cicada

Chapter 1492 Bloodstained Wealth

A few days later, Ryosuke Hasegawa stood on the balcony with a coffee cup in his hand, while the neon lights of Shanghai flickered and the city was brightly lit in the distance.

"What a beautiful city! It's a pity I have to leave."

He sighed softly, took a sip of coffee, and looked on with a hint of nostalgia.

As an aggressor, or rather, a nominal aggressor, Ryosuke Hasegawa had complex feelings toward the city of Shanghai.

This place possesses boundless wealth, yet also omnipresent danger; the two combine to create a unique atmosphere.

If I had to describe Shanghai in one sentence, it would be: a paradise for adventurers.

Ever since he studied at Tongwen Academy in Shanghai many years ago, Chang Gu has fallen in love with the atmosphere, the food, and the architecture of this place.

No matter how reluctant they are, judging from the current situation, Japan's rule in Shanghai is already on its last legs. Shanghai will ultimately belong to the people of the Republic of China, and they are just uninvited robbers.

Hasegawa took another sip of hot coffee, and his thoughts drifted to South America. After several years of hard work, he had acquired a large tract of fertile land there.

Recalling the fertile farmland stretching as far as the eye could see in the photo, Hasegawa returned to his desk with a satisfied smile, ready to begin a new day's work.

"Dong dong."

A knock came at the door, and his secretary came in and gave him a top-secret telegram from Tokyo.

Ryosuke Hase frowned. At this point, what orders could Tokyo possibly give? Did they want to surrender?
He waved for his secretary to leave and then deciphered the telegram himself, referring to the codebook.

[Project Golden Lily]?
[Supervision and implementation]?
Looking at the coded telegram, Hasegawa's eyes lit up. The locusts and the powerful were actually planning to transfer their looted wealth. If he sold this information to Gian, he could definitely make a lot of money.

Hasegawa stroked his chin, contemplating his offer. This had nothing to do with patriotism; he simply considered it the retirement pension that the locusts were giving him.

As for concealing the matter and trying to make a quick buck, he never even considered it; such an opportunity was not something to be taken advantage of.

First of all, ordinary officials like him don't get much benefit from it, so it's more practical to sell intelligence.

Secondly, if he really did that, Fat Tiger's assassin would appear the next day.

High risk, low reward—as a savvy businessman, Hasegawa naturally knows how to choose.

After carefully tucking the telegram away, Ryosuke Hasegawa picked up the phone and contacted the Japanese Navy fleet stationed in Shanghai, attempting to inquire about the details of the transport.

To sell intelligence for a high price, simply knowing the name of the plan is useless; more detailed information is required.

"Moshi Moshi? Is this the Shanghai fleet? This is Hasegawa."

The moment the call connected, Ryosuke Hase flashed a bright smile and began chatting with the person on the other end of the line, laughing heartily.

He then contacted Tianjin and the Kwantung Leased Territory (Lushun) by radio.

According to the headquarters' plan, these two ports will be responsible for transshipping precious metals and cultural relics from North China and Pseudo-Mite, which also need to be verified.

In addition, cargo ships carrying goods from Shanghai and Tianjin would meet in the Kwantung Islands before returning to the Japanese mainland together.

This is done for security reasons. The waters of East Asia are currently very turbulent, with American submarines everywhere. It is extremely dangerous for a single cargo ship to sail on the open ocean. If it is sunk, there will be no one to call for help.

As evening fell, Hasegawa, who had been busy all day, returned to his residence and turned on the radio to receive the latest instructions from the Military Intelligence Bureau.

"Zizzizi~~"

"Gian is calling Nobita."

A string of random numbers and letters came from the radio, and two encrypted messages appeared on the notebook in front of Hasegawa.

[Temporarily cut off contact and closely monitor the looted property]

[Head to Kwantung State to check on the transfer situation; if there are no issues, wave a handkerchief outside the pier.]

Hmm. Is this a coincidence?
A thought popped into Ryosuke Hase's mind, but he quickly dismissed it; there were no coincidences in the intelligence business.

The coded telegram from Tokyo had just arrived when Gian sent his order, and the other party even knew the specific city to be transferred to, YC. What does this mean?
This indicates that the Military Intelligence Bureau has moles within the upper echelons of the empire, and this mole or group of moles has the ability to contact, or even push forward, a crucial plan concerning the fate of the empire.

Perhaps before the cabinet meeting even begins, the details of the Golden Lily Plan will already be in Fat Tiger's hands.

Ryosuke Hase swallowed hard, once again feeling fortunate for his decision.

When facing someone like Gian, you have to sleep with one eye open, because no one knows how many tricks the other has up their sleeve.

He decided to follow Fat Tiger's orders obediently, cut off all contact, and keep a close watch on the situation.

Money? What money?

This is an insult to an international anti-French fighter!

The next day, Ryosuke Hasegawa arrived at Wusongkou Wharf by car and met with the special advisor from the General Staff Headquarters' Special Financial Department.

Accompanied by a colonel from the Shanghai Fleet, the two entered a heavily guarded military warehouse.

As the warehouse door slowly opened, thousands of neatly stacked wooden crates came into view. All the crates were tightly wrapped, with various markings and seals on the sides.

Walking to the nearest wooden crate, Hasegawa patted it and asked, "Advisor, what's inside?"

The special advisor glanced at the markings on the box and casually replied, "Porcelain."

Would you mind if I opened it and took a look?

Ryosuke Hasegawa made a request: as the supervisor of Operation Golden Lily, he had the right to verify the quantity and authenticity of the transferred goods.

The special advisor nodded, signaling the guards to bring a crowbar, and then personally pried open the wooden crate.

