Rewind to four hours before Ning Zhiheng's assassination. In a room in the Shanghai International Settlement, Huo Yueze, the head of the Shanghai Intelligence Section, was listening to a report from Ji Hongyi, the head of the First Intelligence Group.
"Section Chief, around 5 p.m. this afternoon, a large number of people from Shanghai Railway Station suddenly left the French Concession," Ji Hongyi said.
He was primarily responsible for gang intelligence and surveillance, and the Shanghai station was always under his surveillance.
"Where exactly did they go?"
Huo Yueze was not surprised by this. Ever since the intelligence department sent a coded telegram to headquarters to warn them, he had estimated that the Shanghai station should have taken some measures.
According to the code of conduct for secret agents, the Shanghai station should immediately cancel the plan to attack the printing base by force, but now it seems that this is likely to be done by evacuating personnel.
Ji Hongyi replied, “We have three people on duty for surveillance. I left one to keep watch in place, and the other two followed them to the International Settlement. However, these people acted separately, and our people could not follow them all. We only know that some entered Shanghai city and some entered the International Settlement. Finally, they followed them to a residence in the International Settlement and are now under surveillance.”
Huo Yueze nodded and said, "I understand the situation. A few days ago, the Director discovered that the Japanese Special Higher Police were frequently moving around, with a large number of personnel missing. He suspected that the Japanese were planning something big, so he sent a telegram to headquarters, asking them to warn the Shanghai station. Now it seems that they are evacuating personnel, but I didn't expect Wang Hanmin's actions to be so drastic. He simply evacuated everyone to the International Settlement. I estimate that the French Concession is now completely empty. This man may not have many other strengths, but his caution is something we should learn from. It's not without reason that the Director promoted him to the position of Shanghai station chief. By the way, have you seen Duan Tiecheng and Wang Hanmin appear?"
Ji Hongyi shook his head and said, "No, there were too many people evacuating from Shanghai Station this time, and our monitoring personnel were limited, so we didn't see these two appear."
Huo Yueze didn't ask any further questions. He simply thought that the actions at the Shanghai station this time were normal, because returning from the French Concession to southern Jiangsu required passing through the International Settlement and downtown Shanghai, and the evacuation of personnel into the city was within his expectations.
"I will send a telegram to the Chief tonight to report this situation. Keep a close eye on that residence. The Chief said that the Shanghai Station must be under our surveillance and we cannot allow them to cause us any trouble."
"Yes!" Ji Hongyi nodded in agreement.
Huo Yueze did not expect things to turn out the opposite of what he had anticipated. Duan Tiecheng went his own way, ignoring the warning telegrams from headquarters, and launched the attack tonight.
He never expected that things would turn out so coincidentally that Duan Tiecheng would actually target the section chief for assassination, almost succeeding and putting Ning Zhiheng on the brink of death.
It wasn't until he arrived at the Tan residence that evening to send the telegram that he realized something was wrong. It turned out that the two sides had agreed that midnight was the time for communication between the Tan residence and the Fujiwara Company, and that once that time had passed, they would no longer receive messages.
Because the two locations are close to each other and no relay station is needed in between, after the message is sent, in order to ensure that both parties have received the information, the receiving party will usually send back a confirmation message after receiving the message.
However, this time Huo Yueze sent the telegram but did not receive a reply for a long time, which made him a little worried.
Yi Hua'an personally controls the radio station of the Fujiwara Company and never delegates it to others, so he stays on duty at the Fujiwara Company every night and never leaves.
But this time, when Yi Hua'an heard that Ning Zhiheng had been assassinated, he immediately led his men to protect him without turning on the radio to receive signals. As a result, Huo Yueze quickly realized that something was wrong and suddenly felt that he had overlooked something.
When he returned to his residence, Ji Hongyi rushed over to report.
It turned out that their team members discovered that the Suzhou River, which was originally quiet and deserted in the middle of the night, was suddenly filled with many patrol speedboats, with searchlights shining back and forth, and all six bridges leading to the city were also under enhanced security.
This unusual situation was quickly reported to Ji Hongyi. Ji Hongyi connected it with the abnormal situation that afternoon, felt that something was wrong, and immediately rushed over to report to Huo Yueze.
"Section Chief, tonight our men heard faint gunshots and explosions on the other side of the river. Now the Japanese have blocked the Suzhou Creek again. Could it be something the Shanghai Station is up to? Perhaps they haven't evacuated at all, but are preparing to launch a reckless attack on the Japanese printing base?"
Upon hearing this, Huo Yueze was immediately startled. It seemed that he had been careless and had not thought of this point. Considering that Yi Huaan had not received the telegram earlier, he felt extremely uneasy. Could this operation in Shanghai be related to the Fujiwara Company?
He secretly decided that he must personally cross the river tomorrow, enter downtown Shanghai, meet with Ning Zhiheng, and learn about the latest situation.
At two o'clock in the morning, Duan Tiecheng and Wang Hanmin were pacing anxiously inside the Lian family's old house.
They didn't know the outcome of the operation, or whether the special operations team members had completed their mission, but judging from the current situation, the Japanese seemed to have been prepared.
Whether the entire operation is completed is their biggest concern. They have staked everything on it. If this mission fails again, the two of them will face severe punishment from the Director.
"Brother Tiecheng, how are things going with Jiang Guotao and his team? Has the operation been successful?" Wang Hanmin asked anxiously.
Duan Tiecheng's expression was grim as he shook his head and said, "We're trapped here now, unable to get any information. I hope their operation succeeds, but right now, our most important thing is to think about ourselves! Whether our operation succeeds or not, the Japanese will definitely conduct a city-wide search tomorrow to arrest those who have escaped. This house is not small, but there are no secret rooms or alleys for hiding. How can so many of us evade the Japanese search?"
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