Did he trick the young marshal into becoming sworn brothers and then go south to Huangpu Military Ac

The next morning, golden sunlight pierced through the morning mist on the sea, bathing the entire cruise ship in a dazzling golden glow.

Lin Qi was awakened by a series of strange, rhythmic screams.

"Hey! Ha!"

"drink!"

The voice was short and powerful, carrying an extremely strong sense of oppression and a certain familiar fervor.

Lin Qi rubbed his temples, and after washing up, he pushed open the French-style floor-to-ceiling window connecting the first-class cabin to the private deck.

A salty, damp sea breeze swept over me.

Looking down from the white railing, one can see dozens of Japanese people dressed in traditional kimonos and wooden clogs forming a huge semicircle on the second-floor deck.

Holding bamboo swords, they stood ramrod straight, mechanically and powerfully hacking away at their leader's commands.

"kendo?"

Lin Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.

At this time, the influence of the Japanese was pervasive in the Bohai Sea.

Although the cruise ship is nominally British property, at least half of the passengers are Japanese, either from mainland China or Dalian.

Some of them were wanderers seeking their fortune in Shanghai, some were spies disguised as merchants, and others were military staff officers investigating the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Looking down at the Japanese soldiers below, their eyes gleaming with fanaticism and their movements mechanical and precise, Lin Qi felt a surge of disgust as a modern person, mixed with a sense of crisis unique to this era.

This was the first time since he transmigrated that he had observed the most dangerous adversary of this era up close.

The beards of the Fengtian clique, the warlords of the Zhili clique, the politicians of the South…

In Lin Qi's view, these are all just temporary stumbling blocks.

These islanders, who operate like precision parts and whose very bones exude a savage desire for expansion, are the real demons who will drag this nation into the abyss.

"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated."

Lin Qi snorted coldly. Since they had run into each other, there was no reason to hide.

He needed to know what the so-called Yamato people were really like at this point in time.

Lin Qi returned to his room and tidied himself up in front of the mirror.

He took off his round-framed glasses, a symbol of a scholar, and put on a light gray plaid suit with the style of a wealthy businessman's son. A pure gold Rolex pocket watch hung on his chest, and his hair was combed with hair oil until it was shiny and glossy, so shiny that even a fly would slip on it.

At this moment, Lin Qi was completely devoid of the elegance and composure he had in Fengtian. He was just like a spoiled young master who spent money like water and was arrogant and unruly in Shanghai.

He walked with somewhat frivolous steps into the open-air restaurant on the deck.

It was breakfast time, and the restaurant was full of passengers from all over the world.

Lin Qi chose the most conspicuous spot, sat down casually, and slapped a large pound note on the table.

"Waiter!"

He spoke fluent, authentic English with a touch of Boston aristocratic arrogance as he skillfully ordered food from the British waiter.

"A medium-rare filet mignon with two sunny-side-up eggs, served with extra virgin olive oil. Also, open a bottle of your best vintage Bordeaux red wine; I need it to decanted for half an hour."

The waiter was stunned.

In the Far East during this period, there were many people fluent in English, but those from China who could speak with such a authentic Boston accent and whose words exuded an innate sense of nobility and discernment were extremely rare.

The previously noisy conversations in the restaurant quieted down considerably.

Those British men who had previously looked down on him with disdain turned their heads in surprise.

Several tables of Japanese businessmen, dressed in suits and sporting mustaches, cast wary and scrutinizing glances at Lin Qi.

Lin Qi pretended not to care at all. He crossed his legs, tapped his long fingers lightly on the table, and gazed leisurely at the horizon.

Out of the corner of his eye, every person and every micro-expression in the restaurant was imprinted in his mind like a snapshot.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat without warning.

Three Japanese people were sitting in a corner of the restaurant.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a slightly overweight build and a round face.

Wearing a well-tailored black suit, he was slowly and methodically cutting the toast in front of him with a knife.

He looked like an ordinary, even somewhat kind, wealthy Japanese businessman.

But in an instant, Lin Qi felt every hair on his body stand on end.

His memory exploded at that moment.

In his previous life, he was bored and read a vast amount of historical documents, including a large number of archives and photos of intelligence agencies before World War II.

That man...

Kenji Doi!

Known as the "Lawrence of the East," the top spy chief of the Japanese Army, a devil who orchestrated the "xx coup" and manipulated the "xx independence" movement.

At this time, Doihara had not yet reached the point where he could dominate the intelligence agency as its head. His public identity was probably just a dispatcher from the Japanese General Staff.

But Lin Qi knew that this fat man was going to Shanghai with only one goal: the battle between Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In the original timeline, during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, the reason why Feng Yuxiang dared to suddenly launch a coup and defect was not only because of the heavy investment made by the old marshal, but also because of this fat and ugly man who contributed the most behind the scenes!

He used financial means to short Wu Peifu's military currency, causing the Zhili Clique's logistics system to collapse overnight.

Lin Qi noticed that Tu Feiyuan was secretly observing him with a very discreet, somewhat amused look in his eyes.

This is the look in the eyes of a top hunter when he sees interesting prey.

"He recognized me."

Lin Qi coldly concluded in his heart.

As a top intelligence operative for Japan on the mainland, it would be a dereliction of duty for Doiyuu not to have a photo of this rising star in Guangzhou.

What surprised Lin Qi even more were the two young men sitting next to Tu Feiyuan.

These two young men were in their early twenties, and their demeanor was completely different from that of the fanatical Japanese ronin or the rigid officers.

They were dressed casually, yet their every move exuded an elegance and indifference that seemed to emanate from their very being. This air of superiority was even more genuine than that of Lin Qi, the pretentious young master.

Even a ruthless character like Tu Feiyuan leaned slightly forward when speaking to these two young men, his eyes revealing a subtle submissiveness.

"The Japanese Imperial Family? Or perhaps members of the elite aristocracy?"

Lin Qi's mind raced.

The kind of person who could make a self-important spy king like Tu Feiyuan act so cautiously was definitely not an ordinary official.

"Interesting, a big fish has come knocking on our door."