1928: The rise of giant merchants

Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce Building, Committee Meeting Hall.

Three chairman committee members: Feng Shaoshan, Lin Kanghou and Zhao Jinqing presided over the meeting.

Sixteen ordinary members attended the meeting.

Ye Luo, who had just returned to Shanghai, rushed to the General Chamber of Commerce for a meeting without even putting down his things.

In fact, he had no interest in this meeting at all.

Because Ye Luo knew that although this joint petition from all walks of life in Shanghai was successful, it was resented and resented by the principal. Most of the people gathered here will not get good results next May.

If this petition is really beneficial to Chinese business groups and can promote the rise of domestic products, Ye Luo will take the risk and sign his name.

However, the so-called petition activity is nothing more than a push by the business community, especially the banking sector.

In order to raise military expenditures, the Nationalist Government of Jinling knew that it could not attack the tens of thousands of ordinary merchants who had the idea of ​​​​industry to save the country, so it first attacked the banking industry, which had the most abundant funds and the deepest conflicts with Jinling.

Forcibly forcing people in the financial industry, led by Huaguo Bank, to raise funds, Zhang Gongquan, the current general manager of Huaguo Bank, had sleepless nights over this matter.

When these bankers supported the Northern Expedition, they hoped to overthrow the warlords who imposed excessive taxes. At the same time, they also wanted to play political investment and earn greater profits.

However, talking about cooperation and interests with politicians is to push yourself into a pit of fire.

Now that the banking industry is being rectified, they are naturally unwilling to accept it and want to gather the power of all walks of life in Shanghai to put pressure on Jinling.

The pressure did succeed.

The principal also responded.

In 1935, during the massive "National Advancement and Private Retreat" campaign, countless private banks were embezzled by the National Government, and many high-quality private enterprises were embezzled by the four major families!

The only person who survived was Chen Guangfu of Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank.

Ye Luo looked at the petition list and content that had been distributed. Sure enough, most people in the financial industry had signed their names, except Chen Guangfu.

Historians have always had different opinions on this. Fairbank, the most famous expert on national history in the world, even speculated in "Cambridge History of the Republic of China" that this was because Chen Guangfu and Kong Xiangxi were not only classmates when they studied in the United States, but they were actually relatives. Brother, so Kong Xiangxi didn’t raid the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank.

Other historians believe that the possible reason is that Chen Guangfu was one of the main meritorious figures in the national government's large-scale fund-raising in 1927, so he was liberal;

Furthermore, Chen Guangfu had a very good personal relationship with Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi. Chen Guangfu also had a very good personal relationship with Henry Morgenthau Jr., the then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Morgenthau once said that when the U.S. government and the Nationalist government were negotiating on finances, the Nationalist government would There are only two people to talk to, one is Song Ziwen and the other is Chen Guangfu.

Whatever the reason, there are clues that this petition is a big deal.

And Ye Luo has always adhered to the strategy of not having a direct confrontation with the National Government in doing business.

Under his guidance, Bei Zuyi would naturally not sign the petition, but the Bei family was doubtful about it. After all, the supporter behind the scenes was said to be Song Ziwen.

If you don't sign, you are going against the Minister of Finance, and it will be more difficult for you to get involved in the financial industry in the future.

But at this time, the Bei family had already boarded Ye Luo's boat, and fifty houses had been given away. It would be stupidest to switch to another camp midway, and they would definitely not do it.

"This trip is called a petition, but it is actually a supervision. When Jin Ling came to Shanghai, we business people helped us. Now that the Second Northern Expedition has been successful, they ignore the life and death of our business people. This is a violation of the original promise. Now the foreign goods tax The tax on domestic goods is heavy, and foreign ships are protected, but foreign ships are always detained without authorization. We do business across provinces. In the past, the tax on a truck of goods was 30 oceans, but now it has increased to 900 oceans! The loan interest rate in various countries is the highest at 6%, but we have at least one point."

"How can our business continue under this situation? This petition is entirely voluntary, but in order to make them realize the seriousness of the problem, the more people, the better. Those with high status should lead by example, go to the front, and serve the bottom businessmen. Seek profit! This way you can live up to your position as a committee member!"

The person speaking above with an expression filled with righteous indignation was Chairman Zhao Jinqing, the banking boss who later became a traitor.

