Although the Russo-Japanese War had a significant impact on Shanghai's shipping industry, and the northbound shipping route was almost completely suspended, it did not cause any harm to Shanghai's economy, but made the Shanghai area more prosperous. It turned out that after the war between Japan and Russia, businessmen from various countries operating in Liaodong and Korea naturally withdrew their capital and fled the war, and the nearest economic zone to the battlefield was Shanghai, so most of these assets were transferred to Shanghai, and a large amount of capital poured into Shanghai, which naturally promoted Shanghai's economic development.

And Japan and Russia for the needs of the war, will buy a large number of foreign materials, Shanghai as the largest economic and logistics distribution center in the Far East, is naturally the first choice for both sides to buy materials, by which is Japan, the local materials are scarce, the degree of dependence on foreign countries is much higher than Russia, so more than 90% of the materials are obtained outside Japan, after the war Japan obtained part of the materials supplied by the East China government, but after the deterioration of relations between the two sides, Shanghai has become the main source of materials for Japan, not only to promote the economic development of Shanghai, but also to drive Shanghai's shipping industry。

Shanghai New Area has now become an important economic zone in Shanghai, in such a superior environment, not to mention that in the past two years or so, but also for the East China government to purchase a large number of materials, so the economic development is advancing by leaps and bounds, now the permanent population in Shanghai New Area has reached more than 30 million, the floating population of more than 10 thousand, more than 600 factories and enterprises, every day in the sea and land customs in and out of the goods, caravans, personnel almost endlessly, the queue is long, every month the tariff income can reach nearly one million silver dollars. In order to solve the customs inspection and tax payment speed, the Shanghai New Area Government has adopted 24-hour uninterrupted customs clearance inspection.

At this time, at the junction of Shanghai New Area and Shanghai Old Town, the crowd is boiling, and the six customs passages are lined up in long queues, and the customs staff of each customs passage are carefully inspecting the goods that have passed through the customs.

On the No. 1 passage, it was a large caravan that entered the customs, this caravan had more than 30 carriages, the largest of the caravans present, and the leader who walked in front of him was the first to enter the passage, gave a salute to the inspectors, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you have worked hard, hard work." ”

The leader of the customs inspection team guarding the passage said: "You are a caravan from there, hurry up and come over to check, don't delay the caravan behind." ”

The leader hurriedly said: "The villain has an exemption certificate, and you can directly report the import tariff, no need to inspect, and you won't have to worry about the trouble of the big brothers." As he spoke, he hurriedly handed over the exemption card.

Originally, with the development of the Shanghai New Area, the government of the new district implemented a customs clearance exemption system for a number of enterprises and factories that have been operating in the new area for a long time, have a good business reputation, or are supported by the East China government.

However, the inspection team leader did not accept the exemption certificate, and said: "The day before yesterday, the new district government notified that due to the recent attempt by hostile elements to cause a terrorist attack in the Shanghai New Area, the Shanghai New District government should carry out a three-month alert period. The announcement is on the bulletin board at the intersection of the pass, don't you see it? Your caravan must be inspected, and it cannot be exempted from inspection, and I hope you will cooperate. ”

It turned out that just three days ago, in accordance with the requirements of the Qingdao Executive Yuan, the Shanghai New Area Government and the Shanghai Office jointly set up a special working group for the safety and security of the Shanghai New Area, which is responsible for maintaining the management, public security, and security work of the Shanghai New Area, with Yang Yuxin and Liu Lantao as the team leaders, and the powers and responsibilities of the two are parallel, and all matters related to the management, public security, and security of the Shanghai New Area must be jointly signed by the two people before they can take effect. Of course, the task force is only responsible for the security of the Shanghai New Area, while other administrative, economic, cultural, and educational matters remain the responsibility of the Shanghai New Area Government.

After the establishment of the working group, Liu Lantao immediately put forward two proposals: First, he called for a comprehensive sweep of the Shanghai New Area, on the grounds that the enemy might have infiltrated the Shanghai New Area, and that the suspicious elements could be detected through this investigation, and even if the suspicious elements were not found, they would be able to find loopholes in the daily management of the Shanghai New Area; and second, customs inspections of imports and exports should be strengthened. Commodities must be strictly inspected, leaving no loopholes, let alone formalities, and daily inspections must not only be strictly enforced, but also the frequency and suddenness of spot checks should be strengthened, so as to reduce the possibility of hostile elements infiltrating the Shanghai New Area.

Yang Yuxin has no objection to Liu Lantao's first suggestion, but he has reservations about the second suggestion, because the inspection is too strict and the spot checks are too frequent, which will have a serious impact on the economy, trade, and investment promotion of the Shanghai New Area, and if the customs inspection exemption certificate is cancelled, it will damage the political credibility of the new district government, but Yang Yuxin did not completely reject Liu Lantao's second suggestion, believing that strict inspection measures can be taken within a certain period of time, so that the adverse impact can be minimized.

