"That's the room of the Lucky Merchant Seller." Gao Yi pointed to a window on the left side of the balcony and said.

In addition to the seven rooms with balconies on the façade, one suite with a head on the north and south sides is also facing the Huangpu River, but these two suites do not have balconies, and the entrance is separated from the seven rooms on the façade, so the grade is one level worse.

"The next room is the room of Masahiro and Taipan McGregor, who is also Scottish." Gao Yi walked to the wrought iron railing partition on the balcony and pointed to the next room and said.

"The room that used to be there is now empty, and it originally belonged to the Hogg brothers of Mega Pacific. The Hogg family had moved back to England a few years ago, but the building was built with the donation of Mega & Co., so there was always a house for their family. ”

If New Sassoon and Hartung were the real estate kings of Shanghai in the 20th century, then before 1900, the Zhaofeng & Co. of Huo Haishi and Huo Jinshi brothers was undoubtedly the leader of the real estate industry at that time. Hohaes – William Hogg has been one of the five shareholders since the First Racecourse; The brothers' Zhaofeng & Co. has always ranked second in the number of land parcels owned on Nanjing Road, second only to Edwin Smith's Smith & Co. in first place; In addition to the land on Nanjing Road, Zhaofeng also has a large area of apartments along the pidgin; The 4,000 acres of land on the Wan Hang Du plot where the Scottish Club is located originally belonged to Zhaofeng, including the current St. John's College, and St. Mary's Girls' School, which was affiliated with the college, and ten years later built the 20-hectare Jisfield Park, which later became Zhongshan Park.

However, just like Jardine's and Madison in Jardine, and Smith of Smith & Co., which was ranked No. 1 in Shanghai at the time, the Hogg brothers eventually chose to end their business and return to their homeland, and their glory did not last until the real development of Shanghai twenty years later.

"The room in the middle of the room, which is the chairman of the General Council, is currently in the possession of Mr. Paulette."

"After that, it's Keswick's room, which I'm going to introduce to the two of you who know each other later, and the Shaodong of HSBC."

"Keswick's room used to be Mr. Rest's room. You two should have heard about him, right? It is rumored that he is a miser who does not marry his wife, does not live in a house, does not buy clothes, and is a miser. However, some people say that he has a noble character and is strict with himself. I haven't met him in person, so I can't judge. He only comes to the club for Christmas or major festivals, and the room is empty all year round. ”

Lester is also a legendary figure, he was the first architect in Shanghai to be licensed by the Royal Institute of British Architects, and was originally an employee of the Engineering Division of the Ministry of Works, and privately designed and supervised the works of Smith & Co. when he was working in the Agency. After the expiration of his three-year contract with the Ministry of Industry, he joined Smith & Co., and actually ran the firm. By the time Smith left Shanghai, there were more than 100 acres of land transferred to his name, of which there were two pieces, one was the later Sincere Company, and the other was Zhongbaiyi Store.

By 1903, Lei Shide was already the majority shareholder of a number of foreign companies, the most important of which was Zilin Foreign Company, which was under the jurisdiction of Zilin Xibao, the most influential newspaper in Shanghai.

There are many rumors about Leste's private life, for example, although he is a real estate tycoon, he does not have his own house, but lives in a house under the name of his foreign firm; He said that he rarely bought clothes, and was willing to accept the clothes and ties that his friends gave him. said that he did not have his own carriage, not even a Toyo car; He said that he always kept a lot of copper coins with the smallest denomination in his pocket, so that others would not ask him for change, and if there was no small money in his pocket, he would go to the cigarette paper shop to exchange it.

These rumors are true and false, according to Gao Yi, Lester does not have a house in his own name is true, wearing other people's old clothes, pocket money or something has not been touched clearly, as for the absence of a private carriage is not credible, taking a private carriage is not entirely for luxury, the greater reason is for efficiency, at this time there is no fast public transportation in Shanghai, is it a wheelbarrow to talk about business?

However, whether these rumors are true or not, the person who wants to prove Lestead to be stingy through these rumors is completely wrong, because he did not return to his homeland like the other colonists, but stayed in Shanghai and donated all his possessions. Since he had no marriage and no offspring, it was a complete naked donation.

In Gao Yi's view, his actions are more like that of a true Puritans, although he desperately drew wealth from society during his lifetime, but would return it to society after his death. The purpose of the Puritans in accumulating wealth was not for personal pleasure, but for the "glory of God."

"Mr. Leste's room used to be the room of the Bneimen, and it should have belonged to the general manager of the Bneimun, Pastor Li Deli, but I have never seen him come to the club."

