1928: The rise of giant merchants

The women stood aside talking to each other, while the men held wine glasses and laughed loudly in the center of the living room. The topic seemed to have been surrounding Ye Luo, the second young master of Shanghai.

Seeing this, Lin Ruxian naturally realized that this luxurious private dance was specially held for Ye Luo!

Seeing him surrounded by a group of foreigners, Lin Ruxian felt sweet in her heart, feeling that being able to attend such an occasion with him, her reputation had become unimportant.

"Mr. Ye is really a business wizard. After Yunfei Company and Tailai Company were relisted, the automobile business suddenly boomed!" Fan Erdi regarded Ye Luo as his idol, and he praised Ye Luo generously while toasting.

"It's an honor for me to invite Mr. Ye." Merieux also nodded with a smile, "Thanks to the introductions of Mr. Goss and Mr. Barton, I was able to get to know this young talent through the Citibank Ball."

"Haha, Ye Luo's greatest strength is not business, but his accurate prediction of the stock market!" There were no outsiders present, and Barton smiled and told all of Ye Luo's original predictions about the U.S. stock market.

He was the first beneficiary and the first person after George to read Ye Luo's entire paper.

Yello's paper talks about the continued rise of the U.S. economy, which will not stop until the second half of 1929, but the peak period will be in July 1928. In the future, the stock market will not be so crazy. This argument is consistent with that of Western economists. What they think is completely different.

The mainstream view is that the U.S. stock market will continue to surge as the economic situation improves, and there is no such thing as a July peak.

Patton, who had already made a lot of money from this paper, highly praised Yello. Gao Si, who was recommended by him, and Ma Murray, the American Minister to China who was not here today but had a good impression of Yello, also relied on this. The U.S. stock market made a fortune, and even Mérieux, who drank soup with them, became fat and satisfied.

When they heard that the source of the men's recent big money came from Ye Luo, the women immediately screamed and became even more curious and interested in this handsome young man from the East.

"That's amazing. It turned out to be Mr. Ye's point of view." The speaker was Nia Ivanova. She held her plump and fertile breasts in her hands and couldn't help but marvel.

"Mrs. Ivanova, what is your point of view?" Lin Ruxian had the most exchanges with this Belarusian noblewoman. She had been in exile in China for many years due to the Russian Shiyue Revolution. She spoke Chinese quite fluently. Because of her status, she was not like other women. She acts like a consul lady and is easier to communicate with.

Ivanova explained with a smile.

She was once a member of the Russian royal family with a distinguished status. After being exiled to China, she had a lot of assets and connections, as well as political secrets. She was also very charming and graceful, so she was very popular in the upper class circles of foreigners. Belarusian socialite.

When socializing with these prominent celebrities, she frequently heard the name Ye Luo. Later, when she inquired about it, she found out that he was the second young master of the Ye family. As for the secret of the U.S. stock market, she learned about it from the French Consul General Merieux. Unfortunately, she did not American friends, there is no way to make a fortune.

Lin Ruxian was confused after what she heard. She didn't understand anything about the stock market, but she also understood that these foreigners had made a lot of money overseas by relying on Ye Luo's few words and an article, so she naturally respected him, the God of Wealth.

After chatting and a simple meal, the dance officially began.

As the host, Mérieux did not appear on the stage. Instead, he pulled Ye Luo to the sofa under the court and started chatting with him.

Ye Luo raised his eyebrows, knowing that the other party was finally going to get down to business.

The dignified French Consul General deliberately invited many prominent foreigners to the consulate, and also specially invited himself to come. With such a grand ostentation and such high treatment, he must be seeking something from himself.

"Why don't Mr. Mérieux go dancing? You seem a little troubled?" Ye Luo took the initiative to open the topic.

"Sure enough, as they said, Mr. Ye has a sharp eye and can hide nothing from your eyes." Merieux took a sip of foreign wine and said with a wry smile, "It's indeed a bit annoying."

"If you don't mind, please tell me. Maybe I can help you." Ye Luo said with a smile.

