20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 628 Collusion
Boss Pei's car was requisitioned.

Jiang Lianheng and Zhang Xiaokun sat in the back row, Zhao Guoyan and the guards sat in the front row, and the rest of the people all walked to the restaurant to keep their appointment.

It is dark outside the window, and it seems even darker tonight.

Although Ning'an County also has two shopping streets and is equipped with street lights, it is far inferior to Fengtian. Once night falls, most of the county town becomes dark.

Old-style lanterns are still hung under the eaves of many shops.

Zhang Xiaokun rolled down the window and inspected his territory like a jackal. Suddenly, he patted Jiang Lianheng and said with a smile, "Brother, if you can't do it, just follow me in the future. I'll make you a regiment commander. If you're not good at martial arts, you can be the chief of staff. It's all up to you. What do you think?"

Jiang Lianheng was stunned. The situation was exactly as Hu Xiaoyan had expected.

Zhang Xiaokun had good intentions. Now that he had become successful, the first thought in his mind was to help his brothers.

But Jiang Lianheng knew clearly who was the King of the Northeast and who was a good buddy, so he quickly declined:
"Thank you for your kindness, big brother, but... I'm not trying to offend you, but I really know my own limitations. I really don't understand things like leading troops in battle."

I thought that after hearing this, Zhang Xiaokun would refuse a few more times, but unexpectedly he just smiled and nodded.

"Haha, I guessed you would say that. I understand. If I had as much wealth as you, I wouldn't be a soldier. But whether you are willing to lead the troops is your business; whether you say it or not is my business. Anyway, I have the sincerity. Don't say that I have forgotten the brotherhood after I became rich."

"No, no!" Jiang Lianheng was relieved. "Brother, that's too polite. Can I pick on you?"

"That's good, that's good... But there's one more thing you have to promise me!"

Jiang Lianheng frowned and said quickly, "Brother, if you have something to say, just say it."

Zhang Xiaokun looked out the window and hummed with pride: "To be honest, I don't take this little Suining garrison commander seriously, but in these troubled times, if I want to continue to climb up, I have to have my own soldiers. If I want to have soldiers, I have to have money first. Don't you think so?"

Hearing this, Jiang Lianheng's heart sank. After thinking for a moment, he asked tentatively: "Brother...you don't want me to help you raise military funds, do you?"

The Jiang family is indeed rich, but not rich enough to support an army.

"What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"Well, well...didn't Marshal Zhang allocate military pay to you?"

"Well, what can you do with that little money? Your brother has even been a division commander. Can you imagine how much money you have to give me to survive with just this mixed brigade?"

When Jiang Lianheng heard this, he broke into a sweat and quickly lowered his voice to ask, "Brother, are you going to recruit soldiers privately?"

"Tsk, this is called hiding one's strength. I'm already the garrison commander of Suining. It's not too much to recruit a few soldiers to strengthen the border defense, right?" Zhang Xiaokun said fearlessly. "Besides, I don't intend to hide it from Marshal Zhang. At most, I will kill first and report later. If I become powerful, it will be a good thing for our Fengtian Army!"

Jiang Lianheng didn't dare to argue.

Although Marshal Zhang had never been a suspicious person, this kind of thing was bound to arouse suspicion from his superiors. If he was not careful, he would lose his head.

The key point is that Jiang Lianheng, as a secret consultant to the provincial government, should have reported such things to his superiors when he heard about them.

Holding the power to report rumors, he only needed to report one sentence to the Marshal's Mansion - after investigation, it was found that Zhang Xiaokun, the garrison commander of Suining, had recently recruited soldiers privately and was rebellious, and might betray the country - within a few days, Zhang Xiaokun might be dismissed from his post.

The words loyalty and righteousness must be weighed repeatedly.

Jiang Lianheng hesitated for a moment, and finally asked: "Brother, for the sake of our past friendship, please tell me the truth... What exactly are you planning?"

"What are you planning?"

"You're not going to start a new business, are you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not crazy yet!" Zhang Xiaokun immediately denied, "Marshal Zhang is my benefactor. If I start a new business under his nose, it means I'm tired of living!"

Jiang Lianheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked again: "Then why do you have to execute first and report later?"

"I don't want this to happen either. The key is that Yang Zhuge and Guo Guizi are trying to trip me up everywhere. If I don't act first and report later, I don't know how long I will be suppressed by them!"

Zhang Xiaokun obviously didn't treat Jiang Lianheng as an outsider. He nudged him with his elbow and asked with a smile, "Hey, brother, come on, this is just a small favor. You won't refuse to help your brother, right?"

