novelSusiti Chapter 106 Change of Ownership of the Trading Company
Chapter 106 Change of Ownership of the Trading Company
Chapter 106 Change of Ownership of the Trading Company
Shanghai, Hongkou Wharf, on the Chengfeng ship.
"These are the details of the various foreign firms within the concession."
The assassins scattered throughout the concession gathered all the intelligence they had gathered throughout the day.
Hongwu closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and his mind raced through the intelligence.
At that time, there were 53 foreign firms in Shanghai, among which Jardine Matheson and Jardine Matheson & Co. of Britain and Russell & Co. of the United States were the most powerful.
"The big trading companies definitely can't survive. Even if their goods are burned, they can still pull through given their size."
Hongwu opened his eyes and tapped his fingers lightly on the chair. "It would be best to find a small trading company with no powerful backers and limited funds."
"To strike a snake, hit its vital spot; you have to choose one that can't be overturned with a single blow."
He pondered, his gaze settling on a British trading company called Yibao Trading Company.
The owner of Yibao Trading Company was Charles Morris, an Englishman and a former employee of Jardine Matheson.
After resigning a year ago, he specialized in buying opium from his former employer and then reselling it to Chinese merchants, opium dens, and individual dealers. He was a genuine secondhand dealer.
There were many such foreign firms in the concessions, making money entirely from price differences. Once their capital chain broke, bankruptcy was the best outcome.
"Xu Da, have your side investigate Yibao Trading Company again and confirm whether the white leather goods have been delivered in the last two days."
At this moment, a bodyguard named Xu Da was drinking tea in a teahouse diagonally opposite the Yibao Foreign Firm.
The teahouse was on the second floor facing the street, and from the window seats, one could see the gates and warehouses of the Yibao Trading Company. Several pots of tea had already been refilled in front of him, and several dishes of melon seeds and peanuts were on the table, making him appear as a customer leisurely drinking tea and listening to storytelling.
Upon hearing Hongwu's order, he immediately put down his teacup and thought to himself, "Boss, no need to investigate. Just now, people from Yibao Trading Company were passing by the teahouse with their goods."
"Is it opium?"
Xu Da raised his teacup and took a sip, glancing out the window out of the corner of his eye.
Several mule carts carrying goods had already turned into the gate of the Yibao Trading Company, and a few workers came out to help unload the goods. On the muddy ground, the mule carts left several deep ruts.
"I'm not sure, it was covered with tarpaulins, but judging from the height and the number of mule carts, there were probably dozens of boxes."
"Let's choose this place then!"
Hongwu didn't hesitate and said, "Xu Da, you stay there and keep watch. I'll have your men from the vicinity provide support. We'll make our move tonight!"
"Alright!"
late at night.
Part of Shanghai has fallen into slumber, but another part is still restless.
Theaters, opium dens, and teahouses were brightly lit and bustling with activity. Customers carried lanterns as they went in and out, the lanterns casting long shadows on the street.
In addition, the shouts of vendors, the sounds of gongs and drums on the stage, and the cheers from the teahouses blended into a noisy cacophony.
"Damn it, I didn't expect this."
Inside the alley, Xu Da, his face hidden behind a black mask, twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth. He looked at the teahouse where he had drunk tea during the day and cursed in frustration.
"I originally thought it would be a dark and windy night for murder and arson, but who would have thought that these little devils would stay up all night and come here to listen to storytelling."
At this moment, all the windows on the second floor of the teahouse were open, and the storyteller inside was telling the story of the Three Kingdoms while striking his gavel, with cheers coming one after another from the audience.
The assassin beside Xu Da whispered, "Let's go around from the other side. The teahouse is a good place to spot our movements."
"Then let's go around!"
The three avoided the teahouse and wandered around for quite a while before arriving at the back of the Yibao Trading Company.
This was a narrow alley, with the warehouse wall of another shop across the street, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Piles of broken planks and rotten baskets filled the alley, and the air smelled musty.
"The plan is simple."
Xu Da thought to himself, "Climb over the wall and kill anyone you see, but don't make too much noise."
The other two nodded. The three of them then crept towards the wall surrounding the trading company.
The wall is about one and a half meters high and is made of ordinary blue bricks. Over the years, the lime in the brick joints has loosened, and a few clumps of wild grass have grown on the top of the wall.
Xu Da stepped into the crack between the bricks, placed his hands on the top of the wall, and with a gentle push, easily flipped himself onto the wall.
After glancing around and seeing no one, only some messy clutter, he thought to himself, "Nobody's here," and then landed silently in the yard like a cat.
