A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 182 Countermeasures
"Foreign taxi giants" Tailai and Yunfei suddenly announced "price cuts" in mid-March, causing turmoil in the entire Shanghai taxi industry.

The two foreign taxi companies already accounted for nearly 80% of Shanghai's taxi companies (about 580 taxis, of which about 430 were foreign taxis). They suddenly announced a price reduction to "3.5 yuan per hour", which naturally immediately took a large amount of market share into their own pockets.

In response to this suppression, the Chinese Automobile Business Association subsequently held a meeting to discuss countermeasures.

At the meeting, Zhang Wenzhe, the owner of a five-taxi company, was the first to speak up. "Foreigners want to engage in a price war, and we're no match. Our fuel costs are higher than theirs, and so are our parts and repair costs. Crucially, our penalties for violations are even more severe. How can we compete?"

There is already a pessimistic mood in the tone!
Although the Chinese Automobile Business Association has 36 taxi companies, more than half of them have only one or two cars, and five cars are considered a large scale; and the three leading Chinese taxi companies have only 70 cars in total.

Faced with the suppression from this giant, many taxi companies are indeed feeling depressed.

Of course, taxi companies with one or two cars basically do "absent-post" business (no telephones are installed), and they feel okay about it.

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "We've already reduced fuel costs by 10%. While there may still be some gap, it shouldn't be significant. Oil prices will continue to fall, and our union will continue to negotiate to minimize them. Regarding parts and repair costs, Changjiang Taxi plans to set up a related department, which will be open to everyone later. But our top priority is to lower prices, otherwise the foreigners will take over all of our market share."

He has the ability, so naturally he supports price reduction.

After hearing this, Zhou Xiangsheng was the first to stand up and support, saying, "Yes, we must also lower the price. 3.5 yuan is always profitable."

One liter of oil now costs 1 yuan and can run for one hour, but this is only part of the cost; because in this era, taxis also need to be equipped with other staff, which is equivalent to one car having two drivers and one staff member.

Then, everyone voted by raising their hands!
The final decision was to 'lower the price', otherwise there would be no business in the future.

Zhang Wenzhe then said, "Chairman Chen, I'll have to rely on you to negotiate with the Municipal Council regarding their 'discriminatory treatment of Chinese-owned taxi drivers.' After all, they're both violating the rules, so why are we being treated so harshly?"

"Yes, yes, this is a huge loss!"

"Foreigners are so good, they take advantage of everything!"

For a moment, everyone was united in their hatred of the enemy.

Chen Guanghui gestured for everyone to stop, then said, "Everyone, this matter requires the joint efforts of all of us. We will continue to communicate and negotiate with the concession government. Furthermore, my Oriental Daily has decided to investigate this unfair phenomenon and use public opinion to pressure the concession to treat it fairly. Of course, violating traffic rules itself is wrong, and we must also improve the professionalism of drivers."

Everyone had no objection to this and agreed to it one after another; as for whether they could do it, that was another matter!
Afterwards, Zhou Xiangsheng found his good friend Ji Binchen, the general manager of "Xin Shun Ji Hardware Store".

"Binchen, I want to borrow money from your Xinshunji to buy a taxi!"

Xin Shun Ji Hardware Store is the business of the "Zhenhai Ye Family". In this era, "hardware store" actually means a money shop, doing business in "gold, silver and copper".

Upon hearing this, Ji Binchen immediately said, "If you hadn't told me, I would have suggested that you take out a loan to expand Xiangsheng! Do you know who provided the loan for Changjiang Taxi?"

Zhou Xiangsheng reacted and said, "Could it be you too?"

Ji Binchen laughed and said, "I don't have that much power. It was our boss who promised us five hundred thousand taels of silver."

Zhou Xiangsheng sighed, "Chen Guangliang is so rich, yet he actually took out a loan to buy a car, and the amount is so large!"

He already had a feeling that Changjiang Taxi had not only purchased a hundred new cars, but had another hundred.

Ji Binchen immediately said, "According to my guess, Boss Chen is betting on the appreciation of the US dollar, because I've also discovered this recently. The United States is experiencing an economic depression, and gold has begun to appreciate significantly, so the exchange rate of the US dollar to the silver dollar will also rise. Think about it, cars will definitely sell cheaper in the United States because their factories need orders, and similarly, selling them in US dollars can be cheaper. If you order cars now, they will appreciate significantly in the future."

