Chapter 777: Poking a Hole in the Paper Windows

'I don't want any power,' Zhang Yong retorted.

'The Führer? I'm sorry. The Führer won't give you face.

Unless you pay him.

Klinsmann was momentarily stunned, his mouth opened in shock, and he asked, 'Then what do you want?'

Zhang Yong gave a harmless smile and said, 'Money.'

'Money?' Klinsmann couldn't believe his ears. He stared at Zhang Yong with a fixed gaze.

He suspected that he had heard it wrong.

However, it turned out that he had heard it correctly. The other party was talking about money.

What an unreasonable fellow.

He doesn't want power.

That's power from the head of state!

That's the authority of the head of state! Supreme authority!

And you don't want it?

'Yes, money. Specifically, marks, dollars, pounds, and francs are fine,'

Zhang Yong replied with a smile.

He knew that he was here today to play the buffoon.

Vice Minister Min and the others were mostly at an impasse in their negotiations with Klinsmann.

At this time, they needed to take a different approach.

They would directly propose a deal.

I want money.

If you Germans want intelligence, then buy it with money.

If you don't want to pay, or if you don't have the cash, then sell us arms.

Light weapons are fine. How about grenade launchers? Aircraft would be even better. Tanks are also an option.

In short, if you Germans are willing to sell, we're willing to buy.

The prerequisite is that the goods are actually delivered.

'I'm talking about the power that comes from the supreme helper.'

'I know. But I want money.'

'The power of the Führer!'

'I want money,'

Zhang Yong repeated the emphasis unequivocally.

The Führer's authority sounded very tempting. But it was useless in the East.

Who gave a damn about him?

Besides, he could only hold out until 1945.

He was crazy, not knowing how to play it safe. He wanted to win it all at once. As a result, he had ended up on the street.

Madmen rose quickly, but also fell quickly.

Only money was eternal. Especially for a small person like Zhang Yong.

Power would disappear. But money would not.

Because he has a gun.

'How much do you want?' Klinsmann's face darkened.

He hated the mention of money.

He was addicted to power.

He was crazy about power. All Gestapo men were the same.

The Führer's authority could not be violated. Because the Gestapo's power came from the supreme Führer.

Hindenburg, who got in the way, is dead. Now, the Führer's authority is unquestionable.

He, the Gestapo, will spread the Führer's authority to the far east.

'Market price: at least 100,000 US dollars. If there is competition, it could be 500,000 or even a million US dollars.'

'You're crazy.'

'It doesn't matter if I'm crazy. I'm talking about the market price.'

'There's no way I'll agree to that.'

'Then your information will probably be sold by Safiya to the British and the French. They will know all about your armament plans...'

'Shut up!'

Klinsmann was getting irritated again.

Zhang Yong shut up.

He liked Klinsmann, a simple guy with brawn.

No one had to use their brains or outwit each other. It was a relief. If it had been an old cunning guy, Zhang Yong would have had a much harder time.

'How much do you really know?'

'I told you. I also learned it unintentionally. Including the big thunderstorm plan and so on. I don't have the money, so naturally I don't have enough ability to obtain more information. Most of the high-value information needs to be purchased with money...'

'What if there is no money?'

'An equivalent exchange is also possible. It can also be settled in the form of trade.'

'Trade?'

'For example, you export a batch of arms and ask for 5 million new marks. But you offer a discount and only ask for 4.5 million. The 500,000 marks can be considered payment for the information.'

'Very good suggestion. I accept.'

Klinsmann rolled his eyes. He thought it was a good idea. He agreed on the spot.

If he had to come up with marks, dollars, pounds, francs, or anything else, he definitely wouldn't have it.

The German treasury is actually in a highly tense situation. A lot of money has been invested in the armaments programme. There is simply no cash in hand.

Not only is there no cash in hand. The Germans are also in debt to foreigners. The interest is terrible.

If they were to repay all these loans, the Germans would definitely go bankrupt. However, the Gestapo knows that the Führer is not going to repay the money.

They don't know what they will do in the future. But it is absolutely impossible to repay the money. Because they simply can't afford to. They will have to keep borrowing.

Selling arms is also a way to make money.

So the Germans are also actively expanding the arms market.

China, this great Eastern country, is a good buyer for the Germans.

Discounting a bit shouldn't be a problem.

'Okay, you can discuss it with our Minister Min in detail.' Zhang Yong immediately took his leave.

