Seeing this, Liang Deyou's heart stirred, but he remained expressionless and nodded to Shi Hong.
Shi Hong then explained the situation in detail to Ning Zhiheng and the other person.
It turns out that the entire Operations Section is organized in the same way as the Army, using a three-three organizational structure. The Operations Section is divided into three operations groups.
Each group is further divided into three action teams, each with approximately forty members.
Ning Zhiheng's unit was the Third Action Team of the First Action Group of the Action Department.
Ning Zhiheng roughly calculated that the entire operations section alone had nearly four hundred frontline operations team members. That's quite a large scale.
Originally, this action team was led by four officers, but a few days ago, the other two officers were killed and seriously injured in an operation. Fortunately, the officers graduated early from the officer training school, so Ning Zhiheng and his companion were brought in to fill the vacancies.
“You’ve just graduated from military academy, so you might not know much about the Military Intelligence Bureau. Our job is to investigate and deal with military spies from all sides who are hiding within the military, especially those from the Communist Party and Japan, and to gather military intelligence from the enemy. Specifically, our Action Section is responsible for carrying out specific field missions, which basically means making arrests. The Intelligence Section provides the intelligence, and we take action to make arrests,” Shi Hong explained the specific nature of the Action Section’s work.
Liang Deyou added from the side: "The most important thing is secrecy. All our operations are military secrets. We are all professional soldiers, and you should understand the seriousness of this. Remember that! Otherwise, military law will not be lenient!"
After explaining the situation, Ning Zhiheng remembered that Wei Liangbi had asked him to go to his office, so he quickly turned around and went to the office next door.
After reporting, he knocked and entered. Wei Liangbi gestured for him to close the door. He waved for him to sit down and said with a smile, "Do you know why I called you here?"
"I am ignorant, please enlighten me, team leader." Ning Zhiheng was of course unaware, but from the moment they met until now, Wei Liangbi had been very kind and approachable to him, speaking gently and clearly with goodwill.
“I graduated from the seventh class of the Whampoa Military Academy and am also a student of Teacher He Feng. I specially arranged for you to be with me this time, which is also Teacher He Feng’s intention,” Wei Liangbi said with a smile.
Ning Zhiheng was overjoyed; he hadn't expected his immediate superior to be his fellow student from the same school. With this connection, his days in the Action Section would be much easier. Having a background versus not having one, having a powerful backer versus not having one—it's definitely a different story!
"So it was my senior brother! I really didn't expect that. I've never heard the teacher mention him before!" Ning Zhiheng said excitedly.
Wei Liangbi waved his hand and laughed, "Haha, I was in another province for the past two years and only transferred back to headquarters this year. It's been a long time since I've visited my mentor. Let's go see him together when we have some free time."
The Military Intelligence Bureau has intelligence agencies all over the country. After graduating, Wei Liangbi joined the Military Intelligence Bureau and was assigned to an overseas post. He made great contributions in one operation, and with Huang Xianzheng's connections, he was specially promoted and transferred back to headquarters this year.
Ning Zhiheng knew that He Feng had several close students besides himself. However, he had never heard of Wei Liangbi before. This was clearly due to the special nature of the military intelligence department's work, and He Feng was definitely a very tight-lipped person.
Ning Zhiheng was secretly delighted. Having worked in a government office building in his previous life, he knew firsthand how miserable it was to work in a government agency without connections or influence. All the dirty, tiring, and scapegoating work would be yours, while the good, clever, and lucrative jobs would be forever out of your reach. He had personally experienced both the sweetness and the bitterness of this situation firsthand! He understood it all very well!
Ning Zhiheng bowed slightly and said, "Certainly, certainly. Once I'm in the Military Intelligence Bureau, I'll be relying on my senior brother's guidance for everything!" He then bowed respectfully.
Wei Liangbi laughed and said, "Zhiheng, don't worry. Whether in the military or the Military Intelligence Bureau, our Huangpu-Baoding lineage is a truly prestigious brand! We are respected wherever we go. In a couple of days, I'll introduce you to a few more senior alumni, all of whom are influential figures in the Military Intelligence Bureau."
The implication was that the Baoding faction held considerable power within the Military Intelligence Bureau. This reassured Ning Zhiheng.
"What about Captain Liang and Deputy Captain Shi?" Ning Zhiheng naturally wanted to find out the background of his colleagues. This was crucial to his future actions.
“That Liang Deyou was transferred from the 27th Division a few years ago. He joined the Military Intelligence Bureau even earlier than me, and he’s very capable in his work. But he doesn’t have any connections, otherwise this position would be his!” Wei Liangbi said.
This means he has no powerful backing, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, his current position is his last; all that's left is to accumulate seniority.
“Shi Hong is different. He graduated from the ninth class of our Whampoa Military Academy, but from the Wuhan branch. He doesn’t have any strong connections in Nanjing, but he’s a very sensible person and easy to get along with,” Wei Liangbi continued.
This means that although Shi Hong has no powerful backing, he has a background in the Whampoa Military Academy and should not be underestimated. In the National Revolutionary Army, as long as someone is a graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, unless they make a major mistake, no one will usually cause them trouble.
If she is described as sensible and easy to get along with, then it means she has a good relationship with Wei Liangbi, and there is even a hint of her wanting to rely on him. She is considered one of their own, so there is no need to be too careful in her words and actions.
"Understood, I will consult with Vice Captain Shi more often." Ning Zhiheng, with his past life experience, understood Wei Liangbi's implied meaning.
This made Wei Liangbi look at him in a different light. His teacher said that this junior brother was introverted and taciturn.
He was worried that the junior brother might be inexperienced in military intelligence and suffer in silence, so he specially assigned him to his subordinate and took good care of him. But in his eyes, this junior brother was very clever and quick to understand.
"It seems you have a lot of elite troops under your command, senior. How about the rest of the team?" Ning Zhiheng asked. He wanted to keep an eye on these people, since they would be working together, and it was good to get some information.
"Don't worry too much about those. They were all transferred from the army. Many of them are old veterans with little education. If anything happens, just send them to the front. If there are losses, just transfer more to replace them. There are plenty of people like that in the army!" Wei Liangbi clearly didn't take these people seriously. In his view, these soldiers were just expendable resources, tools, even if they lived to the death! There was no need to think too much about them.
In fact, this was a common phenomenon within the Kuomintang system. At that time, the vast majority of people were illiterate, and very few could read. Officers like them, graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy, were the cream of the crop, and naturally, they paid little attention to these lower-ranking members.
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