In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu, in July of the foreign calendar, for the concession, this time seems to be very lively, July 11 is the Shanghai British and French Concession Group to establish a reading municipal organization, the establishment of the police force, officially in the east of Shanghai, the formation of the first real sense of the rent, this day, is the 47th anniversary of the establishment of this country within a country.

In order to show the exploits of European and American countries in China for half a century, starting from the Bund, along Nanjing Road to the west and north to Hongkou, the road is decorated with lights, and the high-rise buildings are hung with concession flags and national flags of various countries, as if this is really the world of Europe and the United States.

On the morning of 11 July, hundreds of sailors were brought in from the warships anchored on the Huangpu River, and together with the merchant groups composed of foreigners from various countries in the concession, they lined up in a procession and held a military parade on the Bund in a bravaful manner. The chief director of the Ministry of Industry and some senior members of foreign banks stood on the review stand.

In the evening, fireworks are set off in front of the Ministry of Industry and the firefighters will be paraded with lanterns on various roads. The senior classes of the major foreign companies gathered at the Shanghai General Association to raise a glass to celebrate, and almost all the senior staff of the foreign companies participated, and even Sassoon, who was sick, was supported by his wife.

In the banquet hall of the Shanghai General Association, the band played cheerful music, and the women and ladies in full costume were the most dazzling existence except for the foreign company class, and the Catherine and Ji Li sisters were the dazzling stars of the ball, and as soon as they entered the banquet hall, they attracted everyone's attention, especially the officers of various countries, who had also heard of the fame of these two sisters for a long time.

While Gilly danced on the dance floor with the young and handsome officers, Catherine politely declined the invitations of the officers and the senior staff of the foreign firm. Catherine, who was holding a goblet with her fingers, looked around for more than ten minutes, then turned her head to look at Ferry, who was standing beside her.

"Ferry, have you noticed that there seems to be something different here today?"

Looking around, Ferry nodded.

"It seems that there are only their wives here, and not those big classes!"

"Who knows what conspiracy they're hatching?"

Catherine just smiled, but attracted an astonishing look from all around, and a major in a U.S. Navy uniform walked up to her and bowed.

"Miss Catherine, may you please dance?"

The Major had a smile on his face and a rather personable look.

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well today!"

After a polite refusal, Catherine looked towards the spiral staircase of the Chamber of Commerce banquet hall, maybe in that room on the second floor, those seniors were discussing what conspiracy was not necessarily, what could it be?

"Miss Catherine!"

A sudden person walked up to Catherine's side and whispered a word, but Catherine turned her head to look at the comer, but she was stunned.

"I guess you're curious about what's going on upstairs, aren't you?"

Outside a conference door in the corridor on the second floor of the Chamber of Commerce, there are several bodyguards in suits who block the corridor, and anyone who sees this scene will understand that maybe something is going on in the conference room.

There were 18 people in the room. The room has an oppressive atmosphere, with dark panels adorning the walls, high-end log floors and a fireplace in the depths of the room. Some antiques from the Tang and Song dynasties are in the cabinet next to the wall, looking coldly at the world thousands of years later.

In the center of the room were a few leather sofas, in which the people were poured, and some drinks and drinks were placed on the coffee table in front of them. On this summer evening, this room should be very comfortable. But these people don't come here to enjoy the hospitality, and if the people in this room want to, they can enjoy a wonderful life.

The man near the fireplace was probably in his 60s, and seemed shrewd and capable, with tiny eyes that sparkled slyly, like a scheming old fox whose mind had won him a lot for him in some part of his life. He, Jacob? Sassoon was the most successful among the Jews in Shanghai, and the new Sassoon & Co., founded by his father, was further expanded in his hands and became a leader in the Jewish business circle in Shanghai.

The others sat facing him, all powerful men in Shanghai's Jewish circles, Sassoon standing up from the couch, Havana cigars glistening to his lips, scheming with a knowing question.

"Mr. Charlie, in the past few months, you have been agitating everyone to sell the warehouse in Pudong, there must be an amazing purpose that you don't want to announce, right?"

"Yes! Mr. Charlie, I think you want us to sell the warehouses and docks in Pudong, there should always be an explanation! Could it be that you are developing Pudong with that cripple, right? ”

Renhe Yang's Lang Si looked at Charlie with a smile, in fact, most of the people in this room today have already speculated Charlie's intentions, and similarly, because of Charlie's actions, they discovered the intentions of the person he targeted. As soon as his words fell, laughter rang out.

Charlie, of course, did not want to reveal his thoughts, but he also knew that he could not hide such a group of cunning old foxes, so he smiled secretly, and said a Hebrew proverb without revealing it.

"The bread you make yourself is always more fragrant than someone else's meat rolls."

"yes!"

Lens took advantage of this to flatter and instigate.

"Charlie, a smart person like you naturally has a reason to do anything, right?"

"Truth!"

Charlie snorted coldly, and then he deliberately sighed regretfully.

