1928: The Rise of Giants

Chapter 151 The Second Young Master Shocked the Young Marshal (two in one, and one big chapter)
It was an unfortunate coincidence that they arrived at Shanghai Beach just in time for a heavy rainstorm.

The sudden heavy rain brought a lot of silt, and the river spread everywhere. The rising water level suddenly flooded the lower areas of the county.

Shanghai's low altitude makes it one of the most flood-prone cities in the world.

In the summer of 1920, due to the surge of the Huangpu River and the weak urban infrastructure, the most important area of ​​the public concession was flooded by the river. The main streets were almost flooded, and the waist-deep water on the road was frightening. Only The trams near the consulate and other places were running as usual in the water, and other means of transportation were almost paralyzed. The rickshaw drivers could only pull the carts in shallow water. If they were not careful, they would be involved in the flood.

The ports at various terminals are severely silted up, and ships with larger displacements cannot enter at all.

Benedict——

The siren blew.

A ship from Xiangjiang was parked in the river dozens of meters away from Shiliupu Pier.

Under the heavy rain, a young man in a Chinese tunic suit and a woman in a cheongsam holding an umbrella came to the deck. They were shocked to find that the ship had not entered the port and was surrounded by river water.

"Why did you stop?" The young man lowered his felt hat and asked the crewman beside him in a low voice.

The crew member quickly explained: "Young Marshal, wait a moment, the dock is blocked, and a ship of our tonnage cannot enter. We have contacted the person in charge of Shiliupu dock, and they have arranged for several small speedboats to come over to meet you. Song The police officers from the Shanghai Police Department and the brothers from the Youth Gang, Marshal, don’t worry.”

"Oh, I didn't expect that there is still a drought in the north, but there are floods in the south." Marshal Zhang sighed and asked the crew to get two life jackets. One was given to his wife Yu Fengzhi, and the other was put on by himself.

In less than a moment, more than a dozen small boats roared in, approaching the ship in an orderly manner.

This ship was a passenger ship coming from Xiangjiang. Only a few people knew that the young marshal and his wife also took it to take a detour to Shanghai Beach.

After all, the situation between the north and the south is still in a stalemate. The young marshal has already postponed the "change of flags" suggested by the principal twice in July and August. At this time, he secretly took his wife south. If too many people knew about it, it would be easy. triggering a public opinion crisis.

The young marshal went south this time, firstly to support Lu Yusheng's Paramount, after all, his wife invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in it, and both husband and wife are honorary shareholders of Paramount; secondly, to relax and resolve the recent troublesome government affairs.

Since the Huanggutun incident, the young marshal has been suffering from the pain of losing his father while also facing the threat of Japanese invaders. He has slowly gathered various forces in the three eastern provinces to prevent malicious people from causing trouble. In addition, he also has to guard against Watching the Soviets on the other side of the railway, and facing the principal's pressing steps.

Nerves that have been tense for a long time need to be relaxed occasionally, so he took Yu Fengzhi to Shanghai quietly.

The two people put on life jackets, and the crew tied their waists with ropes, and slowly fell down onto the boat along the hull. Other ship guests also disembarked, and took the boat slowly into the Shiliupu Pier.

The small boat on which the young marshal and his wife were sitting had two of their guests, and the rest were plainclothes officers from the Songhu Police Department. The six or seven small boats surrounding it were also bodyguards appointed by Lu Yusheng and Wang Hu. The safety of the two people must be guaranteed. .

As the captain of the team, Ma Yongzhen was also on this small boat.

Before the young marshal and his wife entered Hong Kong, he called Ye Luo and informed the second young master of the incident, fearing that the arrival of the young marshal and his wife would unbalance the competition between Paramount and Black Cat Dance Hall.

All kinds of dredgers can be seen everywhere outside the pier. They dredge the river day and night to relieve the pressure caused by the heavy rain. Unfortunately, as long as the heavy rain continues, these efforts will be in vain.

Many cargo ships are unable to enter the dock immediately, and the goods have been drifting on the river. If you wait for one more minute, a large amount of real money will be lost.

Many small company owners at the dock were crying out loud, hoping that the Dock Gang and the Qing Gang would send people to continue clearing the channel to facilitate their cargo ships to enter the port. However, they received no response at all. Some of them burst into tears and grabbed the ground with their heads, which made people feel uncomfortable. Can't bear to watch.

"Alas, a natural disaster will cause many small and medium-sized companies to go bankrupt. In the final analysis, our industrial strength is not enough." Zhang Shaoshuai sighed in his heart. He vigorously developed and promoted industrialization in the north. His purpose was to strengthen the country and the people, at least to make the people And businessmen have certain disaster resilience.

