1928: The rise of giant merchants

After eating this hot pot, Ye Luo still put a few dollars on the table as meal money.

These hot pot vendors are small businesses. Maybe if this meal is free, the store owner will lose a lot of profit.

Ye Luo doesn't care about the money. The store owner can say those words, which makes him feel it is worth it.

Before leaving, he smiled and said to the store owner: "Your hot pot tastes really good. Why don't you consider expanding the store? If you are short of funds, I can invest in it."

"No, no, boss, I appreciate your kindness. It's good to open our store like this. If it really becomes big, those officials above will not be happy."

The store owner hesitated to speak, and finally waved his hand to reject Ye Luo's kindness.

He didn't know Ye Luo's background, and didn't want him to really fall into the big pit of Qing City's business world.

This is a pit that can pit people to the point of leaving nothing behind!

"Okay. Maybe we will meet again in a few days."

Ye Luo didn't say much, pulled up Xiao Aqiao, and led everyone away from the hot pot stall.

Long before they came to Qing City, key employees of Ye's Investment had come here to explore the situation and bought them a house to live in.

The group came to a small villa located high above the city, and more than a dozen well-equipped servants and maids came out to help them pack their luggage and contact employees.

After a while, the person in charge of Ye's Investment in Qing City came running over.

This is a middle-aged man with a big back hair and a bit of "traitor look". Others call him "Uncle Jiang". He is one of the key members of the first phase of Ye's Investment Talent Training Program.

Uncle Jiang used to be the owner of the Shanghai Bund Fabric Factory. When he was glorious, he was once very close to being a top tycoon. Unfortunately, the pigment business was monopolized by the Bei family, and he had to withdraw from the market sadly.

When Ye's Investment secretly carried out the talent training plan, Uncle Jiang stood out with his outstanding ability and entered the vision of Xiao Aqiao and others from the bottom.

Because of the Liu Xuenong incident, Xiao Aqiao and others attached great importance to the loyalty training of talents.

After graduation, Uncle Jiang started from the bottom of the staff and became a middle and senior management within two years. He could stand out in any industry.

His loyalty was particularly high, which was completely different from his appearance.

Therefore, when he came to Qing City to do business this time, Xiao Aqiao promoted him to be the main person in charge of Ye's investment here.

In other words, Uncle Jiang was a core member of Xiao Aqiao's faction and her confidant.

Just like Chen Youde had become Meng Xiaodong's confidant.

Unknowingly, women like Ye Luo who were scattered all over the country also began to cultivate their own direct lineage and confidants, probably paving the way for their own offspring.

Ye Luo didn't care much about these things.

After all, he had seen a lot in his previous life. No matter how powerful or how big the family was, it was inevitable to fight for the family property and the drama of the nine dragons fighting for the throne.

He didn't object to women fighting for power and profit for their offspring, but if anyone shook the foundation of the Ye family, he would definitely kill the bud in the cradle.

No matter who it was, it wouldn't work.

"Old Jiang, right? Come over here and have a chat."

Ye Luo walked to the balcony and waved to the middle-aged man who kept nodding and bowing to Xiao Aqiao and Kong Lingjun.

Uncle Jiang immediately ran over with a smile.

Although he looked like a flatterer and a traitor, he actually knew everything.

As a subordinate, it would not be a good thing if he had no desires and shortcomings at all.

Moreover, he knew that a female master like Xiao Aqiao really needed a subordinate like him who could flatter, handle things, and be a lackey to deal with some problems that women were not convenient to deal with.

"Master, just call me Xiao Jiang." Uncle Jiang continued to nod and bow.

Ye Luo rolled his eyes at him: "You don't have to do that with me."

"Yes, yes, then you can call me whatever you want." Uncle Jiang replied with a simple smile.

"Well. Old Jiang, how long have you been here?" Ye Luo asked.

Uncle Jiang immediately replied: "Almost three months."

"After three months, you should have figured out the bottom of Qing City, right?" Ye Luo continued to ask.

