Chapter 68: A Windfall (2)

While Tang Cheng was still working as a patrol officer in Nanjing, he had been thinking about accumulating wealth for the Tang family. After moving south to Chongqing, Tang Cheng managed to acquire quite a few valuable antiques and paintings through the black market. With the guidance of Mr. Ma and Professor Zhang, Tang Cheng had seen his fair share of good things, but the contents of the small box in front of him still made his scalp tingle and his heart beat uncontrollably.
The things in the small box were a gold seal. Tang Cheng did not reach out to take the gold seal, but just by looking at its style, he knew immediately that it must have come from the imperial palace. The Kwantung Army? Yes! Tang Cheng suddenly realized that the Kwantung Army was stationed in the Kwantung region, where Manchukuo was also located. The emperor of Manchukuo was nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the Kwantung Army. If this gold seal belonged to the royal family, it could only have come from the imperial palace of Manchukuo.
In the excited heart of Tang Cheng, he knew it was not a good time to carefully measure this gold seal. He immediately closed the box and began to inspect the other wooden boxes. Tang Cheng opened several boxes in a row, and they were either top-grade antique calligraphy and paintings or gold and silver jewelry. Judging by the style of these jewelry, they were definitely not ordinary goods. This was truly a great catch! Although the Tang family was wealthy now, the contents of these boxes still made Tang Cheng extremely delighted in his heart.
Just waiting for Tang Cheng to restore these boxes to their original positions, a new problem arose in Tang Cheng's mind. If Tang Cheng himself left Shanghai, it wouldn't be a big deal, but if he had to take the things in these boxes with him, it would not be an easy task. Furthermore, the weight of the things in these boxes had already exceeded the maximum capacity of his personal equipment bag, so Tang Cheng had to think of another way to solve this problem.
Leaving the warehouse, Tang Cheng finally felt the shortcomings of fighting alone, and lamented that if Hans was still in Shanghai, he wouldn't have to worry about such trivial matters. On the way back to New Asia Hotel, Tang Cheng kept thinking about this trouble. Since he couldn't take those things with him, he had to leave them in Shanghai temporarily. Soon, Tang Cheng came up with a solution, but before putting it into action, he needed to observe the situation there firsthand.
Shanghai, known as the Oriental Pearl, suffered a lot of destruction in the war during the invasion of China. Many buildings in the city were destroyed in the battle. Those buildings that managed to survive until the end of the war were once again at risk during the civil war. Now, Tangcheng needs to determine which buildings in the concessions can survive until the Japanese surrender completely. Tangcheng took a Huang Bao car and toured around the concessions, finally identifying two locations. In his memory, these two places seemed to have been well-preserved even until the millennium.
Once the hiding place for the belongings was determined, the next step became easier. The next day, Tang Cheng went to the warehouse again. He first rented a smaller warehouse and then moved all those boxes into the newly rented one. Tang Cheng used the new warehouse and his portable equipment bag to gradually move the contents of these boxes to his newly rented residence in the concession. In other words, Tang Cheng did nothing these few days except for being busy with the transfer of these things.
One week later, Tang Cheng, who had hidden all his belongings, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Everything in those boxes, except for the golden seal, had been buried in two locations in the concession. Tang Cheng left behind the golden seal, not because he particularly liked it, but because he needed a reason to explain his delayed return to Chongqing to the bureau chief and Zhang Jiang. If the bureau chief or Zhang Jiang later asked about the reasons for Tang Cheng's stay in Shanghai, he could use this golden seal as an excuse!
During this busy week in Tangcheng, both the Shanghai Special High Class and the Provost Marshal's Office were also not idle. However, no matter how they searched, they could not find any clues about the attackers, even though they secretly used their connections with the gangsters in the concessions area. The most important thing was that the North China Front Army Command received a telegram and sent another envoy to Shanghai, but this time they sent a total of 20 people. Many lower-ranking officers in the Provost Marshal's Office had come from the frontlines, and according to their accounts, the people sent by the North China Front Army Command this time were all seasoned veterans.
The North China Field Army has sent a group of veterans to Shanghai, obviously not just to investigate the deaths of the two envoys. Some members of the Special High Class have speculated that there must be some kind of secret hidden in the bodies of the two attacked envoys. It was also this rumor that Tangcheng heard at the pub that made him decide to stay in Shanghai to witness the dog-eat-dog drama, as such rare occurrences don't happen often. Tangcheng was looking forward to watching the drama unfold, little did he know that just yesterday, during the ambush operation, 76 captured two members of the Shanghai underground party.
