A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

On the second day, Chen Guangliang, served by Yan Renmei, was neatly dressed and had a temperament that was both mature and youthful.

Yan Renmei looked at Chen Guangliang's appearance and couldn't help but stand on tiptoe. She pecked Chen Guangliang's lips lightly and then said in a sweet voice, "Are you coming back tonight?"

The meaning was clear—Chen Guangliang had been back in Shanghai for two days, spending both days with his wife, and even reveling every night. Her point was that after two days of demanding, Chen Guangliang should finally take a break tonight, so naturally, he should go home.

Chen Guangliang lied without thinking, "I have to attend the 'Shanghai Shipping Industry Association's Representative Conference' this afternoon. Everyone may have social events tonight, so don't wait for me!"

Yan Renmei immediately punched his strong chest with her pink fist and said coquettishly, "Aren't you afraid of tiring the cow to death?"

Chen Guangliang held her hand and said some cheesy love words, and the matter was over.

In the morning, Chen Guangliang went to work directly, but Yan Renmei was not in a hurry to go to work. Her time was very free, after all, she also had to take care of her family and children.

"Benevolence"

"Grandma, what's wrong?"

Yang Hui said cautiously: "Guangliang has another child outside."

As soon as she said this, Yan Renmei interrupted and said, "Grandma, I don't know what you are talking about. Your grandson is over there. His name is Chen Wenjie."

He was determined not to let Jiang Meiying and the child in.

Yan Renmei is also a very independent and strong woman. If it weren't for her father's coercion and if she hadn't met Chen Guangliang, she would not have married so early.

Regarding Chen Guangliang's affair, Yan Renmei felt that she had been tolerant enough and would not give in any further, even if Chen Guangliang was in front of her.

Yang Hui also knew that the "Chen family was not in the right". After all, this daughter-in-law was the "legitimate daughter of the Yan family", and now she had the eldest legitimate grandson in her hands. Not to mention her, even his son could not force her to do anything.

She immediately said weakly, "I'm not bringing up this matter, but I want to ask you if I can go and see the mother and son. After all, they are Guangliang's bloodline."

Yan Renmei finally said, "Mother-in-law is serious. You are the elder, and your daughter-in-law dare not control you."

In fact, she still didn't like him in her heart. Perhaps she felt heartbroken when she thought that Chen Guangliang was having an affair with another woman and had an illegitimate child.

Although she never showed it in front of Chen Guangliang, she still felt that she had a shameful side in front of her sisters, aunts, godmother and others.

She really doesn't want to give in anymore!

Yang Hui said seriously, "Thank you, daughter-in-law! Don't worry, in my heart, you will always be the eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen family, and Wenjie will always be my legitimate grandson."

She also learned to read people's faces. There's nothing she can do about it, because her parents' family is so powerful!

If she were to live in a small family, she wouldn't do that.

“Thank you, mother-in-law”

Yan Renmei finally turned around and hugged her son Chen Wenjie to play. Obviously, she was still a little prickly when her mother-in-law went to see Jiang Meiying.

Going west along the Huangpu River, it is on top of Sichuan Road, between Nanjing Road and Beiping Road, which is Ningbo Road in Shanghai.

Along this road, banks and money houses are lined up one after another. It is the financial hub of the entire city and is known as the Wall Street of China.

Located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Jiangxi Middle Road and Ningbo Road is the Ping An Bank Building.

On the east side of the road of Ping An Bank Building is the Shanghai Commercial Savings Bank. The two banks are separated by Jiangxi Middle Road, so this place is also regarded as the hub of Ningbo Road.

Chen Guangliang's car stopped on Jiangxi Middle Road, and he then got out on foot and walked into the bank building.

Most of his companies are headquartered in the Ping An Bank Building, so this is also where he spends most of his time working.

morning.

In the conference room of Global Shipping, Chen Guangliang and other senior executives held a meeting to hear about the latest operational situation.

Today, Global Shipping is registered in Shanghai, Guangzhou Bay and Hong Kong, with a total of 12 ships and a total tonnage of 4.4 tons.

Chen Guangliang only operates sea-going ships and does not engage in inland waterway transportation.

Zhao Tieyi took the lead in reporting, "In terms of global shipping, overall operations have been good this year. Our four fixed routes have been profitable, and our two cargo ships have also maintained the transportation of bulk commodities, including coal, grain, and sugarcane."

Wu Hao also reported later: "Jinshan Shipping's business has reached a new level this year. We have maintained a high business volume on the routes from Hong Kong to Guangzhou Bay and Guangzhou Bay to the southwestern provinces."

Finally, Chen Guangliang said, "The two Hong Kong ships are losing money this year, but they have completed the Hong Kong-US route. It's a pity that the captain is British, otherwise it would have made history."

