Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 57 Plan
Gu Yansheng's office.

"It's time to get off work. Let's go. I'll take you out to dinner. Xiaolou, your major is shopping, so you'll be responsible for finding a restaurant." Gu Yansheng took his coat and left.

"There's food to eat? That's right, I did learn to go shopping in school." Liu Xiaolou's enthusiasm was immediately aroused, but he asked curiously, "Director, I thought you were in a bad mood today. Is there anything good?"

"You're in a bad mood?" Gu Yansheng raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking about the General Affairs Department?"

"That's right." Liu Xiaolou nodded. "You were angry at the General Affairs Department, so I thought you were in a bad mood today."

Gu Yansheng smiled, "You have to eat whether you're good or not, and you performed well today, you deserve praise."

When reconciling accounts in the General Affairs Department at the time, Gu Yansheng didn't need to say much. Liu Xiaolou took the initiative to calculate the difference when the accountant submitted the accounts.

Although it is not very useful, it can provide information for comparison with superiors to avoid being fooled by the other party unilaterally. Gu Yansheng does not need to remind him during the whole process, which is very clever.

There is a sense of tacit understanding.

And I did make money today.

The bribe of 6000 taels for two people, calculated based on the price of 70 taels each for cheap and durable coarse sand, can buy 85 pieces, which is almost enough for winter clothes for 8500 soldiers. It is not a small amount.

The mood deserves to be beautiful.

"Thank you for the compliment, Director." Liu Xiaolou smiled brightly.

Gu Yansheng had to remind him, "Don't forget what I told you to do tonight and the report for tomorrow. Wen Yan still has yours. Go to the consulate tomorrow and make sure to hand the report to Mr. Hase."

"Ok."

"Let's go, eat, and go home early after dinner."

Both of them had new neighbor tasks in the evening, which required them to leave work early.

Thinking about it this way, Liu Xiaolou felt that this new neighbor was a pretty good task. If he had to keep an eye on him every day, wouldn't he have to work overtime for a long time?
As soon as he got to work the next day, Liu Xiaolou submitted the plan to the mayor's office.

Fu Xiaoan's secretary is Wu Maiding. Like Gu Yansheng, Fu Xiaoan, as an airborne chief officer, has no experience in politics before and does not trust other secretaries in the municipal government.

So he called his former confidant to be his secretary.

Wu Maiding used to be a translator for the Commercial Bank. He had a good relationship with the Municipal Council and had no problems with reading ability and knowledge.

After receiving Liu Xiaolou's plan, he read it through himself first, then knocked on the door and let Fu Xiaoan in.

"Mayor Fu, this is the plan sent by the Department of Justice."

At this stage, how to deal with the smuggling of prohibited items by foreign businessmen is the top priority of the municipal government's work. Fu Xiaoan reached out and took it and began to look at it.

The plan has three main contents.

The first is to demarcate an area and establish the Shanghai Municipal Government Special Court, which will serve as the highest court under the jurisdiction of the SH Municipal Government and have the power to hear all disputes arising within the city.

The second is to establish a China-Japan Joint Review Committee and add a new clause to the Material Management Regulations: all goods that may be diverted for military purposes, including but not limited to medicines, metals, and fuels, will be considered strategic materials and must be approved by the China-Japan Joint Review Committee before they can enter the country.

The third is to establish a pre-qualification deposit system. All chambers of commerce conducting maritime trade in Shanghai must pay a deposit of 20% of the value of the cargo in advance. If no violations are found, the deposit can be rotated as needed. If it is insufficient, it needs to be replenished.

If you need to withdraw funds and no longer trade, you can apply for a refund one month after the last trade.

"Have you seen it?"

"seen it already."

"Tell me what you think."

"Yes." Wu Mading paused and said, "According to the meaning of this document, the Judicial Department wants to take the management power of foreign-invested disputes into its own hands. The innovative points lie in the deposit system and jurisdiction issues.

The purpose of smuggling is nothing more than to make more money, but if they have to pay us 20% in advance, and it is 20% of the value of the goods, then these foreign businessmen will have to think about whether smuggling is worth it, and whether the money will be withheld by the Japanese, resulting in no profit.

