Liu Tongfang knew Ning Zhiheng's purpose, and he immediately nodded and said, "Of course, I will tell you everything I know."
“Very well,” Ning Zhiheng leaned slightly forward in his seat and asked calmly, “It’s been a month since the Chief issued the order. You must have been monitoring the target. Have you recorded his specific whereabouts?”
Liu Tongfang nodded, but quickly added with a wry smile, "But Kawamoto Kuraji hides in the consulate every day and hardly ever shows his face. Our people can't get in either; we can only monitor the outside of the consulate, so the results have been minimal. He's gone out three times in the past month. One time was for foreign affairs activities, but we tracked him to the garrison in the concession and then couldn't follow him anymore. The other two times were to look at antiques in the Qingjiang Garden area in eastern Hangzhou. Each time, he stayed for no more than two hours. But as you know, the Director's orders are not to take action outside the consulate and the concession. We have no way to start!"
Ning Zhiheng knew that Qingjiang Garden in the east of Hangzhou was the place with the highest concentration of shops specializing in antiques. Over time, it became the most famous antique distribution center in Hangzhou.
"This Kawamoto Kuraji likes antiques?" Ning Zhiheng's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. "This point was not mentioned before."
Liu Tongfang coughed slightly, somewhat awkwardly, and said, "Kawamoto Kuraji was previously the head of the Shanghai Special Higher Police Section. He was a veteran agent with a well-hidden whereabouts. We have not been able to gather enough information about him, so we did not know that he had this hobby. However, judging from the surveillance footage of these two times, he really likes Chinese antiques and has a good eye. He makes accurate purchases and has acquired five antiques, all of which are genuine and of high quality."
"Which shops will he mainly visit?" Ning Zhiheng continued. "There are many antique shops in Qingjiang Garden; he won't be able to see them all in two hours."
Ning Zhiheng had been to Qingjiang Garden before. It was quite large, with many stalls and a lot of people carrying bags who would try to attract individual customers.
Liu Tongfang replied, "Kawamoto Kuraji is very cautious and never shows his face in public. Both times, he went directly to the three largest antique shops to look at the goods. He has a lot of influence and will pay a high price to buy any antique he likes. He is very decisive."
Ning Zhiheng thought about it carefully for a moment, then said softly, "This is a breakthrough worth trying; we can make use of it!"
Then he continued, "The Chief's order is to create the illusion of an accidental death or death from illness. We need to start with Kawamoto Kuraji's body. He is already fifty-four years old this year. Haven't you investigated his health condition?"
At this time, the average life expectancy was not high. Even though the life expectancy of Japanese people was higher than that of Chinese people, fifty-three years old was already considered old age, and their health would not be without any problems. Ning Zhiheng felt that this point could be explored.
“We have considered this issue, but the Japanese consulate has its own doctors, which we cannot contact. We are also afraid of alerting them, so we dare not investigate further,” Liu Tongfang explained. In the end, it is too difficult. The Chinese intelligence organization has never been able to establish its own information channels within the Japanese, making it extremely difficult to obtain information about the enemy.
Ning Zhiheng didn't dwell on the question any further. He asked again, "How many guards does he bring with him each time he goes out?"
Liu Tongfang quickly replied, "There are not many guards, only three people. Two of them are familiar faces, both of them are military attachés from the consulate. Only one is a new face, whom we have never seen before. I guess he is a trusted confidant he brought from Shanghai."
At this point, he stood up, went to the inner room, retrieved a briefcase, and handed it to Ning Zhiheng. “These are our investigation records of the Japanese consulate personnel over the past few years. I brought them here specifically for you to take a look.”
One of the important tasks of their military intelligence station in Hangzhou was to monitor the movements of the Japanese. The Japanese consulate was of paramount importance, and they kept detailed records of the consuls, counselors, military attachés, and other staff who were stationed there year-round.
Ning Zhiheng took the documents and took them out one by one. They were all information about Japanese consulate personnel. He carefully looked through them and suddenly seemed to have made a discovery. He picked up a photo of a person and asked, "There is also information about a Chinese person in here."
Liu Tongfang was very familiar with these documents; he had read them many times. Upon hearing Ning Zhiheng's question, he quickly replied, "Peng Asi, he is a Chinese chef, forty-five years old, with excellent skills. Because the consulate sometimes holds foreign affairs events and needs to prepare Chinese dishes when entertaining Chinese people, they hired a Chinese chef. However, he stopped working there last year and is now the head chef at a restaurant in Hangzhou. There are no Chinese people in the Japanese consulate now."
Ning Zhiheng frowned. The Japanese were indeed on tight guard, leaving no room for maneuver.
Ning Zhiheng asked again, "Since the assassination was planned to take place inside the consulate, do you have any knowledge of the consulate's layout and room arrangement?"
Liu Tongfang spread his hands and said helplessly, "The consulate has two buildings. One is the office building, and the other is the dormitory building for their main personnel. There are also some bungalows that are the dormitories for staff and stationed soldiers. We only know some general layout of the office building where they hold banquets by asking some people who have been to the consulate, but we don't know anything else."
"Don't you know this Peng Asi either?" Ning Zhiheng asked, pointing to the photo of Peng Asi in his hand.
Liu Tongfang had done his work carefully and had investigated these matters in advance. He replied, "I know some things, but mainly the layout of the office building and the distribution of rooms. We asked him, and he said he only lives in a bungalow and works in the kitchen. The Japanese don't believe him, so he doesn't know the interior of the building where Kawamoto Kuraji lives."
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