Chapter 49: Heaven Sent Opportunity

  Tan Xiao was still having sweet dreams in his bed, while He Shao-tang was holding a meeting at the Military Intelligence Division of the Wild One Army, regarding the internal spy investigation within the Wild One Division.

  There were not many participants in this meeting. He Shao-tang was the convener, followed by Chen Ye-liu, head of the Military Affairs Bureau, and Lai Yun-sheng, head of the Revival Society's Special Affairs Department. In front of each of them was a list of suspects provided by Dai Li.

  As soon as He Shao Tang took the list from Tan Xiao's hand and glanced at it for the first time, he had a feeling of being slapped in the face. He was extremely angry inside: Ye Qing Rou was the number one suspect!

  Ye Xiangyun was suspected for the first reason, very simple, she looked too beautiful. Dai Li took a glance and felt that there shouldn't be such a pretty woman here, so before conducting further investigation, she had already become a suspect. However, the first person to confirm Ye Xiangyun as a spy and set up various monitoring work against her was He Shaotang!

  The moment he saw the list, the feeling of being slapped in the face made He Shaotang suddenly realize that the special familiarity he had when he first met Ye Qianyu was not a coincidence! It wasn't telepathy! It was the feeling he developed from hanging out with Japanese girls for a long time while studying abroad in Japan! A sixth sense that couldn't be expressed in words, but could only be discerned by his own intuition, told him: Ye Qianyu is Japanese!

  If there was a Japanese spy in the First Division, it must be her; if there were several, she would definitely be one of them! He Shao-tang believed this feeling that had been "tempered" through countless physical contacts in Japan. So tonight's meeting content is simple: how to carry out the control of the Japanese spy - not a suspect, Ye Qianyu. He Shao-tang's anger comes from his own mistake, it was he who brought her into the First Division Operations Department and gave her a special identity as "a person in the know"! He Shao-tang is not Tan Xiao, if Tan Xiao was deceived emotionally, with his character and experience, he would probably be heartbroken; but He Shao-tang himself is an old hand in the flower circle, and even more so when he was in Japan, he had seen countless people, he wouldn't be heartbroken. He will hate her to the bone!

  Now, he is in a bureau, playing with Ye Lingshu. Perhaps it's better to hand her over to Mo San in the end! He Shao Tang thought viciously.

  It's actually quite easy to get a spy to take the bait, and one way is to put out some intelligence that interests her. He Shaotang laid down some bait: because of the effective blows dealt by the First Route Army against the Japanese in Lingling, the headquarters of the Blue Shirts Society planned to transfer a large number of cadres northward from the First Route Army, as the backbone for competing with the Japanese in North China. If you ask which group is the vanguard of resistance against Japan in this era, it's undoubtedly the Blue Shirts Society. This bait appeared very reasonable; the list of names of those cadres who were about to be transferred northward was undoubtedly intelligence that the Japanese would love to get their hands on even in their dreams.

  Ye Qian appeared in the office early this morning and was surprised to find that there were no flowers on her desk from He Shao Tang. Anything unusual is worth paying attention to. So she deliberately pretended to be a bit unhappy, fiddling with the flowers that had been placed there yesterday. Usually at this time, someone who likes to curry favor would come to help He Shao Tang explain things.

  At this time, one of He Shaotang's guards rushed in with a bunch of flowers and saw Ye Xingyun playing with the old flowers: "Uh... Miss Ye, may I ask if I can take them away to change? ... Uh, it's like this, the participant had an important meeting last night and didn't expect it to go on until now, so he asked me..."

  An all-night important meeting! Revealing this much is enough, and the rest will be taken care of by He Shaotang himself.

  Why send a beautiful woman to be a spy? Because she may need to seduce men at any time, so a female spy is just a prostitute! He Shaotang thought. Since that's the case, he didn't need to pursue Ye Xiangyun desperately; since Ye Xiangyun was confirmed to be Japanese in He Shaotang's heart, he had already planned to let her come to him willingly. Dare to deceive me? Humph, I want you to suffer! Every Japanese woman is a prostitute, every Japanese person deserves to die! In the six months of getting along, He Shaotang had been brainwashed by Tan Xiao without realizing it.

  Tan Xiao was stopped directly by He Shao Tang at the door of his bedroom in the morning to listen to the plan report. He had been staring at He Shao Tang's face, but he didn't find a hint of sadness on that face. Even he suspected whether He Shao Tang was pursuing Ye Xiangyun and failed, so he took advantage of the situation to strike back at Ye Xiangyun.

  "Are you sure she's the one we're looking for?" Tan Xiao didn't want his suspicions to be true.

