1928: The rise of giant merchants

The solution Ye Luo gave is actually very simple.

Tianjin customs tax and salt tax still belong to him. This cannot be compromised. The annual income of nearly 100 million yuan can give Ye's investment more liquidity, and the customs and salt bureau also mean official power and import and export. Controlling the trade authority in these two places is equivalent to indirectly controlling the economic lifeline of many cities in the north. If there is a falling out with the principal and others in the future, this will be a good bargaining chip.

However, the nominal administrator of these two areas will be changed to the principal, and the actual manager is Zhang Hanqing. YB Bank is only an agent and will not participate in the power struggle inside.

The Salt Bureau and Customs had always been controlled by foreigners and Manchu elders. Even when Yan Xishan was in power, Tianjin Customs was still in the hands of the British. If it can now be nominally owned by the Jinling National Government, it will undoubtedly further the president's prestige.

As an actual manager, Zhang Hanqing can truly grasp the power and benefits it brings without suffering any loss.

In order to make up for Zhang Hanqing, Ye Luo gave him a good way to make money——

The many companies that control Tianjin's industry will be completely reorganized.

Today, most of Tianjin's industries are dominated by bureaucratic capital. For example, the famous Jiuda Refined Salt Company, in order to break the restrictions of the old salt policy, directly roped in Yang Du to become a shareholder. Therefore, it obtained the sales rights specially approved by Yuan Datou and became a well-known salt company in the north. OK, enjoying the huge profits from the refined salt business.

In order to sell refined salt from the north to the south, Jiuda Refined Salt Company successively attracted Cai E, Li Yuanhong, Cao Kun, Cao Rui and others to become shareholders, turning a private enterprise into a warlord base.

As a result, every time there is a war, the company's management team changes.

For example, after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, the Beiyang authorities vigorously raided the Jiuda Refined Salt Company. Not only did they confiscate all the shares in the names of Cao Kun and others, they also arrested the chairman of the company. The Jiuda Refined Salt Company handed over 800,000 yuan. After Dayang fined him, the Beiyang authorities released him.

Those warlords preyed on the common people and did many evil things for their own selfish desires. Even if they lost the war and were dismissed from the country, they could still travel abroad or work as apartment owners in Tianjin City and continue to live happily. Some people even got shares of big companies without paying a penny. Sit back and enjoy the results.

When such warlords and bureaucrats intervene in the business world, businessmen cannot make money, workers cannot receive wages, companies have no profits, and the business world will soon be in a mess.

Ye Luo's move can be called a blow to the bottom of the cauldron, it is like poking out people's ancestral graves.

If he hadn't known that this group of people would never make a comeback, and that he was already strong enough and not afraid of them falling out, Ye Luo would not have dared to blatantly give Zhang Hanqing such advice.

After Zhang Hanqing and Yu Fengzhi discussed it, they readily agreed and immediately ordered Zang Qifang to start rectifying Tianjin's industry and eliminate all corrupt officials.

As for Peking, needless to say, with Zhang Hanqing himself in charge, even if he wanted to sleep in the Forbidden City, no one would dare to say anything.

Soon, word spread about Zang Qifang's rectification of Tianjin's industry. The supporter behind the scenes was naturally Zhang Hanqing, and the person who made the plan turned out to be Ye Luo!

This made the group of apartment dwellers living in Tianjin City very angry. They all shouted that they finally saw Ye Luo's hateful face. He was a capitalist and a vampire through and through!

At this time, the overall situation has been decided. These people's complaints are useless, and no newspapers or magazines are even willing to speak out for them - Ye's newspaper has slowly penetrated into the north with the tacit approval of the principal.

Some of the residents who did not participate in the Central Plains War and were relatively well-behaved were the main force in criticizing Ye Luo, including Sun Chuanfang, Cao Kun and others. Whenever they had the opportunity, they cursed Ye Luo and said that he had cheated them of their money. Business, making money now but not willing to pay dividends, etc.

Ye Luo's suggestion was tantamount to destroying the unspoken rules of the business world in the Republic of China, allowing businessmen to take a break, and also brought about a new possibility.

