Break out of the courtyard

"Mr. Zhang, if we also engage in capital markets, how do you think we should limit speculation in the stock market and futures market?"

"Mr. Zhang, I heard that your company has been looking for loopholes in the tax systems of various countries to conduct so-called reasonable tax avoidance. How do you think we should set up tax laws to prevent foreign companies from evading taxes?"

"Mr. Zhang, your business is so big. What do you think about the reform of state-owned enterprises? Is there any good way to revitalize them?"

……

Faced with a variety of questions from a group of economics professors, Zhang Heping answered for a while, but gradually became unable to cope with it.

"Everyone!" Zhang Heping stretched out his left hand to stop Professor Dai who wanted to ask another question. He then looked around and said, "I know you are very eager for reform and want to solve some existing problems and problems that may arise in the future."

"But I am not a god, and my knowledge is not that extensive, so I can only offer some superficial insights."

"Reform must be gradual!" Zhang Heping looked at Mr. Hua, Mrs. Zheng and the others and said with a smile, "This way, even if we make a mistake, we can pull back in time and move forward again, thus continuing the reform."

Professor Yu, who had been to the Eastern Capital of Japan with Zhang Heping, asked aloud, "Mr. Zhang, when you say gradual reform, do you mean crossing the river by feeling the stones?"

Zhang Heping nodded. "So, many things require you to practice, push forward step by step, adjust and improve again and again, instead of looking for answers directly from me."

Zhang Heping's intention to shirk responsibility was obvious, but some people still didn't understand.

"Mr. Zhang, what do you think of the current dual-track pricing system?"

Zhang Heping thought about the increasing number of profiteers in the past two years and shook his head, "I just said that it will be over once it is changed."

Professor Hu asked, "How to change it? Combine the two prices? What if inflation occurs?"

"Gradually! Gradually!" Zhang Heping frowned. "If we just merge the two prices and then let them run wild, inflation will definitely occur. There is no chance of that happening!"

Professor Deng tried to smooth things over by saying, "Residents' savings are increasing, product supply is unbalanced, inflationary pressure is increasing, and prices have reached a point where they have to change!"

"No matter how much pressure there is, prices can only be gradually liberalized!" Zhang Heping's mind flashed back to the price reforms of his previous life, and he said in a serious tone:
"First of all, the prices of the most basic grains, oils, vegetables, meat and eggs, which are the food baskets of ordinary people, can be adjusted year by year, which can not only ensure farmers' income, but also avoid panic buying and hoarding."

"I agree with the method of adjusting the price of the vegetable basket year by year!" Professor Dai from the capital was the first to express his opinion. "If we do this well, we can stabilize the people's hearts to the greatest extent and ensure the continuous implementation of reform and opening up!"

Others also nodded and whispered their opinions.

After several professors wrote down the key points in their notebooks, they looked at Zhang Heping silently.

Zhang Heping took a sip of tea and continued, "Once we stabilize the vegetable basket, the prices of other commodities will be much easier to deal with."

"It's not easy to deal with!" An old professor named Lin said seriously, "If the price of raw materials is the same, those township enterprises will inevitably encroach on the state-owned enterprise market, making it difficult for more and more state-owned enterprises to operate."

Zhang Heping put down his teacup and said, "Professor Lin wants to revitalize those state-owned enterprises, but I am concerned about the stock of state-owned enterprises. I think last year's bankruptcy law is good."

Professor Lin shook his head. "Mr. Zhang, do you know how many retired and disabled workers are supported by those state-owned enterprises? How many families' vital interests are affected by them?"

Zhang Heping frowned and said, "Retirement, disability, and unemployment are social security issues such as pension insurance, medical insurance, and unemployment insurance. I heard that a meeting on this topic was held last year."

Professor Lin still shook his head. "The reform of state-owned enterprises affects millions of families!"

"Indeed!" Zhang Heping was too lazy to argue with him and nodded, "That's why I said that reform must be gradual. Judging from the current domestic and international situation, there is no way to achieve reform overnight."

Professor Hu spoke again, "Mr. Zhang, how do you think the prices of other commodities should be gradually liberalized?"

Zhang Heping was getting annoyed by the questions and no longer gave face to the proposers of the dual-track pricing system. He said bluntly, "You want to abolish the dual-track pricing system because you think it has fostered a group of profiteers."

"Looking beyond the surface, the country needs companies to pay taxes and provide more jobs. Increasing revenue, technological innovation, social responsibility, etc. are all things that business leaders should consider."

What Zhang Heping said was just short of saying "You guys are meddling too much!"
Everyone present is a smart person. How could they not hear the hidden meaning behind Zhang Heping's words?

