Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

(Finally finished writing, wow, people really have unlimited potential when pushed!)
There was once a very arrogant young man who thought the name Zhang Shih-hao meant something extraordinary—he left Zhang An-ping waiting at the airport for a long time while he waited to board the plane.

This incident even made headlines, with public opinion mocking Zhang Shih-hao, the former top spy, for being "outdated." However, the chief aide, upon seeing the news, said with resentment:

How can a valiant warrior be bullied by slaves?

Of course, the "slaves" were not severely punished; after a simple transfer, they soon returned.

So much so that many people thought Zhang Anping was too lazy to bother with "slaves"—until this year, when Mao Renfeng launched a retaliation against Du Shijun in the name of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, people realized that Zhang Anping was indeed not very magnanimous.

Although many people didn't understand why it was Zhang Anping's nemesis, Mao Renfeng, who launched the revenge, Du Shijun was indeed "killed"—not physically, but politically. Even though he was the son-in-law of a collateral branch of the Kong family, he lost the opportunity to advance his career.

Even disregarding the bloodshed and loss of life, this retaliation and the resulting cost can only be described as devastating.

At that time, people only saw the Kong family's concessions in the face of Zhang Anping, but considering that Zhang Anping had confronted the Kong family more than once or twice, no one thought about it in depth.

but……

Zhang Anping thought about it!
Why did the Kong family remain silent in the matter of Du Shijun?
Do they really care about the name "Secret Service"?
of course not!

But because...

In a sense, Zhang Anping became their financial manager!

The four major families aren't Zhang Anping. How could they not conduct thorough due diligence when purchasing investment packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars? If they weren't absolutely certain of making a profit, why would they invest such a large sum of money?

Although outsiders believe that the wealth of the four major families was "blown away by the wind," for the four families, it was something they painstakingly and diligently acquired by relying on the Nationalist government. How could they be like Zhang Anping, who handed over his money without hesitation, treating it as if it were nothing?
They bought this investment package because they believed in Zhang Anping's abilities and that under his leadership, the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics could not possibly suffer losses, let alone end up with nothing to show for their efforts.

As for Chen Jingyao's "retaliation" against Zhang Anping, the reason it was approved by the Chen family was that the initial intention was to teach Zhang Anping a lesson and, incidentally, ruin his reputation, which had just been ruined by the empty search of his home. From the Chen family's perspective, they believed that if the strong-willed Zhang Anping's family was attacked by students, he would definitely take drastic action, and one can imagine how bad his reputation would be.

Therefore, for the four families who purchased the "stable" investment package, Zhang Anping could be disgraced and reprimanded, but he absolutely could not be transferred out of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics!

Zhang Anping understood this point very clearly from the moment the Kong family "swallowed their anger" in the Du Shijun incident.

In other words, because of his investment portfolio, Zhang Anping had to obtain the protection of the four major families!
Well, there was an unexpected incident during this period. After the director took down Zhang Anping, he planned to force Zhang Anping to commit suicide on the grounds of corruption. However, the director was unaware of the intricacies involved, and the chief attendant, who tacitly approved of the director's actions, was equally unaware.

The reason is simple: the chief of staff is from the Chiang family, and without the chief of staff there would be no Chiang family, but the Chiang family is not the chief of staff!

This is why Zhang Anping has been so active this time, and why he remains calm and collected even though he is currently on sick leave.

As for the fact that global trade has now "targeted" the four major families, causing a public outcry, Zhang Anping doesn't care anymore.

Without a God's-eye view, who would have thought that Zhang Anping was the mastermind behind global trade?

Even the younger brother of the Five-Star Emperor Emeritus, who knew a great deal about Zhang Anping, would only think that Zhang Anping had close ties with global trade and would never have imagined that Zhang Anping was the boss—if even the younger brother of the Five-Star Emperor Emeritus thought so, let alone the people in the Nationalist government.

From a normal person's perspective, no one would think that Zhang Anping has the power to direct global trade.

Ironically, even when the four major families were targeted by global trade, they at most expressed their dissatisfaction when dealing with York, and that was all.

Regardless of the merits of global trade itself, the wealth controlled by the four major families, and the sheer size of its network of connections, the Nationalist government dared not turn against it. Moreover, global trade's actions in "igniting" this conflict were justifiable and even reasonable from any perspective. Therefore, the Nationalist government could only swallow its bitter pill and bear the loss.

