The first Japanese to want Zhang Zuolin's life was named Kurosawa Kenjiro, a translator at the Japanese General Staff Headquarters during the Russo-Japanese War. Japan and Russia wanted to fight in the northeast, and Daqing felt very humiliated, but both ends were hard stubble, and no one could afford to provoke it, so they had to declare neutrality. At this time, Zhang Zuolin had already accepted the court's favor, became a pipe belt, and ate the imperial food. Since the imperial court declared neutrality, the large and small officials on the ground in the three eastern provinces naturally could not be biased between Japan and Russia, but Zhang Zuolin had ideas, he felt that this was a good opportunity to get rich, and he could take advantage of the Competition between Japanese and Russian sandpipers and clams to make a profit by himself and reap the benefits of both ends.
Zhang Zuolin
After all, Japan and Russia are at war on Chinese territory, and finding helpers on the spot has become an important military measure for both sides. There were two kinds of people in the northeast who could fight at that time, one was bandits and the other was the officers and soldiers. The Japanese and Russians first desperately pulled the bandits of all sizes in the northeast into their own lineups, and as a result, the bandits were also divided into two factions, calling the "Flower Arm Team" for the old Maozi and the "East Asian Volunteer Army" or the "Manchurian Rebel Army" who contributed to the little devils.
In terms of co-opting bandits, the Japanese were obviously more attentive and more expensive than the Russians, like the giant bandits Feng Linge and Jin Shoushan, who later led their troops to join the "Volunteer Army" and gave a lot of strength to the Japanese army. The Japanese who tasted the sweetness saw that the bandits on the ground in the northeast were almost drawn together, so they turned their eyes to the officers and soldiers, and Zhang Zuolin, as an officer with a criminal record of banditry, became the first choice. And Kurosawa was sent by the staff to woo Zhang Zuolin.
Zhang Zuolin, like most people, initially thought that the little devil was determined not to be able to do the old Maozi, and for the sake of long-term interests, he decided to get close to the Russians. After receiving the arms and supplies from the Russians, he began to secretly help collect grain and grass and spy on intelligence. If the Russians were to be more generous, he would even let his subordinates disguise themselves as "flower arm teams" to attack the small units of the Japanese army, and by the way, they would seize some guns and ammunition from the Japanese army.
When Kurosawa came to the door, it was Zhang Zuolin and the Russians' honeymoon period, so his attitude towards Kurosawa was very cold and he did not answer. However, before long, the situation on the battlefield changed, and the Japanese army took the initiative. Zhang Zuolin saw that the little devil was quite fierce, and the old maozi was a little overwhelmed, so he began to lean towards the Japanese army and became affectionate with Kurosawa. He took Kurosawa to live in his home, where he was gracious and offered to serve the Imperial Army.
Kurosawa is not stupid, he knows very well the reason for Zhang Zuolin's change of face, but in line with the principle of seeing through and not saying broken, he can still live well, and vigorously exaggerates that Zuolin abandons the dark and casts light and understands the general body. Since Zhang Zuolin promised to help the Japanese army, Kurosawa could not let the family work in vain, and successively gave weapons and ammunition to Zhang Zuolin. After taking people's money and eliminating disasters with people, Zhang Zuolin got the benefits and began to turn the gun head to find trouble for the Russians.
After completing the mission, Kurosawa did not leave the Xinmin Mansion, but remained behind to monitor Zhang Zuolin. Because Kurosawa always thinks that Zhang Zuolin is an unreliable wall grass, don't look at the hard work now, I don't know when there will be a problem, we must look closely. Zhang Zuolin really did not intend to completely fall to the Japanese, he knew very well that now because the Japanese and Russians were fighting, they had the use value, taking advantage of this opportunity to gain more benefits, and strengthening themselves was the last word, and the fool would hang himself on a tree.
Late one night, it was freezing cold outside, Zhang Zuolin gathered a few cronies in the house to nag, during which Zhang Zuolin said: Our brothers should not covet the small profits in front of us, the wind direction should still be optimistic. Although the little devils are now fighting very smoothly, but the old Maozi has finally stayed in our northeast for a long time, there are many people and horses and fierce, I think this battle can still be won by the old Maozi in the end, so we must leave some room for doing things in the future.
What Zhang Zuolin did not expect was that Kurosawa was very resistant to freezing, and he actually lay outside the window on a cold day to eavesdrop. Zhang Zuolin's words Kurosawa really listened, before he only suspected that Zhang Zuolin was stepping on two boats, but now he was sitting down. So the enraged Kurosawa returned to the Manchurian Army headquarters overnight and reported to his superior, Staff Officer Yasusumasa Fukushima. Kurosawa proposed that Zhang Zuolin must not remain as a person and must be eradicated as soon as possible.
Yasumasa Fukushima
Fukushima Yasusumasa, as the grandfather of Japanese intelligence, is a scheming man. When he heard Kurosawa's thoughts, he immediately stopped it: Zhang Zuolin is of great use to our army now, and as long as our army occupies the battlefield advantage, he will still be used by us in the future. Not only can it not be removed, but it is also necessary to double down on it. The leader spoke, and Kurosawa was no longer willing to obey. After returning to Xinmin Mansion again, he sent Zhang Zuolin a thousand silver dollars, hoping that Zhang Zuolin would firmly serve the Japanese army. Of course, hope is the hope, and surveillance cannot be relaxed. From then on, Kurosawa remained in Shinminfu until the end of the war.