Professor Lin frowned and asked, "According to Mr. Zhang, we should treat state-owned enterprises and township enterprises equally?"

"At least in terms of taxation and social security, we should treat everyone equally," Zhang Heping said seriously, "After all, people working in township enterprises also belong to the working class."

This statement seemed to be an inaccurate accusation, but Zhang Heping stopped there. Professor Lin was also pulled aside by someone next to him, and the topic was changed by others.

...

That night, Zhang Heping got out of Director Wang's car with a tired look on his face.

"Heping, we will pick you up at 7: tomorrow morning!" Director Wang said with a smile, and asked the driver Xiao Zhou to drive away.

Zhang Heping waved his right hand helplessly. He had only wanted to say a few words this afternoon, but the old professors kept asking him a lot of questions.
Finally, we agreed to continue discussing issues such as property rights and the construction of a modern enterprise system tomorrow.

I finally had some free time, but was drafted again. I don’t know if I can finish it before New Year’s Eve.

"Honey, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced that it will be closed for four days; the Eastern Stock Exchange announced that it will open tomorrow; the London Stock Exchange did not close today, and the current decline has exceeded 4%. Together with yesterday's decline, the total decline is more than 8%!"

As soon as Zhang Heping's concubine Chen Shuting saw him coming back, she reported to him the stock market trends and various news reports.

Zhang Heping opened his laptop and took a look at the electronic trading data of the London Stock Exchange. "Next Monday, just use the funds of the Heping Group to buy some Hong Kong stocks. Don't worry about anything else."

The eldest wife Tang Xin, who was applying a facial mask, interrupted, "Honey, Aqiang wants to treat you to lunch tomorrow."

Zhang Heping turned off his laptop and said helplessly, "I can't go! I have a meeting later and I don't know how long it will take. Just ask Aqiang what's going on!"

"Oh!" Tang Xin responded from the bed, then picked up a magazine and started reading.

...

Higashima Toudou, Suzuki family.

"Father-in-law!" After Vice Minister Aso entered the room, he knelt down next to former Mayor Suzuki and said with a serious, sad and sorrowful face: "The cabinet just agreed to the request of the people of Magnesium to reduce the deposit interest rate by 0.5%!"

Former Mayor Suzuki said calmly: "Let us lower interest rates, and the interest rates in Magnesium will be raised. This is to attract funds to Magnesium and save their stock market!"

"The people of Magnesium are so abominable!" Miss Suzuki said indignantly: "Not only do they force us to open the market tomorrow, they also want to accelerate the decline of our stock market!"

"The six major banks will not sit idly by!" Former Mayor Suzuki frowned and asked, "Have you contacted Mr. Zhang?"

"No!" Miss Suzuki said seriously, "However, the head of the Dongdu branch of Stepmother Investment Company called me and hoped that we could help him sell the house. It would be best if the settlement was made in magnesium dollars reserved by the six major banks."

"The six major banks' reserve of magnesium dollars?" Former Mayor Suzuki pondered for a moment, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "Promise them!"

Ok?
The Aso couple were both stunned and didn't understand the situation.

Former Mayor Suzuki laughed and said: "Instead of asking the six major banks to slow down the conversion of magnesium dollars and delay the outflow of foreign capital, it is better to spend the magnesium dollars reserved by the six major banks and turn them into fixed assets, so that the magnesium countrymen will have nothing to say!"

Miss Suzuki frowned and said, "Father, if the six major banks cannot exchange magnesium dollars for other foreigners, won't they lose their credibility?"

"No!" Former Mayor Suzuki looked at the night outside the window with sharp eyes, "Without the six major banks, those foreign investors can still go to the five major investment banks in Magnesium to exchange for magnesium dollars, or to exchange for British pounds, marks, Hong Kong dollars, etc.!"

"But, in this way, those Japanese yen will be transferred to foreign banks. If those foreign banks cannot exchange them for magnesium dollars at the six major banks, they will find other ways to transfer the Japanese yen!"

"At this time, as long as our stock market and real estate continue to rise, and even the yen appreciates a little more, those foreign banks will help us attract more foreign investment!"

"In this case, the interest rate increase in the Magnesium Country will not be attractive!"

...

On January 1, at around 14 a.m., Zhang Heping was awakened by the ringing phone.

After he answered the phone, he didn't pay attention at first. But the next second, he sat up suddenly, scaring the women around him.

"The Japanese want to use magnesium dollars to buy out all the properties and land of Stepmother Investment Company and Huayingxiong Company?" Zhang Heping felt that he had heard it wrong and could not help but repeat it.

