One day in early 1967, in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, people came and went, it was the peak period for inbound and outbound passengers, customs officers were working as usual, Lin Hua, who was in charge of the entry and exit inspection, unexpectedly found a foreigner who wanted to take two rats out of the country.
The more Lin Hua thought about it, the more wrong it became, how could ordinary people bring such a thing as a mouse? This was so strange that Lin Hua immediately telegraphed the situation to Guangzhou Customs and the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Hearing this, the reactions of colleagues varied, and some people jokingly said what happened to the rats. It also removes the "four evils" for us.
Some people joke that this foreigner's hobbies are different, and it is understandable that he likes to raise rats, and may want to bring it back to compare with the rats of their country?
Zhang Wenqi felt that something was wrong when he heard it, is it not good for a foreigner to bring something back from China? Handicrafts? Chinese porcelain? But you want to bring two mice? Isn't this something that is available all over the world?
There must be something wrong with that! Zhang Wenqi immediately informed Guangzhou Customs to secretly detain the two rats, in order to avoid trouble and cause unnecessary disputes, he had people catch two local rats in Guangzhou to "transfer" to the foreigner, and allowed him to leave the country.
The first signs
Zhang Wenqi is an investigator of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, mainly responsible for the enemy special reconnaissance of the foreign trade system, although he is only in his early 30s, but the investigation experience is very rich, in the early years of China's several major foreign espionage cases were cracked by him, is already a veteran of reconnaissance on the public security front.
For this case, Zhang Wenqi began to investigate the identity background of this foreigner, while asking Guangzhou Customs to send the two seized rats to the Guangzhou Health quarantine bureau for testing.
According to the investigation, this foreigner's name is George Watt, a Britishman, who is currently working at China's Lanzhou Chemical Company, is a foreign technical expert, and this time he left Hong Kong to pick up his wife who came to visit his relatives.
It turned out that our country had previously imported a set of chemical equipment worth 20 million pounds from the British company Vickers Jima, and the company sent a group of people to help us debug, and George Watt was one of them.
However, although we spent a lot of money, the progress of the project was very slow, and the foreign experts commissioned it several times without success.
This made the Ministry of Foreign Trade feel very strange, a careful investigation found that it is not "advanced equipment", it is some old things, the British are just bullying us without technical strength.
Moreover, after these foreign experts came, they did not work well all day, a serious "grinding foreign worker", who liked to go to the street to hang out, often haunted in the alleys, and did not know what to do.
According to the staff of the Lanzhou Chemical Plant, this George Watt is not bad, but the usual way of working seems to be a little strange.
That is, every time we encounter technical problems to consult him, Mr. Watt always gives information directly, never face to face, but despite this, it still helps us solve some technical problems.
A few days later, the results of the Guangzhou Quarantine Bureau came out and found that the two mice were contaminated with radioactive substances of varying degrees.
Moreover, after laboratory identification, these radioactive material data are similar to the radioactive data of China's northwest nuclear industry production base!
The answer is coming! This Mr. Watt could be a foreign spy! The two rats are supposed to live around the Northwest Nuclear Industry base, because no one cares about running around, and once it runs into the base, it will naturally be contaminated with radioactive elements.
Watt is looking at this point, by detecting the dust on the mouse, so as to calculate the experimental data of the radioactive material at China's northwest atomic bomb base, and then calculate the development secret of China's atomic energy industry.
Confirm that it is the enemy! Moreover, it is related to the leakage of nuclear secrets in our country, which is not a trivial matter, and this case cannot be postponed.
Zhang Wenqi originally planned to take the initiative to attack and immediately take urgent measures to immediately detain Mr. Watt for interrogation, but he did not have direct evidence.
Dance with wolves
Since the 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations have gradually dropped to a freezing point, and Western countries led by the United States have imposed an economic blockade on China for a long time.
When we successfully exploded the first atomic bomb, we were quickly targeted by the world's major intelligence organizations, and the intelligence war between countries began to focus on the question of how to protect nuclear secrets.
As we all know, China's nuclear industry is the highest state secret, and even the identity information of Chinese researchers is absolutely confidential to the outside world, and even they cannot disclose half of the information to their wives and parents.
For example, Deng Jiaxian, the famous founder of China's two bombs, when he first presided over theoretical physics research, he could still go home from time to time to see, but once he entered the experimental stage, there was no news at all, as if the human world had evaporated, until the atomic bomb explosion was successful, and then he and his wife were reunited.
The reason for this is the "hegemonism" of Western countries, which only allows them to have a nuclear industry, and other countries want to develop it by adopting various sanctions or directly striking at them. The second is to protect the safety of our nuclear researchers.
However, with the explosion of China's first atomic bomb in 1964, the news of the atomic industry base in the northwest region did not go away.
