The slum areas in Shanghai can be traced back to the pre-Qing Dynasty.
At the end of the 23rd year of Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1843), the first batch of shantytowns appeared at the wharves on both sides of the Huangpu River.
By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, various shack areas had appeared in wastelands, ruins, and cemeteries near some industrial areas, including on both sides of the Suzhou River and other river ditches.
Pingjiang Village is one of the large and small slum areas along the Suzhou River.
Li Hao changed into tattered clothes and carefully took out half a bun stained with sour water from his pocket.
He could feel that many people around him were looking over, staring at the half piece of stinky steamed bun in his hand.
He hurriedly broke off half of it and put it in his arms, then stuffed the remaining piece into his mouth, squinting in enjoyment.
Brother Fan said that he could let the little beggar Pi Dan sneak into Pingjiang Village to find out the news.
When Li Hao came to Pingjiang Village and looked at the densely packed shacks from a distance, he realized that he couldn't do what Brother Fan said.
Brother Fan has never been in a slum area and doesn't understand this kind of place.
Li Hao, who was born as a beggar, knows the situation in the slum area very well. To be precise, Li Hao, who almost starved to death, understands the poor people better.
The more dirty and messy the slums are, the little beggars are the most conspicuous.
No little beggar will come here to beg, because no one will be willing to give a little beggar a bite to eat.
If a beggar with an unfamiliar face suddenly shows up and asks for information, not to mention whether he will be suspected by someone who is interested, first of all he may get a beating.
…
Dressed in tatters, with half of his butt exposed, he walked over. Pique looked so timid at all times.
Pi Dan cautiously approached Li Hao and said, "Brother Mouse, I'm back."
While talking, Pi Dan looked at Li Hao eagerly.
Li Hao slapped Century Egg impatiently, "Eat, just know how to eat."
Despite the scolding, he still took out the dirty steamed bun from his arms, swallowed his own saliva, gritted his teeth and handed it to the preserved egg, "Eat it, I'll eat you to death!"
Pidan took the steamed bun and finished it in two bites, still looking at Li Hao eagerly.
Li Hao glared, and Pi Dan shivered in fright, shrinking next to Li Hao.
"Do you understand clearly?" Li Hao asked in a low voice while observing the surroundings.
"I heard, Qiu Laosan is going to Sujiawan right now and will be back to Feitou in half an hour." Hiding behind Li Hao, Pi Dan said in a low voice, the timid look in his eyes disappeared.
"Let's go!" Li Hao patted his butt and grabbed Pi Dan's ears. Pi Dan immediately cried, beat and scolded him and walked away.
After the two people left, in the shack area not far away, two shirtless men looked back and stuffed the daggers in their hands under the straw mat.
After a while, a half-year-old child ran over, covered his mouth and whispered to one of them.
"Inquiring about Qiu Laosan?" The man frowned.
"Fourth brother, could it be that the Subei Gang robbed Lujia Village and they are going to rob Pingjiang Village with the Jiangnan Gang?" Another person asked doubtfully.
"Whatever, both groups are not good birds. Beat them to death and bring them down." The man took a puff and spat out the cigarette butt he had been chewing for half an hour. He was immediately picked up by a lazy man. The fourth brother scolded him.
sentence and ignored it.
"That doesn't matter?"
"What the hell." The man cursed, "Tell the sisters and brothers to stay away from these two groups."
"Listen to you, brother."
…
Li Hao was very smart and did not choose to sneak into the slum area.
He set his sights on Qiu Laosan, a manure worker in Pingjiang Village.
Qiu Laosan is responsible for collecting excrement from this slum area and another slum area called Sujiawan.
Every morning, the excrement workers pull the toilet carts and shout through the streets. Residents come out with toilets and pour the excrement water into the toilets in the excrement carts.
The Leasing Bureau of the Ministry of Industry has no intention of managing the slum areas on both sides of the Suzhou River because there is really no oil or water. However, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry has a strict rule that open defecation is not allowed and excrement must be collected on time.
Originally there was no such regulation, but later the smell of urine was so strong on both sides of the Suzhou River, and feces could be seen everywhere.
Feces has become a disaster in the city. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce invested in the construction of feces collection trucks and hired cleaners to collect feces from each household, then collect the feces and transport them out of the city.
In the beginning, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce provided free manure collection services to citizens, so citizens did not have to pay.
Since excrement can be used as fertilizer and can be recycled for a fee, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the Concession saw huge business opportunities, so they used their brains to collect excrement fees from citizens, and then sold the excrement to farmers to start a business without capital of "sitting and earning two cents".