"Yes, boss!" Wei Chunqiao, who was far away in Hong Kong Island, said respectfully on the phone: "Deputy Manager Xie of Stepmother Investment Company is right next to me. You can ask her for specific matters!"

Zhang Heping asked a few questions to the person on the other end of the phone, then ended the call, and then called Ou Yanzi who was far away in Dongdu, Japan.

Chen Shuting roughly reconstructed what happened through the questions asked by Zhang Heping during the phone call. The Japanese wanted to use magnesium dollars to buy all the real estate and land under the stepmother's investment and Hua Yingxiong's name.

The condition is to help them stabilize the Japanese stock market in the next week!

"Tell them that we don't accept any additional conditions. If they want to buy, they can buy. If they don't want to buy, forget it!"

After Zhang Heping hung up the phone, he hurriedly got out of bed, opened his laptop and took a look. The Dow Jones Index fell 12.7% and there was still half a day left to fall.

"The Magnesian people must have done something to Japan, otherwise they wouldn't be so eager to sell the magnesium dollar!" Zhang Heping walked back and forth in the room with a laptop, talking to himself, and then he was pulled back to bed by his two wives and covered with a quilt.

Chen Shuting leaned on Zhang Heping's chest and asked excitedly, "Honey, how about I go back to Hong Kong Island tomorrow morning and finalize this deal?"

"Don't worry!" Zhang Heping turned off the laptop and asked his mistress to put it on the bedside table next to him.

Zhang Heping didn't know that in order to save the step of exchanging Japanese yen for magnesium dollars, the head of the Dongdu branch of Stepmother Investment Company used only a lazy word to make the former mayor Suzuki come up with a way to deal with the withdrawal of investment by the magnesium guys.

According to the former mayor Suzuki, the decline of Japanese stocks is not scary. As long as Japanese stocks can rebound quickly, foreign capital that has fled from the Japanese stock market will rush back in, and will bring about a wave of foreign exchange fluctuations, attracting more foreign capital into Japan.

If it can help Japanese stocks rise, Peace Investment Company is undoubtedly the first choice.

As long as Peace Investment Company buys Japanese stocks again in a high-profile manner, Japan’s previously lost government credibility can be largely restored, and it can also drive Japanese stocks up!
"Go to sleep!" Zhang Heping lay down, opened his arms and hugged his left and right arms, and smiled: "The Japanese stock market didn't fall much, and the magnesium stock didn't rebound, so the Japanese are not in a hurry."

"Besides, the Japanese Ministry of Finance has not released money to stimulate Japanese consumption this year, and Dongdu real estate is expected to rise. We are not in a hurry to sell Japanese real estate and land!"

...

Early in the morning, Zhang Heping went for a run as usual, as if nothing had happened last night.

After breakfast, he followed Director Wang.

The concubine Chen Shuting got up early in the morning and sat in front of her laptop, keeping an eye on the news and stock market in Japan.

What surprised her was that the Bank of Japan also announced a 0.5% interest rate cut!

However, both deposit interest rates and loan interest rates were reduced together!

Hong Kong Island has only lowered deposit interest rates, hoping to get some savings out of banks to stimulate consumption, thereby improving the performance of listed companies and driving up the stock market.

This process is a bit slow, but it is steady. The Hong Kong stock market will recover in one or two years!
Japan has lowered its loan interest rates, which is intriguing and may even encourage people to take out loans to invest in stocks!
Once the borrower loses money in stock trading, it is possible that we will meet on the rooftop.

In the evening, after Zhang Heping came back, his concubine Chen Shuting reported to him about today's situation. The Nikkei index fell to 14414 points, a drop of 10.2%.

"After Japan announced the interest rate cut policy in the morning, it announced two more policies in the afternoon; one is a tax cut for residents of no less than 1 trillion yen, and the other is a government investment of no less than 5 trillion yen." Chen Shuting said thoughtfully:
"As soon as the last two policies were released, the downward trend of Japanese stocks stopped. Husband, are the Hong Kong government's policies to stabilize the stock market too weak?"

Zhang Heping took out his laptop and looked at the backend trading data of Japanese stocks. Then he said to his concubine Chen Shuting, "Today, 23.6 trillion yen flowed out of the stock market. The decline stopped in the afternoon because the six major financial groups in Japan stepped in to support the bottom. It has nothing to do with the two policies."

Chen Shuting looked at the dense data on the laptop and thought, "Husband, what you mean is that no matter what the policy is, there must be funds to stabilize the stock market from falling?"

