Chapter 354 Shanghai (please vote for me!)

"It is said that Shanghai is the first port in China to be opened to the public. Its ostentation has become more and more prosperous, and its customs have changed with each passing day. All kinds of new businesses are initiated in Shanghai; all kinds of new jokes are also made in Shanghai. To say that it is civilized,

It’s civilization; whatever humans can’t do, Shanghainese can do it. Shanghai’s civilization is more civilized than civilization. To say it’s barbaric is barbarism; whatever humans can’t do, Shanghainese can do it.

.The barbarism in Shanghai is even more barbaric than barbarism. And in other places, the four words "civilization" and "barbarism" are absolutely opposite. If you are civilized, you will not be barbaric; if you are barbaric, you will not be civilized. Shanghai

Otherwise: barbaric people can turn into civilization in an instant; civilized people can turn into barbarians in an instant. Those who do civilized things are just these few barbarians; those who do barbaric things are just these few civilized people. Not extremely

Civilized people cannot do extremely barbaric things."

Lu Shi'e's "New Shanghai" in the first year of Xuantong

There is a city in China. Eastern, Western, trendy, old-fashioned, beautiful, and ugly are most vividly reflected in this city. All kinds of deformities in troubled times are also reflected in this city that lacks a moral restraint mechanism.

The city is expanding. And this city is—Shanghai.

From the perspective of urban spatial composition, Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty included three areas: Shanghai County, the Public Concession and the French Concession. Shanghai's rise from the county seat before the opening of the port to the first commercial port in the Far East has a lot to do with the establishment of the concession. Shanghai is a city because of

In a city that prospered due to the concession, any deviant thoughts, radical, angry, and decadent emotions can be expressed in the Shanghai Concession, which respects the so-called "freedom of speech." The Shanghai Concession also produces various novel ideas and weird world phenomena, from

From the perspective of artifacts and institutions, the Shanghai Concession presents a pleasing European prosperity; from the perspective of Confucian moral ideals, the Shanghai Concession is a black dye vat and a source of sin. The prosperity of the Shanghai Concession in China is "unique".

But there is a saying that prosperity comes with evil. In Shanghai, this point is even more vividly reflected.

At this time, the Shanghai Concession had been "opened" for more than half a century. The small east gate of Shiliupu was the junction area between the French Concession and China. Most of the foreign, marine and mountain goods shipped from overseas and the mainland were distributed here.

, foreign companies, trading houses, warehouses, and shops of various sizes are lined up in rows. This is also the most prosperous place in Shanghai. There are officials, businessmen, coolies, and groups of white-faced people who come and go here every day.

As a result, some other industries came into being. As long as you turn into an alley, you can see small casinos, opium dens, open or half-open brothels, and there are also "smoking opium and prostitutes" that combine

"Fireworks Courtyard". Like rats, flies, mosquitoes, and cockroaches infesting garbage dumps, this place has become a place where officials, businessmen, gangsters, and all the scum of society gather.

In the afternoon of this day, it was the time for customers to arrive at Jubaoxing Tea House. A middle-aged man came. After he chose a table by the window and sat down, he ordered a pot of oolong tea. When the tea was brought, he did not eat it, but only drank the tea.

Take off the lid of the tea cup and place it on the left side of the tea cup. The top of the lid is facing outward and the bottom of the plate is facing in. The waiter looked back and realized that this was the rule of the Qing Gang - to put the sign up. He immediately went upstairs to report to Gu Yushu who was in charge of Jubao Tea House.

.

Gu Yushu was originally a gangster in the Xujiahui area of ​​Shanghai. After joining the Huang Sect, he recruited a group of people and became the Huang Sect's most effective general. Huang Huangrong assigned him to take charge of the Jubao Tea House as the liaison point between Bai Xiangren and the gang.

In the morning, Huang Huangrong sent someone to take care of him; someone may come to "collect debts" recently, so don't be polite.

Gu Yushu inserted a dagger in the waistband of his trousers and held two steel balls the size of duck eggs in his left hand. He walked downstairs holding them in a "chirp, chirp" motion. He first walked downstairs at the guest's tea table, from left to right.

, walked around in a counterclockwise direction, and after sizing up the other person like a cat or a dog going around in a circle, he stood opposite the big man and suddenly asked:

"Boss, do you have any threshold?"

The other party seemed to be well prepared, so he stood up respectfully, dropped his right hand to dust his sleeve, cupped his hands, and answered:

"I dare not, because I am taking advantage of my ancestor."

"Who is your predecessor? What is your family name?"

"At home, a son does not dare to talk to his father; when he goes out, a disciple does not dare to be a Taoist master. Our family name is Chen, Shangjiangxiashan, and we belong to the Jianghuai Four Gangs."

Ma Longfei casually mentioned a name. When the army was booming, he relied heavily on the gang, and there were no gang members under him. The name he gave was exactly one of his subordinates at that time, but he died prematurely during the military boom.

year.

But this time when he came to Shanghai, after getting off the ship, he did not choose to stay where those comrades in the party were. Instead, he came straight over and settled in Shiliupu. This area is a mixed bag, with hundreds of people coming every day.

There are quite a few people fishing for food on the beach in Shanghai, even though they have a military spirit like him. After all, deserters have been popping up every day in recent years. In Shanghai, it is normal for some deserters to come. There is nothing like this.

People who belong to the party are more suitable to hide their identities.

And the reason why he came here to worship, Ma Longfei had his own intention. In a place like Shanghai, where people are mixed and filthy, if you want to completely hide a person, only these people can help. Of course, this help can only be done by someone.

