At 7 o'clock in the morning of the third year, Li Songchen, under the escort of the People's Army, came to the building of the Public Concession. At this time, the British and French troops guarding the building also handed over their weapons, gathered at the door of the building, and handed over the guards of the building to the People's Army for responsibility.

In the Industrial Bureau Building, Li Songchen signed the surrender letters of the public concession and the French concession with the general directors of the two concessions, which also symbolized that the Shanghai concession, which had existed for nearly 60 years, was officially included in the jurisdiction of the East China government.

Then the two sides carried out the handover of various administrative and public affairs in the concession. Before coming to the concession to surrender, Li Songchen had arranged 45 administrative personnel, including 6 travelers and more than 200 policemen, preparing to take over the administrative and public administration affairs of the concession. The concession area itself is not large, and there are not many affairs that need to be handed over. Moreover, Li Songchen had a basic understanding of the administrative and public administration situation of the concession. He had already assigned corresponding personnel according to different management departments, and the concession did not dare to make trouble at this time. After all, the People's Army has controlled the concession. At this time, wouldn't it cause trouble for himself? Therefore, it took only one day to complete the handover of all the work in the concession.

Although the concession is controlled by foreigners, whether it is administrative departments, police patrol agencies, or public management, there are a large number of Chinese people acting as grassroots personnel, and a few Chinese people can squeeze into the middle level in the concession. However, the top level of the concession is always controlled by foreigners. In the old time and space, it was not until the 1920s that Chinese people began to gradually enter the management level of the concession.

The strategy of the East China government to accept the concession is that after the handover is completed, all foreign middle and high-level managers will be cleared out and the East China government will send someone to take over. The middle and grassroots Chinese staff will be temporarily retained and a group of people will be promoted from among them to serve as middle-level managers. Since these grassroots Chinese staff in the concession are familiar with the situation of the concession and are naturally familiar with the management of the grassroots, it can ensure the stability of the transition in the concession area. After the transition period is completed, they can determine whether to retain or improve for a long time based on their performance.

Of course, although the East China government has taken over all the affairs of the concession, the army has not yet retreated, and the concession area is still in place. After all, the East China government has just taken over the concession area and the army still needs to stay to help stabilize the overall situation. Luo Yue left the 1st and 2nd Regiments to guard the concession area, and sent the 3rd Regiment to station at the Shanghai Port to replace the 2nd Marine Division. Because the People's Army will attack Shanghai County in the next step and occupy the Shanghai area in full. Therefore, the matter of managing the concession will be left to Li Songchen to handle.

At this time, Li Songchen officially announced that the industries, assets and other items of all merchants from Britain, France, Japan and Russia in the concession area were confiscated, and merchants from these four countries could only take their own private property out of the concession.

Once this news was released, it caused shock among the giants in the concession area and was strongly opposed. Moreover, the main force of the opposition this time was not foreigners, but Chinese in the concession.

Although the people's early war in the concession was not long, and it was only half a day to make a full decision, it was enough to make foreigners completely awake. The East China government was really good at this time. Because at this time, European countries had enough colonial experience and knew that once the colonies were strongly counterattacked by local residents, they must not force themselves to surrender their assets, and keep their lives the first priority. If the mother country sends troops back, then all the lost ones can be returned. However, if the mother country's army is useless, they can only admit that they are unlucky. Of course, in this era, there are not many chances of this situation. Therefore, facing the guns of the People's Army, the foreigners in the Concession were honest and handed over all their industries in exchange for their own safety. Wait for the arrival of the British and French coalition forces, defeat the People's Army, and then take back everything they lost.

However, the Chinese in the concession do not have as good mentality as foreigners. Although the concession is managed by foreigners, most of the residents are Chinese. Except for a few independent Chinese businessmen and Chinese employees working in middle and lower-level management agencies of the concession, most Chinese in the concession work in factories, enterprises, and shops run by foreigners.

Whether it is running Chinese merchants in the concession or factories run by foreigners, Chinese people who work in enterprises are basically dependent on foreigners. Of course, merchants naturally needless to say, they are all considered to be rich in life. Even if they are working in foreign factories and enterprises, their income is above the social average level in China at this time, and many people can even reach the level of bran.

