Kingsman Agent in Film and Television

In theory, people should go back to work after the third day of the Lunar New Year, but for leaders of the Bureau of Secrecy like Zhang Anping, their annual leave continues—even though the higher-ups say they should work together to overcome the difficulties.

Knowing Zhang Anping's habits, apart from a few of his students, no one else came to visit or disturb him during the three days of the Lunar New Year. Only the Xi family father and son made a special trip to thank Zhang Anping for his forgiveness.

Zhang Anping was somewhat indifferent and even gave Lao Xi a warning, but out of consideration for their long-standing friendship, he eventually accepted the gifts brought by the Xi family father and son. However, the matter of Xi Yunwei returning to the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was not up for discussion.

After this incident, the relationship between the Xi family and Zhang Anping seemed to have come to a complete end. However, in reality, Zhang Anping had already conveyed his suggestions to the comrades of the Municipal Party Committee through Chai Ying:
We should withdraw Xi Yunwei to the liberated areas. He is an expert in wireless communications and should not be wasted within the Kuomintang.

When Xi Yunwei left, he had no idea that someone was secretly looking after him.

Getting back to the main point, after the third day of the Lunar New Year and theoretically after people started working again, the Zhang family became lively.

The guests started arriving early in the morning and continued until nine or ten o'clock at night. Last year, when Zhang Anping was also the deputy director of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, he didn't have nearly as many guests at home. The reason for this year's situation is that Zhang Anping is now a god of wealth. He not only controls a large sum of money, but also serves as an advisor to the National Government's Assets Holding Committee.

Those in the know are aware of the extent of Zhang Anping's influence over the Nationalist Government Assets Holding Committee. Although the organization is somewhat of a scheme to acquire assets without any investment, they are genuinely capable of generating substantial sums of money.

Whether capitalists or industrialists, those who lack money or connections for protection, who wouldn't want the asset holding committee to invest in them after seeing the factory's valuation skyrocket after the committee invested in them?

This is precisely why the Zhang family's house is always bustling with visitors.

After all, they couldn't get past the section chief. And compared to the section chief, who was shrewd enough to understand business, Zhang Anping, who was skilled in capital operations and was known as the God of Wealth, was a true model of integrity, even though he was a spy.

Faced with a bustling crowd, Zhang Anping remained calm. He was equally unfazed by the various valuable gifts, large and small yellow croakers, and stacks of green US dollars.

Not only did they not panic, but they also accepted gifts in a very high-profile manner.

Not only did he accept gifts, he also directly extorted money from others!
From the fourth to the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, he would extort a hefty sum from any merchant who came to his door.

When all the money is added up, it becomes a sum that makes everyone envious.

Without a doubt, given Zhang Anping's personality, such high-profile behavior was destined to be criticized by those with ulterior motives.

As for the section chief, there were even more people with crooked mouths.

The section chief, who had previously been full of confidence in Zhang Anping, began to feel guilty in the face of Zhang's constant taunts and undeniable facts.

"He... surely he wouldn't go that far?"

……

Not to mention the section chief, even Zhang Guanfu felt at this point that his son was courting death.

On the evening of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, after seeing off the last group of guests, Zhang Anping turned around and saw his father standing behind him with a dark face.

During the three days of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Guanfu was in a fairly good mood. Although many people came to visit, the gifts they brought were all in the spirit of reciprocity, and they were all his son's most valued students. Sometimes he would meet with these young people and give them a few words of advice.

But starting from the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Guanfu was unwilling to stay at home.

The stench of money is usually a derogatory term for businessmen. Zhang Guanfu wasn't so old-fashioned; he generally respected industrialists. However, when his son started accepting more and more expensive gifts, he simply decided to avoid seeing it and kept his two beloved grandsons away from home to prevent them from being corrupted.

He initially thought it was just "socializing" that his son had to do, but he soon noticed something was amiss—his son not only accepted all comers but also repeatedly made exorbitant demands. He witnessed his son quote an amount that would break a businessman's heart more than once, and after weighing the options, the businessman would still choose to pay.

[Son...is this a sign of self-degradation?]

That's why I'm standing behind Zhang Anping with a dark expression now.

Zhang Anping knew perfectly well why his father had such a dark expression, but he still feigned concern and asked, "Dad? You're still awake?"

"Come to the study with me."

Zhang Guanfu walked ahead with a dark face, while Zhang Anping followed behind with a sly smile. Sometimes, he found the way his father cared for him particularly...amusing.

Upon entering his study, Zhang Guanfu slammed his fist heavily on the table:
"Are you looking for death?"

