Returning to the main entrance of the hotel again, Li Qiang randomly found a beggar who was watching the excitement from the crowd, pulled him aside and without any explanation gave him a piece of ocean.
The beggar's eyes immediately lit up when he saw this, and he kept nodding and bowing to Li Qiang, and kept saying, "Thank you, sir! You are so generous!"
Li Qiang didn't want to but waved his hand, "Don't thank me in a hurry. Go and call your Brother Hu!"
"this……"
Seeing the hesitation on the beggar's face after hearing this, Li Qiang continued: "When you meet him, you just need to tell him that a Mr. Du is looking for him, and he will understand. Don't worry, I will never blame you.
of."
"Okay! Please wait a moment, sir, I'll call you right away!" After saying that, the beggar ran away quickly and disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye.
In a short time, Wang Hu rushed over with his people in a hurry.
"Mr. Du, why are you so free today and come to my little brother's place?"
However, Li Qiang just glanced at the restaurant, which was still surrounded, intentionally or unintentionally, and asked: "What's going on?"
Wang Hu hurriedly explained, "Mr. Du, you don't know something about this. Although the North Market is the territory of our pole gang, the Japanese and those black dogs will never allow us to deal with taxes and fees.
Intervening."
As soon as he said this, Li Qiang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, "Oh? According to you, is it reasonable and legal for those guys to do this?"
"Isn't that what it is? Let me tell you this, anyone who wants to do business here will not mention the opium tax, tobacco tax, agricultural tax, livestock tax, and business tax. Just talk about the various local taxes.
Those shop owners are drunk. In addition to taxes, there are also various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes with clever names. For example, village membership dues in rural areas, district membership dues in cities, agricultural development membership dues, Xiehe volunteer team fees, Ailu tour group fees, etc.
Having said this, Wang Hu paused for a moment, and then continued: "Not to mention anything else, just talking about local taxes and various assessed taxes, including land tax, business tax, miscellaneous tax, housing tax, food, land
, all houses must pay taxes, even births, deaths, raising, and slaughtering livestock must also pay taxes. Cars, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks in people's homes must be registered and paid taxes. Even during New Years and holidays.
, red and white items, etc., must also be donated and taxed. The former Shang boss of Xinglong Restaurant simply couldn’t bear the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, so he transferred the restaurant that had been in business for more than 30 years at a low price and ran back to the customs.
."
"Shaving it so hard is like driving someone to death!"
"Isn't that right! Maybe they also felt that it would be nice to spread this kind of thing, so they hired a group of gangsters to help them collect these miscellaneous taxes. Although they were not given clothes or formal establishment, they relied on
With the support of the police station behind them, they act tyrannically all day long, trying to find ways to hit anyone they don't like. This makes everyone feel miserable and dare not speak out, so they can only hide far away, for fear of being targeted by them.
But even so, everyone still nicknamed them 'tax dogs' behind their backs."
"Tax bastard? Don't tell me, this title is quite appropriate. But let's talk about it, is the backer behind these guys the police department or the Japanese?"
"Of course they are Japanese. No, it's not accurate enough. To be more precise, it should be the police force. After all, since the establishment of the police force, the taxes paid by those merchants have almost doubled, and this presumably also makes the business boss Frustrated, that’s probably the direct reason for transferring the store!”
Hearing this, Li Qiang nodded suddenly, "Okay, I understand."
With that said, Li Qiang took out a thick wad of banknotes and stuffed them into Wang Hu's hand without any explanation.
"Du...Mr. Du, what are you doing?"
"Just for calling you here for such a trivial matter, I have to express my gratitude, right? Just think of it as me inviting the brothers to have a drink."
"But...it won't take so much!"
"Take it! The extra money will be regarded as hard work for you, but this money is not free. You have to promise to do something for me."
Before he finished speaking, Wang Hu immediately patted his chest and said, "No matter what Mr. Du gives you, I will never refuse, not just one thing, but a hundred things!"
"Okay, Brother Ahu really values love and justice, and I won't hide it from you. This matter is not difficult to say, but it's not that easy to say it is easy. I wonder if Brother Ahu can help me spread a message in the shortest possible time. It would be best if everyone in Fengtian City knows that the new boss of Xinglong Restaurant is a ruthless man and has a bandit background."