Prior to this, industry and commerce in the Republic of China were fundamentally inseparable from bureaucratic capital.

If you want to open a company or build a factory in China, it will be relatively safe before the scale becomes large. But once you become a large-scale enterprise that makes a lot of money every day, and there is no official background protection, you will be slaughtered by others.

The only solution is to proactively invite warlords and bureaucrats to become shareholders. When Ye Yuqiao founded the Federation of Labor in his early years, he relied on the support of Lu Yongxiang. Many of the shares of the Federation of Labor were owned by Fengjun generals. The principal took over Shanghai Tang, making these people afraid to come to collect debts, but they have always been eyeing the Ye family's money.

It's a pity that Ye Luo told the Labor Federation to separate the families with just one word. Then he took over the family business and directly cleaned up the messy shareholders without giving the warlords and bureaucrats a chance.

But other large companies are not so lucky. Who hasn't been pooped and pissed on by various warlords?

Ye Luo's move is tantamount to disrupting the underlying foundation. Even the shares of a big boss like the deceased Li Yuanhong dare to move. No wonder this group of apartments will jump on it.

Because this is purely a lack of martial ethics, people like Li Yuanhong, Feng Yuxiang, and Yan Xishan have also been deprived of their shares, not to mention these little shrimps.

Zang Qifang radically reformed Tianjin's industry, Zhao Pilian's education group made a big splash, and Chen Youde accompanied them to make trouble, and by the way, he implanted the roots of Ye's investment in the hearts of the people.

Soon, the group of tenants filed a complaint in front of Zhang Hanqing, but they didn't know that the son of an old friend was the culprit in their eyes.

Unable to bear the harassment, Zhang Hanqing secretly went south with only Zhao Yidi and a group of cronies on the pretext of taking a vacation, and then to Shanghai.

Before he met Ye Luo, he liked to come to Shanghai because it had an inexplicable attraction to him.

Five years ago, Zhang Hanqing met the principal's wife here. One described the other as a "Knight on the Rhine", and the other said to reporters in front of his wife in his later years, "If I hadn't already had a wife at that time, I would chase after the principal's wife." .

Zhang Hanqing spent his whole life wallowing in makeup, flirting with indescribable ladies, young ladies from rich families, and celebrities' wives and concubines. Although he only had one wife, Yu Fengzhi, he had countless confidante.

This is what Ye Luo has in common, so the two of them are very compatible.

He is a good friend, a good brother, and a good boss, but he is not a good leader.

Before Zhang Hanqing arrived at Shiliupu Pier this time, the Kuomintang received the news. The principal, who was still on the front line to clean up the mess, had no time, so he asked Zhang Qun, Bai Xiongqi and others to pick him up.

A long way away, when they saw Zhang Hanqing and Zhao Yidi getting off the ferry, Zhang Qun and Bai Xiong led their team to greet them warmly: "Commander Zhang, I finally looked forward to having you here."

"Haha, haven't we just seen this before?" Zhang Hanqing felt unlucky in his heart. The trip was obviously very hidden, but they still discovered it.

He originally wanted to come to Shanghai to take Zhao Yidi to rest leisurely for a few months, but now that he is fine, he is blocked at the door, and he will probably never live in peace.

This time they were accompanied by two big bosses from the foreign affairs department, Gu Weijun and Jiang Lufu.

Gu Weijun was the greatest diplomat in the Republic of China, but he had been wanted by the Jinling National Government for the past two years because the principal wanted to win over Zhang Hanqing during the Central Plains War. Knowing that he had a good relationship with Gu Weijun, he canceled the wanted order and invited Gu Weijun to do it. Lobbyist.

Jiang Lufu is a household name in Suzhou City. After meeting Ye Luo the year before last, Jiang Shiyun, the fourth lady, felt a little like "I missed my life when I saw Ye Luo". Now that she is eighteen years old and has a graceful appearance, Jiang Lufu often takes her with her.

"I'm hosting a banquet at Paramount tonight, and I've also invited A Luo. Commander Zhang must be there." Zhang Qun said with a smile. (End of chapter)