Chapter 42: British Hercules

(Thanks: Divine Death rewarded 100 Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info coins)

"Owner, you can leave to see Baoshan County!" The next morning, Song Shijie walked into the living room wearing a robe and horse coat cut from precious fabrics, and said to Xiao Zhenlei.

Xiao Zhenlei was holding a newspaper and reading it, deaf to Song Shijie's words. Song Shijie waited for a long time, I don't know why, I walked over to take a look, only to see the front page of the newspaper with the headline that the British Hercules Opiyin had been in the ring in Zhangyuan for more than two months, and no one was invincible so far, but all the people who went to the ring were beaten by him to vomit blood, and there were not even a few people who were directly killed.

The date of Huo Yuanjia and Opiyin's meeting competition is next year, and now there is still a long time before the day of next year's competition, during this time, the British Hercules Opiyin still sets up a ring in Zhangyuan every three days, and publishes a newspaper claiming that he only needs to pay five taels of silver to compete in the ring, and if he can win, he can get a thousand taels of silver, in order to stimulate the Chinese, his backstage master, the British Walling, also hung banners on both sides of the ring to insult the Chinese as the sick man of East Asia, and there is not even a person who dares to come to the stage, Today happens to be the day of Opiyin's ring.

Xiao Zhenlei looked at the newspaper report, the black and white blurred picture of Opiyin's arrogant and insolent face was particularly disgusting, he angrily slapped the table and got up angrily: "Foreigners are really rampant, Mr. Song, I won't go to see Baoshan County for the time being, let's go to Zhangyuan to see it first!" ”

Song Shijie opened his mouth: "The owner, I have already agreed with the Baoshan County Ya, and now this ......."

"Go to see Baoshan County's order to push it back, first go to Zhangyuan to see how arrogant the foreigner Opiyin is, so it's decided, let the dog prepare the carriage, let's go together!" Xiao Zhenlei said and walked to his room to change clothes.

Song Shijie was helpless, so he went outside to inform the dog that he would not go to Baoshan and go to Zhangyuan instead.

Xiao Zhenlei came out soon, he was wearing a capable knight's suit, a pair of riding boots under his feet, and no hat on his head, the good food and drink during this time, coupled with the fact that he took out several hours of training every day, his originally somewhat emaciated body began to become stronger, and the force value also rose in a straight line, and a knight's suit could not wrap his strong physique.

Xiao Zhenlei assigned Ma Xiaoshuang the homework to practice martial arts, and then he and Song Shijiao broke the door, and drove the carriage to Zhangyuan by the dog. By 1894, the area of Zhangyuan had reached 61.52 acres, which was the largest private garden in Shiliyangchang. The free and open Zhangyuan Garden has been regarded as a new style garden with a combination of Chinese and Western styles, and is known as a place for public activities regardless of name, class, gender and some areas.

In addition to the traditional garden contents such as exotic flowers and trees, lotus pond rockery, etc., there are also pachinko rooms, ordering shops, throwing courts, tea houses, photo studios, hotels, etc. In terms of style, it is gradually westernized and integrated with the traditional style, which can be called a model of modern Shanghainese garden style. Due to the convenient transportation and the location in the concession, the public activities such as assemblies and speeches were held in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and Zhangyuan was generally the first choice for everyone. This place is a place full of tourists, so the rally held here can often be echoed and sensationalized.

In 1903, an adventurous amusement car was added to the park. The method is to build a high platform near the pool, up and down with a car, the car as a shape, the wheel of the railway, with the movement of the mechanism. One person can take a car with two small silver dollars, and after taking the stage, he will take a small boat, push it off the stage, and throw it into the pool. The boat was tumbling and falling from the air, which was very dangerous, but in fact there was no problem. It is said that Westerners like it, and there are many passengers. The Chinese are too timid to try.

If you talk about the most fashionable things in the late Qing Dynasty, photography must be among the best, and in this regard, Zhang Yuan is the first to eat crabs.

