"Tut-tut-" This is the whistle of the steamer, Xiao Zhenlei was awakened by the sound of the long steamer's whistle, he opened his eyes, and found himself lying on a pile of sacks of rice, he sat up straight, and there was a bustle in his sight, all of them were men wearing homespun clothes, with bright foreheads and long pigtail braids dragging behind their heads, most of these men were very thin, and only a few were strong, and then looked around, this place seemed to be a wharf, oh, that was a small steamer on the river? Isn't this kind of little hot wheel only found in film and television dramas? How can there still be such a little hot wheel in real life? I'm afraid this is an antique that is almost 100 years old, right? Which shipyard is still producing?

Xiao Zhenlei couldn't believe his eyes, wasn't he dead? How did it end up in this place that looks like a film and television base? Looking down at his body again, he was also wearing a gray cloth sleeveless short coat, with old-fashioned cloth buttons on the placket, and then a black coarse cloth trouser on his leg, with a hemp rope tied around his waist, and the trousers only reached the calf, and a long calf was exposed underneath, and on his feet was a pair of old-fashioned pointed-toe cloth shoes stained with mud that already had a few corns.

With a bare forehead, a long pig's tail braid, an old-fashioned homespun sleeveless jacket with a cloth buckle, and an old-fashioned small steamer on the river, isn't this a film and television base? But if it's a film and television base, there are too many extras, right?

Xiao Zhenlei raised his arm and looked at it, this, is this still his own arm? Feeling a little cumbersome on the back of your head, reach out and touch it, braids? I wipe, Xiao Zhenlei immediately jumped off the sack and ran to the shore of the dock with both hands to hold the water with both hands and looked at the reflection of his face in the water, this is the face of a young man in his twenties, with a Chinese face, a straight nose, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a somewhat thin face, and it looks a little malnourished, but the bones of this body are very thick.

What the hell is going on? How did I end up like this? Xiao Zhenlei's heart turned up a shocking wave, and at this time he was in a trance, and he knew that he had crossed over. Before his death, he was the head of an international mercenary corps, with more than a dozen very strong mercenaries under his command, who had been active in Syria for four or five years.

But he and his team were betrayed by their employer, and their whereabouts were recounted. The Leah government army learned that a missile fell from the sky, and his No. 9 was responsible for communication and information detection, and it was detected ten seconds before the missile fell, and everyone got the news and immediately fled from the foothold, but Xiao Zhenlei remembered that the photo of him and his mother was in the backpack at that critical moment, and the old mother who had worked hard and raised him alone was no longer alive, and the photo with his mother was too precious to him, and he originally thought that he had enough time to get the backpack and escape, Unexpectedly, he still misestimated the time, and before he could escape, the missile landed and exploded, and he died as a result.

At this time, a shout came from behind: "Brother Zhenlei, the noon break is over, the foreman asked everyone to start work immediately, go quickly!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei couldn't help but agree: "Oh, I know, come right away!" ”

After starting to work, after knocking on the side, Xiao Zhenlei finally knew that he had crossed into Shanghai at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and his current identity was a coolie carrying bags at the dock, and the young man who was possessed was also called Xiao Zhenlei, and the young man who called him to start work was Ma Xiaoshuang from the same village as him, and today is March 22 of the first year of Xuantong.

Carrying a bag at the dock is nothing to Xiao Zhenlei, who has his current body, after all, this body is stronger than other coolies, and he has long adapted to this job, so he is not very tired to carry it for an afternoon, and he carries twice as many bags as other coolies.

In the evening, the coolies lined up with bamboo sticks to receive the wages at the foreman, Xiao Zhenlei was also among them, and now he had just arrived here, and his complicated feelings had not yet calmed down, and he had not yet adapted to this strange world, and he had not yet thought about what to do for the next step, so it seemed that he could only do this coolie temporarily.

