A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 265 Catching the Thief
The new year is coming (1933).

On New Year's Day, Chen Guangliang stayed at home with his wife and family.

Even with an eight-month-old belly, Yan Renmei did not forget to study and asked Chen Guangliang to tutor her for the next semester.

Because he was worried that it would be bad for a pregnant woman to sit for too long, Chen Guangliang specially prepared a reclining chair for Yan Renmei, letting her half-lying on the chair while he explained the English textbook to her.

The textbooks of Zhongxi Girls' School include: Chinese, English, mathematics, geography, science, history, religion and home economics. Except for the religion course, Chen Guangliang can handle all other courses.

Of course, Chen Guangliang still invited tutors for Yan Renmei, including Xue Zheng, the famous principal of the Zhongxi Girls' School in later generations.

Chen Guangliang took the textbook from Yan Renmei and said, "Okay, it's almost time. Don't study too long every day!"

Yan Renmei rubbed her belly and said dissatisfiedly, "It's all his fault, otherwise I would still be number one this semester!"

Because there were too many things to do, Yan Renmei had fallen to second place in this study exam.

Chen Guangliang said lovingly: "Second place is also good, even the top five are excellent students."

Yan Renmei thought about the upcoming semester and said with confidence, "No, after I give birth to him, I will work hard and get my first place back no matter what."

She is a strong-willed person by nature, but she will occasionally compromise because she loves Chen Guangliang too much.

"Okay, I support you, but you have to be careful in the next two months."

"I know. I like this little baby too."

The baby in her belly has become the hope of both families and concerns the issue of the heir to a wealth empire.

Very important!
Afterwards, Chen Guangliang helped Yan Renmei up and took a walk in the first-floor lobby.

After all, it is winter and it is very cold outside.

Yan Renmei suddenly asked, "Brother Liang, since you took over the China Merchants Group, you must have received a lot of threats, right?"

These words were mentioned to her by her father, Yan Zhiduo, who said that Chen Guangliang should not have agreed to take the position at China Merchants Group. After taking the position, his son-in-law was too upright and eager for quick success, which offended many people.

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "Don't worry. Since ancient times, good has always been defeated by evil. Those people are just cockroaches hiding in dark corners. As soon as you remove the cover, they will panic and flee in all directions."

His righteous voice made Yan Renmei feel that this man had a courage far beyond his peers. Even her father was no match for Chen Guangliang.

If my grandfather (Yan Zijun died at the end of 1931) were still alive, he could be compared with Brother Liang in the business world.

China Merchants Group is a huge enterprise with assets of 3000 to 4000 million. In later times, it would be a vice-ministerial level unit. In addition to Song Zaiwen's selection, many people also supported Chen Guangliang in taking on this important task.

Of course, it is not because Chen Guangliang has earned tens of millions of dollars that he is recognized by everyone; rather, Chen Guangliang's comments in newspapers, his absolute contribution to China's sugar industry, and his breakthroughs in shipping are the most important reasons.

"Well, I'll always support you!"

Chen Guangliang felt a sense of shame in his heart. With such a wife, what else could a husband ask for!

Recently, he has been thinking about the beautiful girl Jiang Meiying. Although their relationship is limited to dancing and eating, a man's mind is very simple.

At this moment, Chen Guangliang felt a little ashamed of himself.

The next day, Chen Guangliang came to work at China Merchants Group with high morale.

Ever since Yu Feipeng's brother-in-law was removed from the position of "comprador", the "compradors (managers)" of the entire China Merchants Group have been fired in an orderly manner and no major disturbances have been caused.

Of course, he received a steady stream of threatening letters every day in his office at the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, but none of them dared to leave his name in any of them.

"Mr. Chen"

An inexplicable voice called out to Chen Guangliang.

Lin Feng and a bodyguard quickly protected Chen Guangliang, even though this was the China Merchants Group.

After the person walked in, the two bodyguards slightly revealed their positions, staring at the stranger intently.

In fact, even if this man pulled out a gun, Chen Guangliang could kick him away.

"you are?"

"Mr. Chen, I'm an employee at the Yangjiadu Wharf warehouse of the China Merchants Group. I want to report something!"

Chen Guangliang immediately said: "Come with me to the office"

He was happy to see this kind of thing.

This shows that his reforms made some people with a sense of justice begin to believe in him as the general manager.

After a while, the staff member who came to report gave a complete account of the embezzlement by Gao Zhiqing, the manager of Yangjiadu Wharf.

"Well, if everyone in the China Merchants Group was as righteous as you, this company wouldn't have become so corrupt today. Wait a minute."

Afterwards, Chen Guangliang called someone from the finance department and said, "This guy has made a very good suggestion for China Merchants Group. I've decided to reward him with 200 taels of silver. Please pay him the money first, and then come back to me for signature."

"Ok"

The employee, Wang Ke, quickly said, "Mr. Chen, I'm not reporting this for money. I just think your reforms are right."

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "But if a company wants to develop, there will naturally be punishments as well as rewards. Okay, you can take this bonus with peace of mind. Leave the rest to me."

