When a person dies, he will naturally have to be buried. Of course, he will also have to be held. However, only two of the seven dead people are natives from Shanghai, and their family wealth has been exhausted. Not to mention holding funerals, even the cost of buying coffins, cemeteries, etc. can't afford it.

However, I don’t know who started it, but how the merchants discussed it, and finally decided to invest together to hold the funeral for the seven people in Shanghai, and notify the families of several foreigners to come to Shanghai to attend and preside over the funeral. After the funeral was over, they received the coffin and returned to their hometown for burial. The families of two local merchants in Shanghai who committed suicide also accepted this request. Bi Jing’s family had no money to hold the funeral alone. If everyone did not have the money to hold the funeral together, they could save a lot of money. Why not do it?

Although in this economic war, the merchants who participated in the rush to buy and speculate suffered heavy losses, there were still some well-capitalized merchants who not only could bear the losses, but also gave some money to hold funerals for these suicide merchants. In addition, the merchants had some friendship with each other, and some committed suicide. Many merchants who did not participate in the rush to buy and speculate also had some grief, so they also supported some money. Even Sheng Xuanhuai, Zhang Jian, Zhao Weizhong and others also sent some money to express their feelings.

The Shanghai Municipal Government had no objection to this. Although these merchants participated in the rush to buy and actually opposed the East China Government, the East China Government won the economic war, and these merchants also committed suicide because they lost all their wealth, died and died. In the traditional Chinese concept, there is also the custom of the dead being the most important thing. Therefore, there is no need to stop interference from being a part of the situation for everyone to raise some money and hold a funeral for these people. This is a must.

Sheng Xuanhuai, Zhang Jian, Zhao Weizhong and others took the lead, and naturally played a demonstration role. Therefore, local merchants in Shanghai also donated generously, and finally gathered 450,000 silver dollars together. It was completely enough to hold a glorious funeral.

It is easier to do things when you have money, so the merchants elected several well-known merchants to preside over the funeral. Of course, they were all businessmen who participated in the rush to buy. In fact, these merchants first considered Sheng Xuanhuai, Zhang Jian, Zhao Weizhong and others, but these people also understood that although the government showed generosity and did not care about a few dead people, they had to be responsible for doing things. Giving a few money is OK, but if they had to preside over the funeral, they would be offside, so they all politely declined.

But the funeral was still held. First, I bought seven good coffins and buried the seven dead people. I rented a house in the bustling area of ​​Shanghai and arranged it into a mourning hall. Each of them had one for relatives and friends to mourn. Many people were arranged to help greet him. In addition, I also hired several sets of drum and music troupes to perform drums and music every day, set up a stage to sing operas, and invited a group of monks and Taoists to recite scriptures in front of the spirit, intending to organize them for 49 consecutive days. The whole funeral was quite grand.

Of course, family members were inevitably guarding the funeral. The families of several other merchants were all out of town. Although they had sent people to invite them, they could not arrive in Shanghai for a while. Only two local merchants in Shanghai were here. Therefore, their wives and sons changed into mourning clothes, knelt in front of the spirit, and received relatives and friends who came to hang the pavilion, which was a lively funeral.

Since these two merchants are both natives in Shanghai, with many relatives and old friends, and there are also many merchants participating in the rush to buy and speculate. There are also some foreign merchants who are both sick and sympathetic at this time, so they naturally have to come to Ling to worship for a hushing. Therefore, there are also a constant stream of people coming to the hushing. After the hushing, they have to invite them to the guest room to serve tea, arrange food, etc. Moreover, because there are free plays every day, many people have watched the fun. There are too few entertainment activities in this era, and some people set up a stage to perform opera, which is a rare opportunity for the people to entertain. If it were not for the rule of the East China Government, professional beggars would have been basically eliminated, otherwise they would have been doing porridge and rice.

A few days later, the relatives and friends of the two merchants were almost here. At this time, several merchants' families arrived in Shanghai and just resumed, so there was no discontinuation.

Although the sound of playing music, crying, welcoming and seeing off every day made the residents in the surrounding area very annoyed and had a certain impact on road traffic, living people could not care about the dead. Moreover, noisy and noisy, there were free plays to watch, and the residents in the surrounding area also went to have a few free meals, so they endured it.

No one opposed the protest, and the Shanghai Municipal Government naturally would not care. There are many things in the Shanghai Municipal Government now. On the one hand, it has to recycle materials, and on the other hand, it has to reload ships and transport them back to Qingdao. In addition, when the silver dollar was run in the early stage, Qingdao also supported a large amount of silver dollars in Shanghai. Now the run has stopped, so it is time to return all the silver dollars to Qingdao. Among them, there are funds flowing in and out, various materials are in and out of the warehouse, handing over and receiving, and finally reviewing and other procedures for locks. They are also very busy.

