Chapter 59

The farce finally came to an end. Ten musketeers from the trading company held off the successive attacks of fifteen or sixteen ruffians, ensuring that the excrement never touched the signboard or the red silk. Xiao Letian stood in the trading company's hall, proudly looking at them. "Well done, you’re truly worthy of being my soldiers, brave and ready to fight... most importantly, you’re not afraid of getting dirty. You’re all great, ten silver dollars each, go take a bath now..."

Xiao Letian comforted everyone for a moment, then quickly retreated to the accounting room at the back of the trading company. There was no way he could stay in the front, as it was too smelly. The clerks were busy transporting sand to clean up.

"Tell me, who are these people?" Xiao Letian, too busy to drink tea, hurriedly asked Xiang Shaolong.

"Just a bunch of fleas, peripheral members of the Salt Gang and the Transport Gang. They’re not even real disciples, just some ruffians with a bit of connection on the periphery. I’m on brotherly terms with the leaders of both the Salt Gang and the Transport Gang; these people don’t even have the qualifications to be my juniors..."

Through Xiang Shaolong’s introduction, a very prominent gray organization in Chinese history was revealed to Xiao Letian. Historically, after the Grand Canal was completed, it quickly became the hub of north-south commercial trade, from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the end of the Qing dynasty, this canal was never idle.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the two main commodities transported along this canal were salt and grain, forming two major civilian organizations: the Salt Gang and the Transport Gang. These two major organizations were not what Xiao Letian had imagined, a group of poor laborers and heroic outlaws forming a black society.

On the contrary, the leaders of these two major organizations were business tycoons who had built their wealth on salt and grain, people of high status. Because they could organize and control the vast number of laborers at the lower levels and contribute to the government, these two organizations were always involved in both legal and illegal activities, engaging in cross-sector business.

It wasn’t until the Yongzheng period that the two gangs merged into an organization called the Green Gang, which was highly active in the late Qing and Republican eras, with many Nationalist Party leaders coming from this gang.

"The Green Gang! Are you talking about the Green Gang?" Xiao Letian asked excitedly. Xiang Shaolong shook his head slightly. "Sir, it’s best not to use that name. In the eyes of the government, the Salt Gang and the Transport Gang are considered the legitimate ones, while the Green Gang is often associated with the Hong Gate and the Heaven and Earth Society, making it very suspicious in the eyes of the government..."

Xiao Letian nodded, thinking that the unofficial history was indeed reliable. He had heard that Chiang Kai-shek was a senior member of the Green Gang. Moreover, the Green Gang privately supported the activities of the Tongmenghui, indicating that it had ties with the anti-Qing forces from the beginning. It seemed that this organization was indeed worth cultivating.

"Tianjin is a supplement to the Grand Canal’s transportation. The influence of the Salt Gang and the Transport Gang extends here to some extent. People like Dirty Rat are just flattering themselves. Knowing a few secret handshakes and passwords doesn’t make them members of the gang. It’s all a dream. Even his boss, Little Braid Sun, is only a peripheral member of the Transport Gang, barely connected..."

"Sir, rest assured. With me here, no one will dare to act rashly..." Xiang Shaolong’s assurance did not reassure Xiao Letian. Instead, he looked at him with a sharp gaze. "It’s not that simple. Before this, Mr. Fan had already paid respects to the local gang, and 400 silver dollars is a significant gift in Beijing. Why are they still causing trouble?"

"Moreover, they can’t be unaware of Mr. Fan and my identities. Regardless of whether my status as an overseas scholar and a master of Western learning is valuable or not, Mr. Fan is a major merchant who travels the world, a direct descendant of the Shanxi Fan family. Is it possible that they don’t even give him the face to open a trading company? As for the excrement..."

Xiao Letian’s question made Longye and the old manager frown. They also realized the strangeness of the situation. Finally, Longye stood up. "Tonight, I’ll meet with Little Braid Sun. I don’t believe a mere junior can overstep me."

Xiao Letian waved his hand, signaling him to sit down. "No, no, you said the difference in status is too great. If you have to deal with such a minor criminal, you’ll be busy all the time. Oh, right, take this revolver for self-defense..."

As he spoke, Xiao Letian handed one of the revolvers given to him by Lincoln to Xiang Shaolong. "Take half of the bullets with you, and have the old manager import more for you. Practice well. The Colt revolver is simple to use. With your background in hidden weapons, I believe you can hit a target from a hundred paces in two months..."

Xiang Shaolong was stunned. He had often read "Journey to the West" and knew a lot about Western political systems. In his mind, the president was equivalent to an emperor, the highest authority in the United States.

Good heavens, these are revolvers personally bestowed by the president, and Sir is giving me one? Xiang Shaolong’s hands trembled with excitement. He had never used such an honorable weapon in his life. In the hearts of outlaws, who doesn’t dream of being bestowed by the emperor?

"This, this, this... how can I accept this? These are revolvers personally bestowed by the President of the United States. I’m just a simple outlaw, I don’t deserve such a valuable weapon..." Xiang Shaolong’s words were a refusal, but his eyes betrayed his true feelings.

