money player

During World War II, the British Special Operations Executive established a branch, Unit 136, in the Far East to be responsible for operations behind enemy lines against Japan.

In 1946, Unit 136 completed its historical mission and was disbanded, but some of its elite members were transferred to the newly established Far East Intelligence Bureau. This bureau cooperated closely with MI5 and MI6 to combat the Malayan Communist Party.

Xian Yuzhen, codenamed Overlord, is a member of MI5 and is stationed at the Far East Intelligence Bureau.

Xian Yuzhen disliked the code name "Overlord" because it was too arrogant and would easily make her a target of special attention. However, she had no choice but to accept it because she was unlucky and drew this code name randomly.

On the sea, the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines ship "MS Oranje" is sailing. The ship departed from Jakarta, passed through Singapore, and headed for Hong Kong. Half an hour ago, the ship left the Singapore port and headed towards Hong Kong.

In first class, Xian Yuzhen sat by the window, holding a copy of "Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR".

Beside her, an Indian was hanging upside down, one ankle tied with a rope, his shoes removed to expose his feet, and a man was holding a thin vine and tending to him.

In 1951, India was the largest opium poppy grower, with a cultivation area of ​​4 hectares. Farmers planted opium poppies in specific areas, and after harvesting, the Central Opium Board purchased, processed, and distributed them.

India dares to openly grow opium because it is legal. In theory, opium is only sold to British and American pharmaceutical companies, but in reality, there are many opium users in India, including both addicted opium addicts and patients.

India has no shortage of highly skilled doctors, such as the great Dwarkanath Kotnis, but the vast majority, especially those practicing medicine in rural areas, are quacks. Some of them are not skilled in medicine, but they have a sincere heart to heal the sick and save lives. Since they are not skilled in medicine, they study folk remedies. After years of systematic research, they discovered that opium is a good thing, and it can cure all diseases.

Headache or fever? Prescribe some opium. Wound? Prescribe some opium. Ascites? Prescribe some opium. In short, no matter what the illness, it can be treated with opium. If a doctor's patients survive half of the cases, he can be elevated to the throne of a miracle doctor.

Indian farmers have lowly lives and rely on enduring both minor and major illnesses. They only seek medical help when they can no longer bear it. At this point, it's basically a last resort. If the patient survives, it's the doctor's achievement; if they die, it's considered bad luck and their fate.

Opium was so prevalent among the common people that it was clear that a significant amount of poppies grown by farmers were not purchased by the Central Opium Bureau. Speaking of the Central Opium Bureau, the farmers were full of complaints. The purchase price was too damn low. The highest grade was only offered 15 rupees per kilogram, and they often issued IOUs. If they wanted to convert the IOUs into cash, they had to pay a small fee. Sometimes, they actually received less than half of the money.

Despite their plight, the farmers did not despair. They hummed "Poppy Red," and when spring came and the poppies bloomed all over the mountains, their most honored guests—opium smugglers and quartermasters of the Communist Party of India guerrillas—would come to visit them with rupees.

At this time, they would take out the yellow spices they had treasured for a year and were reluctant to use, and cook up a beautiful yellow, mushy, and sticky dish. Everyone would sit around on the ground, using their hardworking, pure, and revolutionary right hands to scoop up a handful of food, while singing folk songs.

"Dululu, dululu, lululululu, Third Brother, how's the harvest this year?"

"Oh, Ma La Gu, oh, Ma La Gu, this year the weather has been favorable, and the harvest has increased by 33%."

"Hey hey, hey hey, the revolutionary situation is excellent."

"..."

Amidst the intoxicating sounds of folk songs, the 1951 Opium Trade Fair came to a perfect close, with bags of opium carried on their heads and loaded onto drug-laden ships bound for the world.

The Indian man's mouth was completely gagged. He was in pain but could not groan; he could only twist his body.

Xian Yuzhen flipped through a few pages of her book, glanced at the time, and decided that the time was right. She turned to the Indian man and said, “Give me the name of a contact person from the Malayan Communist Party, and your suffering will end. Give me the name of a contact person from the Indonesian Communist Party, and you can leave here alive. I’ll give you ten seconds to think it over. Start the timer.”

Within five seconds, the Indian man blinked rapidly.

"Put him down."

The scholar nodded, put the Indian down, and led him to sit in the chair opposite Xian Yuzhen without restraining him in any way.

