In the popular TV series "Great Expectations" in 2018, Zhang Wanlin, one of the three tycoons in Shanghai and the second boss of Yongxin Company, played by the famous actor Liu Yijun, once said this famous saying: "Look at the entire situation." Who the hell dares to touch me, Zhang Wanlin, in Shanghai! ?
The historical prototype of Zhang Wanlin in the play is Zhang Xiaolin, and the historical Zhang Xiaolin was really that awesome!
Among the three major gangsters in Shanghai, Zhang Xiaolin has always been ranked behind Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng in terms of current popularity, so that many people do not even know the existence of this figure; but In fact, in terms of fame at the time, Huang Huangrong and Du Yuesheng could not keep up with Zhang Xiaolin.
However, Zhang Xiaolin had almost no bottom line in doing things. He committed all kinds of crimes including burning, killing and looting. In addition, he later defected to the Japanese and became a "glorious" traitor, which led to his place in history. His popularity and status have dropped a lot, which also means that he can no longer compare with Huang Huangrong and Du Yuesheng.
Zhang Xiaolin's original name was Zhang Xiaolin. Later, when he was in society, he felt that his name was not domineering enough, so he changed his name to Zhang Xiaolin, which means that the tiger roars in the forest and frightens all the beasts. In his early years, Zhang Xiaolin was an unscrupulous gangster. He began to mix in society at the age of 13 and got into various fights, which also helped him develop his fighting ability.
When Zhang Xiaolin was 26 years old, he was accidentally admitted to the Zhejiang Military Academy in Hangzhou, where he later became good friends with Zhang Zaiyang and others. However, for Zhang Xiaolin, many of the rules of the Military Academy were simply a curse imposed by the Tathagata on Sun Wukong. He couldn't stand it, so he chose to drop out of school after less than two years.
However, during the two years of studying at Bei Xuetang, although Zhang Xiaolin's liberal arts scores were unblinking, his martial arts scores were outstanding, especially his ability to fight fiercely. He could fight almost ten people with one man. . Therefore, after Zhang Xiaolin left school, he quickly relied on his extraordinary skills to get a job as a yamen servant in the Hangzhou government office. Through this position, Zhang Xiaolin slowly understood the rules of black and white.
Later, Zhang Xiaolin used the money he saved to open a teahouse. Through this teahouse, he gathered many followers of various religions and sects, and even developed some gangsters as his subordinates. In 1912, Zhang Xiaolin met Ji Yunqing, a big gangster in Shanghai. The two hit it off immediately. Zhang Xiaolin decided to go to Shanghai to explore the world, and worshiped Fan Jincheng, a gangster of the Shanghai Youth Gang, as his old man, and became a member of the Qing Gang's general generation.
Zhang Xiaolin, who became a member of the Youth Gang, finally had a place to use. Because he was not only tall and strong, but also brave and fierce, and even more powerful in fights, so he quickly became a small leader. Then he met Du Yuesheng, who was also a small boss.
At that time, Du Yuesheng was a member of the Qinggang?Wu? generation, a generation later than Zhang Xiaolin. One of them mainly relied on strategy and scheming to get around, and the other relied on fighting to get around. They were complementary. So the two quickly got together to cooperate and occupy the territory.
Soon after, Du Yuesheng fought with another gangster and was beaten half to death. He was lying on the street. At this time, Zhang Xiaolin rushed over and carried Du Yuesheng out of the siege. In this battle, Zhang Xiaolin held a long knife and killed gods and Buddhas when he met them. He was almost one against a hundred.
In a sense, this battle was also Zhang Xiaolin's battle to become famous. From then on, no one in Shanghai dared to fight Zhang Xiaolin, and Du Yuesheng was moved by Zhang Xiaolin and fell to the ground. Dandan will never forget his kindness.
Subsequently, Du Yuesheng and Zhang Xiaolin took refuge with Huang Huangrong, the then famous inspector of the French Concession. Later, the three of them jointly established the Sanxin Company, sold opium, forced young girls into prostitution, and ran rampant. Zhang Xiaolin is therefore known as the "Three Color Tycoon", that is, yellow (running a brothel), black (drug trafficking), and white (murdering and gambling). As a result, the words Zhang Xiaolin have almost become a synonym for ruthlessness in Shanghai.
However, after Shanghai was occupied by Japan, Huang Huangrong chose to live in seclusion, and Du Yuesheng fled to Hong Kong. However, Zhang Xiaolin thought that this was a good opportunity for him to dominate Shanghai, so he thought of becoming a master with the help of the Japanese. The mayor of Shanghai, and the Japanese also wanted to use Zhang Xiaolin's influence in Shanghai to get more people to surrender, so they agreed to Zhang Xiaolin, and then Zhang Xiaolin defected to the Japanese.
Of course, under normal circumstances, traitors will not face consequences, and Zhang Xiaolin was no exception. On August 14, 1940, Zhang Xiaolin was shot to death by his bodyguard Lin Huaibu at home. It is reported that this Lin Huaibu has actually been bribed by Dai Li, the military commander of the Nationalist Government, with the purpose of killing the traitor Zhang Xiaolin.