  "A hundred percent!" He Shao-tang said: "At first, I was very curious, a person I had never seen before gave me a sense of déjà vu. Now I understand why - because she's Japanese!" Of course, He Shao-tang didn't tell Tan Xiao that he had slept with more than one battalion of Japanese women in Japan.

  "Alright, but the evidence must be conclusive!" Tan Xiao was unable to find a reason not to approve the plan. The key thing was that his mind had already flown to Nanyang Airport. Rong Hui would be descending from the sky today!

  Tan Xiao stepped onto the road to the airport with an unusually excited heart, today he received all the messages that made him happy: like Song Kong and his family left by boat early this morning; this time the entire Hunan province searched for traitors and obtained more than 80 million catties of rice and miscellaneous grains; under Dai Li's personal command, the Japanese secret service in Lingling was basically cleared... Today must be a memorable good day, he thought to himself.

  Rong Hui appeared in a stunning way above the airport: a large flight formation, except for a bulky French military transport plane in the middle, there were actually twelve biplanes on both sides, forming small V-shaped formations in groups of three; and these small formations happened to form a large V-shaped formation with that transport plane!

  Is it a flying squadron performance or an enemy raid? If everyone has already communicated clearly, those airport air defense guns are probably already firing!

  "Haha, that must be 'Devil Rubin', the drunkard; oh, 'Little White Face Beckham' is here too..." Old Toby could actually tell his former comrades apart from the subtle habitual flying actions of the pilots in the formation! This crazy airman was already waving his arms and legs in excitement in the welcoming lineup, he even wanted to run over to start up his DH10 to join them!

  Rong Hui is a passenger today, she didn't drive, when the cabin door of that French military transport plane just opened, she was the first to appear at the cabin door. She waved a white silk scarf, as if to pour out all her thoughts of love for these days in the blue sky.

  As the two of them clung tightly to each other on the ground and began a marathon-style long kiss, they blocked the guest passageway covered with red carpet! However, the guests were not unhappy, but rather watched with great interest this Oriental French kiss, and let out several long whistles. Finally, they walked off the carpet, surrounded Tan Yong and his wife in the middle, and ended the romantic passion with warm applause.

  The guests were mainly old pilots from World War I, of course, some people also had other identities, such as Mr. de Havilland, the founder of de Havilland Aircraft Company of England, who was invited by "M" at the request of Tang Xiao, a master of wooden aircraft.

  "Come on, let me introduce you to my old friend, Mitchell, the chief designer of Supermarine Company. This unlucky fellow has designed an excellent slow-speed fighter..."

  "It's just that there isn't a good enough engine!" Reginald J. Mitchell, who was somewhat older, interrupted his old friend De Havilland's introduction: "Really, it is an engine problem..."

  As the chief designer of Supermarine, Mitchell was bitter about his Type 224 fighter being ruthlessly rejected and it had become a subject of ridicule among friends.

  After Tan Xiao gave a brief welcome speech to all the guests in a very polite manner, everyone began to walk towards the welcoming motorcade. Rong Hui introduced more guests as they walked, while Old Toby and the group of old soldiers formed another group, chatting and laughing together.

  Among the guests this time, in addition to Dr. Hawley and Mitchell, there is another important figure, Charles Rolls, the current chairman of Rolls-Royce!

  Originally, the "M" meeting was only supposed to be about Harvey Lavan coming over to discuss cooperation at the request of Tan Xiang, but Harvey Lavan had also persuaded his engine supplier, Rolls-Royce, to come along; and Mitchell, who had been stretching his neck in anticipation of a new Rolls-Royce engine, followed suit, of course, he was also entrusted by the company to see if he could sell some seaplanes to Tan Xiang while he was at it.

  De Havilland saw that his friend and competitor, Supermarine, had brought a chief designer, so to steal the show, he brought twenty-four DH82 Tiger Moth trainers, which were flown over by some of the elite from World War I who had been invited by C. M. Liu.

  Tan Xiao didn't have much understanding of the air force, his leading concept compared to the elites of this era was probably just a dual-machine formation, fight and run; as for the aircraft manufacturer, he was completely ignorant, only because he had seen that DH98 in the aviation museum did he think that such a wooden plane should be suitable for China with backward heavy industry. So, he wasn't interested in Supermarine Company, but he maintained a sufficiently respectful attitude towards the British air force supplier who could always defend the skies above London.

  "I once thought of modifying the ZB26 machine gun, but I have to admit that was a mistake. So later I came up with this!" Tan Xiao proudly picked up a "lollipop": "Now, the French Army has expressed their intention to adopt this rifle. Mistakes are not scary, the key is to know where you went wrong." He looked at Mitchell with a friendly gaze amidst everyone's astonishment, and the latter returned the same smile.

