Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

Zhang Anping is always decisive and efficient. Three days after reaching an agreement with Ye Xiufeng, he finalized the location for the joint training course, followed by a series of personnel transfer orders within the faction.

At first, no one realized what Zhang Anping was going to do, because their attention was focused on the list of cadres to be exchanged.

After a few days of silence, the Party Affairs Bureau suddenly opened up a second and third round of cadre exchanges. When the news came, the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was like a 500-pound bomb being dropped on a calm lake.

Isn't Mao Renfeng trying to withdraw the list?

Why did the second and third waves of cadre exchanges happen at the same time?
The elders approached Mao Renfeng one after another, trying to find a "glimmer of hope".

In response, Mao Renfeng could only say with a gloomy face:

"I've tried everything, but GFB won't give me a chance to withdraw!"

"I, Mao, have let you all down."

Seeing Mao Renfeng's attitude, the elders had no choice but to completely back down—although some people found out that Mao Renfeng hadn't made any effort at all, and had even secretly seduced Zhang Anping, the elders didn't react at all when they found out.

Perhaps the simultaneous occurrence of the second and third waves of exchanges, which should have been scheduled to happen at intervals, made these elders aware of Mao Renfeng's "subtle" role, but no one chose to confront the established facts.

The adult world is never black and white, let alone the world of power.
What's more, with over forty cadres leaving at once, creating a huge vacancy, that's the real feast!
Some people want to promote their own people to fill the power gap left by the replacement of key personnel, while others are thinking about taking more positions and becoming the beneficiaries.

As a result, the subsequent bureau meeting became a battleground for various factions vying for power, with each faction sharpening its knives in an attempt to secure greater benefits for its own territory.

But at this moment, the Zhang faction remained inactive, their silence leaving everyone bewildered!

According to information from the Bureau's administrative office, Zhang Anping's secretary, Zheng Yi, has clearly stated that Zhang Anping will not attend the Bureau's meeting the following day.

Is the Zhang faction going to give up this lucrative opportunity?
No one thought that way; in fact, many suspected that Zhang Anping might be plotting something.

Even Mao Renfeng was undecided. According to his initial idea, he and Zhang Anping would split 33 of the 43 vacant positions, and let the various factions compete for the remaining ten positions, even though these positions originally belonged to the various factions.

When a group of people fight over what was originally their territory, and a shrunken one at that, it is bound to cause direct conflict between the various factions.

Simple yet practical.

But Zhang Anping's inexplicable strike made Mao Renfeng feel uneasy. He was constantly being pushed and rubbed by Zhang Anping. Even now that he was the director and thought he could easily suppress Zhang Anping, the PTSD caused by being rubbed off was not so easy to get rid of.
Now that Zhang Anping is facing a tempting offer but has nothing to offer, and given that Zhang Anping just rejected his "kindness," Mao Renfeng feels that Zhang Anping must be sharpening his knives.

So, at the bureau meeting the next day, even though Zhang Anping was not present and clearly uninterested in these lucrative opportunities, the Zhang faction occupied seventeen of the positions on the list of potential candidates that Mao Renfeng presented!
His Mao faction only managed to occupy sixteen positions.

This nearly made the elders present drop their jaws in astonishment, and some almost couldn't help but ask Mao Renfeng:

Is Zhang Anping your father?
You, Mao Renfeng, probably don't even treat your own father this well!

Strangely, despite the fact that Zhang Xihao occupied seventeen seats on the list of candidates provided by Mao Renfeng, the elders of various factions did not raise any objections after careful consideration, even though Zhang Anping did not attend this bureau meeting at all!
Instead, among the sixteen positions that Mao's faction wanted to occupy, some veterans began to nitpick, using the lack of qualifications of the candidates as an excuse for questioning. Although Mao Renfeng responded by promoting young people and giving them more opportunities, this statement was not "accepted".

After much haggling, Mao Renfeng, the dignified director, actually lost six positions. Although he was in a bad situation, the veterans were in an even worse situation. These 43 positions were originally theirs, but now they could only compete for 16 of them. In addition, they only got one position after the first round of exchanges. This meant that their influence was wiped out by nearly 50 people!
After the Military Intelligence Bureau was reorganized into the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, the power structure was purged again. Although the influence of these veterans was affected, they ultimately rebuilt a vast and intricate network within the reorganized Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.

In the ensuing power struggle between Zhang and Mao, the power structure was purged time and again, but the power of these elders was not greatly affected. In fact, they even expanded their influence because they were part of the Zhang and Mao factions.

However, the three rounds of cadre exchanges broke their "backbone," and the power network that had been operating within the Bureau of Secrecy and repeatedly remained aloof was shattered!
One way power is manifested is through the right to speak. Undoubtedly, after this incident, the elders' right to speak further declined.

