That day, He Guan knocked on the door and heard a voice saying "Please come in" from inside.
"Please close the door."
The door is ajar.
He pushed open the wooden door, locked the latch, and entered the yard.
The morning sunshine lies quietly in the yard, and you can see that the slightly messy flowers and plants are growing desperately.
Because of the viewing angle of the sunlight, the interior of the house looks deep.
A figure was busy, and there was a choking smell floating in the air.
He Guan enters the house.
The man in the room straightened up, clapped his hands, and smiled bitterly, "The briquettes got damp, so it was hard to light a fire."
He Guan was shocked.
He quickly reached for his waist and wanted to draw his gun.
Then he saw the other party smiling and said, "Hello, Comrade Huang Zhongyuan, I am 'Blacksmith'."
He Guan had already touched the pistol with his right hand, and He Guan stopped his next move, looking at him with an incredulous look.
It turned out to be Shuli Zhao.
This Inspector Fang Hua from the Central Patrol of the French Concession turned out to be the ‘blacksmith’ comrade we were going to talk to today!
Shuli Zhao knew that his current pseudonym was ‘Huang Zhongyuan’, and he also knew his codename ‘Blacksmith’.
There are also safety marks on the wooden doors.
These are enough to prove that Cardinal Zhao is indeed the comrade of our party who came to contact us.
However, because of the special status of the contact person, He Guan still dare not be careless.
"What are Detective Zhao talking about?" He Guan shook his head, "What Huang Zhongyuan? Detective Zhao doesn't even recognize me, right?"
He frowned and looked alert, "Where's Mr. Qin? He asked me to meet here."
A satisfied smile appeared on Shu Li's face, and he said, "Ms. Tan is from Chongqing and has fled Shanghai long ago. Master Guan doesn't know?"
As he said that, he took a good look at He Guan and said, "Maybe Master Guan is now responsible for Chongqing's job?"
The codes matched.
Generally speaking, there are three types of joint codes for underground work.
One is a seemingly normal daily conversation, but it contains details that only both parties know.
For example, one person said: Cousin, where have you been? I went to Pijia Street in Nanshi to look for you but couldn't find you.
The man replied, "Fart, I've seen you on Pijia Street. You owe me three yuan and sixty cents, so you avoided me on purpose, right?"
Among the secret codes of this joint, the most important are the two specific signs of Nanshi Pijia Street and three yuan and sixty cents, which are used to identify each other.
There is also a joint code, which is a specially set preface and follower that need to correct each other.
For example, one person said, Boss Huang, I was introduced by the second brother of the Wu family.
The man said, "You must have made a mistake. My surname is Wang, and Wang Ermazi is the king."
Then the man said, Oops, I made a mistake. The second brother of the Wu family was talking about the house owner.
"That's right. I am Fang Huang. Fang Fangzheng Fang is called Guang Huang."
That's how we connected. However, special attention should be paid to privacy when connecting in this way. There should be no outsiders around, because this kind of conversation is problematic when it is heard. It would be strange if outsiders heard it without raising suspicion.
There is another secret code for communication in private situations, which is the communication between He Guan and Shu Li Zhao this time.
Qin Detai is a sensitive topic.
No one would have thought that they would use Qin Detai as their password.
"Comrade 'Blacksmith'."
"Comrade Huang Zhongyuan."
He Guan and Shuli Zhao held their hands together. They looked at each other and laughed.
The water has boiled.
Cardinal Zhao carried a kettle to make tea, and the two of them drank tea and talked about things.
"I never would have thought that Inspector Zhao is actually one of our own." He Guan shook his head and said with a smile.
"I didn't expect that the comrade who came up from the team was actually you, Aguan." Shuli Zhao also said with emotion.
…
"Kentaro, do you know why the Kwantung Army promoted this defeat as a great victory?" Hyōtaro Imamura glanced at Kentaro Miyazaki and said.
"The 23rd Division and the 64th Regiment are disappointing and disgraceful. They are a shame to the Locust Army." Cheng Qianfan said angrily, "Whitewashing a defeat into a victory is nothing more than..."
"Exaggerating the enemy's battle losses and minimizing our own losses" is a common practice of the Japanese army. Strictly speaking, this kind of thing is nothing.
"It's just empty joy." Cheng Qianfan finally let out a long sigh.
Imamura Hyoutarou glanced at the student and patted his shoulder, "Kentaro, you have to know that the defeat of a battle is just one of the ordinary battles of victory and defeat, large and small."
Hyōtaro Imamura opened the curtain hanging on the west wall.
"This battle at the Halaha River is still just a tentative contact." Hyoutaro Imamura pointed to the 'Manchuria-Mongolia border' on the map and said, "Although the results of the initial trial are not ideal, who will win in the subsequent battle?
