1928: The Rise of Giants

The Tianjin tram fare increase controversy has been going on for almost two months.

As public opinion continued to ferment, the Belgians continued to press further and the matter gradually evolved from an ordinary foreign company price increase incident into a diplomatic incident that alarmed the northern government, Tianjin Municipal Government and the Belgian Consulate General in Tianjin.

The cause was that the Japanese staged a plainclothes riot in Tianjin last year, causing panic among the entire city. Merchants did not dare to open their doors, and people did not dare to go out. The huge city was like a ghost town.

The Belgian-controlled Tianjin Tramway Company wanted to make up for its losses by raising prices because of a significant drop in business and the suspension of tram services during the riots.

There has been no fare increase for more than ten years since trams appeared in Tianjin City. Now the Belgians suddenly demanded a large-scale fare increase, which immediately aroused dissatisfaction among the citizens.

Soon after, the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce and various Chinese business organizations were also involved. The Kuomintang’s party branch in Tianjin wanted to take the opportunity to intervene in the dispute, attempting to expand its influence in the political and business circles of Tianjin by resolving the dispute.

However, their solution was in line with the principal's usual style of "giving in on everything and making sure to satisfy the foreigners", which ended up making the matter worse.

The party was unable to handle the situation, so it ordered the Tianjin Municipal Government to come up with a coordination policy to resume tram operations as soon as possible.

Zhou Longguang is also a talented person. After repeatedly urging the tram company to restore the original price to no avail, he actually formed a picket team, promoted the so-called "patriotism" everywhere, and called on the masses to buy tickets at the original price at every tram station. Some radicals even called for people to ride the tram for free without buying tickets, in order to make the Belgians surrender.

Many citizens of Tianjin responded to the patriotic call and boycotted various businesses of the tram company, including the electric light company controlled by the Belgians.

Now things got really big.

Tianjin Tramway Company was also the largest copper coin exchanger in Tianjin City - copper coins were required to ride.

Seeing what the Party and City Hall did, the Belgians were completely annoyed and actually sold their accumulated copper coins to the Japanese invaders in Tianjin. These Japanese invaders then transported the copper coins back to their country and melted them into copper blocks for making guns and other military products.

Once this incident was exposed, the citizens and the Belgians were completely opposed to each other.

The private sale of copper coins violated the financial laws of the Republic of China. If it was done by a Chinese businessman, such a company would probably have been closed down that night.

But the Belgians were not afraid and continued to do so blatantly. They even issued a notice claiming that as long as the citizens of Tianjin did not accept the tram price increase, they would continue to sell copper coins to the Japanese.

In order to force Zhou Longguang to surrender, the Belgians also used the temptation of wage increase to send several tram company workers to fight with the pickets.

These scabs and pickets have fought more than a dozen times this month, with some people even being killed or injured in the bloody incidents.

Now, many political and business figures in Tianjin have jointly written an open letter to Zhang Hanqing, hoping that Zhang Xueming will come back and Zhou Longguang will be fired.

And what is Zhang Hanqing doing? He is now hiding in the Marshal's Mansion in the French Concession in Tianjin City, smoking opium!

"Second Young Master! If you don't save me this time, I will be doomed." Zhou Longguang almost knelt down.

In the original history, after the Japanese invaders launched a full-scale invasion of China in 37, the city of Tianjin fell, and the one who took the lead in becoming a traitor was Zhou Longguang.

Ye Luo had no good feelings towards him, so he accepted everything he gave him, and at the same time hoped that he would be killed as soon as possible.

But now that the matter has become a big deal, Ye’s investment business is also being affected, and the arrogance of the Belgians has indirectly encouraged the arrogance of the Japanese, which is what he cannot tolerate the most.

After thinking it over again and again, Ye Luo took a sip of tea and said calmly: "In this case, I will go to the Tianjin Chamber of Commerce and the Belgians to mediate. But Mayor Zhou, I can't guarantee that the matter can be properly resolved."

