Sure enough, Yang Yuxin sent a proposal to the Qingdao Executive Yuan overnight to charter a ship, and by the afternoon of the next day, he received a reply from the Executive Yuan, agreeing with Yang Yuxin's suggestion and explaining that everything at present is mainly to prepare for war and ensure the supply of materials.

In the afternoon, Bai Tassel also came back to Yang Yuxin to report the results of the negotiation with Swire Shipping Company, and Swire Pacific Company agreed that if the East China government could charter more than 10 ships at a time, it was willing to charter the ships to the East China government at a 7% discount, and also signed a preliminary agreement of intent with Bai Tassel.

After reading the intention agreement brought back by the white tassel, Yang Yuxin was also very happy, because once the charter is confirmed, there must be more than 10 ships, and the price of 7% off is very low, and the profit is indeed not high. In fact, at this time, the prices of several shipping companies in Shanghai are about the same, which can guarantee a certain profit, but there is no huge profit, just use their own shipping company, whether the meat is rotten in the pot, and the profit is still within the East China government. And Swire can reduce the price to 7% off, there is indeed not much profit margin.

The formation of Shanghai's shipping market pattern has also undergone several changes, initially with foreign capital led by Swire and Jardine Matheson, and later Li Hongzhang's steamship China Merchants Bureau strongly intervened, forming a three-legged situation, and after the Gengzi State Change, the East China government stepped in and formed a four-way scuffle. However, before the East China government intervened in the Shanghai shipping industry, the price of Shanghai shipping was quite high, after the steamship China Merchants entered the Shanghai shipping industry, and Swire and Jardine Matheson had a fierce battle for several years, of course, this business war was initiated by Swire and Jardine, deliberately lowering the price of the ship, trying to squeeze the steamship China Merchants at a low price, but Li Hongzhang continued to inject capital into the steamship China Merchants on the one hand, and on the other hand, the Qing court's Cao Yun was contracted to the steamship China Merchants Bureau to protect the income of the China Merchants Bureau. Jardine Matheson couldn't resist at first, so he could only negotiate with China Merchants Steamship for the distribution of Shanghai shipping market share. It is also a rare victory in China's modern history in foreign commercial wars.

However, after the negotiation between China Merchants and Swire and Jardine Matheson, the three parties joined hands to cut off the shipping market in Shanghai, causing the shipping price to rise sharply, and even the ticket from Hubei to Shanghai reached up to 2,000 silver. And this has also become the place where the steamship China Merchants Company has been criticized by later generations, not only did it fail to protect the interests of the nation, but on the contrary, it colluded with foreign capital to plunder the national wealth.

When the East China Government Shipping Company was just established, Swire and Jardine Matheson planned to use a price war to squeeze out the East China Government, and also wanted to pull the steamship China Merchants to join the company. However, the East China government took the initiative to find Swire, Jardine Matheson, and China Merchants Steamship, asking to negotiate the price of shipping, and solemnly warned all parties not to try to fight a price war with the East China government, because they have the internal logistics of the East China government as a guarantee, and they are not afraid of their price war at all, and once that side first launches a price war, it will be strongly retaliated by the East China government, and the East China government will impose high entry fees in Shandong and Tianjin ports.

Under the strong pressure of the East China government, Swire and Jardine Matheson could only compromise, and the steamship China Merchants Bureau did not want to squeeze the East China government back from the beginning, but when the parties negotiated, the East China government required that the shipping price must be reasonable, not only to ensure the interests of all parties, but not too outrageously high, and the competition should be their own management organization and coordination ability, work efficiency and service, as a result, the price of the route with the participation of the East China government has dropped significantly, from its route from Shanghai to Tianjin, the price reduction has exceeded 60%.

After two years of operation, the steamship China Merchants Bureau first lost in the competition, and the management and low work efficiency of the cake were the biggest problems of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, although Sheng Xuanhuai had considerable ability, but first, Sheng Xuanhuai had too many industries to manage, and it was impossible to focus on the steamship China Merchants Bureau; second, Sheng Xuanhuai was still a traditional Chinese businessman after all, and it was impossible to establish a modern enterprise management system in the steamship China Merchants Bureau, so he was unable to cope with the fierce modern commercial competition, coupled with the influence of the Russo-Japanese War, after August 1904, the steamship China Merchants Bureau simply gave up the operation of the route from Shanghai to Tianjin, and only kept the grain of the Qing court, Caoyin transportation.

After all, they are modern enterprises, and their management, operation and efficiency are much higher than those of China Merchants Steamship, and they have the support of the Shanghai Public Concession and the French Concession, but their profits have also been greatly reduced. And these two companies are foreign capital after all, so they are a little higher in terms of operating costs. So in 1903 the two companies decided to merge in order to increase their competitiveness.

After the merger of the two companies, the Russo-Japanese War exploded, the economy of the entire Far East was greatly affected, and Swire's business was also greatly affected, and a large number of cargo ships were idle, but the East China government bought a large number of materials because of the preparation for the war, and in 1904, because of the supply of some materials to Japan, the shipping industry has been greatly developed, and the turnover has risen sharply, and even the transportation capacity is insufficient. However, Swire Bijing has strong capital and knows the value of the Shanghai-Tianjin route, so it has to grit its teeth and hold on.

