Chapter 26: Drawing Attention

Chapter 26: Attracting Attention

"Thank you for always keeping me in your thoughts, Xu. You went out of your way to procure so many wonderful things for me in Shanghai; I truly love your gifts. I am also very happy for you that you have made such a great contribution to the Empire. Congratulations!"

"The president of the South Manchuria Railway is being replaced, and Uncle Nishi has returned to Xinjing. He is coming to my home for dinner tomorrow morning; I will tell him about your achievements, and I am sure he will be very pleased!" Haruka Inoue said with a smile.

"The president of the South Manchuria Railway is being replaced?" Xu Ruiyang asked, surprised.

"Yes. His Excellency Yosuke Matsuoka’s relationship with the Kwantung Army has become extremely rigid, and they are quite hostile toward him. He has formally submitted his resignation to the shareholders. His Excellency Takuichi Omura will be the new president, and the handover will continue until March 24th," Haruka Inoue explained.

Takuichi Omura was a Japanese railway expert. In 1922, he served as the director of the Jiaoji Railway in Shandong Province. In 1925, he became the first director of the Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Korea. In 1932, he concurrently served as the director of the Kwantung Army Railway Supervision Department, enjoying the civilian status equivalent to that of a lieutenant general in the Army. In 1935, he was appointed vice president of the South Manchuria Railway, and in 1937, he concurrently served as the director of the Railway General Bureau.

"Will you continue as the president's recorder at the South Manchuria Railway?" Xu Ruiyang asked.

"The new president and I are quite familiar with each other, so of course I will remain in my post. I have become accustomed to this work and have no desire to start over," Haruka Inoue replied.

The old district of Xinjing, especially the area east of Datong Avenue and the eastern bank of the Yitong River, was a residential quarter for the Chinese. Most of the common people here lacked running water, let alone gas. Living spaces were cramped, drainage was poor, and trash and sewage were visible everywhere.

Late at night, a young man knocked on the door of a house. A man in his fifties opened the door and let him into the courtyard, while another person kept watch on the street from a corner of the wall.

This was a secret contact point for the underground party in Xinjing. The group leader, Yang Shengmin, was a leader of the covert cells operating on the front lines, and the young man was the liaison courier, Zhu Xiangdong. It was to him that Xu Ruiyang had provided the warning.

The environment for struggle in Manchukuo was brutal. The Kwantung Army and the puppet Manchukuo forces were relentlessly conducting "mopping-up" operations. Due to the vast disparity in strength, the underground party's armed forces had suffered severe losses, shrinking from over thirty thousand to just over five thousand. They were compressed into the northern mountain forests, lacking clothing, food, and logistical support.

The party organizations across Manchukuo currently lacked the capability to engage the enemy in direct urban confrontation. The Japanese secret agents and the puppet police had woven such a tight surveillance net that daily activities were severely restricted, let alone armed struggle.

Furthermore, the underground party feared that such methods would lead to the Japanese invaders brutalizing the local population. Currently, the group's mission was to collect all available information on the enemy and the puppets, and to transport food, supplies, and medicine to the guerrillas.

"I have gone to the vicinity of the teahouse several times these past few days to look, but I haven't found the person who warned us. Perhaps he just sympathizes with us and doesn't want to see the anti-Japanese forces suffer losses, and is not one of our own comrades," Zhu Xiangdong said.

After receiving Xu Ruiyang's warning, he had returned home and kept a close watch on his surroundings. Sure enough, he discovered someone tailing and monitoring him. He cleared his tracks and, taking advantage of a moment of inattention from the agents, quietly climbed over a wall and escaped his former residence.

He contacted his superior, Yang Shengmin, as quickly as possible and secretly withdrew all the subordinates connected to the stationery shop owner, avoiding the threat of being wiped out in one fell swoop.

"That is possible. I have applied to my superiors to inquire if we have any comrades hidden within the Xinjing police, but the reply was no. If you can make contact with him, you may conduct some probes depending on the situation," Yang Shengmin said.

"The difficulty is very high. I didn't see his face; he was speaking behind my back, and I didn't dare turn around. Now I realize the agents were following right behind me."

"Being able to hide within the enemy's ranks is already remarkable. To know such classified information, he must be in a significant position. If he could become our comrade, it would be a tremendous help to our future work," Zhu Xiangdong said.

"There is another possibility: he might be our comrade, but on a different line of command. Our higher-ups don't know of his existence, and he would never have acted if not for such an emergency."

"It makes me break into a cold sweat just thinking about it. If not for his reminder, if the enemy had followed you to this contact point, it would have been a disaster. We don't have many people left in Xinjing," Yang Shengmin said.

"What should we do next?" Zhu Xiangdong asked.

"Do not go looking for him deliberately. If there is no important matter, stay in your residence and minimize activities. You have been discovered by the enemy; they may even have your photograph. Wait until the heat dies down."

"He foiled the enemy's plan to 'cast a long line to catch a big fish.' He might be under suspicion now. Looking at it from another perspective, having someone like that hiding within the enemy's ranks is ultimately a good thing for us."

"As long as he is willing to fight against the enemy, whether or not he joins us is secondary. Not to mention, our actions could potentially bring danger to him," Yang Shengmin said.

What they did not know was that even if Xu Ruiyang spotted them again, he would not initiate contact. This was the strict discipline of underground work: without the approval of superiors, one must not privately contact one's own comrades. Everyone's mission was different.

At the Inoue residence in the new district of Xinjing, the three old friends gathered for dinner once more. Haruka Inoue was in charge of brewing tea, and the conversation inevitably turned to Xu Ruiyang. This time, however, it was Yoshie Shirokura who brought it up.

"Nishi, you may not know yet, but our Kwantung Army's military secrets have been leaked recently. General Kenkichi Ueda was furious and sent Kyoji Tominaga to the Central Security Bureau, ordering the chief of the Foreign Espionage Division to commit ritual suicide. The Military Police Command and the Secret Service Headquarters have also lost all face."

"However, that young patrolman you recommended, Xu Ruiyang, has saved the reputation of the intelligence agency this time. By chance, he solved the espionage case yesterday that the Foreign Espionage Division had been unable to crack for a long time. He found the mole who had been bought off by the Italian Legation in Xinjing."

"His success certainly involved some luck, but his personal ability is also beyond doubt. It is truly unexpected; he has only been in the Police Academy for half a year, yet he has made such a great contribution. He must have a natural talent for this."

"I have read his report; his logical reasoning was meticulous, his thinking very flexible, and he is adept at discovering problems from small details. Such a person will surely have a bright future in Manchukuo. I am even thinking of asking for him to be transferred to the Special Higher Police Division!" Yoshie Shirokura said with a smile.