1928: The rise of giant merchants

On May 28, the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928), each group army began a full-line offensive and successively captured HD, Dezhou, and Datong.

The Jinling side was determined to carry out this Northern Expedition. Even if the unscrupulous Japanese invaders forcibly invaded and occupied the capital of Shandong Province, they still did not stop and vowed to complete the nominal unification.

However, wars continue. Whether it is during the period of Beiyang warlord rule or the current period of melee, it is always the helpless people at the bottom who suffer.

"On May 1st, the Japanese army officers forced their way into our diplomatic office on the pretext of searching for soldiers and protecting overseas Chinese. Director Cai Gongshi severely reprimanded their barbaric behavior, but his nose and ears were brutally cut off, and he was forced to sign an unwarranted contract. Evidence of guilt! We refused to accept it, and Zhang Linshu scolded him the most. The brutal Japanese invaders cut off our limbs and cut off our ears and nose."

“On May 3, the Japanese invaders occupied a small area, but they had already begun a brutal massacre. It was not until May 11 that they completely occupied the provincial capital of Luzhou. They completely ignored humanitarianism and raised their butcher’s knives against unarmed civilians! Whether they are civilians, soldiers, or diplomats, they all kill without fail, showing no humanity at all!"

Zhang Hanru's voice came from the crystal radio.

This is a special program of Asia-American Radio. The interview guest is Zhang Hanru, the only logistics soldier who escaped from the capital of Shandong Province. His tone was serious and his voice was choked. He described the atrocities that the Japanese invaders had done in the capital of Shandong Province since May. Things are listed one by one.

The program was called "The Bloody Truth", and a group of people were filled with indignation. They wished they could pick up guns and swords right now and rush to the capital of Shandong Province to fight to the death with the Japanese invaders!

According to later statistics, this major tragedy caused the population of the capital of Shandong Province to drop sharply from 300,000 to 200,000. On May 11 alone, nearly 8,000 Chinese were massacred by the Japanese invaders!

"I didn't expect the truth to be so cruel! You're a beast! Get out of here!"

"Get out!"

"Boycott Japanese goods, boycott foreigners, boycott imperialism!"

Countless people gathered outside major stores of Grand Times Department Store. Listening to the voice coming from the radio, they couldn't help but burst into tears, clenched their fists, and let out a cry from their souls.

The same scene also appears in various restaurants, shops, commercial buildings, and many industries under the Yip Investment Company.

Ye Luo purchased 100 crystal radios from Yamei Radio Factory a few days ago, and then gave them to various Chinese-run shops and companies for free. All stores under Ye's Investment Company are even equipped with one set, 24 hours a day. Non-stop broadcast.

The "40000" reservation number was completed on May 23, and officially replaced the original two numbers of Ye's Automobile Shop on May 25. On May 28, the reservation number that had been online for three days was not given to Ye's Zhou Xiangsheng, who has always been full of confidence in Ye Luo, is a little nervous about how much business the car dealership brings.

In fact, as early as the end of last month, Ye Luo held several internal seminars on the car rental business. He set many business policies for the car shop, vigorously hired Chinese drivers, and conducted centralized training and management.

Later, he also wrote down his ambitious goal of starting a car rental business in various stores——

Ye's Automobile Shop is required to be "the largest in scale, with the most complete equipment, the most rigorous training, the most attentive waiters, the most vehicles, the best bodywork, and the widest branches" in Shanghai!

But in the past three days, Galt, who had been wary of Ye Luo for a long time, had united with all members of the Automobile Dealers Association to launch a "pursuit and interception" plan against Ye Luo's automobile shop.

The content of the plan is very simple. It is to unite all foreign auto dealers and boycott Chinese auto dealers. Wherever you do business, our Ford cars will go to grab business.

Not only that, the Federation of Automobile Traders also submitted an application for "standardization of car prices" to the Ministry of Industry and Public Affairs Bureau. They believe that companies that are also engaged in car rental business should not have pricing differences between each other, and require Huashang Automobile to set the starting price. From 1 ocean to the same 1.2 oceans as them.

In fact, the price of Chinese cars is cheaper than that of foreign cars. This is because Chinese car companies generally use relatively cheap second-hand cars and old-style cars, while foreign cars like to use new and good cars. The cars are different, the experience is different, and the people they serve are also different. How can the pricing be the same?

