In fact, even without the Telegraph Bureau and the Steel Ship Merchants Agency, Sheng Xuanhuai has accumulated wealth for many lifetimes. But this incident made Sheng Xuanhuai realize that after losing Li Hongzhang's protection, he was the man with a treasure. The huge wealth he had was the fat meat that everyone wanted to bite. Today it was Telegraph Bureau and the Steel Ship Merchants Agency, so tomorrow it might be his own other industries. Even if the imperial court casually accused him of his own, it was not impossible for him to confiscate his family and exterminate his clan on that day.

Of course, when he was alive, the court might have some concerns, but he was in his 60s and could have a few years of life. There was no outstanding talent among his children. Once he died, his children would definitely not be able to maintain his family business. Therefore, now he must find a new, capable and reliable backer. The only one who meets this condition is the East China Government. At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai thought that Li Hongzhang would entrust all his children to the East China Government to protect him before his death, and probably saw this.

Although Sheng Xuanhuai was a businessman, he also had the status of an official. Although Hu Xueyan was known as a red-topped businessman at that time, he was only awarded the title of third-rank governor by the Qing court. He was awarded a yellow jacket and a second-rank red top dress on his official hat. The governor was in charge of the finances of a province and was the deputy of the governor or the governor. He was not a minor official. However, Hu Xueyan's governor did not have a province in the province, and was actually a false title. The yellow jacket and the second-rank red top dress were just honors, so Hu Xueyan was not a real official. Now Sheng Xuanhuai's official position is the left minister of the second-rank Ministry of Works, and was awarded the title of Prince's Young Guard. These are all official titles. In addition, he has long followed Li Hongzhang and his views on the political situation in the officialdom are far better than ordinary merchants.

After careful consideration and division, Sheng Xuanhuai believed that although he had been in a state of disagreement with the East China government for a while, he had no formal relationship with him and did not do anything that was unfavorable to the East China government. Therefore, as long as he intends to rely on the East China government, the East China government has no reason to refuse. After all, his status is here. Although his financial resources may not be as good as Zhang Zhenxun, his identity, status and influence in China are much heavier than Zhang Zhenxun.

Sheng Xuanhuai was not worried that overseas Chinese would target their own property. First, the regulations of the East China government were strict, and officials did not dare to act so blatantly; second, the ultimate goal of the East China government was to replace the Qing court and change the dynasty. In this way, it would be more meaningful to join the East China government. If you buy horse bones for a thousand dollars, overseas Chinese would not understand the truth, and would not embezzle their own property.

Of course, if you want to join the East China government, you can't go there empty-handedly. You have to bring some meeting gifts, or a letter of reputation. Sheng Xuanhuai originally planned to transfer the business of the Telegraph Bureau and the Steam Merchants Bureau to the East China government. It was not only his own gift of visiting, but also dig a hole for Yuan Shikai and throw it into Yuan Shikai. Unexpectedly, overseas Chinese have greater ambitions and want to unify the business community in Shanghai. However, this is good news for Sheng Xuanhuai. If he fully assists overseas Chinese in doing this, he will make a lot of contribution. Moreover, Sheng Xuanhuai also made up his mind that once he negotiated with overseas Chinese, he would buy a house and buy land in Shanghai New District and Qingdao, and help his family members, so that he would have no worries.

Although Li Songchen was surprised by Sheng Xuanhuai's voluntary surrender, he was very happy. Although Sheng Xuanhuai lost his political protection umbrella after Li Hongzhang's death, he is still the number one person in the Chinese business world and still has a huge influence in the business world. Therefore, his voluntary surrender was a great help to the East China government unify the Shanghai business world.

Sure enough, after Sheng Xuanhuai made his statement, Zhang Jian, Zheng Guanying, Ye Yiquan, Zhang Shuhe and others at the same table also expressed their willingness to participate. Soon, someone from other tables also expressed their willingness to join, and the effect was very obvious. In the end, 125 businessmen present, a total of 92 expressed their willingness to join, and the other 33 said that it was not that they were unwilling to join, but that they had a great relationship and could not make the decision. They needed to go back and negotiate with their families before they could decide.

Li Songchen also expressed his understanding and agreed to give them three days to consider. After three days, it will be officially decided to start preparations of the Military Supply Association. As long as you sign up before the day, you can be considered the first batch of members. Then everyone elected Zhao Weizhong, Yang Yuxin, Zhang Zhenxun, Sheng Xuanhuai and Zhang Jian as the preparatory directors, who are fully responsible for the preparation activities of the Military Supply Association. The five prepared directors decided in class to each take out 30,000 taels of silver as the start-up capital for the Military Supply Association. Of course, after the formal establishment of the Military Supply Association, the money will be deducted from the membership fee.

