Spy game? Stop guessing, I really am an undercover agent!

Chapter 263 You Can't Tell Anyone

Chen Yang's mouth dropped open, his face filled with disbelief.

"Haruki-kun, do you mean that Yoshida-kun might have connections with the Red Team? Is he an activist influenced by the Red Plague?"

"This is impossible. How can I believe this? How dare I believe this? I am the Vice Minister of Transport and a senior advisor to the South Manchuria Railway Company!"

"Qingqi-kun, could this be a frame-up?"

Haruki Yoshitane smiled wryly and said, "It doesn't seem like it, Mr. Chen. Look at these notes. The earliest one is from July of Showa 13."

"The last article was written on May 28th, 1945, a full year after Yoshida took office as the Vice Minister of Transport."

"Also, when I came here, I asked Mr. Tamura to check, and this book was first published in the Taekungpao in July of Showa 13 (1944)."

"It is clear that this book caught Yoshida's attention as soon as it was published."

"Many of these notes are Yoshida-kun's reading comprehension of this book."

"I feel that it would be impossible to have such a profound understanding without reading for a long time."

"No matter how you look at it, Yoshida-kun is definitely problematic to some extent."

"I think this matter should be reported to the military."

"No, please don't!" Chen Yang shook his head and immediately stopped him, saying, "Mr. Haruki, the South Manchuria Railway Company is submitting Mr. Yoshida's performance report to the mainland."

"President Ōmura wants to make Yoshida a model for the South Manchuria Railway Company."

"If such a thing were to come out at this time, the South Manchuria Railway Company would definitely not be able to accept it."

"Moreover, not only the South Manchuria Railway, but also Minister Oshima submitted a letter of recommendation to the mainland in order to protect the image of the Southern Transport Department."

"If something like this were to break out at this time, it would be very difficult for Minister Oshima to be caught in the middle."

"Although I am in charge of the existing railway transportation, most of the work is still done by the South Manchuria Railway team."

“If this gets out, I’m worried that the South Manchuria Railway Company will be furious and become passive in its work, or even recall the team under the guise of self-inspection.”

"This will do us no good whatsoever; it will only give others an opportunity to take advantage of us!"

"So, Qingqi-kun, this time we'll have to trouble the brothers of the Plum Blossom Organization and find a way to suppress this matter and not let anyone know about it!"

"Don't tell anyone, and keep it a secret even from Lord Kagesa?" Haruki Yoshitane hesitated.

“That’s right, even Lord Kagesa can’t say it. Haruki-kun, Lord Kagesa is going to Jinling. The future of the Plum Blossom Agency is entirely in your hands. You can’t afford to make a mistake at a time like this.” Chen Yang sighed and slowly said, “As for the infamy, I’ll take it!”

Qingqi Qingyin said urgently, "Chen Sang, it's not fair to you to do this."

Chen Yang waved his hand helplessly: "Right now, the most important thing is the Nomonhan Incident. The supply of materials to the north cannot have any problems."

Compared to this, what does personal honor or disgrace matter...?

"Haruki-kun, remember to seal the documents away, and don't tell anyone!"

Qingqi Qingyin's eyes were filled with a sense of admiration and respect.

"Mr. Chen, don't worry. I know what's important, and I won't tell anyone!"

"Then I'll leave it to you," Chen Yang said, rising and bowing slightly.

Qingqi Qingyin sighed, bowed slightly in return, and then decisively left the Southern Transportation Department with the folder.

Watching Qing Qiqingyin's figure slowly disappear, Chen Yang pondered for a moment, then picked up the phone on the table and called Lin Xueyi: "Second Brother, don't send that shipment out yet. Transportation is strained right now; I can't waste resources. Let's wait a while!"

"Okay, okay, that's all for now..."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yang slowly curved a smile into a smile...

Shanghai, Joint Special Higher Police Headquarters, third floor, audit team office...

It was already late at night, but the audit team was still checking the documents on hand. The only sound in the room was the monotonous rustling.
It can be said that this extremely tedious task consumed a huge amount of human and material resources.

The audit team needed to retrieve original records from dozens of nodes scattered along the long railway line and verify them repeatedly through encrypted messages.

The process was slow, but the effects gradually became apparent. Some "dissonant sounds" that were initially hidden in the background noise of the massive transportation volume began to be filtered out and amplified little by little.

What first caught Nantian's attention was a batch of "Type 79 rifle ammunition" being transported to the Nomonhan front.