Zhang Wenqi calculated based on entry and exit information that this watt's time in China was not long, and it may have only stolen a small amount of top-secret information from China's nuclear industry, and should continue to stay in China.
Therefore, it is imperative that we immediately find out Watt's true identity and find accurate evidence of the crime, so that he can be arrested immediately.
But in what ways can our investigators come into contact with Watts?
Ten days later, Zhang Wenqi, in the name of a technical expert, rushed to the Lanzhou chemical base with the inspection team of the China Import and Export Corporation.
In order to expose the old bottom of Watt's "pseudo-expert", Zhang Wenqi, after consulting with the inspection team, decided to hold a symposium with the foreign expert group, let them report on the technical problems in the equipment specifically, and let George Watt, who had just returned from Hong Kong, serve as the keynote speaker.
Sure enough, after the meeting began, Watt would only read the script, saying what refractory process, material properties, and adding catalysts in proportion to different pipelines...
Our technical staff was impatient, so they interrupted Watt's words and asked several highly professional technical questions, and Watt suddenly stood on the stage stunned, and could not answer them for half a day.
At this time, Zhang Wenqi had a number in mind, and Watt was indeed a spy! But how do you find a breakthrough, find evidence of his crime?
Listening to the introduction of the workers of the chemical plant, this Watt usually likes to drink, and the alcohol addiction is very large, almost every time is not drunk, Zhang Wenqi immediately thought of a way.
One day, Zhang Wenqi found an opportunity to ask Watt to go out to drink, push the cup to change the cup, after three rounds of wine, Watt's words began to increase, and he kept talking non-stop, and the translators on the side were a little overwhelmed, and scratched their heads while listening.
During the conversation, Zhang Wenqi raised a glass and touched Watt, pretended to be joking, and casually asked: "Mr. Watt was born in the United States, right?" ”
"How do you know I'm American?" Watt was unguarded and immediately answered.
"Listening to your speech is like an American accent, if you were born in the UK, it should be a British accent!"
As a result, Watt immediately woke up drunk for a long time, and began to diverge from the topic, saying some nonsense that no matter which country you can become a good friend, and the east and west to cover up the past.
Zhang Wenqi suddenly understood that although this Watt was holding a British passport, he was nominally an expert sent by a British company, but he was actually an American citizen.
However, the arrival of the Chinese expedition team also attracted Watt's attention, and he began to become a little cautious, and he did not go out much on weekdays, which made Zhang Wenqi's reconnaissance and surveillance work more difficult.
On this day, Zhang Wenqi inquired about a place that Watt often went, so he immediately rushed to the outskirts of Lanzhou to investigate, but he did not expect to find a major clue.
An old man in charge of watching the forest told Zhang Wenqi that this Watt did come here often, not to do good things, but to secretly hide in the woods to send a telegram.
The old man once found him, so he picked up the shotgun he was carrying, fired a warning shot into the sky, and told Watt not to do it in the future, he had already found him.
Watt saw someone, his heart was very anxious, and he couldn't understand what the old man said, thinking that the old man was going to arrest him, pretending to raise his hand and surrender. When he got closer, Watt injured the old man in three or five strokes, and did not dare to give a fierce hand, and finally quickly left with the transmitter.
Later, the old man was admitted to the hospital, but soon recovered, originally wanted to go to the public security bureau to report the case, thinking that he had no evidence, more is better than less, and finally gave up.
Zhang Wenqi listened to the old man's clues and felt more confident in his heart. But if you want to arrest a foreigner, it may cause a storm in international diplomacy, and if you don't get it right, something big will happen.
Based on the information currently in his possession, Zhang Wenqi deduced that if Watt was a spy, under the tense and sensitive conditions of Sino-British relations at that time, he would never rush to directly take "nuclear secret" intelligence out of the country.
Perhaps, Mrs. Watt came to visit her relatives this time, just to secretly carry information back to China, this time seeing that she is about to leave, Mr. Watt also applied for a "vacation" in Hong Kong again, the time is pressing, what should I do next?
Everybody gets the booty
Back in Beijing, Zhang Wenqi thought about it before and after, but he couldn't make up his mind, and in desperation, he found an old comrade he knew well and thought of a way, hoping that he could give some advice.
When the old comrade heard about the case, he was also anxious to rub his hands and think for half a day before saying: "Wen Qi, why don't you go to Yang Qiqing, vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, and ask him for instructions. ”
Zhang Wenqi was dumbfounded when he heard it, how could an investigator in his own area go to the minister to ask for the facts of the case, this is a violation of discipline, this is definitely not OK.
However, if foreign spies are released, it also means that state secrets have been leaked, which is the painstaking efforts of countless scientific researchers, and it seems that only Vice Minister Yang can be found.
