money player

Back when Li Shiqun was a righteous revolutionary, although he went to the Soviet Union to learn a lot of skills, he was unlucky and was imprisoned eight times in a short period of time.

In 1928, he was arrested by the police in the International Settlement. His wife, Ye Jiqing, used her connections with Ji Yunqing, a bigwig in the Green Gang, to rescue him and encouraged him to become Ji Yunqing's disciple.

In the 1920s and 30s, Ji Yunqing was quite a powerful figure in Shanghai. He was a member of the Eight-Legged Party and worked for Shen Xingshan, who was also of the Tong generation. He also engaged in "legitimate" competition with Huang Jinrong, who had the same master as Shen Xingshan.

At that time, Du Yuesheng was just a minor figure under Huang Jinrong. He rose to power by taking advantage of the conflict between Shen and Huang. It can be said that Du Yuesheng's rise was mainly due to his handling of the relationship between Shen and Huang in three stages.

In the early 1920s, Shen Xingshan served as the Chinese detective chief in the British Concession. He formed the Eight-Share Gang, monopolized more than 70% of the opium transportation in Shanghai, and legalized smuggling by bribing the police, thus cutting off Huang Jinrong's path to wealth from opium robbing.

At that time, Shen Xingshan's power was at its zenith. He snatched a dancer that Du Yuesheng had his eye on at a nightclub. Du Yuesheng could only swallow his anger and apologize after the woman had been taken advantage of. But in reality, he took the opportunity to infiltrate Shen Xingshan's political and business network.

Later, Du Yuesheng persuaded Huang Jinrong and his wife to establish the Sanxin Company, a monopoly enterprise in the opium trade, and to set up the Xiaobagu Gang, which specialized in robbing Shen Xingshan's opium ships. After several years, Shen Xingshan's power was completely destroyed by him, and Shen Xingshan was forced to go north to Tianjin to make a living.

Tianjin is a place where rules are formed within irregularities, and irregularities are used within rules. It's a completely different game from Shanghai. In less than a year, Shen Xingshan couldn't adapt to the environment and returned to Shanghai in disgrace.

At that time, Huang Jinrong was having a run of bad luck. First, he was slapped by Lu Xiaojia and lost all face. Then, he broke up with his first wife, Lin Guisheng, lost his financial manager, and his power plummeted.

Du Yuesheng used this opportunity to arrange a marriage between Huang Jinrong and Shen Xingshan, turning hostility into friendship. Shen Xingshan was grateful and led the remnants of the "Big Eight Gang" to join him, helping Du Yuesheng to open up connections in the British concession. Sanxin Company eventually became a monopolistic giant in Shanghai's opium industry, while Du Yuesheng sidelined Huang Jinrong and became a top tycoon.

Since becoming Du Yuesheng's henchman, Shen Xingshan has stopped dealing in opium and turned to the jewelry industry, controlling the jade smuggling network in Shanghai. During the War of Resistance against Japan, he was ostensibly the president of the Wang Jingwei regime's Shanghai Special Chamber of Commerce, but in reality, he was secretly resisting the Japanese. However, because of his public identity, his business was not affected and continued to thrive until 1946.

At that time, he seemed to have a premonition that Chiang Kai-shek was doomed, so he transferred a large amount of assets to Hong Kong, registered Fuhe Trading in Hong Kong, ostensibly to operate Nanyang Rubber, but in reality to act as an arms broker, and invested in the Sing Tao Daily in an attempt to control public opinion.

In mid-1947, Shen Xingshan completed the shift of his career focus to Hong Kong. He began to take charge in Hong Kong, while he handed over the management of Shanghai to his niece, Shen Manqing, whom he was grooming as his successor.

Shen Manqing's father studied economics at Waseda University in his early years and was proficient in financial operations. Later, he followed Shen Xingshan and served as Du Yuesheng's chief financial officer. Her mother was a descendant of a White Russian jewelry family that had fled to Shanghai. She was of mixed Russian and French descent, and her family ran a jewelry store in the French Concession.