The outbound manifest from the coordination headquarters clearly states "300,000 units, packed in full cases, case numbers from A-107750 to A-108049".

However, the receipt signed by the supply officer of a regiment of the 23rd Division upon arrival at the front showed a quantity of "298,300 rounds".
The remarks section contains a line of small print: "A total of seventeen boxes were damaged to varying degrees during the journey. The scattered ammunition was recovered and counted, and the actual amount received is as above."

The missing portion will be treated as transportation loss.

The difference of 1,700 rounds, relative to the total of 300,000, represents a loss rate of approximately 0.57%, which seems to be within an acceptable "reasonable range".

However, Yoko Minami had her subordinates retrieve the temporary storage records of this batch of ammunition at the Shenyang marshalling yard and the Qiqihar transit station, and found that the records of both stations showed that "the container is intact and there are no abnormal reports".

Where did the damage occur? Why are there no more detailed damage records or reports from those responsible?

Immediately afterwards, another verification result regarding "special medicines for field hospitals" was delivered to her desk.

The list indicated "High-standard medical sulfonamide injection, 2,150 vials, for dedicated transport." However, the main field hospital at the Nomonhan front only recorded "1,745 vials," citing the same reason: "A brief malfunction occurred during transport, causing 405 vials to become ineffective."

Nantian immediately pressed further: "Which carriage was it? What was the specific time and location of the malfunction? Where is the report from the onboard medical staff or escort personnel?"

The logistics personnel who received the medicines continued to give vague answers, and finally brushed it off by saying that the medicines were damaged and could not be used.

Similar situations began to occur one after another:

• A shipment of "high-grade aviation gasoline" destined for the north had a discrepancy of several tons between the listed quantity and the received quantity, explained as "natural evaporation and pipeline residue." • Several railcars of "special alloy steel" intended for tank and heavy artillery repairs arrived at a weight several percentage points lighter than the shipped weight, attributed to "systematic errors in measuring instruments and cutting losses."

Even some "military canned food" and "winter cotton coats" have similar, seemingly insignificant shortages.

If any difference is viewed in isolation, it can be excused by saying "the harsh conditions of wartime transportation and the inevitable losses".

However, Yoko Minami ordered her subordinates to categorize, summarize, and analyze trends of all abnormal transportation records according to three dimensions: the type of goods, the transportation route, and the time of occurrence.

As a huge trend chart, densely marked with abnormal data points, gradually took shape on the wall of her office, a chill crept up Yoko Minamida's spine.

Pattern 1: Highly concentrated routes. More than 95% of the “abnormal losses” occur on several main supply lines leading to Nomonhan, especially the two most critical arteries: the one via the Tianjin-Pukou Railway to the Beijing-Harbin Railway, and the one from Dalian Port northward via the Harbin-Dalian Railway.

The loss rate of supplies transported to other destinations such as Central and Southern China is much lower, with many batches even experiencing zero loss.

Rule 2: Category value orientation.

The vast majority of the materials that showed significant "losses" were high-value, high-demand, and strictly controlled military supplies.

For example, ammunition, medicines, fuel, precision parts, and special metals.

The loss rate of ordinary, low-value military supplies, such as ordinary grain, coal, and building timber, was relatively normal.

Rule 3: Time window correlation.

Yoko Minami carefully compared the time points when these abnormal data began to appear and gradually became more frequent and larger in scale.

She was shocked to discover that this rising trend was largely related to Chen Yang, the Vice Minister of Transport.

From his initial involvement in transportation scheduling as a coordinator of supplies to his complete takeover of power after Yoshida fell ill, the speed and quantity of these "ghost supplies" "evaporating" seemed to "increase" in tandem!
Yoko Minami sat at her desk, the lamplight illuminating her pale face, pale from lack of sleep, but her eyes burned with the excited light of someone who had spotted their prey.

She picked up a red pencil and circled the key points on the trend chart.

"This is by no means a simple management oversight, much less some petty scheming at the grassroots level!" Her voice trembled slightly, not from fear, but from the excitement of getting closer to the truth. "This is... a systematic and meticulously planned theft! Someone is using the empire's lifeline to the north to carry out large-scale and organized smuggling of supplies!"

She pushed aside the abacus and a pile of forms, took out a blank sheet of paper, and began to conduct a more in-depth analysis:
What's the motivation?
Selling these weapons and supplies piecemeal on the black market solely for profit is extremely risky and inefficient, and would be easily traced.

