Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 246 Past Events

Suzuki Takuji's face showed anger; his outward refinement had been shattered, leaving only savagery.

He slammed his fist on the table and stood up, glaring at them angrily, saying, "Mr. Song, you'd better understand the situation of your Chongqing government! Two hundred thousand troops are gathered in Changsha, and we could launch a full-scale attack at any time. This negotiation is us giving you a chance to survive, not begging you to negotiate!"

I'll report your attitude to the Expeditionary Army Headquarters tonight. If we lose the Battle of Changsha and your President Chiang Kai-shek blames you, I'm afraid you won't be able to bear the responsibility!

"Threatening me!" Song Ziliang slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "Then go ahead and fight! Why are you coming to me? Even if you can't take Changsha, and you slaughter the city, what does it have to do with me? I'm not a military commander, so you can't pin the blame on me."

"Damn it, what kind of jerk is this? Daring to threaten me? Professor Wang, let's go."

"We can't pin the blame on you, but we can pin it on the Song family. We'll send planes to drop 100,000 leaflets in Chongqing accusing the Song family of abandoning negotiations before the Battle of Changsha, criticizing you for not even talking and abandoning Changsha. I wonder if your people can understand the backbone of the Song family."

Suzuki Takuya's words made Song Ziwen, who was already walking out, stop in his tracks. He said arrogantly, "Do you think the Song family is easy to scare? If you dare to invest, I dare to take it. Ten thousand sheets of paper, just enough to keep for heating in winter. If you're so capable, don't stop. Ten thousand sheets a day, let's see how much oil your plane has. Damn it! Let's go!"

Suzuki Takuya was furious. In his mind, it was only because Japan's strategy was so grand that it gave the Chinese a chance to breathe, and yet they refused to take it?

But the most important thing is the last sentence, which Song Ziliang cursed in Ningbo dialect, and Suzuki Takuya didn't understand it.

So he frowned and asked, "What did he mean by his last sentence?"

Gao Zhongwu and Mei Siping understood, as the people in the Chongqing government were very familiar with this supreme leader's supreme instruction.

But I dare not translate it.

He paused, then hesitated for a long time, finding it difficult to speak.

"Mr. Suzuki, don't ask anymore, it's nothing."

"talk."

"It's nothing, it's nothing."

Gu Yansheng dared to translate, "It means your mother was fucked by him."

Suzuki Takuya first stared in shock, then yelled angrily and overturned the table!
The tableware on the table crashed to the floor with a loud clatter, and Gu Yansheng moved away in small steps to keep his distance.

What a waste! They're not getting any food, and they'll have to pay compensation. If you can't handle that much stress, don't even ask.

After the event ended, Gu Yansheng asked his subordinates outside the door.

"You caught up?"

"Captain Yan has taken his men there."

"it is good."

I've assigned Yan Dongqing to follow these two people; just make sure the connection isn't lost.

"Also, have someone send a telegram back to Director Ding of No. 76 to check the information on Song Ziwen's younger brother, Song Ziliang, and have them also send a copy to my secretary, Ma Shiqi."

"Yes."

"Minister Gu, why did you translate for him just now? It made him lose face." Mei Siping leaned closer with a slight smile. "The talks were already going poorly, and now the Japanese are still angry. Hasn't this made things worse?"

"Minister Mei thinks it's better if the talks go smoothly?" Gu Yansheng gave him a faint smile.

Mei Siping paused for a moment, "That's not it. Sigh, what's going on? We need to find the right people, but we also hope the negotiations don't go smoothly. It's driving us crazy."

Gu Yansheng smiled warmly, "Minister Mei, find the right people. Negotiations are the Japanese's business. You should also take a break and enjoy the scenery of Hong Kong. Don't overwork yourself."

"Yes, yes," Mei Siping smiled happily and whispered, "Minister Gu, I've worked in Hong Kong before, so I know some fun places. British women dancing, would you like to go check it out tonight if you're free?"

“Old Mei, Minister Gu, what’s the next step?” Gao Zhongwu interjected, “The Japanese will definitely make us find someone again, but we’ve already looked for everyone we could find.”

The Japanese are definitely not satisfied now, so we're in for a rough time.

"Minister Gu, what do you think?" Mei Siping turned to look at him.