Mérieux looked at him and lowered his voice: "Mr. Ye should know the situation in the public affairs bureau, right?"

"roughly understand."

"In last year's public board election, in order to calm the pressure of public opinion from the Chinese, we arranged some temporary positions of Chinese directors, but it was just for decoration at first. Unexpectedly, after Huo Tianhong and others from Yongxing Company became Chinese directors, they began to obstruct us in every possible way. The Public Directors Bureau issued a decree, and now they are forced to give the four of them the status of official Chinese directors, and also add five temporary Chinese directors."

Mérieux sighed, with an angry look on his face,

"You Chinese have an old saying about luring the wolf into the house, and it is very appropriate to apply it here. Now the ambassador and minister have great opinions on me. If I can't get rid of them, I"

Ye Luo knew that the succession of Lu Yusheng and others as Director Hua had indeed dealt a huge blow to the Public Affairs Bureau. He also knew that there was a deep conflict between them. He did not expect that the conflict would be so great that it would affect the status of the dignified Consul General!

It is a pity that Merieux did not wait until he was able to clean up Lu Yusheng and the others, so he was sent to Tianjin as the consul general. In Shanghai, his secretary Verdy was the acting consul general. It was not until 1932 that he returned to Tianjin. Shanghai beach.

Even if Ye Luo wanted to help him, there was not enough time. It is estimated that Merieux left Shanghai within a month or two.

However, he still pretended to be shocked and shared the same hatred on the surface: "Huo Tianhong and the others are so lawless. It's a pity that my business has not spread to the French Concession, so I can't help the Consul General."

"Now that we can curb this group of Chinese gangsters, I asked around, and they all recommended you, Mr. Ye. I have inquired with several friends, and Mr. Ye wants to open one at the junction of the Public Concession and the French Concession. Amusement parks and cinemas, right?" Merieux asked with a smile.

"I have this idea, but it seems that no one is willing to transfer the land use rights to me." Ye Luo has actually spotted a piece of land for a long time, but this land covers a huge area and is at the junction of the British and French concessions. There are a lot of messy small foreign companies occupying it, and it takes a lot of effort to capture it.

The land in the concession is very valuable, especially in this kind of junction area, which is usually an extremely prosperous area. Who is willing to transfer the land use rights in the downtown area.

"I wonder where Mr. Ye is interested in?" Merieux heard about the drama and immediately asked with a smile, "I am very familiar with the area at the intersection of the concession. Those foreign business owners are my friends. If you want to buy some land, I will Can help."

"What I'm interested in is the entire land at the intersection of Aidoya Road and Minti Niyin Road, which is the West New Bridge. It covers a total area of ​​about 14,700 square meters." Ye Luo pointed his fingers. This area is almost the same as a future building. Elementary school was extremely exaggerated in Shanghai at this time.

The largest amusement park now is the New World that Lin Ruxian just built, covering an area of ​​more than 1,000 square meters, which is almost one-fourth of the land Ye Luo wants!

Aidoya Road is the Yanan East Road in later generations, and Minti Niyin Road is the Xizang South Road in later generations. The playground was built at this intersection.

It was the Big World amusement park that was later known as "If you don't go to the Big World, it's a waste of time to come to Shanghai"!

"Such a large piece of land is indeed a bit tricky." Merieux had some impressions of the place. Although the land Ye Luo wanted was large, there didn't seem to be any very well-known foreign companies occupying it. "But if Mr. Ye is willing to help me get those Hua Dongs, Clear out the public affairs office and I can help you lobby."

"I'm very happy. I'll leave the land matter to you, Mr. Mérieux." Ye Luo raised his eyebrows. He and the three tycoons of Yongxing Company were sworn enemies. He could destroy them and strengthen himself at the same time. What's not to be happy about? ?

Moreover, he now fully promised Mérieux that when he leaves in a month or two, the land will be taken, and things will be settled as soon as possible.

"Thank you so much!" Merieux had already heard from several friends about Ye Luo's consistent style of doing things and his super ability to do things. Now that he agreed to her, the matter was settled.

As for those foreign companies, just use the coercion of the consulate to surrender!