kvmb 159. Rebuild the intelligence network
159. Rebuild the intelligence network
New Year's Eve is approaching, the most important festival of the year for the Chinese nation. However, Shanghai is still under the oppressive rule of the Japanese invaders, and the people are still suffering in dire straits. They can only hope that in the coming year, God will open his eyes and use a thunderbolt to punish these beasts in human form.
After spending New Year's Eve with their families, the police officers of the Second Precinct all unanimously sent their elderly mothers, wives, or children out of Shanghai, to the countryside or to Southeast Asia to avoid trouble.
They knew they were about to throw themselves into a massive movement, because their bureau chief had told them yesterday that what they were doing now was actually planning for their own future. The Japanese front lines were stretched too thin, and the fighting at the front was stalemate. If the situation suddenly changed and the Red and Kuomintang forces returned, then they, the police of the Wang Jingwei regime, would be nothing short of traitors. If they could start sending messages and attacking the Japanese now, then even if the Japanese were defeated, they would have another way out.
Yes, these were all ideas that Zhou Hongyi instilled in them. He understood that he couldn't win people's hearts with money and intimidation alone. The most important thing was to resolve everyone's worries and make them understand that following him was actually planning for their own future. Since they could live, who would want to die? This was a hope, a hope that gave everyone something to strive for.
On this New Year's Eve, Zhou Hongyi, Agui, Fusheng, and Xiaobei sat around in the safe house. Several dishes were laid out on the table, and in the empty space lay photos of Qingxia and their child, Xiaonannan. The blind man had already been taken away by the Red Party and sent to Captain Qiu for training. Zhou Hongyi never expected that his first New Year here would be so heavy and so sorrowful.
“Sister Qingxia, little girl, if you have spirits in heaven, watch over us, watch how we avenge you, watch how we drive the enemy out of our homeland. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.”
Looking at the photo of Qingxia and the child, Zhou Hongyi took a sip of wine. The spicy liquid went straight from his throat to his stomach, and a wave of heat instantly spread throughout his body.
Zhou Hongyi let out a breath and said in a low voice, "Agui, we can recruit some more people to expand the training team at the farm tool factory. Fusheng, I hope you can teach the children your unique observation skills. I'm entrusting this task to you. Don't let your brother down."
Fusheng sniffed, his expression somewhat excited. He nodded with a smile, feeling that he could finally do something big.
Finally, Zhou Hongyi looked at Xiao Bei and said, "Select some women from the church and have them join the New Paramount. It will be relatively easier to gather information there. I'll put you in charge of this. Right now, the only people I can completely trust are the three of you. Remember, always protect yourselves first. Only when we ensure our own safety can we avenge the dead."
"Understood, Brother Zhou."
After New Year's Eve, another year began. The newspaper boys who frequented the streets and alleys of Shanghai suddenly disappeared one day, only to reappear quickly. These children roamed the streets, carrying large bags and hawking newspapers. They were all very clever, their eyes like pure, unadulterated gems. They would appear wherever Japanese troops were present. Zhou Hongyi taught them to identify the models, markings, directions, and cargo characteristics of Japanese vehicles. If they saw a large number of sealed boxes being escorted by heavy troops, they were instructed to meticulously record the vehicle's license plate number, departure time, and major intersections it passed through.
Fusheng taught them the specific skills and essentials of surveillance. His teaching method was simple: teaching by example. He often took several children to learn in person, and his simple and honest appearance made him very popular with the children. Before long, he became the king of the children in the orphanage.
These young newsboys were very clever. Under the guidance of the young boy, they quickly became adept at identifying the Japanese army's unit designations, vehicle models, and the meaning of the inconspicuous markings on the cargo boxes.
They also mastered some basic tracking techniques to ensure that they could maintain a certain distance from being detected in a crowd while still following them with traces.
In addition, these children had more specific roles. Some of the newspaper boys were specifically responsible for the Japanese military outposts and important institutions in Shanghai. They would sell newspapers in these areas every day to observe the personnel coming and going, the frequency of loading and unloading supplies, and changes in defensive fortifications. After all, as Mr. Zhou said, the truth and conspiracies are often hidden in those inconspicuous details, so they could not overlook any suspicious points.
Another group of newsboys were mainly stationed at key locations such as major transportation routes and docks. Their task was to collect information on the patrol patterns of the Japanese army, check the setup of checkpoints, and the destinations of goods transported. If they found that the Japanese army was conducting a particularly strict inspection of a batch of goods, or that a ship was docked at the dock and unloading mysterious large equipment, they had to record it in detail and report it to Zhou Hongyi as soon as possible.
There was also a small group of newsboys, who were the most clever and agile. They were responsible for relaying intelligence, shuttling between different groups and projects, and quickly delivering the collected intelligence to designated safe locations.
Here, people use all sorts of ingenious methods to hide information in newspaper rolls, shoe soles, or even in their mouths.
Zhou Hongyi also needed to ensure the safety of these children. He privately funded the construction of emergency shelters for the newsboys. These shelters and safe houses were located in secluded corners of the concessions and old city areas, or in abandoned houses in the suburbs. If a newsboy felt that he was being followed by the Japanese army or was in danger, he could quickly use the terrain to temporarily escape the enemy and flee to the nearest shelter. The shelters were stocked with some basic living supplies, so that everyone could stay indoors without worrying about food and drink, and temporarily avoid the danger.
In addition, Zhou Hongyi also specially equipped these children with simple self-defense tools, namely small pepper spray.
He certainly couldn't equip the children with guns, and pepper spray, being small and portable, could be incredibly effective when in danger or when subdued by enemies—an inspiration drawn from later pepper spray.
Of course, when transmitting intelligence, the children must also master the most basic encryption methods. They will encode the raw intelligence they collect, using numbers and letters to represent different types of information. The person receiving the intelligence will then use the corresponding code to parse the encrypted intelligence and obtain the actual message to be transmitted.
These kids learn and grow very quickly. Plus, they were already very familiar with the streets and alleys of Shanghai from their previous newspaper sales. After a little training from Zhou Hongyi, they quickly received some surprising feedback.
"Mr. Zhou, this is the intelligence we've gathered today."
“Mr. Zhou, the Japanese are making moves at the dock again. I saw the sign that represents danger.”
“Mr. Zhou, I overheard their conversation. A ship will arrive at the port tomorrow night.”
Messages poured into Zhou Hongyi's hands from all directions, and at night, he would have the police officers of the Jing'an Second Branch transform themselves into a new underground gang organization—the Night Hawks—dressed in black clothes and black pants and with their faces covered in black cloth.
This organization specializes in sabotaging the operations of puppet troops and spies, robbing pro-Japanese gangs of their resources, and assassinating their key members. No one knows where they come from or who they are loyal to. All that is known is that, starting from a certain day in the new year, the traitors in Shanghai have been living in fear and have even reduced the frequency of their nighttime outings.