After three days, not only all the merchants attending the banquet attended, but also brought more than 100 small and medium-sized merchants to join, bringing the first batch of members to 238. First, the Military Supply Federation is indeed very attractive to merchants; secondly, it is also herd mentality, because since wealthy businessmen like Zhang Zhenxun, Sheng Xuanhuai, and Zhang Jian have joined, of course they cannot fall behind. Anyway, if something really happens, there are these wealthy businessmen in front of you, so what are you afraid of?

Then, 120 preparatory directors were immediately selected from the crowd, responsible for assisting the five preparatory directors in formulating various rules and regulations. Although the Shanghai New District Government made some suggestions for the discussion and formulation of various rules, it was indeed not involved. All of them were discussed by 5 preparatory directors and 120 preparatory directors and finally decided. Some controversial terms were passed by a majority vote, but due to the close votes, they were temporarily shelved and discussed later. Moreover, when formulating the terms, the Shanghai New District Government also emphasized that it is necessary to distinguish between large merchants and small merchants and pay attention to protecting the interests of small merchants. After all, small merchants have a lower ability to bear risks and need more support.

In the procurement and distribution of materials by the East China government, it also showed very fairness and fully cared for the interests of most merchants. The actions of the Shanghai New District Government during the preparation period also made many merchants feel relieved. The East China government did not make a single man and imposed its own opinions and demands. Therefore, during the preparation period, a large number of merchants joined, although they could only be considered the second batch of members, including small merchants with assets of only a few hundred taels and a few thousand taels. As a result, a month later, when the Military Supply Federation began to enter the trial operation period, the number of members had reached 453, and the membership fees received were as high as 500,000 taels of silver.

The establishment of the Military Supply Federation also caused panic among foreign businessmen in Shanghai. Although the Shanghai New District has always emphasized that the Military Supply Federation was established for the Liaodong war, foreign businessmen are not easy to do anything. Anyone can see that this so-called Military Supply Federation is actually a means for the East China New District to unify the Shanghai business community.

Although China's economic lifeline is indeed controlled by foreign businessmen, this control is based on the premise that China's government agencies are weak, incompetent and inaction, and the business community cannot form a unified synergy. This control is quite fragile in a sense. Once a strong government emerges and integrates the business community, the dominant position of foreign businessmen will immediately collapse. Because this is in China's land, foreign businessmen do not have a deep intervention in Chinese business, and a large number of Chinese businessmen need to be agents or intermediaries. Once Chinese businessmen join forces and act in a unified manner, foreign businessmen will be unable to move forward, and will be countered by Chinese businessmen.

The East China government is undoubtedly a strong government. When the Shanghai New District was first established, foreign investors in Shanghai once wanted to join forces to squeeze the Shanghai New District, but they gave up hostility in a short time and instead compromised and cooperated with the Shanghai New District. What is concession? Because the Shanghai New District is not an enterprise, but a political group, and it is also a political group that is undergoing industrialization. Foreign investors can squeeze a enterprise through commercial means, but they cannot deal with a political group. The industrial products exported by the East China government to the Shanghai New District are all-round, and it is simply impossible to prevent. Moreover, the East China government has a advantage in the geographical advantages, and the transportation costs of foreign companies are huge, which is also the inherent disadvantage of foreign companies. Therefore, the Shanghai New District soon occupied a place in the Shanghai business community.

But now the East China government is not satisfied with having only one place, but rather integrating and unifying the business community in Shanghai. How can foreign businessmen be calm? Although foreign businessmen have also taken some measures, such as spreading rumors that the East China government has unhappy in establishing the Military Supply Association, and threatening some merchants to prevent them from joining the Military Supply Association, the results have been very little. First, the general trend has been gone and irreversible; second, merchants with strong recruitment such as Zhang Zhenxun, Sheng Xuanhuai, and Zhang Jian are not threatened by foreign businessmen. Moreover, after the Shanghai New District discovered it, it also issued a solemn warning to foreign businessmen, so foreign businessmen did not dare to do too much.

At this time, the consuls of Britain and France in Shanghai also took the opportunity to gather foreign businessmen to discuss and suggested that a chamber of commerce should be formed to confront the military supply association. In fact, Britain and France had long been mobilizing foreign businessmen in Shanghai, requiring foreign businessmen to buy goods needed by the East China government, raise prices, and force Chinese businessmen to ban supply to the East China government, and attack the East China government from an economic perspective.

However, foreign businessmen did not respond to this. Businessmen are smart people, knowing that this is the first line of confrontation with the East China government in China. If they accept domestic demands, they will not only suffer heavy losses, but will also be retaliated by the East China government. Naturally, no one will do it. But now it is different. If foreign businessmen do not take any action, when the East China government integrates the Shanghai business community, the good days of foreign businessmen will be over.
Chapter completed!