Chapter seven hundred and seventy-six battle for the coal market four
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The main road where Yuchang Coal Company is located is the most prosperous section of the public concession. Therefore, the Japanese Consul General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Shanghai, Kouchi Gancheng, came to the company's residence at around eight o'clock for the first time. Naturally, Okaki also followed him.
Katsuo, the directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau, and Deputy Consul General Yanjing also came.
"Your Excellency, the Consul General, comes so early to take care of your subordinates. I'm really ashamed of myself. Come on, come inside and have a rest and have a cup of tea. I guess other distinguished guests won't be able to come until half past nine." Chen Mingxiang hurriedly came to the door.
"Chen Jun, you are a director of the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and an important member of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Shanghai. You should come here early. Hey, these fruits seem to be from Nanyang, right?" Kunei Gancheng said with a smile.
The rule for attending the opening ceremony is that you can't come empty-handed. For example, the gifts to Kanaikan Castle, Shiojing and Okaki Katsuo are Japanese lacquerware, which is not high in value but very distinctive. The directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau are gift money, and the lowest is also
Five hundred dollars, everyone knows that Chen Mingxiang doesn't care about small money.
Naturally, Chen Mingxiang also wanted to give back a gift. What he gave was very unique. Coffee, cigarettes, cane sugar and palm oil from Southeast Asia. The idea is that things are rare and valuable. They were packed in paper boxes and each guest could get one.
share.
"Your Excellency, the Consul General, is indeed well-informed. The fruits used for today's reception were all brought by freighters from the Nanyang area. You can still see them in Shanghai before, but now it is very difficult. If your Excellency, the Consul General, likes to eat, I will
Send a batch to your home just to taste something new," Chen Mingxiang said.
He has a ship that travels to Southeast Asia. This is not news. He makes a round trip every month, transporting coffee, cane sugar, palm oil, tobacco leaves, medicines and other important supplies, fruits and precious local specialties back to Shanghai. The tobacco leaves are made into cigarettes.
, palm oil and cane sugar were provided to the Japanese army.
This deal is almost unique, and no one can be jealous. He is the only one who owns one ocean-going freighter in the entire Shanghai market, and the rest have been confiscated by the Japanese army.
Although the U.S. military was engaged in fierce battles with the Japanese troops on Guadalcanal, Southeast Asia was relatively calm. The Japanese navy controlled the sea areas, and Chen Mingxiang's ships did not worry about safety issues.
Arriving at the VIP room on the first floor, everyone sat down according to their status. Chen Mingxiang hurriedly asked Renji to make tea. The Japanese didn't think anything of it, but the traitors among the directors laughed very strangely.
They all knew about the rumors about Chen Mingxiang and Ling Ji, especially the rumors about Pan Sansheng, but they did not dare to say such things in front of Chen Mingxiang.
"Chen Jun, I just passed by a briquette shop of Yuchang Coal Company on the way here and saw a very shocking scene. According to regulations, coal sales start at twelve o'clock, but now there is a queue of several hundred meters long.
This also shows that the coal shortage problem is really serious." Okaki Katsuo said.
He is the general director of the public concession. The coal shortage problem is an urgent problem. He is also the one who is most concerned about the contest between Chen Mingxiang and the coal merchants.
"As far as I know, citizens started queuing up yesterday afternoon. Because the briquette shop was not large enough, it could only stock 10,000 tons of briquettes. This still took up the surrounding empty space and half of the road, so we could barely make up this amount.
quantity."
"There are still 150,000 tons of briquettes waiting to be sold in the cargo yard of the briquettes factory. The fleet is ready. The briquettes store is selling and replenishing them. Citizens who are close to the briquettes factory can go there directly to buy. Three hundred thousand tons of briquettes, about
It can last ten to twelve days."
"After unloading the briquettes, the freighter continues to return to Jincheng Port and waits for the briquettes from Jincheng to be loaded. In another three days, the coal shipped from Jincheng Port will arrive in Shanghai. Five briquette factories are operating around the clock, processing
The briquettes from Shangjin City can also be replenished, which can basically support the household fuel demand in Shanghai." Chen Mingxiang said with confidence.
These words are actually a smokescreen. As for the tens of thousands of tons of coal shipped from North China this time, when the sales of briquettes cannot be sustained, they will directly sell coal and give those coal merchants a hard blow. This matter cannot be done for the time being.
explain.
He couldn't trust the people present. Except for Kancheng Kanai and Katsuo Okaki, the rest had no friendship. If this news reached the ears of the enemy, his plan would encounter setbacks, and Lianmei would definitely take action in advance.
The way to end this war is through negotiation, which affects the effectiveness of digging holes.
"Your Excellency, Mayor, there is a reason why I chose this time to start a war with them. Today is a bit inconvenient. I will go to the city government office tomorrow to report this issue specifically. You have given me such great trust, and I will definitely not accept it.
I will live up to your expectations." Chen Mingxiang said.
Chen Gongbo also arrived very early, and he couldn't afford to do so early. Tomorrow's newspaper headlines will be about the municipal government led by him, paying attention to the living difficulties of the people in Shanghai, and supporting Yuchang Coal Company in order to effectively protect the interests of the citizens.
News about selling low-priced briquettes.
"No matter how much it costs, we must bring down the price of coal. I have already reported to Chairman Wang, and he also agreed that the Shanghai Branch of the China Reserve Bank will provide financial assistance for this operation. Remember, this matter
The stakes are high and critical to us and the Japanese garrison. You must overcome all difficulties, completely stabilize coal prices and gain pricing power." Chen Gongbo said.
One after another, the heads of major organizations in the garrison began to appear, including Major General Kinoshita Sakaeichi and Major General Yano Otozaburo from the military police system, Lieutenant General Taiji Ohta and Major General Shiozawa Kiyonori from the Kōain system, Lieutenant General Makita and the Third General from the naval system.
Fleet Commander Lieutenant General Kawase Shiro, Major General Miyazaki Shigesaburo of the Army Ministry's secret service stationed in Shanghai, and Major General Kawamoto of the Thirteenth Army Headquarters all rushed to the company's headquarters.
In a bizarre scene, Lieutenant General Matsui, the head of the Mei Agency, also appeared, seemingly sending a signal to the outside world that the relationship between the Mei Agency and Chen Mingxiang was very stable. The so-called kidnapping of Chen Mingxiang’s wife by the Mei Agency’s intelligence department was just a rumor.
.
These senior generals were invited to the VIP room on the second floor. The VIP room on the first floor was occupied by city government officials, regional leaders, and business celebrities with relatively high status. It was not easy to get a seat here.
Most of the guests had to stand outside the door.
There were also huge crowds of people watching. By now, the whole Shanghai city knew that Chen Mingxiang was the person specifically responsible for solving the coal shortage problem.
The price of twenty-five yuan per load of briquettes also makes people feel slightly satisfied. Although they hope it can be lower, compared with the current coal price, this is already beyond imagination. I have never seen prices during the war.
It can still fall.
At 10:58, the opening ceremony of the coal company officially began. The difference was that there were many people speaking this time. The Central China Liaison Department of Xingya Institute, the Public Settlement Industry Bureau, the Gendarmerie Headquarters and the city government all wanted to take advantage of this event.
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