Chapter 298: Japanese Secret Base during World War II
Liu Zhiye didn't know that the Chinese police force in Hong Kong had already created hostility because of his "risky" behavior.

This led to constant conflicts between Lui Lok and Lan Gang in the following years, with both sides suffering varying degrees of harm.

As luck would have it, the only loophole in their operation was covered up like this.

After a short rest, Liu Zhiye and the other man headed deep into the mountains. It is not an ordinary thing for ordinary people to cross the vast Wutong Mountain. They need to be very careful, otherwise they may lose their lives there.

Liu Zhiye and Zheng Chaoyang have many years of war experience, so crossing the mountains is a piece of cake for them. Relatively speaking, it seems much simpler.

Wutong Mountain is located in the southeast of Bao'an County, facing the sea to the east, overlooking Baoshan to the west, and connected to the Xiangjiang New Territories Mountains to the south.

Wutong Mountain had been recorded in the Ming Dynasty. Because of the beautiful scenery on the mountain and the views from the mountain, many literati and poets had come here in the Ming Dynasty. The name "Wutong Mountain" came from a sentence recorded by the ancients: "There are many wutong trees there."

Wutong Mountain is not only an important natural landscape in Bao'an area, but also an important natural geographical landmark connecting Baoshan and the New Territories of Hong Kong.

The highest peak here is nearly 1,000 meters above sea level. Looking up at Wutong Mountain from the seaside, the mountain is particularly tall and majestic. The mountain is often shrouded in clouds and mist, and the changes are unpredictable. The temperature difference between the top of the mountain and the urban area is large, and it is cool and pleasant in this season.

Because of this, this place is sparsely populated, making it easy for the two of them to hide their whereabouts. Moreover, compared with smuggling by sea and land, there is no risk of being discovered and exposed.

They can also choose not to cross the mountains. In fact, there are also waterways in the mountains. Although the waterways are a bit winding and rugged, as long as they follow the waterways, they can also reach Bao'an County.

Wutong Mountain is the birthplace of the "Baoan River". Wutong Mountain is high and densely forested, and the mountain spring at the main peak flows into Tianchi Lake.

The water of Tianchi Lake flows down the valley to form a spectacular group of waterfalls. When it rains in spring, it cascades down hundreds of meters with a sound like a huge bell, stirring up thousands of waves and emitting countless mist flowers, which is extremely beautiful.

There is a small hole at the bottom of the Dragon Pond where the water from the Tianchi Lake flows into, which contains precious golden-tailed salamanders and mountain turtles. The water from the Dragon Pond flows to the Longzhu Mountain and gathers water from eight valleys to form the Baoan River. Feng Shui masters call this place a Feng Shui treasure land of "Nine Dragons Playing with Pearls".

Another important reason why the two of them insisted on taking this route was that they wanted to explore a safe passage to make it more convenient for them to enter and exit Hong Kong in the future.

The mountain road is rugged and difficult to walk on, and you will die if you run too far up the mountain.

They walked for a long time. Liu Zhiye was in good physical condition and didn't feel tired. But Zheng Chaoyang was exhausted and his breathing was like a bellows, "whoosh whoosh".

"Whoosh..."

"Zhiye, take a break, let's take a break."

"No, I'm old. When I was fighting guerrilla warfare in western Beijing, this little mountain road was nothing. I could walk for three days and three nights without feeling tired."

Liu Zhiye glanced at him, smiled and shook his head, not wanting to expose his lies.

He first looked at the direction of the sun, then took out a compass and checked and marked it on the military map.

This was one of the things he bought from a local flea market stall in the New Territories for over HK$100, and it just happened to come in handy this time.

This 1:25 scale military map of the Japanese Army during World War II details the topography and landforms of the Wutong Mountain area.

With the help of this map and compass, they walked and stopped along the way, going deeper into Wutong Mountain. Liu Zhiye also marked the information with a hand from time to time.

"Haha, hold on a little longer, Tianchi is not far ahead." Liu Zhiye felt that the moisture in the air had increased significantly, and the air was very moist and cool.

Zheng Chaoyang was excited when he heard this. It would be easy to reach Tianchi. They could go west along the river valley to reach Baoan River. After crossing the river, they would be in Baoan area.

