wanted to understand the situation from start to finish, so a single meeting took up an entire morning.

Moreover, because the team leaders involved in the operation were taken away, he could only understand the overall situation from testimonies and the statements of deputy team leaders and other personnel, which was very troublesome.

After another afternoon, the whole story was finally pieced together, and a complete understanding of the current state of the Military Intelligence Bureau was gained.

Next came the process of the deputy captain becoming the captain, promoting trusted confidants to various action teams, and reorganizing and reorganizing various departments.

By evening, we could finally begin our operation.

Li Shiqun has been arrested, so he needs to produce results to gain the full recognition of the Japanese.

With high morale right now, let's not rest tonight and send out more people to continue the search for Kuomintang agents.

After everything was arranged, I remembered that I could have a chat with Gu Yansheng.

Haha, I'm not bragging at all, it's just that at this moment, I need someone to confide in, and it would be best to have a pot of wine to drink to my heart's content.

I acted on my thoughts, picked up the phone and then put it down again.

As Brother Gu mentioned, the concession was very resistant to propaganda slogans, so he had to help with this.

He agreed to this not only for Gu Yansheng, but also for the approval of the Wang faction.

At that time, before Li Shiqun was taken away, he was also considering how to regain control of No. 76 and how to suppress Li Shiqun's arrogance.

Without a doubt, there are two breakthroughs: one is through Mr. Wang and Minister Zhou, where we must demonstrate our role.

Another thing was to open up the concession area, which was what the Japanese wanted to see.

Now, we've killed three birds with one stone.

Ding Mocun thought for a moment, then summoned his subordinates and gave them instructions.

"The concession has always been very resistant to our No. 76 personnel entering the concession to enforce the law, and now the municipal government also needs our cooperation in its actions."

You and your men will visit each and every director of the Municipal Council, one by one. Start with polite greetings, then move on to more serious matters, from greeting the individual to greeting their entire family. If they don't respond to this courtesy, then make an example of them! Go ahead and do it!

"Yes!"

After a quiet day, Shanghai was thrown into renewed conflict with the dispatch of agents from the 76th Division.

The citizens of Shanghai have become somewhat accustomed to the arrests and gunfights by Kuomintang agents.

However, this was the first time the citizens of the concession had encountered such a threat from the Municipal Council.

At night, the concession area is ablaze with neon lights, and all sorts of brightly colored signs flaunt its prosperity.

The staff of the Municipal Council are mostly entertained by banquets and parties from all walks of life. Even without these parties, Shanghai's vibrant nightlife is a captivating experience for expatriates from various countries.

They were enjoying the various nightlife activities when they were suddenly attacked by Agent 76.

Following Ding Mocun's instructions, the few bodyguards surrounding the Public Works Bureau personnel were immediately taken down.

At their first meeting, the 76th Division members were quite polite, first inquiring about their desire for law enforcement authority within the concession.

The people from the Municipal Council showed them no respect whatsoever. They think they're some nobody who dares to negotiate with them? They told them to get out of there immediately.

The second threat.

The members of the Municipal Council were furious. The Chinese directors were a little better; they were all based in Shanghai, and they had to give the 76th Division some face. They said, "As long as the British agree, we have no objections; otherwise, our power is less than that of the British and American directors."

But the British were not so easy to talk to; when their authority was challenged, they would immediately rebuke them.

They've really given the 76th Division a hard time. Normally, when the 76th Division and the Chongqing elements fight each other in the concession, it's already a provocation against the concession's law enforcement authority. They're too lazy to care and turning a blind eye is already being very polite. Now they actually dare to threaten them?

He threatened to let the people from Unit 76 give it a try.

Just try it.

They tried to be polite first, but while they were still in the polite phase, the people from No. 76 didn't go too far.

They somehow managed to bring over several buckets of manure and dumped them right in front of the British director's house.

Even the finest villa can't withstand such abundant nutrients; a stench permeates the entire block.

The news spread like wildfire.

The Director of the Municipal Council, who was still playing outside, received the news and, with a grim face, ordered the police to arrest the No. 76 personnel. He went to retrieve his car as he gave the order.

Then in front of him.

The man from number 76 smashed all his car windows with a hammer, leaving him with a warning look.

"Think it over carefully, next time we might not be smashing cars."

The British director was trembling with anger.

Commanding the police station, "Arrest them!"

British police officers took the lead, eager to make an appearance before the British directors.

The officers from 76 showed no mercy, drawing their guns and pointing them at the British policeman, signaling him not to come any closer.

When British police officers show no fear, of course you should charge in. The Chinese, fearing international disputes, dare not fire at them.

But this time it's really different.

The agents of 76 kept their word, firing two shots that struck the British police officer squarely in the thigh.

The British police officers who were pursuing him so hard immediately collapsed to their knees.

"Ah~" The British policeman let out a violent scream, his face contorted as he curled up and rolled on the ground.

The British director's expression changed drastically; he berated the people from No. 76 while hiding behind the crowd.

The man from Unit 76 said coldly, "This is the last warning. Next time I fire, I'll aim for your chests. If you want to die, just try it. Let's go!"

(End of this chapter)