"Your compromise with Mao Renfeng was already a taboo—and now you're so openly soliciting bribes. Do you really think the Chief of Staff's trust in you is limitless?"

Zhang Guanfu only heard about the rumors and the compromise between Zhang Anping and Mao Renfeng today; otherwise, he would have refrained from scolding his son.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guanfu became nervous.

After asking two questions in a row, without waiting for Zhang Anping's explanation, Zhang Guanfu softened his tone, but his voice still couldn't help but become harsh:
“Anping, you’re different from others. If you had been greedy from the beginning, no one would have said anything now. Everyone would be used to it and wouldn’t have any particular opinion.”

“But you are different, different from them—you are engaged in the shady profession of espionage, and you were previously called a model of integrity by some people because of your incorruptibility.”

"If a spy is promoted so high, what will others think? They'll probably hate you to the core! What you're doing now is giving them an excuse, and they'll definitely seize on you and never let go."

"You're looking for death!"

Seeing his father barely containing his anger, Zhang Anping dared not "pretend" any longer and quickly said:
"Dad, calm down. It's not what you think—I'll pour you a cup of tea. Please sit down and listen to me. Don't get upset."

Zhang Guanfu looked at Zhang Anping with some skepticism, but did not continue his outburst.

This is also why he had refrained from contacting his son before. His son has always been very reliable, and his repeated reminders seemed completely unnecessary in hindsight.

The elderly father, having suffered repeated "blows," naturally did not want to embarrass himself in front of his son. However, this time he felt something was different, and his compromise with Mao Renfeng made him very uneasy.

Zhang Anping placed the tea in front of his father, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

"My compromise with Mao Renfeng was out of necessity—I never expected the mess at the Shanghai station to be this big. I plan to switch Gu Shenyan with Xu Tian from the Beiping station and then conduct a thorough investigation."

Zhang Guanfu frowned: "Then you shouldn't have suppressed the matter in the Northeast—it's a matter of national importance. As the director of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, how could you suppress it privately? This matter is taboo, do you understand? This is even worse than your corruption!"

Zhang Anping said helplessly:
"There is no real evidence to support this claim at all—Qi Siyuan was forced to reveal what he was investigating after his colleague was taken down by Minglou; it was purely a bluff."

Zhang Guanfu stared at his son in astonishment; such a thing was unbelievable…

How could this even happen!

"But this matter has already spread outside—it's no longer a matter of whether you're bluffing or not, it's about you concealing it, do you understand?"

Zhang Anping said helplessly, "I know, that's why I resorted to this drastic measure."

"Should we resort to such a desperate measure?" Zhang Guanfu was taken aback. "You mean the current situation? Self-degradation?"

"How could that be! I want to make amends." As he spoke, Zhang Anping took out his ledger: "The war is not going well, and I want to express my feelings in another way—the traffic police brigade has always been treated as a security force and kept in the rear. I plan to raise some money to upgrade the equipment of the traffic police brigade and send them to the front line."

"Although I have money, it belongs to the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, so it's not appropriate to provide it directly to the Traffic Police Corps. Since these people want to contact the Holding Committee, I'll take this opportunity to make them spend some money—the ledger is here, including their gifts. I plan to convert all of it into cash and use it as military funds to carry out a large-scale equipment upgrade for the Traffic Police Corps and Special Weapons."

Of course, the specifics are definitely not that simple.

Zhang Anping's extortion of money certainly came at a price, including not only introducing him to the holding committee headed by the section chief, but also facilitating collaborations between various companies under the Bureau of Secrecy and businessmen—which is why everyone was willing to grit their teeth and pay the money.

The businessmen who can approach Zhang Anping must be quite bold. Given that Zhang Anping's character is reliable, they are essentially paying for an admission ticket.

After hearing Zhang Anping's explanation, Zhang Guanfu realized he had worried for nothing again. Looking at his serious-looking son, Zhang Guanfu's lips moved, and after taking a sip of tea, he said:
"roll!"

He suspected his son did it on purpose.

Zhang Anping smiled obsequiously and left with a shifty look on his face.

He did it on purpose, of course—if his father didn't show his shock and dissatisfaction in front of others, then how could those bastards have been smirking at the chief of staff and the director?

If they didn't flatter the chief of staff and the department head, their subsequent reports might not have been approved by the chief of staff.

And now...

……

Zhang Anping came to see the section chief the next day.

This fire should burn for about three days. If it lasts any longer, it might burn itself to death first.

As before, Zhang Anping was granted priority access to the section chief, and the section chief behaved as usual, showing no sign of disrespect—he still got up to greet Zhang Anping, personally poured him tea, and sat him on the sofa.

