After the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese army continued its southward advance after occupying Wuhan and sought to quickly learn the military defenses of the cities around Hunan. It dispatched Kuangquan Ichiro, a notorious China expert, from Japan to Changsha, where he established the East Asia Chamber of Commerce, in reality a secret Japanese intelligence base.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Nationalist government formed a united national front against Japan. To defend Changsha and thwart Japanese spies, members of the Communist underground, agents of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and other patriots joined forces, matching wits and shedding blood against the enemy. To obtain intelligence as quickly as possible, Kuangquan Ichiro held a grand business reception and invited representatives from every walk of life in Changsha. Amid the intrigue at the reception, Mao Feng, head of the intelligence section of the Nationalist Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and a woman singing at the center of the ballroom both noticed the woman beside Kuangquan Ichiro at the same time. They were stunned. Was it joy or alarm? More than anything, they felt worried. Xu Jingyu, a capable female underground operative, composed herself in an instant, and Mao Feng quickly did the same. That morning, each of them had received a secret report: “Kuangquan Ichiro, a senior colonel-level agent of the Japanese Kempeitai’s Special Higher Police, founder and president of the East Asia Chamber of Commerce…”
