Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 211 Hongmen III

San Francisco is the main settlement of Chinese Americans. In 1853, the first American Hongmen organization was established in San Francisco. More than a decade later, nearly a hundred Hongmen organizations appeared in the United States, including Binggong Hall, Xiesheng Hall, Hesheng Hall, and Zhaoyi Hall. Among them, San Francisco, as the main residence of Chinese Americans, has more than twenty local Hongmen organizations.

Huang Shenggui was originally a gold miner in California. After completing a labor agreement with an American company in 1862, Huang Shenggui moved to Canada with a group of freed Chinese workers and founded Hong Shun Tang in 1863.

Hong Shun Tang was the first Hongmen organization in Canada. Due to the lack of competition from other Hongmen halls, Hong Shun Tang founded by Huang Shengui developed rapidly in Canada. By 1868, the number of Hong Shun Tang members had expanded from the initial dozen to more than people, and the headquarters of the hall was moved from Buckville in the gold mining area to Montreal near the US-Canada border.

The rapid development of Hong Shun Tang prompted Huang Shengui to plan to open a branch of Hong Shun Tang in the United States. Therefore, after dealing with local affairs in Canada, at the end of August 1869, Huang Shenggui brought more than a dozen of his men to leave Canada and come to San Francisco, where he had stayed seven years ago.

In the original historical trajectory, Huang Shengui quickly broke through the situation after arriving in San Francisco. After just five or six years of development, the American branch of Hong Shun Tang surpassed the Canadian branch in strength. In 1876, the fully-fledged San Francisco branch of Hong Shun Tang replaced the Montreal branch and became the headquarters of Hong Shun Tang. In 1880, Hong Shun Tang united more than 1880 branches to reorganize the Zhi Gong Tang. Huang Shengui served as the leader of the reorganized Zhi Gong Tang. From 1887 until Huang Shengui stepped down in , the influence of the Zhi Gong Tang expanded from San Francisco to more than cities in the eastern United States, laying the foundation for the comprehensive development of the Zhi Gong Tang in the future.

The successful development of Hong Shun Tang and even the later Zhi Gong Tang had a lot to do with the efforts made by Huang Shengui himself. Since arriving in San Francisco, Huang Shenggui already had a general plan for the development of the hall in his mind: unite the grassroots Chinese workers, use the power of the hall to protect ordinary Chinese from oppression by foreigners, and at the same time make friends with other Hongmen halls in the United States, gradually unify the power of Hongmen, and form a unified Chinese American organization.

In troubled times, human lives are treated like grass, and the poor in weak countries suffer humiliation overseas. After seeing the suffering and helplessness of overseas Chinese groups, Huang Shenggui's personal experience also gave him the ambition to unite overseas Chinese. Leaving the United States and establishing Hong Shun Tang in Canada, where the Hongmen forces had not yet touched, was the first step in realizing his ambition. When the Hong Shun Tang had 600 members, moving the headquarters to the US-Canada border was the second step, and establishing a branch in San Francisco was the third step.

The first two most difficult steps of the entrepreneurial period had been taken. Just when Huang Shengui was ready to show his talents and realize his ambitions in the United States, he was blocked by the National Defense Forces such as Wang Youtian. The Chinese workers who were originally the source of the congregants were exposed by the National Defense Forces. The remaining Chinese workers were not only limited in number, but also faced competition from other gangs. Huang Shengui suffered a major setback just as his career in the United States began.

The various branches of the Hongmen rejected Wang Youtian's recruitment. Although Huang Shengui downplayed the threat of the National Defense Force, he felt a huge threat in his heart.

Since ancient times, the people have never fought against the officials. The National Defense Force was able to defeat Peru and snatch a piece of land from Brazil to build a country. Its strength must be strong. As for the various branches of the Hongmen in the United States, they are all Hongmen brothers, but each branch is independent and no one is willing to submit to the other. If the National Defense Force really attacks the Hongmen, it will be difficult for the various branches to resist.

Huang Shenggui was aware of the threat posed by the National Defense Army to the various branches of the Hongmen, but at the same time he did not want to give up the foundation he had built and join them. While he was struggling with this, two Chinese people hurriedly ran into the meeting hall.

"Master, it's bad! Ruisheng Hall Master Liu Xing is rushing towards the hall with more than a hundred people!"

"Rui Sheng Tang?" Huang Shengui whispered, frowning, "Zhou Peitang, have you invited the headmaster of Rui Sheng Tang to preside over the opening ceremony of the hall?"

"Four days ago, I personally went to give the invitation to Hall Master Liu, but he rejected it outright. Today is the opening day of Hongshun Hall, and the Hall Master of Ruisheng Hall came with more than a hundred people in a menacing manner. I'm afraid he has bad intentions."

"When an enemy comes, we will fight him; when a flood comes, we will block it with earth. On the day when Hong Shun Tang opens, we will not tolerate provocations from others. Zhou Peitang, tell the brothers in the hall to follow me out to welcome the guests!"

"Yes……"

As Huang Shengui stood up and left, a group of disciples who had just joined Hong Shun Tang rushed out of the guild hall.

"Master Liu, Hongshun Hall is opening today. Your hall has brought so many people with you. What's your purpose?"

Although the number of people in Hongshun Hall is small, Huang Shengui's momentum is not weak when facing Ruisheng Hall. As soon as the two sides met, they immediately started questioning.

"Hong Shun Tang? When did Hong Shun Tang appear in Hongmen?" Liu Xing did not give Huang Shengui any face as soon as he opened his mouth and did not acknowledge the identity of Hong Shun Tang as a branch of Hongmen.

In Hongmen, only Hongmen disciples can open a hall. Huang Shenggui was not a Hongmen disciple when he founded Hongshun Hall in Canada, so Liu Xing used this incident to pick on him.

Of course, according to the ancestral precepts of the Hongmen, there are many rules for opening a new hall. However, as one or two hundred years passed, the Hongmen split into hundreds of independent halls. Many Chinese who were not members of the Hongmen established halls and announced to the outside world that the halls belonged to the Hongmen in order to gain recognition from other Hongmen halls. The reason why Liu Xing did not recognize Huang Shengui's identity as a Hongmen disciple was not to maintain the rules of the Hongmen, but because he disliked him and deliberately found an excuse to suppress Hongshun Hall.

"Whether Hongshuntang is a Hongmen hall is up to the Hongmen hall masters to decide. There is no need for your Ruishengtang to make decisions."

Huang Shengui snorted coldly and said, "Master Liu, I respect you as a Hongmen brother. Today is the opening day of the Hongshun Hall in San Francisco. If you are here to watch the ceremony, we welcome you with open doors. If you want to make trouble unreasonably, we will accompany you to the end!"

"Huang Shengui, seven years ago when you were a coolie in San Francisco, I followed my uncles to manage the affairs of the hall. In front of me, put away your fake tricks of buying people's hearts." Liu Xing looked at Huang Shengui with disdain and said loudly, "Liu Xing asks all the hall masters to be witnesses. Wu Anlong, a disciple of Hongshun Hall, injured my brothers. Everyone, please judge how this matter should be settled!"

Liu Xing bowed to the many Hongmen hall managers who came to watch the ceremony, and ordered his men to bring a Chinese man with a bruised nose and swollen eyes from the back. He walked up to Huang Shengui and asked, "Huang Shengui, identify this person and see if he is from your Hongshun Hall?"

"There are a total of 47 members in the Hong Shun Church in San Francisco..." Huang Shengui did not distinguish the face of the Chinese being beaten in front of him, and directly started to refute. Before he could finish his words, he was stopped by his subordinates.

"Master, Wu Anlong is indeed a disciple of Hongshun Hall. I sent him out five days ago to take over a batch of opium. Since then, no news has been received. I didn't expect him to fall into the hands of Ruisheng Hall."

After hearing the reminder from his subordinate, Huang Shengui couldn't help but frown.

Opium and human trafficking are the main sources of profit for the gang. Like other Hongmen gangs, Hong Shun Tang also secretly operates opium business in order to raise funds for the gang's development. However, because Huang Shengui had just returned from Canada, the opium trading business had been handled by Zhou Peitang, who stayed in San Francisco all year round. Wu Anlong, who was specifically responsible for the opium trading, was out trading opium a few days ago, so Huang Shengui did not have time to see him.

"Master Liu, how can you judge without any evidence that my people injured your men?"

After knowing that Wu Anlong belonged to Hong Shun Tang, Huang Shengui immediately changed his words.

"You want evidence, right? Well, I'll show you the evidence!"

"Someone, bring up our injured brother!"

As soon as Liu Xing finished his words, two Chinese people wrapped in white cloth were quickly carried up from behind the crowd.

"Shen Quan, Ding San, tell us in front of everyone how the people from Hong Shun Tang beat you up!"

"The day before yesterday, Ding San and I went to a brothel to listen to music. This damn bastard insisted on snatching the girl we liked. When we refused, he took the initiative to attack us. Hall Master, all the injuries on our bodies were caused by him. You have to help us!"

Shen Quan, with white cloth wrapped around his head and arms, cried.

"Master Liu, my brothers fought out of loyalty, and your people have already taught Wu Anlong a lesson. I think we should end this matter here and not pursue the matter. What do you think?"

Wu Anlong and the people from Ruishengtang had a conflict just over a trivial matter, and Liu Xing brought Wu Anlong to be questioned. It seemed that the matter of opium had not been leaked. Huang Shengui breathed a sigh of relief and spoke in a relaxed tone. He planned to solve the matter by making a big deal out of a small matter, and then asked Wu Anlong about the situation of opium.

"The people of Hong Shun Tang provoked me first, and you, Huang Shengui, told me to release them with just one sentence. How can I save the reputation of Rui Sheng Tang?"

Liu Xing was determined to make a big deal out of this, and he insisted, "Master Huang, either give Ruishengtang an explanation and publicly apologize to my two brothers on behalf of Hongshuntang, or become an enemy of Ruishengtang. Hongshuntang only has these two choices. I hope Master Huang will make a choice as soon as possible. My patience is limited."

"Master Liu is deliberately trying to make things difficult for Huang. Does he really think that Hong Shun Tang is easy to bully?"

Even a clay man would still have some temper. Liu Xing asked Huang Shengui to apologize to his two subordinates in public. This was not just a simple matter of seeking justice, but a slap in the face. If Huang Shengui lowered his status to apologize to the two juniors, he would not be able to hold his head up in the Hongmen in the future, let alone expand Hongshuntang.

"Whether he is easy to bully or not, we won't know until we try. Huang Tang is the main person who refuses to accept the defeat, so just come at me." Liu Xing was confident of victory and continued to provoke the other party while signaling to his men.

After receiving the hint from their hall master, more than one hundred members of Ruisheng Hall, except for the two wounded lying on the ground, held their weapons, ready to rush towards the members of Hongshun Hall opposite at any time.

(End of this chapter)