1928: The rise of giant merchants

Ye Luo took the convoy back to the public concession and arranged for Meng Xiaodong and his family to stay at the Dahua Hotel.

The luxurious decoration and layout made Meng Xiaodong's third brother, Meng Keke, scream in surprise. After all, the news of the arrival of the Meng family troupe in Shanghai could not be hidden from the people who were interested, and it soon spread in Shanghai.

There are a total of more than thirty people in the Meng family's opera troupe. From the singers to the soundtrack members, they are all members of their own family.

Three generations of the Meng family produced a total of nine famous actors. Meng Xiaodong's grandfather Meng Qi also joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He was good at martial arts and served as a theater teacher under the British King Chen Yucheng. He sang while fighting, similar to the military art troupe of later generations.

Such an opera family will definitely be very prominent in later generations. However, in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, actors were just low-class actors with no money and no status. Most of them chose to marry in the same industry. Those who were lucky enough to marry celebrities and wealthy businessmen as concubines wanted to be the main wife. Undoubtedly, this is just a dream.

This is also the reason why Meng Xiaodong only chooses Mei Lanfang even if he wants to be the first wife.

For a young master like Ye Luo, who was in Shanghai and had a high status in both the concession and the Jinling National Government, she could not even enter his house.

But today's movie actors, dancers, singers, etc., have a lower status than actors and are completely inferior to the mainstream.

Therefore, although Mei Lanfang recommended this matter, Meng Hongqun and others were very concerned about it. They dragged their family to Shanghai Bund because Mingpai planned to support Ye Luo.

"Winter Emperor, as well as everyone from the Meng Family Theater Troupe, please stay at the Dahua Hotel temporarily. I have fully paid for the second floor of the hotel. All expenses can be put in the name of Ye's Investment Company. You're welcome." General Ye Luo After everyone arrived safely, he said with a smile, "It's the opening day of the world on September 1st. If you are free and willing to come and help, Ye Luo would be very grateful."

"Second Young Master, please rest assured! We will concentrate on rehearsing in the hotel these days, and we will never disgrace our orders on September 1st!" Meng Hongqun returned the greeting with clasped fists.

After seeing Ye Luo and others leaving, Meng Xiaodong's mother, Zhang Yunhe, pulled her daughter and walked towards the second floor: "Xiaodong, you and Mei Lanfang have been married for almost a year, and you still don't have a name or a title, are you really going to Are you going to keep wasting it like this?"

"Oh, Mom, I have my own sense of discretion, so don't worry about it." Meng Xiaodong also had a headache about this matter.

Mei Lanfang recommended her to come to Shanghai, partly to seek refuge in the south, and partly to temporarily avoid mentioning her as his wife. The two of them felt as bright as a mirror, but neither of them pointed it out.

Because Mei Lanfang thinks he can take care of the Mei family, Meng Xiaodong also believes he can.

"Xiaodong, you will be 20 years old this year. Mom, at your age, has not even mastered the subject. It is not your choice to delay it like this. Look at this second young master."

"Mom! If you keep saying that, I'm going back to Tianjin!" Meng Xiaodong was anxious. She couldn't do such a thing as remarrying, and being a concubine would be looked down upon by others like an actor.

She doesn't want this.

"Okay, okay, mom, stop talking and let's go upstairs to rehearse." Zhang Yunhe quickly shut up.

On the other side, Ye Luo, who had just returned to Ye Mansion, received a call from Zhang Dingyao.

Zhang Dingyao was helping Song Ziwen to convey his voice.

It turns out that during this trip to Jinling, Feng Shaoshan and others launched a massive petition from the business community, which made the principal very unhappy.

A group of senior Jinling clique officials who were good friends with the Shanghai business community and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang plutocrats also severed ties with them one after another, with an attitude that the matter had nothing to do with them.

The only person who strongly supports this group of petitioning businessmen is the Wang faction who migrated from the Wuhan National Government.