Zhang Wenqi felt that he could not hesitate any longer, and finally plucked up enough courage to "rush" into the heavily guarded Ministry of Public Security and walked into Yang Qiqing's home.
After listening to the report, Yang Qiqing attached great importance to this major case, and at the same time instructed Zhang Wenqi not to hit the grass and startle the snake, and must see something before doing it!
With the instructions of Vice Minister Yang, Zhang Wenqi immediately became full of energy and immediately rushed to the capital airport to coordinate, while carefully deploying the action plan to capture Mrs. Watt.
As for Watt's request to go to Hong Kong, Zhang Wenqi had a plan in mind and instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to let him stay temporarily and not allow him to leave the country on the grounds of work needs.
On this day, Mrs. Watt appeared at the capital airport, pulling a suitcase, and had just entered the waiting hall when customs security stopped her and asked to check her luggage.
After some effort, the transmitter and film were recovered from Mrs. Watt's luggage, as well as the details of the Chinese atomic bomb test mission that foreign intelligence agencies wanted.
Watt didn't know all of this. Outside the waiting hall, he was still complacent, thinking that things were going well, and then turned and left.
Zhang Wenqi immediately sent the film taken by Watt to the relevant departments for testing. After the results came out, Zhang Wenqi was still shocked!
There are not only the secrets of the atomic bomb, but 7 of the films also constitute a complete military topographic map of Lanzhou, and I did not expect that on the surface it seemed that Svenwen's "expert" dared to play such a big thing, and it could be determined that it was a well-trained agent!
Zhang Wenqi did not dare to stay for a moment, and once again directly found Vice Minister Yang Qiqing to report the case.
Yang Qiqing's face was solemn, and after listening to Zhang Wenqi's report, he kept pacing in the house and never spoke.
Perhaps thinking of something, he suddenly stopped, then walked quickly to the table, grabbed the telephone and said: "I am Yang Qiqing of the Ministry of Public Security, and I want to report the case to Premier Zhou." ”
Zhang Wenqi sat on the sofa, couldn't help but move his body in the direction of the telephone, clasped his hands tightly together, and began to lean on his side, ready to listen to the voice on the other side of the phone.
"Hello, I'm Zhou Enlai." With a self-introduction, Premier Zhou's voice came so clearly and truly.
Yang Qiqing briefly reported the case, and at the same time patiently explained Premier Zhou's questions and listened carefully to Premier Zhou's next instructions.
Putting down the phone, Yang Qiqing was a little excited, and said to Zhang Wenqi: "Xiao Zhang, do a good job, you have also heard, Premier Zhou believes that this case must be carried out to the end!" Foreign agents must not be allowed to leave our country. ”
Zhang Wenqi replied one after another: "I heard, I heard, we will certainly live up to the expectations of the chief!" ”
Soon, the case began to become clear, and Watt, who did not know that he was being watched, answered the phone and mentioned a person named Xu Linde, who seemed to have an extraordinary relationship with Watt.
With years of experience in criminal investigation, Zhang Wenqi keenly believes that this person named Xu Linde may be the big fish hidden behind the entire espionage case!
So, who is he? And what is the identity?
Behind the scenes
According to the investigation, Xu Linde, who is the leader of the group of foreign experts at the Lanzhou Chemical Factory, also holds a British passport, and as for whether he is British, it is difficult to say.
This clue also stunned everyone, if even the head of the foreign expert group is a spy, according to this inference, I am afraid that the foreign equipment project introduced by the entire Lanzhou chemical plant is actually a complete scam.
It is no wonder that those so-called foreign technical experts have repeatedly delayed, and they do not understand the relevant technology of the equipment, but they are keen to wander around the Lanzhou area, and even run around the military restricted area.
However, just when Zhang Wenqi wanted to investigate further, he suddenly received a report from the Lanzhou Foreign Affairs Department: "Xu Linde asked to return to Britain on the same day, and the specific route was from Lanzhou to Beijing, and then exited from Guangzhou." ”
Zhang Wenqi judged that this Xu Linde may have a premonition that the wind was wrong and wanted to flee with the intelligence immediately, but at this time there was no complete evidence, and it was not suitable to arrest him immediately.
What to do? Zhang Wenqi immediately reported the incident to Yang Qiqing, and then immediately arrested Watt according to the instructions and immediately interrogated him.
At the same time, Zhang Wenqi instructed the relevant departments to only buy night flight 136 flights from Lanzhou to Beijing for Xu Linde and not to buy him a daytime ticket.
Secondly, the routine inspection of customs personnel has been changed from the original exit inspection in Guangzhou to inspection in Beijing, which can prevent unnecessary negligence.
Finally, instead of hanging the arrival time board of the 136 flights at Beijing Airport, those who asked the outside world about the specific arrival time of the 136 flights would not answer for meteorological reasons.
