Cicada Moving

Chapter 1317 Melos (Don’t forget the national humiliation and strive for self-improvement)

Early 1942.

Melos was ordered to lead the US delegation to leave New York and fly to the Republic of China. He was serving as the OSS Far East Regional Coordination Director with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The delegation first stopped briefly in Brazil, then crossed the Atlantic to Africa, to Cairo, and then to Calcutta via Colombo. The entire trip lasted a week.

Mellors was visiting Calcutta when the weather station was destroyed. He had a long conversation with the senior U.S. military adviser in New Delhi and the naval attaché stationed in the mountainous city who came specially.

The content of the conversation between the three involved the politics, economy, military and other aspects of the government. In terms of understanding of the Republic of China, Melos was obviously not as good as the two mentioned above.

Military advisers and naval attachés stationed in the mountain city reminded Melos to be careful of Dai Chunfeng and Zuo Zhong, who were the most critical and powerful figures in the national intelligence system.

After the naval attaché introduced Zuo Zhong, he lowered his voice and asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Mellors, is Director Dunnovan's plan to control the Republic of China feasible?"

As soon as this sentence came out, Melos stopped him: "Wait, don't discuss this matter here, we must be cautious."

Dunovan, the first director of OSS, served in the British Army Intelligence Service and was supported by the US Army behind him.

Melos represented the interests of the navy. As he spoke, he took the other two people into the secret room and did not leave the room until dark.

A few days later, Melos boarded the last civil flight to the mountain city via Mandalay. The plane first transferred in Kunming, and after several hours of thrilling flight, he finally arrived safely in the mountain city.

Compared to the past, the state government's reception of Melos and his party was quite shabby this time, with only a dozen people and a few unlicensed cars coming to greet them.

Melos walked down the gangway and first saw a middle-aged man, who was slightly shorter than him, about 1.67 meters tall.

This person was wearing a suit of khaki fabrics, the clothes were pressed flat, the buttons on the top were all the way to the collar, and there was a turned-down collar at the top.

According to the information collected by the oss in advance, this kind of clothing is a unique uniform of government civil servants in the Republic of China, named after the founding father of the Republic of China.

Thinking in his mind, Melos stretched out his right hand to the middle-aged man: "Hello, Mr. Dai."

He knew that the other party was Dai Chunfeng, the director of the military command. Compared with the photo provided by the naval attache, Dai Chunfeng himself looked older, with bright eyes, and he seemed to be a difficult guy to deal with.

"Hello, Mr. Melos, on behalf of the Chairman, I welcome you." Dai Chunfeng had a smile on his face and a kind attitude, which made people feel like spring breeze.

But Lao Dai's thick accent made the American translator frown. He had no idea what this senior government official was talking about.

At this time, a man came from the side and paraphrased Lao Dai's words in standard English.

Melos looked over after hearing this and saw a smiling young man standing next to Dai Chunfeng, which reminded him of a person, Zuo Zhong.

Intelligence showed that the other party was Dai Chunfeng's most trusted subordinate. He led the military commander to carry out multiple top-secret missions and had excellent intelligence and leadership abilities.

Sure enough, Dai Chunfeng's voice sounded: "Mr. Melos, please allow me to introduce you. This is my student and my deputy, Zuo Zhong."

Melos' eyes stayed on Zuo Zhong for a moment. He carefully observed the most dangerous intelligence officer in the country and nodded slightly.

Zuo Zhong also nodded slightly and expressed his welcome to the US delegation using skilled diplomatic language. Then the people from both sides shook hands and said hello to each other, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

After chatting for a while, Melos took two boxes from his entourage and gave them to Dai Chunfeng. Dai Chunfeng opened the lid of the box curiously.

The etiquette of Westerners is different from that of the Republic of China. Only by checking gifts immediately after receiving them can you show respect for the guests. Lao Dai is still aware of this custom.

The two boxes were opened one after another. The first box contained a Melos camera, which was small and exquisite in appearance, very suitable for Lao Dai's identity as an intelligence officer. The second box contained a .380 short-barreled automatic pistol.

Dai Chunfeng liked this gun very much, at least on the surface. He took off his original gun and gave it to Zuo Zhong, replacing it with a gift from Melos.

Later, Lao Dai warmly invited the American personnel: "Everyone, Dai has prepared some wine, please appreciate it."

Zuo Zhong translated this sentence to Melos, who was full of agreement and polite words. Who said that foreigners don't understand the ways of the world, but they will still stand up and toast while eating.

After the greetings ended, both parties got into the car and drove towards the urban area of ​​Shancheng City. Dai Chunfeng, Melos and Zuo Zhong got into the same car.

On the way, Dai Chunfeng and Melos chatted, but Melos became more surprised and even a little scared the more he listened.

Because when it comes to his sons, Dai Chunfeng can name them all, and the other party also knows that the color of his car in China is blue, so he is like a transparent person in front of the military commander.

When the welcome banquet began, Melos had a deeper understanding of the intelligence gathering capabilities of the military commander. Seeing that there were no chickens or ducks on the table, he casually asked if the people of the Republic of China did not eat poultry.