After walking a few dozen steps, around the pile of rotten planks, we approached the warehouse.
The warehouse, located next to the villa, is a single-story brick and wood building with black tiles and gray walls. The main gate faces south and is secured with a large iron lock.
There were only three guards.
Two guards stood at the warehouse entrance. One leaned against the doorframe, his head nodding off. The other sat on a wooden crate, a large knife beside him, his hands resting on his knees, his head bowed, clearly not on high alert.
As for the remaining one, it was squatting in a corner of the yard, feeding the big yellow dog there.
The dog was a yellowish-brown breed, quite large, and when it squatted there, it was taller than a person's knee.
It was wagging its tail and munching on its food when it suddenly raised its head and its ears perked up.
After sniffing twice, it looked warily towards the back of the yard, letting out a threatening growl.
"Woof! Woof!"
The three guards immediately tensed up and grabbed the weapons beside them.
"What's wrong?"
"Some thief must have broken into the yard. Be careful."
"Damn it, does someone really have the guts to steal this stuff?"
The guard next to the big yellow dog untied its leash and commanded, "Big Yellow, go!"
"Woof!"
Big Yellow suddenly leaped out, its four legs pushing off the ground like a yellow gust of wind. It opened its mouth wide, revealing its sharp teeth, and pounced on the figure in the darkness.
"They even have a dog? Damn, this is going to be quite a commotion."
The man clicked his tongue, but his hands moved quickly.
Facing the charging yellow dog, he didn't retreat but advanced, dodging its bite with a somersault. While still in mid-air, his hunting knife was already drawn, its blade flashing coldly in the moonlight, before it viciously plunged into the dog's neck.
"Waaah—"
The big yellow dog only had time to let out a short, mournful whimper before collapsing to the ground, its limbs twitching a few times before it went still.
The three guards who were charging forward with the dog stopped in their tracks upon seeing this, their hearts tightening, clearly not expecting their opponents to be so skilled.
"Be careful, this skill level definitely doesn't belong to some petty thief."
The leading guard stood with his feet apart, his long sword held horizontally in front of him, and said in a deep voice, "Brother, this is British territory. If you know what's good for you, leave now, and we brothers can pretend we didn't see anything. Let's all go our separate ways and leave each other alone."
The man chuckled, pulled a revolver from his waist, and pointed the dark muzzle at them.
The three guards' expressions changed instantly.
boom! boom! boom!
Before they could make a move, three crisp gunshots rang out, and three bodies fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
"Holy crap!"
A henchman rushed over, his eyes wide. "Didn't you say not to make too much noise? This gunshot could be heard for hundreds of meters around!"
After tucking the revolver back into his belt, Xu Da argued, "The people in the teahouse aren't deaf. They can hear the dogs barking like that, right? Since we can't hide anymore, it doesn't matter if we shoot."
"Alright, alright, hurry up and open the warehouse door and move the stuff away."
Another assassin sighed, "They'll definitely report it when they hear gunshots. We weren't even gone before the police arrived, so things are going to get really serious."
Xu Da pulled his hunting knife from the dog's carcass, strode to the warehouse door, and slashed down hard at the iron lock on the door. Sparks flew, and the lock snapped in two.
As soon as he opened the door, a strong, pungent stench, similar to urine, hit him, making him frown.
"What the hell is this smell? I don't remember the opium confiscated from the opium dens in Chinatown tasting like this!"
The three entered the room and, by the moonlight filtering in from the doorway, could barely make out the interior of the warehouse.
Twenty wooden crates were neatly stacked, each about two feet long, one foot wide, and one foot high. The crates were printed with foreign words, as well as numbers and weight markings.
Xu Da pried open the lid of one of the wooden boxes. Inside, there were two layers, each with twenty compartments. In each compartment was a dark brown sphere wrapped in a leaf, and the stench was coming from the top.
"This is raw opium; that's how it smells. After it's boiled and purified, it becomes the brownish-yellow ointment you see in opium dens."
One of the assassins glanced at it and said, "There are twenty chests here. According to the market price of opium in Shanghai, each chest costs seven hundred taels, so this is fourteen thousand taels of silver."
"Converted to white currency, it's 21,000 US dollars or 5,000 pounds. Losing this batch of opium would be enough to bankrupt the owner of this trading company."
"
"Stop talking, let's get out of here."
After a flash of light, the three men, along with twenty chests of opium, disappeared into the warehouse.
