1928: The rise of giant merchants

Beginning in May, the Central Army of the Rector took the lead in launching an offensive and once achieved a good start, but generally the war was still in a stalemate.

Because both sides of the war are fighting with miscellaneous troops, second-rate warlords like Shi Yousan have won several battles, which is enough to show how bad the vanguard of the Central Army is.

It was not until early May that the elite troops of both sides began to have direct contact.

The main force of the Central Army was concentrated on the Ping-Han and Long-Hai fronts. Yan Xishan avoided the most important and attacked the northwest of Shandong Province. He successively achieved good results. The situation in Shandong Province began to develop in a direction conducive to the anti-Chiang coalition forces.

As for other aspects of the battlefield, there are back and forth and a stalemate.

This stalemate is the most brutal war of attrition, consuming countless amounts of money and food and the lives of soldiers every day, depending on who can hold on longer.

While the warlords were fighting in a melee, a cargo ship departed from Shiliupu Pier and loaded with various Ye's investment commodities, bound for Japan, and soon arrived at Yokohama Port.

The cargo on this ship was worth thousands of gold. Ye Luo used this as an excuse to equip a hundred-strong, fully armed guard, with Huo Ting'en as the captain, Heng San as the deputy captain, and Shi Jianqiao as the general staff officer.

This guard is equipped with sophisticated German weapons and equipment, and each member is a veteran who has fought hard for a long time. As soon as they arrived at the shore, the Yokohama Port Coast Guard felt like they were facing a formidable enemy, fearing that these people would shoot if they disagreed. Shoot the people in the harbor.

Ye Luo landed at Yokohama Port and took out an autographed letter from the current Japanese Prime Minister Hamaguchi Yuki and handed it to the trembling Coast Guard.

After reading the contents of the letter, the coast guard immediately stood at attention, gave Ye Luo a military salute, and specially used a coast guard motorcade to escort the Chinese businessmen to the inland.

"I didn't expect that the urban construction of the Japanese invaders was quite good." Huo Ting'en came to Japan for the first time. If he had not followed Ye Luo to visit super cities such as New York and Los Angeles in the United States, he felt that he would have been surprised by the urban construction here. .

In the minds of many Chinese, Japan is still the younger brother-in-law that relied on the former Qing Dynasty. Although it seems to have developed very rapidly after the Meiji Restoration, it is still too far away from China after all, just like the people of Xiangjiang Island in later generations thought of mainlanders. I know the same.

Still stuck in the impression of many years ago.

"It's not bad. After all, Yokohama is one of the big cities in Japan. Naturally, it looks similar to Shanghai, the largest city in the Far East. If you go to the Japanese countryside, it may not be better than our rural areas."

Ye Luo gave them popular science tips while walking,

"Although their overall living standards look good, in fact the contradiction between the left and the right in the country is extremely fierce, especially those very extreme militarists who are very hostile to our country and are very aggressive."

"These Japanese invaders don't look like good people. They all have very bad looks." Hengsan had fought with Japanese invaders before when he was in the army. He was very repulsive to Japanese soldiers and disgusted the people who saw them.

"Since the second young master doesn't like Japan, why do we still come here to do business? Wouldn't it be better to go to the United States or Europe?" Shi Jianqiao asked doubtfully.

Ever since he saw the feasting and entertainment in the United States, Shi Jianqiao felt that many countries were really difficult to live in. Since he wanted to make money, he must go to the best place.

"An economic crisis has just broken out in the United States, and we have made countless profits from it. What are they doing now? People are jumping off buildings, and people are unemployed. But droughts are killing people, and floods are killing people. Those consortiums and we are vested interests, but We have no local identity, and staying there for a long time will only arouse public anger. As long as Huixin is there."

Ye Luo patted Shi Jianqiao's little head. It's no wonder that most strange women have no brains. Shi Jianqiao has been following him for so long, but it seems that he still hasn't figured it out.

She has long hair, big breasts, and strength. She has all three of them, so it's no wonder she's so stupid.

Knowing that Ye Luo was scheming against him again, Shi Jianqiao angrily slapped his hand away, put his hands on his hips and said: "So what, doing business there may be risky, but the profits are also high. Doing business here is risky. Small, and the benefits are small. You used to tell me that businessmen have to be greedy and cannot be afraid to make big money because of risks! Now you do what you say and do, and you still say that I am not enlightened! "

"I didn't say you weren't enlightened." Ye Luo waved his hand quickly.

Shi Jianqiao retorted: "You must be thinking so in your heart."

"You are not a roundworm in my stomach." Ye Luo spread his hands.

"That's what you think anyway!"

Watching the two bickering, Huo Ting'en and others pursed their lips in amusement.

Ye Luo patted Shi Jianqiao's little head again and explained: "How do you know that business here will make less money than in the United States?"

"Is there any business here?" Shi Jianqiao was unconvinced.

After she finished speaking, she remembered that when Ye Luo took everyone to the United States, he specifically said that he was going to make money by trading stocks. This time, he didn't even say what he was going to do, which made her think that Ye Luo was doing it on the spur of the moment.

Ye Luo didn't say anything about this, and just asked people to carry a large amount of goods to the city. The group immediately attracted the attention of many people.

Huo Ting'en walked on the street and found that this place was indeed as the second young master said. It looked prosperous on the outside, but in fact many people lived in misery. Most of the people who poked their heads out of the small houses were wearing coarse linen clothes, which made him feel like he was back home. The illusion of rural northern China.

It turns out that in any country, it is always the people at the bottom who live the most miserable lives?

The person who greeted Ye Luo and others was the mayor of Yokohama, Oda Tomotake, who is one of Hamaguchi Yuki's protégés and can be regarded as a relatively young and promising politician in contemporary Japan.

Oda Yuken was also considered Ye Luo's senior. He studied public administration at Harvard University in 1920. After graduation, he entered the political arena. He started from the bottom and reached a high position in just ten years, which is enviable.

"Ye, Your Excellency the Prime Minister has told me that you should stay in Yokohama for a few more days. When he is finished with the cabinet meeting, he will personally bring someone to pick you up and take you to Tokyo." Oda Yuken was frightened by the guards brought by Ye Luo. He arrived, but he still kept his habitual fake smile on his face.

With such a terrifying armed force, if he wanted to capture Yokohama at this moment, Oda Tomoken even felt that Ye Luo had a chance to do it.

"Thank you, senior. I was worried that if I took someone to Tokyo, many people would stop me and ask questions along the way, which would delay my trip." Ye Luo also responded with a fake smile.

Oda Yuken smiled and said: "How could it be? You are the guest of His Excellency the Prime Minister, and we will never do anything excessive to the guests."

"Yeah, that's good." Ye Luo replied with a smile, "After all, I had a lot of trouble with your people back home, and I'm afraid something will happen here."

"Are you talking about Suzuki Hospital and Rendan?" Oda Yuken has also heard of these things, but the above has already concluded this. He did not hide it and answered with a smile, "Those are all small things, and this time Compared to what happened when you came here, it’s not worth mentioning.”

The two kept talking in Japanese, which made Shi Jianqiao very anxious. He didn't understand and wanted to know, but looking at the expressions of Ye Luo and the Japanese, it seemed that the two had known each other for a long time.

Huo Tingen and the others were also confused.

What kind of business did the second young master come to Japan for?

With his severe actions against the Japanese invaders in Shanghai, how could the Japanese treat him like a guest?

"I hope this trade will go smoothly." Ye Luo smiled and lowered his voice, "Have you prepared enough gold?"

"Of course!" Oda Yuken sat up straight and nodded. (End of chapter)