"Which bandit?"
"Old pimple!"
"Old fool? Mr. Du, he is the master of green forests in the former four provinces of the East, and he has been retired for many years. No one will believe him even if he says it!" Just as he said this, Wang Hu's voice suddenly stopped. He stopped, then his eyes widened and he said in disbelief, "Could it be...could it be said that the old pimple is going to come back to the world again?"
However, Li Qiang neither admitted nor denied but continued to talk to himself: "I said, I don't care what method you use, you must let everyone in Fengtian know Xinglongfafen in the shortest possible time. He pretends that the new boss is an old man, and the more evil the rumor is, the better, do you understand?"
"Understood, Mr. Du, I'll do whatever you say! Don't worry, within three days, I guarantee you will spread the news throughout the city and everyone will know it! Just do it!"
"Okay, then I'll wait for your good news."
After a few brief explanations, Li Qiang said goodbye to Wang Hu. However, he did not return to the restaurant through the back door as before, but squeezed into the crowd again.
After finally squeezing through the crowd to the front row, I saw Chen Ming and the gangsters sitting on opposite sides of the restaurant lobby, confronting each other.
Chen Ming, who had been impatient for a long time, spotted Li Qiang in the crowd at a glance, and then saw a gesture telling him to do it without mercy.
Chen Ming was a little confused at first, but after repeatedly confirming Li Qiang's gestures, he felt more at ease. Then he slowly picked up the tea cup in his hand and said slowly: "I said, this is what I should say. I've said it all and drank the tea. If you guys have nothing to do, you can go outside for a walk. I'm still preparing to open the business!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as these words came out, the gangster at the head of the gang immediately jumped on the case, "Hey! You're such a weakling. I've been talking to you here for a long time, but it's all in vain, right? Don't blame me for not warning you. You, I am a member of Taijun. I charge you a little management fee to give you an advantage. Do you really want it? Our brothers are in a hurry. Starting from tomorrow, we will come here to collect taxes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday and Thursday , come here and donate until your shabby restaurant closes down!"
"This guy, look at the guy who gave you to me, I just won't give in, what can you do?"
"You little thing, if you don't eat the toast, you'll have to drink it as a penalty, right? Brothers, the copycat smashed this for me!"
"I wonder who dares?" At this time, Chen Ming found a short wooden stick from somewhere and smashed the table in front of him into pieces with just one stick, immediately calming down the gangsters.
"What are you afraid of? How can he defeat so many of us alone? Brothers, show him how powerful he is!"
When the gangsters who were still a little frightened heard what the man said, they all shouted boldly and rushed towards Chen Ming.
Chen Ming did not show any weakness, he raised his stick to fight back without saying a word, and got into a fight with the seven or eight thugs.
Although those gangsters had the advantage in numbers, they were still a little dissatisfied in front of Chen Ming, who had received professional training and had been a patrol leader for several years.
It only took less than five minutes from start to finish. The gangster who had been shouting before was knocked to the ground by Chen Ming almost effortlessly under the exclamations of the onlookers, and was completely gone.
The arrogant and domineering look before was reduced to rolling on the ground and wailing.
But even so, the leader still struggled to get up from the ground, pointed at Chen Ming and said viciously: "Old bastard, I think you are impatient, just wait for me, let's see
I'm going back……"
Just as he was talking, Li Qiang's voice suddenly rang out, "Hey, Brother Zhang? What's wrong with you?"
The man had just received a severe beating and was holding back his anger. He originally planned to say a few harsh words to regain some face, but he never thought that before he could finish his harsh words, he was interrupted and immediately
All his anger was directed at Li Qiang, and he replied angrily: "Who the hell is your Brother Zhang? My surname is Xu!"
"Oops, it's Brother Xu. I'm sorry, I remembered it wrong, blame me." Li Qiang apologized and helped the man named Xu up, then turned around and pointed at Chen Ming's nose and cursed.
, "Well, you're a stinky restaurant owner. How dare you blatantly refuse to pay the management fee and beat me, Brother Xu, into such a horrible state. Do you know the consequences of doing this?"
