Chapter 43: Assuming the New Role

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Chapter 43: Taking Up a New Post

When Xu Ruiyang left the hospital, he left behind some money. Part of it covered Mo Haichang’s medical and nutritional expenses, while the rest was intended as settlement money for the others—enough to rent a few small courtyards outside the concessions, keep themselves fed, and make several sets of clothes for their wives and children.

They had already been driven into a dead end. Under such circumstances, so long as even the slightest hope remained, they could not possibly give up. Xu Ruiyang was not worried that they might take the money and run.

If they did, so be it. It was no great loss to him.

Xu Ruiyang arranged for Tang Shenglin and Fan Tongde to take turns waiting outside his home for word. Once his request was approved, they would all join the Special Police Corps and become his personal bodyguards and trusted aides.

“Did you realize from the beginning that they had once carried guns, and that was why you helped them?” Wu Yaqing asked with a smile after they returned to the car.

She had performed even better than Xu Ruiyang this time. She knew the concessions like the back of her hand, and had handled everything from giving directions and paying the fees to arranging the hospital rooms.

“Yaqing, I know I can’t hide these little motives from you. My financial means are limited. There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Shanghai—how many of them could I possibly help? The situation here is chaotic. There are Green Gang thugs, Japanese ronin, and agents from the Military Statistics Bureau. Without a power base of my own, it’s impossible to get very far in the police force.”

“Once they join the Special Police Corps, they won’t have to suffer abuse from local ruffians anymore. They’ll have a stable source of income, and their families will no longer face the threat of starvation. You could say we each get what we need—but apart from me, who else would readily give them such an opportunity?” Xu Ruiyang said, shaking his head.

There were some things he could not tell Wu Yaqing. Although Shanghai was not as harsh as Manchukuo, it was more complicated, with all kinds of forces gathered in one place. Therefore, he could not work alone.

Whether gathering intelligence or maneuvering among the Japanese and their puppet regime, one person’s abilities were limited. He had to establish a support network entirely of his own.

There were many things he could not do personally—or, more precisely, could not do under certain circumstances. That was where these people would come in. He was laying the groundwork for his future operations.

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Moreover, he needed to possess a certain deterrent power in Shanghai. On the one hand, this would prevent people from trying to punish him for his acts of collaboration; on the other, it would keep certain factions from taking secret shots at him during disputes over利益.

“They used to be police officers under the Chongqing government, and they even fought against the Japanese. If you recruit them into the intelligence section, won’t that bring criticism down on you?” Wu Yaqing asked.

“If the Japanese want to maintain their rule over the occupied territories, they need a great many men. They won’t concern themselves with such a minor matter. These people were police officers, not soldiers. As long as they’re willing to serve the New Government, their past can be overlooked. Plenty of people have surrendered to the Japanese and joined the New Government. What significance do a few low-ranking policemen have?”

“The police stations under the Reformed Government are mostly filled with people merely going through the motions. Some were policemen during the Republic era who chose to remain after the war because jobs were hard to find in Shanghai, while police work offered relatively stable pay. Very few of them received proper training at police academies, though one can at least find a handful who did.”

“Others got in through connections and back doors. They had relatives at the police station, or relatives who were government officials. Not only had they never attended a police academy, many could barely read. Most of them were utterly incompetent. Some were even local ruffians. This sort of situation is extremely common in the police system throughout Central China.”

“I would rather have these former Chongqing policemen than those old hands who know nothing but extortion and spend their days idling around. The Special Police Corps was absorbed by the Detective Squad. That alone shows that their standards and abilities are even lower than I imagined,” Xu Ruiyang said, shaking his head.

In truth, he rather liked the conditions in Shanghai. They left room for subtle maneuvers. Had the environment been like that of Manchukuo, he would truly have found every step difficult.

Although he had spent only a little over a year beyond the Great Wall, the brutality of that struggle had been etched deeply into his mind. He also understood and appreciated the hardship and resilience of the underground Party organization far more than most people did.

“I hereby appoint Xu Ruiyang as Commander of the Special Police Corps of the Shanghai Special Municipality Police Department under the Reformed Government. March 24, 1939. The Mayor, Fu Xiao’an!”

Lu Ying stood in the large conference room and read aloud.

On the morning of his fourth day in Shanghai, Xu Ruiyang formally reported to the Shanghai Police Department. Police Chief Lu Ying had arranged a simple welcoming ceremony for him, attended only by a few senior officials. This, too, had been Xu Ruiyang’s request in advance. He did not want to attract too much attention.

After reading the appointment decree, Lu Ying introduced him to a group of senior officers at department-director level. Xu Ruiyang also met several Japanese advisers and Lieutenant Colonel Kiyoshi Tsukamoto, head of the Police Affairs Section at the Gendarmerie Command.

The Japanese advisers were neither warm nor cold toward him, merely going through the motions. Xu Ruiyang found this somewhat strange and did not deliberately flatter them. After the ceremony, he took the initiative and invited Tsukamoto to sit in his office for a while. The latter accepted readily.

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“Mr. Xu, Commander Miura has already spoken to me. Whatever you need at the police department, you may come directly to me,” Tsukamoto said with a smile.

“Thank you for your consideration, Section Chief Tsukamoto. I’ve only just arrived in Shanghai and wasn’t able to prepare anything substantial. This is merely a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will accept it.”

Xu Ruiyang handed him a red envelope.

Saburo Miura’s word was one thing. Knowing how to deal with people from the Gendarmerie Command was another. As the saying went, the King of Hell was easy to meet, but the little devils were difficult to deal with. The smaller the official, the more carefully one had to treat him.

Tsukamoto accepted the envelope swiftly and skillfully. He had probably received no shortage of bribes. When he saw the five hundred dollars inside, his mood improved considerably.

“Section Chief Tsukamoto, I feel that the police department is not a suitable place for investigative work. Would it be possible to relocate the Special Police Corps to another site, somewhere like Number Seventy-Six?”

“I know you spent some time at the Security Bureau in Manchukuo. You mean to establish the Special Police Corps as a new institution similar to the Security Bureau—or as an intelligence section under the police headquarters, specifically responsible for counterespionage?” Tsukamoto asked with a smile.

“The first principle of intelligence work is secrecy. The police department is crowded with people and full of ears. Moreover, I am frankly not reassured by the professional standards and conduct of Shanghai’s police officers. Establishing an intelligence section is essential.”

“I would like to recruit a group of new personnel from outside and train them in secret before putting them to work. They would have no direct contact with the other departments of the police department. For the time being, the intelligence section’s staffing quota and salaries could remain under the police department. If this request is approved, I hope you will serve as the section’s senior adviser and oversee and guide its operations,” Xu Ruiyang said.

End of Chapter