The whistle of the steamers on the Huangpu River is endless, the lights of fishing boats and cargo ships flicker, and the river breeze blows through the Changti on the Huangpu beach to bring a trace of coolness to Nanshi.

Xiao Zhenlei and Ma Xiaoshuang came out of Nanshi in a very timely manner, in fact, not long after they left Nanshi, Su Songtai Daoist's Mansion and Shanghai County and County Ya sent a large number of servants and arresters out of the small south gate into Nanshi and began to check strangers door to door, and the whole Nanshi was blown by the river wind with a hint of coolness by these officials and arresters, and the officials and catchers arrested people everywhere, as long as they were suspicious people, they were all arrested, and some criminals and Jiangyang thieves who were caught in the past were arrested in this large-scale search and investigation, which is also what the Shanghai County Ya's arresters and officials did not expect.

Susong Taidao Daotai House.

That is, Shanghai Road, slightly higher than Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, lower than the level of Jiangsu Province, the official name is "Sub-patrol Su Song Taichang and other places of military preparation road". Shanghai Daotai was an important official, although he was a fourth-rank official, but after the expiration of his term, most of them were promoted to the rank of third-rank judge (正三品) or from the second-rank political secretary, and there were also examples of direct promotions to governors and even governors.

Shanghai Daotai was the senior governor who supervised the local administration of the two prefectures of Suzhou, Song, and Taizhou. All government affairs in the area should be reported to the province by the yamen, supervised by the provincial authorities, and submitted to the province. Shanghai County is located in the territory of Songjiang Prefecture, and its administrative regulations are reported by the county to the government, the government to the province, and the province to the province. However, because the province and the county are in the same city, the administration of the county is in fact under the supervision of the province at all times. In the event of a major event, the county magistrate of Shanghai immediately asked for instructions from the nearest Daotai, and the Shanghai Daotai supervised the county government nearby, and at the same time issued orders to the county, directly participated in the governance of the locality, and became the actual administrative boss.

The current Susong Taidao Daotai Yamen is located in the East Gate of Shanghai County, covering an area of 14 acres, built in nine years with Yongzheng. Shanghai Daotai is not an easy official, on the surface it seems that the level of Shanghai Daotai is very high, as long as the term expires, you can be promoted to three or from the second grade, but this official is not so easy to be, because Shanghai Daotai has to deal with foreigners at all times, and now the foreigners in Shanghai are arrogant and domineering, and they are not good at serving foreigners, and the life of Shanghai Daotai is not good.

The current Shanghai Taoist is Cai Naihuang, who was born in 1861 and was raised in the 17th year of Guangxu (1891), and only succeeded Liang Haoru as a Taoist member of Su Song Taidao last year.

At this time, there were three people sitting in the back hall of the palace, the top was Cai Naihuang, Cai Naihuang was wearing an official hat, wearing a Daqing Zheng four-grade official uniform, a pair of highly myopic round glasses on the bridge of his nose, his eye sockets were a little sunken, his cheekbones were quite high, and he had a thick short beard on his lips.

On the right hand side sat an official wearing the official uniform of the Great Qing Zheng Seven Grades, this person was slightly fat, with his hands on his knees, leaning forward, and a wisp of goatee on his chin, this is Li Xiumei, the acting magistrate of Shanghai County, why is it said to be the acting? Acting means that there has not been a formal appointment, which is equivalent to the meaning of acting. The previous magistrate Jing Song worked for a year, and he was also the acting magistrate, and he was also not formally appointed, and after Jing Song left office, Li Xiumei was the acting magistrate of Shanghai.

On the left hand sat a foreigner, he was the British Consul General in Shanghai, Fa Leishi, who arrived at Daotai Mansion under the protection of a group of British soldiers immediately after a meeting with the general directors and directors of the Ministry of Industry Bureau in the Public Concession. Under normal circumstances, after nightfall, the gates of the county are closed and no longer open, but Fa Leishi is not an ordinary person, he personally asked to see, Cai Naihuang did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered the defenders of the east city gate to open the city gate, he personally went to the city gate to greet him, and received Fa Leishi to the Daotai Mansion in the big east gate.

Cai Naihuang raised his hand and wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead without a trace, picked up the teacup and smiled at Fa Leishi: "Your Excellency Consul General doesn't need to worry, now all the servants and arresters of the county government of this official Su Song Taidao and Master Li have been dispatched, as long as the thief enters the territory of Shanghai County, he will definitely not be able to escape!" ”

Li Xiumei, the acting magistrate of Shanghai County, also hurriedly put on a flattering smile and said: "Yes, yes, what Lord Cai said is very true, the consul general can rest assured, as long as the thief enters the territory of Shanghai County, the lower officials dare to guarantee that they will be caught, but if the thief is hidden in the concession, the lower officials and others will have no choice!" ”

