Chapter 176: Shipping
In the evening, Gu Yansheng and Director Ding stood by the Huangpu River, watching the cargo ship set sail.
Director Ding was satisfied; the medicine’s money-making journey had finally begun.
Gu Yansheng was satisfied; Director Ding had finally boarded the ship.
The two men exchanged a glance and burst out laughing.
Whether they made a lot or a little, it was just a bit of money—small potatoes. Helping Director Ding make money, that was the big deal.
Now, at No. 76, a small half would be equivalent to landing right in his hands.
This trip was divided into two legs: the destination of the first leg was Jiujiang, and the destination of the second leg was Wuhan.
Wuhan was Gu Yansheng’s own claim. Officially, this ship was just carrying some high-end supplies to the Japanese Occupied Area around Wuhan for sales—red wine and sake imported from Shanghai, various canned goods, chocolate, and so on.
In reality, the cotton yarn and opium paste were to fulfill the Japanese’s own money-making missions.
As for the small amount of medicine they brought, it wasn’t much—just a few million US dollars worth of medicine, not a lot.
The documents carried on the ship included Mitsui’s customs declaration, the Gendarmerie Headquarters’ customs declaration, the Greater East Asia Ministry’s Central China supplies transport document, the SH City Government’s military supplies circulation approval, and the Agent Headquarters’ military supplies transport document.
The transport personnel were Gu Zhuxuan’s Jiangbei Gang personnel and Chen Mo’s Green Gang personnel.
The local contacts at stops along the way were Central Statistics Bureau personnel dispatched by CC. Their transport process would be sealed with the Central Party Department’s seal, and the boxed medicine wouldn’t be opened by anyone before reaching the true destination.
CC had specifically required dropping off a small portion at Jiujiang and the vast majority at Wuhan.
After passing customs, they would let the local Central Statistics Bureau handle the transshipment themselves.
Before departure, all the steps had been discussed. Now, they just needed to wait.
Gu Yansheng and his group had shown their sincerity by providing the goods first, so CC had to show their sincerity in ensuring the goods’ safety and silence.
Reciprocity—do it often, and it happens often.
“Want to grab some late-night eats together?” Director Ding suggested.
“Sure, let’s go, Director Ding. Isn’t it better here in Shanghai than in Chongqing?” Gu Yansheng teased.
This poor major general with only a little over ten thousand US dollars—as long as this trip went smoothly, his assets would double directly. He was in high spirits right now.
Director Ding laughed heartily. “Making money is way more straightforward here.”
Before, guarding the Postal and Telecommunications Office, he had to skim a bit here and there to scrape together some family fortune, and he inevitably had to give a share to the higher-ups. Now, CC was giving him a share—the taste was indeed very different.
He now understood how Dai Yunong, a Whampoa Military Academy Sixth Class graduate, had climbed step by step to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the once-dominant Central Statistics Bureau’s Xu Enzeng, even beating his Postal and Telecommunications Office into the ground.
The Postal and Telecommunications Office was indeed trash; they didn’t even know Dai Yunong had planted someone right by his side.
This kind of professional agent organization was truly professional when it came to private dealings—Central Statistics Bureau was like that, Military Statistics Bureau was like that, and No. 76 was like that too.
No need to worry at all about investigations; it was hard not to get rich.
Thinking back, Xu Enzeng’s mistake was that No. 76 had swept clean the Central Statistics Bureau in Shanghai. He didn’t even know if the framework had been set up again, and all of Shanghai’s smuggling routes were cut off.
Dai Yunong was different. Just Du Yuesheng’s line alone kept the concession’s smuggling going nonstop day after day. As one waned and the other waxed, the riches piled higher. Xu Enzeng had no money to pay his subordinates—how could he not be suppressed?
“No wonder some people love war—war profiteering is truly easy to make.”
Director Ding sighed, and Gu Yansheng just smiled. The two arrived at the restaurant and casually ordered a few small dishes to eat.
