A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 314 The Fisherman's Profit
One morning in mid-April, Chen Guangliang and his family were gathered together at the Swire Group's dock, with Worldwide Shipping ships not far away.

Today, Chen Guangliang's mother, Yang Hui, boarded a ship to Hong Kong with Chen Guangliang's eldest son, Chen Wenjie. Of course, for safety reasons, Chen Guangliang also asked his younger brother, Chen Guangcong, to accompany them.

In fact, there were also 4.5 taels of gold being transported by Ping An Bank on this ship, as well as some of Chen Guangliang's employees and a dozen or so bodyguards from the security company.

"Call me as soon as you arrive in Hong Kong. My mother and Wenjie will stay with you for now!"

Chen Guangcong immediately said, "Don't worry, brother, I will take good care of them."

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "Yes, you've grown up now and can share my burdens."

Chen Guangcong got agitated for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.

On the other side, Yan Renmei held Chen Wenjie in her arms, her eyes full of reluctance, but she was giving serious instructions: "Wenjie, you are already four years old. This time you are going out with Grandma and Second Uncle, you must not run around on the boat. The sea is very dangerous. In a few days, Dad and Mom will come to Hong Kong to reunite with you, understand?"

Although Chen Wenjie was only four years old, he was not a child from an ordinary family. Looking at the big ship, he said, "Mom, I will listen to Grandma and Uncle, but you have to come and reunite with us soon!"

Yan Renmei felt a pang of sadness and quickly said, "Yes, we'll come and reunite with you after we finish our business."

Chen Guangliang came to the two of them and said, "Alright, we'll only be separated for about ten days. We'll be reunited soon."

In fact, Yan Renmei may not arrive until mid-May, or even June.

In short, Chen Guangliang will only go to Hong Kong after he has dealt with matters in Shanghai.

Soon the ship docked, and everyone hurried to move the cargo and board the ship.

The reason for leaving through the Swire Group's dock was naturally for safety and privacy, to avoid being seen by too many people.

Once the ships of the Global Shipping line reached the open sea, it would be difficult for warships to intercept them. Of course, at this time, Chen Guangliang did not have such a great enemy.

After seeing his mother Yang Hui and eldest son Chen Wenjie board the ship, Chen Guangliang immediately took Yan Renmei and his third son Chen Wenming home.

Yan Renmei remained somewhat down throughout the journey.

Chen Guangliang comforted us, saying, "In this era, it's normal to separate. Later, we might move from Hong Kong to Chongqing, by which time the Japanese will have already occupied the coast, and we'll still have to go through Fangchenggang. Then, the transportation will be even more complicated!"

Yan Renmei turned around and asked, "Then why don't we go directly to Chongqing? You've already bought property there and made a lot of investments."

Chen Guangliang said, "Sometimes, people don't appreciate what comes to them. Anyway, you still have several years to go, so don't worry. And I will definitely be with you."

Yan Renmei immediately understood that if the Southern Whale government truly moved its capital to Chongqing, then the Commander-in-Chief would have to invite Chen Guangliang to Chongqing before Chen Guangliang would go. Otherwise, he wouldn't be very valuable. On the other hand, Hong Kong might be able to hold out for several more years, and perhaps the war would end then, and there would be no need to go to Chongqing.

"I'm just a little unsettled about being separated from Wenjie, but I'll be fine in a couple of days!"

"Yes, how could I bear to part with it?"

The importance of the eldest son is self-evident. Chen Wenjie is also Chen Guangliang's most valued child. Although he is only four years old this year, Chen Guangliang has been personally educating him since he was a child.

Three days later, news came from Hong Kong that everything was safe, and Mr. and Mrs. Chen Guangliang breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as you arrive in Hong Kong safely, there will be not only Chen Guangcong, but also Chen Guangliang's business center there, so there will be no problem in continuing to live a superior life.

Ping An Bank.

Tong Runfu, Li Shengbo, Xia Gaoxiang, Ye Ximing, and others found Chen Guangliang again.

"Boss, cotton yarn prices have gone crazy! It's already broken through 260 yuan. Should we sell 2 bales to recoup some funds?"

Everyone was getting impatient; clearly, the profits were already very high. Calculated from the cotton purchases, the profit margin was probably around 35%. And this was only a little over six months ago—the return on investment was already astonishing.

But Chen Guangliang remained calm. He even knew that even if the cotton yarn didn't make money this time, the return on investment in textiles from 1938 to 1940 would still be astonishing, at least over 40%. In his previous life, Shenxin No. 9 Factory alone made a profit of 10 million yuan in 1939, allowing the Rong family to pay off a large amount of their pre-war debts in one fell swoop.

It's quite simple. At that time, many products from factories in the Shanghai International Settlement flowed into the war-torn areas, and the prices of goods in the war-torn areas soared, resulting in huge profits. Of course, inflation was also a factor.

