Chapter 123: Memorandum

What is the Air Force Preparatory Department?

Its full name is the Air Force Preparatory Command.

It also has another name, the National Aviation Construction Association.

Put simply, it is involved in aircraft.

In a narrow sense, it is involved in the air force.

Chiang Kai-shek is preparing to unify all the aircraft in the country and form a unified air force. The Air Force Preparatory Department is responsible for pushing this forward.

'The minister is called Zhou Zhirou...'

'The deputy minister is called Min Gang...'

On the way, Zhang Yong crams for the Air Ministry.

He doesn't know what's going on here. The director wants to see him. But he thinks it has something to do with the Japanese spy.

His only ability is to catch Japanese spies. Otherwise, why would he invite him to dinner?

I guess there's been a leak in the Air Ministry...

Stop the car.

We're being inspected.

Enter.

We found out that the director is not here.

Oh, he's here again, all by himself.

Fine. I'm used to it.

Zhang Yong was greeted by a lieutenant colonel.

'You are...'

'My name is Zhang Yong. I'm from the Secret Service of the Restoration Society.'

'Thank you for your hard work. My name is Zhang Ping. The Zhang in Zhang Wen.'

'May I ask...'

'Let's sit down and talk!'

Zhang Ping waved his hand.

Although he was a lieutenant colonel, he also felt very powerful.

How should I put it? On the way, Zhang Yong had already been warned. This Department of Air and Finance was backed by Madame.

Well, nominally, Zhou Zhirou is the minister. In reality, the real person in charge is the wife of the warlord.

This is very, very important.

One must clearly understand the power of the Ministry of Air Supply. Even the warlord cannot interfere.

Right. The warlord just asks questions.

If the wife wants to report on a specific situation, she will. If she doesn't want to, there's nothing he can do.

It's useless to ask Zhou Zhirou. He's just a puppet. He dares not tell the truth.

All Madame had to do was ask for money. She said she wanted to buy planes. But in the end, even the Prime Minister himself didn't know how many planes were actually bought. And no one dared to tell him.

As a result, China and Japan went to war, and the Prime Minister still thought he had a lot of planes. Who would have thought...

But he didn't dare say anything. Besides, Madame would be angry! The backyard would be on fire.

Madame didn't represent just one person.

The Soong and Kung families were all closely related to Madame. If one rose, they all rose; if one fell, they all fell.

Sit up straight.

Behave yourself.

Well, we are here on official business...

'Please speak!'

'We have a missing staff officer.'

'What kind of secret is involved?'

'An aviation memorandum.'

'Is the content important?'

'Very important. Madam has just returned from a study tour in the United States and reached a secret agreement with the Americans.'

'Are you suspecting the Japanese of stealing it?'

'No one but them,'

Zhang Ping insisted.

Zhang Yong: ...

That sounds very plausible.

But I came in and scanned the Air Supply Department myself, and I didn't find any Japanese spies.

In other words, there are no hidden Japanese spies in the Air Supply Department itself.

Of course, just because there are no Japanese people there doesn't mean there won't be any leaks. Maybe there's a traitor in there who's been bought off by a Japanese spy?

'How many copies of the memorandum were there?'

'Five.'

'Are they marked?'

'They have numbers.'

'What's the missing number?'

'CET4, English. Understand?'

'Vaguely.'

'That's good. Otherwise I'd have to explain it to you for ages.'

'Er...'

Zhang Yong remained expressionless.

No wonder the Department of Air Transport was so arrogant. They'd obviously all studied abroad!

Impressive. They speak English.

Actually, I can speak English too. Aifakeyou. Understand?

A bunch of idiots who only know how to waste the country's precious assets on overseas trips at public expense!

Including Minister Zhou Zhirou, they have all travelled abroad many times. Sometimes they go for more than a year.

If that's not a trip paid for by the public purse, what is?

They use the country's money to go on personal trips!

Hmph!

"Let me show you the scene!'

'No need,'

Zhang Yong waved his hand.

The usual routine of investigating a case is useless to me.

I only know how to catch Japanese spies.

If there were no Japanese spies in this case, it would never have been solved. The truth.

'Give me the information on the missing person.'

