Nanjing in late autumn is a city of contradictions. On its main thoroughfares like Zhongshan Road, brand-new Buicks and Fords race past rickshaws, their hoarse horns mingling with the bells of street vendors. Government officials in dapper Western suits and foreign diplomats walk out of Art Deco buildings, while in the narrow alleys behind them, life goes on as it has for centuries, with the aromas of stinky tofu and herbal medicines wafting from small shops. This city is the beating heart of the Republic, full of ambition, hope, and—as Lee Junshan increasingly realizes—betrayal.
The safe house on Xuanwu Road is an oasis of silence amid the city's hustle and bustle. From the outside, it is an unremarkable gray brick house, but inside, the air is heavy with tobacco smoke from General Zhang's pipe and the tension of an invisible war.
"This came this morning, via our asset at the Japanese embassy," General Zhang said, his voice hoarse. He placed a small microfilm reader on a mahogany table covered with maps. "They took great risks to get it."
Lee Junshan leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he turned a knob to focus the image. The dimly lit projection displayed copies of secret telegrams, written in a combination of numeric code and Kanji characters. His heart beat a little faster. This was a direct communication between Tokyo and a high-ranking agent in Nanjing.
The agent was known by only one code name: "Sakura." Cherry blossoms. A beautiful, poetic name for a traitor.
As General Zhang translated the decoded telegram, each word felt like a blow.
Sakura reports: Operations on the western border have been a great success. Enemy cavalry units have been completely crippled.
Lee Junshan's mind immediately turned to Hu Yanzhen and his "Desert Wolves" unit. Thus, the slaughter in Death Valley was celebrated in Tokyo.
Sakura reports: Penetration in Manchuria is making significant progress. Local assets had proven effective.
This must have been a reference to He Xiang's discovery of the arms smuggling. Those local assets could be corrupt officers like Major Feng.
The final telegram was the most chilling. Sakura suggested: The time is right to activate sleeper cells in several major military academies. The goal is long-term destabilization and the recruitment of the next generation of assets.
"Military academies?" Lee Junshan repeated, his voice barely a whisper. An unpleasant chill crept up his spine. "You mean… like the Central Military Academy?" He was the official name for Arsenal, his alma mater.
General Zhang nodded, his lined face grim in the lamplight. "Very possible. That's our crown jewel. If they can corrupt it from the inside, they could poison our entire officer corps for decades to come. And this 'Sakura'… we suspect she's no mere field agent. Descriptions in other traffic suggest she's someone very, very high up in our power circles. Someone with the access and influence to orchestrate all of this from the shadows."
Lee Junshan's mind raced, connecting the dots with the speed of a strategist. The academy. Influence. A high-ranking agent. Suddenly, a name from his past resurfaced with surprising force.
"General," Lee Junshan said, his voice tense. "I did some unofficial research a few years ago on a visiting Japanese instructor at the Arsenal. His name was Lieutenant General Oda. His Chinese name was Wu Da."
General Zhang raised his eyebrows. "Oda? Go on."
"He taught advanced tactics at the academy a few years before my class. He was charismatic, brilliant, and highly respected. He built up a wide network of contacts among some of the senior faculty and even some officials in the Ministry of Defense who often came to give guest lectures. He always advocated 'modernization' and 'cooperation' with Japan."
General Zhang's eyes widened in surprise. He rose from his chair and paced back and forth. "Oda? Wu Da? For God's sake... it's the same name! That name appeared in several intelligence reports from our consulate in Mukden about five years ago. Those reports linked him to funding anti-Republican groups in Manchuria. We lost track of him after he suddenly left China. We thought he had been pulled back to Tokyo."
The general slammed his fist on the table, making the microfilm reader vibrate. "So, the ghost was hiding in plain sight all this time! He never really left. He is simply planting the seeds, even within our own academy!"
Lee Junshan felt a deep sense of dread. The Arsenal was not just a school; it was a place where lifelong friendships were forged, where loyalty to the Republic was cultivated. If Oda had poisoned the well, then everything they had learned could have been tainted. Sensitive information about the curriculum, the weaknesses of the system, even the cadet roster could potentially be leaked. Worse, Oda could have recruited impressionistic young cadets, molding them into his future pawns. A brief flashback flashed through his mind: a lecture by Wu Da in the main hall, where he had waxed eloquently about the "tactical weaknesses in Chinese defense doctrine," which had sounded like constructive criticism at the time but now sounded like a predator examining its prey.