"It's a pity that I have worked so hard for you to understand, is the reason why I have worked so hard to deal with that cripple just because of our personal grudges?"

Charlie's rhetorical question did not resonate with everyone, this is a well-known thing, just for personal grievances!

"Nope! Of course not, the reason why we Jews are able to control the wealth of the world under the exclusion and oppression of various countries is not only because of our minds, but also because of our unity! ”

Although his words did not agree with everyone, they made everyone nod at the same time, whether they agreed or not, some attitudes still need to be expressed, not to mention that it is true that Jewish unity can often play an unexpected role.

"I know you guys...... Everyone! ”

Charlie pointed his cigar rings at the various Jewish tycoons around him, his lips twitching with a sneer.

"All looking at my jokes! The woman I like, throwing herself into the bed of a dirty and stupid Oriental, is not pretending to be a color to me! This is a fact, and I will never deny it! ”

His words made the people in the room look slightly embarrassed, but for the Jews, the word embarrassment did not exist in the Hebrew language.

"But I'm definitely not for my own criminals, but for the good of all of us!"

At this time, Charlie was as pure as a saint.

In front of everyone, Jagber glanced at Charlie with a little mockery and disdain, and then made a look of regret.

"Well, we can't understand your generosity!"

"Yes!"

Charlie nodded without changing his face!

"Now the whole of Shanghai knows that that the cripple will soon develop a new business district in Pudong, and his purpose is to take advantage of the location of the Bund and raise the land price in Pudong by building bridges, so as to make huge profits!"

When Charlie said this, the people in the room were still smiling, that lame development of Pudong is not news, the whole Shanghai has been spread, the largest in the Chinese banking industry in Shanghai, the largest Yuanfeng Run Silver and Yishanyuan ticket number, have bought millions of taels of Pudong bonds as a test, those Chinese seem to really believe that the lame man can turn Pudong into a prosperous metropolis like a concession.

Those Chinese may want to see that day, but no one in this room wants to see it, and in fact they have begun to work accordingly to stop the cripple's ambitions.

"I have a question for you, if that lame man really builds a bridge connecting the two sides of the strait, what kind of impact will it have on the Bund and the concession?"

Effect!

What kind of impact will it be, the people in this room know better than anyone that if the development of Pudong is successful, then the land price in the concession will fall by 10% at best, and it may exceed 20% or even higher, the market in Shanghai is limited, and the impact of Pudong's development on the real estate market in the concession is devastating.

It is precisely because of this that on the one hand, they began to discuss the matter of crossing the river bridge in the Ministry of Industry Bureau, and on the other hand, they refused to sell the warehouses and real estate opposite Pudong to the industrial company, and also competed with the industrial company to buy land.

But their plan seriously affected Charlie's plan, and he wanted the lame man to go bankrupt. It is precisely because of this that he will privately persuade these people to give up their land in Pudong, of course, giving up is also a high price to give up, but compared to those Anglo-American French when they faced the acquisition, the Jews in this room unexpectedly insisted, this insistence only made Charlie angry, and a little helpless, and Pudong was not something he could eat alone.

"If, now I'm talking about a hypothesis!"

Charlie glanced at the people in the room, and his face showed some smugness.

"If Pudong is really developed, gentlemen, you only see that our interests are damaged, but you never think that we can also benefit from it!"

"Hmph, it seems that our Charlie did hook up with that cripple, Charlie couldn't have persuaded Catherine to let her go to your bed, right?"

Mockery accompanied laughter sounded in the room, but Charlie only sneered, laughing at these people in his heart, not having a big vision of his own.

"Gentlemen, we can stop him from building bridges, we can use all means to stop him from developing Pudong, he has the support of the governor of Liangjiang, we can directly put pressure on their imperial court through the British and American ministers, and we can even bring Pudong directly to the peace conference for discussion, of course, as long as we want, we can do all this, right?"

A shrill sneer rang out in the room.

"We only see our losses, but we don't see the amazing profits that Pudong will bring us, this is the first time that we have thrown the British, the French, and the Americans aside, and launched a Jewish feast!"

"Tell us about your plans! Charlie! ”

Sassoon will be interested, in Pudong, Britain, France, the United States and other countries and foreign companies only own more than 2,000 acres of real estate, the industrial company almost did not encounter any resistance to acquire, but the Jewish businessmen in Pudong have more than 8,000 acres of real estate warehouse, must not let that lame man successfully develop Pudong, is the joint decision of the Jewish businessmen who own nearly 80% of the real estate in the concession.

"The development of Pudong is only a matter of time, no one can stop it, maybe ten years later, maybe twenty years later, who knows? Now the industrial company is just bringing this forward, do you agree? ”

Everyone just nodded, but no one objected, and the expansion of the city was inevitable.

