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Chapter 1390 Escape
Compared with the interrogations conducted by the Nationalist government and the Japanese, the interrogations conducted by the underground party were obviously much more civilized. At least there were no various torture instruments in the interrogation room, nor were there interrogators with sinister expressions.

But Fang Zicheng was still very nervous. He kept swallowing his saliva, gripping the handles of the chair tightly with his ten fingers, and his face was extremely pale.

But this is normal, anyone who talks to the security department will have this reaction.

The security officer slammed the table, ready to break down his psychological defenses in one fell swoop: "You know the organization's policies, I won't say anything extra, just tell me the truth about your relationship with Qiu Fang."

Here the security personnel used affirmative language, trying to make Fang Zicheng think that his relationship with Qiu Fang had been exposed. As long as Fang Zicheng opened his mouth, the interrogation would be considered a success.

However, as a half-intelligence officer who had trained in Red Russia, Fang Zicheng was very difficult to deal with.

Today's telecommunications personnel have the attributes of intelligence personnel. Their training includes a large number of intelligence courses. They are by no means laymen who know nothing.

As expected, Fang Zicheng's answer was evasive. He said that the insider was arrested because the courier exposed his whereabouts, and then he said that he had made contributions to the organization.

The former has no evidence to prove its wrongdoing, and the latter is pure nonsense, which is very common during interrogations.

The security officer was not annoyed. He immediately changed the interrogation method, asked someone to open the wooden door and raised his chin towards the door: "The house is ready. Look who is this?"

Fang Zicheng subconsciously turned his head and his expression instantly became extremely ugly. The courier who was rumored to have died together with the Japanese military police was standing outside the door and looking at him coldly.

Now even a fool would understand that the insider and the contact mission were all fake, and the purpose was to lure out the Japanese spies.

Noticing that Fang Zicheng's attitude had softened, the interrogator softened his tone and talked to Fang Zicheng about his past.

"You are from Hunan Province, right? Your father died early, and you and your son depend on each other for survival. It is your mother who raised you with great difficulty."

"In order to support your studies, she climbed three mountains and crossed the river barefoot to wash clothes at the landlord's house every day, even in winter."

"In winter, the river water was freezing cold, and her legs and feet were frozen. At night, she had no money to light an oil lamp, so she sewed clothes for people by the moonlight, and she went blind because of it."

As the security officer spoke, tears welled up in Fang Zicheng's eyes and finally he burst into tears, obviously because he was touched on a painful spot.

It is conceivable how much hard work a widow put in to raise her child into a college student. The word "hardship" is absolutely not enough to describe it. She really exhausted all her efforts.

In the cold winter, wading barefoot through the icy stream, the coldness was like a knife cutting through the skin, comparable to torture.

Fang Zicheng's mother had been walking this road for more than ten years. Every winter she would walk it once in the morning and once in the evening on an empty stomach, smiling just to ask for some work.

Recalling the suffering his mother had endured, Fang Zicheng could no longer remain silent. He cried inconsolably and his body shook violently.

The security officer struck while the iron was hot and spoke in a tough tone again. Every word he said was like a hammer hitting Fang Zicheng's heart.

"Given your background, you should have fought for the poor all your life, but you worked like a dog for the Japanese, betrayed your country and your people!"

"As the saying goes, a son will never despise his mother's ugliness, and a dog will never despise his family's poverty. Is this how you repay your mother? What would she think if she knew?"

Interrogation is a psychological battle. As long as you find a loophole, you must seize the opportunity and not give the target too much time to think.

The security officer slammed the table again, awakening Fang Zicheng from his memories, and asked him the same question again, demanding that he explain his relationship with Qiu Fang.

Fang Zicheng's shoulders relaxed, and he slumped down in his seat, letting out a long sigh: "I'll explain."

Half a year ago, a group of graduates from the Central China Branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University came to the Fourth Army. There were many female students among them, and Qiu Fang was among them. She was assigned to work in the Telecommunications Department as a radio operator.