In the internet of later generations, it is always said that traitors are more despicable than real Japanese devils, and 76 is the best proof. After successfully capturing two members of the Shanghai underground party, 76 did not make a big fuss, but instead chose to secretly take the two back to 76 for a secret interrogation. Compared to the seemingly ruthless special high class, the interrogation methods of 76 are more sinister and cruel. Both of the captured underground party members were unable to endure and chose to confess everything they knew.
And it is precisely because of the confessions of these two traitors that the key issues of No. 76 were quickly identified. According to the confessions of the two underground party organization traitors in Shanghai, one month ago, they received orders from their superiors to purchase and transport a batch of medicine for the Shanbei base. However, due to the tight control of the Shanghai Japanese army and the special high agency, this task had not been completed. But more than a week ago, the Shanghai underground party organization suddenly suspended this task.
Although the senior members of the underground party organization in Shanghai have not provided any explanation for this, they have heard that it is because someone has presented a batch of medicine to the Shanghai underground party organization, and this batch of medicine is related to the attack on the Japanese Army hospital. From the confession of suspect number 76, it is discovered that he immediately reported this situation to the Shanghai special investigation section, and the special investigation section carefully verified the timing of the medicine being presented as mentioned in the traitor's confession and the timing of the fire at the Army hospital. Finally, it was determined that the person who presented the medicine to the Shanghai underground party organization is the same attacker of the Army hospital.
Soon after, the special high-level class became alert, but when they questioned the two underground party traitors again, they discovered that these two traitors had never seen the person who donated the drugs. Moreover, they had also never seen this batch of drugs that were gifted to the underground party organization, so they couldn't confirm that these drugs came from the Army Hospital. Nevertheless, this was still an extremely important clue, so the special high-level class immediately joined forces with number 76 and prepared to launch another dragnet operation to capture the Shanghai underground party members within the concession area.
Tangcheng, who stayed in Shanghai and waited to watch the show, had no idea about this news. Looking at the relatively calm Hongkou District, he decided to stay there and replenish his energy. Two days passed quickly, and suddenly, he heard a series of gunshots and explosions at night. Tangcheng, who was killing time in a tavern, finally realized that something seemed to have gone wrong. Both the gunshots and explosions came from the concessions, specifically the Special High Class and No. 76, who were collaborating in capturing members of the Shanghai underground party organization within the concessions.
The arrest scene appeared large and chaotic, but what the secret high class and 76th agreed on was that these underground party members, who were already forced into a desperate situation, chose to commit suicide instead of surrendering. The secret high class and 76th felt frustrated with their collaboration partners. The secret high class believed that the information provided by the 76th was incorrect, while the 76th believed that the secret high class had been dragging their feet, resulting in missing the best opportunity to make the arrests.
But no matter what, they managed to destroy a stronghold of the underground party in the concession in Shanghai this time, and incidentally killed more than six underground party members. This can be considered a significant victory. The next morning at breakfast in the restaurant of Hotel Xin Ya, Tangcheng heard about this. Tangcheng clenched his teeth in anger, but he had to maintain a calm façade. After finishing breakfast, he decided to go to the concession. Tangcheng's purpose in going to the concession at this time was not for leisure, but to find someone to vent his anger on.
Near noon, in the bustling concession area, the streets are filled with pedestrians and street vendors. Walking in the streets of Tang City, it is easy to spot several plainclothes secret agents loitering by the roadside. Just a dozen meters away from a side alley, Tang City deliberately pretended to take something out of his pants pocket while passing by a street vendor, making sure the vendor caught a glimpse of his gun holster and pistol hanging from his waist.
Knowing that the other party was an undercover spy named Tang Cheng, Tang Cheng slowly turned into the alley in front of him in the sight of the other party. As expected by Tang Cheng, the undercover spy disguised as a street vendor immediately reported what he saw to his superior hiding in the shop on the street. Shortly after, several undercover agents followed behind the street vendor and rushed into the alley.
These undercover agents who disguised themselves for the mission clearly regarded Tang City as a guarantee for their own achievements and rewards. However, none of them had ever expected that as they chased into the alleyway, they were already stepping into the gates of hell. The deputy head of the agents, waiting at a local shop on the street, began to feel that something was amiss after a few minutes had passed. Some of his subordinates had already entered the alleyway, and if what they had said about the person inside not being an underground party member was true, his subordinates should have come out of the alleyway by now.