Chapter 969
Mao Renfeng outwits Zheng Yaoxian, Wang Tianfeng, and the rampage.
When the Zhang faction was subtly divided into two factions due to the discord between Wang and Shen, Mao Renfeng did not put too much pressure on the Zhang faction, but instead began to "play the field."
Under the guise of rectification, they began blatantly infiltrating other factions.
No matter how fiercely Zhang and Mao fought before, they had a tacit understanding in private:
It subtly and silently weakens the power of other factions.
For example, if Zhang Anping were to strike and each faction loses ten positions, Mao Renfeng could unite the leaders of these factions to launch a counterattack against Zhang Anping and successfully regain eight positions. However, Mao Renfeng wouldn't work for nothing, so he would take two of those eight positions, leaving the factions with only six positions.
It seems like a victory, but in reality... it was a complete and utter defeat.
After the two men's continuous suppression, the Zhang faction is the largest in the existing Bureau of Investigation and Statistics system, followed by the Mao faction, which has grown stronger and more united after repeated "rebirths". The Zheng faction is next, and the other factions combined are roughly equivalent to half of the Mao faction plus one of the Zheng faction.
When Zhang Anping was no longer watching with predatory eyes, Mao Renfeng suddenly started "collecting protection money" from these factions. The factions, which had once been able to tip the scales, were astonished to find that they had no room for bargaining.
After their path of joining the Zhang faction was blocked, even if they allied with the Zheng faction, they were still powerless against Mao Renfeng's "protection money" tactics.
Fortunately, Mao Renfeng did not push them to the brink of desperation. He simply slashed them hard, a painful but not fatal slash.
By successfully wresting resources from various factions, Mao's faction's power greatly increased. Faced with the Zhang faction's growing tensions, Mao's faction naturally became the largest faction in the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
But for Mao Renfeng, this was just the beginning!
Because his real target is the Zheng faction!
For the past six months or so, the Zheng faction has devoted most of its energy to special forces. After joining forces with Mao Renfeng to snatch control of the special armed forces from Zhang Anping, the Zheng faction's energy and resources have been heavily tilted towards the special armed forces.
As a result, in the subsequent political struggles, the Zheng faction was like a fisherman who profited.
While Mao Renfeng was collecting "protection fees," he joined forces with the Zheng faction to strangle the power of various factions in the special armed forces. As a result, the Zheng faction seemed to have benefited from the Mao faction's actions, but in reality, the Zheng faction was in a state of serious isolation and helplessness.
But Zheng Yaoxian seemed oblivious to all this. Judging from the news that has been circulating, Zheng Yaoxian is basking in the glory of this windfall.
Just then, Mao Renfeng's large cleaver fell once again.
The target is none other than the Zheng faction, who just got a windfall!
The former Henan District, now Henan Station, is the core territory of the Zheng faction. Zheng Yaoxian started managing the Henan District after leaving Shanghai, and it has been there for seven or eight years, truly deeply rooted.
Zheng's faction is now focusing its efforts on special armed forces. Although it still maintains a strong grip on the Henan station, there are many loopholes. With a large amount of resources being poured into special armed forces, can the Henan station's accounts withstand scrutiny?
The answer is:
We can't take it!
Mao Renfeng saw this opportunity and secretly bribed the head of the general affairs department of the Henan station. He then sent an investigation team to the Henan station and, with just an account book, brought down Song Xiaoan, the current stationmaster of the Henan station who was loyal to Zheng Yaoxian.
With Song Xiaoan's arrest, the Henan Station naturally faced a major purge, and a series of Zheng's key members were imprisoned. Faced with Mao Renfeng's sudden attack, Zheng Yaoxian reacted unusually slowly. Even though Mao Renfeng had already drawn his sword, he still believed that his alliance with Mao Renfeng was unbreakable, which caused him to miss the opportunity to transfer the Henan Station's core members into the special armed forces. Ultimately, this led to a large number of Henan Station's key members being imprisoned due to corruption.
Fortunately, Zheng Yaoxian realized what was happening and chose to confront the situation with drastic measures—he directly imprisoned all the Maoist officers in the special armed forces!