"No rush, no rush. We haven't even figured out who's manipulating things this time, or what their goals are. Why rush? Besides, we have this batch of cotton. Even if we use it for the next two years, we won't lose money."

Ye Ximing then spoke up, "Actually, the main issue is that Ping An Bank is also facing a relatively tight cash flow situation!"

Recently, Ping An Bank has been shipping batches of gold to Hong Kong (all belonging to the Chen Guangliang family), causing its funds to become quite tight.

Chen Guangliang said, "Listen to me, let's wait and see. I have a feeling that the price can go up to 280. More importantly, once it goes up, it's hard for it to come down."

Assuming the current price is inflated, once the war starts in August, even if the cotton yield is good, transportation will be difficult due to the war.

Ultimately, there's plenty of insurance involved.

"it is good"

Everyone felt reassured once again.

Finally, Chen Guangliang kept Xia Gaoxiang and Ye Ximing behind.

"Ping An Bank also needs to stockpile a batch of grain, which will be imported from Annam and stored in warehouses leased in the concession. This grain is not for profit or speculation, but for our own employee benefits later."

Importing from China is naturally not a good idea.

If we import from Annam, it's equivalent to not using domestic resources.

Ye Ximing immediately asked, "Including the employees of Xinfeng Textile?"

Chen Guangliang said, "All the employees of my companies are prepared to contribute 100 million yuan to complete this project. Of course, we won't lose money on the grain, just not make a profit. I've already had Huanqiu Shipping make the arrangements for procurement and transportation; you can contact them directly."

Fortunately, Hong Kong has ships, and Global Shipping also has trade professionals, so Ping An Bank only needs to advance the funds.

This time, Xia Gaoxiang and Ye Ximing had no objections, after all, the boss's plan had already taken root in their hearts.

就算事情不发生，粮食也不至于亏损。    4月上海本埠普通大米售价11.5元一石，100万国币的话可以买87000石米左右，1石约为120斤，所以100万法币可以购买大米：87000×120=10440000，即1044万斤左右。

Rice is cheaper in Annam, but if you deduct the cost of transportation and warehouse rental, it's only about 5000 tons.

If each person consumes 200 jin of rice per year, it is equivalent to the annual food supply for 50,000 people. In fact, this batch of rice should be enough to feed at least five or six thousand people under Chen Guangliang's command and their families for several years.

It's not about giving it away for free; it's about providing grain as wages at a price below market value. I believe everyone will be happy.

In addition to stockpiling grain, coal will also be stockpiled, and Jierui Coal Briquette Plant will take action.

Chen Guangliang had a compelling reason to profit from this wave of "war gains": the population of the concessions had increased from 160 million to 450 million, and these people came from all over the country. They had the most gold, silver, antiques, and gems, but what they needed were supplies.

Chen Guangliang simply profited from these people's gold, silver, antiques, and gems, and then tried to preserve these things.

That's it.

In fact, there were many ways to make money during the isolated island period, including machinery, steel, cotton cloth, gauze, food, coal, department stores, and so on.

War made many people rich, but also destroyed the businesses of many others.

What followed was something that baffled the "Northern Four Banks": they had initially estimated that Xu Maochang and his external funding were limited, and that they would have to stop and enter a wait-and-see mode after going up to a certain point.

Unexpectedly, Xu Maochang had a lot of money and kept buying as much as he could every day, driving up the price of cotton yarn from the off-season level to the peak season level. The price of each bale of cotton yarn rose from the initial 240 yuan to 290 yuan.

Now, the short sellers were puzzled: the consumer market didn't have that much demand for cotton yarn, so what was the purpose of Young Master Xu hoarding so much?
The "Northern Four Banks" decided to investigate the background of Xu Maochang's bullish move and the source of funds for his ongoing battle against the short sellers. This investigation surprised the "Northern Four Banks": this young master Xu was backed by two incredibly powerful figures—the "Uncrowned Queen" Soong Ai-ling and the "Underworld Emperor" Du Yuesheng!
The short sellers finally understood their opponent's strategy: the bulls' real intention wasn't the yarn, but rather to target the short sellers.

Because the short-selling group had calculated that Hsu Mao-chang would not have the money to pay his bills and would go bankrupt in advance, they sold an excessive amount of short-selling shares.

However, the other party had the backing of Soong Ai-ling and Du Yuesheng. With the Ministry of Finance, headed by Soong Ai-ling's husband H.H. Kung, secretly providing financial support, and Du Yuesheng's underworld influence watching closely, making cash payment a no-brainer, and no one would gossip or create public opinion.
If the "Northern Four Banks" sell the excess shares but fail to deliver them to the buyers, it will constitute a transaction default. Once the short sellers' credibility plummets, the market will inevitably sell off their own (bank) shares, and the reputation of the "Northern Four Banks" will almost collapse.

Now, it was Beisihang's turn to panic!

