Next, Uehara Junpei gave Ning Zhiheng a detailed account of the situation. It turned out to be similar to Ning Zhiheng's guess. Since supporting the Nanjing puppet government to take power, Kagesa Yuki, as the behind-the-scenes boss of the Nanjing government, was nominally the "supreme military advisor" of the Nanjing government. However, in reality, Wang Tianhai had no say, and the real decision-making power was firmly in the hands of Kagesa Yuki.
Kageyama Hiroki controlled the entire operation of the Nanjing government. Every decree had to be approved by him before it could be issued. For this reason, some people even called him the "Emperor Emeritus" of the Nanjing puppet government.
Because of this, the power of his Shadow Agency expanded rapidly, extending its reach to various places under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing puppet government, including Jiangsu, Huaihai, Anhui, and even the Jiangzhe region. It can be said that at this time, Shadow Agency Yuki was at the peak of his power, full of pride and arrogance.
However, during this process, some of Kagesa Hiroki's actions greatly displeased the Japanese military. First of all, he was too supportive of the Nanjing puppet government. Of course, as the de facto ruler of the Nanjing puppet government, expanding the power of the Nanjing puppet government was also expanding his own power, which was understandable.
Kagesa Hiroki also spared no effort in expanding the military strength of the Nanjing puppet government. At the beginning, the Nanjing government was just an empty shell with no soldiers under its command. Under Kagesa Hiroki's unremitting efforts, in just two years, the military was reorganized, the military forces of the reformed government were absorbed, the puppet troops and gangsters from various places were incorporated, and the surrendered Kuomintang rebels were recruited, thereby strengthening the government. The Nanjing government now has more than 500,000 pacification troops, and this number is still growing.
Such a massive military force naturally requires substantial financial support. In order to maintain military spending, Hiroki Kagesa even resisted the Japanese military leadership's policy of using war to sustain war on multiple occasions. This conflict of interest led to increasing dissatisfaction among the leadership with him.
Moreover, despite spending so much money and replenishing a large amount of military supplies, the pacification army he assembled was also disappointing. These troops were cowardly and afraid of death, and apart from their large numbers, they had nothing to offer. Their combat effectiveness was almost zero. Every time they clashed with the Chinese army, they collapsed at the first contact, losing their armor and weapons and providing the Chinese army with a large amount of weapons, equipment, and supplies, much like a transport brigade.
Another important reason is that the establishment of the Nanjing puppet government did not achieve the effect that the Japanese wanted. Not only did it fail to play any exemplary role, it also provoked unanimous condemnation from all sides of China. In particular, the Nanjing puppet government became an insurmountable obstacle for the Japanese to negotiate with the Chongqing government. To a certain extent, this actually promoted the formation of the Chinese anti-Japanese front.
Therefore, Japan's stance on the Nanjing puppet government has changed, and Kagesa Hiroki, as the representative of the Nanjing puppet government, has since suffered from various forms of exclusion and suppression.
These pressures come from other factions, such as Yoichi Miura, and even from his own faction, namely the faction of Chief of Staff Itagaki. There are also people secretly hindering him, so Hiroki Kagesa is having a very difficult time.
After hearing all this, Ning Zhiheng understood and then asked, "And what is your attitude?"
Uehara Junpei smiled slightly and said, "I am naturally on the side of the majority. Besides, the Kagesa Agency is now overreaching and has many powers that conflict with our military intelligence department. Of course, I have to make my stance clear. So, you should not get too close to him in the future."
So that's how it is. There are only eternal interests, not eternal friends. Uehara Junpei and Kagesa Hiroki used to get along well because Kagesa Hiroki's actions did not threaten his interests. Now that there is a conflict of interest, it is natural that they are not so easy to talk to each other.
It's true what they say, when someone's down, everyone kicks them while they're down. It seems like Kageyama Yuuki's good days are over. Ning Zhiheng nodded and said, "So Uncle also has this idea. That makes things easier."
"What, do you have something in mind?" Uehara Junpei asked, surprised.
Ning Zhiheng smiled and said, "Actually, I had a conflict with Yingzuo Yushu a long time ago, but I was afraid of his current popularity and didn't want to break off relations!"
"oh?"
Ning Zhiheng then recounted what had happened in Shanghai, concluding, "This Yingzuo, he took the benefits I gave him but was envious of my business. He colluded with the Third Fleet and started smuggling on my territory. If Zhou Fushan hadn't tipped me off, I would have been completely in the dark! Later, I killed the people directly involved and warned Li Zhiqun, and only then did he show himself. I didn't want to push things too far, so I backed down. But since then, I've stopped paying him his kickbacks. I wonder what he's thinking now?"
After hearing the whole story, Uehara Junpei realized that his nephew had long since clashed with Kagesa Hiroki and lost contact with him. He was furious and cursed, "That bastard! He's so shameless. I even gave him some face. You should have told me sooner. Otherwise, I would have confronted him at the last military conference and wouldn't have let him get away so easily."
Uehara Junpei grew angrier the more he thought about it. Everyone knew about his relationship with Fujiwara Tomohito, and Kagesa Hiroki actually went to Shanghai to steal Fujiwara Company's business. This showed that they didn't take him seriously at all. This was simply intolerable!
Seeing this, Ning Zhiheng quickly advised, "I was afraid that if a real conflict broke out, you and Chief Sakagaki would not get along, so I backed down."
"I see!"
Uehara Junpei suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice, "It seems it's time to deal with him. It just so happens that the Southern Expedition Plan has been implemented ahead of schedule. After the war, a large number of troops will need to be transferred from Central China. I will join forces with all parties to push things along and send him to Southeast Asia, so that he won't be an eyesore here!"
Ning Zhiheng was secretly pleased to hear this. If Kagesa Yuki left, the Nanjing puppet government would lose its support, and the Kagesa Agency, the largest Japanese intelligence agency in Central China, would suffer a major blow. Li Zhiqun of the 76th Bureau would also lose power as a result, greatly reducing the threat to the Kuomintang intelligence department. It could be said that there were many benefits, so why not do it?
At that moment, Ning Zhiheng and Uehara Junpei had reached an agreement and decided to mobilize their respective connections and resources to prepare to take action against Kagesa Yuuki.
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