20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 669 Gradually losing control
The next afternoon, Jiang Lianheng returned to Fengtian.

The square in front of the station was still bustling with passengers hurrying by. There was a row of rickshaws parked on both sides of the north and south waiting for work, and loud noises could be heard from time to time in the distance.

Li Zhengxi and his family's driver came early to pick him up. When he saw Jiang Lianheng leaving the station, he hurried over to greet him, "Brother, you're back?"

Jiang Lianheng was a little surprised to see that it was Xifeng, so he asked, "Why are you here? Is Beifeng's injury healed?"

"Soon." Li Zhengxi explained, "It's been a month now. The doctor said the wound is healing well. I'll be able to be discharged from the hospital in a few days if I continue to observe it. But I still have to rest at home for a while."

Jiang Lianheng nodded, raised his hand to hand the luggage to Xifeng, and asked: "How is your family recently? Is everything fine?"

"good."

"Good is good, bad is bad, what does 'ok' mean?" Jiang Lianheng sounded a little dissatisfied.

Li Zhengxi did not dare to hide anything and immediately briefly recounted the two dirty jobs that had happened at home recently. "In short, there were two gangsters from other places who were trying to show off their reputation. It's no big deal. Brother Dong has already sent someone to clean it up."

Hearing this, Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but stop and his forehead bulged slightly.

It's not that he was blaming his subordinates for not doing their job well, but some doubts suddenly arose in his mind - first Lao Mang robbed the goods, and then the foreign gang challenged - was it really just a coincidence?

Since the Jiang family was founded, I dare not talk about the distant places, but as far as Fengtian is concerned, no one has dared to provoke them for many years. Why are they gradually wavering?

Could it be that the Jiang family has been so busy whitewashing themselves in recent years that they forgot to show their true colors, causing some later generations to mistakenly believe that the Jiang family's current status in the underworld was all a reward earned by currying favor with government officials?
Li Zhengxi put away his luggage, opened the car door, waved his hand and said, "Brother, it's not convenient to talk here, let's get in the car first!"

Jiang Lianheng nodded, and just as he was about to lean over and get into the carriage, a loud noise suddenly came from the distance.

The noise itself was not loud, but due to the sound amplification effect in the square in front of the station, it seemed particularly harsh. It was the sound of metal pipes colliding with each other.

Jiang Lianheng turned around in response, only to see smoke and dust thick behind the station, with several chimneys standing tall. In the corners there seemed to be dense clusters of steel bars, as well as mountains of bricks, sand, and cement. When he wanted to take a closer look, the South Railway Station building blocked his view.

"Has the project in Tiexi District already started?" Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but exclaimed, "The Japanese are really quick in getting things done!"

"How can it not be fast!" Li Zhengxi pointed to the corner behind the station. "Brother, look at the trucks transporting materials over there, one after another, from morning to night, without stopping for a moment. They say it's a joint venture between Chinese and foreign companies, but it feels like the lion's share is still in their hands! I guess, after all these factories are built, who knows how many workers they will have to hire!"

“It’s hard to manage so many people!”

"That can't be helped. The provincial government has issued an official document, and the newspapers are reporting on it every day, saying that they want to build factories, strengthen the military, and protect the country and the people. It's just those few words anyway."

"You're still reading the newspaper?" Jiang Lianheng couldn't believe it.

Li Zhengxi smiled ashamedly: "I heard it from my second brother. He likes to find out about these things."

"Call your second brother home later." Jiang Lianheng lowered his head and got into the carriage. "Also, call Shopkeeper Xue. Call them all and have them all here before dinner."

Li Zhengxi responded, sat in the passenger seat, and said to the driver, "Drive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the engine roared, and the car slowly drove along Naniwa Street, crossed the South Railway Concession, and slowly moved towards the east of Fengtian City.

Although there are many Chinese-owned shops on Naniwa Street, the whole street generally still has a strong oriental feel.

On the way, we passed a circular roundabout. In the center of the roundabout stood a monument commemorating the "victory" over Tsarist Russia. To the northwest was the Fengtian Shrine, where Chinese people stopped.

On both sides of the road, you can see Japanese ladies wearing floral kimonos and holding paper umbrellas; ronin with old-fashioned expressions and ragged clothes; and short Japanese boys in black school uniforms. The door panels of the shops are also full of hiragana or Japanese kanji, most of which are written with their own surnames, Kawaguchi, Mizuno, Kira...

"Drive slowly!"

The street scene outside the window flashed by. Jiang Lianheng suddenly sat up straight, frowned, and pointed at a grocery store on the corner. "Wasn't this originally a Chinese store?"

The driver was a little confused and lightly stepped on the brakes to slow down.