Nonsense, except for the ship and the middle and low-level seamen who were Chinese, the rest of the voyage to the United States mainly relied on senior British seamen.

Zhao Tieyi added: "The two Hong Kong ships were originally transferred from Guangzhou Bay because they were too large. However, these two ships have made great contributions in the past."

Indeed, the two ships had already recovered their costs by transporting sugarcane, and even made a lot of profit.

Overall.

Global shipping profits this year are still around $300,000 to $400,000, which is a good number. The biggest contributors are still the four fixed-route ships, which, after all, symbolize north-south and south-south shipping.

As for the two ships in Hong Kong, Chen Guangliang may find a way to operate them by leasing them, which may improve the management.

In the afternoon, Chen Guangliang came to the Puyi Building to attend the 'Shanghai Shipping Industry Association Representatives Meeting'.

The meeting was attended by major Chinese shipowners, including Yu Qiaqing, Du Yuesheng, Lu Bohong, Shen Zhongyi, Chen Shuntong and others, and the new general manager of China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, Liu Hongsheng, also attended the meeting.

Liu Hongsheng himself did not run a shipping business, but he also owned China Terminal. However, he was invited to this meeting because of his position as general manager of China Merchants Group.

The meeting was chaired by Yu Qiaqing, who had the longest seniority and was also the boss of the private shipping company.

His Sanbei and Hong'an shipping companies had a combined tonnage of approximately 6 tons, surpassing Huanqiu Shipping's 4.4 tons. The only difference was that Sanbei and Hong'an primarily handled inland waterway transport, such as routes from Shanghai to Ningbo and Nantong. Du Yuesheng's involvement in the shipping companies involved involved Dada and Datong Shipping, founded by Zhang Jian, a wealthy official in the late Qing Dynasty. These companies later fell into Du Yuesheng's hands, and naturally, these acquisitions were made through a number of underhanded tactics.

Dada and Datong Shipping are also basically inland waterway transportation, so Yu Qiaqing and Du Yuesheng can also be considered shipping competitors.

Yu Qiaqing presided over the meeting and said, "Today, we will elect the 'eleven-member executive committee', as well as the chairman and vice chairman of the guild. Now, we will elect the chairman of the guild. Everyone can speak freely and nominate. Then each candidate will decide the number of votes in support by raising their hands. The candidate with the most votes will be the chairman of the guild."

After saying that, he couldn't help but glance at Chen Guangliang.

Perhaps Yu Qiaqing believed that Chen Guangliang made great contributions to the reorganization of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. Although the carrying capacity of the ships under his control was lower than that of the Sanbei and Hong'an, most of them were "good ships" and he was also a shipping operator who dared to fight directly against foreigners.

If he wasn't a little young, he would have had little hope of becoming the guild chairman.

As expected, someone suggested Yu Qiaqing, someone suggested Chen Guangliang, but Du Yuesheng was ignored. Although he was also among the proposals, it was obvious that not many people proposed him.

This also illustrates one thing: although Du Yuesheng has great influence in the Shanghai market, he can only be regarded as a "younger generation" in the business world and his achievements are not outstanding.

"Ahem," Chen Guangliang coughed and said, "I abstain. The position of guild chairman must be good at handling various complicated matters, which is my worst skill."

Everyone was a little surprised. After all, this was a good thing to stand out in the business world. Even with this kind of position, there were some business advantages.

In the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Yu Qiaqing likes to intervene and is not afraid of trouble.

He and Du Yuesheng were both famous people in Shanghai. They were usually very friendly and had a good relationship, but when they encountered conflicts of interest, they would disregard their feelings.

After two "fishing and killing families" incidents, Yu Qiaqing established himself in the fishing trade and was relatively popular. This may be the secret to his success in Shanghai. He attached great importance to social connections. For example, Du Yuesheng held a grand event called "Entering the Ancestral Hall" and invited Yu to serve as the general manager (the Ningbo people call him "general manager").

Someone said to him, "Master Qia, it's too low a level for you to be his chief steward!"

Yu Qiaqing calmly replied, "What does that little kid (because he was young, Yu called him a little kid) know? If he knew, all the civil and military officials would be members of the Green Gang, and all the great men in the world would be members of the Trickster Gang!"

These words illustrate his social experience.

The meaning is very simple. They like to intervene in matters big and small. Although it is often a small "mediation", they can gain great reputation.

"Since Mr. Chen is unwilling to take on this position, then it will be a choice between Adege and Mr. Du. The winner will become the Guild Chairman, and the other will be the Guild Vice Chairman."

