Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

The global trade loan was conducted in secret—at this critical juncture, neither the Xikou Attendant's Office nor the Jiang side wanted to provoke the other side.

After all, they are now focused on seeking peace talks and want to appear as if they are talking for the sake of peace. But once the loan and arms purchase issues are exposed, won't their true colors be revealed?
Keeping things secret is something Zhang Anping excels at—he instructed York that this matter must indeed be kept secret, but perhaps Global Trade could consider raising funds and going public?
Whether or not it can go public is not important; what is important is that if it does go public, it seems that it needs to disclose its financials.
Global trade, let's get started!

……

After settling down in Shanghai, Zhang Anping's first task was to build a new secrecy bureau system centered on the Shanghai station.

What belongs to Guangzhou belongs to Guangzhou, and what belongs to Shanghai belongs to Shanghai!

Under this "guiding principle," the secrecy bureau system of the river defense system began a fierce internal struggle. The Mao faction and the Zhang faction fought so hard that they almost lost their minds. In the end, they even started to set traps for each other, making quite a scene.

Amidst this "lively" atmosphere, the Nationalist government also began releasing arrested political prisoners on a large scale.

For a time, newspapers were filled with news of the release of political prisoners. As various summaries of the news were published, the newspapers praised the Nationalist government's sincerity in the peace talks.

This created a huge momentum, as if those on the other side of the river were traitors to the nation and the country if they did not accept peace talks.

But just at this crucial moment, news broke:
The Bureau of Investigation and Statistics secretly transferred more than a thousand underground party members to Chongqing!
The timing of this news release was extremely strategic:
Not long ago, a civilian delegation went to Beiping to try to facilitate peace talks;

Not long ago, the Kuomintang claimed that in order to show its sincerity in peace talks, it had released all the underground party members who were being held in custody.
Not long ago, all the newspapers were praising the Kuomintang's sincerity—

At this critical juncture, something ironic happened:

The Kuomintang, which claimed to have released all underground party members, secretly transferred more than a thousand of them to Chongqing!
The public was outraged, and even the democratic parties that had helped to facilitate the peace talks, as well as the Kuomintang itself, were indignant.

Amidst public outrage, Li, the acting chief of staff, announced the formation of an investigation team composed of civilians, democrats, and officials, with reporters from various newspapers dispatched to conduct an on-site investigation in Chongqing.

At the same time, Zhang Anping and Mao Renfeng, the two de facto leaders of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, personally sent a telegram to Chongqing:

The key members of the underground party must be kept hidden; the matter must never be exposed!

Lin Nansheng, the station chief of Chongqing Station, and Qiu Ning, the representative of the Bureau Headquarters, personally oversaw the covert operations—a large number of underground party members were secretly transferred to the mountains overnight to hide.

They used the empty Chongqing prison system to welcome the investigation team's inspection.

It looks flawless, doesn't it?
Can……

problem occurs!
What a big deal!

The day after the investigation team arrived, Qiu Ning, the head of the intelligence department of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, disappeared!

Two days later, Qiu Ning appeared in the CCP-controlled area and showed reporters several documents and secret telegrams, revealing evidence that the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was outwardly compliant but inwardly concealing underground Communist Party members.

Because he revealed the exact location, it naturally attracted a large number of reporters. The Chongqing station urgently organized an evacuation, but the reporters blocked the way, and a large number of ragged, arrested underground party members were photographed as a result.

The release of irrefutable evidence caused an uproar throughout the Kuomintang-controlled areas.

Holy crap, we're trying to facilitate peace talks, but the Security Bureau always messes up at crucial moments?!

Even Li Dai, the acting chief of staff, was enraged. He stopped hiding his true intentions and directly exposed the secrets of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics' plan to carry out a large-scale execution of key underground party members on the third day of the Lunar New Year. He also publicly criticized the person in Xikou who was seriously hindering the peace talks.

Public opinion is demanding that the Bureau of Secrecy and the mastermind behind it be severely punished.

……

Guangzhou, Guangzhou Station of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.

Mao Renfeng stared at the telegram, completely stunned.

The station chiefs he trusted were all found to be communists in hindsight—how much effort he had to put in to suppress it?

He trusted Minglou—based on various pieces of evidence, Minglou, who defected to the Communists, was very likely the "Katyusha" hidden in the Military Intelligence Bureau;
Now, he trusted Qiu Ning, but Qiu Ning turned around and betrayed him by siding with the Communists.

"me……"

After a long silence, he said to the trusted station manager of Guangzhou:
"I really don't support the Communists!"

The stationmaster of Guangzhou Station thought to himself: I know you're not my comrade!
He said anxiously, "Director, the most important thing now is how to wrap things up!"

"Zhang Anping probably won't let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip by!"

