As expected, Wu Shicai was bold and ruthless, and did not have the same scruples as Li Zhiqun. Just a few hours later, gunshots rang out all over Shanghai.
Wu Shicai mobilized all of his Green Gang forces. Although he was unable to strike Ding Mo, who had taken refuge in Juchuan Academy, his key members all suffered.
Liu Qian'an, then director of the Salt Administration Office for Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, and a close associate of Zhou Fushan, was shot and killed at the entrance of the dance hall.
Yang Zhengyuan, then a member of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and a close associate of Zhou Fushan, was shot and killed in front of his home.
Ren Baoping, a former agent of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) and the newly appointed director of the Industrial Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs, was one of Ding Mo's assistants and was shot dead at the Tongye Restaurant on Beima Road.
Gu Liansheng, a former agent of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) and then director of the Information Bureau of the Ministry of Social Affairs, was one of Ding Mo's assistants. He was shot to death by a group of gunmen who stormed into his home. His family members and servants were also injured or killed.
Yao Qiuhua, a former Kuomintang agent and instructor at Juchuan Academy, was attacked by gunmen on his way home and died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Kang Dongting, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Police Bureau, was killed by Wu Shicai and his men who stormed into his home and shot him to death because he was an important party and participant in the Li Yunqing case.
...
In the first half of the night, gunshots rang out continuously in downtown Shanghai. A total of sixteen assassination attempts occurred, all perpetrated by Zhou Fushan and Ding Mo's faction. The assassination operation was so large that it even implicated Zhou Fushan, a high-ranking official in the new government.
Zhou Fushan had not intended to get involved in this struggle, but he did not expect that the agents of No. 76 would have no scruples at all and would even kill his own men.
This caused him to call Li Zhiqun several times late at night, but Li Zhiqun refused to answer the phone. After failing to communicate, he had no choice but to issue an order, commanding the armed forces under his command, especially a portion of the armed police under his command, to cooperate with Ding Mo's forces to launch a counterattack.
So, in the latter half of that night, Zhou and Ding's forces worked together, and gunfire rang out again in downtown Shanghai.
Before dawn, apart from the key personnel living in the high-rise apartments at the headquarters of the special agents who escaped the attack, all the forces under Li Zhiqun's command also suffered heavy losses.
Five mid-level cadres, including Wang Ji'an, the head of the General Affairs Department of the Special Agent Headquarters, and Shi Lin, the head of the Supervision Department, were shot and killed when their homes were stormed.
Within the outer organization of the No. 76 Special Agent Headquarters, six key personnel, including Ren Chengyi, the editor-in-chief of the National News, and Xiao Ziming, the deputy editor-in-chief, were shot dead in their homes, leaving the newspaper's senior management completely wiped out.
That night, apart from the eastern urban area where the Japanese were concentrated, which was guarded by the Japanese police station and local troops, preventing either side from intervening, all other urban areas were filled with constant gunfire and chaos. Under Zhou Fushan's instructions, the police even participated in the fighting, engaging in several armed clashes with the 76th Division's operatives, resulting in numerous casualties.
In an instant, the entire city of Shanghai was thrown into chaos. Gunshots and explosions rang out one after another, making the citizens too frightened to sleep because of the gunfire outside. It was a time of great fear and panic.
When dawn broke, everyone took stock of their personnel and were shocked to find that both sides had suffered heavy losses that night, to the point of being unable to cope. Even Li Zhiqun, who had regained his senses, secretly regretted that he had underestimated the strength of Zhou Fushan and Ding Mo.
He had deliberately ignored Zhou Fushan's calls because he didn't take their power seriously. He never expected their counterattack to be so fierce.
Various Japanese departments in Shanghai also inquired with the Kagesa Agency about this matter. Currently, the security situation in Shanghai's urban areas, except for the eastern urban area centered on Hongkou District, where Japanese people are concentrated, has been handed over to the puppet government.
The puppet government was entirely supported by the Kagesa Agency, and now that Shanghai has fallen into such chaos overnight, the Kagesa Agency bears inescapable responsibility.
Under immense pressure, Haruki Masayoshi could no longer remain passive. With Chief Kagesa Hiroki absent, his influence was clearly insufficient to control the situation. Moreover, the situation was already spiraling out of control from the very beginning. In the first round, the struggle between Ding and Li had already reached a fever pitch, causing Haruki Masayoshi to lose confidence in his previous assessment.
Therefore, he urgently ordered Li Zhiqun to stop his retaliatory actions, and also warned Zhou Fushan, Ding Mo and others to stop the infighting between the two sides in time.
Around noon that day, Qing Qingzhengliang summoned Ding Mo and Li Zhiqun to his office to begin mediating between them.
With a deathly pale face and his arm in a sling, Li Zhiqun stared fiercely at Ding Mo, making no attempt to conceal his murderous intent.
Ding Mo was not to be outdone. His bloodshot eyes stared directly at Li Zhiqun. In just one night, his main subordinates had suffered heavy losses.
Qing Qingzhengliang sat upright in the center, his face extremely gloomy. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted in a deep voice, "Have you all gone mad? You've been engaging in a bloody battle without any restraint, and things have turned out like this overnight. What do you want to do? We will absolutely not allow you to act recklessly."
Upon hearing this, Li Zhiqun quickly explained, "Colonel, they attacked me first. If I hadn't been lucky, I would be a corpse by now. I did this entirely to protect myself!"
Upon hearing this, Ding Mo nearly jumped up in anger. He cursed, "You have the nerve to talk about self-defense? If you hadn't killed Jin Yaoxian, and Li Ziyun and the others hadn't been pressing and harassing me, would I have done this? I was defending myself!"
"That's because you sent Yu Pu to kill my master. The hatred for killing one's master is irreconcilable, and I will not let this go so easily!"
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