After figuring out what had happened, the decision-makers at the "Northern Four Banks" held an emergency meeting overnight to discuss countermeasures.

Hu Bijang, the head of Zhongnan Bank, said, "We have no way out. The most urgent thing is to steel ourselves and confront Song and Du. My suggestion is to spare no expense to purchase cotton yarn from other places and ensure sufficient supply before the trading day between the two parties."

Zhou Zuomin, the head of Jin Cheng Bank, nodded and said, "Currently, money is secondary; the key is reputation. As long as the reputation of our four banks remains intact, this loss is entirely acceptable."

The heads and senior executives of the four banks never expected to be tricked by Song and Du this time, but for now they can only tough it out.

In fact, the four banks have official backing, and their backgrounds are not necessarily weaker than Sister Song's.

Why do you say this way?
Because the backing of the Northern Four Banks was the "Political Science Clique," including Minister of Industry Wu Dingchang and Zhang Qun, the head of the Political Science Clique (who persuaded Zhang Xueliang to switch sides for Chiang Kai-shek, laying the foundation for the key situation in the Central Plains War).

The Political Science Clique and the "Imperial Clique" led by Kong Xiangxi had a long-standing feud, so this time Song must have Kong's full support behind him.

Kong's idea was not necessarily to make money, but to bring down the "Northern Four Banks".

The four northern banks purchased cotton yarn in other regions, a strategy aimed at stabilizing their stock prices and reputation.

Unexpectedly, Soong Ai-ling and Du Yuesheng had already taken these issues into account in their joint efforts.

The bullish group anticipated that the "Northern Four Banks" would make this move, and had already arranged for Sheng Shengyi (son of Sheng Xuanhuai, the Qing Dynasty's Minister of Posts and Communications), who was then the Director of the Unified Tax Bureau of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Provinces of the Southern Whale Government and held great power over the taxation of the three provinces, to be on standby at any time.

Upon receiving the notification from Soong Ai-ling's secret envoy, Sheng Shengyi abused his power, dispatching a large number of inspectors to control all land and water ports and highway checkpoints in Shanghai. Any cotton yarn from other regions attempting to enter Shanghai was intercepted, but not confiscated; instead, it was detained under pretexts such as "overweight," "tax evasion," "tax stealing," and "violation of regulations." Furthermore, it was spread that the goods would be detained until the cotton yarn stock exchange's trading deadline; if the "Northern Four Banks" had no goods to deliver, they would be deemed to be in breach of contract and punished before being released.

This caused a stir in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with the stocks of the "Northern Four Banks" plummeting for several days, leaving retail investors holding these stocks in dire straits and having to queue up to "cut their losses."

Upon hearing the news, Chen Guangliang was overjoyed and summoned Ye Ximing.

"Make arrangements immediately to aggressively acquire shares of the four northern banks, the more the better."

Ye Ximing's eyes lit up, and he said, "The boss plans to sell the cotton yarn in the concession to the North Four Banks?"

Chen Guangliang smiled without saying a word, but simply told Ye Ximing to get to work immediately.

He never imagined that things would develop to the point where he could earn 'two jobs'.

As for offending Kong, Song, and Du, Chen Guangliang doesn't care at all now. He's already run away, so why should he worry about those things?
Moreover, even if he were to go to Chongqing, it would be at the invitation of the Commander-in-Chief, giving him even greater protection.

This situation has caused great concern among the decision-makers of the "Northern Four Banks," who are holding meetings day and night to discuss countermeasures.

On this day, Chen Guangliang arrived at the headquarters of the four major banks in the north and held a secret meeting with their leaders.

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "I have over 2 bales of cotton yarn in the concession, but it's high-quality cotton yarn, and I can sell it to you at the current market price!"

Xinfeng Textile has more than 5 bales of cotton yarn, but half of them need to be kept as reserves.

Upon hearing this, Hu Bijang, Zhou Zuomin, Tan Lisun, and others immediately grasped at this straw.

They didn't expect that a true master was waiting there.

I had heard that Xinfeng Textile had purchased a large amount of cotton last year, but I didn't expect it to be more than 20,000 bales in one go.

Hu Bijang immediately said, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Chen. This matter is very important to us in Beisihang."

There was no bargaining; the price was 290 yuan per pack, while Xinfeng Textile's cost was only around 190 yuan, a difference of up to 50%. With an interest rate of only 6%, it was a huge profit.

Chen Guangliang added, "Alright, I originally planned to stockpile these cotton yarn bales. However, given that the price of cotton yarn has been driven too high this time, which is not conducive to the development of our textile industry, I am willing to calm down the market speculation."

Everyone was taken aback, realizing that Chen Guangliang's move was not "speculation," but rather an attempt to calm the market's speculative frenzy.

But that seems plausible, because Chen Guangliang never got involved in the transactions at the 'Yaju Exchange'.

(End of this chapter)