In the room of more than 50 square meters opposite the ward, Ma Gang took the three-page interrogation record sent by Li Dingjun's hands, and finally showed a smile on his gloomy face after reading it.

Li Dingjun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, bent down slightly, and reported in a low voice: "Gao Zongwen and his wife completely gave up resistance, and gave a very clear account of the before and after of this assassination, including the names of the revolutionary party's liaison stations and responsible persons in Shanghai Concession, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Anqing. Considering the couple's physical condition, the subordinates asked them to bring them some food to recuperate, and then continued the interrogation. ”

Ma Gang nodded with satisfaction: "Dingjun, before this, I was quite disappointed with you and your Nanjing Station, you were the most admired student of the Marshal when you were in the military academy, and you were also the first batch of backbones I brought out. Only now, only these three interrogation records made in fifty minutes, have shown me the ability and level you should have. ”

"Master, Dingjun has disappointed you......" Li Dingjun's eyes flushed.

Ma Gang waved his hand: "Make amends!" I hope you can learn a lesson from it, put aside all the showmanship, and only by taking deep roots in the land of Nanjing can we quickly and efficiently extend and penetrate our tentacles to the surrounding areas. ”

Ma Gang paused slightly, signaling that his love would sit down:

"Nanjing's important position is not inferior to Shanghai and Yanjing, the burden on your shoulders will only get heavier and heavier, I will continue to increase the allocation of funds for the Nanjing station, and give priority to the advanced equipment purchased from Europe and the United States, and at the end of June, I will send you a batch of outstanding graduates majoring in intelligence from the staff department of the military academy, and you must also work harder; while rectifying the interior, we must intensify the rectification of local gangs and the absorption of outstanding local talents, and we must rapidly expand the scale and strength of the Nanjing station in the shortest possible time."

"Dingjun understands!"

Li Dingjun was very moved, and his strong fighting spirit and strong confidence returned to him.

Ma Gang whispered: "In addition, after the interrogation, hand over Gao Chongwen and his wife to your senior brother Houshan, you immediately put all your energy into the monitoring of the entire Nanjing City, in addition to the original secret monitoring of the consulates of various countries and principal officials at all levels in Jiangsu, and spare all your strength to closely monitor all stations and docks, and then I will ask Commander Wang to temporarily withdraw his special service group, change into police clothes, and cooperate with you to conduct a large-scale inspection of all foreign-related hotels and restaurants in Nanjing, and the specific disposition is in your hands, I only need to see your report." ”

Li Dingjun stood up and saluted Ma Gang uprightly.

Ma Gang picked up the three interrogation records again and read them carefully, until Lu Houshan brought Wang Jian, the commander of the Seventh Army, Zhang Sike, the chief of staff, and Lu Chuanfang, the chief of the adjutant department, to stand up and signal everyone to sit down, and ordered the guard officers to close the door and increase the sentry, and then began to discuss nervously, and a bloody revenge affecting the Yangtze River basin began from there.

Within a week, 14 cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Changzhou, Yangzhou, and Anqing, successively committed hundreds of major and important cases of assassination, kidnapping, arson, looting, and massacre; countless gangs and heroes from the green forest took part in them; more than 2,000 people were killed in various localities; celebrities from cultural, industrial, commercial, and military and political circles in various localities frequently died; large and medium-sized cities in various provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River fell into a state of chaos; the two major political axes in the north and south were stunned in the face of bloody news, and public opinion at home and abroad was in an uproar. Tremendous fear quickly spread across the country, and the voices of condemnation were boiling over each other.

Among them, the "Huangfu Collective Poisoning Case" that occurred in the Shanghai Concession caused strong shock and fear from all walks of life at home and abroad:

Just after 6 o'clock in the evening of 18 March, a secret banquet held at the residence of Huang Xianlin, a well-known wealthy businessman from Zhejiang in Shanghai's Yue Concession, suddenly heard exclamations, followed by cries that shook the sky and chaos ensued.

The entire main hall of Huangfu was sprinkled with all kinds of dishes, soups and broken dishes, and more than a dozen people who fell to the ground in various postures turned blue, many of the victims' throats had been scratched by themselves, dark purple blood flowed from the corners of their mouths and neck wounds, and several of their curled bodies were still twitching frequently.

Looking at the messy and extremely frightening scene in front of him, the people who came quickly were extremely shocked, and many people vomited on the spot in the strong smell of blood, excrement and alcohol.

The reporters from all over the world who flocked to the gate were blocked outside the courtyard, and several troop carriers sped to the sound of sirens, and more than 100 heavily armed officers and men of the Marine Corps jumped out of the carriages and immediately surrounded the entire Huangfu.

In the courtyard of the Yellow Mansion, all the servants and survivors were under the centralized supervision of the police, and several people who were responsible for guarding the Yellow Mansion were answering the interrogation of the military and police in a panic.

In the main hall, Huang Yin, who had secretly returned to Shanghai under his escort half a month ago, collapsed under the corner of the wall, his eyes glazed over, his mouth open, and the floor under him was soaked, not knowing that he had escaped because of a sore throat and no drinking.