Ma Xiaoshuang stood in front of Xiao Zhenlei, there were still many people in front of the queue, Ma Xiaoshuang turned around and said: "Brother Zhenlei, your strength is greater than that of ordinary people, one person can do the work of two or three people, I think if you work here for a year, you can earn enough money to go home and marry a mother-in-law, by the way, how many bags did you carry in the afternoon?" ”

Ma Xiaoshuang's face was a little envious when he said this, but his expression was very sincere, Xiao Zhenlei said: "Not much, only more than one hundred and forty, less than one hundred and fifty!" ”

"So much? More than you did in the morning! Ma Xiaoshuang was very surprised, and then said: "Carrying a bag of two pennies, then how much money can you receive in total?" ”

Carrying a bag of rice only costs two pennies? I'm rubbing, it's too worthless to work hard these days! Xiao Zhenlei was not very clear about the conversion of the coin units in this period, and he didn't know how many copper coins a silver dollar could be exchanged for, so he calculated: "It's almost more than 300 yuan!" ”

"Ah, so many?" Ma Xiaoshuang was frightened, he only carried less than fifty bags in one afternoon, and according to two cents per bag, he could only receive less than one hundred wen, which was too far from Xiao Zhenlei's ability to receive three hundred wen. You must know that now a baked cake costs three yuan, an adult who does heavy body work can eat eight baked cakes at a meal, if you eat less, according to each meal to eat six baked cakes, eat less breakfast, three meals a day will cost almost 50 yuan, the money earned by working for a day can only support a slight surplus, and the surplus can barely support the daughter-in-law.

Xiao Zhenlei kept cursing in his heart, what's the matter, he carried a bag for an afternoon, and he was so tired that he could only receive 300 Wen? An ocean can be exchanged for huàn 800 wen money (copper prices rebounded at the end of the Qing Dynasty), I rub, what kind of world is this?

After settling the wages, Xiao Zhenlei only received 240 yuan, and 54 yuan was withheld by the foreman, saying that it was the pumping money for the gang that controlled the wharf.

Pumping money is actually protection money, Xiao Zhenlei understands the way of this, it seems that these local snakes have the habit of collecting protection money no matter what era they are. As the foremen of the organization coolies, they are actually just a little more general, and they know most of the bosses and gang bosses, and they have no strength of their own, that is, they mix and eat between the bosses, gang bosses and coolies.

After walking out of the dock, Xiao Zhenlei couldn't help but look back, only to see the five big characters of "Sixteen Pu Wharf" on the door, thinking that this was the world-famous Shivipu Wharf in Shanghai in the old days, I said why this wharf is so big, there are so many coolies and ships! Shiliupu Wharf was once the largest wharf in the Far East and the water gateway of Shanghai, and it is said that Huang Jingrong and Du Yuesheng, the bosses of Shanghai Beach, have their own warehouses in this Shiliupu Wharf!

According to the time, Huang Jingrong did a visit to the patrol house of the French Concession more than ten years ago, and used this identity to make a fortune, becoming the tycoon of the ten-mile foreign field in Shanghai in one fell swoop, and also appointed himself as the boss of the Qinggang Tianzi, even Du Yuesheng should become a pivotal figure in the Qinggang at this time, right? It seems that it is inevitable to deal with these bigwigs in the future, thinking of this, Xiao Zhenlei can't help but have some expectations in his heart, isn't it a blessing to be in the same era as these bigwigs in Shanghai?

After getting out of the dock, Xiao Zhenlei pulled Ma Xiaoduo to the right, and Ma Xiaoshuang was puzzled: "Brother Zhenlei, it's getting dark now, where are we going?" I think it's better to hurry up and go to the city to go back to rest, I still have to work tomorrow! ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled: "What's the hurry? It's still so early, Xiaoshuang, tonight my brother will take you to a lively place in the concession to see the world! ”

"To the concession?" Ma Xiaoshuang's eyes lit up when he heard this, but he remembered that he would have to work tomorrow, and there were still a few people in the family waiting for him to carry the ** work, so he reluctantly refused: "Brother Zhenlei, I still don't go, there are many rules in the concession, and the foreigners are fierce and vicious, I'm afraid of ......."

"What are you afraid of, there is a brother here, don't be afraid, let's go, brother will take you to the concession to have fun!" Xiao Zhenlei patted Ma Xiaoshuang's shoulder as he spoke, hugged his neck and laughed and walked north along the Bund Road in France.

Although foreigners crossed the border to build roads outside the concession, at this time in 1909, the actual control area of the French Concession was only east of Minti Niyin Road, south of Aidoya Road, and north of the moat of Shanghai County, but at this time, the Shanghai Public Concession had expanded on a large scale, extending to Zhoujiazui in the east; The northern boundary reaches the junction of Shanghai and Baoshan counties; The west side extends all the way to Jing'an Temple. The entire concession is divided into four districts: central, northern, eastern, and western. The Central District was actually the original British Concession, the North District was the original American Concession, and the Western and Eastern Regions were both expanded by the Concession later without authorization.

