Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 110 Circulation

Gu Yansheng requested a municipal government meeting.

Gu Yansheng asked his secretary to distribute the signed documents to the directors.

"I'm lucky to have fulfilled my mission. I've already concluded the negotiations with all the parties involved, and Mr. Hase has also signed. 30 to 40 percent of all the drug revenue in Shanghai, this amount shouldn't be a small amount.

All drugs pass through the Narcotics Control Bureau, and all accounts are kept. The whereabouts of the money are definitely clear. I have completed my mission, and they have also promised not to cause trouble again. You can now develop the economy with confidence."

Several directors looked over the document, and one of them took the lead and laughed, "Director Gu's ability is undeniable, but this is your Narcotics Control Bureau's business. You called us here today, so you shouldn't just let us know to praise you, right? There's no bonus for our praise, hahahaha."

"Now Director Gu is also the Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau. Why does he need us to give him a bonus? There will definitely be many people who will invite Director Gu to dinner."

"Oh, oh, oh, I'm so jealous of you. You were there when the Japanese asked us to take this job. Why didn't you say anything when they wanted to eat meat? Director Gu was able to deal with this group of people. That's his ability."

"I didn't say I was jealous, I was just envious."

I am indeed envious. They are all officials, so how can they not know how much profit there is in this?

Gu Yansheng smiled and said, "Don't be envious. I called everyone here today mainly because I had an idea.

The city government's finances have always been tight. Any funding or activity that requires it has to go through layers of approval from the Japanese. Giving benefits to the people below is even more difficult.

Behind closed doors, I'll say something for our own convenience.

I have already opened up the source of revenue and reduced expenditure. Mayor Fu or you all, can you think of a way to let the Japanese leave us something? After all, these hard days are really miserable.

I also want to give more subsidies to my subordinates, as prices in Shanghai are quite high right now.”

As soon as these words were spoken, all the directors were secretly thinking, this is what happened today, then there must be an explanation.

The tax bureau can collect taxes, the treasury can have more money, and with the money, construction can be carried out, and the Construction Bureau will have money, and all the other departments can get some profit.

No matter how little it is, it would be good to give some allowance to the subordinates.

"I think what Director Gu said makes a lot of sense."

The Finance Bureau Director was the first to speak. He glanced at everyone and said earnestly, "Our new government's main source of income is taxes. But as everyone knows, the situation in Shanghai has only been good for a few months, and now it's been messed up by Sheng Wenyi. You can imagine what our income will be in the next few months.

Why do we have to go through so many layers of approval from the Japanese when we do something? Isn't it because we don't have the money, so if we really want to do something, we still have to beg for funding?
If we could get such a good tax opportunity from drugs now, how much pressure would it relieve us?

At least I don’t have to beg for help every time, right?

Mayor Fu, I think we need to fight for this matter.

This drug business is part of Shanghai's economy, and the revenue should belong to our new government."

"The Japanese collect profits from drugs to make up for their own military expenses. Do you think they will give this part of the profits to us?" Fu Xiaoan rolled his eyes in response.

The tax bureau chief said, "If we don't fight for it, we certainly won't get it. But what if we fight for it and get it? The new government is under the jurisdiction of the Military Police Headquarters, but the Japanese will have to rely on departments like us to govern Shanghai, right? We have so many departments here, how can we not feed the horses well?"

"Yes, we need to fight for it. Mayor, we can try this. We can think of a way and report it jointly." Several directors agreed. No one would refuse something that could make money.

Public opinion was overwhelming, and Fu Xiaoan also had some ideas. He was the mayor, and more funding meant more power for him, which would definitely be beneficial.

Looking at Gu Yansheng, he said, "Director Gu, you have helped the Japanese accomplish this, so you must have made a contribution. Why don't you find time to report and make some suggestions. It would be most convenient for you."

The other directors looked at Gu Yansheng, it would be best if someone stepped forward.

However, Gu Yansheng sneered, "Mayor, I don't even have time to avoid suspicion, how can I go? Don't forget, my relationship with Commander Iwasa is not good. If I go and propose it, aren't you afraid that there will be no room for maneuver?
It's not that I don't want to, but if you don't care about the outcome, then I don't care either. I'll go and talk."

"That still matters. Director Gu can't just say it."

"Yes, yes, Director Gu can't go."

When the other directors heard this, they absolutely could not let Gu Yansheng go.

Fu Xiaoan really felt that Gu Yansheng was like a loach, and he could always evade any effort he was asked to do with righteous words.

Gu Yansheng kicked the ball back: "If you ask me, you are the mayor, and this matter still needs you to handle it. You can call Nanjing. Nanjing is also dissatisfied with the military police headquarters' willful behavior this time, which almost brought down Shanghai's economy.

