Rebirth: My 80s

Chapter 1202 The End is Coming
The atmosphere in the office was a bit weird. Logically speaking, Li Jiankun was just a businessman, and Ye was the head of a big country. The identities of the two parties could not be equal in any way.

However, Ye did not use the identity of a "businessman" to position Li Jiankun.

Li Jiankun didn't feel any pressure facing him.

The two parties sat next to each other on a rather exquisite antique sofa, with Ye's body slightly leaning towards Li Jiankun.

Li Jiankun could see the deep fatigue and helplessness on his face. He smiled and said, "Being in a high position must bring more pressure."

Ye sighed and said, "After all, we have to be responsible for this country and all its people."

He looked distressed. "Some of my original intentions were good. I wanted to give this country and all its people a better future, but it seems to have played into other people's hands. You know that feeling, it's like... someone dug a hole in the road, and I had to lead everyone to jump in..."

Just self-righteous, Li Jiankun thought.

But his face showed no sign of it.

Ye was still complaining, "Just like what you said before, I agree with you deeply, reform is always accompanied by pain, but the price this time is too high. My pursuit of freedom is definitely not wrong, and the people are not wrong either..."

"Of course they are wrong." Li Jiankun took over the conversation.

Ye nodded vigorously, "That's right! They are too ambitious. When you reminded me last time, I was skeptical, but now I really believe it. Those people have no good intentions at all. You are the only one who wants to do business in our country seriously..."

Li Jiankun looked very pleased with his true feelings, but in fact he didn't take it seriously at all.

Even dogs don't believe what old politicians say.

Even if he thinks you are good now, you will be nothing when you infringe on his interests.

Everyone knows that businessmen are mercenary, but compared to politicians who have many faces, they are nothing.

Ye's success today is inseparable from Ge's cultivation. When Ge showed his intention to abdicate, their relationship became good again. This is really a perfect illustration of the saying "there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests".

"In fact, I also want what they want. It can even be said that the huge wealth accumulated by the former Soviet Union is something that no one can help but covet, including those vendors who come to your country to run small businesses on the streets. The reason why they can still do business with peace of mind when the ruble is depreciating is that they know your country has a strong foundation."

Li Jiankun's words at least made Ye trust him a little more at this moment, "But you are a gentleman who loves money and earns it in a proper way, unlike them, who simply robbed!"

Li Jiankun changed the subject and asked, "I heard they borrowed a lot of money from you?"

Whenever Ye is mentioned, he gets furious. That gang of bandits was not afraid of being starved to death. It was not enough for them to absorb so many ruble savings, so they kept lending money to them. Finally, they used the savings of the Russian people and the money borrowed from the Russian Central Bank to acquire Russian corporate assets.

It's really a good trick of getting something for nothing.

His huge appetite, huge ambition and blatant means are truly outrageous to both humans and gods!

Ye nodded and sighed, "My staff and I have discussed some possible plans, but no matter how we do it, it seems inappropriate. For example, if we prohibit people from selling securities or restrict foreign investment in securities, it will contradict our general policy of creating a free market. For example, if the government invests in setting up some companies and also purchases securities, it is the same reason. Besides..."

Ye paused for a moment, looked at Li Jiankun, and said with gritted teeth: "There is not much money left in our treasury."

That is, if you still have a lot of rubles, how can I survive? Li Jiankun thought, but said, "It seems that you have indeed lent them a lot."

It was my fault that I didn't see their conspiracy before. They offered high interest. Ye had two ideas in his head: "You want to issue more currency, but there are relevant clauses and restrictions. If I remember correctly...you were the one who pushed for this."

Li Jiankun said sternly: "Issuing more currency is a bad idea. You know better than me how badly the ruble's exchange rate has fallen. Once more currency is issued, it will only cause the exchange rate to fall further, and the ruble will become less and less valuable. Then you will soon be out of money again, so you will issue more currency again. In the long run, it will form a vicious cycle, and sooner or later the ruble will become not much more valuable than waste paper."

Ye understood this principle, but issuing more currency could solve the urgent problem. He was really at a loss now, not only in terms of large-scale foreign acquisitions, but also in terms of how the Russian economy should develop in the future. Without money in the treasury, it seemed that everything he talked about was just empty talk.

"Actually, you are not short of money. Didn't you lend them a lot of loans?" Li Jiankun said.

Ye smiled bitterly and said, "The problem is that the shortest contract is only for half a year, and the performance period has not yet arrived. Moreover, the money plus interest is really a drop in the bucket for the serious problems facing our economy now."

