Break out of the courtyard

Chapter 843 The Wolf Nature of Capital

The next day, Tang Ren and his son Tang Lie rushed back to Hong Kong Island and held a party at the Yan Wo Yee residential area on Victoria Peak, inviting all the Hong Kong businessmen who had joined the Tang family in shorting Japanese stocks in the past few days.

They did want to hold a party at the Peace Hotel in Shenzhen, but unfortunately the venue was booked out, and Zhang Heping was too busy to attend.

"I heard that Mr. Zhang has been busy with research at the Shenzhen Peace College recently and has no time to deal with Japanese stocks."

"If he didn't have time to deal with it, why would he let the Tang family lead the shorting of Japanese stocks?"

"You don't know this, but the Tang family's leading role in shorting Japanese stocks has nothing to do with Mr. Zhang."

"Hehe, without Mr. Zhang's guidance, I don't believe they would have the courage to short Japanese stocks."

Do you think they'll continue shorting Japanese stocks next week?

While some Hong Kong businessmen were gossiping privately, Tang Ren, the organizer of the gathering, walked to the makeshift stage, said some perfunctory words of thanks to the attendees into the microphone, and then handed the microphone to his third son, Tang Qiang.

Tang Ren and Tang Lie were in the United States a few days ago, organizing Hong Kong businessmen to short Japanese stocks. In fact, it was Tang Qiang who coordinated the operation in Hong Kong.

Strictly speaking, Tang Qiang did not organize the short selling of Japanese stocks; he merely mentioned to Hong Kong businessmen with whom he had a good relationship that the Tang family was preparing to liquidate its holdings of Japanese stocks.

Then, this triggered the herd effect.

After saying some bland and uninspired words, Tang Qiang handed the microphone to his older brother, Tang Lie.

Tang Lie took a glass of champagne onto the stage, smiled into the microphone, and said, "Everyone is surely wondering whether we should continue shorting Japanese stocks next week."

Upon hearing this, the audience fell silent, no longer gathering in small groups to whisper among themselves.

Tang Lie spread his hands and said helplessly, "To be honest, I'm not sure either!"

"What did Mr. Zhang say?" someone shouted from the audience.

“My uncle didn’t participate in shorting Japanese stocks this time!” Tang Lie gave an ambiguous reply, then continued, “I received information that Euromag Funds will be acquiring a large number of Japanese company stocks.”

"The reason we were able to short Japanese stocks in the first three days was actually to help Euromag's funds lower the acquisition price."

A bright student in the audience immediately realized, "Mr. Tang means that if Euromag Funds still want to lower the acquisition price of Japanese companies, we will have the opportunity to continue shorting Japanese stocks?"

"Who wouldn't want the acquisition price to be as low as possible?" a portly real estate developer laughed. "Looks like we can continue shorting Japanese stocks next week!"

"Everyone!" Tang Lie shouted, "Omega Capital wants to continue to drive down the price, but the Japanese are definitely not willing to sell at a low price."

"This can be seen from the announcement issued by the Ministry of Finance of Japan on Friday afternoon."

"So, I plan to wait and see next week."

Someone asked in confusion, "Mr. Tang! Why don't we first buy shares of the Japanese companies that Euromag Funds wants to acquire, and then sell them to Euromag Funds at a higher price?"

"Your idea is excellent!" Tang Lie praised first, then reminded him, "But at what price are you planning to buy in, and at what price are you planning to sell to those European and American funds?"

……

While this group of Hong Kong businessmen were discussing the direction of Japanese stocks when the market opens next week, various European and American funds were selling off yen.

These foreign investors took this action because the Ministry of Finance threatened to suspend foreign exchange trading on Friday. Euromag Capital seemed to be frightened, but it was actually another way of shorting Japanese stocks.

Over the weekend, rumors circulated that Euromag Capital had stopped investing in Japanese companies as some foreign capital withdrew from Japan, casting a dark shadow over the Japanese stock market.

Countless Japanese companies that failed in stock and real estate speculation not only face pressure from banks to collect debts, but also have to balance company profits and employee interests.

The key issue is that many Japanese companies have shifted their main business to stock and real estate speculation...

Monday, April 8th, arrived in the blink of an eye.

Japanese stock markets opened lower as various funds awaited the 10 trillion yen bailout funds from the Ministry of Finance.

On that very day, the Peace Group issued an announcement that it would fully repurchase the shares of Peace Motors Co., Ltd., preparing to withdraw from the Japanese stock market.

As soon as the announcement was released, Peace Motors' stock price quickly rebounded, causing many people to want to buy it but were unable to do so.

This phenomenon led many Hong Kong businessmen to misjudge the situation and rush to buy Japanese stocks that they thought would be profitable.

These Hong Kong businessmen wanted to wait for Euromag's funds to come in and take over, but Euromag Capital was waiting for funds from Tibet Province to come in and bail them out.

