My spy diary

Chapter 574 A Day Trip (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"He agreed?"

After parting ways with Zhang Yi, Yang Rong returned to his office. Upon seeing him enter, He Shangyou, the director of the Party and Government Intelligence Department, who was sitting on the sofa, stood up, his eyes filled with hope.

Yang Rong remained silent.

He Shangyou poured him a cup of tea: "Here, let me offer this as a gift to Buddha, to moisten your throat first."

Yang Rong hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted the tea and sat down on the sofa opposite him.
"What the hell? It's clearly the person your Second Division is looking for, but you insist that I go to him for help."

"So that means you've agreed?" He Shangyou smiled and said in a relaxed manner, "Putting aside the fact that there's a rift between us, this matter is confidential, so it's better to be careful."

"Playing tricks, and you still doubt him? Didn't you read the report from the Supervision Office?" Yang Rong picked up his teacup, took a sip, and put it down. "I just had a cup of tea that Boss Dai gave me at Director Zhang's place, and it tasted quite unique."

Hearing the veiled meaning in his words, He Shangyou said dismissively, "He has temporarily passed the boss's test, but so what? Does that mean I can't doubt him?"
In our line of work, skepticism is a virtue. Besides, that Li Mulin telegram detailed that Zhang Yi only fired one shot at Niu Zidao's execution, ostensibly to give him some dignity. Hmph, two shots to the chest and one to the head—even the King of Hell couldn't save him. Dignity for a traitor? Don't you find that suspicious?"

Yang Rong shook his head: "We are people first, citizens, and then intelligence agents. Isn't Niu Zidao Chinese? He was already a member of the Communist Party before infiltrating the Military Intelligence Bureau; we were just working for different masters. Principles are principles, and being a person is being a person. We can't turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to his contributions to the War of Resistance against Japan just because he is an opponent or an enemy, can we?"

"No one can ignore his contributions. He is indeed an anti-Japanese hero, but where couldn't he fight the Japanese? He's a member of the Communist Party, so he should have gone to the Communist Party to get paid to fight the Japanese, instead of taking a salary from the Party and the state while shouting for resistance and working for the Communist Party, which didn't pay him a penny. He's using the Party and the state's rice bowl to smash the Party and the state's pot. What dignity does such a traitor deserve?" He Shangyou stared at him. "And what about Zhang Yi's actions? Isn't it fair to say he sympathizes with the Communist Party?"

"Boss Dai didn't say anything, so how can you be more astute than him?" Yang Rong said, half out of spite and half out of helplessness, in the face of He Shangyou's aggressive questioning.

He Shangyou smiled meaningfully: "I didn't say that, you did."

Yang Rong frowned, remained silent for a while, and then asked, "What secret is Lin Jingyi hiding that makes you go to such lengths?"

"This is a grand strategy."

"How big is it?"

"I've told you everything I can."

Yang Rong sneered and picked up his teacup: "I've repaid the favor I owed you. Goodbye."

"Thanks, Lao Yang. Once we catch the guy, you'll get your share of the benefits. I'm grateful for your kindness, so I should return the favor."

"Benefits?" Yang Rong sneered. "Then you'd better keep a close eye on things. Arresting people is the responsibility of the Action Department. He Zhiyuan is still in the dark. He's not as easy to talk to as I am. Besides, even if you catch someone, you still have to get past the Judicial Department."

"Don't worry, I'll have Boss Dai put in a good word for him."

Judicial Department.

After seeing Yang Rong and He Zhiyuan off, Zhang Yi summoned Monkey and Qian Xiaosan, instructing them to retrieve all the newspapers and magazines from Shancheng that had been published during his absence, as well as all the intelligence within their authority that they could access from the confidential office.

He was engrossed in reading a newspaper called "Family Traditions."

"Family Style" was founded in May 1938. Originally named "Bi-monthly Commentary", it was a publication used by Dai Chunfeng to control the thoughts within the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Later, in order to better direct the Military Intelligence Bureau's struggle against the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS), Dai often gave speeches in this secret publication, attacking the CC Clique and the CBIS's work. Therefore, some intelligence about the CBIS was also published in the publication.

However, after reading the whole thing, he found that apart from showcasing how powerful the Military Intelligence Bureau was, the content related to the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was all about jealousy and rivalry, such as how Xu Zeng'en's ex-wife had an affair with his former secretary in Chengdu, or how Xu Zeng'en's ex-wife blocked the road and beat up his current wife. It was all just gossip, but had no intelligence value.

But he did not give up. After reading through dozens of newspapers and periodicals, he finally found a valuable clue in a newspaper called "Xin Shu Bao".

A reporter known as "The Man in the Mirror" wrote an article called "Travelogue of Tangjiatuo," imitating the story of "The Peach Blossom Spring."

The article revealed that he received a notice last week to accompany KMT elders Yu Youren and others to inspect a place called Tangjiatuo.

