My spy diary

Chapter 238: Gathering Intelligence (asking for monthly tickets)

Zheng Huhe returned to the office with an expressionless face, and his expression only became solemn until the office door was closed.

He listened behind the door for a few seconds, then quickly came to the desk, half-opened the drawer, opened the bottle of iodine, and brushed the banknotes with a small brush. Finally, a line of text appeared.

After seeing the content of the intelligence, he thought carefully for a moment, then swallowed the money without hesitation.

Then he made a cup of tea, and while drinking it, he walked slowly to the window and looked at the yard downstairs.

Agents were coming in and out of the yard in an orderly manner and everything was peaceful.

Two plainclothes agents on the right were washing cars with buckets of water. Zheng Huhe took a glance and found that one of the cars belonged to Zhang Yi.

There was yellow mud on the wheels of the car, which must have meant that it had left the city and headed for the suburbs.

He knew that Zhang Yi went out today, but his whereabouts were secretive and no one knew where he went, nor did they know whether this place had any connection with the arrested comrade.

But Zhang Yi was recently in charge of a counterfeit money case, and this comrade was in charge of paper money at the Bank of China. He always felt that there was some connection between the two.

If he knew the speed of the car and the amount of gasoline used, he could roughly calculate the approximate location where Zhang Yi had been and then go to investigate.

But this would be too hasty and deliberate.

After thinking for a while, he picked up the phone and called the bathhouse. As soon as the call was connected, Zheng Huhe started to curse:
"It's so embarrassing. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I won't go to your bathhouse anymore. I advise you to close it early. Humph, if you're not convinced, you can call the police and see if they dare to come to the secret service to look for me."

After hanging up the phone, Zheng Huhe knew that based on the tacit understanding between him and his superior, he should know what he was talking about.

Everything is unknown now, so we might as well play along and push the problem to the police station. As long as the police station comes forward to inquire, there will always be clues from the Secret Service.

He thought for a while, sorted out his thoughts, closed his eyes and rested for a while. Half an hour later, he poured the tea into the flowerpot beside him, then walked towards Zhang Yi's office with the teacup.

There was a table at the door with a sign that read "Deputy Section Chief", and behind it sat a young secretary in a neat Zhongshan suit.

Zheng Huhe knew that this person was Zhang Yi's new secretary Chen Jiaquan, and heard that he was a graduate of the Shanghai Sanji Radio Training Class.

This training class was located at Fenglin Bridge, Lafite Road, in the French Concession. It was originally a school for the Secret Service to train radio technical cadres. After the Anti-Japanese War broke out, all the staff of the school moved to Wuhan.

"Secretary Chen, is Section Chief Zhang here?"

Secretary Chen was polite, but there was no expression on his face. He just nodded and knocked on the door gently: "Chief, Team Leader Zheng is here."

Zhang Yi's voice came from inside the door: "Come in."

Secretary Chen pushed the door halfway open and extended his hand politely: "Team Leader Zheng, please come in!"

"Thank you, Secretary Chen." Zheng Huhe nodded with a smile.

"You're welcome." The secretary leaned forward to let Zheng Huhe in, then closed the door from the outside.

Zhang Yi's office is not big, but it looks tidy.

There were piles of documents on both sides of the table, all stamped with red "Top Secret" and "Confidential".

"Old Zheng, please sit down." Zhang Yi was busy looking through documents and greeted him without even raising his head.

Zheng Huhe sat down calmly without saying a word, waiting quietly for Zhang Yi to ask questions.

"Is Jingtian still honest?" After signing a document, Zhang Yi looked up and asked.

"I was just about to report to you, and I wanted to ask for some tea. Everyone says that you have good tea here, Section Chief Zhang." Zheng Huhe smiled and continued:
"Although Jingtian is a well-behaved person, he is timid and afraid of trouble. He has always been worried that the Special Higher Police will investigate the arrested special agent team, which will lead to his exposure and bring disaster to his family in Japan. He is very worried."