"Then continue to lend. They should be eager to continue borrowing."

Li Jiankun's sudden words made Ye confused. Was he not clear enough? He had already said that even the national treasury was short of money, so what could he borrow?
Let's take a step back and say that even if I have money, would I still lend it to them and use it to take our corporate assets for nothing?
Am I stupid or are you stupid?

Li Jiankun smiled mysteriously and said, "You don't have it, but I do."

Ye: “?”

It took me a long time to figure out what this sentence meant.

Of course he knew that Jack Lee had a lot of rubles. It was estimated... no, not an estimate, but absolutely, no one in the world, including other banks, even state-owned banks, had as many rubles as he did. It was far less.

Over the past six months, Huaqiang Taikoo Bank has been providing unlimited ruble-to-dollar exchange services, which is unique in the world. Coincidentally, the situation in the Soviet Union was turbulent and later collapsed. People with rubles in their hands inevitably worried about the depreciation of their assets, and most people were doing their best to exchange their ruble assets into US dollar assets, the world's hard currency.

The amount of rubles absorbed by Huaqiang Taikoo Bank and the amount of rubles that Jack Lee could mobilize absolutely reached an extremely terrifying number.

But, if you have it, what does it have to do with us? We will be thankful if you don't get involved and start buying securities, Ye thought.

If Jack Lee acquires securities, it would be a real disaster.

So from this perspective, Jack Lee is now the person they least can afford to offend.

Li Jiankun looked at the bewilderment on Ye's face and said with a smile, "Let me ask you a question first. They loaned you rubles. What currency is written in the contract for repayment? U.S. dollars?"

Ye was about to swear, "It's US dollars. Those stingy guys who came here to open a bank without bringing in any capital, would they be willing to use US dollars to repay the loan?"

"Of course it's the ruble." Ye replied after a moment's pause. "Now that I think about it, your suggestion is absolutely correct. We must not issue more currency. Once we issue more currency, the ruble will plummet. How can we even talk about making interest? The value of the currency they repay us in the end is far less than the value when we lent it to them. What a sinister bunch of guys!"

"That's all." Li Jiankun spread his hands and said, "Continue to lend them money. They can borrow as much as they want. We are cooperating. If you don't have rubles, I will provide them. The interest rate is based on the standard bank loan rate."

Ye opened his eyes wide and asked, "Should I continue to lend money to them so that they can acquire more of our state-owned assets?"

"It's only temporary." Li Jiankun waved his hand, signaling him to remain calm, and then smiled meaningfully, "Have you ever thought about this possibility? What if they can't fulfill their obligations when the loan expires?"

"They dare!" Ye slapped the armrest of the sofa with his hands, his eyes glaring. At this moment, he looked like the commander-in-chief of the world's second largest military force.

He can guarantee with confidence that anyone who dares to owe money and not pay it back will not be able to leave the country, including their businesses in the country and all other assets.

In a flash, Ye's expression returned to normal and he shook his head and said, "They dare not, and they will not. For example, Chase Bank initially loaned us 1 million rubles. At that time, the financial exchange rate of ruble to the US dollar was around 3:1. Now, it is almost close to 200:. In fact, there is not much value left. It is a drop in the bucket for them." "No, they will." Li Jiankun said.

Facing Ye's puzzled expression, Li Jiankun smiled and said, "Because they don't have rubles, if you use the value of monetary confidence as a reasonable reason and firmly execute according to the contract and only accept rubles for loan repayment, they really can't take it out. If they are short of 100 rubles, it is also called failure to perform the contract."

Ye's eyes opened wide.

Li Jiankun remained expressionless and added: "Because the rubles are in my hands and yours, think about what will happen then?"

An indescribable complex emotion emanated from Ye from the inside out. His face instantly turned red, his eyes were full of brilliance, and he asked in a trembling voice: "Can you do it?"

"Of course." Li Jiankun said firmly, "The total amount of rubles on the market is limited. You must know this better than me. To be honest, I may have more rubles than you think. In their eyes, now is the harvest season. Everything is centered on acquiring more former Soviet assets. The absorption of rubles in the early stage is for the harvest at this time. They will not think about reserving many rubles that they think are worthless. They will do their best to spend the rubles in exchange for the fruits of victory..."

“Therefore, as long as we, the bondholders, the central bank, and the Chinese people who have savings in their banks, resolutely refuse to accept any other form of redemption, they will not be able to redeem!” The gleam in Ye’s eyes was almost tangible, and it spread out of his eye sockets two meters away.

