cicada

Chapter 1388 Explosion (Happy May Day Holiday)

five minutes ago.

A team of Japanese military police stood expressionlessly in the dark alley. The dim light shone into the alley from the entrance, making the executioners with blood on their hands look even more gloomy.

At the front of the team, two military police lieutenants looked at their watches, lit a cigarette each, and discussed the mission in a low voice.

"After the operation begins, you will lead the team to rush into the room and arrest the suspect. Move quickly. If you encounter any obstacles, kill them without mercy. The captain is waiting for our news."

"Hayi, I will control the other party as soon as possible."

The conversation ended, and a cigarette butt fell into a puddle on the road and went out with a crackling sound.

The military police lieutenant in charge of arresting people unbuttoned his collar and let out a long breath. For some reason, he felt a little nervous.

The second hand of the watch ticked, the time for action had come, and the other lieutenant tapped his chin vigorously and gave orders.

"Move!! [Move]"

Following the order, the group of gendarmes rushed out of the alley and ran towards a yard not far away.

At the same time, roads near the yard were blocked and telephone lines were cut off.

Watching his companions break down the door and enter the target residence, the second lieutenant outside raised his right hand high, ready to order support at any time.

A few seconds later, the second lieutenant and the Japanese military police behind him only felt a flash of light, then their faces became hot, and they were blown far away by the air wave. Finally, they heard a deafening explosion.

After a long time, the second lieutenant woke up from his coma, with a buzzing in his ears and blood flowing from his mouth and nose.

After finally opening his eyes, he lay on the ground and tilted his head to look at the yard. The scene before him was like the end of the world.

The yard had disappeared, leaving only a huge pit with burning wood and brick fragments scattered around it.

The lieutenant staggered to his feet, uttered a shrill cry, and ordered his men to rescue the people.

But everyone present knew that this was completely meaningless. The first group of people who went in would probably have turned into ashes, with not even a bone left.

In the distance, two dark shadows were whispering while looking at the explosion scene.

"Wang Badan, how much explosives did you put in?"

"Half a ton. Didn't you, Team Leader, say that all the special explosives sent from the Shancheng headquarters were used?"

"MD, Deputy Commander Zuo only told us to cooperate with the underground party, not to blow up so many devils. You've caused a big disaster, run!"

Without mentioning why the Military Intelligence Bureau agents appeared here, the two young spies knew that they had caused a big disaster and immediately fled.

As the capital of the puppet government, such a huge explosion in Nanjing naturally attracted the attention of the Japanese and puppet governments.

Five minutes after the explosion, the Peace Army arrived first, followed by the Japanese field troops.

According to the investigation and questioning, the Japanese puppet regime announced that the explosion killed 30 gendarmes, but did not mention a word about the owner of the house.

When the news reached Jiangbei, it was already the morning of the third day. Fang Zicheng walked into the office of the commander of the Fourth Army. As he entered, the guards took away his pistol as usual.

"Comrade Zicheng is here, please take a seat." The commander greeted him warmly, with his attitude as kind as usual.

Fang Zicheng, realizing this, relaxed a little, stood up straight and admitted his mistake to the commander.

"Commander, the courier to Jinling was exposed. This is my responsibility. I am willing to accept any form of investigation."

The commander shook his head and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't say such things. The courier may have been discovered by the enemy on the way. What you need to do is to learn from the lesson."

"Yes."

Fang Zicheng replied seriously, and then seemed to think of something: "Commander, the life and death of the courier is uncertain now, do we need to notify our comrades in Jinling and ask them to help the inside line evacuate?"

Fearing he might be misunderstood, he quickly added, "It's not that I don't trust my comrades, it's just that the inside line is in a critical position. If the courier falls into the hands of the enemy, the inside line is likely to be in danger. We must prepare for the worst."

The commander's expression changed slightly, and he replied in a deep voice: "No need. Before you came, I received reliable information that the insider had been arrested on the day of the explosion."

"What? Did the courier betray the insider? This damn traitor!"

Fang Zicheng gnashed his teeth and looked as if he wanted to eat the courier alive, but he quickly thought of a contradiction and ruled out the courier as a suspect.

He said seriously, "Commander, I don't think the courier would betray us. If he had been a traitor, the safe house would not have exploded."

"The enemy may have found an insider by tracking the courier. When the enemy tried to arrest him, the courier chose to activate the self-destruct device in the safe house and die together with him."

Hearing this, the commander looked remorseful: "Yes, this is consistent with my speculation. I was too impatient. Well, okay, go back to work."

Fang Zicheng left silently, he seemed to be thinking about something, his expression was a little complicated.

After he left, the Fourth Army security officer came out from the inner room. The commander asked him quietly, "Hasn't he found his subordinates or external contact methods?"

"No." The security officer said in a distressed tone. It was obvious at this point that the so-called insider contact mission was a trap.

In order to find out the spies hidden inside the Military Control Commission and the Fourth Army, Zuo Zhong and Xue Zheng came up with a plan and decided that the two parties would cooperate with each other and use false information to identify moles.

The specific division of labor between the two parties is that the underground party is responsible for selecting suitable false insiders and at the same time revealing the false insiders to different suspects.

The Military Intelligence Bureau was responsible for framing false insiders and carrying out armed operations. After all, the Military Intelligence Bureau was better at this kind of dirty work.

