Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 81 Quinine
After seeing Ding Mocun off, Gu Yansheng continued to wait for news. He didn't have to wait long, as the news arrived.

dong dong dong.

Wen Yan knocked on the door and came in, quite happy.

"Sir, the customs officer called and said that merchant ships from the concession have gone to pay their dues! Thirty or forty of them have gone together."

"After all, I paid the money."

Gu Yansheng put down the documents in his hand with a smile on his face. The first thing the Japanese told him was related to whether he could sit firmly in this position. It was always worth celebrating to be able to end it in victory.

"Our Mayor Fu is very punctual and has great energy. Look, as long as he doesn't make trouble, things can go on smoothly. If he helps, things can go smoothly. Foreigners have to obey his orders."

"Haha." Wen Yan laughed and said, "Then I'll send some more people to the customs to assist them in the investigation. I'll go over there too. Don't make any mistakes when paying the money for the first time."

"Well, let's go."

Gu Yansheng picked up the phone and told Hase Inchuan the good news.

"Mr. Hase, the foreign businessman has paid the money. Yes, at the customs, right now."

"Mr. Gu's ability to get things done really didn't disappoint me."

Since the counterattack in the concession began, Hasegawa Inkawa has never urged Gu Yansheng once, giving him enough patience and trust. Now, Gu Yansheng has lived up to his expectations and given him a perfect answer.

Whether it is for the judicial construction of SH City or Japan's control over Shanghai, this is undoubtedly a huge improvement.

For him, this is also a capital for seeking credit.

"Mr. Gu, please complete the inspection of the foreign merchant ships. I will also report your contribution to the headquarters. As a Chinese, I will also commend you. The Empire of Japan never treats its meritorious officials unfairly."

"Thank you, Mr. Hase."

As long as he is not asked to go to Japan in person to accept the honor awarded by the Japanese Emperor, Gu Yansheng can accept any general reward.

I heard that Emperor Hirohito was only 1.5 meters tall. If Gu Yansheng went there in person, he would still be taller than Hirohito even if he bent down. Gu Yansheng was afraid that he would feel inferior.

"By the way, Mr. Hase, Mayor Fu said he's going to hold a press conference tomorrow, and I'll be speaking on stage. I wonder if you're interested in attending?"

"Of course I have to participate in such an important event."

How could Hasegawa miss this opportunity to suppress foreign businessmen from showing up?

"See you tomorrow then."

After hanging up the phone, Gu Yansheng calculated the benefits of this matter.

I currently hold cotton yarn call options worth $100,000, which should fetch $200,000 after I sell them.

There has been no communication with Lu Bowen yet, but the receipt of the goods should be smooth, so he should still have more than 50,000 US dollars worth of cotton yarn and grain. The bulk of the profit will go to No. 76, and what he wants to get back is the capital and some of the missing cotton yarn.

There are still thirty large yellow croakers in his hand, and the Jiangbei tycoon Gu Zhuxuan has to find a time to release them.

Gu Yansheng planned to keep these big yellow croakers in his safe, so he had to rent a safe deposit box from the bank to store them in case of emergency.

Tsk, I have embezzled so much money without realizing it. It is true that being a traitorous official makes money faster.

He didn't need to spend a penny on the prison factory. The two section chiefs would just invest the money they bribed him with, and even if the remaining amount was not enough, the two section chiefs would take care of it themselves.

I didn't even dare to ask him for money.

There is no profit there for the time being, but Gu Yansheng is not in a hurry. After all, the existence of the prison factory is more significant in providing a guarantee for future demand for cotton yarn.

There are not always such good opportunities to obtain cotton yarn as there are now.

In the evening, Gu Yansheng attended a banquet.

Sure enough, there is nothing new. If you let the Japanese choose, they will just use izakaya to entertain guests.

Hongkou, izakaya.

Gu Yansheng followed the custom when he entered the house and knelt down with Sato Qingjian. Of course, Ding Mocun, a big light bulb, was also there to keep him company.

"When Director Ding told me that the stock market operator was also Mr. Gu, I went back and systematically learned about the whole thing. The more I learned, the more I admired Mr. Gu's planning.

Foreign businessmen joined forces to create a scene of hoarding goods at high prices, and there were people within the municipal government who obstructed it. Shanghai was facing food shortages and public opinion collapsed. Under such great pressure, Mr. Gu actually thought of using the stock market as a way to break the deadlock and force the business alliance to collapse. This operation was truly amazing.

What's more, I can profit from it, which is really like having the best of both worlds. I admire you."

Sato Aoki raised his glass.

Gu Yansheng also raised his glass. "President Sato, you're too kind. My success in this matter is entirely due to the support of the consulate and the Military Police Headquarters. Without their tight-lipped attitude, I would never have been able to break their alliance even if I racked my brains. Furthermore, the help of Director Ding's Special Agent Headquarters was also indispensable."

"Making good use of the resources around you is a kind of ability in itself, Director Ding, don't you think so?" Sato Qingjian looked at Ding Moqun.

Ding Mocun nodded immediately. "That's right. As far as I know, this matter has been plaguing SH City for several months. These conditions didn't just come into being today. The key is Director Gu's strategic planning, which has produced miraculous results." Gu Yansheng chuckled, took a sip of his wine, and said, "Since you two are praising me so much, I'll accept it. Otherwise, I'll seem hypocritical."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Such frank words instantly made the two of them laugh and brought them closer together.