Jiang Lianheng asked, "Xifeng, I used to buy cigarettes from this store and collect the pictures in the cigarette boxes. Do you still remember them?"

"I have an impression, but..." Li Zhengxi looked out the window and muttered to himself, "It should have been bought by someone a long time ago. I remember it was replaced by the Japanese for a while, or it may have been replaced recently. Well, who knows? Brother, do you want to buy some cigarettes?"

"I'm not buying it. I just glanced over it just now and was a little surprised."

"Brother, go to the front and take a look. There are a lot of new Japanese places opened in this area recently!"

Sure enough, after the car continued driving for a distance, many newly opened Japanese shops appeared on both sides of the street.

Although none of them are big businesses, they appear to be thriving and bustling overall.

Seeing this, Jiang Lianheng's frown deepened, "I've only been gone for a month, why do you act like I haven't been back for half a year? It can't be that fast, right?"

"I'm not sure either." Li Zhengxi shook his head. "Brother, this place is not under our jurisdiction. Why don't you ask my second brother when he returns?"

As he was speaking, there was a sudden sound of drums and music coming from the front of the road, mixed with the noise of a crowd.

The driver had no choice but to gently step on the brakes again to slow down.

Following the sound, I saw that the center of the street was crowded with people, men, women, old and young, gathered there, most of them were Japanese, of course, and the entire road was blocked.

"What's going on?" The driver honked the horn twice impatiently.

Unexpectedly, his action immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the onlookers. Two Japanese ronin wearing samurai robes walked to the front of the car, pointed at the windshield, and said a lot of gibberish. Finally, they waved their hands and stopped moving, blocking the front of the car.

"What's going on?" Jiang Lianheng moved to the middle of the back seat and looked out through the windshield.

The driver half guessed and said, "Boss, there seems to be some activity ahead. We can't get through. Let's take another route."

Before he could finish his words, Li Zhengxi had already opened the car door and said, "Brother, sit down. I'll go down and take a look."

"Xifeng!" Jiang Lianheng called out to him, "If the road is indeed blocked and it's not targeting us, don't start a conflict. It's not worth it!"

There was no way. The concession was a "country within a country". Even when warlords were fighting, shell fragments were not allowed to fall into the concession. In broad daylight, even the Jiang family had to avoid the attack.

Unfortunately, the country’s strength declined and the people suffered humiliation.

As soon as Li Zhengxi got off the car, two Japanese ronin came over immediately, holding their samurai swords horizontally, pushing and shoving Xifeng, naturally making threats and intimidations.

Jiang Lianheng saw this and his expression became even gloomier.

Fortunately, Li Zhengxi was restrained and only used his chest to hold the scabbard. Although he did not fight back, he did not retreat a single step. After a short stalemate, the two Japanese ronin got angry and suddenly pulled out half of the blade, cursing "Bakayar" several times, which attracted the attention of others.

However, dogs that like to bark often don't bite.

Most of these mainland wanderers roaming the streets were poor and penniless in their own countries, so they came to Manchuria to make a living.

Right now, the Feng Zhang Group and the Japanese high-level officials are using each other, and neither of them wants to stir up anti-Japanese sentiment among the people again, so these ronin warriors are afraid to kill people in the streets, and are just pretending. Some of them are too weak to help but be scared, and when they see the foreigners getting angry, they become cowardly first, which gradually encourages the arrogance of these little Japanese.

Li Zhengxi refused to give in, and the two Japanese ronin felt ashamed and unable to back down. Just as they were thinking about how to end the situation, they saw Xifeng suddenly wave his hand impatiently, then took out two silver dollars and handed them to the two Japanese devils.

A simple little trick.

There is no one in the world who doesn't love money, even ghosts are no exception.

The two Japanese ronin were stunned for a moment, then finally sheathed their swords, happily accepted the silver dollars, and gave Xifeng a thumbs up, probably saying something like "Yoshi".

Li Zhengxi lightly brushed his lapels twice, then raised his hand and pointed to the center of the crowd, as if asking something.

This time, the two little Dongyang did not stop him. They just waved their hands and let Xifeng go and see for himself.

Not long after, Li Zhengxi returned from the crowd, opened the car door, and explained, "Brother, the road is indeed closed, and the Japanese are performing a ritual there!"

"Dancing master?"

"Uh... I don't know what they are dancing to, but there are quite a few people, both men and women, wearing tattered straw hats and bow-legged. It looks pretty creepy. How about you get off the bus and come over to take a look?"

Jiang Lianheng was anxious to gather everyone to discuss matters, so he waved his hand and said, "We don't have time for that. Let's take another route and go home quickly."

The driver obeyed the order and Li Zhengxi hurriedly got into the car. But just as the car was about to turn around, Jiang Lianheng glanced and suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure at the corner of the intersection.