Faleishi's face was grim, because of anger and excitement, the thick beard on his lips trembled, he stomped on the ground with a civilized staff and said in half-baked Chinese: "After the incident, someone saw that the two murderers fled south along Huangpu Road, and it is very likely that they fled into Nanshi, so you must catch people tonight!" ”

Hearing Fa Leishi say this, Cai Naihuang and Li Xiumei glanced at each other, Cai Naihuang knocked on the table and thought for a while: "Your Excellency Consul General, there is a short distance from the public garden on Huangpu Road to Nanshi, and there is still a French Concession in between. It's really difficult to catch the right person, but rest assured, the Consul General will do his best to assist the concession side, and if there is anything, the Consul General can directly note the official! ”

If there were Chinese who killed foreigners in the Chinese community, Fa Lei Shi would definitely force Cai Naihuang to hand over the murderer, if he did not hand over the murderer within the time limit, what would happen, but this time the situation was different, the matter happened in the public concession, and the arrest of the murderer was a matter of the public concession police department, which had nothing to do with Shanghai County and Su Song Taidao Daotai Mansion, and Shanghai County Ya and Daotai Government had no obligation to help the British track down the murderer. Cai Naihuang was already very face-saving to be able to send troops in time, and he couldn't say anything else, so he got up and said: "Okay, Lord Cai, thank you for your help, I will remember your favor, if you have any good news, please inform me in time, I won't disturb Lord Cai to rest."

Cai Naihuang also got up and hurriedly said, "Your Excellency Consul General won't sit for a while?" ”

"Thank you, I still have a lot of things to deal with over there, and I will come to the house next time!" Fa Lei Shi picked up his top hat and bowed to Cai Naihuang before turning to leave, and the secretary immediately followed.

Cai Naihuang waved his hand: "Your Excellency Consul General, go slowly!" ”

After Fa Leishi left, Li Xiumei arched his hand and said: "My lord, this foreigner is really shameless, the incident happened in the concession, but he asked us to send troops to investigate in our territory, what is this called, in my opinion, deal with it, don't take it too seriously."

Cai Naihuang shook his head and said: "No, if the murderer is not a revolutionary, this official agrees with your idea and deals with it, but if this matter is really done by the revolutionaries, then we can't deal with it. In this way, you hurry back to the county government to sit in the town, urge the people below to make some efforts, try to catch people, if you catch people, you must know the official, and the official will negotiate with the foreigners! ”

What a cunning old ghost, if I hand over people to you, you can reap the benefits of foreigners, right? Do you really take Lao Tzu for a fool? Li Xiumei muttered in her heart, but her mouth responded: "Xiaguan understands!" ”

…….

French Concession, Baxian Bridge, Tongfuli.

Tongfuli is a row of two-story houses, but they are inhabited by characters from the French Concession. One of the most famous Shanghai Tang is the Huang Mansion located here, who is the owner of the Huang Mansion? Shanghai tycoon Huang Jingrong, this is a big man who plays both black and white. If Cai Naihuang and the consul generals in Shanghai are the white bosses on the beach, then at this time, Huang Jingrong is undoubtedly the black man on the beach. One of the big guys of the road.

At the main gate of Tongfuli, at the entrance of the hall, downstairs across the street, there is a red lacquer bench on one side, on which are five or six big men in the shape of biao, with black fragrant cloud gauze gowns and trousers, slightly lifting the cuffs, buttons, thick plate widths, tiger arms and bear waists, and their eyes are shining, like martial artists on the stage.

At this time, a person walked in from the entrance of the hall, this person was wearing a black cardigan short coat, his chest was open, and a white sweat coat was exposed, the cuffs were rolled up, revealing his thick wrists, and a pair of cloth shoes under his feet.

This person's name is Huang Zhenyi, nicknamed "Rice Bucket Ah San", is Huang Jingrong's right-hand man responsible for finding out the news, Huang Zhenyi greeted the five or six big men sitting very affectionately, but the group of people did not smile, uh-huh, ahh ”

Walking out of the street building, the sky light was revealed above his head, and he walked into the gate of the Huang Mansion, under the porch, in the patio, coming and going, and there were people everywhere. Huang Zhenyi kept saying hello, and sometimes saw him stand up and shout someone.

The living room of the Huang Mansion is a combination of Chinese and Western, colorful, mahogany kang table, cushioned with red felt, rosewood table and back chair, covered with fish, insects and flowers of Hunan embroidery cloth, Persian carpet, and purple and red velvet sofa. The four walls, layer upon layer, are full of famous calligraphy and paintings, couplet vertical scrolls, large landscapes of Wang Shigu, and Western naked women horizontal Chen pictures, far away; The award certificate of foreign literature hangs high above He Shaoji's screen, and in the middle is a colorful giant painting of Guan Gong reading the Spring and Autumn Period, life-size and lifelike. On both sides, hang a pair of lacquered gold embroidered words - "Red face and red heart, riding a red rabbit to chase the wind, and not forgetting the Red Emperor when galloping." The green lantern shines on the green history, the green dragon and the moon, and the hidden place is worthy of the blue sky. ”

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