Unfortunately, since the overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, warlord wars have continued in China. Everyone is eager to recruit troops and fight with guns every day, but there is no production, which makes the people's resentment boiling and the people are in dire straits.

Businessmen who originally had the ideal of saving the country through industry have been forced into desperation by waves of military spending. They either fled the country with their families, or switched careers to real estate and finance, where they can easily make money. Without industry, there is no future!
"I heard that the second young master who wants to compete with Boss Lu for the dance hall business is a rare young industrialist. I don't know if it's true or not." Yu Fengzhi held his arm and smiled, "These days, not many businessmen value profits. good stuff."

"The business community in Shanghai has been monopolized by old-school businessmen before, but I heard that after the rectification, there has been a new atmosphere." Zhang Shaoshuai smiled and shook his head, "To be honest, I really want to meet this second young master. If nothing else, he The Ye's Charitable Foundation has really done practical things in Shandong Province, and now it has spread to Tianjin and Beijing. The last time I went to Tianjin, I heard many people say that he is a great philanthropist and a real national industrialist. So who... Didn’t the Meng Family Troupe’s Red Card also perform several charity performances in Ye’s name?”

"Winter Emperor, Meng Xiaodong." Yu Fengzhi loves to listen to operas and knows a lot about this matter.

Meng Xiaodong traveled all the way south to Ye's World to help Ye Luo support the show, and then returned to Tianjin to officially make his comeback. After the Meng's Theater Troupe opened, the crowds were packed, and many celebrities came to pay homage to the Winter Emperor.

After several perfect performances, Meng Xiaodong held three charity performances in Tianjin, with all the proceeds going to the Yip Charitable Foundation. It was praised by major newspapers and became a good story.

"If you two meet the second young master, you will not be disappointed." Ma Yongzhen couldn't help but say, "He opened Ye's Automobile Shop, defeated the foreign automobile trade association with 2000 Chevrolet 490s, and helped Chinese businessmen make a big difference. It seems that in the automobile industry, Chinese businessmen have now surpassed foreign companies. After that, Er Shaoye successively got involved in film, cinema, radio, illustrated advertising, dance hall and other businesses. None of them failed. Not only did he give many Chinese people the opportunity to make money, but he also severely suppressed them. The arrogance of foreigners.”

"Oh? Is he really that amazing?" Marshal Zhang became more and more curious.

"Yes, if nothing else, the second young master's Ye's Investment Company aggressively recruits Chinese employees. Many relatives of my family went to work in his company. I heard that the treatment is very good, no worse than that of foreign banks! You must know that we Chinese work in foreign banks. , I have to suffer the ugly faces and discrimination from foreigners." Several police officers echoed.

Many of them are Ma Yongzhen's younger brothers and employees of Ye's Security Company, and some are plainclothes employees of the Songhu Police Department.

But when it comes to Ye Luo's name, almost no one will say anything bad about it.

People's eyes are sharp.

After arriving at Shiliupu Pier, everyone from the Qing Gang who had been waiting for a long time came rushing in, including Lu Yusheng.

Originally, the three tycoons wanted to come to pick up the young marshal, but they were worried that making too much noise would cause trouble for the young marshal, so only Lu Yusheng came.

Someone came to hand over the situation, and Ma Yongzhen's group stopped following the two of them.

Before leaving, Marshal Zhang glanced at the tall and mighty Ma Yongzhen. Thinking of his guard, he walked over with a smile and left him a business card: "Brother, if you have a chance in the future, you can come to me for a drink."

"Thank you, Marshal!" Ma Yongzhen took the business card and bowed with a smile.

Lu Yusheng arranged a car to pick up the young marshal and his wife to the Huo Mansion in the French Concession. The tragic situation caused by the heavy rain along the way made the originally playful young marshal Zhang suddenly lose interest.

He refused the reception banquet arranged by Lu Yusheng at Licha Hotel and went straight to his residence.During the heavy rain, apart from the trams that continued to work, there were only many black cars with Yip's logo still carrying passengers around, rain or shine.

These cars were painted uniformly, and the drivers also wore the same uniforms. They all had good driving skills, and they quickly attracted the attention of the young commander.

"What kind of cars are these?" he asked Lu Yusheng with a smile.

Lu Yusheng was a little confused, but he still answered truthfully: "It's a taxi from Ye's Automobile Company. They all have fallen in love with money. I heard that Ye Luo has set up a commission system for them. As long as they keep driving customers, they will not only I can get a salary from the company, tips from customers, and an extra bonus from Yeluo! It’s dangerous to drive like this on such a rainy day.”

"Hey, people die for money and birds die for food." Marshal Zhang smiled and waved his hand, "His commission system is interesting. It's a bit like the incentive method in our army."

