"In the whole of Shanghai, not to mention the Chinese Concession and the Public Concession, there are more than 1,000 tobacco houses and nearly 100 large and small tobacco shops in the French Concession alone."

"Because of the huge volume of shipments, tobacco dealers need to buy opium from all over the country every month."

In the concession, in the headquarters building of the former Sanxin Company and now Huasheng Group, Lin Tongfei is holding a document and reporting the company's business situation to Zheng Jirong behind the desk.

"But now the situation in the land of ZH, boss, you also know that in the process of transporting opium, it is often stolen by some scattered stragglers and gangsters, and the losses are not small."

"Therefore, the major tobacco stores unanimously decided to pay protection fees in exchange for protection through consultation, so as to reduce losses."

"And the three tycoons of the Green Gang have also begun to change from grabbing cigarettes to the role of protectors of tobacco dealers, and they collect 10% of the escort money for the goods of various cigarette shipping companies to ensure the smooth transportation of cigarettes."

Later, the protection was extended to each tobacco store, and a protection fee called "cigarette donation" was charged. The company collected the "license fee" for smoking guns on behalf of the patrol room, which finally rose from a few dimes to a few yuan, and hundreds of thousands of smoking guns in the French Concession provided Sanxin Company with hundreds of thousands of dollars of income every month. ”

"Later, Sanxin Company was directly involved in the sale of opium, changing from the role of a simple protector to a protector and participant, earning huge profits over the years and monopolizing the entire tobacco market in Songhu."

"Last year's revenue alone was as high as 57 million oceans! One company alone accounts for one-third of the annual financial revenue of Beiyang Zhengfu! ”

"How much?!" Zheng Jirong, who was still holding a cup of tea, suddenly couldn't sit still.

He turned his head and asked Lin Tongfei in disbelief, "Are you sure it's five thousand seven million oceans?!" ”

"Sure", Lin Tongfei hurriedly replied affirmatively: "I have been looking through the financial statements of Sanxin Company for the past few days, and the value of these 57 million is still after discarding the fees paid to the concession authorities, government officials, and surrounding warlords and other leading figures. ”

"Taking the French Concession authorities as an example, the general staff of country F, from the consul general to the patrol room, can receive a certain share of the fee on a monthly basis, and the consul general receives the most."

Speaking of this, she picked up the document in her hand and flipped through it backwards, "It is written that the fees paid to the consuls of various countries last month alone were as high as one million oceans!" ”

"Tut-tut"

Zheng Jirong shook his head with emotion after hearing this, "It's really murder and arson, no wonder Lu Yuesheng, this bastard, didn't blink his eyes last time when he said in the military camp that he would buy his life with millions of oceans, I'm afraid that except for Sassoon's foreign devils, the entire Shanghai Beach is the richest among him!" ”

Thinking of this, he had a headache and shuddered, the reason why he was able to successfully occupy Sanxin was because of the words coercion and temptation.

It is Lu Yuesheng's gang of people in power who are coerced, and it is the backstage backers behind Sanxin Company who are lured.

Originally, he was very confident that he would create another company comparable to Sanxin in Shanghai, but after listening to Lin Tongfei's report just now, he instantly lost his heart.

Even if he opened a bank, he couldn't earn 50 or 60 million oceans a year!

In these years, there were only a few ways for powerful people to make money, the first was to loot the masses, increase taxes, and scrape the money of the poor with all their might; in the areas under the control of some warlords, they had to pay taxes for building houses, buying livestock, and killing animals for meat. Anyway, the geese pluck their feathers, and the beasts leave their skins, except for breathing and not paying taxes, they have to pay taxes for everything.

Some of the warlords in Henan had already collected taxes until 1950, and Tang Yulin of Rehe even collected taxes until 1972!

The second is to rely on borrowing from foreign powers, which only the big warlords can do, such as the current Beiyang Zhengfu, which relies on cooperation with Dongying to stabilize the party, advanced weapons and huge loans, so that the warlords can alleviate their own situation.

Zheng Jirong can't do these two things, one is that he can't get over his conscience, and the other is because he doesn't have so much power, to put it bluntly, he is now the leader of the Yihi gang in Shanghai, and he is not a big warlord who ceded land and self-government, where did he get so much power.

Of course, in addition to these, there are other methods, such as finding the support of local "local tyrants", planting DU products in their own sphere of influence, setting up clever projects, accepting bribes, and setting up banks to issue paper money indiscriminately.