They adopted a fierce stance, as if to say, "If you dare kill my people, I will kill all yours."
Faced with Zheng Yaoxian's fierce response, Mao Renfeng originally wanted to remove Zheng Yaoxian from his military post through a bureau meeting, and then legally and legitimately bring Zheng Yaoxian to justice. However, at the bureau meeting, the two bigwigs of the Zhang faction, who had been silent for a long time, stood up and vehemently opposed it.
It's obvious that Wang Tianfeng and Shen Zui are both eager for Zheng Mao to turn against them, so how could they possibly abandon Zheng Yaoxian at this time?
Unable to remove Zheng Yaoxian from his military post, Mao Renfeng had no choice but to negotiate with him. Faced with Mao Renfeng's terms of exchange, Zheng Yaoxian, known for his loyalty, had no choice but to agree to Mao Renfeng's terms.
The final result is:
All of Zheng's core members at the Henan station were transferred to the special armed forces, and Mao's faction's influence in the special armed forces had to be completely withdrawn.
This result seems to indicate that neither side can gain the upper hand, but in reality, Zheng Yaoxian has lost his stronghold in Henan.
Therefore, the ensuing chain reaction was that Zheng Yaoxian's forces at headquarters and in other stations were quickly digested and absorbed by the Mao and Zhang factions.
Of these, the Mao faction naturally took the lion's share, while the Zhang faction only got a small portion.
……
During the period of Mao's rapid growth, Zhang's faction's only response was that the two leaders strongly supported Zheng Yaoxian at a bureau meeting. Apart from that, they made virtually no other statement.
why?
Because Shen Zui was busy uniting other forces in Zhang's faction, he frequently flew to Beiping and Shanghai to communicate with Gu Shenyan and Xu Tian, two generals in Zhang's faction, hoping to gain their support and temporarily get rid of Wang Tianfeng, this unstable factor.
In Shen Zui's view, only by kicking Wang Tianfeng away could the Zhang faction's power be integrated and the base be stabilized amid the Mao faction's aggressive actions.
Gu Shenyan was extremely supportive of Shen Zui, but Xu Tian disliked Shen Zui very much. On the contrary, Xu Tian favored Wang Tianfeng. It was because of their different choices that the Zhang faction began to show signs of division.
Shen Zui was so anxious that he was jumping up and down and repeatedly communicating with Zhang's key members. However, Wang Tianfeng, whose work assignments had been adjusted, was not in a hurry. He did not connect with the various key members of Zhang's faction, but instead stayed in his own little corner and lived a "simple" life.
But... is it really just about simply drifting through life?
of course not!
In fact, at this moment, Wang Tianfeng's gaze was fixed on Mingtai.
"Katyusha," his inner demon, his obsession!
And during this time, something happened:
Yanzhou has fallen!
In July 1948, the Shandong Corps launched the Yanzhou Campaign. On the 13th, Yanzhou was captured. Strategically, the liberation of Yanzhou isolated Jinan and created conditions for the liberation of Jinan.
From Wang Tianfeng's perspective, what role did the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics' Yanzhou Station play in the fall of Yanzhou?
When the investigation report was secretly delivered to Wang Tianfeng, he slammed it heavily on the table!
Yanzhou Station... betrayal!
Of course, from the perspective of the underground party, this is called an uprising.
Although it was never determined whether the Yanzhou station chief's uprising was premeditated or impromptu, from Wang Tianfeng's perspective, it was already clear that the man had long been a communist sympathizer.
Therefore, the fact that the other party appeared at the same time as Mingtai at Sixi Hall in Nanjing can only mean that it was an exchange of intelligence.
This convinced Wang Tianfeng that Mingtai was indeed a member of the underground Communist Party.
It was this incident that made Wang Tianfeng determined to find a breakthrough by opening up Mingtai.
As the surveillance of Mingtai continued, a startling truth gradually unfolded before Wang Tianfeng:
Mingtai's connection with Shen Zui is far too... deep!
