Chapter 457: The North and South Merchants Gang (I)

As the sun rose, the streets gradually warmed up. As soon as the temperature is high, the city comes alive.

This is the south city of Beijing, that is, the so-called outer city, the former Qing Dynasty, the inner city in the north is not allowed to live in the Han people, therefore, the outer city in the south has become a place where the Han people live, compared with the inner city in the north, the outer city in the south is more lively, and the trade is more developed, Liulichang, Tianqiao, Liangjiayuan, Goldfish Pond, Eight Hutongs, the lively places in the four or nine cities are concentrated in the south city, as for the Temple of Heaven and the Xiannong Altar for royal sacrifices, they are also in the south city, in the past, although the identity of the residents of the south city is low, but, This usual eating, drinking, and entertainment is much more convenient than the banner people in Beicheng.

It is precisely because the southern city is far more lively than the northern city, as early as the former Qing Dynasty, there were many banner people in the southern city to buy other businesses, or the golden house to hide Jiaojiao, or simply live in the southern city. Convenient for daily play.

Now that the Manchu Dynasty has fallen, the distinction between the banner and the Han Dynasty has officially disappeared, and now in this year, depending on a person's status, no longer look at what yellow and red belts, it depends on the foreign money in the pocket, who has more money, whose social status is high, regardless of whether you are a flag or a Han people, as long as the foreign money in this pocket is enough, then you are the master of this Beijing city.

Although in the past, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not fall, the poor flag man in the north city was not very good, but after all, he still wore a "flag man" hat on his head, and he could suppress people with his power, and he couldn't stand up in the north city, but when he arrived in the south city, no matter how poor the flag man was, he could also take out the uncle's shelf, and he could afford to eat and drink tea without giving money. The door doesn't dare to care, and the Zongren Mansion can shout twice, but even if it is the Zongren Mansion, they don't dare to do anything to these banner people, locked up for two days, and the people are released again, if they meet people who hold grudges. The lords of the Zongren Mansion also have to beware of eating black knives in the back streets and alleys, so, in the past, no matter whether it is the south city or the north city, the banner man is the master.

But now it's different, the republican government has canceled the privileges of the banner people, and now they are also small people, if they don't have any money, then, this is the foot 'color' of the lower nine streams, not to mention comparing with those dignitaries, even those * sons and actors are not willing to take a look at those poor flag men, after all, people are also "citizens" now, and now in these years, what citizens have the highest status? Answer: First, political officials; Second, the rich man.

The political officials, formerly called "court officials", were all high in all dynasties and generations, but it was the merchant class. Now there is a feeling of turning over the salted fish, although the merchant is the accumulation of wealth since ancient times, but the status of the merchant in ancient times is not high, "Shinong industry and commerce", the status of the merchant is not even as high as the farmer, but now, as long as you have money, then you are a gentleman, you enjoy the right to vote and be elected, now in this year, this rich is the right.

If you have money and power, you must decorate the 'door' surface, and the best and fastest way to decorate the 'door' surface is to change to a house or garden that can raise the value of the owner.

In this way, the north and south cities of Beijing have also quietly changed, and now the rich people are thinking of ways to move to the north city, in order to raise their value, after all, the north city used to be where the princes lived, living in the north city, there is also a light on the face, even if you can't buy the palace, it is good to buy a courtyard house.

Under this social background, in recent days, the real estate 'trade' in the city of Beijing has been very active, the banner people in the north have sold their ancestral houses, with the money to move to the south city, the people in the south and people from other places have bought those dilapidated courtyard houses from the flag people, and then began to renovate or simply rebuild, the whole city of Beijing. It seems to have become a big construction site, and the price of this land is changing every day.

In the face of such a hot real estate market, speculators from all over the country rushed over from all directions like cats smelling fishy, with the intention of taking a piece of the pie from this speculative frenzy.

As a member of this group of speculators, Liu Renxiang, the real estate tycoon in Hankou, has been busy in the past few days, and yesterday he just bought a former Qing Baylor Mansion, and today he rushed to Prince Gong's Mansion to participate in an auction, and he wanted to compete with the Zhejiang Merchants Gang and eat the palace.

The former Qing Dynasty Xiaogong Wang Puwei is now an important leader of the "Eight Banners outside the Guan", because the "Eight Banners outside the Guan" has been recognized as a "dangerous organization" and a "rebel 'rebellion' organization" by the government of the Republic of China and foreign legations, therefore, the palace of Prince Gong has been confiscated as enemy property by the republican government, and after careful valuation, now, the Ministry of Finance is about to auction the palace, regardless of Chinese businessmen or foreign merchants, the highest price will be obtained, everything will be handled in accordance with commercial rules, and there will be no black box 'transaction'.

Participating in such a fair auction, Liu Renxiang is full of confidence, not to mention. The current president of the Republic of China, Zhao Zhenhua, has also 'dealed' with Boss Liu in the past, and he has this relationship, and he is not afraid that others will stumble on him and give him rotten 'medicine'.

Now, the four-wheeled carriage carrying Liu Renxiang has traveled to Liulichang in the south city and is heading towards the north city. Liu Renxiang came from a suburban county, and now the price of land in the north is bullish, and the land in Beijing is certainly Liu Renxiang's goal, but the fertile land outside the city may not be a good object for investment, since the central government has made it clear that it will not move the capital. Then, the price of land around Beijing will be generally favored by businessmen, and unless there is a war, these speculators will not withdraw from this market in a short time.

