Spy Wars: I can get rewards by being a bully!

Chapter 1061 Just Helping Out

While Tanabe Ken was strolling around discussing matters with his subordinates, Li Shiqun was not idle either.

In the bar of the Six Nations Hotel, Li Shiqun sat on a sofa with a glass of Dutch water, watching the crowd dancing on the dance floor.

Not long after, a man in a black suit walked over, sat down, lit a cigarette, and said leisurely, "Minister Li, it's been a long time."

Li Shiqun frowned. "Kishida-kun, I've never had any dealings with your Cabinet Intelligence Bureau. I'm here in Beiping on official business, not to conduct intelligence activities. What brings you here?"

"Minister Li, don't worry. I came to see you with the permission of Section Chief Qingqi. With him as the middleman, you don't need to worry so much, right?"

The Chief of the Qingqi Section mentioned by this person is Qingqi Qingyin, Li Shiqun's "benefactor". Qingqi has now been transferred back to headquarters and serves as the Chief of the China Section of the General Staff Headquarters.

"Speaking of which, I'm curious, how could Haruki-kun be involved with people from your Cabinet Intelligence Bureau?"

Shoji Kishida took a drag of his cigarette and chuckled, “Whether it’s the Intelligence Bureau, the Special Higher Police, or the Special Operations Headquarters, aren’t we all working hard for the great cause of the Empire? When necessary, we don’t distinguish between you and me.”

Li Shiqun pursed his lips, thinking that even a child wouldn't believe such a thing.

The Japanese spy system was extremely complex and chaotic.

The army has a special operations department, the navy has its own independent intelligence agency, the General Headquarters manages the Special Higher Police, the cabinet has an intelligence bureau (formerly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Investigation Department), and in addition, there are various other independently operating "agency" and directly subordinate investigation teams.

These intelligence agencies compete more with each other than they cooperate; some even only compete and have no cooperation whatsoever.

Seeing that Li Shiqun remained silent, Kishida Shoji stubbed out his cigarette and said in a low voice, "The General Headquarters and the Cabinet have cooperated on intelligence matters. As you probably know, the war in the Pacific is not progressing well, and the Empire has suffered heavy losses..."

Li Shiqun said with a playful smile, "That's not what I read in the newspapers. Didn't they say that the Imperial fleet had broken through the American Pacific Fleet and would soon be able to reach the American mainland?"

Shoji Kishida remained expressionless, unaffected by Li Shiqun's sarcasm. "Alright, Minister Li, let's be frank. The Empire needs to deploy more troops in the Pacific. Currently, there are still hundreds of thousands of troops stationed on the Manchurian-Mongolian border. These troops are responsible for defending against the Northern Bear. Therefore, the Empire hopes to reach some agreements with the Northern Bear in order to withdraw more troops from the Manchurian-Mongolian border."

Li Shiqun was quite wary, saying, "It's best if Kishida-kun doesn't tell me about such important military and national affairs."

Shoji Kishida stared intently at him. "No, Mr. Li, your chance to make a difference has come."

Li Shiqun chuckled, "Make a contribution? I'm the director of the Special Agent Headquarters in Jinling, not some official at headquarters. I'll just complete the tasks assigned by Director Wang; I don't need to make any contributions."

“Li Jun, listen, the Russians in the north are currently resisting the German offensive. They also really want to withdraw troops from the Far East, but we can’t negotiate this ourselves. After all, we are still allies with Germany. Now, Vasilyev of the Far East branch of the Russian intelligence agency wants to contact us. I think it’s appropriate to contact him in Beiping, and it’s also appropriate for you, as the director of the intelligence headquarters, to do so.”

Li Shiqun was quite clever; after a little thought, he understood the reasoning behind it.

The current situation is that the Russian bear in the north and the Japanese are still in a standoff in the Far East. Both sides want to withdraw some of their troops, but neither dares to withdraw first.

Since that's the case, we need to negotiate and agree to withdraw together.

The key issue is that the two sides cannot negotiate directly because Japan and Germany are allies. If Japan and the northern bear agree to withdraw their troops together, then the bear will have more troops available to resist Germany, which is obviously disadvantageous to Germany.

There was a shrewd person in the Japanese headquarters who arranged for the people of the Nanjing Reform Bureau to secretly negotiate with the Soviet Union. If the negotiations succeeded, everyone would withdraw their troops and never admit to having negotiated. Even if the matter was exposed, the headquarters could still disclaim any involvement in the matter. If the negotiations failed, there would be no loss.

Shoji Kishida patiently persuaded, "Mr. Li, if we weren't in a position where we couldn't directly contact the Russians, I would have volunteered to be the negotiator this time no matter what! Think about it, if this succeeds, Section Chief Haruki will give you credit, and maybe even Lord Tojo will think highly of you!"

At this point, Li Shiqun was genuinely tempted.

He's having a tough time right now. Shibayama Kenshiro sees him as a thorn in his side. If he can get support from the headquarters, why would he be afraid of Shibayama Kenshiro?

"Kishida-kun, why was it arranged in Beiping instead of Harbin?"

Shoji Kishida smiled wryly: "Ice City? You've been in Nanjing for too long, you don't know the situation in the north. Ice City is a den of spies, with people from the Russians, the British, the Germans, and the Americans. The risks are too great! Beijing is different. In recent years, Beijing's counter-espionage work has been done very well, and it is relatively safe. Moreover, you came to Beijing on official business, and no one would ever think that you would be involved in this matter!"

"If I agree, am I supposed to go and negotiate alone?"

"Of course not. I will arrange for some people to act as your assistants. Of course, they must appear as your entourage and their identities as diplomats must never be revealed."

Li Shiqun took a deep breath, looked at Kishida, and said, "Give me a cigarette."

...........

Lin House.

Inside the flower hall, a charcoal hot pot was steaming, filled with spring water, scallions and ginger, and a couple of mushrooms. Once the water boiled, large platters of meat were added.

Lin Ze, Okamura Tadashi, and Gao Shengping were enjoying their meal around the charcoal pot.

"Damn, bro! Who invented this stuff? It's really delicious!"

Gao Shengping looked at Okamura Tadamasa, then at Lin Ze. He felt that Okamura Tadamasa was acting a bit like Saito back in the day!

Speaking of Saito, Lao Gao recalled many past events...

Lin Ze nudged him, "What are you doing? Don't just stand there, come on, let's drink."

Old Gao raised his glass and said, "Shengmin, we owe you a lot for getting people out of trouble this time. Thank you."

"Director, no need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank Zhongzheng. If you ask me, you should be more careful when you do these things in the future. Direct contact isn't a good idea. You should always keep one or two layers of people between you, right?"

Gao Shengping winked and made faces, as if to say, why say these things in front of the general's son!

Lin Ze laughed and said, "Let alone talking about these things, even if you talked about how to send supplies to the Red Zone in front of Okamura Tadamasa, Okamura Tadamasa would just pretend he didn't hear you."

No, maybe he'll even help come up with ideas!

The main issue is their differing stances. His father is constantly launching attacks and suppression campaigns; what does that have to do with him?

If it's something my older brother does, then it must be the right thing to do, so I'll just help him out!