Huang Xianzheng was in a dilemma. The upgrade of the Military Intelligence Department to the Military Intelligence Bureau was a rare opportunity for both the Director and him. On this point, his interests were aligned with the Director's.

The power held by the Chief Executive has been strengthened once again, and his status within the Kuomintang has risen another step. Huang Xianzheng will inevitably want a piece of the pie from this gain; the only difference is how much he will get.

Now that the Director has made it clear that he will never give up the Shanghai station, and is willing to trade an Operations Department in exchange, Huang Xianzheng is finding it difficult to decide.

After weighing the options carefully, he still hesitated to agree easily, so he said softly, "Alright, please give me some time, Director. I need to discuss this matter with Zhiheng. He is young and ambitious, single-mindedly focused on making achievements. He is doing very well in Shanghai now, and I'm afraid he doesn't want to leave the front line and come back to headquarters to sit in the office!"

Huang Xianzheng's words were exactly what the Director had been worried about. He knew that Ning Zhiheng had been fighting on the front line of espionage since he joined the Military Intelligence Investigation Department. He was always fearless and had risked his life countless times in Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, which was enough to prove that he was ambitious, enterprising, and willing to take on responsibilities.

Would someone like that be willing to give up the great success they've just achieved and return to headquarters? Probably not, but ultimately it's up to Hwang Hyun-jung to decide.

"Alright then, Zhongxin, you and Zhiheng should discuss this properly. But let me make this clear: don't even think about having any other ideas. Apart from Zhiheng, none of your subordinates have the right to hold this position. To be honest, they aren't qualified either. Otherwise, Zhao Ziliang and Gu Zhengqi wouldn't have agreed. These people only recognize Zhiheng. If someone else is suddenly promoted, it will inevitably cause a stir. Think it over carefully!"

As expected of the shrewd and meticulous strategist, the commissar immediately thwarted a thought that was rising in Huang Xianzheng's mind: to choose someone else from among his subordinates to take the position, such as Ning Zhiheng's senior brother, Wei Liangbi. Wei Liangbi was also a rare talent, and his seniority was even higher than Ning Zhiheng's. Wouldn't it be perfect to have him serve as the head of the action department?

Unfortunately, Wei Liangbi was far less influential and had less appeal than Ning Zhiheng at headquarters, and the department head would not have agreed. Now that the department head had directly exposed his thoughts, he had no choice but to give up.

"Don't worry, Chief, I know what's important. I'll have Zhiheng return to Wuhan as soon as possible so we can discuss it properly!" Huang Xianzheng nodded in agreement.

“Then I’ll wait for good news!” The section chief nodded in agreement. The two big shots each revealed their trump cards and finally made things clear. “There’s one more thing. Zhiheng sent a secret telegram last night. Let me tell you about it.”

"What's the matter?" Huang Xianzheng asked casually. He knew it couldn't be anything serious, because Ning Zhiheng would usually send him a telegram if it was important information, and would never hide it from him.

The sergeant sighed and said in a heavy tone, "It's still about the people arrested at the Shanghai station. He has investigated and found out the number of people lost at the Shanghai station this time. Twenty-seven action team members died heroically, and twenty-eight people defected to the enemy. The specific list has also been sent over!"

This case has been going on for so long, and headquarters still doesn't know exactly who defected to the enemy. The families of those who died in the line of duty should be compensated, but those who defected are a different story. The Military Intelligence Investigation Department has extremely strict rules. If someone dares to defect to the enemy, their immediate family members will be implicated. This is also to control subordinates and prevent them from surrendering easily.

Because the list could not be confirmed, this work was delayed until Ning Zhiheng obtained the specific list from Luo Xingchao, at which point he reported it to headquarters.

"So many people have defected to the enemy, and they must have a lot of family members!" Huang Xianzheng couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Although this family rule of the Military Intelligence Investigation Department had existed for a long time, in reality, very few people actually followed it. The reason was that before the Sino-Japanese War, the Military Intelligence Investigation Department did not have many members, and those members were of high quality and loyalty. Very few defected to the enemy, and the punishment was only imposed on their immediate family members. Therefore, very few people actually followed this family rule.

However, with the outbreak of the full-scale war between China and Japan, many members of the Military Intelligence Investigation Bureau were arrested and defected to the enemy across the country. Too many people were involved, and this family rule now seemed somewhat cruel. Many operatives were unwilling to do such dirty work, after all, these were innocent family members, and there was a general resistance. More importantly, as the area occupied by Japan grew larger and larger, many people's families were in the Japanese-occupied areas, and it was dangerous to carry out the rule, so it was not worth the risk!

"The families of those who defected will not be targeted for elimination for the time being. Zhiheng reported that another person like Qi Jingwu has emerged among those who defected. This person is named Deng Yuankai. After pretending to defect, he attempted to assassinate the traitor Cui Guangqi. Unfortunately, he only killed one assistant and the operation failed. He himself died at the hands of Cui Guangqi. A loyal and martyr, worthy of praise and tears! His family is in Changsha. Fortunately, they were not eliminated this time. Ning Zhiheng requested that the families of those captured be temporarily spared from elimination, leaving some room for him to win them over. I also think there is some merit to this, so I agreed to his request," the section chief continued.

Upon hearing this, Huang Xianzheng nodded repeatedly and said, "I agree. There are many people who have defected to the enemy. Simply punishing them is not a solution! I didn't expect that there are still so many brave warriors loyal to the Party and the country in Shanghai Station. There was Qi Jingwu before, and Deng Yuankai after. These deeds should be publicized more within the Military Intelligence Bureau to strengthen the soldiers' confidence in loyalty and patriotism!"

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