Chapter 23 How the Underworld Makes Money

Interviewer: Chen Liangfei, New Century Weekly Time: October 29, 2009 The more taboos there are, the more "blood rewards" and monopoly profits, and the more people will compete for this profit.The formation of the underworld has a broader foundation and a more fertile soil If an underworld gang wants to survive, it must have its unique "way of making money". The higher the "blood pay" of the underworld gangs, the more "blood" their supporters, the common people, will lose.It is remarkable what role the government and its officials, which share common interests with the common people, play in this process.

In the 1930s, the Prohibition Movement started in the United States, but Americans did not drink less. Many people died from counterfeit alcohol, and more people died from crimes caused by alcohol trafficking.Is there any direct relationship between the taboo and the growth of the underworld? Have.In the history of China, such as salt smugglers, there have been people who became kings and people who almost succeeded in conquering the world.Some big commodities, such as salt and tea, are banned, and there are smuggling gangs. All the gangsters and mafia eat what I generally call "blood pay", that is, the proceeds of violent plundering, and what they eat is the money of hard work, and the government can also eat this money.The government said that all tobacco and alcohol can only be monopolized, and once the tobacco and alcohol are monopolized, there will be hundreds of percent of the profit. There is also a monopoly of salt, the cost is very low, and it has to be added ten times or twenty times. profits.There are also some that are simply banned, such as drugs. If drugs are released, the price will never be as high as it is now.Once it was banned, it was banned at a high price.

Is it possible to understand this: the more taboos there are, the stronger the power of the underworld? The more taboos, the more "blood rewards" and monopoly profits.The underworld has a broader foundation and more fertile soil. In ancient China, salt was monopolized, and the monopoly was so severe that in the Five Dynasties, it could be sentenced to death for dozens of catties of illegal salt.Severe punishments and strict laws ensure that the official salary has more than ten times the income. This is called "legal remuneration".Such a large space and profit is the fertile soil for the growth of the underworld.

Is the choice of taboos important?Why Salt, Drugs and Smoke? No matter how high the price rises, people have to eat salt.After the government monopolizes salt, there is no need to worry about the price rising from 10 cents to 2 yuan and reducing sales.The same is true for drugs. As long as they are addicted, people will buy it for as much as a pack.The same goes for tobacco and alcohol. Any commodity with low price elasticity and price insensitivity can be used.For example, in cremation, when a person dies, if you charge 100 yuan for the cremation fee, it will still be 1,000 yuan, or 5,000 yuan. Anyway, you can’t burn it yourself, so the price elasticity is extremely low. This is also an industry that can form a monopoly.Many mafias run crematoriums.So is a cemetery.

There is another place where mafia and gangsters are particularly easy to emerge, and that is the sand and gravel field and the dock.The cost in these places is very low, the price is roughly fixed, and the freight of sand and gravel in the distance is high, so the price is monopolized.And as long as the participants rely on their own strength, the investment is not much. If gangsters do not bully the local people, but instead do something for the people, and even provide services that the government cannot provide, will the people support it? entirely possible.The government originally took advantage of salt. If the salt was sold for two yuan a catty, and the cost was two cents a catty, and the private salt dealer collected it for thirty cents a catty, it would be beneficial to the producers, at one yuan and fifty a catty. Selling is also beneficial to consumers.It is the government that suffers, and only the government severely cracks down on private salt dealers, while consumers and producers welcome them.

Will there be collusion between the government and the underworld at this time? But smugglers must have the ability to resist the government’s crackdown first. They detained two of my boats today, and at night the child of the anti-smuggling policeman will be tied up and his house burned. Only by forming such countermeasures can the two sides have bargaining power. space. If it is a mobile, long-distance private salt dealer, it may be difficult for him to buy all the way.If you want to come, I might have a real fight with 50 of you and 100 of us. With such prestige, it will be much easier to negotiate again.

