20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 877 Assassination of Jiang Lianheng

Three days later, at nine o'clock in the morning. The West Gate was bustling with people, and the cries of vendors filled the air.

This is probably the last market before the Lunar New Year.

After today, most shops in the city will be closed and boarded up, and will not reopen until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

That's why the streets are so lively.

The crowds were bustling, and the vendors came in an endless stream, stretching as far as the eye could see. Amid the noise, bursts of children's laughter could be heard from time to time.

Since the Hengshe Museum had not yet opened, its plaque was naturally covered with a layer of red silk.

Whenever the cold wind blows, the bright red silk clings tightly to the plaque, making the characters on it clearly legible, giving it a somewhat conspicuous appearance.

Early in the morning, a makeshift platform was erected in front of the guild hall.

Between the pillars behind, another banner hangs, bearing eight large characters: "When the nation is in peril, the fate of merchants and people is at stake."

Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Ren sent people to distribute leaflets in the city, creating a great deal of public opinion.

Now that all the major merchants and gentry have arrived, and the lecture is about to begin, there are hardly any people coming to support the event, making the atmosphere rather awkward.

Of course, this statement is not entirely accurate.

In fact, quite a few people came to join in the fun, but most of these onlookers were ordinary people who did manual labor. There were very few legitimate business people, and if there were, they would only stop and watch for a moment, then leave in a hurry, feeling that the matter had little to do with them.

Upon seeing this, Boss Ren couldn't help but click his tongue, feeling that things hadn't been handled well. After thinking for a moment, he had no choice but to turn around and walk into the lobby of the club.

At this moment, Jiang Lianheng was sitting in the head chair of the guild hall, chatting with several other merchants and gentry!
Li Zhengxi and Hai Xinnian stood to the left and right, needless to say; Wang Zhengnan, who also held the position of finance director of Hengshe, was also busy socializing and entertaining guests.

Boss Ren leaned over, pointed to the time on his wristwatch, and sighed, "Boss Jiang, look, I told you long ago that the Fengtian business community's mutual guarantee ultimately depends on us brothers. Those small merchants and vendors are all short-sighted and have no vision whatsoever."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lianheng put his teacup on the table and asked, "What's wrong? Nobody's coming to join us?"

Boss Ren said, "We do have people, but they're all a bunch of big shots who can't read and have no money. What's the use of having more of them?"

Upon hearing this, the merchants and gentry nearby smiled and said, "If they don't want to come, they don't have to. We weren't expecting them to come anyway. Today is just for fun. Even if they come, they'll just be taking advantage of us. It's better if they don't come!"

Before he could finish speaking, several others sighed, "Alas, people are not united, they're like a heap of loose sand. And they blame us for being bullied by foreigners? It's been like this for so many years, everyone's just minding their own business. You blame them for not coming, and they'll blame you for being so high-profile. They only think of asking for help when disaster strikes and they're hurt themselves!"

Jiang Lianheng frowned and muttered under his breath, "That shouldn't be the case! Boss Ren, didn't you hand out flyers yesterday?"

"I've already sent it, but they just won't come. What can I do?"

"Do you still have any flyers? Can I see one?"

Mr. Ren then found a flyer and politely handed it over.

Jiang Lianheng took it and glanced at it briefly before immediately realizing the problem.

The leaflet was filled with the origins, purpose, and objectives of the "Hengshe" organization, as well as the responsibilities and obligations of its members. It was full of eloquent speeches and promises of various benefits after joining, but it omitted one thing—membership fees.

It turns out that when this Mr. Ren was young, he was a spoiled rich kid who had never experienced poverty. He was also a bold and decisive businessman who rarely haggled over small things.

He had no idea about this at all, always thinking that the membership fee wouldn't cost much, so why should it be written on this flyer?
But other merchants didn't think that way. They thought to themselves, "I only make a little money in my small business. Is it worth spending money to worry about something that could happen to me?"
Everyone harbored a sense of wishful thinking, always believing that they were "them" and we were "us," and that even among merchants, there were differences in status and wealth.

It's a gathering organized by the wealthy merchants and gentry; we small merchants and vendors shouldn't bother joining in. We can't afford it.

Unfortunately, today is the last market before the new year. I'm already too busy with my own business to come here and listen to some kind of presentation.

In fact, the members of Hengshe had already decided to reduce or waive the membership fees for small businesses, but the flyer didn't mention it.

Mr. Ren was a little embarrassed and quickly said, "Oh dear, this is all my fault for not thinking things through. The problem is that it's almost time now, and if I go to call someone over, it might not be in time!"

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. As long as we get all the ordinary people on the street to come, why worry about the merchants not following?"

After saying that, he called over the South Wind and the West Wind and whispered a few words to them.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Zhengnan made several phone calls inside the guild hall, while Li Zhengxi went outside to gather the brothers who had come with him.

Before long, a cart suddenly appeared from the direction of the south city, with several burlap sacks piled on it, bulging and full, probably the grain harvested in the autumn.

The crowd was slightly confused, but Wang Zhengnan came out of the hall with a small blackboard and stuck it next to the podium.

