Chapter 132: The Cotton Cloth War
In the suburbs of Shanghai, Gaoyang bought equipment from modern times and built a printing and dyeing factory. Gaoyang stood quietly in the production area, watching as long pieces of cotton fabric went through various processes to be dyed into different colors and patterns.
A roll of cotton cloth that had been dyed was pushed into the warehouse by a cart, and Gao Yang followed the cart to the warehouse, looking at the huge warehouse filled with goods, nodding slightly, feeling very satisfied.
Before going south to meet Commander Sun, Gao Yang had already been preparing to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese-made cotton fabrics that dominated the domestic market.
In modern times, a large number of finished cotton fabrics were purchased and transported to 1925. After setting up a new-style printing and dyeing factory to dye some of the cotton fabrics, Gao Yang was ready to get started.
Gaoyang spent nearly 1 billion RMB in a short period of time and has stockpiled nearly 80 million meters of cotton cloth, which is equivalent to the country's total annual output this year.
If such a large amount of cotton fabric is dumped into the market at a low price, it will inevitably squeeze out the current cotton fabric market instantly.
It not only struck the Japanese cotton cloth, but also would have a huge impact on the domestic cotton merchants and those of other countries. For this situation that is about to appear, Gaoyang has already prepared a response plan.
Watching a large amount of cotton fabric being transported out of the warehouse by truck after truck, Gao Yang lit a cigarette and said calmly to Gao Feng standing quietly behind him, "Get ready to make your move."
A new day has begun, and many metropolitan citizens who went to work and bought vegetables were surprised to find that temporary mobile warehouses have appeared in many places within the city's borders.
The shelves in the warehouse were filled with all kinds of cotton fabrics, and big signs on them read "Pure Cotton Fabric for 1 jiao per meter!" But now in Shanghai, the price of cotton fabric is 3 jiao per meter!
Many citizens were amazed, most people didn't believe it, and they all came forward to ask. After feeling the quality of the cotton cloth with their hands, everyone was excited. This quality is absolutely unquestionable!
After inquiring about the price again and getting a definite answer, some brave ones paid for several feet, and it was indeed one corner per foot!
The onlookers were all stirred up, and many people rushed home to fetch money. Each mobile stall was surrounded in a short time. Countless citizens held up the money in their hands and shouted "I want some! I want some!"
Even many citizens who received the news didn't go to work, and hurriedly took leave to go home and get money to buy cloth. Many citizens from various concessions also rushed to the Chinese concession to buy cloth, this kind of opportunity to take advantage of is not common!
The same scene is being staged simultaneously in many cities around Shanghai.
Mo Du, textile industry association. Many domestic textile industry giants gathered here in Mo Du.
"Xin Gong, now our cloth can't even sell for a foot! You must come up with an idea for everyone!" The boss of the Daguang textile factory, Huang Jin Cheng, said with a face full of urgency, his facial fat trembling.
The person known as Xin Gong is the big boss of Shanghai's textile industry, Li Xiren, the owner of New Great Land Textile Company. He is from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province and came to Shanghai at the age of 17 to make a living. After decades of hard work, he went from being a small apprentice to opening his own factory!
At this moment, the old boss who is nearly seventy years old sat in a chair with a gloomy face looking at the noisy crowd below.
"Bang!" Li Xiren slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Shut up! This is nothing yet. You're already in a mess, what kind of state are you in?"
The scene immediately fell silent, and everyone's eyes were on Li Xiren, expecting the industry leader to come up with a good solution.
He lifted the teacup and took a light sip, then raised his gaze to coldly sweep over the crowd in the room. He let out a heavy hum before slowly opening his mouth to say, "Do you know who the other party is?"
Everyone present shook their heads in unison.
"A bunch of rubbish! They don't even know who their opponent is, how can they compete?" Li Xiren said in a fit of rage.
"We've already asked the police to go and investigate, but they all say it's not their business!" The faces of the people present didn't look good, after a pause, a thin middle-aged man spoke up.
"Huh? They're openly selling goods on the streets, disrupting the market. How can the police not do anything about it?" Li Xiren said with a disbelieving expression.
"Believe me, they are all goods sold in the Chinese border. Now the patrol officers at the Chinese border are all under the command of the high-ranking military officer! They said they can't control it, and we have no way to do anything about it." The middle-aged man continued to say.
At this moment, the door of the venue was opened. Seeing the newcomer walking in, everyone present stood up to greet him and shouted "Boss Zhao!"
The visitor was Zhao Lan, the boss of Magic Capital Hongtu Textile Company. He is a rising star in the textile industry of Magic Capital. At just over 40 years old, he has already created a huge business empire. However, due to his seniority and age being inferior to Li Xinyang, he humbly holds the position of deputy chairman of the guild.
After bowing his hands and seeing off the crowd, Zhao Lan walked up to Li Xiren's front, made a courtesy call "Mr. Xin."
"Hmm." Li Xiren responded with a poker face, not giving his competitor a good look.
Zhao Lan smiled lightly and didn't mind Li Xiren's attitude. She turned around and sat down at the lower seat next to Li Xiren.
After scanning the crowd, he looked at the people with anxious expressions and smiled slightly. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then spoke in a calm tone: "The subordinate I sent to follow those people who transported the fabric reported that these fabrics were all taken from a newly built factory on the outskirts of the city. That factory is very strange, it doesn't have a signboard, and its name is unknown."
