Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 168 The Dealer
Seven tons of quinine, no, it should be said six tons of quinine, plus two tons of inferior quinine.

These eight tons of quinine could fetch a fortune no matter who sold them to.

However, there are still some problems in selling this batch of quinine.

Although the matter is now in the past, the appearance of large quantities of quinine of unknown origin on the market in the future could easily arouse suspicion from Mitsui.

Gu Yansheng still needs to find a way to get some more quinine to make the whole thing go smoothly.

Merchants are no longer an option; their reputation in Southeast Asia is already terrible. If they were to go to Southeast Asia again, they would probably be killed on the spot.

This matter is not urgent and can be handled in a short time.

After Ma Shiqi left, Gu Yansheng still had to go to the Special Agent Headquarters to complain a bit, otherwise it would seem like he had lost the money too casually.

He stepped on the gas and drove to No. 76, walked into Ding Mocun's office, and immediately began to scold Ding Mocun for his smiling face.

"Director Ding, is it no longer safe to stay in western Shanghai? My warehouse was robbed, and you didn't send a single person?"

"Is that so? Who would dare to rob your warehouse?" Ding Mocun was quite surprised, so surprised that he almost laughed.

Gu Yansheng didn't smile. "It's hilarious. The quinine I just delivered to western Shanghai got stolen."

"Quinine? Who stole it? Was the loss significant?"

"Big? How big?" Gu Yansheng said with a long face, holding up an eight: "Eight tons of quinine, eight tons! Do you think that's big?"

Ding Mocun's face instantly darkened, and he cursed, "Eight tons? Where is he? Have they caught him?"

"Arrest them? The Japanese navy blew the whole ship up with one shot! They're fish food in the sea now!" Gu Yansheng recounted the incident of the black devils shelling the ship.

"Damn these black bastards!" Ding Mocun exclaimed angrily.

You should know that if eight tons of quinine were sold to the Japanese, each of them would receive a commission of $60,000 per ton!
That's equivalent to losing $480,000!

If we sell some more to the Nationalist-controlled areas, a million dollars wouldn't be impossible!

"What's wrong with the Japanese? Don't they know there's quinine on board? How dare they fire it?"

Gu Yansheng sat down angrily and said in a deep voice, "Whether you know or not, the Navy people may not know. Sato Seiken is going to sell this batch of medicine to the military at a high price. If the news leaks out in advance, how will he manage to sell it in the future?"

"We've suffered a huge loss." Ding Mocun sighed heavily, sat down heavily in frustration, and frowned. "Brother, you really can't blame me for this. The 76th Division is severely understaffed right now, and there's fighting everywhere in Shanghai."

The Kuomintang secret police killed officials, killed Japanese, burned warehouses, and bombed warehouses. They did anything that caused trouble. Whatever they did, we had to travel a long way to get there, and we couldn't reduce the number of people we sent.

Did you see that when you came in? There weren't many people left at No. 76.

The Japanese demanded that we protect the operations of Japanese companies, so all our men were sent to the downtown area as bodyguards to arrest Kuomintang agents.

"Arrest the Military Intelligence Bureau, arrest the Military Intelligence Bureau, how many have you arrested? What's the use?" Gu Yansheng scolded, "Can the Military Intelligence Bureau arrest them all? Arrest two today, arrest two tomorrow, and Chongqing will send you four more later. Does China need more people?"
"You completely destroyed the Military Intelligence Bureau's Shanghai branch, so what? Less than two months later, they brought their troops back and started causing trouble again."

Ding Mochun opened his mouth, then sighed helplessly, "That's what they say, but the Japanese said we still have to do something, right?"
In just half a month, 19 officials from Nanjing who were brought to Shanghai by SH municipal government staff for vacation have died.

Chen Lu, the foreign minister in Nanjing, was shot dead on the spot by the Military Intelligence Bureau last night. Do you think the Japanese wouldn't be worried? If they keep killing people, there won't be anyone left in the two municipal governments!
"Can't you ask us for work?"

Oh dear, he's dead. Good, that settles the 15 silver dollar debt for buying the gun. Chen Mo did a great job.

"How did he die?" Gu Yansheng wasn't angry for the time being, but instead ate the gossip, frowning as he asked, "Didn't someone like that have bodyguards when he came to Shanghai?"

"Of course he does. He owns a house in Shanghai, a garden villa, and he keeps three guards at the gate."

But last night Chen Lu held a banquet at home, and there were many people coming and going. The guards felt it was cold and didn't want to stand outside opening and closing the door, so they opened the door and went to the small house next door to warm themselves by the fire and eat.

Three guns were pointed at their heads.

That was it. The Kuomintang agents stripped them of their clothes and tied them up with rope, stuffed their underwear into their mouths, then changed their hats and clothes back on. In the dark, the three of them went around to the kitchen. Even if someone saw them, no one would think anything was wrong.