"Wait!"

Jiang Lianheng stopped the driver and looked carefully, only to see that the man was indeed Ichiro Nakamura from the photo studio.

We haven't been in touch for many years, and Nakamura has changed a lot. Of course, it's not that his appearance has become more mature, but his spirit seems to have undergone some changes.

In Jiang Lianheng's impression, Nakamura is a more casual person, or a little sloppy, always looks carefree and seems easy to get along with. Even if you call him a "little devil" to his face, he will smile and reply with "fuck your mother".

There is a folk activity in the South Railway Concession today. If it were in the past, Nakamura would definitely bring a camera from home and take pictures of the crowd, enjoying it.

But this time he didn't. He stood with his hands behind his back, just watching coldly in the corner of the street, even with a condescending attitude. His hair was combed meticulously, and his clothes were extremely ironed. He was totally unlike himself.

"Wait for me here for a moment."

Jiang Lianheng said as he opened the car door.

Li Zhengxi did not dare to delay. He immediately took out his pistol from under the seat, put it in his arms and followed.

Jiang Lianheng quickly walked behind Nakamura, patted him on the shoulder, and scolded him with a smile: "Hey, little bastard!"

Nakamura was so absorbed in watching that he suddenly shuddered. He turned around and recognized Jiang Lianheng, then heaved a sigh of relief, "Oh, Jiang Jun, long time no see."

"Ah, what happened today? It's a relief that you didn't scold me back."

"Do you want to hear it? If you want to, I can scold you too."

Nakamura had lived in Manchuria for nearly twenty years and had become quite fluent in Chinese, with almost no unnatural accent.

"No thanks, I'm not that mean!"

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand, then looked in the direction of the crowd's gaze. Sure enough, he saw that the center of the street was full of Japanese expatriates, both men and women, all wearing traditional costumes, with some wearing square scarves on their foreheads, and some wearing woven hats on their heads. Some held lanterns, some held round fans, and they sometimes moved forward and sometimes moved backward to the slightly eerie drum beats, attracting cheers and applause from the onlookers.

Of course, those who cheered were all foreigners. The Chinese could not understand or appreciate it and just regarded it as a free fun.

Xifeng did not slander them. That dancing posture was indeed bow-legged, like planting rice seedlings in the field.

"Why didn't you bring your camera today?" Jiang Lianheng asked.

"Photograph what?" Nakamura snorted coldly, turned his head and curled his lips at the dancing crowd, "Photograph them? Awa Dance? Humph, a fool's dance, it is immoral and a disgrace to our Yamato nation. It should be banned as soon as possible, even in Manchuria, especially in Manchuria!"

Jiang Lianheng was slightly surprised.

Maybe his memory was a little fuzzy, but this seemed to be the first time he heard the word "Yamato" from Nakamura's mouth.

In the past, Ichiro Nakamura always regarded himself as a "Manchu" - of course, this had nothing to do with the Qing court. He just considered himself an overseas Japanese citizen living in Manchuria and never planned to return to his homeland - and he always talked about how difficult life was for "us yellow people" and how cunning "they white people" were.

Sometimes, Jiang Lianheng even felt that Nakamura hated white people more than he did.

But today, Nakamura's tone changed slightly.

Jiang Lianheng didn't know how to respond for a moment, so he just responded casually: "Uh... Although I don't like watching these things of yours, it's just a dance, lively and fun, it's not shameful, you've said too much."

"How could it be passed?" Nakamura turned around and said solemnly, "This kind of inferior culture must be eliminated, just like the rotten meat on the body. Only when it is removed can the person grow healthily, otherwise problems will arise sooner or later. If I were the manager of the annex, I would definitely ban this kind of dance, lock them all up, and let them repent and reform. What do you think?"

"Lock them up! They're not my people anyway, so you should just lock up all the Japanese in the concession!"

As Jiang Lianheng spoke, he turned around and suddenly noticed something. His brows tensed instantly.

"Why, do you think it's too radical?" Nakamura smiled and shook his head. "It's okay, Jiang Jun, you are a strong man, so you will understand. Sometimes you have to use extreme means to achieve results. It's better to suffer a short pain than a long pain. In fact, you should do the same, but the Far East is too big. You may need a little external force to change."

"what is this?"

Jiang Lianheng suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed at the badge on Nakamura's lapel.

The style of the badge is very simple, with a white base and three black magatama rotating towards the centripetal.

The most important thing is that he had seen this sign before, but it was so long ago that he couldn't remember it at once. However, it was very familiar, very familiar, and it was associated with a certain room.

"Oh!" Nakamura subconsciously wiped the badge with his fingers, "Nothing, just a small gift from a friend."

(End of this chapter)