cicada

Chapter 813 Probing
The evening of March 1937, 12.

On the streets near Houde Middle School, newsboys waved newspapers in their hands and shouted:

"Outside the number, outside the number, Chief Tang, the commander of the Jinling garrison, announced his retreat. As a result, the army had no boats to take, so they built rafts to cross the river. Many people drowned. The battle in Jinling is about to end."

The people around listened to this account with numb expressions. There were too many bad news in the past few days. Everyone knew that Jinling's fall would happen sooner or later.

It only took them four months to resist the Japanese aggression with one heart and one mind, and to calmly face the country's defeat after defeat. It is no wonder that people's hearts are the most complicated thing.

In a noodle shop, Zuo Zhong and Wu Chunyang, who had changed their appearances, sat in the corner, turned a deaf ear to the shouts outside, and continued to eat noodles with their heads down.

As a member of the Secret Service, they had received more detailed information long ago, and the situation in Jinling was even more severe than what was written in the newspapers, but so what could be done.

Wu Chunyang ate the noodles in two or three mouthfuls, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, quickly scanned the deserted shop, and asked Zuo Zhong about the relocation of the Secret Service and the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics in a low voice.

During this period of time, he was busy looking for clues to the counterfeit banknote factory every day. He didn't know about the evacuation of Jinling, and he didn't know how Shangfeng arranged for them.

Zuo Chong took a sip of the noodle soup, glanced at him and replied: "As early as the 21st year of the Republic of China, on the [-]th, the leader had set the policy of using Luoyang and Chang'an as the destinations for moving the capital.

Luoyang, in particular, is located in the hinterland of China, and it is relatively convenient to communicate with all parties in the country. Its mountains and hills are complex, and there are natural barriers in defense.

And unlike Chang'an, which is surrounded by the Qinling Mountains from east to west, if you seize the opportunity, you can rush out to attack the Japanese army. At that time, the preparatory work had already begun.

However, with the resolution of the January [-] incident, the relocation of the capital was over. In addition, after the Chang'an incident last year, the leader felt that Luo Yang was too close to the underground party, so this time he decided to retreat to Jiangcheng and Shancheng.

A few days ago, the national government moved to Jiangcheng first, and the Bureau Headquarters, Secret Service Headquarters, and Secret Service went to Shancheng. Don't worry, the brothers' family members and all documents have been transported by freighter, and the road is very safe. "

What Zuo Zhong said was simple. In fact, if he hadn't persuaded Dai Chunfeng through telegrams many times, the other party would still want to stay by someone's side and do "a dog's work", and he didn't want to go to the mountain city at all.

But unlike other agencies, the relocation of intelligence agencies is a major event, and the loss of any document may lead to the loss of the front-line intelligence personnel's head, so in the end, Lao Dai agreed with him.

Putting down the bowl and chopsticks, Zuo Zhong took out a cigarette and handed it over, and put another on his mouth. Instead of using a lighter, he lit it with a match produced in the concession, and then revealed some inside information.

"Looking at the current situation, sooner or later the government will have to move to a mountain city, which is adjacent to the Yangtze River in the south and the Jialing River in the north, so that it will be convenient to transport materials and information by water when land routes are blocked.

Geographically, it borders Shaanxi, Hunan, Guizhou, and EZ provinces, so it will not be completely blocked and lose contact with the outside world.

At the same time, the terrain of the mountain city is rugged and foggy. The former is not conducive to Japanese bombing and has a strong tolerance, while the latter is extremely concealed and is a good place for both offense and defense.

We are helping Shangfeng to make a front stop. There are many paoges and bandits over there. We must clean up these ghosts and monsters before we can welcome the committee chief, other high-ranking officials and important institutions to enter Sichuan. "

Wu Chunyang nodded. It turned out that this was the case. It was easy to use the Secret Service to deal with those gangsters. After thinking about it, he lowered his voice and asked another question.