"No, no, I believe that with the Second Young Master's ability, such a small matter can be easily accomplished." Zhou Longguang instantly regained his spirits when he saw that Ye Luo was willing to help.

"But, whether it succeeds or not, I want some reward." Ye Luo did not hide anything from him. To deal with this kind of dog traitor, he had to take advantage of him.

The thing Zhou Longguang didn't lack the most was money, so he nodded immediately and said, "Of course, what does Second Young Master want, whether it's gold, silver, jewelry, banknotes, foreign exchange, or land or shops, I can provide them all."

"Are you talking to me about money?" Ye Luo looked at him like an idiot. Zhou Longguang suddenly realized that the person sitting in front of him was one of the richest people in the Republic of China.

Talking about money with him? Isn't that just showing off one's skills in front of an expert?

Zhou Longguang immediately laughed and said, "No, no, I'm just talking, don't take it seriously, Second Young Master."

"What you said is of no use to me. After the conflict is mediated, I need Mayor Zhou to help me with a few small things." Ye Luo looked at him and said leisurely, "With your ability, it shouldn't be a difficult task."

"Second Young Master, please speak!" Zhou Longguang said immediately. Now he only hoped to resolve the dispute as soon as possible. At this moment, he would agree to not only a few things, but even hundreds of things.

"First, I want to take back from the Belgians the rights to build the Longhai Railway and the Beijing-Hankou Railway, the mining rights to the Kaiping coal mine, and the shares of certain mines in North China."

Railways and coal mines are among the most profitable industries at present, but the situation in North China is complicated and these have always been controlled by local warlords and foreigners.

With the war approaching, railways and coal mines are vital resources and cannot fall into the hands of others.

The Tianjin Municipal Government had the final say on this matter, but due to the deal between Marshal Zhang and the foreigners, all these things were given to the Belgians.

"The City Hall does have the authority to approve it, but whether it can be taken back depends on Commander Zhang and the Belgians." Zhou Longguang was sweating profusely after hearing this. He didn't dare to make the decision alone.

Ye Luo smiled and said, "Don't worry about these. You just need to express your position to me on behalf of the City Hall and the Jinling National Government."

"Okay then." Zhou Longguang didn't care about that anymore. If the current dispute wasn't resolved, he might have to leave in a few days.

At that time, what difference would there be between signing one and signing a hundred such agreements?
"Second, reorganize the security team in the name of the City Hall to replace the picket team you have now, and be responsible for the security work of Tianjin City." Ye Luo continued.

This is to prevent the Japanese from causing trouble again.

With official endorsement, Ye Luo can also provide a large amount of arms and military supplies to aid this side.

Ye’s Shipping’s headquarters is here. Whether he can transfer some assets and personnel from here in the future depends on his control over Tianjin City.

If this was done, he would have to fall out with the Japanese again, but Zhou Longguang had no choice at the moment, so he immediately nodded and agreed.

"One last thing. Release some patriots who were previously detained for plainclothes riots and ensure their personal safety." Ye Luo put the teacup on the table. "Once these three things are done, I will immediately set off to find the Belgians."

"Okay! Second Young Master, please wait for my news. I will get everything done today!" Zhou Longguang gritted his teeth and went for it.

Anyway, those people are in prison and can't be really killed.

If we let them out, there will naturally be Kuomintang spies keeping a close eye on them.

He really doesn't want to continue being criticized by all parties because of the tram fare increase!

After watching him leave, Ye Luo slowly stood up, called Shi Jianqiao, and asked her to call Chen Youde directly and ask him to bring the key personnel of Tianjin City Chamber of Commerce to the villa.

The trouble should end it.

The tram fare increase incident was caused by a worker conflict, which was naturally instigated by those people from the Chamber of Commerce.

If we defeat these compradors, we won't have to worry about the foreigners behind them. (End of this chapter)