"Okay, thank you Mr. Chen."

This employee named Wang Ke has been remembered by Chen Guangliang, and his abilities will be carefully examined in the future.

The most urgent task is to deal with the issue of Yangjiadu Wharf.

After a while, Chen Guangliang called He Molin, director of the General Affairs Department of China Merchants Group, Zhou Fengtu, deputy director, and his trusted aide Guo Deming.

After recounting the incident, Chen Guangliang asked, "How do you think we should investigate so that we can establish irrefutable evidence?"

He Molin took the initiative to say, "It's inevitable that there are spies of this manager Gao Zhiqing in the General Affairs Office (Logistics), so I think borrowing the surprise inspection team is the best solution."

What he said is also timely!
Clearly, Chen Guangliang's decision to second so many finance and accounting personnel from his subsidiaries to form a "secretariat" was a precautionary measure. Of course, Chen Guangliang claimed it was simply for his convenience, given his multi-tasking nature.

Seeing this, Guo Deming took the initiative to say, "Why not go to Global Shipping to borrow troops?"

Chen Guangliang pondered for a moment before saying, "Director He, Director Zhou, you go find Mr. Liu Hongsheng and ask him to borrow a few soldiers with rich warehouse experience. Don't tell me what they're doing; just say I'm borrowing them. Meanwhile, Deming, you go to Global Shipping to borrow some soldiers. Only the four of us know about this, so please keep it strictly confidential."

In the end, Chen Guangliang was already intimidating without even getting angry.

"Yes"

Obviously, if the news leaked out, He Molin and Zhou Fengtu would have no chance of survival.

Zhoujiadu, the warehouse of China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.

As the person in charge, Gao Zhiqing is the local tyrant here. At this moment, he is playing cards with several trusted subordinates.

Gao Zhiqing put one foot on the stool and said while playing cards, "Have you taken away all the cotton yarn I asked you to move?"

One of the subordinates said, "Don't worry, Boss. There are 20 bales of cotton yarn in total. Move them all into our warehouse. Once this batch of cotton yarn is sold, we will give you cash."

A bale of cotton yarn is worth 190 taels of silver, and 20 bales is worth 5800 taels of silver.

Gao Zhiqing was also a disciple of the Qing Gang, so he could keep half of the money if he managed to get some money from the upper and lower levels.

China Merchants Group has many problems, not just in shipping.

The situation in the docks and warehouses was also very serious. (The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company had approximately 10 million silver coins in assets, and the land used for the docks and warehouses was worth over 20 million silver coins.)

The warehouse system is incomplete, the management is corrupt, and theft, both open and covert, has become commonplace.

It's not just Gao Zhiqing's family.

Hearing this, Gao Zhiqing said proudly, "Don't worry, you will definitely get a share of the dividends this time. Then you can go find the sisters in Yichun Tower and have a good time."

The group of subordinates who did the dirty work for Gao Zhiqing all offered their flattery to him.

"Brother, something bad has happened. The China Merchants Group headquarters has sent people here, saying they want to conduct a surprise inspection!" A subordinate ran in nervously.

Gao Zhiqing and others stood up suddenly, their faces full of panic.

They had recently heard that Chen Guangliang had made three big moves since taking office, burning down many people's official positions in three months. However, they had not expected that this fire would now spread to their warehouse.

Gao Zhiqing calmed himself down and said, "Don't panic. This warehouse is our Qing Gang's territory. Even Liang and the others wouldn't dare to mess around!"

"Yes, take your weapons and go."

Soon, Gao Zhiqing led seven or eight Qing Gang disciples outside. (Qing Gang disciples were not necessarily just members of the underworld; businessmen and intellectuals could also join the Qing Gang and become disciples.)
Gao Zhiqing said angrily: "What are you doing? Trespassing into the warehouse!"

Guo Deming pulled out a piece of paper and said, "We are here to inspect the assets of each warehouse at the request of Minister Zhu Jiahua, Chairman of the China Merchants Group, and Mr. Chen Guangliang, General Manager of the Group. This is an official letter. Manager Gao, please cooperate with the inspection!"

Gao Zhiqing looked at the official seal on it and suddenly panicked. He understood that this was a targeted inspection.

His younger brother immediately pulled out a gun and threatened, "I don't know if you dare. This is a key warehouse. Are you here to steal something?"

Faced with the glaring guns, the commandos were not at all panicked because they also brought bodyguards and guns.

The two sides confronted each other for a while.

He Molin then said, "Manager Gao, if you fired a gun, that would be rebellion. China Merchants is now directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport, and this official letter represents the country. Even now, they can sue you for threatening state officials with a gun. Then you won't just be committing an economic crime!"

Gao Zhiqing was so frightened that he quickly ordered his men to put away their weapons, and then allowed the commandos to begin checking the warehouse. He himself was paralyzed with fear.

"Go find Boss Zhang for help!"

"Okay, big brother."

The so-called Boss Zhang is naturally Zhang Xiaolin.