The next second, they appeared in the cabin of the Wind Chaser, the wooden crates making a heavy thud on the deck.
An hour later.
Charles Morris, the owner of the Yibao Trading Company, arrived at the company breathlessly. He had been woken up from his bed and hadn't even had time to get dressed properly.
Several police officers had already gathered at the entrance, holding torches that illuminated the courtyard.
Upon seeing the three corpses on the ground, his face turned deathly pale.
Ignoring the police officers' attempts to stop him, he rushed into the warehouse. When he saw the empty warehouse, the last trace of color drained from his face.
"God, I'm doomed."
Morris slumped to the ground, only this one thought remaining in his mind.
He secured this batch of goods on credit from Jardine Matheson, using his entire fortune as collateral.
The so-called "sales" means taking goods first and paying only after they are sold. Since this batch of goods, worth 14,000 taels of silver, was gone, he had to use all his savings to fill the gap.
He knew his former employer all too well; those people would skin him alive, squeeze every last drop of profit from him to make up for the losses of the trading company.
"No, absolutely not!"
He gritted his teeth, got up from the ground, pushed away the police officers who tried to help him, and staggered home.
Before Jardine Matheson is aware of what's happening here, the best course of action is to pack our belongings and flee overnight. We can't stay in the Far East anymore, so let's go to America!
The next day, when the manager of Jardine Matheson's Shanghai branch received the news, Morris's residence in the British Concession was already deserted.
The manager was a Scotsman named Thomson who had been in the Far East for nearly thirty years and was used to this kind of thing.
He said to a young employee, "Send someone to inventory all of Maurice's assets, make a complete list, and then auction them off immediately. Be quick, don't delay."
The young employee hesitated: "Manager, what if the money from the auction isn't enough to cover our losses?"
"Then just record it truthfully, write it as a loss."
Thomson said nonchalantly, "It's just a loss of ten thousand taels of silver, which the company can afford."
After the young staff finished taking inventory of the assets of the Yibao Trading Company, news of the auction quickly spread throughout the various foreign concessions.
Several trading companies expressed interest; although the land owned by Yibao Trading Company was not large, its location was indeed excellent.
Instead of waiting for the auction to begin, Bucky went to Jardine Matheson's office on the very day the news broke.
The Jardine Matheson Building is located on the banks of the Huangpu River. It is a two-story brick building with a typical exterior corridor.
Bucky tidied his hair and beard, and wearing a double-breasted suit, he stepped into Thomson's office.
"Mr. Thomson, I won't beat around the bush."
Pakistani handed over Pacific Travel's business card and said slowly, "I'm here today to purchase the land use rights from you."
Thomson took the business card, glanced at it, and immediately understood: "The land belonging to Yibao Trading Company? You can wait for the auction in two days."
Bucky adopted a boss-like demeanor and said, "Mr. Thomson, I don't lack money, I just lack time, so I'm too lazy to wait that long."
"That piece of land, along with the buildings on it, is worth about five thousand taels. Even if several bidders compete at the auction, it won't exceed six thousand taels at most. I'll give you six thousand five hundred taels, how about that?"
Thomson raised his eyebrows slightly.
Six thousand five hundred taels is indeed an enticing figure. Not only will it save me the hassle of bidding, but it will also allow me to settle this messy debt a day sooner.
He hesitated for a moment, then held out his hand: "Deal."
Bucky shook his hand and smiled slightly: "Happy deal."
Soon, the Yibao Trading Company sign was taken down and replaced with the Pacific Trading Company sign.
However, Hongwu and his team did not rush to open for business. Instead, they continued to gather intelligence on various foreign firms within the concession and then compiled it together.
"Of the fifty-three foreign firms, seventeen are direct business competitors with us."
Inside the Pacific office, Baki pulled out a document and said, "This includes medium and large-sized trading companies such as Tongfu Trading Company and Deji Trading Company, which, under the guise of steamship transportation, continuously transported the people they had swindled to North and South America."
"However, because the Qing government did not allow people to travel abroad freely, all foreign firms entrusted their business to specialized pigsty firms, which then sent their local thugs to swindle and cheat people."
Hongwu rubbed his temples: "The Qing court doesn't allow its people to freely travel abroad? Then we'll have to change our recruitment policies too."
"That's alright."
Bucky said, "I asked the Americans in the concessions, and they said that as long as we pay a sum of money regularly, the officials over there will turn a blind eye. Plus, with the existence of several concessions in Shanghai, we can openly post job advertisements."
Hongwu nodded: "Then let's get to work. Tang He also brought back a group of people for us."