The purpose of this is to prevent those foreign embassy personnel from coming into contact with Xu Linde and then transferring intelligence through diplomatic immunity.
After Zhang Wenqi's ingenious deployment, Xu Linde came to Beijing and took the opportunity to pass on the information to foreign ambassadors in China.
On the night of December 12, 1967, Xu Linde had just arrived at the exit of Beijing Capital Airport, and Zhang Wenqi and several investigators had been waiting for a long time and immediately surrounded them together.
Xu Linde and Zhang Wenqi met in Lanzhou, and when they saw Zhang Wenqi leading people over, they seemed to realize something and wanted to go back, but the investigators had already blocked all the entrances and exits.
In the airport inspection room, from Xu Linde's suitcase, the information he was carrying was searched on the spot, all of which were clearly printed with NSD secret writing marks, a total of seventy-two pages, all arranged in English capital letters, which is a unique way for American agents to write intelligence.
Xu Linde's diary also recorded in detail which factory was guarded by soldiers with guns, and even had a detailed record of the water level of the Yellow River in China.
When Zhang Wenqi inspected his luggage, he also found a particularly strange thing, that is, his sweaters, sweaters, hats, etc. were particularly neatly folded, and they were also wrapped tightly in plastic bags, which looked completely different from other clothes.
There must be a problem here! Zhang Wenqi immediately asked his colleagues to take it to the quarantine department for testing.
So, what tricks did Xu Linde play?
The test results came out, and it was found that the dust on Xu Linde's clothes, like the elements on the two mice they carried, also had radioactive material! And the data found are consistent with the atomic experiment data in Gansu.
It turned out that Xu Linde never did a special car for the Lanzhou Chemical Factory, and went to work from the city to the factory every day, wearing a sweater and sweater, and then riding a bicycle, known as "exercise", in fact, it was to collect dust, which was really overwhelming.
Truth
According to the confessions provided by Watt and Hsu Linde, they admitted that they were US spies because China's development of the atomic bomb posed a serious threat to US interests.
Therefore, the US intelligence community should make every effort to collect samples of radioactive cloud particles from China's nuclear tests and discover the production base of nuclear materials from the targets of military and civilian facilities.
However, because China's nuclear intelligence is really difficult to obtain, and it has adopted quite strict secrecy measures, this has caused the US intelligence agency a lot of headaches, and finally can only send spies to investigate.
After all, one country is conducting covert operations against another country, and if evidence is found by our country, then the United States will be completely passive in diplomacy.
Therefore, the United States thought of using the identity of a third country to disguise the trade and economic activities of Britain and Germany and arrange the task of collecting intelligence from the ground.
In this way, there is also an international trade cooperation in the introduction of British equipment from the Lanzhou Chemical Plant, in fact, behind this is all the dirty tricks of the US Intelligence Agency!
The confessions they provide are very important, involving the work of international foreign trade and diplomatic fronts, but it is not a trivial matter to detain people, and if they are not good, they will cause international disputes, and these situations must be reflected to the central authorities and the central authorities should make policy decisions.
Zhang Wenqi immediately went to report the results of the case to Yang Qiqing, and then looked around, but he couldn't find anyone, and finally inquired, only to learn that in the era of undercurrents, he had been locked up.
But this situation must be reported to the central authorities, and now that no one is in charge, what should we do?
To this end, Zhang Wenqi found Minister Li Qiang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and after listening to Zhang Wenqi's words, Li Qiang picked up the phone and said: "Help me connect to Premier Zhou's office." ”
Soon, there was a voice on the other end of the phone, and Minister Li Qiang simply said two sentences, and then handed the phone to Zhang Wenqi: "You report directly to the premier." ”
Zhang Wenqi was confused at once, and somehow he took the phone, feeling extremely nervous, and hearing the careful guidance of Premier Zhou on the other side of the phone, his mood gradually calmed down.
Subsequently, Zhang Wenqi finished explaining the specific situation of the two spies, and then while listening to premier Zhou's specific instructions, he freed his hand to briefly write down important words with a pen.
In the end, the British company's Vickers Jima company in China left the country within a deadline, immediately abrogated the company's contract with the Chinese technology export company, and demanded compensation for all economic losses.
Xu Linde and Mr. and Mrs. Watt, the three spies, will be tried sternly in accordance with Chinese law because the evidence is conclusive. Since then, the international espionage case caused by two rats has come to an end.
Who could have imagined that when the mushroom cloud of new China sounded through the clouds, there would be such a twisted and bizarre story of capturing spies behind it.
In this way, we pay tribute to all the public security cadres and policemen who work in the frontline battlefield, and it is precisely because of their unrepentant heroes and unrepentant efforts that the lives of the people of the motherland are more peaceful and peaceful!