  Tan Xiao is now leading the guests to visit the arsenal of the Wild One Army: "Next, I want to strengthen my air force, so there will be many questions to discuss with everyone. However, one thing is certain, I want to build an aircraft factory, including all parts and engine production aircraft factory!"

  Many warlords from south to north of China had bought airplanes and some even set up maintenance plants, but Tan Xiang was the first person who wanted to build an airplane manufacturing plant.

  "This costs a lot of money!" Mitchell shrugged: "Buying an airplane might be more cost-effective."

  "If it's about usage, I don't deny!" Tan Xiao said: "However, for some existing airplanes, I am not satisfied, so I hope there is an airplane factory that can design airplanes according to my requirements!"

  The British were incredulous at Tan Xiao's arrogance, this small warlord with only a few DH10s was dissatisfied with the current planes? Oh right, probably he had only seen DH10s before...

  The conversation with the British did not go smoothly at first, apart from the issues of consensus, but also because it was a gathering of people from two competing aircraft manufacturers. Tan Xiao decided to end this initial contact and changed the subject to food, indicating that he had prepared a great banquet to entertain his guests, then he took everyone to Ju Hui Mountain Villa.

  Long flights are tiring for anyone, no matter how much you love flying. So these Britons who had just returned to solid ground were immediately drawn in by the serene comfort of Ju Hui Yuan, with its elegant gardens in the classical oriental style. They agreed to rest for an hour before meeting again at the banquet.

  An hour can be very long, especially for a young couple who are deeply in love.

  So they almost competed with each other to tell their own stories to each other.

  In less than a month, Rong Hui has already arranged the work in India in an orderly manner. That Rashid Owen is indeed a good helper, especially after he became a shareholder of Dongfang Eyesnake: he almost got all the spare equipment from various ordnance factories to Rong Hui's new factory! Especially when someone took care of him and intentionally let him report scrap, he used ten days to gather everything needed for Dongfang Eyesnake to become a medium-sized ordnance factory in six ordnance factories! Because he knew that this time helping Dongfang Eyesnake build the factory smoothly must have been supported by the top, so he was very flattering, although he didn't know Rong Hui's background, and his courage was unusually big; under his and his Indian military colleagues' efforts, there are now two thousand tons of "scrap" stored in Dongfang Eyesnake's raw material warehouse!

  The situation in Vietnam is also progressing rapidly, and the foundation has already been laid. Due to the large number of overseas Chinese in Vietnam, preparations for the project are also proceeding quickly. After de Gaulle received a "candy" and highly praised it, although he couldn't influence the entire French army to reform its military, recommending the adoption of an excellent gun was not a problem. Therefore, after comparing the "candy" with the M1924/29, the procurement and cooperation plan was approved without any obstacles. As a result, the Eastern Spectacle Snake now has a major client: the French Army. The French Army's order includes 100,000 guns for procurement and 200,000 guns for cooperative production. Of course, half of the 100,000 guns procured will be used to offset the investment in building the Saigon Arsenal. Due to Rong Hui's negotiation, the profit margin is as high as 150%, so within a year, this contract alone can bring Eastern Spectacle Snake nearly 500 million in profits! As for Ye Xiaozi, since the French army has just begun researching the issue of standardizing rifles nationwide, it won't be ordering so quickly. However, once the order is placed, it will be a full-scale adoption by the entire military! Oh my god, that's on the scale of tens of millions of guns!

  In this era, selling arms is a lucrative business. A good contract can make one's career soar! Tan Xiao thought of Xie Te, and Rong Hui mentioned that Little Fatty was trying to get a "Sir" title for Xie Te. He wanted a knighthood! He wanted to become a true nobleman!

  Now, Xie Te has returned to England to fulfill that noble dream, and also has a new task given by Rong Hui.

  "I think the French can't resist my 'lollipop' temptation, and the British should be the same..." Rong Hui said: "So I let Xiao Pang bring a batch to Mike too. I think if we can get the British to replace their Browning machine guns, it's also a big business!" Rong Hui's dimples showed a sly smile again: "Now all countries are in a peaceful period, and military spending is not much, so their payment may be a bit difficult... But I plan to let them exchange old weapons! For example, the French army, I promised them that they can settle the M1924/29 at two discounts from the factory price, and Browning can also..."

  Tan Xiao discovered that Rong Hui was indeed a genius: once these stocks were collected, it would be enough to arm 100 Nationalist divisions! Although the M1924/29 and Browning were not as good as the "candy bar", the former was on par with the ZB26, while the latter was even better; thinking back to how in his original timeline most Nationalist troops used poorly made copies of the ZB26, now they could get tens of millions of high-quality guns from British and French factories, wow! Now Tan Xiao's thoughts were no longer about resisting Japan: once a large number of Japanese troops were annihilated in North China, why not take advantage of the momentum to enter Northeast China?...

