1928: The rise of giant merchants

April 17, the twenty-third year of the Republic of China (1934).

Eiji Amaha, the Minister of Intelligence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, made an informal talk on Japan's position in the Republic of China during regular meetings with reporters, which was known as the "Amaha Statement" in history.

The main points are: "Japan had no choice but to announce its withdrawal from the League of Nations in March last year because of the Manchuria Incident and the Manchukuo issue."

"As for the issue, Japan's position and mission may be different from those of other countries."

"If we take measures that use other countries to exclude Japan and violate the Peace of the East, or adopt an anti-foreign policy of using barbarians to fight barbarians, Japan will have to oppose it."

"Recently there are clear signs that some foreign countries are actively expanding into the Republic of China in the name of joint assistance."

"For example, providing weapons, military aircraft, dispatching military instructors, providing political loans, etc. will obviously lead to alienation between the Republic of China and Japan and other countries, and will have consequences that violate the maintenance of peace and order in the Far East. Therefore, Japan cannot ignore this. ”

This "Tianyu Statement" arrogantly excluded the American and British forces in China and regarded the Republic of China as Japan's exclusive "protectorate". This aroused the anger of the people of the Republic of China and the opposition of the United States, Britain and other countries.

Therefore, when Ameba Eiji met with reporters on April 20, he had to give a new explanation and defense for the statement made three days ago: "Japan has no intention of infringing on the independence and rights of the Republic of China. Japan hopes that the Republic of China will maintain its integrity, unity and prosperity."

"Japan has no intention to infringe on the rights of other countries."

"However, Japan opposes any form of actions by various countries that may cause disruption to peace and order. For maintaining the peaceful order in the East, Japan must share responsibilities with the Eastern countries, especially the Republic of China. Other foreign countries or international alliances have implemented self-interested policies towards the Republic of China. The time has passed."

On April 26, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirota Koki responded to questions from the British and American ambassadors to Japan, reiterated: "Japan cannot turn a blind eye to any form of action that violates the maintenance of peace and order in the East." This was blatantly true. It shows the ambition of Japanese imperialism to monopolize the Republic of China.

The Japanese invaders' behavior of openly provoking the Republic of China and the world's powers shows that they are not satisfied after invading the four northern provinces and will inevitably take further actions.

The "Tianyu Statement" issued by Japan is largely aimed at the United States.

The United States was originally in an economic crisis and looked half-dead, so everyone ignored it. Unexpectedly, after Franklin came to power, the United States suddenly seemed to come to life again and had a tendency to rise again.

Now Japan couldn't sit still. Its invasion plan was very complete, but it was very afraid that other powers would join forces to deal with it. Therefore, the evil people complained first and created such a thing to disgust the Americans.

The Americans did not show weakness. Franklin immediately asked the Secretary of State to issue a statement on his behalf, expressing his willingness to send a large amount of agricultural products to the Republic of China to help.

Anyway, their current agricultural products are overflowing in unlimited quantities. It is better to sell them to the Republic of China at a low price than to rot in their own warehouses.

Naturally, Ye's Investment was responsible for this matter. After many cooperations, Huixin and Xiao Aqiao became perfect with each other, and soon they sent a large number of agricultural products to the Republic of China in the name of Ye's Investment.

It's a pity that the four northern provinces that are really short of food have not been able to receive assistance. They have been sealed off by the Japanese invaders, and even Ye's convoy can no longer enter.

Ye Luo is also gradually evacuating assets in the north, including the most important Tianjin City and some industries in Peiping, such as Ye's Department Store and Ye's Shipping. These companies have very high values, and leaving them to the Japanese invaders will be a disaster. Big danger.

Under the vigorous operation of Ye's investment, various areas that had not been invaded by the Japanese invaders began to evacuate people one after another, and the funds were shipped overseas at high speed.

In the month of May alone, more than 100 million yuan was converted into US dollars and entered into the YB Bank account through overseas remittances.

Originally, such a large wave of fund transfers would definitely be resisted by many warlords and the Jinling National Government.

Because the banking system during the Republic of China was not perfect, if you wanted to transfer a large amount of money, you had to first transfer it from a domestic bank to a foreign bank, and then transfer it through a foreign bank to a foreign bank. The procedures were particularly complicated. If the amount exceeded one million, you had to report it at all levels.

But Ye Luo used a very clever method——

Various cooperation with the US government.

Ye Luo invested in a large amount of American agricultural products, machinery and equipment, human and material resources, and very expensive military equipment. These things all needed to be paid in U.S. dollars. Ye Luo naturally converted many domestic funds into U.S. dollars.

The principal turned a blind eye to this.

It's not that he doesn't know Ye Luo's thoughts, it's just that he thinks Ye Luo has paid enough protection money for this behavior.

That's tens of thousands of tons of grain, countless equipment, technology, and blueprints. It's absolutely no problem that the total value exceeds 100 million.

After entering customs, at least half of these things must remain in the principal's hands forever.

In this way, until June, Ye's investment had basically transferred 70% of its assets in the north, about 1.5 billion yuan in cash, and 1.2 billion yuan in various top-end resources.

Some of the most important technical and management talents who invested in Ye's team also followed Ye's racing team to go south.

In this process, Ye Luo very cleverly transported some assets in the south and much-needed talents overseas through Tianjin Port, especially Aocheng.

At present, his base abroad is mainly in the United States, followed by Australia City and Japan, and then spread to Southeast Asian countries and the European continent, and finally Africa and America.

With a huge amount of funds, it is much easier for Ye Luo to operate these things.

Whenever he goes to any country, he first builds factories to drive the local development level. When Ye's investment becomes an indispensable economic puzzle in the local area, he will slowly transfer some important resources there.

As for military reserve forces, he transferred some of this part to various countries, and most of it to the Golden Triangle and other no-man's land.

It will develop into a paradise for various armed forces in the future.

And more than half of them, he put them in the tax inspection team, allowing them to choose to stay or leave.

Qing City is also another important military base of his. After all, it will be a secondary capital after that.

But he doesn't want those people to stay in Qing City, because after it becomes a secondary capital, they will be the principal's soldiers.

And the principal's leading troops is hard to describe. In the subsequent liberation battle, they have to fight against each other, which is really not a good thing.

In short, in the first half of 1934, Ye Luo began to slowly push Ye's investment abroad, and also accumulated domestic anti-Japanese forces. (End of this chapter)