1928: The rise of giant merchants

The biggest competitor of rickshaws is not trams or cars, but bicycles!

It's just that bicycles are imported products, but they are still a rare high-end luxury product in Shanghai today! There are five bicycle shops in Shanghai, all of which are foreign companies. Usually only young ladies and young men from the upper class buy bicycles. They regard cycling as a trend, which is particularly popular in small circles.

Many brothel girls are even proud to go to a photo studio to take a bicycle photo.

You can think of a bicycle as the next best thing to a car.

But bikes aren’t cheap.

A Nissan Miyata bicycle sells for 180 oceans, and you have to pay 20 oceans for a year's travel and boat fare. You also have to take photos independently and register it in the police file.

Buying and using a car is as complicated as a car, so it is naturally difficult to popularize it.

At the same time, even in Shanghai, where the bicycle manufacturing industry is the most developed, no bicycle factory can manufacture key parts such as gears and cranksets. They can only produce frames, handlebars, chains, saddles, pedals, spokes, and core components. It still needs to be imported from the United States, and then combined with domestic parts to assemble it into a bicycle that is called a "domestic product."

This was Shanghai, the most prosperous Far Eastern metropolis during the Republic of China.

Although this place is already filled with all kinds of imported goods, such as electric lights, cars, bicycles, phones, etc., these luxury goods are all imported and expensive to make. Without domestically produced goods, they cannot be completely popularized, and they can only be used by foreigners to drain the Chinese people. Tools of money!

Swimming all the way, from morning to night, Ye Luo enjoyed the little Aqiao sitting coquettishly in his arms while carefully observing the surrounding scenery.

Wherever there were good investment points, he asked Xiao Aqiao to take notes so as not to forget them in the future.

At the same time, along the way, he also discovered that there were more and more Chevrolet 490s in various concessions. 2,000 cars were running back and forth in Shanghai, as well as the surrounding Jinling, Sioux City, Hangzhou and other places. There were actually more bicycles on the road. !

There are actually quite a few people above the middle class, which shows their strong spending power.

This also confirms Ye Luo's conjecture that the biggest problem during the Republic of China was not that everyone had no money, but the gap between the rich and the poor that was like a natural chasm!

The refugees at the bottom will starve to death, while the upper class will eat and drink freely!

Rickshaws are unprofitable and congest traffic. With so many rickshaw drivers, they can easily be exploited by gang bosses like Yu Likui and become thugs who bully ordinary people.

To completely eliminate rickshaws, we not only have to work hard on domestically produced bicycles, but also have the Jinling National Government put the rickshaw ban policy on the agenda.

Little Ah Qiao was so shaken that her whole body went limp, but she loved this feeling so much.

She hugged Ye Luo's neck and enjoyed peeking at her man's serious thinking.

Whenever he shows this expression, it means he has new business to do.

The automobile business has brought countless surprises to Shanghai, so what’s next?

This journey took Yu Likui for a whole day.

In the end, his legs were cramped and he was sweating profusely. He hadn't eaten or drank water all day, and he had exhausted a lot of physical strength. Yu Likui finally couldn't hold it anymore and just lay down at the gate of the rickshaw company's headquarters. .

Many rickshaw pullers were watching and saw Ye Luo jumping out of the car with little Ah Qiao in his arms, but no one dared to go up and help Yu Likui.

The lights were brightly lit at night. Ye Luo glanced at Yu Likui, who was lying on the ground, took out a few coins from his trouser pocket, and slapped him in the face: "Boss Yu, I hope you can remember today and what you said. If you withdraw from the world, I don’t want to send you away personally.”

Yu Likui glared at Ye Luo sideways, but was hit in the eye by several ocean balls. He wanted to curse and yell, but he had no strength. His consciousness was blurred due to dehydration.

Ye Luo smiled and hugged little Ah Qiao into the Ford V8 driven by Ma Yongzhen. As soon as they reached the back row, little Ah Qiao blushed and huddled in his arms, not daring to say a word.

She didn't expect him to be so bold!

But it was exciting and sweet in my heart.

"Second Master, when I saw Yu Likui's face, I felt relieved! It's so refreshing! You don't know how much he was hated by people at the dock before! Student laborers always collect membership fees, but they don't do anything. He deserves to be so unlucky! After you tricked him like this, now everyone in Shanghai knows that the mighty King of Rickshaws pulled a rickshaw for the second young master and the eldest sister for a whole day!"

Ma Yongzhen turned the steering wheel, excited. He also went to the Songhu Police Department through the consulate. The headaches now are that he has to leave the second young master for a while, and the equipment issued to him includes a bicycle, which he cannot ride. !

