One day in 1951, an old man with gray hair and a candle appeared on the streets of Shanghai. I saw him standing alone in the dawn of dawn with a broom in his hand and a robe, with a garbage truck beside him.
The scene was captured on camera and made headlines in major newspapers the next day. After seeing this, the citizens of Shanghai applauded one after another, and it turned out that the person who swept the streets in the early morning was the notorious "Shanghai tycoon" ** Rong.
After the liberation of Shanghai, how to deal with the honor has become a thorny problem. The mayor of Shanghai at the time thought about it repeatedly and finally came up with a good solution. It didn't take long for the news of the Rong sweeping street to reach Taiwan, and Chiang Kai-shek, who had previously released a bold statement that "the Communist Party will be driven out by the Shanghainese in less than three months", couldn't help but sigh, "It's really amazing."
So, why let Rong sweep the streets? How did you stabilize the situation in Shanghai?
*'s decision stems from his in-depth understanding of Rong's life and his sober understanding of the complex situation in Shanghai. **Rong, one of the three tycoons of Shanghai Tang, with his extraordinary wisdom and courage, is unique in the ten-mile ocean.
In order to thwart his arrogance, ** delved into his life experience and finally made a wise decision. Born in 1868, Rong was apprenticed as a young man in a painting shop in Shanghai.
At that time, Shanghai Tang was controlled by Western powers, the society was chaotic, and various characters were mixed in it, and **Rong grew up in this environment, forming his unique character and style of acting.
*With his courage and strong body, Rong has earned a name for himself among the gangsters. But he's not a simple-minded guy, on the contrary, he's very flexible and moves right and left.
Thanks to his efforts, he left the framing shop and successfully entered the county government and became a catcher. Soon after, he heard that the French Consul General in Shanghai, Mr. Bédrot, was recruiting Chinese patrols, a job he longed for.
So, he immediately went to sign up. Probably because of his strong body, he managed to stand out from the crowd of applicants and became a French Concession patrolman. Since then, he has been climbing up with all his heart, and he can often be seen in the teahouses around Sixteen Lipu.
His purpose is not just to have fun, but also to gather information. Unlike other patrols, he comes from the underworld, so he is proficient in black eating black, one yard and one yard and so on.
Under the control of ** Rong, many thieves and gangsters became his eyeliner, which helped him solve many cases, and soon he was promoted to civilian clothes and won a reputation in the French Concession.
One day, something went wrong with a salty store across the street from the patrol house, the signboard was stolen, and the owner was very anxious. He heard that ** Rong was a well-known "well-informed person", so he came to the patrol room with a generous gift to ask for help.
However, ** Rong had just agreed, and before his feet stepped out of the patrol room, the thief came to the door of the salty store with a signboard and beat gongs and drums to return it. The signboard was lost and recovered, and the boss was grateful to Rong, and the news spread quickly, Rong's reputation grew, and people were both in awe and afraid of his iron-fisted methods.
It wasn't until much later that people were disappointed to find out that ** Rong didn't really have the ability to deter thieves, and this seemingly easy script to solve the case was actually planned by him himself.
However, the ability of **Rong to buy people's hearts and manipulate** can be seen from this.
* Rong controls both black and white by solving cases and getting promoted. He played tricks on those who only knew pleasure in the French Concession, and thus continued to be promoted. Soon after, he was promoted to the foreman of the robber squad.
After being promoted, ** Rong cracked several major cases in a row, and finally gained a firm foothold in Shanghai. Once, the clerk of the French Concession and his wife were kidnapped by lake bandits while they were on a cruise on Taihu Lake.
*After Rong learned about it, he personally brought people to Taihu Lake for negotiations. The bandit leader on the lake, "Taibao Ah Si", happened to be a friend of ** Rong in the Jianghu period. Therefore, without using force, Rong succeeded in rescuing the clerk and his wife.
On another occasion, Yang Zhihou, the chief of staff of the Fujian Governor, was robbed at the dock, and six of his boxes of jewelry, calligraphy and paintings were stolen, which alarmed the Songhu military envoys.
*Rong offered Ying's help in finding the stolen treasure and sent his minions that he had cultivated for many years. With the help of the power of black and white, all the treasures were found in half a day, and they were all returned to Zhao.