Unfortunately, although this arena match was a "dragon-tiger battle" between Ye Luo and Galt, the foreigners did not want a Chinese to defeat their businessman. Even if Ye Luo asked George for help in advance, they still did not stop "Yi Yiyi" Implementation of “vehicle price”.

Galt was not satisfied with this, so he went to the gasoline company to put pressure on them, asking them to increase the refueling fee for Chinese cars!

After a series of combined punches from the Automobile Traders Association, even the well-prepared Ye's Automobile Company was unable to withstand it. It was quickly squeezed out of the market share and became increasingly marginalized. Other Chinese automakers complained even more and became two parties. A victim of the rivalry between giants.

Of the 500 Chevrolet 490s that arrived in Shanghai on May 20, 200 were sold in just eight days. However, including the previous 439 units, the market for Chevrolet 490s in Shanghai has almost reached the sales limit estimated by Ye Luo. , sales will continue to increase, but the speed will not be so exaggerated.

However, the daily occupancy rate of more than 300 Chevrolet 490s stored by Ye's Motor Company is less than 30%, which makes a group of employees feel anxious.

In the afternoon, Ye's Automobile Company headquarters.

Looking at the rows of brand new Chevrolet 490s that had been gathering dust in the warehouse shortly after arriving in Shanghai, Zhou Xiang jumped up and down in anger.

At first, they were particularly excited whenever a new car arrived in Shanghai.

It seems that these cars can be sold anytime they want, and there is no need to worry about being hoarded in the warehouse.

In the last round of sales, there was even a situation where demand exceeded supply and the cars were left in the dealership for taxis.

Therefore, no one will question Ye Luo's judgment and decision.

But now, not all of the previously reserved batch of Chevrolet 490s have been put on the road, and now there are a bunch of new ones, which makes Zhou Xiangsheng a little overwhelmed.

He couldn't help but sigh when he looked at the iconic shiny trademark "Y" on the front of the new car and the eye-catching reservation phone number "40000" painted on the three sides of the car.

The "40,000" that everyone had high hopes for and considered to be the key to a comeback doesn't seem to have played any role?

Just as he was thinking hard, Ye Luo's hearty laughter came from outside.

Ye Luo was holding the newly made phone shelf in his hand. The shelf is round, with a wooden base and an aluminum surface. It is nailed to the wall. The "Y" logo is spray-painted in red, as well as the words 40000, Ye's Automobile Shop and other words. , looks beautiful and elegant, and is quite practical.

"Xiangsheng, come and take a look. This is a batch of phone shelf samples that I asked the factory to make again." Ye Luo handed him the phone shelf in his hand, "After the last batch of installations, users reported that the quality was not good. , I changed the factory. Take a look, and if there is no problem, I will arrange for someone to go to the customer’s home and install it as soon as possible.”

Zhou Xiangsheng took the shelf, looked at it, and turned it around carefully: "I think it's okay, then I'll ask Lao Li to find someone to arrange it later."

"Okay, here are the new leaflets and business cards. Take a look at them. When the incident in the capital of Tianlu Province reaches its peak tomorrow, we will distribute them all at once."

Ye Luo handed him the plastic bag in his hand, which was full of leaflets and business cards produced by Chinese advertising companies.

"Okay? Second Young Master, don't we put out these advertisements as soon as possible?" Zhou Xiangsheng felt even more puzzled, "In the past three days, the car rental business has not improved. If this continues, many drivers will change jobs and go to Yunfei. Tai is here.”

"It's not time yet." Ye Luo looked at his watch and then said with a smile, "The special program of Asia-American Radio has just been aired, so the response is not that fast."

"Second Young Master, what does this have to do with the special program?" Zhou Xiangsheng asked doubtfully, "Speaking of which, didn't you design the advertising slogan? Why haven't you told us yet?"

"You'll know just by looking at the flyer in your hand."

Ye Luo smiled with a mysterious expression.

It's not that he didn't say it on purpose, but that he was worried that if he leaked it in advance, his plan would be seen through. In that case, Yunfei Company might be on guard.

What he wanted was to catch him off guard and give him a crushing victory!

Zhou Xiangsheng took out a leaflet and read it in a low voice. Then the expression on his face suddenly changed, from confusion to shock!

"Forty million compatriots, dial the phone number 40,000 and take the bus number 40,000!"