Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

Public opinion can be really strange sometimes. For example, when public opinion was raging in the United States, if there was any domestic control, the news could not spread. It was only because Zhang Anping lit a fire that the fire could be ignited. However, the level of some people's wickedness was beyond imagination. Zhang Anping's fire ignited the powder keg.

But after that one loss of control, the media became bolder. With the failure of the anti-corruption campaign, although the Kuomintang's mouthpiece tried its best to glorify it, various unofficial newspapers began to use this failed anti-corruption campaign to start various declassifications and revelations.

The Nationalist government elites, led by the four major families, naturally did not want to see this kind of public opinion build up.

Therefore, they need a "hot topic" to attract public attention.

Quite by chance, at that moment someone handed over a "knife," a knife capable of killing Zhang Anping:

Financial tactics employed by the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics!
To put it bluntly, it was Zhang Anping's capital operation method when he was "making money" for the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.

Note that there is a blind spot here:

The four major families are like enormous beasts. Although they appear to be a whole, each family has its own responsibilities. Take Chen Jingyao, the representative of the Chen family, for example. Everyone who deals with him knows that he represents the Chen family. Chen Jingyao can use a huge amount of funds on the Chen family's books, but he cannot use all of the Chen family's funds.

This is also a custom of large families: one egg can only be put in one basket, but a bunch of eggs will never be put in the same basket.

The four people in charge of finance, seeing that the global trade investment package was profitable, used their power to swallow it all for themselves. This kind of means involving promotion and wealth was done without communicating with the person in charge of foreign affairs.

To manipulate public opinion and direct the fire at Zhang Anping's various foreign affairs officials, they naturally didn't know that their choice of a trigger point would ultimately backfire on them. So, after someone offered a suggestion, they unhesitatingly chose to use Zhang Anping's financial schemes of getting something for nothing as the breakthrough point.

Moreover, in their view, this matter was not a big deal, and there was no need for them to fully communicate with their "family".

And so, the scene that was about to unfold took place.

A few days ago, amidst a public outcry over the failure of the anti-corruption campaign, the Nationalist government's Central Daily News published a very "interesting" report:

Is it a Midas touch or unscrupulous exploitation?

This report fully exposes Zhang Anping's incredible scheme of getting something for nothing, revealing how the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (BIS) made a verbal investment, and how the valuation increased after the BIS investment, leading to the pledging of shares for cash.

The main purpose of this report is actually to characterize Zhang Anping in the financial sphere, thereby providing a reason to attack him.

They couldn't do anything to the section chief, but after the section chief raised his sword, even though they had no choice but to sheathe it in the end, they still had to fight back to maintain their "authority".

Since we can't deal with the section chief, let's get rid of Zhang Anping.

That's why this media report came about.

And sure enough, this report really ignited the fire. The next day, various newspapers were filled with condemnations of this behavior—successfully diverting public opinion and pushing Zhang Anping into the eye of the storm.

Since the decision has been made to sacrifice Zhang Anping to the heavens, it's impossible to just cut him once.

Therefore, Mao Renfeng, a general in the camp, timely provided a knife that could also kill Zhang Anping:

The assassination attempt on Mao Zhongxing!
Since Zhang Anping has been "deified" because of his integrity, let's bring him down from his so-called pedestal.

The day after Zhang Anping's scheme to acquire wealth without any investment was exposed, the Central Daily News published a report on the death of Mao Zhongxing, a senior official of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.

However, the report did not initially target Zhang Anping, but instead accused the underground party of carrying out terrorist assassinations, using the undercover agent Guo Qiyun to assassinate a high-ranking official of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.

Logically speaking, this kind of thing shouldn't have caused such a big stir, after all, the two sides were fighting each other on the battlefield, so this kind of thing is quite normal.

However, the Kuomintang kept pushing them forward, relentlessly blaming the underground party. This made the underground party feel like they were being criticized for their failed anti-corruption campaign, and that they were being dragged into this to divert attention.

No way!
Therefore, the CCP, through Xinhua Daily, interviewed Guo Qiyun, bringing the assassination attempt on Mao Zhongxing to the forefront.

Without a doubt, Guo Qiyun himself did not know why he wanted to assassinate Mao Zhongxing; he was acting on a mission assigned by Wang Tianfeng.