When the carriage entered the Zhang Garden, Xiao Zhenlei saw that there were people fiddling with bulky old-fashioned stand box cameras in various scenic spots in the park, and a puff of black smoke came out of the magnesium lamp, and the photographer informed the person who was posing for POSS that he had finished taking pictures.

A road divides Zhangyuan into two from west to east, a lawn on the left side of the road sits in the ring, and a pair of couplets are hung on the left and right sides of the ring, the upper link is "punching the sick man of East Asia", the lower link is "kicking the monkey of the Qing country", and the horizontal batch "beats the invincible opponent all over the world".

There are thousands of people gathered under the ring, most of them are Chinese with long braids behind their heads, and a small number are foreigners, some men and women, foreigners men wear suits and leather shoes, wear high round hats, and women wear all kinds of Western fashion clothes, full of foreign spirit.

At this time, as if it had just begun, a comprador wearing a white suit, a pair of white leather shoes under his feet, a shiny forehead, and a long braid on the back of his head walked to the front of the stage close to the audience and shouted: "Citizens of Shanghai, today is the 56th day of the British Hercules Opiyin setting up the ring in this chapter garden, so far no one has been able to defeat Mr. Opiyin, is there no warrior in the Qing Kingdom?" Can't the huge Qing Kingdom find a person who has the courage to come to power? As long as you pay five taels of silver to sign up, you can go on stage to face off against Mr. Opiyin, and if you win, you can get a thousand silver, look at the couplets on the left and right, are the warriors of the Great Qing Kingdom really cowardly to the point that no one dares to come to the stage? ……”

"Two devils, get down" suddenly let out an angry roar from the crowd in the audience.

This voice immediately resonated with all the Chinese in the audience, and everyone shouted: "Two devils, get down, get down!" ”

During this period, there were many Chinese who worked for foreigners in Shanghai, called compradors, some of these people cut their braids, some did not cut their hair, but they all wore Western clothes, and they could also speak some foreign words, most of them helped foreigners bully Chinese, so Chinese became these people "two devils".

After being scolded by the vast majority of the audience, the comprador raised his arms and covered his face with his sleeves, and fled behind the scenes.

Xiao Zhenlei and Song Shijie, who had already gotten off the carriage, had been standing behind the crowd for several minutes, and they could see the situation just now.

Song Shijie pointed to a middle-aged foreigner in his thirties who was sitting on the left side of the stage wearing a black suit and a tall round hat and said: "Sir, look at that foreigner, I have already inquired clearly, he is the notary public in the ring, his Chinese name is Pingfu, and he is the manager of the electric light company!" Sitting to his left is Wolin, Opiain's backstage boss, who is actually a senior class of an English circus (the later term "boss" is derived from the name of the Taipan in Cantonese)."

"Oh?" Xiao Zhenlei was a little surprised when he heard this, and then said angrily: "A circus boss dares to insult us Chinese so rampantly? How unreasonable! ”

At this time, a tall Atlantic strong man wearing only a pair of boxer shorts in the ring walked out of the curtain naked, this person has a broad forehead, a thick short stubble beard on his chin, a face full of horizontal meat, his body is even more burly and tall, his limbs are extremely thick, and when he walks, the wooden planks laid under his feet are pressed to the ground, this is the protagonist of the ring, Opiyin.

Song Shijie said to Xiao Zhenlei in a timely manner: "Sir, this is Opiyin, I have already found someone to calculate, since he set up the ring, seventy-nine heroes on stage have been injured by him, and twenty-three people have been directly killed, because they signed a document of life and death before the competition, so they ......."

Song Shijie didn't finish speaking, Xiao Zhenlei also understood that none of the people in the martial arts who were killed and injured dared to find trouble with Opiyin, in fact, they couldn't find trouble with Opiyin, who let both sides sign a life and death certificate?

At this time, the situation in the ring has changed, due to the appearance of Opiyin, and the extreme provocation and stimulation, there are self-provoking and exciting heroes in the audience who can't stand it one by one, and one of them can't help jumping into the two-meter-high ring one by one, and shouting: "Shandong Ma Hanlong is here to meet you, a foreign devil!" ”

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