Chapter 353 “What a black agent!”

Chapter 353 “What a black agent!”

NJ Road, as the earliest commercial street built when Shanghai was opened as a concession after the YP War, is home to many department stores and famous shops.

There are the top four companies established by British businessmen such as Welfare, Huiluo, and others, as well as Xianshi, Yongan, Xinxin, and Daxin established by overseas Chinese businessmen, as well as Lao Jiefu, Lao Fengxiang, Hengdali, Zhang Xiaoquan, and Shao Wansheng. , Wangkai and other hundreds of professional specialty stores.

In the early morning, under the sunlight, the buildings on both sides of the street shine brightly. Cars shuttle through the bustling streets. Pedestrians pass by in a hurry. There are not only foreigners wearing the most popular fashions, but also progressive intellectuals and students. , they were dressed in neat suits, holding books in their hands, talking about current affairs and culture, full of energy and passion.

In a car driving on the street, Zhou Xingzu, who was driving, couldn't help but sigh when he saw this scene: "I can't believe that Shanghai Beach a few decades ago was so prosperous, almost catching up with Hong Kong Island."

"Nonsense", Zheng Jirong looked out the window and replied: "How can Hong Kong Island's political and economic status compare with SH? I guess it is still a small fishing village now, and"

He said to Ah Xing who was in the driver's seat with a headache: "You kid, can you drive seriously? Look at how many times you braked suddenly on this road, which made me feel a little carsick!"

Bah!

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the car leaned forward again. Zhou Xingzu looked at the foreign truck in front and replied: "I don't want to either, Brother Rong. There are either newsboys or foreign truck drivers jumping around on the road. These truck drivers He's more arrogant than a Hong Kong taxi driver, running around everywhere, I don't think I can get up quickly."

"Okay, okay, drive your car."

Zheng Jirong waved his hands helplessly. Because of A Miao's absence, the driver became Zhou Xingzu. However, compared with A Miao, the [Prince Road Car God], A Xing's driving skills are really terrible. I don’t know how I got my driver’s license.

etc? It seems that this guy has only been in Hong Kong Island for a few months.

"Axing, do you have a driver's license?"

"Driver's license?" Zhou Xingzu shook his head and said, "I've never been to a driving school, where did you get your driver's license?"

"Holy crap! Why didn't you say you didn't have a driver's license?!"

"You didn't ask me, but brother Rong, don't worry. I drove a walk-behind tractor when I was in my hometown, and my skills are amazing."

".Get to the back!"

After a lot of fussing, Zhou Xingzu sat in the back seat glumly, holding the big bump on his head that had just been knocked out.

Under the driving of Zheng Jirong, the car passed through the concession and arrived at the slums in the east of the city without any danger.

The style of this place has changed drastically. The narrow streets are lined with refugees with ragged clothes and haggard faces. Their eyes were lifeless and their expressions were helpless, like walking corpses, unable to feel any life at all.

The arrival of Zheng Jirong and the others was like throwing a pebble into a pool of stagnant water, and the refugees gathered around them frantically.

"Sir, gentlemen, come on, I haven't eaten in two days."

"Sir, sir! Do you want a maid? My daughter can do laundry, cooking, making quilts, everything. Just buy her. Ten yuan, only ten yuan!"

"Sir, buy from me. My two daughters are twins. You can take all the fifteen yuan!"

"."

Zhou Xingzu had never seen such a situation before. He was stunned and said, "Brother Rong Rong, where did Shanghai get so many refugees? They don't even have food to eat? They are selling their sons and daughters. I don't think Shanghai is the same." There was no war.”

Zheng Jirong took out dozens of coins and scattered them, shook his head and sighed: "They are all refugees who escaped from SD."

He had been reading the newspapers these past few days and had some knowledge of these refugees. Heavy rains in Shandong earlier this year caused disasters. Most of the houses in the countryside collapsed and the people were displaced. However, Zhang Zongchang continued to impose excessive taxes. Instead of providing relief, he imposed heavy taxes. The refugees were still begging in SD at first, but with the spring famine, it was difficult to survive in places without disasters, so they had no choice but to drag their families and move out of the province.