But Li Songchen went to work that day. Liu Weibo, Director of Industry and Commerce, and Zhang Zhuowei, Director of Finance, came to find him and told Li Songchen that for two consecutive days, no merchants had sold supplies to the government, including several merchants who had agreed to do so, and they did not come again. I don’t know what was going on.

Li Songchen felt a little strange when he heard this, because the Shanghai Municipal Government has only been recycled for only one or two of the materials, which is far from enough. Why don’t merchants sell them? Is it so difficult that they don’t want to recover their funds?

Just when Li Songchen and others were puzzled, Cheng Lingxi, the Director of Culture and Education, hurried to Li Songchen's office and said, "Mayor Li, there is a new situation."

Li Songchen was stunned and said, "What's new situation!"

Cheng Lingxi placed several newspapers on Li Songchen's desk and said, "Look at these newspapers, they are all front page content."

Li Songchen picked up a newspaper. It turned out to be a private newspaper. He saw that he wrote "A sad funeral" in big words on the front page. Liu Weibo and Zhang Zhuowei also took one and read it. The newspaper that Li Songchen read was originally a report on the funeral of the merchants. However, the content of the report focused on highlighting the sad side of the suicide merchants. On the one hand, he tried his best to exaggerate the grief of the family. On the other hand, he emphasized that these merchants had gone bankrupt and their tragic experiences of their families were helpless since then, etc., but why these merchants went bankrupt, they did not mention the words.

After reading it, Li Songchen frowned. Judging from this report, it was obvious that he was inclined to these merchants. It was indeed a new situation. At this time, Liu Weibo and Zhang Zhuowei had also read his newspaper and their faces became serious. The three of them exchanged with each other and read these newspapers. As expected, the content was all about reporting the merchants' funeral. Of course, the funeral of the merchants has indeed become a hot topic in Shanghai now, so it is normal for newspapers to report, but the content is biased towards the merchants. Some of them introduced these merchants, saying that they were kind-hearted in ancient roads, gave porridge and medicine, built bridges and paved roads, and did a lot of good things. Some reported to their families and interviewed them again, highlighting the grief of the families, and wrote with wonderful writing and passion.

If you are an unknown person, after reading these reports, you will feel strong sympathy for these businessmen. Of course, although this report is all over the businessmen, you do not dare to point the finger at the East China Government or the Shanghai Municipal Government. However, it will bring some hints to the point, but it is not obvious.

It turns out that Shanghai is the most developed region in China's era, with nearly 100 newspapers of all sizes. Since most of the newspapers are published in the concessions, some are run by foreigners, so there are fewer concerns about the contents. Of course, they are mixed with good and bad quality. Some criticize the Qing court, advocate revolution, some support the royal family, and oppose change. They also have mixed praises and criticisms of the East China Government, some praises and critics.

However, the East China Government has comprehensively integrated Shanghai. After revoking the concession, it carried out a major rectification of Shanghai's newspaper industry and promulgated the [News and Publishing Law]. The Shanghai newspapers have also dropped sharply to only more than 20 copies. However, they are also the city with the largest number of newspapers under the East China Government. They are also careful in the content of the report and dare not step on the mines easily. Therefore, although the newspaper's position is biased towards merchants this time, they dare not blatantly point the finger at the East China Government.

Zhang Zhuowei said: "What's going on? The position of these newspapers is obviously problematic! What are you planning to do!"

Cheng Lingxi said: "What else can you do? It's just playing the tragic card, using the dead to put pressure on us, and eating human blood steamed buns."

Li Songchen nodded and said, "This is why they no longer buy supplies for us. They plan to create public opinion through this funeral, put pressure on us, and force us to raise prices."

Liu Weibo, Zhang Zhuowei heard this and then suddenly realized. Liu Weibo said: "No wonder they made this funeral so grand. It turns out that there is such a purpose!"

Zhang Zhuowei frowned and said, "But how can we deal with it! We can't prohibit them from continuing to hold the funeral."

Li Songchen smiled and said, "It's not illegal for others to hold funerals. It's just that it's larger, so it's also voluntary for others to do it. Besides, Chinese people have always paid attention to the deceased as the most important thing. If we prohibit them from holding funerals, we may be the ones who are in the wrong."

Liu Weibo also said: "Also, although the position of these newspapers is problematic, it does not obviously violate the [News Law], so it is difficult to punish these newspapers."

Cheng Lingxi said: "In fact, it is not difficult to deal with economic wars. Even if the other party uses public opinion wars, we can just use public opinion to deal with them. Moreover, these newspaper reports are sensational enough, but they all have a fatal weakness, that is, they don't mention them a word about why these businessmen went bankrupt, and of course they can't mention them. Therefore, as long as we grasp this point and make a fuss, it will not be difficult to fight back."
Chapter completed!