"After boarding our ship, he still has the time to think about the consequences?" Zhang Yi sneered and pointed at the bookshelf next to him.

"You've always been drinking Tieguanyin, haven't you? Why did you suddenly change your taste?"

"I'm tired of drinking Tieguanyin every day. The spring tea is not on the market yet, so I'd like to get some bargains from you, Section Chief." Zheng Huhe said casually.

"Drink whatever you want. If you like, take a can home and drink it." Zhang Yi nodded, then picked up the phone:

"Ask Qian Xiaosan to come over."

Soon, Zheng Huhe had just brewed the tea and added water to Zhang Yi's teacup, when Qian Xiaosan knocked on the door and came in.

Zhang Yi asked: "Hasn't He Yuan confessed yet?"

Qian Xiaosan looked unhappy and said angrily, "This guy is a diehard. His life is hanging by a thread. I have used all the necessary punishments, but he just won't talk. If I wasn't worried about him being tortured to death, I would have used electric shock long ago."

Many things are not subject to personal will. Not every Japanese will surrender when facing interrogation. Zhang Yi was not surprised. After thinking for a moment, he said:
"If he doesn't confess, we won't be able to understand what the Jinling Special High Section is thinking, but if a special agent team is captured, they will definitely send someone to investigate.
In this way, we will immediately activate our undercover agent in Jinling and ask him to inquire from the side.

In addition, from now on, secret plainclothes officers will be deployed at train stations, bus stations, major traffic arteries, city gates, etc. to closely check anyone with a suspicious identity or behavior."

"Old Zheng, you must also secretly arrange surveillance around the well field. Anyone who is found spying, monitoring, or has a suspicious identity or behavior, keep an eye on them. Do not alert them."

"Yes." Qian Xiaosan and Zheng Huhe saluted and accepted the order.

After arranging the tasks, Zhang Yi motioned for the two to sit down and said with a smile, "This time we seized two truckloads of counterfeit banknotes from the Japanese spy agency. The mission was accomplished well. The director was very happy and rewarded our Operations Department with 10,000 French francs. Everyone who participated in the operation will get a share. The list has been reported to Section Chief He and will probably be out later. When the time comes, notify the brothers to collect the money."

Speaking of rewards, everyone was smiling. Qian Xiaosan silently calculated how much he could get, then sighed:
"Section Chief, do you think this money is still money now? Not only is the currency depreciating, but prices are also rising. By the way, I heard that the government is going to print more legal tender recently?"

Although the Secret Service and other relevant departments of the Kuomintang actively responded to counterfeit currency, the legal currency forged by Japanese spies had already had an impact on China's economy in a short period of time. In addition to the "counterfeiting with counterfeit" presided over by the Secret Service, the National Government printed a large number of real currency to deal with these counterfeit currency. The direct result was that the amount of currency circulating in the market increased, and the increase in the amount of currency began to lead to the escalation of inflation.

Zhang Yi remembered reading a report that said that from the issuance of 1937 billion in 15 to 1944, the currency issuance in the Kuomintang-controlled areas increased more than 100 times to 1890 billion, not including the currency issued by the Japanese and puppet regimes. This shows how chaotic the financial situation was at the time.

The Japanese printed counterfeit money, and the Guo government also printed counterfeit money. Then the agents of both sides found ways to spend it in the other's controlled areas. While solving their own financial problems, they could also hit the other's economy. It seemed like they were killing two birds with one stone, but in the end it was the ordinary people who suffered.