"What about the prisoners who were arrested before? Those spies and traitors are familiar with our way of handling cases, our style of action, and even seen our real appearance. Did they take them with us when we retreated?"

"Take it away? Why take it away."

Zuo Chong asked rhetorically after hearing this, with a puff of smoke coming out of his mouth: "There are so many people, what should we do if there is a problem with such a long-distance transportation, if they let them escape, no one can afford it.

After the Battle of Songhu, I sent Lao Gu to the prison and detention center. Except for the spies who surrendered and wrote the letter of allegiance, the other spies and traitors were all executed.

Now that the government and the Bureau are struggling financially, it is a good account to have one less prisoner in the rear and one more soldier in the front. It is nothing more than a waste of bullets. "

He knocked off the cigarette ash nonchalantly, but turned his eyes to the direction of Jinling, a gleam flashed in his eyes, and he seemed to be thinking about something while frowning.

Wu Chunyang didn't notice this scene, and focused his attention on the conversation just now. You must know that hundreds of people related to spies are detained in guard institutions including Tiger Bridge Prison.

According to the Deputy Director, these people were all shot. Once this incident happened, the "prestige" of the Secret Service might become even louder.

The two stayed for a while, Zuo Zhong looked at his watch and dropped the money, quietly squeezed out the cigarette butt and put it in his pocket, got up and called Wu Chunyang out of the noodle shop, and walked away from Houde Middle School.

Outside the door, the owner of the hot water seller Tiger Stove slowly raised his head, staring at their backs with a pair of triangular eyes until they disappeared, then lowered his head to add a handful of firewood to the hearth.

In the distance, Zuo Zhong and Wu Chunyang were walking in the dark alley, talking softly.

"Chunyang, how are you doing?"

"The other party did not follow."

"Well, once it is confirmed that the counterfeit banknote factory is inside the school, all suspicious personnel on the periphery will be cleared."

"understood."

After speaking, the two silently followed the Sioux City River to a small river bend. Looking around, a dozen wooden boats with canopies were docked here scatteredly, and sometimes people went ashore from the boats through the gangway.

The shouting and punching sounds from these wooden boats can be heard from a long distance away. This is the popular "boat dish" in Shanghai and Jiangnan area, specializing in river seafood and home-cooked dishes.

Zuo Zhong and Wu Chunyang walked to the outermost small boat, carefully boarded the boat, and then lit the lantern on the mast to tell the guests that the boat was full.

The two bent down and came to the middle of the cabin, and saw two middle-aged people, a man and a woman, preparing meals in front of the stove in the back cabin, and another person was wearing a swimsuit and wearing a glass blindfold① sitting on the ground.

"Are you ready?"

Wu Chunyang looked around the cabin a few times and asked casually.

The little spy in the water jacket stuffed a dagger into the scabbard on his leg, stood up and saluted: "Report, you can go at any time."

Feeling the biting cold wind blowing from the river, Zuo Chong patted the other person on the shoulder: "Be careful, I will personally ask for credit for you when I come back."

"Thank you, Deputy Director."

The little spy's face was flushed with excitement, and he came to the side of the boat to uncover a corner of the canopy, and put his right foot into the water under the cover of the hull, and was shocked by the cold river water, and immediately shivered.

However, thinking that the deputy chief was right behind him, he gritted his teeth and supported the side of the boat with both hands to submerge his body into the water a little bit, without causing any splash or movement, and swam quietly to the distance.

Watching his subordinate go away, Zuo Zhong frowned and sat cross-legged, quietly waiting for the other party to come back, his heart was full of worries.

Although this task is not as close to death as fighting a war, it also faces various risks, the most dangerous of which is low temperature.

It is winter now, and the average daily minimum temperature in Shanghai is only 3 degrees Celsius. Due to the specific heat capacity, the water temperature is about 2 degrees higher than the air temperature.

Humans can survive in water at minus 5 degrees Celsius for up to 20 to 30 minutes. After training, spies may be able to last a little longer, but they cannot break through the human limit.