There was no indication that after being verbally abused again that morning, he had already resolved to investigate Zhang Anping.

Investigating Zhang Anping was no small feat for the section chief, especially since he had already suffered a loss at Zhang Anping's hands once before.

After a few simple pleasantries, Zhang Anping explained his purpose:
"Director, I have a report here. Although it's been written for a while, I still don't have a clear understanding of it. Could you please take a look?"

"You have a report you're unsure about? Here, let me take a look." The section chief feigned curiosity, took the report from Zhang Anping's briefcase, and quickly scanned it.

Report title:
Feasibility of deploying the Traffic Police Headquarters to the front lines

Zhang Anping waited patiently, and after the section chief finished quickly reviewing the document, he immediately said:
"Director, since the start of the war, our main force has suffered considerable losses. Although we have received rapid replenishment, the quality of our replacements is not comparable to what we had before."

"The Traffic Police Corps was reorganized from the former Zhongjiu Army. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, although the Zhongjiu Army was always engaged in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, it had extremely rich combat experience and had experience in fighting many tough and large-scale battles."

"However, after the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan, many people believed that the Zhongjiu Army was a guerrilla-like armed force, so it was not included in the regular army of the National Army. Later, it was reorganized into the Traffic Police Corps, and now it is more like a security force to maintain order."

"But the traffic police corps has fought just as many tough battles and major engagements as other military units!"

"Instead of dispersing them to replenish various units, it is better to deploy them as a whole on the battlefield."

With the Nationalist army suffering repeated defeats and its main forces being repeatedly damaged, some people had already set their sights on the Traffic Police Corps—but they preferred that the Traffic Police Corps be directly integrated into their troops rather than being deployed to the battlefield as a whole.

Fortunately, those who cared about the Traffic Police Corps were all loyal to the Central Army. They had all owed the loyalist army reinforcements to some extent. This matter was only discussed with Xu Baichuan and Zhang Anping, and no one directly spoke to the chief of staff.

After listening to Zhang Anping's suggestion, the section chief said thoughtfully:

“In principle, I agree with your proposal. Others may look down on the Loyal Salvation Army, but I admire it. When I was in Jiangxi, I also wanted to train such a guerrilla force behind enemy lines, but unfortunately, I failed several times and the discipline of the army deteriorated. That's why I gave up the idea.”

After expressing his appreciation, he promptly changed the subject:
“But Anping—you have to understand that the Traffic Police Corps is ultimately a lightly armed army. They don’t even have many large-caliber field guns. Letting them enter the battlefield as a whole, without many heavy weapons, I think… is not appropriate.”

From these words, Zhang Anping realized that the director must have heard rumors and was inclined to break up the traffic police brigade to supplement other units.

"What if I could replenish the Loyal Salvation Army with heavy weapons?"

"Huh?" The section chief was taken aback, then frowned and said, "You have good relations with the Americans and you do have connections, but this is a considerable expense. The GFB's budget has already been released. We have the equipment, but we don't have the money to buy it!"

Zhang Anping smiled slightly:
"I have money!"

His wealth was boundless:
"We had a really good New Year! Someone came to me for help, and after thinking it over, I think this is an opportunity—Director, what do you think? If I transfer some money from the Security Bureau's account on top of this amount, would that be enough to upgrade the traffic police brigade's heavy equipment?"

As he spoke, Zhang Anping took out an account book and slowly pushed it in front of the section chief.

The section chief was calm at first, then his expression turned to astonishment, and finally he gasped in shock.

"You, you, how did you get so much money?!"

More than seven million US dollars!

The section chief knew that Zhang Anping had been accepting bribes on a large scale for the past three days, but he did not expect the amount to be so staggering!

Zhang Anping has now gone from being rich to being embarrassed:

"It mainly utilizes the holding committee and companies under the Bureau of Secrecy that you control. Don't be fooled by the large sum of money; there's a lot to come with it."

The section chief burst into laughter: "You, Zhang Anping, you're actually using me as a front to make money—you really want half of it!"

Zhang Anping decisively replied, "No!"

The section chief burst into laughter: "Look at how stingy you are—"

He was genuinely laughing. It turned out that Zhang Anping's greed was all for the sake of the traffic police headquarters!
Fortunately, Zhang Anping came today, otherwise I would have embarrassed myself again.

He thought to himself: He truly lives up to the expectations I placed on him! He has not disappointed my promise to the chief attendant!

(The second update will probably be around 2 or 3 AM, please check back tomorrow.) (End of Chapter)