……

"Does Mao Renfeng want to sue for peace?!"

Faced with the "strange" outcome of the bureau meeting, Wang Tianfeng shared his speculations with Zhang Anping.

"Seek peace?"

Zhang Anping scoffed: "Do you think Mao Renfeng has any political credibility?"

Wang Tianfeng remained silent.

"First, he doesn't have that many suitable candidates. If he rashly takes on such a big cake, he will definitely suffer from indigestion and end up vomiting it all up, not to mention vomiting even more!"

Secondly, he is now the bureau chief, and those old guys are following in his footsteps. If he lets those old guys eat more, it will be difficult for him to make them vomit it up later.

On the contrary, if Da Tou makes me eat it, then I'll become the object of those people's lust. And between him and me, there's absolutely no possibility of reconciliation now. Even if I eat it for now, he can find a way to make me vomit it up.

As Zhang Anping analyzed the "strange" outcome of the bureau meeting, Wang Tianfeng slowly nodded in agreement with his analysis.

Actually, there's a "third" that Zhang Anping didn't mention:

Mao Renfeng genuinely didn't want to provoke a strong counterattack from me. Now that he's the director, he can consolidate his power subtly and gradually, without needing any aggressive maneuvering.

In other words, Mao Renfeng's current stance is that he most needs the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics to be stable!
But what Zhang Anping needed was for the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics to be thrown into chaos.

"Alright, stop thinking about these useless things—just tell me if you're coming or not?" Zhang Anping ended the current topic and explained his purpose: "Just attending a few classes occasionally is fine; I won't tie you to the training program."

Wang Tianfeng shook his head: "Since I'm dead, there's no need for me to appear in public—let Guo Qiyun take on a position. If there are any promising talents, you can hand them over to me."

"You wish," Zhang Anping retorted irritably. "I already said it's a joint program with Ye Xiufeng, and the allocation of personnel still has to be done by drawing lots."

Wang Tianfeng ignored Zhang Anping's complaints—since you are the person in charge of this training course, how could you not have the means to manipulate things?

"Fine, if you're not coming, then I'm leaving."

"Wait—" Wang Tianfeng called out to Zhang Anping, who was about to leave. After a pause, he asked in a suppressed calm tone:

"I saw that the truth serum was included again in the interrogation record, and it was signed by you?"

Zhang Anping acted as if he didn't care: "Hmm, what's wrong?"

Wang Tianfeng tried to sound nonchalant as he said, "Hasn't it already been proven that truth serum is unreliable?"

Zhang Anping paused for a moment, then sat down again:
"That's not what you're asking, is it?"

Wang Tianfeng closed his eyes, remained silent for a while, and then continued:
"Why did Yuan Nong's confession lead to Su Mosheng's secret arrest without any verification?"

Zhang Anping stared at Wang Tianfeng: "You think the problem lies here?"

Wang Tianfeng remained silent, but did not avoid Zhang Anping's gaze.

Zhang Anping shook his head:
"That's not the problem."

Wang Tianfeng remained silent, but his gaze was firm—I need an answer.

After taking a deep breath, Zhang Anping said:

“Shen Zui used the truth serum. Yuan Nong did not directly tell Su Mosheng, but vaguely mentioned that Qingsong was in charge of interrogating him—then he struggled and the truth serum took effect.”

"To verify the effectiveness of the truth serum, Shen Zui had me personally use the same batch of truth serum on myself."

Wang Tianfeng closed his eyes heavily. Without Zhang Anping explaining in detail, he could guess the outcome:
The truth serum is working!

Who is Shen Zui? He joined the Special Service at a young age and, with his exceptional skills, gained the favor of Dai Chunfeng and participated in numerous operations—was his willpower really inferior to that of a Communist?

"In fact, after realizing that he had been tricked by Yuan Nong, Shen Zui deliberately injected double the dose of truth serum—but it had no effect."

"He specifically sought me out for this reason."

For some reason, Zhang Anping shook his head before continuing:
"I consulted relevant experts, and I specifically consulted several experts in the United States," he said.

"According to experts' speculation, Shen Zui was probably exhausted from the continuous interrogation, and then Yuan Nong's confession made him overjoyed—the emotional fluctuations during this period were too great."

"Moreover, I was the one who injected him with the truth serum. He had no suspicion of me, so the truth serum only took effect due to a series of coincidences!"

"As for why he laughed when the quantity was doubled later, it was because he was already under strong psychological guard."

Wang Tianfeng silently digested what Zhang Anping had said.

Is this account reasonable?

