A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 107 Newspaper
In just two days, Chen Guangliang raised 21000 yuan to redeem the Transportation Department's 50% stake in Projects D and E. This way, the Transportation Department would not have to pay dividends from these two projects next month.

At the same time, Changjiang Automobile Dealership also began to distribute dividends, and all shareholders were smiling.

There are always drivers asking 'when will we recruit more shareholders', but the answer is rather disappointing - considering that the number of large-scale license plates has already reached around 450, Changjiang Car Dealership has no plans to add new projects.

For a time, nearly half of the drivers were disappointed. Of course, this was only a short-term emotion. After all, life had to go on.

"Boss Chen, why doesn't the Changjiang Car Dealership have enough money to buy new cars now?" A group of drivers surrounded Chen Guangliang and asked anxiously.

Chen Guangliang came here simply to distribute dividends, and these drivers must have come here to join in the fun.

"Everyone, the license fees are too high now, and the Changjiang Car Dealership has almost reached its peak, so I no longer have any plans to buy a new car. Please forgive me!"

He still responded to this situation very politely, which is also a part of his personal charm.

One driver complained, "We worked so hard to save up money and even bought a share or two just because we knew the Changjiang Carriage Company would be looking for shareholders. Now that there's no share offer, we don't know how we're going to save that money!"

Another driver echoed, "Yes, I've been scrimping and saving these past few months and finally managed to scrape together twenty dollars, hoping to collect some interest!"

Everyone started to complain. If it weren't for bodyguards like Zhou Xinggao watching over them, there might have been a big problem.

Can this also become a kind of "public resentment"?
Chen Guangliang said, "Don't be discouraged. If the price of the license plate is reduced, we will consider continuing to invest. However, you may want to deposit the funds in the bank and earn an annual interest rate of 8%."

"We don't trust banks. They might run away with our money any day!"

"That's right. If it weren't for you, Boss Chen, you could just give us 10% interest and save us the trouble!"

"Yes, Boss Chen, you are a businessman. How about we deposit our money with you and you give us interest?"

Chen Guangliang was stunned. This money was rushing into his pocket!

Little do they know that these drivers are really worried about keeping cash at home.

So I originally planned to come here to "recruit shares and join the partnership", but now I can only give up and hope for Chen Guangliang's subordinates.

"Everyone, please be quiet for a moment while I think about it. The dealership will notify you later."

"Good Le"

After everyone left, Chen Guangliang walked towards the office, thinking about the establishment of the Yangtze River Financial Company in his mind.

The so-called "financial company" is actually a financial company that is preparing to establish a bank in the future.

No, it’s still too troublesome. Chen Guangliang quickly dismissed the idea from his mind.

It is still too early to set up a "financial company", but it is necessary to absorb the idle funds in the hands of these drivers, just as if it were helping them save money.

Then, he called He Xiangdong and said, "Since it's inconvenient for everyone to store their funds, we at Changjiang Motors will open a deposit facility. Deposit your money into our account and you'll earn 15% interest annually, with a minimum deposit of ten taels. You organize and promote it, and I'll get people to cooperate with your operation."

Nominally, the funds are held in the Changjiang Car Dealership, but in reality, they are held in Chen Guangliang’s personal account.

He Xiangdong immediately said, "Well, we will ensure that the publicity is in place, and the daily funds will be reported to you in a timely manner and accurately recorded."

Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction: "If we accumulate this money, we can officially become a taxi company. And a formal taxi company, without the trouble of doing the 'abandoned post' business."

To establish a formal taxi company, they naturally continued to use the "Yangtze River Taxi Company" sign, but they needed to find an office building and run a telephone line. Because in this era, calling a taxi was the most common way to get a taxi.

"Okay, I'll get ready right away."

In less than half a month, the price of land in the western section of Yuyuan Road increased from 2300 yuan per mu to 3100 yuan per mu (in the case of land deeds); the price of land in the middle section of Yuyuan Road also increased from 3000 yuan per mu to 4500 yuan per mu.

Even so, it still attracted competition from several real estate developers, and it was not just the brothers Wang Xiancheng and Wang Juncheng who were acquiring it.

These are things Chen Guangliang didn't expect!
But he soon felt relieved.

Firstly, Yuyuan Road had been designated as the sphere of influence of the International Settlement, determined by the patrol power over 'road construction beyond the boundary';

Secondly, Yuyuan Road has become an ideal area for apartments and high-end residences, with several new lanes and garden-style residences already built here;

Finally, Yuyuan Road became the object of everyone's hype, forming a blind trend.

Chen Guangliang not only has no regrets about the current situation, but is very happy. After all, he is the largest "landlord" on Yuyuan Road, owning 63 acres of land and the development rights of two real estate projects.

On the other hand, he also made some progress on Xiafei Road, spending more than 2 yuan to purchase a 5-mu piece of land. The location was relatively west, but it was also on Xiafei Road after all.

Of the 20 yuan for "land speculation", almost 16 yuan has been used. I believe the remaining 4 yuan will be spent soon, but I will never buy land on Yuyuan Road again.

Everything was going well, so Chen Guangliang started to think about other things.

On this day, he invited his friend Zhou Shoujuan, the editor-in-chief of the Shenbao supplement, whom he had met this year, to have tea together in a teahouse.

Chen Guangliang didn't waste any time talking and went straight to the point. "I invited Brother Zhou to have tea this time because I wanted to ask for advice on running a newspaper. I hope Brother Zhou can give me some pointers!"

Zhou Shoujuan was very surprised and said, "Boss Chen wants to start a newspaper?"

I thought to myself, as a boss who came from a car dealership, even if you have become a real estate developer now, you wouldn't be involved in something like publishing a newspaper, right?

