"It is almost impossible for an Englishman to stay abroad for a long time without trying to set up a race."

This is a British self-assessment.

If half of the history of Shanghai's public concession is related to the Huangpu River and the Bund, then the other half is horse racing and racetracks.

Shanghai had only been open for five years, and the first racecourse had appeared in this "enclave" of the British. At that time, the land price was ten taels of silver per mu, and a group of British, who were infinitely nostalgic for local life, permanently leased a piece of 80 acres of land on the 2,000 acres of land newly opened up to the west of the concession at that time. On this land they built a sports field and a running track around it, where the great Marseille takes place in May and November, when the weather is pleasant.

And in ordinary days, whenever the sunset is slanting and the afterglow is moltening, the Westerners will join hands and go out together, walk and gallop in the meantime, or believe in the hoof, or gallop against the wind. Because the area of this racecourse is too small to run to the fullest, people built an east-west straight road to the Bund at the exit of the racecourse, which doubles as a horse walking and horse racing to make up for the lack of area in the racecourse.

In the eyes of Westerners, the horse farm is often a garden, in which they planted many trees, shrubs, flowers, and green grass, so this small east-west straight road has a Park Lane, which is also known as "Pike Lane".

This "Pike Lane" is the famous Nanjing East Road. Because it was the first road in Shanghai, it was also called Avenida da Dao, and later the concession opened up the second road, Jiujiang Road, Sanma Road, Hankou Road, Sima Road, Fuzhou Road and Wuma Road, Guangdong Road.

Six years later, due to the skyrocketing land price, the shareholders of the racecourse sold the plot of land where the first racecourse was located, making a big profit and buying a larger plot of land again. This new piece of land is once again located on the western edge of the concession, close to the moat of the concession at that time, Nichengbang, and straddles the main road to the five roads. Therefore, if it were not for the relocation of this second racecourse, the pattern of downtown Shanghai would never be the same as it is now. Nanjing Road will be a dead-end road, ending at the arc-shaped Hubei Road; The second, third, fourth, and fifth roads will also be shortened by half, and they will also end at Hubei Road, instead of the later Tibet Road.

Fortunately, another six years later, the land on which the second racetrack was located also skyrocketed, so the racetrack was relocated for the second time. This time it moved across the river, which would later become the city hall, museum, theater, People's Park and People's Square.

Looking at the two relocations from its establishment to the subsequent relocation, it can be found that it has always been on the westernmost boundary of the concession, it is like the pioneer of the concession, where it moves, the core area of the concession will be extended, where the land price will skyrocket, its migration process can be said to be the history of the expansion of the city.

After the second relocation, although the land of the racecourse skyrocketed for the third time, there was no need for it to relocate again for the difference in the price of the land, because with the growth of the population in the West, as the Chinese in the concession became more and more fond of the game of horse betting, in the next 30 years, its total income will be as high as 200 million silver dollars.

If the Shanghai Club is the club with the strictest membership requirements and the highest level of qualification in Shanghai, then the Jockey Club with a racecourse is undoubtedly the most national, down-to-earth and wealthy club.

In 1903, the club was chaired by Albert William Burkier, the young proprietor of Xiang Mao & Co.

This Burkier's private room in the Shanghai Federation is next door to Gao Yi's suite, so naturally, Gao Yi once again expanded his circle of friends and received a new invitation. You must know that since the ball game, he has become a favorite of everyone, everyone wants to get to know him, and there are constant invitations to join and feast, and most of them are too lazy to pay attention to them.

However, it was not the Jockey Club that Burkier invited him to join, as the club was involved in gambling, so there was a hard and fast rule that one must be over twenty-one years old to be eligible for membership. He was invited to join another club in Burkier, the Shanghai Paper Hunt Club, which literally means "Paper Hunting Club".

This activity originated from the fox hunt in England and first appeared in the early British territories such as Kashmir and India. This is due to the fact that the environment overseas is different from that of the United Kingdom, so the British expatriates, who are keen on fox hunting, have adapted the fox hunting activities to local conditions. The most important thing is to replace the fox with the confetti that is sprinkled instead of the smell of the fox, and the "human fox" is regarded as the target of the hunt, and the confetti is the clue to pursue the target, so it is called the "paper hunting" activity.

Originally, the "human fox" wore a bright red cloak and set off on horseback before the "fox hunter", scattering colored pieces of paper along the established route to indicate that "the fox left a trace". After the "human fox" is far away, the group of fox hunters can set off according to the orders of the sender. According to the traces left by the five-colored paper, they searched all the way, and if the judgment was accurate, the rider who did not lose the target, and was the first to catch up with the "human fox", won the victory.

Later, in order to increase the difficulty of the competition, some changes were made to the rules of the paper hunting event, and the "human fox" was canceled. On the day before the race, five horsemen threw shredded paper on the race route, interrupted or interrupted, or fields or rivers, with no regularity to follow, creating a difficult race. The contestant wins first to the boundary where the colored pieces of paper have been scattered. In order to win this honor, speed alone is obviously not enough, but it must also be supplemented by the necessary wisdom and keen observation, and it is very time-consuming and energy-consuming to be good at finding traces of colored paper in order not to go astray.

The winners of the Shanghai Paper Hunting Festival usually take the top six, and the winners are awarded the right to wear red jackets in addition to trophies and bonuses. This red jacket is even more tempting than a simple bonus and trophy, because bonuses and trophies cannot be carried at any time and often flaunted, but the jacket can, it can be used as a daily item, showing off your achievements anytime and anywhere, flaunting your achievements, showing off your abilities, and satisfying your vanity.

Most of the events are held in winter, from December to the end of February, except in case of rain or snow, every Saturday afternoon. During the two major festivals of Christmas and New Year's Day, paper hunting competitions are usually held to celebrate the occasion.