It’s still unknown.”
"What the teacher said is absolutely true." Miyazaki Kentaro seemed to have gained confidence from the teacher's words, and his eyes regained his light. "According to the telegram, the strength of the Soviet-Mongolian coalition forces is greater than what the pre-war intelligence showed. This battle
The defeat was not due to the lack of bravery of the Locust Army, but most likely to a flaw in the intelligence and falling into the trap of the Soviet-Mongolian coalition."
After hearing Kentaro Miyazaki's words, Hyōtaro Imamura also thought for a moment and nodded slightly.
Kentaro Miyazaki is an agent, and Kentaro almost never directly participates in operations. He is mainly responsible for intelligence work. Now Kentaro Miyazaki's analysis of the battle that took place in the Halaha River from an intelligence perspective actually makes some sense.
"Your analysis also makes sense." Imamura Hyoutarou stared at the map, "We lost the first battle. If we can summarize in time and find the crux of the problem, it will be a good thing."
"The hungry tiger of the Kwantung Army has opened its bloody mouth." Hyoutaro Imamura said, "It will never be satisfied until it bites off a large piece of flesh and blood from the Soviet Union's mouth."
He glanced at Kentaro Miyazaki, who was staring at the map with hope and a bit of worry, and smiled lightly, "Okay, the war in the north is too far away from us, and I have a mission to share with you.
you."
"Teacher, please give me your instructions." Cheng Qianfan looked away from the map and said quickly and respectfully.
"In the war on the Halaha River, the empire was ostensibly fighting the Mongolian army, but in reality it was a war with the Soviet Union." Hyoutaro Imamura said, "I believe that both the British, the French, and the Americans understand this.
"
He looked at the huge polar bear marked in red on the map and frowned slightly, "The attitudes of the European powers, especially the British and French, towards the war in the north..."
"Britain and France should be happy to see the empire fighting Soviet Russia on the border of Manchuria and Mongolia." Cheng Qianfan said thoughtfully.
"It's not the British and French." Hyōtaro Imamura shook his head, "It's the Germans."
"German?" Cheng Qianfan looked surprised, "Teacher, I don't understand."
"You don't need to understand. Your mission is to find ways to find out the Germans' attitude towards this matter." He looked at Kentaro Miyazaki, "I remember you once said that people from the German Consulate in Shanghai tried to win over you."
"Yes." Cheng Qianfan nodded, "I reported this matter to the teacher. They only contacted me tentatively. I followed the teacher's instructions and did not refuse or nod."
"Get closer to them." Hyōtaro Imamura said in a deep voice, "Find out Germany's true attitude towards the war between the Empire and Soviet Russia."
"Yes." Cheng Qianfan saw Hyoutaro Imamura's solemn expression and quickly expressed his stance.
This battle that took place in the far north was, to be precise, a defeat. It seemed that the emotional impact on Hyoutaro Imamura was more serious than what Imamura's words showed.
Cheng Qianfan did not dare to disturb the 'teacher', so he wisely said goodbye and left.
When they got downstairs, Cheng Qianfan chatted with Kogoro Imamura for a while, left two bottles of good wine gift boxes for the teacher, and then left worriedly.
Standing at the study window, he watched the student Kentaro Miyazaki get into the car and leave. Watching the taillights of the car disappear, Imamura Hyoutaro turned around and stared at the map on the wall again.
His expression was solemn.
Regarding the Imperial Army's "Northern Advance" strategy, Hyotarō Imamura did not support it, or in other words, considered this strategy with a very cautious attitude.
Otherwise, Soviet Russia's huge military strength and strong industrial strength made calm diplomats like Hyoutaro Imamura afraid.
After learning from his friends that the Kwantung Army took the initiative to attack the Soviet-Mongolian coalition forces at Nomenkan on the banks of the Hariha River, Imamura Hyoutaro has been paying attention to the results of the battle and possible subsequent developments.
The 64th Regiment was completely wiped out. Hearing the bad news, Hyōtaro Imamura was shocked.
He called his friend to inquire about the Kwantung Army's subsequent actions.
However, even if his friend hasn't called back yet, Imamura Hyoutaro can already guess the possible reaction of the Kwantung Army.
The Japanese Kwantung Army, which had always gone its own way, was "urgent to fight the Soviet army" from top to bottom, because the hundreds of thousands of Kwantung Army had no important opponents except a small number of "Northeast Resistance Alliance", and they were very eager to embark on new military adventures.
The Kwantung Army's desire for war was even greater than that of dispatching troops to China.
After the North Korean garrison failed in the Zhanggufeng battle, the Kwantung Army has been waiting.
This battle on the banks of the Halaha River was just the beginning of the war.