Xian Yuzhen picked up the cigarettes from the coffee table, placed them next to the Indian man, and then poured him a glass of juice from a glass jug. "Please help yourself, I'm not in a hurry."

The Indian man glanced at Sin Yuk-Chun, then at the cigarettes and the glass full of juice, and then at the ashtray he could easily reach. In his mind, he imagined picking up the ashtray, lunging forward, and smashing it hard on Sin Yuk-Chun's head. Then, he dismissed the thought, picked up a cigarette, and lit one for himself.

He hadn't forgotten how he got to this cabin, nor had he forgotten how two comrades with decent fighting skills had been beaten to death by the frail woman in front of him with their bare hands. He was powerless; any resistance would only be a futile death.

Time ticked by, and the Indian finished one cigarette and lit another.

Xian Yuzhen held a book in one hand and placed the other hand under the table, holding a Beretta M1951 whose safety was already off.

After a long while, the Indian man smoked three cigarettes, lit another one, and slowly opened his mouth, "Yunyi Zhang is also on this ship."

Xian Yuzhen put down the book in her hand and asked softly, "Which cabin?"

"Second class, cabin number three."

"Thank you, Indonesian Communist Party?"

The Indian man nodded. "I can't say."

"OK, I respect you. After you finish this cigarette, you can shout slogans, but don't be too loud. I won't make things difficult for you, and I hope you won't make things difficult for me either. Let's all be dignified."

The Indian man gazed at Xian Yuzhen's face and gently shook his head.

Seeing this, the scholar put a noose around the Indian's neck and quietly watched the cigarette in the Indian's hand, which was still two-thirds of its length.

The smoke burns very slowly, as slowly as life before the age of thirty, when a day feels very long.

But even the slowest cigarette eventually burns out. As the butt falls into the ashtray, the Indians raise their right hands and shout, "Long live the Indian people! Long live the Communist Party of India!"

Whew, the noose tightened, binding the tail end of a person's life.

When the Indian man's tongue drooped limply at the corner of his mouth, the scholar loosened the noose, checked the man's pulse, and then nodded to Xian Yuzhen.

"The body was handed over to the Dutch for safekeeping, and was buried somewhere after disembarking."

The scholar hesitated for a moment, then said, "Miss, I can actually get the name of the Indonesian communist contact from him."

Xian Yuzhen glanced at the scholar and said, "If I find out now, I will be responsible for arresting the person. Once the person is arrested, the clues to finding the money will be cut off. The British government only gives me 26 pounds a month. As long as I can explain myself, that's fine. My own affairs are more important."

"understood."

"Put on a Singapore police uniform, find Zhang Yunyi, and hand him over to the Hong Kong police as soon as he gets off the ship, so that he has a chance to catch the next deportation ship."

The British generally dealt with captured Chinese members of the Malayan Communist Party primarily through deportation, likely because many were from Hainan. The destination was Hainan Island, where they were resettled by the local government, with some being sent to work on Chinese farms.

Personnel like Zhang Yunyi, who were responsible for liaising with the Communist Party of India on special goods trade, were definitely not among the ordinary members of the Malayan Communist Party; they were relatively important figures. Handing them over to the Far East Intelligence Bureau for interrogation was a necessary procedure, and Xian Yuzhen's actions were a violation of regulations.

But she didn't care. She was focused on tracking down the funds for the special goods trade. This was a task assigned to her by her direct superior, Jack Jones—an extra-official task. Once the funds were found, they wouldn't be handed over to the authorities. Some would be divided up privately, and some would go into MI5's secret slush fund.

The British Empire was in decline, and even MI5's funding was not guaranteed, so it had to resort to some tertiary industries.

After the cabin fell silent, Xian Yuzhen gave a bitter smile. Her life as a spy was completely different from what she had initially imagined. Her real duty was not to gather intelligence, but to make money.

After this trip, she will go to Indonesia to contact Chinese businessmen in Surabaya and Semarang and "raise" some funds from them.

[Due to unforeseen circumstances, the section describing the current favorable situation for Chinese Indonesians has been removed...]
The British were seasoned colonial veterans, experienced and knowledgeable. They could easily understand the situation in Indonesia, and they saw that Indonesia was about to enter a phase of "first robbing the rich to help the poor, then robbing the poor to help the rich."

