On the other side, the middle-aged man on the train finally arrived at his destination, outside a large bookstore. The middle-aged man paid the fare, stood at the door of the bookstore, tidied his clothes, and walked into the bookstore.
The bookstore is called Hongwen Bookstore. Although it is only a medium-sized bookstore, it can be seen from the customers coming in and out that the bookstore is well run.
"Oh...Boss Su is back. Did you get any good books this time?"
"Yes, yes, yes... I bought a lot! It will be here in a few days, so remember to come and visit!"
"Definitely coming, definitely coming..."
"Boss Su, have you found the book I asked you to help find?"
"I found it. It will arrive in a few days. Remember to pick it up..."
…………
The middle-aged man smiled while dealing with the customers who came up to say hello, and walked into the store.
A middle-aged man named Su and Renqing is the owner of this Hong Bookstore. This time he went to Shanghai to buy new books for this bookstore and help customers find books.
After all, Shanghai at this time was the printing and publishing center of China. There were a wide variety of publishing and printing companies in Shanghai, making it the best place to choose and find books in China.
When Su Renqing got rid of the customers and entered the store, a middle-aged man came up to him with a smile and asked: "Boss, did your trip to Shanghai go well this time?"
"It went well, what could happen? Lao Yu, where is the store? Nothing happened, right?"
"No……"
The middle-aged man who came over was named Yu and Kezhi. He was the store manager of Hong Bookstore and was responsible for the daily work of the bookstore. After all, Su Renqing often had to travel to many places and did not have much time and energy to take care of the bookstore.
While Su Renqing asked Yu Kezhi about his situation during his absence, he walked around the bookstore to see the specific situation.
Hongwen Bookstore has three floors in total. The first floor sells all kinds of best-selling books, magazines, novels, and foreign newspapers. However, many bookshelves are empty at this time, so it is obvious that the sales are very good.
The second floor of the bookstore is a place similar to a library, with densely packed bookshelves and books in the middle, and two rows of tables and chairs on both sides for customers to read.
There are many more types of books on the second floor than on the first floor, but compared to the best-sellers on the first floor, the books on the second floor are much less popular, and naturally there are not as many customers as on the first floor.
As for the third floor of the bookstore, it is used as an office, warehouse, and a place for bookstore clerks to take a short daily break.
After Su Renqing visited the first and second floors, he took Yu Ke up to the third floor to go to the office. However, as soon as he got to the third floor, he saw a pile of books and newspapers at the end of the third floor.
"Hey...why are these things still there? That guy Lin Mo hasn't come over to take them away yet?"
Hearing this, Yu Kezhi shook his head and said, "No, I don't know what's going on. It's been more than a month, and I haven't seen him come over once. Do we need to put these down there for sale?"
"Forget it, let him keep it! There must be something delayed." After saying that, Su Renqing opened the office and walked in with Yu Kezhi.
Hongwen Bureau was the place where Lin Mo would come to read books every week. However, during this period, Lin Mo was first busy catching Japanese spies, and then devoted himself to intense training. He also had Liu Shiya to accompany him on weekends, so he couldn't spare time.
Make time to come over.
As for the pile of books and newspapers, Lin Mo entrusted Su Renqing to help search for them. They were mainly books and newspapers printed and published in China, and the contents were of interest to Lin Mo.
There were also some books and newspapers obtained from Japan or Japanese-occupied areas, but Lin Mo had never learned Japanese, so Su Renqing had someone translate them.
Since he was looking for someone, Lin Mo would definitely have to spend money. He also invested a lot of money in Hongwen Co., Ltd., and he was considered a big customer of Hongwen Co., Ltd.
Lin Mo asked Hongwen Bureau to help find these things, which was actually earlier than asking Herbert to help find them. Later, he asked Herbert to help him find them, mainly because Herbert had many connections in Europe and the United States.
In Su Renqing's office, Yu Kezhi locked the door after entering and sat on the bench in the office.
"Lao Yu, while I was away in Nanjing, a lot of big things happened in Nanjing! Tell me everything you know!"
Hearing this, Yu Kezhi nodded and replied: "Lao Su, during your absence, Nanjing was really busy. First, there was a treasure hunt, which caused all kinds of treasure news to spread all over the sky.
Then there was another large-scale arrest. People were being arrested all over the city that day. The sound of gunshots and explosions almost spread throughout Nanjing. We were frightened to death at that time. Fortunately, they were not directed at us.
However, within a few days of the excitement, another incident occurred in Hongkou, Shanghai. Newspaper offices in Nanjing rushed to report on it again, and the whole city was about to celebrate.
Lao Su, you were in Shanghai at the time. Tell me what happened. I read some reports in the newspaper and heard that firecrackers went off in celebration in downtown Shanghai at that time."
When Su Renqing heard this, he did not answer, but asked: "Lao Yu, you'd better tell me about the big arrest first! I'll talk to you about Shanghai later."