Once the blood flows from the extremities of the body to the center, it will cause muscle atrophy, causing people to lose control over the body, and it is easy for people to drown and die.

Logically speaking, the other party should have entered the water closer to Houde Middle School. The problem is that the Japanese are not stupid, and they probably set up observation posts and eyeliners in the direction of the Sioux City River.

And this is a black operation. In order to keep it secret, if he is unfortunately caught by the concession patrol, the government and the secret service will not admit it.

These two reasons require the operator to start from a place far away from the target. Fortunately, the other party is one of the best water-based agents. As long as the action is fast enough, there should be no danger to life.

10 minutes……

Two 10 minutes...

The food in the back cabin has been prepared and placed on the table, and the rice wine is soaked in the steaming basin, and the atmosphere becomes more and more dignified.

Half an hour later, the little spy still didn't come back. Wu Chunyang, who was squatting beside the boat, turned his head and said solemnly to Zuo Zhong: "Deputy Director, something may have happened. You go first, and I'll wait here for another 5 minutes."

Zuo Zhong understood what the other party meant, and if the operatives were discovered and controlled by the enemy, they might reveal their whereabouts.

Stretching his head to look at the quiet street, he rejected Wu Chunyang's kindness: "No, the target is very quiet, it doesn't look like someone sneaked in, be patient, let's wait together."

"Deputy Director……"

"Shh, don't talk, there is movement."

Wu Chunyang still wanted to persuade, Zuo Zhong put his finger in front of his mouth and made a silent gesture, then pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the sound outside.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but he seemed to hear a strange noise in the waves. After listening for a while, he simply stepped forward to open the awning.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa~"

There was a vague sound of paddling water, and Wu Chunyang was refreshed, and immediately knocked on the hull rhythmically, sending out the agreed signal.

Soon, a pale hand tremblingly grasped the side of the boat, and through the faint lights on both sides of the river bank, the two saw the little spy with black lips slowly surfacing from the water.

The other party looked exhausted, weakly swaying with the current, drank several sips of river water in a short while, and his eyes were lax.

Seeing this, Zuo Zhong and Wu Chunyang hurriedly pulled the man up, grabbed a blanket and covered him, and took a few sips of hot rice wine for the other party.

"Deputy...director, section chief."

With the help of alcohol and temperature, the little spy gradually came back to his senses, and while trembling, he opened his mouth to report.

"There are two 20-centimeter-thick hidden pipes under the water surface on the back wall of Houde Middle School. When I went there, sewage was being discharged there, and the water flow was very strong.

There are sharp blades and rope warning devices next to the water pipes. I accidentally scratched them. This is definitely a means of intelligence agencies. "

As he spoke, he pointed to a wound on the outside of his thigh that wasn't too deep. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep. Otherwise, due to blood loss and low temperature, even 007 wouldn't be able to come back alive.

Zuo Zhong was sure, based on the intelligence and investigation collected earlier, it was basically concluded that the Japanese counterfeit banknote factory was in the school, and finally found these bastards.

Now all they need to know is the defense situation inside the factory, which is not difficult. Under the faint oil lamp, Zuo Zhong pointed at the little spy and looked at Wu Chunyang.

"Immediately send him to the hospital in the concession, find the best doctor, use the best medicine, no matter how much it costs, he will definitely save his life.

In addition, Gui Youguang was notified to arrest Kyouichi Dashan immediately. We must not let the police and neighbors find out. We only have one chance. "

"Yes."

Wu Chunyang replied seriously.

　① In 1924, the Japanese began to use glass as a diving mask and a mask-type submersible that used pipes to suck air from the water surface, which was the predecessor of scuba diving equipment.

　　In this year, the Japanese used mask-type submersibles to dive 70 meters into the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, and successfully picked up the gold nuggets in the sunken ship Yasaka, which shocked the whole world
　　
　
(End of this chapter)