1928: The rise of giant merchants

Bai Mansion, restaurant.

As Ye Luo's uncle, Bai Xiongqi is now very interested in his brother-in-law's business.

When he heard that Ye Luo had acquired three arsenals owned by Yongxing Company, he immediately agreed to invite Xiong Shihui from the Garrison Command out for dinner.

Now that Qian Dajun, commander of the 32nd Army, has been away from the station for a long time, Xiong Shihui is the well-deserved leader of the garrison headquarters.

In Shanghai, Xiong Shihui and Wang Hu, the director of the Songhu Police Department, were very difficult to deal with. After all, one army and one policeman had similar functions, and each had its own subordinate faction, so there was inevitably a lot of friction.

Everyone knows that Bai Xiong, who was once the Minister of Finance, was unable to climb up, so he chose to join Wang Hu, who relied on the Ye family to assassinate the former director Xu Guoliang.

Wang Hu is a man who is determined to retaliate for his anger, forgets his righteousness at the sight of gain, and has a charlatan attitude, which is completely opposite to Xiong Shihui, who was born as a soldier.

This is also the reason why Ye Yuqiao and Wang Hu were able to have a good relationship, but when they arrived at Ye Luo, this layer of connections was slowly destroyed.

The biggest interaction between Ye Luo and Wang Hu before was that he secretly stuffed Ma Yongzhen and others into the Songhu Police Department.

In addition, Wang Hu is also the protector of Yongxing Company's cigarette business, which Ye Luo cannot deal with.

Knowing these issues well, Xiong Shihui thought about it before reluctantly believing Bai Xiongqi's words.

But he still felt that Ye Luo was unreliable.

Because Wang Hu is a direct descendant of Zhang Dingyao, both of them were important members of the Gui Clan, and they had many conflicts with people from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang plutocrats.

"Boss Ye, what do you plan to do with those three arsenals?" Xiong Shihui took a sip of tea and looked at Ye Luo.

"In the past, Yongxing Company's transactions with the Garrison Headquarters were kept as they were without any changes." What Ye Luo valued was not the little money spent on ordnance, but what he valued more was the equipment, staff and equipment in the arsenal. Legal military production license.

As for the deal with the Security Headquarters, Xiong Shihui will be transferred to Gan Province to be the leader next year due to the Jiang Anlun incident. Since then, there is no possibility that his power will set foot in Shanghai, and Ye Luo doesn't care at all.

This is why he dared to join forces with Xiong Shihui.

Also next year, the principal officially went to war with Feng Yuxiang, the leader of the Gui clique warlord. During the war, the principal would never allow anyone from the Gui clique to occupy important positions.

Even if Zhang Dingyao was not sick, he would not be able to continue sitting in this position.

Once Zhang Dingyao left, Wang Hu was left alone.

When he loses his position as director of the Songhu Police Department, the people assigned by Ye Luo will be able to take over smoothly.

Hedong in thirty years, Hexi in thirty years.

Whether they are important military and political figures or foreign consuls-general, a large number of people will undergo a major change next year. If they leave, but Ye Luo stays, then Ye Luo's power will rise to the next level.

"With the second young master's business ability, there is no need to worry about the production problems of the arsenal. However, when I come here today, I still want to remind the second young master." Xiong Shihui glanced at him and said calmly, "Private possession of ordnance is strictly prohibited in Jinling. Something, second young master, don’t make a mistake.”

"Of course, the manpower of the Security Command is very tight now, and we are unable to allocate troops to protect the safety of the arsenal. In order to ensure that the production process is confidential and there are no security risks, we tacitly allow the arsenal to form a self-defense team, but the number of personnel cannot exceed one hundred."

Xiong Shihui changed the topic and looked at him with a smile.

"However, these officers are considered as active staff of the Security Command. Each of them needs 3,000 oceans per year for police expenses. Second Young Master, you have to pay for this money yourself."

Ye Luo raised his eyebrows.

Good guy, as long as you give me money, you will be allowed to form a small-scale private armed force to a certain extent, right?

One person earns 3,000 yuan a year, and 100 people earns 300,000 yuan. For Ye Luo, this small amount of money is nothing but water.

Of course, if a self-defense force is really formed, the amount of money that must be paid to the security headquarters will definitely be more than 300,000 yuan, a conservative estimate of 700,000 to 800,000 yuan.

"I understand, Commander Xiong, please tell me." Ye Luo nodded.

"Second Young Master's quick talk can save me a lot of trouble. I have sent someone to Ye Mansion for the specific cooperation details. Second Young Master can just follow the details." Xiong Shihui didn't want to stay any longer and stood up to leave, "Minister Bai, we will be on guard from now on. The headquarters still needs your military and political department to take care of it."

