Two days later, at nine o'clock on Friday morning, Ning Zhiheng and He Siming sat facing each other in the office of Nanwu Bookstore.
This was the first time Ning Zhiheng had contacted He Siming since returning to Shanghai. Previously, He Siming had accompanied Wang Tianhai to North China with Taro Sagawa and had been in charge of liaison between Wang Tianhai and the North China side.
Originally, Wang Tianhai's trip to North China should have been accompanied and protected by agents from the Yingzuo Agency. However, the Yingzuo Agency belonged to the Central China Expeditionary Army and had a considerable grudge against the Special Higher Police, the intelligence agency of the North China Area Army. As a result, they faced a lot of resistance in North China, making it very inconvenient for them to carry out their work.
Because North China was the headquarters of the Japanese Special Higher Police (THT) in China, and the chief of the THT, Keiji Tsuchihara, was stationed there, the THT was responsible for most of the intelligence work in the region.
Therefore, Yuki Kageyama specifically sought out Taro Sagawa, the head of the Special Higher Police in Shanghai, and asked him to accompany Wang Tianhai to North China and to coordinate the work. Taro Sagawa readily agreed, so Taro Sagawa and some of his staff joined Wang Tianhai's visiting team. He Siming, as Taro Sagawa's liaison officer, naturally accompanied them.
The trip to North China was coming to an end. There were supposed to be a few more days of itinerary planned, but Wang Tianhai rushed back to Shanghai due to the unrest. Many of his entourage did not have time to follow, which delayed the trip by two days. When He Siming returned to Shanghai, he learned that Ning Zhiheng had already returned to Shanghai, so he hurriedly came to report for duty.
He Siming asked with some surprise, "Didn't you say that this trip to Chongqing would take quite a while? How come you're back so soon?"
"Yes, I didn't expect it to be so fast. It's just that thanks to you, my work went very smoothly this time. I completed the task ahead of schedule. Then, Wang Hanmin defected to the enemy, and the situation became critical, so I rushed back."
He Siming was taken aback: "Thanks to me?"
Ning Zhiheng laughed and, without keeping him in suspense, gave He Siming a brief introduction to his trip to Chongqing.
When He Siming learned that the Japanese spies he had provided to Ning Zhiheng had greatly helped Ning Zhiheng's work, and that he himself had played a part in it, he was very happy and said with a smile, "You are so patient, planning for so long before taking action. It has finally come to a satisfactory conclusion."
After speaking, he hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "What exactly happened in this Shanghai turmoil? The impact has been enormous. The North China Special Higher Police Headquarters specifically requested Taro Sagawa to investigate the true cause. Is this your doing?"
Ning Zhiheng was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. What connection did the unrest in Shanghai have with the headquarters of the Special Higher Police in North China?
He nodded and said, "It was indeed my arrangement. My initial plan was to teach them a lesson and muddy the waters, but I didn't expect it to be so effective."
He then explained the whole story of Ning Zhiheng to He Siming, and asked, "What does this have to do with the North China Special Higher Police Headquarters? Tsuchihara Keiji's curiosity is a bit too much!"
He Siming nodded and said, "So, the report from the Shadow Agency wasn't lying."
Then his expression turned serious, and he reported: "The situation is like this. When we were accompanying Wang Tianhai in North China, we received a notice from headquarters ordering the puppet government, the Nanjing Reformed Government, and the North China Provisional Government to merge as soon as possible and to hold a tripartite meeting."
Wang Tianhai communicated with the North China side, wanting to hold the tripartite talks in Shanghai or Nanjing, but the North China Army firmly disagreed. They believed that the meeting should be held in North China. The two sides argued over this and both wanted to take the initiative.
Later, Wang Tianhai left in an emergency, and the matter was temporarily put on hold. However, the work of the talks was about to begin soon, and the choice of the meeting place had to be decided as soon as possible. The North China side, citing the collapse of public security in Shanghai and the fact that the puppet government could not guarantee the safety of the participants, once again proposed to set the meeting place in the sphere of influence of the North China Army.
The Shanghai Special Higher Police were ordered to investigate the cause, presumably to find concrete evidence to help secure the meeting location!
So that's how it is! Ning Zhiheng had a very thorough understanding of the current situation and quickly figured out the connection.
Currently, these three traitorous governments all harbor their own ulterior motives and have their own plans. Wang Tianhai and Liang Anhong are relatively better, after all, they are both puppets supported by the Central China Expeditionary Army. Their merger is a foregone conclusion, and Liang Anhong is willing to bow down and obey Wang Tianhai's leadership.
However, Wang Shulu, the head of the Provisional Government of North China, had no intention of condescending to the status of a king. With the support of the North China Area Army, he had always acted quite toughly. This time, he was forced to obey the orders of the Japanese General Headquarters and forcibly merge the two sides.
However, this involves the interests of various parties, and everyone wants to take the initiative and seize a larger share in the talks. Therefore, whoever is the host will implicitly represent that party in a dominant position.
Therefore, the North China Front Army had to find various pretexts and strong evidence to try its best to win the right to host the talks.
This turmoil provided a convenient excuse, so the North China Area Army ordered Keiji Tsuchihara, the head of the Special Higher Police Section, to investigate the true situation. This task naturally fell to Taro Sagawa.
Ning Zhiheng immediately became interested and asked in a deep voice, "So, the North China side's attitude is very firm?"
He Siming nodded and said, "That's right. In this meeting, they were determined to win and refused to compromise in the slightest. I estimate that Wang Tianhai will eventually give in."
Do you know the specific meeting location they chose?
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