Uncle Jiang's eyes lit up, knowing that the second young master was preparing to test him, and immediately answered truthfully: "Of course, I know everything! When I first came to Qing City, I thought it was a poor mountain city, but as..." He talked endlessly, telling everything he knew, which really made Ye Luo have a deeper understanding of the current Qing City. "Well, you are right. Qing City is a good place to do business. It has convenient transportation and outstanding people. As long as Liu Xiang can continue to occupy here and develop the economy well, sooner or later he will be able to truly unify Sichuan and Chongqing and become the veritable "King of Sichuan and Chongqing." "Ye Luo pointed to Chaotianmen Wharf and said, "The import of guns, artillery and ammunition in Sichuan and Chongqing must go through the Yangtze River waterway, otherwise they can only be imported from the southwest. From this point of view, Liu Xiang's military logistics supply is much more convenient than his opponents." "Master, are you optimistic about Liu Xiang?" Uncle Jiang secretly noted this in his heart. As the person in charge appointed by Xiao Aqiao, he knew that Ye's investment would most likely develop many industries in Qing City, which meant that the second young master was ready to take root here. The person in charge of such a city has much more real power than the person in charge of an ordinary city.

Whether Ye's investment can develop smoothly depends on the real "King of Sichuan and Chongqing" who the local warlords finally defeat.

Everyone is betting.

Although Liu Xiang seems to have the greatest power on the surface, many people are actually more optimistic about Liu Wenhui, the top leader of Sichuan and Chongqing Province who is against him.

In 1927, Liu Wenhui was appointed as a member of the Military Commission of the Jinling National Government, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan-Kangkang Border Defense, and the top leader of Sichuan and Chongqing Province.

In 1930, he joined the anti-Chiang alliance of Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan.

After the Central Plains War ended, Liu Xiang took the lead in electrifying and defecting to the Jinling National Government, winning the favor of the principal before Liu Wenhui.

Liu Wenhui, who held the Baoding Department in Sichuan to show his self-respect, decided to support the Yunnan Army Hu Ruoyu to fight back to Yunnan and support Wang Jialie to dominate Guizhou. Then he defected to Wang and supported Feng Yuxiang to oppose the principal.

It can be said that these two people must have a battle, and only one can become the true "King of Sichuan and Chongqing."

This is the famous "Two Liu Struggle for Sichuan" incident in history.

"Liu Xiang understands civil affairs better than Liu Wenhui. Along the way, many cities are still collecting many exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes regardless of tariff independence and the Jinling National Government's policy of canceling the tax. On the contrary, here, we only need to pay a tariff for Chaotianmen Wharf. Can."

Ye Luo smiled and said,

“With such foresight, business can grow bigger.”

There was another reason Ye Luo didn't say, but Uncle Jiang knew it.

Ye Luo was nominally friends with the principal and Zhang Hanqing, both of whom supported Liu Xiang, so it was naturally impossible for him to defect to Liu Wenhui.

"Thanks to Director Liu for the Lijin taxation." Uncle Jiang said with a smile.

"Who is Director Liu?" Ye Luo asked.

Uncle Jiang quickly replied: "Liu Hangchen, the director of the Finance Department of the Sichuan-Chongqing Disaster Management Office, is a top student at Peking University. He is now helping Liu Xiang manage finances. As soon as Director Liu took office, he laid off more than 30 taxation agencies. Respond to the policies of the Jinling National Government.”

"It's interesting. It seems that Liu Xiang has many sensible people besides Pan Wenhua." Ye Luo chuckled.

"Not only is it interesting, there are many stories about Director Liu. In the past, when soldiers asked merchants to borrow money, they always borrowed money without repaying it. Everyone just treated it as a waste of money to eliminate disasters. After Director Liu took office, although he also asked merchants to borrow money, Money, but you can borrow it and pay it back with interest!”

Uncle Jiang was in business and was full of praise for this.

During the Republic of China, the military had always been stronger than the merchants.

After all, not everyone is a second young master who dares to challenge these warlords without suffering a loss. (End of chapter)