cicada

Chapter 1514 "Evolution"

The small-scale firefight around the mountain city started quickly and ended even faster. Faced with an encirclement and suppression by several times the number of Kuomintang agents, the gunmen were wiped out after only half an hour of resistance.

Song Minghao, along with his junior agents, carried the corpses down the mountain, some belonging to the Kuomintang secret service and others to the enemy.

Despite being well-prepared, twenty or thirty of the junior agents following Zuo Zhong were still killed or wounded during the enemy's attack; that's how cruel war is.

Zuo Zhong saluted the fallen agent with an extremely serious expression. As a commander, sometimes it is necessary to exchange local sacrifices for strategic advantages, but such sacrifices should never be taken for granted.

He solemnly instructed Song Minghao: "Send the families of the fallen brothers to New Zealand as soon as possible, and take care of them in their old age, sickness and death."

"Yes, sir, I thank you on behalf of the men."

Song Minghao's eyes were red, and it was hard to tell whether it was acting or a genuine expression of emotion. Zuo Zhong didn't care to tell the difference; all he wanted to do now was settle accounts with the Americans.

"By the way, Chunyang, investigate the identities of these gunmen immediately. The appearance of unidentified armed personnel in the capital is no small matter."

Zuo Zhong lowered his right hand from the salute and solemnly assigned the task: if they could find out the gunman's identity, they might be able to trace the American intelligence network in the mountain city.

Wu Chunyang replied, "I'll make the arrangements right now. There's a high probability that these gunmen are from the military, so it shouldn't be difficult to investigate."

He had just observed that the gunman was firing with great skill and discipline. There weren't many armed personnel with such combat capabilities near the mountain city, and the army was the most likely suspect.

This judgment coincided with that of Zuo Zhong and He Yijun. Just as the group was about to discuss it further, the junior agent brought two dark, humanoid figures to Zuo Zhong.

"Oh my, isn't this Deputy Director Xu and Deputy Director Zheng? What's wrong with you two?" Zuo Zhongle said with a smile.

It wasn't that he was gloating, but the two of them looked so ridiculous. They were covered in black ash from head to toe, with only the area around their eyes and mouths remaining relatively clean.

Despite his mockery, Xu Enzeng and Zheng Tingbing did not react. They got into their car and drove into the city.

This time they were truly resigned to their fate and determined not to get involved in Zuo Zhong's affairs anymore. Since the Japanese were about to be defeated, it was more practical to do some business.

Watching his two old rivals depart, Zuo Chong expressed his feelings with a sigh, saying that people always have to suffer a few big losses before they know their own worth.

"Alright, let's head back to the city."

After saying this, Zuo Zhong led his agents back to the Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters. He had to report such a serious matter as the death of the American "journalist" to Lao Dai as soon as possible.

However, Dai Chunfeng's reaction to learning that his prized disciple and Kannon had been ambushed was less than expected; he merely said to investigate immediately.

As long as Zuo Zhong is alright, that's fine. If an American woman dies, she dies. Washington won't turn against the KMT over the death of a journalist, even if that journalist has other identities.

After the report was finished, Zuo Zhonggang walked into his office, whereupon Wu Chunyang handed him an investigation report.

"Lieutenant, we've found out. The gunmen came from the 166th and 199th Divisions of the garrison. Their commander was Guan Bo, the deputy battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 199th Division and a graduate of the Army Officer Academy."

Zuo Zhong gasped. These two units were recently transferred from the Northwest to the area around the mountain city for rest and reorganization. They both belonged to the 18th Group Army.

Within the Kuomintang army, the 18th Group Army was undoubtedly the top elite force, known as the "courage of the Kuomintang army."

Countless Kuomintang generals stepped onto the historical stage from this force, such as Minister Chen, Chief of Staff Luo, Huang who didn't understand military affairs, and Commander Yang who criticized Huang. This is how the Civil Engineering Department came about.

The Americans had actually infiltrated the 18th Group Army. This was tantamount to gouging out someone's eyes. Zuo Zhong clicked his tongue, feeling that things were getting a bit troublesome.

After thinking for a long time, he looked up and asked, "How is the investigation into Guan Bo's background going? Has he shown any unusual behavior recently?"

Wu Chunyang blurted out: "Reporting to the Vice Commander, Guan Bo is from Nanjing. He was admitted to the 13th Regular Class of the Army Officer School in 1935 and was assigned to the 18th Group Army in December 1937. During that time, he fought bravely."

Zuo Zhong was surprised. Guan Bo graduated in 1937 and served for eight years before being promoted to major and deputy battalion commander. His career path was not smooth. Could this be the reason why he defected to the Americans?
Thinking of this, he asked again, "Does Guan Bo usually have any complaints about the government?"

“No, Guan Bo’s political stance is very firm, otherwise he wouldn’t have stayed in the 199th Division for so long.” Wu Chunyang shook his head.

The 18th Army Group was a direct descendant of the Nationalist government, and the military commissioner naturally would not ignore the ideological dynamics of the officers under its command. Anyone who was dissatisfied with the Nationalist government or sympathized with the Northwest would be punished by being sent to a low-level government office.

Unable to figure out the reason, Zuo Zhong got up from his chair and instructed Wu Chunyang, "Let's go check on Guan Bo's dormitory and give the 199th Division a heads-up."