Is there any exerciser of public power who is smuggling? Have.The state handed over the monopoly of salt to a certain salt merchant. Of course, the salt merchant had to pay a sum of money to buy the salt lead, which is equivalent to a business license that includes salt tax.For example, the salt merchant has a transportation certificate and license for 100 tons per year. He found that the private salt dealers are doing very well, so he wanted to use the 100-ton quota to sell 200 tons, half of which was genuine goods and half of which was illegal salt.As soon as I checked, I took out the ticket. If I didn't check it, it would be illegal salt.

Many salt merchants, official salt merchants, and government-owned enterprises have also engaged in smuggling.They all became half a "gangster". Besides taboos, what else do gangsters "eat"? "Eat" vendors and consumers.For example, if he monopolizes a farmer's market and pays two yuan for protection for each stall, he is "eating" all the small vendors, and the small vendors have to pass the money on to consumers.This kind of gangsters and mafia were called "gangsters" in Tianjin at that time, and they called this "eating" method "picking cakes from the flat ground".

Zhang Shun, the "Langli Baitiao" in the village, eats fishmongers. All the fish that come in are given to him, and he wholesales them to all fishmongers. All fishmongers are not allowed to trade directly with fishermen.He picks out cakes on the flat ground, "eats" one piece in a daze, and charges a price increase in the middle, like this is a standard "gangster".It is not the government that suffers, but consumers, small traders and fishermen. Besides "eating" the government and "eating" the people, do the gangs have other sources of profit?

Eat fellow gangsters.For example, a large group of pirates has suppressed other pirates. I guarantee that this place will be peaceful and will never be robbed.At this time, what he earns is social security money. He is like a policeman. He collects taxes and security fees, and he really provides protection.Of course, if the cost of maintaining law and order is 1 million, he may charge 1.5 million, and the extra 500,000 is an upgraded version of the blood reward - legal reward. Can it be said that he played the role of the government? It can be said that he exercised the functions of the government.Some bandit rabbits don’t eat the grass by the side of their nests. They don’t rob them, don’t collect taxes, and don’t allow others to rob them. The local people are grateful, send them food and grass, and inform them.