Mao Renfeng leaned back in her chair, utterly exhausted: "How do we end this? How else can we end this? How else can we end this?!"

I'm tired! Let's destroy it!

This is Mao Renfeng's state of mind right now; she's really exhausted.

Fighting Zhang Anping is hard enough as it is, but to have to suffer betrayal from someone you trust every now and then is just too... frustrating.

The Guangzhou stationmaster looked terrified: "Commander, you can't give up like this! What will we brothers do if you do that!"

Mao Renfeng looked at him blankly: "Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Chief Qiu—that scoundrel Qiu Ning, he was forced into rebellion by Zhang Anping!"

Mao Renfeng was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening:
"Go on!"

"Zhang Anping disregarded the overall situation of the Party and the country. After Director Qiu entered Chongqing, he secretly ordered Lin Nansheng, a lackey, to make arrangements. After realizing that he was doomed, Director Qiu had no choice but to surrender to the Communists to save his life!"

These words gave Mao Renfeng a glimmer of hope.

He knew that Qiu Ning was definitely a communist sympathizer, and Zhang Anping wouldn't be so despicable.

However, if he wanted to protect himself, he could only shift the blame onto Zhang Anping.

And this way of shifting blame...

The CCP will definitely cooperate with me, albeit subtly!

After all, Zhang Anping is their biggest threat—as long as they secretly cooperate with me, this matter will be a muddled mess that can't be investigated! Then everyone will have their own version of events!

Thinking of this, Mao Renfeng couldn't help but get up and pace back and forth. After examining the situation repeatedly, she said:
"I'm leaving this matter to you!"

……

At that time, the situation in the Kuomintang-controlled areas was only one:
Public opinion is surging, pointing the finger at Xikou.

Li Dai, the chief attendant, had had enough of being hampered in various ways. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he planned to use public opinion to deal a heavy blow to Xikou.

Although... it may not be useful.

But at least it was a way to vent one's anger—even though peace talks were the outcome that Xikou wanted, and everyone hoped that the peace talks would buy time to prepare for war, Xikou always managed to sabotage things.

Even though public opinion is useless, I must get my revenge!
Therefore, he guided public opinion, sharpening his sword and aiming it at Xikou.

……

Shanghai.

As Zhang Anping felt the overwhelming public opinion, he kept clicking his tongue inwardly.

It seems that Li Dai's chief attendant is determined to make things difficult for Xikou this time.

Unfortunately, the one in Xikou still holds real power. Although he has lost his "name," he still firmly grasps the "real power." No matter how much this wave of public opinion is stirred up, it can only make his reputation worse.

It's not very useful.

"but……"

"I can't let this opportunity slip by!"

The loyal Zhang Anping decided to take action.

He submitted his resignation letter directly to the GFB, stating that the actions of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics were his own doing, without any guidance from anyone behind the scenes. He added that he, as the deputy director, was responsible for the mess that had been created and was willing to resign to apologize.

His resignation letter had barely been submitted to the GFB when Xikou received the news.

After the head attendant grunted a curse, he added:
"The little guy is still very loyal."

Although things are embarrassing right now, it's really nothing compared to the three major battles of the past—the three major battles resulted in the loss of more than a million of the most elite troops. Compared to that loss, no matter how much trouble the Security Bureau causes now, frankly speaking, it's just a minor ailment.

Zhang Anping's actions satisfied the people in Xikou, but angered Li Dai, the acting head of the Nanjing entourage.

"What a lapdog!!"

Li Dai's chief attendant couldn't help but curse angrily.

The intention was to use this incident to annoy Xikou, but Zhang Anping jumped out and took full responsibility.

That's absolutely outrageous!
The most disgusting thing is actually:

Zhang Anping's nominal resignation was merely a formality; the current Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was just an empty shell, with the real power of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics entirely in the hands of Mao Renfeng in Guangzhou and Zhang Anping in Shanghai.

Even though he resigned, he still held real power.

However, this strategic retreat actually neutralized the public opinion offensive.

hateful!

Zhang Anping's "resignation to take responsibility" not only breached the defenses of the Guangxi clique, but it could even be said that it breached the defenses of the Mao clique the most!
It's Mao Renfeng!

Mao Renfeng, who had just submitted a complaint to Xikou, couldn't contain herself upon hearing the news of Zhang Anping's resignation. This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!
He was stripped of his bureau chief position by Li Daishichang, but for him, this was a genuine "merit"—as a result, Zhang Anping has now "resigned to take responsibility," while Mao Renfeng, who wanted to learn from him, has no position to follow.

In name only, he was a "white person"!

What's most infuriating is that he had just sent a telegram accusing Zhang Anping to Xikou.

Well, this makes Mao Renfeng seem even more petty!

