A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

After finishing the social event, Chen Guangliang took a car to the French Concession.

Along the way, the international buildings were covered in amber lights, Gothic spires and Baroque reliefs rose and fell in the night, and the customs bell echoed across the river.

Neon lights pierce the night sky, the revolving door swallows up the graceful figure with curly hair in cheongsam, the slender waist always needs a pair of men's hands, and the cigar smoke slowly rises into the air in the cold winter.

This is the night Shanghai, the night Shanghai of paper lovers and wine lovers. Even a modern man like Chen Guangliang is intoxicated by it and misses it deeply.

We arrived at Jiang Meiying's villa on Xiafei Road and drove into the front yard. The security here had been taken over by Chen Guangliang's security company, which had full-time female bodyguards and strictly trained maids.

The car door opened, and a pair of shiny size 42 leather shoes came out. Chen Guangliang walked out of the back car and immediately felt a fragrant breeze coming towards him.

"Why are you back so late?"

Jiang Meiying was seen wearing a winter cheongsam and a mink coat. She walked up to Chen Guangliang, took his arm, and acted coquettishly.

Chen Guangliang said with a smile: "I met with colleagues from the shipping industry at the Shangri-La Hotel. We had a great time chatting. We will make up for this dinner in two days."

Jiang Meiying took Chen Guangliang's arm and walked towards the villa. She didn't feel the cold outside at all and felt warm in her heart.

As soon as I entered the villa, I saw the servant holding the sleeping Chen Wenjin.

"Why don't you put it on the bed? It might get cold."

Jiang Meiying took Chen Wenjin and held him in front of Chen Guangliang. She smiled and said, "I heard the noise outside just now, so I asked Aunt Yun to pick him up. Look, he has grown a lot!"

Chen Guangliang looked at his second son and immediately took him in his arms, his fatherly love overflowing with words.

In fact, to Chen Guangliang, all of them are his own children, without distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children.

As soon as his son with Jiang Meiying was born, he had already made plans in his heart for him to develop his career in the United States, and he would definitely support it with great strength.

In the future, one house in Hong Kong and one house in the United States will be very reasonable.

"The little guy is sleeping so soundly. He's grown a lot after not seeing him for a few months!"

"Well, he's a big eater!"

Hearing this, Chen Guangliang couldn't help but look up at Jiang Meiying's plump body. In fact, he was also a big eater, and Jiang Meiying was probably about D in size, which made him feel the pleasure of pure natural food without additives.

"What are you looking at? It won't be yours later. I'm just worried that you won't be able to bear it!"

Wow, there's something behind his words. I'm afraid Chen Guangliang did it in the main house these two days.

"You will pay the price for underestimating me!"

A happy night, life is nothing more than this.

Jiang Meiying is a model of the classical beauty of the Tang Dynasty. She is plump but not fat, which is why her cigarette advertisements charmed a large number of men.

At this time, Chen Guangliang understood why Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the leader of the revival of the Tang Dynasty, made such a big mistake in his later years.

Early the next morning.

Jiang Meiying also dressed and arranged Chen Guangliang's clothes like a wife, which was a required lesson.

Chen Guangliang, who had been fighting for three consecutive days, was still energetic and asked, "By the way, how is your father's textile factory?"

He had always wanted to ease the relationship with Jiang Zhenhua, so he waited for the opportunity and took the initiative to help.

Jiang Meiying said, "Business and industry are having a tough time right now, and the textile industry has been in a slump for several years, especially since the second half of last year. Low cotton production has made cotton expensive, but textile prices are struggling due to dumping from Japan and Western countries. Working in industry is no match for working in finance."

Chen Guangliang gave Jiang Meiying a total of 150 million yuan, but in reality, he also asked her to use Ping An Securities to speculate on gold prices, betting on silver prices continuing to rise and gold prices falling. The investment wasn't large (150 million yuan, with a 30 yuan deposit), but she still made over yuan, which was quite good.

"Speculation is only temporary. Don't get addicted to it. And since I'm speculating, I have my own trump cards. You have to remember, don't speculate without my instructions."

"I understand. If you don't tell me, I won't dare to do anything with the money."

Chen Guangliang nodded in satisfaction, then said, "Please arrange for your father and his family to have dinner together someday. If there is anything you need help with, I can help."

The textile industry does not have no future.

On the contrary, although at least half of the textile companies went bankrupt during this wave of crisis, if they could get through it, things would get better by 1936.

If the textile factory was in the concession, it could make a fortune later, because after the Anti-Japanese War, the prices of all materials would skyrocket; and the textiles in the concession could be transported to the anti-Japanese war zone through some channels, and even supplied to military supplies, which all brought huge profits.

After all, the Nationalist government was a capitalist government, so this "war profit" was considered normal business and would not be liquidated. After all, without private industry, the war of resistance would be very difficult.