At the beginning, Fang Zicheng only regarded the other party as an ordinary subordinate, but as their interactions deepened, their relationship changed.

Qiu Fang not only cooperates with him at work, but also cares about him in life. An inexplicable feeling makes Fang Zicheng anxious and unable to sleep at night.

The security officer kept writing down Fang Zicheng's narration in detail. When he heard the part about caring about people's lives, he shook his head secretly.

Fang Zicheng underestimated the enemy. His superiors had informed him long ago that the Japanese had set up spy schools in Northeast China, Shanghai and other places, recruiting young women for special training in cesium inducement.

These female spies are proficient in psychological manipulation and know how to create "chance encounters" and stimulate the target's desire to protect. They are also familiar with the language, culture and social etiquette of the Republic of China, and often disguise themselves as students, nurses, and dancers to steal intelligence.

The Fourth Army once seized the Japanese Army's "Army Spy Work Manual", which clearly required the use of [Gynecology (female spies)] for special contact with valuable targets.

As the head of the telecommunications department, Fang Zicheng should report such things immediately. Even if Qiu Fang has no problem, the two of them cannot work in the same place. This is a matter of discipline.

The tip of the pen made a rustling sound as it moved across the paper. Fang Zicheng continued to speak, and the security officer took notes while analyzing the authenticity of the confession.

"Later, we got together, and she often went to my dormitory at night, but I didn't do anything, really."

Fang Zicheng's face turned red, and he emphasized it again for fear that the security officer would not believe him.

The security officer did not doubt it and wrote it down truthfully, because such things were easy to verify and there was no need for the other party to lie.

According to Fang Zicheng, not long after the two started their relationship, Qiu Fang began to ask some sensitive questions intentionally or unintentionally, and the frequency of such questions increased.

At first, Fang Zicheng didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a woman's curiosity. It was not until Qiu Fang confronted him that he woke up from his dream.

Qiu Fang confessed that she was a Japanese spy and had already given away a lot of information. She threatened Fangzi to serve the Japanese, otherwise she would report him to her superiors. In addition to the threats, she also cried and claimed that if she could not provide information, the Japanese would kill her family.

With a combination of soft and hard tactics, Fang Zi succeeded. He revealed the secrets of the Fourth Army to Qiu Fang many times, such as the arrangements of the last high-level meeting.

In order to prevent exposure, the two men cut off physical contact with the outside world and used radio to transmit information to the Japanese.

The security officer frowned. This was a dereliction of duty on the part of the security department. They must improve the radio station's usage discipline as soon as possible, otherwise this kind of thing will happen again.

After noting the last sentence, the security officer asked Fang Zicheng: "What is Qiu Fang's code name? Does she have other subordinates?"

Fang Zicheng shook his head blankly: "I don't know, probably not. Qiu Fang usually works in the telecommunications department and rarely communicates with outsiders."

Faced with Fang Zicheng who knew nothing about anything, the security officer didn't know what to say. If he said that Fang Zicheng was stupid, he was able to get into university. If he said that he was smart, he had been in the enemy for so long but he didn't even know the details of the Japanese spy.

Putting down the pen, the security officer stood up and walked to the interrogation chair and placed the confession in front of Fang Zicheng, asking him to check for any mistakes.

"Let's see if there are any omissions. If not, just sign it. In view of your good attitude, the organization will consider how to deal with you."

Hearing the security officer's words, Fang Zicheng nodded vigorously, read the confession quickly and pressed his thumb print.

Although it felt very comfortable to press the fingerprints, after doing so, the house felt as if all its bones had been removed and it became visibly dilapidated.

It is understandable that if he still had hope of turning things around before, now his future is ruined and he is completely standing on the opposite side of the people.

After the interrogation, Fang Zicheng was sent to a prison under the Fourth Army, awaiting the decision of his superiors and the organization. This would not be a short time, after all, it involved a telecommunications chief.

