Hidden Radiance

Nanzo Yunzi did not inquire further about the supplies.

"He's backed by Kenji Doihara. Even the section chief has to give him some leeway."

Lu Minghui took out an old knife and tapped it twice on the table.

"A reliable support is one that you can depend on."

He put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

"How's the raid on Litai Money Exchange going?" Lu Minghui asked.

"Ono-kun has sealed the door. The gold bars and foreign exchange inside have already been deposited into the vault," Nanzo Yunko replied.

"It's a waste to just leave an empty shell like that." Lu Minghui exhaled a puff of smoke. "For the Central Reserve Bank notes to be rolled out across the board, we need a legitimate financial institution. Japanese banks are too conspicuous and could easily provoke a backlash from the concessions. Litai Money Shop has a clean background; it was originally a money exchange business."

Nanzo Yunko looked at him.

"You want to reorganize it?"

"Litai Bank." Lu Minghui drew a line on the table with his index finger. "Take down Li Shiqun's signboard and put ours up. Centered on Litai Bank, we'll unite with Dafeng Bank in Suzhou. One in the concession, the other in Suzhou. We'll inject liquidity from both ends, flooding the market with Central Reserve Bank notes."

Nanzo Yunzi leaned back on the sofa.

"The section chief will like this idea."

Afternoon. Mei's Office.

After listening to Lu Minghui's report, Shinichi Nakajima signed the reorganization document.

"Let Shao Shijun be the president of Litai Bank." Zhongdao pushed the document back. "He's Wang Shijin's man and understands banking. Put him in this position, and Wang Shijin won't have anything to say."

"Section Chief is wise." Lu Minghui put away the documents.

"Regarding the reserve fund," Nakajima said, walking up to the sand table. "Matsui intercepted a batch of penicillin and cotton yarn at the dock, converted it into gold, and allocated half of it to Lita Bank as physical reserves. Tell Shao Shijun that this gold is the stabilizing force, and it should not be touched unless absolutely necessary."

"clear."

three days later.

Ningbo Road, International Settlement.

The red silk covering the former site of Litai Money Exchange was unveiled. The four large gilded characters "Litai Bank" appeared cold and hard in the overcast light.

Shao Shijun, dressed in a sharp suit, stood in front of the gate to cut the ribbon. Dingmo Village dispatched two squads of secret agents, armed with submachine guns, to maintain order on both sides.

There were no firecrackers, no congratulatory guests. Pedestrians on the street kept their distance.

Lu Minghui sat in the Ford sedan across the street. Gu Yunqiu was in the driver's seat, her hands on the steering wheel.

"It's listed." Gu Yunqiu looked ahead.

Lu Minghui lowered the car window halfway, his gaze fixed on the bank's entrance, but he didn't move.

"Is the telephone line to the bank manager's office connected?" Lu Minghui asked.

"Last night," Gu Yunqiu tapped her fingers lightly on the steering wheel, "we used the military police's wiretapping switchboard. From the outside, the line looked exactly like a regular commercial line; it was untraceable. All incoming and outgoing calls were recorded."

Lu Minghui nodded and said nothing more.

"What about the dock?" Lu Minghui asked again.

"Wan Molin's men are already watching." Gu Yunqiu's gaze didn't leave the front. "Every box of goods that leaves the bank, from which dock to which warehouse, is being followed."

Lu Minghui rolled up the car window he had lowered.

That afternoon.

Avenue Joffre. Black Dragon Society members and agents from the 76th Division split into dozens of groups, going door-to-door pushing Central Reserve Bank notes. Refusal to accept, shops vandalized. Resistance, arrests. Police officers stood on the street corner, turned away, and pretended not to see.

The official exchange rate set by Wang Shijin and Shao Shijun was 1 to 1.5 – one yuan and fifty cents of legal tender for one Central Reserve Bank note.

However, on the market, what one yuan can buy cannot be bought with three central bank notes.

Under the oppression of powerful authorities, merchants were forced to accept it. But the backlash came faster than expected.

The next morning. Outside Lita Bank.

A dense crowd surged from the steps all the way to the other side of the road. Thousands of ordinary people and merchants, clutching Central Reserve Bank notes that had been forcibly handed to them, blocked the bank entrance.

"Exchange for legal tender! Exchange for silver dollars!"

"Buy rice! Buy gold!"

The crowd jostled and pushed, shouting and crying filling the air. With Central Reserve Bank notes unusable in the market, merchants, desperate to cut their losses, flocked to Litai Bank, demanding to exchange them for hard currency.

