After seeing off all the guests, the uncle and nephew returned to their room, chatting and laughing. Uehara Junpei was overjoyed. The banquet had gone smoothly, his sworn nephew had performed impeccably, and everyone present had a very high opinion of Fujiwara Tomohito, expressing their affection for him. To a certain extent, as the uncle of a direct descendant of the Fujiwara family, he and Fujiwara complemented each other, and his position in the army had been somewhat consolidated.
Uehara Junpei had drunk quite a bit of wine today, his face was flushed, and his spirits remained high. He smiled and said to Ning Zhiheng, "The generals who are here today are all powerful figures in the military, especially the two division commanders, Ishimura and Yamada. They are quite close to me, so you should visit them more often."
Ning Zhiheng immediately nodded in agreement, saying, "I will visit them one by one in the near future. I plan to visit Commander-in-Chief Nishio and Chief of Staff Itagaki tomorrow. I just don't know what their preferences are."
Uehara Junpei was naturally aware of these circumstances. He roused himself and carefully explained to Ning Zhiheng the situation and preferences of these people. Afterward, the two talked for a long time before Ning Zhiheng took his leave.
Over the next two days, Ning Zhiheng visited several important figures with generous gifts, further strengthening their relationships, and the results were very good.
Just as Ning Zhiheng was making efforts to befriend high-ranking Japanese military officials in Central China, in the interrogation room of the Special Agent Headquarters in Shanghai, Luo Jiana, who was already suffering from torture, finally spoke up under Mi Zijin's severe interrogation.
He revealed his true identity and explained the situation of his online contacts. However, so many days had passed that by the time Mi Zijin went to arrest him based on his confession, the place was already deserted.
Luo Jiana, no, Zheng Jiayuan, naturally understood this. With his strong willpower, he had endured so many days of extremely painful torture, all to buy time for his superior to transfer. Until he estimated that the time was almost up, his body could no longer hold on.
Few people can endure endless inhuman torture, and Zheng Jiayuan's ability to persevere until now has exceeded everyone's expectations.
However, although Zheng Jiayuan spoke up, his superiors and subordinates had already disappeared without a trace, making him completely like a kite with a broken string, of no intelligence value whatsoever. Therefore, Mi Zijin had no choice but to consult Luo Xingchao, the section chief who was temporarily in charge of the work.
When Luo Xingchao learned of the situation, he appeared very regretful, but was secretly pleased, as this was almost the best possible outcome. He ordered that Zheng Jiayuan be treated to temporarily save his life, pending Li Zhiqun's return to handle the matter.
Meanwhile, Li Zhiqun, who was busy and overwhelmed in Nanjing, couldn't care less about these matters. In the office of the Minister of Police, he had another fierce conflict with his superior, Zhou Fushan, the then Director of the Nanjing Government Special Service Committee and former Minister of Police.
It turned out that after the reorganization of the puppet government, when Zhou Fushan learned that Li Zhiqun had been internally appointed as the Minister of Police, he was naturally extremely anxious. It was common knowledge that he and Li Zhiqun were at odds and even willing to fight each other.
Although he was the director of the Special Agent Committee, the real power of the committee was in Li Zhiqun's hands. He was just a figurehead. The only thing that allowed him to compete with Li Zhiqun before was the armed force of the police department. Now that Li Zhiqun was going to take that power away, he would have even less say in front of Li Zhiqun in the future.
However, this matter was decided personally by Yingzuo Yushu, and even Wang Tianhai could not veto it. So Zhou Fushan took a different approach. After consulting with Wang Tianhai, he urgently promoted his brother-in-law, Yang Shurong, the former chief secretary of the Ministry of Police, to the position of executive vice minister of the Ministry of Police. In this way, even if Li Zhiqun became the minister of police, because his main force was in the Shanghai Special Agent Headquarters, he would definitely take better care of Shanghai affairs. When he left Nanjing, the work of the Ministry of Police was actually presided over by the executive vice minister, which was equivalent to stripping Li Zhiqun of his real power. Zhou Fushan indirectly controlled the police department.
However, Li Zhiqun was the most power-hungry person, so how could he accept such a loss? Sure enough, as soon as he officially took over as Minister of Police in Nanjing, he immediately proposed to Wang Tianhai to appoint his confidant Deng Zuhui as the executive vice minister so that he could take charge of the daily work when Wang was not in Nanjing.
Knowing that Li Zhiqun had Yingzuo Yushu backing him up, Wang Tianhai, not wanting to create further complications at this crucial moment, agreed to Li Zhiqun's proposal.
However, this thwarted Zhou Fushan's wishful thinking. Now they were in Nanjing, not Shanghai. Li Zhiqun had no one under his command, so he wasn't afraid of Li Zhiqun making a fool of himself. Moreover, as the third-ranking figure in the Nanjing government and also holding the important position of Minister of Finance, he was full of confidence. So he personally came to his door.
In the office, the two were arguing fiercely. Zhou Fushan was extremely dissatisfied with Li Zhiqun. After several unsuccessful attempts to persuade him, he finally resorted to a direct threat: "If you insist on removing Yang Shurong, then don't blame me for being ruthless. From now on, you'll have to be careful with the funds for your Ministry of Police and the Special Agent Headquarters. The new government is in dire need of rebuilding and is short of funds. I don't have any extra funds for you!"
The implication was that Zhou Fushan was going to cut the budgets of two departments under Li Zhiqun's command. Li Zhiqun was immediately furious. The Special Agent Headquarters already had a meager budget and had to rely on the Shadow Agency for support from time to time. In addition, he had amassed a considerable amount of wealth in Shanghai, which was all that was needed to keep it afloat. Now, the Ministry of Police was an even bigger operation. If Zhou Fushan really tried to strangle him, things would become very difficult.
He pointed at Zhou Fushan and said fiercely, "I, Li, am not easily intimidated. If Minister Zhou really dares to go this far, we'll take Mr. Wang and Chief Yingzuo to court. I want to see who has the last laugh!"
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