Light streamed into the warehouse through the skylight, dust floated in the air, and a Yuan blue-and-white porcelain jar with fish and algae design① stood quietly at the bottom of the wooden box.

The deep blue fish swam among the seaweed, its lines fluid, as if it were about to leap out of the jar at any moment. Ryosuke Hase took the jar from the special advisor and examined it carefully against the light.

After a long while, he exclaimed, "Wow, this is truly exquisite!"

The special advisor adjusted his glasses, his small eyes greedily fixed on the blue-and-white porcelain jar, and began to explain its origins.

"Indeed, the Yuan Dynasty was the peak of blue and white porcelain production in the Republic of China. Both the craftsmanship and artistry reached an astonishing level."

"In 1938, Major Tanaka of the Hata Detachment led Imperial Warriors to occupy Jingdezhen."

“In the home of a local family, Tanaka-kun discovered this blue and white porcelain jar with fish and seaweed design, and then he presented it to His Majesty the Emperor.”

"I heard that Tanaka killed quite a few people from the Republic of China era for this treasure, hahaha."

The scholar-looking special advisor laughed heartily, while the naval colonel remained expressionless, his eyes fixed on the blue and white porcelain.

Ryosuke Hase nodded without saying anything, put the jar back in, and walked around the warehouse.

During this time, he randomly checked a few cultural relics. Although he couldn't tell the difference between the real and fake ones, he still had to pretend to examine them.

Moreover, these cultural relics were all appraised before being packed. If a fake is found, the best outcome for the appraiser would be to spend the rest of their life in prison.

After briefly inspecting the transshipment goods, Hasegawa noticed that a large area of ​​the warehouse was covered with tarpaulins.

"Your Excellency, what is that?" he asked curiously.

The special advisor didn't answer, but instead walked up to the canvas and said mysteriously, "Hase-kun, please don't be surprised."

After saying that, he suddenly lifted the canvas, revealing the item underneath.

Under the sunlight, the standard London gold bars radiated the unique glow of gold, so dazzling that it was hard to open one's eyes.

Due to their weight, these gold bars could not be placed in boxes or on shelves, and could only be stacked on the ground.

Ryosuke Hasegawa walked up to the gold without realizing it, his head spinning. It wasn't that he was naive; the scene was just too overwhelming.

After finally regaining his senses, he asked the special advisor how much gold was stored in the warehouse.

The special advisor covered the canvas again, handed over the transshipment list, and announced a startling number.

"4500 tons."

"These are spoils of war captured by the Empire during and after the Battle of Jinling. Among them are 38 gold bricks made from the gold teeth of corpses, which are slightly imperfect in purity."

Hearing this cold, indifferent reply, Ryosuke Hase seemed to smell blood and suddenly felt nauseous.

A standard London gold bar weighs 12.4 kilograms, and a gold tooth weighs approximately 4 grams. To cast 38 gold bars, at least 13 gold teeth would be needed.

Even if all 32 of a person's teeth were gold, it would still take more than 4000 people to collect that much gold.

But who would have a mouthful of gold teeth?

Hasegawa thought he was very calm, but when he thought about the death toll behind these gold bars, he couldn't help but shudder.

The naval captain standing nearby was also hearing about this for the first time and showed a similar expression of surprise.

The most refined-looking special advisor, however, remained calm and even seemed to be in the mood to introduce some rather unusual artifacts to Hasegawa.

"Hase-kun, look, it's the 'dragon bone' of the Republic of China era."

“Those ignorant fools grind them up and take them as medicine, unaware of how much valuable information is recorded on them.”

The special advisor pointed to the bone engraved with oracle bone script, his tone laced with sarcasm.

Ryosuke Hase disliked the consultant's tone and immediately turned around to look at the warehouse, abruptly changing the subject.

"Let's get back to business. Are the transport ships ready?"

"Yes, Hase-kun, the cargo ship is on standby."

The naval captain produced the relevant documents, and Hase felt relieved after reading them. The ship undertaking the transportation mission was actually from Shimizu Trading Company. Now it would be difficult for the Golden Lily Project to avoid trouble.

As part of the Kuomintang's smuggling network, it's not hard to guess the background of the Shimizu Trading Company. Having them transport valuables was like having rats guarding a granary.

Secretly pleased, Ryosuke Hasegawa returned the documents to the colonel and began to check the transported supplies according to the list. As expected, everything was normal.

Although more than ten tons of gold and hundreds of cultural relics were lost, losses are inevitable during sea transport. "Drifting away" is a common occurrence throughout history and across the world, and anyone who investigates such matters will be executed.

Five days later, Hasegawa flew to Tianjin.

On the same day, a transport ship from Shanghai set sail for the Kwantung Leased Territory.

When cargo ships depart from port, all wharves in Wusongkou and even the entire Shanghai port are closed, and no vessels are allowed to pass on the river or at the estuary, in order to prevent anyone from tracking the transport ships.

The Japanese went to great lengths to protect the wealth they had plundered, but these treasures, stained with the blood of the people of the Republic of China, could only belong to the people of this land.

At the dock in Daocheng, Shandong Province, Wu Chunyang glanced back at the Japanese soldiers on duty when someone suddenly called out his alias.

"Liu Shan, hurry up and go."

"Hey, here we come."

Upon hearing Gu Qi's shout, Wu Chunyang naturally turned around and quickly boarded the passenger ship bound for Kwantung State.

①This item is currently housed in the Tokyo National Museum, Oriental Gallery (Asian Art Section).

Hasegawa: There's nothing wrong with being a spy, but being a plantation owner offers a much wider range of possibilities.