Where is the most prosperous in Shanghai?

There is no doubt about the concession!

So who will hold the power of the concession?

Naturally, they are consuls of various countries, but the consuls of various countries have remote control of the concession, and they also need to use an agency, which is naturally the Ministry of Industry.

Located at the intersection of Nanjing Road and Guangxi Road, the two-storey building with red brick and cement walls seems to be nothing special, but anyone knows that this is the location of the Ministry of Industry Bureau of the Shanghai Public Concession.

Although over the past half century, with the continuous development of the concession and the continuous expansion of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, the original housing is no longer sufficient, but at least before the construction of a new building, the Ministry of Industry Bureau is still running in this inconspicuous European-style two-house red building, but the offices of various institutions are getting smaller and smaller, and the narrowness of the Ministry of Industry Bureau obviously cannot match the prosperity of the concession.

The old institutions of the Ministry of Industry can occupy more or less more offices with their own capital, but for the newly established institutions, they can only work in those houses vacated by storage rooms, utility rooms, etc., but this must not be applied to the Real Estate Committee of the Ministry of Industry Bureau.

The Real Estate Committee, which has been established for less than two years, has certain administrative powers, which are different from other committees appointed by the Ministry of Industry and the Bureau of Industry that only play an advisory role, to arbitrate disputes over land requisition, to decide on compensation, to determine the cost of road construction projects to be shared by roadside practitioners, to review the building regulations set by the Ministry of Industry Bureau, to assess the value of the soil, and so on.

It was the administrative power that these other committees did not have that allowed the property committee to squeeze the band from the office to the utility room, occupying several offices on the east side of the first floor.

In 1902, there was not a single Chinese director in the Ministry of Industry Bureau, and there were only a handful of Chinese employees, and as a high-talent student at Harvard Business School, Ge Chengqian was the only Chinese-American employee of the entire Real Estate Committee.

"Jardine, Sassoon......"

Looking at the list submitted by Sotheby's auction house to sign up for the "Rich Garden" auction, all of them are well-known tycoons in Shanghai, and Ge Chengqian is no stranger to these names or foreign firms, and the Shanghai Concession is not so much about these tycoons as from various countries, and they are the real masters of the concession.

For these tycoons, the rich garden is nothing more than an embellishment, in Shanghai, these foreigners who are famous for their facts, are also tainted with the habit of Chinese people who like face, for them the rich garden may not have much commercial value, it is not a business area planned by the Ministry of Industry, but it can win some face.

"Chen Moran, China Industrial Company."

In the string of nouns on one side, the sudden appearance of Chinese names made Ge Chengqian stunned.

"Chen Moran, industrial company?"

Staring at the name on the paper, if it were not for the Chinese marking, Ge Chengqian almost subconsciously thought that this was a foreigner, but he was a Chinese, the name was quite unfamiliar, because of his work in the real estate committee, he had attended some balls and banquets held by some tycoons, but he had never heard of this person.

"Could it be another newly rising tycoon in Shanghai?"

But as soon as this thought came to mind, Ge Chengqian shook his head, Shanghai is a golden place, anyone can become a rich man from nothing, but this requires a process, if it is a newly rising tycoon, he should have heard of his name before this.

"Could it be a rich gentry from the mainland?"

Muttering this name and industrial company, Ge Chengqian knew that if this person really photographed the "Rich Garden", he was afraid that within a few days, the entire Shanghai Tang would know about the existence of this rich gentry, but is it possible?

No way!

There may be many people in China who can spend a million taels to buy a house, but there are not necessarily people who are willing to spend a million taels to buy a house.

"I'm afraid it's a price hike!"

Subconsciously, Ge Chengqian classified Chen Moran and the industrial company among the people who joined in the fun, some of those tycoons were to buy richness, and some were just to block others, they not only raised the price themselves, but even hired people to raise the price, Chen Moran and his industrial company may have been hired.

"Thirteen in total!"

Chen squeaked his straight-stemmed pipe, and when the smoke was about to burn out, he began to pour the white ash into the ash box on the wall of the car.

"Thirteen?"

"Sassoon, Matt, Henry, almost all the tycoons who have made the name of Shanghai have signed up for the auction, either individually or in the name of a company."

When the names of these people were mentioned, Xiao Xinren shook his head helplessly and sighed lightly.

"I dare to say that the price of the Rich Garden this time will be at least 1.3 million taels or more!"

Having lived in Shanghai for more than 20 years, Xiao Xinren knows those foreign tycoons too well, they are close on the surface, but in private they are a different face, every time there are always a few people to buy and a few people to carry each big auction, just to see the "crying face of the wronged head".

"Oh!"

Chen Moran frowned.

"Maybe it's possible! But as I said before, if these tycoons all go, and in the end this rich garden becomes Chen's garden. ”

Forced to smile and looked at Xiao Xinren.

"I guess the whole of Shanghai will be a sensation then, right?"

"However, I checked with the Real Estate Committee that the average land price of the concession last month was only 4,065 taels, and the average price in the area of Rich Garden was only 3,084 taels, spending 1.3 million taels, which may be a bit too much!"

"Weiyang!"

Chen Moran slowly rubbed his hot pipe pot, there were no filter cigarettes in this era, at first he was still smoking the cigarette that smoked and ate the grass, but now he has already changed his pipe, and the tobacco leaves are rolled out of cigarettes.

"It's nothing more than spending more silver, silver to buy fame, this money always has to be spent?"

Chen Moran smiled and looked at the hesitant Xiao Xinren, yesterday the United States and the foreign bank sent someone to inform that the paper has been shipped in advance and will arrive at Shanghai Port tonight, and the foreign bank will send the paper tomorrow, the paper is coming, will the money be less?

"Well, I just don't want to spend my money in vain! Treated as a wronged boss by those foreigners! For so many years, they have made a lot of money from China! ”

"This silver is not unjustly spent, after all, the reputation of the time is not something that silver can buy?"

Xiao Xinren nodded helplessly.

"Okay!"

Then he looked at the information in his hand again.

"However, have you ever thought about who you will take with you to the auction when the time comes?"

"Who to take?"

"Yes."

Xiao Xinren repeated, put the information in his hand in the bag on the side, and looked at Chen Moran without squinting.

"Usually, these tycoons go to this kind of auction and bring their wives or lovers, and you have been abroad, so you should know that."

"I know! But I don't have the right person! ”

Chen Moran's answer made Xiao Xinren smile, there was a suitable candidate by his side.

"Have the right person by your side! If you want, you can invite her. ”

"Who?"