This middle-aged man with an unlit paper cigarette in his hand, named Zhang Shaonian, used to be a corporal in the second battalion of the 569th Regiment of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army.

In February this year, when the Japanese Otsuka Wing attacked Wencheng, the second battalion of the 569th Regiment was sent outside the city by the brigade commander Zheng Yuan to cooperate with the 570th Regiment to block the advance of the Otsuka Wing, but it was immediately routed by the opponent's mortar array, Zhang Shaonian was shot in the left leg during the battle, and was stunned in the eastern suburbs of Wencheng; By the time he awoke, the fighting outside the city had ended, and the two regiments of the 12th Brigade had fled south along the road and rail, respectively, and the city had been occupied by the Japanese in a near-bloodless manner.

Zhang Shaonian took off his military uniform, lost his firearm, and hid in a small shanty town in the northern suburbs with a wounded leg, and did not re-enter Wencheng until he recovered from his injuries. Because he couldn't find out about the troops, he found a few errands in the city to make ends meet.

The 12th Brigade has been stationed in Wencheng for many years, and the main force of the 569th Regiment is also camped in the city, so the veteran Zhang Shaonian is particularly familiar with this important town on the railway line. Not only was he familiar with the environment, but his station was still very close to the brigade headquarters, which made him often meet with the people at the brigade headquarters, and Xiao Junping, who had just taken office as an intelligence staff officer at that time, was known to him and was deeply impressed.

The reason why I was deeply impressed by Xiao Junping was because Zhang Shaonian was surprised by his military rank, Zhang Shaonian, who was already in his early forties, was only mixed into a corporal, but this young man in his twenties who met him head-on was wearing a captain's epaulette - people are more angry than people. Through a conversation with an orderly who he knew at the brigade headquarters, he learned that the young captain's surname was Xiao, and that he was the brigade commander's particularly important intelligence staff officer.

It is precisely because of this frontier that Zhang Shaonian, who has now broken away from the army, recognized Xiao Junping at a glance on the streets of Wencheng under the occupation of the Japanese army.

Now, Zhang Shaonian is across Dongguan Street, staring at Cheng Ruixiang Silk Village across the road, and his mind is still struggling to guess why the former brigade headquarters Officer Xiao appeared here in civilian clothes.

Regardless of the background reason, a person who used to be a captain of the national army, wearing civilian clothes and going in and out of the eyes of the Japanese, must not dare to let outsiders know his former identity - thinking of this, the former corporal grinned: his current life is tight, and Staff Officer Xiao is dressed brightly, showing that he is mixing well; The decently decorated silk village on the opposite side may be where he stayed. Find Staff Officer Xiao, Lala reminisce about the "old", and it shouldn't be difficult to knock him on a bamboo bar!

However, the veteran Zhang Shaonian still has an extra heart, this Xiao staff officer used to be an officer, and now it is unlikely that he will be single-handed, if he runs alone to rip off the bamboo pole, he will not be hacked by the other party.

He decided to go to his companions. At present, Zhang Shaonian is working in a restaurant called Judefu, and he lives with several guys in the restaurant, and the relationship is good. At this critical juncture, it was necessary for him to pull a few of them, just in case.

The Judefu Restaurant is located on City Hall Avenue, not too far from the headquarters of the Japanese Hagiwara Brigade. The restaurant is open to the public every day at noon, and the cooks are required by the shopkeeper to be there at 10 o'clock in the morning. Just now, Zhang Shaonian was on his way to the restaurant from his rented house when he suddenly saw the former brigade commander. After some stalking, the veteran Youzi finally made up his mind to take the risk and make money.

This idea made Zhang Shaonian feel a little distracted all day long, and he was scolded by the shopkeeper and the chef and the second chef for this. He resisted to reveal it to a few of his comrades at the restaurant, and he would wait until the evening when he went back to bed, and then announce this rather knife-licking plan of action. As long as the brothers are brave enough, a foreign fortune is already within reach.

Also in Wencheng City, Li Yan, the military commander agent of No. 1 Courtyard of Yangliu Lane, has also begun to be busy in the past two days.

Since Wang Suihua, a female major of the military command, went to the Great Yushu Mountains with the commander of the special service company of the 391st Regiment, and stayed in the second intelligence group of the Shanxi Station in Wencheng, Lieutenant Li Yan was temporarily in charge. In the past few days, the radio station in the No. 1 courtyard of Yangliu Lane has been in constant contact with the headquarters of Shanxi Station in Taiyuan and the 391st regiment headquarters in Da Yushu Mountain, passing on the exchange of information.

Li Yan was quite shocked by the information released by the Second Theater Command from Shanxi Station about the Japanese First Army's launch of a four-sided encirclement and suppression operation in the Taihang Mountains in southeast Shanxi Province -- this news arrived almost at the same time as the good news of the Nationalist Army's Taierzhuang battlefield in Shandong, which could not help but be mixed.

When General Liu, the elder of the radio station, received the battle report of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army attacking Xiaoyushu Mountain and fighting fiercely with the main force of the Japanese Hagiwara Brigade in the area of Junfeng Highway, the male lieutenant of the military commander pinched a handful of sweat for the 391st Regiment. Of course, he knew that this was the result of his female boss personally going to the Great Elm Mountain to supervise the battle. The specific process and harvest of the reconnaissance and attack on Little Elm Mountain were not explained in the telegram, which made it impossible for Li Yan to know whether the female major of the military commander had gotten what she wanted.

