Even if they amassed a million soldiers in Nanjing, did Wang Wei really think that they could stop us? If it weren't for Wang Wei, then who in his staff would have this opinion? Maybe this was an attempt to stop us before the army first entered Nanjing? Is it a matter of prestige rather than compromise? ”

He turned to his men and slowly walked around a large table. Everything on the table was placed in an orderly manner, with magazines such as "New World", "Flag", and "Star" with various bookmarks, and some new books were also neatly arranged.

Stopping at his high-backed chair, he did not sit down and asked hoarsely: "When will our army be fully ready for attack?" When will we start breaking through Nanjing? ”

His subordinates replied that his command had already drawn up a plan for a breakthrough through Nanking, that the First Front would begin its offensive no later than two weeks at the latest, and that Marshal Li would be ready as scheduled.

"But," said at last. By all circumstances, our troops were busy annihilating the enemy in the North China Plain until mid-April, so they could not begin an offensive at the same time as us. ”

He walked back into the room. He returned to his table, took a puff on his pipe, and finally said: "The action must begin, and it is necessary not to wait for the Second Front to make the most important decision." ”

Chang Kaishen put five densely printed documents on Wu Sibao's desk with no chains, and said, "I think this is more than enough, minister." ”

Wu Sibao saw it very quickly, and for the first time, he roughly looked diagonally, and made some marks that only he could understand; The second time he read it carefully, taking notes as he went, scrutinizing every word, but only the words in the passages that he could use, and he didn't pay much attention to the rest.

At Wu's request, Chang Kaishen summarized in five pages the material of the conversation between them that he had recently heard from his department.

Wu Sibao immediately marked out a complete sentence: "I completely lost my faith; Wang Wei's sin is that from the point of view of the laws of war, he has not yet moved his base camp to the Tangshan Fortress, and Wang Wei is unwilling to face reality: "Obviously, a catastrophe will come at the end of May, and Wang Wei's mistake is that we have lost the war that we have already won" "Wang Wei has not withdrawn the army group from the banks of the Yangtze River, and he has not allowed all the troops on the western front to be transferred to the eastern front." All of this proves that he completely put his life on the line. He lived like a hermit in a dark fortress and did not understand the nation. He didn't think that the country was running out of strategic reserves, and he didn't want to know that someone was slowly dying in a house without a fire. He issued orders. Send out all those who can fight to fight; The result is that in twenty years there will not be enough men of the same age in the country to command and revive our army" "The only hope for saving the soul of the nation is to gather our entire army under the city of Nanking and force this decisive battle." It will be a war against the ideas of internationalism, against Russia, for an unshakable treasure. ”

Wu Sibao raised his eyes and looked at Chang Kaishen: "You also understand that I can't show this kind of speech to the top, it will re-traumatize his injured soul." ”

"Minister, I have guessed why you need this material, so I have chosen the mildest wording, and the more intense."

"Well, do you know that people will say anything in a fit of rage. Whoever they are, they are loyal people, but they are too straightforward, military, so the material you are writing now is not appropriate. Please prepare half a sheet of paper, write it this way to show that he needs to rest, that he can't stand the constant bombardment, and that if the rumble of the bombardment is not heard in the basement, then he lives in his own sphere of influence, in my opinion, which is logical, don't you think? ”

"Exactly"

"As for the others, after a little healing, he wants to go back to the trenches, he thinks he is a master of tank warfare, and tank warfare will guarantee our victory in the battle that is about to be fought, and let him say that he will not be able to show his military command skills in a respectful tone and with a chatter that he is famous for tank warfare."

Wu Sibao smiled coldly: "This is what I persuaded him to say to Zhan Guoqiang." I think General Wang Wei sent General Wang to the headquarters of the army group and ordered Zhan Guoqiang to hand over the command. ”

Chang Kaishen coughed, covered his mouth with his hand and whispered: "Do you think that separating Zhan Guoqiang from the army can make him more isolated?" Will he lose strength? ”

Wu Sibao was silent for a long time, then sighed and replied, "Chang Kaishen, I want to give a piece of advice: never let the person who will be your boss feel that you can estimate his mind in an orderly manner in advance; Instead, you have to tell your boss at all times that the ability to see what's going on belongs to him alone and no one else. You know what you're supposed to do to me now, right? ”

"Obviously, I am surprised by the fact that people will see that the head of the guard will not be able to continue to lead the army group." Chang Kaishen went on to say, "I can't believe that the guards will have any effect on the armed forces that lack ideas. ”

Wu Sibao shook his head: "Then you will be regarded as a fool or a psychopath immediately." But I'm mentally healthy. Oh my God, what robbed me of my hope of becoming a genius No, Chang, Chang, you have to say that this decision is really surprising to you, and then you have to pull out your notebook and pen and say that you can't do anything but do what your boss tells you to do. ”