"Ah sneeze~ With so many cars, can Shanghai still have so much business on a rainy day?" Yu Fengzhi lay on the window, sneezed, and looked around curiously.

In the north, they heard about the "dragon-tiger battle" between Ye Luo and Galt. The 2000 Chevrolet 490s not only changed the pattern of Shanghai's automobile business, but also changed the domestic automobile market.

Shaoshuai Zhang personally loves cars. He even invested 70 yuan to set up a car factory to build domestic military trucks.

This time they witnessed the grandeur of Ye's Automobile Shop with their own eyes, and both of them were quite shocked.

"How come there are so many people renting cars?" Lu Yusheng shook his head in disdain, "Ye Luo is very smart and links the car dealership business with various social affairs. Not only customers want cars, but also life-saving cars in hospitals, pick-up and drop-off at train stations, funerals and weddings He will also take over other business. With such heavy rain, many people either rush back to their hometowns in the county or flee from their hometowns to the concessions. It is normal for them to be good at using cars. However, by doing this business, they clearly want to cut off other people's paths. It is too overbearing. ”

But Marshal Zhang doesn't think so: "It's an ancient principle that the able will live in the best place. When you put it this way, I think he is very powerful. His business acumen is awesome."

Seeing that the young marshal was becoming more and more admiring of his rival, Lu Yusheng felt doubly unhappy and quickly interrupted the conversation, leading the conversation back to Paramount.

The car quickly drove into the French Concession and arrived at the Huo Mansion with the help of the Qing Gang gangsters.

The pot-bellied Huo Tianhong and the smiling Zhang Wanlin waited for a long time and welcomed the young marshal and his wife into the hall.

Originally, the two of them also prepared a grand reception banquet at home.

But he didn't expect that Yu Fengzhi was infected with the cold all the way here, and Marshal Zhang didn't want to drink and chat with them, so he found an excuse to go back to his room to rest and declined all entertainment services.

However, before going back to the room, he still praised Lu Yusheng for his thoughtfulness and thoughtfulness, and said that he and Yu Fengzhi would dance as special guests on the opening day of Paramount.

inside the room.

The young marshal helped Yu Fengzhi change her clothes and lie on the bed. He put his hand on her forehead. It was only a little hot, so it was not serious.

Yu Fengzhi looked at him weakly: "Han Qing, I can't sleep."

"Then let me talk to you." The young marshal brought hot tea and gave her a sip.

"I don't have much energy. But it's boring." Yu Fengzhi yawned. It was too uncomfortable to fall asleep.

"There is a crystal radio here. Let me play some radio for you. I usually listen to radio broadcasts from the Beijing and Tianjin areas to give you something new." The young marshal mentioned the crystal radio and turned it on.

Soon the anchor's melodious voice came.

"Hello fellow listeners, this is Asia-American Radio. There have been heavy rains recently. With the bad weather, everyone must be in a bad mood."

". Let us use the latest popular song released by Yip's Dance Company to relieve the chaotic mood. This song "Tuberose" sung by Miss Ji, the queen of Black Cat Dance Hall, is dedicated to all the friends in front of the radio. They."

".I love this vast night."

"Tuberose~"

"I sing for you."

"Tuberose~"

"I'm thinking about you."

A melodious singing voice came from the radio.

The singing at this time was first recorded on film, then played on a gramophone, and then transmitted to the listeners' ears through radio stations.

After using multiple media such as film, gramophone, radio station, and radio, the singing voice is actually extremely distorted and the noise is uncomfortably high.

Even so, the young commander and Yu Fengzhi were still addicted to this beautiful song "Tuberose" and couldn't extricate themselves.

This is a song that has never been heard before. Whether it is style, singing, or lyrics, it is extremely novel.

Yu Fengzhi was used to listening to Peking Opera on the radio in the north. Now she heard popular songs from the south. Although the lyrics were about the love affairs between men and women, which was embarrassing, the melody was refreshing to her, and it seemed that it even relieved her headaches and physical discomfort. A lot.

After the song ended, the two of them were still reminiscing and didn't speak for a long time.

"Han Qing, did you hear that just now? It seems so."

"Produced by Ye's Dance Company, sung by a dancer named Wang Ji." The young marshal had a clear understanding and immediately knew what she wanted to say, "This second young master is really a strange person! What other pop songs did the dance company come up with? Let the dancers act as singers to sing? It’s interesting, it’s really interesting.”

"The minds of these businessmen are always full of fantastic ideas, which is amazing."

"Well, these days when I come here, I always hear all kinds of rumors about this second young master, which makes me feel unbearable. Let me see if I can get my contact information back!"

(End of this chapter)