Di Xiong said: "Who says I'm not afraid? I'm just pretending to be bold, but the more afraid of death, the faster people die. On the battlefield where the two armies faced each other, most of the people who died did not die in the confrontation, but in the battle. They were captured and killed by the pursuers while escaping, and some died more cowardly, being massacred as prisoners."
Di Xiong thought of the Nanjing Massacre. In that massacre, not only ordinary people, but also tens of thousands of soldiers who surrendered and became prisoners were massacred. This was a shame for soldiers!
Early the next morning, Wu Chunlei took Di Xiong's recommendation letter to the left reserve army recruit camp in Nanyuan. Di Xiong and Bai Xiuling escorted him to the city gate. Di Xiong handed a piece of paper with the names of eighteen people to Wu Chunlei and warned: "You may encounter the eighteen people on this in the army of Battalion Commander Feng. They are all likely to be promising in the future." People, we need to be more friendly to them, even if they are just soldiers now."
Of course Wu Chunlei did not know that these eighteen people were the future Five Tiger Generals of the Northwest Army and later famous generals such as Zhang Zizhong and Zhao Dengyu. He put the note away and said with a smile: "I didn't know that my eldest brother could tell fortunes."
When Di Xiong returned home, Leng Hanbing was already waiting for him. There were two thousand silver coins piled on the table, some of which had bright red blood stains on them. Di Xiong smiled and said: "It seems that the work last night was done very well. I have enough money to buy the textile factory this time. Are there any injuries, brothers?"
Leng Hanbing said: "Only one brother named Zhang Kuwa was slightly injured. The restaurant owner who stabbed him had his right hand cut off. The other brothers are all fine."
Zhang Kuwa and Wang Shitou are two relatively outstanding teenagers among the newly recruited members. They were beggars begging for food on the street. When they were about to starve to death in front of the Weili Hotel, they were discovered by Di Xiong and took him in.
Di Xiong said: "You take five hundred yuan as a bonus and share it with the brothers. That Zhang Kuwa, give him an extra twenty yuan for medicine. Those who work with me must not lose money to them. They must Rewards and punishments must be clearly defined.”
In the evening, the "Beijing News" published the news that Fatty Huang had been transferred from the Xicheng Branch. The new director was the former deputy director Ma Hong. After Bai Xiuling read the news in the newspaper, she quickly ran to Di Xiong's office and handed over the newspaper. Show it to him and then hold him jumping up and down with joy.
She said: "Now I can go out freely."
Di Xiong said: "You are too happy too early, Liang Mazi is not dead yet!"
Three nights later, Liang Mazi went to the Weili Hotel again, but there was only one policeman following him. When he learned that Fatty Huang had been transferred, Liang Mazi suddenly lost three people among his confidants. They were stopped outside the store by a waitress in a red cheongsam. The waitress had a small black mole on the left corner of her mouth.
The waitress whispered mysteriously: "Officer Liang! I know where Bai Xiuling is. The boss didn't tell you the truth that day. If you go to the restaurant now, it will be in vain. Neither the boss nor Bai Xiuling are here."
Liang Mazi asked: "Why do you want to help me?"
The waitress said: "I was beaten by the boss because I was greedy and lost the customers' meal money. If you give me a piece of gold, I will take you to where Bai Xiuling lives."
Liang Mazi believed it and gave the waitress a silver dollar. The waitress took them to No. 21, Lane 12, Xihe Street, which is the headquarters of the Xihe Society Action Team. After they went in, of course they never came out.
The waitress who took the risk to trap Liang Mazi was Chen Xianglian, who was only sixteen years old. Among the eight waitresses at the Weili Hotel, she was the first to ask to join the Xihe Club, and Wu Chunlei was her introducer.
The next morning, someone found the bodies of Liang Mazi and his companions in the moat in the west of the city. They were swollen to the point of being out of shape. After a forensic examination sent by Director Ma Hong, they determined that they had drowned under the influence of alcohol. At that time, the public security in Beijing under Yuan Shikai's rule was very chaotic. Zhao Bingjun, the backbone of his subordinates, organized an assassination team and repeatedly assassinated key members of the Revolutionary Party and Royalist Party. The Revolutionary Party and Royalist Party also hired assassins to assassinate senior officials under Yuan Shikai. People in Beijing were assassinated almost every day. In this context, drowning two policemen did not arouse anyone's concern.
The plan to acquire the textile factory was successful, and Boss Li lowered the price to 10,000 silver dollars.
Ten days after Liang Mazi's death, the Weili Industrial Company held an inauguration ceremony in Nankou Town, Changping County. Lu Jianzhang, commander of the Left Army Reserve Army, Ma Hong, the Xicheng District Police Chief, the Changping County Governor and the patrol leader were invited to attend the ceremony. Of course, there were also There are shareholders such as Di Xiong, Lan Jinping, Li Jingfa, Leng Hanbing, Hong Tianlie, and Wu Chunfeng. Weili Company consists of Weili Textile Factory and Weili Hotel, with a total share capital of 20,000 silver dollars. Di Xiong holds 55% of the shares, Boss Li holds 20%, Ma Hong, Lan Jinping, Leng Hanbing, Hong Tianlie and Wu Chunfeng each accounted for 5%. Ma Hong took the initiative to buy shares, and Lan Jinping bought shares after Bai Xiuling's persuasion. Of course, she had no money, so it was Lu Jianzhang who paid for it. Di Xiong originally planned to give some shares to Wu Chunlei and Bai Xiuling, but they believed that they had not participated in the operation to eradicate the Fei Ying Gang, so they refused.