Among these methods, the first reliable point is the first one, and the others either can't do it, or they just don't have the qualifications to do it.

Therefore, in the final analysis, with his current ability Zheng Jirong, he can't satisfy the appetite of these foreigners behind Huasheng Company.

But it doesn't matter, the point is to fool them first, use Huasheng as a gimmick, and use coercion and temptation to pull all the gangs in Shanghai Tang to be affiliated with the company, which is his goal.

As for the conflict a few months later, because of the uneven distribution of spoils, I had to settle accounts with him, the chairman. By then, he will already be chic on Hong Kong Island, so if he has the ability, he will come over!

Today's Shanghai Tang, the Chinese Circle is controlled by his Axe Gang and Ma Yongzhen's Knife Society, and the Public Concession was originally the territory of the Qing Gang, but since the night of the barracks, it is now also under his Axe Gang, and now it is Zhang Wanlin and Ding Li in the French Concession.

It's been almost a month since he came to this world, and he no longer has the patience to carry out any more plans, and now the Axe Gang has expanded several times, absorbing a large number of dock coolies, mine workers, and refugees from the Northland, and the gang has expanded to tens of thousands.

After occupying Sanxin, the cash flow on his books has also increased exponentially, and now he has a lot of money, and his backers are also hard, so there is no reason to play with this group of social scum to play the trick of salute first and then soldier.

But Zhang Wanlin is a comprador after all, and his official body is also very hard, it is not suitable to kill him by himself, and it is just right to send a stunned young man like Ma Yongzhen to do it, in case the foreigners investigate it thoroughly, there will also be a top pot.

As for Ding Li, if he knows each other, he will leave a copy for him in Huasheng Company, if he doesn't know each other, then he can only be sent down to see Xu Wenqiang.

"Boss"

"Since you are Lili's cousin, you can be regarded as your own person, just call me Brother Rong like them."

"Brother Erong", Lin Tongfei glanced at Zheng Jirong who was turning the lighter opposite, and continued to speak after a pause: "Since Huasheng eliminated the opium business, the cash flow has been very serious, the original source of profits has almost been cut off, there is no blood transfusion of the opium business, and now in addition to the normal operation of the casino, almost all other businesses are in trouble, and even the casino has been in trouble these days."

"What's wrong?" Zheng Jirong asked curiously.

After he took over the company, he directly spent more than half of the millions of oceans of cash on the books as soon as possible, don't get me wrong, he didn't want to take this money to be chic, and his hand was handed over to Shen Zui's hand before it was hot.

In exchange, there is only one sentence, "Wait for the Northern Expedition to report your contribution to the principal, and give you a blue sky and white sun medal!" ”

Zheng Jirong has no feelings about this medal, but if the Northern Expedition can end as soon as possible and the north and south of ZG can be unified earlier, it doesn't matter if he has more money, anyway, this money is easy to come by, and Bai Chongxi is standing behind, he has a bottom in his heart about what he does, and this money will be used as protection money.

As for what Lin Tongfei said just now, he was not surprised, in addition to tobacco and soil trading, Sanxin had been doing some lending business, and there was less cash on the account, and it was normal for the lending business to shrink.

But the casino itself is a cash cow for blood transfusions, and as long as someone is covering it, there should be no problems.

"A few days ago, we came to one of the largest casinos in the French Concession, and these guys were very high-profile, and they had already won tens of millions in just a few days."

"What?!"

When Zheng Jirong heard this, he got up angrily and said, "Why didn't you tell me until now?" ”

Lin Tongfei hurriedly explained: "They are not all Dongying people, there are many ZG people with unique temperaments, speaking with southern accents, and the casino people didn't think about other aspects at first, but when they won more and more, they found out that something was wrong." ”

"What's wrong?" Zheng Jirong asked with a humble eye.

"They seem to be able to see through the dice cups."

“.”

There are countless casinos in Shanghai, but the most famous one has to be the Ximen Casino opened by Zhang Wanlin and No. 181 founded by the three tycoons of the Green Gang.

No. 181 Casino, as the name suggests, is located at No. 181 Fuxi Road, covering an area of more than 60 acres, and is one of the largest casinos in Shanghai.

In addition to the luxurious decoration and many gambling items, it also has one of the biggest features, which is called "three whites": "white eating", "white drinking", and "white sucking".