Where did you get your inspiration for some of the concepts you mentioned, such as the law of "blood rewards"? I have been studying bandits for a while, researching the behavior of violent groups that fight against the world and sit in the world, and I specialize in this.Look at the materials related to them-the mafia, gangsters, bandits, Qinghong Gang, King of the Mountain, including violent gangs or warlords when they did not conquer the world.When studying them, it is necessary to have a concept to point out what their income is. Looking for the expressions of the predecessors, I only found some very "jianghu" expressions.For example, bandits in Shandong called the money "eat" from the kidnapping ticket "eating red money".In Jianghu slang, money is called "blood".If the person has a lot of money, he will say that the rich man is "prosperous in blood", and if he asks him to get some money, he will say that he will be "bleeded"; If you want to say "blood" and introduce it into formal language, it is a bit unclear.It's not appropriate to call it "blood", it's not appropriate to call it "red money", it's not appropriate to call it "trophies", it's not appropriate to call it "life money", and what about "life money"?If it is called stolen money, the income of warlords and conquerors cannot be included. This forced me to create a word, which is "blood payment". When it comes to analyzing the behavior of violent groups, is it more explanatory? It is easy to analyze their income.For example, in the past, it was said that what was collected was stolen money. It was difficult to analyze how the stolen money was constituted, and it was completely covered up in one word.Now, you can analyze it as "blood reward", and you can also divide it into "life money" and "life money", and break it down. In the past, the "blood pay" was road robbery and bloodshed. This is called road money. Now a toll station is set up. Whether it is a waterway or a seaway, you pay a sum of money and I guarantee your safety. You can rest assured that you will walk within a radius of 100 miles. Someone else will grab it, and at this time it will increase, which I call "legal reward". The so-called "successful and defeated bandits" have a tendency to transform into political power after a long period of banditry. How to define their identity? Rogues will leave after a few days of robbery. The best rate of robbery is 100%.For the robbed, there is no shared interest with the rogues, that is, they are irreconcilable and completely hostile.The concept of shared interests was proposed by the American economist Olson to analyze rogues and bandits. If it is a bandit, it will be here for a long time to rob, and even become the king and hegemony.He robs, his son robs again, and his grandchildren rob it.The best robbery rate, such as 20%, is better. In the second year, producers can still support their families and cultivate land. After the robbery is over, they can maintain simple reproduction and will not run away to beg for food. How to spend this 20%?He may also take 10% to maintain local law and order, and prevent other bandits and robbers from coming and robbing the farmers here.He put another 10% in his pocket, net income.So our shared interest with him is 90%. If he is better, don’t give 10% to greed, use 5% to support the family, and be a good emperor, official, or king. My predecessors married 100 concubines. Marry 5, I don't want 10,000 eunuchs, I only need 200, so he is a frugal, good emperor who loves the people, and reduces the tax from 20% to 15%.At this time, the inclusive interests of our farmers and him have changed to 95%. At this time, if the officials and police who "eat" 10% of the public security fee extort money from our people, the emperor will still control them and maintain law and order.From the common people's point of view, the common interests of the emperor and me are 95%. Corrupt officials charge the common people a little more money, which is extra. The opposition between him and us common people is 100%. Should have paid 100 yuan in taxes, this corrupt official extorted and took away 10 yuan more, this 10 yuan is an absolute opposition, 100% opposition, so the common people only oppose corrupt officials, not the emperor; Hate the king's law. If the emperor manages corrupt officials well, the shared interests of our people and the emperor will be 95%; if he manages poorly, he will be a bad emperor, or an incompetent emperor, because corrupt officials will take 5% more, and the emperor and the emperor will My inclusive interest is not 95%, but back to 90%. If the world is in chaos and there are bandits all over the place, bandits will come at every turn, and if you rob them, you will be all.The emperor seriously neglected his duties and caused banditry everywhere. 80% of us may be robbed, and only 20% survived. The mutual interests of the emperor and us have degenerated to 20%, and he has degenerated to almost the same as bandits on 80%. When the proportion of inclusive interests gets lower and lower, more people will rise up? There is a relationship, but it is not a direct relationship. The most important thing is the absolute value of ordinary people's income. For example, the benefits of mutual accommodation are getting lower and lower. I earned 10,000 yuan, and the government took away 6,000 yuan in disguise, of which 1,000 yuan was returned to us through various services, and the remaining 5,000 yuan was in our pockets. Only 50% of the inclusive benefits. The monthly income is 10,000, he took 5,000, I can still live, I will not rebel, I swallow my anger.But if my total income is only 1,000 yuan, and he takes away 500 yuan, the remaining 500 yuan will not be able to support the family. If you can't go down, you have to grab it.If others rebel, I will definitely follow suit. Anyway, there is nothing to lose. I call this absolute value a "blood line". Once it falls below this line, the probability of bleeding and dying will increase significantly. Can Liangshan Heroes be regarded as a gang of underworld nature? It's the underworld, it's the gangsters.Chao Gai went to Liangshan, Lin Chonghuo merged with Wang Lun, and the story that happened later was reported by the minions from the bottom of the mountain. There was a caravan with more than 20 vehicles passing by the bottom of the mountain. Do you want to grab it?Chao