Therefore, if Jiang Zhenhua has any difficulties, Chen Guangliang is willing to provide him with business guidance.

"No, you said the textile industry has a bad future, why should I help his textile factory?"

This girl, even before she got married, was able to consider Chen Guangliang's interests.

"Silly girl, that's for others. I'm certainly not an ordinary person."

"Hehe, that's right!"

In this case, Jiang Meiying was very convinced that Chen Guangliang's ability in the business field was naturally extraordinary.

. . . . . .

One morning in late December, the Huangpu River was unusually busy.

Dongjiadu.

The 3000-ton cargo ship "Ningbo" of Jardine Matheson was sailing on the Huangpu River. Its captain was a British man named Johnson. He was in a bad mood at the moment because he saw more and more Chinese ships on the Huangpu River.

Once upon a time, the Yangtze River, the coast of China, the Huangpu River, etc. were filled with Western ships. Since the 1930s, the Chinese fleet has expanded rapidly, and in recent years the Chinese government has gradually taken back shipping rights, pilotage rights, shipping qualification assessments, etc.

"Shit, these Chinese ships, unless they're captained by a Westerner like us, always don't understand the traffic rules, which makes this waterway difficult to navigate."

Hearing Johnson's complaint, the first mate said, "That's right. I heard that there are more and more Chinese captains of ocean-going ships now. These Chinese have not received any systematic training at all. We are all very worried that they will cause accidents."

Everyone's words showed distrust of the Chinese captain.

The two were so busy chatting that they didn't realize that their negligence was brewing a disaster.

“There’s a boat ahead”

"Changing the rudder"

"Shit, damn Chinese people"

across.

The Jinfeng is a 3030-ton cargo ship of Global Shipping, which was loaded with 3000 tons of clean coal and was preparing to enter the Huangpu River.

Its captain was Chinese Captain Ma Shiying, who was recruited by Chen Guangliang from China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. He graduated from the famous Wusong Merchant Marine School, the cradle of senior Chinese seafarers.

Chen Guangliang had always been bold in employing senior Chinese seamen, primarily sailing along the Chinese coast. Ma Shiying was a dedicated worker and a careful sailor. Unlike foreigners, he never drank while operating a ship (even airplane pilots of that era drank, and no one cared). He even quit drinking.

The Jinfeng was sailing at this time in full compliance with the rules of the waterway. Although Ma Shiying was driving the boat seriously, when he saw the Swire cargo ship Ningbo approaching, it was too late to react.

"Oops"

Ma Shiying also quickly turned the rudder to avoid a collision with the Ningbo.

"It's unavoidable. We can't have a bow collision."

The Jardine Matheson's 'Ningbo' suddenly sailed into Dongjiadu, leaving the Jinfeng no time to react. The two captains could only desperately steer the ship to avoid a direct collision.

However, the incident happened suddenly and only the greatest loss could be avoided, so the hulls of the two ships still collided.

Since the Jinfeng was fully loaded with more than 3000 tons of clean coal and was very heavy, and the Ningbo was basically an empty ship, it deviated from its direction after being hit.

"boom"

The out-of-control Ningbo then rammed and sank a small civilian ship nearby. This was not the end. The Ningbo did not slow down and rammed and sank many sand ships and small sampans.

A serious accident occurred.

. . . . . . .

Chen Guangliang rushed to Dongjiadu as soon as possible and saw that salvage work was still going on on the river. The two large cargo ships involved in the accident were docked nearby, ready to be investigated.

"How many ships sank and how many people fell into the water? Have you counted them?"

He had seen bodies lined up and covered with cheap cloth, and thought that this matter must be serious.

Although such incidents often occur in this era due to various reasons, and involving dozens or hundreds of people is not uncommon, his mood is naturally different since it involves his own shipping company.

Zhao Tieyi immediately said, "We only have a rough estimate at this point. There are approximately thirty people, and we estimate that more than half have no hope of survival. Regarding the ships, there is one 300-ton civilian ship, 19 sand ships, and small sampans."

“It’s a terrible thing.”

Subsequently.

He asked, "Captain Ma, can you describe what happened at that time?"

Obviously, he did not blame the Chinese captain at the first time. Apart from feeling sad for the deaths, he had no intention of blaming anyone.

Ma Shiying was standing by and was quite worried because he was a Chinese captain and had just been promoted to a 3000-ton ocean-going ship (coastal route). All this was inseparable from Chen Guangliang's strong support.

Now that such a serious accident has occurred, I am afraid that doubts will come pouring in.

However, he still recounted what happened, saying, "The Ningbo suddenly appeared, traveling at a high speed. By the time we spotted each other, it was already too late to avoid a collision, so we both turned rudder simultaneously to avoid a direct bow collision. Since we were fully loaded and the Ningbo was empty, and the Ningbo's rudder turned sharply, the out-of-control Ningbo not only didn't slow down much, but also became chaotic, colliding with civilian ships and several sand ships."