He is just responsible for doing the work.

Making decisions is the leader's responsibility. It has nothing to do with him.

The jester's task is complete, so he takes his leave as soon as he sees a good opportunity. He quickly gets the hell out of there. It's more practical to go and make money.

By the way, I think we've finished counting the ocean in the cellar, right?

So he said goodbye to Minister Min.

Minister Min nodded and personally saw him out.

Not bad, this kid, he gets it. He completely understands what his superiors mean!

Originally, Zhang Yong was invited to come here to break the ice.

Due to the hierarchical relationship between the two sides, they couldn't say it so directly. After all this time, the Germans don't understand.

Now it's fine. Everyone understands each other's demands. The negotiations that follow will be much easier.

We in China need your German arms. But you Germans have to discount them. And you have to guarantee that the arms will be delivered to China.

Otherwise, you won't get the intelligence.

Goodbye.

Get ready to run.

I saw Yang Lichu. Still at the door.

Stop the car.

'How fast?'

'I went there to be a clown. Of course I couldn't stay long.'

'What are you doing now?'

'I'm busy doing nothing...'

'Don't swear.'

'It's true, I'm busy doing nothing. I'm busy earning money for formula.'

'Get lost!'

Yang Lichu pretended to be angry.

She sent him away, so that he wouldn't come back and cause trouble later.

The people he was with were all strangers. She was a little embarrassed after all. Zhang Yong was not allowed to behave inappropriately in public.

'Goodbye!'

Zhang Yong ran off like the wind.

Yang Lichu: ...

No. You bastard. Running away so fast!

You don't have any feelings for me...

I regret not giving him a little benefit. I haven't given it to him before...

Zhang Yong returned to the grocery store.

Fortunately, Chen Qingquan and the others were still there. He asked anxiously, 'How much?'

'93,800,' Chen Qingquan replied excitedly, 'We've counted everything carefully. Not a single one is missing. The Japanese really looted a lot.'

'Less than 100,000?' Zhang Yong couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

He had thought there would be 100,000.

It turns out there wasn't that much!

Hey, I really didn't expect that there would be less than 100,000 in the cellar, which was almost full.

But, come to think of it, it's understandable. After all, 100,000 taels of silver is a terrifying weight. It's more than three tons. More than 6,000 catties!

You can't move it all in cars. You need trucks.

But trucks in those days seemed to be relatively backward, with limited transport capacity. Especially in China.

Professional transport trucks didn't arrive in large numbers until the arrival of massive American aid. Dodge. Ten-wheeled big truck. Standard load capacity of five tons. Can pull more than ten tons at will.

'Are you busy?'

'Not really.'

'Let's go have some tea.'

'Thanks.'

Zhang Yong couldn't help but say so.

He didn't like tea. He liked Coke.

Especially now that the weather was getting warmer, the cold Coke from the Air Force Logistics Department was delicious...

Right, speaking of Coke. Just now, he clearly went on a trip to the Air Force Logistics Department, but he didn't even get to drink a glass of Coke. What a failure. He must make it up next time.

After all, I am the head of the Air Force General Staff Department's Intelligence Division 3 and the deputy head of the Security Department. It seems like a loss of 100 million yuan not to drink a few cokes every day.

I looked around.

I didn't see Li Boqi. I also didn't see Ling Yan, Jiang Yiyang, Li Jingzhi, or anyone else.

'Where's the team leader?'

'He went back. It's urgent.'

'What's so urgent?'

'The 167th Division, redeployed from the Fort of Madang, is undergoing training in the western suburbs. The Military and Political Committee has ordered our Special Services Department to arrest someone.'

'Arrest someone for what?'

'A batch of arms was previously lost, and it is suspected that someone has sold them. The Military and Political Committee has instructed us to investigate. We must find out what happened.'

'Oh...'

Zhang Yong thought for a moment. The Fort of Madang, the 167th Division, actually left some kind of impression.

It seems that later, when the Japanese army went up the river, this 167th Division was at the Madang Fortress and made a fatal mistake, which resulted in the fortress not being able to function.

In a fit of anger, the Commander-in-Chief ordered the commander of the 167th Division to be shot. The unit was disbanded.

This was an extremely severe punishment.

Moreover, this 167th Division seems to be from the Whampoa Military Academy?

After thinking about it carefully, there was no more information. So he didn't care. Li Boqi went to deal with it.

