Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 294: The FBI comes to the door, and the American underground emperor sneaks away

"Hello, Mr. Zheng. We are from the FBI. We suspect you are involved in this terrorist attack. Please cooperate and come with us."

It was still the Arlington Hotel, and there were still guests, but this time the guests were uninvited.

With a loud bang, Zheng Yi's bodyguards, led by Ma Kui, attacked him from the front and back, surrounding him completely. They looked unfriendly, as if they were about to pull out their guns and start a fight if they disagreed with him.

"There's no need to be so nervous. Move aside. Cooperating with the FBI investigation and maintaining U.S. national security is the obligation of every American citizen. What? Am I not an American citizen?"

Zheng Yi acted very calmly and stretched out his hand to signal them not to be impulsive. After all, this was the United States, not Penang. It would be unwise to engage in a fight with the FBI.

Besides, he thought that the FBI would at most give him a hard time, but it was impossible for them to really do anything to him. He had 20 billion US dollars in loan expenses, and all the financial tycoons in the United States were behind him, as well as the support of the Republican Party. The FBI was not crazy.

"Come on, I'll go with you, but you know my identity, and I require a larger security team of my own."

"Of course, you are a guest of the FBI, and we will definitely be able to ensure your safety."

Zheng Yi nodded and turned to Li Jianqiao and said, "While I accept, no, cooperate with the investigation, the original plan must continue to be implemented. You will assist your aunt in continuing to do what she should do."

"Okay uncle, I understand."

This incident was actually not unexpected for Zheng Yi. After all, Zheng Yi himself knew that he had done some things after coming to the United States.

At present, the ongoing black rights movement has become increasingly fierce and is almost purely violent. Although it is obviously more organized than in history, it has to be admitted that blacks are people with little culture, extremely bad tempers, and even fearless of death when they go crazy.

Even if the damage to the United States is not as great as last year's strike by the three major national trade unions, it is not far behind.

It's just that the strike across the United States was ultimately carried out by old white men. To be fair, the direct reason for such a large-scale strike last year was certainly the post-war transition. Without a war to fight, the workers who were accustomed to the wartime mode were temporarily unable to adapt.

However, the deeper reason behind this was that the war was over, and many union cadres had just returned from the battlefield. The same tactics used in the military began to be applied to the unions. These industrial workers could be said to be participants in the war, and they were all American heroes.

The militarized management during the war and the large number of retired military officers in the union brought a lot of military management experience, which allowed them to manage the union like the army. In essence, these people were war heroes.

Even if the army and the National Guard were used to suppress the protests, in reality, everyone was still focusing on talks, and it would be difficult for the army to actually open fire on these workers. That was in 1946, just after the end of World War II. It is possible that the middle-level military leaders and union leaders here were comrades fighting in the same trench a year ago.

But it’s different for black people. When black people cause trouble, the US government will certainly not be that tolerant.

And the most important thing is that, to be honest, these black people are not as highly organized as the Steelworkers' Union and the Auto Workers' Union.

The Hongmen itself is not a very sophisticated organization. The Qing Gang is just one line, and the Hongmen is a large group. Even the Chinese's own Hongmen organization is organized by countless halls. In fact, the Hongmen has very little restraint on each hall, and only has the concept of loyalty based on morality.

This is naturally even more true for these black people. What's more, even the black people in New York have not been exposed to the Hongmen for a long time. To be more precise, only the upper class has accepted the Hongmen's ideas, and many black people at the lower level may not even know what the Hongmen is.

Not to mention the black people outside of New York.

The lack of organizational strength led to chaos, with many black people taking to the streets to smash, loot, and buy things for free. Objectively speaking, these black gangs are completely different from the gangs controlled by the Democratic Party in later generations. There is still a huge gap in organization.

He caused such chaos in the whole United States. The FBI investigated him and found that there was nothing wrong with him.

"Mr. Zheng, I've heard a lot about you."

Fortunately, he was not taken to the interrogation room. Instead, he was placed under house arrest in a high-end hotel that looked quite nice, and at least a presidential suite was booked for him.

After arriving at the place, the visitor also made Chinese tea for Zheng Yi using Chinese tea sets.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Edgar Hoover."

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "This introduction is superfluous. There are not many people in this world who don't know you, Mr. Hoover. I am just an ordinary businessman, and it is an honor for me to be personally interrogated by you, the powerful Director Hoover."

