Nine o'clock in the morning.
The printing press in the basement of Houdezhong had stopped running a long time ago. Several staff members wearing white work clothes placed a one-meter-square piece of paper on the table and skillfully cut it into a stack of French currency.
Shitaka Kusumoto picked up a pile of banknotes and ran his fingers over the edge. The unique smell of ink from the banknotes rushed towards him, and the sound of paper clattering was particularly pleasant.
He raised his head and looked at the armed guard next to him. When he saw the guard on the other side turned his head, he calmly picked up a few piles and put them into his pocket.
As the person in charge of the army side of the counterfeit banknote project, he felt that he had an obligation to test whether the counterfeit banknotes could be used for the empire. This was the duty of the Locust ministers.
After quickly stuffing his pockets, Kusumoto Shitaka walked down the stairs to the ground and checked the sentries in the teaching building.
"Be alert and keep your distance from the window. The Chinese sharpshooters are very powerful."
He came to a room on the first floor, cautiously stretched his head outside, turned around and warned the Japanese agent holding an MP18.
"Hai."
The agent respectfully responded.
Kusumoto Shitaka nodded with satisfaction, feeling very confident. There were dozens of armed men with automatic firepower in this building. As long as the Chinese dared to come, this would be their burial place.
Next, he carefully checked all the fire points to make sure there were no problems, then walked into a heavily guarded office and sat down in front of a desk with a phone on it.
Time passed by, and Yamamoto also came yawning.
For confidentiality reasons, they must be present at the same time to supervise each other when using this only outside telephone.
Neither of them spoke, they just sat there quietly, waiting for a call to report on Oyama Kyouichi's safety.
The other party is the only person who knows that the counterfeit banknote plan is active at the same time. Once something goes wrong, it means that the plan is likely to be exposed.
With such a natural early warning device, one of their most important tasks every day is to answer the phone to decide whether to evacuate.
"Dang...dang..."
After a while, the wall clock on the wall rang ten times. Kusumoto Shitaka leaned forward slightly and raised his hand to answer the phone. The expression on his face was very relaxed.
For so many days, Oyama Kyouichi has been safe and sound, and today should be no exception. After all, counterfeiting legal currency is the empire's top secret, and the Chinese cannot know about it.
But after waiting for a long time, there was no response from the phone that should have rang long ago. Cold sweat gradually broke out on his head, and he looked at Yamamoto with a slight panic.
The counterfeit banknote plan is related to whether the empire's war against China can continue, and everyone is paying attention to it. If something goes wrong, the big shots can make them irreversible with just a breath of their breath.
At this moment, the phone finally rang. Kusumoto Sanitaka picked up the phone and put it to his ear. He slowly widened his eyes while listening to the report on the other side, and finally sat down on the stool.
"Kusumoto Daizuo, what happened?"
Yamamoto asked anxiously, even though he had already guessed the answer, he still didn't want to believe it.
How could Oyama Kyouichi be exposed? He had been lurking in the patrol room for several years and was engaged in the most basic intelligence collection work. There was no possibility of being exposed.
Could it be that the other party had rebelled? He pondered over it and only came up with one possibility, and secretly cursed Bagayalu.
On the other side, old agent Sanitaka Kusumoto took a deep breath, quickly adjusted his mood, and solemnly announced a piece of bad news.
"Oyama Kyouichi is missing. At 8 o'clock this morning, surveillance personnel found that the curtains in his room were half open, which means everything is normal.
The surveillance personnel didn't pay attention until the scheduled contact time passed. They felt something was wrong and sent someone to secretly enter the other party's home.
It was certain that there was no exchange of fire or fighting in the house. Things were placed very neatly, including the bedding.
The surrounding neighbors didn't hear any unusual movement last night. Based on the above intelligence, it is speculated that the bastard may have defected.
He knows a lot of information about the counterfeit money plan. It is no longer safe here. Mr. Yamamoto, please inform everyone to move immediately. "
As he gritted his teeth, Kusumoto Sanitaka began to destroy the documents in the office and pressed a switch.
The next second, the alarms in the basement and school flashed silently. The staff and armed personnel were stunned and immediately reacted and evacuated in an orderly manner according to the plan.
It took less than twenty minutes to move most of the items to the truck, except for the printing press.
This American-made groove printing machine weighs more than 20 tons. Even if it is broken into several parts, it cannot be moved in a short time.
And this is not building blocks. You have to pay attention to which parts are removed first and which parts are removed later. Otherwise, it is easy to cause damage to the parts.
Saburo Shinoda, the counterfeit banknote steward who was in charge of directing the dismantling work, was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. When he saw someone forcibly dismantling the banknotes, he immediately shouted angrily.
"Baga, be careful."
On the stairs, Kusumoto Shitaka and Yamamoto heard the sound and hurried down, looking at the huge printing press and frowning.
It took several days to install the machine, but they don't have that time now. The enemy may attack at any time, and they must leave here as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, Shitaka Kusumoto made a quick decision and waved to everyone to help. A group of people carried each part out of the basement from the slope hand-in-hand and carried it on their shoulders, and loaded it into the truck using pulleys.
Just when they were working in full swing, a Japanese spy affiliated with the navy ran over quickly and whispered in Yamamoto's ear.
"Nani? Why is he here?"
Yamamoto exclaimed after hearing this.
This caught the attention of Shitaka Kusumoto. Who would come to the banknote printing factory at this time? It sounded like he knew Yamamoto, so he immediately asked.
"Yamamoto-kun, who is here?"