The experienced Yue himself quickly understood, and with the order of the chief of the intelligence section of the army, four police officers and officers of the army left the scene in a car surrounded Huang Ying, who was already frightened, and the chief of the military intelligence section and the forensic doctor who arrived made a brief investigation and quickly came to the conclusion of potassium cyanide poisoning.

The following morning, the well-informed "Declaration," "Zilinxi Bao," and "Far East Post" were issued almost simultaneously, and the news of the Huangfu collective poisoning case and Huang Ying's secret return to Shanghai soon spread throughout Shanghai.

Different from the cautiousness of the "Declaration," the "Far East Post" and the "Zilin Xibao" have analyzed the "Huangfu Mass Poisoning Case" together with the "Nanjing Bombing Case" five days ago, and the identities and resumes of the seven political exiles and five high-ranking KMT officials in the "Huangfu Mass Poisoning Case" have been disclosed in detail.

Dr. George, vice president of Marley Hospital and a well-known American medical expert, went to the Jinling Hotel with German medical doctor Schutrenz under strong pressure from all sides to attend a press conference held by Wang Shizhen, chief of the political axe army of the Central Committee of the Republic of China, and Tang Zhaoyi, chief of foreign affairs, to announce in detail the location, extent of injury, and treatment of Xiao Yimin, and expressed deep concern about General Xiao Yimin's prolonged coma.

Next, Wang Shizhen, the chief of the army, who presided over the press conference, also announced Xiao Yimin's illness with a heavy face, and admitted very painfully that he had come to Nanjing for three days, and had gone to the Overseer's Mansion six times to visit Xiao Yimin's condition.

In the end, under the constant questioning of Chinese and foreign reporters, Wang Shizhen had to announce on behalf of Premier Duan Qirui: "Until General Xiao Yimin's body is further clarified, everything will still maintain the status quo, and all armies in the country must remain in their original defenses and must not make any moves!" ”

Wang Shizhen left immediately after speaking, and Tang Zhaoyi, the foreign minister who followed him, had a calm face, but the slightly bent body and the anxiety in his eyes that could not be concealed made many reporters see the huge crisis behind the scenes, and several veteran European and American reporters immediately made a clear judgment: Yanjing political axe is simply unable to control the powerful army under Xiao Yimin, if Xiao Yimin is in a coma for a long time or once he dies, the army loyal to Xiao Yimin will inevitably launch a larger-scale military retaliation, and China's large-scale civil war will break out unstoppably!

However, only two days later, on March 23, the good news of Xiao Yimin's awakening spread throughout China.

From 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. that day, Xiao Yimin held brief talks with Army Chief Wang Shizhen, Foreign Minister Tang Zhaoyi, Zhang Jian, the new chief economic adviser to the Military Governor's Office and director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Commerce, and Jiangsu Governor Han Jun.

Upon learning of this important news, envoys from seven countries, including British Minister Zhu Erdian, Special Envoy Yukichi Kohata, and American Minister Raines, who had already prepared to leave, quickly reacted. At the invitation of Zhu Erdian, the ministers and envoys of the six countries with various interests gathered at the British Consulate in Shuangmenlou and began to hold "frank and pleasant" informal talks for their own interests.

At 10 o'clock in the morning of 24 March, General Bao Jiqing, chief of the general staff of the Sichuan Army, and General Wang Lingji, deputy commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army and commander of the First Army, held a news conference in the hall on the first floor of the Overseer's Mansion on behalf of Xiao Yimin, who was recovering, and thanked all circles of the country and Chinese and foreign friends for their concern and support. ”

Immediately afterwards, Bao Jiqing, chief of the General Staff, briefed more than 200 Chinese and foreign reporters on the skirmishes that took place in Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong:

It is necessary to explain once again that the joint operations of the Hunan Army, the Jiangxi Army, and the Sichuan Army were carried out in accordance with the orders of General Duan Qirui, the Central Premier and Minister of Military Affairs, and that during the 25-day anti-bandit operation, there was no massacre of prisoners or innocent civilians. In accordance with General Xiao Yimin's latest instructions, from now on, we welcome Chinese and foreign reporters to go to the areas to suppress bandits and cover the bandits......"

Cheers and exclamations erupted, the excitement almost got out of control, and hundreds of reporters couldn't help but rush forward to make demands, and everyone knew very well that this was a very rare and precious opportunity:

After Xiao Yimin's assassination, the various factions of the Southern Revolutionary Party miraculously put aside their differences, united and quickly formed an 80,000-strong coalition army, which was advancing to the border areas of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces; The First Division of the Hunan Army, led by Tan Yanmin, the overseer of Hunan, the two divisions of the Jiangxi Army, the Jiangxi Governor Ouyang Wubu, newly appointed by Duan Qirui, and the four divisions led by Wang Zhanxu, the general of the Sichuan Army, immediately began to make-for-tat arrangements.

(To be continued)