The two talked for a long time, and finally talked about the last question, Xu Chengyan carefully considered it, and said again: "There is one more thing, the editor-in-chief of Xinmin Daily, Naohito Eguchi, will arrange for me to go on a business trip to the headquarters in Beiping in the near future, and I will temporarily leave Taiyuan for a while. ”

"What, a business trip? Why so suddenly? Chu Guangji was stunned for a moment,

Xu Chengyan nodded: "It's very sudden, I was just notified yesterday." ”

Chu Guangji couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, he didn't want Xu Chengyan to leave, the work of Taiyuan Station had just made some achievements, and it all depended on the excellent performance of the Viper team led by Xu Chengyan.

But now Xu Chengyan has finally broken into Xinmin Daily, and it is not easy to gain the trust of the Japanese so smoothly, and this business trip was arranged by the Japanese editor-in-chief, so of course it cannot be refused.

"When are you leaving? How long is it going to go? ”

"I will leave in the morning the day after tomorrow, as for how long it will be undecided, when I arrive in Beiping, the specific schedule will also depend on the arrangement of the headquarters of Xinmin Daily, I can't say well, but it shouldn't be more than a month."

On this trip to Beiping, Xu Chengyan has a lot to do, especially the news that he wants to go to Tianjin to visit his family and elders, this time is estimated to be short, so it can be regarded as a private business, so he is unwilling to reveal the truth to Chu Guangji, so he simply uses Jiangkou Naohito as a shield, anyway, Chu Guangji can't verify it.

"So long?" When Chu Guangji heard that he was going to go for a month, his brows furrowed even tighter, "Then how to arrange the work of your group?" ”

"I have already explained to Ji Yun and let him be in charge for the time being, his ability is not under me, he can handle these things, especially the work in terms of operations, even if you arrange it for him, there will be no mistakes."

"Alright! That's how it was arranged! ”

Chu Guangji nodded slightly, at first he still thought about letting Ding Mingrui be in charge again, but now it seems that Xu Chengyan is more willing to hand over the work to his partner, and Ji Yun's ability is also very strong, so it is not good for him to get involved too much, so as not to displease Xu Chengyan.

"Okay, it's okay for you to go to Beiping, we'll see you again when we leave, and I happen to have something to explain to you."

Xu Chengyan glanced at Chu Guangji in some surprise, it seems that there are really a lot of things to do on this trip to Beiping.

Time passed quickly, and two days later, at the Taiyuan Railway Station, waving goodbye to the colleagues who saw them off, Xu Chengyan and several Japanese reporters boarded the train to the east.

Everyone is a big bag, and their hands are full of luggage and packages, every time they take a vacation, as long as someone is on vacation, colleagues and friends entrust the delivery of luggage and items are a lot of them.

Fortunately, they bought tickets for the first-class carriage, and there were not many passengers in the carriage, which was quite spacious, and everyone sat down to talk to each other, which was not boring and boring.

Although Xu Chengyan is the only Chinese, his status at the newspaper is higher than that of several other Japanese colleagues.

Everyone knows that he has a deep background, and his relationship with the editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief is very close, and he is currently in the current affairs and news department, and only under the chief reporter Watanabe Kyosuke, so they are all warm, and they dare not slack off a little, and they still get along well with each other.

The railway line that Xu Chengyan and others took was called the Zhengtai Railway Line, which was the only railway in Shanxi Province to other provinces.

Shanxi Province is surrounded by mountains on all sides, the terrain is dangerous, the Zhengtai Railway crosses the Taihang Mountains, where it passes, the ups and downs, the river valley is narrow, the mountains are steep, the whole line is tortuous, the bridges and tunnels are connected, and the terrain is extremely complex.

So the train traveled very slowly, all the way through Yuci, Shouyang, Xiayangquan, and then through Niangzi Pass, and when it arrived in Shijiazhuang, it had taken more than ten hours, and the time was already late at night.

At that time, the Zhengtai Railway was laid with a rare narrow gauge, although it was connected with the Luhan Railway, but both people and goods had to change cars, and they could not go north to Beiping, so Xu Chengyan and others could only get off the train, find a hotel nearby, and barely rest for the night.

During this period, the situation in North China was very unstable, although there was no major war in Hebei, but all forces were active, small-scale battles also occurred frequently, and the base areas of the Red Party were also everywhere, in order to prevent the Japanese from transporting personnel and materials by rail, the Luhan Railway was often sabotaged by the Chinese armed forces, and the railway was suspended from time to time.

Xu Chengyan and others were a little unlucky, just in time for the destruction of the railway in front of them, and the train was suspended for two days, and they were suddenly trapped in Shijiazhuang.

Fortunately, they were all reporters of Xinmin Daily, and they had special identities, and another shrewd reporter found a fellow villager of the local Japanese garrison, so they waited for another day, and several of them boarded a military transport convoy and set foot on the road to Beiping again.

It was another dozen hours of long-distance bumps, almost even the bones were torn apart, and finally entered Beiping, and when the group got off the car, all of them were weak in their legs and feet, and they couldn't even straighten their waists.

Several other Japanese reporters were eager to return home, they still had to go to the train station, rushed to Tianjin overnight, and said goodbye to Xu Chengyan and left.

Watching everyone leave, Xu Chengyan also cheered up, beckoned to the rickshaw driver, loaded his luggage, and rushed all the way to the front door.

As the old capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beiping is the place where China's national fortunes have gathered for hundreds of years, and the weather is natural, especially the large and small hotels are countless, and the upper grades are concentrated in the area outside the front door.