Because Du Yuesheng and Shen's father needed jewelry channels to launder money due to their "hidden identities," and Shen's mother's family needed the protection of the Green Gang, Shen's father and mother married for mutual benefit. However, the two did not have much affection for each other after marriage. Shen's father built another love nest outside and developed a more sublime love with his revolutionary lover.

Although Shen Manqing was not a lovable child, she inherited her parents' excellent genes. From a young age, she was carefully nurtured by her mother, who taught her French, Russian, and European etiquette. She also passed on all the skills she had acquired from the court jewelers, including diamond cutting and counterfeit making.

Shen Manqing was deeply influenced by Shen Xingshan during her upbringing. Shen Xingshan needed her skills, so Shen Manqing became his successor. She put her knowledge to practical use and frequented the Paramount Ballroom from 1947 to 1949. She became close friends with the second generation, including Kong Lingyi and Zhang Luying, and used their connections to sell jewelry and open up "transportation channels".

In 1949, Shen Manqing went to Hong Kong. On the surface, she worked as a buyer for a British jewelry brand at the Peninsula Hotel, responsible for purchasing Southeast Asian gemstones. She was also a director of the Shanghai Association, enthusiastic about charity and helping fellow Shanghainese. In reality, she was helping Shen Xingshan run his business and assisting in taking in the remnants of the Green Gang, including Du Yuesheng, to form a new organization called Yixing Society.

Unlike other triads, the Yi Hing Society does not fight for territory; it only operates its own smuggling business, dealing in jade and diamonds, weapons, and small quantities of drugs. It is not well-known in the community, but it is registered with the police and is listed as the Hong Kong branch of the Green Gang.

At the beginning of this year, Shen Xingshan announced a break from the old year and a new one, separating himself from the Shanghai Gang and the Green Gang, as well as from Du Yuesheng, so as not to be burdened by his reputation. He guided the Yi Hing Society to transform into a local Hong Kong triad, and changed the name of the Yi Hing Society to Yi Qun.

Righteousness is to uphold loyalty and righteousness.

The term "group" implies decentralization, weakening the hierarchical structure of the Green Gang's master-disciple system and shifting towards a shareholding system—distributing spoils based on contributions.

After changing his name, Shen Xingshan began to suppress the old members of the Green Gang and purge Du Yuesheng's former subordinates. He also recruited a large number of Chaozhou people from the docks and applied for a legal association license in the name of the Chaoshan Association. In this way, Yiqun appeared to be a Chaozhou gang.

However, the power restructuring cannot be accomplished overnight, and the core members of the Yiqun group are still old members of the Green Gang.

Lin Manhua.

Born in the French Concession of Shanghai, she was a socialite and a top student in the Chemistry Department of St. John's University, where she studied under the German-Jewish chemist Hans Kraus. Because of her fluency in German, she was specially recruited by the Military Intelligence Bureau, and Zhao Shiying served as her telecommunications teacher during her training.

In 1944, he was assigned to the Military Intelligence Bureau's Telecommunications Department and worked with Zhao Shiying for a year. Zhao Shiying liked this disciple very much and taught him cryptography and miniature camera technology without reservation.

In 1946, she met her colleague Chen Zhihao at a matchmaking party held within the Military Intelligence Bureau. The two were not only colleagues but also well-matched in terms of social standing, and they quickly became partners.

In 1948, Lin Manhua, using the alias Lin Yaqin, went to Hong Kong as Chen Zhihao's "fiancée" to carry out a tungsten ore smuggling mission. She settled in Hong Kong and never left, working as a radio operator in a jewelry store and connecting communication networks through commercial radio.

Chen Zhihao.

A member of a family that was a comprador for a Shanghai trading company and also dealt in jade, he was a graduate of the 16th class of the Whampoa Military Academy, specializing in intelligence and explosives. In 1943, he joined the Military Intelligence Bureau and served as a member of the Shanghai Station's action team, participating in the assassination of Wang Jingwei's secret agents.

In 1945, he was awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun for his role in the Hongkou Warehouse bombing, but his left hand was maimed by the explosion and he was later fitted with a claw prosthesis.