Don't forget that from Wang Tianfeng's perspective, there's one thing about Shen Zui that's inexplicable. A martial arts expert, a renowned action master during the Kuomintang era, was taken down by Zhang Anping using truth serum—yet the same truth serum had no effect on a slightly trained underground party member.
Zhang Anping explained that Shen Zui was completely unguarded, which is why his experiment with the truth serum on Shen Zui was successful.
This matter had always been a thorn in Wang Tianfeng's side, keeping Shen Zui on his list of suspects. And now, Mingtai, whom he was keeping a close eye on, actually had a very deep connection with Shen Zui.
This forced Wang Tianfeng to think in another direction:
Is it possible that Shen Zui is Mingtai's superior? Or rather, is it possible that Shen Zui is... Katyusha?!
As a ruthless man who even dared to put Zhang Anping's father on the list of suspects, how could Wang Tianfeng remain indifferent after making such a connection!
check!
He forced Cai Jierong, who had been forced onto his "pirate ship," to carry out his will, even driving Cai Jierong to secretly prepare for his own death...
Originally, the investigation into Shen Zui was a secret one, but the situation in Northeast China was deteriorating. Although Changchun was held in May, there were too many signs that the People's Liberation Army was going to move south along the Beining Railway to attack Jinzhou.
At this time, the Northeast Inspectorate was slow to react and its intelligence was often wrong!
Wang Tianfeng knew Minglou well and believed that Minglou would not be a communist. Even if his third brother was a communist, Minglou would still be a staunch supporter of the party and the state. However, the situation in the Northeast Inspectorate made Wang Tianfeng think the worst.
But at this very moment, during the wiretapping of Mingtai, Wang Tianfeng learned of some information.
Mingjing's death is suspected to have been orchestrated by Zhang Anping himself!
Upon seeing this news, Wang Tianfeng gasped, utterly shocked—if this were true, then Ming Lou…
He immediately mobilized all of Zhang's resources to launch a secret investigation into this long-standing case, and finally learned the truth:
Mingjing's death was not an accident, but the result of Zhang Anping's own planning.
In other words, Zhang Anping has a blood feud with the Ming family because of the killing of his sister!
Therefore, the possibility that Minglou would side with the underground party in order to seek revenge is greatly increased.
Therefore, Wang Tianfeng secretly visited Mao Renfeng at night to inquire about something:
Does Minglou even know that Zhang Anping is the man who killed his sister?
Mao Renfeng naturally denied it—because he had secretly told Minglou about it, and it was because of this that he gained a loyal general. How could he possibly reveal the truth about it?
But Wang Tianfeng then revealed his true colors:
He was investigating Mingtai and Shen Zui, and all the signs pointed to Shen Zui possibly being Katyusha—but setting aside these signs, is there another possibility:
Is this the "truth" that Katyusha wanted her to see?
What if the real Katyusha was Minglou?!
Or rather, the real Katyusha died long ago. With Mingjing's death, the real Katyusha is dead, but Minglou has taken over this code name!
This speculation made Mao Renfeng gasp, but he couldn't admit it. Besides, Minglou was too deeply tied to him. If Minglou really was Katyusha, then he would be held responsible!
At the same time, Mao Renfeng also had another guess in her mind:
This might be a deliberate scheme by Wang Tianfeng; he's actually investigating himself!
This guy even investigated Shen Zui, so he might be secretly keeping an eye on me. If it's confirmed that Ming Lou is a communist, is it possible that this guy will think he's the real Katyusha?
Moreover, he had already lost the favor of the chief attendant. If it were to be revealed now that the person in charge of the Northeast secrecy system, his core cronies, were communist sympathizers, he would be finished.
Therefore, Mao Renfeng categorically rejected Wang Tianfeng's guess and, in the next day's bureau meeting, completely betrayed Wang Tianfeng!
The revelation made by Mao Renfeng shocked the entire Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
As one of the two giants in the Zhang faction, how could he secretly investigate the other giant?
Furthermore, there are suspicions that Ming Lou, the director of the Northeast Inspection Office, is a communist sympathizer.
