1928: The rise of giant merchants

November 15, the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930).

Chinese and Western girls' school, Jinglian Academy.

Zhang Anyi, who returned from studying abroad, was only 18 years old. Because of her excellent grades and extraordinary knowledge, she was hired as an assistant social studies teacher by exception. She was the youngest associate teacher since the establishment of the Chinese and Western Girls' School.

Of course, being able to become a teacher in such an aristocratic school for girls was indispensable due to the operation of her father Zhang Mouzhi and the reputation of her godbrother Ye Luo in all walks of life in Shanghai.

Today, Zhang Anyi, as a teacher representative, gave a speech on social knowledge to hundreds of female students from Chinese and Western girls' schools.

Last time Lu Xiachun and others invited Ye Luo to give a speech in the business class at the Chinese and Western Girls' School, and the effect was outstanding. The female students were very interested in this kind of speech. Since then, the Chinese and Western Girls' School has held such a public speech every half month, and it has been carried out to this day. .

Sometimes they invite celebrities from all walks of life in Shanghai, and sometimes they invite well-known scholars. If there is no one, they ask the teachers from the school to give speeches one by one. In short, they ensure that they give the latest and hottest knowledge to the female students twice a month. .

As soon as Zhang Anyi came on stage, the chatter below gradually disappeared.

She is no longer the little Anyi who played mahjong with her sisters in the living room of Ye Mansion all day long. Now she has beautiful short hair that is fresh and clean. Her facial features and body after long hair are not inferior to those of her sister Zhang Leyi. She is full of youthful atmosphere and carries a The unique charm of a silk woman.

Zhang Anyi spread out the handout, but his eyes kept secretly glancing at Ye Luo, who was observing as a guest in the audience.

Two years ago, my father came to Shanghai to do business on the recommendation of his brother-in-law Song Ziwen. The first thing he did was to pay a visit to the pier in Yeluo. Since then, the Zhang family and the Ye family have formed a close relationship.

Zhang Mouzhi left his beloved daughter in the Ye family, thinking that one day Zhang Anyi and Ye Luo could get married and make the Zhang family prosperous.

Zhang Anyi was only sixteen years old when she first came here, which was the age of Huaichun. Naturally, she was attracted by the graceful, handsome and elegant Ye Luo. However, she was later led astray by Mahjong and no longer had such thoughts.

After returning from studying abroad, Zhang Anyi gradually realized how powerful this godbrother who had taken care of him all the way was, and the calm lake in his heart was unknowingly rippled again.

All kinds of thoughts came to me.

Zhang Anyi quickly shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts, looked at the title on the handout, came to his senses, and began to speak: "Dear students, teachers, and guests, I am honored that you are here to listen to my speech. The topic of my speech is—— 'The Current Situation of Chinese Workers'."

Ye Luo in the audience looked at Zhang Anyi with a smile, but felt a little embarrassed.

After breaking up with other businessmen in the textile industry more than a month ago, Ye Luo instructed Miss Sheng Qi and Mu Ouchu to quickly establish Ye's Textile Company, and then began to reform the entire textile industry.

The three previously planned trilogies are actually being advanced at the same time, regardless of order.

Ye Luo, who traveled through time in later generations, paid special attention to the influence of public opinion. Almost at the same time, all magazines and newspapers under Ye's Newspaper Company launched their efforts to point the finger at the textile industry, which had developed abnormally and severely exploited workers.

They made no mention of tariff independence after the new year or the upcoming rise of the textile industry. They just continued to criticize major textile factories, accusing them of being inhumane and extremely exploitative of workers, which is really against business ethics.

Many print media and radio stations in the south were under the control of Ye Luo. They would say whatever he asked them to say. In addition, since then, they had been enjoying denouncement of capitalists and aid to workers. Soon, literati and celebrities from all walks of life were writing articles. Support Ye Luo.

In less than a month, dense and overwhelming accusations and accusations came towards Rongshi, Shengjia and Sassoon. Basically, all the old-school textile companies were not spared.