"Haha, whatever Commander Xiong said was from our own people." Bai Xiongqi didn't say anything during the whole process, but it was enough for him to come forward and sit here.

His stance will make Xiong Shihui completely give up the idea of ​​​​consolidating Ye Luo and complete the handover of the three arsenals.

After all, Xiong Shihui still didn't know why Huo Tianhong suddenly let go and asked his mortal enemy Ye Luo to take over. If he wanted to dispel his doubts, he would have to have a political figure of Bai Xiongqi's level to vouch for it.

After sending Xiong Shihui away, Bai Xiongqi looked happy, feeling that Ye Luo had listened to what he had said before.

He has always been salivating over the Hua-German military cooperation project, but that one is firmly controlled by Zhang Dingyao. Even if there is still money flowing out, it will have to be eaten up by the Security Headquarters and the Songhu Police Department.

As the Minister of Military and Political Affairs, he seemed to be half a rank higher than Xiong Shihui and Wang Hu, but he had no soldiers or guns, and he did not have enough voice, so it was difficult to get anything from those two people.

Now that he has won over Xiong Shihui, it means that Wang Hu will be dealt with. If these two troubles are removed, Bai Xiongqi will have many opportunities to participate in Huade military cooperation projects.

"Aluo, I heard that you bought many companies from Huo Tianhong? You can't bite off more than you can chew. You should focus on the military industry recently." Bai Xiong pointedly patted Ye Luo's shoulder.

"Brother Bai, don't worry. Wang Hu and Xiong Shihui won't be together for long. There is a chance that you can get the military cooperation project you have been thinking about." Ye Luo could see through his mind at a glance.

Bai Xiongqi looked a little embarrassed, smiled, pulled him out of the restaurant, returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa.

"Oh, by the way, Xiuzhu and your sister-in-law went to watch a movie. I heard that "The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple" is about to have its finale. Recently, Ye's Guangming Cinema has been full every day." Bai Xiongqi said, "I heard that you handed over the film company to Let Lin Ruxian take care of it?"

"Yes, my sister-in-law is alone and helpless, and the only new world in her hands has been robbed by Zhang Wanlin. I have been well taken care of by Brother Jing Ruishan, so I can help my sister-in-law a little bit." Ye Luo nodded.

"Yeah." Bai Xiongqi smiled. We were all men, how could he believe Ye Luo's nonsense.

Lin Ruxian was as famous as Xiao Aqiao, and she was even more charming now that she was a married woman. Countless men in Shanghai were drooling over her, and even Bai Xiongqi wouldn't be able to control them.

Although polygamy in the Manchu dynasty was abolished during the Republic of China, men and women actually acquiesced in the existence of concubines.

Especially in the upper class society, it is normal for a man to have many women.

When Bai Xiongqi said this, he just hoped that Ye Luo would not treat one another favorably and left out Bai Xiuzhu, who had never been accepted.

He also hopes to use this sister to continue to win over Ye Luo, so that he can rise up in the political arena.

"Xiuzhu studied in Japan before. After you get married, I will find someone to send her to study in Germany. I can also help you with your business in the future." Bai Xiongqi took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Now she is always If I don’t have enough pocket money, I’ll have to rely on you to support me from now on.”

"Don't worry, brother." Ye Luo smiled back. He knew that Bai Xiongqi wanted to make some money from Ye and help him pave the way in the political arena. This was understandable, but he liked to use Bai Xiuzhu as a bargaining chip, which made Ye Luo very unhappy. , "When Xiuzhu arrives at Ye's house, she can spend as much as she wants, and she doesn't have to be pushed around anymore."

"What are you talking about? She is not a ball in the Bai family!" Bai Xiongqi glared at him. Seeing that Ye Luo was still smiling, he knew that he had seen through his mind again, so he said no more.

One of the reasons why he didn't like Ye Luo before was that the young man was too smart.

Being smart means being difficult to control.

But now Bai Xiongqi has looked away.

As long as he can continue to help himself with money and connections, those little problems won't be a problem.

The two drank tea for a while, and then Ye Luo said goodbye and left.

Back in the car, Ye Luo sighed, hoping that in the future he, his uncle, would not go astray and embark on a path of no return because of his excessive enthusiasm for power.

"Second Young Master, where are you going now?" Cao Fan, already a qualified driver, asked immediately when he saw him getting into the car.

Ye Luo pointed forward: "Go back to Ye Mansion to meet Uncle Zhang Shi first, and then it's time to go to the dock to inspect Song Ziwen's textiles."