Chapter 145: His Name Was Chenzhou

The struggle between the Communist Party Special Branch and the Shanghai District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department was a record of the most brutal clashes between the two parties in Shanghai over these years.

It could be described as flashing blades and blood staining the sky.

At the end of the twenty-first year of the Republic, Nanjing dispatched the heavyweight veteran agent Shi Qimei, operating under the alias Ma Qiwu and a graduate of Huangpu, to Shanghai to establish the Shanghai District headquarters of the Nationalist intelligence service and strengthen anti-Communist operations.

This man was extremely cunning and ruthless.

The headquarters of the Shanghai Special District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department was located on Zhonghua Road in Nanshi, publicly operating under the name Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau Inspectorate.

Under it were the Operations Section, Training Section, and the five district organizations of Eastern Shanghai, Western Shanghai, Central Shanghai, Southern Shanghai, and Pudong.

During his time in Shanghai, Ma Qiwu was extremely arrogant and aggressively hunted Communist members.

Large numbers of Communists were arrested and killed, and for a time every progressive figure in Shanghai lived in fear.

The Communist Party Special Branch received orders to eliminate Ma Qiwu.

One day in the twenty-second year of the Republic, at around seven in the evening, Ma Qiwu’s movements were discovered by the Red Team in front of the Oriental Hotel at No. 22 Zhejiang Road.

The Communist Party Special Branch launched an ambush.

Six top operational experts of the Communist Party Special Branch acted together, killing Ma Qiwu on the spot and killing or wounding nearly twenty Party Affairs Investigation Department agents.

In only two minutes, the six men completed the mission and withdrew without suffering a single casualty.

The next day, news of Inspector Ma Qiwu’s assassination appeared in all the major newspapers.

After Ma Qiwu was killed, Party Affairs Investigation Department elder Chen Lifu was grief-stricken.

Chiang Kai-shek personally issued a telegram of condolence and ordered generous compensation for Ma Qiwu’s family.

For the following year, the Party Affairs Investigation Department continued to hold memorial events on Ma Qiwu’s “martyrdom anniversary.”

However, no memorial event was held last year.

This was because Wang Yinghua, who had succeeded Ma Qiwu as the head of the Shanghai District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department, continued wielding the butcher’s knife and carried out large-scale massacres of Communists and progressive figures.

The Communist Party Special Branch struck again.

Despite heavy protection around him, Wang Yinghua was shot dead in front of his apartment.

“Section Chief, you weren’t in Shanghai at the time, so you don’t know,” Ding Naifei said.

“The Communist Party Special Branch’s Dog-Beating Squad was unbelievably rampant. Back then, every one of us brothers lived in fear.”

Seeing that Ding Naifei still appeared traumatized by those events even now, Wang Kangnian did not mock him.

Although he had been in Nanjing at the time, he had still heard of the audacity of the Communist Party Special Branch in Shanghai.

The assassinations of Ma Qiwu and Wang Yinghua, the successive heads of the Shanghai Special District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department, had shocked Nanjing.

The Party Affairs Investigation Department had dispatched personnel to thoroughly investigate the deaths of these two “martyrs.”

The person responsible for the investigation had been Wang Kangnian’s teacher.

That man had once sighed to Wang Kangnian:

The Communist Party Special Branch selected its locations and timing through meticulous planning and preparation, making defense nearly impossible.

This situation caused extreme anxiety among the agents of the Shanghai District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department.

Everyone’s nerves were stretched to the limit.

A report from the Party Affairs Investigation Department headquarters in Nanjing stated:

Those who had defected from the Communist Party, or who had participated in operations against Communist underground organizations, were especially terrified and hardly dared leave their homes.

Because no one knew when he might become the next target of the Communist Red Team.

Everyone lived in constant fear and tension.

Merely preserving themselves consumed all their energy, naturally leaving them incapable of striking back against the enemy.

The mighty Shanghai Special District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department had actually been suppressed by the Communists’ “arrogance,” with everyone living in fear.

This situation did not change until the end of last year.

After obtaining valuable intelligence, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau of the National Government arrested Communist Chen Xiangjun at the Central Hostel in Xiaodongmen, Nanshi.