Gu Yansheng ate a peanut and casually asked, “Have your people been planted over in Anhui? When can the land route start circulating goods?”
He couldn’t just eat for free; he was here to probe for information.
Director Ding said while eating, “Sites have been established in several major cities. For the countryside, setting up simple relay stations is easy. Right now, investigating local social relationships still needs a bit more time.”
“Hurry it up,” Gu Yansheng reminded. “Time is gold US dollars. Perfume and soap, red wine and sake—the Japanese want them, Chongqing wants them too. Medicine is needed only every so often, but these things can ship daily and circulate nationwide.”
“I know, but that area’s a hot war zone right now, full of spies from all sides, and they’re experienced. For us to transport goods, don’t I have to identify who the Japanese informants are? The Japanese must have plenty of spies planted locally.”
After all, it was smuggling; they definitely had to avoid the Japanese if possible.
Gu Yansheng thought for a moment and smiled. “Hey, Li Shiqun and I are planning something big in the stock market. Want in?”
Director Ding’s eyes lit up; he stopped eating. “How big?”
Gu Yansheng explained the matter. “Acting as a banker is a long-term business; you can’t expect to get rich quick. But coming in to harvest—mainly for stability, earning a tidy sum now and then. Idle money is just sitting there anyway; think of it as lending interest to stockholders.”
“Sure.” Director Ding thought it over and smiled. “If you guys think stocks can work, then I think it can work.”
After all, Li Shiqun making money in stocks wasn’t a secret at No. 76.
“But will Li Shiqun let me join?” Director Ding raised an eyebrow.
Gu Yansheng sneered. “Do you have to say it out loud? Put the money with me, I’ll take a share, and you just pretend it never happened, right?
Later, whatever goods we need, we’ll buy from Yong’an Department Store. Buy a lot, their profits go up, leak the news, stock price shoots up casually. We make a killing on stocks, then ship the goods to the Nationalist controlled area for another killing.”
“Hahahaha, good, let’s do it!” Director Ding was thrilled, his mind racing. “Then, when the time comes, we can confiscate a batch of their goods, spread the word—Yong’an Department Store suspected of smuggling, goods confiscated, company under investigation—and the stock price plummets. We buy back in.”
“Hey, that’s the reason.”
“Good, good, good.” Director Ding nodded nonstop and raised his wine glass. “Come on, cheers.”
Gu Yansheng clinked glasses with him. “But keep your mouth shut on this. Pretend you know nothing, or if Li Shiqun finds out and you two bicker, it’ll annoy me.”
“Do you need to tell me? I don’t even want to see that face of his—total sleaze. For this kind of business from now on, come straight to me. Why bother with him?”
“You got the money?” Gu Yansheng scoffed.
Director Ding was poked in his sore spot and drank.
“How’s the investigation into the Japanese weapons going?”
“Some progress, I guess. This kind of thing, there’s really nothing to investigate. Any quartermaster, no matter from what army—Japanese Army, US Army, Central Army, local army—none aren’t corrupt. Drag ’em out and shoot ’em; not one innocent.”
Gu Yansheng looked at him. “Found any evidence?”
“Need evidence? Just follow the money. That Japanese idiot kept it in a Japanese bank. I checked the records and got it straight away. With his position’s salary, he couldn’t earn that much in eight lifetimes.”
“Then why not report it quick and wrap this up? Once it’s done, put your energy into Wuhan. We’ll send a ship over, but don’t come back empty-handed—bring something back.”
Gu Yansheng was waiting to watch the drama.
Director Ding nodded. “I’ll push it along. After all, the position is quartermaster; we have to catch them red-handed. You think someone who becomes quartermaster has no backers up top? Maybe even a big shot in the Gendarmerie Headquarters is his patron.
Gotta be careful not to get bitten by a snake you didn’t kill. Watch—they won’t last long with their skills. Next time they make a move, I’ll nab them for sure.”