Gu Yansheng struck while the iron was hot and asked directly, "Mitsui & Co. is a very influential company both in Japan and China. President Sato asked me to come here today. Is there anything he needs my help with?"

"Yes." Sato Qingjian nodded and raised his hand, saying, "Please have some, and we can talk while we eat.

Quinine, as I believe both of you know, is used to treat malaria.

Due to the impact of the war, several major quinine exporting countries actually imposed an embargo on my country.

Currently, the quinine circulating in Shanghai is basically smuggled products, except for a portion imported through the concession.

So I'm hoping Director Gu's Judicial Office and Director Ding's Secret Service Headquarters can help me eliminate hidden dangers and control Shanghai's entire underground pharmaceutical market. I'm wondering if you two could help me with this matter."

Ding Mocun spoke first, "This shouldn't be difficult. Just spend some time investigating. If I can find one or two people involved in the black market and use them as clues, I can follow the clues and sweep the entire underground pharmaceutical market. I can send all the confiscated quinine to you."

Sato Qingjian shook his head: "Director Ding didn't understand what I meant. I said control, not elimination.

I want a steady supply of medicine, and it has to be cheap.”

I'm interested in their smuggling channels. "That should be possible."

Ding Mocun smiled and said, "It's just about making those guys earn less. The method remains the same. Find them and I'll go talk to them. It shouldn't be a big problem. What exactly is the cheap price that President Sato mentioned? I'll have a clear idea of ​​it."

Sato Qingjian smiled slightly, looked at Ding Mocun and said, "The cost price of the medicine."

Are you fucking making people work for you for free?
Ding Moqun's smile froze.

If this person wasn't from Mitsui, he would have cursed back. Black market traders take such huge risks in importing and exporting, and don't make a penny for others. They are crazy.

No, the cost price of the medicine is not the cost price after it is received. The price Sato mentioned is not just the cost price of medicine production, right?
Then there are all sorts of other fees that come from connections and transportation of smuggled goods. If you add all that in, won’t these businessmen still have to lose money?

But judging from Sato's bid, it is very likely.

"President Sato, what is the specific amount of quinine you require?"

"No less than ten tons a year."

What a psycho!

If it was a few hundred or even a few thousand packages, it would be fine to let the merchants suffer a little loss. The underground forces in Shanghai could share the loss and bear the responsibility. The loss should not be too big. But ten tons, are you kidding me?
He actually knew the black market price of quinine, exactly one gram of quinine for one gram of gold.

Ten tons of quinine is equivalent to ten tons of gold. The US dollar is equal to gold, but in fact one dollar cannot buy one gram of gold. This means that all the underground merchants in Shanghai have to provide him with quinine worth 10 million US dollars.

According to the normal profit ratio of black market medicine, the selling price is at least five times the cost, and the annual loss of black market traders in this transaction will reach 800 million US dollars.

Who is willing to do this business?

Sato is too heartless.

Ding Mocun frowned and said, "If that's the case, this won't be easy. President Sato, these people are smuggling for huge profits. If they simply wanted to make less money, it would be easy to deal with. But this is too cheap, which doesn't go against their original intention. Tsk."

"What does Director Gu think?" asked Sato Qingjian.

Director Gu thinks you're mentally ill. Gu Yansheng paused and asked, "From what I understand, Japan's medical technology should be quite good, right? Can't they produce quinine?"

Sato Qingjian sighed: "The production technology is not that difficult at all, the main problem lies in the raw materials.

Quinine is extracted from the bark of a tree called cinchona. 90 percent of the world's cinchona trees are grown in the Dutch East Indies and South America, which are not friendly countries. The amount we get is very small and the cost is very high.

For this reason, the Medical Department also considered alternative options and developed an alternative drug called Atadipine, but it was not effective and had serious side effects, so the soldiers were not willing to take it, so they still had to find a way to obtain quinine.

Currently, the places with the richest pharmaceutical resources in China are Shanghai and Hong Kong, which is controlled by the British, so we can only start from Shanghai.

Cracking down on the black market can certainly have a one-time effect, but it can only be a one-time effect. We need a steady supply of quinine, and this requires these opportunistic businessmen to help us open up channels and bring back the medicine.

I know this is difficult, but Director Gu was able to resolve such a troublesome situation in Shanghai, so I believe you can also come up with a way to solve this problem."

"It's just luck. Let me think about it."

The emotional opening was full of praise, and he was set up to wait here, but Gu Yansheng was thick-skinned, smiling and drinking, thinking, and didn't say a word.

"Can you increase the price a little? Give the merchant some profit margin, it doesn't need to be too big, just a little, like 20%? If it's more, I can lower the price." Ding Moqun asked.

He wanted to help, but at least he had to give others a little bit of meat to eat, so that there would be room for negotiation.

Sato Qingjian chuckled. "Director Ding is being too lenient in the role of Special Agent Headquarters. I think it's a great blessing to be able to give them a way out in Shanghai's underground pharmaceutical market. There's no need to increase the salary, right?"

(End of this chapter)