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Later, the excrement collection business of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau was compressed because of the emergence of "feces tyrants".
Today, the streets, alleys, and slum areas of Shanghai have formed a huge "feces industry chain" controlled by various feces tyrants, and "feces tyrant wars" often break out.
Li Hao knew that this area of four or five shacks, large and small, was divided up between the Jiangbei Gang and the Jiangnan Gang.
He inquired and found out that just a few days ago, in Lujia Village next door, in order to seize the sphere of influence in collecting dung water in Lujia Village, the dung bullies from the Subei Gang blocked a dung truck controlled by the Wuxi dung workers from the Jiangnan Gang in the morning.
car.
The people from the Subei Gang put their fingers into the dung truck, dipped it in, tasted it in their mouths, and then said to the Wuxi dung workers: "Your dung is not as good as ours."
After that, they overturned the dung trucks and fought with each other until the Jiangnan Gang gave in and handed over the dung collection business in Lujiacun.
Li Hao naturally does not want to get involved in the sewage business. What he is looking for is Qiu Laosan, the sewage worker in Pingjiang Village. If there is anyone who knows every household in the slum area best, it must be the sewage worker who collects sewage every day.
Genus.
…
Qiu Laosan worked hard to pull the toilet cart. The toilet cart was filled with 400 kilograms of feces, which was really strenuous.
Qiu Laosan leaned forward, and the belt of the cart rubbed the calluses on his arms until they were red and painful.
At this moment, I saw a group of people coming from a distance.
Seeing the way these people dressed and behaved, Qiu Laosan quickly and carefully moved the toilet cart to the side as much as possible. These people were not easy to mess with at first glance.
However, he was careful enough, and the wheel happened to run over a stone. There was a bump, and the feces in the toilet splashed out, and a few drops of feces fell on the last person passing by.
Qiu Laosan was frightened and quickly put down the toilet cart, waved his hand, and bowed to apologize.
"What a bastard!" This man dressed in shorts came up and gave Qiu Laosan a slap in the face.
Qiu Laosan received a slap in the face, but when he saw that this man wanted to hit him, he hurriedly avoided it.
"You dare to hide, you old man!" The man came up and kicked him. Because of the large movement, the short gun on his waist inside the outer coat was exposed.
Qiu Laosan was so frightened that he knelt down and was kicked to the ground by the opponent.
"Hu Lai, stop!" Wang Kangnian, who was walking in front, heard the movement behind him and scolded Hu Lai with a gloomy expression.
He looked down upon some of his subordinates. Some of them were not qualified agents at all and were no different from ruffians.
This Hu Lai is a typical example. Is this the time to show off his power?
His men suffered heavy casualties in the capture operation last night, so he had no choice but to bring out these crooked melons and jujubes that he usually looked down upon.
Seeing that the team leader stopped him, Hu Lai angrily asked his assistant.
Wang Kangnian glanced at the timid Qiu Laosan and frowned. These are timid and cowardly Chinese people. How can the country be strong and strong with such people?
…
"Old man, do you know how to get to Sister Yang's house?" Wang Kangnian asked, "Dame Yang works in Huacheng Tobacco Factory."
"Sir, you, you, are, you mean, the eldest sister of the Yang family who is dead?" Qiu Laosan said in a panic.
"That's right." Wang Kangnian winked at Hu Lai, who took out two nickels and handed them to Qiu Laosan.
Qiu Laosan's eyes lit up and he reached for it.
Hu Lai collected the money.
"Turn south, keep walking, third row, go inside to the eighteenth shack." Qiu Laosan said immediately.
Wang Kangnian nodded with satisfaction, turned and left.
Qiu Laosan looked at Hu Lai.
Hu Lai just tossed it casually.
Qiu Laosan quickly turned around to catch it, but still failed to catch it, and the nickel fell into the toilet feces.
He himself was kicked again by Hu Lai behind him. The toilet overturned and Qiu Laosan was covered with feces and urine.
"You damn old man, eat shit!"
…
Ten minutes later, Qiu Laosan, who was covered in feces and urine, pulled the toilet cart and climbed the hill with difficulty.
Li Hao, who was coming from a detour from the alley, saw it from a distance and immediately guessed that this person was Qiu Laosan, the manure worker.
Li Hao immediately cleverly hid in the grass on the roadside.
Then, Qiu Laosan, who was bending down and struggling to pull the cart, heard the sound of running. He tried to raise his head and saw a little beggar in tattered clothes with exposed buttocks running over.