Although he didn't recognize who Li Qiang was, when he saw someone speaking for him, the man surnamed Xu gained the confidence to act arrogant. Regardless of his injuries, he followed Li Qiang's words and continued shouting: "That's it! Mr. Chen, you actually
If you dare to beat the tax collector openly, just wait for me, I will never finish with you!"
He didn't want to say this but made Chen Ming laugh angrily, "Tax officer? What kind of tax officer do you think you are? Do you have certificates? I, Chen Ming, will talk about this today. If you can show me your certificates, I will
The management fee will be handed over to you every penny, and I will also pay for your soup and medicine. Even if you want me to pour you tea and admit your mistake in front of all the fellow villagers, it is not impossible. But again, if you
If you can't produce your ID, come here once, and I will cut you once to see if your bones are stronger or the stick in my hand is stronger!"
"you!"
"Brother Xu, don't be impulsive!" As soon as the man named Xu was about to say something, he was stopped by Li Qiang, who then lowered his voice and whispered a few words to him.
The man surnamed Xu was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then turned his head and glanced at Li Qiang in disbelief, and then reluctantly said to Chen Ming: "Chen Ming, don't say that I never take my ID with me when I go out.
Even if I bring you with me, you are not qualified to inspect it. Again, don’t think that I can’t do anything to you just because you are a practicing master. If you want to punish you, I have many ways. Just wait for me! Let’s go!”
After saying that, the man named Xu limped out of the restaurant.
But even after being beaten like this by Chen Ming, the man surnamed Xu still did not forget to show off his authority in front of the onlookers, "What are you looking at? Do you think your family's taxes are not enough and you want to add more?"
?”
As soon as these words came out, the onlookers immediately dispersed like frightened birds. Almost in the blink of an eye, no one could be seen on the street anymore.
…
"Master! Master? Are you okay?" Yu Xiuning, who had been hiding in the back hall and secretly watching the development of the situation until the incident gradually subsided, came out and said to Chen Ming with a concerned look on her face.
After calling several times in a row, Chen Ming suddenly came back to his senses, "Ah? Am I okay?"
"It's okay, why are you dazed here? I thought you were injured by those gangsters!"
"How about we deal with a few gangsters? I just..."
Just as he was talking, a voice suddenly came from outside the door, "Excuse me, is Boss Chen here?"
"I am Chen Ming, who are you?" Chen Ming frowned and asked the visitor.
"My name is Wang Hu, and I am the manager of the North Market District of the Gangzi Clan. I am here to pay homage to Boss Chen. This is my greeting."
"This..." Upon seeing Wang Hu's posture, Chen Ming was immediately confused and opened his mouth several times without saying anything.
Fortunately, Yu Xiuning on the side spoke in time, which relieved the embarrassment a little, "Manager Wang, I must have made a mistake with you, right? We are a restaurant, not a cottage, why do we even have invitations to come out?"
"
"Who is this?"
"My wife."
"Oh, it turns out to be Mrs. Chen. I'm so rude. To tell you the truth, I grew up listening to the stories of the old man doing justice for God, robbing the rich and giving to the poor, so I recognized at a glance that Boss Chen had just lectured the tax collectors.
Gouzi’s stick technique is exactly Lao Gaoda’s unique skill, the twelve short stick moves! That’s why I took the liberty to come and pay him a visit.”
"No, how could you tell that I..."
Just when Chen Ming was about to deny it, Yu Xiuning calmly tugged at the corner of his clothes. Then she immediately changed her words and pretended to be profound: "Forget it, the mouth is on you anyway, whatever you want."
No matter how you say it, I won’t admit it anyway.”
"I understand, after all, the old man must have his reasons for doing this. As a junior, I won't ask around randomly. I just hope that if Boss Chen needs any help in the future, just tell me, don't be polite!"
As soon as these words came out, Chen Ming immediately rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me, there is really a small matter right now!"
"Boss Chen, please tell me."
"You saw it just now. My restaurant hasn't even opened yet, and these gangsters came to make trouble. What if it opens? I just wonder if Manager Wang can help me with this?"