Perfect timing! I'm poor right now, so I can send someone over to talk to the Chinese businessmen and remind them of the fable of the cunning rabbit having three burrows. They shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket in Indonesia. They can transfer some assets to Singapore, Malaya, or Hong Kong, so they'll have a way out in the future.

At worst, you can set aside some money and deposit it in HSBC. You can leave whenever you want in the future without worrying about losing everything. Of course, if your whole family is unfortunate enough to suffer a disaster, the money won't go to Indonesia.

Sin Ngoc Chan was chosen to go to Indonesia to negotiate with Chinese businessmen. She had a lot on her shoulders, as she needed to balance the interests of the British government, MI5, and the Sin family.

Second class, cabin number three.

Because the "MS Oranje" is an old ship restored after the war, the second class cabin is not the usual 2-4 person cabin on cruise ships, but an 8 person cabin with 4 bunk beds.

After communicating with the captain, the scholar obtained the passenger registration form, easily located Zhang Yunyi's berth, and led his men to pin Zhang Yunyi down on the berth, gagged him, and were about to take him away.

The commotion was quite loud, naturally disturbing the passengers in the other berths. One of the passengers in the upper berth tumbled down from his berth and stopped the scholar and his companions, saying, "Hey, hey, hey, what's going on with you? Why are you grabbing people like this?"

The scholar glanced at the traveler and saw that the traveler was not old and short, but had a strong and powerful appearance. Looking at his hands, he could basically tell that they were the hands of a pistol, and that the traveler was skilled with two guns. He could not see the distribution of calluses, so he could not determine which type of gun it was. However, based on the traveler's Jiangxi accent, he guessed that it was very likely that the traveler was using a pair of Mauser pistols.

“Jiangxi accent, young age, doesn’t recognize my clothes, yet insists on standing up for himself, strong sense of justice, but little discipline.” The scholar laughed loudly, “Hahaha, not so great either. He hasn’t even settled into his position yet, and he’s already in a hurry to send his own son out to get some experience. Kid, this isn’t how you run a spy.”

The scholar pointed to the young passenger's lower bunk and said, "If you pretend to be asleep again, I will immediately order a search of the entire ship and a thorough investigation of all the scholars who have returned from America."

Upon hearing this, the man in the lower bunk rolled over, looked at the scholar, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Friend, we have no past grievances or recent feuds, let's keep to ourselves..."

The scholar waved his hand, "Alright, I know who you are, and you can guess who I used to be. I've already taken off that military uniform. I'm not interested in you. Keep your men in check."

The man in the lower bunk got off his bunk and bowed to the scholar again, saying, "Excuse me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped forward and pulled the young passenger aside.

The scholar waved his hand, signaling his team to escort Zhang Yunyi away. He then bowed slightly to the other passengers who had been woken up, saying, "I am truly sorry for disturbing your rest. To express my apologies, I will treat you to breakfast tomorrow."

After saying this, the scholar closed the cabin door and left.

The man on the lower bunk stared at the cabin door for a long time, lost in thought.

The scholar returned to Xian Yuzhen's first-class cabin and reported everything that had just happened.

"Next time you encounter the same thing, pretend you don't know anything and don't point it out."

"clear."

"Let everyone take turns resting. There's not much to do in the next few days, so you can relax a bit."

"Yes."

The rain in Hong Kong is torrential, like ten thousand brothel owners pouring foot-washing water down from the sky.

Beihe Street.

Sin Yiu-wu's trusted henchmen, Shao La Ming and A Rui, wearing raincoats and carrying Remington 870s, led their men to guard the perimeter of a building.

Upstairs, agents of the Myanmar Military Intelligence Bureau are conducting a crackdown on members of the Burmese Communist Party.

Although Myanmar has gained independence and broken away from British colonization, Britain still has a great deal of influence in the Myanmar government. Most of the personnel in the Military Intelligence Bureau are veterans of the former Unit 136. British instructors are present in various departments of Myanmar, including the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Special Investigation Bureau, the Police Intelligence Section, and the army. British instructors also provide guidance on counter-guerrilla tactics and offer experience from the Malayan Emergency.

Therefore, in general, the relationship between Myanmar and Britain is currently acceptable, with British instructors mediating between them. The Military Intelligence Bureau easily persuaded the Political Department to allow its agents to conduct raids on Burmese Communist Party intelligence personnel in Hong Kong.

On the rooftop of a building across the street, young Griffith stood on the edge, observing the battle unfolding opposite. (End of Chapter)