He turned to a page of the record, pointed to a passage, and said viciously, "A dignified lieutenant colonel staff officer who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy, after drinking a few mouthfuls of cat piss, leaked the artillery battalion's deployment location during a banquet. Is his brain full of shit?"
Wei Liangbi grew increasingly enraged, a nameless fire surging within him. He smashed the teacup in his hand on the ground. Tea splashed everywhere, soaking Ning Zhiheng and Shi Hong's shoes.
"It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost! Now that we know the intelligence has been leaked, we should report it immediately. The higher-ups will have ways to remedy the situation, and it's not as bad as we imagine." Ning Zhiheng quickly tried to persuade him when he saw how furious he was.
"What a pity! Things are worse than we imagined!" Wei Liangbi closed his eyes and pondered for a long time before opening them and asking Shi Hong, "You joined the Military Intelligence Bureau two years ago, right?"
Shi Hong was somewhat puzzled; why would the team leader suddenly ask these questions?
“Yes, I studied at the Wuhan branch school for a year and a half, so I graduated relatively early. I was first assigned to the Central Seventh Division, and six months later, at the end of 1933, I was transferred to the Military Intelligence Department.” Shi Hong quickly gave a brief overview of his resume. In fact, Wei Liangbi already knew all of this, but he mainly wanted to introduce it to Ning Zhiheng.
It turns out that even among the so-called Whampoa Military Academy students, there were distinctions and ranks. Those who studied and graduated from the Jinling Military Academy were the true elite, with high entry requirements, difficult selection, and a relatively long term, generally around two to three years.
Ning Zhiheng's term lasted two years, but he graduated early due to special circumstances. Shi Hong, on the other hand, attended the Huangpu Wuhan branch, which was a lower-level school with lower admission requirements and a term of about one to two years.
In this way, everyone can be said to be a graduate of Whampoa Military Academy to the outside world, but in reality, there are still different levels within the academy. Graduates from the main campus have an advantage in terms of military resources, personal connections, and promotion speed.
This is also a major reason why Shi Hong was willing to rely on his senior, Wei Liangbi. He was inferior in terms of innate level, and Wei Liangbi was also his superior.
"Do you still remember the name Kong Liangce?" Wei Liangbi then asked.
"Kong Liangce? You mean the suspect in the leaked case two years ago? Wasn't he secretly executed? Right, he was also from the 11th Division." Shi Hong finally remembered the man's name.
Ning Zhiheng was completely confused. He was still studying at the military academy when the case occurred and had never heard of it.
He looked at Wei Liangbi with a puzzled expression, and Wei Liangbi had no choice but to explain the situation to him.
Two years ago, the 11th Division suffered an intelligence breach. In response to the Shanghai Incident, the 11th Division urgently formulated a defense plan. However, the division's chief of staff, who was on duty early in the morning, suddenly discovered that two pages of the battle plan hidden in his safe were out of order.
The chief of staff was also an extremely meticulous person. He clearly remembered that when he put the plan in the safe yesterday, he reviewed it and the order was absolutely correct.
The matter was of great importance, so he reported it urgently. The military intelligence department, which was in charge of investigating the case, was quickly mobilized, but the case made no progress. After screening all the suspicious persons, they finally focused their attention on Kong Liangce, the head of the logistics department at the time.
Because he was the only one working the night shift in the entire office building that night, and did not go home, and as the headquarters of the division was a heavily guarded place, it was impossible for anyone to enter or leave without being noticed.
Kong Liangce was arrested and taken back to the Military Intelligence Department, where he quickly confessed. He had deliberately stayed in the office building under the pretext of working overtime, then opened the safe to peek at the battle plan. However, in his panic, he messed up the order of the two pages when he tried to put them back together, which is how the Chief of Staff noticed.
After the results were released, the higher command ordered that the matter be handled discreetly in order not to affect morale, and the Military Intelligence Department was responsible for carrying it out.
Kong Liangce was executed on the spot, and it was publicly announced that he had been attacked and killed by bandits while traveling. Since the intelligence was obtained through stealth rather than theft, there was no physical evidence. The matter was thus considered resolved satisfactorily.
"How could this be?" Ning Zhiheng was dumbfounded.
Because he clearly recorded that one piece of information in Huang Xiansheng's confession came from this case.
The situation was that Huang Xiansheng sneaked back late at night after get off work. He entered the office building through the sewers, and knowing the area well, he easily evaded the patrolling guards and entered the chief of staff's office.
It took a long time to finally open the safe, and he took pictures with his miniature camera. However, because opening the safe had taken so long, and it was almost dawn, there wasn't enough time left.
Perhaps that's why he made a mistake when restoring things to their original state, messing up the page order. Then he retraced his steps and left the scene.
In his records, he didn't recount what happened next. Because in his mind, the mission was successfully completed, and the life or death of Kong Liangce was utterly irrelevant. Therefore, Ning Zhiheng didn't know who Kong Liangce was.
Ning Zhiheng knew perfectly well that with the torture methods used in the interrogation department, what kind of confession couldn't be obtained?
In retrospect, Kong Liangce was pushed out as a scapegoat by the military intelligence officers.
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