"What's the rush? We still have to talk. It's the Japanese who want to talk now. Even if they get insulted, or even if something really happens to them, we still have to talk."

Suzuki is currently furious and will likely send a telegram to the Nanjing headquarters to vent his anger soon, but Itagaki's goal is peace talks. Suzuki's temper is not important. Itagaki will wait until Suzuki finishes sending the telegram, then send a reply and see his reaction.

It's not entirely without its benefits. Getting scolded at least helps you clear your head. Lowering your expectations if negotiations fail isn't a bad thing. Shall we eat? If you're not eating, I'm going to eat.

"Go, go, let's eat first. After we eat, we'll go for a walk. I'm exhausted after running around for so many days."

The next day, Suzuki came looking for him with a stern face.

“Mr. Gu, Mr. Mei, for the sake of peace in East Asia, the peace talks must continue. You must find a way to make Song Ziliang sit down and have a proper peace talk.”

“Inviting someone to dinner guarantees a deal, but inviting them to sit down and negotiate? That doesn’t make sense,” Mei Siping said worriedly. “Mr. Suzuki, if we really invite him to sit down and talk, or even just invite him over, and he makes some demands, will Japan really agree to them?”

"Therefore, I need your advice on how to get him to cooperate with our negotiations, instead of him throwing a tantrum like a spoiled brat."

Suzuki glanced at the three men. "Chief of Staff Itagaki has followed my advice and sent leaflets to Nanjing and Changsha, urging the Song family to abandon Changsha. He has also launched an attack on Changsha, sending a warning to Song Ziliang and Chongqing in terms of the situation."

You also need to provide better ways to get Song Ziliang back to the negotiating table as soon as possible, or you need to find a new candidate to replace Song Ziliang.

This was truly a worrying situation. Gao Zhongwu and Mei Siping looked dejected and distressed. They searched for several more days without making any progress.

I spoke to the professor again, but he made it clear that Song Ziliang refused to meet, and it was no use asking me.

This made the two of them even more worried.

Seven days passed in a flash. It had been half a month since they arrived in Hong Kong. The planes that had been dropping leaflets on Chongqing had been flying for seven days, and 700,000 leaflets had been dropped, but Song Ziliang hadn't made a move at all.

Just like people say, I don't care, do whatever you want.

During the day, I get up, wash, and eat.

"Minister." His subordinate walked in, bringing in a document. "It's Song Ziliang's information, sent from Shanghai by someone, delivered by plane."

"Alright, take the brothers who brought us here to rest and have a good meal."

"Yes."

Gu Yansheng picked up the documents and looked at them; they were a thick stack.

Song Ziliang, the younger brother of Song Ziwen, is forty years old. He previously served as the Director of Foreign Affairs and General Affairs of the old Nanjing government, a director of the Central Bank, and the Director of the Finance Department of Guangdong. He is currently the chairman of the Southwest Transportation Company.

Southwest Transportation Company was a military transportation company. In the past, when Guangzhou was still under Chongqing's control, it would transport goods via other countries to Hong Kong, then to Guangzhou, and then to Wuhan, and then to various parts of China.

Now we are using the Myanmar route, also known as the Yunnan-Burma Road transport route, to procure supplies in Hong Kong and obtain aid from Britain, the United States, and overseas Chinese.

The Song family's descendants certainly hold incredibly good positions; they're definitely in positions of wealth and power.

Next is the record of people and events. Song Zi was fond of women and had affairs with many women. There are a lot of records of his romantic affairs. People from the 76th Division, the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and the Military Bureau all heard a lot of romantic stories. However, many of these stories were just hearsay and there was no evidence to prove that they actually happened.

Gu Yansheng quickly browsed through the list, and one thing in particular caught his attention.

Before the War of Resistance against Japan, Song Ziliang spent a considerable amount of time in the glamorous world of Shanghai. In 1934, Song Ziliang got a dancer at the Vienna Ballroom in Shanghai pregnant.

Of course, Song Ziliang couldn't let the dancer give birth to his child, so he made her abort it. However, the dancer knew Song Ziliang's identity and saw it as a chance to rise to the top, so she wanted to marry into a wealthy family.

Song Ziliang couldn't handle it and felt that this woman was too troublesome, so he asked Du Yuesheng to step in and resolve the matter.