Li Jiankun nodded slightly.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Ye laughed loudly towards the sky, it was still unclear who would reap the spoils!

Wonderful! Wonderful!

However, another question came to Ye's mind: By then, what about the Chinese youth next to him?
The vast majority of rubles are in his hands!

Li Jiankun seemed to see what he was thinking and said with a smile: "I am now the richest man in Eastern Europe."

After a brief pause, Li Jiankun said, "The question now is, do you want to watch them acquire your country's corporate assets on a large scale, or do you want to make a fortune from them? As for me, even if this cooperation fails, I can just..."

"Who said the deal can't be concluded? Let's do it!" Ye was afraid that he would say the following words, so there was no way he would give him the opportunity to start purchasing securities.

It doesn't matter if he's as rich as a country, as long as he doesn't mess around, Ye thought. He had already made up his mind that in the future he must get closer to this person and build a solid friendship.

You can't afford to offend this person.

Don't even touch it.

He is committed to building and yearns for the Western free society where capital is king.

Fortunately, the relationship between the two is good now, and Ye suddenly felt happy again. Having his support behind him has many benefits.

After the two discussed some details, Ye personally sent Li Jiankun to the door before leaving, shook Li Jiankun's hand tightly to say goodbye, and invited him to spend the weekend together at the official residence in Sochi.

----

A frenzy of selling state-owned enterprise securities broke out in Moscow, and similar trends were seen in other regions.

People sold their securities to foreign banks and a few domestic hoarders, who in their previous lives would become the oligarchs of the future.

After exchanging the ruble cash, most people will take it to Huaqiang Taikoo Bank to exchange it into US dollars, so that the money is safely in their pockets.

Bank Street is extremely busy every day. Huaqiang Taikoo Bank is still the bank with the most prosperous business. From opening in the morning to closing in the evening, there is always a long queue at the door to get a number to handle business. Usually, once you get a number, you cannot complete the business on the same day, and you have to queue up again according to the number tomorrow, but you have to get up early.

The headquarters of Huaqiang Taikoo Bank, plus dozens of branch outlets scattered across Russia, swallow up ruble cash every day, in larger quantities than ever before.

The ruble deposits of other foreign banks have dropped significantly in proportion.

At the same time, foreign bankers began to look for suckers to lend money to. Ye still had some brains and did not agree to them so easily. He pretended that the landlord did not have much surplus food. But in the end, he could not stand their nagging and borrowed money again and again, and the interest rate became more and more considerable.

Foreign bankers don't care anyway.

After a while, the ruble to dollar exchange rate will not fall to 1000:1? Or even more exaggerated.

Time passes day by day.

Most Russian people could not wait to sell the securities they held. Except for Huaqiang Taikoo Bank, other foreign banks also acquired a large number of securities. In other words, the assets left over from the former Soviet Union in Russia were falling into their hands in batches.

Of course, they also consumed a large amount of rubles and owed a huge foreign debt in rubles.

But they were not in a hurry at all. They pulled their pockets, reaped the fruits of victory, and celebrated every now and then. For example, after Russia gained independence and announced the creation of a free society, Judy bought a former state-owned dance hall, where there was partying every night and it was very lively.

Li Jiankun is extremely busy.

They successively completed several big deals similar to the ones they had agreed with Mr. Ge, because after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, most of the current CIS countries have the intention to issue their own currencies, and the use of the ruble is only temporary. Moreover, Russia still inevitably affects them. Seeing the ruble fall to this level, they are really upset, so they might as well get rid of it as soon as possible.

Li Jiankun welcomes everyone who comes.

Anyway, for such big business, the ratio is kept very low, a box of US dollars can be exchanged for a room full of rubles.

Yes, his plan was to absorb as much ruble as possible.

If it were US dollars, he would definitely not dare to plan this.

However, the ruble circulation is not large, which is far from equal to the total assets of the former Soviet Union under the planned economy.

He had done his homework and calculations carefully a long time ago. In history, the Soviet Union had carried out many currency reforms, issuing new rubles and recovering old rubles from time to time. The most recent currency reform was in 0.987412, when new rubles were issued with a gold content of 10 grams. One new ruble was exchanged for ten old rubles. The ruble appreciated 4.44 times internally and times externally. The old currency has now been recovered.

In other words, the total number of rubles issued now is the total number of rubles circulating in the market.

Although we cannot say that all the money has been in his hands, there are not many left on the market. In any case, it is definitely not enough, far from enough, for Western banks to use to pay their customers and repay their debts.

Next, is the main event.

The end.

(End of this chapter)