In a private room on the second floor of a theater in the French Concession, Ning Zhiheng looked at Zheng Hongbo across from him. After a month apart, Zheng Hongbo looked much older and more haggard, with a furrowed brow and a worried expression.
"Station Chief, I suppose you've also received the telegram from the Chief. It seems we're about to begin the harassment operation. What are your specific plans?" Ning Zhiheng asked softly. He knew Zheng Hongbo must be having a tough time. He didn't have a lot of financial support, and settling his men in the French Concession was already a huge challenge.
Zheng Hongbo has indeed been working extremely hard during this period. He has served in Shanghai for many years, but most of the backup plans and safe houses he has set up are in the former Chinese-occupied areas, which later became the main battlefield for the fighting between China and Japan. Now it is a wasteland and there is no place to hide.
After the order to go into hiding was issued, they could only hide in the concession, but it was too late. During this period, they spent a great deal of energy and money to settle their group of men, which really made Zheng Hongbo very worried and troubled.
On the stage directly opposite the private box, a grand opera was being performed, but Zheng Hongbo had no mood to appreciate it at all. His face was tired, and he said slowly, "The telegram from the Chief is very clear. I am responsible for sniping Japanese officers and traitors, and you are responsible for raiding and blowing up important military targets. Do your best to slow down the Japanese army's advance and buy time to prepare for the defense of the capital, Nanjing."
Before the meeting, the division of labor between the two was clear. He believed that Ning Zhiheng's abilities far surpassed Zheng Hongbo's, so he assigned the most difficult sabotage task to Ning Zhiheng, while the less difficult assassination task was assigned to Zheng Hongbo.
After all, the assassination target was decided by Zheng Hongbo himself. He could be flexible and even if he saw a Japanese person on the street, he could shoot them in the back and kill them if he thought it was an opportunity. It wasn't difficult.
However, it is much more difficult to blow up important military targets, since these targets are heavily guarded and well-defended, making it difficult to escape once the attack begins.
Ning Zhiheng picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and said calmly, "The Chief ordered me to sabotage the three most important supply depots for the Japanese army in Shanghai. It's too difficult."
These are all areas deep within Japanese territory, heavily guarded and heavily defended. I'm really in a difficult position!
The real focus of this mission is Ning Zhiheng. What does killing a few Japanese matter? It's useless for the overall situation at this point, unless you're assassinating high-ranking Japanese officials in the invasion of China, but those targets are extremely difficult to approach.
However, the target assigned to Ning Zhiheng by the Chief of Staff was the three military warehouses that the Japanese army had built in Shanghai after the first Shanghai Incident, specifically for transporting military supplies, mainly weapons and ammunition.
Japan's military industry was extremely developed. The weapons and ammunition consumed in each war were transported from Japan to China. After opening up the East China battlefield, for security reasons, a special dock and warehouse were built for military use only. The warehouses stored a huge amount of military supplies, with an astonishing daily throughput.
Destroying any one of them would cause enormous damage to the Japanese army's logistics and supplies, which is why the Chief of Staff chose them as targets.
Zheng Hongbo knew, of course, that Ning Zhiheng had once again received an extremely difficult mission. He couldn't help but feel secretly fortunate, as destroying such a military target was completely beyond his capabilities, and he didn't even want to consider it.
Ning Zhiheng thought for a moment and asked again, "I wonder if you, station chief, still have any explosives in stock, preferably TNT. The situation here is just beginning, and we are short of all kinds of supplies, especially weapons. I would appreciate your support, station chief!"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongbo frowned even more deeply and said with a bitter face, "Zhiheng, I'm not trying to complain about being poor. All the previous arrangements were blown to rubble. The commander promised me some supplies before he left, but the retreat order was issued too suddenly. The troops were thrown into chaos instantly. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers collapsed like they had lost their backbone. The defeat was like a landslide, and everything was in complete disarray. I didn't even have time to receive the supplies before the Japanese came. So, I didn't manage to save anything here."
This time, Zheng Hongbo was indeed telling the truth. The director had made him many promises, but the incident happened suddenly. No one expected the retreat to be so sudden, almost like an avalanche, catching everyone off guard. So everything became empty promises. He was short of supplies, and even standard explosives were lacking, let alone TNT.
Ning Zhiheng was actually just asking tentatively. He guessed that Zheng Hongbo's family wasn't very wealthy, otherwise they wouldn't be in this state.
It seems I have to figure everything out myself. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any weapons or similar goods in the Pudong warehouse. During this period, the whole of Shanghai was under strict lockdown, and there were no weapons available on the black market. I can only rely on myself to solve the problem. Fortunately, I have enough funds, so I can still think of a way.
“Alright then, I’ll think of another way, but sabotage is too difficult. I’ve already reported to the director, and it will take some time to prepare,” Ning Zhiheng said again.
He was going to explain the situation to the director. Such a large-scale operation required extremely complicated preparations, meticulous planning, and every step had to be precise and error-free. He could not act rashly.
The director was a sensible man. He gave Ning Zhiheng a 40-day deadline. In his judgment, the Battle of Shanghai had lasted for three months. Nanjing was the capital, and hundreds of thousands of troops were guarding it. Even if things didn't go well, it should have lasted for two months. As long as the warehouses were destroyed during this period, it would be acceptable.
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