It was somewhat reasonable, but it was precisely because it was somewhat reasonable that he believed Zhang Anping chose to believe him.

But is this the truth?
Wang Tianfeng abruptly asked, "You believe him?"

"I believe!"

"I don't believe it!" Wang Tianfeng's expression turned cold: "He shouldn't have made such a... basic mistake!"

"Old Wang, I know that in your heart, no one is reliable, not even me—you dare to doubt me—"

Zhang Anping stood up and patted Wang Tianfeng on the shoulder:

"While it is said that skepticism is the best quality in our line of work, trust is equally precious."

"You know better than I what Shen Zui has done since he joined the Special Service Department. There's no doubt about him!"

"Compared to Shen Zui, I suspect Qiu Ning or someone else more!"

Zhang Anping shook his head again, turned around and left the house.

Wang Tianfeng sat silently by himself. He knew that Zhang Anping's trust in those he trusted was never compromised.

But is Shen Zui really trustworthy?

His fingers unconsciously rubbed back and forth on the table, and the last word was inadvertently written on the table.

Blood!

Upon seeing this word, Wang Tianfeng's pupils suddenly contracted.

This is a direction for investigation!
Blood!

Some people had the blood of underground party members on their hands, such as Zhang Anping—not long after he arrived at the Special Service Department, he had an underground party member named Yin Liming beaten to death. Later, in Shanghai, he even killed an underground party student.

He also devised the "Weed Cutting Plan".

Therefore, even during the Southern Anhui Incident, when Zhang Anping almost directly opposed Dai Chunfeng's orders, no one believed that Zhang Anping sympathized with the Communists.

But some people, despite their outstanding achievements, seem to have never had the blood of the underground party on their hands!

Does Shen have it?

Wang Tianfeng pondered silently and finally decided to temporarily put aside his suspicions about Shen Zui—or follow Zhang Anping's wishes and investigate the others first.

……

After leaving Wang Tianfeng's place, Zhang Anping silently made plans in his mind.

Shen Zui's bombshell was bound to explode, but Zhang Anping was still somewhat surprised that Wang Tianfeng dared to "look" at Shen Zui so early.

As long as there is any doubt in Wang Tianfeng's eyes, he dares to question and investigate, which is really troublesome!

However, he probably won't continue investigating Shen Zui for the time being.

[Once he reopens the investigation into Shen Zui, then we need to prepare for the next step...]

After making his decision, Zhang Anping looked toward Shandong, where a very famous battle was taking place at that very moment!

……

After the outbreak of the civil war, the Nationalist government initially adopted a strategy of all-out offensive.

Then, the Kuomintang realized what it meant to overestimate itself—after the all-out offensive ended in complete failure, the Kuomintang began a strategy of focused offensive in late March of this year (late March 1947).

The main attack will focus on two directions:

Shandong and northern Shaanxi.

In northern Shaanxi, the Kuomintang employed a strategy of "digging out the hearts" (a metaphor for eliminating enemy forces), while in Shandong, the Kuomintang concentrated 45 troops, intending to completely occupy the Shandong People's Liberation Army.

This battle, which began in late March, lasted until May.

In mid-May, the East China Field Army finally found an opportunity and launched a series of actions against the reckless 74th Reorganized Division.

On the 15th, the 74th Division, one of the elite armies of the Nationalist government, was surrounded by the East China Field Army in an area centered on Menglianggu. At 1 p.m., the East China Field Army launched a general offensive.

By the afternoon of the 16th, with the death of the commander of the 74th Division, everyone believed that the 74th Division, one of the main forces of the Kuomintang, had been completely annihilated.

However, after our army calculated the results of the battle, it was astonished to find that the number of enemy killed did not match the intelligence it had. According to the detailed organization of our 74th Reorganized Division, the number of enemy killed was actually nearly 10,000!

"How could there be such a big difference? Could our intelligence be wrong?"

"The intelligence is absolutely correct!"

"How could there be such a big difference? That shouldn't be the case!"

"There might be an enemy hiding. Search! Search carefully!"

So, the PLA soldiers of the East China Field Army, who had just experienced a fierce battle, began searching the vast battlefield again.

This search actually led to a "big fish"!
There were approximately 7,000 soldiers from the 74th Division hiding in the valleys between Menglianggu and Diaowo!
When our generals discovered this hidden force, they were greatly alarmed.

"If we hadn't had detailed information about the 74th Division's organization, and if we had been careless and failed to conduct a search, this enemy force could have caused irreparable damage to our army!"

"Speaking of which, our comrades on the covert front are really something else! They managed to obtain such detailed information about the military's organizational structure—it's incredibly impressive!" (End of Chapter)