I believe Deputy Director Gu's idea was to exploit the Japanese's volatility and make these foreign merchants afraid to smuggle. The establishment of this special tribunal was, I believe, Deputy Director Gu's effort to assert jurisdiction. He was telling foreign merchants in advance that as long as their goods entered through Wusongkou, they would be under our jurisdiction. If they didn't want to be subject to supervision, they didn't have to come.

It's not like forcing them.

It's quite interesting, and quite a thought."

Wu Maiding said this with a smile.

Fu Xiaoan remained silent and continued to ask, "Do you think this is feasible?"

Wu Maiding smiled and shook his head: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve."

"What's the reason?"

"There's a gap between ideals and reality. I think Deputy Director Gu, having just entered politics, still has a lawyer's mindset and hasn't considered the complexity of the various forces at play.

Take the issue of jurisdiction for example. Its deposit system can only be effective when the jurisdiction is established.

But they just don’t recognize it?
Now foreigners have made it clear that whenever they want to sue someone, they go to the Concession Court. But people just don’t recognize this special court and are acting like scoundrels. What should we do?
He could indeed act on his own and want to establish his own court, but foreigners would just have to unite and cause trouble.

The final result will be no different from the previous lawsuits. Public opinion will be controlled by them, and the consulate itself will not be able to withstand the pressure and will compromise.

I think if he continues like this, he will let Hase Incheon down."

"So this report is scrapped?"

"Some parts are still commendable, such as the deposit. We really need to find a suitable method. I think this system is good and can be added."

Fu Xiaoan smiled when he heard this and put the documents on the table. "This person is a little naive, but it's a good thing for me."

Wu Maiding nodded. "That's a good thing indeed. If he has a loophole, it will be more convenient for us. So, should I return the document to him? Should I order a rebuttal and then ask him to produce another one?"

"Why do you want to return?" Fu Xiaoan shook his head. "You are too harsh. If a young man wants to try, you should give him a chance. If you beat him to death like this, how can the consulate know that he is not capable? How can we find a truly capable person for the Judicial Department?

If you refute him like this, the consulate will think that we don't respect their candidate. You have to give us a chance at least once. This is to give face to Hasegawa Incheon.

Inform him that I'm very busy recently and don't have time to look at it. I trust his ability and let him do the specifics on his own. He doesn't need to report to me. I only look forward to the results. "

Wu Maiding bowed his head and said, "I understand. But Mayor, you can't say you didn't know anything about this. He's asking for funding to build a courthouse, and he's also looking for a site, so that's going to cost money and approval."

"That's right." Fu Xiaoan took the document and looked at it again, laughing dumbly: "If you want to avoid this blame and can't get rid of it, then just say I looked at it and give him the money he deserves. I believe in his ability. Anyway, I don't understand the law, so who knew he could do such a bad job."

"Ok."

Fu Xiaoan handed over the documents and asked, "Have you paid the Municipal Council the money you should have paid?"

"I've already paid each foreign judge 1000 yuan, and each Chinese judge 500 yuan. I promised them this amount every month. Three have already been confirmed and will help us in future cases."

"Yeah." Fu Xiaoan nodded: "You see, there is no need to go through so much trouble to come up with any plan. We only need to spend a little money every month and let them help us with things. Foreigners are greedy for money, so there is no one who would be unhappy.

Please help me make an appointment with the directors of the Municipal Council, and I will contact them. Once Gu Yansheng fails, it will be our turn to take action.

If we can do a few concrete things and let the Japanese know that we can indeed seize foreigners' goods, then the position of the Judicial Department will naturally be restored."

As for the money spent, of course it will be earned back from others, otherwise why do we need judicial power?
At the same time, Hasegawa Inkawa in the Japanese consulate also received the report.

But he had no intention of getting himself hurt.

Looking at this document, although it has some innovative points, it does have some problems, and it is not certain that it can solve Shanghai's problems.

This did not meet his expectations of Gu Yansheng.

"Go and call Gu Yansheng over."

(End of this chapter)