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Chapter 2467 City of Sin (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

When footage of the coalition forces landing at Beirut International Airport appeared on television, the entire Southeast Asia cheered and applauded – just what they needed.

All they need is to let everyone experience how powerful I am.

While the public is overjoyed, some people are looking at the issue from other perspectives.

In Surabaya, in the rooftop office of the Manson Company on the 31st floor, Kuan Hao-chen, a high-ranking knight from the Kingdom of Sarawak and the company's chairman, sat in a leather armchair. He glanced at the news on the television screen, watched the planes taking off and landing at the airport, and said softly:
"This is really not a good thing!"

No one paid him any attention; he was all alone in the office.

With a furrowed brow, Guan Haochen stood up from a large table, walked across the room, and stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the south wall, staring at the people and vehicles moving about in the Sishui financial district below.

Sishui!

Surabaya is best known internationally as the "Sin City," and this isn't just because it has many gangs—unlike other parts of Southeast Asia where "organized crime" is rare. Surabaya doesn't adhere to Article 46; in fact, many traditional Chinese communities have flourished here, some even operating legally.

This has historical reasons. After the Borneo Garrison recaptured Surabaya, the local social order was in chaos, and the newly formed military government did not have time to control everything. So the military authorities reached a tacit understanding with the Chinese community organizations, which was that the government recognized the legal status of the communities, and each community helped the military authorities maintain social order within the framework of the law.

However, it is important to note that while the establishment of a triad is legal, it does not mean that they can do illegal things. If a triad does anything that violates local laws, it will be subject to official sanctions. On the other hand, in some neighborhoods, the police may tolerate some triad activities as long as they do not disrupt the local order, thus reaching a tacit understanding between the two sides.

Successfully whitewashed gangs have always played a role in a kind of underground order, especially in situations where it is inconvenient for officials to intervene.

After completing their initial capital accumulation in the early post-war period, most of the gangs now have their own legal assets and legitimate income. However, even so, they still control certain illegal or gray industries.

This leads to another problem – money laundering.

With demand comes service, and it is in this process that Surabaya's financial industry has developed rapidly. They not only provide services to local businesses in Surabaya, but also to businesses from all over the world.

Because of the more complex environment here, many villains in the comics have set up their headquarters here.

In all Southeast Asian novels and comics, this place is depicted as a city of sin.

There's no way around it; after all, every work of art has to have a villain. So, where else but Sishui could be the place to pick an eggplant among the generals?
Obviously, there is no more suitable place than here, and with the popularity of comics and film and television works, Sishui did not reject this nickname. After all, in this world, having a title is always better than not having one.

Therefore, he readily accepted it.

If Surabaya is a city of sin, then this financial district is its heart.

Because no organization or individual can function without money.

Regardless of how outsiders view this issue, or how they view Surabaya, it remains a global destination, providing services to businesses from all over the world.

As the world's third largest offshore financial center.

The thriving financial industry has provided numerous job opportunities for the people here.

On the streets at this time, those people dressed in black suits with barely creases in their custom-made leather shoes are employed here. They provide corresponding services to their employers. For these young and promising people, this is a temple of opportunity. Here, as long as you have special skills and work hard, you will be rewarded with promotion and security.

Guan Haochen is one of those who received an award here.

He understood what kind of place this was: it was a pure jungle, governed by the naked law of the jungle. And he himself was a tiger in that jungle.

A predator.

Although he was a plunderer by nature, he had long recognized that certain standards must be respected to one's face but torn up behind one's back, and that some rules are meant to be broken. It was precisely because of this that he succeeded here.

For him, the most successful moment was a month ago when he was awarded a knighthood in the New Year's Honours Book in recognition of his contributions to the industry and to society.

Although he was from Surabaya, receiving a title from the Sarawak Kingdom might seem a bit unusual, but in fact, this is what everyone in Southeast Asia strives for, since only titles obtained here are recognized throughout the region.

Although Siam also bestows titles such as knighthood, it is Siam after all, and besides, that king... everyone just laughs it off.

Some kings were true emperors, while others were merely kings with a title.

Therefore, some titles are valuable, while others are merely a matter of appearance.

However, at this moment, Guan Haochen was not thinking about the title on the business card, nor about how others would refer to him by his title instead of his name.

While titles are important, what is even more important?
It's wealth!
Now, the news on TV made Guan Haochen feel a sense of crisis.

He leaned forward and pressed the switch on the walkie-talkie.

"Miss Emily, please come here for a moment."