The two bodyguards at the mansion's entrance didn't even realize the Kuomintang agents were behind them before they rushed from the kitchen into the living room and killed Chen Lu.

Ding Mocun pointed to his forehead, "Two shots, killed on the spot."

You know, officials shouldn't be so stingy. They don't even bother to hire more guards. And they've really gotten used to Nanjing. They don't know how deep the waters are in Shanghai. They still dare to hold banquets. When Gu Yansheng held a banquet, he was under the protection of the Japanese, and he needed about twenty guards.

Gu Yansheng clicked his tongue, frowned, and leaned back. "Are the Military Intelligence Bureau this ruthless now? Breaking into homes and killing people?"

“Yes, it’s terrifying.” Ding Mocun nodded. “Do you think that once this gets out, all the government officials in Shanghai and Nanjing will be on edge? The Japanese don’t want this to get out, but can they keep it a secret? In the next couple of days, the news will definitely be flying around.”

"If you ask me, this guy is just too stingy. What good are five guards? And the fact that the guards dared to hide in the room and light a fire for warmth, I don't understand. Is he spoiling them too much, or are they just being lazy because he hasn't paid them enough?"

"It's not just five, it's eight, but two guards went out to pick someone up, and another one is upstairs playing with his son. To be honest, that's quite a lot of bodyguards. He's from Nanjing, and he doesn't live in his Shanghai house for long. It's already good that he brought eight bodyguards with him to Shanghai."

Eight bodyguards is actually quite a lot.

If each person's monthly expenses are twenty silver dollars, then with eight bodyguards, it would cost nearly two thousand silver dollars a year.

This doesn't even take into account that eight bodyguards need two cars to travel together. If Chen Lu himself and his family were larger, they would need at least four cars. In addition, there are subsidies for food and other expenses, so the daily expenses are quite high.

Unlike their 76th Division, these diplomatic officials don't have their own people providing protection; they don't have to spend a penny and can use all their office expenses.

As for diplomacy, the Nanjing Reformed Government had no diplomacy whatsoever. It was just an empty shell department. Forget about any profit, there wasn't even a drop of profit to be seen. The only way they could afford to support eight bodyguards was by taking some money from their own general affairs department. The rest of the money came from the wealth they had accumulated when they were officials in the Yuan Shikai government and the Nationalist government.

"Looks like I'll have to hire some bodyguards," Gu Yansheng mused.

Ding Mocun chuckled, "You don't have enough people where you are?"

Gu Yansheng's family has more than 20 bodyguards, and just maintaining them costs six or seven thousand silver dollars a year.

"Sigh," Gu Yansheng sighed, "This money has to be spent eventually. Spend it when you should, earn it when you should. It's such a waste to have worked so hard for nothing."

"It's a pity," Ding Mocun sighed.

Gu Yansheng said, "The key is that this matter is difficult now. Mitsui still needs the medicine, but now the merchants have offended the black people in Southeast Asia. If we want to make this money, I have to think of other ideas."

“This is indeed a problem. If this happens once, there’s a possibility that the smuggled drug quinine will be completely cut off.” Ding Mocun frowned, thought for a moment, and said, “How about we try a different place? How about getting the drug from South America?”

"That's too far, we'll need to assign them some translators."

Ding-ling-ling. Ding-ling-ling.

Ding Mochun got up to answer the phone. "Hello, yes, it's me. Okay, I understand."

Ding Mocun hung up the phone and walked over. "I don't know what happened again, but the Military Police Headquarters asked Li Shiqun and me to go over there. They were really rude to me. I was planning to have dinner with you, but it's canceled again. Why don't you wait for me to come back?"

"Forget it, I'm not in the mood. I'll go home to eat."

"Okay, then next time, let's go out together."

Gu Yansheng and Ding Mocun went out together, and Ding Mocun had to call out to Li Shiqun.

Gu Yansheng went to say hello, and ran into Li Shiqun's wife, Ye Jiqing, who was also there.

"Mr. Gu." Ye Jiqing was very enthusiastic, her eyes lighting up when she saw Gu Yansheng.

After Ding Mochun and Li Shiqun exchanged a few words and were about to leave, Ye Jiqing immediately said, "You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Mr. Gu. Mr. Gu, would you like to chat for a bit?"

"Then we'll be going now." The two said goodbye to Gu Yansheng.

Gu Yansheng nodded. "What's wrong?"

"I'll give you a reward. Let's talk in my office."

Ye Jiqing led Gu Yansheng to her office, took out four large yellow croakers from the safe, put them in a jewelry box, and pushed them over.

He smiled and said, "I haven't given you your share of the profits from the short-selling news last time. Since we've run into each other today, take it with you."

"He's quite principled." Gu Yansheng sighed and pushed the message back, "No need, right? Wu Sibao has already relayed the news about the grain requisition, so you've already done me a favor."