Why risk execution by continuously targeting the most dangerous Northern military trains?
What are distribution channels?
How did these supplies "disappear" under the tight railway network and layers of checkpoints? There must have been an inside man, a secret operating method hidden beneath the legal transportation process.

Could the switch have taken advantage of the chaos during shunting at the marshalling yard?

Or will they secretly unload the cargo at some "reliable" intermediate station under the pretext of "temporary maintenance" or "marching operations"?

Or perhaps they used some unknown side lines or abandoned sites?

Where is the finish line?
Where did these stolen "ghost supplies" end up?

It is highly unlikely that a small group of bandits or local forces could absorb such a quantity and quality of military supplies.

In North China, who is most lacking in weapons, ammunition, medicine, and fuel, and who most desires these supplies?

The answer is almost obvious: the Red Army and its base areas!

Moreover, it is very likely that not only the Red Party, but also the army in Chongqing were active on this supply line. He was openly smuggling supplies using military trains!
This is aiding the enemy...

This deduction sent a chill down Yoko Minami's spine. If true, it meant that the Empire's transportation system, the vast network considered the lifeblood of the "holy war," was not only being hollowed out, but was also feeding its most threatening enemy with its own flesh and blood!

This is far more devastating and far-reaching than the damage caused by ten Kuomintang assassination squads!

She immediately compiled an extremely detailed preliminary analysis report, without using any publicly available document format, but instead wrote it by hand using coded symbols and secret codes that only a very few people could understand.

In the report, she listed the most representative cases of data anomalies, clearly demonstrated three patterns, and explicitly raised the serious accusation of "systematic and organized smuggling of materials, suspected of aiding the enemy." Although she did not directly name Chen Yang, the timeline and power relationship between the lines had already pointed the greatest suspicion to him.

In addition to this information, Nanda also combined the information that Yasuda Nobuo had found in the supply warehouse with the murder of Aoki Tomohiro.

All the blame is pointing to the man in charge of transportation!

Carrying this weighty report, Yoko Minamida secretly met with Colonel Tsuyoshi Fujita, the highest-ranking official in charge of the Special Higher Police's audit operation.

As Fujita listened to her report and looked at the report filled with red markers and analytical charts, his expression gradually changed from initial doubt to shock, and finally turned ashen.

He knew all too well the magnitude of the upheaval that would ensue if this matter were exposed!

This is not just about catching a few corrupt officials; it is a major political scandal and strategic blunder that could shake the foundations of the rule of the entire Shanghai market and even the occupied areas in Central and North China!

“Nantian…” Fujita took a deep breath, his voice hoarse, “How confident are you in your judgment…?”

“Colonel Fujita, the data doesn’t lie,” Yoko Minamida said firmly. “Although there is currently a lack of direct eyewitness and physical evidence pointing to the final recipient, the regularity and tendency of the abnormal flow of supplies is enough to explain the problem.”

"This is no coincidence! I request an immediate, top-level secret investigation, focusing on those unusual lines, and conducting the most rigorous background checks and surveillance on all personnel involved, especially those who gained real control after a specific point in time!"

Fujita remained silent for a long time, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table. Finally, he made up his mind, a ruthless glint in his eyes: "This matter is classified as 'Top Secret'! The scope is strictly limited to you and me, and a maximum of two absolutely reliable assistants designated by you."

"I will report to Mr. Doiyu separately. You immediately formulate a detailed secret investigation plan. Remember, maintain a relaxed exterior but a tight interior, and absolutely do not arouse the target's suspicion! We need to play the long game, find solid evidence, and expose the entire network!"

"Hai!" Yoko Minamida stood at attention, accepting the order, and was about to leave.

Fujita suddenly called out to her, "Wait a minute!"

"Section Chief Nantian, have you received the news that Lord Kagesa will be taking over as the Chief Advisor of the Military Advisory Group of the Restoration Government at the end of July?"

A complex look appeared in Nantian's eyes. "I've heard that Lord Nanjiro is negotiating with Mr. Wang from Hong Kong Island, demanding that he return before the end of July!"

Fujita said slowly, "With Lord Kagesa gone, the next head of the Ume Agency will be chosen..."

"Section Chief Nantian, in this life, ability is secondary; opportunity is the most important. Now is a good opportunity, so you must seize it!"

(End of this chapter)