"it is good"

Afterwards, everyone raised their hands to vote. To everyone's surprise, Chen Guangliang raised his hand twice. Everyone couldn't help laughing in their hearts - Chen Guangliang was only young, but he was a little rascal.

In the end, Yu Qiaqing was elected chairman of the association, Du Yuesheng was elected vice chairman, and the remaining nine executive members were Chen Guangliang, Lu Bohong, Shen Zhongyi, Chen Shuntong, Liu Hongsheng and others.

After all the elections were announced, everyone started discussing various issues in the shipping industry.

Yu Qiaqing presided over the meeting and said: "The main work of the Shipping Industry Association is to regulate the order of the shipping industry, protect the interests of shipping merchants and promote the development of the shipping industry. Its purpose is to maintain and promote the public interests of the industry and correct business malpractices, and to develop transportation."

Next, there are many topics to discuss!

Everyone discussed topics including 'progress in reclaiming domestic water diversion rights', 'supporting employment for graduates of Wusong Merchant Marine School', and 'waterway joint ventures (joint ventures of ships, trucks, and trains)'.

The most discussed issue, of course, is the rampant growth of the three powerful companies, Jardine Matheson, Swire, and Nissin, in China's inland rivers.

In fact, it is an inevitable trend for each province to establish a "Shipping Industry Association". Since 1933, when the National Government took back the shipping power and established five management bureaus across the country, China Shipping has truly ushered in the rapid development of the "national shipping industry".

Generally speaking, participating in such gatherings is beneficial to the development of the national shipping industry.

After the meeting, everyone chose to have dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel.

During the dinner, Chen Guangliang asked Liu Hongsheng, "Mr. Liu, how is the ocean-going business of China Merchants Group developing?"

He shouldn't have been involved in the affairs of China Merchants Group, but he was now also a director of China Merchants Group. More importantly, the strategy of developing ocean shipping was formulated by China Merchants Group when Chen Guangliang was in office, so he hoped to implement it.

The Nanjing government invited Liu Hongsheng to serve as the general manager of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, also hoping that Liu Hongsheng would implement Chen Guangliang's policies and resolutely prevent the "comprador system" from returning.

Liu Hongsheng showed a troubled expression and said, "The Chinese shipping industry is constantly under pressure from the great powers. As soon as our two ships opened a regular route from Shanghai to Xingdao and the Philippines, they were immediately met with low prices from Nissin Shipping. Nissin Shipping has the support and financial subsidies of the Japanese government, while China Merchants Steam Navigation Company does not receive government support. Therefore, although ocean shipping has developed, it is not profitable."

The others also joined in on the topic. Du Yuesheng said, "Even if it's not profitable, we have to compete with Nissin. In the past two years, Nissin's share of inland river transport has also increased. After all, the voices of boycott have decreased, and Nissin has become active again."

Others agreed and knew that China Merchants Group was in good financial condition and would definitely win this battle.

Liu Hongsheng nodded and said, "Everyone is right. Although China Merchants cannot sail to Europe and North America for the time being, we still have to fight for the distant South China Sea."

Everyone applauded.

Liu Hongsheng then told Chen Guangliang, "China Merchants is now planning to develop Southeast Asian shipping and is preparing to build two more ships to supplement this business. Even in the short term, Nissin Company, with its many years of operation, has an absolute advantage."

The ships built by the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company would not be sold cheaply to Japan in the future, after all, most of them could be transferred to Hong Kong in time; in the past, many of the ships of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company were transferred to Hong Kong and eventually sold to the British.

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "China Merchants Shipbuilding has no problem with its financial strength. However, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. China Merchants can first lease ships and compete with Nissin Company!"

Liu Hongsheng smiled bitterly and said, "It's hard to find a suitable ship in such a short time. Ocean-going vessels are at least 3,000 tons, and some of the great powers' ocean-going vessels are even up to 10,000 tons. Nissin has invested at least 20,000 tons in Southeast Asia shipping, while we currently only have a little over 6,000 tons."

Chen Guangliang thought for a moment and then said, "You build the ship first. I'll see if I can find a suitable vessel. The China Merchants Group can lease it and use it for the short-term South China Sea route."

"it is good"

Liu Hongsheng readily agreed, after all, Chen Guangliang was also the former general manager of China Merchants Group.

Chen Guangliang also made some calculations in his mind and decided to lease the two ships in Hong Kong to the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for a period of over a year; and then seek leasing business in Europe and the United States around 1936.

such.

Not only can they defeat the Japanese, but if the Qing Dynasty's strength is reduced, the Japanese invasion will be weakened. Although this may not be noticeable on the battlefield, it will still have some impact. More importantly, Chen Guangliang can also take the opportunity to earn some rent from the two ships. (End of this chapter)