Fang Mingyu blushed upon hearing Shang Zhenyun's reprimand. After the assassination operation ended, he crossed the river under cover of night and rushed back to Dong'an Town. He had not deliberately concealed his whereabouts, but he did not expect that this loophole would be discovered by the agents of the 21st.
Jin Guoyuan quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Station Chief, if we withdraw now, where should we go? Has headquarters given any instructions? I think we should continue to retreat north and enter Lu'an, or simply go to the National Salvation Army to rest and reorganize for a while!"
"No, unauthorized withdrawal is desertion!" Shang Zhenyun waved his hand and said, "Headquarters has given new instructions. Not only can we not retreat north, but we also have to cross the river to the western suburbs of Nanjing. There is an important task that we need to complete."
"What?"
Jin Guoyuan and Fang Mingyu were both taken aback. Their whereabouts had been exposed, and they were afraid of not retreating far enough. Now, however, they were going to do the opposite and cross the river into the western suburbs of Nanjing.
Shang Zhenyun didn't waste any more words and directly explained the mission assigned by headquarters. He continued, "There are large mountainous areas in the western suburbs. If we hide our small group in there, we can easily find a remote mountain village where the Japanese will have a hard time finding us. Then we can disguise ourselves as mountain people and take the opportunity to investigate the poison gas factory and find out the situation before making any decisions."
The two men were taken aback. The mountainous area that Shang Zhenyun mentioned was enough for people to hide in, but the environment was harsh, and the people at Nanjing Station were going to have a hard time.
However, as Shang Zhenyun's gaze swept over them, both men immediately stood at attention and accepted the order, daring not to have any further objections. In the six months since the Nanjing Station was reorganized, they had been lying low for a long time, and this was the first time that headquarters had assigned them such an important task. They could not possibly shirk their responsibilities. They had to do their best to complete this task, otherwise, with the strict rules of the Military Intelligence Bureau, they would face severe sanctions.
Shang Zhenyun continued, "You all go and organize the evacuation now. We will each lead our own personnel. I will take the staff from the headquarters first and head to the dam five miles south of the town to make initial arrangements."
Fang Mingyu said, "The dam area is sparsely populated, so it's definitely feasible, but the roads are difficult to travel."
Shang Zhenyun explained, "This is to shake off our pursuers. I suspect it was your team members who missed our location. I'll lead a group to ambush you first. Once you cross the dam, I'll take care of the pursuers behind us, then we'll split up and cross the river in batches to meet at the agreed location."
Fang Mingyu and his companion then realized that since Shang Zhenyun had already planned everything, they naturally didn't say anything more, immediately accepted the order, and turned around to make arrangements.
As Shang Zhenyun watched his two assistants leave, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, the headquarters received the news in time and temporarily escaped the crisis. However, he knew very well that the important task assigned by the headquarters this time would be extremely difficult to complete. It would be a very arduous challenge, and he had no confidence at all. He could only do his best and take it one step at a time!
At 2 p.m. that day, He Siming, Ono Matsunaga, Abe Rikuzan, and others boarded the train to Shanghai at Nanjing Railway Station, accompanied by a crowd of people.
Over the past two days, Ono and Abe arrested several suspicious individuals who had been in contact with Takasugi Jinki, but the interrogations yielded no results. Helpless, Imai Yuji eventually gave up the investigation, and the case was temporarily shelved. The investigation could only continue after Ono Matsunaga and the others returned to Kyoto University to inquire about the whereabouts of Wang Xingyan and obtained the results.
As for the work on the Nanjing Special Higher Police Section, that was the end of it. So Ono and Matsunaga bid farewell to Imai Yuji, ending their trip to China and embarking on their journey back home.
On the platform, Yuji Imai and Hiroshi Wen waved continuously, watching the train leave the station before turning and walking out of the station.
Wen Hao couldn't help but sigh and said, "With Takeshita gone, I don't know when we'll meet again. It's really unpredictable. Back then, he was the one who brought me back to Shanghai from Nanjing. I was so grateful for his help back then. I have to say, Takeshita is nothing like a Special Higher Police agent."
Upon hearing this, Yuji Imai smiled and nodded in agreement, saying, "His outgoing and cheerful personality is indeed not quite like that of people in our line of work, but that's not important. What's important is his background. He used to have Mr. Otani's help, and now he's become friends with Mr. Fujiwara. Wen, you're very lucky to have his friendship, which is very rare. You should be careful to handle things properly."
Wen Hao quickly bowed and said respectfully, "Actually, the most important thing is to gain your trust. You are Wen Hao's true mentor, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am today!"
Upon hearing this, Imai Yuji couldn't help but laugh and patted Wen Hao on the shoulder with satisfaction. Wen Hao was steady, experienced, and insightful in his dealings with others. In addition, he was very shrewd, which made him very pleasing to Imai Yuji. Therefore, Imai Yuji had been supporting him all along, which was why Wen Hao was able to gain a foothold in Nanjing. For Wen Hao, Imai Yuji was his true supporter.
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