Chapter 1005 Hidden Danger

Author: Jiangsu Daozi

Chapter 1005 Hidden Danger

Jinling.

Since the Japanese committed that heinous crime, Jinling, the former capital of the Republic of China, has been reduced to a dead city, with the corpses of civilians killed by the Japanese army and the ruins of bombed buildings everywhere.

The surviving people allowed the corpses to rot in the streets, emitting a nauseating rotten smell, because they could not do anything without the permission of the Japanese, including burying the remains.

In fact, in the months after the crime occurred, Japanese military trucks drove through the nearly one-meter-thick pile of corpses under Yijiang Gate for many days in a row, crushing the corpses to show the people the fate of those who resisted.

By the first half of the 27th year of the Republic of China, except for a military store opened by the Japanese army and a rice store opened by the International Committee of the Safety Zone, no shops were open in the city, and commercial activities came to a standstill.

There was also no ship in Jinling Port, because all the moving ships were either taken away by the government or sunk by Japanese bombers. The crew also suffered heavy casualties, and only a few water birds flew by alone.

In addition, the Japanese rounded up and executed hundreds of national employees of power plants, telephone exchanges and water plants, causing water and power outages in most areas of the city. All telephone calls in the city were suspended, and order was lost.

Since there is no running water, people are not only unable to wash and cook, but also find it difficult to take a bath, although many women would rather not take a bath, hoping to use their dirty bodies to dispel certain thoughts of the Japanese.

It was not until the second half of the 27th year of the Republic of China that the city gradually regained its vitality. People who had lost their jobs and families carefully searched uninhabited houses and stole anything useful.

They tore down the wooden floors and windows in the ruins to use as firewood, carried away bricks to repair their own houses, pried off metals and sold them to others on the street, trying to make use of everything they could.

On Shanghai Road in the International Security Zone, hundreds of vendors were selling any stolen goods imaginable, including doors, windows and other building parts. Bustling crowds surrounded these vendors.

This activity promoted the economic recovery of Jinling. Next to the small stalls selling stolen goods, many new teahouses and restaurants sprung up on the roadside. The remaining Jinling people survived tenaciously.

On January 1, 1939, the Japanese established a governing body in Jinling, the Jinling Autonomous Committee. Some Westerners who cared about matters that had nothing to do with themselves even called it the "autonomous government."

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The Autonomous Committee was composed of surrendered officials who did not follow the government to move westward. They controlled many aspects of Jinling's municipal management, finance, police station, commercial and transportation affairs, etc., in order to make huge profits.

By spring, Jinling resumed daily operations like a normal city. Tap water, electricity, lighting, and postal services in the Japanese-occupied areas began to operate. Only the telegraph had not been restored.

Japanese city buses have also started operating, rickshaws have returned to the streets, and the Beijing-Shanghai line, which was damaged by heavy artillery and bombing during the war, has been repaired and passengers can once again take trains from Jinling to Shanghai.

Jinling soon became the busiest transshipment hub in the occupied area. Every day, a large number of trains, horses, artillery, trucks and other supplies were transported from various places to Pukou outside Jinling for shipment to the southwest.

However, this was only prosperity on the surface. Cruel exploitation under the Japanese occupation was everywhere. Businessmen in the Republic of China suffered from heavy tax and rent extortion to pay the salaries of Autonomous Committee officials.

The military stores opened by the Japanese for the people of the Republic of China used worthless military tickets to drain the gold, foreign currency and antiques of the people in the city, and plundered them economically and culturally.

This was a mandatory order. The Japanese army also directly confiscated valuables and company inventories, further exacerbating the poverty of the citizens. Even some traitors could not tolerate the despicable means.

Far more worrisome than heavy taxation and property confiscation is the proliferation of cigarettes in Jinling again. Before the Japanese occupied Jinling, cigarettes were apparently illegal and were cracked down on by the Secret Service many times.

Although there are many government officials involved, these people at least want to save their face and will not sell it to the public. Unlike the poor Japanese who are ready to lose their pants, they will do anything to raise military funds.

After the fall of Jinling, people could enter and leave the opium shop freely and could be guarded by the police station. The opium shop blatantly used Chinese signs with the word "official soil" written on it for customers, without any hesitation.

Behind these opium and soil dens, without exception, there is a background of the Japanese military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If it were not for the huge income from opium and soil, Japan would not be able to fight the subsequent battles such as Chiacheng and Shacheng.

In order to encourage people to smoke tobacco and thereby further enslave the people of the Republic of China, the shameless Japanese used tobacco as payment for labor services and even provided "Hao Xiong" cigarettes to children as young as 10 years old.

Even though it was destroyed several times by Zuo Zhong's leaders, after years of research, the Kwantung Army still developed a "hero" with less side effects. The only disadvantage is that the preparation cost is high and the price is expensive.

Of course, the stingy Japanese high-level officials were reluctant to use it on cheap red deer, so they promoted it to the occupied areas in order to continue to exploit the people of the Republic of China, especially the wealthy squires in the countryside.

As time entered the second half of 1939, after more than two years of exploitation, the security of Jinling became even more chaotic. The city was full of traitors who committed crimes, and the people's lives were extremely difficult.

Under this situation, many people choose to numb themselves with faith. The temples and Taoist temples around Jinling are becoming more and more lively. In order to stabilize the situation and people's hearts, the Japanese don't care much about the monks and Taoist priests.

Therefore, these temples and Taoist temples have become small havens, giving the people of Jinling a rare place of comfort so that they can express their grief or temporarily escape the hell on earth that is Jinling.