"this…………"
Yamamoto hesitated and replied: "It's Ryosuke Hase, deputy director of intelligence at the Imperial Consulate in Shanghai. He led a group of people at the school gate and said he had a business to discuss with you, Kusumoto Daizuo.
The other party is a well-known person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has many friends in the Admiralty. He has great supernatural powers and great eyes and hands. I think he may have come on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and wants to get a piece of the pie. "
At this moment, Yamamoto was both surprised and happy. What surprised him was how Hase Gu knew about the counterfeit banknotes. What he was happy about was that the other party was so generous. He was known as the timely rain in Shanghai, and he might be able to get some benefits.
There is no contradiction between being loyal to His Majesty Tian Locust and making money. Otherwise, where would the mansions and luxurious lives of the generals come from? Who can say that they are not loyal to the empire.
Patriotism also requires eating.
No one lives in a vacuum.
On the opposite side, Shitaka Kusumoto was furious. The counterfeit banknote plan was led by the military and had nothing to do with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The other party dared to take advantage of the situation and rob them. All these damn non-citizens should be killed.
Furious, he immediately prepared to send his men to drive away the people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but under Yamamoto's persuasion, he finally agreed to meet first and listen to what Hase Ryosuke had to say before making a decision.
As a Japanese spy rushed to report the news, there were soon heavy footsteps in the direction of the door, and then a man laughed and greeted the two from a distance.
"Konikiwa, Kusumoto Ozuo, Yamamoto-kun."
Ryosuke Hase is wearing a black trench coat, a suit and a velvet hat. His expensive calfskin shoes are shining and full of style. Behind him are a dozen strong men in black.
I saw him striding forward and bowing slightly: "Simi Marseille, Chang Gu took the liberty to come here, you two must not mind, I have a small gift here to express my apologies, please accept it."
After saying that and waving their hands, two foreign ministry agents immediately came to Kusumoto Shitaka and Yamamoto, bent down, and raised a small wooden box high.
"Kusumoto Daizuo, Yamamoto-kun, you might as well see if you agree with me."
Hase Ryosuke raised his hand, smiled and motioned for the two to open it.
Kusumoto Sanitaka sneered in his heart, how much can a small wooden box hold, and it only costs a few thousand yen if it is full. Do you really think that you are a country bumpkin who has never seen the world?
He casually opened the lid and found that there was only a thin deposit receipt inside, so he picked it up and took a look at it casually, and then his eyes widened.
"Cough cough cough..."
After a violent cough, Kusumoto Sanitaka's expression changed from coldness to shock, and then from shock to ecstasy. He held the deposit receipt in his hands and declined to Hase Ryosuke.
"Mr. Hase, this gift is too valuable. As the Chinese say, no reward will be given without merit. Please take it back, Mr. Hase."
Yamamoto on the side looked at the deposit certificate and his face turned red. The other party was so generous. He just gave away the bearer deposit certificate worth ten thousand US dollars. He was worthy of Mr. Hase, who is generous and generous.
Hase Ryosuke looked at the two people's reactions and smiled even more: "You're welcome, the friendship between friends can't be measured by vulgar money.
And to be honest, what I dislike the most is money. This is the source of my troubles. If you accept it, you are helping me. I should thank you both. "
Listen, is this what a human said?
If you return the source of troubles, you would rather bear this kind of troubles for the rest of your life.
Kusumoto Sanitaka and Yamamoto cursed at the same time and quietly stuffed the deposit receipt into their pockets with extremely skillful movements.
Not only them, Shinoda Saburo also received a "small gift". The expert, who only had a salary of a few hundred yen a month, almost fainted with excitement, and quickly pocketed it without hesitation.
In addition, the special agents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who came with Ryosuke Hase distributed small red envelopes one by one to everyone present, and everyone who came to see them was rewarded.
The originally tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed. People from both sides began to communicate enthusiastically, and the three leaders walked silently to the corner.
Kusumoto Shitaka suppressed his excitement and asked Hase Ryosuke a few questions. After all, it was related to a top-secret plan, and there were some things he had to ask clearly.
"Mr. Hase, I don't know how you know this place, and why do you come here...?"
Yamamoto, who was on the side, was afraid of angering the sponsor, so he quickly intervened, saying that they had no other intentions and that the inquiry was just out of duty.
"Kusumoto Daizuo, Yamamoto-kun."
Hase Ryosuke raised his hand to stop his explanation, with a solemn expression: "You two, I have some bad news to tell you. Last night, Oyama Kyouichi, the patrol officer at the old gatehouse in the public concession, was controlled by the National Government.
This traitor provided the other party with a lot of top-secret information, including the army and navy's plan to imitate legal currency, the address of this place, and alternate addresses and many other information.
The secret service responsible for the interrogation plans to attack Houde Middle School and launch a surprise attack on your retreat. The moat and Hongkou are now full of Chinese intelligence agents.
After learning about it, the mole who broke into the national government made an emergency report to me. You two, I can help you transfer safely, but there is one condition. "
He glanced at the two of them and revealed his purpose: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is very interested in the counterfeit banknote plan, and we want 20% of the proceeds.
I know this request is beyond your authority, so we can discuss it slowly after we get to a safe place. What do you think?
Please rest assured that the small gift just given is just a meeting gift. If the three-party cooperation is achieved, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I personally will give each other generous gifts. "
Kusumoto Sanitaka and Yamamoto looked at each other with a sudden thought, turned around and shouted in unison: "Deal!"