"This is outrageous! It's so unfair!"

Mao Renfeng roared in despair, like a wild beast without claws or teeth.

He understood that he was completely finished. The chief attendant might not leave him idle for the time being, but in the future, his fate would definitely be like Xu Enzeng's.

……

"Poor... Old Mao."

When Zhang Anping heard that Mao Renfeng was hospitalized in Guangzhou, he was filled with mixed emotions. At this rate, it seemed that Mao would never be able to die peacefully in his old age—it was said that if someone was constantly angered, they would eventually develop a terminal illness from anger…

Previously, Zhang Anping's attitude towards Mao Renfeng was to "profit" from her whenever possible and "protect" her whenever possible. After all, having such a "close" opponent made things much easier for him.

But after Mao Renfeng took the blame, he thought Mao Renfeng had lost his usefulness—he had let go of everything he needed to, and he had taken the biggest blame. Let him do whatever he wanted!

After setting aside Mao Renfeng's matter, Zhang Anping turned his gaze to the Yangtze River defense line.

Being in the thick of it all, and with the added advantage of an omniscient perspective, Zhang Anping was able to clearly see the essence of the Yangtze River defense line.

In a word:

"As solid as chicken soup!"
Countless battles throughout history have proven an ironclad rule:
To defend the Yangtze River, one must also defend the Huai River!
In its simplest terms: without the Huai River region, the defenders of the Yangtze River, stretching over 3,000 li, would be forced into a passive defensive posture. However, if they possessed the Huai River region, and the attacking side dared to cross the river without capturing it, the Huai River region could send troops to cut off their retreat.

That's why there's the saying that to defend the Yangtze River, one must also defend the Huai River.

But the current Kuomintang doesn't have the Huai River region!

Even with 700,000 troops blocking the Yangtze River defense line, they still had no confidence.

The most crucial issue is the conflict between factions!

The "defense of the Yangtze River" plan devised by the chief attendant, to put it bluntly, did not focus on Nanjing, but rather on the Songhu area as the core and the Shanghai-Hangzhou triangle area as the key defensive area.

Here, he set up the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Garrison Command—a garrison command with a total of 45 troops under its command.

To put it bluntly, from the perspective of the Central Army, what they wanted to defend was not the Yangtze River, but the entire Shanghai area.

But the Guangxi clique really wanted to defend the Yangtze River.

For the Guangxi clique, not defending their position is not an option.

Because once the People's Liberation Army crosses the river, Guangxi will inevitably fall under the PLA's military might. At that time, they will lose their hometowns and become rootless duckweed.

Therefore, the Guangxi clique focused on developing the Yangtze River—on the one hand, creating public opinion and showing sincerity in seeking peace talks, and on the other hand, desperately building up the Yangtze River defense line, preparing to resist using the natural barrier of the Yangtze River if the peace talks collapsed.

The problem lies in the considerations of both sides.

The Central Army focused on building the Shanghai-Hangzhou triangle defense zone, but the Guangxi clique wanted to defend the Yangtze River along the entire line. As a result, the Guangxi clique had to defend the entire line and even came up with multiple plans to hold the line.

Judging from the plan, there is hope of successfully defending the natural barrier of the Yangtze River!
So, is this a good thing?
This is not a good thing for Xikou's chief attendant!

Indeed, the more the Guangxi clique's Yangtze River defense plan gains military recognition, the worse it is for the Chief of Staff!

the reason is simple:
His "name" was taken by the Guangxi clique!
If the Nationalist army, under the leadership of the Guangxi clique, had actually held the Yangtze River defense line, it would have been a devastating blow to the Chief of Staff.

In the end, the false "name" will become the real "name" (the substitute becomes the real name), and he will be a complete failure.

On the contrary, the defeat of the Guangxi clique was actually a good thing for him.

This means that he can also legitimately "reclaim lost ground" and regain his "fame".

However, despite this fundamental contradiction, they also share common interests:

time!

Whether it's Xikou or the Nanjing Imperial Household Department, they both need time to reorganize their troops.

This shared interest prompted them to "support" the peace talks—just like the peace talks after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the talks were never the focus; the focus was on time.

After the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, the Kuomintang, which was hiding in the rear, needed a lot of time to mobilize troops to take over the cities. To this end, they clamored all over the world for peace talks, but in private they mobilized troops to advance eastward and seize cities. For this purpose, they even recruited a large number of puppet troops and instructed the Japanese army to resist the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.

At this point, it is undoubtedly just a replica from three years ago.

However, in order to make their act more convincing, they deliberately showed their sincerity to the fullest.

In summary, it can be understood as follows:

With the backing of the US and the Soviet Union, the sincerity now shown by the Nationalist government, the internal divisions within the Nationalist army, and the disadvantage of losing the core geographical area of ​​the Yangtze River (the Huai River region), the Nationalist troops defending the Yangtze River now pin their hopes on one thing:

Peace talks will surely succeed!