Due to the growing ties between **Rong and the government, his prestige also grew.
* One of the most amazing episodes of Rong's crime-solving career was the successful rescue of a French Catholic priest from being kidnapped. This priest, Father Yao, enjoyed a great reputation both inside and outside the French Concession, and in order to preach, he traveled from place to place with a large amount of silver taels.
However, he encountered the warlord Zhang Zongchang in Lincheng, Shandong, China, and was not only robbed of his money, but also tied up and imprisoned in a remote village. This incident caused panic among the people in the French Concession, and Consul General Bai Zaodu offered a reward of 10,000 yuan, hoping to bring back Father Yao safely.
Although Rong was already a successful person, 10,000 yuan was still an astronomical amount for him, so he immediately began to look for clues. In the process, he meets Han Rongpu, a direct warlord adjutant who has been pickpocketed in Shanghai.
*Rong enthusiastically helps Han Rongpu find the pickpocketing thief, and at the same time promises him that if he can find Father Yao, he will give Han Rongpu 500 silver dollars in return.
In the end, ** Rong succeeded in bringing Father Yao back to Shanghai.
The cracking of this case made the French Concession ecstatic, and ** Rong also became famous, in addition to receiving a bounty of 10,000 yuan, he also won a high-level gold medal.
The French patrol house attached great importance to him, appointed him as the only Chinese chief inspector, and even equipped him with 8 Annan patrol bodyguards. With the support of the French, ** Rong became more domineering, and he took the opportunity to join the Green Gang and called himself "Tianzi Juni".
In the Green Gang, he acted arbitrarily, and the elders of the Green Gang could only swallow his anger because of his huge power, allowing him to turn the gang into his own private property. As a result, ** Rong took control of the Black Eight and became the leading tycoon in Shanghai.
Since then, he has opened dance halls, sold opium, set up casinos, monopolized the gray industry, and made a mountain of wealth. He stood with Du Yuesheng and Zhang Xiaolin on three legs, and almost "carved up" the entire Shanghai Tang.
*Rong was Chiang Kai-shek's teacher and the ** of the "April 12" incident. After gaining a foothold in Shanghai, he gained the notoriety of a "rogue tycoon" by exploiting and bullying the local people.
Still, because of his local power, many bigwigs still need to give him face. For example, Sun Yat-sen was sponsored by him during the revolution, and Chiang Kai-shek even bowed down to him as a teacher.
This is an interesting history, Chiang Kai-shek opened the ** exchange "Hengtai" in the early years. However, in 1921, a "letter and communication storm" broke out in Shanghai, similar to today's financial crisis, and the "Hengtai" could not support it and soon collapsed.
The founder he co-founded committed suicide by jumping into the Huangpu River, and Chiang Kai-shek had to hide from his creditors.
Chiang Kai-shek was in a difficult situation and had to flee to the French Concession to seek help from ** Rong. Previously, he had blessed Rong on his 52nd birthday, so Rong left a good impression on him.
Seeing his depressed appearance, Rong decided to lend a hand and take him as an apprentice. On the day of the apprenticeship, ** Rong sat on the pear blossom wood Taishi chair, while Chiang Kai-shek knelt respectfully on the ground and wrote: "In front of the stage of Old Master Huang, Jiang Zhiqing, a protégé. ”
Zhiqing was Chiang Kai-shek's commonly used pen name at that time, and after ** Rong nodded, Chiang Kai-shek immediately kept kowtowing and saluting. Then, ** Rong announced to the outside world that Chiang Kai-shek was his apprentice, and his debt was the debt of the Huang family, and he could go to the Huang Mansion to ask for it.
The creditors all knew about Rong's harsh methods and did not dare to ask him for money. This made the problem that plagued Chiang Kai-shek easily solved by ** Rong.
Because of this relationship, Huang and Jiang have always been close. Later, Chiang took power and respected ** very much. In 1927, Chiang launched the "April 12 Counter-Revolutionary Coup",* and as his thug in Shanghai, he arrested and killed many Communists, committing unforgivable crimes.