You keep some money in hand for emergencies. It can be very useful at critical moments, such as when the stock market crashes and the government steps in to rescue the market, right?"

"Yes, mayor, you have to take action on this matter. Your words are effective." A group of directors began to instigate Fu Xiaoan and praised him one after another.

Fu Xiaoan was framed and had no choice but to say impatiently, "Stop flattering me. Is flattery useful? I have to have a good explanation when I go to talk to the Japanese. They all become quick-witted when they hear about money. They always turn a deaf ear to any suggestions I ask them to make.
Okay, you all want money, right? Then come up with some ideas. Everyone, think of a way. Once you have one, I'll go and talk to you."

Isn’t that it?

"I have a lot of things going on over there right now, so you guys can talk while I go deal with it first."

Gu Yansheng said goodbye. Anyway, how much money they could deduct was up to them. They believed that they would be very attentive in doing things that could make money.

Just wait for some soup.

After returning to the office, Liu Xiaolou reported that Liu San had arrived.

"where?"

"I didn't let him into your office. I asked him to wait in the conference room."

"Well, call me over."

After a while, he closed the door and took out the counterfeit money he had just obtained.

"Director Gu, the product is ready, please take a look."

Gu Yansheng picked up a one-yuan military note, touched it, and was surprised: "Alright, the feel of this note is no different from that of Japanese yen. The Military Control Commission has many capable people in Shanghai."

Liu San chuckled, "The paper really isn't our fault. It was sent from Chongqing. We didn't have the time to make it."

"No wonder it feels so good." Gu Yansheng raised the military note and looked at the details again, feeling quite satisfied.

"Okay, although it has flaws, I can't tell it's fake at first glance. It's good enough. Ordinary people in Shanghai can't easily spot it."

Gu Yansheng thought for a moment, handed over the money and said, "You must hurry up and print as much as you can. A small amount of counterfeit money will at most give us a small advantage, but only a large amount of counterfeit money will cause panic in the market. With 50 million, we can make a big splash. With 300 million or 500 million, I can completely destroy the credibility of the Japanese military notes. It's up to you."

Liu San nodded to show that he understood. "Okay, if you think it can be used, I will arrange it right away."

Liu San sent a message back.

The underground printing factory is working hard to print.

Gu Yansheng asked for at least 50 million, which was enough to make the printing factory bleed. With their production capacity, they could only produce 300,000 copies in a day if they worked as hard as they could. If they were to distribute them to various denominations, it would take more than 20 days to print them.

This matter cannot involve the hands of too many people. Chen Mo, the leader of the Iron-Blooded Assassination Group, transformed himself into a printing worker and took shifts with the original person in charge of printing to work around the clock.

Three hundred thousand tickets a day may not sound like a large amount, but if piled up, it can fill up several large boxes.

The military notes were piled in a corner like waste paper. Liu San reported the printing factory's progress to Gu Yansheng. "It doesn't matter if the money is printed slowly. We can spend it as it's printed."

Gu Yansheng gave them some advice, "Once you have 20 million, you can start spending. The Military Control Commission must have other people in Shanghai. You can contact Chongqing and give them the money you divided among them in an appropriate way. Don't meet with them in person, just set a place for them to pick it up.

Five hundred thousand to one million per person.

As for the money you withdraw, don’t spend it on daily consumption. That’s too slow and you’ll be easily caught if you wait for a long time.

Go to the casinos, there are a large number of casinos in the Shanghai West Concession. The casino environment is stimulating and it is easy to get addicted. It is also easy to deal in counterfeit money. Once the money enters the casino, it will naturally circulate throughout Shanghai with the gamblers.

You have to be quick. Within a day or two, throw out all 20 million in dozens of casinos. By the time the casinos realize it, you're gone.

The money you win is real military notes. You can exchange them for small yellow croakers with underground merchants and make a profit.

Of course, if you have extra money, you can also find underground merchants to exchange it. Military notes have just been issued, and they may not recognize them. "

"Okay, I know what to do."

As Liu San returned, the Military Control Commission began to act according to Gu Yansheng's method, and the design was quite clever.

Chongqing sent sixty new people to Shanghai, in groups of three. Each group received a box at a designated location. The box contained not only 500,000 yuan, but also a piece of paper, which told them the mission of their trip to Shanghai.

Each note mentioned three casinos. Three people worked together, pretending to be businessmen or second-generation businessmen who came to Shanghai to do business. One person gambled, one followed to collect the money, and one was outside to provide new money and be on guard.

The amount cannot exceed 50,000 each time, so as not to attract attention due to being too rich. Going back and forth to several casinos, the real military notes must be separated from the fake ones. The amount of 20 million is tempting to Boss Dai, who wants to get back at least half of the money.