"This is just the beginning." Ye Luo lit up a cigarette and gave Xiao Ah Qian a few puffs to slow down his breath before taking it back and inhaling a few more times, "Yongzhen, there is an ancient poem that says it very well, 'Wildfire never burns out, but the spring breeze blows and rekindles it'. Since I have fallen out with Yongxing Company, the New Labor Federation, and Yu Likui, none of them can survive."

"Haha, Second Young Master, I've been waiting for your words. Then, shall we go to the New Labor Union to punish Ye Chen?" Ma Yongzhen asked with a smile.

"Why are you looking for him? I'm not going." Ye Luo finished treating Zhang Wanlin and Yu Likui, deliberately leaving Ye Chen alone and letting them fight among themselves. "Go home and rest at No. 32 Xiafei Road tonight."

"Okay! Second Young Master, this is a great move!" Ma Yongzhen has become smarter recently. Every time Ye Luo does something, he first thinks about why. After thinking about it, he asks Ye Luo if he doesn't understand, "By the way, Second Young Master, this is a great move!" For a while, Ah Xing and Ali wanted to protect you on my behalf, do you think?"

"Very good, let them take over tomorrow." Ye Luo nodded. He also felt that one bodyguard was not enough. Zhou Xingxing had special powers, Ding Li could fight, and his marksmanship was also good, so he was perfect to succeed Ma Yongzhen.

At 10 o'clock in the evening on June 19, when Ye Luo returned to No. 32 Xiafei Road, he received a call from George from the consulate, saying that the Ministry of Industry Bureau and the patrol room were dispatched overnight to remove everyone on his list. Arrested and brought to justice at Huatong Pier.

This operation was led by Detective Shen Da. Three of the sixteen people tried to resist and were shot dead on the spot. Three others escaped to the train station and were captured. The other ten were captured without restraint and are awaiting trial in the consular court.

The consular court was naturally just a formality. They were charged with killing foreigners. Gao Si was furious, and all sixteen of them had to show their heads in public.

Nowadays, the death penalty also includes beheading, even stripping off the clothes for humiliation, and finally hanging the head in public.

Ye Luo was very repelled by this inhumane behavior.

He also disliked the practice of consular courts to decide the lives and deaths of Chinese people.

But soon, when the National Government completely takes over the north, it will have to renegotiate and sign contracts with the great powers. At that time, the consular jurisdiction will be taken back one after another, and most importantly, the customs rights that he cherishes will be returned!

The deaths of these sixteen key members of the Green Gang brought a successful conclusion to the murder of Galt.

Zhang Wanlin will hold a banquet at Fengming Tower on June 20 to publicly apologize. At the same time, he will declare in various newspapers that his employment is unfavorable, causing Ye Luo to be frightened.

The compensation of 1 million oceans spread throughout the streets. Many people are very concerned about Ye Luo's control of Lin Rushian's acquisition of New World Amusement Park and other industries. Some people also spread rumors that Lin Rushian killed her husband and seized the property just to prepare funds for Ye Luo. .

There are even rumors that Lin Ruxian has Ye Luo's child in her belly!

These romantic scandals are the most popular in brothels. The prostitutes are discussing the second young master of the Ye family who has been in the limelight every day. However, no one thinks that his so-called flirtatiousness is a bad character. On the contrary, all of them bluntly say that as long as the second young master of the Ye family is in the limelight, If the young master dares to ask for it, they will dare to come and be his lovers!

Ye Luo covered the sleeping little Ah Qiao with a quilt, and went to the balcony to watch the stars in her pajamas.

I happened to see Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu whispering next door.

The early summer breeze blows.

Ruan Lingyu's cute and witty words with a slight Shanghainese accent sounded: "Sister Hu Die, I also said that I don't like the second young master. Now I am caught on the spot. What is this? I secretly put a photo of a man in my wallet. Someone wants to A man."

"Aruan, don't talk nonsense~ Give me back the photo. You will ruin the second young master's reputation."

"No, no!"

Whoops, the wind blows.

The crumpled photo fell lightly into Ye Luo's hands.

It turned out to be a profile photo taken by someone on the day of my charity foundation.

"It's over now! Sister Hu Die, I'm going back to bed first!" Ruan Lingyu stepped on the stool and crossed the wall. She happened to see Ye Luo smiling silently with the photo in his hand, and quickly jumped down with a blushing face and ran back to the room.

Hu Die understood what she meant and returned to the room with a slightly blushing face, not daring to stay on the balcony any longer.

Ye Luo chuckled lightly, holding the cigarette in his mouth. He put it down casually, and his photo floated towards the sky like a bird.