"This..." Jiang Lianheng smacked his lips, looking embarrassed, "How much money do you need now?"

"Han Xin counts money, the more the better."

Good man, I have no idea!
Jiang Lianheng wanted to save face, so he was too embarrassed to refuse on the spot. After thinking for a while, he said, "Well, let's do this. I'll collect the money when I return to Fengtian and give it to Big Brother first."

Zhang Xiaokun was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter and said, "Hey, brother, we've been chatting for a long time, but we got it all wrong!"

"how?"

"I don't want you to pay me, I want you to help me make money!"

Zhang Xiaokun pointed out the dark window and said with a smile, "Things are different now. I, your brother, have my own territory now. I am also a local official. As a parent, why should I worry about not having children and grandchildren to honor me? But this little money is not enough for me to recruit soldiers and horses. To put it another way, I have to do some 'practical things' for the local area, right?"

It turned out that Zhang Xiaokun called Jiang Lianheng to Ning'an in order to "attract investment."

Suining is an area that is neither poor nor rich. If one wants to make a fortune here, one must naturally take an unconventional approach.

Of course, the so-called biased approach is actually a helpless move.

No matter what you do in your factory, you will not be able to compete with foreign products and will probably lose everything in the end.

Gradual progress and accumulation of strength over time are obviously not suitable for times of chaos.

Besides, Zhang Xiaokun didn't have the patience to wait.

In this way, a business that is guaranteed to make a profit is, after all, still the same old three things.

But the officials really couldn't personally handle these three kinds of business.

When one person attains the Tao, the chicken and the dog ascend to heaven.

Although the chickens and dogs that have ascended to heaven are no longer ordinary creatures, even in the Lingxiao Palace, they are still probably doing the work of laying eggs and guarding the door.

The gap between humans and chickens and dogs does not change just because they ascend together.

"I think that since I am in this position, I should also do some good things for the people of Suining. The area of ​​Suining needs to be developed."

This is what Zhang Xiaokun said.

Jiang Lianheng nodded and thought to himself that it was true. He had to make the folks rich first before he could make some money. How could he make money if he ruled over a bunch of poor people?

Zhang Xiaokun pointed at the street market outside the car window and said, "Don't worry, brother. I'm here and I won't let you lose money. If you see any of these shops that you like, just tell me and I'll send someone to check them out and find some problems with them. When the time comes, you can buy them and let me take some money at the end of the year. That's not too much trouble, right?"

Having said this, Jiang Lianheng's heart finally settled down.

"It's not difficult, it's not difficult, but this kind of thing needs to be considered carefully and we can't rush into it."

"Anyway, it must be done as soon as possible. I reported three regiments, but in fact there are more than that. I am also counting on you to help me raise military funds!"

Talking about business, Zhang Xiaokun suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, has your insurance company been settled? When I recruited the bandits, I asked them for you. Unfortunately, these little bastards didn't know how much they had robbed. But they all heard of you." "There is no definite news yet." Jiang Lianheng sighed, "I just heard that it might be done by a 'horizontal boss' named Lao Mang. I plan to go to Laoyeling in a few days to take a look."

"Yes, we can't let him off easily for this kind of thing. He is bullying my brother. I won't allow it!"

Zhang Xiaokun said angrily: "Why don't you ask my men later? If they didn't do it, then they must have run away to the mountains. I'm sending people to search for them right now!"

"Thank you for your hard work, brother."

Zhang Xiaokun waved his hand and said, "Nothing, just a side job!"

"By the way?" Jiang Lianheng sensed something else in his words. "Brother, why did you send people to patrol the mountain?"

"Suppressing bandits, is there any need to ask?"

"These are called rebel bandits, didn't you recruit them all?"

"Most of them have been recruited, but the two bandit leaders Gao and Lu have not been caught yet. The suppression of bandits will not be over until they are killed. I have to help Marshal Zhang solve his problems!"

Jiang Lianheng couldn't help but ponder after hearing this, "Who knows, they are all together."

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"That's great!" Zhang Xiaokun snorted coldly, "Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood. We can just wipe them out in one fell swoop!"

As they were talking, the restaurant that Boss Pei had booked arrived.

The store seemed to have been cleared out long ago. The owner and his employees were all standing at the door, waiting and hoping for General Zhang to arrive.

When the two sides meet, they naturally sing praises and flatter each other.

Zhang Xiaokun was quite pleased with this. He strode into the restaurant, and after all the businessmen in the city had arrived, he started to order them to serve wine and set up the table.

There were three tables for the celebration party: one table for Jiang Lianheng, Zhang Xiaokun and other business celebrities; one table for military officers and recruited bandit leaders; and one table for Zhao Guoyan and others and several small bosses.

