20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 555: The Wind Rises in Shiliupu

Good things don't go out, bad things pass thousands of miles.

The news that the Axe Gang had smashed the Three Friends Society spread throughout the city that evening. By the next morning, the news had spread all over the city and almost everyone knew about it.

After returning to the American Concession, Zhao Guoyan reported to Jiang Lianheng what he had seen and heard truthfully.

Everyone discussed and made decisions in the living room on the second floor of the German businessman's house.

Combining the statements of Shen Shili and A Ming, the cause of the Zhabei assassination case seems to have finally come to light.

Li Zhengxi said: "Brother, since the Axe Gang has already taken action, does that mean they haven't turned against us?"

Jiang Lianheng shook his head and corrected him, "This only means that Wang Laojiu did not betray us. The Axe Gang is too mixed, so it's hard to say."

Zhao Guoyan nodded in agreement, then added: "Boss, the brothers have been in Shanghai for three to five days, but they still don't have a fixed base. I'm worried that if they continue to wander around, something bad may happen. Our own 'Xiangzi' is not a big deal, but the key is that group of bandits..."

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand without saying anything and fell into deep thought.

He had concerns about this a long time ago.

Shanghai is prosperous, and those bandits have no jobs to do. No one can be sure how long they can remain honest.

But the problem was that after his experience in the Old Town Apartment, he could almost conclude that if he rashly established a base, he would inevitably attract the attention of the Green Gang's spies.

The original intention was to end the battle quickly, but the Zhang and Du mansions were always heavily guarded, leaving no room for error.

The Qing Gang has the advantage of geographical location and people's support, so how could it be so easy for them to collapse at the first touch?
The Jiang family is not a god-like army. If they want to accomplish anything in Shanghai, they still need to form alliances with other external forces.

Thinking of this, Jiang Lianheng's eyes fell on the telephone next to the tea table.

Just as he was hesitating, the Chinese maid in the mansion suddenly climbed up to the second floor and called softly, "Master Jiang, Mr. Li said he wants to see you guys."

"Let him come up." Jiang Lianheng blurted out.

Soon, Li Jae-soon climbed up the stairs "thump thump thump". Before he sat down, he opened his mouth and brought back another piece of local news.

"Boss Jiang, the Green Gang and the Axe Gang are causing trouble again at Shilipu Wharf."

…………

The sky was just beginning to brighten, and the red morning sun was just rising over the river.

The bridges at various ferry crossings in Shilipu were opened one after another, and the workers at Jinyuan Wharf were gathering near the shore, craning their necks to look downstream in the river.

In the middle of the river, a small steamer with a five-colored flag was seen slowly approaching the approach bridge.

It was clearly the first cargo ship to arrive at the ferry today, but many workers already looked tired. They stood crookedly, yawning, as if they had not slept all night.

Unexpectedly, just as the cargo ship approached the approach bridge, there was a commotion not far from the shore.

Everyone looked up and saw Lou Jingyuan, surrounded by twenty or thirty Qing Gang brothers, with his hands behind his back, walking towards Jinyuan Wharf.

Upon seeing this, a worker who was familiar with Lou Jingyuan immediately turned around and ran to the Jinyuan Wharf shop to notify the core members of the Axe Gang who were in charge of watching the scene.

After a while, Huang Xiansheng and Wen Jinhua led a group of Axe Gang members, armed with sticks and axes, and joined the dock workers, heading towards them aggressively.

As soon as the two sides met, they immediately started fighting, and a fight was about to break out.

Although Lou Jingyuan did not have many men, they were obviously well prepared. Each of his brothers was equipped with a gun, and they were not inferior to the Axe Gang in terms of numbers and strength.

Huang Xiansheng raised his axe and yelled, "Lou, you've been running to your uncle's place for a few days, and we've been looking for you everywhere. How dare you come to our territory? What? You didn't feel embarrassed enough at the dock last time, so you come here to get beaten again?"

I thought that a few words of scolding would annoy Lou Jingyuan, but he just laughed and asked, "When did Shiliupu become the territory? Uncle Kun, the guarantor of the tea, was killed. Do you still have the nerve to say that this is the territory of the Axe Gang?"

"Fuck you, I've known for a long time that your two families are in cahoots." Wen Jinhua immediately cursed, "Master Jiu knew you would come today, so now that you're here, don't even think about leaving. Brothers, show your weapons!"

Before he could finish his words, he saw the Axe Gang members in the front row immediately pull out all kinds of homemade pistols, looking aggressive and murderous.

Huang and Wen shouted in unison: "Lou Jingyuan, today I will make you pay for Luotuo's life!"