Du Yuesheng was known for his public-spiritedness and loyalty.

Given Chiang Kai-shek's connections, it was impossible for him not to help, so I just asked as a matter of routine. "Did you follow the rules?"

Getting someone pregnant requires money for an abortion and recovery.

Song Ziliang replied, "I did, and they gave me double the severance pay."

Du Yuesheng said, "Then there's nothing more to say. Since you're going to follow the rules, I'll follow them too."

So they planted lotus flowers around this woman.

That is, sinking into the river.

After reviewing the information on No. 76, Gu Yansheng looked at the intelligence gathered by Ma Shiqi.

Interestingly, Ma Shiqi also spoke about this matter.

At that time, the Vienna Ballroom was the largest ballroom in Shanghai, and the manager of the ballroom was named Tang Jiapeng.

Tang Jiapeng was Gu Zhuxuan's subordinate, while the real owner of the Vienna Ballroom was Gu Zhuxuan, a tycoon from Jiangbei.

At the time, this dancer was the top performer at the dance hall. When a top performer mysteriously disappeared, the Jiangbei gang naturally wanted to find her, whether alive or dead.

Tang Jiapeng handled this matter himself. The Vienna Ballroom was in the French Concession, so when it came to finding people, he also contacted the French Concession police and Huang Jinrong, the behind-the-scenes boss of the Green Gang in the French Concession.

Shanghai is both big and small. At the time, it was easy for Huang Jinrong to investigate something. The investigation revealed that Du Yuesheng was responsible for the disappearances at the dance hall.

The three bigwigs of the Green Gang, since the Japanese hadn't come, naturally had to give each other face. A person was dead, so they just paid some money to the dance hall and that was the end of it.

Moreover, according to the rules, it was this dancer who broke the rules first. She just went to sleep and wanted to marry into a wealthy family, which broke the rules. If word got out, who would want to come and play with her in the future?

Tang Jiapeng felt that this matter involved three tycoons, and that made sense, so he decided to let it go.

However, Gu Zhuxuan didn't think so. Even if the dancer broke the rules, she was from Vienna. Could he just kill her without even asking her? Was that appropriate?

Doesn't the Jiangbei gang have any pride?
So they told Tang Jiapeng to go and demand an explanation, otherwise he should quit his job as manager, because they said he couldn't handle things.

Tang Jiapeng didn't want to go, saying, "How can we offend three tycoons? Is it worth it for a dancer?"
This is a matter of face. Although Gu Zhuxuan, this Jiangbei tycoon, is not as famous as the three big bosses of the Green Gang, he is still a tycoon. We can't let the Jiangbei gang lose face, so we have to make him go.

But what Gu Zhuxuan didn't expect was that when Tang Jiapeng came to Shanghai to make a living, she introduced her cousin to him as his wife and gave him the lucrative position as manager of the Vienna Grand Ballroom.

As a result of this incident, this guy actually betrayed his country and joined Huang Jinrong!
So what if he betrayed us? A wise bird chooses a good tree to perch on. With the connection of her cousin, Gu Zhuxuan didn't intend to pursue the matter further. However, she was very dissatisfied with Huang Jinrong for taking in his people.

They talk about the rules on one hand, but break them on the other. As the boss, they have no shame.

Huang Jinrong didn't care about any of that. He believed he should be in charge of all of Shanghai. He and the Jiangbei Gang were originally enemies. There was only so much food in Shanghai. If the Jiangbei Gang took one more bite, he would have one less bite.

After Tang Jiapeng joined Huang Jinrong's group, Huang Jinrong deliberately made him the manager of Rongji World, the best amusement park in Shanghai at the time, in order to crack down on the Jiangbei gang.

It's to tell the world that the Jiangbei gang is no good, and all the talented people are coming to me.

But he didn't expect Tang Jiapeng to be such a talented person.

The amusement park had a circus, a theater, and a theatrical troupe. After Tang Jiapeng became the manager, he threatened the theater owners to introduce the actresses from their respective troupes to him for sex, or else he would stop them from operating.

Within a few months, it caused widespread discontent.

This whole affair led the deputy manager, who was already dissatisfied with the new appointment, to complain to Huang Jinrong.

So Huang Jinrong thought of getting rid of him and giving the manager position to this deputy manager.

