Lin Sheng's home is in the largest shanty town in Zhabei. Hundreds of thousands of extremely poor people live here. The roads are narrow and there are many buildings. These houses are not like the white walls and green tiles of the houses in other places in Jiangnan. They can be built with bricks and tiles.
A house is considered a very luxurious thing. The poor people live on the edge of subsistence and clothing. How can they have the money to build a house? A shack made of wooden boards, linoleum, and thatch is good.
Countless clothes were hung above the narrow alley. Children were playing and chasing each other happily. Women were carrying buckets to carefully avoid the collision of children. Smoke was rising from every household. The residents of the port city used fuel and water for cooking.
The mainland is different. Coal is used instead of firewood. There are huge coal storage yards near the docks. Countless ships transport coal from the mainland every day for use by overseas steamships. Therefore, the price of coal is very low. How much does it cost?
A copper coin can buy dozens of kilograms. If you don't want to spend even a few copper coins, you can also let your children sweep cinders on the road, pick up coal cores, take them home, mix them with yellow mud and make coal cakes, which are excellent fuel.
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Lin Sheng led Liu Ziguang through the streets and alleys, walking through the shanty town. It was obvious that Guo Asheng had a lot of contacts. Everyone who saw him would say hello affectionately. After walking for a while, they finally arrived at Lin Sheng's residence. This is a
The small room built with wooden boards, canvas, and nails was only about one foot square. There were dozens of radishes piled under the tarpaulin outside. There were two beds made of bricks and wooden boards, with flower quilts scattered on them, and flowers placed in the corners.
Apart from the chamber pot and no other belongings, it can be said that the house is completely bare.
"Let's make Brother Xu laugh. Let's sit down for a while. My brother will be back in a while. There's not much work on the dock, so I'll get off work early." Lin Sheng pushed the quilt on the bed inside and asked Liu Ziguang to sit down.
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Although Lin Sheng's house smelled bad and was in dilapidated condition, Liu Ziguang was someone who had passed by on the Datong bunk with hundreds of people. He had never seen such a dirty environment. He sat down without caring and started having sex with Lin Sheng.
They started chatting about whether they had a ride or not.
The sky was getting dark, and the women's shouts calling for their children to come back for dinner came from outside. Lin Sheng's stomach also growled. At this moment, the men working on the dock came back, and the door of Lin Sheng's house opened.
After being pushed away, a muscular man walked in. Lin Sheng quickly introduced: "This is my good brother Ding Li, the guy who works as a laborer on the dock. This is Xu Wenqiang, my new friend I made today.
Brother Xu has read books."
Then he briefly talked about the conflict with the people from the City Patrol Department today.
Ding Li is a bold man. After listening to Lin Sheng's introduction, he slapped his thigh: "Good fight. Brother Xu and I are at odds with each other! Let's go out for a drink after dinner!"
Lin Sheng laughed when he heard this and said: "Even my car was taken away by the city patrol department, and I don't have half a copper on me."
"Brother Sheng is noisy, today I closed last month's salary, and I have plenty of money. Just follow me." Ding Li patted his bulging waist and said carelessly.
With no money and no worries about a wife and children, a bachelor is generous. When the three of them sat at the table of a small restaurant in the shantytown, Ding Li took out a silver coin from his waist and slapped it on the table: "A Tubo, boil three pots.
Here comes the good wine, serve two plates of side dishes first, stir-fry the kidneys, don’t wash the kidneys, the more saucy the better, then stew a big fish.”
Ding Li and Lin Sheng were obviously regular customers of the small restaurant. A Tubo quickly placed a plate of fennel beans and a plate of fried stinky tofu. He also put the rice wine into the tin pot and boiled it. A sea fish was added with seasonings and thrown into the pot.
While stewing and waiting for the rice wine to be boiled, Ding Li took out a few cigarettes and distributed them to everyone to smoke. This kind of cigarette is a unique product of Shanghai Tang Pier. It is made of discarded tobacco butts and wrapped with old newspapers. Newspapers
The ink and tobacco burn together, and the smell is very strong. It is the best tool for the dock coolies to relieve their fatigue. The best cigarettes are rolled with the butts of Cajatin cigars from the Song Dynasty and Shanghai declarations. Ding Li takes them out to entertain everyone.
This is the kind of smoke.
The three of them were talking while smoking. During the conversation, Liu Ziguang learned that there were a large number of northern coolies on the Bund pier doing anti-big bag work. These people were employed by Fuyuan, the largest trading house in Shanghai, and the boss of Fuyuan.
It is Lai Youwei who Lin Sheng mentioned. He was born in Shanghai and is about forty years old. It is not easy to get from an ordinary fisherman to where he is today ten years ago. Now half of the entire import and export trade in Shanghai is
Those under his control have close ties with the people in Daotai Yamen. The Shipping Department is even more so, and all the dock coolies are employed by him. In addition, he also controls the gangster Ax Club on the dock, which can be said to take both black and white.
, he is a very low-key person, he doesn’t like to appear in public, and he never goes to other places to show off. As a result, except for those who do overseas business, very few people know Boss Lai’s name.
When he learned that Liu Ziguang needed to find a job, Ding Li immediately patted his chest and said, "It's just a trivial matter that's been taken care of by me. My great-uncle from far away works as an accountant in the Fuyuan No., so I'll definitely have no problem asking him to introduce me later. I heard that he's here."
The boss, Corporal Li Xian, respects scholars the most."
