1928: The rise of giant merchants

Fan Benk completely collapsed.

He stood there, watching Ye Luo and Du Shilan chatting and laughing, like minions, and was a little at a loss.

If the tram company still had the last resort to fight against Ye's investment, it could only be the French.

And now, the French Consul General in Tianjin looked like Ye Luo's ally, not like someone from their side.

For a moment, Fan Benk had the illusion that Belgium and France were not allies.

Just as he was hesitating, two more people ran in from outside.

This time it was the Belgian Consul General Lu Beya and Tianjin's largest comprador Wang Zhulin.

They both looked very bad, as if they wanted to say a lot of unpleasant words, but like Fan Benk, when they saw Ye Luo sitting there chatting with Du Shilan, all the words were held back.

Not long ago, Lu Beya used the last killer move and sent a telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Jinling National Government as the Belgian Consul General in Tianjin, asking them to send a commissioner to Tianjin to stop Ye Luo's malicious competition.

If the Jinling Nationalist Government ignored him, the matter would inevitably escalate into a diplomatic dispute.

After receiving the telegram, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an emergency meeting immediately. The diplomatic officials were in a mess, but they had no way to deal with it.

Because all the Kuomintang politicians, including the principal and Mr. Wang, went to Los Angeles to hold a national salvation meeting a while ago, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Zhengting, also went there to listen.

Without a leader, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had only one word to deal with it, that is, delay!

They can delay, but Lu Beya can't afford it.

The European headquarters of the tram company kept calling, and those Chinese compradors who were willing to support them gave up and left one after another.

Ye Luo really made them feel what "burning money" means.

For the whole month of May, Ye's investment relied on capital, and it smashed a hole in the airtight Tianjin City business district.

The compradors now run away when they see people invested by Ye, for fear that they will be targeted and liquidated if they run too slowly.

All the small businesses they have are facilitated by foreign companies. They can suppress the Chinese business competitors of the "Federation of Trade Unions" by relying on the relationship with foreigners.

Now the foreigners are beaten by Ye Luo and run away, how dare they fight head-on.

Lu Beya can't swallow this breath, and her last hope is Du Shilan.

However, now.

Du Shilan took a sip of coffee and said leisurely: "I heard that the recent tram price increase has become more and more serious. Our French Concession patrol accidentally caused three students to be slightly injured when driving away the marching students. If it weren't for Ye's help, the matter would not be easy to solve."

The three standing looked at each other, and Lu Beya's forehead was bulging with veins, but he couldn't say anything.

Your French Concession patrol injured people, and blamed my Belgian tram company for not solving the problem?

After the tram company was in operation, it paid a lot of tolls to your French Concession!

"Also, there are many people who are taking advantage of these things to fish in troubled waters, and even the public security in the concession has been affected. More than 10 French expatriates have come to my door, hoping that I can settle the dispute as soon as possible, otherwise they will consider returning home with their capital."

This is Du Shilan's biggest headache.

The foreigners can show off their power in the concession, relying on the strength of their own government and the right to speak in front of the Nanjing National Government, and relying on the foreigners and foreign companies who come to China to seek gold. They have established a circle of foreign merchants in China and almost monopolized half of the commercial market in the Republic of China.

These foreigners cherish their lives the most. Now they come to complain every day. Once these people leave, his income as the French Consul General in Tianjin will be at least half less.

Lu Beya understood what he meant. From this point of view, the French are not going to stand on the side of Belgium.

Now no one at home or abroad supports him as the Belgian Consul General in Tianjin, and the tram company is also focusing on resolving disputes as soon as possible.

Except for those Chinese compradors, he is really isolated and helpless.

Lu Beya glanced at Ye Luo who was sitting quietly. It seemed like yesterday that they first met in the restaurant. At that time, he had provoked Ye Luo shamelessly.

Ye Luo just said "wait and see", but now he really saw it.

In this confrontation, Ye Luo exerted all his strength from the market, the people, public opinion, the general environment, and private aspects. The most outrageous thing is that now you can buy a yellow tabloid and read the little story of Lu Beya and Fan Benke.

The whole city of Tianjin knows how many women Lu Beya has slept with, and it takes only a few seconds to finish. There are also secrets such as male homosexuality, which have been exposed by Ye Luo.

"Do you really think that Tianjin City will not be able to move without trams?"

Ye Luo smiled and whispered.

The same words, still the same tone, but it gave the three people completely different feelings.

He did what he said.

Nowadays, there are no trams operating inside and outside the concession of Tianjin City. You can see rickshaws and taxis all over the streets, and the traffic is still smooth.

Although this was burned with money, it is awesome to be able to burn it and burn it out!

"How about this, both bosses take a step back. Ye cancels the subsidies and free activities for taxis and rickshaws, and does not participate in the auction of the tram section; Fan Benke, you resume the operation of the tram and lower the ticket price, how about that?"

Du Shilan spoke up to be the peacemaker,

"Then with Ye and I coming forward at the same time, the city hall can quickly disperse the students and workers who are marching, and the strike will end soon."

At this point, it was equivalent to giving both parties a way out. Fan Benke was not willing to fight with Ye Luo, so he nodded immediately.

Lu Beya on the side hesitated, and Wang Zhulin also wanted to end the farce quickly, so that his money would not be burned along with Ye Luo.

After a long time, Lubeya gritted her teeth and nodded.

Ye Luo smiled and was noncommittal.

Du Shilan had reached an agreement with Ye Luo before and received the money invested by Ye Luo, so he tried his best to be the peacemaker.

Seeing that things were settled, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked someone to add seats to the three standing people.

Ye Luo declined the invitation to have dinner together, chatted for a few more words, and then left alone.

Looking at his half-smiling expression, Wang Zhulin felt a chill rising up. He always felt that the matter was not over yet.

After word spread that the Tianjin tram prices were going to be reduced, people rushed to celebrate and praise the Second Young Master for helping us Chinese to vent bad words.

With the orderly maintenance of Ye's Investment employees, the student and worker demonstrations also ended.

As soon as the matter was settled, the gangsters who wandered around the concession all day disappeared without a trace.

Tianjin city seems to have returned to its original appearance.

Throughout the incident, the Japanese were in a state of panic.

After their cooperation with the Belgians to purchase copper coins was exposed, they continued to face international accusations and questions from the Jinling National Government.

In addition, on April 29, more than 20 senior officials including General Shirakawa, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Invading Forces, and Aoi Shigemitsu, the Japanese Minister to China, gathered in Shanghai to hold a grand "Victory Congratulations" meeting in Hongkou, the Japanese Concession, to celebrate April 29 The day the Emperor of Japan was born.

In fact, it was to celebrate the results of the Battle of Songhu.

I don't know who Yi Bo Yuntian was, but he found people from the Peninsula to be assassins and brought explosives to attack them that day.

While Bai Chuan was giving a speech, there was suddenly an earth-shaking loud noise. The podium collapsed and blood and flesh flew everywhere. Bai Chuan was blown to pieces and was dying. He died three days later.

Aoi Shigemitsu had one leg broken, and the commander of the Third Fleet, Lieutenant General Nomura Koshisaburo, the commander of the Ninth Division, Lieutenant General Ueda Kenkichi, Murai Kuramatsu and others were seriously injured.

After this incident, the Japanese arrested all kinds of people from the Peninsula in Shanghai and had no time to pay attention to the business war here in Tianjin City.

Seeing that the tram price increase incident has come to a successful end, just when Lubeya thought she could breathe a sigh of relief, the issue of worker wages related to the tram price increase broke out again!