Two hours later, accompanied by a deputy division commander surnamed Ding and the director of the political training department of the 199th Division, Zuo Zhong and Wu Chunyang entered an officer's dormitory.

"Lieutenant, this is Guan Bo's residence. After receiving the situation report from headquarters, I immediately had the room sealed off," the Director of Political Training said cautiously.

The Guo Military Political Training Department was mostly staffed by former members of the Military Intelligence Bureau, so the department head was very respectful, fearing that he might offend Zuo Zhong.

"Yea, very good."

Zuo Zhongzui responded, his gaze sweeping across the room. Besides a cot and a bookcase, there were no other items. This was normal; the 199th Division had been temporarily relocated to the mountain city, and junior officers couldn't bring much luggage.

After standing still and looking around, Zuo Chong walked to the bookshelf, picked up a book, and saw a line of English writing on the cover: The American Hope.

"The American Dream?"

Zuo Zhong muttered to himself, quickly flipping through the book and finding that it described the stable and respectable daily life of the American middle class, but the descriptions were too exaggerated.

He lost interest in continuing to read and picked up another book at random, titled "Small Town Life".

The story of this book takes place in a small town in the American Midwest. Although it is satirical, what readers see on the surface is "stability, prosperity, and civilization".

Why is it this kind of book again?
Zuo Zhong frowned and laid out all the books in order. Apart from a few military textbooks, Guan Bo was reading mostly similar books.

Films like "Babbitt" and "What We Fight For" all revolve around the theme of American-style happiness.

Zuo Chong now understood why Guan Bo had sided with the Americans. He turned to the head of the Political Training Department and questioned, "Where did these books come from? Didn't you notice anything amiss?"

The political training director paused for a moment, then replied, "Vice-Sir, when the 199th Division was stationed in the Northwest, an American businessman donated a large sum of money and a large number of books to the army. We reviewed them and found no sensitive content in the books."

At this point, the director of the political training department felt somewhat aggrieved. If these were red books, they would have destroyed them long ago, but these were books by allies.

Zuo Zhong didn't know what to say. People of this era didn't understand the power of ideological assimilation, but he did.

In the future, the United States will not defeat Red Russia with airplanes and cannons, but with these inconspicuous books, movies, and music. They create a false image of happiness, aiming to make the lower classes of Red Russia yearn for and worship the United States, thereby influencing the thinking of a group of people and even a country.

This method of psychological warfare was later called "peaceful evolution" or "color-based life-saving"!
Ideological assimilation coupled with internal corruption—any country that underestimates this tactic will pay a heavy price; Red Russia serves as a cautionary tale.

Zuo Zhong put the book back on the shelf, his expression becoming extremely serious. He hadn't expected that the Americans would start related experiments at this time, and that this kind of thing was definitely not limited to the 199th Division.

Realizing that some of the Guo Army units had been taken over, Zuo Zhong could no longer sit still. He turned sharply to look at the director of the political training department and issued an order in a stern tone.

"Immediately confiscate all books belonging to the 199th Division, regardless of their content, and submit them to headquarters for review."

"In addition, try to find some movies and books depicting the Great Depression for the officers and soldiers to watch and read, and do so quickly."

After saying that, Zuo Zhong looked at Wu Chunyang and said, "You also need to do three things. First, notify the political training departments of each department that they must be vigilant against the spread of certain negative ideas, but do not name names."

"Second, investigate the newspapers and magazines in Chongqing and other major cities to see how many people are advocating for the Americans."

"Third, they secretly monitored military leaders, cultural figures, scholars, and student representatives in various places. I suspect the Americans have planted moles among these people, and they are very discreet in their actions."

Zuo Zhong rubbed his head. He had been negligent in this matter, but it was never too late to mend his ways. It was still not too late to pay attention now.

Two days later, Wu Chunyang brought the investigation results to Zuo Zhong's office, and the contents were shocking.

According to preliminary investigations, in Chongqing alone, more than 30 newspapers have questionable stances or have received financial assistance from unknown forces.

By tracing the source, the Military Intelligence Bureau's financial personnel determined that these aid funds originally came from American banks, but they could not find information about the account holders.

The findings of the third investigation were even more startling. One group, through wiretapping and mail analysis, secretly identified hundreds of military leaders, cultural figures, scholars, and student representatives, discovering that one-fifth of them had connections to the United States.

Wu Chunyang was already covered in sweat. With so many suspicious people appearing in the mountain city, he, as the head of the intelligence department, could not escape responsibility.

Zuo Zhong remained remarkably calm. Traitors exist all the time; some people always prefer to be dogs for foreigners rather than build their own country.

However, based on the recent series of actions by the Americans, there must be an intelligence expert behind them who is familiar with the Kuomintang's secret police and is used to killing people with subtle methods.

Who could that person be? Adams, the OSS specialist Cannon mentioned?

Gently closing the report, Zuo Zhong picked up the phone and called his cheap teacher and the attendant's office. This matter was too big; he needed to find a tall person to handle it.

India, Ramgarh base.

A column of Chinese Expeditionary Force soldiers marched past the window. Inside, Adams, holding a telegram, smiled and muttered to himself, "Is Cannon dead? What an interesting opponent."

Temasek.

Gui Youguang danced a unique Malayan dance called Zabin, his movements clumsy and his appearance comical, which made Margaret cover her mouth and chuckle.

(End of this chapter)