Since the legal currency reform in 35, the circulation of gold, silver dollars and ocean dollars in society has been prohibited. However, this is aimed at ordinary people. The more it is banned, the more it proves that these are hard currencies. It was still okay when the legal currency was strong. In the later period, from the top to the local officers, the first thing they did after receiving their military pay was not to distribute it, but to be escorted by armed forces to Shanghai to buy gold. The troop transport vehicles became special trains for transporting banknotes. Do you still expect them to go to war?
And there are countless unscrupulous businessmen taking advantage of the national crisis to make money
The financial system of the Kuomintang was extremely chaotic, while the border currency of the Red Party was extremely strong. That is why some historians say that the collapse of the financial system was an extremely critical reason for the Kuomintang's final defeat.

In 37, 100 French francs could buy a cow, but in 48, they could only buy four grains of rice.
In 37, one U.S. dollar was exchanged for 3.42 yuan of legal tender. In 46, one U.S. dollar was exchanged for 3050 yuan of legal tender. By January 48, this figure had risen to 1 legal tender. By August, it had skyrocketed to 17.8 million. Can you believe it?
Zhang Yi shook his head and said, "If you have spare money, you should exchange it into US dollars and gold for emergency use." Zheng Huhe and Qian Xiaosan seemed to be thinking about something.

At this time, Secretary Chen knocked on the door and came in. He glanced at Zheng Huhe and Qian Xiaosan, then looked at Zhang Yi without saying a word.

Zheng Huhe glanced at his watch, thinking that there might be some movement at the police station, and pretended to avoid it: "Chief, I'll go back first."

Qian Xiaosan also pretended to leave.

Zhang Yi waved his hand nonchalantly, looked at Secretary Chen, and asked, "What happened?"

Secretary Chen bowed and said, "It's like this, Section Chief. Section Chief He called just now and said that the police station called to say that several employees of the Bank of China, which is under the Ministry of Finance, suddenly disappeared. Witnesses said that they were kidnapped, and then their families called the police. I heard that reporters went to interview them.
You know, the Wuhan Police Department and the Party Affairs Investigation Department are in cahoots with each other, and they directly said that it was our secret service department that kidnapped them, and Section Chief He was afraid that the matter would become a big deal, so he called to ask about it."

Zhang Yi narrowed his eyes and immediately realized that there must be someone behind the scenes fanning the flames. Otherwise, how would the family members know about this when these ten people had only disappeared for the whole morning and it was not yet time to get off work?
But these ten people were involved in the production of counterfeit currency, which is a secret among secrets. Their whereabouts must not be disclosed. Boss Dai was not prepared to explain what he did.

He thought for a moment and then said evasively, "I understand. I will call Section Chief He to explain. As for the Bank of China, the family members will receive a unified notice of the business trip. Don't worry about safety issues. There will be a letter to convey it when the time comes."

As he spoke, he glanced at Zheng Huhe and Qian Xiaosan, the smile on his face slowly faded, and he said to Secretary Chen in a stern tone:
"This matter must be kept extremely confidential. Please keep an eye out. If anyone deliberately inquires about the whereabouts of these ten people, report his name to me immediately."

"Yes." Secretary Chen nodded seriously and then slowly walked out.

It's getting late.

Zheng Huhe freed himself from his official duties, walked out of the Secret Service Office, walked for a distance, and hailed a rickshaw to go home.

When he was almost home, he got out of the car, paid the fare, lit a cigarette, stayed for a while, observed the surroundings, and then walked towards another street.

The newly opened bathhouse by his superior was one street away from his home, and he was used to walking there.

The bathhouse was closed today. Zheng Huhe knocked on the door and his superior hurriedly opened the door while putting on his clothes.

The two looked at each other, said nothing, and ran straight to the secret room behind the bathhouse.

"Have you found out?" the superior asked anxiously.

"The person should be in the hands of the Secret Service, and is probably cooperating in carrying out some secret mission. I guess it has something to do with counterfeit currency." Zheng Huhe narrated the incident and speculated.

"Counterfeit money? Does that mean his identity wasn't exposed? Was it just a false alarm?"

Zheng Huhe nodded and said, "There should be no problem with safety, but I don't think he will be able to come out in the short term. Zhang Yi said that he could convey their letters, but the letters would definitely be strictly checked and would not reveal any details about their work."

