1928: The rise of giant merchants

Ye Luo met the famous "King of Sichuan and Chongqing" Liu Xiang in the attic private room of Qingshi Hotel.

Liu Xiang is not tall, has good facial features, and has a shaved head like the principal.

This person is gloomy, reserved, unsmiling, and exudes a reckless aura, similar to Ye Yuqiao in his youth.

But Liu Xiang seemed to be reckless and unwise, but in fact he spoke clearly and rigorously, and talking to him felt like communicating with a well-known scholar.

"Master Fu, I have long admired your name, and today I finally meet you." Ye Luo cupped his fists and welcomed Liu Xiang to the dinner table.

This time we were accompanied by the same old faces - Pan Wenhua, Liu Hangchen, Lu Zuofu, Wang Yunsong, Yang Cansan, Xiao Aqiao and Kong Lingjun.

"Hi, I have long admired you. Hello, Second Young Master." Liu Xiang shook hands with Ye Luo warmly, forcing a smile on his cold and serious face, and then said hello to Xiao Aqiao and Kong Lingjun, " Hello, Second Young Mistress, and this, the young lady of the Kong family, I held you several times when you were a baby."

"Hello, Uncle Liu~" On every occasion like this, Kong Lingjun could restrain her devil-like personality and become extremely well-behaved and cute, which surprised Ye Luo.

No wonder women are said to have different faces. This is a talent they have had since childhood.

Liu Xiang waited for the waiter to serve tea and cold dishes, and then said with a smile: "Zhongsan (Pan Wenhua's nickname) told me that the second young master plans to do a lot of business in Qingshi, which is very gratifying."

"We are currently planning to specialize in the four major areas of construction, entertainment, education and finance." Ye Luo nodded and replied, "Commander Liu is also interested in joining a share?"

"Haha, I'm a rough guy. I don't understand business or economics, so I won't get involved in your affairs. I just have something I want to ask the second young master."

Liu Xiang didn't like to beat around the bush like those literati. Seeing that the atmosphere was almost up, he simply went straight to the point.

"Is it the intention of the party to open the factory this time, or..."

"It's my own business. Commander Liu also knows that we have just withdrawn our investment from the north and are going to choose a place to set up camp. We chose Qing City. The principal only takes care of my business."

"Ah, that's it." Liu Xiang felt a little relieved.

This time he came back, firstly to help Pan Wenhua and others find out Ye Luo's thoughts, and secondly, to confirm whether Ye's investment in the company had the intention of the Jinling National Government.

Recently, the conflict between him and Liu Wenhui has intensified, and he needs the principal's help. However, he does not want the power of the Jinling National Government to really penetrate into his territory, so he is very taboo about people from there coming to take root here.

Hearing what Ye Luo said, Liu Xiang felt relieved, and the subsequent communication became smoother.

Everyone was drinking and talking. After hearing the report from Pan Wenhua and others, Liu Xiang was also worried that Ye Luo just came to Qing City to have fun. If Huang Yunye repelled him and left a lot of chicken feathers, they would have to clean up the mess.

But at this moment, Ye Luo casually talked about his ideas and plans, which made everyone feel his sincerity.

If I hadn’t prepared carefully, I would never have had such a deep understanding of Qingshi’s business community and its current development trends.

Especially for Liu Hangchen, Ye Luoyan described all the dilemmas and problems he faced when implementing reforms, even the details were correct. Liu Hangchen immediately felt that it was too late to meet him and couldn't help but make him a confidant.

"Foreigners, mountain goods gang, and Huang family, these are the three sharp weapons in Huang Yunye's hands. As long as he keeps one of them, it will be difficult for us to completely break through his defense line."

Ye Luo raised three fingers.

"And if Huang Yunye's cancer is not removed, Qingshi's business district will not get better."

Wang Yunsong was convinced and couldn't help nodding, but he couldn't help but ask: "Then what method does the second young master think should be used to destroy Huang Laoqi's three sharp weapons?"

"The mountain man has his own clever plan, just wait patiently." Ye Luo smiled mysteriously.

What he said was tantamount to telling them that I have a way, but I can't reveal it to you now, which completely blocked their curiosity.

Wang Yunsong and others did not dare to force Ye Luo, so they had no choice but to drink and pray in their hearts that Ye Luo was not just talking nonsense.

During this dinner, the Qingshi Merchant Gang couldn't get anything useful out of Ye Luo's mouth. Liu Xiang tried several times, but Ye Luo kept silent, leaving Commander Liu at a loss.

At the end of the meal, Wang Yunsong took the lead and left with the group of anxious businessmen.

When they were almost gone, Ye Luo grabbed Liu Xiang and started digging a hole.

"Commander Liu, there are many people here, so there are some things that are difficult to explain clearly. I know that Liu Wenhui and his subordinates are a pain in your throat. Especially the Huang family, which has been entrenched in Qing City for many years, has a great influence on the development of Qing City."

Ye Luo smiled, put his arm around Liu Xiang's shoulders affectionately, and said directly without tabooing his identity,

"I have a way to bring down the Huang family, and even drive Liu Wenhui out of your territory, but it depends on whether you cooperate, Commander Liu."