Zhao Tieyi added, "Boss, the Ningbo ship of Jardine Matheson should be held primarily responsible for this accident."

Chen Guangliang disagreed with this view and said, "Give the investigators the details of the accident. The rest is a matter for the court. It is not appropriate for us to make a judgment."

"it is good"

Chen Guangliang asked again: "What is the general process for handling such accidents in the past?"

Zhao Tieyi replied, "In similar cases in the past, the two sides might have spent half a year or even longer trying to resolve the dispute. And given the corresponding compensation standards, doing everything possible to reduce the amount of compensation is the only option."

Chen Guangliang looked at the corpse covered with a white cloth not far away and said directly, "Calculate the victim's losses as soon as possible and come up with the highest compensation standard. Bring the plan to me later."

Zhao Tieyi quickly said, "Boss, the responsibility hasn't been determined yet!"

Chen Guangliang said firmly, "Once the responsibility is determined, their families can't even afford to eat. What's the point of compensation? Anyway, give me the plan first. Remember, I said the highest standard."

"Okay, I understand!"

Finally, Chen Guangliang said to Ma Shiying: "Have confidence in yourself, adjust your mindset, and prepare for the next voyage."

From beginning to end, he did not blame Ma Shiying at all, because judging from Ma Shiying's description alone, Chen Guangliang also tended to be primarily responsible for the Ningbo.

What's more, as long as it is not malicious negligence, it is a normal accident and Chen Guangliang will not pursue it.

Ma Shiying said gratefully at this time: "Boss, don't worry, I will definitely have no problem!"

"Okay, we have to believe that Chinese sailors are no worse than Westerners."

. . . . .

During the investigation, Johnson, the captain of the "Ningbo" of Jardine Matheson, accused Ma Shiying, the captain of the "Jinfeng", of immature skills and believed that the Jinfeng was primarily responsible for the accident.

At the same time, Jardine Matheson seemed to be deliberately throwing sewage at World Wide Shipping. Its shipowner, Mahler (under Swire's management), publicly pointed out in the media that the captain of World Wide Shipping had poor technical handling and was the main cause of the incident.

The captain of the Jinfeng, Ma Shiying, told the media that the accident was by no means his main cause, and explained the specific process of the incident.

Statistics show that 25 people died in this accident!
For a time, the media reported on it one after another, causing great public opinion.

Moreover, major media outlets believe that in previous similar cases, the two parties may have been arguing for half a year or even longer to resolve the dispute, and the corresponding compensation standards would also try every means to reduce the amount of compensation, which is the only option.

No media outlet would believe that the Jinfeng and Ningbo shipwrecks would go beyond this outdated pattern.

Just when everyone thought that this was how it would be handled, Chen Guangliang, as the general manager of Global Shipping, publicly stated to the public in the Oriental Daily: Global Shipping is willing to pay the highest compensation standard and compensate the victims as soon as possible; as for responsibility, it will be left to the court for trial, and he firmly believes that the Chinese captain Ma Shiying is highly skilled and is not the main person responsible for the accident.

"I think it's the responsibility of Jardine Matheson & Co. These foreigners are arrogant and are trying to cover up their carelessness in order to attack the Chinese captain."

"Many people in the industry have expressed their support, saying that the Swire Group's Ningbo ship was solely responsible for the accident."

"Mr. Chen Guangliang is incredibly considerate. Even though the other party was primarily responsible, he offered immediate compensation according to the highest standards. It's clear he doesn't want the Chinese to die with regrets."

"That's right. According to previous similar cases, it took over six months for both parties to resolve the dispute, and the families of the victims had to wait a long time to receive compensation. Now that Mr. Chen has expressed his opinion, it seems that this accident can finally be resolved satisfactorily."

Jardine Matheson had not expected that, having originally intended to use this plan to damage the reputation of the "Chinese Fleet", Chen Guangliang had now easily dealt with it and had also greatly enhanced his credibility.

Moreover, according to the highest compensation standard, whoever is primarily responsible will have to bear this part of the expenses.

,,,,,,

Just seven days later, Global Shipping paid full compensation to the victims of the accident, spending 12.8 US dollars.

Because the court has not yet determined who is responsible, the insurance company has not paid any compensation; and even if the insurance company compensates later, it will not be at this price.

The way Global Shipping handled the incident has undoubtedly set an example for the industry. When human lives are at stake, compensation must be delivered to the families of the victims in a timely manner to comfort their hearts.

As for who will be held responsible, we will have to wait for the court to hear the case. In the end, someone will have to bear the primary responsibility and someone will have to bear the secondary responsibility.

As for not being responsible, that's generally unlikely! (End of this chapter)