Generally speaking, newspapers are run by government backers, either with significant capital, or by a top Shanghai influencer like Du Yuesheng. Finally, newspapers are run by intellectuals. Chen Guangliang, after all, was just a "small boss." It's not that running a newspaper is expensive, but rather that he lacked the necessary motivation.

Chen Guangliang knew what Zhou Shoujuan was thinking and said, "I want to start a business newspaper. It won't be political, and it won't be an obviously progressive newspaper. I plan to focus on business news."

Zhou Shoujuan began to understand Chen Guangliang's idea a little bit - a young, self-made businessman might really want to make a name for himself in the business world, so he planned to publish a business newspaper.

Then he said, "As for commercial newspapers, a newspaper just collapsed at the end of last year. That was the Commercial Daily. Right now, the machines for this newspaper are still lying in the warehouse!"

Chen Guangliang was not frightened at all. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity and asked, "That's great! I can buy the equipment of the Commercial Daily and start a new business."

Seeing that Chen Guangliang was just like a novice, Zhou Shoujuan couldn't help but continue to persuade him: "Do you know why the Commercial Daily went bankrupt?"

Chen Guangliang shook his head. He didn't care much about these things.

To be honest, although he planned to publish a commercial newspaper, he would definitely rely on novels such as "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" to increase sales; real business news and comments would require the gradual establishment of a network.

Zhou Shoujuan continued, "Because the Xinwen Bao, one of the three major newspapers, was very popular among businessmen, while the Shang Bao was more popular among intellectuals and students. In addition, the newspaper initially wavered between 'overthrowing the warlords (Beiyang)' and 'supporting the warlords,' which is why it eventually went bankrupt."

Chen Guangliang nodded, and finally understood a lot of things with the help of Zhou Shoujuan.

"Brother Zhou, can you come and help me run the newspaper? I'll be responsible for the profits and losses."

Zhou Shoujuan smiled and shook his head, saying, "I've managed to endure for so many years, and I've accumulated some capital. I plan to retire in a year or two."

Uh, you are only 33 years old, what are you talking about retirement!
Seeing Chen Guangliang had some doubts, Zhou Shoujuan added: "I like to plant flowers and plants, so I want to focus on this after retirement!"

That's it!

Chen Guangliang remembered that Zhou Shoujuan was very famous in the fields of bonsai, flower and grass cultivation. His former residence was still in Suzhou in later generations, and he had visited it in his previous life.

But it seems that this person was killed in the 1960s?

Forget it, forget it, don’t mind your own business.

Of course, Chen Guangliang continued to ask Zhou Shoujuan about some matters related to running a newspaper and understanding the ins and outs of this industry.

In this era, newspapers are basically run by consortiums and backers, with general managers, assistant managers, advertising managers, etc. responsible for management, while editors-in-chief, chief writers, and editors are responsible for content.

The consortium and backers here are basically not responsible for the operation of the newspaper, but they will set the tone for the newspaper; and the general manager and assistant manager are essentially the spokespersons of the consortium and backers.

For example, the current owner of the "Business Daily" equipment is Fang Jiaobo, who was re-elected as vice president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce for two consecutive terms. In fact, his backer is Fu Xiaoan, who is the spokesperson for the Beiyang warlords.

Now that the Northern Expedition Army has defeated the Beiyang Army, not only has Fang Jiaobo lost his power, but Fu Xiaoan has also been wanted by the Northern Expedition Army and has gone to the north.

However, when Fang Jiaobo was the vice president, he was able to maintain a neutral and fair attitude between the two factions, so he was not targeted by the Nationalist government. However, the "Business Daily" was obviously unable to be published (also due to sales reasons).

After learning this information, Chen Guangliang decided to try his luck. After all, he was quite confident in running a newspaper.

He said he would not participate in politics, but in fact he was definitely a "speculator", so he was not afraid of choosing sides while running a newspaper. It was very simple: he would invest in whoever represented the government.

In a house.

"Something is wrong!"

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Wang Xiancheng said, "We've fallen into Chen Guangliang's trap. He has no intention of continuing to purchase land on Yuyuan Road. He's just using us to speculate on the value of the land on Yuyuan Road!"

Wang Juncheng reacted immediately upon hearing this. He slapped his thigh and said, "This Wang Zuoyi is also dishonest. In order to close the deal, he certainly didn't tell us the whole truth, such as how many acres of land on Yuyuan Road Chen Guangliang owns."

Recently, they have acquired more than 30 acres of land on Yuyuan Road. The average price of the western section is 3200 yuan per acre, and the middle section is 4500 yuan per acre.

Since they joined other real estate developers, they didn't think too much about it. They just wanted to get the land quickly.

"Alas," Wang Xiancheng sighed, "we're simply helping others. We've driven up the price of land, and the one who's benefiting the most is Chen Guangliang, the big landlord on Yuyuan Road, that upstart real estate tycoon."

"What should I do now? Should I take the opportunity to sell it?"

"No, if that happens, the land prices on Yuyuan Road may drop, and we will lose money."

Even though several more real estate developers have come to pay attention to the land here, as long as the Wang brothers want to sell the land they just bought, the land on Yuyuan Road may return to the situation more than half a month ago in a short period of time.

"Then just take it. It's impossible to lose money anyway, right?"

Wang Xiancheng frowned. His wealth was actually only about one million, but he planned to give 20 yuan to each of his four sons in a year or two, and use the remaining money to build a garden villa for himself, preparing to live out his retirement.

"That's it, it's not a big deal!"

It’s really not a big problem. If you hold it in your hands, you can always make money.

Chen Guangliang was not trying to trick the two brothers, he was simply using them to speculate on the land on Gaoyuyuan Road.

After all, the price of land on Yuyuan Road will increase by at least double, so there is no need to worry!

(End of this chapter)