Seeing this, Lou Jingyuan and others hurriedly raised their guns to respond.

But just as the two sides were preparing for a gunfight, a gunshot was suddenly heard on the road by the river.

"boom--"

Fire a warning shot!

The Axe Gang members were startled, thinking that more Green Gang members had arrived, so they quickly looked sideways.

Looking up, he saw Captain Jiao at the gate of the Old City Yamen, leading a large group of Chinese police officers, stepping on leather boots and rumbling towards the dock, attracting the attention of many onlookers.

Captain Jiao lowered his gun, buckled his belt with one hand, and scolded: "Chenan mother, what are these little scoundrels doing? They have been too presumptuous recently. Do they still have eyes for us officials, the law, the court - and the county government!"

Huang Xiansheng and Wen Jinhua couldn't help but frown when they saw this.

The patrol brigade arrived too quickly, obviously intending to cooperate with Lou Jingyuan and others to cause trouble.

However, because he was wearing a police uniform, Captain Jiao couldn't take sides openly, so he scolded the Qing Gang members as well.

Lou Jingyuan hurriedly stepped forward with a big smile on his face, clasped his hands together, and cried out for justice: "Captain, please understand. I was taking a walk by the river this morning. As soon as I walked over here, the Axe Gang wanted to beat me up. You have to seek justice for me!"

"Bullshit, you fucking——"

Just as the Axe Gang members were about to speak, Captain Jiao immediately puffed his beard and glared, and shouted sternly: "What are you yelling for? Did I ask a few people? Shanghai has been in turmoil recently. The county government requires us to strengthen patrols and strictly enforce the no-man's land. Let's see who dares to commit crimes against the wind!"

Hearing this, the spectators around thought that the battle might not be able to be fought today.

Unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, a shrill police whistle was heard from the river.

After a few "beep, beep, da" sounds, more than a dozen large and small sand ships suddenly appeared from downstream, slowly approaching the Jinyuan Wharf.

Wen Jinhua squinted his eyes for a moment, then quickly whispered, "Brother Sheng, it looks like a boat from the Marine Police Battalion and the Anti-smuggling Camp."

Huang Xiansheng's heart suddenly trembled, as if he had anticipated what was going to happen next, and he glared at Lou Jingyuan fiercely.

Lou Jingyuan was not in a hurry, he just laughed and said: "Two big brothers, go and do your work first, I don't have much to do, I just like to watch the fun."

Before he could say anything, Captain Lian of the Marine Police Battalion and Captain Ning of the Anti-smuggling Battalion had already come to the dock approach bridge and surrounded the small steamer moored at the ferry. "Don't unload the cargo yet, don't unload the cargo yet. The Anti-smuggling Battalion is conducting a routine inspection. Who is the captain? Come over and cooperate."

"Dock workers, stand back and don't get in the way of Allah performing his duties!"

As they were talking, two teams of officers immediately set up a checkpoint at the Jinyuan Wharf and checked the cargo boxes on the steamer one by one.

If it were normal times, the anti-smuggling police would simply conduct random checks on goods, which would not take much time at all.

But things are different now. Captain Ning takes his job extremely seriously. He insists on opening each cargo box on the ship, checking them one by one and only after careful verification will he allow the merchant ship to unload the cargo.

This way, time will be dragged out for a long time.

The dock workers had no work to do, so they had to sit on the shore and wait. As they waited, they became anxious, knowing that the police were deliberately making things difficult for the Axe Gang.

The first cargo ship was unable to unload its cargo, so the subsequent cargo ships had to stop in the middle of the river and wait. Before long, more and more cargo ships gathered in the waters of Shilipu. Many sand ships and sampans carried little cargo, so they simply turned their bows and went to an empty dock near Dongjiadu upstream to unload their cargo.

But the large cargo ship has no choice but to stop at the ferry and wait.

Huang Xiansheng and Wen Jinhua went to the police to argue, but naturally they returned empty-handed.

Seeing that the two Axe Gang members were "incompetent" and that the former dock manager Lou Jingyuan was right on the shore, several captains got off the boats one after another, walked over with smiles on their faces to ask what was going on and asked for help.

"Haha, Manager Lou, what's going on today?"

"Brother Yuan, my ship has to go to Wusongkou before noon. Can you help me talk to the anti-smuggling department and let us unload the cargo first?"

"Oh, Manager Lou, what's the evil wind blowing today? To be honest, I have a few boxes of contraband on my ship. Please help me beg for mercy!"

Amidst the waves of flattering and begging, the captains naturally left Huang and Wen aside.

