Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Surprise Promotion

In the following days, Wang Yue took action several more times. However, he no longer focused on seizing money or supplies, as those were not the most pressing threats; the true danger lay in the Japanese spies and collaborators embedded within the intelligence networks.

With Li Ya and Xu Zhongyi, two bona fide agents from the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, there was no need for caution. Wang Yue would simply take his guard squad, hop into a car, and head out to the streets to make arrests in broad daylight. After all, technically speaking, Wang Yue was one of their own, wasn't he?

Others might make mistakes, but not Wang Yue. He never missed a target, and interrogations were effortless—he didn't even need to resort to torture; he simply asked questions, and the truth would spill out, including the smallest, most hidden secrets of the Japanese spies. By pulling on a single thread, he could unravel the entire tapestry. Aside from a few untouchable high-level spies, none could escape his grasp, not even the most insignificant peripheral assets.

At first, no one thought much of it. Even the Bureau Chief assumed Wang Yue was merely trying to demonstrate his loyalty. But as time passed, things began to seem strange. The number of arrests grew daily, peaking at over a hundred in a single day. Some skeptics tried to accuse Wang Yue of arbitrary arrests, but as more and more evidence was delivered to headquarters, everyone fell silent. What comforted the Bureau Chief most was that Wang Yue handed over every piece of captured equipment—weapons, ammunition, funds, supplies, and radio sets—a fact corroborated by both Xu Zhongyi and Li Ya.

Pleased, the Bureau Chief authorized an additional supply of 100 Hanyang-made Mauser pistols and 20 S1-100 submachine guns to bolster the unit's firepower. Upon learning that Wang Yue intended to transport the "stranded" Independent Detachment soldiers back to the Second War Zone, the Chief contacted the Air Force to deploy TB-3 transport planes. Within days, over eight hundred soldiers were airlifted to Tongguan, from where they were escorted into the Taihang Mountains.

In truth, Wang Yue’s "soul-searching" revealed that some officials were worried he might use these Northeastern Army remnants to stir up trouble. Given Wang Yue’s close personal friendship with "Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang, they feared he might attempt to take hostages to negotiate for the Marshal’s release. In their eyes, allowing Wang Yue to keep even forty or fifty men was already too generous.

Wang Yue checked the original host's memories and found that the man had indeed toyed with such a plan. However, the scheme seemed entirely unfeasible. Furthermore, given the current political landscape, such an act would likely cause a total collapse of the situation, and Wang Yue had no intention of letting that happen.

Everything was part of Wang Yue’s calculation. How else could he secure a batch of Japanese radios while arresting spies? How else could he move his men to Qifeng Town safely and openly? Transporting them by land would have cost at least a third of his force. By leveraging the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, the process was not only faster but safer. The Second War Zone headquarters, fearing any mishaps, even allocated three hundred old Mausers to the unit. Another win.

Truth be told, even Wang Yue was surprised that after handing over so many radios, he managed to squirrel away eight Type 94 Mark 5 sets and twelve Type 94 Mark 6 sets. If he hadn't been worried about causing too much of a stir, he would have continued scouring the international settlements.

The foreign concessions in Jiangcheng were terrified by Wang Yue’s relentless operations. Now, every concession was under high-density, twenty-four-hour patrols. Not only had the naval guards entered the city, but tanks and armored cars—usually meant to intimidate the Japanese—were now patrolling the streets.

Nalan Xinde might be a master of martial arts, but he was not bulletproof. Against a military force, his skills were limited, so Wang Yue decided to lie low for a while. After all, he could still fight the Japanese openly. The key was that Jiangcheng seemed to be crawling with them, as if they were inexhaustible.

Eventually, the Military Affairs Commission could no longer sit idly by. If they let Wang Yue continue, the Japanese intelligence network would indeed suffer, but the Nationalist side would also suffer greatly. These spies were like a whirlpool, dragging more and more military and political figures down with them, causing instability and damaging the government's image.

Yet, they couldn't simply order him to stop while he was performing so well. Under Wang Yue’s leadership, the local intelligence organizations had become hyper-aggressive. Stopping now would not only hurt morale but might also fuel negative public speculation.

In recognition of his service, the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs promoted Wang Yue to the rank of Major General. The Jinbei Independent Detachment of the Loyal and Patriotic Army was reorganized into the Provisional Second Division, and Wang Yue was granted the rank of Lieutenant General. His promotion was well-earned; in the process of hunting down spies, Wang Yue had personally beheaded over five hundred of them—a feat few division-level units in the Nationalist Army could claim.

Of course, the Provisional Second Division was poorly equipped. It was allotted a strength of only 3,000 men and a monthly budget of just 50,000 legal tender notes. This was the norm for many such divisions within the Nationalist Army, and many were even worse off.

Perhaps feeling that these rewards were insufficient, the Ministry sent a batch of "supplies" to the division. To Wang Yue, however, these supplies were laughable: 3,000 sets of obsolete uniforms, 3,000 conical bamboo hats, 3,000 straw rain capes, 10,000 pairs of straw sandals, 2,000 old Mausers, 20 Chauchat light machine guns, and 4 Saint-Étienne 1907 heavy machine guns.

Was there a single useful item among them? The hats and sandals were one thing, but the Chauchat light machine guns were 8mm, and the Ministry hadn't provided a single round of 8mm ammunition. As for the old Mausers, they were practically smoothbores.

Yet, Wang Yue couldn't truly call the Ministry stingy. Many irregular units couldn't even get these scraps. Many troops fought to the death for years without receiving a single new uniform, forced to strip clothes off the dead. It was said that some arriving reinforcements were still wearing the tunics of the Qing Dynasty Green Standard Army. There were simply no uniforms to be had. Many conscripts arrived practically naked, and had the weather not been warm, half of them would have perished before even reaching the front lines.