My years of espionage

Chapter 2024 Nothing is greater than His Majesty
“Since you’ve said so, senior, I will naturally be frank with you,” Cheng Qianfan nodded solemnly and said.

“That’s exactly how it should be, that’s exactly how it should be.” Li Cuiqun nodded happily, then his expression turned serious. “Junior brother, you know my current situation, right?”

"As the senior leader of Jiangsu, he holds great power in the Special Agent Headquarters and has 70,000 loyal officers and soldiers under his command." Cheng Qianfan clinked glasses with Li Cuiqun and said, "If the senior leader sneezes, Nanjing will tremble."

Li Cuiqun looked at the wine in his glass, then at Cheng Qianfan, his face dark and gloomy.

He understood what Cheng Qianfan meant.

He commanded 70,000 troops, and most importantly, the military pay for these 70,000 troops was raised by Li Cuiqun through interception of supplies during the "pacification" campaign, making him quite loyal to him.

As for the second sentence, Li Cuiqun understood its meaning even more clearly.

The fiscal revenue of Jiangsu Province, which he controlled, accounted for nearly half of the fiscal revenue of the Nanjing regime.

This is also the source of Li Cuiqun's confidence.

With military power in one hand and economic power in the other, Li Cuiqun is now powerful in both areas.

Cheng Qianfan's meaning was very clear: military power and financial power—as long as "Senior Li, you don't give up," this crisis will be difficult to resolve.

“Junior, you don’t know this,” Li Cuiqun shook his head and sighed, “Since I took charge of Jiangsu, I have felt immense pressure. I have been working day and night, and it is only with this effort that I have managed to keep things running smoothly.”

He said to Cheng Qianfan, "Mr. Wang has entrusted Jiangsu to me, and I have no choice but to repay the country with my life."

Cheng Qianfan's eyes narrowed; he understood what Li Cuiqun meant:

He would rather die than relinquish his military and financial power.

"You've worked hard, senior." Cheng Qianfan smiled slightly. "I believe Mr. Wang can understand your hard work."

He suddenly asked Li Cuiqun, "I've heard that Huizhou stinky mandarin fish is actually quite good. Do you like it, senior?"

“Perhaps some people like stinky mandarin fish, but that person is definitely not me,” Li Cuiqun said immediately.

"Indeed, nine out of ten people have different opinions." Cheng Qianfan nodded slightly.

……

"Is Mr. Wang feeling any better?" Li Cuiqun suddenly asked.

“It’s much better now,” Cheng Qianfan said.

"Then I'm relieved," Li Cuiqun said with a happy expression.

Cheng Qianfan's visit to Li Cuiqun was also intended to sound out Li Cuiqun's opinion on behalf of the Wang family.

Now, after these rounds of verbal exchanges, Cheng Qianfan has made Li Cuiqun's attitude clear:

Li Cuiqun refused to fully align herself with Wang Tianhai in order to gain his protection.

The reason is straightforward: he was unwilling to relinquish his military and financial power, which was a prerequisite for Wang Jingwei to accept him.

In addition, Cheng Qianfan tentatively proposed a condition to Wang: that Li Cuiqun give up his position as the governor of Jiangsu Province and be transferred to the position of governor of Anhui Province.

Li Cuiqun immediately stated that she did not like to eat stinky mandarin fish, which was a clear rejection of Wang's last chance to win her over.

Furthermore, Li Cuiqun made no attempt to conceal her concern about Wang Tianhai's health, which was tantamount to stating directly:

Wang's health is deteriorating, and we don't know when he might pass away. How can we protect him?
……

Cheng Qianfan then changed the subject, refusing to get to the other 'main topic'.

“My junior has a daughter, but I was on the front lines of the anti-Japanese war and didn’t have time to visit her in person to offer my congratulations,” Li Cuiqun said with a smile. He pushed a wooden box in front of Cheng Qianfan. “I have prepared some small gifts to congratulate you on the birth of your daughter.”

"You're too kind, senior." Cheng Qianfan said without changing his expression. He gently pushed open the wooden box, glanced at the 'little gift' inside, then his eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath, checked the 'little gift', and smiled, saying, "You're too kind, senior."

It is indeed a small gift, a truly heartfelt small gift.

A property deed, a key, a large yellow croaker, and a note with the Arabic numeral 200 written on it.

“Junior brother, about the matter I’ve asked you to do…” Li Cuiqun said.

“What you say is true, senior.” Cheng Qianfan said with a serious expression, “How can you use the word ‘asking’ between brothers like us? Your business is my business.”

He earnestly assured Li Cuiqun, "I understand what you mean, senior, and I will make the arrangements."

"Well then, thank you very much, junior." Li Cuiqun said with a smile, but in his heart he was cursing him. He was just a money-grubbing guy.

Two hundred large yellow croakers weren't a huge financial loss for him, but the feeling of being practically blackmailed and forced to hand over money was incredibly frustrating and unpleasant.