It is understood that this place is a collective living area for the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) and their families, where a "utopian" collective living system was established.

According to Xu Zeng'en's prior report, the place not only had a public canteen, but also a nursery, so that family members could give birth with peace of mind and spies could work with peace of mind. It truly achieved the goal of "the elderly having support, the able-bodied having employment, the young having growth, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, and disabled all being cared for," which was just like the description of the Great Harmony society in the Book of Rites.

Isn't the core of the Great Harmony society "the world belongs to all"? Isn't this the core embodiment of practicing Dr. Sun Yat-sen's thought?

Therefore, veterans of the Kuomintang, such as Yu Youren, were very interested in this.

But just one day later, the reporter received another notification that the inspection had been canceled.

The reporter was very frustrated by this, and out of curiosity, he took his camera and went alone to Tangjiatuo, which is 40 kilometers away from the mountain city, to investigate.

But when he arrived in Tangjiatuo, he found that it was not at all the "neat, clean, and orderly" place that Xu Zengen had described. Instead, it was a mess and a chaotic mess.

He was about to take a few photos when he was discovered by agents of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS). They not only confiscated his camera but also beat him and locked him in a pigsty.

After his release, the reporter had no way to complain. The newspapers controlled by the CC Clique and the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics dared not publish his articles. Finally, he had no choice but to submit his articles to the "New Sichuan Daily", which was controlled by pro-democracy activists.

The reporter added at the end of the article: "The politics of espionage, deception, and corruption are heartbreaking for me as a journalist with a conscience. But now that I'm out of your control, I'm very happy! I'm sorry, I'm going to Hong Kong."

"Tangjiatuo, collective living?" Zhang Yi clicked his tongue in amazement. He never imagined that the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics would implement a model of collective living and collective labor. It was simply unbelievable.

Qian Xiaosan said with a disdainful look: "Isn't this just the Soviets' way? The Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics' opponent is the Communist Party. People are influenced by their surroundings. I didn't expect them to have even learned the Soviets' ways."

It sounds unbelievable, but it's not surprising. Half of the people in the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) were traitors to the Communist Party. Under the influence of these people, it was impossible for the CBIS and even Xu Zeng'en not to be affected. Later, Chang Taizi also implemented the same system he learned in the Soviet Union, but he ended up doing a completely different thing.

"This matter is unlikely to have been done by Xu Zeng'en; it seems more like the work of his wife."

"Fei Xia?"

"Yes, that's her." Fei Xia was from Hubei and was Xu Zeng'en's third wife. She studied in Russia in her early years and joined the Communist Party. It is said that she was a classmate of Prince Chang.

After returning to China, he betrayed the revolution. In the early days, he lived in a guesthouse set up by the Kuomintang for students returning from Russia. He was provided with living expenses by the Kuomintang and was responsible for introducing them to jobs.

On one occasion, Xu Zeng'en visited the guesthouse for an inspection and gave a speech. Fei Xia answered on behalf of the overseas students. Fei Xia was quite beautiful and eloquent, which immediately attracted Xu Zeng'en's attention. He introduced her to the propaganda department to work as an editor. From then on, the two became increasingly close and their relationship became ambiguous. However, after Xu Zeng'en's wife discovered this, she threw a tantrum and verbally abused them, bringing their relationship to an end.

Later, when Xu Zengen fell ill and was hospitalized, Fei Xia, in order to repay his "kindness," went to great lengths to take care of him and served him meticulously for more than a month, which moved Xu Zengen to tears.

With a cheerful spirit, his physical recovery was also quick. The first thing Xu Zeng'en did after being discharged from the hospital was to move in with Fei Xia, openly cohabiting, and vowing that he would marry no one but Fei Xia this time.

The Chen brothers scoffed at his fickle and womanizing approach to marriage. At the same time, they felt that Fei Xia, who came from a background of a Red Party traitor, was no ordinary person. They worried that she was a Red Party spy and that Xu Zeng'en would not be able to control her, thus affecting the espionage work. Therefore, they openly opposed the two getting together.

However, Xu Zeng'en had already decided on Fei Xia and resolutely refused to accept their explanations, even threatening to resign.

Left with no other option, the two Chen brothers reported the matter to Chang.

But Chang didn't care about such personal matters at all. He couldn't resist the repeated requests of the two Chen brothers and finally took time out of his busy schedule to summon Xu Zeng'en.

Chang cut to the chase: "Are you confident? She's deeply poisoned by the Red Party's theories and is very eloquent. We must not underestimate her."

Xu Zengen was also very direct: "I'm confident that even if I resign, I will marry no one but her."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Xu Zeng'en, Chang thought about how he himself had also had two wives and a concubine, and realized that he was no better than Xu Zeng'en, so he stopped trying and just let him be.

Mr. Chang did not object, so Xu Zeng'en immediately got married. Because the Guo Party was on their way to relocate to the mountain city, in order to please Fei Xia, they solemnly held a wedding in a church in Wuhan.