Of course, all actions must be reasonable and logical. If Global Trade had targeted the four major families from the very beginning, even if Global Trade was large in scale and had made great contributions, the four major families would certainly not have let it go. But now everything is reasonable, the trajectory of development is clear, and it was even their own family members who made the stupid mistake of starting Global Trade. They can only accept their fate!

In this incident, on the surface, it was nothing more than the four major families being severely criticized by the public. However, public opinion eventually subsided – with the "downfall" of the foreign affairs officials of the four major families, the public opinion slowly calmed down.

The hidden consequences that could result are incalculable for the Kuomintang, a corrupt organization.

……

"Anping, do you know how much progress the comrades from the municipal party committee have made in just these four days?"

After Chai Ying and Zhang Anping secretly met, Chai Ying, unable to hide her excitement, told Zhang Anping a bunch of "data":
"Comrades from the Municipal Party Committee said that some Kuomintang officials who used to resist us have now taken the initiative to secretly contact us. In just the past four days, more than a dozen such people have come forward."

"The police station had a secret operation targeting the municipal party committee members, which our comrades were unaware of. But just as the police were about to close in, a notorious diehard in the police station deliberately revealed a flaw, allowing our comrades to discover something. In the end, they narrowly escaped before the police could encircle them!"

"And over at the prison, some of our comrades were originally difficult to bail out, but in the past few days, there have been people secretly helping them, and many of our comrades have been successfully released—including a comrade from the S Committee. His identity was not exposed, but because of doubts, the comrades from the Municipal Committee tried everything to get him released without success, but now he has also been successfully released on bail!"

"The comrades in the municipal party committee even wanted to protect Comrade Yuan Nong as well, but unfortunately this idea could not be realized."

Chai Ying spoke with strong regret, but even more so with heartfelt excitement—her superiors had praised the Second Intelligence Group for its achievements, but at that time the financial management scandal involving the four major families had not yet been exposed!

After the CaiLiBao incident, so much support came from Nanjing alone, and then it spread to the whole province and the whole of China. How many similar examples are there?

Cannot be calculated!

And the one who accomplished all of this is the comrade right in front of us!
Ma Liang had a brush that could make fakes appear real, but Zhang Anping's "brush" was even more magical than Ma Liang's!
But Zhang Anping didn't seem to pay attention to the other parts of Chai Ying's words; instead, he was concerned about something else:

"A comrade from the S Committee has been arrested. If we had put in the effort, we should have secretly helped him get out of trouble long ago—Comrade Chai Ying. This shows that our communication channels with other comrades are still not very smooth!"

Faced with this blind spot that Zhang Anping had noticed, Chai Ying could only smile wryly.

It is said that one should not be arrogant in victory or discouraged in defeat, but Comrade Zhang Anping is perhaps a little too humble!
“I’ve also noticed this. I’ve discussed it with the comrades in the S Committee and we plan to establish a dedicated communication channel.”

"Yes, it's time to learn from the Northeast—but we mustn't be careless. Some people can stay clear-headed, but others will become even more insane! The darkness before dawn is always the darkest. Our comrades have been fighting on the covert front for so long, they absolutely cannot fall in the darkness before dawn!"

Zhang Anping's expression was serious. As a master strategist, he knew all too well the price of carelessness.

Chai Ying solemnly agreed, but then couldn't help asking a question:
"Comrade Anping, how long do you think it will take before this darkness is enveloped by light?"

The reason for asking this was that Zhang Anping had just emphasized that the darkness before dawn is the darkest—she knew that Zhang Anping's strategic vision was exceptional, the most direct manifestation of which was the comic "Blue Star Animal Kingdom," which has always been hailed as the greatest prophecy, but unfortunately it has been discontinued for a long time.

Less than two years!

To be precise, in just a few months, everyone will be able to see the light!
But Zhang Anping couldn't say that; he could only say it conservatively:

I think... three years!

Faced with this startling data, Chai Ying couldn't help but widen her eyes. Three years?

Three years!

Memories flashed by like smoke: going to Jiangxi with her newlywed husband to join the revolution, the failure of the fifth counter-encirclement campaign and the start of the Long March, the arduous guerrilla warfare in the base area, the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan...