The three of them had a hearty meal and had a good meal. After they were full, Liu Ziguang said goodbye to the two of them, saying that he still had luggage left at a friend's place and needed to pick it up. He would come back to meet the two friends tomorrow, and Lin Sheng and Ding Li didn't force them to stay.
, we made an appointment to meet at the pier at noon tomorrow and parted ways.
The shanty town was dark at night, there was no moon in the sky, only the bright lights from the roadside sheds illuminated the path outside, the sounds of drunken men beating their wives and the barking of dogs, and the sounds of children crying one after another, Lin Sheng
He and Ding Li took Liu Ziguang to the road outside before leaving.
Not long after the two left, a bodyguard from Ri Shengchang came out of the darkness and said, "Master Liu, please follow me." It turned out that Hu Yimin had sent someone to follow Liu Ziguang after he ran away with Lin Sheng.
Follow and wait outside the shantytown, waiting for Liu Ziguang to come out and take him back to the lower house.
Rishengchang owns a lot of real estate in Shanghai. Boss Hu is very discerning. He bought a large piece of land near the pier when Shanghai opened as a port. Later, land and house prices rose rapidly. The Hu family built a house for rent and made a lot of money.
As a matter of fact, Miss Hu now lives in a house by the river. It doesn't look like a mountain on the outside, but it is very luxurious and elegant inside. It has a bamboo forest and a pond. Hu Yimin has already prepared wine and food waiting for him.
Liu Ziguang couldn't help laughing when he saw it. It turned out that Miss Hu prepared the same stinky tofu, fennel beans and rice wine as the small restaurants in the shanty town. It seemed that this was really a special dish of Shanghai.
While eating and talking, Hu Yimin was not idle for half a day. He mobilized his strength to conduct an investigation. The result was as Liu Ziguang expected. The suspicion focused on Lai Youwei's Fuyuan Shipment. This company has always been operating in silence.
Dacai's policy is that he is doing import and export business in Shanghai in obscurity, and he can actually eat half of the cargo throughput of the port. What a concept! Rishengchang doesn't have such a large amount of capital, and a little-known small business can do it.
Sit down? It seems that this store must have some ulterior secrets. I heard that the owner of the store has an extraordinary relationship with all the yamen in Shanghai.
"The Fuyuan is probably a tool used by the Shipping Department to launder money." Liu Ziguang said firmly.
"Money laundering, this word is used well! Let's start with the Fuyuan."
Hu Yimin said. Nanchang and Rishengchang jointly handled the case, and their efforts were extraordinary. They did not handle the case as carefully as ordinary prosecutors and censors. What is Nanchang? It is a secret service agency with independent judicial power and its own prison.
, as long as you know exactly who you want to deal with, you will definitely not run away, not to mention having strong financial support like Rishengchang.
"One question: The City Ship Division has its own anti-smuggling unit. The Daotai Yamen can mobilize the Shanghai Guard's troops and the Yangtze River Navy, and there is also a powerful team called the Xuncheng Jingjie Division. It is said that they can fight tough battles. If you arrive
At that time, it was found out that the Shanghai Road officials had something to do with the Fuyuan, and we would suffer a big loss if weapons were used." Hu Yimin said with some worry.
"This is easy to handle. I will immediately order the troops of the Red Shirt Regiment to gather in Shanghai, and write another warrant to Li Peng of Qianhu Office in Suzhou, so that he can obey orders at any time. If he wants to play hard with me, the Ming Dynasty really didn't
A few people." Liu Ziguang sneered.
At noon the next day, Liu Ziguang arrived at the Bund Pier as promised. Lin Sheng and Ding Li had been waiting there for a long time. When they saw Liu Ziguang coming, Ding Li rubbed the back of his head and said embarrassedly: "My uncle from far away is not talking to the truth, and the company is unwilling to do so."
With new people, there will be no shortage of people who can write and settle accounts, but there will be a shortage of people who can deal with big problems."
"It doesn't matter, just resist the big bag if you resist the big bag, as long as you can make a living." Liu Ziguang didn't care.
"Brother Xu is just happy. Let us brothers work together. Even if we fight against big bags, we have to do better than others." Lin Sheng said, his cart was confiscated by the city inspection department, and his people were also targeted.
I can no longer sell fruit on the streets, so I can only do hard work with Ding Li.
So Liu Ziguang became a coolie at the Bund Pier. He was an expert in hard work. The labor intensity of transporting iron ore at the Liguo Iron Works was much more tiring than carrying a large bag. An expert would know if it was there as soon as he took action.
Liu Ziguang stuffed the hem of his gown into his belt, stepped onto the gangplank with a big bag in one hand, and brought it to the ship steadily, quickly and steadily. He even took twice as much as others. Everyone was stunned. Lin Sheng and
Ding Li was stunned for a moment, then picked up the big bag and followed closely.
After running dozens of times back and forth, Liu Ziguang remained calm and Ding Li could still hold on. Lin Sheng was already out of breath. Every time he ran, he could exchange a bamboo stick as a proof of payment. Liu Ziguang relied on
He was so strong that he could receive two bamboo sticks at a time, which earned him a lot of money. Even the boss looked at him with special eyes.
The loading work was soon over, and the coolies were sitting on the dock to rest. A carriage came over, and a hand was stretched out to hook the boss. The boss hurriedly ran over and heard the man say
After saying a few words, he turned around and shouted: "Bring me thirty good young men and go with Boss Lai to unload the goods."