Xiao Letian smiled and pulled his hand, forcing the gun into his palm. "You deserve it. My life depends on your protection. Remember to practice your shooting. The future belongs to firearms, we can’t fall behind..."

At that moment, Xiang Shaolong felt a lump in his throat, his eyes welling up. The ancient spirit of dying for a true friend surged within him. "Thank you, Sir. I’ll go patrol. You continue your discussion..." He turned and walked out of the accounting room, clutching the revolver as if it were his life.

While Xiao Letian was winning hearts with the revolver, the unfortunate Dirty Rat was being whipped mercilessly by Little Braid Sun. "Worthless, you’re worthless. What good are you to me?"

"What the hell is a fierce dragon? In Tianjin, if you’re a dragon, you have to coil up; if you’re a tiger, you have to crouch. The world is vast, but the officials are the greatest. Do you know how important this deal is? It will scare you to death..."

How could Little Braid Sun not be angry? He was the first general appointed by Scholar Huang, and his task wasn’t to kill or set fires, just to smear some excrement. If he couldn’t even do that, how could Scholar Huang still use him? If he angered Scholar Huang, a few connections in the government could crush Little Braid Sun.

As Dirty Rat screamed in pain, Scholar Huang’s voice came from inside the room. "Enough, enough. If you couldn’t do it, you couldn’t. I underestimated this Xiao. I didn’t expect him to have such a formidable person by his side..."

"Oh, Scholar Huang, you’re wise. The man called himself Xiang, saying he’s the Northern Dragon, which must be Xiang Shaolong, as famous as the Southern Eagle. He’s a true hero in the underworld..." Dirty Rat quickly defended himself.

But this statement made Scholar Huang furious. "Nonsense! Xiang Shaolong once tried to assassinate Xiao Letian. How could he become his bodyguard? You’re lying to me. Whip him harder..."

Little Braid Sun’s face twitched with anger. He thought, you’re a fool. Scholar Huang has already let you off, and you’re still adding fuel to the fire. You deserve to be beaten to death.

As Dirty Rat screamed in agony, Scholar Huang fell into deep thought. He wasn’t concerned about Xiang Shaolong; he was troubled by the intelligence his steward had brought him.

"Goodness, the Coastal Tower invited two foreigners, and they seem to be of high status. Why are they meeting Xiao Letian in secret? Could it be true, as rumored in Beijing, that this half-foreigner has overseas connections? This situation is getting complicated..." Scholar Huang rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling that the task from Beijing was more challenging than he thought.

"Scholar Huang, what should we do next?" Little Braid Sun, drenched in sweat, entered the room. Dirty Rat’s buttocks were almost beaten to pieces.

"Mr. Fan’s trading company has several warehouses outside the city. Send a few people to investigate tonight. If the defenses are lax, burn them down. I want to see how fierce this Xiao Letian really is..."

That night, under a dark and moonless sky, just after midnight, more than ten black shadows quickly approached the warehouse complex outside Tianjin. They soon found the ten large warehouses newly built by Fan Ru. At this time, the Qing dynasty had not yet used cement, and for quick construction, Fan had used only wood to build these warehouses.

The black shadows looked around, finding no one and no dogs. Overjoyed, they began to take out oil flasks, ready to start the fire. But before they could ignite the oil, a lightning-fast black shadow darted across the street. A series of muffled thuds followed, and four or five black-clad men were knocked unconscious.

The remaining men were about to shout when a group of silent figures emerged from the neighboring warehouse, piling on top of the arsonists like a stack of bricks.

"Help..." Only one black-clad man managed to shout, but his mouth was quickly covered.

Xiang Shaolong was the first to act. He pulled off his black mask and whispered to Sima Yun behind him, "Take them to the warehouse, interrogate them separately. Make sure to get every detail, even the ones that make them wet the bed. We’ll dig deep into these people tonight..."

"No problem, you’ll see..." Sima Yun glared at the arsonists, his eyes burning with fury.

It turned out that ruffians did not have the strong will of underground party members. Under the whip and the stick, these hooligans confessed to everything, even the time they peeked at women bathing when they were six years old. Six of them had even killed people, by kidnapping children.

"Damn, you even hurt women and children? These beasts... What should we do, Dragon Sir?" Sima Yun asked angrily, but Dragon Sir did not answer. Instead, Xiao Letian’s voice came from outside the warehouse.

"Divide these scoundrels into two groups, those with blood on their hands and those without... There’s a grain warehouse about six or seven miles north, belonging to Scholar Huang. It’s full of grain, and I’m not happy about it. I want to have some popcorn..."

Under Xiao Letian’s command, the two groups of black-clad men were taken to the grain warehouse. After subduing the old man guarding the warehouse, those with blood on their hands were tied up and thrown into the grain warehouse. The others were tied up and left outside in the locust forest, forced to watch the warehouse burn.

Xiao Letian, holding a burning torch, sighed deeply. "This damned Qing dynasty has turned me, a decent young man, into a murderer and arsonist. Where can I go to seek justice..."

Shaking his head, he threw the torch into the grain warehouse. The oil-soaked grain bags immediately burst into flames.