Double Agent Saga

In the next two days, Director Chen, who was supervising in Beijing, kept in close contact with the Air Force Command, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Civil Aviation Administration, inquiring about and urging the opening of this international route.The impatient Director Chen almost cursed on the phone.But in the end he held back.

On the night of April [-], around ten o'clock, Premier Zhou, who was waiting in Kunming, received a confidential telegram from Director Chen from Beijing.The content of the encrypted message is briefly as follows:

"Prime Minister, I just received the latest information. Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek secret service knows that my delegation is not passing through Hong Kong, but they still decided to implement the 'No. [-]' operation. According to investigations, they have paid a high price for a ground staff surnamed Zheng at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport. , planning to use the "Kashmir Princess" aircraft to stop in Hong Kong for refueling and maintenance, and put a time bomb into the fuel tank of the "Kashmir Princess" aircraft, premeditating to blow up the special plane. After verification by Hong Kong's internal sources, this information is accurate."

After Premier Zhou read the confidential telegram, he concentrated for a moment, and immediately dialed his office in Beijing, asking the staff on duty in the office to record his urgent notice and notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately.

The main content of Premier Zhou's urgent notice is as follows:

"Immediately inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that before the Chinese delegation rents the plane 'Kashmir Princess' from the Indian airline and arrives at Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport, immediately inform the British embassy that our intelligence department has learned that the Kuomintang agents are preparing to place explosives on the plane. The staff of the China Representative Office, the Hong Kong Branch of Xinhua News Agency, and some of the Chinese delegation waiting for the flight to Hong Kong."

Please pay special attention to the content of the notice above.This notification is extremely important!It is the key to the "Star" project.

That night, Dong Yueqian, director of the general office, was on duty at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.He immediately conveyed Premier Zhou's instructions to the Hong Kong branch of Xinhua News Agency and the advance team of the Chinese delegation.

However, he did not notify the executive deputy minister who is currently in charge of the daily work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

During this period, Premier Zhou Enlai also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.During his absence, the executive deputy minister presided over the daily work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dong Yueqian's reason for not notifying the Executive Vice Minister was extremely nonsense!This executive deputy minister has a well-known bad living habit. After ten o'clock every night, no one should disturb his sleep!Those who disturb his sleep will never end well!

God!He is the executive vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China!For this alone, he is incompetent!

From the sidelines, there are always omissions in everything in the world!This is unavoidable.

Shrewd Director Chen, there are some omissions in such a well-designed "Star" plan!This is also inevitable.He just didn't expect that this omission came from the point that the executive deputy minister must go to bed after ten o'clock every night, and no one should disturb him!The following results will be described slowly below.

At this time, when Huang Zuozhu, who was far away in Hong Kong, received Dong Yueqian's telegram, he was sitting in Du Ziyuan's room in Chaohai Building, discussing recent work with him.

He was surprised when he saw the telegram and didn't quite understand it.But Du Ziyuan, who was sitting next to him, knew very well that this was a key link of the "Star" project, and it was also the link he was most worried about.

He immediately said: "Old Huang, this notification is very important. I suggest that you immediately notify Air India's Hong Kong office. Warn them and strengthen the security of the 'Kashmir Princess'."

Huang Zuozhu immediately picked up the phone and said, "I'll tell the people in the branch to go immediately!"

Du Ziyuan pressed his hand, and said softly, "Old Huang, this matter is too important. It is a government-chartered flight, and there is no room for negligence. I suggest that you go in person and seriously inform them!"

Looking at Du Ziyuan's expression, Huang Zuozhu seemed to realize something.He immediately said, "Okay, I'll go in person."

At one o'clock past twelve at night, Huang Zuozhu and two branch staff finally knocked on the door of the manager of Air India's Hong Kong office.

The chubby Air India manager wrapped up his pajamas tightly, asked Huang Zuozhu to sit down on the sofa, and asked in surprise: "President Huang, what's the matter for coming so late?"

Huang Zuozhu said: "Mr. Wim, your airline's 'Kashmir Princess' passenger plane will fly from Bangkok to Hong Kong at noon on April [-]th. Some members of the Chinese delegation will take this plane to Jakarta, right?"

Mr. Wim said: "Yes, this has been arranged long ago. Please believe that the plane will arrive on time."

"However," Huang Zuozhu said solemnly, "we have reliable information that Taiwan's Kuomintang agents may take an explosive action against the plane to prevent the Chinese delegation from going to Jakarta."

"It's impossible!" Mr. Wim's eyes widened. "The security at the airport is very strict, and it is impossible for casual people to approach the plane. Besides, the plane only stays at Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport for more than an hour, which is impossible!"