If Zhang Xiaokun wanted to be a good garrison commander of Suining, he needed the support of powerful gentry.

If the powerful gentry wanted to protect their own property, they had to rely on Zhang Xiaokun's care.

Officials and businessmen collude in harmony.

Everyone toasted each other and imagined the future prosperity of Ning'an County.

Jiang Lianheng and Zhang Xiaokun were so drunk that they didn't know what year it was.

However, this is only the beginning.

In the next three or two days, Zhang Xiaokun took Jiang Lianheng to visit several large counties in Suining under the pretext of inspecting the garrison.

Wherever he went, powerful gentry, county magistrates and legal advisors all organized local people to line the streets to welcome him, beating drums, hitting gongs, and dancing the yangge, welcoming him warmly.

As soon as you enter the city gate, there will definitely be a local "highly respected" old gentleman holding a large plaque in front of Zhang Xiaokun.

What is written on the plaque is nothing but flattering words such as "protecting the country and the people", "eliminating violence and maintaining peace", and "combining civil and military skills".

Logically speaking, Gao and Lu rebelled and gathered Hu bandits in the border area between Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, burning, killing and looting everywhere. Now that the banditry has been quelled, the people should also give a few words of praise.

The strange thing is that the bandits back then are the soldiers today!

The government knew it, and the people knew it too, but at this moment they all seemed to have forgotten it.

Back and forth, it's the same group of people anyway, they just changed their clothes, and they went from being hated by everyone to being grateful to them.

Zhang Xiaokun was followed by soldiers and held power in his hands. Wherever he went, his children and grandchildren would come to pay them respects, and they would do so willingly.

If the general doesn't accept it, they won't be able to sleep well.

Real gold and silver, take every penny and use it like dirt.

Zhang Xiaokun was also truly righteous. He was generous with his money and distributed it to his subordinates. As a result, it seemed that more and more people came to join him.

After the welcoming ceremony, everyone drank and had fun together, discussing how to exploit them in the future.

The powerful and wealthy offered suggestions and advice one after another, and the door was almost broken.

The next morning, Zhang Xiaokun would call Jiang Lianheng to patrol the county town to investigate the customs and business conditions of the people.

In the past, when Jiang Lianheng opened his shop in Fengtian, Lao Zhang only acquiesced and never openly supported him.

If the Jiang family wants to become bigger, they need to rely on their own brains to do the dirty work neatly and not cause trouble for the government, so as not to ruin their reputation.

But now that the emperor is far away, Zhang Xiaokun acted recklessly and set up a cabinet on the ground, which suddenly saved him countless troubles.

Jiang Lianheng only needs to sit in the car and say:
"Brother, I think this business is good and has a bright future."

After hearing this, Zhang Xiaokun immediately ordered his adjutant, "Go and call the county magistrate to come to me and check this family thoroughly to see if there is any violation of the law."

Once it is found out, it will be easy to deal with.

If nothing is found out, it must be that the folks are "angry but dare not speak out". They must be some extremely vicious gang forces, so they must be eradicated!
In a word, no matter how many generations of inheritance or ancestral property there were, they had to be sold at a low price.

What is even more incredible is that when the rich businessman went bankrupt for no apparent reason, the folks not only did not complain, but instead cheered and even seemed to be gloating over his misfortune.

Although they are just a few small counties, there is actually a lot of profit to be made from them as long as one squeezes them patiently.

In just three or two days, Zhang Xiaokun had identified several properties, planning to benefit from them in the future.

Jiang Lianheng accompanied this big brother for a few days. Although he had a great time, he was always thinking about the robbery case in his own business.

As long as this matter is not resolved, it will be like the leeks in the Jiang family's teeth. Everyone can see it. Although they are embarrassed to bring it up, they can't help but laugh at them behind their backs.

When they returned to Ning'an County, Jiang Lianheng finally became a little impatient, so he took the initiative to find Zhang Xiaokun and prepared to leave for Laoyeling to ask the person involved in person.

Unexpectedly, when I arrived at the general's office, the atmosphere in the courtyard was different from usual.

There was no card game, no noise, and all the soldiers had stern faces and looked extremely serious.

Jiang Lianheng pushed open the door, only to see the great poet Zhang with a frown on his face, sitting upright in a chair checking a telegram.

"Brother, is there any news about those leaders?"

Jiang Lianheng was about to explain his purpose when Zhang Xiaokun suddenly raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Brother, I can't accompany you these two days. The Fengtian Security Headquarters will send two people to discuss something with me."

(End of this chapter)