Republic-Era Underworld: The Hundred-Herb Escort

In 1932, the Battle of Shanghai came to an end, leaving the towns around Shanghai in ruins. Though the Japanese army had temporarily withdrawn, it was secretly conspiring with remnants of the Beiyang warlords to smuggle arms. The trade route from Beiping to Tianjin was controlled by the “Arms Gang,” which monopolized scarce medicinal herbs such as coptis root for treating gunshot wounds and notoginseng for stopping bleeding. Jianghu bodyguards had become the warlords’ lackeys, and only a few still upheld the old rule of “protecting the people, not their property.” Traditional escort agencies and emerging secret-service organizations, such as branches of the Blue Shirts Society, were locked in a covert struggle for power.