The Bravest

Time: September 1939, 9, the second day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 28: p.m.

Chongqing Military Intelligence Bureau Telecommunications Department,

"Report."

"Come in."

"Director, urgent telegram No. 0 from Shanghai." The communicator handed over a telegram with a strange expression.

"Are you sure?" The Director of Telecommunications looked at the only one set of coded messages and asked in confusion.

"There is no mistake. There was only one set of telegrams. They were sent twice in a row, and then the other party cut off the connection." The communicator answered affirmatively.

"Okay, bring it here for me to sign." The director signed the recipient column. You go down first.

After the communicator went out and closed the door, he made a phone call, "Secretary Liu, this is Wei Daming. Is Mr. Mao there? I have something urgent to discuss with Mr. Mao. Yes, I'll be there right away." After hanging up the phone, Wei Daming put the strange telegram in a blank folder and hurried out.

Fifteen minutes later, Secretary Liu invited Wei Daming into Mao Renfeng's office.

"Mr. Mao, urgent telegram number zero." Wei Daming handed over the telegram only after seeing the door behind him closed.

"Okay, I understand. As usual, no copy of Telegram No. 0 will be kept. Do you understand? I won't sign it. You can go back first."

"Yes, Mr. Mao." Wei Daming understood that there were some things he was not supposed to know, so he turned around and walked out, then closed the door from the outside.

Mao Renfeng opened the drawer on the left side of the desk, took out the documents inside, and then reached out to take out the small code book from the innermost secret compartment. After comparing, Mao Renfeng smiled, put the code book back in place, restored all the documents, and pushed them back into the drawer. Then he burned the telegram in the ashtray and poured some water on it before he felt relieved.

At six o'clock in the evening, in a secret room of the Intelligence Department of the Japanese Military Police Headquarters in Shanghai, Gangcun, Li Shiqun, Liu Yang, and Lin Jie were discussing the possibility of inciting Zhang Wu to defect and send him back to Chongqing to serve as an undercover agent for No. 76.

This was the idea proposed by Liu Yang before arresting Zhang Wu, but the prerequisite was that Zhang Wu must be arrested secretly. Now that the prerequisite was in place, the four discussed the possibility of how to do it again. Liu Yang insisted, Li Shiqun thought it was unlikely, and Gangcun thought it was worth a try. What if it worked? Only Lin Jie remained silent.

"Lin Jie, what's wrong with you? Are you still not recovered? Tell me what you think." Li Shiqun was irritated by Lin Jie's awful look.

"Oh, Director, I think we should subdue Zhang Wu first, otherwise our argument here will be in vain."

"Ahem, oh, that's it. Old Liu, you said you are sure you can convince Zhang Wu, then I leave it to you. Is one night enough? What do you think, Captain Gangcun?" Li Shiqun was stunned, rolled his eyes at Lin Jie, and changed the subject.

"Let's do it this way. There's still time. Don't feel pressured, Mr. Liu." Captain Gangcun also felt that he was being impatient and took over Li Shiqun's topic.

"Director Li, I think we shouldn't be too hasty. It's better to leave him alone for a night. But we need to find a quiet place, preferably a soundproof room. The quieter the place, the more people think."

"Hahaha, Liu Sang is right. Let's do as you say. There are still rooms like this here. I will make arrangements. Liu Sang will go to talk to him at 5 a.m. and lock him in a small dark room for ten hours. I will overcome his psychological defenses before dawn. I will leave it to Liu Sang. Now you have to rest here for a while." Gangcun made a decision. Li Shiqun did not refute it.

Not to mention what kind of small dark room Gangcun locked Zhang Wu in, Lin Jie is now lying in bed, unable to fall asleep. Today's short one-minute video has pried open the unyielding spirit of the Chinese nation hidden deep in Lin Jie's blood, even if it is only a little bit. In fact, Lin Jie also knows that his so-called accumulation of supplies for the future is just an excuse to cover up his inner fear and comfort himself. In a country with peace and prosperity, watching variety shows of young handsome men, playing games, and being picked up and dropped off at middle school, Lin Jie, who grew up in such an environment, was not scared to death on the spot, and was able to deal with Li Shiqun and Gangcun, hiding his inner heart, which is already a hundred times stronger than his original returnee self. Lin Jie himself did not realize this. This is the necessary psychological quality for an agent.

Fell asleep in a daze, and was woken up in a daze. Lin Jie washed his face with cold water. A military policeman took Lin Jie to the depths of the military police headquarters, to a remote corner, where there was a lonely small building. Then he entered the basement of the small building and was taken to a monitoring room. Li Shiqun, Gangcun and Liu Yang had already arrived. Seeing Lin Jie's late arrival, Li Shiqun blamed him unhappily: "You slept soundly, come here quickly."

"Yes, Director." Lin Jie stood at attention and responded respectfully. The basic requirement for leaving a good impression on the leader is to always maintain respect and always maintain the authority of the leader. Even if he only worked in a small unit, Lin Jie had practiced this.

