Chapter 497 Special Investigator (Part I)

In the spring season, Jiangnan is already the fragrance of birds. Although the ice and snow have indeed melted, the padded jacket on this body is also a necessary equipment for the morning and evening, and it is only at noon that you dare to take it off.

A train whistled into the Harbin Railway Station, and then slowly stopped on the platform, and the passengers in the carriage couldn't wait to drag their luggage to the 'door'.

In this bustling crowd, Wu Luzhen also took a few entourages carrying large bags and small bags, and followed the passengers in front of him to the 'door' of the carriage.

As the "General Office of Frontier Affairs of the Three Eastern Provinces," Wu Luzhen, who was officially appointed by the central government, rushed to Shenyang from Guannei five days ago, got on the train from Shenyang yesterday, and rushed to Harbin along the South Manchurian branch of the Dongqing Railway. It was supposed to arrive at its destination yesterday, but due to a cross-border military exercise by Japan's "South Manchurian Railway Garrison," the train was delayed, and as a result, it did not arrive in Harbin until noon today.

Of course, Wu Luzhen did not come to Harbin this time in the capacity of the "General Office of Border Affairs of the Three Eastern Provinces", he rushed to Harbin as a special investigator of the "China Epidemic Prevention Committee", and the "special investigator" is a cover, after all, Harbin is now the sphere of influence of Tsarist Russia, and under the current international situation, it is indeed inappropriate for General Manager Wu to 'show his face' in Harbin, and the current central foreign 'diplomacy' strategy is to "unite with Russia and reject Japan", although Tsarist Russia is not a good thing, But now it is still worth "uniting", and Japan is the most dangerous neighbor.

The so-called "China Epidemic Prevention Committee" is a pure non-governmental organization on the surface, but because many of its members are political officials of the Republic of China, and it has also received funding support from the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China, this non-governmental organization has a strong official color.

The "Chinese Epidemic Prevention Committee" was formally established at the end of 1911, and the reason for the emergence of this organization was that in addition to the importance of the President of the Republic of China to health and epidemic prevention work, the direct reason for its establishment was because of the plague that broke out a year and a half ago.

In late 1910 and early 1911, a plague broke out in the three eastern provinces of China, and the main culprit was Yersinia pestis. Pneumonic plague, to be exact. The outbreak was first detected in the Russian-controlled areas in the northern part of the three eastern provinces, and Russia quickly took measures to isolate the patients and drove large numbers of Chinese laborers to the southern part of the three eastern provinces, which caused considerable panic as a result.

In the face of the sudden epidemic, Zhao Bei quickly formulated response measures with his usual vigorous and resolute actions, and under the personal planning of the president, an epidemic prevention committee was quickly established, and appointed Mr. Wu Liande, a doctor of medicine who graduated from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and returned overseas Chinese, as the chairman of the epidemic prevention committee.

At that time, the mainstream view of the international medical community was that the plague was only transmitted through fleas, but after careful analysis of the germ samples and the treatment of the patient, Mr. Wu Liande found that it was not fleas that transmitted the germs, but the infected air exhaled by the patient, which was "pneumonic plague", but Mr. Wu Liande's discovery was not taken seriously by the international medical community, only Mr. President gave him absolute trust and support, and it was with the full support of Mr. President. Mr. Wu Liande was able to take decisive measures to quickly control the spread of the epidemic, and finally completely controlled the epidemic within two months, and the plague was basically over after the beginning of the 'spring' of the following year.

Therefore, after the plague passed, the epidemic prevention committee did not disband, but continued to work in the three eastern provinces until the end of last year, when it was officially reorganized into the "Chinese Epidemic Prevention Committee" and presided over the national health and epidemic prevention work together with the Department of Health and Epidemic Prevention under the Ministry of the Interior.

Although it has been almost a year since the end of the epidemic in the three eastern provinces, considering the blockage of local information and the sparsely populated characteristics of the eastern 'gate'g grassland epidemic area, whether it is the central government of the Republic of China or the Russian and Japanese colonial authorities, they all welcome the epidemic prevention committee's move to send people to inspect various places, after all, in the eyes of the germs, human beings are the same, regardless of race, regardless of country, health and epidemic prevention is by no means just a matter for Chinese.

This status quo has facilitated Wu Luzhen's actions, and his actions have also won the support of the epidemic prevention committee, and his identity certificate of "special investigator" was personally issued by Chairman Wu Liande, which is full of gold. One of his attachés also had a microscope in his suitcase.

Of course, these are just a cover for his identity, Wu Luzhen is a soldier after all, his profession is to study how to fight and kill people, but this work of saving lives and helping the wounded is far from his own job.

The real purpose of Wu Luzhen's visit to Harbin this time was to inspect on the spot the fighting spirit of the Korean anti-Japanese expatriates in the North Manchurian region, so as to make suggestions for the implementation of the center's strategy for the next step.