Hoover: "Mr. Zheng, you are too kind. I am just a civil servant working for the United States. How can I be said to have such great power? Besides, I am not here to interrogate Mr. Zheng. I am just chatting with you. I came to you just to chat with you."

"hehe."

Believe it or not.

Hoover is completely different from other FBI directors in later generations. He truly has the power to cover the sky with one hand.

The FBI was originally something created by Ronaldinho in order to centralize power, similar to Zhu Yuanzhang's Jinyiwei. The difference was that Zhu Yuanzhang was very grateful from beginning to end. Before leaving, he took away the leaders of the Jinyiwei as well, almost abolishing the Jinyiwei.

But Ronaldinho passed away so suddenly that he left behind the FBI, especially a monster like Hoover. Especially when facing President Trump, a weak, incompetent president without a team, the era of people leading dogs had ended as early as when Ronaldinho died. In today's America, it is the dogs that lead the people.

Zheng Yi was not even sure who was the real controller of the United States, Hoover or President Du.

It was this person who, after Ronaldinho's death, has been striving to push the ideological abyss, leading the "loyalty survey", stigmatizing civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, and obstructing racial equality. For the sake of his own power, he not only nurtured the enemy, but even forced good people to become enemies.

From 1924 until 1972, he served eight U.S. presidents, monopolized his intelligence empire, and was the underground emperor of the United States and the mastermind behind the scenes, who could rival most of these eight presidents in terms of power.

Because his various political propositions were completely contrary to Zheng Yi's. Objectively speaking, although these spy agencies were neutral in name, they actually all supported the Democratic Party, even in later generations. Zheng Yi regarded them as enemies from the bottom of his heart.

What else is there to say to the enemy? Therefore, he has been in the United States for so long and has never had any contact with Hoover. He doesn't like Hoover and he thinks Hoover can't like him either.

But at the moment, it seemed that Hoover was treating him quite politely. He said, "Mr. Zheng, this is the first time we meet. There's no need to be so hostile towards me. I sincerely hope to make friends with you."

Zheng Yi: "Me? Be your friend? Are you kidding me? Besides... you invited me here to be your friend?"

Hoover laughed and said, "We have to go through the motions. Those niggers are really making too much noise right now."

"Why, are you saying they're paying tribute again?"

"Of course not. Are you, Mr. Zheng, the one behind them? In our opinion, Mr. Zheng, you clearly sympathize with and even favor the tributes, especially the Chinese tributes. However, to say you are a tribute is completely wrong. You are the world's largest capitalist. The people around you are all, without exception, the world's largest capitalists. How could you really be a tribute?"

"Malcolm and the others have really made a big fuss this time. Everyone knows you're behind them. I had to ask you back to act as a show. Of course, I also know I can't do anything to you. Don't you know that too?"

"You and Malcolm never had any substantial contact from beginning to end. Although you had a connection to the Hongmen, you were in Arlington when the incident happened, not in New York at all. The connection between you was your personal secretary, or lover."

"But you took out the money before the New York City shooting. Everything you've done for black people from beginning to end can be explained as a small amount of sympathy for them, considering we're all people of color. An investment of tens of millions of dollars is reasonable for a wealthy man like you."

"If this really went to court, based on all the evidence we have, we wouldn't be able to convict you. With your high-profile status, even if the FBI had the guts, we wouldn't dare use any private investigation or special investigation laws against you. We can't even conclude that you were the one who ordered Malcolm to do this. Mr. Zheng's methods are truly exceptional."

Zheng Yi sneered and did not answer. When chatting with such a person, Zheng Yi was extremely cautious, for fear that he would say something wrong and be beaten half to death by him.

"It seems Mr. Zheng is still wary and cautious of me. Mr. Zheng, do you smoke?"

As he spoke, Hoover took out two cigars from the desk drawer and gave one to each of Zheng Yi. He waved his hand, signaling everyone else to leave, leaving only him and Zheng Yi. He said:
"This cigar is Cuban, specially made in the plantations run by you Chinese. It's a small brand. You Chinese are really impressive in Cuba. Mr. Zheng, have you ever been to Cuba? I heard that during the Anti-Spanish War, all the Chinese laborers in Cuba participated in the war, and there was not a single deserter or lackey. It's amazing, what an amazing nation you are."

Zheng Yi took the cigar and didn't worry about him adding any chemicals to harm him. He lit it and started smoking, but he was still very cautious and didn't say anything.