When his voice fell, his eyes naturally looked at Ye Luo.

Naturally, the other committee members followed suit and burst into applause.

Feng Jingyao and Tan Si didn't understand why Ye Luo insisted on singing the opposite tune. This petition was related to the life and death of the banking industry. At the same time, the banking industry also had interests related to business tycoons like them.

Feng Jingyao, who does business in the French Concession, and Tan Si, who manages the dock business, are inseparable from various banks, not to mention Ye Luo, who has a larger business.

"Commissioner Ye, why don't you sign?" Huo Tianhong had already noticed that Ye Luo was unhappy, and now he chose to attack. He leaned back, shook his boss's chair, and smiled like a chrysanthemum, "Could it be that he has already fought with the warlords in Beijing and Tianjin who have gone to power? The boss has a connection, so he must look down on our small business community in Shanghai."

He alluded to Ye Luo's private release of Lu Xiaojia.

Everyone in Shanghai knew that Huo Tianhong had been severely beaten by Lu Xiaojia. It was said that he was locked up in the basement and beaten overnight, and the next day he apologized with three conditions, which was very embarrassing.

After Lu Yongxiang stepped down, Yongxing Company was the one that worked hardest during the liquidation.

Now that the political training period has come, he openly wanted Lu Xiaojia to look good, but he unexpectedly fell in love with him.

Now there is news that Lu Xiaojia has arrived in Peiping, which makes people speculate that someone is taking Lu Xiaojia to Chencang secretly.

Who is that person?

After thinking about it, I am afraid that only Ye Luo has recently left Shanghai and gone to Suzhou City.

The two of them went head-to-head with each other. On normal days, the tycoons present would definitely not want to let this good show go, but now everyone is in trouble. They saw that Ye Luofei was going to be that weirdo. Many people were quite dissatisfied. Echoed Huo Tianhong.

"I'm just a businessman. A businessman's job is to do business and make money, not to engage in political activities, nor to lick an owner like a pug." Ye Luo looked at him with a smile.

Huo Tianhong was overwhelmed by his sarcasm and couldn't argue. His face turned red. Zhang Wanlin on the side couldn't stand it anymore. He slammed the table and shouted: "Ye Xiaoer, if you don't sign, you either have something to do with the Xiaye warlord or you have something to do with Jinling Fang." , you are going against the Shanghai business community, can you afford it?"

One hat after another was put down.

Ye Luo was not in a hurry.

Seeing that something was wrong, Yu Qiaqing, who was also a member of the petitioning army, stood up first to help Ye Luo. Then the other two chairmen and committee members also stated that this was a voluntary activity and others could not be forced to participate.

The other two chairmen and committee members are both patriotic businessmen, but they don’t know that this petition is actually an activity carried out by the banking industry for its own interests. The leader, Zhao Jinqing, is not a good person. They only serve the business community, so as Zhao Jinqing said, they took the lead. Charge, but in the end they all suffered.

Feng Shaoshan will be wanted next year.

They spoke to help Ye Luo because they felt that this young man was a rare shining light for Chinese businessmen. No matter how he viewed these things, his actions in the business world really inspired the majority of Chinese businessmen.

Whenever there is a dispute between Chinese businessmen and foreign banks, they will think of the battle between Ye Luo and Galt, and the feat of forcing Citibank to compromise with 8.16 million yuan.

The meeting ended on bad terms.

For Ye Luo, it was just a formality and a way to see the current situation clearly. His focus was still on the upcoming Great World Amusement Park and Ye's Guangming Cinema.

Taking advantage of the ten years of peace, accumulating capital first and then entering industry is the right path.

When walking down the steps, Tan Si's voice suddenly came from behind: "Second Young Master, stay!"

Ye Luo turned around and saw Tan Si walking over in a hurry. Then his eyes indicated that it was not convenient to talk here, so he pulled him towards his car.

The car Tan Si bought was the Chevrolet 490 sold by Ye Luo.

When Shi Jianqiao and Ding Li saw this, they immediately followed him. They wanted to ensure Ye Luo's safety.

After getting in the car, Tan Si immediately whispered: "Second Young Master, the locations of your dance halls have been arranged. Do you really want to do the dance hall business?"