In the Shanghai International Settlement, at the Tan Mansion, Ning Zhiheng is listening to Ji Hongyi's work report.
"This morning, Wei Hongde and his son came to visit, but they didn't mention the armed rescue at all. I think they already know the reason behind it, which saves me the trouble of explaining. They're quite sensible!"
Ning Zhiheng asked, "Does he know that Wu Shicai kidnapped him this time?"
Ji Hongyi shook his head and said, "I don't know. He didn't ask. Even if he had, I would have said I didn't know. We were just raising funds to pay the ransom; we didn't do anything else!"
"And they didn't mention the three hundred thousand dollars?"
"No!" Ji Hongyi smiled and said casually, "Isn't his life worth 300,000?"
"He's a tycoon from Shanghai after all; he's a shrewd guy!"
Ning Zhiheng nodded in satisfaction. He pondered for a moment, carefully considered the matter, and then said, "To be honest, there are quite a few hidden dangers in our involvement in this matter. Wu Shicai didn't get any money and lost many of his men. If he is resentful and causes trouble for Wei Hongde again, it will implicate you. We need to be on guard."
"Yes, I will be extra careful. Here's what I'm thinking: kidnapping Wei Hongde is no small matter. Wu Shicai wouldn't dare to openly admit to it. Moreover, Wei Hongde is quite frightened by this incident and wants to strengthen his security. I've already agreed to select some skilled members from the gang to act as bodyguards for his family. That way, we won't have to worry about Wu Shicai doing anything else. At the very least, we can detect any suspicious activity in time and react accordingly!"
Since Ji Hongyi's arrangements were well-thought-out, Ning Zhiheng didn't say anything more. It seemed that there were no major problems at the moment. Even if there were any future troubles, and Ji Hongyi was really involved, it would just be the Subei Gang standing up for Wei Hongde and secretly competing with Wu Shicai. It would just be a case of the underworld fighting against the underworld, and it wouldn't have any impact on the intelligence department.
In this incident, the intelligence department gained a sum of money, Wei Hongde escaped with his life, everyone got what they wanted, and the matter was considered closed.
Ning Zhiheng couldn't stay in the concession for too long. He had entered the concession mainly to deal with Feng Sinian's matter, but it ended up involving Cha Yutang and a series of other issues, which caused him to waste a lot of time.
That evening, Ning Zhiheng left the Tan residence and returned to his home in the city. Shortly after arriving home, he received a call from He Siming.
Ning Zhiheng knew that He Siming would not call his residence unless it was a major incident, so he agreed to let He Siming come to report.
Around nine o'clock in the evening, He Siming came to visit Ning Zhiheng and reported an extremely important piece of intelligence.
“Three days ago, a group of about 30 people were transferred from Japan. Along with them came a batch of printing equipment and a large amount of legal tender.”
"Printing equipment and legal tender?" Ning Zhiheng raised an eyebrow, quickly realizing what was going on. "Counterfeit money, counterfeit legal tender! The Japanese have completed the counterfeiting of legal tender!"
“It is indeed a counterfeit legal tender,” He Siming nodded and said.
Ning Zhiheng couldn't help but sigh. Thanks to his efforts, the work of getting the Japanese to counterfeit the currency had been delayed by a year, but now it had finally happened.
"What denomination of legal tender is it?"
"Five-yuan and ten-yuan denominations!"
Approximately how many are in this batch?
"It doesn't look like much. I estimate it's no more than ten million, probably around a few million. They're all counterfeit banknotes. I heard from Taro Sagawa that these are the first batch of experimental products made by the Japanese. The quantity isn't large; they're mainly for putting on the market to see how effective the counterfeiting is."
Ning Zhiheng breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Currently, the legal tender is severely depreciating, especially since the Chongqing government ordered the four major banks in Shanghai to cancel unlimited foreign exchange transactions. The legal tender cannot be arbitrageed, and its value has been declining all the way down. Now, if ten million is invested in the market, it will not cause much of a stir.
This was also part of the Japanese plan. After all, the purpose of this experiment was just to verify the effect of these counterfeit legal tender banknotes circulating in the market, so the quantity would not be large. However, this was also an extremely dangerous signal. If they could print ten million, they could print one hundred million, one billion, or even more.
Suddenly, he remembered what He Siming had said earlier and quickly asked, "Were those personnel and printing equipment used to counterfeit legal tender?"
If the Japanese had located the counterfeit currency manufacturing site in Shanghai, things would have been much easier. They could have easily destroyed the printing equipment, especially the crucial core printing plates, and then repeated their previous actions, dealing a heavy blow to the Japanese plans.
However, He Siming shook his head and explained carefully: "The Japanese have learned from their previous mistakes. All the work of counterfeiting the currency is carried out in Japan. After completion, the finished products are shipped to China and put into the market. As for these printing equipment and supporting personnel, they are used to print new currency."
"A new currency? It's the Central Reserve Coin!" Ning Zhiheng suddenly realized something, straightened up, looked at He Siming in surprise, and blurted out.
He Siming was also taken aback, then nodded and said, "You've heard about it too? The Japanese will soon issue this currency. It won't be long. The Nanjing Central Reserve Bank is currently under construction, and it is said that Zhou Fushan, the Minister of Finance of the Nanjing government, will serve as its president. Of course, this is just a title; the Japanese will ultimately decide everything."
After the puppet government returned to Nanjing, it was eager to build its own fiscal system and began to prepare for the establishment of a central reserve bank and the issuance of a new currency, known as the Central Reserve Bank. This was intended to push the legal tender issued by the Chongqing government out of the puppet government's control area and at the same time resolve the chaotic situation of various currencies in the occupied areas, in an attempt to gain more control over the discourse.
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