"Okay, Liu-san, we can start now."

"Okay, I'll go over first. It might take a while, so Director Li and Captain Gangcun, please be patient."

Liu Yang opened the door of the cell next door. The darkness inside was broken by the faint light shining in from behind Liu Yang. He vaguely saw Zhang Wu, who was curled up on the small bed, move.

"Turn on the light, close the door," Liu Yang ordered the military police behind him. The sudden light made Liu Yang squint his eyes, and Zhang Wu even covered his eyes with his hands.

Liu Yang observed that the cell was probably converted from a storage room, and there was not even a vent. After a moment of silence, Liu Yang spoke up: "Lao Zhang, the Japanese asked me to persuade you."

"Coward," Liu Yang just opened his mouth to say, but was interrupted by Zhang Wu's scolding. However, Zhang Wu's scolding was weak. In order to prevent Zhang Wu from committing suicide, he was injected with a drug that made him weak all over.

"I'm a wimp," Liu Yang murmured with his head down, as if he didn't dare to look directly into Zhang Wu's angry eyes. "I didn't want to, I thought I could hold on, Lao Zhang, look at how they treated me, look." Liu Yang raised his head and whispered with tears streaming down his face, while gently taking off his clothes, revealing the large whip marks all over his chest and abdomen, as well as the five or six overlapping burns. "Lao Zhang, look, just like that, I didn't say a word, do you believe it?"

Looking at the shocking scars on Liu Yang's body, Zhang Wu fell silent.

"Old Zhang, I really didn't say a word, do you believe it?" Liu Yang stared at Zhang Wu and continued to say, "I thought I could make it, but Xiao Zhang and Lao Zou couldn't stand it anymore." Liu Yang swallowed his saliva and his eyes became terrified. "Those devils thought I was worthless and roasted my lower body with charcoal fire. When it was cooked, they cut it off and fed it to the dogs!" At the end, Liu Yang yelled loudly and questioned Zhang Wu, "What should I do, Old Zhang, what should I do?"

Liu Yang fell to the ground and cried loudly. Zhang Wu moved his mouth but no words came out in the end.

Slowly Liu Yang stopped crying and the cell became deathly silent. It was unknown how much time had passed before Zhang Wu sighed and said to Liu Yang, "Old Liu, I don't blame you. Go now." Then he closed his eyes.

Liu Yang didn't say anything, nor did he leave. He was still silent. After a long time, Liu Yang spoke again: "Lao Zhang, the Japanese must convince you, otherwise they will kill me and feed me to the dogs. Just listen to my advice, you can't stand it." Zhang Wu didn't say anything and didn't even open his eyes.

Seeing Zhang Wu like this, Liu Yang continued with a stiff upper lip: "Lao Zhang, let's not talk about how many tortures you endured and how long you lasted. I just want to ask you, have you ever thought about assassinations as something that was done by undercover agents? Is it something a high-level undercover like you should do? Have you thought about what's involved?" Zhang Wu frowned, but still said nothing.

"Actually, I didn't know you when I accepted this mission. I was wondering why a non-operational person like me had to take action in the assassination operation, and there was no support." Liu Yang didn't care whether Zhang Wu was listening or not, and said to himself: "After contacting you, I figured it out. Damn it, the people below are bleeding and fighting, and the bigwigs above are fighting for power and eliminating dissidents."

"Stop talking," Zhang Wu shouted, "Just go away."

"Lao Zhang, don't fool yourself. I thought the carefully designed plan would succeed, and then I could return to Chongqing and escape. Unfortunately, I was unlucky and missed it. I thought we were not exposed, so I would find another chance. But you insisted on doing it yourself. Lao Zhang, tell me the truth, did the higher-ups give you a time limit, or did they issue a death order?"

"Stop talking." Zhang Wu yelled with all his might.

"Old Zhang!" Liu Yang shouted, interrupting Zhang Wu. "Am I right? You are Zheng Jieming's man. I used to follow him, but you still implicated me."

"This is not a reason for betrayal." Zhang Wu argued and looked at Liu Yang.

Both of them were silent, breathing heavily, looking at each other, and fell into silence for a while.

……

"Is it worth it? Lao Zhang, I just want to live." Lao Liu pleaded in a low voice, "We are all abandoned, what are you holding on to?"

"I am a soldier," Zhang Wu's tone also slowed down a lot.

"Soldiers? The Japanese occupied the three northeastern provinces. Where are the hundreds of thousands of Northeastern troops? The Sihang Warehouse was defended. Who cares about Xie Jinyuan? There are still fierce battles in Nanjing, Yuhuatai, and Zhonghuamen. Did Tang Shengzhi and his men, who were shouting to defend to the death, run away first?" Liu Yang became more and more excited. "Lao Zhang, we are just cannon fodder. We can't change anything. As long as we are alive, it's fine."

