1928: The rise of giant merchants

"Yes, Edward Sassoon is the eldest son of Mr. Victor Sassoon, and he is also the person who led the way introduced to me by Citibank of America." Li Minwei had an annoyed look on his face and recounted the events one by one, which made everyone present tremble with fear. .

It turned out that for Yip's Film Company's trip to the United States, Citibank entrusted Edward Sassoon and Lai Minwei to accompany him as his guides to take him to purchase various sound equipment in Hollywood.

The Sassoon family is the first family in Shanghai, and Victor Sassoon is also recognized as the richest man in Shanghai today (the richest Chinese was once Sheng Xuanhuai, but now there are different opinions and there is no conclusion. The three tycoons of Yongxing Company and the flour king Rong Desheng are the most vocal. ), he spent money to build the Sassoon Building, which will be completed next year and will later become the Peace Hotel, which is famous both at home and abroad.

However, the history of the Sassoon family is not clean. It is a "foreign disaster" that truly became a towering tree by sucking the flesh and blood of Chinese people.

The Sassoon family made its fortune in the cigarette trade. Victor Sassoon's father, David Sassoon, was one of the foreign businessmen who followed a group of British capitalists to Shanghai and quickly accumulated the first pot of gold by using countless cigarettes. After the cigarette trade was discovered, After the official ban, they founded the New Sassoon Company, secretly continued the cigarette trade, and openly engaged in the cotton gauze business.

After Victor Sassoon inherited the New Sassoon Company, he took a fancy to the real estate business and used the means of absorbing high rents to build the Sassoon Building, the Riverside Building, the Capital Building (New City Hotel), and the Hamilton Building (Fuzhou Building). ), Huayu Apartment, Greenvenner Apartment (Maoming Apartment), lane houses on Shaanxi South Road and Verdun Garden, etc. He is known as the famous "real estate king" and made his fortune entirely by exploiting the wealth of the Chinese.

The so-called annexation of high rents means that Sassoon first selected the land, then financed the lease, entrusted a large number of Chinese businessmen to build a large number of buildings on it, and then rented or sold it to others for use.

This method not only maintains the benefits of natural appreciation and transfers the risks of operating real estate to those who rent land for building houses, but also, after a certain period of time, the buildings on the land will belong to the landowners.

In fact, to put it bluntly, a large amount of real estate is first used to create a real estate bubble, and then the bubble bursts. The first unlucky person is the home buyer or the real estate tenant, the second unlucky person is the developer and engineering construction company, and the third unlucky person is the joint venture The only profit for the investors and companies that invest in these properties is the man behind the scenes.

And home buyers, tenants, developers, engineering and construction companies, and investors are often Chinese!

Therefore, after a period of time, you will see some strange scenes in Shanghai. Whether they are renters, buyers, developers or investors, they are all crying and losing money. When the bubble gets too big, they will all When it couldn't bear it anymore, the new Sassoon Company came down from the sky to provide funds to solve the crisis, and by the way, it took down the land and the buildings on the land in one fell swoop!

It's really disgusting behavior.

Ye Luo hates this family. Firstly, they started by sucking the flesh and blood of Chinese people, and they are still harming Chinese people continuously. Secondly, what is the difference between this move and the real estate bubble in later generations?

When it prospers, the people suffer; when it dies, the people suffer.

Victor Sassoon, who is forty-seven years old this year, is in his prime. He is also a British Jew. He has a deep network of connections in the Ministry of Industry and Consulates and has an extremely hatred for the Chinese. Edward Sassoon is his eldest son and has been working at HSBC Bank. Work, unexpectedly came to the door.

However, Citibank is owned by the United States, but it has found a British Jew to help Li Minwei as a guide. Is this a way to distance itself from itself?

After all, they are the largest wealthy family in Shanghai, they are foreigners, and they were introduced by Citibank. It is understandable that Li Minwei was not prepared.

But now that these things are being discussed, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a scheme against Ye's Film Company.

Two hundred and seventy thousand oceans is just a drop in the bucket to several forces, not even a drop in the bucket, but this incident undoubtedly gave Ye Luo a disincentive!

They are provoking, but also warning and revenge.