Chang Kaishen almost said it; "Are you forcing me to accept your manners, is there a need to repeat them? You must know that it is exploration that has produced a new qualitative transformation. ”

Wu Sibao seemed to know what Chang Kaishen meant, and said, "Yes, yes, that's right, I asked you to repeat the behavior that made me ascend to the throne now, and I did it only because my relationship with you has become special in the past week, Lao Chang. Now let's talk to you about the main thing, can you let the Yan'an side know about two things that don't seem to be related on the surface? First, General Wang replaced the original guy as chief of staff, who had served as military attache in foreign embassies when he was ambassador of the Nationalist Government. He knew the Westerners very well, and he always emphasized the idea that it was impossible to defeat himself militarily. The second thing was that Mr. Wang's secretary sent such a guy to the post of chief of the General Staff, and he thought that only he could discuss with the Supreme Commander the possibility of stopping the bloodshed if necessary. ”

"I can do it!" Chang Kaishen replied. He was fully convinced that Wu Sibao already had a well-researched life-saving plan, and of course considered the factors that might fail, but he had already bet all on this carefully used plan.

"I believe you," Wu Sibao said, "now you can ask questions"

"Minister, is this necessary? I am infinitely loyal to you, and you have risen because you can see not one or two moves, but a hundred moves. Now that you are still thinking about it, it seems that the air tremors caused by my wonderful questioning have hindered your train of thought in your thought process. ”

Wu Sibao said: "You seem to be playing rhetoric like Zhan Guoqiang, so it is doubtful." ”

"Everybody wants to be able to turn back to his old book in some way, and if he understands that it is impossible for him to turn over in the main aspect, that is, in wisdom, then I am like a nightingale singing, don't mind."

The answer is convincing. Finally, there are two more points, Chang Kaishen, you need to ask your department to receive an unsettling signal from the bases along the Geyue Mountain and the Yangtze River. Some officers with special missions are engaged in conversations that cannot be allowed. You go from there. You will negotiate with the water combat unit to get them to agree that you will have your most trusted colleague in the crew. Let these people go there immediately. Tell them that they are not allowed to leave the dock without your orders. What I believe is not your file about the cases obtained by your spies, but your acquired memory, after reading this file, you can keep the important secrets of the state; It would be a shame to leak it out if it were the opposite. Wu Sibao seemed to be frightened by Chang Kaishen's question, quickly stood up, gave the file to Chang Kaishen, and said, "Goodbye, you're fine." ”

After that, he met with Dingmo Village, which lasted for several hours. He was sure that Chang Kaishen had not run into his immediate boss by chance. He read the three pages of materials that Ding Mocun had written in prison. He wondered how useful the material was, but was told that not only was it not included in the card of the General Security Service, but it also did not cover the situation of the military newspaper offices. Wu Sibao put the materials into the safe, and at the same time said:

"I've seen this kind of thing, Director Ding, this is not that material. What that guy gives you is something useless. You have to try to care more about him and do his job. However, I don't think it makes sense to bet on him. He'll slip away quietly. If he's still playing tricks, kill him, and don't waste prison food and water for a useless man. ”

Then he asked Ding Mocun to arrange a meeting with the envoy who had come from there. He demanded that no third person except the two of them know about it, and he moved to pick up his men. Within a minute or two, one of his important spies would come in from Chongqing and report to them on the battlefield.

In the evening, before the start of the base camp meeting, Li Guangyuan called Wu Sibao.

"Two days later, in the evening, Zhan Guoqiang will start a new round of negotiations with a Western earl at the Swiss Consulate General in Lubecca." After they met, Li Guangyuan said, "This report is absolutely accurate, and I think I am obliged to inform you immediately." ”

"Thank you!" Wu Sibao turned around thoughtfully, "If I don't believe you and don't have the ability to verify this matter, I will think that this is a dream not abroad, but here, not secret, but under the nose of the Kuomintang, within the territory of China, which is really incredible." Did you tell Chang Kaishen about this? ”

"Nope."

"Now tell him everything, Li Guangyuan. The longer it drags on, the harder it will be for me to squeeze out time for you. You understand how serious the situation is now. Please believe me as much as I believe Chang Kaishen, to whom I have advised on many of the issues that have plagued us. ”

After returning to the room, Wu Sibao walked into a small room again.

His assistant captain Wang Ruliang and his cousin, guard captain Wu Dalong, have been living here. He closed the door tightly and said, "Captain Wang, who is listening to you?" ”

"A newly promoted major." Wang Ruliang replied.

"No," Wu Sibao objected as if complaining about something, he was now Wang Wei's adjutant, not someone in the army who could talk. I'm asking the people around Mei Sipin. ”

"Then, Colonel Zhang Guotao is willing to do anything for me."

"He has a scar on his forehead?"

"Yes."