In March of this year, Wei Daming, a former major general of the Military Intelligence Bureau and an important figure who "participated in cracking down on a large number of underground party members in Taiwan, including the Stipunk Boy who was proficient in the theory of the Jade Throne and Golden Buddha," personally selected Chen Zhihao to leave the tungsten ore smuggling front and devote himself to a new battlefield - Operation Emerald.

The so-called emerald refers to jadeite. Chen Zhihao was selected because he had learned the jadeite business from his father before joining the army, and had been to the Yunnan-Burma battlefield and could speak Kachin.

In 1948, Burma gained independence. The Kachin hereditary chieftain, Zaw Mai Duwa Sinwanau, dissatisfied with the government's promotion of Burman nationalism, raised his own armed forces in 1949 to fight against the Burmese government and established the Kachin Independence Army.

[The Kachin Independence Army and the later armed force of the same name are not the same thing and have little connection; some figures from the latter simply served in the former's ranks.]
Since its inception, the Kachin Independence Army has faced a problem: it lacks access to a large number of standard weapons. Later, the remnants of Li Mi's forces fled to northern Myanmar, which triggered changes in the political relations of neighboring countries. This passively created a basis for Taiwan and the Kachin Independence Army to become allies.

The Kachin Independence Army lacks weapons, yet controls the Hpakant jade mining area in northern Kachin State, while the government is dirt poor but has to maintain an overburdened army and intelligence agency. They bomb power plants in the east and recruit thugs in the west. Who the hell will work for you if you don't pay them?

Fortunately, the core of Taiwan's intelligence agencies today are the old guard from the former Military Intelligence Bureau. During the War of Resistance against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek wanted the horse to run but didn't want it to eat grass. The annual budget allocated to the Military Intelligence Bureau was not even enough for two months.

Dai Li was pulling his hair out from the beginning to the end of the year, all for the sake of "making money." In order to make money, he gave the Military Intelligence Bureau in various places the power to act as they pleased. He didn't care if they robbed, killed, burned, cheated, or swindled; the war of resistance must continue.

This is why a large number of skilled money-making enthusiasts emerged in the Military Intelligence Bureau, and some of them are still active on the front lines of money-making today.

Functionally, Chen Zhihao was a money-making agent. Most of his missions revolved around making money. After being handpicked by Wei Daming, he immediately set off for Wanding, a major trading town between China and Myanmar on the Yunnan border. There, he met with Muran Nawsen, the quartermaster officer representing the Kachin Independence Army. The two sides negotiated the terms for exchanging jadeite rough for weapons, and Operation Emerald began.

The smuggling of raw jade has been going on for nearly four months. The Kachin Independence Army cannot meet the needs of the Taiwan customer alone. Muran secretly came to Hong Kong a few days ago to bypass the Taiwan side and contact the next level of wholesalers.

Mu Ran studied at the Yunnan Military Academy in his early years. He not only possessed remarkable military skills but was also fluent in Mandarin and various dialects, making him fully capable of living in seclusion.

Dianxiang Pavilion.

A Yunnan restaurant located at 17 Wellington Street, Central.

The boss is Yang Zhenwu, a Bai ethnic minority from Dali. He graduated from the Army Military Academy and served as the company commander of the Special Service Company of the 60th Army of the Yunnan Army in the early stages of the War of Resistance against Japan. He participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang. In 1942, he led a small team deep into Burma to scout the Japanese defense line for the Expeditionary Force. Through his old classmate Muran, he met Zaomai Duwa Xinwanao, a Kachin chieftain.

In 1949, he served as the deputy regimental commander of the 93rd Division (Army) of the Yunnan Army. After the liberation of Yunnan, he led 600 remaining troops to flee to Burma. Later, he brought his cooking squad to Hong Kong and opened Dianxiangge with the cooking squad as the core.

Yang Zhenwu was not a free spirit; he also held the nominal title of deputy station chief of the Hong Kong station of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, responsible for liaison work with the remnants of the Yunnan-Burma army, and his code name was Lark.