  "I've calculated it... both countries have a lot of machine guns, actually, even if we just take the discarded ones from either country, we can already equip 150 divisions. So, I think we should do some stockpiling in Europe... once Spain really starts fighting as you expected, I can make a big profit..." Rong Hui's intelligence far exceeded Tan Xiao's imagination!

  Yes, the Spanish Civil War broke out before World War II and has not started yet, but it's definitely not far away...

  After Rong Hui finished introducing her work in the arsenal and some business matters, Tan Xiao couldn't wait to tell Rong Hui about his confrontation with Song Kong during this period. When mentioning that Wu Sheng had to be sacrificed, his voice was very low. He also remembered Wu De's weak figure...

  Rong Hui listened to the whole process and fell into deep thought. All along, Tan Xiao had been exchanging telegrams with her, but before the outcome was decided, he hadn't said much, fearing she would worry, making it seem like a small skirmish. Only now did Rong Hui realize that it was actually such an intense and thrilling battle!

  "Do you know that in France, every nobleman has some government bonds or stocks... " Rong Hui said: "So I still know something about this market... Judging from the big move made by Song Ziwen and others in Hunan, they will definitely make a big deal in the futures market..."

  Tan Xiao didn't understand, he stared at Rong Hui with wide eyes - Futures market? What does this have to do with what they're doing now?

  Rong Hui smiled and said, "This year's bumper harvest in China has basically become a foregone conclusion. They can only rely on their financial advantage to drive up the price... Perhaps we can make a move in Shanghai and send Song Kong straight to hell!" Rarely seen, Rong Hui's expression was resolute: "Yes, they suffered such a huge loss in Hunan, and we must get it back as soon as possible. It can only be done in Shanghai!"

  "But... that's their home turf......" Tan Xiao was really worried about having a big battle with Song Kong in Shanghai, which he didn't understand at all; even the narrow victory in Hunan was due to Chiang Kai-shek's support and Dai Li's help. He really didn't want to have such a battle in Shanghai.

  "Song Kong's foundation is very stable, and to take them down, we need a chance to cooperate...". Rong Hui said softly: "Now, maybe it's an opportunity, because they urgently need a big deal to make up for their losses... As for Shanghai being their territory..." Rong Hui smiled suddenly: "Shanghai is only prosperous in the southern city, other places are all concessions!"

  "She suddenly said confidently: 'The full name of Shanghai's concession is the French Concession and the Anglo-American Public Concession! In Shanghai, it's my home court!'"

  Suddenly, Tan Xiao felt that Rong Hui made some sense. Yes, Rong Hui was the person in charge of "Vigilante" in the Far East! It's really possible to send Song Kong to the 18th level of hell in Shanghai!? If there's a chance, why not give it a try? He nodded thoughtfully, indicating for Rong Hui to continue.

  Among their collaborators in Shanghai, the only ones with real local power are the Sanxin Company and the underworld figures like Du, Huang, and Zhang. We have the full support of the General Labour Union and the Public Works Bureau in Shanghai...

  Tan Xiao didn't even know what the Gongbuju and Gondongju were: "These two bureaus are... can they control the underworld?" He was extremely surprised: Can't even the police in Shanghai control them?

  "The Municipal Council is the highest administrative organ of the British and American concessions, while the French concession is managed by the...". Rong Zhiyuan explained: "Both councils have my men! Take the French concession as an example. Huang Jinrong used to be the chief inspector of the police station, but he was just a mid-level officer in a branch institution under the Police Department. Now I can get all sorts of cooperation from the head of the Police Department... He's just one of my subordinates in Shanghai!"

  Tan Xiao almost couldn't help but admire Rong Hui's appearance!

  "Tomorrow, we have another guest coming from Shanghai... " Rong Hui deliberately built suspense: "He is an old comrade-in-arms of Old Toby's European War. If he agrees to join us, then the financial advantage of Song Kong Group will be gone!"

  Old Toby's comrade? A retired British Air Force pilot? He has more money than Song and Kong combined! Tan Xiao was extremely surprised: Who is he?!?!

  (I think aviation enthusiasts probably know what aircraft the Wild One Army will be equipped with next... Financial friends can watch a futures war... Female spies around me? Hehe... Next, there will be plots in North China, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hunan, Guangxi, and Guangdong at the same time, it's so hard to write... Can everyone please vote and recommend to encourage me? Thank you all first...)