Gai immediately said, grab it, but be careful not to hurt anyone, just go down and grab it. After the robbing, the distribution began. The property was robbed, and the heroes of Liangshan lived by robbing.How to distribute the looted items?It is the standard bandit distribution method. How are they distributed? The real distribution method of Liangshan heroes is by class, that is, the two classes of leaders and minions.The looted property is divided into three piles, the middle pile is gold and silver treasures, the left pile is silk cloth, and the right pile is various miscellaneous goods. Divide these three piles into two equal parts, take half, and put it into the public treasury. , To maintain the normal operation of the life of Liangshan heroes.The remaining half will be re-divided into two equal parts. At that time, the 11 leaders will get half, and all minions will get half. There are about 750 minions. The 750 minions will share the same share as the 11 leaders. Yes, the distribution gap is 1:68. The distribution ratio of the American mafia is about 1:44, and the heroes of Liangshan are even darker.But some small bandits in China are not too dark, such as 1:8, 1:6, whether this black or not depends on the size of the gang.If there are more than a dozen people in this gang, the boss and the youngest, the distribution gap will be ten times.If there are more people at this level, there will be a gap of dozens of times if there are hundreds of people.Liangshan heroes and Chicago mafia are about 50 times the ratio. If the gang is larger, such as tens of thousands of people, a warlord, or conquers the world and dominates the world, the distribution gap will not be dozens of times, but a gap of hundreds or thousands of times. Are the brick kilns and coal kilns built by the underworld existed in ancient times?And why is it repeated repeatedly? In ancient times, there were black coal kilns. Good people who were sent to the door or captured were allowed to go down the cave. After the cave, they were not allowed to come up. They were raised like cattle and sheep. They carried a basket of coal and gave them a steamed bun or a big cake. .Bring up another basket and give another one. For the mine owner, exchanging a big cake for a basket of coal, assuming it is one yuan, if the salary is officially paid, it is about two yuan for a basket of coal, he is definitely willing to exchange one yuan for a basket of coal, and he pursues the maximum benefit , this is natural. The problem is that if you detain a person here, you treat him like a cow and a horse, and if he escapes, you have to kill him and break his legs. This is illegal. At this time, the mine owners can collude with the government and businessmen to make those around him turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye, and the money he pays for this is lower than the wages he saves, so he may do this. . What role did local governments play? If the government is bribed, turns a blind eye and closes one eye, and does not strictly enforce the law, it is possible to make this kind of violent oppression successful and appear on a large scale. If they hadn't been bought and the law enforcement was strict, this kind of profit model would definitely not have appeared, because it would outweigh the gains. This kind of profit model should be a black game, and the benefits brought by illegality, murder, and violence should be profitable after deducting the costs he paid. What are the conditions for the existence of the "territorial hegemony order" you proposed? In China, during the Taiping period, in some areas, there was also a leader of a gangster, or a corrupt official. A person who "eats" both black and white, can have a fixed violent income like the king of the mountain, such as legal rewards Or "blood pay", I will call the dominant order in that place the Land Hegemony Order. The conditions for the existence of a local tyrant are that the first is that there is something to rob, that there are people, and that there are financial resources; Make him pay for it. How can we break this order of hegemony? The way to break this order of local hegemony is to let every local victim, every ordinary person, who is forced to pay protection fees, resist exploitation at a very low cost. What kind of cost is the lowest?For example, the top leaders in the local area are elected by them. If the top leaders are not effective in combating the local underworld, they will be replaced by someone who has a strong attack. As long as that person says that I promise to destroy it, he will be elected.As long as you vote once, you can protect your own interests and cannot be bought. How do you buy every voter, they are the victims, and what you buy for them is not to harm them.You don't have to benefit them, just don't harm them.The most effective way to break the order of geo-hegemony is democratic elections. In the mass incidents in recent years, official reports often mention the involvement of underworld forces. Is this kind of incident necessarily related to the underworld? When forced evictions or cheap land purchases, farmers or residents rebel, if there is a legal organization, they will rebel legally.If there is no legitimate organization, they collude.If the government cannot tolerate these things and will suppress them, then there is only one kind of person who dares to take the lead, and that is the gangsters.He knows how to hide, how to evade, and how to kill and silence. This kind of quack, gang, or underworld may form the core of organization and resistance. The underworld is usually an organization with strong anti-risk capabilities after legal organizations can no longer exist, and can make profits in the process or gain social respect. Only then do they replace them and become a substitute to fill this space. Will the underworld forces have a big impact on China's future social order? If a democratic system, judicial independence, and administrative efficiency decrease, people can be replaced at any time. At this time, there will be gangsters, but they will not be too crazy. This is assuming that the political system reform has been completed. If the reform of the political system is not completed, there will be two extreme results at this time: either the underworld and the white way will collude to become even more black; Played very thoroughly.