The next day, at noon, Yuji Imai, the head of the Special Higher Police Section, came to pay his respects to Ning Zhiheng, bringing with him generous gifts.
Inside the study, Imai Yuji was sincerely saying to Ning Zhiheng, "Sir, this time it was all thanks to your protection, otherwise, under General Uehara's wrath, I would have had no chance of escaping unscathed!"
Upon hearing this, Ning Zhiheng waved his hand and gently comforted him, "Mr. Imai, why go to such lengths? Although your uncle is strict, he would never hold an grudge against the innocent. While you bear some responsibility in this matter, it is understandable. The one who should be investigated the most is the consulate. If they hadn't had a mole within their ranks, how could this have happened? Don't worry, I will speak up for you!"
These words reassured Imai Yuji, making him feel that his trip today had not been in vain. As expected of a direct descendant of the Fujiwara family, he acted with great magnanimity and was a reliable pillar of support!
Yuji Imai bowed deeply and said gratefully, "Thank you for your kindness, sir. I am deeply grateful!"
Ning Zhiheng laughed and gestured for Imai Yuji to sit down. The two then began to chat.
"However, Imai-kun, this matter has indeed caused a great stir. It's unrealistic for you to completely extricate yourself from it. It depends on how serious the final consequences are. Right now, the most important thing for you is to find the real culprit as soon as possible and minimize the adverse effects. I wonder if you've made any progress these past two days?"
Upon hearing this, Yuji Imai looked troubled and said with some helplessness, "There's been no progress yet. We've arrested quite a few people, but Zhan Yuanliang still managed to escape. We've searched all the places he frequents, and his family has disappeared. As for his neighbors and friends, we haven't found any clues after interrogation. They've probably already left Nanjing."
Upon hearing this, Ning Zhiheng felt relieved. This was not unexpected. Since Zhan Yuanliang dared to take the risk of poisoning and assassinating, he must have made a do-or-die decision and was prepared to be exposed. The Nanjing station would not leave any loopholes for the Japanese to take advantage of.
“Since we can’t catch the person, we need to find a way to push the trouble out. I suggest you focus on the consulate and make it clear to them that this was entirely due to their lax internal control, which allowed the Chinese to take advantage of the situation, resulting in serious consequences.”
Yuji Imai nodded repeatedly. This was exactly what he had planned. He quickly said, "You're absolutely right. I've already arrested the other two Chinese people at the consulate, but they're just low-ranking men, so they don't carry much weight!"
The implication was that they were prepared to use these two Chinese people as scapegoats, but they were not quite ready to do so.
Ning Zhiheng frowned. He didn't want Imai Yuji to harm those two innocent people either, so he continued, "What about the other staff at the consulate? Zhan Yuanliang has worked at the consulate for ten years; surely he has some familiar colleagues and friends?"
Yuji Imai spread his hands, somewhat annoyed, and said, "As for these people, I also summoned them for questioning, but Consul General Hori was completely uncooperative and did not allow us to detain or torture consulate staff. I consulted General Uehara, and the general agreed, so I had no choice but to release them all."
There are also various conflicts between different departments in Japan. Hori Koichi was afraid that Imai Yuji would lose his temper and torture the consulate staff to make them confess in order to shirk responsibility. In this way, the initiative fell into the hands of the Special Higher Police, who could say whatever they wanted!
Therefore, Hori Koichi withstood the pressure and insisted on not letting Imai Yuji take action to make the arrest. The consulate's tough stance made Uehara Junpei unwilling to really break off relations. Besides, Uehara Junpei knew very well that this matter was definitely Zhan Yuanliang's personal doing and had nothing to do with other consulate personnel. So in the end, he did not let Imai Yuji make things too ugly.
This puts Yuji Imai in a difficult position, pleasing neither side.
Upon hearing this, Ning Zhiheng thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Uncle has his reasons. Vice Minister Shimizu is currently in Nanjing. If you push too far, do you really want to break ties with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? However, they can't completely shirk this responsibility. Here's an idea for you to consider!"
"Please enlighten me, sir!" Yuji Imai quickly nodded in agreement.
"Actually, although this incident caused quite a stir and many people were poisoned, there were no important figures involved, and the actual losses were not significant. The reason why the higher-ups wanted to investigate and hold people accountable is because they felt they had been outmaneuvered by the Chongqing government and it was embarrassing. But what if we look at it from a different angle? What if we link this incident to personal grudges? Let's say that Zhan Yuanliang was dissatisfied with certain people at the consulate for personal reasons, and that his resentment led him to decide to poison them in revenge. The others were just innocent victims caught in the crossfire. What do you think?"
Ning Zhiheng's words made Imai Yuji's eyes light up. This was indeed a perfect solution. The most important thing now was to minimize the impact. If the case were escalated to the level of confrontation between China and Japan, the situation would become much bigger. Not only would they offend the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the consulate, but they would also have to arrest the real culprit, investigate the intelligence organization behind him, and even carry out retaliatory actions. Their own troubles were yet to come!
However, if the matter is downplayed and Zhan Yuanliang is simply portrayed as an ordinary person, then the consulate will have no burden. There will be no nonsense about Kuomintang spies infiltrating, and the consulate will not have failed in its duty of care. It will simply be an act of revenge by an employee out of personal resentment. From this perspective, the nature of the matter will be completely changed, and everyone will be happy!
But after a brief moment of joy, he looked at Ning Zhiheng with some hesitation.
"What, you think there's a problem?" Ning Zhiheng couldn't help but be a little surprised. Logically speaking, his solution could be explained to all parties at present, it would look good on the Japanese puppet government, Imai Yuji could shirk responsibility, and even the Nanjing station of the Military Intelligence Bureau could be relieved of some pressure.
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