20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 750 The mob
In the next few days, the gentry and landlords in various counties received notices one after another and were forced to subscribe to Fengtian public bonds. The amount ranged from one thousand eight hundred to more than one hundred thousand. Everyone was charged an average of one dollar and was severely slaughtered.

The provincial government forced everyone to subscribe, so everyone was angry but could not speak out.

In order to enter the pass and fight for supremacy, Marshal Zhang has already resorted to excessive military campaigns.

Since ancient times, when the national treasury was empty, the money would be plundered from the people. When a civil uprising was imminent, the money would be plundered from the merchants.

Lao Zhang reversed the order and started by bleeding the rich, but the result was the same.

When the property of the gentry and landlords suffered losses, they naturally had to seek compensation from the laborers and tenants, so the burden was piled on top of each other and finally fell to the bottom.

But the common people are ill-informed, short-sighted, and do not understand many things. They only direct their resentment at the gentry and landlords, and feel happy when they see them losing money. However, they do not realize that this tactic is called "shooting the bull from behind the mountain", and in the end they are the ones who suffer.

Therefore, Lao Zhang's reputation is still good.

After all, he was born in the outlaws' family and has a legendary color. He has the ability, otherwise he would not have achieved his current status.

Compared with noble families, people prefer to see the rise of grassroots people, and are more willing to pin their ideals that they are unable to realize on them.

Immediately afterwards, the Municipal Government began to rectify the financial market.

The rectification was extremely powerful. First, a number of businesses that refused to accept Fengbi bills were severely punished, and then an order was issued to raid money shops and bill shops that were engaged in speculation.

In just half a month, more than 200 financial businessmen, money shop owners and private bankers were arrested.

It is undeniable that some businessmen did collude with foreign capital and had long been planning to maliciously run on the official banks in the three northeastern provinces, but the vast majority of them were simply motivated by the instinct to seek profit and avoid harm, and it cannot be said that they were speculating.

This case has nothing to do with the truth. Feng Zhang needs someone to take responsibility and bear the charge of disrupting the financial order, that's all.

For a time, Fengtian City was in a state of panic and the people were in a state of panic.

During the large-scale manhunt, a wiretapped He Zi found the Jiang family and asked for help in order to avoid imprisonment.

Unfortunately, Jiang Lianheng could do nothing to help.

He even witnessed several of his "helpers" being arrested by the police, and he could only step forward and say a few good words to save them from physical pain.

As a result, the prestige of the Jiang family seemed to be quietly fading.

Everyone immediately came to their senses - it turned out that Jiang Lianheng was not an omnipotent person, and it turned out that the Jiang family's "support" was just that.

The rectification operation lasted for nearly a month. In late May, the official banks of the three northeastern provinces suddenly announced to the public that they would cease all public remittance business.

Hey, look at what this says, stop all "public" exchange business!
That means there are always some people who can exchange money for cash, but ordinary businessmen cannot.

The Municipal Administration ordered the resumption of the circulation of Fengpiao and made a big deal out of this behavior - whoever does not use Fengpiao is unpatriotic and is colluding with foreign capital!

To be fair, there is nothing wrong with this argument. If the people of Guandong all use foreign currency, it would be an act of giving others an advantage and bringing about their own destruction.

But the people have to survive first before they can talk about anything else.

The current situation is that Fengpiao is still depreciating rapidly. Although it cannot be exchanged for cash, it can be roughly estimated through the foreign exchange rate. By the end of May, the market price of Fengpiao exchanged for cash has exceeded four yuan, and it is likely to continue to depreciate.

There are policies and measures to counter.

While the Fengpiao was depreciating rapidly, the "Gold Yuan Coupon" promoted by Xiaodongyang had quietly started to circulate...

…………

Along the small river in the south city and Sancha Hutong on the north bank.

By evening, it was dark early, there was a heavy rain outside the window, and faint thunder could be heard in the distance.

The oil lamp was lit early on the table, and Laizi and others were gathered together, drinking and laughing.

"Come on, come on, let's do it!"

Shitou picked up the cup and drank it all in one gulp. Then he squinted his eyes out the window and muttered, "What a damn bad luck! I've had a hard time recently, and now it's raining and cloudy. This will affect my business!"

We guys are in the business of selling things on the street, and we earn our income from the dividends of being street performers. The weather is directly related to our business income.

The wind is halved and the rain is gone.

Since the street performers had nowhere to get their cakes from, they could only watch helplessly.

The kidnapper scolded: "You are yelling at God. If it rains again tomorrow, you can blame him for your bad mouth!"

"Why are you blaming me?" Shitou said, "I'm just worried. Third brother's birthday is coming up soon, and I don't have much money. Let's not even talk about giving him an expensive gift, but at least we have to prepare a few tables of decent banquets!"