"I remember that there was a connection between the conspirators of his wife's family, as if it were her cousin."

"That's why I can control him."

"It's not a bad object. Do you absolutely believe him? ”

"I have all kinds of grounds."

"Okay. You are to begin work with him on this front: Li Shiqun should now consider moving to the Yangtze River fortress as soon as possible, so that he can fight the enemy there. It was impossible to command the army from the Northern Jiangsu Plain. You had to quietly but accurately alert the colonel to the fact that anything could happen here, so the order was given from above, and that he was appointed as the heir; This order was of great significance for the fate of the nation, especially if the traitors from above succeeded in their contact with the enemy. Let this colonel often remind Mei Sipin that peace can only be achieved among the native soldiers, and Zhan Guoqiang has never been a soldier, so the leader relieved him of his position as the commander of the army group Yes, yes, the order has been prepared, I will give it to you, and he Mei Sipin, is a soldier, this is something that cannot be changed by any entry In addition, the colonel should be kept informed of what is happening in the bunker. More specifically, it was to promise him, if necessary, to convey to him by secret telegram that Mei Sipin must declare himself the heir of the No. 1 person in the Kuomintang. ”

"Center. General Wang has been relieved of his post as chief of staff of the army. He was replaced by a civilian official who had fallen out of favor in the past. Judging by Chang Kaishen's words, he was appointed because he was highly respected in his attitude towards him. ”

"Can you get a report on the level of readiness of that person to come into contact with the person you mentioned to us? Centre. ”

The person in charge of the newspaper waited for Li Guangyuan to reply to the telegram immediately. He knew that this telegram would be there for the interest of those who were playing their own game. Li Guangyuan felt that the center was waiting for his reply. Now he understood perfectly well that the family had understood his intentions, but he could not answer. He knew that Chang Kaishen was sitting in his office weighing a plan to reply to Yan'an in his favor, but it was entirely possible for him to decide to discuss the matter with Wu Sibao, and then make up various situations about the replacement that would interest Li Guangyuan.

Chang Kaishen didn't call, and ran to Li Guangyuan early in the morning.

He turned on the radio, talked about the frequency of the radio, listened to the music program with pleasure, and then sat down in a circle chair.

"Now I'll tell you something." He coughed a few times and said, "Anyone in their right mind will think this is nonsense, but the absurdity is ridiculous in the fact that every Yu is written on this document." Chang Kaishen touched the file handed to him by Wu Sibao with his hand, "Really, look at this, Li Guangyuan." Take a look at what you're good at, and explain to me what it is. ”

"The new material obtained by our 'Foreign Organizations' Department must be included in the case files of the relevant figures. That guy got his party card and a gold badge with the number '17' in the same month as Mr. Wang. While they were held together in a cell in the prison, he wrote a letter of repentance by dictating it alone. ”

The case was reopened because Zhan Guoqiang's newspaper refused to answer a series of questions that had occurred after receiving the new newspaper. Now, their people, or substitutes sent by the newspapers, are operating abroad.

And the men on General Wang's side, who commanded the army's operations, did not give a convincing reply, and they must have known the whole situation of the fellow's flight because of the task they were taught. From September 1939 onwards, they were responsible for the manufacture of aircraft and the supervision of all aircraft flying in the skies. According to the reports of the stations, the situation is as follows:

1. At 17:45 a.m. in May 1941, a "Type 153" plane took off from Longhua Airport outside Shanghai. The wings of the aircraft are not hung with auxiliary fuel tanks

2. On 12 May 1941, the Air Force radar discovered that a plane was flying in the far direction of Wushan in Chongqing.

3. At 12:50 a.m. on 12 May 1941, an unknown pilot parachuted over Chongqing, and the plane was not damaged. The driver later claimed that he was not "Captain Wang Lian" as he had said at the beginning, but Wang Wei's assistant. He had a mission for peace, and had a dialogue with a friend in Chongqing, the director of a newspaper. The planes found in the potato field each had two auxiliary fuel tanks).

Fourth, we asked the head of the aircraft flight history department. He could not provide useful materials about Wang's unaided aircraft. In the entire file of the aircraft retained, there is no record of their purchase of the aircraft and no certificate of order.

According to the laws and regulations of the war pair, no aircraft has the right to take off without the corresponding "flight certificate." Since his plane flew over the radar areas of Shanghai, Wuhan, and Nanjing, he had to send an identification signal to the relevant ground monitoring posts, but all the air force detachments had asked which area it was, and no one had spotted a plane flying alone over the sky we occupied on 10 May 1941.

Sixth, it can be assumed that the guy landed at a military airfield in Wuhan or the occupied area of Chongqing to replenish fuel. We asked the Air Force about this, and the reply we received categorically denied that possibility.

7. According to reports from my subordinates, fuel was found in the main tank of the plane that crashed in Wushan. At that time, without refueling or without a drop fuel tank, the plane would not have been able to fly that far anyway.