The surprise inspection of the Zhoujiadu warehouse soon produced results: the discrepancies between the accounts and the goods in the warehouse, and the lack of goods due to accounts, were extremely serious. A large amount of goods had been stolen, and there was solid evidence.

Therefore, Chen Guangliang urgently convened a meeting of directors and management.

Except for the Minister of Communications Zhu Jiahua, all other directors were present, including Du Yuesheng, Shi Liangcai, Liu Hongsheng and other well-known figures from various fields of society.

At the meeting, He Molin, Director of the General Affairs Department, reported the results of the surprise inspection.

Everyone's expression was very serious. They were shocked to see that the China Merchants Group had become so corrupt.

"Director He, how does your General Affairs Office plan to handle this matter?"

He Molin immediately understood that Chen Guangliang wanted to take this opportunity to spread the spirit of rectification to the docks and warehouses, so that the entire China Merchants Group would be guided by the spirit of rectification.

He immediately stated, "Gao Zhiqing and others have been dismissed. I suggest that they compensate for the property they have embezzled over the years."

At this point, external director Shi Liangcai bluntly stated, "I think it's better to go through the court process. After all, a state-owned enterprise has its own laws. Since China Merchants is now state-owned, it should be handled according to state laws. No sympathy is tolerated."

Seeing this, Du Yuesheng immediately expressed his opinion: "Yes, Shanghai is now ruled by law, and everything should be based on the law."

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "Okay, since everyone agrees, let's appeal to the court, publicly deal with Gao Zhiqing and others' illegal behavior, and recover the losses."

Everyone couldn't help but admire Chen Guangliang's decisiveness. He had accomplished so many great things in just over three months since taking office.

Chen Guangliang then continued, "Last year, we borrowed $400 million from Citibank. After paying off all previous debts, we still had $50 left. This capital will serve as development funds for China Merchants, so I sent people to the UK to purchase four 3000-ton ocean-going vessels. The ships have now been confirmed, and the total cost was $25. So, I plan to deploy these ships on two fixed routes: from Shanghai to Qingdao and Tianjin, and from Shanghai to Xiamen, Shantou, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou."

Everyone was surprised. This man was so selfless!

Chen Guangliang was the first Chinese investor to gain access to the regular flights on these two routes, and he even forced the British investors to sue for peace.

Now, Chen Guangliang has taken the initiative to share the regular flights of these two routes, which is obviously a selfless act.

Liu Hongsheng praised: "This will make north-south transportation more smooth, and our Chinese-owned shipping industry will also reach a higher level and gradually catch up with foreign-owned shipping companies."

Everyone also agreed.

Of the US$50, another US$25 will be invested in '11-way combined transport (ship and truck)' to increase China Merchants Group's service capabilities.

In fact, many people were worried that Chen Guangliang's loan of 400 million US dollars would bring disaster to China Merchants Group.

When the loan was first applied for, many people opposed it. It was Song Zaiwen's strong support that made the loan successful.

Now, many people still feel that this 400 million US dollar loan may turn all of Chen Guangliang’s efforts into nothing.

But is this really the case?

It is obvious that Chen Guangliang is full of confidence.

When borrowing, 400 million US dollars is roughly equivalent to about 2000 million silver.

If the US dollar depreciates by 30% at the end of this year or early next year, and silver appreciates at the same time, China Merchants Group may be able to easily repay the loan.

Currently, 1 ounce of silver is $0.25, the lowest price in history; by next year, 1 ounce of silver may be around $0.6, doubling.

China's economy was based on the silver standard, and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company earned silver dollars or silver, so it could probably repay the debt in 1 to 2 years.

By then, Chen Guangliang will have given the country a powerful China Merchants Group, rather than a heavily indebted one.

The next day, both Oriental Daily and Shenbao reported China Merchants Group's actions.

Many people applauded Chen Guangliang. After Chen Guangliang took office as the chairman of China Merchants Group, he instructed that the reform of China Merchants Group be followed and reported through the platform of Oriental Daily.

This approach, while utilizing the media to monitor the reform, also makes Chen Guangliang safer.

Later, Shi Liangcai joined the board of directors and Shen Bao began to follow up on the reports.

As a result, the reform of China Merchants Group has become a topic of discussion among the entire nation. Many people want to retaliate, but they also have to consider public opinion.

"Mr. Chen's three fires burned so quickly. In just three months, he has already found so many termites."

"There's nothing we can do. Didn't you read in the newspaper that China Merchants had over 30 million in assets, but even before it was nationalized, it couldn't survive. Mr. Chen is cutting the Gordian knot, using drastic measures to treat a serious illness!"

"That makes sense. I'm very optimistic that Mr. Chen will lead China Merchants Group to a brand new look."

"However, Chen Guangliang has also encountered many obstacles, including government officials, gang leaders, and business leaders. I heard that they are all very dissatisfied with him, and I am afraid that these people will do something bad!"

"They dare. This newspaper publishes it every day. Anyone who dares to retaliate will have his reputation destroyed."

(End of this chapter)