Although Di Xiong had sent an invitation to Lu Jianzhang in advance, it was estimated that he would not come. He originally only invited Lan Jinping to attend the ceremony. Unexpectedly, Lan Jinping persuaded Lu Jianzhang to attend the ceremony together, which made him overjoyed. Lu Jianzhang's "Butcher" "Notoriety has virtually eliminated a lot of trouble for low-profit companies. The governor of Changping County and the patrol leader were invited by Boss Li. They are friends with Boss Li. Of course, they are just fair-weather friends. It still costs money to ask them to do things. Lu Jianzhang, with his old face and gray hair, was really not a good match for the young woman Lan Jinping. Many people thought that they had a father-daughter relationship, and Di Xiong also felt sorry for Lan Jinping in his heart.
After Lan Jinping introduced Di Xiong and Lu Jianzhang, Lu Jianzhang said to Di Xiong: "Are you Di Xiong? You are younger than I thought. I heard that you used to be a detective, and you became a detective in just a few months after being fired. A small restaurant owner with tens of thousands of dollars, I don’t know where your money comes from. If you deposit the money in a bank or bank, you can spend it with interest. If you save it, it will last a lifetime. Why do you want to Opening a textile factory involves taking big risks, as the textile market in the north is basically dominated by Japanese businessmen and Shanxi businessmen."
Di Xiong smiled and said: "As the saying goes: 'Wealth is found in danger'. How can you be rich without taking risks? I like taking risks. Even if I fail, it doesn't matter if I lose tens of thousands of dollars. The worst is to start over again! General Lu didn't take risks back then. , how can you become a general?"
Lu Jianzhang smiled and said: "You are very courageous and courageous. When Jinping wanted to pay this thousand yuan, I was a little hesitant, but now I am relieved."
When Di Xiong was greeting other guests, Lu Jianzhang said to Lan Jinping: "This kid Di Xiong will definitely be promising in the future. It's a pity that I don't have a daughter, and my three nieces are all married, otherwise I would have hired him as my son-in-law."
Lu Jianzhang's three nieces-in-law are Yan Xiangwen, Feng Jishan, and Song Zheyuan.
After the ceremony, a shareholders' meeting was held. Di Xiong was naturally elected as chairman. He appointed Wu Zhong as general manager, yarn factory owner Li Jingfa as vice chairman, and textile factory director Hu Lin, who was recommended by Wu Zhong as his cousin and returned from studying abroad. Textile professionals, because they were too honest and dull, did not know how to engage in bribery after returning to China, and ended up unemployed and impoverished at home. Li Jingfa also recommended his younger brother Li Jingcai to become the deputy director. Leng Hanbing, Hong Tianlie and Wu Chunfeng also served as department managers in the company. Among them, Leng Hanbing's position is the manager of the Human Resources Supervision Department, with power second only to the general manager. Since Di Xiong was busy preparing for the opening of the company, Wu Zhong had left the training class lectures to Wu Zhong. Therefore, Wu Zhong could be regarded as Hong Tianlie's teacher. His storytelling skills were no less than Di Xiong's. He also told Di Xiong His story was compiled into a book called "Five Thousand Years of Stories". That night, Hong Tianlie and Wu Chunfeng dragged him to a pub in the town for a drink to celebrate his becoming the general manager.
Since Nankou Town has been looted by soldiers and bandits many times, it has less than a thousand residents. The houses in the town are very dilapidated and most of them are empty. Most of the owners inside have become refugees in exile.
"Boss! This is the protection fee for Xiheyan Street for the past month, a total of two hundred yuan!"
In the living room of an old-fashioned house, a pock-marked man said to a fat man with a white face. The fat man with a white face was about fifty years old and had a pair of triangular eyes. He was lying on a chair while a girl massaged his shoulders with her hands. , after hearing what Pockmarked said, he immediately sat up and said angrily: "Wang Mazi! Why do you have so much money? Did you kidnap it for yourself?"
The pock-marked man said: "How dare I embezzle it? Since the mutiny in January, many shops on the street have closed down and business has been slow. If the boss doesn't believe it, you can go and see it in person. Four more restaurants have been closed recently."
The white-faced fat man said: "I know there is a low-profit restaurant on this street. The business is very prosperous. It earns at least fifty yuan a day, which is fifteen hundred yuan a month. According to the lottery, this restaurant alone For the hotel, you can receive three hundred yuan in protection fees, how much did you charge?”
The pockmarked man said: "I don't dare to hide it. The background of this restaurant is so big that I haven't even received a single copper. A few days after the restaurant opened, the bald man from the west branch of the city took four people to collect the protection money. The owner of the restaurant called Di Xiong, he said that they had their own security guards and did not need our protection or payment of protection fees to us. The bald man saw that this kid didn't understand the rules, so he took action. Unexpectedly, he ran into a tough situation. The boss and the clerk were both very powerful. There was a disciple of the Jingwu Sect under Bald Tou, but he didn't take advantage. All five of them were beaten with bruises on their heads and came back bleeding. I summoned dozens of brothers like Tietou and Changfa and prepared to teach them a lesson the next day. Unexpectedly, the January Mutiny broke out that night. Baldhead saw with his own eyes five rebels rushing into the Weili Hotel. In less than a stick of incense, the bodies of the five people were thrown out. Not only were their guns and ammunition gone, but their uniforms were also stripped off. It fell off. It shows that there are experts in the store! I don’t dare to collect protection fees.”
The white-faced fat man said: "Didn't you check who is behind him?"
The pockmarked man said: "I have been investigating. An industrial company was established in Changping County a few days ago, and I found out that Di Xiong's backstage is the 'butcher' Lu Jianzhang and Director Ma of the Xicheng Police Department."
