Although the majority shareholder of Tianjin Tramway & Electric Company is a Belgian consortium, the company's office is located in the Italian concession - Tianjin Italian Concession, which is the only Italian concession overseas.

The tram company has a board of directors in Tianjin, with three Chinese directors and three foreign directors. During the Qing Dynasty, Hua Dong was selected by the governor of Zhili, for example, the first Hua Dong was the Customs Road, Tianjin Road and Tianjin Prefect. During the Beiyang period, the directors of the tram company were appointed by the governor of Zhili, and when they arrived at the national government, they were appointed by the mayor of Tianjin.

However, these directors only have the right to suggest, and to put it bluntly, they are beautiful vases placed there.

The person in charge of the company used to be called the director of Huawu, but now it is generally called the general manager.

Early in the morning, General Manager Van Benck took a car to Sanma Road in the Italian Concession, only to find that the students marched earlier than him. The marchers carried banners and shouted slogans, and from time to time passers-by joined in:

"Down with imperialism and take back the right to operate electric lights and trams!"

"Severe punishment for illegal foreign companies!"

"To take the tram is to betray the country, and to take the tram is to be an enemy!"

“……”

Van Benck looked at the angry Chinese with a headache and asked the driver to drive cautiously past. When I came to the company's office, I saw that the outer wall of the building was splashed with a lot of feces, emitting a foul smell.

"God, this is a barbaric country." Van Benck got out of the car depressed. He didn't worry about his life, because the marchers didn't use force, which made it impossible for the concessions to patrol and arrest, for fear that they would randomly arrest people and completely mess things up.

As for the feces on the outer wall of the building, the devil knows who came to splash it in the middle of the night.

Pinching his nose and coming to the office, Van Benck asked the secretary: "Is there a call back from the headquarters?" ”

The headquarters of Tianjin Tramway Company is located in Brussels, Europe, and any major incident needs to be reported to the headquarters, and the general manager does not have any right to dispose of it.

The secretary replied: "There is no clear instruction from the company's headquarters, but the consuls of various countries have sent official letters asking us to deal with the matter as soon as possible, because the storm of trolley price increases has seriously jeopardized the prosperity and stability of the concessions." ”

"Hell!"

Fan Benke complained: "When collecting money every month, the Ministry of Industry and Bureau of the Concession is more active than anyone else, but now they dare not help when they encounter problems!" A group of vampires. ”

As soon as Fan Benke finished speaking, the office door was suddenly pushed open: "Manager, someone rushed in, they said it was from the Tianjin Taxation Bureau!" ”

"Let them get out," Van Benck scolded, "this is the Italian Concession, and the Tianjin Municipal Government's Taxation Bureau is not qualified to come here to check the accounts!" Quick, go and call the patrol and get rid of all the trash from the tax office. ”

In fact, there was no need to shout for patrols, the employees of the tram company blew away the three tax officers, but the tax bureau left a tax bill, demanding that the 20-year arrears be paid. Because the company's reimbursement over the years is calculated according to the section within 6 miles of the drum tower as the center, the tram section outside 6 miles has not paid taxes at all.

After driving those tax officers away, before Fan Benk had time to catch his breath, the secretary suddenly rushed in in a panic: "General manager, something is wrong!" The Tianjin Municipal Government issued an announcement to publicly auction the tram operating rights 6 miles away from Tianjin Drum Tower! ”

"What?"

Fan Benck stood up and said in a panic: "Is the Tianjin Municipal Government really doing this? ”

The secretary nodded and said, "It's true, the news is in the newspaper!" ”

Fan Benke said anxiously: "Hurry up and invite Hua Dong, invite the three Hua Dong of the company!" ”

The secretary hurriedly went to call, but no one was invited, and he came back and reported: "Manager, the three Hua Dong are not at home, I heard that they went on a trip." ”

"Rubbish, it's all rubbish!" Van Benck slapped the table in anger.

Although the three directors have no say in the tram company, they can get dry stock dividends every year, and they are also responsible for opening up the relationship between China's military and political circles. Now that the Tianjin Municipal Government wants to auction off the tram operation rights, it is natural that the company's Hua Dong should come forward to settle the matter, and it is a big deal to send more money.

But now that the matter is too big, the three Hua Dong are reluctant to come forward to help, because if they don't pay attention, they will be infamous as traitors.

Not only that, but because the three directors of the tram company are more familiar with the business, they have already been involved with the Tianjin General Chamber of Commerce at this time. These Hua Dong are looking at the tram business and want to invest in the tram operation right with big businessmen, which is more profitable than taking a little dry stock dividend.

Van Benck was so frightened that he hurriedly ran to the French Concession, and he wanted to ask the French ambassador to Tianjin for help, because France and Belgium were military allies, and the French Concession charged the highest tram tolls.

"Mr. Consul, the Chinese officials are so rude," Van Benck is like a bear child looking for an adult to complain, "the Chinese have demolished the tram company's tracks, destroyed sacred private property, and they have to breach the auction of the tram operating rights!" ”

The French consul in Tianjin also made money from the tram tolls, and he said righteously: "I immediately send a note to the Nanjing government!" ”

When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nanjing Nationalist Government received a note from the French consul in Tianjin, the diplomats immediately panicked. But they had nothing to do about it, because all the dignitaries, including Chang Kaishen and Wang Zhaoming, had gone to Luoyang for a meeting, and even the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not in Nanjing.

There is no way, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has only one word to deal with: drag!

The turmoil over the price increase of trams in Tianjin became more and more noisy, and patrols in various concessions even began to drive away the crowd of students who marched, causing three students to be slightly injured. The marchers were even more indignant at this, and some "patriotic" thugs took the opportunity to make trouble and smashed and looted foreign shops in groups.

The foreign businessmen and foreigners who settled in Tianjin were so frightened that they hid at home and did not dare to go out, because they were reminded of the "Nanjing Incident" of that year.

The consuls of various countries in Tianjin could not bear it, and the Ministry of Industry Bureau had complaints from foreigners every day, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry Bureau were clamoring for the consul to solve the problem every day. The senior officials of the Nanjing government are all in Luoyang, and the rest are not in charge of affairs at all, and this situation cannot be settled for a while.

In the days that followed, telegrams flew between the cities of Tianjin, Nanjing, and Luoyang, and all sides were in a hurry.

Chang Kaishen attached great importance to this and sent a telegram ordering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a commissioner again to solve the problem, and at the same time ordering the Tianjin Municipal Government and the Municipal Party Department to stop the anti-foreign activities, and the public auction plan for the tram business was immediately shelved.

Under the coordination of the Tianjin Municipal Government, various industries in Tianjin no longer go on strike, but the demonstrations cannot be stopped. The Tianjin Tram Company wanted to re-lay the tracks, but it was just laid on the first day, and the next day it was found that it was gone, so it had to send people to squat on the road section 24 hours a day.

Van Benck, the general manager of the tram company, ran around, and finally someone gave him advice: "If you want to solve the problem, you must find Mr. Zhou." ”

Fan Benke hurriedly came to visit with gifts, but he didn't see the shadow of poor Zhou Hexuan, and only got a reply from the servant: "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou went to Luoyang for a meeting, and it will take at least a week to return to Tianjin." ”

Van Benck's lungs were about to explode, and he threw all the gifts he brought into the Haihe River, which immediately attracted several passers-by to jump into the river to scramble.

Tianjin people who know a little bit of the inside story, now Zhou Hexuan has to give a thumbs up in advance: "Mr. Zhou is this from Tianjin!" ”

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