Thus, Wang Tianfeng, who was already "dead," was brought up again. Not only was it mentioned for the first time that Wang Tianfeng had stuffed explosives into the car and kidnapped innocent people, causing the underground party's assassination attempt to fail, but the mastermind behind the assassination of Mao Zhongxing was also pointed directly at Zhang Anping, who was "on sick leave."

It is important to clarify that Guo Qiyun surrendered, not that he was an undercover agent.

In fact, this was Mao Renfeng's real purpose; Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was aimed at Liu Bang!

First, there was the financial manipulation that resulted in him getting something for nothing, and then there was the assassination attempt on a high-ranking official of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics. As expected, Zhang Anping was pulled down from his "pedestal".

After all, people are filled with anger and vigilance towards assassinations by spies.

Under normal circumstances, once such public opinion has been properly built up, the harvest will come naturally – Zhang Anping is doomed!
But... public opinion doesn't follow the rules!

Two days ago, a newspaper stole the headlines with a report.

[Fake investment packages selling like hotcakes]

This report is an extension of the previous report on Zhang Anping's scheme to make money out of thin air, but the focus of the report is on how Global Trade "stops the bleeding" - the report said that the reporter was curious as to why Global Trade would be willing to accept the Bureau of Secrecy as collateral, so he launched an in-depth investigation, and based on the introduction of insiders, the reporter reconstructed the whole picture of Global Trade's operation.

One condition of the collateral accepted by Global Trade (shares pledged by the Bureau of Secrets) was that interest must be paid and redeemed at the real-time US dollar exchange rate. In theory, this would protect against losses caused by the devaluation of fiat currency. However, Global Trade's operations went beyond this. They also packaged these pledged shares into investment packages and then sold these investment packages.

Because these investment packages were priced in US dollars, they were very popular among the elites of the Nationalist government—but the problem was that, according to the reporter's investigation, ordinary elites could not purchase these investment packages!
The huge investment packages were ultimately snapped up by only a handful of companies.

The reporter didn't name names here, but used a sympathetic tone to say that these powerful and wealthy people who took in the investment packages would regret it to death if they knew that these investment packages were actually "fireworks".
After the report was published, the foreign affairs officials of the four companies were also curious: which company was so foolish as to take such a "landmine"?
Driven by curiosity, they did some research—but before they found anything, they were all summoned to their homes.

"This matter ends here! Also, absolutely no one is allowed to deal with Zhang Anping now! Absolutely not!"

These foreign affairs officials were not happy with their family's explanation, given their status in the Nationalist government.
If we're being bullied now, where's our authority if we don't cut off a few heads?
Left with no other option, the family had to explain the truth to them:

They devoured the entire wealth of global trade—and they monopolized it all!

Holy crap, the last financial package of global trade has actually been swallowed up by them?
And he's eating alone?!

They were dumbfounded. They were caught in the act of gossip, they were caught cheating, and they were stabbed in the back.
Their family advised them:

“A huge amount of money from the family has been invested in these businesses. With Zhang Anping overseeing them, these aren’t just fake investment schemes; they’re geese that lay golden eggs! But if someone else were in charge, these geese would be taken away, plucked, and eaten!”

This is probably the effect of public opinion—Zhang Anping's reputation as a god of wealth is well-deserved, and his integrity has been tested by the confiscation of his property. With Zhang Anping in charge, fake investment packages and getting something for nothing are no big deal!

But if Zhang Anping were to leave, and anyone else were to go instead, they would lose everything!
The foreign affairs officials of the four companies were completely dumbfounded. It turned out that after searching for so long, they were about to kill the monkey only to find out that it was their own god of wealth.

Don't touch it!
We're doomed. We can't let public opinion get out of control, or this fire will burn them too.

It's easy to ignite but difficult to extinguish!

If it were a report that could easily point to the four major families, it could be stopped by citing reasons that it was detrimental to the Party and the country. But this fire was started by them, and ostensibly it was to deal with Zhang Anping. They wanted to put out the fire, but their subordinates couldn't react in time!
As a result, the public opinion surrounding this topic has been incredibly lively over the past two days.

On one hand, the fire surrounding the fake investment package continued unabated, while on the other hand, the assassination attempt continued to escalate. As the person involved, Zhang Anping dared not utter a word at this time. Even when the director specifically sought him out, Zhang Anping helplessly said, "Let the fire burn, whatever happens, happens!"

The section chief was furious, claiming that this was a matter of life and death, and if you didn't fight back, you would be at their mercy.