"As long as everyone is safe, I will report it immediately." The superior sighed and asked again:

"You didn't arouse Zhang Yi's suspicion, did you?"

Zheng Huhe shook his head and said, "You're going to do this in full. You definitely can't open this shop anymore, and I can't come here anymore."

The superior nodded and said, "I will abandon this place and notify you the old way when the new contact point is ready."

Zheng Huhe nodded, turned around and left without saying anything.

The superior looked at his back as he left without saying anything. Perhaps silence was the greatest respect.

At night, Xu Zengen from the Party Affairs Investigation Office hung up the phone, a hint of pride emerging between his brows.

He had just received clear news that the new personnel appointments had been made. Dai Chunfeng was appointed as the deputy director to preside over the actual work of the Military Control Commission, while he, Xu, was promoted to deputy director to preside over the work of the Central Control Commission.

The institutional structure of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics clearly showed that the old man had good intentions. Under his careful operation, the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was separated from the Organization Department system for the first time and placed under the direct leadership of the Party Department.

This means that the two Chen brothers can no longer issue orders openly as they did in the past.

The new director is Zhu Jiahua, the secretary general of the CPC Central Committee. He is also a big boss of the CC faction, but he and the two Chen brothers do not see eye to eye.

Moreover, this person is a well-known strong-fisted person with a strong style and a love of power.

The old man appointed such a person as the director, obviously intending to suppress the power of the two Chen brothers.

Although Xu Zengen disliked this man and was deeply wary of him, both the Military and Central Bureaus had clear regulations that the deputy director was in charge of daily work.

Xu knew that this was the old man's selfish desire. He did not want the two Chen brothers to control the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics anymore, nor did he want the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics to fall into the hands of Zhu Jiahua. Instead, he wanted the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics to obey his orders directly through deputy positions like the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Secret Service).

So on the surface, the future Central Bureau of Investigation will no longer be under the control of the two Chen brothers, and in reality, it will not be under the control of the Secretary-General. So who does the Central Bureau of Investigation listen to?

The more Xu Zengen thought about it, the more excited he became. Such a novel and unique organizational structure would give him a lot of room to display his talents.

Moreover, the Central Bureau of Investigation is a formal and upright agency, which is completely different from the "special agent headquarters" he had set up in the past. It sounds like a promotion from division level to bureau level, but in fact the power of the Central Bureau of Investigation is equivalent to that of a ministerial level, and his "unknown" Director Xu has become the "Deputy Director Xu" who sounds domineering, which makes him excited just thinking about it.

In the triangle of the old man, the two Chen brothers, and the secretary-general, he will immediately become the darling of the three forces. Hehe, as long as he does what he wants and adapts to circumstances, he can gain the greatest benefits.

"While the snipe and the clam quarrel, the fisherman gains. Hehe." Xu Zengen laughed complacently. He couldn't help wondering if his old rival Dai Chunfeng, the little jerk, was also complacent. And that Zhang Yi
Thinking of how he had been oppressed by the Secret Service in the past, Xu Zengen gritted his teeth and became extremely angry.

In the future, it will not be "two places" but "two unifications". If it is unified but not unified, the competition will only become more intense.

He was just about to pick up the phone and ask what the secret service people were doing recently when there was a knock on the office door.

The person who came in was the head of the Telecommunications Department. He said with a happy face, "Director, we intercepted the secret message sent by Cheng Shifan to Secretary-General Zhu."

Xu Zengen was slightly displeased when he heard the title "Director", but he still patiently asked:
"What did the telegram say?"

The head of the telecommunications department pretended to be mysterious and lowered his voice and said, "Counterfeit currency."

"Counterfeit currency?" Xu Zengen raised his eyebrows, quickly took the telegram, and when he took a look at it, his face beamed with joy.

(End of this chapter)