The eleventh year of the Republic of China, 1922, New Year's Day.

It's a sunny day, the wind is beautiful, and the sun is rarely shining. The snow has long since melted at Christmas, and the streets of Shanghai are slightly muddy. Chinese stores put up banners that read "Happy 11 Years", while foreign stores flashed "1922" light boxes.

For the first time in two years, Qin Beiyang took off the craftsman's robe, put on a straight suit, wore a black top hat, barely put on a tie, shiny leather shoes, and carried a "Stitch" standard for European gentlemen. The most eye-catching thing was that there was a half-cut white handkerchief in the pocket of the jacket - the counter girl of the department store helped him dress up, which made both of them blush.

The nine-colored English mastiff disguised as a red mane is majestic and high-spirited, which scares the foreign gentlemen's Golden Retriever Tour, Labrador, Rottweiler, St. Bernard, and Erha. The neck of the town's tomb beast was once again put on a collar and held in Lao Jin's hands.

As for the "tomb beast hunter" Lao Jin, he is no longer a native bun in the northwest, but has become a British housekeeper, leading the mastiff for the master, and combing his hair meticulously, which is like a shotgun. When he went to Shanghai for the first time in his life, he saw the rows of high-rise buildings on Nanjing Road, the Sincere Department Store and Yongan Company, the largest shopping mall in China, and Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

Zhongshan's foundation is the best, a white-skinned and tender young man, but he changes into a Chinese-style robe, carries a schoolbag, and holds a parasol in his hand, looking like a little scholar of a rich young master.

Three people and one beast, walked from Nanjing Road to the Shanghai Horse Racing Hall. There is a pair of stone Weng Zhong outside the Western-style gate, which is clearly an object on the ground of the ancient tomb, but foreigners use it as decorations, and they don't know how to pretend to understand and pretend to be a model. It is said that this pair of Shi Weng Zhong is in front of the tomb of Lu Xun, the general of the Eastern Wu of the Three Kingdoms, and it is said that it was moved from the tomb of Lu Shen, the minister of the Ming Dynasty - Lu Jiazui was named after him. The so-called "flower club", it is said that all night long, according to the newspaper are all "lewd baby sluts", and Shi Weng Zhong is also used as a statue to burn incense and pray, the legend is that the stone statue in front of the horse hall is very spiritual, "can enter the house at night to cure the disease".

Cambridge Dr. Li Longsheng, MPs Xiaojunwang, as well as Qian Ke and Caproni, they all dressed up in formal suits, carefully dressed up, and were invited by Qin Beiyang to watch the "Lunar New Year Cup" horse race.

The Shanghai Racecourse was crowded, and many foreigners regarded this race as the top priority at the beginning of the new year. Chinese either come to gamble for money or join in the fun, but there are also individual Chinese businessmen who are the owners of horse racing. This horse racing custom is common to many peoples in ancient and modern times, but the speed racing of thoroughbred horses is the patent of the British. Everywhere the British colonists went, they set up racetracks, not only to gamble and collect money, but also to promote the European way of life, as well as the bravery, martial arts, self-discipline and honest character of the white race, which itself has the color of conquerors. During the Taiping War, Shanghai's population exploded, and the Jockey Club became the heart of the Public Concession and the largest outdoor venue for public activities in the Far East.

Qin Beiyang followed the flow of people into the stands, just like the ancient school field, the outer circle is a horse racing track, among which there is a grass track, a quarter of a mile of straight sprint area. In the middle is the daily training ground for horse racing members, as well as football, cricket, tennis, polo pitch and even golf. Major festivals, foreign armies or international merchant groups also parade here.

The Shanghai Racecourse usually races horses in spring and autumn, but the "Lunar New Year Cup" is the most grand on New Year's Day. Horse tickets are sold by the Horse Racing Association, and there are a variety of ways to play. Li Longsheng from the United Kingdom instructed everyone to complete the betting. The audience includes not only foreigners with their families, but also rich people dressed like him, and there are many peddlers and pawns, and even professional entrusted purchasers.