The hardships of the past seem like they were just yesterday, but unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, I heard the number "three years" from Zhang Anping.

After the uproar, Chai Ying couldn't help but think of the Nationalist government's greed:
"With the people's hearts completely lost, the Kuomintang will perish, and justice will not prevail!"

Zhang Anping said earnestly, "Comrade Chai Ying, victory is just around the corner, but the more we are at this time, the more we must remain steady and not be rash—there is a strong atmosphere of rashness in our group right now, and we must suppress this trend!"

As the de facto head of Intelligence Group No. 2, Zhang Anping was well aware of the sentiment within the group—given its current size and intelligence-gathering capabilities, it gave the impression that Intelligence Group No. 2 was developing very aggressively. But the reality was quite the opposite!

Intelligence Group No. 2 has actually developed in a very conservative way. Despite its current large size, it is actually the result of Zhang Anping's repeated suppression. Otherwise, it would be normal for Intelligence Group No. 2 to grow to a completely different size.

But now, within agencies like the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, especially within Zhang's faction, the genuine Kuomintang agents have completely lost faith in the Nationalist government. After witnessing this, many, or rather most, of the members of Intelligence Group No. 2 are eager to turn the people they know to defect.

Especially within Zhang's faction—Zhang Anping's direct subordinates—mostly patriots with a strong sense of national responsibility. When Zhang Anping whitewashed the profession of espionage in the newspapers, coupled with fabricated stories, he attracted many passionate young people to join him. Many of them then joined Zhang Anping's ranks, composing an ode to the War of Resistance against Japan with their blood and loyalty.

They were filled with fervent patriotism for this great country, but reality dealt them a heavy blow—the dark Nationalist government repeatedly broke their hearts. The appearance of the section chief was like a ray of light, giving them hope.

However, this ray of light was extinguished completely, and coupled with the collapse of the investment package scheme, these people were utterly disappointed.

Comrades walking in the darkness, witnessing the despondency of those around them, naturally want to lead them towards the light—undercover agents are also human. They have fought alongside these spies on the brutal battlefield of infiltration, and each of them dares to guarantee that the person they have chosen will never let the organization down!
But this is precisely the most vulnerable point on the covert front.

It was precisely because he sensed this "frivolity" that Zhang Anping deliberately said these words to Chai Ying.

Chai Ying was shaken. It was clearly the best possible outcome, yet Zhang Anping kept pouring cold water on it—she naturally didn't think Zhang Anping was exaggerating, but instead composed herself and asked in a low voice:

"Comrade Anping, what about the prevailing atmosphere in our group..."

“We will set up three—no, five special teams to be responsible for defection. This matter can be entrusted to Comrade Lu Hanqing. Hmm, Sister Chai, go to Chongqing and meet with Lao Cen! Among Wu Liwei’s group who joined our team in Chongqing last year, have Lao Cen select some comrades with strong ideology to fill these five defection teams.”

Although Zhang Anping was conservative, he was still confident in the situation and the people's hearts. Sure enough, he changed his mind about the three defection teams he was about to talk about to five.

"These five groups should not have any horizontal contact. Our comrades will provide the list, and these five groups will be responsible for recruiting defectors. It is very important to avoid direct contact between the recruits and our comrades!"

Chai Ying suddenly realized that doing it this way would inevitably be less efficient, but Wu Liwei and his men were all from the Military Intelligence Bureau and were very familiar with the ins and outs, which could make up for some of the inefficiency.

The isolation on both sides is naturally intended to prevent repeated issues from causing problems along the entire line.

She looked at Zhang Anping with a puzzled expression, and finally couldn't help but ask:
"Anping, after the kidnapping case last year, you risked everything to pull chestnuts out of the fire. Did you think of this day?"

A subtle clue lies hidden for miles!

Facing Zhang Anping, she couldn't help but recall those words again.

Zhang Anping rubbed his nose: "No, I just tried to place as many random pieces as possible. It's like playing chess; you never know when a random piece you place will come in handy."

Chai Ying looked at Zhang Anping suspiciously, feeling that he was lying.

However, she didn't press further, but instead asked curiously, "Besides this, are there any other arrangements?"

"Have!"

Zhang Anping said with a smile:
"Besides the task that Comrade Lu Hanqing is in charge of, we have two other key tasks to focus on next."

"two?!"