A bank run.

The bank's iron railings were deformed from the crowd. The few secret agents at the entrance were no match for the surging tide of people.

Shao Shijun stood behind the second-floor window, looking down at the dense crowd below, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Manager, the cash and legal tender in the vault are almost gone." The lobby manager ran up, his voice trembling. "If we keep exchanging them like this, we'll have to close this afternoon."

Shao Shijun grabbed the manager by the collar.

"Close down? Close down on opening day? Nakajima Shinichi will skin me alive!"

The lobby manager was pushed and stumbled. Shao Shijun turned around and made a phone call to Wang Shijin.

Wang Shijin only said one sentence on the phone: "President Shao, the bank has collapsed. You are the president, not me. Whether or not to release the supplies is up to you."

The phone hangs up.

Shao Shijun gripped the microphone, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

He stood in front of the desk, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two telephones on it. The one on the left was the bank's internal line, and the one on the right was the external line that the military police had set up when the bank opened.

Shao Shijun's hand hovered above the microphone on the right for two seconds. He wiped his fingers on the seam of his pants, picked up the receiver, and dialed a number in Nanjing.

The phone rang three times before being answered. Shao Shijun put his mouth to the receiver, speaking in a very low voice and at a rapid pace. Four minutes later, he hung up and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He was unaware that the switch for this line was located in the basement of the Hongkou Military Police Headquarters. Every dialed number and every second of call duration was recorded onto a wax disc using a German-made recording device.

"Release the goods," Shao Shijun shouted through gritted teeth, looking towards the door. "Bring out the grain and cotton yarn, and exchange them for them at market price."

"But...Director Lu said that batch of supplies is the stabilizing force..."

"The banks are about to collapse, who cares about magic needles!" Shao Shijun slammed the microphone back onto the landline. "Play it!"

The warehouse door in the backyard of Lita Bank opened. Crates of cotton yarn and sacks of grain were carried out.

When the crowd saw the actual product, they went even more wild.

Bundles of China Reserve Bank notes were thrown into the counter, and boxes of goods were carried out. The run on the bank not only failed to subside but intensified. As the news spread, even more people rushed over with their China Reserve Bank notes.

76 Jessfield Road. Confidential Office.

The phone on the table kept ringing.

Lu Minghui sat behind the table, flipping through the briefings from various districts.

Nanzo Yunzi pushed open the door and came in, her face ashen.

"Lita Bank's supplies are almost gone. Shao Shijun can't hold on any longer."

"What about Suzhou?" Lu Minghui asked without looking up.

"Dafeng Bank is also experiencing a run on its banks. The Suzhou Chamber of Commerce is leading the sell-off of China Reserve Bank bonds." Nanzo Yunzi walked to the table, placing her hands on it. "Mr. Minghui, the exchange rate is set too high; the market simply doesn't accept it. Wang Shijin is playing with fire."

Lu Minghui closed the briefing.

"Wang Shijin isn't playing with fire. He's using fire to kill people." Lu Minghui stood up, grabbed his coat, and said, "With the collapse of Litai Bank, the credit of China Reserve Bank bonds is completely bankrupt. The Sugi Project failed, and Section Chief Nakajima resigned. Wang Shijin returned to Nanjing to continue working as a key financial official."

Nanzo Yunko stared at him.

"You figured it out a long time ago?"

"I knew what he was up to as soon as he set the odds at 1.5." Lu Minghui put on his coat.

"Then why did you agree?"

Lu Minghui looked at her.

"How can we burn him to death if we don't let him start the fire?"

He walked towards the door. "Let's go to Lita Bank."

Outside Lita Bank.

The crowd was out of control. The iron railings were pushed down, and the crowd surged into the lobby. The secret agents fired shots into the air, but they couldn't control them.

A Ford sedan was parked at the street corner.

Lu Minghui got out of the car. Two military trucks followed behind him. Lieutenant Yamashita jumped out of the truck with thirty-six fully armed men in black. Submachine guns were loaded.

"Clear the area."

Da da da!

Thirty-six submachine guns fired simultaneously into the air. The dense gunfire drowned out all the noise.

The crowd fell silent instantly.

"Back off." Lieutenant Yamashita drew his sword, the tip pointing at the crowd.

The crowd began to back away, leaving the lobby, the steps, and moving to both sides of the street.

Lu Minghui stepped into the bank lobby, his footsteps treading on the scattered Central Reserve Bank notes.