"Zhiye, is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."

In order to lighten the burden on him, all the food and drinks were carried by Liu Zhiye, a strong man.

Liu Zhiye took out two pieces of braised beef wrapped in oil paper and two military water bottles from his backpack, and sat on a large bluestone with Zheng Chaoyang to enjoy them. They ate and talked, enjoying this rare leisure time.

Zheng Chaoyang was refreshed after a hearty meal. He was particularly happy to see that his brother Zheng Chaoshan was safe and sound and that the operation was going smoothly.

He didn't care that Liu Zhiye continued to eat here, and walked straight to a high ground, looking around at the misty Wutong Mountain.

Zheng Chaoyang suddenly noticed that the trees on the distant hills were sparse, but a few man-made concrete buildings could be vaguely seen.

He was shocked. Why is there a concrete building here? Is there a military base nearby? He pondered secretly, and doubts surged in his heart.

“Zhiye, Zhiye, come and take a look!”

Liu Zhiye rushed over immediately after hearing this and asked curiously, "What's wrong with Lao Zheng?"

Zheng Chaoyang immediately pointed it out to him: "Look there..."

Liu Zhiye also recognized the buildings at a glance. In order to see more clearly, he took out a telescope from his bag, which he bought together with the military map.

This is the "6th Year Type" 7x telescope equipped by the Japanese army during World War II. It and the "Type x telescope" are both imitations of the German Zeiss telescope.

Among them, the "6th Year Type 7x Telescope" was mainly equipped to officers above the rank of battalion commander in the Japanese army, while the "Type x Telescope" was mainly equipped to the Japanese Navy because of its larger exit pupil diameter, which made it more suitable for use in poor lighting environments.

So Liu Zhiye had found a bargain that was not too big, because it was obvious that the stall owner did not know the origins of these things, otherwise he would not have sold them for more than 100 Hong Kong dollars.

Let’s get back to the topic.

Liu Zhiye saw it clearly through the telescope and confirmed that it was a military base because he saw barbed wire and several semi-permanent fortifications.

He put down the telescope, frowned, and said to Zheng Chaoyang: "Oh no, how could there be a military base here?"

Zheng Chaoyang also said worriedly: "Zhiye, if there is really a British military base here, then we can only give up this route. It's too dangerous to go through here in the future!"

"By the way, did you see anyone? Was it the British army?"

Liu Zhiye was stunned for a moment. He had been concentrating on observing these buildings and had not noticed the presence of people over there.

"Yes! I didn't see anyone!" He picked up the telescope and observed for a long time, and indeed did not find anyone moving outside.

"Could this be an empty base?"

For safety reasons, Liu Zhiye wanted to check the situation of the military base because this passage was very important and related to future operations, so he would not give up unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Old Zheng, I'll go check out the situation. It's a bit far over there, so you stay here."

Zheng Chaoyang nodded when he heard this. He knew that his physical strength could not keep up with Liu Zhiye, and going with him would only be a burden to him.

"Okay, then you should be careful. If things are impossible, come back quickly and we will think of another way."

Liu Zhiye nodded to him, then took off all his weight and went into battle lightly. He was as swift as a cheetah, and in a few leaps, he disappeared from Zheng Chaoyang's sight.

Although the straight-line distance was not far, this was a mountain with rugged mountain roads. Liu Zhiye ran at full speed and it took him nearly ten minutes to reach the military base.

He hid in the bushes and peeked in carefully. He found that this seemed to be an abandoned military base because there was no one nearby.

The open space beside the buildings was overgrown with weeds and was completely silent, with only occasional wild birds flying over.

So he boldly entered the military base. From the mottled Japanese fonts on the wall, it can be seen that this was once a secret military base of the Japanese army.

"Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity (おおとうあく) Koei (こうえい), His Majesty the Emperor (てんのうばい) Long Live (まんすい)"

As long as it is not a British military base, it means that this place has been abandoned for many years. Liu Zhiye strolled in the abandoned base and noticed that no one had set foot on this land for many years.

So he was completely relieved and planned to leave.

He suddenly noticed a large iron gate guarded by an iron general. This iron gate was located inside the mountain.