Originally, they ran to the north first, but the Tjin side was under the control of Zhu Yupu. Zhu Yupu was still fighting with Zhang Zongchang, so he had no time to take care of this group of refugees. The Tjin government also ignored them and was helpless. Then they could only run further south, and it would be better to reach the territory of the National Government.

Although he still doesn't have enough to eat and sleep well, he at least has a place to stay now, and the rich people in the city will bring reporters over to give him porridge in a few days, so he won't starve to death after all.

Although he sympathized with them in his heart, Zheng Jirong did not forget what he came here to do.

After scanning the surroundings, he couldn't help but frown. His master had told him before that there were many SD young and strong laborers among these refugees. How come when he arrived at the scene, he saw that they were all old, weak, sick and disabled?

"Brother Rong," Peng Yixing on the side seemed to have noticed his doubts, and leaned close to him and whispered: "I have stayed with this group of refugees for a few days before. During the day, the men in their family are either working on the dock. Or just move rocks and coal at the railway station. If you want to recruit people, you have to go there."

"I see," Zheng Jirong understood. "Is the pier far away?"

"It's very close. Several docks on the east side of the city are close to each other. It only takes ten minutes to drive there."

Zheng Jirong nodded slightly after hearing this. He looked around at the refugees who were looking at him with begging eyes. He sighed secretly and took out legal coins worth thousands of silver dollars from his arms and handed them to Zhou Xingzu.

"Axing, you and Dafu go buy some food and take a break. Remember to buy the kind that is large enough to fill your stomach."

"Okay." After Zhou Xingzu accepted the money and was about to turn around and leave with Chow Dafu, Zheng Jirong whispered to him again: "Be careful, these guys are not all pitiful people, don't be beaten halfway."

Zhou Xingzu glanced at the refugees who were staring at his pockets, and said nonchalantly: "Brother Rong, are you mistaken? I can hunt cattle from across the mountain. How can ordinary people be my opponent?"

Looking at this kid's swaggering back, Zheng Jirong couldn't help curling his lips, he was afraid that if he really made a move then, there would be nothing to protect him!

On the dock.

The air was filled with the smell of dust and sweat, making people feel suffocated.

The bare-chested workers carried heavy sandbags on their shoulders and staggered across the narrow springboard. Dust and sweat intertwined, forming mottled marks on their faces, and their rough cloth shoes made a dull sound on the stone road. , accompanied by their heavy breathing and shouting.

At the same time, there were supervisors holding hands with cold eyes standing around. They collected money according to the number of each sandbag. Once they found that a worker was slow to move, they would yell and curse, or hit and kick them. The workers would just I can grit my teeth, endure the pain, continue to carry the sandbags, and move forward with difficulty.

When Zheng Jirong and others first arrived, this was the scene that greeted them.

He pointed at the supervisors and asked, "Where are these guys from? From each company?"

"no."

Peng Yixing explained: "Why are there these people in the business? They are all thugs from nearby gangs."

After saying that, he raised his hand and pointed at several docks around him, "These docks are all divided up by gangs. As long as which company has goods shipped from the sea, you only need to find the gang that charters the docks and negotiate a good price with them." , after that, whether it is loading or unloading goods, it will be done by the gang organization's manpower."

Zheng Jirong was surprised when he heard this: "You guys from the gang are still willing to come out and do hard work?"

"Brother Rong, you misunderstood." Peng Yixing looked coldly at these supervisors who were dominating the workers and explained: "How could they let their own people do coolies? All the workers on the dock are theirs." Poor people hired at low prices.”

“These people either come from poor families or simply escaped from hardship. They neither have the ability to find a good job, nor the determination to have a good time, so they can only do the most tiring work in Shanghai with the lowest wages.”

