There are three bridges across the Heijiang River in the five provinces of Jiangnan. One of them is a dual-use railway and highway bridge with a total length of 5.4 kilometers. To the north of the bridge is Xin'an City, Nanping Road, Longbei Province, and to the south of the bridge is Heishan City, Jiangning Province.
Because the south and north sides of the bridge belong to different federations, Jiangning Heishan belongs to the Kingdom of Griffinni, and Longbei Nanpingdao belongs to the four provinces in the northern region, there are border inspections similar to customs.
Because the bridge was built by the Kingdom of Griffinni, the border checkpoints for both sides are in Xin'an City, north of the bridge.
The area south of the Xin'an Railway Station near the bridge belongs to the kingdom area.
Those who use the highway bridge must be inspected here. Even railway passengers have to get off here, pass the Kingdom border inspection, and then re-board, although it is the same train.
Thanks to this, Xin'an City is also the most prosperous city in Nanping Road, Longbei.
A small area from the border inspection to the bridge at the south end of Xin'an Railway Station belongs to the kingdom, but it is a leased area for the border inspection and needs to pay a certain fee to the Longbei Province every year.
Although this area is small, it is the most prosperous area in Xin'an City. The buildings are obviously different. There is even a glass curtain wall building with more than ten floors standing on the bank of the Heijiang River. It is called the "Shelver Building". It was built by the steel tycoon Shelver family. Imperial companies with businesses in the north, including some Japanese companies, have moved in here, and they use it as a springboard for their headquarters.
In fact, there are more Japanese companies than Griffinni companies that are keen on investing in the four provinces of the Northern Territory.
The atmosphere in Xin'an City has become a little weird recently, and martial law was suddenly imposed in the northern urban area.
In the southern concession area, an infantry company of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Black Mountain Brigade moved in.
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The buildings along Linjiang Road in the concession are all Japanese-style buildings, and most of the residents are Japanese businessmen.
Mei Mansion, No. 21 Linjiang Road, seems to be just an ordinary building among these Japanese buildings.
However, at this moment, Lu Ming's desk was littered with photos of Mei Mansion from various angles, as well as people who had recently entered and left Mei Mansion.
This is a five-story building very close to Dongying Street on Linjiang Road.
It was originally the property of the Yellow River Trading Company, but has now been sold to the Intelligence Section of the Black Mountain Brigade Inspectorate.
The Intelligence Department had just been established, and the chief was Lu Gaoyi, the captain of the gendarmerie.
Standing on the fifth floor here, you can overlook the street view of Dongying Street from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
The study where Lu Ming is located is on the fifth floor of this building.
The curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows were slightly opened. Lu Ming stood in front of the window, looking at the exotic cherry blossoms and wooden houses on the Japanese street in the distance.
Standing next to Lu Ming was Zhao Desheng, who was wearing an olive green officer's uniform and standing straight.
Now he is a captain staff officer in the intelligence department.
Once a person betrays his previous beliefs, it may trigger many unpredictable changes. Zhao Desheng is the kind of person whose personality is distorted. He grabbed his former companions without mercy and became extremely cruel to his former friends, more cruel and ruthless than anyone else.
In fact, Lu Ming is not opposed to the concept of "North-South Peace and Co-Prosperity Alliance".
In general, it is a belief that the North and the South should be integrated and jointly overthrow the imperial rule.
But the manipulators behind it were too complicated. They had the support of Jiangbei warlord Gao Baoshan and even accepted secret funding from the Japanese.
Based on the list of names Zhao Desheng provided, they arrested the suspects at lightning speed and conducted surprise interrogations to track down the culprits.
However, they unexpectedly captured an important figure in the organization who was much higher in status than Zhao Desheng.
He was a very famous country gentleman in Jinkang County.
He confessed that the Mei Mansion at No. 21 Linjiang Road was a Japanese intelligence organization that provided various financial support to the "North-South Alliance", including the training of armed personnel.
Of course, this squire did not know which Japanese power organization Mei Mansion belonged to, and he was not qualified to have real contact with Mei Mansion.
He just heard an important leader in the alliance mention it casually during a chat. That leader lived in Jiangbei for a long time and would never come to Jiangnan now.
Obviously, the organization has no strict sense of confidentiality, let alone relevant regulations, so such confidential matters can be used as topics of conversation.
It involves the Japanese, and based on the extremely rich war history filled with various power struggles in his previous life, Lu Ming also vaguely smelled the scent of conspiracy.
Therefore, since the brigade had no matters that needed to be dealt with at the moment, it simply came to the Xin'an Concession in person to supervise the case.
Lu Gaoyi also personally took charge of the investigation of this case.
Looking at the people coming in and out of Mei Mansion these days, I can't tell anything.
"Desheng, do you still think that the future of the organization you used to be in, even if the concept is realized, is still as good as you imagined?" Lu Ming looked at Zhao Desheng who was standing beside him respectfully.
Zhao Desheng gritted his teeth and said, "They are all liars. Many of my good brothers have lost their lives because of this!" It seems that he hates this organization so much.
There was a knock on the study door and Heitou came in with a fax in his hand.
Seeing that Lu Ming didn't say anything, Zhao Desheng stood at attention and said, "Sir, I'll take my leave!"
Lu Ming nodded and took the fax from Heitou.
It was a telegram sent by Chen Rongfu, director of the Nanping Security Bureau, to the External Liaison Department of the Black Mountain Military Control Commission. The words were polite, asking whether the detained subordinates could be released. He said that it was a misunderstanding caused by the different customs between the north and the south, and that the trust between the north and the south should not be damaged for such a small matter.
This Chen Rongfu was a devil with blood on his hands. In Nanping, children would not dare to cry at night when his name was mentioned.
"Just call the Liaison Department or respond in Mandarin!" Lu Ming waved his hand and Heitou nodded.
Heitou had just gone out when there was another knock on the study door, and Yuluan went to open it.
The person who came was Lu Gaoyi, who looked somewhat excited.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Did you find any new clues?"
"Yes, yes, Dad is wise!" Lu Gaoyi opened the folder in his hand and handed it to Lu Ming.
Inside was a photo of a young Japanese man with his hair standing up like a samurai, a typical outfit for young Japanese people learning kendo.
"Oh? It's a photo of Asaba Nagamasa when he was young." Lu Ming smiled.
The owner of Mei Mansion is Asaba Nagamasa, an old man in his seventies with a very mysterious origin.
I have seen a lot of photos of this old man from various angles recently, so I recognized him at a glance from his photos when he was young.
The paper under the photo in the folder was filled with records of Asaba Nagamasa's resume.
From school to later business, the information is recorded in great detail.
Currently, Asaba Nagamasa is the official merchant of Kato Juku, Lord of Yagido in the Yingzhou Kingdom.
Yakimichi, Kato family
Lu Ming frowned slightly. Kato Shoichi, who committed suicide by disembowelment out of fear of punishment, was a member of the Kato family. According to seniority, he was the cousin of Kato Juku.
After pondering for a while, he asked, "How did you find out this guy's identity?"
Although he was the so-called merchant appointed by Lord Kato, it did not necessarily mean that he was helping Kato Juku by funding the "North-South Alliance", but at least he had found some kind of breakthrough.