When Lei Hu and his younger brother inspected the pier, they saw Lin Shirong in a shed in a vegetable and meat specialty store, wielding a meat cleaver and slashing at the half of the pork that was already half missing. He couldn't help but be startled, and then smiled knowingly.
.
Damn it, he finally knew why Lin Shirong was so angry with the Zhongyi Hall gang that day at Xiangfu Tea House. So that was what happened.
Thinking about it, although Lin Shirong worshiped Huang Feihong as his teacher, he did not stay in Baozhilin to work. Naturally, he had to have enough sources of living.
This guy had obviously been preparing to sell pork for a long time, but after hearing the rumors in the market, he naturally didn't like Zhongyi Tang who collected protection fees.
In addition, he was young and energetic, and he was very unhappy with Lei Hu's reputation as the "number one master in the world of Chancheng". As a result, he would fight if he didn't agree with him.
It's just a pity, no matter how unruly this guy is, he still has to pay the protection fee to Zhongyi Hall honestly?
It's not that he looked down upon Lin Shirong's martial arts, but in the social order established by Zhongyi Hall, if he wanted to live well, he had to act honestly and abide by the rules, otherwise the consequences would be quite disastrous.
The territory under the control of Zhongyi Tang, as well as the dock area, have formulated rules and confirmed the social order. They have been recognized by local business people and people, and they have begun to abide by them voluntarily. It is not that Lin Shirong can not abide by it if he wants to.
As for the so-called protection fees, as well as fees such as health management fees, they can be regarded as excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes imposed by the government. What Zhongyi Tang did at this time was actually similar to the government's management of local areas.
This kind of thing is actually quite taboo, but at this time, the Manchu and Qing government's control over local areas had been greatly reduced, especially in the areas along the southern coast that had been forcibly opened.
The same goes for the Chancheng government. As long as the officials complete the prescribed taxation tasks, they can get the benefits themselves. As for how the officials below are tossing, they have no thought or energy to care.
What Zhongyi Tang does is just to hold the management power of the officials in its hands. The senior officials of the hall directly communicate with the yamen. As long as the official master and the following important officials are settled, there is no need to worry too much.
No.
Anyway, by spreading out a lot of money every month, the government has been fed for a long time. They turn a blind eye to what Zhongyi Hall does. Anyway, as long as they deserve the benefits they deserve, as for the other things
I'm simply too lazy to care.
Zhongyi Tang manages its sites and docks on behalf of the government, and the measures it formulates are relatively appropriate. The merchants and civilians who are under control have no reason to take risks.
In such an environment, Lin Shirong would not take the initiative to make trouble, otherwise what awaited him would be complete rejection and he would not be able to gain a foothold under the rule of Zhongyi Hall.
After thinking about this clearly, Lei Hu had no idea of provoking this guy for the time being. He first walked around the pier a few times to take a look at the situation and shortcomings of the pier, so that he could have a clear idea.
The scale of Chancheng Wharf is not large, and the number of ships passing by is not very large. Most of them are domestic businessmen doing business with foreigners. The order of the wharf is actually very easy to manage.
In Lin Shirong's eyes, the dock was very clean and tidy, but in Lei Hu's eyes, it was nothing. It was far worse than the modern docks of later generations. All he did was to improve the sanitary environment, and then set up rules to adapt to the situation, and then dispatched
With enough supervision manpower, the situation at the dock will naturally become orderly, and the environment looks very good.
The matter of dealing with the government was quite smooth. Zhongyi Hall already had a familiar relationship with the Chancheng government. Even if there were drastic changes in the top management of Zhongyi Hall, it would not affect the interests of the people in the government.
However, it was not easy to get in touch with the foreigners at the dock. Lei Hu also spent some time and energy to persuade several foreigners who often visited Chancheng dock with benefits, and then successfully completed the task assigned by the hall leader Qin Bao.
With the name of a foreigner, he scared away the gangsters in other halls and took over the management of the dock in one fell swoop.
The matter was actually very simple. Lei Hu found the foreign captains and promised to provide clean water and various foods. At the same time, he could also organize Liba to help the ships carry the cargo. It was easy to reach an agreement with these foreign captains.
If the time was not too short and the strength was not enough, he would even have the idea of preparing the supply of goods and taking over all foreign goods.
Although the Qing Dynasty's national gate was forcibly opened by strong ships and cannons, when the court still had prestige, the local conservative forces were quite stubborn and few people were willing to take the initiative to contact foreigners.
Without communication, many things are quite troublesome to do. Except for the foreigners with ulterior motives, most of the other foreigners have traveled thousands of miles to come to Daqing just to make money. Naturally, they don’t want to cause more trouble, or they don’t want to cause trouble. They hope that the ship will
Business can be run more efficiently.
Lei Hu's move was just in line with their thoughts. As long as Zhongyi Tang showed enough strength, it would be easy to get the approval of the foreign captain, and then he would take over all the logistical work after the ship docked. For the sake of efficiency, they didn't mind doing more.
Spend so much money.
This kind of business is actually not easy for Zhongyi Tang and Lei Hu. The main problem is that the condescending attitude of the foreigners is really unbearable.
Lei Hu's English level was only second-level, not to mention that more than just British and American merchant ships came to dock at the dock. He was depressed to find that Zhongyi Hall was in urgent need of translators.
Naturally, it is impossible for Zhongyi Tang to hire translators specifically for this matter. It can only slowly communicate with the foreigners on the shore. Anyway, what the foreigners need is only logistical services. As long as they are skilled in doing this, it doesn't matter whether they can communicate in language.
, a few gestures can easily solve the problem.
What gave Lei Hu a headache was that the deterrent power of the foreigners was too great. Even the younger brother of Zhongyi Hall did not dare to offend Lipa on the dock, let alone the foreign master.
They didn't even dare to look at foreigners, let alone communicate with them through gestures.
As for the younger brother from Zhongyi Hall, the situation was similar. He didn't even dare to raise his head in front of the foreign adults. Lei Hu was helpless, and he was puzzled. Those foreigners were not tigers, so they were just scared.
Because of this, Lei Hu had to go to the dock every few days. Especially when a ship docked, he would be notified to come and take a look, specifically to communicate with foreigners.
After such an experience, Lei Hu did not expect that his status in Zhongyi Hall would be greatly improved, which made him dumbfounded.
Fortunately, he came this time and happened to meet a newly arrived foreign ship. Lei Hu took the initiative to go up and communicate with each other for a while, and finally reached an agreement.
After that, he supervised the work of his subordinates and Liba on the dock. It was not until the sun was high in the sky and the food around the dock was fragrant that it was completely completed.
After taking the wages from the foreign captain and handing them over to his subordinates, Lei Hu walked around the dock again without finding any problems. Then he slowly walked over to Lin Shirong's pork stall and smiled at the man who had some free time...