bookrandom Chapter 859: The Salt Company Manager Under Attack
Chapter 859: The Salt Company Manager Under Attack
The leading officer took the initiative to come forward and saluted. He didn't speak Chinese well, but fortunately Lin Ze spoke fluent Japanese, so it didn't affect communication.
"Hello, Colonel Hayashi! I'm Tanida Shun, the captain of the 47rd Squadron, th Battalion, th Regiment, th Division, stationed in Yuancheng!"
Lin Ze also returned the greeting, "Hello, Captain Tanida."
Yuancheng is a small city, and it is already very good to have a squadron of about 200 people stationed there. Some small county towns only have detachments stationed there, with a dozen people guarding the entire county. The mopping-up operation depends entirely on the puppet army, which has basically no combat effectiveness.
The 37th Division is quite powerful, but it is not stationed in the city. It was recently transferred to the north to sweep the countryside, probably in preparation for the next war.
Then, Shunichi Tanida introduced to Lin Ze one by one that the Japanese soldier next to him who was also wearing a military uniform was the military police captain Tokai Takeuchi, with the rank of lieutenant.
Compared to Tanita Shun's enthusiasm, Takeuchi Tokai's attitude can be described as flattering.
After all, this guy is from the spy system and was remotely controlled by Matsuzaki before, so he naturally knows the reputation of Colonel Lin.
Takeuchi Tokai bowed ninety degrees, maintaining that posture and speaking loudly, "Welcome, Commander Lin! The seventy-plus members of the Yuancheng Military Police will obey your command!"
A small gendarmerie certainly does not have more than 70 Japanese soldiers, and these 70 people also include two joint defense teams.
It was Lin Ze who proposed this joint defense team, and Matsuzaki promoted it to the whole of North China.
In fact, the situation had changed. These traitors had families and soon became targets of infiltration by intelligence personnel from the Special Operations Group and the Military Control Commission.
The red and black accounts drawn up in the red zone were largely aimed at these traitors.
These traitors were also very sensible. They provided convenience wherever possible, and some even stole arms and sold them.
Next came the old man in the mandarin jacket. He introduced himself, "Welcome, Commander. I am Ma Mingyuan, the honored president of the Yuancheng Salt Merchants Association. I have prepared some wine tonight to welcome you. I hope you will do me the honor of coming."
Yuancheng's salt industry is well-known. It has been developed for thousands of years from ancient times to the present. For a long time in history, the salt tax here accounted for more than a quarter of the world's salt tax.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial court's control over the local areas declined, which led to the abnormal prosperity of Yuancheng's salt industry again. Local tyrants participated in it and made a lot of money.
Since Ma Mingyuan can become the president of the Salt Merchants Association, he is a representative of the local tycoons.
Immediately afterwards, the dark-skinned man also saluted and said in a muffled voice, "I am Wang Hualong, Captain of the Yuancheng Detective Team. I am honored to meet you, Commander!"
Like most places, Yuancheng also has a detective team of about thirty to fifty people. Their main task is not to arrest spies, but to catch petty thieves, protect salt transportation, etc., which is equivalent to taking on the tasks of a police station. Come to think of it, it is not worth setting up a police station and a detective team at the same time, so they simply merged the functions.
Lin Ze introduced Hua Gu Zheng to everyone, with many compliments, and everyone hurriedly greeted him again.
Hua Guzheng was quite pleased with it. After all, he was still young, and even if he was scheming, he still liked to hear nice things.
After these few days of contact, Hua Gu Zheng had a good impression of Lin Ze. Lin Ze was so energetic and yet so polite to him, which greatly satisfied Hua Gu Zheng's self-esteem and vanity.
After the meeting, the group went into the city and went to the Salt Merchants Association.
This place is near Guanwang Temple, with the best geographical location, the largest area and the best conditions.
Lin Ze and his group stayed here.
That night, people from all walks of life in Yuancheng held a banquet in the main hall of the Salt Merchants Association.
Just as the banquet began, Ma Mingyuan was about to deliver a speech on behalf of the officials and gentry of Yuancheng when a Japanese man in a suit suddenly rushed over with sweat all over his forehead.
He walked in without saying a word, went straight to Lin Ze, and bowed, "Your Excellency, Commander! I am Nanyun Takuya, the manager of the Yuancheng Salt Company. I was attacked during my salt inspection and was late to greet you. Please punish me!"
Coincidentally, the salt pond in Yuancheng is very large and is being developed by many forces. Lao Xi used to set up a salt company here. Later, when Yuancheng fell, this salt company was somehow taken over by the Administrative Committee and became one of the important sources of income. The local garrison repeatedly wanted to take over, but the Administrative Committee was unwilling, and the lawsuit even reached the headquarters.
Later, many assets of the Industrial Bureau of the Administrative Committee were taken away by Lin Ze and injected into the North China Development Corporation. This salt company actually became Lin Ze's industry, and Nan Yuntaku was sent to manage the salt company.
At this moment, Nanyun Takuya's forehead was covered in sweat, half of which was from being tired from running, and half from being anxious.
Outsiders may not know it, but he knows in his heart that Commander Lin is the emperor who controls the North China Development Corporation and the boss of his boss's boss's boss. But today he couldn't even get back to welcome Commander Lin!
The Japanese's insistence on hierarchy and various etiquette was even more exaggerated than that of the Chinese. At this moment, Nan Yuntaku was extremely nervous, fearing that he would be blamed by Commander Lin.
Lin Ze frowned and asked, "Were you attacked?"
Nanyun Takuya didn't dare to speak. "Ha! Recently, the salt trucks that arrive at Fenglingdu to load the ships have been frequently attacked. I started patrolling the salt yesterday, but this morning, when I was about to arrive at Fenglingdu, I was attacked by a group of criminals. Three guards from the salt company were killed. Seeing that they couldn't capture us, they reluctantly retreated."
Hearing this, Ma Mingyuan's face became serious, "They are becoming more and more rampant."
Lin Ze asked, "Who are they?"
Ma Mingyuan came over, bent down and whispered, "Your Excellency the Commander, you don't know that here, salt is money. Whether it's shipped west or south, it can be exchanged for cash, gold bars, and even arms. If we want to ship salt out of Yuancheng, we can take the railway for faraway places and Fenglingdu for nearby places. Fenglingdu is where the Yellow River, Wei River, and Luo River meet. To the west is Qin Province, where guerrillas in the Red Zone often harass us. To the east is the mountains, where the stubborn troops in the south come down from the mountains to wreak havoc. To the south is Henan Province, where hungry people and bandits appear from time to time, and public security is very difficult."
Lin Ze nodded. "Mr. Nanyun, you've worked hard patrolling the salt industry. I've heard that the salt company generates a lot of profit for the higher-ups every year. How could I blame you? How about this, after the banquet, you come to me to report on the situation?"
Nanyun Takuya was overjoyed and bowed repeatedly.
The banquet finally got to the point. After Ma Mingyuan delivered a welcome speech, Lin Ze asked Hua Guzheng to deliver a thank-you speech.
Originally this was Lin Ze's job, but the way Lin Ze did it made it seem like Hanatani Masaharu was the leading figure in this industry.
Hua Guzheng refused several times, but finally Lin Ze said, "Mr. Hua Gu, you come from a prominent family and have been assigned by the headquarters. Of course, you are the leader of us. This has nothing to do with military rank."
Lin Ze thought to himself, if anything goes wrong I will have to find you to take the blame.
Hua Gu Zheng fully felt Lin Ze's respect for him, and was overjoyed. He no longer refused and stood up to give a speech. The banquet began in a peaceful and warm atmosphere.