"Oh? Second Young Master, please tell me." Liu Xiang's eyes suddenly lit up.

To be honest, although the incident in Qingshi Business District made him uncomfortable, it was not unacceptable.

Anyway, whether Pan Wenhua and his group are in charge, or Huang Yunye controls the business district, if he wants to levy military expenditures, these people will pay.

As for economic development, this is not something that a rough warlord like him can worry about.

But Liu Wenhui is different.

This is a real thorn in the side.

As long as he is still in Sichuan and Chongqing, Liu Xiang cannot truly unify.

There will definitely be a battle between the two sides, but when it will happen and who will win, it’s hard to say.

The outside world is now generally optimistic about Liu Wenhui. This is because the principal has been busy "suppressing bandits" recently, using a lot of manpower and financial resources, but with extremely poor results. Instead, he was called to impeach by the Central Supervisory Committee of the Kuomintang many times.

In contrast, Mr. Wang, who was entrenched in Jiangcheng, was famous. He also took advantage of the principal's house arrest to win over people's hearts and seemed to be on the rise.

Liu Wenhui had Wang, Feng Yuxiang and others on his back, so he naturally overpowered him in the situation here.

This is what worries Liu Xiang the most.

Ye Luo said there was a way to solve this problem, and Liu Xiang was of course delighted.

"Part of Liu Wenhui's source of income comes from Huang Yunye. Bringing down the Huang family and defeating Liu Wenhui are actually the same thing, so Commander Liu and I have the same goal."

Ye Luo first secretly pulled him into the same camp, and then guided him to think in a way that was beneficial to him.

"On the foreign side, after customs independence, Qingshi Customs will inevitably be handed back to the Jinling National Government. But now the sky is high and the emperor is far away in Qingshi, and the British have verbally agreed, but have not taken any action."

"Yeah, they don't even pay attention to me, let alone the principal who is far away in Jinling." Liu Xiang nodded.

"Actually, no matter what the foreigners do, Commander Liu, you just have to express your attitude. You can call the principal directly and say that you agree to transfer Qingshi Customs tax revenue to the Jinling Customs General Administration. No matter what the result is, once your attitude comes out, the principal will definitely Something has to be done.”

Ye Luo smiled and woke up the dreamer with one word.

Liu Xiang had been troubled before because he did not have the sovereignty of Qingshi Customs, but now he suddenly understood after Ye Luoti pointed it out.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether he has ownership or not. As long as he expresses his position, the problem will be left to the principal and the British. No matter whether it succeeds or not, he will be the one who takes advantage.

And if the British are willing to return it, he will have to manage it temporarily!

"As soon as Jinling Fang makes a move, he will definitely use magic to defeat magic." Ye Luo smiled at him.

"Magic defeats magic?" Liu Xiang was stunned.

"That is to say, to deal with Thomson and other foreigners, the foreigners themselves have to do it." Ye Luo thought that this joke was far from appearing, so he had to explain it in another way, "When the time comes, the sharp weapon of the foreigners will be injured even if it is not broken. Most of it.”

"So that's it! What a plan! What about those bastards from the Shanhuo Gang? I can't send troops to encircle and suppress them. After all, it's ordinary people who usually attack the people with soldiers. At times like this, it won't be easy."

Liu Xiang continued to ask.

These gangsters from the Shanhuo Gang are just like ordinary people when they have nothing to do. Now deploying troops to attack the people is tantamount to giving Liu Wenhui an excuse.

Liu Xiang is definitely not willing to do this.

"It's still the same sentence, defeat magic with magic." Ye Luo said this, his eyes gradually became colder, "Our staff at Ye's Sports and Ye's Security are specially designed to deal with this kind of thorn."

"Oh? The second young master also has a gang under his control?" Liu Xiang asked, somewhat disapprovingly.

Even if there was, it would be in Shanghai, right? You couldn't just send it to Qingshi by train to have a group fight?

"No, they are just ordinary security companies." Ye Luo quickly denied, "But they are all from the military or have gang experience. There is no need to say much about their combat capabilities. The key is that they can use guns."

During the Republic of China, guns were not particularly widespread, and there were not many people who could actually use guns well.

The so-called gangs either use fists, machetes, and occasionally guns, which are limited to weak-fire weapons such as lutzes that have been eliminated by the National Police Agency.

There are almost no organized, disciplined, well-equipped gangs that can use guns well, and warlords like the principal will not allow such forces to exist among the people.

Ye Luo's person was an accident.

"This" Liu Xiang was in trouble.

If he agreed to let Ye Luo's people come here to deal with the Shanhuo Gang, he was worried that he would attract wolves into the house.

These days, with a little money, a few connections, and a few guns, you can pull off a tiger's skin and become a small warlord, and small warlords can become big warlords by mixing around.

This is how he came here, and this is how the principal came here.

Ye Luo has money, people and guns. If he really leads the gang to sweep away the Shanhuo Gang, what if Touqing City is occupied?

Although the possibility is extremely small, Liu Xiang does not dare to gamble when it comes to this kind of issue. (End of chapter)