Regardless of whether Ye Luo did it intentionally or unintentionally, he defrauded Citibank of more than 4 million yuan. Citibank remained silent in public, but still did things behind the scenes.

It is nothing more than telling Ye Luo that no matter how powerful you are, you are still Chinese.

What can you do to foreigners?

I just use conspiracy to make people sick.

Not only are you unable to argue or fight back, you can only suffer in silence.

If you make another bad move, the Sassoon family will attack.

"Okay, okay, I haven't bothered them yet, but they took the initiative to come to my door." Ye Luo gritted his teeth. For the first time, he showed a murderous expression, without concealing it, making everyone around him feel scared. .

Luo Mingyou quickly went up to dissuade him: "Boss Ye, don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive. Behind the Sassoon family is an empire on which the sun never sets, and British businessmen are the most arrogant and domineering people in Shanghai. Even if you are a Chinese director of the Ministry of Industry, We can't defeat them either. How did Boss Sheng Xuanhuai and the others fall? It seems that they were oppressed by the warlords, but if there were no foreigners behind the scenes, would Yongxing Company and the others dare to take action?"

"I appreciate Boss Luo's kindness. I have my own sense of responsibility in this matter." Ye Luo changed his smile and looked at him, "Speaking of which, I have to thank Boss Luo for helping me look at the equipment. If you have nothing to do recently, can you Help me purchase another batch of audio equipment?"

"Me?" Luo Mingyou was stunned for a moment, then realized that this was the best way to repair the broken relationship, and it was also Ye Luo who was stepping down for himself. He immediately smiled and said, "Then it would be disrespectful. I happen to be going to the United States. Just ask Manager Li Minwei to accompany you."

"Then I'll bother Boss Luo." Ye Luo was very satisfied when he saw him going down the slope.

Both of them are Chinese businessmen, and they are rare giants in the film industry. It would be boring if they were still fighting after seeing this.

As soon as the audio equipment incident came out, the originally festive atmosphere was filled with a layer of gloom.

Although Ye Luo did not reprimand anyone, Edward Sassoon's slap hit each of them firmly in the face.

The filming of the two films is still going on. Li Minwei learned from the painful experience and is determined to let all the employees in the technical department go overseas to study for a few months before returning to work.

He paid for this money himself!

Ye Luo and Lin Ruxian sent Luo Mingyou into the car. Luo Mingyou glanced at the many gifts in the trunk. He wanted to take them out to Ye Luo, but Lin Ruxian reached out and refused.

"Boss Luo, you are too outsider. The little conflict between you and the second young master is just a competition within the industry. It does not involve grudges or emotions. The second young master just proved that he is slightly better at making money. Don't It hurts the harmony."

Lin Ruxian is a very charming woman. She is a very vindictive woman. Before, she threatened that no one could make money better than Ye Luo. Luo Mingyou scoffed, but now she retorted, which was considered as repayment.

After all, Lin Ruxian was not hostile, Luo Mingyou also smiled awkwardly, and smiled with Ye Luo to forget their grudges.

On the way back to the company, Luo Mingyou carefully recalled what had just happened, and felt more and more that Ye Luo was unusual. For a young and energetic boss, he was tricked when his career was at its peak. It was hard for anyone to swallow this sigh of relief, but he Dealing with it calmly, without too many emotional ups and downs, is intimidating.

He was glad that he came to reconcile first.

Shao Zuiweng was still holding Huo Tianhong and the others' thighs, something would happen sooner or later.

"Old Liu, I went back to the company soon and told the people at the Shanghai Grand Theater that I would put "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" on the schedule so that we can make money together."

"Yes, sir." The driver nodded in agreement.

The next morning.

Ye Luo was woken up again by the phone ringing in his sleep.

One piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news is that the second episode of "Burning the Red Lotus Temple" is still a hit at the box office, with a new historical record of 25,899 yuan in its premiere. The first episode has also begun to be screened in cinemas controlled by Lianhua Film Company such as the Shanghai Grand Theater, and will It will be released in the Beijing-Tianjin area at the end of the second half of the year.

The bad news is that the Sassoon family made public the fact that Ye Luo bought a bunch of scrap metal from the United States, and made a big deal about it, mocking Ye Luo as still being a local Chinese businessman in essence, and just a plaything in the hands of foreign merchants.