There is a bar serving famous liquors such as "whiskey" and "brandy"; There is a Chinese and Western dining room serving high-quality Chinese and Western dishes; There are opium couches serving fine opium cigarettes and refilled cigars; There are also high-end cigarettes and fresh fruits such as "three or five cards", etc., which are required by gamblers, and the service provider will bill you and receive them from the supply office without taking a penny.

This method accurately captured the psychology of the citizens who love to take advantage of small advantages, and in just a few days, the casino attracted a large number of customers, and the name of 181 swept the entire Shanghai Tang.

This was originally Lu Yuesheng's golden expensive trade, and Ye Bufan, the prodigal son of the Thirteenth Taibao, served as the manager, although it has now changed hands to the Axe Gang, but Ye Bufan's position as the manager, Zheng Jirong did not give him the position.

At this time, in the casino hall, everyone's eyes were focused on a table in the center of the hall.

Unlike the other tables around, this place is full of onlookers, their eyes locked on every movement at the table, as if they are afraid of missing a single detail.

Ye Bufan glanced at the short-haired woman on the opposite side of the gaming table, and the expression on her face couldn't help but become solemn.

In the past few days, this woman in men's clothes will show up in his casino on time with a group of men at two o'clock in the afternoon every day, only playing dice cups, and winning every game, winning three million oceans every day and leaving in style.

In just three days, nearly 10 million has been won by this group, and the casino's capital reserves have been almost exhausted, if she wins again today, the casino will not even pay her money!

"Manager Ye"

Dressed in a white suit, the woman with short hair elegantly lit a cigar, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled, in this smoke, she spoke lightly to Ye Bufan, with a bit of contempt and provocation in her voice.

"Casino, what you do is to usher in the business of sending to, if you Ye Bufan are afraid that I will win, then why don't you close the store as soon as possible and go to sell SH bags, you dare to open a casino if you are afraid of losing money?"

Ye Bufan took a deep breath, tried to calm down the fluctuations in his heart, and then said slowly: "Miss Jin, I have already said just now, it's not that we are afraid of losing money, but the casino's cash reserves happened to be all used up in the morning, and a new batch of cash can be shipped from the bank tomorrow." ”

Speaking of this, he then spread his hands and said: "Even if you want to gamble today, our casino has no money to pay you." ”

"Hahahaha."

The woman laughed and said, "If it's for this, then I have a good idea." ”

She clapped her hands, and the few younger brothers behind her immediately put black suitcases on the gambling table, and when they opened them, they were full of banknotes.

"If you don't have cash, then use the casino as a bargaining chip, a dice cup, win, all the money is yours, if you lose, this casino will belong to me, what does Mr. Ye think?"

Looking at this table full of big bills, Ye Bufan admitted that he was a little moved, all this money was won by these people in the past few days, nearly 10 million oceans!

How much money does a casino have?

The reason why No. 181 can become popular is because of the name of the three tycoons of the Green Gang and his Ye Bufan's business methods, not things like location.

However, when he saw the few subordinates standing behind the woman, his thoughts, which were still a little moved, instantly fell silent.

In the past, every time she placed a bet, the woman would ask the people beforehand, and they could tell the exact size of the dice every time.

Not a single exception!

If this continues, even if he really uses the casino as chips, the result will be a loss anyway!

"How?"

The woman provoked: "You won't dare, will you?" ”

"Me"

"Bet with her!"

Just when Ye Bufan was in a dilemma, a sound suddenly came from outside the gambling hall.

Zheng Jirong took Zhou Xingzu and Lin Tongfei and slowly walked in from outside the gate.

Looking at the short-haired woman who was looking at him, he took the cigar off the corner of his mouth and asked indifferently: "Zheng Jirong is the owner of this casino, who is Your Excellency?" ”

"Hahaha, it turns out that you are Zheng Daheng", the woman's smile revealed a little chill, and she looked at him coldly and said: "You can call me Jin Bihui, I'm just an ordinary gambler." ”

"Jinbi. Hui."

After Zheng Jirong repeated it word by word, a strange smile appeared on his originally expressionless face, "It turned out to be Miss Jin. Look up for a long time. ”

"Zheng Tycoon doesn't have to be polite", Jin Bihui shook the cigar in his hand and asked casually: "You just said that you want to bet with me, weren't you joking?" ”

"Of course, I'm never joking, but there's one thing I need to ask first."

Zheng Jirong smiled and glanced at the few subordinates behind the woman,

"What's going on with the guys?"

“.”

(End of chapter)