“The unit price offered by the shops to the gangs is five copper coins per item regardless of the size of the goods, but when it comes to the workers, two sandbags are only worth one copper coin, and the rest is earned by these high-end gangs.”

"The workers have worked hard all day, but when they check out at night, they find that the money they earn is only enough to buy the cheapest meal for their families. Not to mention saving money, sometimes they can't even afford a decent meal."

"Fuck!" Zheng Jirong scolded in displeasure upon hearing this: "Isn't this just a black agency? In order to prevent workers from saving enough money to change jobs, these bastards deliberately deducted their salary to just enough for food and clothing. I didn’t expect that this trick has been played for decades.”

Thinking of this, Zheng Jirong became angrier as he thought about it. He loosened the collar of his elasticated shirt and spat on the ground, "Damn, what I hate most in my life is rogue agents! Come with me!"

In front of the dock, in the wooden shed where the overseers stayed.

An old guy with glasses and a mustache, dressed as a cashier, was concentrating on the abacus in his hand. There was a counting boy beside him who shouted: "Five bags for seven years, ten bags for three years." Seven years of Chen Jiubao."

Not far from him, there was a rough wooden table. At the table, a fat man with a big waist and round body was eating and drinking.

After chewing and swallowing the bulging food in his mouth, he picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp, burping with satisfaction.

After patting his stomach, he raised his hand and cut a few pieces of raw tofu on the table with a knife and put them into the hot pot with pickles. While waiting, he shouted to the accounting room where the accounts were being settled:

"Old Songtou, you have to dial it for me. You must not make any mistakes. Although the abacus is small, it is bigger than my head, the fourth master. You have to remember that what you are dialing in your hand is my head. !”

"Don't worry, Fourth Master," the old accountant replied without raising his head: "When the Qing Dynasty was still around, I was also working as an errand in the government office. I had been receiving government rations for thirty years, but I had never broken a single grain. Old teeth."

“You can’t go wrong unless you pay careful attention to everything!”

The fourth leader glared at the old guy unhappily. Although their Black Tiger Gang was a well-known gang in the east dock of the city, these goods were rations shipped to the Northern Expeditionary Army by major merchants. If something went wrong, let alone If he kills him, he may even lose his godfather Lei Gong’s head!

Shaking his head, he no longer thought about these troublesome things. He raised his chopsticks and stirred the boiling soup pot. He picked up a piece of tofu and blew it into his mouth, feeling the silky texture and light taste. The salty taste made Si Dangjia take another sip of soju and hummed with satisfaction:

"After eating pickles and rolling tofu, the Chairman of the Republic of China is not as good as me"

"Hey, you're quite good at eating offal!"

At this moment, a deep voice suddenly came from outside the wooden shed.

The fourth master frowned and looked around. A tall man in a suit and leather shoes and a small man with a gloomy face were standing in front of the shed.

"Zap?" He raised the corner of his mouth and looked at the person with an evil look, "Do you mean me by the piece of suey you just mentioned?"

Zheng Jirong smiled, walked up to the fat man, looked down at him and said lightly: "Don't get me wrong, I'm not just referring to you, I mean."

He turned around and looked at the gang supervisors around him, and said in a deep voice: "You guys are all scum, the bastards among bastards!"

"Go to NM!"

The fourth master was furious when he heard this. He stood up from his chair and raised his fist to hit the man in front of him.

Zheng Jirong snorted coldly and calmly turned his head slightly to avoid the blow. At the same time, he kicked the soup pot on the stove directly in front of the fat man!

The boiling soup instantly poured on the fourth master's body, creating bursts of white smoke!

"ah!!!"

The unsuspecting Fourth Master was immediately rolled all over the ground with heat, and the wails like slaughtering pigs resounded throughout the dock. Not only the workers, but even the supervisors also put down their whips and looked at the wooden shed in surprise. side.

"Hot, hot, hot!!!"

Holding back the pain in his body, the Fourth Master didn't bother to find out the identity of this kid. He picked up the machete hidden under the table and was about to strike at Zheng Jirong!

