1928: The Rise of Giants

"Second brother, do we really have to continue publishing the newspaper under the pressure from the principal?" Lin Yuan felt a little uneasy. At the beginning, the principal closed down various publishing houses. Once the newspapers and magazines without background were found by the spies, they could not escape the disaster by simply closing down and begging for mercy.

When they went to report the looting, even Li Haoxuan, the son of Li Boyong, the editor-in-chief of the Newspaper, was nearly beaten to death.

These spies are more terrifying than killing gods when dealing with unarmed civilians.

"I'll take care of this, just do it. Whoever dares to touch anyone from the Ye family must be prepared to pay the price in blood." Ye Luo waved his hand and soothed him, "Don't look at Dai Li's aggressiveness, he is a weak guy. He knows some things better than anyone else."

"I understand. In fact, the ones who are most worried are the employees under me. They think that they are just workers hired by Ye's Newspaper Company. The principal and others naturally dare not touch you, second brother, but these workers..."

Lin Yuan sighed.

To work in the media industry in the Republic of China, one either dared not say anything or had a strong background. Otherwise, trouble would come to you soon, and not everyone could withstand it.

"A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. I will ask my eldest brother to arrange some people from Ye's Security and Ye's Sports to patrol outside the newspaper office. Dai Li should really send someone to cause trouble. In Shanghai, I have people in both the black and white worlds. Are his spies enough to fill my teeth?"

Ye Luo smiled and patted his brother-in-law on the shoulder.

"He is a smart man and will not do stupid things. But you must be careful of the Japanese. The Nanjing National Government will still consider my face, but the Japanese will not give me face."

"I understand, second brother." Lin Yuan nodded.

Jinling, Qilu.

The principal took the cup of water handed to him by Dai Li, took a sip, frowned and asked, "Did he really say that?"

"Yes. As everyone knows, he and the Japanese are sworn enemies. The purpose of this newspaper is to broaden people's horizons and introduce the styles of various countries. I have read a few issues and there is indeed nothing wrong with it. However, the Japanese section in it does seem to be fanning the flames."

Dai Li said respectfully,

"The newspaper is getting bigger and bigger now, and its influence has spread. It would be difficult to explain to the public if it suddenly ordered to shut down."

"What do you mean?" The principal drank his tea, thinking.

"Let him get on with it. Before he crosses the line, there's no need to fall out with the Ye family over a small newspaper." After being blocked by Ye Luo's harsh words, Dai Li didn't want to get involved in this matter anymore.

As Ye's investment momentum gradually grew, he no longer wanted to have anything to do with Ye Luo. This man was too scary. To deal with Ye Luo, he had to put all his effort into it, and he might not succeed.

Most importantly, Ye Luo has never touched the principal's bottom line - cooperating with underground organizations.

The principal originally wanted to give Ye Luo a warning. After all, Ye Luo has been getting more and more aggressive recently, and his biggest backer Zhang Hanqing has also fallen. He can't keep praising him and make some veterans within the Kuomintang feel disappointed.

But a text message from the United States made the principal give up the idea.

The newsletter was a newspaper with Franklin's inauguration on the front page and several photos of the banquet at the end. Only those who could attend such a banquet were rich or noble.

The principal was not invited.

Ye Luo and Hui Xin can be found in all the photos, especially the one in which Franklin is sitting in a wheelchair and clinking glasses with Ye Luo who is bowing slightly. The photo was called "the wine of the century" by the newspaper, which shows that the influence of Ye's investment in the United States is far beyond his imagination.

He had always believed that Ye Luo's Ye Investment was only slightly famous in the United States. No matter how powerful it was, its roots were in the Republic of China. The size of the Republic of China was about 50 billion to 60 billion oceans. How much more could the size of the United States be?
60 billion oceans, converted into about 10 billion U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate, is a company of this size that can only be considered an upper-middle-class enterprise in the United States.

But can upper-middle-class companies be invited by the US President to attend the inauguration reception?

The principal fell into deep thought. He suddenly realized that the young man introduced by Song Ziwen seemed to be hiding something.

"Well, we can't always indulge the Japanese like this. If we listen to them on such trivial matters, it will be difficult to handle the follow-up matters." The principal nodded, "Then let's do this. Let them be more restrained, such as reducing the size of the page appropriately, and then turn a blind eye."

"Yes!" Dai Li nodded happily.

The principal is now worried about something else.

Ji Hongchang and Fang Zhenwu in the north revealed their identities as members of the underground organization and led their troops to establish a base in the southern Chahar region.

Not long ago, the president ordered He Yingqin to command 16 divisions to attack Feng Yuxiang's Anti-Japanese Allied Forces from the front and back together with the Japanese army on the grounds of "obstructing unified political orders and undermining national policies."

Feng Yuxiang was forced to disband the Anti-Japanese Allied Army, while Ji Hongchang and his companions, in anger, launched a high-profile counterattack.

This base did not exist for long.

Because the principal was determined to set up an underground organization and "suppress the bandits", he immediately sent He Yingqin to attack the two men's troops.

With the Japanese invaders in front and the Kuomintang behind, the two were forced to surrender and accept the recruitment of the Nanjing National Government, and then ran away to Tianjin City to live as private citizens.

At this time, Ye Luo was taking Meng Xiaodong, who had just given birth naturally, back to her mother's home in Tianjin to visit the Meng family's relatives.

Meng Xiaodong added another little princess to the third generation of the Ye family. This time, Bai Xiuzhu entrusted the important task of naming the girl to Xiao Aqiao, who named the little princess before she left.

She admitted that she was not as educated as Bai Xiuzhu. After thinking about it, she chose the name "Ye Dongdong", directly connecting Ye Luo and Meng Xiaodong's names together.

This name sounds rustic, but it is very much to the liking of the Ye family. Ye Dongdong lay together with his brother Ye Zhen, who was two months older than him, and drank Ruan Lingyu's milk every day.

No one knows why, but Ruan Lingyu's milk production was very high, and she was not at all poor like the women in the Republic of China, which made Hu Die, Meng Xiaodong and others very envious.

On this day, Ye Luo was watching his brother-in-law and sister-in-law practicing with guns when Ji Hongchang hurried over to visit them.

After several months of hard fighting, this famous general looked much thinner and his spirit was much weaker.

"Second Young Master, I've long heard of your name!" Ji Hongchang said with a fist salute.

Ye Luo also returned the greeting: "Hello, General. What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Please ask the second young master to send his attendants away." He said seriously.

Ye Luo glanced at Shi Jianqiao and the others, and they left the yard with a group of children from the Meng family.

The other party is a famous anti-Japanese general and a descendant of a loyal and righteous man. He will definitely not do anything to him.

"Second Young Master, are you one of us?" he suddenly leaned closer and asked.

Ye Luo was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I am a non-partisan person."

"What a pity, what a pity. With Second Young Master's ability, it would be better if he joined us. It would definitely make the journey against the Japanese smoother." He said directly. (End of this chapter)