Seeing the section chief's anger, Zhang Anping had no choice but to explain the truth:
The scheme of getting something for nothing does exist, but as long as he keeps an eye on things and with the support of the Secret Service, there will definitely be no losses in the end—as for fake investment packages, they have nothing to do with him; that's a matter of global trade.

"What about Mao Zhongxing's matter?"

When Mao Renfeng learned of this matter, the section chief happened to be present. At that time, Mao Renfeng's reaction clearly showed that he was in the wrong—but now Mao Renfeng was using this against Zhang Anping, which was the biggest reason for the section chief's anger.

Zhang Anping didn't want to talk about it, but he couldn't withstand the section chief's long face, so he had no choice but to tell the truth:
"The source of those foreign bankers' pressure to investigate me is Mao Zhongxing."

"This person must die."

The section chief suddenly realized that the source was Mao Zhongxing. No, since Mao Zhongxing was Mao Renfeng's nephew, wouldn't that mean the source was Mao Renfeng?
This made the section chief even angrier.

He understood Zhang Anping's reasons for keeping quiet, and he hated Mao Renfeng even more.

A gentleman deceives others with principles, a gentleman deceives others with principles—this shows they have taken full advantage of Brother Anping's loyalty to the Party and the country, and have Brother Anping completely under their control!

The section chief, both angry and furious, was ultimately speechless and could only return in resentment. Then, with a burning rage that seemed to want to destroy the world, he worked with the four families to find a way to quell the public outcry.

For reasons that are difficult to explain, it is not possible to speak openly when putting out a fire. All that can be done is to try to quell it. But once a fire starts, how can it be put out so easily?

The other key player in this incident, Global Trade, has been repeatedly mentioned as public opinion has intensified, and with each mention, Global Trade's past transgressions have been unearthed. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan, Global Trade "colluded with Japan," providing the Japanese with a large amount of supplies for their own profit.

After the U.S. imposed an embargo on Japanese citizens, global trade violated U.S. law by providing goods to Japanese citizens for profit.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, global trade, relying on its relationship with the Japanese, charged exorbitant prices for ship tickets to people from various countries.

After the war ended, relying on its relationship with the Nationalist government, it acquired various Japanese-owned factories at low prices...

After these old grievances were brought up again, the reputation of global trade reversed, public opinion condemned it, and some people even went to the US embassy to ask the Americans to punish the greedy global trade.

Faced with overwhelming public opinion and condemnation, global trade is not as tolerant as Zhang Anping.

You guys are criticizing me, right?

Okay, then I'll hold a press conference!
Global Trade officials held a press conference in Shanghai, inviting not only representatives from the U.S. military but also some active-duty officers from the traffic police force.

So you're saying that after the War of Resistance against Japan, I provided the Japanese with a large amount of war materials such as oil and minerals?

The account book was indeed thrown out, but another account book showed the amount of supplies destroyed by the Loyal Salvation Army—nearly half of the supplies were taken by the Japanese with real money and then destroyed by the Loyal Salvation Army!
Where did the Loyal Army get their intelligence?

I did it!
I sold supplies to the Japanese, and then colluded with the Loyal Salvation Army to blow them up—is there any other "shameless" swindler like me?
Am I still a profiteer?

"Then...aren't there still half of the supplies left?"

Bang

The data on the Yamato-class destroyers has been released—the remaining supplies, along with a large amount of resources plundered from China, were used by the Japanese Navy to build the Yamato-class destroyers!

Are Yamato-class monsters terrifying?
Come on, let a representative from the U.S. Navy talk about the difference in difficulty between destroying a Yamato-class battleship and destroying an aircraft carrier!
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, they charged exorbitant prices for ship tickets.

The ledger continued to be thrown out—see this? This is the amount of money I bribed the Japanese to evacuate foreign nationals. See this? I actually lost money!
Well, global trade wouldn't say that they had already collected the money from the Japanese who accepted bribes back then, using the ledgers as collateral!
This completely overturned all the accusations against global trade, and its reputation actually soared as a result.

But as we all know, people can't stand being wronged, especially capitalists, no, especially benevolent people like those in global trade...

"You're saying our investment package is a fake?" York, the rarely seen global trade president, said angrily.
"If it were a fake investment package, would I dare sell it to the four major families? Investment packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars were all swallowed up by the four major families. Do you think they're stupid?"

"Or do you think I'm incredibly audacious, daring to swindle and cheat the most powerful and influential people in China?"