The three people in the monitoring room had different expressions when they heard this. Gangcun said proudly, "Liu Sang is still very capable. It seems that he will succeed soon. We have to consider the next plan." In his heart, he was thinking that the offensive of the imperial army had begun to shake the confidence of the Chinese people. This was just the beginning. Soon more and more Chinese people would give up resistance, thus fundamentally disintegrating the so-called joint anti-Japanese resistance of the Chinese government and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to surrender as soon as possible. In addition, even if the empire wins, the interests of the Gangcun family must be considered. Someone in the headquarters has already done so. Oh, some things are not convenient for me to come forward. I still have to find a Chinese to do it with the Chinese... Gangcun's thinking diverged greatly, and he also glanced at Lin Jie.

Lin Jie didn't know that Gangcun had already targeted him, but he always felt that the conversation between Liu Yang and Zhang Wu seemed strange. He couldn't tell what was wrong. It was as if it had been rehearsed in advance. That's the feeling. Yes, it was a dialogue between actors in a TV series. Are these two acting? A question popped up in Lin Jie's mind? But Lin Jie still pretended to listen carefully. Anyway, whether it was true or not, he couldn't say anything.

What Lin Jie didn't expect was that Liu Yang next door was persuading Zhang Wu in an excited tone, but at the same time he winked at Zhang Wu.

"Old Liu, don't be anxious." Zhang Wu must have understood Liu Yang's eyes, and his tone became hesitant, but he couldn't make up his mind. "If we don't care, the Japanese will occupy China, and we will become slaves of a conquered nation. No, no. You'd better stop talking and leave."

"What do you mean slaves of a conquered nation? The Qing Dynasty invaded China, but later we had the prosperous Kangxi and Qianlong eras. Chinese people lived well. It has nothing to do with us ordinary people." Liu Yang said nonchalantly. Zhang Wu was silent again.

Gangcun next door nodded and said to Li Shiqun: "Liu Sang is really a man of insight and a hero. He has some of the style of Director Li."

"Haha, I believe that China will definitely achieve Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity under the leadership of Japan." Li Shiqun's words to please Gangcun sounded really disgusting to Lin Jie. The ancestors of the Manchus were the Jin people, who were at least a Chinese ethnic group. The fucking little Japan was just a vassal state of China. A servant took advantage of his master's illness and wanted to kill his master for money.

Liu Yang continued, "Lao Zhang, national affairs are not something that ordinary people like us can change. In this chaotic world, we should be honest and protect ourselves. Listen to my advice. You can't just work to make a living, right?"

Zhang Wu still didn't speak. "Old Zhang," Liu Yang said anxiously, "Don't hesitate. The Japanese have given you limited time to negotiate a cooperation with you before your capture is exposed. If it is exposed, your value will be gone. They will abuse and kill you at will like I did. Will they send people to negotiate with you like they are doing now? Why do you have to endure those unnecessary tortures?"

"I, then what do you say I should do, will Li Shiqun let me go?" Zhang Wu finally gave in.

Gangcun next door glanced at Li Shiqun, and Li Shiqun knew what he meant, so he took the initiative to speak: "Don't worry, Gangcun, I'm not such a petty person."

Seeing Zhang Wu finally relent, Old Liu quickly said, "I've thought about it a long time ago. When the time comes, you can talk to Captain Gangcun of the Military Police and ask to be directly under his command. It shouldn't be a big problem. If you have no problem, I will give the Japanese a reply. First, the Japanese are pretending to search for you outside, which is to cover up the facts. But if you don't show up for a long time, the Japanese will not be able to continue this drama, and it will be difficult to deal with it. I'm asking for a reply, so please wait and talk."

Liu Yang finished speaking, waited for two seconds, and when he saw that Zhang Wu did not object, he turned and walked out. Zhang Wu saw the cell door was closed, sighed heavily, gritted his teeth and shouted "Mao Renfeng."

Liu Yang returned to the monitoring room next door and proudly reported to Gangcun, "Captain Gangcun has finally lived up to your trust. Zhang Wu has surrendered. From now on, Captain Gangcun has no one left to step forward." He paused, as if he just remembered, "Director Li, my conversation just now was offensive, but it was unavoidable." Li Shiqun just nodded to show that he understood.

Lin Jie knew that the senior undercover agent of the Military Control Commission had been turned. As for whether it was true or not, Lin Jie still hoped that Zhang Wu or Liu Yang had a reason for doing so. After all, from the assassination to Liu Yang's capture, to Liu Yang's provision of clues, then the capture of Zhang Wu, and then his personal persuasion to surrender, and the subsequent plan to exclude Zhang Wu from returning to Chongqing as an undercover agent, all this went too smoothly, as if it was arranged in advance. Of course, Lin Jie could have this idea. Could it be that the cunning Li Shiqun and Gangcun had no doubts at all? Maybe they all had their own ideas, but they just didn't show them. The only thing Lin Jie had to do was to save himself and find an opportunity to get in touch with the organization. Without 100% guarantee, he couldn't trust anyone.