1928: The rise of giant merchants

Jinling, Qilu.

The adjutant sent the latest declaration to the principal's desk.

The headline on the front page clearly reads——

The Fengtian Incident, which shocked the Republic of China and at home and abroad, broke out!

Is the policy of non-resistance correct?

As soon as the incident broke out, the whole country was in an uproar!

The newspaper also reviewed the entire incident in detail.

I don’t know where the newspaper reporters got the accurate information.

On the night when the incident occurred, the Lieutenant General Chief of Staff of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Border Defense Force, following Zhang Hanqing’s order, ordered the Northern Army to “not resist, not to move, put the guns in the warehouse, and hold on to die. We all will be benevolent and sacrifice for the country.”

The next day, Zhang Hanqing spoke to a reporter from Tianjin Ta Kung Pao at Union Hospital and said again: "I have already ordered our soldiers not to resist when provoking Japanese soldiers. Therefore, our troops in Beida Camp have already ordered us to collect ordnance and store it in the warehouse."

Now, as Ye Luo said, Zhang Hanqing became a sinner through the ages.

The non-resistance policy was also written in the newspaper, and the principal also participated.

Zhang and Jiang were fully responsible for this major incident.

"Niang Xipi!"

The principal angrily threw the declaration on the ground. He, who had always been steady, was so angry that the muscles in his face couldn't help trembling, and he was ready to go out with anger.

Song Ziwen silently picked up the newspaper and advised: "Party seat, this Shi Liangcai always likes to talk nonsense, why should you pay attention to it? I think we can just send someone to Shanghai to seal the declaration headquarters."

The principal said coldly: "Seizure reporting headquarters? The newspaper is indeed easy to seal, but it is not easy to regain the lost hearts. Damn Zhang Hanqing, lost most of the north, and now it all depends on me, saying it's me "No resistance order" issued, Niang Xipi!"

"These are all false news from Jiangcheng. At this time, the party leader cannot really break with Zhang Hanqing." Song Ziwen reassured.

The principal is really angry. Now there are calls in the country to "stop all civil wars and unite to resist Japan." But within the Kuomintang, there are all calls for the principal to step down immediately.

The principal can no longer hold on any longer. He has become the target of public criticism and must step down to make progress before retreating.

"The matter is over, Ziwen. You have to go to Jiangcheng quickly and help me contact Wang. I want to discuss important matters with him." The principal put the last straw on Wang.

Song Ziwen knew that he could no longer shirk at will, so he nodded and said: "Don't worry, I will do my best."

After Song Ziwen left, the principal sighed slightly. He already knew that he would not be able to escape the fate of going to the countryside.

But before leaving the field, he had to prepare for his future comeback. After thinking for a long time, he finally called Deng Wenyi and asked him to prepare a telegram and have a meal with Ye Luo, who had just returned to Shanghai.

At the same time, Huixin was invited to have dinner together to discuss business cooperation.

"Stop the civil war and unite to resist Japan!"

"I'd rather die than be a slave to the country's subjugation!"

"Swear to the death to boycott Japanese products and support the sale of domestic products!"

Ye Luo and Huixin were riding in a rickshaw, walking through the cold and windy streets of Jinling City.

At this time, students could be seen everywhere in Jinling City holding banners, shouting various slogans, and conducting demonstrations.

At the beginning of the month, thousands of students from Peiping joined forces with students here to hold various demonstrations and even went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and smashed all office facilities to pieces.

These students are all passionate young people. Although they act impulsively, their patriotism is real.

They were really anxious.

The north is about to fall, is it still far away from the south being captured?

The situation has reached this point, and the local warlords and the two giants in the country are still engaged in civil strife and wrestling with each other.

The small warlords had no sense of resistance or fighting spirit, and the medium-sized warlords, such as Han Fuju, lived in a corner, thinking only about their own interests and never thought about fighting the Japanese invaders.

Big warlords are either like Liu Xiang, who is engaged in turf grabbing all day long, or like Yan Xishan, who dreams of coming back to fight for hegemony, or like the principal and Zhang Hanqing, their eyes are fixed on North China and other places, for fear of Yan Laoxi Waiting for someone to come back.

In short, no one is sincerely resisting Japan.

On the line of resistance against Japan, it was the businessmen and the people who were the most decisive.

After September 18th, Japanese goods stores in various places were smashed one after another or ordered to close their doors. People also voluntarily boycotted Japanese goods and refused to buy them.

When Japanese goods explode, who benefits the most?

It is Yip's investment from Yip Lo.

The core industries of Japanese companies are textiles, electronic equipment and daily necessities. The former has been restrained due to the tariff autonomy agreement, but it is still reaping the dividends of the agreement.

The southern textile industry seems to be thriving after Yeluo's rectification, but in fact it has been unable to make ends meet.

Everyone had been advising Ye Luo not to continue investing in the textile industry. After all, even if he could get dividends, it would not be effective immediately.

What's more, some defeated generals such as Edward went to the north to collect the textile industry and the assets after the withdrawal of Ye's investment.

At that time, Ye Luo's reputation as the number one businessman in the Republic of China was in jeopardy, and he seemed to have made a very stupid decision.

During that time, he went to Qing City and then to Shandong Province. It seemed like he was avoiding these questions and making these remarks even more arrogant.

Then everything exploded after September 18th.

No matter what Ye Luo thought before, he evacuated most of the assets invested by Ye in advance, which indeed avoided the risk of being occupied by the Japanese invaders.

After the fall of the three northern provinces, almost all local companies became the wallets and granaries of the Japanese. If they were lucky, they could operate semi-autonomously under their rule.

Unlucky enough, the boss was beaten to death by the Japanese on the day it was occupied.

Luo Mingyou, the film industry tycoon entrenched in the north, fled, and his Lianhua Film Company became a Japanese cinema.

They were required to play local Japanese movies every day to provide entertainment for the soldiers.

The worst thing was that some of the stars of Lianhua Film Company were called to the military camp, and when they were returned, they were cold corpses with disheveled clothes and even incomplete bodies.

Luo Mingyou couldn't bear this kind of oppression, so he boarded the Yip Charity Foundation's convoy returning to the south overnight and fled to Shanghai.

The Edwards who went to the north to pan for gold also felt uncomfortable.

Because of their status as foreigners, the Japanese invaders did not dare to kill them, but they robbed them of all their money and assets and then sent them back to the south.

The speculators who had previously accepted Ye's investment with a smile and left the territory are now either lying dead in the north or becoming prisoners, and almost all of them have not ended up well.

Sitting in the rickshaw, Ye Luo and Hui Xin chatted for a while about the situation and current situation. Hui Xin suddenly became worried when she heard Ye Luo estimate that the principal would step down.

She was afraid that after the principal left, Jinling would be out of control and her business would be even more difficult to manage.

Ye Luo looked confident: "Don't worry, when will something go wrong when I do something?" (End of Chapter)