As a result, a week passed quietly, and the Japanese stock market was like a stagnant pool, with only occasional red spots appearing amidst the green.

What outsiders don't know is that the Japanese government has been settling accounts all week.

Since the beginning of last year, the decline in real estate and stock prices has caused Japan to lose as much as 1350 trillion yen in wealth!

What does this number mean?
This is equivalent to the total personal financial assets of all Japanese people, or the total GDP of Japan in the previous three years!

The most critical issue is that after the real estate bubble burst, land and housing prices continued to fall, and land and houses on the island of All Sun Island simply could not be sold, with empty houses and unfinished buildings everywhere!

Therefore, compared to the Japanese stock market which has plummeted to rock bottom, the Japanese government is now more concerned with how to save the real estate market, which is currently in dire straits.

Because of this, the Aso couple came to Shenzhen Peace Academy again, wanting to ask Zhang Heping if he was willing to take over the real estate in Japan.

After all, the Peace Group had purchased a large amount of land and real estate in Japan's East City and made a fortune from it!
Of course, when the Aso couple came here, they also wanted to find out what Zhang Heping was busy with at the Shenzhen Peace Academy, which led to the mainland building a military camp on Nanshan Mountain.

Unfortunately, they arrived at an inopportune time. The school security guard who stopped them said that Consultant Zhang and his family were not there and had gone on vacation.

The Aso couple made a round of phone calls but couldn't find out the whereabouts of Zhang Heping's family. They guessed they were on some secret project in mainland China, so they returned to Hong Kong Island first.

Zhang Heping's family did indeed leave Shenzhen, heading north through Wucheng and Hancheng, and finally to the capital to celebrate Ma Xiuzhen's birthday.

The purpose of going to Wucheng was naturally to check on the production plans of the Wucheng Peace Automobile Plant and the Wucheng Shipyard, and also to take a look at the progress of laser weapon development at the Peace Display Plant.

The trip to Seoul was for the aircraft production plan of the Xishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.

Some wanted to develop fighter jets first, some wanted to develop stealth bombers first, and some wanted to develop unmanned reconnaissance aircraft first. In the end, it came down to Zhang Heping. After seeing the actual situation, he found that those dilapidated equipment could not be used for anything.

After some questioning, Zhang Heping learned that the Xishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant was preparing to convert into an automobile factory. Upon learning that he wanted to jointly manufacture aircraft, the plant urgently halted the conversion project and then gathered a number of reasonably decent mechanical equipment.

Although Zhang Heping felt cheated, after all, he had invested 50 billion US dollars but only received 49% of the shares.

However, he did not delve into the matter and immediately decided to sell the dilapidated equipment and replace it all with new ones. Finally, he stayed in Seoul for two more days, and under the warm hospitality of the locals, he promised to build a thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plant in Seoul and Chang'an respectively. He then immediately called the Shenzhen Southern Power Company and asked them to send someone to inspect the construction sites of the power plants as soon as possible.

It is said that the Southern Power Company has a heavy workload recently. There are currently 10 thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants under construction, and with the addition of 2 in the western Shaanxi region, the total has increased to 12.

However, the Southern Power Company has trained a lot of nuclear power talents over the years, and the construction periods of these nuclear power plants are staggered and not built at the same time, so adding two more is not a big deal. It just so happens that the team that is in charge of the basic construction of nuclear power plants has some free time.

Having promised two major projects, Chang'an naturally had to reciprocate by keeping Zhang Heping and his family there for a day before letting them leave.

Returning to the capital after a long absence, the road from the airport into the city reveals numerous bustling construction sites.

As the convoy entered the city, they encountered a rare traffic jam, demonstrating the significant increase in the variety of vehicles in the capital.

……

The Aso couple did not see Zhang Heping, and they did not stay idle after returning to Hong Kong Island.

Thanks to Zhang Heping's special treatment of them, many Hong Kong businessmen still met with these two Japanese men when they heard they had come to visit.

As a result, the news spread that people from Japan Island wanted to find people from Hong Kong Island to invest in Japan Island real estate.

Unfortunately, the leading Hong Kong businessmen, including the Tang, He, Guo, and Bao families, all went to the capital to celebrate the birthday of Zhang Heping's mother, Ma Xiuzhen.

Despite the celebration being called a birthday party, 61-year-old Ma Xiuzhen is not even as old as Chairman He or the ship king.

To put it bluntly, it was just an excuse to get together and talk to Zhang Heping about investments in Japan.

Since Zhang Heping made a fortune in the Japanese real estate market, these Hong Kong businessmen have no longer limited their sights to the small area of ​​Hong Kong Island.

Unfortunately, when they finally met Zhang Heping, they were met with a cold shower.

“I will not consider real estate in Ridao for the next 20 years!” Zhang Heping said bluntly after listening to Chairman He, Chairman Guo and others explain their purpose at his home on the north bank of Houhai.