In July last year, the two national governments of Wuhan and Jinling merged, but Wang continued to fight openly and covertly with the principal. After that, the principal and Hu Hanmin resigned. Wang also called to step down on September 13, and announced his retirement on December 16. Statement from the political circle, and traveled to France with his wife Chen Bijun.

Although he left, the members of the faction he stayed in the National Government still stubbornly supported him and competed with the principal faction for power.

Seeing that no one supported the Shanghai business community and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang chaebols, he secretly asked people to support him behind the scenes, vowing to create trouble for the principal.

The so-called behind-the-scenes supporter Song Ziwen actually just wanted to guide the business community to do a big favor for the National Government——

disarmament!

The petition was so loud that no one could stand down.

Instigated by two young men, Song Ziwen and Yu Qiaqing, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang chaebols, the main supplier of the Northern Expedition's military expenses, and the Shanghai business community petition group jointly established the "National Disarmament Promotion Association" and publicly demanded that the principal, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and Li Zongren A big warlord reduced his arms and personnel.

The troop strength situation at this time is:

Principal's First Army: 540,000;

Feng Yuxiang's Second Army: 420,000 people;

Yan Xishan’s Third Army: 200,000 people;

Li Zongren’s Fourth Group Army + Li Jishen’s Eighth Route Army: nearly 400,000 people;

Marshal Zhang Fengjun: more than 300,000 people;

Warlords in southwestern provinces: more than 350,000 people.

Most of the nearly 1.5 million military expenditures of the four major warlords come from these wealthy businessmen. The total annual expenditure is nearly 300 million. Even if it is spread equally among tens of thousands of businessmen, each person has to contribute 35 to 50 million yuan on average. Wan Dayang for one year!

The war has stopped, and reducing the number of troops is conducive to national economic growth and reducing public pressure, which is a good thing.

This also spoke to the heart of the principal.

He just wanted to reduce their army and retain his own power, so he decisively passed the "Disarmament Plan" and it is scheduled to be implemented on September 1.

However, the other three people did not agree with the principal's behavior of cutting down the feudal clan to preserve his own strength.

At the same time, the warlord's anger was also transferred to these businessmen!

Disarmament has not been accomplished, and yet another crazy petition is coming to disgust him, which shows how much resentment the principal has towards the business community.

It is said that the final meeting broke up on bad terms and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

The joint petition submitted by the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce Committee was kept on the principal's desk, and he looked through it frequently, fearing that the bright names would be bloody.

Song Ziwen praised Ye Luo for his general knowledge and ability to advance and retreat. He also expressed high praise for the Bei family who also did not carry out petition activities.

Ye Luo's previous request for Bei Zuyi to return to Shanghai and serve as the general manager of the Shanghai Branch of China National Bank seems to have been approved by a high-level resolution.

When Bei Zuyizhen returns to Shanghai, Yeluo's financial and banking pillars will also be improved.

Everything was going in the direction he expected.

The only thing that is more pressing is time.

On January 28, 1932, the Battle of Songhu broke out, which was the clarion call on the eve of the war.

The next five years will not be as peaceful as they are now.

Therefore, Ye Luo had to create the true prototype of his business empire 32 years ago, advance both light and heavy industry, and then quietly move the Ye's headquarters to Xiangjiang in order to seek a glimmer of hope in the chaos of World War II.

And achieve the rise of giant businessmen.

Ye Luo knew that although both the petition and the disarmament failed, Feng Yuxiang would still make the greatest concession in the end to allow the disarmament plan to be implemented. After the economy eased, the principal went even further and wanted to completely cut off the wings of the other three people, thus triggering The Central Plains War at the end of 1929.

But the main battlefield at that time had nothing to do with Shanghai.

Thanks to policies such as disarmament, tariff independence, and domestic goods circulation, Shanghai's development will be unprecedentedly prosperous.

And if you want to eat all the cake before then, you have to accumulate enough capital and connections.

The opening day of Great World will be in two days. Ye Luo calmed down and made a call to Lin Ruxian, asking her to ensure that the opening day is smooth and popular!