Liu Zhiye walked over and touched the big iron door, feeling that it was very solid. He also looked at the big iron lock. Because the door was inside the mountain, it was not corroded by rain and was not rusted.

His heart moved, and a thought emerged in his mind, "Maybe this was a military warehouse!" Many people have a plot of treasure hunting in the wild, and Liu Zhiye is no exception.

So Liu Zhiye used his lock-picking skills to open the big iron gate.

Then, he took out a gas mask from the space and put it on. Who knows what the devils had stored in there back then? If there were poison gas bombs, it would be very dangerous.

Be careful when sailing for ten thousand years!

Liu Zhiye walked in with a flashlight.

This cave is quite deep. The mountain inside has been permanently reinforced with cement concrete, and the space is quite spacious.

But he found that the cave was like a maze with many exits, and he couldn't find a way out after walking for a long time.

The whole place is built with extremely solid concrete, and there are clear area divisions, including the kitchen, dining room, water tank, warehouse, bedroom, command post, medical clinic, toilet, etc.

Unfortunately, he did not find the legendary treasure, and many places had become empty.

However, Liu Zhiye did find some things left behind by the Japanese army here. Most of the items were strategic materials. After all, food and fodder are the most important part of feeding an army.

Because they are stored in warehouses on the mountain, the grains are preserved in very good condition and can still be eaten.

There are about tens of thousands of bags of rice here, about 500,000 to 600,000 kilograms, and more than 100,000 kilograms of fine wheat, enough for a regiment to eat for half a year.

In addition, there were condiments such as oil, sugar, salt, sauce, vinegar, as well as sake, red wine, white wine, canned military meat, cigarettes, and tea stored in a large warehouse.

According to the "Revision of the Detailed Rules for Wartime Provision for Soldiers" promulgated by the Japanese army on April 1938, 4, the basic daily ration of army soldiers included 15 grams of polished rice, 660 grams of polished wheat, 210 grams of fresh meat, 210 grams of vegetables, 600 grams of pickles, 60 liters of soy sauce, 0.08 grams of miso, 75 grams of salt, 5 grams of sugar, 20 grams of tea, 3 liters of sake, 0.4 grams of sweets, and 120 cigarettes.

Calculated in this way, the things here are just enough supplies to sustain a Japanese army regiment for half a year.

After Liu Zhiye opened one of the cans, he found that it was actually a military can used by the Japanese Navy at that time. It was not spoiled and contained not only fish and meat, but also fruits and vegetables.

In addition to discovering these grains and oils, Liu Zhiye also found a mysterious safe in an office. The words "Takeuchi Manufacturing" were engraved on the safe. He found hundreds of gold coins in the compartments inside.

However, Liu Zhiye found several bullet holes on the outside of the safe. Based on this series of evidence, he made the following inferences:
When the Japanese army fled in a hurry after their defeat in the war, they wanted to take some valuables with them, and this safe was one of them.

It is not known what happened at the time. They did not know the combination of the safe, so they used brute force to open the safe and only took out the confidential documents.

Now he can be sure that the defeated Japanese army did leave something behind, but when they evacuated, they were unable to bring the looted items and resources back to their country, so they chose to hide them on the spot.

Afterwards, Liu Zhiye discovered several larger warehouses, which were filled with guns, cannons, and other weapons and ammunition.

There were 8 75mm mountain guns, 36 70mm infantry guns, 4 37mm rapid-fire guns, 6 37mm anti-tank guns, 108 Type 144 light machine guns, 24 grenade launchers, 18 Type 300 heavy machine guns, Type rifles, German-made Bergmann MP- submachine guns, as well as several thousand years of explosives, more than Nambu Type pistols, and more than Type sniper rifles.

There were also more than 30 million rounds of ammunition, tens of thousands of artillery shells, hundreds of thousands of grenades, thousands of landmines, dozens of tons of military explosives, detonators and fuses, thousands of Type engineer picks, thousands of Type gas mask sets and Type bullet boxes. There were tens of thousands of sabers, uniforms and military shoes.

So many weapons, ammunition and military supplies piled up like mountains are obviously the weapons and equipment used by the Japanese army to defend this place.