What...what...what are they trying to do?!
Is there no law anymore?!
Of course, Shen Zui reacted the most strongly.
Holy crap!
Wang Tianfeng, I considered you a comrade-in-arms, yet you actually conspired with Mao Renfeng to try and get back at me.
You keep saying it's for the Party and the country, but what are you doing?
They collude with foreign enemies to turn against their own people!
Shen Zui slammed his fist on the table on the spot:
“Wang Tianfeng, you keep saying that this person is a suspected undercover agent, that person is a suspected undercover agent, and you even repeatedly say that Director Mao is a Communist Party undercover agent—I used to think you were overthinking things, but now it seems that you are not just overthinking things, you are clearly just trying to stir up trouble!”
"Last time, you slandered the section chief, forcing the district chief to prove his innocence, which ultimately led to the district chief being blamed and dismissed!"
"Before leaving, the district commander repeatedly urged you to unite with everyone and overcome difficulties together!"
"But what have you done? First, you secretly investigated loyal agents in three stations and four locations, then you secretly monitored the confidants trusted by the district commander, and now you're not even sparing me or Director Lian Ming—wherever the war is critical, you target the key personnel of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics!"
What do you mean by this?
"What exactly do you mean by this?!"
Although Shen Zui did not say that Wang Tianfeng was the undercover agent, everything he said pointed to this "fact".
When Shen Zui and Wang Tianfeng joined forces, they could still put up a counterbalance against Mao Renfeng at the bureau meeting. But now that Shen Zui has taken control of Wang Tianfeng, it is destined that the two cannot work together.
Therefore, the outcome was predetermined:
Wang Tianfeng was stripped of all his responsibilities by the bureau's administrative meeting, which then forcefully intervened in the special operations team under Wang Tianfeng's control, including the team leader Cai Jierong and others, all of whom were imprisoned.
Furthermore, the Bureau of Secrecy, under the guise of a bureau meeting, reported Wang Tianfeng's situation to the GFB and demanded a thorough investigation of him.
Normally, most people would surrender at this point.
But Wang Tianfeng was no ordinary person.
He approached the section chief—who was highly skeptical of the outrageous facts reported by Wang Tianfeng, but Wang Tianfeng was willing to make a solemn promise, saying that given half a month, he would definitely find out the truth.
If there is no result, Wang Tianfeng is willing to accept military law!
The section chief wasn't very confident in Wang Tianding and was hesitant about it.
If what Wang Tianfeng said is true, then it's a bombshell.
But what if that's not the case?
After what happened last time, he only dared to trust Wang Tianfeng's words with 30% confidence.
Wang Tianfeng realized the section chief's hesitation and had to bring up Zhang Anping.
Before leaving, Zhang Anping told the section chief: "Although Tianfeng is unscrupulous in his actions, he is loyal to the Party and the country. If Tianfeng causes trouble, I hope the section chief can mediate."
Seeing that Wang Tianfeng had brought up Zhang Anping, the section chief thought it over and decided to support Wang Tianfeng.
But compared to Wang Tianfeng's radicalism, the section chief's determination was much more composed:
Through GFB, Wang Tianfeng was authorized to thoroughly investigate the internal communist smuggling case within the Bureau of Secrecy in his capacity as deputy director of the Bureau of Secrecy. However, all procedures must be legal and compliant, and no action should be taken against senior or middle-level cadres of the Bureau of Secrecy without evidence.
In addition, he only gave Wang Tianfeng one month. If there were no results within one month, regardless of the progress, Wang Tianfeng would immediately resign from the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
Although the section chief set a framework of constraints for Wang Tianfeng, Wang Tianfeng's act of obtaining authorization from the GFB to thoroughly investigate the Bureau of Secrecy's smuggling case still provoked a strong backlash from the entire Bureau of Secrecy system.
Wang Tianfeng's work was fraught with obstacles and difficulties.
But just then, another astonishing piece of news arrived:
There is a suspected, deeply hidden underground Communist Party organization within the Traffic Police Corps! (End of Chapter)