Factory, enterprises and shops opened by merchants from Britain and France account for more than 70% of the entire concession. In the entire concession, only about 10% of the factories are mainly production and manufacturing industries. After all, the area in the concession is only so large that it is impossible to establish large factories or start large industrial enterprises. Even enterprises mainly focus on industrial manufacturing, mainly to maintain supporting facilities in the concession, and their scale is not large; about 20% are public services; and the remaining 70% are mainly engaged in inbound and outbound trade, which is the window for dumping foreign industrial products to China, and it is also a channel for cheap acquisition of industrial and mining products from China. It is also the main object of comprador merchants. The other 20% are banking and finance, which mainly provides services for import and export trade.

For the East China government, most of the enterprises in the concession are not beneficial to China and are extremely harmful. Naturally, they must be eliminated or transformed through confiscation, closure, rectification and other means. However, this means that most of the merchants in the concession will lose their business channels or source of work, which will of course seriously damage their interests. Therefore, this group of people naturally oppose the resolution of the East China government to confiscate the foreign merchant industry in the concession.

In recent years, most Chinese merchants in the concession have traded with the Shanghai New Area and are familiar with each other. Many of them have some friendship with Li Songchen. In addition, the Shanghai New Area Government is also composed of Chinese people after all, and has always given people a relatively friendly impression. They have not bullied others with power and are arrogant. In addition, some foreign merchants are not willing to hand over their own industries, so they come up with advice behind the scenes and incite the Chinese to cause trouble. Therefore, on the third day after the Shanghai New Area Government announced the confiscation of foreign property, a petition signed by the Chinese in the concession was sent to the command center. Almost some Chinese merchants with names in the concession had signed a signature, and many ordinary civilians asked the Shanghai New Area Government to take back the order to confiscate foreign industries in the concession. Of course, the words of the petition were still very gentle and humble, and it was a bit of a miserable meaning.

In fact, some foreign businessmen want to make things bigger. At first, they wanted to plan and organize a group of Chinese people to petition in the Shanghai New District. In the famous discussion, they put pressure on the East China government so that they can take back the orders. The actual purpose is to cause some trouble to the East China government, preferably causing bloodshed, so that the East China government will not end.

But at this moment, the People's Army launched an attack on the Shanghai County, and Ruicheng, who was the Shanghai Daotai at the time, surrendered. The People's Army conquered the Shanghai County, and since then announced that the entire Shanghai area would be included in the jurisdiction of the East China government.

This also reminds Chinese businessmen that the East China government planned to replace the Qing court and change the dynasty, and now it has started war with Britain, France, Japan and Russia. Therefore, although the attitude of the Shanghai New District Government is gentle, they will never think that they are weak. Don’t do too much. It’s enough to submit the petition.

When the People's Army attacked Shanghai County, Luo Yue did not come to the scene to command, and was still in the command center of the Shanghai New District. Therefore, Luo Yue and Li Songchen received the petition from the Chinese merchants in the concession together.

However, after reading the petition, Luo Yue frowned and said, "What's this happening? The foreigners have not reacted yet, but the Chinese are anxious."

Li Songchen smiled and said, "This is not surprising. The butt determines the head. Although the general direction of confiscating foreign industries is profitable, it also touches the interests of a considerable number of people. After all, compradors have formed a class, not a few, and there are also Chinese people working in the concession. This is equivalent to destroying their jobs, so of course they are unwilling to do so."

Luo Yue said: "Of course I understand this principle, but if you want to say that the losses are huge, the losses of foreigners are the greatest, but the Chinese are opposed. Isn't this very strange?"

Li Songchen said: "Foreigners dare not object now. Only Chinese people are easy to talk to. Everyone is their own people. And judging from the words of the petition, the language is very gentle, which shows that they are still very clear about the current situation and do not want to make things worse. I think this petition should be a test. If it succeeds, I will work hard anyway."

Luo Yue said: "Okay, I won't pursue the whole story, but how should this petition be handled? Should I refuse it directly?"

Li Songchen shook his head and said, "Of course this is not possible. Rejection is naturally something to refuse, but don't be too stiff. I think it's better to persuade. The comprador class wants us to be eliminated, but we have to persuade and educate every comprador businessman, and guide them. After all, the knowledge and experience of every comprador businessman is considered advanced in this era, and there are enough assets and financial resources. If it can guide them to invest in industry and manufacturing, it will be beneficial to the development of our national industry, except for those who are yellow-skinned and white-core, who are dedicated to foreign countries. In addition, our confiscation of foreign assets has indeed damaged the interests of these Chinese people. We also need to give them some compensation or a new path."

Luo Yue said: "Okay, you will handle the petition, so I won't worry. If you need military assistance, just say it, I'll arrange it."
Chapter completed!