By this time, it was already late October, and the National Revolutionary Army was no longer able to hold out. The huge casualties were unbearable for all the military leaders, who were all requesting the leader to withdraw the troops, hoping to retreat to the completed defense fortifications and then regroup and put up a new resistance.
Knowing that the retreat was imminent, the commander ordered the entire Shanghai station to complete its infiltration by early November at the latest.
Ning Zhiheng was not in a hurry. His preparations were already complete. However, all his personnel were in Pudong to rush the supplies from the Pudong warehouse. As soon as the evacuation time was up, he could return to Nanshi as quickly as possible, then enter the concession to hide and successfully complete his infiltration plan.
In the days that followed, Ning Zhiheng devoted all his energy to setting up the intelligence network.
On November 5, Japanese troops landed at Jinshanwei in Hangzhou Bay.
Inside the Pudong Theater Command, busy figures moved back and forth in the operations room, and the sounds of operations staff discussing and making phone calls filled the air.
Zhang Zhengkui sat in the center seat, his eyes slightly closed and silent. He was in a terrible mood. The Japanese had landed from his rear and were trying to outflank him, but the command headquarters was hesitant to make a decision to retreat in order to preserve their strength. If this continued, they would only miss a golden opportunity. Were they just going to watch these elite National Army troops be wasted here?
However, without orders from the General Staff, no Nationalist general dared to take the blame for desertion. They could only send a joint telegram requesting the General Staff to make a decision as soon as possible and evacuate quickly.
At this moment, Li Lixin, the adjutant, pushed open the door and entered. He gently placed several documents in front of Zhang Zhengkui. Zhang Zhengkui opened his eyes, his face heavy, and asked softly, "If it's not important, put it aside. At this time, I'm afraid there's no good news."
Li Lixin quickly said, "There's nothing major, but there's one rather troublesome matter. The defense forces in Yangjing and Lujiazui areas have both reported to headquarters that some time ago, Ning Zhiheng's special operations team used a troop redeployment order to take over several warehouses belonging to British and American merchants in Pudong. The guarding troops have sent a telegram to our headquarters to confirm this."
Zhang Zhengkui remained silent for a long time after hearing this, and finally coldly blurted out: "The war situation has deteriorated so much, and a bunch of idiots are still fussing over these useless things. The British and Americans are no good either. Everything is ruined because of them. What do I care about their warehouses? Ignore them!"
At this moment, Zhang Zhengkui hated Britain and the United States the most. In order to win the international support of the two countries, the leader insisted that the troops continue to hold their ground, hoping that the Nine-Power Conference would be convened to suppress Japan. However, Britain and the United States were powerless to restrain Japan, which caused the war to drag on until now, and the best time to retreat had passed.
"Zhiheng was right after all. Jinshanwei in Hangzhou! The Japanese did indeed land here. Alas!" Zhang Zhengkui sighed deeply and fell silent.
Seeing Zhang Zhengkui's attitude, Li Lixin immediately put away the documents, turned around and left the operations room. He returned to his office, looked at the documents in his hand, and shook his head helplessly. The commander's meaning was clear: this matter should not be pursued.
Ning Zhiheng was the commander's most valued junior and a key member of the Baoding faction. This matter must not be leaked, otherwise it would cause trouble in the end. With this in mind, he did not hesitate. He took out the telegram from the garrison requesting confirmation of the transfer order, lit it with a match, and then no one paid any more attention to the matter.
It wasn't until Ning Zhiheng ordered all personnel to withdraw and the evacuation work at the Pudong warehouse was completed that the General Headquarters issued the retreat order. The Chinese army completely withdrew from the Shanghai battlefield, thus bringing the more than three-month-long Battle of Shanghai to an end.
Ning Zhiheng held his first mobilization meeting at the Tan Mansion, and the attendees were all his key members.
Looking at the officers in front of him, Ning Zhiheng secretly rejoiced. Although he had experienced many hardships and setbacks on his way from Nanjing to the Shanghai battlefield, at least his core forces had not been damaged and his trusted subordinates had survived.
He coughed lightly, and everyone in the room quieted down, waiting for Ning Zhiheng's instructions.
"Since we joined the war more than two months ago, we have performed well in Pudong and Nanshi. This time, we have been entrusted with an important task. The Chief of Staff ordered us to hold our ground in the Shanghai area, lie in wait, and wait for the opportunity to launch a raid on the Japanese rear."
Our emergency transport operation at the Pudong warehouse went very smoothly this time, securing substantial funding, which provides ample support for our subsequent work.
This emergency haul of goods from the Pudong warehouse indeed brought Ning Zhiheng a huge profit. He gave Yue Sheng 50% of the profits, and Ning Zhiheng received a total of two million US dollars.
This doesn't even include the large number of properties and warehouses acquired, all of which were in the best locations in the Shanghai International Settlement, with a value of at least several million US dollars. The profits from this acquisition were truly astonishing.
Ning Zhiheng then assigned the tasks, dividing his agents into groups of ten, for a total of sixteen groups. All members of each group used aliases and were not allowed to communicate with each other.
With a large sum of money, Ning Zhiheng planned to open two trading companies to ensure a steady flow of funds for future activities, as well as restaurants, dance halls, cinemas, and other places that were most conducive to intelligence gathering. These were the most profitable industries in the concession, where all sorts of people came from all walks of life, making it even more convenient to collect intelligence.
There are also two small warehouses, which are just right for storing our company's goods.
Even with such a rough calculation, if we only plant our own people in key positions, the number of people needed would be considerable, making it incredibly easy to plant these agents.
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