As if the universe wanted to confirm their fears, a courier from their secret network arrived shortly afterward. Soaked in the rain and panting, he handed Lee Junshan a small package wrapped in oilcloth. It was a second letter from He Xiang, sent through a more sophisticated channel. safe as he had suggested.
Lee Junshan opened the package with nimble fingers. Inside was a roll of negative film and a brief note. He hurried to the makeshift darkroom they had set up in the safe house's bathroom. A few minutes later, he returned with a series of still-wet photographs.
He laid them out on the table under the lamplight. General Zhang leaned forward, his extinguished pipe dangling from his lips. The photos were sharp and damning: crates stenciled with Cyrillic, ZIS-5 trucks, Caucasian guards, and most striking of all, the smugly smiling face of Second Lieutenant Wang Deshan.
"Soviet weapons?" General Zhang frowned, his confusion evident. "This is getting complicated. What are the Soviets doing there? Are the Japanese and Soviets working together in Manchuria? That doesn't make sense, given their ideological tensions. Or is this a third-party operation taking advantage of the chaos for their own gain?"
"I don't know for sure, General," Lee Junshan replied, studying Wang Deshan's face in the photo. "But the involvement of local officers like Wang Deshan shows that this treasonous network is not just operating at high levels in Nanjing. They have managed to infiltrate our field units. They have pawns everywhere."
Just as they pondered these confusing implications, there was another knock on the door. This time, a special courier from intelligence headquarters, carrying an urgent telegram addressed to General Zhang. The telegram was coded with the highest priority.
General Zhang opened it and read it quickly. His already grim face turned even paler. "This is from Lanzhou," he said, his voice heavy. "From the contact I asked to be activated. A trusted old sergeant major."
Lee Junshan waited with bated breath. He knew this contact had to be related to Hu Yanzhen.
"The sergeant," General Zhang continued, "reported that he had discovered an anomaly in the communication records, just before Hu Yanzhen's unit was ambushed. A highly suspicious operational order came from a colonel on the operational planning staff in Nanjing, addressed directly to the Lanzhou command. The order specifically instructed Hu Yanzhen's unit to 'adjust the patrol route' to the valley that would later become the killing zone."
The general paused, his eyes fixed on Lee Junshan. "Name of the sender in Nanjing: Colonel Lin Jiancheng."
Lee Junshan's heart skipped a beat. Colonel Lin Jiancheng. A rising staff officer, known for his relentless ambition, and one of the men Wu Da had often lunched with at the academy's officers' club years ago.
"And there's more," General Zhang added, his eyes fixed on the last line of the telegram. "In one of the footnotes of the order, there was a cryptic reference: 'The route has been consulted and approved by Advisor Wu.'"
Wu Da. Room.
A silence fell over the room. The sound of the rain outside and the ticking of the old clock on the wall suddenly sounded very loud. All the disparate pieces of the puzzle—the hot desert, the cold jungle, and the corridors of power in Nanjing—now came together on the mahogany table, forming a horrifying and coherent picture. Oda, operating under the guise of Advisor Wu, was Japan's chief field operative. His network stretched from Liang Zhenhai in the west to the smugglers in Manchuria. "Sakura" was likely his superior, a high-ranking Chinese official recruited by the Japanese, who provided protection and strategic direction from the top. And men like Colonel Lin Jiancheng in Nanjing and Second Lieutenant Wang Deshan in Manchuria were expendable pawns in this grand game, placed in key positions to carry out orders. And it all started in one place: the Central Military Academy.
"We must act quickly, Junshan," General Zhang said, his voice shaking with a mixture of anger and worry. "The network is active. They are on the move. We must call Hu Yanzhen and He Xiang to Nanjing. Immediately. They hold the crucial pieces of this puzzle, the direct evidence from the field that we need."
The general paused, staring at Lee Junshan with frightening intensity. "And we… we may have to clean our own house, starting where we least expect it. Starting with the Arsenal."
Lee Junshan nodded, his mind already racing ahead, planning his next move. The calm faces of He Xiang and Hu Yanzhen flashed across his mind. They had fought so hard on their respective battlefields, fighting enemies they could see. Now, they would be called back to the heart of the Republic to face a far more dangerous enemy—one that hid among their comrades, wore the same uniforms, and sang the same national anthem.
The trail of the ghost named Oda was now clear, and its poisonous roots seemed to have taken hold of the very foundations of the Republic. The shadow war was about to enter a new, deadly phase.
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*****to be continued chapter 7