Laizi put two peanuts in his mouth, shook his head and said, "The market is not good now. Even if it doesn't rain, there won't be much profit."

Shitou echoed, "Don't mention us. I heard recently that business in Heshengfang and Huifangli is not going well. No one has spare money. No one gambles or goes whoring. Even fewer people come to watch the fun, listen to books or hear songs."

"Ah, be content!" Lai Zi suddenly sneered, "Although we earn little, but in comparison, the impact we suffer is also small!"

This is true. With the recent financial turmoil in the provincial capital, among the many brothers in the Jiang family who are "in the gang", those under Xifeng are the least affected.

how?
Street performers made their livings on the street by making a living. Before they became famous, they only earned a few cents in pocket money, and the onlookers paid them in coins. I have never heard of anyone taking out a ticket to pay a tip to watch street performers.

Because of this, the usual income of Laizi and others is real money.

Although business is not good, the losses are not too great.

On the contrary, several other places of the Jiang family insisted on accepting the tickets in order to avoid angering the government, but in the end they only ended up losing money and gaining publicity.

"Should!"

The kidnapper suddenly said something cruel, "It's more satisfying to see them lose money than to see me make money myself. It would be better if they lost all the money. It's their fault for always looking down on us!"

A few people at the table disagreed and said hurriedly, "No, no, no, if we lose everything, the Jiang family will definitely lose power. If the Jiang family loses power, Third Brother will not have a good life either. How strong can we be by then?"

"Tsk, you guys are really good at boosting others' morale and destroying your own prestige!" The kidnapper curled his lips and took a bite of his chopsticks. "We have the power when we have people. We have dozens of people under our command now. Without mentioning the rest, we can just open a shop along the river. That should be enough, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. The old basket weaver has long disliked me. If the Jiang family goes bankrupt, it may not be easy for me to open a cabinet in this area."

"Pull him down!"

The kidnapper patted his chest and boasted under the influence of drunkenness: "Get me two guns tomorrow, real guns, don't fool me with homemade guns, I will kill the old man right away! Old bitch, why are you pretending! He doesn't like me, and I don't like him either!"

Seeing that his tongue was sore from drinking, everyone was too lazy to argue and just smiled and stopped talking.

"Knapper, you become talkative when you drink a little bit of alcohol. What are you talking about?" Shitou lit a cigarette.

"I'm not kidding!" The kidnapper glared, "What I mean is that Third Brother is usually nice to us. As long as we brothers are here, he won't fall. If he falls, I, a brother, must help him up. Can we carry Third Brother up? Huh? Speak!"

"Okay, okay..."

"Hey, that's right, come and have a drink!"

Shitou didn't raise his glass, but continued the previous topic, saying: "I want to talk about something recent. Third brother's birthday is at the end of the month, and we have to make some arrangements. We can't always ask for food. Do you have enough money recently? Let's all contribute. We should prepare two tables of banquets this year." There were five or six people at the table, and two of them who were drinking Mengden were lying on the kang pretending to be dead.

Shitou made the suggestion and everyone fell silent for a moment.

Gradually, two people responded.

"I'll give you three!"

"Then I'll give you three too!"

Then, someone else grinned and said, "I just paid the rent two days ago, so I'm really short of money. Please bear with me, brothers. I'll give you two dollars!"

The money they paid was in cash, not paper money.

According to the market price, these ten or so dollars are enough to set up several banquet tables in an ordinary restaurant.

But when you are in the underworld, you have to be presentable when doing things. If the presentation is not impressive, it is better to eat at home to avoid being laughed at.

This is not about pretending to be rich, but when you are online, some expenses cannot be saved. Whoever saves, others will think that he is down and out, useless, and going downhill.

In the underworld, it has always been a place where the strong prey on the weak and the winner takes all. If you show any signs of weakness, many troubles will ensue.

Li Zhengxi is a bully in Xiaoheyan after all. He eats in cheap restaurants and no one dares to laugh at him. That's called life.

But when his subordinates hold a birthday banquet for him, the banquet has to be decent. It has to be held in a high-end restaurant, with good wine and good meat, and with girls as companions. At that time, they have to give red envelopes to the store owner and the waiters. Only then can it be considered perfect.

Shitou looked around and his eyes fell on the beggar. "Hey, stop drinking. I'm asking you a question. How much can you pay?"

"What?"

"Money!"

"Where would I get the money? I don't have any!" The kidnapper drank another glass of wine and hissed, "This wine is really strong today. I'm a little drunk!"

"Don't interrupt me!" Shitou frowned and said, "Everyone earns the same amount of money. Whether you bought a house or a piece of land, or did business, how can you be without money? Where did your sense of justice go?"