Seeing that the time was right, Ye Luo asked Sheng Aiyi to start uncovering some of the shady stories about the Sheng family, listing evidence, collecting charges, and constantly sending people to the Songhu Police Department, Concession Court, labor unions, and patrol houses to prosecute.

The acting director of the Songhu Police Department is Ma Yongzhen, who naturally gave Sheng Aiyi the green light and was the most active and enthusiastic in dealing with it. He sent people to Sheng's house every now and then to ask people for questioning. No matter what the final result was, seeing policemen with batons coming every day, the workers Gradually, he became frightened and worried, feeling that the Sheng family was really going to collapse, and his heart instantly became disoriented.

There are George, Shen Da and others in the concession, and there are Ye Luo's people in the union. Compared with his connections and resources, the Sheng family is like ants, unable to resist at all.

What made Sheng Enyi most desperate was that the Japanese, who had promised to provide full assistance before, found out that Ye Luo had used real fire. They ran faster than the other and had no intention of confronting Ye Luo.

Before the subsequent combination of punches could be fired, half of the Sheng family fell.

The second part of the public opinion offensive is to let students launch demonstrations to expand their advantage.

The good thing about the Republic of China period is that these students were truly innocent, willing to sacrifice themselves for others, and risk their lives to help ordinary people complain.

Previously, the principal provoked a war in the Central Plains, and northern students even risked being shot by taking to the streets to discuss, which gave Zhang Hanqing such a headache that he almost ordered Zang Qifang to put them all in jail.

Students from the South were not to be outdone. There were student demonstrations and open-air speeches on Shanghai Beach every day. Banners were hung in front of the city hall, calling for an end to the war and a return to peace.

Faced with the exploitation of workers in textile factories, it was okay when they didn't know much about it. Now Zhang Anyi is giving speeches in major schools. As the students listen, their blood pressure suddenly rises.

"Whether it is north or south, the bosses of textile factories often send people to the countryside to recruit workers and exploit the ignorance of the villagers. These bonded workers have no personality at all, the labor intensity is extremely high, but the salary is very meager, and they live an inhuman slave life. , being drained of every drop of blood flowing from his body by the capitalists.”

Zhang Anyi's voice is not loud and her tone is very gentle, but coupled with her delicate face and her right hand raised high into a fist, she has an indescribable appeal and persuasiveness.

Questions from the weak are more powerful.

The female students listened silently. The girls who can enter Chinese and Western girls' schools have very well-to-do families and rarely come into contact with the cruel side of society.

They did not expect that the current situation of Chinese workers was worse than that of the American black slaves in books, but they brought back the bad status quo and were unable to change it.

This sense of powerlessness spread in Jingliantang. Soon someone mentioned that they could go to marches and distribute leaflets to let more people know about the current situation of Chinese workers, and use the pressure of public opinion to force the city hall to punish and change those textile factories. .

Ye Luo smiled after hearing this. In later generations, there are short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, as well as the Internet and high technology. Information spreads very quickly. If something happened today, the public opinion would ferment within an hour, forcing the officials to face the problem.

But that's not possible now, it can only be achieved through such person-to-person transmission.

Of course, parades and pressure from public opinion are risky. Countless students died due to such behavior during the Republic of China. Ye Luo would naturally arrange for people from Ye's security and Ye's sports to protect them secretly.

Fortunately, he made arrangements early and infiltrated his power into the Songhu Police Department, the Security Headquarters, and the Concession Patrol Room. At least in Shanghai, no one could touch the people he wanted to protect.

At the end of the speech, the lasting applause made Zhang Anyi burst into tears.

This topic was given to her by Ye Luo. After reading this and understanding it, she also felt angry for those workers. This successful speech made the students feel the same, and she was very happy.

After getting off the stage, Zhang Anyi sat next to Ye Luo and turned back into the shy little sister. Ye Luo patted her little head to encourage her, and Zhang Anyi happily accepted the touch. (End of chapter)