Chai Ying was astonished. She knew almost all the information Zhang Anping had, so where did these two work focuses come from?

"The first focus: the Traffic Police Corps!"

Zhang Anping explained, "When I came out, I received a telegram that Xu Baichuan, who had been delayed, was finally coming to Nanjing. Based on my understanding of Xu Baichuan's personality, this time he was completely lost."

Chai Ying was shocked: "You want to personally turn them to defect?!"

"No! Absolutely not!"

Chai Ying, who had often inwardly disliked her husband's conservatism, suddenly understood the reason behind his conservatism.

Zhang Anping gave an awkward smile, feeling a strange sense of familiarity with Lao Cen—Lao Cen was always quite frightened by him, and he had heard that Lao Cen was living a very "carefree" life in Chongqing now, probably because he no longer had to be frightened by him.

"I'm not suitable. I can only be the stubborn one in Lao Xu's heart." Zhang Anping said with a wry smile. All his seemingly risky actions were actually 98% certain, but Zhang Anping didn't have the courage to personally turn Lao Xu against him.

Old Xu betrayed Old Zheng!
Regardless of the reason, his actions can be described as betrayal, and that is undeniable.

Therefore, Zhang Anping would not take the risk.

Chai Ying breathed a sigh of relief: "Then what do you think we should do to win him over?"

Zhang Anping chuckled: "Let Lao Zheng handle it! If Lao Xu goes back on his word, he'll only communicate with me. Lao Zheng will be safe in the end."

Chai Ying agreed with satisfaction:
"Indeed."

See, Comrade Anping's considerations are quite comprehensive; Old Cen was ultimately too conservative.

Once Xu Baichuan is won over, the No. 2 Intelligence Group, which already has a considerable foundation in the Traffic Police Corps, can completely establish party organizations at all levels within the Traffic Police Corps—good heavens, given the nature of the Traffic Police Corps, they might just change their clothes and become the most standard People's Liberation Army soldiers!
"What's the other key point?"

“Mr. Huang Jianxia!” Zhang Anping couldn’t help but laugh and said, “It’s not just Mr. Huang, we should also ask Mr. Zhou Jixian to help—in this financial package incident, these Tongmenghui elders are the most desperate.”

At this point, Zhang Anping stopped laughing, his joking expression gone.

Elders of the Tongmenghui like Huang and Zhou embarked on a perilous and difficult path under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Their goal was to bring about a new life for the Chinese land that had been ravaged at that time.

They launched revolution after revolution, and finally, the gunfire in Wuchang brought them a "victory." They thought it was a victory, but what followed was confrontation, the theft of the fruits of the revolution, the suppression of rebellions, restoration attempts, and warlord infighting...

Finally, they faced the arduous task of resisting Japanese aggression!
After enduring so much hardship, what kind of answer did the Nationalist government give us?
Top-tier wealthy families can easily manage hundreds of millions of dollars in assets!
How desperate these people are!
Chai Ying understood: "I see—but this focus of work probably requires guidance from superiors, right?"

"Okay, you should talk to your superiors. We'll be in charge of security. As for the specifics of the negotiations, we'll need to send someone from above. But we'll be responsible for the security arrangements and the initial communication."

"In addition, you should suggest to your superiors that we pay attention to the academic community. Our country is already extremely short of high-end talents. The future new China will need them to support the country. I am worried that with the defeat of the Kuomintang, they may be hijacked by the Americans. For now, we should do a good job of information gathering and must avoid this from happening."

Zhang Anping's stated reason was his fear of being outmaneuvered by the Americans, but in reality, he was worried that the Kuomintang would take all the top talent with them before their defeat and fall in Taiwan.

However, the Kuomintang has not yet suffered the blows of the three major battles and has not yet prepared a way out.

Chai Ying nodded solemnly. Countless facts had proven Zhang Anping's ability to predict the future. Now that Zhang Anping had carefully explained these two key tasks, she naturally wouldn't be careless.

After exchanging some important information, seeing that Zhang Anping was about to leave, Chai Ying asked curiously:
"Anping, is the book 'Blue Star Animal Kingdom' no longer being updated?"

Zhang Anping thought for a moment:

"It needs to be updated, but the timing isn't right yet."

(No, I have to add one more thing—20,000 words in two days!!!) (End of this chapter)