"One thing at a time. It's not good to keep the money to yourself, otherwise Mr. Gu, you won't include us next time." Ye Jiqing was very sensible; he knew he had to offer this to the God of Wealth.

"Then I'll accept it, thanks." Gu Yansheng was just putting on an act; he would accept what he was supposed to.

Taking the opportunity, Ye Jiqing pressed further, "Mr. Gu, are there any opportunities to make money recently? I can't sell the house anytime soon, and the stock market isn't very safe. I have nowhere to put my money."

"Hmm," Gu Yansheng pondered the matter. There was no need to make money with them unless there was something going on, but with so many things happening now, it would be good to find an opportunity to have more contact with Ye Jiqing.

Gu Yansheng was quite interested in what Li Shiqun and Ding Mocun were doing at the Military Police Headquarters, and thought he could come back again tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Gu Yansheng said, "Opportunities have to be waited for. What we're pursuing isn't risk, but stable profits, especially with your business involved. Would I let you lose money? I can't just make things up."

"I know I know."

"But if you're talking about opportunities, there are actually some."

Ye Jiqing's eyes lit up, and he immediately moved closer, "Please give me some pointers."

Gu Yansheng pondered and said, "I've been thinking lately about how to make money steadily in the stock market. Is it too passive to stay at the exchange like Wu Sibao, who doesn't even know when prices are going up or down and whose emotions are entirely controlled by the big players?"
So I was thinking, why don't we just become the bookmakers ourselves?

Ye Jiqing was very clever and immediately understood, "We acquire a company and manipulate its stock price?"

"It's about acquiring stocks."

"Yes, yes, stocks."

Gu Yansheng tapped the table. “Right now, the Military Intelligence Bureau is causing chaos all over the country, so the market isn’t doing well, is it? Let’s find a way to make the chaos even worse and drive down the stock price even further. We can take the opportunity to slowly accumulate shares. When the time is right, we can release some positive news to slightly boost the stock price and attract retail investors to help us push it up. Then we can sell our shares.”

“When we sell our shares, the stock price will drop, and then we will slowly buy them back, and keep doing this back and forth.”

"correct."

"understood."

Ye Jiqing leaned back, a wistful smile playing on his lips as he pondered.

His eyes flashed, and he asked, "Mr. Gu, this approach requires a significant amount of capital, doesn't it?"

"The higher the demands, the more money you make."

“That makes sense. So tell me, which one should we choose?” Ye Jiqing was decisive and made the decision immediately.

"I haven't researched the specifics yet, but we have a general range. First of all, we won't choose foreign companies because we can't control them. As for Shanghai companies, it's simple: they're either related to food or clothing. It's safe to stay within this range, since it's all about basic necessities like food, clothing, housing, and transportation."

"Okay." Ye Jiqing nodded, picked up the phone and called Wu Sibao, "Sibao, come to my office right away."

As soon as Wu Sibao arrived, Ye Jiqing told him about Gu Yansheng's plan.

The main thing is that everyone has to contribute money and effort to this, and the money required to manipulate the market is quite substantial. Moreover, Wu Sibao likes to keep an eye on stocks, so he won't waste the time he spends at the exchange anymore.

Wu Sibao laughed excitedly: "Hahahaha, I can be a stock manipulator too? This is interesting, so interesting, amazing, Director Gu, I watch the stock market every day, how come I never thought of such an interesting approach?"
"Being the bookmaker, ha! Let's see who dares say I'm unlucky now! Does a bookmaker ever have an unlucky streak?"

Ye Jiqing's lips twitched; she suddenly regretted calling him Wu Sibao.

"Don't just laugh. You're at the stock exchange every day. Tell me, which companies meet the requirements?"

“Wing On Department Store!” Wu Sibao blurted out without thinking. “This company is a Hong Kong company, a Chinese-owned company. Look at it, it sells everything, and it has a big reputation. If it wants to boost its stock price and sell off its shares, once the price goes up, all the shareholders will come to buy.”

Ye Jiqing looked at Gu Yansheng, "Mr. Gu, do you think this is a good idea?"

Wing On Department Store? How could such a famous company not have a speculator? In fact, it's very likely a major speculator.

However, Gu Yansheng didn't care.

"They have a big reputation, but all Chinese-owned companies are probably the same. As long as we can control the boss, does it make any difference to us?"

“That makes sense.” Ye Jiqing nodded. “Then how about Yong’an Department Store? We can discuss the specific investment after we’ve done our investigation?”

"Okay." Gu Yansheng nodded.

"Hahahaha, then it's Yong'an Department Store! I want to be the owner of Yong'an Department Store!" Wu Sibao laughed.

After chatting for a while, we agreed that they should first gather basic information about Yong'an Department Store, including who the owners are and how much sales it generates.

Gu Yansheng declined their invitation to dinner and went straight home.

(End of this chapter)