Dai Chunfeng's answer was, my student said you don't like eating these, isn't that true? Zuo Zhong on the side immediately put on a humble expression after hearing this. Melos finally understood why the OSS and ONI valued military unification so much. No wonder Washington wanted to cooperate with Yamashiro.

If the national government is so professional in collecting intelligence on Japan, then the United States must do everything possible to have good relations with the military. This can save the lives of countless young men and greatly increase the U.S. military's chances of winning in the Pacific battlefield.

During the dinner, Mellors tentatively proposed that the U.S. Navy needed meteorological and hydrological data along the southeastern coast of the Republic of China, as well as the Japanese mine defense situation.

Dai Chunfeng laughed, Zuo Zhong clapped his hands, and someone immediately presented a thick pile of information. The members of the US delegation opened the information and were shocked.

The document contained Japanese military intelligence on the southeastern coast of the Republic of China, Ryukyu, Annan, Burma, Thailand, and the Philippines. The content was very detailed.

The location of the Japanese garrison, the name and resume of the commander, the level and quantity of technical equipment, and the patrol route of the fleet are all information that the US military urgently needs.

Looking at the surprised Melos, Dai Chunfeng was in a good mood. He assured the other party like a show off that any information the OSS wanted, the military commander could get it.

Melos was doubtful about this, so he laughed and changed the topic to the specific matters of Sino-US intelligence cooperation.

The United States hopes that the China-US Special Technical Cooperation Institute will attack and destroy the Japanese navy, army, commercial banks, mines, factories, warehouses and other military facilities in the occupied areas as soon as possible to weaken the strength of the Japanese army.

In order to achieve this goal, the military commander needs to provide the United States with all information on the activities of the Japanese army and navy in China, and help solve the problem of food, accommodation, and transportation for American personnel during their stay in China.

The United States provides the weapons, radio equipment, meteorological equipment, and transportation and medical equipment urgently needed by the military to help the military train special operations forces.

The content of the cooperation was not much, but it related to intelligence, operations, and funding. Therefore, Dai Chunfeng did not express his position on the spot. He only said that he would seriously consider it, and then started to toast again.

Melos was very dissatisfied with this answer. He pointed out without hesitation that after the war between China and Japan, although the strength of the military command had improved, it was plagued by problems such as funding, equipment, technology, and personnel quality, and its development was slow.

If the military commander is willing to fully cooperate with the United States, in addition to the previously negotiated conditions, OSS can also provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in special funding every year. The most important thing is that there is no record of this batch of funding.

Melos' words are equivalent to telling Lao Dai that as long as the military commander cooperates with the United States, the money will be a personal benefit to him, and it will be given every year.

Halfway through, Melos turned to look at Zuo Zhong and other accompanying personnel and said that officials at all levels of military command would also receive varying amounts of "special funds."

Americans are very generous. Dai Chunfeng winked at Zuo Zhong, who picked up his wine glass, clinked it with Melos, and asked a question.

"Mr. Melos, I know you are anxious, but please don't be anxious. Things need to be resolved one by one. I want to know how you will train the special operations forces?"

Melos patiently introduced the American training courses, which mainly covered the use of American carbines, submachine guns, pistols and explosives, and related knowledge of guerrilla warfare.

After training, the trainees will undergo an assessment. Those who pass the assessment will be issued American weapons, and those who fail will either be eliminated or retrained.

Dai Chunfeng and Zuo Dian nodded. Not all would be fine with advanced weapons. Training is essential, but one thing must be made clear.

Lao Dai emphasized that during training, American instructors can only teach the use of weapons and cannot involve political aspects.

Melos smiled bitterly in his heart. According to Washington and Dunovan's plan, they can take advantage of the opportunity of Sino-US cooperation to control the military step by step and let the other party serve the United States.

With the strength of the United States, it is only a matter of time before it defeats the Japanese. Mastering military control can help the United States gain an intelligence advantage in postwar Asia.

Going further, the United States may have the opportunity to foster a puppet regime in the Republic of China and use it as a bridgehead for the capitalist world against Red Russia.

None of this would be possible without the support of the intelligence system, or in other words, the support of Mr. Dai.

But the people of the Republic of China were not fools. They were obviously prepared for infiltration, and Dunovan's plan was about to end before it even started.

It seems that some pressure must be put on the military commander to prevent the other party from taking advantage of it. Melos's expression became serious, and he slowly put down his chopsticks and asked.

"Mr. Dai, Mr. Zuo, are there any results regarding the murder of American citizens at the weather station?"

Lao Dai and Zuo Zhong looked at each other and smiled, saying to themselves that they are here to cause trouble, but you have a good plan and I have a wall ladder.

Suddenly, there was a muffled sound outside the window. The Americans thought they had encountered a Japanese bombing, and they looked a little panicked.

"Gentlemen, don't worry." Zuo Zhong stood up to appease everyone, and said to Melos with a smile: "Please wait a moment, we will discuss the case later, okay?"

Melos was noncommittal. He wanted to see what tricks the people of the Republic of China were playing. Delaying time would not solve the problem.

After waiting for almost half an hour, the door to the private room of the hotel was opened, and Gui Youguang walked in with heavy steps, followed by a group of spies and... a few corpses.

Melos looked at the **** corpse and was speechless in shock. Then he felt nauseated and almost vomited directly.