But things were not so smooth for Qiu Fang. This woman was very stubborn. Even with Fang Zicheng's confession, she refused to admit that she was a Japanese spy.

It was impossible for the underground party to use torture against the female Japanese spy like the Military Control Commission did, so they had to report the situation. Soon a telegram was sent from the mountain city to central Jiangsu, which contained a description of the appearance of Qiu Fang's parents and family.

After hearing about her parents' recent situation and hearing the news came from the Military Control Commission, Qiu Fang immediately gave in. She had only one condition: do not harm her family.

It takes another evil to deal with a bad person. Qiu Fang knew that the underground party would not implicate innocent people, but the Guo party did not have such rules. Everyone knew how the Military Control Commission dealt with the families of traitors.

Last month, the Military Control Commission sanctioned a puppet government official and used a bomb to send the official's entire family into the sky. The scene was horrific.

The interrogators agreed to Qiu Fang's request, but whether the Military Control Commission would do so was not something they could decide.

On the surface, the Military Control Commission is the superior agency of the Fourth Army, and it is not appropriate for subordinates to interfere in what their superiors want to do.

Qiu Fang obtained a [guarantee] and confessed that he was recruited before the Japanese army occupied Malaya, and went to the Republic of China in early 1941 to infiltrate the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University's Huazhong branch.

After nearly a year of training, Qiu Fang was assigned to the Fourth Army Telecommunications Department in January this year.

Due to the strict discipline of the Fourth Army, she only instigated Fang Zicheng to defect. The interrogator did not comment and asked about her code name and superior.

After hesitating for a moment, Qiu Fang replied in a low voice: "My code name is [Ace No. 1], and my superior is Shibayama Kanesiro."

The interrogator's pen, which was taking notes, suddenly paused. Ace number one, does this mean there are also number two and number three?
After noting this guess, the interrogator asked more questions, such as how the other party contacted the Japanese, the content of the intelligence previously transmitted, etc.

Qiu Fang gave answers to all these questions. The Japanese would give orders through code words in public broadcasts, and she would decipher the code and act according to the orders.

Once the mission was completed, she would send the information to Shibayama Kaneshiro during normal radio transmission. With the cover of Fang Cheng, the operation went smoothly.

In addition, Qiu Fang revealed that there was indeed a number two ace who was sent to the mountain city, also in early 1941.

She only knew that the second ace was also a female, but she didn't know her age, name or appearance.

At this point the facts of the case seemed to be clear, and Fang Zicheng and Qiu Fang were detained together awaiting sentencing.

Late at night on the same day, the commander of the Fourth Army received two pieces of urgent intelligence. One piece stated that the Japanese and puppet forces might make unusual movements in the near future, while the content of the other piece surprised the commander.

That night, just as the Fourth Army had made corresponding deployments, part of the Seventh Division of the Peace Army suddenly appeared near the headquarters. The commander made a prompt decision and ordered all personnel to evacuate.

During the retreat and fighting, the prisoners in the prison took advantage of the chaos to open their cells, and Fang Zicheng and Qiu Fang mixed in the crowd and ran towards the Japanese-occupied area.

Before they knew it, it started to rain heavily. Even though their lips were turning purple from the cold, Fang and Qiu did not dare to delay for even a second.

After stumbling and running for more than ten miles, the two men encountered the vanguard of the puppet army. After proving their identities, Fang Zicheng boarded the troop carrier.

In the shaking carriage, he glanced at the Fourth Army headquarters, which was engulfed in flames, his face filled with shock and confusion.

Qiu Fang, who was standing beside him, saw his uneasiness and said in a delicate voice, "Zicheng, don't worry. Commander Chai Shan will not treat you or me unfairly. I am sincere to you."

Fang Zicheng forced a smile, grabbed the other person's hand and nodded slightly. The truck under the two of them sped up and the Yangtze River was already in sight.

In the early hours of the morning, the Military Intelligence Bureau received a report from the underground party. In order to prevent the second-in-command from escaping, Zuo Zhong ordered the blockade of the Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters.