Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 283 People Making Revolution in America

"I swear to spread the word of treachery and loyalty, and all the brothers in the world are the same. Loyalty and righteousness will lead to the throne, while treacherous ministers will be killed by the sword."

At the New York Hongmen headquarters, Zheng Yi himself sat on a dragon head chair, wearing a traditional Chinese long gown and holding a folding fan, sitting on both sides of the hall with a group of Hongmen veterans.

On the front is a huge statue of Guan Gong.

This was originally a very traditional initiation ceremony. The essence of the Hongmen is a brotherhood. There is no master-disciple inheritance like the Qing Gang. After joining the sect, they are nominally called brothers. However, today's initiation ceremony is indeed a bit strange.

The pioneer tiger general in charge of presiding over the ceremony was not a traditional Hongmen veteran, but a young black woman.

It was Collins, Zheng Yi's new disciple.

As for those who were kneeling in a row to worship Guan Gong, they were all black.

Many of the elders in the two rows watched the ceremony with frowns on their faces. They seemed to be following the rules with great care and precision. Collins, holding a short knife, placed it on the shoulders of each of the black brothers and asked them in broken Chinese, "Do you love your brothers or your gold?"

But it really looks awkward no matter how you look at it!
"Mr. Zheng, isn't it too... frivolous for so many black people to join the Hongmen?" Situ Meitang, who had not yet set off, was a little impatient and asked after holding it in for a long time.

Zheng Yi said, "It's a win-win situation. What's the point of playing around? Chinatown here will still belong to us Chinese. Normally, these people won't have a chance to get in our way. I will personally use my own money to build a new Guandi Temple and Hongmen Community in Harlem."

On the side, the old boss, also known as Fred, said with a smile: "Master, don't worry, leave this project to me. I guarantee that it will be handled safely for you. They are all our own Hongmen brothers. We will use the best materials and the best work, and we will not make any profit."

Situ Meitang: “…………”

After a long time, he sighed and turned away, thinking out of sight, out of mind.

Anyway, he is going back to his country, and he will cut off all ties with the Hongmen in the United States and have no further contact with them. He can just ignore them if he doesn't like them.

This Fred has now become one of their Hongmen brothers.

Moreover, Zheng Yi obviously wants to bring in the Qing Gang's system, that is, the system of master and disciple. Fred and Collins both regard themselves as Zheng Yi's disciples. You know, Ying Xingjiu, one of their Chinese, is still in the probation period.

Of course, in reality, the Hongmen in various places have more or less absorbed some of the Qing Gang's management methods over the years, and there is nothing wrong with accepting some apprentices. The Hongmen itself has always had the tradition of accepting godsons.

As the saying goes, "The more noise the Hongmen makes, the more money the Qingbang makes." The Hongmen also wants to make money, but Mr. Zheng has recruited so many white and black people in one breath, but at least in terms of personnel promotion, he seems to have intentionally or unintentionally avoided the Chinese, which is still a bit difficult for him to accept.

Seeing the old man's unhappy expression, Zheng Yi, out of respect for the elders and also to explain to the others around him, said:

"Absorbing these black people into the alliance is essentially a win-win situation. For us Chinese, the most important thing is that we have a group of fresh blood. After all, what is the proportion of Chinese people in the United States?"

"The most important thing is that there is no one to take over. Firstly, everyone's life is getting better and better. Among the younger generation, some elites have established businesses, and some have become lawyers or doctors. Relatively speaking, with a better life, the enthusiasm for fighting and striving is naturally reduced.

I don't need to tell you what the characteristics of us Chinese are. Once our lives get a little better, we tend to fight among ourselves, especially..."

Zheng Yi turned his head and glanced at Situ Meitang. He said, "Didn't the core members of the Hongmen return with you? The Hongmen values ​​loyalty and righteousness above all else. Do you think the moral character of the young people who stayed behind is more acceptable or less acceptable?"

Situ Meitang: "Ah, this, this..."

For a moment, he lowered his head and remained silent.

This is actually the most deadly aspect of the Hongmen in the United States.

Objectively speaking, the Hongmen is not a gang, at least it is not just a gang. As a grassroots governance organization, it still has to abide by the rules. The name of Anliangtang originally means to eliminate violence and protect the good. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a mixed bag.

But there are more fish than dragons. Even a fool can guess who went back and who stayed. Now that all the dragons are gone, the only ones left are fish.

Of course, this is actually related to the common characteristics of the Chinese. Objectively speaking, the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese character are very obvious. When the country is in crisis, these ordinary people at the bottom are very sensible. It is because of the grand national narrative goal in front that the Hongmen is united.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the goal was gone.

