No trace of espionage

Chapter 1 Theft of Fiat Currency

At three o'clock in the afternoon on March 26rd in the 1937th year of the Republic of China ([-]).

A young man wearing a top hat and a long gown came to the Bank of Communications Nanjing Branch.

A staff member saw that the visitor had an extraordinary demeanor and was carrying a black briefcase in his hand. He thought it was the patron who came to the door, and rushed to meet him.

"Sir, is it a deposit or a withdrawal?"

"Oh, I work in the Ministry of Finance. My surname is Zuo. I need to contact you, Manager Chen, for official business."

"It turned out to be Mr. Zuo. Mr. Zuo, Manager Chen is not here, but Xu Xiangli is here."

"It's fine if Xu Xiangli is here, please let me know, is that okay?"

The employee's surname is Wu. When he heard that the person was from the Ministry of Finance, he didn't dare to neglect him immediately.

"Oh, Mr. Zuo, please wait a moment, I'll report first." The staff surnamed Wu let Mr. Zuo onto the sofa beside the lobby and bowed.

There is a circle of sofas in the lobby, which is a temporary rest area for guests to handle business.

"Okay, it's work."

Mr. Zuo sat on the sofa, picked up a copy of "Central Daily" and read it.

After a while, a half-bald middle-aged man hurried down from the second floor.

"Mr. Zuo, this is our Xu Xiangli." The staff surnamed Wu introduced the middle-aged man to Mr. Zuo.

"Xu Shouxian, Mr. Zuo, right? May I ask what you can do?" Xu Xiangli smiled and bowed slightly to Mr. Zuo.

"Oh, Xu Xiangli, that's it. Here is an official document for you to look at." Mr. Zuo picked up the briefcase, took out an official document from the briefcase, and handed it to Xu Shouxian.

Xu Shouxian took it over and took a look, and saw that it was an official document from the Ministry of Finance. It said: "As soon as you see the words, pay the person [-] yuan in legal currency for secret business trips."

The column of the signatory is the three characters "Gong Hanzhang" written with a brush.

Gong Hanzhang was the Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Finance of the Nationalist Government.

As one of the four major banks issuing legal tender, the Bank of Communications often communicates with the Ministry of Finance. Xu Shouxian is very familiar with Gong Hanzhang's signature.

Xu Shou first saw that it was indeed Gong Hanzhang's handwriting, and he had no doubts at the moment. He turned to the staff surnamed Wu and said, "Go and get 200,000 French coins."

The staff surnamed Wu promised to go.

Xu Shou first asked Mr. Zuo to sit down, and then sat down opposite him.

"Mr. Zuo, which department in the ministry do you work in? Xu often goes to the ministry, why do you look at the face?" Xu Shouxian asked.

"Xu Xiangli, my surname is Zuo, and I work in the Ministry of Finance. You only need to know this. Others, it's better not to inquire about it." Mr. Zuo replied flatly.

Xu Shou first inquired about Mr. Zuo's details, of course with the purpose of further handing over.

Not wanting to be blocked by Mr. Zuo's words, and then thinking of the word "secret business trip" on the official document, Xu Shouxian could only smile coyly: "Yes, yes, Mr. Zuo is on a secret business trip, Xu is being abrupt."

Mr. Zuo ignored him, picked up the newspaper and continued to read, while Xu Shouxian could only stand aside in embarrassment.

His embarrassment didn't last long. The staff surnamed Wu had prepared 200,000 French currency and brought it in two boxes.

"Mr. Zuo, please have a look at the 200,000 French currency." Xu Shou first opened the box, and stacks of fresh legal currency were neatly arranged inside.

Xu Shouxian noticed that Mr. Zuo was instantly moved, with a flash of ecstasy in his eyes, and he stood up excitedly.

However, this very strange gaffe only lasted for a short second or two, and Mr. Zuo quickly regained his composure.

"You don't need to order, the money from the bank can still be short? Xu Xiangli, goodbye." Mr. Zuo said lightly, closed the box casually, picked it up and left.

"Come on, Mr. Zuo, please write a proof. The rules are like this, please forgive Mr. Zuo." Xu Shouxian hurriedly stopped Mr. Zuo, seeing his unsuspecting face, he followed up with an explanation.

"Okay, it's really troublesome." Mr. Zuo put down the box, Xu Shouxian handed over the pen and paper, Mr. Zuo wrote a receipt on the table, and handed it to Xu Shouxian.

Xu Shouxian took it over and took a look, and saw that the receipt read like this: "I have received 25 yuan in legal currency from the Bank of Communications, Zuo Tianyi. October [-]rd, [-]th year of the Republic of China"

"Xu Xiangli, is there any problem?" Zuo Tianyi asked.

There are some documents and receipts, so there is absolutely no problem with the formalities.Xu Shouxian replied with a smile: "No problem, no problem, Mr. Zuo please go ahead."

Zuo Tianyi put on his top hat, picked up two suitcases, hurried out of the bank gate, hailed a rickshaw at the gate, and sped away.

Xu Shou first sent it to the door politely, and watched Zuo Tianyi go away with a smile on his face.

Suddenly, he felt something was wrong.

"Zuo Tianyi just left in a rickshaw like this? No car, no protection personnel? Isn't that a bit too hasty? You know, there is a huge sum of 200,000 in those two boxes."

He picked up the official document and receipt and looked at it, thinking: "There is no problem with the official document, and there is no problem with the receipt. Why does it feel wrong? No, I have to ask."

Xu Shou hurried back to the office on the second floor, picked up the phone and called the manager Chen Bai's home.

Soon, the phone was picked up.

"Manager, I'm Shouxian."

"Oh, Shouxian, what's the matter?"

"Manager, just now a person named Zuo Tianyi from the Ministry of Finance came to withdraw 200,000 French currency with an official document signed by Minister Gong. I feel something is wrong, so I called and asked you to go to Minister Gong to verify."

"Okay, I'll check right away."

After speaking, Chen Bai put down the phone.

Xu Shouxian put down the phone, and the uneasiness in his heart became more and more intense. Recalling the ecstasy and greed that Zuo Tianyi should not have had after seeing the huge sum of money, Xu Shouxian was even more uneasy.

"Jingle Bell……"

The phone rang, and Xu Shouxian quickly picked it up: "Shoumin, I just called Minister Gong, and he didn't issue any withdrawal documents at all, and there is no such person as Zuo Tianyi in the Ministry of Finance."

"Ah? Fake?!" The suspicion in his heart was confirmed, Xu Shouxian was shocked, quickly dropped the phone, and ran downstairs, shouting: "Hurry up, hurry up, go after Zuo Tianyi..."

……

The huge sum of money fraud soon alarmed the top management.

Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Finance Gong Hanzhang immediately called the Nanjing Police Station and ordered the police to solve the case within ten days.

Police chief Yang Wenxuan didn't dare to neglect when he received the call, so he called the chief inspector, Duan Yide.

"Yide, this case is entrusted to you. Dean Gong has a deadline of [-] days to solve the case. You must take it to heart. Don't be careless. You must solve the case within the deadline. Otherwise, we brothers will have nothing to eat. In my opinion, leave it to Lin Chuang." Yang Wenxuan briefly reported the case and solemnly instructed.

"Director, this case is so huge, why didn't President Gong hand it over to the Secret Service? I guess the perpetrators were not from the Ministry of Finance, but from other ministries. How dare we go to those big yamen to investigate the case? "Duan Yide obviously didn't want to take this hot yam.

(End of this chapter)