1928: The rise of giant merchants

"In the sixth year of the Republic of China, that was eleven years ago. Now, as far as I know, in Shanghai, a box of medium-quality cigarettes costs 6,500 oceans, and high-quality cigarettes costs 8,900 oceans. The top-grade smoke, how much do you think it costs?"

The numbers Ye Luo said were shocking, and the two people with military backgrounds were shocked when they heard it.

They shook their heads.

Ye Luo held up one finger on his left hand and five fingers on his right hand: "Fifteen thousand oceans."

"Hiss—" Sun Liren and both of them gasped at the same time.

Sun Liren's current monthly salary is only 180 yuan, and his total income is only 2,000 yuan a year. Those big cigarette dealers just import a box of top-quality goods, and they actually have to work hard for seven or eight years without eating or drinking!

"This is the purchase price. Do you know how high the profit is? Such a box of top-quality goods costs 15,000 oceans. After deducting all costs, it can still generate a profit of 45,000 oceans, a profit margin of up to 300%."

“In the writing notes for Section 6 of Chapter 24 ‘So-called Primitive Accumulation’ of Capital, the author quoted a classic sentence from the British economic critic Thomas J. Denning’s article “Trade Unions and Strikes”.

"As soon as there is an appropriate profit, capital will become bold. If there is 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; if there is 20% profit, it will become active; if there is 50% profit, it will take risks; if there is 100 With 300% profit, it dares to trample all human laws; with 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime and even risk hanging."

Ye Luo's words quoted from classics, and every sentence was shocking and thought-provoking.

Sun Liren and Liu Fangwu knew that the tobacco business was profitable, but they did not expect it to be so profitable!

"Do you know what the original cost of such a box of top-quality goods overseas is?" Ye Luo continued, "About one thousand oceans. Then the foreigners sold it to our Chinese businessmen for fifteen thousand oceans."

"Suppose I buy 100 boxes of top-quality goods at a cost of 1.5 million oceans. After selling them all, I can earn at least 4 million oceans."

When Ye Luo said this, he suddenly paused.

"Both of you know about my car business. The cost is almost 1.5 million oceans. Counting the profits from selling cars, leasing cars and other businesses, it can reach 1 million oceans."

There is no harm without contrast.

The automotive miracle of the Chevrolet 490 is difficult to replicate. It is already one of the most widely praised benchmark cases in the Shanghai business community.

With this, Ye Luo not only monopolized the car rental business in Shanghai, but also brought 2,000 Chevrolet 490s into the homes of ordinary people. At the same time, he defeated the American Yunfei Automobile Company and the British Tailai Automobile Company, and succeeded Galt as the car rental company. The president of the trade association and a veritable car king in Shanghai.

To this day, there are still many car dealers imitating Yeluo in doing business and importing other General Motors cars across the country.

And this kind of business only has a quarter of the profit of the cigarette business with the same cost.

It’s chilling to think about.

"A profit of 300% is enough to make people risk their lives. Do you think it is realistic to ban smoking with such a slogan?" Ye Luo sneered.

The two sighed silently.

Not to mention those big cigarette dealers.

Just hearing what Ye Luo said so casually made both of them tempted.

Many cigarette dealers cannot afford the cost of tens of thousands of dollars per box, but they can jointly bear the cheapest cigarettes. A box is estimated to be only a thousand dollars, and the profit is also several thousand dollars. After everyone divides it equally, they can spend hundreds of dollars together. Thousands of oceans, isn’t it within reach?

And the income earned by this cigarette dealer, who is close to the lowest level, is almost equal to Sun Liren's annual salary at one time.

"The most terrifying thing is that the cigarette dealers are not only gang members and some rogue tycoons, but there may be important military and political figures involved behind the scenes!" Ye Luoyi pointed out, the two of them looked awe-inspiring. As people from the military and political circles, they naturally understood that this was What's the meaning.

In this way, all aspects from importing, transporting, selling to money laundering can be easily realized.

At this time, watching the speeches of the big figures on the stage was particularly dazzling and ridiculous.

"Is there no way to solve this scourge?" Liu Fangwu clenched his fists.

Ye Luo smiled and said: "One day it can be completely cleaned up. But when that day will be, I don't know if we can still see it."

Saying this is like saying nothing. It just gives a glimmer of hope that the gloomy sky will clear up.

Ye Luo said so much here, but he just wanted to provide some popular science and warning to some real people with lofty ideals nearby. There will always be people who have the real determination to do these things well.

Smoking is extremely profitable and harmful, so the anti-smoking work requires extra efforts.

After more than two hours of meeting, the principal came to the stage again and issued a stern lecture: "The smoking ban is related to the survival of the country, society and the nation. The smoking ban committee must act vigorously and resolutely, without mercy, and do it on the ground. We should start with Jinling. If anyone in Jinling dares to test the law, eat or transport cigarettes, we will be unselfish and deal with them severely, without any leniency."

This is what Ye Luo said, what goes up and down goes, but slogans are slogans and facts are facts.

Ye Luo didn't know whether Jinling had gone astray, but at the end of October, the Jiang Anlun incident in Shanghai would give the principal a quick and powerful slap in the face, directly slapping him in the face for what he said.

This is why the Jinling National Government paid so much attention to the Jiang'an Lun incident.

Everyone is well aware of the details of the ban on smoking, but you can't just slap them in the face shortly after they speak.

The principal has a very good reputation. If he were slapped in the face, it would be difficult for anyone to do anything.

Later, the Double Twelve Incident initiated by Zhang Hanqing, although the result was a peaceful resolution, everyone united and unanimously dealt with the outside world to expel the Japanese invaders first.

But the face-saving principal imprisoned Zhang Hanqing for decades!

Not everyone can afford to have a retributive character and a high position.

Ye Luo now only hopes that the Jiang Anlun incident can successfully bring down the three tycoons of Yongxing Company.

Judging from the available information, the Jiang'an ship was taken over by a company owned by Edward Sassoon after it was auctioned by the Steamship Merchants Company, and Edward was apparently doing cigarette business with Zhang Wanlin and Huo Tianhong of Yongxing Company.

It is almost certain that the Jiang'an Lun incident is related to them.

It's just that how to escalate the situation and how to let people from Ye's Security Company disrupt the situation still needs to be discussed carefully.

After the principal delivered his lecture, Zhang Zhijiang and others took turns to speak on stage again. This speech lasted for more than an hour. Ye Luo really couldn't stand it anymore and fell asleep directly.

"Aluo, Aluo, the meeting is over! You're good, you slept so soundly." Song Ziwen's voice came from the side.

Ye Luo suddenly woke up. Not far away, Sun Liren and Liu Fangwu looked embarrassed. People in the huge auditorium were walking out. Because Song Ziwen was here, many people looked over and caught a glimpse of Ye Luo's embarrassing incident.

It is normal to fall asleep during a meeting, but if Song Ziwen caught him and let many people see it, it would be very embarrassing.

But Ye Luo didn't care about this at all. Instead, he felt it was good because it could weaken other people's judgment of him.

He chuckled and stood up: "Brother Song, you also know that I am not in the cigarette business, and I am not very interested in these things."

"It's okay if you're not interested. It's a meeting. It's really boring. Come on, let's go get something to eat." Song Ziwen patted his shoulder and came over mysteriously, "By the way, I'll introduce you to a beautiful girl later. .”