1928: The Rise of Giants

Lu Beiya's opposition was loud and clear, but within a few days she completely gave in.

Because he gradually realized that shouting slogans was useless. Now all his subordinates were defeated soldiers. If he continued to play with Ye Luo, sooner or later he would lose even his underwear.

Just as Ye Luo said, if he sold the tram company to him as soon as possible, he could stop the loss in time.

However, he just couldn't accept the fact that something that had once been firmly in his hands was suddenly changing hands.

After two more days of hesitation, the selling price of the tram company dropped from 290 million oceans to 175 million oceans. The consortium at the European headquarters could no longer sit still and sent a telegram directly. First, they fired Van Benk from his position as general manager, and then mobilized their political connections to force Lubieya to surrender and sell the tram company.

This was actually a great thing for Van Benk. He was stuck in the middle and had no way to fight against Ye Luo, so he had to act as the vanguard for the Belgian consortium.

Now that he has been fired, he can leave the tram company openly, stay away from the disputes on both sides, and no longer have to suffer from both sides!

Lu Beiya instantly fell to the bottom and had no choice but to visit Ye Luo in person and beg him to buy the tram company.

Ye Luo didn't continue to bother him. He just lowered the purchase price of the tram company to 150 million oceans, and then wrote a check to Lu Beiya on the spot.

Seeing the Belgian Consul General, who was so arrogant a month ago, fleeing in panic, Kong Lingjun, who had watched the entire business war, was amazed, as if the door to a new world had been opened.

In fact, the core point of this business war is "burning money".

But ordinary Chinese businessmen simply cannot afford such a money-burning war. They have neither the money nor the knowledge of how to spend money reasonably.

This kind of unconventional business skill, or business warfare skill that can only be used after one has achieved success in one's career, is actually not suitable for instilling in people who are new to business operations.

But Kong Lingjun is an exception.

She is the youngest daughter of the Kong family. Her father is Kong Xiangxi, the richest man in the Republic of China. She is the most beloved goddaughter of the principal's wife and a young lady who can do whatever she wants in places like Jinling.

Kong Lingjun will never lack capital in his life.

So her business path is destined to be different from most people.

Ye Luo was training her to be a future female president.

She doesn't need to learn how to make her first pot of gold, she just needs to learn how to use money to make money.

Not long after the tram price increase controversy ended, the Belgian Tianjin City Tramway Company was officially acquired by Ye Shipping, a subsidiary of Ye Investment.

Amid the cheers of the people, the original company doorplate was slowly removed and replaced with the sign of the Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. under Ye Shipping.

At this point, the Belgians’ occupation of Tianjin’s tram industry finally became history.

Celebrities in Tianjin City came to congratulate Ye Luo, and the spies in the Japanese Concession also wanted to follow the example of the Peninsula people to assassinate Shirakawa Yoshinori and attempted to carry out a bomb attack at the opening ceremony.

Unexpectedly, Ye Luo did not attend the opening ceremony at all. Instead, Chen Youde and other senior executives of Ye’s Investment in Tianjin City went.

And their assassination plan was leaked a few days ago.

Those spies didn't even enter the venue before they were caught by employees of Ye Sports and the security company, put directly into sacks, and thrown into the sea outside to become food for the fish.

Ye Luo, who traveled from the future, knew the prosperity and backwardness of the intelligence system of the Republic of China. They were prosperous because every city had a dense intelligence network woven by various countries and major domestic warlords.

The reason why they are said to be backward is that the spy agencies basically have very simple structures, and the communication methods and working styles they use are quite primitive, which cannot be compared with later generations.

Even though Ye Luo only knew a little bit, after more than four years of operation, the spy agency under Ye Investment was far ahead of other agencies.

Not to mention the fragmented spy agencies of the Japanese invaders, even Dai Li's secret service would have to give a thumbs up when they met the intelligence workers under Ye Luo.

Ye Luo, who did not attend the opening ceremony, still stayed in the Young Marshal's Mansion.

These days, Zhang Hanqing has been trying hard to quit smoking, so Ye Luo has been playing poker with his wives - they are all tired of playing mahjong, mainly because Shi Jianqiao's card skills are so bad that she is really a bad teammate.

Fortunately, the three of them didn't bet much, otherwise with Ye Luo's superb card skills, he would make them lose all their money and kneel on the ground to help him count the money.

He played poker for three or four days in a row. Finally, in mid-June, Zhang Hanqing, who had recovered his normal self, walked out of the closed courtyard with the help of Hu Ruoyu.

He was very weak, leaving wet footprints with every step he took, and even needed Hu Ruoyu's support to move slowly, but his face looked energetic and he no longer had the disgusting look of a smoker.

How difficult it is to quit smoking can be seen from the documentaries on smoking cessation centers in later generations.

In the original history, Zhang Hanqing successfully quit smoking with the help of Lu Yusheng and Dr. Miller. In this respect, he is truly a great man.

Thanks to quitting smoking, he was able to live to the age of 101, becoming a rare centenarian.

"Han Qing!" Yu Fengzhi's eyes were filled with tears and she ran over quickly.

"Commander~" Zhao Yidie also ran over, her voice charming and attractive.

The two girls were in his arms, but Zhang Hanqing didn't even have the strength to hold them. He hurriedly whispered, "Ouch, ouch, no, no, no, let me slow down, let me talk to A'Luo."

"Okay, let's go stew your favorite pork rib soup to nourish you!" Yu Fengzhi knew that he had something to discuss with Ye Luo, so she pulled Zhao Yidie away.

"Sister-in-law, Sixth Brother just quit smoking and can't eat greasy food. Please cook more porridge." Ye Luo shouted to the two people who were walking away, then smiled and gave a gentle hug to the sweaty Zhang Hanqing.

"A-Luo, I... I really don't know how to thank you." Zhang Hanqing was like a reborn from the ashes, his eyes full of gratitude, "I thought after that, you would be ready to completely break up with me."

"How could that be. If you, Sixth Brother, hadn't come to Shanghai to help me four years ago, I wouldn't be where I am today. I, Ye Luo, am not the kind of person who doesn't return a favor."

Ye Luo helped him walk to the study, and Hu Ruoyu also dispersed the servants and military police in the house.

The two of them sat at the desk. Ye Luo poured him a glass of water and said with a smile, "I heard from Dr. Miller that as long as you continue to slowly quit smoking like this, a complete cure won't be a problem."

"Alas, it's easy to smoke but hard to quit. Now I can really understand the feelings of those addicts in the opium dens in Tianjin! Opium harms people! I plan to issue a permanent smoking cessation order in my jurisdiction next month, prohibiting all local warlords and government officials from selling and smoking opium."

Zhang Hanqing, who escaped death, now grits his teeth when he mentions opium. The south had already started to quit smoking under the strict order of the principal, but the north had never implemented it due to the complex composition of warlords in various places.

Now that he has come out of the opium, the first thing he has to do is to stop smoking! (End of this chapter)