The private sale of arms is a chronic problem within the Kuomintang. It is hopeless. No one can fix it. Even the trusted troops of the Whampoa Military Academy are no exception.

It is closely related to another chronic problem: the practice of drawing salaries without actually working. The military and political committee's establishment list has so many people on it. But in reality, there are often many vacancies.

Naturally, the food and wages for those vacancies go into the pockets of the officers at all levels.

And the surplus weapons and equipment resulting from the troop vacancies were naturally sold by the 'clever people'. Then the money fell into private pockets.

Did the military commander know?

Of course he knew. He was not stupid.

He also knew that these ills were very fatal. He also wanted to rectify them.

However, the various situations were very complicated. Forces were intertwined. It was not as simple as just rectifying them. The results were minimal.

This is touching on people's livelihood and their wallets, so how can they just let it happen?

Resistance was inevitable. Some even had murderous intentions.

The investigators sent there died in accidents.

All kinds of 'accidents'.

Even towards the end of the war, apart from a very small number of troops personally trained by the Americans, there were many vacancies in other troops.

If it was said to be 10,000 people, often 7,000 would be considered very good.

If it was said to be 7,000 people, 5,000 people would already be a pleasant surprise.

During the War of Liberation, the National Army often said that they had concentrated so many divisions and so many tens of thousands of people, but that was all just paper strength. In reality, it was often necessary to discount 70%.

The result was predictable. It would be strange if they weren't beaten up.

'How many people did the team leader bring?' Zhang Yong felt the need to ask.

The headquarters in Jige Lane was now seriously understaffed.

Li Boqi had not brought many people back from Tianjinwei. At most, it was no more than ten people.

As for the headquarters, Li Boqi's own men were basically nonexistent. Like Zhang Yong, he had basically arrived alone.

Go investigate the 167th Division. If he didn't bring more than 50 people, he was looking for death.

In fact, even if he brought 50 people, he was looking for death. If the other party really meant to kill, 50 people would be useless.

I hope nothing happens...

'I don't know,' Chen Qingquan shook his head.

'Okay,' Zhang Yong sent him off.

Then, he decided to stay at the train station and continue to keep watch.

He had a feeling that something was about to happen.

It was a coincidence that the two women, Mei Wan-jun and Yan Ruzi, appeared within the radius of his map at the same time.

The radius of his map monitoring was about 500 metres. The two women, one in the south and one in the north, were about 400 metres apart. He didn't know if they knew about each other.

The mantis preys on the cicada, and the oriole is behind it.

He, Zhang Yong, wanted to be the oriole behind the oriole...

He ordered Lu Keming to take his squad back to rest, leaving Shang Guanqing's squad behind.

As it turned out, having a squad at hand was enough.

He was the bird watching from the sidelines.

Soon, night fell. There was nothing unusual at the train station.

No more red dots were spotted.

Sakata Kazuo didn't reappear either. I wish he would...

At nightfall, Zhang Yong found a hotel and hid everyone. They lay low around the train station in silence.

After midnight, the station gradually emptied.

However, there were still a few travellers coming and going.

As the country's largest railway station, Shimonoseki Station was still quite lively.

Even in the middle of the night, there were still travellers arriving one after the other. Or entering the station to board the train. They were all taking the through train.

Zhang Yong fell asleep in a daze...

Suddenly he woke up.

But the map prompted him that there was a red dot approaching. There was a weapon symbol. There was a gold symbol.

He wakes up with a start. At the same time, he reaches under the bed and pulls out the Browning M1935 high-powered pistol. He pulls the bolt. Loads the gun. Then he goes to the window, hides behind the curtains, raises the binoculars and looks far away.

The red dot is coming by train. He doesn't know which train it is. It might be a passing train. Or it might be a train that has stopped.

He silently keeps watch. He sees the train slowly enter the station. The red dot starts to move. Oh, he's getting off the train. He soon appears on the platform. It's a woman?

The platform lights were dim, and even with binoculars, Zhang Yong could not see clearly. But from the way she was dressed, it seemed to be a woman. An older woman.

Very fashionable. Very expensive. It seemed to be a noblewoman.

However, Zhang Yong did not quite believe that the other person was a woman.

Why?

Apart from the Tokkos, there were very few women spies in Japan.

Therefore, he suspected that the other person might be a man dressed as a woman. This would avoid a lot of checks.