However, after that, Wang Suihua sent a telegram to Li Yan to immediately organize the people who stayed in Wencheng to reconnoiter and collect the latest movements of the local Japanese army.

Li Yan understood that whether it was participating in the Japanese First Army's four-sided encirclement and suppression plan or responding to the crisis of the attack on Little Elm Mountain, the Hagiwara Brigade was a force sent from the area of Bunjo. At present, finding out whether these troops will return to Wencheng and rebuild is crucial to the next move of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army that retreated to Da Yushu Mountain.

Now, in addition to Liu, the elder of the radio station, he also controls five soldiers of the 391st Regiment Special Service Company; One of them was in the northern suburbs outside the city to monitor the railway branch line of the Tongpu railway line to Little Elm Mountain, while the other four were in the city.

Li Yan first informed the two people lurking in the north freight yard of Wencheng Railway Station to go to the barracks in the western suburbs of Wencheng to investigate and observe the movements of the Saijo Wing; The two soldiers of the special service company who were in the No. 1 courtyard of Yangliu Lane with him went to the barracks in the eastern and southern suburbs of Wencheng respectively to investigate and observe the movements of the Otsuka Wing. He personally went to the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters and the Otsuka Wing Headquarters in the castle to look for news.

Although it was not explicitly stated in the telegram, the male lieutenant of the military commander realized some clues from the female major's temporary stay in the 391st regiment: Perhaps, the attack on Little Elm Mountain was still effective, so that Wang Suihua saw hope and stayed there to wait. And she instructed herself to find out whether the various units of the Hagiwara Brigade would return to Wencheng, which must be closely related to the further use of the 391st Regiment.

After arranging for the four soldiers of the special service company to go out of the city separately to carry out the mission, Li Yan went out of the gate of No. 1 Courtyard of Yangliu Lane in the evening.

The headquarters of the Otsuka Wing is not far away, and it is a dozen minutes away on foot; However, the headquarters of the Hagiwara Brigade is located at the intersection of Dongguan Avenue and City Hall Avenue in the city, and it will be time-consuming and hard to get there on foot. The male lieutenant of the military commander thought for a moment, and from the house where he lived, he introduced the German-made bicycle purchased from a foreign company in the city.

Prior to this, considering the situation, the second group had carried out several attacks and assassinations in the city, and the female major of the military commander did not allow her subordinates to use the bicycle with the target eye. However, at this time, Li Yan felt that it had been a long time since the previous rumors, and now that the Japanese forces and attention were aimed at the encirclement and suppression of Da Yushu Mountain and Guanmen Mountain in the remaining veins of Taihang Mountain, he should have relaxed his vigilance in Wencheng City. In addition, the sky is about to get dark, even if you ride a bicycle, you may not be able to attract the attention of Japanese puppet spies.

In this way, the military commander male lieutenant and his bicycle slipped out of Willow Lane and went straight to the Otsuka Wing headquarters first.

The Otsuka Wing was the unit that captured Bunjo alone, and when the headquarters of the Hagiwara Brigade had not yet set up camp here, Kosuke Otsuka's headquarters was already located in the castle. Later, the brigade commander, Major General, personally entered the city to sit in the town, and the wing commander Otsuka himself was sent to the front line against the China Army: Fengdian County; Deputy Wing Commander Aso Nakasa was ordered to command the military blockade area of Little Elm Mountain. However, the two captains of the two wings only brought one infantry brigade to their posts, and one infantry brigade remained in Wencheng. Therefore, the command of the wing also remained in Wencheng.

Li Yan rode his bicycle and slowly slid past the main entrance of the Otsuka Wing Headquarters - now there are only a small number of personnel on duty in this wing headquarters, and it looks dull.

However, stopping near the small building at the Hagiwara Brigade Headquarters, Li Yan soon noticed something different: people came and went quite frequently, and most of the windows of the three-story red-brick frontage building were already lit. It was dinner time, and many officers and officials in the headquarters went out to eat one after another.

Looking at the backs of the devil officers in military uniforms, the lieutenant of the military commander guessed the whereabouts of some of them: walking west along City Hall Avenue will lead to the now famous Japanese restaurant: Kansai Restaurant. At this moment, Li Yan was quite annoyed by his lack of understanding of Japanese, if the beautiful female boss was there, they could follow those officers with a fairly high rank, and go to the Kansai restaurant to enjoy exquisite food together, and in the process, they could naturally overhear many valuable information revealed by the devil officer when he talked.

Now, however, this attempt is doomed. Not only that, Li Yan also found that it was almost meaningless to stand so stupidly near the Japanese brigade headquarters. This made him more and more frustrated.

The frustrated male lieutenant of the military commander did not expect it at all, and at the same time, the German-made bicycle he was holding in his hand attracted the attention of two men not far away.

Those two people were located less than ten meters away from Li Yan, and their identities were members of the Japanese army's Wencheng secret service Zhina detective team.