The two walked north along the French Bund Road, which became more and more prosperous, and the shouting and selling along the street came and went, so it was not lively. In fact, a large area of land near the river in the east of Shanghai County is also the territory of the French Concession, which includes the 16-Pu Wharf and the Pidgin Wharf, of which the 16-Pu Wharf is much larger and the Pidgin Wharf is smaller.

After walking for a while, Xiao Zhenlei was about to take Ma Xiaoshuang to Yong'an Street in the west, because the area is more prosperous now, but he heard the sound of music in front of him, and the voices were boiling, it seemed to be very lively, and he hurriedly said: "Xiaoshuang, it seems to be the Bund Park over there, right?" ”

How do you know that Ma Xiaoshuang said: "No, I heard people say that it seems to be called a foreign garden!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei patted his head and remembered that the Bund Park at this time was not called this name, it was called a public garden or a public garden, and the Chinese used to call it a foreign garden or a ferry park or a bridge park.

After the mansion road is Huangpu Road, Xiao Zhenlei saw a building, if he didn't guess wrong, it was the building of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, which Sheng Huaixuan invested 2.2 million taels of silver. During this period, the China Merchants General Administration Building was still very conspicuous on the Bund, because there were no other tall buildings around it except for the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank Building and the Great Northern Telegraph Company Building.

When passing by these buildings, Ma Xiaoshuang couldn't help but turn his head to look carefully, and asked: "Brother Zhenlei, why do you say that these foreigners are so powerful and can build such a tall house?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled and said: "We also have people in the Qing Dynasty who can build such tall buildings, but foreigners are nothing remarkable, Xiaoshuang, one day my brother will take you to live in such a tall building!" ”

Ma Xiaoshuang did not laugh at Xiao Zhenlei's "ignorance", but smirked: "That dare is good!" ”

It didn't take long for the two to arrive outside the Bund Public Garden, along Huangpu Road, Xiao Zhenlei could see that the park was very bright under the lights at night, but there were many foreigners dancing ballroom dances and bands playing, it was obvious that this was a foreigner holding a banquet in the park.

When he was about to walk to the gate of the public garden, Ma Xiaoshuang grabbed Xiao Zhenlei and said with some concern: "Brother Zhenlei, let's not go, I heard that the foreigners here are very fierce, and they don't let our people in Daqing go in at all!" ”

"What's wrong with foreigners? Foreigners are also people, don't worry, there is a brother, let's go in and see those foreign women twisting their butts! Xiao Zhenlei put his arm around Ma Xiaoshuang and walked to the door of the public garden.

"Stop, this is not the place where you inferior Qing Yellow-skinned Pigs come from, leave immediately!" Xiao Zhenlei and the others were stopped at the gate of the park, and they were stopped by two British GIs with rifles on their backs.

The words of the two British GIs were obviously insulting, and Xiao Zhenlei said with an unhappy face: "What are you doing? And send someone to stand guard here? This is a park, not yours! ”

The two British soldiers could not understand Xiao Zhenlei's Chinese, so they could only impatiently point to a sign with black letters on a white background hanging on the wall next to the door. ”

Xiao Zhenlei saw this brand, almost blew up his lungs, and sounded that the British soldier insulted him as a yellow-skinned pig just now, and the blood surged to the top of his head, and he didn't think about the consequences, so he made a big move on the spot, punched the British soldier on the left ribs and spleen, and kicked the neck of another British soldier at a very fast speedThe two British GIs were overturned.

After the fight, Xiao Zhenlei realized that he had done recklessly, and immediately pulled Ma Xiaoshuang, who had already looked stupid, to run, but he stopped and kicked the sign on the wall next to him that read "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter".

"Xiaoshuang, let's go!" Xiao Zhenlei took advantage of the fact that there was no one at the gate of the park now, and he searched all the bits and pieces in the pockets of the two British soldiers in three times and divided them by two, and even the guy they ate - two rifles did not let go, and at the same time urged Ma Xiaoshuang, who was still in a daze, to slip away, after the two turned around and ran away, Xiao Zhenlei noticed that a flash of light from the park illuminated the backs of the two of them, and secretly said in his heart that it was not good, and he was photographed, fortunately it was the back instead of the front.