However, what puzzled Liu Zhiye was that they finally abandoned these supplies in a hurry, without having time to transport them away or blow them up. These supplies just lay there quietly, covered with dust.

In addition to the reserves of ammunition and weapons, the Japanese army accumulated a large amount of "trophies" here.

These precious treasures were actually hidden in a collapsed cave and nothing could be seen from the outside.

Liu Zhiye just felt that something was wrong, so he used the space to collect the mud and rocks, and then he discovered unexpected wealth.

When he stepped into the collapsed cave, the sight before him left him dumbfounded. Although he was used to seeing the huge wealth in the space, he was still fascinated by it for a while.

These "trophies" include a large number of gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy and paintings and other tradable antiques that have been lost among the Chinese people, as well as US dollars, British pounds, gold coins, gold, silver, jewelry, gems, jade, diamonds, precious metals, and precious works of art that were plundered from Southeast Asia.

During the war, people lived a hard life and these valuable items became the long-coveted targets of the Japanese army.

Liu Zhiye conservatively estimated the value of these items to be more than a billion dollars, and this was only a small part of the wealth plundered by the Japanese army from East Asia and Southeast Asia.

He remembered seeing a document from later generations that said that on April 1945, 4, when the Japanese treasure ship "Awa Maru" was sailing to the waters east of Niushan Island in Pingtan, it encountered a patrolling U.S. submarine and was sunk by several torpedoes.

Soon after the Awa Maru was sunk, the United States revealed that the ship was carrying 40 tons of gold, 12 tons of platinum, 15 carats of industrial diamonds, 40 boxes of cultural relics and large bundles of banknotes of unknown value. It was estimated that the treasure was worth as much as $50 billion at the time!
This was just one of the ships carrying plundered wealth to mainland Japan.

So, how much wealth did the Japanese army plunder throughout World War II and the years before and after it?
Let me tell you, according to the data provided by American scholars after in-depth research, it is 100 trillion... US dollars!
According to incomplete estimates after the war, Japan's "war spoils" in Southeast Asia alone amounted to hundreds of billions of US dollars, equivalent to trillions of dollars today.

Among them, there are more than 60000 tons of gold alone, and there are also many priceless diamonds, jade, jade, antiques, calligraphy and paintings and other rare treasures.

Liu Zhiye was ecstatic to receive this largest fortune to date, which was more than a hundred times more than what he had accumulated through years of hard work.

It can be said that with this treasure, he instantly became the richest Chinese in the world.

He walked out of the passage slowly, with light steps, as if he was walking on clouds.

However, he did not become complacent. Instead, he calmed down, put all the sand and stones he had collected previously back to their original places, and finally blocked the passage completely.

After he came out, he simply went all out and threw all the military supplies he had found before, whether they were useful or not, into the space.

Anyway, his space is big enough now and it’s empty inside, so he doesn’t have to worry about not having enough space.

He searched the warehouse carefully again, and after confirming that nothing was missing, he left the secret military warehouse. He locked the iron door, and the whole process was neat and tidy.

Only then did Liu Zhiye breathe a sigh of relief. But he still had a question in his mind: why had the Japanese been defeated for more than a decade?

The treasure is still there, has no one discovered it? The Japanese who evacuated at the beginning obviously knew that the treasure was hidden here, so why didn't they come back quietly to take it away?

The British Hong Kong government and local people did not know this, probably because Wutong Mountain is several hundred meters above sea level, with some peaks thousands of meters high, and is surrounded by mountains, with inconvenient transportation and sparsely populated.

The Japanese haven't come to take the treasures yet. I wonder if something unexpected happened to this unit, which allowed these treasures to be preserved until now.

Liu Zhiye really couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. No matter what the reason was, these treasures belonged to him.

He returned along the same route, and once again he was like a dragon soaring and a tiger leaping, like a dragon emerging from a ravine.

Two hours had passed since then. Zheng Chaoyang had been waiting impatiently.

He paced back and forth, his eyes revealing an anxious mood. Time seemed to be stretched, and every second seemed particularly long.

"Lao Zheng! I'm back!"

Zheng Chaoyang's face lit up with joy, and he quickly asked him, "Zhiye, what's going on? Have you found anything?"

(End of this chapter)