The high-end ones include the famous Liuguo Hotel, Peking Hotel, Oriental Hotel, Chang'an Hotel, etc., and these high-end hotels, because they not only provide accommodation, but also provide high-end food, and undertake various entertainment activities, so they are mostly called by the name of the hotel.

Xu Chengyan also came to Peking for the first time, but he had already heard about the prosperity of Kyoto, and he could just see it, plus he was rich in money, so he didn't treat himself badly and decided to find a big hotel to stay.

There is a very important reason for staying in a hotel, that is, the security in Beiping is not good, theft and robbery occur from time to time, and in addition to money, he also carries a lot of important items, but he does not dare to find a small hotel to stay, in case he loses something, it will be troublesome.

The most famous hotel in Beiping is naturally the Six Nations Hotel, because it is led by the British, absorbing the capital of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Japan, Russia and other six major powers, and is located in the embassy area, enjoying extraterritoriality, protected by the embassy garrisons of various countries, the Chinese military and police have no right to interfere, and the Japanese do not dare to be too presumptuous here, so the security in this area is definitely the best area in Beiping.

However, even if the Six Nations Hotel is forgotten, the people who can live in this hotel are all ministers of various countries, dignitaries, wealthy businessmen and people from the upper echelons of society.

Xu Chengyan chose a Chang'an Hotel nearby, which is also one of the largest hotels in Beiping City, and the waiter arranged a room for Xu Chengyan, sent a lot of luggage in, and bowed out.

At this time, it was already late at night, Xu Chengyan had been running all the way in the past few days, and he was really tired, but he still checked the doors and windows, searched the house again, and confirmed that there was no problem, so he washed up and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, he packed up his ropes, dressed up, and took gifts to his teacher, Yoshinoemon's residence.

From the embassy area all the way to the west, along the Qianmen West River continue to walk for a while, you will enter a high-end residential area, where all the Japanese puppet high-ranking officials live, every other distance on the street, there are black-clad policemen, carrying batons to be on guard, inspecting and inspecting passers-by, from time to time there are heavily armed patrols of Japanese sergeants passing by, obviously heavily defended.

As soon as Xu Chengyan entered the residential area, he was carrying a package in his hand, and he was immediately targeted by the patrolling police, and soon two policemen came over and asked him about his identity.

Xu Chengyan took out his ID and handed it over, and one of the younger policemen checked it, looked at Xu Chengyan carefully, and asked, "You are a reporter from Xinmin Daily, what are you doing here?" And what are these things? ”

Seeing that the police were about to check their belongings, Xu Chengyan suddenly said unhappily: "I'm here to visit Mr. Yoshinoemon, these are gifts for Mr., they are all fragile items, please don't move around." ”

Hearing Yoshinoemon's name, the two policemen were stunned, and the actual controller of the current North China government is the three major advisers to the Japanese government, among which the administrative adviser Yoshino Emon is the head, and they are all known to them.

Since it was to visit such a top celebrity, they naturally paid attention to it, and the two policemen glanced at each other, and no longer checked Xu Chengyan's package, but turned around and signaled: "Mr. Yoshino's residence is in front, we will take you there." ”

Obviously, he was afraid that Xu Chengyan would use the name of Yoshino Emon as a guise to scare them, but he didn't dare to really offend, so he simply took Xu Chengyan and went to ask for verification.

To say that the policemen in charge of policing here can indeed be called conscientious, the residents here are all high-ranking officials and dignitaries with important status, and if any one of them goes wrong, they will not be able to eat and walk around, and they will have a lot to do with it, so as long as there are suspicious people, they dare not let it go easily.

Xu Chengyan naturally wouldn't refuse, which also saved him from asking everywhere, so he followed the police and came to the door of a high-end residence after a while.

From the outside, this house looks more Western-style, surrounded by white and neat courtyard walls, and the two-story villas in the courtyard are exquisitely styled, with white stucco walls combined with light red roof tiles, which looks simple and luxurious, and the metal gate is not too decorated, but it also shows a high-end atmosphere.

Outside the gate, there were also two guards in civilian clothes, with protruding clothes around their waists, obviously equipped with weapons, they watched Xu Chengyan and the others approach, stepped forward to stop them, and asked in Japanese when they opened their mouths.

Without waiting for the police to speak, Xu Chengyan said directly in Japanese: "I am a student of Mr. Yoshino, I came to visit Mr. Yoshino, this is my ID, please pass it on." ”

As soon as the guard heard this, he took the papers, said a little later, turned around and entered the residence, and after a short time, he led a middle-aged man in a kimono out.

The middle-aged man walked in a hurry, his face was full of joy, and finally even trotted past the guards, came to the front in a few steps, looked at Xu Chengyan, and couldn't help but exclaim: "Chengyan, is it really you?" ”

"Uncle Wu!" Xu Chengyan also recognized the person at a glance, this person was Takeda Katsuraaki, a waiter who had followed Yoshino Emon for many years.

When Yoshinoemon traveled to the north in his early years, because of the warlord chaos, the changing situation, the social situation, and the frequent appearance of robbers and robbers, for the sake of safety, he recruited a strong martial artist ronin in Shanghai to accompany him, which was the Takeda Guiming in front of him.

Takeda Katsura is not an ordinary person, he was born in the Japanese aristocratic Takeda family, just a wandering side lineage, his people are proficient in karate, swordsmanship and firearms, strong skills, so many years, Yoshino Emon has been in distress many times, it is Takeda Katsura who sacrificed his life to save him, although the two are master servants, they are really brothers, and they are the most trusted people of Yoshino Emon.

When Xu Chengyan came to learn Japanese from Yoshino Emon, he knew that Takeda Guiming's martial arts were strong, and he also liked martial arts since he was a child, and he was happy to see the hunt, so he also learned some karate and sword skills from Takeda Guiming.