"The reason I'm telling you this is that I have very accurate information indicating that Cuba has been facing serious problems since the fall of the Batista regime a few years ago. I'm absolutely certain that the grassroots student and worker organizations in Cuba have been thoroughly infiltrated."

"There's been a lot of unrest over there lately. I heard even the Italian Mafia is involved. It's getting increasingly chaotic. It's never been peaceful there before. Even before World War II, there were incidents of over a hundred thousand people holding hands and singing anti-American songs. I'm pretty sure there will be serious political unrest in Cuba in the next few years."

"By the way, Mr. Zheng, don't you care about Cuba? That's the country you Chinese actually helped to found and establish. Besides United Fruit in the U.S., the largest plantations there are your tobacco and sugar plantations. If all of these plantations were destroyed in the upcoming political turmoil, how would you feel, Mr. Zheng?"

Hoover then looked down at the cigar in his hand and sighed deliberately, "Oh, Cuban cigars are really good. Who knows, we may never be able to smoke such good cigars again in the future."

Zheng Yi frowned. "What exactly are you trying to say? I'm not interested in Cuba, and Havana isn't the place I envisioned for the Southern Alliance. I've never considered expanding there. South America is America's backyard, I've always understood that." Hoover replied, "Is that so... That's a shame. Let me talk about Penang."

Hoover pulled out a stack of documents from the cabinet under the table and handed them to Zheng Yi, saying, "You can open them and take a look. They contain a list of Chinese people in Penang and Singapore who have engaged in absolutely pro-tributary behavior, provided practical support and assistance to China, and spread pro-tributary ideas in the SAARC region."

"There are a total of 172 people on the list. Most of them hold mid-level or higher positions in your government or major chambers of commerce. Mr. Tan Kah Kee, the leader... is the most prestigious person among all the Chinese in Southeast Asia, aside from you, Mr. Zheng."

"One hundred and seventy-two?"

This completely confused Zheng Yi: "There are so many? I didn't even know there were so many."

Speaking of which, most of the Southeast Asian Chinese in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation are capitalists.

He was really confused. He probably knew that there were indeed some people in SAARC who were pro-Tongxia, but he didn't expect there would be so many. After all, to catch the eyes of the US intelligence agencies, one must at least be a middle-level person.

After he opened the document, he was even more confused: "Hu Wenhu? Hu Wenhu was also pro-tribute? You must be mistaken. He was pro-Nanjing."

Hoover: "You are right, Mr. Hu, to be precise, for a period of time before, he was indeed pro-Nanjing. He spent a lot of money on buying government bonds and invested in a large number of factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Among them, there were two military factories that could manufacture precision machinery. In one year, he sold more than 4,000 tons of gunpowder to Nanjing, which was used to make bullets, bombs, etc."

"It seems these things were done behind your back. It seems Penang doesn't have a comprehensive grasp of this information."

Zheng Yi's face looked a little unhappy when he heard this.

He actually needed an American to tell him about the affairs of Southeast Asia, which was actually a bit of a slap in the face.

Of course, it is also because Hu Wenhu and Yangon are relatively special within the SAARC. He is a genuine frontier official, and the proportion of Chinese in Yangon itself is not high. Zheng Yi did not pay much attention to it. He also knew that Hu Wenhu had many connections with Nanjing and was very close to Nanjing, but he did not care about it, and even deliberately did not ask about it.

Political freedom?

After all, these people in SAARC are still an alliance. It is not easy to unite them. There is no need to further divide them because of political disagreements over domestic affairs. They can support whoever they want. As long as it does not affect the interests of SAARC itself, no one will care.

Now that Zheng Yi knew that Hu Wenhu sold arms to Nanjing, he didn't find it strange.

"Why is this a tribute?"

Hoover said, "It happened this year. There are two main reasons. First, Mr. Hu bought over tens of millions of dollars worth of government bonds. But for some well-known reasons, these tens of millions of dollars in bonds have become worthless."

"Also, Hu Wenhu has always hated the corruption in the Nationalist government. You are also aware of this."

"The second reason is that most of the factories he helped build in China have now stopped operating. The engineers he painstakingly trained and sent to the government have returned to Yangon, while many have simply headed north to the Northeast. This has really upset him."

Zheng Yi sneered when he heard this: "I guess this matter is also closely related to you, the United States."

Hoover smiled. "You could say that. I can't say there's none at all, but... it's not just the US. As far as I know, the Nationalist government is investing in factories now. The weapons and industrial products they produce, if sold on the market, are at least 30% more expensive than those imported from Southeast Asia. So... maybe it makes his decision to return to China to build factories seem foolish."