Now a car costs just over 5000 yuan, but soon it will cost 10000 yuan. The reason for this is the increase in the exchange rate of the US dollar against silver.

When Zhou Xiangsheng heard this, he immediately said with a burning heart, "Then how much loan can you give me?"

Ji Binchen said: "My maximum authority is to lend you 10 silver, which is about 42000 US dollars."

Zhou Xiangsheng immediately said, "This money is only enough for the deposit. If this batch of cars arrives in Shanghai, I can raise more than 40% of the price. How about you, Benchen, invest 35%?"

His idea was to first acquire these 100 cars, and then use these 100 cars as collateral for mortgage loans to continue purchasing new cars.

After all, his friend now said that the US dollar will continue to rise, so he cannot lose money just by purchasing the car - that is, the value of the car will appreciate.

Upon hearing this, Ji Binchen hesitated and said, "Chen Guangliang is a business genius. I wonder if you are confident that you can win the competition?"

Zhou Xiangsheng immediately said, "Binchen, although Chen Guangliang is a commercial car dealer, I am also a veteran in this industry, so I will naturally not lose to him. What's more, we are now competing with foreigners, so you can rest assured that the taxi market will belong to us Chinese sooner or later."

Ji Binchen thought about it and it made sense. He had always been paying attention to all aspects of Xiangsheng Taxi's management, and it definitely had a bright future.

In addition, he is optimistic about the US dollar exchange rate. Once a car is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, it will become an asset with "capable of increasing value" and he will not lose money.

"Okay, I'll invest!"

Zhou Xiangsheng was very happy to get the support of his friends, and he could finally give it his all.

In the office building of the Yangtze River Bank, Chen Guangliang was looking through the accounts.

At present, the assets of Changjiang Bank are as follows:

'Big Yellow Croaker (4920 taels of gold for one)' marked with 406 gold (cost yuan per piece);
'Big Yellow Croaker (3160 taels of gold for one)' marked with 472 gold (cost yuan per piece);
The deposit is 100 million yuan.

The latter batch of yellow croakers was purchased as spot gold at the beginning of this month (March) using the profit of 150 million from the previous four months.

Chen Guangliang chose not to increase his margin or raise his futures quota, maintaining it at 1000 million yuan. Of course, if it exceeded the limit slightly, the gold exchange would not issue a warning out of consideration for Chen Guangliang's reputation.

After all, the Shanghai Gold Exchange's benchmark gold futures market is a place where speculation is based on "reputation."

"Jingle Bell"

The phone in the office rang and Wu Xinhe immediately picked up the phone.

"The current price of gold is 478.52"

The person on the other end of the phone was from the Shanghai Gold Exchange, and the person calling them was naturally a trader from the Changjiang Money House.

The walls of the "trading patio" of the Shanghai Gold Exchange are covered with telephones, which serve as the "incoming and outgoing lines" for each member unit; communication with the outside world is maintained through telephones, whether it is to convey trading status or receive trading instructions, mainly through telephones.

People who are not members of the unit are not allowed to enter the trading patio!
Wu Xinhe immediately said to Chen Guangliang, "Boss, the price has dropped to 475.52." Chen Guangliang said decisively, "Start buying, and act quickly!"

Wu Xinhe immediately conveyed the instructions from the Changjiang Money House headquarters over the phone.

Over the past week or so, a fierce battle has been waged between the "short-selling forces" led by Cheng Linsheng and the "long-buying forces" led by the "Ningbo Gang." Of course, the trading volume of both parties only accounts for a fraction of the total market.

Now that the price has dropped to 475.52, Changjiang Bank will naturally not miss the opportunity and will buy the entire 1000 million quota.

As for the 500 million purchased earlier and the 500 million sold later, that is naturally considered as the profit and has nothing to do with subsequent transactions.

After a while, the phone rang again.

It was a reporting call from the site, informing that they were already buying and how many shares they had purchased!

"Boss, I've already bought 200 lots, and none of them exceed 480."

One hand of gold is worth 100 taels, which is equivalent to ten large yellow croakers.

200 lots is a transaction volume of nearly one million.

Less than an hour had passed, which fully demonstrated that the exchange's trading volume was active at this time.

"Well, hurry up and tell them to buy, and don't worry about anything else!"

"Ok"

At this time, at this price, there is basically no need to worry about anything.

If it continues to rise, it means profit.

If the market falls, at most you will make no money or less money this month.

It’s a sure win card anyway!

Of course, this "sure win" is based on Chen Guangliang's knowledge of the overall trend of gold, otherwise he would not be so determined.