However, in order to welcome Gao Yi as a new member, the Paper Hunting Club couldn't wait to hold an orientation race on the afternoon of May 16, the first week of Spring Racing Week. That kind of person looks impatient, Gao Yi doesn't know if these guys really can't find an excuse to hold an event, so they use him as a cover.

The venue for paper hunting activities is generally arranged in the countryside of Xujiahui. At this time, most of Xujiahui was still a vast and flat countryside, which was an excellent place for horseback riding, dogs, hunting and shooting. The natural environment of the countryside provides many natural obstacles for the race, which requires riders to climb and jump. As the races are held year after year, regular routes have gradually developed in the wilderness, and in order to increase the difficulty, the Paper Hunting Club sometimes even erects artificial obstacles on these routes.

The exact route of the race is not fixed. Although a fixed route can be convenient for runners, the daily cycle will inevitably ruin the appetite, and the novelty and excitement will be lost, so it must be changed frequently. Generally speaking, the course is planned by the president or his designee. If there is a preliminary round and a semi-final match, the winner of the preliminary round will choose the route during the semi-final.

When racing, every rider, especially new riders, must have a hunting map, and if you are not familiar with the route and terrain, you will suffer a lot in the race. It's like Gao Yi now.

The May sun is not necessarily weaker than the big Futian, Gao Yi is wearing a knight's costume like a black crow, and the only thing that can protect him is a hat, exposed to the sun at half past two, his mouth is dry, and he only feels that all the hotlines around him are attracted to him.

Beneath him was a gray cloud-speckled English horse, borrowed from Keswick, now wilting and sniffing the grass beneath his feet. He is in a deserted field, which is rare in the Chinese countryside where there are few people in the land, industrious and simple, and eager to make use of every ditch and ditch.

"Why haven't you come back after going for so long?" Gao Yi complained to Mahan beside him.

"Do you need me to check it out?" Mahan replied.

"Forget it, let's go over together, don't you go back when you don't have to." Gao Yi is not angry, just like anyone who is lost and is losing his temper,

Gao Yi urged his horses and galloped towards a small village a little farther away, with a French flag flying on the top, indicating that there was a French institution there. Gao Yi sent someone to inquire about the specific location, and the other was to buy water or any other drink, anyway, as long as they could drink it.

When he was halfway through the run, he saw two horses galloping out of the small village, the first one was a servant sent by Gao Yi to ask for directions and buy water, a thick black beard grew to the bottom of his eyes, it was the former Indian patrol Bersinger, who was dug up by Gao Yi as a bodyguard and servant.

Behind Berginger was followed by a French officer in a blue military uniform, and when he saw Gao Yi, he raised his hand to greet him.

Gao Yi carefully identified it for a while, and it was not until he galloped close that he recognized that it was actually a one-sided relationship, Madame de Messier's lover. Last time he didn't wear a military uniform, Gao Yi didn't even know that he turned out to be a soldier.

"Monsieur de Messier?"

"Mr. Gao Yi, it's a pleasure to see you again, I also went to watch that ball game, it was very exciting."

"Thanks, but why are you here? Is there a French barracks nearby? ”

"Right in front of your eyes."

"Is that the little village?" No matter how Gao Yi looked, he couldn't tell that it was a military camp.

"It turned out to be a Chinese village, and the Board of Directors bought it as our temporary residence." De Messier explained.

"I heard you're lost?" De Messier asked with a smile.

"Yes, very unfortunately, I was led here by a very cunning confetti-throwing guy and completely lost my bearings."

"Haha, why don't you just come to me for a drink?" De Messier invited.

"Even if you don't invite me, I'm going, I'm so thirsty that I can drink a gallon of water." Gao Yi was not pretentious, and readily agreed to the invitation.

After pouring a large glass of water, Gao Yi had the leisure to look around. De Messier's headquarters was set up in an antique Chinese mansion, covering an area of about ten acres, the place is small but very elegantly arranged, there are pavilions and pavilions, it seems that it should have been the residence of the country gentry.

"Look, you're in this position." De Messier said, pointing to a large-scale military map.

Gao Yi walked over and saw that his location was near the intersection of Avenue Brunat and Avenue Dubail, Avenue Brunat He knew that it was Huaihai Road in the later generations, and combined with the relative location of the old West Gate of Shanghai County, Avenue Dubail should be Chongqing Road, so the place where he is now is actually Fuxing Park and Sinan Road. Gao Yi had also seen the wedding room with Gu Meimei Laisi South Road before, but they were all small apartments of two or three hundred square meters, so they didn't choose it.

At this time, a few soldiers came in and carried a few boxes out, Gao Yi glanced at them, they were all archival documents and the like, and there was an open box with a few military flags on it, as well as a command knife.

"Are you going to move out here?" Gao Yi asked curiously.

"Yes, our unit was transferred in 1900, and in order to deal with the affairs in Beijing, it is time to go back."

"And what about this barracks? Scrapped? ”

"Yes, as far as I know, there is a lot of trouble going on above for this matter, this land, the Board of Directors bought it for 76,000 taels of silver, and then leased it to our army for use, we have paid 20,000 taels of silver in the past four years, but now that we are gone, who will take this plate? Hehe, they thought we would rent it for thousands of years so that they could make a lot of money. Now it's completely smashed in your hands. ”

Gao Yi stroked his chin and thought about it, now it was time for him to buy a mansion of his own, he happened to be able to take out 70,000 taels of silver, and it didn't sound like there was no room for bargaining. Think about it, it won't take ten years for it to skyrocket.

"How big is this? I mean, how much land did you buy for 76,000 taels of silver? ”

"Ten hectares or so, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a casual question. The land price is not expensive, only 500 taels of silver per mu. ”

"Of course it can't be expensive, this wilderness."