"The biggest obstacle to the development of Pudong by industrial companies comes from the Huangpu River, as long as a bridge is built on the Huangpu River, connecting both sides of the river, the land in Pudong can increase by at least five to thirty times, and now the industrial company has acquired 33,000 acres of land, of which seventy percent is purchased by Shanghai Road at the reserve price, as for those abandoned official land, it is almost free of charge, such as bridge repair, only Pudong land, the industrial company has as much as 70 million taels!"

Sassoon glanced at others, this is precisely the reason why they are fighting for land with the lame man in Pudong, holding the land and not selling, those foreign banks in the United States, Britain, France and other countries have long regretted the original rash sale of land, they are actually making two plans, if they can't prevent the development of Pudong, then the nearly 20,000 acres of land they are now holding in their hands will get a lot of money in return.

"So, the bridge, the bridge is the key!"

Charlie looked around the crowd proudly.

"That lame man has to build bridges to develop Pudong, and in fact, he has already bought a piece of land in the concession! You all know where the land of Qichang Yangxing is, that location is where they build the bridge, according to the size of the land, I specially asked some bridge experts, limited by the land area, his bridge can only be built at most ten meters high! ”

Jacob? Sassoon looked at Charlie who was performing there, what the hell was this fox thinking?

"The Huangpu River is not as short as the Suzhou River, there are hundreds of passenger and cargo ships passing through the Huangpu River every day, I personally feel that ten meters seems to be a bit short, do you think?"

"There's no need to build that high, they'll build an open iron bridge over the Whampoa River, like Tower Bridge, which allows big ships to pass through when the bridge deck is opened, and the horizontal deck is conducive to the walking of horse-drawn carriages, so it can be said that it kills two birds with one stone, and there is no need to build a slope bridge."

Ma Erjie of the Dregs said lightly.

"And that's exactly what the industrial company is planning, and they're planning to build a Shanghai Tower Bridge in Shanghai! And, in their model, the bridge connecting the two sides of the river is exactly this kind of open iron bridge, and unlike the London Iron Bridge, they are going to build two open decks to speed up the passage of ships."

Maljie would put on the appearance that he knew the inside story completely, but in fact, everyone in this room had seen a model photo of the "Shanghai Tower Bridge" in the newspapers.

"But, sir, Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city, and after the giant ship whistles to greet you, the lifting machinery, although it only takes a minute to raise the bridge deck, also affects shipping, doesn't it?"

The others were whispering to Charlie's words, and Sassoon looked at Charlie who was standing there, a greedy and cunning man who was very stingy, who first persuaded everyone to sell their land to industrial companies, and now here he talked about the bridge, and then said that the bridge would affect shipping, Charlie's contradiction made Sassoon vaguely guess that perhaps the greedy snake might have a bigger plan brewing in his heart.

"Charlie, don't sell your guanzi anymore, tell your plan!"

As Sassoon spoke, everyone in the room stared at him with stern or mocking eyes, and everyone was waiting for him to tell him the whole plan.

"The Ministry of Industry Bureau, the Ministry of Industry Bureau is not difficult to influence things in the concession, and it can also influence the Huangpu River, if the industrial company wants to develop Pudong vow to build a bridge, now those Chinese are rushing to buy stocks, because investing in Pudong will make a steady profit!"

If he could, Charlie would never reveal the slightest chance of making a fortune in front of these greedy and competitive leaders, but no, he couldn't eat the whole Pudong alone, first, he didn't have the financial resources, second, he didn't have the influence, and the most important thing was that the whole plan needed the cooperation of these people.

"Compared with building bridges, it will take at least half a year to start designing bridges, and during this half year, industrial companies will inevitably use highways in Pudong to plan what they call the "Pudong" development zone, and at the same time start to build some typical buildings, only in this way can more people buy bonds. ”

Although it is a pity that he can't eat the whole Pudong, but looking at the eyes cast by others, Charlie can't help but be excited, and even a little fluttering.

"In this process, if the Ministry of Industry makes a decision to prohibit the construction of horizontal bridges over the Huangpu River in order to facilitate the passage of large ships and steel sailing ships, the height of the bridge deck shall not be less than 200 feet, gentlemen, please at that time, what will happen to Pudong and what will the industrial companies have to face? In Puxi, it's impossible for them to buy even an inch more land to build bridges, isn't it? Or even if we sell, how much money will they have to pay for it? ”

Charlie, who was a little fluttering, made a modest expression and pretended to be reverent to everyone.

"You are all seniors with a lot of experience in real estate development, and I should ask you for advice! I'm sure if this happens, you'll know what to do! ”

Before he finished speaking, Charlie ended up with a smirk.

"Why sell the land to them!"

"Gentlemen, if you want to get the whole of Pudong, then we should not only sell the land to the industrial companies, but also provide loans to the industrial companies through the banks, and even buy their bonds. If we don't have the bonds of the industrial companies, then how can we possibly get Pudong, gentlemen! ”

Sassoon put his head in his hands and thought for a moment, then replied dissentingly.

"If we take over Pudong then, what about the bridge? The problem of the bridge ......"

"Mr. Sassoon, is the bridge a problem for us?"

(To be continued)