Liang Jiaxiang appears to be the owner of the Siyi Trading Company, which deals in remittance letters sent by overseas Chinese. In truth, he is a core member of the “Chaoyang Group,” the Far East intelligence network of the Communist International. Assigned by the South China Bureau, he returns to Hong Kong to investigate the mysterious disappearance of 50,000 silver dollars in donations from overseas Chinese. But he is shocked to learn that his contact, “Old Zhou,” has been murdered on the streets of Wan Chai, while his partner, “Kapok,” has been assassinated in Guangzhou.
As the investigation deepens, Liang Jiaxiang discovers that the missing money has drawn the attention of numerous parties: Japan’s “Sakura Agency,” the Guangzhou station of the Military Statistics Bureau, the Hong Kong station of the Central Bureau of Investigation, and even the overseas Chinese remittance network of the “Siyi Hall,” controlled by his father. During his investigation, he becomes entangled with three very different women:
Lan Huan, the daughter of a wealthy Nanyang merchant. She seems spoiled and headstrong, but is actually a member of a Filipino Chinese guerrilla force;
Xia Meizi, an outstanding student at Waseda University in Japan. Beneath her elegant, cultured exterior is a tattoo marking her as a member of the Navy Intelligence Department;
Nancy Wilson, an agent of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, who approaches Liang Jiaxiang under the guise of a journalist.
From the dark alleys of Hong Kong to the docks of Penang, from secret messages in remittance letters to sugar smuggling, Liang Jiaxiang gradually uncovers a shocking conspiracy: the Japanese army is using merchant ships belonging to overseas Chinese to smuggle strategic supplies, while a traitor codenamed “CX-7” has infiltrated the organization. When the flames of Guangzhou’s fall light up the Pearl River, he must choose between love and faith, family and ideals...
An epic of Nanyang that blends historical truth with the suspense of espionage