In short, the speed of their decline is also jaw-dropping. The Chinese Youth Gang in the 60s, the Hop Hop Chart in the 70s, and the American Eagle Society and 14k later on are all out-and-out bullies. They no longer have the spirit of the On Leung Tong before the 50s when it led the Chinese people to fight against violence and protect the people, and to sacrifice themselves for the country.

It would be better to bring our black brothers into the fight and fight together for the political and economic rights and equality of minorities in the United States.

At least let’s continue this grand narrative and set a goal of building five large tiled houses.

You have to know that during this period, Chinese Americans had less political power than black people. As long as black people were literate, they still had the right to vote, but Chinese Americans had no right to vote regardless of whether they were literate or not.

For these black people, joining the Hongmen is first of all equivalent to finally having a big boss as their backer in the upper class of the United States.

That is myself.

Objectively speaking, although the number of Chinese people is smaller, they are generally doing much better than black people during this period.

The second is that they finally became organized and had a set of ideas that could unite them.

You have to know that American black culture, black gang culture, graffiti, and rap are not innate. Their history is actually very short, and they basically all happened after the 60s.

The one who injected soul into it and truly created these black cultures was Malcolm, who is kneeling and kowtowing before Guan Gong at this moment, shouting "Love Brothers" in broken Chinese.

Zheng Yi accepted his own sister as his own, so naturally, Malcolm was among the first batch of brothers recruited by Collins.

To be precise, almost all of these people were found by Malcolm.

Malcolm relied on his knowledge of the law, his military service, and the courage to attack white communities. Although he was just a small gangster in New York, he had gained a certain degree of fame among the black community and was a gangster who had a say in various black gangs.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to accomplish such a great event in history. Now that his sister is with Zheng Yi, he has naturally become more and more famous in the black circle in New York, and even become a big figure among black people. Many people outside say that Collins is Zheng Yi's mistress, and Malcolm will naturally follow suit.

Of course, in fact, Zheng Yi has no interest in Collins so far. He just stays by his side as a personal secretary. After all, he has to have a reason to influence Malcolm.

Although Zheng Yi is not a moral saint, he does not rule out the possibility of something really happening between him and Collins, nor does he deny that maybe one day he will become interested in this girl and have feelings for her and something will happen between them, but at least for now, he is not interested in this.

Once matters between men and women are mixed with utilitarianism, he immediately feels that they are meaningless.

Although Collins is not very qualified as a secretary, and his academic qualifications and abilities are indeed lacking, a private secretary is no less capable than a public secretary after all, so there is no such thing as too many. He can just learn by doing.

Just like this, Malcolm finally fell into Zheng Yi's hands, and throughout the whole process, Zheng Yi and Malcolm had no direct contact. No matter how much trouble he caused in the United States in the future, Zheng Yi could easily get rid of it.

But if he makes some contribution to the liberation of black people, Zheng Yi can easily turn it into his own leadership achievement.

As Malcolm and the brothers he brought with him, who were said to be mostly leaders of small-scale black gangs, bowed down before Guan Gong, a social revolution belonging to the black people, no, to all ethnic minorities in the United States, had actually begun.

Black people in the United States actually suffered from the lack of culture. During this period in New York, more and more black people, especially those from the South, were migrating to New York, resulting in an increasing number of black people in New York, most of whom were concentrated in Harlem.

However, despite the increasing number of black people gathering together, a powerful black gang has not been born. They are all extremely scattered. The so-called black gangs, the larger ones have only a few hundred people at most, without any ideals or programs, and the organization is so poor that it is almost non-existent.

The white ones can’t beat the white ones, and the black ones can’t be compared with the white ones.

Among the white gangs of the same period, the Italian Mafia was purely based on family ties, while the white gangs were based on cowboy culture and Catholicism, and their size could reach tens of thousands. Although the KKK had declined, it was still stronger than any black gang, not to mention in the South.

The reason for this is that black people are uneducated, and the entire ethnic group lacks a cultural narrative that can at least unite people, let alone organization.

Historically, Malcolm was once thrown into prison, where he met an old man from the Middle East. The old man enthusiastically explained ancient scriptures to him, as well as the Islamic concept of "brotherhood", which opened his eyes to enlightenment.

This guy was already a familiar face among the major black gangs. After he was released from prison, he simply became a missionary, requiring those black gangs to follow the rules of YSL and spread the YSL style among black people. This is how he organized them. Combined with the actual situation of some black people, the so-called Malcolm X thought was born.