"Hey! Shitou, every year when Third Brother celebrates his birthday, we always buy something and go to his house to drink. But this year you had to be so high-profile and ask us for money. Is that what you would do? Why don't you tell us how much you're going to pay?"

"I'll give you five bucks, what about you?"

The kidnapper was stunned for a moment, then pouted and said, "If you want to pay, then pay. I don't have any money anyway. At worst, I can just not go that day. Is that ok?"

"You are such a boring person." Shi Tou flicked the cigarette butt away.

Guaizi was a little embarrassed, so he quickly grabbed Shitou's arm and said with a smile: "Brother, I'm really short of money recently. As you know, I have a lover in Huangtukeng Hutong. You have never kept a woman, so you really don't know where the term 'spendthrift woman' comes from!"

"I also know of prodigal sons!"

Shitou ignored him and turned to ask Laizi, "Brother Lai, how much can you offer?"

Lai Zi was sitting in the main seat. He had not expressed his opinion until now. Now that he was asked, he was not in a hurry to answer. His eyes wandered between the stone and the crutch for a moment, and then he looked around. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and said shockingly, "I'll give you fifty dollars!"

"Can you offer so much?"

"Fifty dollars guaranteed!"

Everyone was shocked, surprised, and more than that, curious.

"Brother Lai, have you made a fortune recently?" Shi Tou asked hurriedly.

Laizi smiled and said, "Since we are going to hold a birthday party for Third Brother, we have to do it in a proper way. It can't be shabby. As for money, the more money, the better!"

Everyone nodded quickly, saying that they were doing it to celebrate Xifeng's birthday, but in fact they also had selfish motives, as they all wanted to take this opportunity to go to some high-end restaurants and have some fun.

"Brother Lai, why else would it be you? You're so open-minded!"

Shitou quickly stretched out his hand, "Then... where's the money?" After thinking about it, he felt something was wrong, so he quickly took out five silver dollars and handed them to Laizi, "Brother Lai, I don't contribute much, so you should take the lead in this matter!"

"Hey, take this money back first!" Laizi refused to take it.

Everyone was a little confused, so they asked, "What's the point of this? We can't let you buy it all by yourself, right?"

But the beggar said, "The money is out there on the street. We can just go out and get it. Why spend our own money?"

Shitou frowned: "Brother Lai, what do you mean, are you going to collect protection money again?"

As soon as he finished speaking, someone on the other side shook his head and said, "That won't do. Third Brother has said before that we can't collect protection money anymore. If he knew that we used the protection money to hold a banquet for him, he would be very anxious."

Immediately, the other two also felt uneasy and shook their heads.

Lai Zi glanced at the others and said, holding his wine glass: "Who said I was collecting protection money? I was collecting hush money."

"Hush money?"

Everyone felt even more puzzled and was eager to get to the bottom of the matter, wondering if some local rich man in the city had his hair in his hands.

Laizi was very secretive and stated his position first, "Let me make it clear, we are not doing this for ourselves, but to honor our third brother."

"Oh, stop talking about useless things. If you have something to say, just say it."

Laizi then explained, "Recently, the provincial government has been conducting a strict investigation of money houses and bill shops, as well as those shops that previously refused to accept Fengbi bills. I heard that more than 200 people have been arrested, and more are being arrested."

The kidnapper immediately said, "It's right to arrest them. Two hundred people are not enough. If they really want to do something serious, even five hundred people can't stop them. Last month, many businesses stopped accepting Fengbi tickets..."

As he was speaking, he suddenly stopped and realized that this was a way to make money.

Extortion - the favorite thing for thugs and gangsters to do.

Shitou was not very optimistic about this plan and asked doubtfully, "But the managers of the truly powerful businesses have long been arrested, and the rest are just small-time rioters, and Lao Chai is too lazy to arrest them. Can we squeeze money out of them by blackmailing them?"

Laizi said, "There is a saying that goes 'If the people don't report, the officials won't investigate'. Lao Chai doesn't arrest them now because no one reports, so they just turn a blind eye. There are so many of us, if we report one by one, even if Lao Chai doesn't arrest them, he will at least punish them severely."

"The key is the third brother..."

"If you're scared, forget it. I'm doing this for my third brother anyway. I have a clear conscience."

When everyone heard this, there was nothing else to say. If they wanted to retreat at this time, they would seem like cowards and would not dare to stand up for the Third Brother.

Shitou said hurriedly: "Don't worry, then tell me what to do, I'll listen to you."

Laizi said, "Tomorrow morning, let's try out the tea houses and restaurants around Xiaoheyan. If it works, we can look for other ideas."

"From what you said, you have already stepped on the plate?"

"There is a Guangyuan Bank in the north of the city. Have you heard of it?"

(End of this chapter)