northernbook Chapter 1137 The Rampant Japanese Invaders
Chapter 1137 The Rampant Japanese Invaders
Hankou, known as the capital region of nine provinces, has been a prosperous place since ancient times. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, it also had foreign concessions. However, compared to Huangpu, it was slightly less developed. But since the south of the Yangtze River had already fallen, it immediately became another stronghold of the Nationalist government, resulting in a distorted kind of prosperity.
At the city gate, the military police did indeed conduct a rigorous and meticulous check on Li Shaoyi's men, and issued new identification tags to each of them. It seems they've suffered quite a bit recently; Japanese spies will undoubtedly launch a large-scale infiltration and sabotage operation against the city. We've been obediently following the rules.
"Commander Li..."
Li Shaoyi was leaning against the car waiting when he heard a familiar voice and saw that it was Secretary Mao from the Military Intelligence Bureau.
"Are people of your rank out on the streets? Does your Military Intelligence Bureau have no one left?"
Li Shaoyi said with some surprise, "Two months ago, the Fuxing Society was reorganized into the Military Intelligence Bureau, and now they have more than tripled in size. During the war, this is probably the fastest-growing department. But even so, there are loopholes everywhere."
If they were given more than a year, the missing personnel could undergo comprehensive training, and so many mistakes would not have occurred.
Unfortunately, despite expanding threefold in just two months, they simply couldn't find enough qualified personnel and could only select physically strong men from the military. These men might have the fighting skills, but their intellect was probably not well-suited to the complexities of espionage.
Therefore, the area around Hankou was not peaceful during this period, and many generals and commanders were attacked by the Japanese.
"Of course we have plenty of people. No matter what, we will never be short of manpower. But the streets have been too chaotic lately, so I've been ordered to strictly check all people entering the city. Unless something special happens, no new people will be allowed into the city at this time."
Hearing Secretary Mao's words, Li Shaoyi frowned. It was indeed as he had said. All the refugees who had fled were staying along the city walls, with no chance of entering the city. Moreover, the government hadn't organized any disaster relief efforts; they were simply being left to fend for themselves.
"Commander Li, don't say we're doing nothing. Right now, the troops around Hankou alone only have enough food for less than half a month. If we take care of these disaster victims as well, the entire granary will probably be eaten up tomorrow. When we retreated, a large amount of grain was destroyed. Although we didn't leave any for the Japanese, we couldn't transport it back. Grain is being transferred from all over the country now."
Secretary Mao followed Li Shaoyi's gaze and naturally understood what Li Shaoyi was thinking. He knew very well that Li Shaoyi was a man devoted to public service, including to Boss Dai. When this was mentioned, everyone would set aside other interests and give him a thumbs up. But at this moment, we really couldn't do that.
The common people are indeed pitiful, but if military rations were distributed to them, the army would likely become even more chaotic without food. Those men are armed; we called them here to defend against the Japanese invasion. If they go hungry, they won't care about the Japanese; this place might become hell before the Japanese even arrive.
"I didn't tell you to distribute the military rations; you're not having an easy time either. Hurry up and have my men inspect you so we can enter the city. If you have any difficulties, you can come to me. My men have some experience in fighting Japanese spies."
On the way here, Li Shaoyi had already made up his mind. As long as these people didn't write down their benefits and other matters, he would absolutely not get involved in their mess. He would just let them suffer defeats later; if he didn't make them suffer some losses, they would never know how useful he was.
However, Li Shaoyi was not a hard-hearted person. After seeing this scene, without the other party saying anything, he began to show his enthusiasm again, and his men were ready to throw themselves into the struggle against Japanese spies.
"Thank you so much, Commander Li. I'll call you as soon as anything happens. The surrounding military is in a mess right now. Once you get to the city, Commander Li, it's best to stay in the Ministry of National Defense's hotel and not go anywhere else. The city is very unsettled right now. According to our estimates, at least seven or eight hundred people have infiltrated. Some of them are Japanese, and some have been bribed by the Japanese. It's really difficult to catch them right now. More than a dozen people are being executed every day, but it seems like we can't get rid of them all."
Speaking of the current chaos in the city, Secretary Mao's forehead was covered in wrinkles. They hadn't expected the Japanese to act so quickly; before our retreating troops even reached Hankou, their spies and assassins had already arrived.
These people haven't been idle since they arrived. In the past few days, they've killed dozens of important officials and military staff officers, causing us enormous trouble. Some operations staff officers have also been kidnapped. Unable to obtain classified military materials, they specifically target military staff. After all, the deployment maps for various locations are in the minds of these staff officers; capturing them allows them to obtain military intelligence just as easily.
The old man gave the order yesterday at noon: even if it means turning the entire city upside down, these Japanese spies must be found. If the Military Intelligence Bureau can't even accomplish something like this, then everyone from top to bottom should be sent home to feed the pigs; they shouldn't continue working in such a powerful agency. This is also one of the reasons why Secretary Mao personally went to the streets.
Don't these guys know how dangerous it is on the streets? Especially at these entrances to the city. If a Japanese spy were to spot an important target like Secretary Mao, they might very well charge at him without regard for their own lives.
Li Shaoyi didn't linger there. After entering the city, a car came to pick him up. At this point, he didn't care about fancy or beat-up cars; any car would do. Li Shaoyi's men followed him around. After being warned by Secretary Mao, they now saw everyone as a Japanese spy.
Although Li Shaoyi wanted to offer some words of comfort, seeing the various signs of fighting on the street made him feel quite heavy-hearted.