1928: The rise of giant merchants

The Ye family fell.

After the internal meeting at the Hudong Office of the Labor Federation, Ye Chen officially left the Labor Federation with thousands of people and went to the French Concession to meet with the three tycoons of Yongxing Company, Yu Likui, the king of Shanghai rickshaws, and the president of the General Chamber of Commerce. Fu Xiaoan negotiated for one night and successfully established himself in the downtown area of ​​the French Concession at a cost of 300,000 yuan.

The name of the new gang deliberately took advantage of the popularity of the Labor Congress and was named the Trade Unions Congress. However, most people in private used to call it the New Labor Congress.

The new Labor Federation shifted its business focus from the county town to the French Concession. Ye Chen had big plans. He ignored the former Labor Federation's properties in the Shanghai county town and regarded them as just a piece of picked-up income. The gray industries that he regarded as extremely important were quietly relocated to the French Concession, trying to compete with the three tycoons in the future.

On May 20, the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), Ye Yuqiao went to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the Public Settlement to cancel the business license of the General Federation of Labor, and officially announced at a subsequent press conference that the General Federation of Labor, which had been in Shanghai for more than ten years, would Will be completely disbanded!

Ye Yuqiao himself held a "Golden Basin Washing Ceremony" in the Dahua Hotel in the afternoon that day. The whole dance was not like what was written in martial arts novels. When the boss withdraws from the arena, someone will come to visit him. Seeking revenge makes it impossible for the boss to retire peacefully.

But not many celebrities from all walks of life came to the ball, which was in sharp contrast to Ye Qingqing's wedding last month.

In fact, Zhang Wanlin wanted to run over and beat up the drowned dog, and laugh at the former hero Ye Yuqiao.

But before anyone got close to the Dahua Hotel, they heard that the mayor of the special city Zhang Dingyao and the deputy director Zhang Qun came with a small group of political dignitaries to attend the dance. No matter what their purpose was, Zhang Wanlin would not be stupid enough to do it in front of them. die.

Things are different now!

Lu Yongxiang and Sun Chuanfang, who used to have thousands of guns, were the top tyrants in Shanghai. Now even they have to respectfully shout "Hello, Mayor Zhang" when standing in front of Zhang Dingyao.

Another major event of the day was the successful arrival of the second batch of 500 Chevrolet 490s in Shanghai.

However, after the commotion last time, the movement this time was not that big.

The newly released car coupons are still bundled with Liangyou Pictorial. Since Ye Luo asked Wu Liande to adjust the direction of the pictorial, Liangyou Pictorial has jumped from the bottom in sales to the top three in Shanghai Pictorial in one month!

The average sales of each issue is stable at just over 13,000, but when there are bundled sales of car coupons, it can increase to a terrifying 20,000 copies!

The first prize winner this time was the wife of a consul from the French Consulate General in Shanghai. She wore a dress and went on stage to receive the award. She preferred being under the spotlight compared to a car worth just over 1,000 yuan. Ye Luo Naturally, she fell in love with her, and specially asked someone to apply for a large area of ​​​​the front page. She wrote about it in a big way, which satisfied her vanity.

The lady was also very generous. While sparing no effort to praise the Chevrolet 490's high cost performance, she said that she would donate the car to the Ye Charitable Foundation for free and transport it to the capital of Shandong Province to relieve the victims.

The shadow of a famous tree.

Ye's Charitable Foundation was famous for stepping on the General Chamber of Commerce, and was escorted by foreigners from the concession. A large amount of materials purchased with donations were escorted by various convoys, and they just squeezed into the capital of Shandong Province, which had been occupied by the Japanese army.

The Japanese army had no choice but to deal with the foreigners, and then quickly drove them back to Shanghai without causing any trouble.

The current information media is not very fast, and often news is delayed. By the time the public gets the news, a month or two has passed.

After the convoy returned to Shanghai safely, people from the Ye's Charity Foundation rushed to No. 32 Xiafei Road to report the results of the relief operation to Ye Luo.

Office area on the second floor.

Looking at Zhang Hanru with a bitter face and a lonely expression, Ye Luo's expression was ugly, and the atmosphere in the office area was also very heavy.

Zhang Hanru was the only diplomatic negotiator of the Northern Expeditionary Army who escaped from the tragedy. He was an orderly of Director Cai Gongshi. He left the capital of Shandong Province overnight after escaping the tragedy. He accidentally bumped into the Foundation's convoy that was preparing to return to Shanghai, and he got a ride there smoothly. Shanghai beach.