There are only two possibilities for the outcome of the battle. One is that the Kwantung Army wants to fully test the strength and attitude of the Soviet army, and if possible, completely defeat the enemy Russia. The Kwantung Army will create a new legend of the Imperial Locust Army.
Secondly, the Kwantung Army suffered a real major setback and its northern advance strategy suffered a major blow, so it had to temporarily stop its troops.
Of course, it is not just the Kwantung Army, but also the attitude of Japan's domestic military department and cabinet towards this battle.
Hyōtaro Imamura took out a telegram from the drawer.
This is a message sent from China by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Compared with the strong fighting spirit of the Kwantung Army, the Japanese government and military were cautious about starting a war with Soviet Russia.
On the one hand, they were worried about the huge military strength of Soviet Russia, and on the other hand, the outcome of the battlefield in China's customs was still undecided.
Therefore, when the Kwantung Army reported the fighting conflict at the Halaha River and asked for more troops, the Japanese high-level officials got into a quarrel, and neither of the two groups advocating expansion and non-expansion could convince the other.
Finally, Prime Minister Lu came up with a compromise idea: "Let the Kwantung Army handle the small matters of a division by itself."
Hyōtaro Imamura understood the meaning of this decision, which meant that the Japanese government decided to pretend to be dead and hide first to see the results of the Kwantung Army's battle before deciding whether to go into full-scale war... or whether peace talks were needed.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also assigned a task to its subordinate intelligence agencies to find ways to find out the German attitude towards the war between the Empire and Soviet Russia.
Among them, the Iwai Mansion in Shanghai naturally received this task.
Hyōtaro Imamura then thought of the most suitable person to inquire about this information, his student Kentaro Miyazaki.
…
"Brother Fan, are you happy?" Li Hao saw the smile on Brother Fan's face in the rearview mirror and asked with a smile.
Brother Fan's identity is too important, and the responsibility that Brother Fan bears is also too great.
Brother Fan is so miserable.
Li Hao knew that Brother Fan's heartfelt smile was so rare.
"Yes, there is a happy event." Cheng Qianfan said happily.
He didn't say what happy event it was, and Haozi didn't ask any more questions.
For Li Hao, as long as Brother Fan is happy, that is his greatest happiness.
Cheng Qianfan carefully pondered in his mind what Hyōtaro Imamura said to him, and tried to figure out Hyōtaro Imamura's expression and attitude when he spoke.
If this battle is lost, the Kwantung Army will not give up, and the war in the north will further expand.
This should be certain.
So, what impact will this war in the north have on Guan Nei?
If the war expanded, could Soviet Russia contain some of the Japanese troops?
Cheng Qianfan rubbed his temples.
Such strategic matters are not something he should consider.
What he has to do is to promptly inform the northwest headquarters and Chongqing of the real information he has.
He believed that with the far-sightedness of teachers and other leaders, they would be able to conduct accurate analysis and judgment.
"Haozi, you will go home later." Cheng Qianfan said, "Inform Zhou Ru to send a report to Chongqing."
"The Japanese army attacked the Outer Mongolian army and fought fiercely with the Soviet-Mongolian coalition forces. The entire Japanese army of the 64th Regiment of the 23rd Division was destroyed, and the Japanese army declared a great victory."
"A Japanese team lost the ball?" Haozi asked excitedly after hearing this.
"Yes, the ball is dead." Cheng Qianfan said with a smile. This news is really refreshing.
"Remember?" Cheng Qianfan asked.
Haozi repeated it once more, making sure that every word was correct, and Cheng Qianfan nodded with confidence.
Haozi's biggest problem is that he doesn't know much about literacy, and it is really difficult to learn to read. However, this kid has an accurate memory of numbers and foreign letters, and he is also very good at memorizing things in his mind.
The boy also said that learning to read would hurt his brain, so Cheng Qianfan stopped forcing Haozi to learn to read.
He thought of the encrypted information handwritten by another subordinate, Haozi, and then thought of Haozi, and could only shake his head helplessly.
Among my subordinates, the three brothers Jiang Mulezi came from a poor background and were not very literate, while Zhuo Yun was a Taoist priest.
Wu Shunjia and Yang Changnian came from the Xiongzhenlou special training class, and their educational level is quite good.
Of course, peaches satisfy him the most.
Of course, the one with the highest cultural level is Zhao Yi...
Cheng Qianfan sighed softly.
…
"Our initial plan is to use Cheng Qianfan's Jiujiu Trading to transport the materials out." Shuli Zhao said to He Guan.
"Qianfan's Jiujiu Trading?" He Guan asked.
"Have you heard of it?" Shu Li Zhao took a sip of tea, glanced at He Guan, and asked with a smile.
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