Then the deputy manager died; he was shot dead in the street.

Huang Jinrong became uneasy.

Why did Ma Shiqi know this so clearly? Because Gu Zhuxuan personally visited Huang Jinrong and told him that the person who killed the deputy manager was Tang Jiapeng's right-hand man, someone who had defected from the Jiangbei Gang with Tang Jiapeng. Gu Zhuxuan had personally questioned Tang Jiapeng's men, and they had already admitted it.

Gu Zhuxuan also mentioned something else: Huang Jinrong, your son just died, and Tang Jiapeng has taken a liking to your daughter-in-law, waiting to get into bed with her and call you "Dad."

The person you wanted back then is now very kind to you.

Huang Jinrong was completely enraged.

If he were to die, this traitorous ingrate, who's so ruthless, wouldn't he sleep with his daughter-in-law and seize his family's assets? He might even chop up his entire family and throw them into the Huangpu River to feed the fish?

The thought of this made even the King of Hell dare not keep him until midnight.

Find an opportunity to kill Tang Jiapeng in the street.

Tang Jiapeng is dead, and in theory the matter should be over, but the police station in the foreign concessions is interested.

The foreign directors behind the concessions had always wanted to deal with the Green Gang, drive them out, and take back their profits.

After a brief investigation, it was discovered that this matter involved a big shot named Huang Jinrong. If evidence could be found to arrest Huang Jinrong, wouldn't the interests of the concession be recovered?

After an investigation, the murderer was caught. The police wanted to make the case airtight and bring down Huang Jinrong.

As a result, Huang Jinrong, who had extensive connections in the foreign concessions, managed to get the murderer to change his testimony right under the noses of the foreigners.

The person who hired the killer was identified as Gu Zhuxuan.

The reason was that Gu Zhuxuan harbored resentment towards Tang Jiapeng for betraying the Jiangbei Gang. She had married her cousin to him, but he was still having affairs with other women. So she hired someone to kill Tang Jiapeng and clean house.

The foreigner had no choice. The case had progressed to this point, with complete evidence and witnesses, and there was a motive. He was forced to become Huang Jinrong's henchman and arrest Gu Zhuxuan.

Of course, nothing serious happened, but while Gu Zhuxuan was under investigation and detained, Huang Jinrong went all out to suppress the Jiangbei Gang. Since the two had already formed a grudge, it was bound to become a fight to the death sooner or later.

Later, through the efforts of various parties, such as the intervention of family members and the help of his cousin Gu Zhutong, Gu Zhuxuan was released after being imprisoned for more than a year due to insufficient evidence, and his influence was halved.

Then the Japanese came.

When the Japanese came, the Green Gang had to support the war effort. There was no question about it; with national hatred at the forefront, all personal grudges had to be put aside.

When the Japanese conquered Shanghai and recruited the three big bosses of the Green Gang...

Huang Jinrong then betrayed Gu Zhuxuan, sending him to the Military Intelligence Bureau and imprisoning him, this time handing him over to the Japanese.

The reason is that Gu Zhutong is a relative of Gu Zhuxuan. Gu Zhutong helped Gu Zhuxuan when she was released, and now he is helping the Military Intelligence Bureau during the War of Resistance.

The former is a fact, the latter has no evidence, but the Japanese didn't care about that, they just arrested him, so Gu Zhuxuan appeared in Gu Yansheng's prison, waiting for Gu Yansheng to rescue her.

Tsk, Gu Yansheng never expected the whole thing to turn out this way.

No wonder Gu Zhuxuan hated Huang Jinrong so much. There was so much going on behind the scenes, and the deaths of these people involved a feud between two gangs, a bloody battle in Shanghai, all stemming from a dancer from back then.

The key figure is Song Ziliang, a member of the Song family known for his romantic and frivolous lifestyle.

Gu Yansheng put down the documents, still needing to find a way to persuade Song Ziliang and move the negotiations forward. The negotiations had to start, go through a process, and then fail, otherwise the Japanese wouldn't give up.

However, he can only step in to resolve the issue when the time comes.

Gu Yansheng picked up today's newspaper, his eyes lighting up.

A missing person notice appeared in Ta Kung Pao: "Wang Haifeng is looking for his sister, Wang Ruyan."

It's finally here; the timing is about right.

(End of this chapter)