Chapter 35 Section 35 Breaking into the Flour Mill

If Du Yuesheng's involvement in the financial industry started with the establishment of Zhonghui Bank, then the acquisition of Huafeng Flour Mill is a symbol of his entry into the industrial and commercial circles. Huafeng Flour Factory is located on Xiaoshadu Road, and the owner is Lu Shaotang. In the 1930s, due to a disastrous defeat in the casino, Lu Shaotang had to bear hundreds of thousands of yuan in debt. In desperation, he came up with the idea of ​​selling Huafeng Flour Mill. Opening a flour mill at this time was very profitable. After Du Yuesheng learned of Lu Shaotang's idea, he immediately asked his important economic adviser Yang Guanbei to try to get Huafeng flour mill.Yang Guanbei finds a manager of Huafeng Flour Mill who is familiar with him, and confirms that Shaotang really intends to sell the factory. At the same time, he learns that someone is already in contact with the purchase of the factory.When Yang Guanbei heard the news, he was very anxious and asked the manager Chen to try to give up the business to Du Yuesheng. After his hard and soft efforts, Lu Shaotang was forced to agree to sell Huafeng Flour Mill to Du Yuesheng at a low price of 1.09 million yuan. .

After the price was negotiated, Yang Guanbei went to Fu Xiaoan according to Du Yuesheng's instructions. At this time, Fu Xiaoan had just returned from taking refuge in Dalian. In order to deal with the debts of China Commercial Bank and the conflict with Kong Xiangxi and others, he was asking Du Yuesheng.After seeing Fu Xiaoan, Yang Guanbei told him: "Lu Shaotang is going to sell the Huafeng Flour Mill. Due to debts, the price is set at a very low price, only 1.09 million yuan." Then, he hypocritically persuaded Fu Xiaoan to buy it.In fact, the news that Lu Shaotang was going to sell and that Du Yuesheng wanted to buy into Huafeng Flour Mill was no longer news at the time. Given Fu Xiaoan's status and relationship, it was impossible for him not to be ignorant of this. , quickly shook his hands and said:

"No, no, I never thought of buying a flour mill. I don't want to buy it. I should buy it for Mr. Du." Yang Guanbei was secretly happy when he heard the words, he knew that Fu Xiaoan would guess what he meant.But still sweetly said: "It's better for Mr. Fu to buy it." Fu Xiaoan simply pointed out further: "No, no, Mr. Du will buy it and let you manage it. This is the best." "but……" Fu Xiaoan had no choice but to pick up the conversation, and quickly said: "There is no problem with the money, China Commercial Bank can lend low-interest loans."

Yang Guan rambled about, went around in a circle, and finally got the sentence he wanted.In this way, Du Yuesheng didn't need to pluck a single hair, and Huafeng Flour Factory fell into his hands firmly. Not long after the Huafeng Flour Factory was acquired, Du Yuesheng's shriveled stomach full of endless desires started a new plan.His eyes were fixed on the chairman of Shanghai Flour Exchange. Because obtaining this position can influence the flour business in Shanghai, and even Jiangnan and Jiangbei provinces. At that time, Rong Zongjing, a famous industrialist and his younger brother Rong Desheng, were the executive directors of the Shanghai Flour Exchange.The Rong family brothers are from Wuxi. They worked as apprentices in Shanghai in their early years. After saving a certain amount of money, they opened Guangsheng Bank.During the reign of Guangxu, the Rong brothers invested in the flour industry and opened the "Maoxin" flour factory in Shanghai, creating the popular "Bingchuan" flour.After that, Maoxin Factory No. 2, No. 3, and No. 10 were successively opened. In addition to "Maoxin", there is also a "Fuxin" factory number, which is also the first factory, the second factory, and up to the tenth factory.Du Yuesheng, with the strength of a mere factory, can't beat the Rong brothers through normal market competition.But he has the backing of the KMT dignitaries, the support of the underworld, and the superhuman ability to play tricks. With these, Du Yuesheng has just entered the flour industry, and he can't wait to fight the Rong brothers.