The onlookers found someone who could read to look at the text, but before they could even read it aloud, Wang Zhengnan shouted loudly:

"At the Hengshe lecture, those who attend can receive a liter of millet. First come, first served, while supplies last!"

The moment the words were spoken, the street erupted in chaos.

It should be noted that the battle in Fengtian had only just ended.

Recently, freight transport on the South Railway has been disrupted, and hundreds of thousands of troops have been stationed in the suburbs, nearly depleting the city's food reserves.

Although the war has now subsided, supplies remain scarce. While food prices have fallen somewhat, they have not yet returned to previous levels.

At such times, if a wealthy person is willing to open their granary to provide relief, the common people will naturally flock to them.

Don't underestimate a liter of millet; it's still free food, and who wouldn't want to join in the fun?

In an instant, pedestrians from the entire street rushed over here.

They pushed and shoved each other to get forward, some taking off their hats, others tearing off their handkerchiefs, shouting anxiously, "I was here first! I was here first!"

Li Zhengxi and his men looked at the grain on the cart, cursing and shouting, "Don't fucking push! The propaganda meeting hasn't even started yet!"

"Then let's get started! What are we waiting for?"

Pedestrians on the street were all gathered here, so other shops were naturally less busy.

Curious, the shopkeepers all came out of their shops to look around.

Gradually, merchants began to gather around, standing at a distance and watching. Even if the shopkeeper himself didn't come, he would send his assistants to listen in.

Mr. Ren was pleased. Seeing that it was almost time, he smiled at Jiang Lianheng and the others and said, "Mr. Jiang, shall we begin?"

"Alright, Mr. Ren, please!"

"Mr. Jiang, please go first, everyone else please go first!"

After exchanging a few polite words, everyone walked out of the Hengshe Hall one after another, lined up in front of the door, and waved to the onlookers.

I must say, the people of Fengtian are quite particular. If you give me some millet, I'll support you.

As soon as the merchants and gentry appeared, thunderous applause erupted on the street.

Jiang Lianheng turned to the side and smiled, "Boss Ren, let's begin!" Boss Ren clasped his hands in a fist and said with a smile, "Boss Jiang, you flatter me. I'll go and say a few words first, and then I'll invite you, the president, to the stage later."

Jiang Lianheng reached into his pocket, clutching the speech draft Chuang Hu had prepared for him, but said, "I'm not good at this kind of thing, so you can say as much as you can."

Mr. Ren nodded in response, then stepped onto the stage. He first greeted the villagers, then talked about the old refrains about national crisis and the survival of the nation, and finally brought up Hengshe. On stage, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of mutual protection among business people, and finally brought it back to the topic of national crisis and the survival of the nation.

"Fellow villagers, foreigners are all wolves in sheep's clothing, especially the Japanese, who are full of evil intentions. If they dare to open a business in the city today, they will dare to kill our compatriots in the street tomorrow. This matter cannot be compromised. The mutual protection of the Fengtian business community is imperative!"

Despite this, the audience below the stage did not react much.

Everyone here is doing odd jobs, and they all feel that mutual insurance in the business world has little to do with them.

Boss Ren paid no attention to the group of ordinary people, focusing only on the shopkeepers of the shops in the distance. He then said loudly, "Don't worry about the membership fees. Small merchants and vendors can have them reduced or waived. The most important thing is to work together. Those with money should contribute money, and those with manpower should contribute manpower. This is the principle of mutual protection!"

At this moment, someone in the audience said, "What you're saying has nothing to do with us?"

“How can it not be a problem?” Boss Ren retorted. “The foreigners have taken over all our business, and you’re the ones who suffer! They treat you like animals, beating and scolding you all the time. Is that how a human being lives?”

Someone in the audience chuckled quietly: "Hmph, as if your factory doesn't beat people."

Boss Ren pretended not to hear and continued, "Beating people is secondary. The main thing is that the foreign factories make money, buy guns and cannons, and then they want to beat us Chinese! Let me put it this way: whoever buys foreign goods is an accomplice of the foreigners, and whoever does not support domestic products is a traitor!"

As he spoke, he flipped his hand and magically produced a box of matches.

"Take this box of matches in my hand, for example! Anyone who doesn't use Yongxing brand matches is unpatriotic, doesn't support the national light industry, and is a lackey of foreigners! Saying that foreign goods are better and cheaper is pure nonsense. These kinds of people just can't stand to see our countrymen doing well. Am I right?"

"Yes, yes, you're right. When are you going to send the rice dumplings?"

Boss Ren then realized he had been on stage for quite some time, so he quickly smiled apologetically and said, "Everyone, don't worry, the rice will definitely be distributed, but before that, we need to invite our Heng Society's president, Boss Jiang Lianheng, to come up on stage and say a few words. I don't need to introduce Boss Jiang; he's a well-known philanthropist and industrialist in Fengtian. A few days ago, it was under Boss Jiang's arrangement that the Shao family father and son were released from prison by the Japanese. Today's rice..."

Before he could finish speaking, applause erupted from the audience.

Boss Ren was also self-aware enough to know that the applause was meant to boo him off the stage, so he simply stopped talking and handed the stage over to Jiang Lianheng.