After Liu Lantao thought about it for a while, he also accepted Yang Yuxin's request, so after the two sides agreed, it was decided to set the period of strict inspection at 3 months, because the war would definitely start within a month, so the Japanese would take action within this month, and even if Japan did not do it, after 3 months of rectification, Liu Lantao was also confident that the hostile elements lurking in the Shanghai New Area would be cleaned up, and a protective wall would be built for the Shanghai New Area, so even if it was relaxed again, there was no need to worry.

And this leader obviously did not expect that the policy of the Shanghai New District Government would change, and he did not read the announcement, but said: " A few big brothers, I won't hide it from you, we are Boss Ma's caravan, you should have all heard that this month Boss Ma will do Shou in the new area, and the things we transported this time are all items that Boss Ma needs to do Shou, in fact, there is nothing to inspect, but it is very valuable, and it is fragile and fragile, if you open it here to check, I am afraid that it will be damaged, and I will miss Boss Ma's birthday, I can't afford to be guilty. Can you be accommodating, waiting for Boss Ma's birthday, I promise to give you a few invitations and have a lively and lively together. ”

The inspection captain said: "Please rest assured, we are a civilized law enforcement unit, we will be very careful when inspecting, and will never damage your items, if there is any damage, we will also compensate according to the price, if you are not at ease, you can do it, we will watch from the side." ”

The leader frowned, and said patiently: "Several, our Boss Ma and District Mayor Yang, Director Zhu, Commissioner Cao, and Director Qi all have friendships, and they have passed the pass several times before, but they have not been inspected, and we have not paid a single cent of tariffs, don't we give this face?"

The inspection captain said: "We are acting according to the system, and everyone's caravan must be inspected, not to mention Boss Ma, even the goods of the patriarch must be inspected, this is our duty, and I hope you can cooperate with our work." ”

At this point, the leader also knew that he could not be accommodating, so he had to return to the caravan, and several people in charge immediately surrounded Long, and one said: "Steward Zhao, how about it?

Steward Zhao shook his head and said, "They said that they must be inspected to pass the customs, otherwise they will not be allowed to pass the customs, and our exemption certificate is useless." ”

Another person said: "Is it really fake? Overseas Chinese don't deliberately want to find fault, have you reported the name of Boss Ma?"

Steward Zhao said: "Why didn't I report it, but Boss Ma's name is not easy to use in the land of overseas Chinese, but people have said that even if the goods of the patriarch pass the customs, they must also be checked, not to mention Boss Ma." ”

"That's not good, we bring all fragile and fragile things, finally packed up, check here, let alone an hour or two, delaying the effort is a trivial matter, what if something is damaged, Boss Ma is afraid that we will not be able to do things." ”

One person said: "Steward Zhao, I think these boys are deliberately making things difficult, I'm afraid they don't want us to hand over some filial piety." It's better to give them a few money, so as to save some trouble. ”

Steward Zhao shook his head again and again, and said, "This is the first time you have come to Shanghai New Area, and you don't understand the rules here. ”

The man snorted and said: "Why don't you be happy, but just say that, you still take it seriously, although I am the first time to come to Shanghai New Area, but I have also been to a lot of places in China, where the crows are generally black, there are cats that are not fishy, just look at what price is given, you give him a golden mouse and don't accept it, give him a golden calf, see if he wants it." ”

Another person said: "Yes, whether it succeeds or not, try it, we can't do it here, can't we open all the cars and let them check them? ”

When Steward Zhao heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little lively in his heart, touched his body, and said, "Oops, I haven't brought much money with me?"

Immediately there was a humanitarian: "It's easy to do, it's easy to do, everyone will make it up, pass the customs first, and drag the things home to talk." ”

At this moment, I only heard the sound of horses' hooves, and saw a person riding a horse to the caravan and said loudly: "Steward Zhao, why can't you pass the test, but the family is waiting for you?"

When everyone looked at it, it turned out to be a capable subordinate of Ma Ruicheng, this person's surname was Huang, and everyone in the Ma family called him Mr. Huang. Steward Zhao hurriedly said: "Mr. Huang, isn't this a pass to be checked? Our exemption certificate is not easy to use, we are discussing how to get together a few to send money......

Before he finished speaking, Mr. Huang's face changed greatly, and he said: "Bastard, confused thing, who asked you to make up the money, you have been in this Shanghai New Area for a month, why don't you still understand the rules of overseas Chinese? Fortunately, I came, otherwise you would have annoyed Boss Ma." ”

Steward Zhao couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and said, "But you have to check it!"

Mr. Huang scolded: "Stupid Dongyou, if you want to check, check them, open all the cars, let them see everything, we are doing business in a proper manner, are you still afraid of inspection?"