Pu Su saw some interesting things from the following materials. As Chinese, the attitude of standing on the class interests represented by each other at this time is really intriguing.

At that time, the Chinese members of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau eagerly conveyed their views to the Nationalist Government in Chongqing, and that continuing to carry out "terrorist" activities would seriously endanger the interests of the Chinese in the concession.

At the same time, the Ambassador, Sir Archibald Crk Kerr, instructed the First Secretary of the British Embassy in Chongqing to write to Chang Kaishen urging the Chinese government to stop sending terrorists into Shanghai.

After Chang Kaishen received it, he quickly replied verbally: "He will telex to the relevant personnel, and strictly order!" ”

The US chargé d'affaires Peck (PECK), who also called the foreign minister, made the same request. But the reply he received was more ambiguous, if it was more sincere.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed that the victims were "pseudo" officials. The assassination may have been carried out by a patriotic-motivated mass or in retaliation for the atrocities committed by the Japanese in China. The Japanese, he said, had themselves encouraged the murder of political opponents. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that they will kill their own party members and thus bring shame on the Ministry of Works.

The secretary asked Peck to tell the U.S. State Department that the Chinese government "does not approve of a political assassination, and that he will convey the U.S. request to the "relevant authorities," but specifically asked Peck to inform his superiors of the "complexity of the issue."

Later, in the events of Wednesday, March 1, the parties could partially understand that "complexity," or at least "the extreme difficulty of trying to control the populists stirred up by Shanghai's wealthy class and hedonism." ”

On that day, an organization calling itself the "Blood Soul Eradication Gang" dropped bombs outside the four Chinese dance halls at the same time, including the Oriental Hotel, the Xianle Dance Palace, the Sincere Paradise, and the Dadong Dance Hall. Fortunately, only one person was injured, but the "terrorists" left leaflets "warning the dancers".

"Fellow dancers, some of you are foxtrotting and some are waltzing, but why don't you go to the front to kill the enemy? Some of you drink brandy and whiskey, but why don't you donate some money to the army so that you can buy more arms to kill the enemy. ”

"Dancers, why do you spend money on cosmetics when you exude the rotten spirit of the enslaved? The only way to get rid of this rot is to give your blood to the whole nation. If you are looking for fun during the Chinese New Year, then our gift bomb tonight will add joy to you. ”

The last sentence is, "Dancers, if you like this gift, we'll see you in the ballroom!"

To this end, the Police Department of the Ministry of Industry has stepped up patrols and searches. This is especially true after the discovery of three severed heads next to a fence on Baili South Road and the near-assassination of Zhu Chengting, director of the Pudong puppet tax bureau, in the area under the jurisdiction of the puppet regime.

However, these measures failed to prevent the "Shanghai People's Mobilization Meeting" organized by the Shanghai branch of the Kuomintang on March 23, 1939.

The association, which "carries out a broad mass movement in Shanghai and carries out military, political, and all anti-Japanese salvation work without violating orders and regulations," claimed in the manifesto

"We swear that from now on we will stand with the enemy and show the strength of all classes of our people. Not only in the suburbs to force the stubborn enemy to shrink, but also to return our land! It is also necessary to show the heroic and unyielding spirit of the descendants of Yan and Huang in the concession...... Some of us can do reconnaissance and covert work, while others can take the action of assassinating traitors. ”

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Bureau responded to Japan's request. A consolation note signed by General Director Fan Keling was issued. The note, dated February 25, 1939, included 4:1 a.m., stating that the Police Department of the Ministry of Industry would continue to take strict precautions against anti-Japanese terrorist activities in accordance with the Emergency Law promulgated in July 1938.

Second, the Bureau welcomes the cooperation of the Japanese police in dealing with terrorist activities (in fact, this means that the Japanese plainclothes police will continue to be allowed to operate together with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Industry police).

Third, the Chinese in the Concession will continue to be subject to stricter scrutiny (in this case, of course, by the plainclothes Japanese police).

Fourth, vacancies of Japanese nationals in the Police Department of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau will be filled by suitable candidates as soon as possible.

Rear Admiral Kanazawa, chief spokesman for the Admiralty in Tokyo, said appointing a Japanese to the post of chief police officer at the Ministry of Industry was the "best way" to tackle the terrorist activities in Shanghai.

At the same time, the Japanese Consulate is preparing an official document in response to Fan's note of 25 February. Consul General Miura thanked the Ministry of Industry and the Police Department for its state of alert, declared that Japan regarded the note as a sign of the Ministry of Industry's approval of future cooperation, and declared that the intention of the Japanese police was to prepare for "goodwill" in the future.