"Hmm!" Zhang Heping looked at the electronic trading data of Japanese banks, European banks and other countries, and said calmly: "From the current perspective, this stock market crash will continue for a while. When the Hong Kong stock market opens next week, there is no need to rush to buy in the morning."

Chen Shuting frowned and asked, "Husband, should we sell some stocks?"

"No need!" Zhang Heping shook his head and turned off his laptop. "At a time like this, there's no need to add insult to injury. It will only make people hate you!"

In the next two days, just as Zhang Heping said, stock markets in various countries were still falling, but the decline was not as terrible.

Over the two days of the weekend, rescue policies of various countries have basically been issued.

On Hong Kong Island, Peace Group officially announced that it will invest 1 billion Hong Kong dollars, or 19 billion magnesium yuan, in the Hong Kong Island stock market from January 2 to February 27.

However, on January 1, when the Hong Kong stock market reopened, there was no capital to support the whole morning. All that was announced were suspensions, suspensions, and more suspensions!

It was not until the market opened in the afternoon that the Peace Group issued an announcement that it would increase its holdings in companies such as Huifeng Bank, Renewable Energy, Air-Sea, Island Telecom, China Resources Group, and Hon Kai Properties.

Then, before Peace Group could buy in, the funds that had fled in the morning bought into the stocks that Peace Group was planning to increase its holdings, causing them all to turn green.

The decline of Hong Kong stocks was thus curbed, and they even rebounded by 4 points before the afternoon closing.

On Monday night, Chen Shuting told Zhang Heping who came home late that Huifeng Bank Chairman Shen Bi called her again in the afternoon.

Zhang Heping skillfully opened his laptop and asked with a smile, "Did they promise to give you a medal?"

Chen Shuting smiled and said, "Shen Bi said that as long as I am willing to join the Eagle nationality, it is possible to make me a viscount."

"Just a Commander's Medal is enough. Don't let it affect Xiao Nuo's future political career in Hong Kong Island!" Zhang Heping opened the electronic trading data of the London Stock Exchange and analyzed it carefully.

Chen Shuting nodded, went to get some hot water with a happy look on her face, and then waited quietly beside Zhang Heping.

The eldest wife Tang Xin came over and sat for a while. Because she couldn't understand the various data on the computer, she simply went to tell the children to go to bed.

After a while, Zhang Heping copied the names and codes of dozens of Eagle Country listed companies on a piece of paper. "It should be enough to invest 50 billion magnesium yuan. You can decide when to buy in."

"Thank you, husband!" Chen Shuting hugged her man excitedly, her heart filled with emotion.

Last year, when the Eagle King came to Hong Kong Island, Chen Shuting went to greet him and told Zhang Heping that the Eagle King personally awarded medals to others. Chen Shuting's tone at the time may have revealed envy.

So, Zhang Heping is still remembered today.

Yesterday, when the Eagles approached the Heping Group to invest in the London stock market, Zhang Heping bluntly proposed to Huifeng Bank Chairman Shen Bi that investing in the London stock market was fine, but the Eagle King wanted to award Chen Shuting a commander's medal.

Zhang Heping and Tang Xin don't care about the Eagle Country's commander's medal, but Chen Shuting, who grew up in Hong Kong Island and received an Eagle-style education, is different. She still has some ideas about the Eagle Country's medals and titles.

The next day, October 1th.

Zhang Heping followed Director Wang to Professor Hua's office early in the morning. Under the smiling gaze of a group of old professors, Professor Hua handed Zhang Heping a letter of appointment and a certificate.

"Consultant?" Zhang Heping looked at the position on the certificate and said in surprise, "I'm not old enough!"

"Haha!" Mr. Hua laughed, "If I'm not old enough, I can make up for it with ability!"

Professor Yu at the side said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang is young and promising, and has unique insights into economic reform. Hiring you to the advisory group will help us avoid many detours."

Professor Dai nodded. "Mr. Zhang did not hesitate to expose the various tax avoidance methods of the Peace Group to help us improve the tax system. We just hope to have more consultants like this!"

After Professor Hua and the other professors finished speaking, they patted Zhang Heping on the shoulder and said with a smile, "With this advisory status, if the Magnesium guys dare to harm you again, we can fight back against them with justification!"

"Report!" Mr. Hua's guard shouted at the door. After getting Mr. Hua's consent, he trotted in and handed a piece of paper to Mr. Hua.

Mr. Hua glanced at the contents of the paper, frowned, and gave the note to Zhang Heping.

Zhang Heping only took one look and couldn't help but sneer, "These bastards are finally willing to give in on the GATT!"

After saying this, Zhang Heping handed the note to Professor Yu who came over... (End of this chapter)