H2> After all, under the influence of years of education and propaganda in modern time and space, Guo Yu really has no good impression of the Japanese, which can no longer be said to be why, but just a feeling from the heart. After Guo Yu scolded Harada Yizhi away, he naturally felt much cooler.

"Alder, Mr. Jensen, what's the entertainment for the evening?" Guo Yu turned his head and asked the two consuls.

"Didn't you just say you wanted to go back to Suzhou?" Jensen asked.

"I suddenly felt that since I came to Shanghai today, I naturally had to appreciate the atmosphere of Shanghai, otherwise I would not be familiar with the places under my rule, and it would be my dereliction of duty." Guo Yu said casually.

Several people knew that Guo Yu was talking nonsense, and what he said just now was probably to deal with Harada Takeshi, the Japanese shorty.

"We can go to the British Shanghai Club to have fun, it's quite lively." Jensen said. In Shanghai in 1916, although it was not as prosperous as later generations, and a number of well-known song and dance halls such as Great World, Cirouse, Paramount and New Xianlin had not yet been established, but at this time, a number of "general associations" established by foreigners themselves had appeared in the lease.

There are more than 10 such large-scale associations set up by expatriates from all over the world, among which the British Shanghai General Association, the American Citi Association, the French General Association, and the Freemasonry General Association are known as the "Four Great General Associations" of Shanghai Tang. Among the "four major associations", the British Shanghai General Association has the oldest, the highest status, the strongest power and the greatest influence.

In 1864, the British Shanghai General Association was built, but after several decades, it has become a little old, so in 1910 it was renovated and rebuilt again, and the current British Shanghai General Association can be said to be the most upscale place in Shanghai, and it is also the so-called high-class meeting place at this time.

The exterior of the new British Chamber of Commerce Building is typical of the English Renaissance style, but some of the wall decorations have Baroque features, which looks grand and luxurious. The interior was designed by Japanese architect Kikutaro Shimoda in the style of the famous Imperial Hotel of Japan, and the decoration is gorgeous, which is why people call the building "Oriental London". However, there are also several places that imitate the British royal palace, such as the pachinko room has the decorative features of the royal palace of Queen Elizabeth I, and the ground floor bar has the style of King James I, which has the longest bar counter in the world at that time, that is, the black and white marble bar counter that is 34 meters long, so the Shanghai General Association is also known as the "Royal General Association". In addition to the pachinko room and bar, there are also luxurious reading rooms, restaurants, chess and card rooms, large food rooms, and banquet halls. There is a bocce court in the basement. The third and fourth floors are hotels, and the fifth floor is dormitories.

Chi Zhisheng, known as the "first pen in the southeast" in the late Qing Dynasty, once described the bright lights of the Shanghai Association in his "Dream of Shanghai": "Or play marbles to relax; or play the organ; Or invite red friends not to look for the spring of the wine country; or a few sentences leaning on the young slaves to ask for flowers; So much so that Go stumbles, jumps and sings, and plays at will, without any inhibitions. ”

It was still early, and the party would not go until the evening, and after the ceremony of Huafu Bank, Guo Yu sent off all the guests and returned to the manager's room on the fourth floor of Huafu Bank to rest. Guo Yu sat on the office chair and closed his eyes to recuperate, but he still recalled the words of the Japanese consul in Shanghai Harada Takeshi just now, which also reminded Guo Yu that these Japanese will not give up on their laurels, and with the character of the Japanese, they will definitely take certain actions, and they must be on guard.

Guo Yu picked up the phone on the table, shook the phone handle, and a sweet girl came out of the phone, asking Guo Yu where he wanted, and after two transfers, Guo Yu heard Zhou Wu's voice.

"Zhou Wu, today the Japanese consul came to me because of the fact that we Huafu will seize the silk market in Europe and the United States, and in the end the Japanese threatened us to do it ourselves, I am afraid that they will attack the industry of the Huafu Society, you let your subordinates keep an eye on the point, we must prevent these little Japan from sabotaging us." Guo Yu commanded.

"Don't worry, I'll arrange it." Zhou Wu's order to Guo Yu was absolutely meticulously completed.

After arranging this matter, Guo Yu put his mind at ease, if the Japanese dared to mess around, Guo Yu didn't care about teaching them a lesson.

When night fell, Guo Yu sat in his own car, and the convoy drove on Zhonghua Road, which was not long after the completion of the new construction, and turned Zhonghua Road to Nanjing Road, at this time the neon lights on both sides of the road have been lit up, which is quite a feeling of a big city in the future.

Large department stores, schools, newspapers, bookstores, hospitals, theaters, playgrounds and other public places are lined up, and blonde and blue-eyed foreigners walk through them; There are all kinds of colorful and dazzling foreign goods, which fill the market to stimulate people's senses and tempt people's desires.

The convoy stopped in front of the gate of the British Shanghai General Association, a five-story European-style building, which is considered a landmark building in Shanghai at this time, and the people who can enter it are all the leading people in Shanghai, and most of them are foreigners, and most of the Chinese are senior managers.

The doorman wanted to step forward to open the door of Guo Yu's car, but was blocked by the guard, who personally opened the door to welcome Guo Yu out of the car.