He just told the general story of what happened, and also described all the tragedies that happened in the city in the more than ten days since the city fell.

Such a cruel and inhumane act made everyone present filled with indignation!

Wu Liande threw the pen away again: "A bunch of beasts! They must die a good death!"

Everyone looked at Ye Luo, waiting for his decision.

"Brother Zhang, what are your plans in the future?" Ye Luo asked.

Zhang Hanru had already learned about the various deeds of the second young master from the people accompanying the motorcade. He admired Ye Luo for daring to do charity vigorously during this period, and even had to fall out with the General Chamber of Commerce to transport supplies to Shandong Province.

Seeing him, Zhang Hanru smiled bitterly: "I am a deserter. I should return to the army as soon as possible to receive punishment. However, I must tell these truths in the newspaper so that all my compatriots can see and hear them, and raise my voice against those cruel Japanese invaders. Be alert!"

"Yes! In the next issue of our Liangyou Pictorial, we are willing to open a special section for Brother Zhang to truthfully report the truth about this matter. We cannot let the heroic deeds be buried, and we cannot let the brutal Japanese invaders be spared lightly!"

Wu Liande slapped the table, and then thought that Liangyou Pictorial was now Ye Luo's property. He quickly sat down awkwardly and looked at Ye Luo sheepishly.

Ye Luo waved his hand: "What Chief Editor Wu said is right, and that's exactly what I meant. But I feel that just publishing the facts is not enough, so I have to change the cover of the next issue of the pictorial, and then the entire issue will only be in black and white. Hue, to soothe the heroic spirit.”

"Thank you, Second Young Master!" Zhang Hanru knew that the sales volume of Liangyou Pictorial was very high, so doing this was tantamount to explaining the facts at the expense of sales volume, which made him even more admired and grateful.

"It's just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. Editor-in-chief Wu, you are solely responsible for this matter and you don't need to report to me." Ye Luo continued, "Brother Zhang, I have connections in many newspapers and periodicals. If you don't mind, I can take you there. If I come to visit you, they should be willing to give me some face."

"I can't thank you enough!" Zhang Hanru was from the north and had no relatives or friends in Shanghai. Although he thought about going to a big newspaper like filing a petition, he was penniless and it was such a big matter. He was not sure that the other party was willing to help.

But it was different when Ye Luoken came forward. He was rich and famous. Even if the Ye family fell, his second young master's reputation was still well-known.

"I have another idea."

"Second Young Master, please speak!"

Ye Luo thought for a moment and expressed his thoughts: "I think that just publishing newspapers is not enough publicity. We should go to the radio factory and publicize these truths through wireless broadcasts to arouse the vigilance of our compatriots. .”

"Radio?" Everyone looked at him confused.

Nowadays, although radio has been released, radios and other equipment are still luxury goods popular only among the wealthy class, and many people are not aware of them.

This is an industry monopolized by foreigners. A few Chinese companies are on the verge of bankruptcy. If foreigners are asked to report this matter, which involves diplomatic disputes, they may not be willing to do a thankless job.

I always feel that the effect is not as good as newspapers and magazines, and the cost is much greater than advertising in newspapers.

"Well, I know a Chinese radio factory. Let's go and look for it. If it works, I will personally invest in purchasing 100 radios and place them in various industrial stores under the name of Ye's Investment Company. This will also make it easier for everyone to listen to the radio and understand the truth."

During the conversation just now, Ye Luo suddenly thought of Yamei Company, which would be a Chinese giant in Shanghai's radio industry in the future. However, at this time, foreigners were the dominant company and it was in a serious business crisis.

After falling out with Shi Xiaoan and the others, Ye Luo seldom interacted with Chinese businessmen. Most of the Chinese businessmen did not dare to have too close contact with him due to the relationship with the General Chamber of Commerce. They went back and forth and were busy thinking about how to defeat foreign cars. Ye Luo from the Chamber of Commerce actually forgot about Yamei!

Radio broadcasting and radios are relatively easy industries in the light industry. However, technology and equipment have been monopolized by foreigners for many years. In addition, it is not popular among the people and there is a lack of profits. As a result, Chinese businessmen in this technology industry are struggling, and they are basically holding on. After a while, I couldn’t make ends meet and quit the industry.

But as long as we do it, the value in the future will be higher than traditional information media!