"Whatever its name is, how dare it squeeze us like this? It's really getting on our nerves. Let's all chip in and find some brothers from the underworld to burn it down!" Some hot-headed ones immediately jumped out.
"Are you crazy? What kind of brothers on the road are left now? A while ago, so many troops came into the city and wiped out how many gangs? Those who were caught were arrested, those who were killed were killed, and those who managed to survive all fled to the concession. How much money can you pay to make them risk their lives to come out of the concession and do things for you?" Someone who didn't usually speak up immediately spoke out with ridicule.
"What the hell are you coming up with? Anyone can sit here and talk nonsense!" The hot-tempered one immediately jumped up, rolled up his sleeves, ready to take action.
Looking at the noisy crowd below, Li Xing was furious. What time is it now? Others have already stepped on their faces and are still here making trouble?
Just as Li Xiren was about to lose his temper, Zhao Lan, who had been observing him with the corner of her eye, suddenly stood up, clapped her hands and said, "Everyone, quiet down."
The originally noisy and bustling venue quickly fell silent. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Zhao Lan.
Li Xiren's face was gloomy as if water was about to drip from it! "This bastard!" Li Xiren was furious!
Li Xiren has been in the industry for many years, always taking advantage of himself and making others pay when money is needed. Every year when settling accounts, a large sum of money would go missing! He also arranged for many of his relatives to receive salaries without doing any work within the industry association. Everyone was angry but dared not speak out!
Since entering the guild, Zhao Lan has always had an attitude of respecting and valuing others. He treats everyone equally, making friends with sincerity, and never looks down on anyone just because they are weaker!
Zhao Lan quickly gained a foothold in the association and received support from many people. At this rate, it won't be long before Zhao Lan replaces Li Xiren as the president!
Zhao Lan smiled faintly and said in a low voice, "Everyone, the other party's move this time is so big, they must have a great background! I think before we figure out who they are, let's not make any drastic moves. What we should do now is to gather forces from all sides and investigate who they really are!"
"What Mr. Zhao said is absolutely right!"
"What Boss Zhao said is right!"
"It's still Old Zhao..."
The flattering voices of the crowd made Li Xiren, who was sitting at the top, almost unable to hold back his anger!
Just as Li Xiren was about to explode in anger, the door opened again.
The crowd in the hall turned their heads to look, thinking it was a man wearing a silk Mongolian robe. An old man with a purple sandalwood cane walked in.
Everyone in the scene changed color when they saw the newcomer, and everyone rushed to stand up and salute. Even Li Xiren, who was sitting on a chair, changed his face and stood up to salute.
The visitor is a big shot in the domestic business circle, Mr. Zhang, the governor of Jiangsu Province!
Mr. Zhang smiled and walked slowly over to Li Xiren's side, his eyes scanning the crowd.
"Mr. Zhang! Please take a seat!" Li Xinren hastily invited Mr. Zhang to sit at the top, while he himself sat down on a chair below.
Mr. Zhang looked around and finally fixed his gaze on Li Xiren and Zhao Lan, a smile at the corner of his mouth, saying lightly "The cloth seller outside is Governor Gao's man."
A simple sentence made everyone in the room change color! It turned out to be Commander Gao! The news was too shocking, and the crowd fell silent. The atmosphere suddenly cooled down.
Mr. Zhang smiled faintly and continued, "I've come this time to convey Director Gao's intentions." The crowd, still digesting the news, hastily put on a listening expression.
"What Governor Yu means is that all of your shops will sell the cloth provided by Governor Yu at the same time, and the price will be set by Governor Yu. As a reward, the remaining taxes for this year will be exempt." Mr. Zhang continued to say.
"What's going on?!" The originally quiet meeting suddenly became lively, with everyone discussing and debating. The most talked-about phrase was "How can this be allowed?!"
Mr. Zhang was not in a hurry, quietly drinking the tea brought by his servant. After a while, the meeting hall finally calmed down, and everyone's eyes were on Li Xiren and Zhao Lan.
Zhao Lan coughed and looked up at Mr. Zhang, smiling lightly as he said, "Thank you for your concern, General Gao. I am willing to follow your arrangements!"
As soon as Zhao Lan finished speaking, everyone in the venue took a deep breath! The eyes looking at Zhao Lan were all filled with dissatisfaction! Everyone really didn't expect that Boss Zhao would actually agree!
Everyone here has their own factory! What about the cloth produced by our own factory? As for tax exemption, Gaoyang originally collected very little tax to support domestic industry. And this year's tax is only left with the last three months, what's the point of this money?
Everyone had originally pinned their hopes on Old Zhao to take the lead in opposing it and be a pioneer. Unexpectedly, Old Zhao turned out to be the first one to defect! This left everyone present feeling greatly disappointed.
PS: Thank you for your support, everyone! I'd like to say something about the updates. I'm currently on a business trip in another city and haven't had a break even on weekends! Every day, I have to work until it's almost dark before I can finish, and then I still need to take an hour-long drive back to the hotel. Currently, updating twice a day is my limit; every night, I'm typing away until 1:20 AM or so, and my colleagues all say that my eyes are bloodshot. To those of you who have been asking for three updates a day, I'm really sorry. I'll keep working hard - your support is the greatest motivation for me!