Following several days and nights of uninterrupted torture, Chen Xiangjun finally confessed.

He admitted that he was a member of the Dog-Beating Squad of the Communist Party Special Branch.

This was the first captured member of the Communist Party Special Branch Red Team to confess after being taken alive.

Based on Chen’s testimony, the National Government’s Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau learned of several secret safe houses used by members of the Dog-Beating Squad inside the foreign concessions of Shanghai.

The Operations Section of the Shanghai District of the Party Affairs Investigation Department immediately coordinated with the police of the International Settlement Municipal Council and requested assistance.

At ten that same evening, rapid searches were conducted at multiple locations.

Members of the Dog-Beating Squad and their associates were arrested, and numerous pistols, gas pistols, ammunition, knives, and swords were seized.

Led by Chen Xiangjun, agents arrested Communist Party Special Branch members Ou Zhiguang, Zhang Yushan, and Yuan Youfang in Room 33 of the Zhongxin Hostel at No. 90 Qujiang Lane on Hankou Road late that night.

The following morning, the operation expanded further.

Zhang Dexin and Chen A’shi, a woman, were arrested on the second floor of No. 88 Zaide Lane on Beicheng Road.

Later that same morning, Dong Jiquan was arrested when he arrived there for a rendezvous.

The Party Affairs Investigation Department and the concession police jointly interrogated the six prisoners.

All six remained extremely steadfast.

Despite suffering every kind of torture, not one of them uttered a single word.

Chen Xiangjun personally identified everyone except Chen A’shi as members of the Dog-Beating Squad of the Central Special Branch.

Furthermore, these five men were five of the eight most elite operational experts of the Communist Party Special Branch.

Half a month later, the British and French concession authorities extradited the six prisoners to the National Government’s local court.

One week later, the Second Branch of the Jiangsu High Court sentenced Ou Zhiguang and four other Dog-Beating Squad members to death on charges of murder and the so-called crime of endangering the Republic.

They were escorted to Yuhuatai and executed by firing squad.

Another half month later, Chen Xiangjun identified a senior member of the Communist Party Special Branch who had been traveling to coordinate anti-Japanese rescue organizations, a man known by the codename Zhulin.

The Party Affairs Investigation Department was overjoyed.

After more than ten days of brutal torture yielded nothing, they escorted him to Yuhuatai for execution.

Thus, the Communist Party Special Branch suffered a devastating blow.

Leader Chiang Kai-shek personally sent a congratulatory telegram praising this “remarkable achievement.”

“The Communist Party Special Branch had eight operational experts, and we’ve already eliminated five of them,” Ding Naifei said.

“No, six have been eliminated,” Wang Kangnian shook his head.

“Zhulin was also an operational expert, and the leader of the eight.”

After pondering for a moment, he signaled the other subordinates to leave temporarily and stand guard at the door.

“There are still two remaining. According to Chen Xiangjun’s testimony, these two were the most mysterious. Even within the Communist Party Special Branch Red Team, they rarely acted together with the others.”

“One of them, nobody knows his real name. They only know his codename, Yuchang.”

Wang Kangnian snorted coldly.

“The Yuchang Sword. This fellow is arrogant beyond measure.”

“And there’s another one. Chen Xiangjun said this man was even more mysterious than Yuchang.”

“His name is Chenzhou,” Wang Kangnian said coldly.

“Him?”

Ding Naifei’s pupils contracted, revealing a look of fear.

“You know this man?” Wang Kangnian asked in surprise.

To avoid causing panic, information regarding the escaped Yuchang and Chenzhou had been classified as a top secret within the Party Affairs Investigation Department.

Only middle-ranking leaders like Wang Kangnian knew the details.

“I don’t know his name,” Ding Naifei said.

“But I’ve heard there was such an expert in the Communist Party Special Branch.”

“Rumor has it that this man never operated together with anyone else inside the organization. He always worked alone, possessed extraordinary skills, and was ruthless.”

Suddenly, Ding Naifei’s eyes widened enormously.

“Section Chief, it’s Chenzhou. It’s definitely him.”

“He works alone, possesses extraordinary skills, and is ruthless.”

“It’s definitely him!”