The first floor is the hall, an old-fashioned elevator is already a rarity in modern times, Guo Yu naturally doesn't like to enjoy the old-fashioned elevator like a stuffy tank, from the stairs on both sides of the stairs, just entered the second floor and already heard the sound of music and men and women laughing.

The guards opened the door, four neat guards walked into the bar and stood on both sides of the door, Guo Yu's tall figure appeared at the door of the bar, this battle suddenly made the noise in the bar calm, Guo Yu took off his hat and handed it to the guards standing on the side, and slowly approached the bar. "Hey, Guo Dujun, I've been waiting for you for a long time." Alder saw Guo Yu coming, let go of the foreign girl in his hand and walked over.

"Good evening, Consul Alder." Guo Yu smiled and shook Alder's hand.

At this time, Consul Jensen also walked over, shook hands with Guo Yu and said hello, then turned to the people present and said, "Everyone, please welcome our Guo Overseer to the British Chamber of Commerce." ”

At this time, everyone reacted, it turned out to be the largest power holder in Jiangsu Province, and now Guo Yu, who is at the forefront of the strength of the Republic of China, came, everyone stood up and applauded, and the music was played again.

There are mostly foreigners here, and there are a small number of Chinese. Guo Yu nodded at these people very pretendedly, and then walked into the bar with Alder and Jensen.

The bar hall is very elegantly decorated, and it is now considered the most upscale decoration. In Shanghai in 1916, there were very few Chinese women involved in such places, so Guo Yu did not see a Chinese woman here, all of them were foreign girls.

Guo Yu, Alder, and Jensen are the highest-ranking people here, so they sat in the most luxurious seats in the back, "Let's have a toast for the arrival of Guo Overseer." Jensen said. A few of the people who were doing it toasted in agreement.

After a drink, Jensen said: "Guo Dujun, I would like to introduce you to a few of my friends, these are Pierce, the manager of Jardine Matheson, the manager of the Bnementan Company, the manager of the Bnemenola Company, the Duerte, the manager of the Shanghai Bank of HSBC, and Antonio, the manager of the British Tramway Company. The British Merchants' Association was built with the funds of several of their companies, and these companies are also the leading British-owned enterprises in China. "Olsen and Jensen still have a good attitude towards Guo Yu, after all, they see Guo Yu's potential and are ready to develop Guo Yu as their spokesperson in the Far East.

Guo Yu shook hands with several people again, which was a deepening impression. Then he said: "You are all representatives of the British business community, if you have the opportunity, please invest in Jiangsu, now that the Jiangsu Special Economic Zone has been established here, Jiangsu will become the most industrially developed area in China, and there will be many opportunities for investment, and you will have the opportunity to make money." Guo Yu and a few others jokingly advertised the special economic zone.

"Guo Dujun, we have already done research on your special economic zone policy, and your policy is more attractive to your domestic capital, but it is not very effective for our foreign bank." Pierce, the manager of Jardine Matheson, said bluntly.

Jardine Matheson is the largest British-funded foreign firm in the Republic of China, and naturally has the capital to be proud, and it does not care much about the terms of economic development and investment promotion proposed by Guo Yu, because the current empire that does business in the Republic of China is doing business with the most favored nation treatment, and does not look down on the preferential policies proposed by Guo Yu to establish a free trade zone to reduce or reduce tariffs.

Guo Yu took a sip of his wine glass, and then said: "That is the result of the premise of inequality, if countries are treated equally, I believe that Mr. Pierce will happily accept the policy I propose." ”

"But the Republic of China doesn't have that kind of strength, does it." Pierce said very shamelessly.

"Ten years, at most ten years from now, you will see, and by that time I believe that Mr. Pierce will see a different Republic of China." Guo Yu said categorically.

Everyone heard Guo Yu's determination in Guo Yu's words, and suddenly they felt that this Guo Overseer didn't seem to be talking big, he could really fulfill his promise.

"Okay, Guo Dujun, if it is under your leadership, I believe that Jiangsu and even the entire Republic of China will become stronger." Mr. Pierce said he didn't want to stagle relations with the Jiangsu ruler.

"Okay, let's not talk about this topic, Guo Dujun, you are very lucky today, there will be a beauty contest here every three months today, and if you see a beautiful woman you like, you can invite her." In order to ease the atmosphere, Jensen said to Guo Yu.

"Okay, beautiful women are my favorite." Guo Yu also replied in a timely manner, and then several people saw the men and women on the dance floor walking back to their seats, and a British man in his forties walked to the performance stage on the edge of the dance floor and shouted to everyone: "The March beauty contest is about to start, are you ready for the flowers in your hands, cast a flower for the beauty you like, maybe she will belong to you tonight." ”

This host is very good at mobilizing the atmosphere of the scene, and a few words attracted the enthusiasm of the audience below, applauding one after another, and even the sound of whistles.

The music sounded again, and in the cheerful music, a team of foreign girls in silk underwear and high heels walked out of the backstage, and these scantily clad women also gave a flying kiss to the audience from time to time, leading those men to keep shouting the names of the women they liked, and some people threw out the flowers in their hands, and the scene was noisy. R1152