So although it is a bit ironic, the ideological foundation of American black gangs in history is indeed the YSL belief.

For example, boxing champion Ali, who was a sworn brother of Malcolm, changed his name to Muhammad Ali and promoted YSL ideas among black people.

Martin Luther King actually did not have that much influence on black people. He was playing with the Catholic narrative, and how could this thing possibly defeat white people? He was praised so highly just to suppress Malcolm.

Although Martin Luther King said he had a dream, which sounded annoying and infuriating to white men, his dream was indeed much more benevolent than Malcolm's.

No one really believes that the status of black people in the United States is achieved through their personal charm and excellent speaking skills.

Of course, if you ask these black people whether they really believe in Allah, how... is that possible?

It's just that they really think the things in the doctrine are useful. Who made them not have their own cultural narrative? That sect is indeed rare among traditional sects. It teaches you step by step how to organize and mobilize, and it has a certain cohesion.

At this time and space, Malcolm has not yet experienced enlightenment in Longchang and has not been exposed to YSL's thoughts.

Those things like organization, mobilization, and consciousness and mentality that YSL has, it seems the Hongmen is not bad either.

The ideological core of the Hongmen Tiandihui is Mohism, and even its organizational structure is quite similar. In terms of ideology, it is nothing more than universal love, non-aggression, and respect for the virtuous. The organizational nature of the secret society is also in the same vein as Mohism. The main force is urban handicraftsmen and urban petty property, and the essence of the leader is a saw.

These are all things that have been passed down through thousands of years of history. The Tiandihui was a thing from the Qing Dynasty, but there were guilds in the Song Dynasty, and this thing has never been broken.

Judging from the ideology and organization alone, it is not much inferior to the YSL religion. The key is that it is not as eye-catching as the YSL religion. If the doctrine is read too much, it will directly go to the opposite side of American society, completely attacking the core of American values. That is too suicidal.

In terms of gang organization and ideology, the ideas of the Hongmen are actually much stronger than those of the Italian Mafia. The police in the United States once made a judgment that whether it is a black or white gang, sooner or later they will submit to the Chinese gang.

This thing is an institutional advantage.

Of course, the American police at that time really did not expect that the Hongmen would degenerate so quickly later.

The grand narrative of the Hongmen can be about overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, expelling the Tartars, or long live the people. Why can't it be about national equality?

After all, Situ Meitang was going to leave. Zheng Yi was giving him a lot of face by explaining this to him. No matter how dissatisfied he was, he couldn't say anything. He nodded, turned away, closed his eyes, and pretended to ignore it.

Zheng Yi turned to Fred and said, "Brothers must not deceive each other or lose their loyalty, but we must earn money, as long as the price is fair. Of course, our black brothers don't have any money at the moment, so I'll pay for it as a pre-emptive measure."

"Hongmen has never been just the Hongmen of the Chinese. It's not a narrow Hongmen. We believe in brotherhood across the world. If there are white people who agree with our ideals and are willing to join us to share happiness and hardship, we will welcome them. At that time, you can be the vanguard officer, and the Hongmen incense hall may not be impossible to open here."

Lao Dong: "Can I be a vanguard officer too? Oh~, of course, it's my honor."

Now, the expansion and construction projects of Chinatown have naturally all been handed over to the boss. The initial investment for the entire project alone is 10 million US dollars, all in cash, which has been deposited into the company account in one go.

The company is naturally the original broken company. Although it has been acquired by Zheng Yi, it is still managed by the old boss. Even the people inside have not changed. Apart from arranging a group of financial personnel to join the company from the Southern Alliance, Zheng Yi has never been in charge of the company's operations. To put it bluntly, the old boss still has the final say.

Although Lao Dong has changed from a boss to an employee, his power is still the same. This Chinatown project is much bigger than any real estate project he has done before.
Moreover, Zheng Yi actually did not follow the real estate approach. Ten million US dollars were transferred into his account at once, with no mortgage or loan. All the interest was his own money, and there was no need to raise funds or financing.

Mr. Dong has been in real estate for his entire life, but he has never fought such a wealthy battle.

Moreover, Mr. Dong could see that Mr. Zheng actually did not take the 10 million US dollars seriously. This might be the reason why Zheng Yi did not even bother to ask after buying his company.

This project is also a test for him. The boss also feels that as long as he does a good job in this project, Zheng Yi will definitely give him a bigger project in the future, even a project beyond his imagination.

　Happy New Year everyone
　　
　
(End of this chapter)