“Mr. Zhang, you may not know this!” Chairman Guo hurriedly added, “Land and property prices in Japan have plummeted. If we can acquire the assets of those bankrupt Japanese real estate companies at low prices, the profits will be no less than those from stock speculation.”

Zhang Heping picked up his teacup, shook his head slightly, and said, "There are two prerequisites for what Chairman Guo is talking about. First, the land policy in Japan must not change, and second, the real estate market in Japan must be able to recover in a few years."

"Given the current situation, with European and American funds withdrawing from Japan, the Japanese stock and real estate markets are unlikely to recover in the short term."

"With the pile of bad debts at Nikko Bank, many Japanese companies not only face repayment pressure, but also subsequent financing pressure. Do you think the Japanese government will allow these Japanese companies to go bankrupt and be liquidated?"

“I don’t think so!” said Mr. Rong from CITIC Bank. “Once the Japanese government agrees to the bankruptcy liquidation of those Japanese companies, all the bad debt pressure will be transferred to Japan Bank!”

“Saving Japanese companies means saving Japanese banks!” Chairman He nodded and said, “If the Japanese government doesn’t allow these Japanese companies to go bankrupt and be liquidated, then there’s no way to acquire the assets of bankrupt Japanese real estate companies at a low price.”

"Even if we don't have cheap assets in this area, we can still acquire some land and buildings at low prices!" Chairman Guo said somewhat reluctantly.

"Dongdu is an international metropolis after all. Even if land prices and housing prices in Dongdu drop significantly, they will eventually rise again!"

"So!" Zhang Heping laughed, "You're betting that Japan's land policy hasn't changed!"

"What changes?" Chairman Guo asked, puzzled.

Zhang Heping casually remarked, "If you were decision-makers in the Japanese government, what methods would you come up with to revive the market after this sharp drop in the housing and stock markets?"

"What methods will you come up with to prevent previous speculative behavior?"

"For example, do you think it's necessary to change the land policy?"

The Ho family is also involved in the real estate business. Chairman Ho then said, "If we want to curb land speculation and prevent real estate developers from acquiring land but not developing it, I would propose to levy an annual idle land tax!"

Chairman Guo frowned and said, "I can just build a few houses on the land and leave them idle. Once the land price goes up, I can sell them later."

Zhang Heping smiled and said, "What if we remove the word 'idle' and still have to collect land tax every year?"

"Impossible!" Chairman Guo shook his head and denied it, "If the Japanese islanders really did that, who would want to go to Japan to develop real estate in the future!"

"You can't deny that this is the most effective way to prevent land speculation," Zhang Heping said with a smile, looking at Chairman Guo's face full of resentment.

"Mr. Guo is so interested in Japanese real estate today, could it be that he heard some news?"

“What information could he possibly have?” Chairman He laughed. “He’s probably been swayed by the Aso couple and is ignoring many foreseeable risks.”

Zhang Heping concluded by saying, "I'm not optimistic about the real estate market in Japan, not to mention the huge losses caused by the sharp decline in the Japanese real estate and stock markets."

"Given the scale of bad debts at Nikko Bank alone, it would take at least one or two decades to digest such a large amount of bad debts."

"Will Nikko Bank continue to lend to individuals and companies to buy or build houses while it is dealing with those bad debts?"

"Even if it were possible, I think there would be many limitations."

Too many restrictions on loans will deter homebuyers and also prevent companies from building houses.

For Hong Kong Island property developers who are used to selling off-plan properties and getting their funds back early, restrictions on bank loans will limit their start-up capital, making it impossible for them to pull off the "get something for nothing" scheme.

"Old Guo, think about the Ridao real estate thing again!" Brother-in-law Tang Ren interjected at the right time: "My brother-in-law would never harm you. Think carefully about what he just analyzed."

Tang Qiang had no interest in real estate. Seeing that the elders were silent, he hurriedly asked, "Uncle, there are rumors that after those European and American funds withdrew from Japan, they will no longer invest in those Japanese companies, causing the Japanese stock market to decline for more than ten days."

"Do you think we should short Japanese stocks again? After that, we can buy back the dip and wait for the government's bailout funds to come in."

"Have you ever seen a pack of wolves?" Zhang Heping took a leisurely sip of tea and said slowly, "If you think of those European and American capital groups as a pack of wolves, you will find that the prey they have their eyes on does not necessarily have to be killed immediately. They can wait for the prey to show a weakness before attacking it as a group."

"So here's the question: have you figured out what those European and American capital firms are targeting?"

Tang Qiang asked in surprise, "Aren't they those Japanese companies?"

"Yes and no!" Zhang Heping smiled faintly: "Those European and American capital are very similar to your ideas. They probably all want to buy up Japanese stocks and real estate at low prices."

"You all believe that Japan, the world's second-largest economy, can recover quickly and that the Japanese stock and real estate markets will rebound rapidly."

"But what advantages does Japan still have in automobiles, machine tools, and electronic products?"

……

(End of this chapter)