But Lou Jingyuan was unmoved, he just curled his lips and snorted coldly: "Why are you all asking me? I'm not the dock manager. Look, those two idiots over there are the dock managers!"

The captains hurriedly whispered, "Hey, Manager Lou, those two guys from Northern Anhui are useless. You have to come in person."

Lou Jingyuan shook his head repeatedly: "I can't control this. Li Guodong of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company fired me. If you have any complaints, go to him directly."

After saying this, he did not explain any more and immediately led his brothers to leave.

Huang Xiansheng and Wen Jinhua were filled with resentment, but because Captain Jiao of the county government was in charge, they could only watch Lou Jingyuan and the others escape unscathed.

In this meeting at the dock, the Green Gang disciples were able to destroy the Axe Gang's prestige without firing a single shot, simply relying on their complex network of contacts with the government.

What's more important is that throughout the day, the dock workers' income has been greatly reduced. Even though they are all from the same hometown, their morale is inevitably loosened and they gradually begin to resent the Axe Gang.

…………

Soon, the situation at Shilipu Wharf was reported back to the Anhui Provincial Hometown Association.

After Wang Laojiu heard the news, he flew into a rage and summoned all the gang members in the conference room. He ordered them sternly, "Fuck, these bastard officials, they do evil things as soon as they get a little power. Investigate, find out those captains for me. Just think of it as the Axe Gang eliminating evil for the people!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a gang leader responded, "Those three captains are all officials, so it's easy to investigate. I think we should just kill them and see who dares to embarrass us in the future!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. It seemed that they were being tough, but in fact, there was no other way.

Compared with the Green Gang, the Axe Gang’s weakness is not in their methods, but in the official support.

Chen Lixian was wrapped in gauze and bandages. He pondered for a while and said, "If we kill them and replace them with others, the result may be the same. The government offices and police stations in Shanghai are almost becoming branches of the Green Gang. It can't be solved by killing two or three people. We have to rely on ourselves for the dock business."

"Then let's call for a break again?" someone suggested.

"No." Wang Laojiu shook his head. "If you want the workers to cooperate in calling for a break, you have to give them money. If it weren't for Brother Jiang paying last time, the call for a break wouldn't have lasted that long. Moreover, if we call for a break now, it would be equivalent to making Li Guodong lose his credibility in the Merchants Group, and no one will help us in the future."

As they were talking, a brother suddenly knocked on the door twice, poked his head in and asked, "Master Jiu, there's a call from the guild hall looking for you."

"Who?"

"I don't know. They said they were from a shipping company, but they didn't say which company it was."

Wang Laojiu was too lazy to make random guesses, so he stood up and rushed out of the door, leaving the key members to wait there for a while. He went to the reception room of the hometown association hall alone and picked up the receiver.

"Who is it?" Wang Laojiu was angry, so his tone was inevitably a bit harsh.

However, a familiar voice suddenly came from the receiver, which made him stunned again.

"Brother Jiu, are you all right?"

Although the voice in the receiver was a bit noisy, Wang Laojiu immediately recognized the other party's identity.

"Brother Jiang? Is it really you? Where are you? Are you still in Shanghai?"

Wang Laojiu asked questions one after another without paying attention to himself.

Then, no one knew what Jiang Lianheng said to him in the receiver. He nodded twice blankly, then waved his hands and denied it flatly: "That's impossible. My brothers are all trustworthy people--"

Wang Laojiu was about to say a few more words, but seemed to be interrupted by Jiang Lianheng's words. He turned around, looked outside the door, and then responded repeatedly into the microphone.

"Yeah, okay... You don't have to worry about such a small matter... Brother, we think the same thing, this revenge must be avenged... Okay, then I'll make the arrangements, we'll meet again in a few days... Shiliupu? Well, let's talk about it then."

The conversation between the two was very short.

About three to five minutes later, Wang Laojiu hung up the phone and returned to the meeting room to continue discussing the assassination plan with the core members of the Axe Gang.

When the brothers asked him who had called, he just answered casually, "Who else could it be? It was those ship merchants. They were so fussy. I don't want to bother with them."

When Chen Lixian saw this, he said, "I saw that Jiu Ye was in a good mood after returning. It must be good news, right?"

Wang Laojiu waved his hand and was about to make an evasive remark when someone knocked on the door again.

Everyone answered the door in unison, and saw Zhang Luan walk into the house, nodded towards the room, and then whispered:
"Master Jiu, Li Guodong from the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company is here."

"I guess he's here to ask about the situation in Shilipu." Everyone whispered.

Wang Laojiu's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up and greeted him, "You came just in time. If he hadn't come to see me, I would have asked him for something!"

(End of this chapter)