Shao Shijun slumped behind the counter, his tie undone and his hair disheveled. Upon seeing Lu Minghui, he scrambled to his feet.

"Director Lu! You've finally arrived! The supplies are almost gone, they've gone mad, completely mad!"

Lu Minghui looked at the empty backyard warehouse. Less than 20% of the penicillin and cotton yarn remained.

Wang Shijin walked down the stairs from the second floor. He was still wearing a neat suit, holding a cup of coffee in his hand, and looked calm.

"Director Lu," Wang Shijin stopped at the top of the stairs, "I've said it before, 1:1.5 is a dangerous number. Market forces can't be suppressed by a few guns."

He took a sip of coffee.

"Now the supplies are gone, and our credibility is gone. What does Director Lu plan to use to fill this hole?"

Nanzo Yunzi followed Lu Minghui in. She looked at Wang Shijin, her right hand hanging at her side, motionless.

Lu Minghui did not look at Wang Shijin.

He walked to the counter, picked up a Central Reserve Bank note that had been stepped on, and flicked off the dust.

"Mr. Wang, do you think these people who came to cause trouble are just ordinary people?" Lu Minghui turned around and looked at Wang Shijin.

Wang Shijin frowned slightly.

Lu Minghui threw the Central Reserve Bank note on the ground.

"Where do ordinary people get so many Central Reserve Bank notes?" Lu Minghui sneered. "The money was just distributed yesterday, and today it's being used in bundles to buy up supplies. The speed is too fast."

He turned to look outside the door.

"Gu Yunqiu".

Gu Yunqiu walked in from outside, carrying a cloth bag. She walked to the center of the hall and turned the bag upside down.

Splash!

More than a dozen account books fell to the ground.

"These were found on a few 'big clients' we just pulled out of the crowd running for bank deposits," Gu Yunqiu said in a cold voice. "They weren't merchants, they were scalpers. They were instructed to buy Central Reserve Bank notes from merchants at low prices and then use them to run for bank deposits. All the cotton yarn and grain that were taken away were intercepted at the docks; not a single box left Shanghai."

Wang Shijin's hand, holding the coffee cup, froze in mid-air.

Lu Minghui bent down, picked up an account book, and opened it.

"Mr. Wang," Lu Minghui said, looking at the name in the ledger, "the boss behind these scalpers is surnamed Zhou. He's in Nanjing. Coincidentally, you're also from Nanjing."

Wang Shijin placed the coffee cup on the stair railing.

"Director Lu, scalpers buying coupons is a market activity," Wang Shijin's voice remained calm. "Are you trying to accuse me based on a few ledgers of dubious origin?"

Lu Minghui did not respond to him.

He turned to the last page of the ledger, pulled out a copy of a telegram tucked inside, and held it up.

"This is the call log from the president's office of Lita Bank." Lu Minghui looked into Wang Shijin's eyes. "The call was made at 9:03 this morning, and the recipient was Zhou Enlai's former residence in Nanjing. The call lasted four minutes."

He turned and glanced at Shao Shijun.

Shao Shijun's face turned deathly pale. He opened his mouth, as if to say something—he had no idea there was anything wrong with the telephone line. The line had been installed by the military police; from the outside, it looked like a regular commercial telephone.

"President Shao, did you make this call, or did Mr. Wang borrow your office to make it?"

Shao Shijun's lips trembled twice, his gaze frantically shifting between Wang Shijin and Lu Minghui.

Wang Shijin slowly withdrew his hand from the stair railing.

"Director Lu," Wang Shijin's smile finally faded, "Think carefully about who's backing me."

"I know very well." Lu Minghui closed the ledger. "Some people are taking advantage of the bank run to siphon off the empire's strategic resources. They're profiting from the national crisis."

He turned to look at Nanzo Yunzi.

Nanzo Yunzi did not draw her gun. She took out the mud-stained approval book from her handbag, opened it, and walked up to Wang Shijin.

"Mr. Wang." Nanzo Yunzi held up the approval book in front of Wang Shijin, her fingertip pointing to Nakajima Shinichi's personal seal. "This is the section chief's seal. The supplies were approved by the section chief. What was embezzled was the section chief's money."

She closed the approval book and took a step back.

"The Doihara headquarters is in the Tohoku region, and Section Chief Nakajima is in Shanghai."

Wang Shijin's Adam's apple bobbed.

Shao Shijun's back slammed against the counter, and his legs could no longer support him.