Most of the time, the checks on female passengers are a bit perfunctory. The Japanese spies most likely took advantage of this loophole. They boarded the train with their weapons.

And for a professional Japanese spy, disguising as a woman is a breeze.

The only thing that's more troublesome is height.

If it's one of those taller spies, it's hard to disguise as a woman.

However, the vast majority of Japanese invaders are short and stocky. The average height is about 1.5 to 1.6 metres. There's no problem with a man dressing as a woman.

A Japanese spy, dressed as a woman, carrying weapons and gold, arrives in Nanjing in the middle of the night...

Who would believe that there is no story there?

Go out immediately.

Shangguan Qing is on duty outside the door.

Give a sign.

Wake everyone up. Organise weapons and equipment.

Set off.

Arrive quietly near the exit of the train station.

The red dot is moving towards the exit. This is the best position if you want to make an arrest.

However, considering that the target has a gun, Zhang Yong is still very careful.

It would be best to capture him alive, but if that's not possible, then he'll have to be killed outright.

Everything is in place.

Just waiting for the right moment.

Suddenly, a red dot enters the edge of the map from the southwest corner. It's marked.

Checking, it turns out to be Sakata Kazuo.

Hey, this cold-blooded killer has resurfaced. It seems like he's prepared for this.

Even I can tell from the knee that Sakata Kazuo is most likely here for this Japanese spy who got off the train, probably disguised as a woman.

What is he going to do? Zhang Yong doesn't know. He just watches silently.

It would be best if they killed each other.

Sure enough, Sakata Kazuo starts moving towards the train station exit.

Zhang Yong immediately gives the signal and leads his team to withdraw.

Let Sakata Kazuo perform!

Let's see what this guy is really up to.

Soon, the two red dots meet. The distance between the two is about 30 metres?

'Pop!'

'Pop!'

There is a gunshot.

They were very short. There were only two.

Then one of the red dots disappeared. It was the Japanese spy dressed as a woman.

He had been killed by Sakata Kazuo.

After killing the man, Sakata Kazuo quickly stepped forward, as if to take something from the dead man's body, and then left in a hurry. He was extremely fast.

'Go!'

Zhang Yong then led his men forward.

They did not go after Sakata Kazuo. Instead, they rushed towards the place where the gunfight had taken place.

Sure enough, there was a woman lying on the ground.

No sign of life. She was already dead.

Zhang Yong went up and pulled her clothes open. Sure enough, it was a man.

Ugh!

What bad luck! I hate transvestites the most!

'Eh?'

Someone exclaimed in surprise.

I thought it was a noblewoman! I didn't expect it to be a man.

Zhang Yong quickly felt the corpse. He soon felt an envelope. Inside was not a gold bar. It was a thin gold piece.

Or, is this what martial arts novels mean by gold leaves?

It's actually gold that has been beaten into a very thin sheet. It's easy to carry. It can be stored in an envelope.

Swallowed.

Finally, there is a little income again. The thin gold leaves are just the right size to be stuffed into the space with you.

However, that's not the point.

The point is that Zhang Yong also found an envelope on his person.

The envelope is sealed. It has a wax seal. There are no signs of it having been opened.

Zhang Yong pondered for a moment, and used his dagger to open the envelope.

Inside was just a piece of white paper. It had a lot of numbers written on it.

Handwritten. Very clear. All three digits. Two in each group. It seems that the two groups of numbers are a pair?

Pondering for a moment, he couldn't get anywhere. It doesn't seem to be related to a password?

Continue to search the body. Found some change. And a torn train station ticket. It was from Hangzhou.

It turns out to be a fish that got away!

Alas, I'm not in Shanghai, and the Japanese spy dares to travel by train with a weapon.

If this were before, they would definitely be caught.

So, the question is, what did the Japanese spy want to do when he came from Hangzhou to Jinling?

Who did he want to meet?

How did Sakata Kazuo know? Why was he able to intercept him so accurately?

Could it be that someone within the Japanese spy network was cooperating with Sakata Kazuo?

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. I shake my head in haste. I gather my thoughts. I take my men and quickly evacuate.

Suddenly, I sense something. Another red dot has appeared at the edge of the map.

It's not Sakata Kazuo. There's no mark. It could be a newcomer.

My eyes light up.

This Japanese spy is here to provide support?

He heard the gunshots and came over quietly to check the situation?

Then I'm sorry, but arrest him!