In one of the rooms of Marat's Villa, there are a large number of photographs on the table, as well as a tracking book, which is the surveillance record of the Intelligence and Operations Sections up to now. The photographs have a date number on them, which corresponds to the tracking record, and you will immediately know what was going on.

"I have carefully checked, during the time when Bei Zeping came to Shanghai, there were three men and one woman whose whereabouts were very suspicious, and when I met with Bei Zeping, they were carefully disguised and dressed, and they couldn't see what they were, and one of them was also proficient in anti-tracking skills, out of our sight, and did not lock the exact address."

"These two men, the disguised identities in Shanghai have been ascertained, one is a postman in the French Concession, and the other is the owner of a shop selling paper and ink in the Public Concession, after three consecutive days of day and night surveillance, no abnormal behavior has been found, but since they met with Kitazawa Ping, it is already the best proof that they must be Japanese intelligence officers."

"The records of the intelligence department show that both men have obvious northern accents, and they are not fluent in the dialect spoken in Shanghai, but they can understand it, which also proves that they are by no means hidden in Shanghai recently, and may have been staying for several years." Wang Zhen said.

"Then it will be listed as a daily observation object, and let the Intelligence Section and the Operations Section continue to fish, I am interested in the two lost targets, and when the forty-five graduates sent by the bureau headquarters arrive in Shanghai, this is a good opportunity for actual combat training, and they should practice the skills they have learned and integrate into the team as soon as possible."

"The ones who are tracking Kitazawa Ping have to be veterans, the novices are responsible for squatting and searching, you assign these people to the Intelligence Section and the Operations Section, leaving five people as liaisons, and An Ran is in charge, as long as you keep an eye on Kitazawa, big fish will appear sooner or later." Chen Mingxiang said.

Horiuchi was very trustworthy in what he was doing, and the negotiations between Huazhong Salt Co., Ltd. and Huazhong Salt Co., Ltd. were suddenly suspended, and the Consulate General in Shanghai protested to Zhou Gaohai, Minister of Finance of the Jinling government, through the "embassy" in Jinling.

It is believed that the Central China Salt Company privately intervened in the salt sales market in advance without reaching an agreement between the two sides, resulting in a rise in salt prices in various places, and salt merchants in various places hoarding goods, which brought great hidden dangers to the social order in Central China.

In the absence of salt in the market, the people may take risks for their own survival, and this threat will lead to instability in all parts of the Jinling government, damaging the interests of the empire and the image of the imperial army, so negotiations must be temporarily suspended and discussed until the situation is restored.

"Hong Fei, you have also seen the protest letter of the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, during the negotiations, you made such a move, just to give the Japanese an excuse to delay the exchange of salt sales rights in the two Huai salt farms, you have been doing things very steadily, why did you suddenly become so impatient?"

"If Huazhong Salt Company can't get the right to sell salt, what's the use of what you do? You don't need to explain it to me, I know very well about your relationship with the old salt merchants, but you haven't weighed the priorities of this work? Zhou Gaohai was very unhappy and summoned Li Hong, and his words were very serious.

The soon-to-be-established Huazhong Salt Company was also knocked out by the decision of the Japanese side, and this must have been done by them, reducing investment in the market and raising prices, originally intended to use such means to force Haiyuan Salt Company to withdraw from the market.

Huazhong Salt Co., Ltd. authorized Haiyuan Salt Company to deliver salt to salt merchants in various places, and most of the salt market in Central China was controlled by Chen Mingxiang.

But unexpectedly, the Japanese side was angered by this situation, directly interrupted the negotiations between the two sides, and ordered the Ministry of Finance of the Jinling Government to control the shareholders of Huazhong Salt Company.

"Minister, our Central China Salt Company has not yet been established, and has not taken over the salt of the Lianghuai Salt Farm, if the Japanese side wants to find, it should find Haiyuan Salt Company, they are responsible for delivering goods to various places, the supply of goods is not available, the salt market will definitely be out of stock, and the price will rise accordingly, which is a very normal law." Of course, Li Hongfei can't admit it.

"I chose you to be the chairman of Huazhong Salt Company, in order to increase the revenue of the Jinling government and firmly control the salt tax, not for you to come and fight with Chen Mingxiang, I remind you that the business scope of Haiyuan Salt Company cannot be changed, you can't figure out how deep the water behind it is!"

"Chen Mingxiang's company, he actually only accounts for a small part, most of the interests are the headquarters of the gendarmerie in Shanghai, the consulate general in Shanghai and the garrison headquarters, and even within the Mei organ, there are also some high-level executives who enjoy the benefits he brings.

"I know that the area occupied by Chen Mingxiang is the richest place in our Jinling government, and the price of salt will be higher, but if you want to make a profit on this kind of salt, you rely on quantity, and in the future, you will each operate your own territory, and no one should provoke anyone."

"I don't want anything like this to affect the Ministry of Finance's recovery of the salt tax, and if you can't do it, I will consider replacing the chairman of Huazhong Salt Company." Zhou Gaohai said.

Am I blind? This bastard is really so dead, and it was my decision to assign this territory to Chen Mingxiang, don't you understand what this means? If you hold on to this matter crookedly, and provoke Li Shiqun, sooner or later you will be beaten with a black gun!

But Zhou Gaohai forgot one thing, the interests of the monopoly industry are too tempting, this thing is nothing to the salt merchants who seek to dominate the salt market, in the final analysis, even if Li Hongfei wants to stop, the old salt merchants will not agree, and there is no turning back.

Abandoning Suxichang and Zhenjiang, including Shanghai and Jinling, as well as northern Jiangsu and eastern Zhejiang, where Chen Mingxiang was invading, would cost the salt merchants half of their income. More importantly, Haiyuan Salt has formed an alliance with the emerging salt merchants, which is a great threat.

At around 10 o'clock in the morning of 31 March, Chen Mingxiang and Kinoshita Sakae greeted Major General Tajima Hikotaro, director of the Special Service Department of the North China Front Command, Major General Otozaburo Yano, commander of the North China Military Police Headquarters, and Major General Kiyonobu Shiozawa, Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Japanese Consulate General in Peiping.

They were invited by Kinoshita Eichi and Chen Mingxiang to come to Shanghai in secret, and the core issue was to discuss the salt issue of the Changlu Salt Factory.

Since the North China Salt Industry Co., Ltd. wanted to make a small move and cut off Chen Mingxiang's share in the Changlu Salt Farm, it directly touched their interests.

Moreover, it is also intolerable for the chaebols to oppose the military's gendarmerie system and secret services, and in their opinion, these chaebols have received enough wealth from the military.