……

"However, just so that you know, senior, that I, your junior, have already said my piece of advice," Cheng Qianfan said.

"Please speak, junior." Li Cuiqun nodded slightly.

He made up his mind that if Cheng Qianfan didn't know what was good for him and went too far, he would flip the table and teach the bastard a lesson.

“I’m only responsible for the introduction,” Cheng Qianfan said. “As for how you talk to him, how well you talk to him, and whether you can impress Lieutenant Colonel Kawada Atsuto, that’s your own business.”

“Of course, no need for you to say that, junior.” Li Cuiqun nodded and said.

……

That's truly arrogant.

Cheng Qianfan sat in the car, his hand fumbling with the wooden gift box.

Despite being in such a dire situation, Li Cuiqun was only willing to offer him two hundred large yellow croakers as a middleman.

Two hundred large yellow croakers are indeed a lot, but compared to Li Cuiqun's life and fortune, they are nothing to mention.

wrong.

Cheng Qianfan frowned. Based on his understanding of Li Cuiqun, although Li Cuiqun was greedy, he was also extremely decisive and would not hesitate to bleed money when necessary.

He opened the wooden box, looked at the note with two hundred words written on it, and fell into deep thought.

……

Spring Breeze Pavilion.

“This is not a price to pay for your life,” Lu Dazhang said.

“That’s right, it doesn’t seem like money to buy his life in an emergency,” Old Huang said thoughtfully. “It looks more like money he’s using to find connections and new backers.”

"So, in other words, he climbed up to Atsuto Kawada through me, which literally means climbing up to the Kawada family, a powerful family?" Cheng Qianfan said thoughtfully.

“That should be it,” Old Huang said. “Qingqi Qingyin has been transferred away, and Li Cuiqun needs to find a new backer among the Japanese. He has his eye on the Kawada family, which has a very high status in Japan.”

“His goal isn’t to save his life, but to find a new patron and rely on that patron to continue his rampant expansion,” Lu Dazhang said. “In other words, Li Cuiqun not only doesn’t restrain himself, but also dreams of going even further.”

“That explains it.” Cheng Qianfan sneered. “In that case, in Li Cuiqun’s view, the intermediary fee for these two hundred large yellow croakers is already considered high.”

"This also shows that Li Cuiqun has not truly realized his current dire predicament," Lu Dazhang said.

“That’s right.” Cheng Qianfan nodded. “Now we can basically conclude that, in Li Cuiqun’s view, this is nothing more than Zhou Liang trying to seize power. He might even think that the Wang family and Zhou Liang are joining forces to take away his power as the governor of Jiangsu Province and the director of the Special Operations Headquarters…”

“That’s right. Li Cuiqun never expected that the Nanjing regime and the Japanese had reached a consensus to eliminate him, who was no longer under their control,” Old Huang said. “It was a real purge.”

“However, it’s not surprising that Li Cuiqun didn’t realize this,” Cheng Qianfan said. “Even I initially thought the Japanese wanted to replace Li Cuiqun. Later, when I confirmed with Kawada Atsushi that the Japanese wanted to get rid of Li Cuiqun, I was very surprised.”

"It's shocking at first glance, but it's not surprising when you think about it carefully," Lao Huang said. "Li Cuiqun has military and financial power in one hand. The Japanese simply cannot tolerate such an uncontrollable factor."

“That’s exactly right.” Cheng Qianfan nodded, then pondered, “Moreover, my impression of Li Cuiqun is that although he is somewhat worried, he also seems to have something to rely on.”

……

"Rely on?" Old Huang and Lu Dazhang were both puzzled.

“Yes, or you could say it’s capital,” Cheng Qianfan said. “He seems to have some confidence that Kawada Atsuto will accept his service.”

"What do you think is the source of Li Cuiqun's confidence?" Lu Dazhang frowned and asked Comrade 'Fire Seed'.

"I can't guess," Cheng Qianfan shook his head. "It's very hard to guess."

"If you can't guess, then forget it," Old Huang said. Then, he smiled and said to Comrade 'Fire Seed,' "Director Cheng can just ask the young master of the Kawada family himself."

……

Shanghai.

Gendarmerie Headquarters.

Cheng Qianfan secretly visited Kawada Atsuto.

"To be honest, I was somewhat tempted by Li Cuiqun's gift," Kawada Atsuto said with a light laugh.

"In that case, we might as well accept it." Cheng Qianfan stood up and poured more wine into Kawada Atsuto's cup, saying.

"This gift is not easy to accept." Atsuto Kawada shook his head slightly.

He glanced at Kentaro Miyazaki and said, "Li Cuiqun must die."

"It's already decided?" Cheng Qianfan couldn't help but ask.