Hearing this, Yu Kezhi nodded and introduced: "It was at noon one day at the end of January, when gunshots suddenly started to be fired somewhere in the city, and then gunshots and explosions were heard one after another throughout the city of Nanjing.
According to the information we learned afterwards, there were about a dozen places where people were arresting people, and fierce gun battles broke out in four or five places, and grenades were even used. I heard that many bodies were lifted out afterwards.
We were very worried at that time, fearing that something might happen to our comrades, and the bookstore was under tight security, but the arrest was over and no one came.
Later, rumors began to circulate in the market that the people who were arrested were our people, which made people in the bookstore panic. Fortunately, the higher-ups conveyed the news to us in time, and it was not our comrades who were involved in the accident."
After Su Renqing listened, he asked again: "Did it say who were arrested? Who were arrested?"
Hearing this, Yu Kezhi smiled bitterly and said: "Old Su, how could you possibly pass on so much news to us! Even the news passed down is only used to calm people's hearts. It's not like you don't know how strictly kept secrets are kept in Nanjing.
However, we have also heard a lot about these situations in the market and among customers. Among the people arrested were the police and another group in plain clothes.
At first we thought that the group of plain-clothes men should be from the secret service headquarters, but later a customer mentioned it to us, and I realized that this was another secret service organization of the Kuomintang, a division under the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
We don’t know much about the more detailed situation. Lao Su, you want to know! You can ask the higher-ups, who should know some inside information.
As for who is being arrested, I can only be sure that it is not one of ours, and there are many rumors in the market, including Japanese and subordinates of foreign warlords. I guess it may be someone from some warlord."
"No..." Su Renqing shook his head and said, "They are not the subordinates of any warlord. The people who were arrested should be Japanese."
"Ah?...Japanese? How is this possible? There are still people in the government dealing with the Japanese? Is there a mistake?"
"You can't be wrong..." Su Renqing shook his head and explained: "The people you are talking about should be the Second Division of the Investigation and Statistics Bureau of the Military Commission, referred to as the Military Intelligence Division. I have heard of this department in Shanghai.
They have a Shanghai station in Shanghai and have fought many times with Japanese T&T in Shanghai, but I didn’t expect that they were so powerful that they could launch such a big operation in Nanjing to target Japanese spies. It seems that they should not be underestimated!
"
"This... this is impossible! Dozens of people were arrested that day. If they are all Japanese spies, then their strength is too... too terrifying."
After Su Renqing heard this, he continued to explain: "It shouldn't be wrong. Now it seems that the incident in Shanghai must have something to do with them.
The night before Hongkou was burned, I was outside and saw several groups of well-trained people. Judging from their organization and actions, they were clearly from the military.
I used to think it was some Kuomintang military force, or someone who gathered people from the army, but now it seems that it was someone from the Military Intelligence Department."
"This...this...Old Su, you...don't scare me! If they are responsible for what happened in Shanghai, then their strength..."
"Alas... Lao Yu, please listen to me first!" At this point, Su Renqing continued: "The incident in Shanghai should be an accident, but there is indeed a driving force behind it.
First of all, the source of everything, the ten-yen denominations of Japanese currency. Those ten yen were exchanged outside Hongkou that day.
Even though the newspapers all said it was Shanghai T&T High-tech Co., Ltd., as far as I know, the things reported by the newspapers were all delivered to the newspaper by someone. Obviously, someone poured dirty water on T&T High-Tech Co., Ltd.
But that batch of ten yen was actually genuine currency. This can be seen from the actions of the Bank of Japan, and the Japanese never said these were counterfeit currency from beginning to end.
Then the source of these ten yen is worth investigating. I guess they fell into the Military Intelligence Department during the large-scale arrest operation in Nanjing.
Then these people went to Shanghai to exchange Japanese yen for other currencies, but accidentally caused part of the ten yen to flow into Hongkou. For some reason, they caused a panic, which triggered the next series of things.
This is the first depreciation of the Japanese yen that we have seen, followed by the depreciation of other banknotes, resulting in multiple fluctuations in banknotes overnight, which wiped out the wealth of the Japanese Hongkou expatriates.
And during this period, these people must have been adding fuel to the flames. Their reaction was extremely fast. I saw them during the first depreciation.
Their presence must have been indispensable in all the things that happened after that. From submitting articles to newspapers to directing the anger of Japanese expatriates towards THT, it was definitely them.
The conflict between Japanese expatriates and T&T Technology has escalated to the point where they are facing each other with guns drawn, and they will certainly be indispensable in fueling the flames.
As for the vandalism, looting, and burning in Qiaokou, it was definitely these people who did it.
To sum up, what happened in Shanghai was probably not planned by anyone, but an accident, but these people were present from beginning to end, adding fuel to the flames again and again, and how far things finally developed."
After hearing this, Yu Kezhi thought carefully for a moment, nodded, and said: "This explanation does make sense, but it also shows that the strength of these people cannot be underestimated. We must strengthen our defenses!"