'Okay,'

ADVERTISEMENT

Zhang Ping ordered someone to bring the information.

Zhang Yong took it. He flipped through it. He remembered the general outline.

The missing person was called Han Wenshan. His rank was Major. His position was Chief of Section 3 of the Technical Department. He was 33 years old. He was from Zhejiang Province.

'What did this Section 3 do?'

'Mainly research aircraft engines.'

'Maintenance?'

'Yes. Learning from foreign engineers. Then they maintained it themselves.'

'So his English was very good?'

'No. He's good at French. The planes he's responsible for maintaining were made by the French.'

'Oh...'

Zhang Yong nodded thoughtfully.

Modern Republic of China aircraft were very complex. They came from all sorts of sources.

According to the information he had crammed in, Republic of China aircraft could be divided into three main groups. One group belonged to the original Northeast Army. One group belonged to the Guangdong Army. The third group belonged to Chiang Kai-shek.

Before, the Northeast Army had the most aircraft, and the best quality. Unfortunately, they were almost all given to the Japanese before they could be put to use. Fortunately, some pilots escaped.

The second largest force was the Guangdong Army. Chen Jitang's. There were more than 100 aircraft. Very impressive.

The third largest force was Chiang Kai-shek's.

But no one knows exactly how many there were. Chiang Kai-shek himself didn't know. No one else knew any better.

His wife said there were so many. But she never specified.

'How did he disappear?'

'We arranged for him to take a car to the Kaiqiao Aviation School with the memorandum. But after two days had passed, we still hadn't seen him. So...'

'So Han Wenshan may have disappeared two days ago?'

Zhang Yong couldn't sit still.

What kind of efficiency is this!

The person may have been hit on the head in Jinling. It wasn't reported until two days later.

That's enough time for someone to dig a pit several metres deep and bury him alive. And what's the point of looking for him? With two days to spare, the murderer could have already fled the country.

What's the point of investigating?

No wonder the head of the department asked him to do it himself.

He probably didn't think it was worth investigating either. Just muddle through.

Really...

'It's possible.'

'Why didn't you say so at the time?'

'We didn't realise he was missing at the time! We only found out two days later.'

'He was on the road alone?'

'Yes!'

'Isn't the memo very important? Why did you only send one person?'

'What's the problem? This is how it's always been done before! Nothing ever happened before. It was always safe.'

'But...'

'We've always done it this way. It's never been a problem.'

'Stop!'

Zhang Yong shook his head.

He was impatient. He didn't care about this kind of nonsense.

There was no profit in it. And he kept emphasising that he was right. Nonsense. He was careless, and then he asked us to clean up the mess.

Damn it, we in the Fuxing Society don't solve crimes. You need the police for that.

'Is the person here?'

Suddenly a woman's clear voice came.

Zhang Yong turned around. He saw a tall woman.

She wasn't wearing a uniform. She was wearing glasses. She looked refined. She was tall. She had a pretty face.

Hmm, this one is doable. I can chat with her.

A beautiful glasses lady...

'This is...'

'She is Deputy Director Yang of the Technical Department. Yang Lichu.'

'Oh. Director Yang.'

Zhang Yong politely greeted her. His eyes couldn't help but dart around.

Yang Lichu noticed immediately. A slight smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. She didn't care. Instead, she sat down in front of Zhang Yong. She deliberately puffed out her chest.

Zhang Yong: ...

Oops.

I've met my match.

A female hooligan! I'm no match for her.

He hurriedly averted his eyes.

'So? Not bad, is she?'

'What?'

'Don't know? Never mind then. Let's get down to business.'

'You go first.'

'Please send someone from the Fuxing Society who knows something about technology. Otherwise, we won't be able to communicate.'

'What kind of technology?'

'Han Wenshan knows how to maintain the NID622 engine. I suspect that his disappearance is related to his expertise.'

'Tell me about the plane.'

'Its translation is the Newport-Dehra. The prototype first flew in 1928. It was equipped with the French Air Force in 1931...'

'How many did we import?'

'Fifty.'

'I see.'

Zhang Yong nodded.

Her suspicions were completely dispelled.

A French plane. And it's so old. Who would want it.

The enemy's target is the memo.