Emily's name sounds somewhat European, but she's actually a local girl, an indigenous person. However, her clothing and style are very modern, a reflection of the colonial era. In fact, compared to Sumatra and Java, which were under Dutch rule for a long time, Java has always been very open-minded. During the Republic era, thanks to the efforts of the authorities, it became even more open-minded. Not only were women willing to wear clothes that showed off their figures, but even their eating habits were no longer bound by tradition. Furthermore, more and more young people stopped praying.

Emily is that kind of young person, and that's why she got this job.

She stepped into the room, which was set into the wood-paneled wall and appeared to be part of the wall when closed.

"Chairman, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Have Manager Zhang come over here. Also, bring over a copy of the financial market data from Beirut."

"Ok."

Soon, Zhang Yongchang arrived at the chairman's office. As soon as he entered, Guan Haochen said to him:
"Did you watch the news?"

The chairman's question startled Zhang Yongchang, and he instinctively replied:
Is it Beirut?

"right,"

Guan Haochen nodded and said:
"Now, with the arrival of the army, the situation in Lebanon will surely recover from the current war and turmoil, and Beirut will very likely return to its original state..."

Hearing the chairman's speculation, Zhang Yongchang frowned and said:

“Chairman, if that happens, it won’t be good for us. If this happens, he could take away our business at any time.”

Zhang Yongchang said this because the Middle East accounts for a significant portion of their company's business.

There is a little-known fact that the rise of Surabaya's financial industry is directly related to the decline of Beirut's financial industry.

From the late 1940s to the 1960s, Beirut became a financial center in the Middle East due to its unique advantages. This was made possible by the stable political system established after the French allowed it to gain independence. In addition, unlike other Arab countries, Lebanon maintained political neutrality in the conflicts in the Middle East. At the same time, Lebanon also followed Switzerland in formulating strict bank secrecy laws, which attracted a lot of capital from the entire Arab world and even the international community.

For wealthy individuals in newly independent and politically unstable Arab oil-producing countries at the time, Beirut was a safe and reliable haven for their funds.

On the other hand, Lebanon is one of the few countries in the Middle East that practices a free market economy, where capital can flow freely, foreign exchange is uncontrolled, and it has a freely convertible currency—the Lebanese pound. This high degree of economic freedom was extremely rare in the world at that time.

On the other hand, Beirut also had the advantage of being a regional center. At the time, it was the educational, cultural, and commercial hub of the Middle East, boasting numerous universities and a large pool of skilled financial and legal professionals. It naturally became a bridge between Arab oil capital and Western commercial interests.

However, the funds flowing into Beirut at that time were not primarily intended for setting up shell companies for tax avoidance or complex offshore structures. Its core functions were regional private banking, trade finance, and foreign exchange trading. It was an "onshore" financial center serving the real economic activities of the Middle East.

In other words... there is real money flowing in.

As the regional oil economy continued to prosper, Beirut's financial sector continued to develop, beginning to exhibit more offshore characteristics. However, the Lebanese civil war that broke out three years ago abruptly halted this process. The ongoing civil war destroyed Beirut's financial infrastructure and its most important assets—stability and security.

At the same time that Beirut declined due to the civil war, other regions seized the opportunity. Encouraged by Chang'an, Surabaya and Mindanao consciously established a modern offshore banking unit (OBU) system, successfully taking over the financial business flowing out of Beirut. With the support of these two regions, Musandam, leveraging its geographical advantages, officially replaced Beirut as the main offshore financial center in the Middle East.

Of course, the core business is still in Surabaya and Medanlao.

As Beirut's replacements, they are only just beginning to take on this role.

Therefore, it is believed that the civil war in Beirut will stop with the arrival of the coalition forces, or that the order of the entire country will be fully restored in the next year or two.

So what will happen then?

This was exactly what Guan Haochen was worried about, and he nodded in agreement.

“You’re right, that’s exactly what I was worried about. Although Beirut has declined, its financial institutions still exist, and their connections in Europe and the Middle East are unmatched by us.”

After all, Beirut has been a financial center in the Middle East since the 1860s, and even earlier. Once order is restored, those institutions will inevitably become our competitors, and their geographical advantage is their greatest strength.

After expressing this concern, Guan Haochen said with a hint of helplessness.

"Who would have thought that our army would inadvertently help foreigners and make them our competitors..."

As he said this, Guan Haochen frowned, and even took out a cigar from the cigarette case, lit it, took a puff, and then said to Zhang Yongchang.

"That's why I asked you to come here to see if there are any solutions. After all, we need to prepare in advance to deal with any possible changes."

After listening to his boss's instructions, Zhang Yongchang thought for a moment and then said:

"First, we must reassure our clients and convince them that we have a greater advantage than those institutions in Beirut. Well, our biggest advantage lies in our close relationship with the SEA, and I believe they will understand that."

(End of this chapter)