Wang Hanmin returned to the hotel with his men, and soon after, Li Zhiqun also returned with his men. The two men waved for their men to leave.
Back in his room, Wang Hanmin said with some disappointment, "The situation is still the same as before. It's been two days, and I've checked all the workers in the factory several times, but I still haven't found Xiao Guoyuan. I even asked two old men in the factory to identify the male workers in the textile factory who fit the criteria, but none of them were Xiao Guoyuan. It seems that Xiao Guoyuan is not here."
Li Zhiqun nodded and said, "But Xiao Guoyuan must be connected to the textile factory. Could it be that Xiao Guoyuan's hideout is nearby? I've already had Major Yokota make contact. This afternoon, we went to the police station and investigated the residents in the neighborhood near the textile factory. The Japanese have been operating in Qingdao for a long time and they are very strict about managing household registrations. Perhaps we can find some clues. To be honest, I really don't want to use Major Yokota. If we use him, we'll lose half the credit!"
At this point, Li Zhiqun looked at Wang Hanmin's expression and comforted him, saying, "Brother Hanmin, don't worry too much. Man proposes, God disposes. Nothing ever goes smoothly."
Wang Hanmin knew that Li Zhiqun was probably even more anxious than he was, but it was commendable that he could hide his anxiety and comfort him instead. It seemed that he needed to reassure him.
Thinking of this, he nodded slightly and said, "It doesn't matter if I can't find Xiao Guoyuan. I have another clue, but I think Xiao Guoyuan is the easiest to break through with, so this clue might not be useful, so..."
Upon hearing this, Li Zhiqun's eyes lit up. He knew that Wang Hanmin must have some trump card up his sleeve, otherwise he wouldn't have assured him that he was confident in eliminating the Qingdao station.
"Tell me quickly!"
Wang Hanmin pondered for a moment and said, "Fu Shengyuan, the head of the Qingdao station of the Military Intelligence Bureau, was someone I worked with in the Lixingshe in my early years. We met before, but we never had any dealings. Although I am not familiar with him, I have heard a lot about him."
Because this man was extremely henpecked, especially afraid of his wife, whose name was Ding Mingzhen, she was also a communications officer for the Lixingshe (a secret police agency). I had met her a few times. Later, the Lixingshe was reorganized into the Military Intelligence Bureau, and intelligence stations began to be established in various places. I was transferred to the Wuhan station, while Fu Shengyuan was originally scheduled to be transferred to the Tianjin station. However, his wife, Ding Mingzhen, firmly disagreed. The reason was that Ding Mingzhen's family was in Qingdao, and she was the daughter of a wealthy family in Qingdao. Ding Mingzhen forced Fu Shengyuan to apply to headquarters, and the two of them were eventually transferred to the Qingdao station together. At that time, my colleagues even laughed at Fu Shengyuan. I remember this incident very clearly.
At the time, the military intelligence department did not manage this aspect strictly and had a weak sense of secrecy. In fact, in order to ensure the smooth establishment of intelligence stations in the early stages, they often specifically selected local personnel to establish intelligence stations by utilizing their previous social connections. Therefore, Fu Shengyuan's request was not excessive, and the headquarters approved his application.
Because no one expected that war would break out and Qingdao would become a dangerous area behind enemy lines, the intelligence stations went from overt to covert, and each went into hiding under assumed names, which ironically became a hidden danger.
Upon hearing this, Li Zhiqun knew that Wang Hanmin intended to find a breakthrough through Ding Mingzhen.
Sure enough, Wang Hanmin continued, "Ding Mingzhen was born into a wealthy family in Qingdao. There aren't many wealthy families with the surname Ding in Qingdao. If we trace her family's children, it won't be difficult to find Ding Mingzhen. She is also a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and with her connection to Fu Shengyuan, she must be a core member. Once we find her, it won't be difficult to find Fu Shengyuan."
Li Zhiqun was overjoyed upon hearing this. Wang Hanmin was right; searching according to these conditions wouldn't be too difficult.
In fact, he had been anxious these past two days. There were still three days until the conference. When he applied to Yingzuo Yuki, he repeatedly assured him that the operation would be successful. However, time was running out and the search for Xiao Guoyuan was not going smoothly. How could he not be anxious? It's just that he had some sense of responsibility and refused to put pressure on Wang Hanmin. Now that things had taken a turn for the better and Wang Hanmin had revealed another important clue, he was naturally very happy.
"Brother Hanmin, how many secrets do you still have in your head? You've really kept them well hidden. To be honest, I had no idea before, haha!"
Seeing Li Zhiqun's excited expression, Wang Hanmin smiled wryly and explained, "I thought finding Xiao Guoyuan would be enough to complete the mission. As for Fu Shengyuan, I didn't want to involve his family, but now I have no choice but to disregard them!"
Li Zhiqun waved his hand dismissively and said, "Let's take care of ourselves first. You can't worry about too much in this line of work."
At this point, he frowned and continued, "However, this means we won't have enough personnel for a large-scale investigation and screening. We'll have to rely on the Special Higher Police, which will diminish our contribution."
Li Zhiqun was alright in other respects, but his tendency to be ambitious and eager for quick success was hard to change. He was only interested in taking all the credit for himself, which was one of the reasons why he was never successful in the puppet government.
Seeing this, Wang Hanmin said, "Let's try to find Xiao Guoyuan first. If that doesn't work, then we can try to find Ding Mingzhen!"
Li Zhiqun nodded in agreement, saying it would be best to find Xiao Guoyuan, as that would save everyone trouble.
The two men were plotting in the room, but Xu Yongchang, who had returned to his room to rest, paced back and forth, feeling anxious and uneasy.
For the past few days, he had been following Wang Hanmin, lying in ambush near the textile factory, waiting for Wang Hanmin's instructions to arrest the target.
Through his observations over the past few days, he had figured out that Wang Hanmin must have some information about the people at the Qingdao station and believed that the target was related to the textile factory. Although he was also worried, it seemed that Wang Hanmin had miscalculated and had not found anything in the past few days.
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