Chu Feiyun is one of the 200 reporters of Oriental Daily. He has recently been following the incident of "Concession patrol police discriminating against Chinese and foreign taxi drivers who violate the rules" and chose to observe and interview at the busy intersection of Huangpu Beach Road and Fuzhou Road.

On that day, a taxi with the word "Yunfei" on its head was seen illegally parking to pick up a passenger, causing a brief traffic jam. When a patrolman noticed it, he blew his whistle and approached with his baton in hand.

"You can't park here, leave now!"

"Okay, let's leave now!"

After Yunfei's taxi picked up a foreign passenger, it quickly left the scene.

Chu Feiyun quickly took pictures of this scene with a camera imported from Germany. He had recently applied for the best equipment.

Ordinary journalists usually don’t have cameras, and most of the news is reported orally; but Oriental Daily has a lot of equipment, including many cameras and even video cameras.

"Goodness me! For such a serious violation, they only received a verbal warning. These foreign taxi companies are like the true emperors of the concession!"

Yesterday, Chu Feiyun saw with his own eyes that at the same place, a Chinese taxi driver was fined for illegally getting off the car.

He then took the taxi and interviewed the driver, and found that everyone was aware of this situation.

The Chinese taxi drivers he interviewed all knew that foreign taxi companies were "superior".

Therefore, he was very angry at the different treatment of Chinese and foreign taxis in the concession!

"Report to the newspaper and write a good article criticizing this phenomenon of discriminatory treatment!" Chu Feiyun immediately prepared to report to the newspaper.

Although he came to complete the mission this time, he was also indignant at this time and decided to "stand up for the Chinese-owned taxis."

Recently, a fierce battle has been launched among Chinese and foreign taxi companies. Foreign-funded companies Tailai and Yunfei took the lead and announced a price reduction to 3.5 yuan.

Of course, this is a good thing for many Shanghai citizens. Taking a taxi is finally not that expensive!

Therefore, even among Chinese people, public opinion is now on the side of foreign-funded taxi companies.

But the Oriental Daily published an article that day, detailing how foreign-funded taxis "have advantages" on Chinese soil, not only because "the penalties for violations in the concessions are different", but also because of advantages such as "cheap fuel prices, spare parts and repair friends".

The article mainly criticizes that foreign-owned taxis can violate the rules and at most receive a verbal warning, but if Chinese-owned taxis violate the rules, they will have to pay a large fine.

The article also describes how Chinese-owned taxis, under this "unfair competition," are forced to lag behind foreign-owned taxis in all aspects. The article also describes how foreign-owned taxis are now lowering prices solely to suppress Chinese-owned taxis and monopolize the Shanghai taxi market.

The article also reveals the dangers of "monopoly". In the future, monopoly companies can raise "fares" at will because there will be no one to restrain them.

Naturally, the article also plays the "emotional card" and the "patriotic card", because Chen Guangliang ultimately directed this article, and he also likes to play the "patriotic card"!

If this article was published by reporter Chu Feiyun alone, it would inevitably have a low perspective; with Chen Guangliang's guidance, it appears more grand, but he did not sign his name.

"I thought foreign companies were lowering prices out of good intentions, but it turns out they were just trying to suppress Chinese taxi companies! Fortunately, Chinese taxi companies are now also lowering prices. As a Chinese, of course I have to support Chinese capital." A businessman who often takes taxis said while reading the newspaper.

Then, he instructed his two concubines: "From now on, when you call a taxi, use Chinese-owned taxi companies, support our Chinese business, and don't always give money to foreigners."

"I understand, sir. We are all Chinese. Of course we should use Chinese products. We should call them Chinese cars!"

Obviously, times have changed!
In later generations, this was called 'moral kidnapping';
But now, this is called "Supporting domestic products is everyone's responsibility", and even the Nanjing government will shout this slogan - support domestic products and boycott Japanese products.

This piece of news sparked a huge discussion, with people beginning to criticize the "inequality within the concession," feeling that since it was a "violation of the rules," everyone should be fined.

Soon after, the Chinese Concession City Government also issued a statement, hoping that the Concession Administration would treat Chinese-owned taxi companies fairly. The implication was that foreign-owned taxis were being treated fairly in the Chinese Concession, and if the Concession Administration continued to do so, foreign-owned taxis might be targeted outside the Concession.

Although the Huajie City Government's statement was in response to public opinion, it is still a very good move!
(End of this chapter)