"The Tokyo Imperial Conference has reached a resolution," Atsuto Kawada said. (PS2)

"It was actually decided at the Tokyo Imperial Conference?" Cheng Qianfan was shocked. Then he nodded thoughtfully. "If Li Cuiqun knew that killing him was approved by His Majesty the Emperor, he should feel extremely honored."

He was not particularly surprised that the order to purge Li Cuiqun came from the Tokyo Imperial Conference.

At this point, Li Cuiqun could no longer be viewed as an ordinary provincial government chairman.

They commanded a large army for the "pacification campaign" and the largest intelligence organization under the Wang Jingwei regime, with a total strength of 70,000 men.

Furthermore, Li Cuiqun held significant financial and administrative power in Jiangsu Province. He even intercepted supplies requested by the Japanese army for the "pacification" campaign to feed his troops. He now had both food and soldiers and was located in the wealthiest region of Jiangnan. If Li Cuiqun were to rebel, it would be an extremely bad situation for the Japanese. Such a Li Cuiqun was enough to attract the attention of the highest decision-making level of the Japanese side.

“In fact, the decision made by the Imperial Council is not irreversible.” Kawada Atsuto shook his head and said, “The key is that Li Cuiqun is out of control, and dissatisfaction from all sides has reached its peak.”

“And another thing…” Cheng Qianfan said in a low voice, “Li Cuiqun is already fat enough to be slaughtered.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” Atsuto Kawada glared at Kentaro Miyazaki.

"Yes, sir," Cheng Qianfan quickly said, "I will only say this in front of Young Master Duren."

As he spoke, he looked at Kawada Atsuto and said, "Young Master Atsuto, since Li Cuiqun's gifts are a testament to his sincere loyalty, then accept them."

……

"This isn't a good idea..." Atsuto Kawada hesitated.

He's an aristocrat, so it's a bit difficult for him to accept money without doing anything in return.

"These are just the expenses Li Cuiqun incurred for asking us to do things," Cheng Qianfan said. "What's wrong with taking Li Cuiqun's money to do his things..."

“That’s true, but…” Atsuto Kawada frowned as he looked at Kentaro Miyazaki.

Kentaro Miyazaki understood that this was the face-conscious young master Atsuto asking him to think of a more suitable reason and a way out.

“We tried our best to advocate for it, but this was a decision made by the Imperial Council.” Cheng Qianfan feigned helplessness, gave a wry smile, and said, “Nothing is more important than His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Excellent, excellent.” Kawada Atsuto laughed heartily, “No one is greater than His Majesty the Emperor, hahahaha.”

He said to Kentaro Miyazaki, "Actually, although we have decided to take action against Li Cuiqun, we are not in a hurry. Li Cuiqun still has some time to live."

“This is the extra time that Young Master Duren bought for Li Cuiqun,” Cheng Qianfan said immediately.

……

That night.

Cheng Qianfan secretly met with Lao Huang and Lu Dazhang.

"I intend to find a way to reveal to Li Cuiqun that the Japanese want to kill him, so that Li Cuiqun can see the reality," Cheng Qianfan said with a serious expression. "Ideally, I can force Li Cuiqun to rebel."

He lit a cigarette, took a light puff, and said, "Li Cuiqun's men, including the agents of the Special Operations Headquarters, total as many as 70,000. Jiangsu Province is the heartland of the Wang Jingwei regime. Once Li Cuiqun defectes, it will be a heavy blow to the enemy."

“It’s not just that.” Lu Dazhang pondered for a moment and said, “At this time, the Japanese and puppet troops are carrying out a brutal mopping-up operation. Once Li Cuiqun is forced to rebel, the whole situation will come to life.”

“At that time, not only Jiangsu, but also Zhejiang and southern Anhui may fall into chaos.” Lu Dazhang became more and more excited as he analyzed. “At that time, the financial and tax centers of the Wang puppet regime will be in ruins, and our anti-Japanese forces can take advantage of the situation to grow stronger and deal heavy blows to the enemy.”

Comrades 'Flame' and 'Flying Fish' both looked at Lao Huang, while Comrade 'Piano' remained lost in thought, offering no opinion or viewpoint.

"Judging from the foreseeable results, it is indeed a brilliant idea and plan," Lao Huang said.

Cheng Qianfan's expression turned serious. He knew Lao Huang well, and there should be a "but" after Lao Huang said that.

as predicted.

"But," Old Huang said, "there's a prerequisite: will Li Cuiqun rebel?"

"Even if Li Cuiqun rebels, will his former subordinates and his 70,000 troops follow him?" Old Huang asked, looking at Cheng Qianfan and Lu Dazhang.

“And then there’s this,” Old Huang said, “a very direct question, but one that sounds a bit absurd.”

“I know what Lao Huang is going to say,” Cheng Qianfan said with a serious expression. “Lao Huang is asking whether Li Cuiqun believes the Japanese want to kill him.”

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PS2: Historically, it did indeed take place at the so-called Imperial Council.

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(End of this chapter)