It was already 3 p.m., and Yang Zhenwu was still entertaining guests. As he was walking towards the kitchen, he encountered Xiao Li, a waiter carrying a tray and walking out.

"Xiao Li, is the rose-flavored jelly ready yet?"

"Master Zhou is working on it."

"I'll go check. You take the fried rice over first."

"okay."

The two brushed past each other. After walking a few steps, Yang Zhenwu glanced back and felt that something was off about the new recruit. There was no reason for it; it was just a gut feeling.

"I'll try it another day."

Yang Zhenwu muttered something to himself and stepped into the kitchen.

As Xiao Li carried the tray into the hall, his tense nerves relaxed slightly, only to tighten again in an instant. Yang Zhenwu's gaze was extremely sharp, and he could easily be noticed if he wasn't careful, so he had to be cautious.

Yang Zhenwu came up behind the head chef, Lao Zhou, and called out, "Lao Zhou."

"Boss." Old Zhou, who was setting the plates, looked up and said.

"Did the newcomer, Xiao Li, come to Hong Kong the year before last?"

"Yes."

"Have you always lived in Quarry Bay?"

"Is there anything wrong with staying at a relative's house in Quarry Bay?"

"When you have some free time later, tell him to go buy two shad and see if he brings back local shad or Pearl River shad."

Old Zhou paused for a moment, then asked, "If we buy the Pearl River shad, does that mean we should kill him?"

Crucian carp, also known as crucian carp, was a common freshwater fish in Hong Kong's streams in the past. However, the local stream crucian carp is a subspecies of crucian carp, which is slightly different from crucian carp in other places.

Quarry Bay was once crisscrossed with streams and abundant with croaker, hence its name. However, in recent years, due to land reclamation and overfishing, the local stream crucian carp are endangered. Some fishmongers are passing off wild crucian carp smuggled from the Pearl River Estuary as local stream crucian carp and selling them at a premium.

However, in the eyes of the people of Quarry Bay, only the local stream crucian carp in the Quarry Bay stream can be called guildfish, and they disdain to eat other guildfish.

"Confirm first."

"it is good."

Xiao Li delivered the Xuanwei ham fried rice to the customer's table and casually observed the customer's appearance. The owner personally served the customer, and the two were very close, so the customer's identity was probably not ordinary.

The guest was preoccupied and didn't notice Xiao Li's spying.

He transported 30 tons of jadeite rough to Hong Kong and stored it in a public warehouse in Kowloon Wharf. Unexpectedly, this batch of goods was very popular. Yi-Kwan wanted it, as did 14K and Fuk Yee-Hing. He didn't know who to sell the goods to.

In his opinion, it would be best to divide the goods among the three companies, retain Yiqun as an old customer, and develop two new customers, 14K and Fuyixing, so that the business could be sustained in the long run. However, none of the three companies were willing to accept this arrangement, and they all wanted to monopolize the goods. This gave him a huge headache.

I originally planned to rest and chat with my old friend to relieve my emotions, but things seem a bit off; it seems my old friend's identity has changed.

Peninsula Hotel.

Sally Scott is having afternoon tea with an acquaintance, British jeweler Howard Winston.

Winston spent $50 in Hong Kong to buy a batch of jade worth $200 million, which he stored in the hotel’s underground vault, guarded by four British veterans, awaiting its transfer to London.

"Howard, when are you planning to go back to London?"

"I plan to spend a few days exploring the jewelry market in Hong Kong before returning to London."

Sally kindly reminded him, "Hong Kong is not as safe as you think. I suggest you send the contents of the safe back to London first."

Winston dismissed the suggestion, saying, "I think the Peninsula Hotel is very safe and there won't be any problems."

"It's better to be careful."

“I’ll be careful.” Winston changed the subject, “Sally, are you happy living in Hong Kong?”

At a table not far from the two, a Chinese man was observing them out of the corner of his eye.

This man, named Chen Atai, was a branch leader of the 14K triad and checked into the Peninsula Hotel with a forged Singapore passport. (End of Chapter)