"What exactly is going on here?" Yoshino Takehiko worried there might be a trap.
Yoshino Tomokazu explained patiently, "Uncle, your position is too high now. You don't know much about the lower-ranking officials."
"The Tokkō's structure follows the police system back home."
"The man in charge is Colonel Fujita, formerly of Military Police Headquarters. He came from the military. You still remember the Nakamura Shoichi incident, don't you?"
A faint, bitter smile appeared on Yoshino Takehiko's lips.
That incident had caused quite a stir in both Japan's military and political circles.
It began when a soldier named Nakamura Shoichi ran a red light. Running a red light was nothing much in itself, but when the police came over, he beat them up too.
In the end, the police arrested Nakamura, and his superior soon learned of it.
Without another word, his superior took men to the police station and brought him out, smashing up the station before leaving.
That superior was the current commander, Terauchi Hisaichi.
The Ministry of Home Affairs later lodged a protest with the military, but the authorities back home ultimately sided with the army, and the whole affair came to nothing.
This had also led to two competing voices within Shanghai's Tokkō. Men like Fujita, who came from the military and had been seconded to the Tokkō, looked down utterly on Inoue Kazuhiko, who came from the police.
Of the Shanghai Tokko Section's six departments, four were directly headed by Fujita's trusted men, all of whom also came from the military.
Only Inoue Kazuhiko and Ono Hikaru of the General Affairs Section came from the police.
After explaining the whole story, Yoshino Tomokazu said, "Uncle, don't worry. As I said earlier, Inoue will monitor the Investigation Section's movements throughout."
"The Investigation Section's main duties are counterespionage and internal disciplinary inspections. If they catch wind of this deal halfway through, Inoue will tip us off in advance."
"Even if the pressure comes from above and he can't hold it off, he can still buy us at least half a day's warning. That's enough for us to destroy all the evidence."
Yoshino Takehiko frowned. "But have you considered what happens if..."
Yoshino Tomokazu raised a hand and cut him off. "Uncle, there are no ifs. I know what you're worried about."
"I already have plenty of people aboard this boat."
"Of course, the more people involved, the greater the risk. I understand that."
"But conversely, we have our own people at every key point. We'll know immediately if anything stirs on any side."
Yoshino Takehiko considered this for a moment before asking, "You've made so many arrangements for the process. What about the buyer? Have you arranged one?"
The corners of Yoshino Tomokazu's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a trace of smug satisfaction. "I've already found a buyer."
"Translator Liu from the Logistics Department has an older male cousin named Wu Jingui, nicknamed Fatty Wu."
"I had Yamada look into his background. Fatty Wu runs a cotton yarn business in the concessions. He's timid, but he knows a lot of people."
"He found a middleman called Old Knife Handle. This man has an excellent reputation on Shanghai's black market. He's handled countless big deals and has never come to grief."
Yoshino Takehiko asked gravely, "Have you made contact with him?"
Yoshino Tomokazu shook his head. "Not yet, but you needn't worry too much. We won't have much to do with each other. We're only responsible for supplying the goods."
"Old Knife Handle is arranging the details of the meeting. They'll be finalized by noon tomorrow at the latest."
"Under the preliminary terms we've discussed, we'll sell the cotton cloth at forty percent of the black-market price. The buyer will collect it and pay the full amount in silver dollars on the spot."
"Since this is our first deal, we didn't dare find someone too familiar with Shanghai. A novice can become an old hand, but an old hand will attract a lot of attention."
"That would work against our principle of getting in and out quickly."
"As for the profit, I've already worked it out. A conservative estimate puts the return from selling this shipment at no less than fourteen thousand silver dollars."
"I've also calculated how to divide the profits."
"Uncle, Yamada will handle the bulk of the transport this time, so he'll get ten percent."
"Inoue will get five percent for monitoring things behind the scenes."
"On the Logistics Department's side, Shimura, the warehouse keeper supplying the goods, will get an extra five percent."
"Altogether, they'll receive around four thousand silver dollars."
"The remaining ten thousand silver dollars will be our profit."
"With this money, everything you're worried about will be easily resolved."
"I'll have someone prepare the finest dowry for Sakurako, and I'll cover Taro's expenses for studying abroad too."
"You won't need to do anything. Just sit back and watch."
"Watch? Heh, how could it be as simple as you make it sound?" Yoshino Takehiko chuckled, then suddenly asked, "Tomokazu, have you thought about what you'll do afterward?"
"Are you only doing this once?"
"Why only once?" The corners of Yoshino Tomokazu's mouth rose slightly. "Uncle, I didn't put in all this effort just to make a little money. Besides, this isn't merely a question of money."
"Think about it. If it works this time, this route will become a complete channel."
"Shimura handles the warehouse, Yamada handles transport, Inoue handles intelligence monitoring, and we handle allocation and accounts. Every link is staffed by our own people."
"From now on, supplies confiscated by the military police from Shanghai's major docks and warehouses will keep pouring in."
"We only need to divert a portion and turn it into cash before it's entered in the registers."
"This will be an endless stream of income!"
Yoshino Takehiko turned to look at his smugly satisfied nephew, and suddenly felt a sense of unreality...
Since when had the Japanese Empire's army officers become like this?
But he did not say it aloud.
Because he had no right to say it.
He merely fell silent for a while, then asked his final question. "When do you plan to make the deal?"
"Tomorrow night..."
Nara Inn, HK District, Shanghai.
By then, HK District had become a Japanese concession in all but name.
Originally, Shanghai had no Japanese concession. On April 6, 1849, the French consul in Shanghai, Charles de Montigny, and the Shanghai circuit intendant, Lingui, agreed to designate the area outside the north gate of Shanghai's county town as the French Concession.
The International Settlement, meanwhile, originated from the British Concession established in 1843 and the American Concession established in 1846...
On September 20, 1863, the British and American concessions formally merged into the International Settlement...
At that time, Shanghai still had no exclusively Japanese area!
Only later, as more and more Japanese expatriates settled in Shanghai, did the Japanese consul in Shanghai at the time, Takahashi, pay a large sum to bribe the British and French consuls in the concessions to secure a suitable place for his countrymen to live.
They also obtained two seats on the Shanghai Municipal Council and used those two board seats to seize complete control of HK District.
Over time, it became an exclusively Japanese area.
After the Battle of Shanghai ended, the Japanese occupied all of Shanghai. Although they did not dare move against the French Concession or the International Settlement, areas such as Hongkou and Zhabei had already fallen entirely under Japanese control!
The owners of Nara Inn were a middle-aged couple from Japan's Nara Prefecture, with many years of experience running hot spring inns!
The inn was quite well known in Hongkou's Japanese expatriate quarter, and its owners had some connections at Military Police Headquarters!
At least the Japanese rarely came to disturb the guests here!
At noon, after Chen Fan finished soaking in the hot spring at the swimming department and came out, the inn's proprietress hurried over with a letter and knocked on his room door!
Chen Fan opened the door, took the envelope from her, and thanked her!
After closing the door, Chen Fan opened the envelope. Inside was a single sheet of stationery.
A line of neat, small regular-script characters read, "Tonight at ten, the show begins. Admission by ticket. Do not be late!"