8. At the end of May 1941, General Wu Dehai, General Wang's most trusted general, led an aircraft flight group to the southern part of the South China Sea to "escort the fleet." All of his planes were the kind that Wang flew without an assistant. The command in Oudehai was unwilling or unable to provide the Party with information about the flight of the officers of the 10 May 1941 Flying Group. In his words, all the documents about that time were burned in one bombing.

9. The flight brigade commanded by Air Force Major Guo De was deployed in the southeast of Guangxi, and this happened to be the place where he had to pass. According to the testimony of the people involved, the marshal had called him and asked the brigade to take off and shoot down the plane of the mad assistant of Mr. Wang, who was flying to Chongqing. It was on the evening of May 10, an hour or two after the guy took off from the Longhua airport, and in a little while he would be over the coast. But the next day, he and the other leaders of the party were called to discuss this special special meeting, and the marshal said that he knew nothing about the secret flight.

10. According to the report from No. 76, the medical examination of him did not reveal any injuries. On November 23, 1937, he noted in the medical records of our military hospital that Yuan had left the following scars on the battlefield: On June 12, 1916, he was wounded by shrapnel in his left arm and one leg under Wuchang City; On July 35, 1917, he was wounded again in the left arm: on August 8, 1917, he was wounded in the left thigh by a bullet nearby.

11. According to the report from the operatives of the 76th, the Ministry of Defense maintains a file on all aviation accidents that occurred in the territory of the country. But there is no file on the plane he flew.

13. According to a newspaper from Wuhan No. 76 Branch, the wartime office above took pictures of him. A memo sent to the office by the prison where the prisoners were held contained a passage from which he spoke of his friendship with the marshal, despite the fact that everyone knew that they did not have a good relationship, and also expressed his resentment at Zhan Guoqiang, even though they had long been close friends. The memo also records that the man ate fish and devoured it; Mr. Wang's assistant is a vegetarian and has an elegant demeanor.

XIII. It is now possible to conclude that the negotiations of betrayal with the West did not begin yesterday, nor did they do so only where we know.

Summing up, it is conceivable that this guy did not fly to Chongqing, but to a place that was able to provide a private airport. There the guy could exchange for another plane and fly to his destination with his own peace proposals. At this time, his accomplices were already in a secret cell and became the doorman of the "peace talks". It is therefore conceivable that they have been in contact with this aspect for a long time.

14. As his assistant, I am aware of his "peace plan", but my natural opinion is consistent with the above.

Since I have taken "being friendly to colleagues" as my motto, and because I believe that there are no questionable factors in the ideology, theory, and practice of the Kuomintang, the following questions arise:

1. Who among the top leaders of the country can help him achieve his plans?

2. Among the people in charge of fighter flights, who would be instigated by Zhan Guoqiang to cooperate, and how could he prepare that guy to fly secretly in order to keep the secret of the peace talks between Mr. Wang's assistant and his own side?

3. Will the marshal ally himself with that guy?

4. Was it someone close to him in the Air Force or Army Staff who provided this kind of help to Mr. Wang's assistant?

5. If he had made a leap forward in the position of leader after the war, did he have enough material to damage his reputation? If not. So how can you get these materials in the shortest possible time?

Whoever leaks every word of this memorandum will be executed or even his entire family, no matter where they live or how great they have done for the party-state in the past.

There was no signature of Wu Sibao on the document, only strange strokes. But it was with this stroke that the Minister signed the "$70 million" document, which was deposited in a foreign bank in February 1940. Under the name of a foreigner named Fred.

When he was Wang's assistant, he did not sign a similar document. In this sense, he is not a threat to Wu Sibao, but from the point of view of prestige, he is dangerous. All totalitarian believers will always worship only honor, office, and beautifully decorated medals, not wisdom, heart, honor, and morality.

After Li Guangyuan finished reading the "memorandum", Chang Kaishen asked impatiently: "How is it?" ”

"I don't understand it right now."

"It's Zhan Guoqiang, right? Did he push that guy? ”

Li Guangyuan shook his head: "You will never hear anything about this from others?" Didn't you get retribution? Even if it's a little bit of a star? ”

"Li Guangyuan, I only learned a year ago how Mr. Wang's 'brothers', the leaders and founders of our party, died. I heard that each of them chanted slogans before they were shot. With tears in their eyes, they convinced the executioners that Mr. Wang had been deceived, and they only prayed to meet their idols. Not long ago, I saw the letter that Mr. Wang had written to them before they were arrested. He expressed his friendly gratitude to the heroes of the party-state, he showed his affection for the 'brothers in the party', he addressed them with 'you', and asked them to be with him forever."

"So do you believe that Wu Sibao didn't play tricks on you? Why did you steal that guy for a column? ”