"Mr. Wim," Huang Zuozhu's face became more serious, "This matter is very important, you must not be negligent! We have indeed received reliable information that the Kuomintang secret agents are going to blow up the plane. You must arrange reliable people to strengthen the control of the plane. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, you will not be able to bear the responsibility!"

Looking at Huang Zuozhu's face, the chubby Air India manager felt a little uneasy.He said: "I must send more manpower to strengthen the safety supervision of the aircraft. I must ensure the safety of the aircraft. Is this ok?"

That night, when Huang Zuozhu left the Air India manager's house, he was very disturbed.Some comrades of the Chinese delegation will take this plane, including himself.Now, he has a very bad feeling that the future of this "Kashmir Princess" aircraft is unpredictable!

It is impossible for Huang Zuozhu to know that the fate of the "Princess Kashmir" aircraft, which had an unpredictable future, was hastily determined the next day.

The next day was April tenth.Beijing, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dong Yueqian, director of the General Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, went to work on time at eight o'clock.The first thing he did was to report the phone instructions from Premier Zhou Enlai that he received last night to the Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.Guess the executive deputy minister must have slept well last night, because no one dared to disturb him at night.

As soon as the executive vice minister saw the time of the call record, he knew that Premier Zhou's urgent instruction had been delayed overnight.He also knew that the "Kashmir Princess" plane would fly over Hong Kong at noon tomorrow.Under such circumstances, almost without careful consideration, he hastily summoned Zhang Yue, the deputy director of the European and African Department, and asked him to make an urgent appointment to meet the counselor of the British Charity Office in China, Edvis.

Deputy Director Zhang Yue immediately took out a pen and paper, and recorded the following dictation of the Executive Deputy Minister:

"You tell Counselor Ai Tisi that some members of the Chinese delegation and a group of 11 journalists will fly from Hong Kong to Bandung to cover the Asian-African Conference at noon tomorrow. We have learned that the Kuomintang secret agents will obstruct and disrupt it, so please ask Ai Counselor Tiss informed the British government and the Hong Kong authorities to take care of their safety."

Please watch the officials turn to the front to see how Premier Zhou Enlai gave instructions, and then look at how the executive vice minister explained to Deputy Director Zhang Yue.

Premier Zhou clearly stated, "The Kuomintang agents are going to plant explosives on the plane." But the executive vice minister confessed, "The Kuomintang agents will obstruct and make trouble." There is a huge difference between these two sentences.The former clearly refers to "aircraft", while the latter refers to "transit" through Hong Kong.The former clearly refers to "explosives", while the latter vaguely refers to "obstructing and disrupting".

"Delivery Department" ah "Delivery Department", what do people say about you!

At [-]:[-] in the morning, Zhang Yue, deputy director of the Department of European and African Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, met with the Counselor of the British Chargé d'affaires in China, Etis, and told him what the executive vice minister explained according to the script.He is just a deputy director and never dares to change what the executive deputy minister has explained.

Next, Counselor Ai Tisi carefully recorded the content of the deputy director's statement, and naturally asked questions such as "the members of the Chinese delegation, the time of arrival in Hong Kong, the time of arrival and departure of the plane, and the flight route".The deputy director was so tongue-tied that he couldn't answer a word.

He had no choice but to say, "I'll call you after I go back and check it out."

This meeting is over.

The executive vice minister in front puts sleep as his top priority, and the deputy director in the back didn't do any homework before such an important diplomatic appointment. It's really unbelievable!Such a result made the Chinese government fall into a very unfavorable passive situation in the subsequent diplomatic confrontation with the United Kingdom.

Almost at the same time, Du Ziyuan, who was far away in Hong Kong, did not know that this situation would occur in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.He was full of doubts just out of professional instinct.At this time, two things happened almost simultaneously.Du Ziyuan could only rely on his professional instinct to deal with it.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, he, Huang Zuozhu and Feng Dun were all sitting in his room in Chaohai Building.Almost every day these days.What they want to check and discuss are the activities and changes of personnel of Taiwan's intelligence agencies in Hong Kong, as well as their affiliation.

At this time, Pan Desheng, deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch, came to Chaohai Building and told them a situation.

He said: "Old Huang, two messengers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have arrived in Hong Kong. They have just arrived. They are carrying a batch of important official documents and are going to Jakarta to attend the Asian-African Conference. They heard that there will be a chartered flight of the delegation going to Jakarta at noon tomorrow. Therefore , they asked if they could take this plane."

In Huang Zuozhu's heart, he already had some doubts about this plane.He hesitated a little because of this.

At this time, Du Ziyuan, who was sitting next to him, said decisively: "No! They must go to Jakarta according to the scheduled route! Lao Huang, I suggest that you send two comrades to accompany the two messengers to Jakarta by boat."