Because they knew very well that the Nationalist government, which was still embroiled in internal strife, would really be unable to hold onto the Yangtze River without peace talks!

Once they hold this belief, their thinking will inevitably become lax.

Normally, the Secret Service, acting as the eyes and ears of the military, should report such unseen but potentially impactful matters to Xikou and the Attendant's Office.

Whether or not adjustments can be made is one thing, but as the eyes and ears of the secret service, shouldn't the secret service still be doing its job?
However, to date, neither the notorious spy Zhang Shih-hao nor Mao Ren-feng in the Guangzhou ward have received a single piece of intelligence feedback regarding the morale of the troops.

On the contrary, a large amount of intelligence about the Yangtze River defense line was flowing steadily to the other side of the river.

It surged forward like a tide.

……

Jiangbei, the headquarters of the Second Division.

Zheng Yingqi, who had come from reconnaissance across the river, excitedly rushed into the division headquarters: "Regimental Commander, I'm back!"

"You've come at the perfect time—" Li Yunlong, who was staring at the sand table, was overjoyed: "The column just sent over some intelligence about the enemy's deployment on the other side of the river. Show me the information you scouted so I can compare it. If there are any doubts, hand them over to the column so our intelligence personnel can continue to check them."

"Okay!"

Zheng Yingqi stepped forward and began to report the results of his reconnaissance over the past ten days, but as he spoke, his voice grew softer and softer. In the end, he "disheartened" and handed the intelligence to his staff officer, then went to the side to shut himself away.

Li Yunlong looked at his beloved general with sympathy, then instructed his staff officer to continue reading the intelligence summary.

The staff officer read and compared the reports with a strange expression, feeling as if each day was an eternity. Finally, after reading through the reconnaissance battalion's compiled intelligence, he couldn't help but say:
"Commander, information about Battalion Commander Zheng..."

It is indeed a bit rudimentary…

Li Yunlong laughed and scolded:
"You brat, you've gotten so used to eating white flour buns that you can't even stand the slightly darker ones anymore, huh?"

The staff officer boldly said:
"You can't blame me for this, it's just that our underground party comrades are too amazing!"

"Take a look at this intelligence report—Battalion Commander Zheng has discovered that this is an enemy battalion, with an estimated strength of 330 to 400 men, more than ten light machine guns, and several heavy machine guns and mortars. He has also drawn a rough outline of their position."

"It's the same intelligence about the enemy in this battalion, but look at this intelligence from the underground party comrades—286 combat personnel, 49 non-combat personnel, 16 light machine guns, 2 heavy machine guns, and 4 mortars. And look at the enemy's deployment."

Battalion Commander Zheng and his men failed to locate the enemy's bunker, but what about the underground Communist Party comrades? They even had data on the bunker's thickness—well, although it was clearly built with substandard materials…”

At this point, the staff officer couldn't help but say:
"I have a feeling that our underground party comrades have obtained detailed data about the enemy's internal situation!"

Li Yunlong glared at the staff officer:

"You talk too much—alright, go do your thing, and forget what you just said!"

After the staff officer left, Li Yunlong happily ran to comfort his beloved general:
"Hey kid, stop looking so gloomy. Although the intelligence we gathered can't compare to what our superiors sent, although it's not as detailed, although it's not..."

Zheng Yingqi's face darkened: "Commander, that's enough! You can't be so hurtful!"

"Haha!" Li Yunlong laughed: "Alright, stop pretending. We still need to verify it eventually. From now on, we don't need to conduct large-scale reconnaissance. We can focus on small-scale infiltration and verification by small units."

"However, this is an exception; we must not develop the habit of relying on superiors for everything!"

Zheng Yingqi nodded earnestly, knowing that this was Li Yunlong's teaching.

Just a moment ago he was completely "clear-headed," but the next second, Li Yunlong couldn't help but feel "inflated." He whispered to Zheng Yingqi:

"Our comrades are so capable, I suspect we could get whatever that guy eats—what do you think, after we cross the river, should we take some men and sneak over first, and with the cooperation of our underground party comrades, capture him from the Attendant's Mansion?"

Zheng Yingqi couldn't help but give his team leader a thumbs up.

This is a classic decapitation tactic!

Unfortunately, this is just wishful thinking.
“You really dare to dream—but I heard that person is in Xikou, so your beautiful dream is just a pipe dream.”

Li Yunlong looked disappointed:
"The Red Army once led his hundreds of thousands of troops on a treacherous march of tens of thousands of miles. I've muttered his name countless times; I really wanted to personally drag him out of his residence in Nanjing!" (End of Chapter)