But the wedding was extremely quiet, with very few people attending to offer their congratulations, only a few of his close confidants.

After their marriage, Fei Xia gave birth to four children for Xu Zeng'en in four years, making her a "luxury" among Xu's three wives and one concubine.

Fei Xia's father died early, leaving only her mother and younger sister. After the two married, her mother and sister moved into the Xu family home. Her mother helped take care of the children, while her sister managed the "Fei family businesses," including the soy sauce factory and textile factory.

"Fei Ji Soy Sauce" was once very popular in Chongqing.

I won't go into details about these.

Zhang Yi pondered for a moment and asked, "Why did the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) people go to Tangjiatuo?"

"It's just a matter of making a living," Qian Xiaosan scoffed.

Zhang Yi suddenly realized that during the War of Resistance against Japan, with military affairs taking precedence, the treatment of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Zhongtong) and the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Juntong) was incomparable.

Besides the special funds allocated by the Military Commission, the Military Intelligence Bureau also had other departments that Dai Moumou held concurrently, such as the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, the Direct Tax Bureau, the Freight Management Bureau, and the Waterway Traffic Inspection Bureau. Every one of these departments was a money-making machine. Even so, in the face of the ever-expanding organization, the Military Intelligence Bureau's funds were always insufficient and could not cover its expenses. Not to mention the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS), which relied solely on funding from the Central Party Headquarters.

Food is the most important thing for people. Therefore, for the vast majority of Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) agents, the biggest problem in the mountain city was not intelligence gathering, but the poor living conditions, which sometimes meant starvation.

During the period of the Party Affairs Investigation Department, the treatment of general secret agents of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Zhongtong) and the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Juntong) was similar, with a monthly salary of 15 yuan.

After the establishment of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS), I arrived in Chongqing and my monthly salary rose to around 110 yuan. In the beginning, life was not bad, but I couldn't escape the devaluation of currency and soaring prices.

With the first major inflation in the rear areas in 39, this fixed salary was no longer enough to cover daily expenses. Those of higher rank were better off, but the living standards of middle and lower-ranking agents plummeted, and they complained bitterly.

By last winter, prices in the mountain town had continued to soar like a runaway horse. In addition, the population of the mountain town was several times that before the war, and Japanese warplanes were bombing it from time to time. It was no longer a problem of not having enough to eat, but even housing had become a problem.

At this very moment, the spy organization grew even stronger, and the problems of food and housing became increasingly acute.

It sounds ridiculous that spies have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.
However, different job ranks have different benefits, so generalizations cannot be made.

The top spies can indulge in pleasure, revelry, and debauchery every day, but the poor folks at the bottom have to tighten their belts to make ends meet.

In order to quell the conflict and solve the increasingly urgent problem of livelihood, Xu Zengen had to find another way out, which led to the experiment of collective living in Tangjiatuo.

This was his wife Fei Xia's idea. She actively advocated learning from the collective farm model she had seen when she was studying in the Soviet Union, organizing collective living, and carrying out "production self-help" activities to solve the living and housing problems of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) agents.

Coincidentally, last winter, in order to reduce the losses from Japanese air raids, the Shancheng City government called for the evacuation of the city's population and raised funds to build many residences in the suburbs, one of which was Tangjiatuo.

However, this place is more than 40 kilometers away from the city center, with no roads or buses, making transportation inconvenient. Even though more than 100 two-story villas have been built, no one has lived there for a long time.

This is because the poor cannot afford to buy or rent, while the rich and powerful disdain to go there.

After hearing about this, Fei Xia actively encouraged Xu Zeng'en to use his connections to rent 20 of the buildings at a low price. Apart from keeping two buildings for office use, the rest were used as family dormitories.

In this way, on the one hand, some employees' families were relocated, solving the housing difficulties of the bureau headquarters. On the other hand, organizing families to engage in sideline production in the Tangjiatuo area could also solve the material shortage, which can be described as a win-win situation.

Xu Zeng'en greatly appreciated her "novel and insightful" suggestion, so he entrusted his wife with the specific implementation. He even specially established a leadership body called the "Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics Collective Life Management Committee," with his wife Fei Xia serving as the director of the committee. Under a series of persuasive and pressure tactics, several hundred families indeed moved there.

But the fate of this egalitarian distribution model of "eating from the same pot" is self-evident. From its initial enthusiasm, widespread praise, and promising prospects, which seemed to warrant its full implementation in the Party and the state, it quickly became a source of widespread disgust, chaos, and eventual closure, lasting only a few months.

They came with great fanfare, but left without a trace.

"Boss Xu is the same, pushing the millstone naked, going around in circles and making a fool of himself."

"Does the Chief mean that Lin Jingyi might be hiding in Tangjiatuo?"

"Whether it is or not, we'll find out soon enough." Zhang Yi smiled. "Get ready, let's take a day trip to Tangjiatuo!"

(End of this chapter)