The Wuliang Temple located in Qixia Mountain is one of them. The temple's owner, Taoist Xuancheng, came here in the 24th year of the Republic of China to build a Taoist temple. There were four apprentices and several handymen in the temple. Several acres of thin fields were planted behind the mountain.

It's quite famous nearby.

The reason is that Taoist Xuancheng learned from the masters of Longhu Mountain and was good at divination and fortune-telling. He could often figure out the occupation and wishes of the layman who came to do the divination without waiting for him to speak.

Moreover, the other party never cares about money. Rich people are not happy if they are given more gold, and poor people are not bothered if they are given less or no gold. Everyone is treated equally, and many Japanese military officers also come here because of their reputation.

Facing these beasts, Xuancheng Taoist is not afraid, but he does not turn them away, just like facing ordinary laymen. The people know in their hearts that if the temple master does not want to protect them, he will definitely not give fortune-telling to the devils.

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For a time, Wuliang Temple's reputation grew. Countless lay believers came every day, and a dirt road was forcibly trampled from the foot of the mountain to the Taoist temple.

Normally, it is a good thing that the incense is so prosperous at this time of war and chaos. At least the Taoist priests can have enough to eat. However, Taoist Xuancheng was not surprised in his heart, but was a little uneasy.

That night, Wuliangguan's handymen stood around the main hall with brooms in their hands to clean the floor, while Xuancheng Taoist and his four disciples sat face to face on futons in Sanqing Hall, talking quietly.

"The gate will only be open for half a day starting tomorrow. If anyone asks, I will say that I want to retreat and ignore secular affairs. If this continues, the Japanese will soon notice us." Taoist Xuancheng said lightly.

"Yes, District Chief, but we have made a lot of money in the past two years. For example, we received several hundred yen today. How should we deal with this money? Should we hand it over to the Yamashiro Bureau headquarters?

Xuancheng's "eldest disciple" said with some worry: "When the government was still in Jinling, the money was in charge of the general affairs, and we just had to lurk. The situation is different now.

If someone is gossiping in the mountain city, it will be troublesome. You are an old man in the bureau and you should know the temper of the deputy chairperson. Anyone who dares to abandon the public service for personal reasons will be punished by military law."

Who would have thought that the famous Wuliang Temple in Jinling was actually the headquarters of the Jinling District of the Military Command, and the famous Taoist Xuancheng was the district chief of Jinling District, in charge of the intelligence stations in several cities near Jinling.

It’s no wonder that people trust each other so much. The so-called fortune-telling is nothing more than a trick of observing people’s emotions. Letting a professional intelligence officer who is proficient in psychology, observation and reasoning to tell fortunes is really overkill.

The other three "apprentices" nodded when they heard the "senior brother"'s words. They were military agents who abandoned their families and careers and lurked in Jinling at the risk of losing their heads for the sake of loyalty, not for money.

Moreover, when the Japanese are driven out, they will be the heroes of the country and the party. If they have nothing by then, it would be too uneconomical to be punished for being unfairly wronged just because of a small amount of money.

Taoist Xuancheng shook his fly whisk and shook his head slightly: "Don't worry, Deputy Director Zuo told me before we retreated that all the income from Wuliangguan will go to our Jinling District for funding.

If the amount is too large, you can give an appropriate amount to the headquarters, and the general affairs department will help distribute it to everyone's relatives. The deputy chairperson has always been kind-hearted and will not let the brothers bleed or shed tears."

As soon as these words came out, the four apprentices immediately beamed with joy. They were indeed not afraid of sacrifice. They were afraid that their families would be hungry. They had also heard about the prices in the mountain city, which were rising faster than the Guo army retreated.

I can barely survive on that little settlement fee, so I can rest assured now.

Looking at his joyful subordinates, Taoist Xuancheng nodded secretly. Unstable military morale is a taboo in the military, especially in enemy-occupied areas. Military morale represents combat effectiveness and must be paid attention to.

At the same time, he also admired Deputy Director Zuo's arrangements. Back then, they were lurking in Qixia Mountain several years in advance under the other party's orders. Some people thought it was unfounded worries. Looking back now, it was really brilliant.

The Japanese are not fools. Although they will not target temples and Taoist temples at will, the details of monks and Taoist priests still need to be investigated, especially those suspicious people who settled in Jinling before and after the war between China and Japan.

As long as there are any problems found, they will be arrested first and then interrogated. If they had not hidden their identities and "trained" in Wuliangguan a few years ago, they would have inevitably gone to the Japanese Military Police.

After sighing again in his heart, Taoist Xuancheng turned around and asked the second apprentice who was in charge of reporting and machine maintenance something.

"By the way, is there no problem with the radio station?"

"It must be kept well and must not be exposed to moisture. All industries in Jinling are withered. Electrical materials are not easy to buy. The Japanese inspect them very strictly on the road. The headquarters cannot deliver goods to Jinling."

As a result, the second apprentice smiled awkwardly and said in a helpless tone: "District Chief, the environment around Wuliangguan is too humid. Two more electronic tubes broke yesterday and need to be replaced."

Taoist Xuancheng was dumbfounded, but he didn't say much. The radio has to be used all the time. Once the internal components come into contact with water, it is easy to break down the tube. This is due to the climate and there is nothing we can do about it.

He waved his hand, stood up and walked out of Sanqing Hall to the firewood shed. He moved the firewood piled up against the wall, groped around on the wall to open the secret compartment, took out two spare tubes from it, and then restored the secret compartment to its original state.

Leave slowly.

But he didn't notice that a stream of cold, moist air was blowing into the dark compartment through a small crack in the wall. Tiny water droplets invisible to the naked eye gradually condensed on the inner wall of the remaining electron tubes in the dark compartment, slowly eroding the cathode connector.
Chapter completed!