At this time, the East China government chartered a ship from Swire, so Swire would rather discount the charter fee to facilitate the deal, although there was no profit, but at least it could maintain the company's operation.

However, to be able to talk about this step, the white tassel obviously also contributed a lot, and this time she went alone to negotiate with Swire Company, which shows that she already has the ability to take charge of herself, so Yang Yuxin is also quite emotional in his heart, although he collected the white tassel at the beginning, although he knew that she was a returnee from Japan, but he mainly fell in love with her appearance, but he didn't expect to really pick up the treasure.

At this time, Bai Tassel said: "Chief, when I came back, I met Boss Ma's master, and he said that Boss Ma wanted to ask you to have dinner in the evening, and set up his birthday banquet and land rental. ”

When Yang Yuxin heard this, he immediately perked up, he had been waiting for the news. It turns out that the name of this horse boss is Ma Ruicheng, a businessman in Yunnan and Guizhou, it is said that the family is extremely wealthy, and the figure of Yunnan's Qian Wang Chi side by side, his assets are tens of millions of taels of silver, and his business is all over Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hunan and other places.

Ma Ruicheng came to Shanghai in 1904 in the hope of developing his business in Shanghai, and was later introduced by Yuan Shuxun, a Shanghai Taoist, and became acquainted with the East China government. He was very appreciative of the development of the Shanghai New Area, made a detailed investigation of the business situation in the Shanghai New Area, and planned to rent 12,000 square meters of land to set up factories, shops, and build his own mansion. At the same time, this Ma boss is interested in the entertainment service industry in Shanghai New Area, because after watching the movie, he is full of praise, renting a large VIP room in the cinema for many years, and holding banquets in Shanghai New Area many times, entertaining guests, counting half a year, Ma Rui Chengji spent more than 60 taels of silver in Shanghai New Area only for life and entertainment.

When he first came to Shanghai, he established a good personal relationship with Yuan Shuxun of Shanghai Taoist Station and Sheng Xuanhuai, who was also an official and businessman, of course, these relationships were established with money to open the way, but Ma Ruicheng also paid great attention to the shaping of personal image, and successively invested more than 10 million taels of silver to support schools, hospitals, charity halls and other public welfare institutions, and also built two roads, so he also won a good reputation.

After deciding to invest in the Shanghai New Area, Ma Ruicheng also consciously befriended the officials of the Shanghai New Area, and Yang Yuxin was the top person in charge of the Shanghai New Area, so he was naturally the object of Ma Ruicheng's key friendship. And Yang Yuxin wants to vigorously develop the economy of Shanghai New Area, and he also needs such national capital to participate, so he is not opposed to making friends with Ma Ruicheng, so the two have also established a good personal relationship.

However, although Yang Yuxin is lustful, he is still very sober-minded, and knows that it is okay to make friends with businessmen, but he must be cautious and not affect the normal operation of the government. After all, Yang Yuxin's ambition is not only the mayor of Shanghai New Area, but also a bigger goal, and of course he will not let himself be stained because of this petty profit. And this point has also been fully supported by Jiang Yi, she not only gave Yang Yuxin's other wives and concubines and family members a stern warning and management, including the clothing company she participated in, but also paid great attention to the fact that all business transactions must be operated legally.

At the beginning of the relationship between the two, Ma Ruicheng also gave Yang Yuxin and his wife and concubine property several times, but some were politely declined by Yang Yuxin, and some were discussed by Yang Yuxin in the name of Ma Ruicheng as support for the Shanghai New District Government, and went through the support procedures according to the normal process procedures, and Ma Ruicheng is also a reasonable person, and after seeing the situation, he no longer sent property, that is, he did two transactions with the clothing company in which Jiang Yi participated, and they were both normal business dealings, and invited Yang Yuxin to dinner, which was also arranged relatively simply, and there was no deliberate extravagance。

Of course, normal meals, parties, this kind of entertainment is inevitable, and Yang Yuxin also has a good impression of Ma Ruicheng being so sensible, Lalong officials are very normal things in China, and there is no need to plan more, and Ma Ruicheng did not fight in a doggy manner, so he generally did not refuse Ma Ruicheng's invitation.

On the one hand, Ma Ruicheng is ready to invest in Shanghai New Area, and on the other hand, he plans to hold a grand birthday celebration for himself in Shanghai New Area, which also builds momentum for himself to officially start a business in Shanghai. Of course, Yang Yuxin supports this decision, and hopes to make the birthday celebration as loud as possible, not only to attract Ma Ruicheng to invest in Shanghai, but also to the birthday celebration itself, which is a big business, and it is also of great benefit to improve the influence of Shanghai New Area.

So Yang Yuxin nodded and said, "Tomorrow you go to the shipping company, hand over this agreement of intent to them, and let them go to discuss with Swire in detail, you must negotiate a ship before the arrival of the Japanese returnees, and you will accompany me to the banquet tonight." ”