Since the outbreak of a large-scale anti-Japanese uprising on the Korean Peninsula two years ago, the three eastern provinces have become the most reliable logistics and material channels for those anti-Japanese guerrillas, and the Japanese-made and Russian-made rifles and bullets collected by the Military Intelligence Bureau of the Republic of China through various channels have been transported from the three eastern provinces to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Although the Japanese government has repeatedly requested cooperation from the Russian side through foreign "diplomatic relations" channels, as far as Russia, which suffered a great defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, is concerned, as long as the Korean people's anti-Japanese independence struggle will not affect Russia's rule over the North Manchurian region, then the Russian government does not mind turning the main attention of the Japanese government back to the Korean Peninsula, which is conducive to Russia's strengthening of influence in the three eastern provinces and the 'Men' ancient region.

Against this international background, more and more DPRK patriotic groups and organizations have chosen to establish liaison stations in the Russian-controlled areas in the northern part of the three eastern provinces, and some Korean anti-Japanese groups that were originally active in the Japanese-controlled areas in the southern part of the three eastern provinces have also moved their bases to the North Manchurian region. As a result, a large number of Korean expatriate settlements have been formed in the Harbin area, and since these people basically abide by the Russian colonial order, the Russian colonial authorities have basically turned a blind eye to the existence of these Korean expatriates, and among these Korean expatriates, it is difficult to say who are anti-Japanese guerrillas and who are just ordinary people who have fled abroad in order to escape the war-torn motherland.

Wu Luzhen came to Harbin this time to make contact with these North Korean nationals.

After getting off the train and waiting for a short time in the heavily guarded railway station, a man dressed as a businessman walked up to Wu Luzhen and the others. After a few glances at the luggage that everyone was carrying, he asked them very politely.

"How many, but a special investigator sent by the epidemic prevention committee? Dare to ask who is leading the team? How to call it? The merchant spoke in a Shandong accent.

"Yes, we are the special investigators sent by the epidemic prevention committee, surnamed Wu, we are the team leader, you can just call me Mr. Wu."

Wu Luzhen hurriedly took two steps and shook hands with the businessman, taking advantage of this opportunity, both of their fingers inadvertently made a few movements, which could be regarded as catching their heads.

"It turned out to be Mr. Wu. In Xia Zhang Zongchang, the comprador of the Four Seas Trading Company, during your stay in Harbin, this accommodation was undertaken by the Four Seas Trading Company. The carriage was waiting outside the train station, and a few of them came with me. ”

After speaking, the businessman led Wu Luzhen and others out of the railway station, and got a four-wheeled carriage with emblems outside the station.

In the carriage, the "businessman" Zhang Zongchang took out a few "fine" paper cigarettes, handed them to Wu Luzhen and his attachés, and lit a fire for several people.

Wu Luzhen looked at this "businessman" and asked, "Mr. Zhang, I just saw that your gesturing movements were very neat, presumably you also ran the rivers and lakes in your early years, right?" ”

"Mr. Wu is polite, he can't afford the word 'sir' in the next, and he is effective in the grass. Mr. Wu has a good eye, he did live in the green forest in the next year, and then went to Vladivostok for a while, but he knows some of the rules of the rivers and lakes, and he can speak a few words of Russian. Zhang Zongchang said.

Wu Luzhen nodded and didn't say anything more, although he was not a member of the Military Intelligence Agency, he also knew that after more than two years of painstaking operation, the Military Intelligence Bureau had established many intelligence stations and contact points in the three eastern provinces. Harbin is the political center and economic center of the North Manchurian region, and the Military Intelligence Bureau has established the "North Manchurian Intelligence Station" here, and the person in charge is codenamed "Tieqiao", and Zhang Zongchang in front of him is obviously a subordinate of "Tieqiao".

As for the details of the "North Manchurian Intelligence Station," Wu Luzhen is completely unclear, and he doesn't even know whether the "Four Seas Trading Company" is a contact point for the intelligence station, but now he doesn't 'bother' about it, if it is said that the Japanese must still be wary of in the South Manchurian region, then there is no need to make a noise about the North Manchurian region, and the current relationship between China and Russia is still relatively good, and the railway connecting the inner and outer 'gates' is a symbol of the "friendship" between the two countries, although the railway has not yet been completed.

The carriage walked unhurriedly for more than ten minutes, and then stopped, Zhang Zongchang got off the car first, Wu Luzhen also got off the car with his attaché, looked up, but saw a magnificent two-story building in front of him, the first floor is a Russian foreign firm, and there is a striking signboard hanging on the outer wall of the second floor, with six big characters on it: Sihai Trading Company.

"Mr. Wu, please go upstairs. Mr. Tieqiao is waiting for you upstairs. Zhang Zongchang smiled and made a gesture of please.

"Oh? Mr. Iron Bridge is here? ”

Wu Luzhen was indeed a little surprised, he didn't expect the stationmaster of the Beiman Intelligence Station to wait for him here in person, so he didn't bother with it, put on a top hat, dressed up his dress, and carried a briefcase into the western-style building.