The younger brothers who were about to come up all stopped when they saw this. As expected of the fourth leader of their Black Tiger Gang, even though his head was burned to death, he could still exert the momentum of a tiger descending from a mountain!

However, before the sword could be struck out, Si Dangjia, who was halfway through the charge, stopped in place as if the pause button had been pressed.

"Eh? Come here and chop me. Why aren't you moving? Are you scared?"

The Fourth Master glanced bitterly at Peng Yixing, who was pointing the black gun at him. He gritted his teeth and resisted the severe pain of scalded skin, and shouted to Zheng Jirong: "You are not a hero with a gun. If you have the ability, just follow me." Let’s fight with real swords and guns!”

"Haha", Zheng Jirong sneered disdainfully after hearing this: "You want to fight me just because of your three-legged cat skills. Are you worthy?"

He then walked to the table, pulled up a chair and sat down. After lighting a cigarette, he glanced at him and asked, "Which gang are you from?"

"Black Tiger Gang!"

The fourth leader shouted: "My godfather is the leader of the Black Tiger Gang, Lei Gong! Where did you come from?"

"Thunder Lord?"

Zheng Jirong looked a little weird when he heard this. Why is there a boss named Lei Gong everywhere?

"I haven't heard of it." He shook his head nonchalantly, and then said, "Go back and tell me. Forget it, let's find someone else."

Zheng Jirong turned around and looked at the old accounting clerk hiding under the accounting table in the middle of speaking, "Go back and tell that Mr. Lei that from today on, these docks will be under the control of my axe!"

"What?!"

When the Fourth Leader heard this, he was furious and said: "The Ax Gang's territory is in Zhabei. The dock here has always been the territory of our Black Tiger Gang. You dare to cross the border?!"

"Haha", Zheng Jirong pointed to the sandbags around him and asked with a smile: "Which company do these things belong to?"

"This is the military rations that the four major grain dealers jointly bought for the Northern Expeditionary Army." At this point, the fourth leader pretended to be powerful and said: "It doesn't matter if your Ax Gang offends our Black Tiger Gang, but those soldiers are not high-powered gangsters like you. Those who are provocative and sensible should get out of here now, otherwise don’t blame us for being rude when the time comes!”

"That's it." Zheng Jirong nodded, and then used his inner strength to ask loudly: "Then let me ask you again, why did the four major grain merchants give you the Black Tiger Gang the price of five copper coins per bag, but you only gave The worker’s wages are two bags and one copper?!”

The loud words instantly resounded in the ears of all the dock workers. After hearing Zheng Jirong's words, every worker looked at each other in shock. They knew that the Black Tiger Gang would definitely deduct 30% of the remuneration they deserved. 50%, but they never expected that they would directly deduct 90% so harshly!

The workers instantly became excited. While whispering to each other, they all looked at the fourth master in the wooden shed and the surrounding supervisors with unkind expressions.

Seeing this scene, the fourth master quickly shook his head and denied it: "You're talking nonsense! How could there be so many? The reward we received was only a bag of copper coins!"

boom!

As soon as he finished speaking, the bullet hit the ground under his feet, causing sparks to fly and making the guy break into a cold sweat.

"What I hate most is when people lie to me." Zheng Jirong exhaled a puff of smoke and asked calmly: "Let me ask you for the last time, how much does a bag cost?!"

Looking at the muzzle of the gun in Peng Yixing's hand with bursts of green smoke, the fourth master was silent for a while and then replied: "Yes, it's five copper coins, but I didn't set the price."

boom!

At this time, gunfire rang out again in the wooden shed, but this time it hit not the ground, but the guy's forehead.

Zheng Jirong stamped out his cigarette butts, glanced at the body on the ground with disgust, and then slowly walked out of the shack.

He looked around at the workers who were staring closely at him and shouted loudly: "I am Zheng Jirong, the leader of the Ax Gang. I know that none of you know me. I also just came to Shanghai a few days ago."

"."