They did cooperate. In March 1939, there was a marked decrease in terrorist activity, thanks to the extraordinary measures taken by the police in the Public Concession and the French Concession. They examined thousands of Chinese and conducted a massive manhunt.

In the first 10 days of April, there was only one small-scale terrorist incident. At that time, Japanese Consul General Miura received help from the Police Department of the Ministry of Industry in suppressing Chinese editions for anti-Japanese propaganda. However, this calm was soon shattered.

On April 11, the secretary of the puppet police station, Xi Shitai, was assassinated at 9:15 a.m. while leaving his home on Lloyd Road in the Public Concession.

Xi Shitai, 49 years old at the time of his arrest, studied medicine in Japan, and then returned to Shanghai, became a registered doctor of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, and opened Shitai Clinic. After the withdrawal of the Kuomintang troops from Shanghai, Dr. Xi became the secretary and chief of the health department of the Shanghai police chief Lu Ying, as well as a special member of the Japanese Military Publishing Division.

As a "brave worker who worked with the Japanese authorities to build a new order in East Asia," Xi became the main target of assassination by agents of the Pudong guerrillas supported by the Chongqing government.

The head of the assassination team was Yuan Dechang, a native of Songjiang who was only 22 or 23 years old. (Seeing this, Pu Su suspects that this person is the person who searched him in the car and put on a hood during several handovers.) Because that person is a thick Matsue accent. ）

Since Yuan Dechang was never captured, the content of the newspaper in Pu Su's hand was cut out and published according to some information from his accomplices.

The border area got some information through insiders. His accomplice, Zhao Zhixiang, failed to escape and was eventually extradited to the Japanese and executed.

Zhao Zhixiang is a typical Shanghai citizen, also 23 years old, from Pudong. At the age of 13, he was apprenticed as a tailor in a shop in the French Concession that specialized in making clothes for foreign women. After his five-year apprenticeship, he worked as a salesperson in two other "foreign clothing stores".

After earning enough money as a clerk, he married a girl from the east village of his hometown in Pudong. But in the summer of 1937, when the economy was at its worst, Zhao Zhixiang had no children, but he was unemployed, so he had to return to his hometown and live with his brother, who was a boatman. His wife returned to her parents' home.

Even when Mr. Zhao found a job as a coolie at a Japanese shipyard in Pudong, the couple separated because he was soon laid off and had to make ends meet and work as a casual tailor for his friends. At that time, the Sino-Japanese war had already begun in Nanshi, across the Huangpu River.

On March 5, 1939, Zhao Zhixiang decided to go to Puxi again to look for work in the public concession that was not occupied by the Japanese army. He temporarily lodged with his brother-in-law's place, a cramped little attic of a rice shop on Siu Sha Du Road.

After three days of vain job searching, Mr. Zhao remembers meeting a man named Yuan Dechang, who was associated with the Pudong guerrillas, and who usually booked rooms at the Grand Shanghai Hotel and the Nanjing Hotel.

Although Zhao Zhixiang did not find any trace of Yuan Dechang at the Grand Shanghai Hotel, when he asked the telephone operator of the Nanjing Hotel on Shanxi Road (this person may be an agent of the military command), Yuan Dechang immediately contacted him and appeared from the back room.

Yuan Dechang recognized Zhao Zhixiang and immediately took him out of the hotel. Standing on the street, right in front of the Nanjing Hotel, Zhao Zhixiang said he wanted a job. Yuan Dechang must have made a phone call at this time, because when he led Zhao Zhixiang to the tram stop near the Great World Entertainment Hall, another agent had already arrived.

Agents interrogated Zhao Zhixiang, who was apparently quite satisfied with his determination and performance. Then, Yuan Dechang took care of Zhao Zhixiang to meet him in front of the Great World Gate at 2 p.m. on March 14, and then they broke up.

On March 14, Zhao Zhixiang arrived at the meeting place on time, and Yuan Dechang took him out of the big world and came to a house at No. 11 Wenxian Lane, Rafeide Road. Here, Yuan Dechang rented a pavilion room for 32 yuan a month.

(Seeing this, Pu Su frowned, a pavilion, about a few square meters, 32 yuan a month, you can see the price at that time.) Ordinary people really can't live anymore. When he first came to Shanghai, he had no specific concept of these expenses because he was taken care of by Gu Ji and Lao Ren. I knew it was expensive, but I didn't know it was so expensive. Now I know how luxurious his residence and the place arranged for the team members are. And those White Russians, why are they so desperate. ）

In that pavilion, the third member of the gang, Peng Fulin, a slender 20-year-old waiter who usually wears a featureless beige robe and a gray felt hat, also moved in that day.

