Spy Wars: I have space, but I choose to work alone

In the darkness of the night, one after another, people whose faces could not be seen, without shouting or collecting money, quietly placed copies of "Min Bao" on the doors of every house they passed by.

Soon someone noticed the noise outside the door, especially on this unusually quiet night due to the strike.

Huang Jing'an, 22 years old, was a worker in a factory in the concession. He rented an apartment in a large courtyard where dozens of people lived.

The strike, the boycott of businesses and schools can indeed demonstrate the unity, perseverance and anger of Shanghai people, which is very inspiring.

But for ordinary people like Huang Jingan, who will starve if they don't work, life is not so beautiful.

In order to save money, he only ate one meal a day at noon. He was so hungry that he wanted to go out for a walk and found the newspaper on the ground.

"Where did the newspaper come from so late at night?"

Huang Jing'an picked it up curiously. He knew a few words from the workers' night school back then, so after just looking at it for a minute, his finger joints started cracking.

Without delay, Huang Jingan turned around and knocked on his neighbor's door.

Building after building in the concession lit up like a relay. The residential buildings that had been turned off early to save electricity were now brightly lit and full of people.

Dozens of people sat together in the alley, listening to one young and enthusiastic scholar after another reading the last edition of "Min Bao" word by word.

Eyes of people of different ages and experiences were all spewing anger. The men smoked silently, while the ladies cursed their lives in the most vicious dialects.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of rapid knocks sounded at the door of Ma Liang's single room in the concession. Ma Liang opened the door, but before he could say anything, Guo Congcong, the landlord's middle school student, said with a red face:

"Boss Wu, hurry up to the first floor and read the newspaper. Big news!"

After saying this, without waiting for Ma Liang to answer, he hurriedly knocked on another tenant's door and repeated the whole thing.

Following the crowd, Ma Liang also came to the large living room on the first floor, where more than a dozen people had gathered.

A man who had not heard enough shouted at Yang Yuxuan, the bespectacled accountant of a foreign company, who was on the stage:

"Brother Yang, please read the article written by the executioner Takahashi Shiro to everyone again. It's never enough."

Yang Yuxuan, who was standing in the center, proudly adjusted his middle-parted hair, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and read the newspaper for the fifth time in a hoarse voice.

··········

"it is good!"

"it is good!"

"it is good!"

Whenever the critical moment of reading about the tragic deeds of Takahashi Shiro, the executioner who massacred the people of Shanghai, came, the crowd would burst into cheers of relief.

Ma Liang, who had three times the physique, had heard what people were discussing on the first floor when he was in the room. Looking at everyone's excitement, he mentally praised the courage of the editor-in-chief of Minbao.

At this time when national morale is low, good news is needed to boost people's morale, especially about the culprit who caused this huge strike and school boycott - Shiro Takahashi.

He sent the photos in the morning and made up his mind to publish them in the afternoon. This determination and courage can be said to be:

"Good man!"

At this time, Guo Congcong, who was standing next to Ma Liang, asked Ma Liang curiously:

"Boss Wu, you often go into the rental world and do business outside. Is your life really as bad as what is written in the newspapers, killing people without blinking an eye?"

Ma Liang looked at the doubt in the eyes of the child beside him who grew up in the relatively rule-abiding "hotbed" of the Concession and had never seen the cruelty of the outside world. He answered solemnly:

"The Xiaori are the most despicable and shameless people I have ever seen. You should use the greatest malice to guess their intentions and use the worst plan to deal with them."

Seeing that Guo Congcong was confused and didn't quite understand, but still nodded silently, Ma Liang could only sigh in his heart.

The concession is not a permanent safe island, and sooner or later one will have to live in the concession.

People like Guo Congcong who only know about it through newspapers or other people's words will experience firsthand the shamelessness of their daily lives.

"boom!"

Just as everyone was still discussing, a loud explosion was heard from a distance, followed by a series of explosions coming from all directions.

For a moment, everyone was stunned, including Ma Liang.

In this small room in the concession, he couldn't install his personal radio, and his level of information was not much better than that of ordinary citizens in the concession.

Ma Liang subconsciously raised his watch to check the time. It was 9 o'clock in the evening.

"Is it a coincidence? Or a premeditated attack?" He was a little unsure.

After the explosions continued for half an hour, the phone in the building suddenly rang. The landlord Guo Hao was a detective in the Concession Police Station.

He picked up the phone, said a few "hmm"s to the receiver with a serious expression, then put it down. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he was busy putting on his clothes while saying nonchalantly:

"The Military Control Commission organized a major riot in the suburbs and urban-rural fringe areas of Shanghai, focusing on attacking the Japanese military agencies, factories and shops. In order to ensure the stability of the concession, the Municipal Council requires all patrol officers in the police station to gather and wait immediately. I will leave now."

After saying that, he put on his patrol hat and went out. Although Inspector Guo's words were extremely serious, his steps seemed unusually brisk.

"Oh!"

"Well done to the Military Control Commission!"

···········

After Inspector Guo left, the depressed people began to cheer, and excitement could be seen in each other's eyes.

Those who can live in this great place without being disturbed by police and thugs are middle-class people with some financial resources.

Faced with such an exciting moment, a few generous people discussed and pooled their money to knock on the door of the tobacco, alcohol and grocery store diagonally opposite. They bought cigarettes, alcohol, peanuts, broad beans and other snacks, and drank happily to the sound of gunfire outside.

During the banquet, only Ma Liang seemed absent-minded.

"Is this how history was affected? The 77th Riot in Shanghai was brought forward?"

Ma Liang found it unbelievable that this riot led by the Military Control Commission was brought forward due to his intervention.

People in later generations would describe Shanghai men with words like "stingy, calculating, and timid".

But during the War of Resistance, the people of Shanghai lived up to the title of heroic people.

Shanghai has been occupied for nearly a year, but Xiaozi still cannot achieve the goal of actually controlling Shanghai.

Although the situation in Shanghai was chaotic at this time, Shanghai was still Shanghai belonging to the Celestial Empire, and the outcome of the battle over Shanghai was far from a foregone conclusion.

In the summer of 1938 alone, two major riots occurred in Shanghai on the two anniversaries of the July Incident and the August th Anti-Japanese War. The scale and momentum of these riots attracted widespread attention from all over the world.

After two riots, strikes and business closures occurred in Shanghai, almost bringing operations to a standstill.

Armed riots were taking place in every street and waterway, extending all the way to the suburban counties and towns.

People in Shanghai gathered together to form an armed force, intercepting and ambushing the Japanese troops and traitors everywhere. Japanese military institutions, Japanese-funded enterprises, Japanese vehicles and ships were all destroyed to varying degrees.