Half is 10 million. Now the exchange rate between legal tender and military notes is still one to one, so this means 10 million legal tender, which is definitely a considerable amount.

Things went more smoothly than expected. In fact, many groups had already completed their gambling on the first day. According to the remaining orders, they went to find the underground merchants marked on the list for them, and exchanged them for gold and US dollars to bring back to Chongqing.

But as expected, an accident still happened.

Shanghai has many talented people. At the end of the first day, when the casino counted the funds, some veterans discovered the problem with the military notes. They always felt that the military notes in their hands seemed different from those in the previous few days.

After a careful search, I found that there were indeed two types of military notes, and both of them felt and looked very good, and you wouldn't notice them unless you looked carefully.

What’s even more outrageous is that there are actually quite a few of both types of military notes.

In the past, when counterfeit banknotes appeared, there were only one or two, or at most a few. But now there are thousands or tens of thousands of them. This is not counterfeit money at all, it is almost as good as the ones issued by the Japanese themselves.

"Which one is real, damn?"

"Could they all be real? The military notes were just released, and they were issued by the Japanese. Even if there were counterfeit notes, they couldn't have appeared so quickly. Could it be that when the Japanese printed the notes, they used different batches or machines, which is why there are differences?"

"Boy, what you said makes a lot of sense."

But after all, money is involved, so we should find someone to identify it.

The Green Gang was behind the casino. This news was reported up the chain of command and directly reached Zhang Xiaolin's ears.

But by the time he found out, it was already the afternoon of the next day.

It was already dawn when the casino finished counting the money on the first day. It was already afternoon when they found him, so the situation was serious and they reported it quickly.

Zhang Xiaolin didn't understand money, but Sassoon could judge this matter.

Sassoon directly asked people from the British Bank to help him make a judgment, and the result was correct.

"It's fake! Military notes are a modified version of Japanese yen printing technology. Although they're called military notes, they're still Japanese yen. There's no way this new design could have appeared, and there's no such thing as machines printing different batches. So it must be fake."

The professional's statement made Sassoon's face darken.

The appearance of counterfeit money so quickly was almost fatal to him.

"Go back first and remember to keep it a secret. Don't tell anyone."

"Ok."

The man from the British bank that Sassoon had sent away looked at Zhang Xiaolin and asked, "How much is it?"

Zhang Xiaolin nodded. "It's a lot. Although this amount of money has only appeared in one casino so far, to be able to come up with such a large amount of money, this group of people must be quite powerful. I'm afraid that other casinos may also have it. I've already sent people to investigate other casinos."

"Don't investigate!" Sassoon suddenly raised his hand to stop the investigation. "You absolutely cannot investigate. If you do, too many people will know. Make a phone call immediately and tell everyone who knows to shut up."

“But what about fakes?”

"Call first," Sassoon urged, "Have them send all the money over. We can't keep the counterfeit currency in our hands. We have to exchange it all for the Japanese. We have to do this before the news leaks out, or we'll lose a lot!"

Zhang Xiaolin understood and immediately called his men to collect all the military notes and send them over.

Time was running out, and Sassoon contacted his trading companies while waiting to make preparations. As soon as the money arrived, he would go to the Economic Department to exchange it.

The two people waited anxiously, and the good news was that an hour and a half later, they received news that the staff of the Economic Department of the Municipal Government had actually exchanged all the money for them, without even recognizing that it was counterfeit money.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Sassoon was nervous but then he was amused.

After making me laugh, I was confused. What should I do next? Should I accept it or not?

If you don't accept it, you won't make any money, but if you accept it, you may end up losing money at any time.

The two men discussed it and both felt that this business could continue. As long as they did not exchange the money at night, they would not lose much in the end. There was no reason not to make money.

And even if something really happened, Sassoon could still argue with the Japanese.

But Sassoon thought of another way.

"These guys might come again. Send some people to keep an eye on them. If you find any trace of them, bring them here. We might be able to negotiate a deal and buy the goods directly from them."

Zhang Xiaolin understood immediately: "Buy it at a discount and sell it directly to the Economic Department?"

"That's right." Sassoon smiled. "This way, we can make a move at any time without any risk, and the discount can be very low."

According to the market price of counterfeit banknotes, no matter how good the quality is, the best you can get is a 50% discount. This requires that the other party's forces are qualified to take the money. If it is really made by a small person, 20% discount is polite.

The profit from this is no less than robbing a bank and even faster than drug trafficking.

Zhang Xiaolin nodded, and then ordered his men to pay attention to who was using such military notes.

The good news is that they did find out that two groups of people came to gamble today. The bad news is that when their men walked over to greet them, put one hand on the other person's shoulder, and said in a rather arrogant manner, "Our boss wants to talk to you."

The Military Control Commission members thought they were exposed and ran away.

(End of this chapter)