Zheng Yi nodded when he heard this, knowing that what Hoover said was very likely true.

Zheng Yi knew Hu Wenhu. His so-called closeness to the government was more due to his personal relationship with Song and Kong. To some extent, his life ideals were similar to Li Jiqian's, both of whom were committed to serving the country through industry.

To serve the country through industry, one must have industry. If I am not mistaken, the bankruptcy of the factories he invested in was the fuse that led to his change of position.

Although Hu Wenhu would feel very angry if he was a little greedy and corrupt, he could actually tolerate it and would not have to change his job. But if he could not even engage in business, that would be too infuriating.

During this period, Nanjing had completely degenerated into a comprador government, whether consciously or unconsciously. It was difficult for the national industry to develop, and it relied entirely on customs taxes to operate. Almost all the powerful people from top to bottom were agents of foreign goods.

The most important ones are of course American products.

This is probably the reason why Hu Wenhu changed his camp.

After all, at their point in life, making money is really not that important. The ideal of their generation is to serve the country through industry. If pushed to the limit, it probably won't matter whether the industry belongs to them or not.

Being able to hurt people's hearts to this extent and allowing so many pro-tribute factions to appear in Nanyang, a place where a group of capitalists have the final say, one has to say that some people are really... awesome.

The Americans all knew about it, but I didn't. After I go back, it's time to deal with my brother-in-law.

"Mr. Zheng, you might want to take a look at this document here."

"what is this?"

"It's another list of people who have anti-tribute views, have had dealings with our American intelligence agencies, and even hope to cooperate with us. If necessary, we in the United States may take action to support those on this list to replace those on the previous list."

"Xu Shengli? Didn't he go back to Shanghai?"

"He just went back to Shanghai. It's not like he can't come back again. Twenty million US dollars! It's only been a few years, and he's been ripped off and there's almost nothing left. But it's precisely because of this that he has a strong gambling nature. He once took the initiative to contact our people. Maybe... he can be of some use?"

"Why? Are you planning to use him to replace Mr. Tan Kah Kee?"

"Who knows, maybe... to replace you?"

"Just him?"

"Maybe we can give it a try? In short, supporting the second list as much as possible, replacing and excluding the first list you saw, is the national attitude of our country. It's not just the ruling Democratic Party, but even... Mr. Dewey and even Mr. Nelson Rockefeller actually have the same idea."

Zheng Yi: “…………”

Ultimately, SAARC is ruled by shares. American companies have certain voting rights in SAARC itself. In addition, there are many connections between them. If the intelligence agencies instigate, anything is possible.

If the situation gets more serious and extreme measures are used, such as assassination, kidnapping, subversion, or even inciting a mutiny, even Zheng Yi might be overthrown.

Of course, the Americans would not do such a thing to their allies unless they were at loggerheads.

"Mr. Hoover, what exactly do you mean? Why are you showing me such a confidential document?"

"I said, Mr. Zheng, you don't have to be so wary of me. I really want to be friends with you."

Zheng Yi thought for a moment and asked doubtfully, "Is there... a chance for cooperation between us?"

Hoover: "Of course, how could there not be? We do have very obvious differences of interest on many issues, and we are in a mutually antagonistic relationship. However, I always believe that even with enemies, there are opportunities for cooperation. Moreover, I do not think you are my enemy."

"Tell me, how to cooperate."

Hoover smiled and said, "Even if I don't show you this information, I actually have no use for it. Overseas affairs are not, nominally, my responsibility. Mr. Zheng, what do you think of the CIA, a department that was just established this year? What do you think of Director Roscoe Hillenkot?"

Zheng Yi: "Has Director Hilenkot already taken office?"

Hoover nodded: "Yes, and the South Seas direction is the top priority."

Zheng Yi frowned slightly when he heard this: "What does Mr. Du mean?"

Hoover: "President Du hopes that Hillenkot will share my power. Of course, I am loyal to both the United States and President Du, and I have absolutely no objection. He is in charge of external affairs, and I am in charge of internal affairs. But I am a little curious. Is the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) considered internal or external to the United States? Mr. Zheng, isn't SAARC a non-state actor? And aren't you an American?"

Zheng Yi suddenly realized: "I see, Mr. Hoover, it's a pleasure to be your friend. I think we do need to cooperate."

(End of this chapter)