Actually, everything that needed to be said has already been said.

No one expected any merchants to apply for membership on the spot; that was unrealistic.

When Jiang Lianheng returned to the stage, he was merely setting the tone for Hengshe and uttering some high-sounding and absolutely correct platitudes.

After all, wealthy and influential people like them always wanted to make a good impression when doing things.

The establishment of a guild must not be done secretly; it must be widely announced to be in accordance with one's status and position.

Hai Xinnian accompanied Jiang Lianheng all the way to the steps before stopping and watching his godfather walk onto the podium.

Jiang Lianheng stood on the stage and looked around. He saw a huge crowd of people below, hundreds of eyes staring at him. They were all unfamiliar faces, as if they were all carved from the same mold. For a moment, his gaze became unfocused, and he didn't know where to look.

After a moment's hesitation, he pulled a slip of paper from his pocket, cleared his throat, and finally spoke:

"Fellow countrymen, elders! The crisis of our nation lies not only in the victory or defeat on the battlefield, but also in the profits and losses of commerce and the academic community. Now, with foreign powers surrounding us, they are not only killing our soldiers with guns and cannons, but also seizing our country's wealth through commercial warfare and poisoning our compatriots with culture! Protecting our homeland is not just about fighting on the battlefield."

"The coal of Fushun, the iron ore of Benxi, the towering trees of the Xing'an Mountains—so many resources have been given away that it's hard to list them all."

"Nowadays, the Japanese are even eyeing commercial leases and mixed-use rights. If this continues, the country will perish and the race will be wiped out. Why bother with war then?"

"A shop is a small matter, but an inch of our land is a great matter!"

"A single shop is crucial to the livelihood of the merchants and people of Fengtian; every inch of our land is the very foundation of our Chinese nation!"

"I am unworthy, but I have been recommended by the merchants and gentry of Fengtian to serve as the president of the Fengtian Business Community Mutual Protection Association, also known as the Heng Society. I am unworthy of this position and dare not speak presumptuously. If in the future there is a virtuous and ambitious person who can take on this great responsibility, I will definitely step down and give way to a more capable person."

"The purpose of organizing this joint mutual guarantee among businesses today is solely to ensure that the people of Fengtian can live and work in peace and contentment, and that national industry and commerce can continue to survive and develop. We are doing our utmost to contribute, and we earnestly hope that all virtuous and capable individuals from Fengtian's academic, industrial, commercial, and scholarly circles will give their full support..."

Jiang Lianheng kept reading his script, but the audience below was already yawning.

Finally, a spectator couldn't help but cheer, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Great! Boss Jiang is absolutely right, let's hurry up and distribute the millet!"

Jiang Lianheng looked up and saw hundreds of faces below the stage, but he couldn't tell who was making a fuss.

At this moment, several more people joined in, shouting, "Yeah, we've been standing here for ages, are we going to give out the money or not? Don't play us for fools!"

"That's right, there's only one liter of millet in total, how long are we going to keep arguing about it?"

"After all that talk, it has nothing to do with us ordinary people. That's enough."

It was cold, and some people in the audience inevitably complained.

Jiang Lianheng, mindful of his position, couldn't afford to show disrespect in public, so he smiled and said, "Alright, alright, everyone, you've all worked hard. No need to rush, we'll start distributing millet now."

Unexpectedly, before Xifeng could even prepare, a surge of people suddenly appeared. The onlookers seemed to have gone mad, rushing towards Xifeng and his group, jostling each other and almost coming to blows on the spot.

Caught off guard, Li Zhengxi quickly ordered his men to grab the whistle sticks to protect the grain on the cart, and shouted angrily:
"Stop pushing, fuck you, stop fucking pushing!"

"Hey kid, I'm talking to you! Didn't you just get it? What are you still doing here? Get lost!"

"Why should I only get one? That other person just got two!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Hey, this is for Xiaomi, not for you!"

Seeing this, Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile and waved his hand, saying, "Everyone, don't rush, line up properly, you'll get your turn sooner or later, what's the rush!"

Of course, he wasn't genuinely moved by good intentions.

In his eyes, these ordinary people were no different from cats and dogs. Now, seeing them scrambling for a liter of millet, he felt no pity, only a sense of pathetic absurdity.

Boss Ren and the others watched coldly, even revealing a hint of disdain.

Jiang Lianheng had no intention of staying on the stage any longer. After saying a few polite words, he turned and prepared to leave the stage.

Unexpectedly, in that instant of turning around, he caught a glimpse of someone in the audience staring intently at him.

Just now, everyone was looking at the podium and didn't think there was anything outstanding about this person. But now everyone is crowding towards the cart, while this person is standing still, still looking at the podium, which makes him stand out.

Jiang Lianheng frowned, thinking to himself, "Why doesn't this guy just go and steal millet?"

Unexpectedly, the next second, the person suddenly raised his arm at him.

Immediately afterwards, a gunshot rang out, and the entire street fell silent. All eyes turned to the stage.

Jiang Lianheng tensed up, staggered back two steps, and then collapsed with a thud...

(End of this chapter)