Today's race horses were played, and the stands were thunderous. Fourteen pure-blooded racing horses, one of which is a dark horse - sweat and blood horse, black horse, four hooves stepping on the snow, the ghost of Qin Beiyang.

It was labeled as a three-year-old mare by the Horse Racing Association, and had a foreign name: Catherine the greatest.

"Catherine the Great?"

Qin Beiyang immediately realized that it could not be translated literally as "the great Catherine". It was a mare, hence the name of the most famous Russian empress. If you follow Chinese customs, do you have to name "Wu Zetian Emperor" or "Empress Dowager Cixi Yehenala Clan"?

There is also a layer of destiny - the nickname of "Katerina" is "Katya", this sweaty horse once carried Qin Beiyang and Katya through the Kunlun Snow Mountains and the Tarim Basin. Beauty is like a famous horse, thinking of Katya, who is famous, makes Qin Beiyang sad. For Katya, even if Qin Beiyang fights for this life, he will recapture the ghostly god!

The rider on the back of the ghost god wears a helmet, but looks like a small English man on a ship.

Sure enough, it was a horse thief.

Qin Beiyang asked a professional question: "It can be seen from the size that there are many differences between sweat horses and British thoroughbreds, can they race together?" ”

"It doesn't work out of the blue!" Having lived in England for many years, Lee knows a thing or two about horse racing, "British thoroughbreds are the fastest horses in the world, and there is no one. The value of a sweat horse is not lower than that of a thoroughbred, and the advantage lies in endurance. But if you compare it purely with a short sprint, it is certainly not as good as a thoroughbred, almost at the same level as an Arabian horse. ”

"Then why did he steal the Spectre to race horses?"

"Who knows? There are also individual differences, and Chinese are generally shorter than Europeans, but there are also top taller people, such as Zhang Zongchang among the Beiyang warlords. ”

When Qin Beiyang was talking to Li Longsheng, an old gambler next to him interjected and explained: "Nong just came to Shanghai to attack? What about cold weather, cutting is a good time for running horses, what about the Lunar New Year Cup, it is a long-distance exhibition race, you have to run several laps, Nong knows how to fight? Therefore, the criteria for horses can be relaxed, and only thoroughbred horses are good to be qualified. ”

There was no need for translation, Qin Beiyang understood, and the others were confused.

"Ladies and gentlemen, look at it, a horse - Catherine the greatest." The old gambler's English is quite standard, "Although the cut is a thoroughbred, but listen to the lecture, train Chenguang to manage the light!" No horse can beat it! ”

In the last sentence, the old gambler switched to bad Chinese: "Look, I also bought this horse!" Hahaha, I'm looking forward to saving copper today! ”

Li Longsheng spread his hands: "It's also the first time I've seen a race between a thoroughbred and a non-thoroughbred!" There are three major thoroughbreds in the world today: the sweat blood, the Arabian horse, and the English thoroughbred. The sweat horse belongs to the top class, the scientific name is the Akhal-Teke horse, and the Arabian horse and the British thoroughbred have its pedigree. The English thoroughbreds were completely artificially bred, and at the end of the seventeenth century they were bred by three Arabian stallions with English mares, and each of them was passed down in strict accordance with the three paternal bloodlines, which was stricter than the European aristocratic pedigree. Beiyang, this ghost god of yours is afraid that it is the only sweaty horse in the Republic of China, and it is worth a lot of money! ”

The little king asked, "How much is it worth?" ”

"Every horse on this track is worth more than tens of thousands of silver dollars! And this sweaty horse, rare is expensive, 100,000 yuan from the ocean! ”

"Hungry!" Lao Jin even came out in the northwest, "That British boy actually offered 5,000 silver dollars, isn't this obviously cheating us?" No wonder you want to be a horse thief! It's stealing gold! ”