The carriage passed by the glass field, Liu Renxiang picked up the curtains hanging on the car window, and looked out a few times, it was bustling, it was still so lively, the construction team repairing the road was still busy, and the speed of the car was somewhat affected. Now the center has decided to carry out a large-scale transformation of the city, especially this road, after all, the republic, the appearance of the capital can indeed not continue to maintain the old appearance of the pre-Qing era, the old does not go to the new does not come, this requires the joint efforts of the government and the people, but also the active participation of businessmen and consortia.

After Liulichang, the carriage drove to the front 'gate', just a train drove into the railway station, heard the whistle, Liu Renxiang suddenly remembered something, so he instructed the coachman to drive the carriage to the direction of the railway station, stopped at the station 'door', and then ordered a servant to get off the car, hurried to the railway station telegraph office, soon after, the servant returned with a telegram copy, and presented the telegram copy to Liu Renxiang.

"It seems that Guangdong has calmed down, I said earlier, that Zhang Renjun refused to go into the wilderness, but he couldn't help it, and now that the Guangdong Provincial Assembly has launched an impeachment case against him, it is only a matter of time before Zhang Renjun steps down. The situation in Guangdong has calmed down, and the price of land will have to jump up in the future. It's just that the working capital on hand is too small, and there are not many Hankou merchants who come together, so they can't eat too much, otherwise, the palaces in this northern city are all from our Hankou merchants. ”

Liu Renxiang read the telegram, and was quite complacent about his judgment, so he 'handed over' the telegram to the housekeeper to collect it, and then ordered the carriage to turn around and rush to King Gong's mansion in Beicheng.

But as soon as the carriage started, the butler whispered.

"Sir, who do you see is that?"

Looking at the housekeeper's fingers, Liu Renxiang saw several people walking out of the train station, but the first one was an acquaintance.

"Purple Peak! What wind has brought you here? Liu Renxiang instructed the driver to stop the car and shouted at the man.

The man also saw Liu Renxiang, quite surprised, and hurriedly led several entourages to the side of the carriage, greeted Liu Renxiang who walked down from the carriage, and exchanged a few words.

This person's name is Wei Zifeng, Zifeng is his word, with the word line, this person is a Guangdong businessman, a few years ago set up a Yingchang company, the Wuhan gauze and silk four bureaus leased, that is, the so-called "official supervision and business office", but before the contract expired, "Wushen**" broke out, Zhao Bei led the ** army all the way to Wuhan, this Wei Zifeng was so frightened that he fled back to Guangdong, and the four bureaus of gauze and hemp silk were also taken over by the **military and political fǔ, and later sold to other businessmen, as for the lease contract signed by Wei Zifeng and the Manchu magistrates, Naturally, it has become a piece of waste paper.

"He is now a member of the Guangdong Provincial Assembly, and he has come to Beijing this time on order to attend the state meeting. In fact, long before the Guangdong Change, I had set off from Guangdong to the north, but halfway through, Long Jiguang was reversed, and I stayed in Shanghai until the Guangdong Revolution subsided, and the governor of Guangdong took a telegram ordering me to go north, no, just came from Tianjin, this road was very hard, got off the train, and did not know where to live. ”

Wei Zifeng's words made Liu Renxiang suddenly realize that the "state conference" had actually been preparing for a long time, but it was only temporarily postponed because of the outbreak of the "Guangdong Incident", as for what kind of meeting it was, Liu Renxiang was not very clear, and the representatives of the provincial legislators who came to attend the meeting were not clear, only knew that this was the president's intention, and the congress was noncommittal, and no one knew what trick the president wanted to play.

"The state representatives of the provinces are basically living in the guest house of the Ministry of Finance now, I know that place, why don't I give you a ride, and by the way, you can also talk about the situation in Guangdong."

Liu Renxiang invited Wei Zifeng to get into the carriage and went straight to Beicheng, but on the way, the two did not talk deeply, after all, the two did not know each other, they had only met a few times in the Hankou General Chamber of Commerce, and Liu Renxiang did not plan to invest in Guangdong now, so there was no common topic.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Finance Guest House is on West Chang'an Street, the carriage soon arrived at the place, Liu Renxiang and Wei Zifeng got out of the car, and before they entered the guest house, they saw a group of people coming out of it, among which there were quite a few acquaintances, met the two, and warmly invited them to rush to the Ministry of Finance not far from here.

Liu Renxiang asked a few words curiously, only to learn that everyone had just heard the news from the Ministry of Finance, saying that the Ministry of Finance had drawn up the first "four-year plan" for the industrial development of the Republic of China, and there seemed to be many opportunities to make a lot of money, and many of these parliamentarians were businessmen and industrialists, and they wanted to have a sneak peek to see if there were any suitable investment projects.

Now in the city of Beijing, the north and south business gangs gathered together, in the past, everyone was divided into the north and south, and it was rare to have the opportunity to discuss the industrial and commercial investment plan together, now that they are all here, then naturally they will also discuss and discuss by the way, and some people have even discussed the cooperation plan, ready to make a big profit in this industrial development feast.

Liu Renxiang and Wei Zifeng were also very interested, so they did not refuse, and followed these parliamentarians to the Ministry of Finance on foot, and when they arrived at the place, they found that the Ministry of Finance's 'door' was full of traffic, and there were already a lot of people around, judging from the dress, they were also businessmen and industrialists with a lot of money, and many of them were real estate businessmen like Liu Renxiang, obviously, these people were also very well-informed.

If this is put aside, not to mention the North and South merchants, even the Shanxi merchants may not be willing to sit together with the Shaanxi merchants, and intrigue is indispensable, but now, these businessmen from all over the world have gathered together and even found a common topic, which really makes Liu Renxiang very emotional.

The reason for this is that there is a backbone, and this backbone is the current central government.