Since then, the three of them have lived together like "bosom friends", and Yuan Dechang is responsible for providing daily food.

On the afternoon of April 4, 1939, Yuan Dechang gave Zhao Zhixiang 2 dimes and told him to buy food outside.

Just after 3 o'clock, when Zhao Zhixiang returned with food, he found Yuan Dechang and Peng Fulin wiping two pistols. Their ultimate goal is no longer clear.

Five days later, the three moved to room 411 of the Nanjing Hotel, where they spent two nights, Zhao Zhixiang mainly stayed in the room, while Yuan Dechang and Peng Fulin came and went.

On the night of April 10, the two agents returned late, and they told Zhao Zhixiang to get ready, because tomorrow morning

7. They will go somewhere on Lloyd's Road to "commit traitors".

At this time, Yuan Dechang showed a letter, presumably sent to Zhao Zhixiang from Ningbo. The letter is dated March 29 and is addressed to all three people, signed "Zhou Jianhua", which must be a patriotic pseudonym. Yuan Dechang read aloud a letter to two other semi-illiterate people, in which he spoke of the tasks entrusted to them by the "400 million people of China" and instructed them to be "brave, firm, enthusiastic, and alert" and to "exercise their bodies."

The letter urged them to live "in accordance with the principles of the New Life Movement advocated by President Chang Kaishen", namely

Filial piety - as comrades, we should love each other.

Loyalty-As a citizen, you should be loyal to the nation, "crush the traitors who undermine this principle and betray the motherland", in order to "prosper our country and destroy the enemy".

Integrity - As a hero, corrupt officials and traitors who deceive and betray the nation should be punished.

Seriousness - As patriots, we should not only deal with traitors who "do not care about the fate of the country and the nation, and only seek the benefits of high-ranking officials", but also deal with a large number of people who "only entertain themselves by dancing, gambling, etc.", and ignore the War of Resistance.

The letter ended with "I hope that you will always follow the rules, love the motherland, support the organization, live up to the expectations of the leader, President Chang Kaishen, eliminate the enemy, and eradicate the traitors!" ”

At 7 a.m. the next day (April 11), Yuan gave Peng Fulin one of the two pistols and told him that his mission was to monitor the guards in Lane 139 Lloyd Road (Juyili).

As for Zhao Zhixiang, Yuan Dechang gave him 1 dime and asked him to rent a few books from a stall on the north side of Juyili Lane and pretend to read books, so as to pay attention to the patrol police.

The three men left the Nanjing Hotel and gathered at Lane 139 at 8:45. As planned in advance, Yuan Dechang was in the alley, monitoring the back door of Xi Shitai's house; Zhao Zhixiang sat in front of the stall outside, pretending to read the four books he had just rented; Peng Fulin paid attention to the doorman's movements, but he didn't notice that the guard had invited the lot patrol (Chinese patrol No. 730) to drink tea in the house.

At 9:15 a.m., Dr. Xi walked out the back door and began to walk along the alley towards Lloyd Road, where the driver was waiting for him in an old-fashioned car. Although Xi Shitai had a license to carry a 765 automatic pistol, he did not carry a weapon at this time.

Yuan Dechang waited in the shadows 25 yards from the entrance of the alley. As the doctor approached, Yuan approached him and fired a 38-caliber dumma bullet at him. One shot pierced the right chest, the other went into the left chest, and more than two bullets went through the abdomen and into the lungs. As Xi Shitai staggered back home, the last two bullets pierced his clothes.

When Yuan Dechang opened fire, Peng Fulin took out his pistol and rushed to the door. He confidently shouted "No Move", but panicked when he spotted a patrolman next to the doorman, and he quickly pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit the patrolman's right arm. The doorman quickly pulled out his pistol and fired back, hitting Peng Fulin in the chest.

Peng Fulin turned around and fled, ran to the alley, and ran into Xi Shitai's driver before escaping from the back door of a teahouse at No. 564 Yu Qiaqing Road. Behind him, a mortally wounded Xi Shitai collapsed in the arms of his family, who helped him back into the house, where he died on the floor of the living room.

At the same time, Yuan Dechang and Zhao Zhixiang each fled. At this point, of course, the more experienced Assassins were more popular, and the newly recruited Assassins were only temporarily deserted.

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