Perhaps to prove his point, York gave another example:
"At the time, Mr. Du had over a million US dollars, but he still couldn't buy this financial package we launched!"

boom!
Public opinion... exploded!
Were all those investment packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars swallowed up by the four major families?

However, York dropped more than just that atomic bomb:

"I used to love China very much! But the recent public opinion has disappointed me greatly—Zhang was a good friend of ours. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, global trade cooperated with him very well. What kind of person he is, in your Chinese words, after the ransacking of his home, you should know very well!"

"Yet you continue to condemn him, turning him into a rat in the street, hated by everyone! I deeply regret this!"

"Zhang kept silent for the sake of his party and country, willing to bear all criticism, but I have to speak out—as far as I know, there is a high possibility that Mao Zhongxing was indeed assassinated by someone sent by Zhang!"

"But do you know why Mao Zhongxing had to die?"

"Because... he suggested to my colleagues that we could investigate how much money Zhang embezzled during the evacuation from Shanghai after the Pearl Harbor attack by investigating Zhang's embezzlement!"

"In your Chinese terms, Mao Zhongxing's behavior is a typical case of betraying one's own people. As an official of your party and state, Zhang, yes, that's the word 'sanction'—is he wrong to sanction Mao Zhongxing?"

Everyone present could see that Yorke was furious about the terrible public opinion he had received recently and was now venting his anger.

But the atomic bomb he dropped this time was absolutely terrifying.

This time, it's been confirmed that global trade is full of "shady merchants," but they are the kind of "shady merchants" that all Chinese people love to see—the more of these shady merchants, the better!
But the next two atomic bombs were... way too explosive.

The four major families have been vehemently denying the accusations from the Americans, including the "thief" charge from the US president. However, York's statement that the multi-million dollar investment package was entirely taken by the four families has rendered all their denials a joke.

In comparison, Mao Zhongxing's death didn't even cause a ripple!

The key issue was that the global trade press conference was held at 6 PM, and the Nanjing Nationalist government simply didn't have time to stop it from happening.

The next day, apart from the mouthpiece of the Party-state, all other newspapers made the global trade press conference their headline.

The investment package worth hundreds of millions of dollars has suddenly become the hottest topic.

The four major families have now been definitively proven guilty, and no matter how they try to justify it, they can't escape the truth.

……

"Damn it! Damn it!"

The chief attendant smashed a cup, a document, and a table.

"Stop it, let them stop! Is this how they stop?"

"You worthless bastards! A bunch of good-for-nothing scoundrels!"

Chen family.

"Jingyao, you've worked hard all these years. Now you can retire peacefully."

Not long after being released from the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics prison, Chen Jingyao left the Chen family in a daze.

The same scene was playing out in other homes.

The foreign affairs heads of the four major families are living together in retirement...

At this very moment, an honest and upright party official is being seduced by a businessman:
"Director Wang, you have such a gold mine but remain as incorruptible as water, why bother? The four major families can easily afford to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on retirement, while you, Director Wang, have served the Party and the country, yet you struggle to even feed your family—why bother?"

Director Wang looked at the two large gold bars that the merchant had pushed towards him, and after a difficult internal struggle, he finally pushed the gold bars back.

"Incomprehensible!"

The merchant left in a fit of rage, leaving behind these four words.

"This government... is indeed beyond saving, but there is still hope for this country."

The official murmured, feeling as if the world had suddenly become vast.

It was at the same time.

The official looked at the large yellow croaker that the merchant respectfully presented with both hands, and said calmly:
"Brother Huang, I'm also thinking of buying some financial products."

The businessman lamented that these officials, ever since they learned that the four major families were buying financial products, their appetites have only grown larger.

Different people make different choices at this time.

The former Chen Mansion was renamed Zhang Family Mansion.

In the study.

After watching his father leave with an innocent expression, Zhang Anping finally couldn't help but laugh.

To make ends meet for York's "financial package audience," I made these dumplings... it wasn't easy!

But, as he just said to his father, how could I have foreseen all of this?

I was on a good sick leave, but they insisted on courting disaster. I did nothing wrong from beginning to end. My relationship with Global Trade was good, but it was a friendship formed during the War of Resistance. How could I have expected that Global Trade would dare to say anything after being wronged?
The "innocent" Zhang Anping picked up a newspaper and looked at the keywords "hundreds of millions of dollars" and "financial management" on the page, revealing a sorrowful expression.

Alas, the Party-state is truly teetering on the brink of collapse. (End of Chapter)