He helped the front, not the back. According to the division of labor between him and Lei Qiang, Lei Qiang was responsible for formulating the entire plan, Song Zheping was responsible for contacting the local revolutionaries, and he himself had to set a "false story" for the three of them in Shanghai.

, and this "false" is the basis for whether he can escape Shanghai safely after the plan is implemented, so he appears here.

After hearing this, Gu Yushu blinked and knew in his mind that the person coming was from the Qinggang, and he thought he was a debt collector. As ordered by his master, he had to give him some color. Then he asked:

"What word does boss deserve?"

"Twenty-one are on the head, twenty-two are on the back, and twenty-three are on the feet."

"The boss is Luo, whose name is Tong!"

Seeing that the other party was so senior, Gu Yushu quickly pulled out the chair at the table, sat down on the opposite side, stretched out his hand, said "please", and signaled the other party to return to his seat, while Ma Longfei calmly sat on the chair directly.

Then, Gu Yushu asked again:

"Which wharf did the boss make his fortune?"

"A boat floats all over the world, and all the seas are home."

According to the rules of the Qinggang, when asked about this, the other party should reveal his identity. However, this man was still so vague, which made the slightly famous tea shop manager feel angry and added fuel to the fire. The other party asked:

"Can I ask the boss which way to burn incense? Which word is the top?"

Gu Yushu worshiped Huang Jinrong as his disciple, but Huang Huangrong himself had not become a disciple at this time, so he was a "hole" in the gang. Now he wanted to show off his seniority, and naturally he was blind. He questioned each other on the bottom of the sea in order to find out where the other party came from.

You can only discuss differences with the seniority of the gang members later.

Seeing that Gu Yushu couldn't answer, Ma Longfei was stunned. The person in front of him was not a fake, but why couldn't he answer it? Could it be... Although he didn't know what he was doing, he still had to put on a show and pretend to be a fake character.

Coming from a playful angle, his eyes were blazing, and he stood up in a hurry.

"May I ask the boss how many ships the Duan Gang has?"

Gu Yushu saw the other person's thoughts, snorted from his nostrils, and threw out a sentence coldly.

"One thousand nine hundred and ninety!"

"What flag are you flying?"

"The hundreds-footed flag entering Beijing, the apricot-yellow flag leaving Beijing, the dragon and phoenix flags on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, the four big red flags on the bow, and the eight majestic flags on the stern."

"How many planks does the boat have? How many nails?"

"There are seventy-two on the board, and I would like to count them according to the evil spirit of Earth; there are thirty-six needles, and I would like to number them according to Tiangang."

Ma Longlong continued to ask:

"What kind of board has nails but no eyes? What kind of board has eyes but no pins?"

"A needle without eyes is a springboard; a needle without nails is a fiberboard."

Gu Yushu answered fluently, and immediately turned from defense to offense, asking with bulging eyes:

"How many stars are there in the sky?"

"Thirty-six thousand stars!"

"How many tendons do you have in your body?"

"Peel off the skin and find it!"

When the words came to this, Ma Longfei immediately gritted his teeth and became violent.

"One knife makes two holes. How many of them are you missing? Borrow them to swallow with wine!"

As soon as the word "swallow" came out of his mouth, Gu Yushu pulled out his chair with a loud noise. The people behind him took a few steps back and got into posture. At this time, some teagoers scattered around listening to tea were also kicking

They overturned stools, overturned square tables, and stood on their own side with a roar. Some even pulled out sharp daggers from their waistbands. Some unrelated tea guests were so frightened that they peed when they saw this posture.

Come on, hurriedly slipped out the door.

But the scene before him made Ma Longfei grin, as if looking at a dead person. A revolver suddenly appeared in his hand, aiming directly at Gu Yushu's head.

Looking at the black muzzle of the gun and aiming at his own head, Gu Yushu felt a sudden burst of sweat break out on his back. The two steel balls the size of duck eggs held in his left hand were silent now.

He almost slipped and fell. The reason why he was so scared was because he could see that the guy in front of him had killed people before, and he was a murderer without blinking an eye. There were six bullets in his revolver, which could at least kill someone.

six people, and

While the two sides were drawing swords in an exaggerated manner, someone ran in the door panting and shouted:

"Everyone, please don't do anything!"

Looking out of the corner of his eye, Ma Longfei saw that the person who came in was a young man with a pair of provocative ears on his big head, which was very eye-catching. When Gu Yushu saw it, it turned out to be Du Yuesheng. He suddenly screamed in his heart that it was bad luck, why did this flatterer come here?

?But if he had been a little late... Even though he had saved his life, Gu Yushu knew that he had made an appearance today, and that he had made an appearance in front of this sycophant.

"Guo Yuesheng, what are you doing here to cause trouble? You have nothing to do here!"

"I'm here to meet this old man."

"Hmph, I'll do this for you. I want you to..."

"For such a small role, you need to take action. Let me meet this guest."

Seeing what Du Yuesheng said and being convinced, and thinking of Du Yuesheng's previous look, Gu Yushu immediately softened. He turned around and waved his chin towards his subordinates, saying "withdraw", and the minions left the door with a clatter.

Exit, let's go. When Gu Yushu stepped out of the door, he put his right hand back, and with a flash of silver light, a steel ball hit the tea cup. The tea splashed on Ma Longfei's face, and then he sneered. This was considered satisfactory.

, and left without looking back.

Ma Long, who put away his gun, was so out of breath that he fisted Gu Yushu instead.

"Thanks!"
To be continued...