In order to thank him for his great help, Jiang specially inscribed him "Wenxing Faithful", which is the embodiment of Confucius's personality quality. Ironically, there is no one of these four words, and the collusion between him and Jiang can only be said to be an embarrassment and has nothing to do with loyalty.
For many years, he was in league with the reactionaries of the Kuomintang, but when he was liberated in 1949, he became panicked. Du Yuesheng and others have already left, and **'s daughter-in-law also fled to Hong Kong with her property.
But ** has passed his 80th birthday, has difficulty moving, and is worried that he will die on the way to escape, so he did not leave, but just smoked at home all day and played mahjong. However, what should come will always come.
On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was successfully liberated. Chiang Kai-shek once threatened: "Within three months, the People's Liberation Army will definitely be driven out by the Shanghainese."
Indeed, the situation is dire. As the "sewage ditch of the empire" in the eyes of the West, Shanghai is filled with all kinds of people and hides a large number of reactionary elements. They are always ready to try to disrupt the peaceful environment and disturb the law and order in Shanghai.
Before leaving, Chiang Kai-shek also made a lot of slander against the People's Liberation Army, which made the citizens of Shanghai a little worried, fearing that the Communist Party would rob and oppress the people like the Kuomintang.
Fortunately, ** showed his leadership skills on the first day of entering Shanghai, and he ordered all PLA soldiers not to disturb the citizens and only to rest on the streets.
This move left a deep impression on the citizens of Shanghai.
* Resolutely rectify Shanghai, sweep away bullies, seize cigarettes and gambling, expose reactionaries, and make Shanghai present a harmonious scene. However, the problem of dealing with ** Rong and others gave him a headache, these people were once big figures in Shanghai, and their influence cannot be ignored.
* didn't take the risk, just sent someone to the Huang family compound to ask for restraint on the protégé, ** Rong Lao, just wanted to save his life, agreed to **'s request and provided a list of crimes.
* Fought on the underground group according to these clues, made an important contribution to the stability of Shanghai.
In 1951, the anti-rebellion movement in Shanghai was vigorously launched, and countless reports flew to the desk like snowflakes. One of the whistleblower letters pointed to the well-known *** boss ** Rong.
* takes this issue very seriously, and he believes that ** Rong's crime cannot be tolerated and must be punished. However, ** taking into account the actual situation in Shanghai.
At that time, Shanghai was in a stage of scarcity, and it was in urgent need of economic development. To do this, he needs to attract foreign investors and increase their confidence. If the execution of ** Rong is executed, it may scare off other entrepreneurs and is not conducive to the construction of New China.
However, if **Rong continues to live a peaceful life unharmed, it will cause dissatisfaction among the people. After much deliberation, ** came up with a good idea.
He sent someone to ** Rong's house and told him: "Your crime cannot be pardoned, and you need to complete a special task before you can give an explanation to the party and the people." Rong thought he was asking him to donate money, so he agreed.
However, ** has another meaning. He didn't intend to let **Rong do charity, but let him contribute to society. In the end, Rong completed the task and also contributed to the construction of New China.
For decades, you have been tyrannical and all-encompassing in Shanghai, and today you are invited to take to the streets to serve the people and sweep up the garbage. Only if you are thoughtful and sincerely repentant, the people will forgive you for your mistakes.
So, we saw 84-year-old ** Rong, holding a broom, sweeping up the garbage at the gate of the big world. The former overlord no longer has the power to control everything, and his face is full of wrinkles, leaving only confusion and exhaustion.
The news rejoiced the people of Shanghai, who realized that the once bustling Shanghai was a thing of the past and that a new, vibrant Shanghai was on the rise.
And the first to seize the opportunity, the use of various means of regulation and control, quickly restored Shanghai's economy. Even Chiang Kai-shek praised the practice of **, "* is really powerful." ”
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that despite the advanced age of ** Rong, this "punishment" did not last long. However, after experiencing the hardships of the people, he was more active in cooperating with the reform.
On May 20, 1947, he publicly published a thousand-word "Confession", reviewing his life, admitting his crimes in a humble tone, and saying that "I want to make meritorious service to atone for my sins and repay the great kindness of **".
Two years later, **Rong died of illness at the age of 86, and a generation of tycoons came to an end.