"The last one, the one without a balcony, is now used by Mr. Bain, the general director of the Ministry of Industry."

"Hey, the chief director can only use the last one without a balcony?" It was Li Yongfa who spoke.

Gao Yi's interlocutor at this time was Guangrong Lin's second Li brother. After knowing that one of the bosses Li Yongfa's life ideals was to have a meal at the Shanghai General Association, Gao Yi specially arranged today's meeting occasion at the Shanghai General Association. This is Chiguo's declaration of the power he wields, and sometimes businessmen eat this set.

Although it coincided with the hottest days of dog days, the Erli brothers were still watching the river scenery under the scorching sun with great interest.

The Shanghai General Association is located between the southernmost Tianxiang Wharf and the pidgin in the public concession, and the frontal river view is not covered by the ships and masts on the wharf, so it seems relatively open, but the so-called scenery is nothing more than that, except for some gray low warehouses on the opposite side of the Pujiang River, there is really nothing to see. But even so, Er Li was still full of interest, standing by the railing and waving the folding fan in his hand, quite a bit of Yixing to guide the country.

Gao Yi simply rang the bell and asked someone to move a small round table to the balcony, put three rattan chairs, and the three of them sat down to drink cold Dutch water while braving the scorching heat to enjoy the scenery and chat.

By the time the sweat on his body was wet and dry, and he finally managed to stay up until lunch, Gao Yi was almost having to stick out his tongue to dissipate heat, but the Li brothers were still excited as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

Gao Yi invited the two of them to sit in the small dining room for a while, went in and changed their shirts, and then accompanied them downstairs. Lunch was specially arranged in the large dining room on the second floor, rather than in the private room, so that the two brothers could enjoy the feeling of being in the spotlight of the public, and prove to them that what they had in their hands was not the power of the rules, but a force that could subvert the rules.

When the two brothers wearing bamboo cloth robes and a big braid on the back of their heads walked into the restaurant, they were really everyone's side eyes, and the two brothers were worthy of being characters who had experienced a big scene.

Keswick and de Gray had arrived, raising their hands in their seats to say hello. Gao Yi and Er Li walked over, first introduced each other, and then sat down to order.

There is nothing good about the Western food of the Shanghai General Association, it is nothing more than a few set meals, and everyone's interest is not in eating.

Gao Yi arranged today's play, in order to pull Er Li into the gang and set up a company to enter the real estate of the French Concession.

Now what bothers Gao Yi is the problem of funds, although Keswick has money, but it is Jardine Matheson and HSBC's money, his personal property is not much, and his net worth is not even as good as Gao Yi. And whether it is in Jardine Matheson or HSBC, he is far from reaching the level of covering the sky with one hand, and he himself does not bother to do those things that steal chickens and dogs. As for de Gray, he will be mainly responsible for liaising and coordinating the French Concession Board of Directors in the future company, which is a subordinate secondary role, and it is naturally impossible to invest all his life in it.

Er Li's business is destined to be two cash cows, and pulling them in is precisely to solve the problem of lack of funds.

Although all their recent liquidity will be used to buy Gao Yi's technology, the two brothers have high-quality real estate in their hands, and the ten acres of land in the Seymour Road house alone are worth 400,000 taels. It's just that the brothers have never used any financial tools, Gao Yi has been in contact with them for most of the month, in addition to topics such as choosing a factory site and setting equipment, it is to instill in them how to buy land, take out loans, buy land again, and re-loan, and carry out snowball development, and finally said that the two of them mortgaged part of the land, and loaned the money to invest in the new company, so that the company can operate first. As the intention of the expansion of the French Concession became more and more obvious, competitors would always appear, and the sooner the land was hoarded, the safer it would be.

In addition to providing funds, the background of the Li brothers is also a point that Gao Yi is optimistic about, buying land and building houses will always encounter some nail households or something, and then the two brothers can go out.

Gao Yi's envisioned operation model of the company will be that Guangrong Lin will first come forward to buy the land in the hands of the Chinese owners, and then hand it over to the company after it is completed. Guangrong Lin has a large number of people and strict control, so it is completely possible to use the names of these people to purchase land in a decentralized manner, which can significantly reduce the cost of land purchase, and will not violate the laws of the Qing Dynasty. Because foreigners have no right to buy Chinese land outside the concession, private transactions are actually illegal. For the land farther away from the concession - the farther away the cheaper - it is completely possible to keep it in the hands of Guangrong Lin in the name of the Chinese for a long time, and wait until the concession road is extended and the area where it is located is incorporated into the concession, and then handed over to the company to operate.