These were Xue Zheng's original words, and it turned out that he was right. The businessman surnamed Li successfully left the microfilm in Kang's toilet tank.

In short, the commander of the Fourth Army assigned [liaison tasks] to those who had information about the last meeting. So far, only Kang Jinhu, the [insider] that Fang Zicheng was responsible for, had problems.

However, security personnel monitored the house for several days and found nothing suspicious.

The commander frowned. This was trouble. Due to some events that happened a few years ago, arrests and investigations had become extremely sensitive, especially when there was no evidence.

Moreover, if we can't find Fang Zicheng's subordinates and contact channels, we can't catch all the Japanese spies in one fell swoop, and the threat still exists.

After thinking for a while, the commander ordered: "Report the situation here to your superiors. Be careful not to go through the telecommunications department. Fang Zicheng is a telecommunications expert and is very familiar with the signals of military radio stations. Send the report to Shandong Province through a secret communication station and then send it."
-
In a teahouse in Shancheng, Zuo Chong and Xue Zheng, the head of the military group of the underground party’s Shancheng representative office, met again.

"Mr. Zuo, your people have placed so many explosives. What if they hurt civilians?"

As soon as they met, Xue Zheng protested to Zuo Chong.

There was no way. The Jinling explosion was too big a cause célèbre. Fortunately, there were no residents living near the courtyard, otherwise the number of casualties would be at least twice as high.

Zuo Zhong looked embarrassed and said awkwardly, "I was not careful with my subordinates, please forgive me, Mr. Xue."

He wanted to kill the two bastards who carried out the bombing mission. They dared to use any kind of explosives and used half a ton of them.

After the Malaya mission, the British Special Operations Executive sent the army a batch of special explosives called Cyclone as a token of gratitude, which was 1.6 times more powerful than TNT.

According to the experiments conducted by the Military Control Commission, if half a ton of cyclone explosives exploded, there would be no chance of survival for ordinary brick and wood houses within a 100-meter radius of the blast point, and the death rate for those who were not sheltered would exceed 95 percent.

Cursing inwardly, Zuo Zhong put on a smile and got back to business with Xue Zheng.

"Mr. Xue, my people sent gifts to those fake insiders according to the list. What are the results of the Fourth Army's screening?"

Xue Zheng sighed and reported a man's name and position: "Fang Zicheng, Chief of the Fourth Army's Telecommunications Department."

"Oh?" Zuo Zhong raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "He is a senior member of your party. He not only participated in the December 9th Movement, but also studied in the Red Russian Federation. How could he betray?"

Xue Zheng narrowed his eyes. This dog spy had a very sharp nose. He even knew Fang Zicheng's resume. He immediately replied in a low voice.

"The road to life is like a great wave washing away the sands, and in this process, some people are left behind."

Zuo Zhong chewed for a long time and asked, "How do you want to deal with the house? Do you need the help of the Military Control Commission?"

"Thank you for your kindness, Deputy Director Zuo. You don't need to help me."

Xue Zheng rejected Zuo Zhong's proposal and told him about their current predicament. The Fourth Army had no evidence to prove that Fang Zicheng had surrendered to the enemy.

Upon learning of the other party's concerns, Zuo Zhong deliberately pretended to be disdainful and replied: "You guys just have too many rules. Now that you have locked on to the suspect, just arrest him and interrogate him. I don't believe he is iron-clad."

"Mr. Zuo, arresting people is not the goal. What we need to do is to eradicate the Japanese spies." Xue Zheng reiterated his attitude.

There was a lot of noise outside the teahouse. Zuo Zhong sat there thinking quietly, going over the information about Fang Zicheng in his mind, and then asked Xue Wen a question.

"You said Fang Zicheng had no contact with strangers, but what about the staff of the Fourth Army's Telecommunications Department? He can't even not talk to his subordinates, right?"

"What do you mean?" Xue Zheng was a little unsure.

Zuo Chong put the teacup back on the table, stood up and walked to the window overlooking the river. He looked at the vast river and slowly expressed what was in his mind.

"Fang Zicheng's background is clean and he rarely interacts with strangers. So why did he suddenly change his beliefs?"

"In my opinion, he must be influenced by external factors. This external factor can be money or material things, but the enemy must have a way to get close to the house."

"Combining the above information, Fang Zicheng is most likely a defector recently. I would make a bold guess that the person who defected him is in the Telecommunications Department!"

"Only in this way can the other party have frequent contact with him, and even use the radio station to directly contact the Japanese. Lao Xue, it seems that your team has been corrupted."

Hearing Zuo Zhong's gloating voice, Xue Zheng reacted instantly. They had been looking for Fang Zicheng's flaws, but had ignored the reason for his betrayal.

From a promising telecommunications section chief to a traitor despised by everyone, the change is huge. Finding out the reason for the change in the house is the key to solving the case.

No wonder the Fourth Army has not been able to find Fang Zicheng’s external communication channel. The Japs have already hit their nerves!

Xue Zheng immediately stood up and said goodbye to Zuo Zhong. He wanted to warn the northwest immediately. The Telecommunications Department was the core agency of the Fourth Army. If there was any problem, the consequences would be disastrous.

After sending away the anxious Xue Zheng, Zuo Zhong thought of another question: Since the Japanese successfully infiltrated the Fourth Army's Telecommunications Department, would they use the same method to attack the Military Control Commission?