Du Yuesheng first paid a high price to poach Wang Yuqing and the "Bingchuan Brand" trademark from the Rong brothers.Wang Yuqing, nicknamed "The Second King of Flour", has been in charge of 10 flour mills of the Rong family named "Fuxin" for many years.In addition, Du also hired Bian Xiaoqing, the general manager of Datong Flour Mill, and asked them to serve as executive directors of Huafeng Flour Mill along with Yang Guanbei, in charge of the entire business of the factory, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of Huafeng Flour Mill. At the same time, Du Yuesheng tried every means to win over businessmen in the flour industry who had conflicts with the Rong family brothers, so as to isolate the Rong family and expand his own strength.Businessmen operating in the Shanghai Flour Exchange belong to two flour industry associations: the Shanghai Flour Industry Association and the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui Province Flour Industry Associations.The influence of the Rong brothers was mainly in the Shanghai Flour Industry Association, while Yang Guanbei had a close relationship with the Flour Association of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces because his ancestors owned flour mills in Yangzhou and Gaoyou.The forces represented by these two guilds have been fighting openly and secretly for a long time around issues such as price and market allocation, and the competition is fierce.

In 1931, after the Kuomintang implemented the policy of "cutting tax rates and increasing taxes", this contradiction became even more acute.Lijin is a kind of tax that the old Chinese government set up checkpoints on major traffic routes to collect and sell goods. When the Qing government suppressed the Taiping Rebellion in 1853, Lei Yicheng, who was in charge of Yangzhou military affairs, led the implementation. The policy of "cutting the tax and increasing the tax" was a heavy blow to the flour businessmen in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui regions.Because the wheat they use to process flour is basically procured locally, and there is no need for long-distance trafficking, and there is little likina burden. Only when the flour is transported to Shanghai do they need to pay likina.Therefore, the "tax cut" did not reduce their burden much, but the "tax increase" increased their expenditure a lot.Flour merchants in Shanghai, on the other hand, had to go to other places to purchase wheat, and the distance they traveled was long and far away. The amount of lijin they paid was much higher than that of flour merchants in the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui.Flour merchants in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and other places were already at a disadvantage in competition due to issues such as freight charges. After the implementation of the policy of "cutting fees and increasing taxes", their situation became even worse.

Du Yuesheng saw that this was a good opportunity to win people's hearts, so he personally went to the Flour Industry Association of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces to urge the flour industry businessmen in the three provinces to write a "declaration" together. Considering the losses of the flour merchants in the three provinces, the tax collected by the flour merchants in Shanghai should be 50% less.This "declaration" was handed over by Du Yuesheng, and the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Finance of the Kuomintang government sent it to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry of the Executive Yuan. After that, Du Yuesheng's four activities were approved by Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi, and the tax paid by Jiangnan flour merchants was reduced by 100%. Forty, the tax paid by Jiangbei flour merchants was reduced by 50%.

As a result, Du Yuesheng won the favor of flour businessmen in the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. Instigated by Du Yuesheng, these businessmen and some Shanghai flour merchants who were closely related to Du Yuesheng secretly purchased the shares of the Shanghai Flour Exchange. After obtaining the number of shares with the right to speak, they immediately called for a general meeting of shareholders of Shanghai Flour Exchange.At this time, Rong Zongjing was the executive director of the Shanghai Flour Exchange, and Wang Yiting, who had a close relationship with him, was the chairman of the board. They knew nothing about Du Yuesheng's secret canvassing activities.As a result, he was severely criticized at the general meeting of shareholders and was forced to agree to re-election of directors.

As a result of the election, Du Yuesheng came to the top of the list, and he took Wang Yiting's place proudly and became the chairman of the Shanghai Flour Exchange. Yang Guanbei then became the executive director.