money player

The Railway Hotel is the most upscale hotel in Taiwan besides the Taipei Hotel, a government guesthouse that is not open to the public.

After her morning exercise, Francesca met with lawyer Duanmu Kai in the hotel's cafe.

Although Duanmu Kai was a lawyer, he had been in politics since the early 1949s. He served in various departments of the cabinet for more than ten years. It was not until he resigned as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance before going to Taiwan in that he began to focus on managing his own Duanmu Kai Law Firm.

In the Confucian and Mencian cultural circle, the greatest role of a lawyer is not reflected in verbal battles in court, but in private connections. The lawyer in Taiwan who is best at commercial dispute cases is actually Chen Tingrui, but he is not as good as Duanmu Kai in terms of connections. However, Haining Cha Liangjian, who has stronger connections than Duanmu Kai, is still concentrating on politics. After weighing the pros and cons, the legal affairs of Prince Enterprise were handed over to Duanmu Kai.

Francesca signed a legal contract with Duanmu Kai in the name of Prince Enterprises of the United States, and then entrusted Duanmu Kai to register a subsidiary of Prince Enterprises (Taiwan) and register its subsidiaries: Prince Chemical, Prince Trading, Prince Capital, and Prince Construction.

As soon as Francesca's contract and commission were finalized, Valerie immediately went out to the newspaper to publish the recruitment information. The next step was to contact the alumni association.

Taiwan is currently in a state of "talent surplus". The vast majority of college students from the mainland cannot find a job they like. Some just find a random job to make do, while others remain unemployed. At this time, alumni associations play the role of career intermediaries, and students with connections are willing to introduce jobs to their classmates.

Among the alumni associations, those of Peking University and Tsinghua University hold more frequent activities and have their own venues, which are easy to find.

Francesca was not idle either. She went out a little later and went straight to the employment agency under the Social Affairs Department.

Grass Mountain Inn.

Kong Lingwei and Soong May-ling were sitting next to each other in the garden, and Kong Lingwei was telling Soong May-ling gossip.

When Kong Xiangxi and his family were going to settle in the United States, Kong Lingwei felt sorry for her aunt who had no children, so she stayed by her side to serve her. When Soong May-ling and her husband went to Taiwan, Kong Lingwei felt like a fish in water. She was a core figure around Soong May-ling and even her accompanying secretary.

Kong Lingwei was responsible for arranging various matters including Soong May-ling's dress and image, including her visit to the United States last year to lobby the United States to assist in the defense of Taiwan.

Kong Lingwei had some knowledge of medicine, and the work of Soong Mei-ling's health care team and guards were all under her supervision. She loved drinking, and often dragged military officers, guards, etc. to drink with her, getting them drunk and extracting information from them.

For example, which servant was having an affair with which other, and which war was about to break out. From trivial matters to national affairs, Kong Lingwei knew everything clearly, and then told the gossip to Soong May-ling.

All women love to hear gossip, and Soong Mei-ling is no exception. Kong Lingwei's identity made her an excellent middleman for transmitting information. Sometimes, the two of them would talk about gossip until dawn, and when they were excited, they would laugh and hug each other, just like best friends.

The gossip that Kong Lingwei talked about today was not exciting enough. Soong May-ling was not very satisfied listening to it as she sipped her cigarette one after another.

In fact, Kong Lingwei had something on her mind and wasn't very engaged in her speech.

The two have been together for decades and know each other very well. If they can't continue gossiping, they just stop talking and talk about business.

"Is there any news about Xiao Wang?"

"There is news. Xian Yaowen did not know the current situation and did not agree."

"Don't be surprised if he doesn't agree. Xian Yaowen was able to build up the Jinji Trading Company in Hong Kong, so his relationship with the British must be good." Song Meiling took a sip of her cigarette and continued, "Your mother said that Xian Yaowen's woman... Cen what?"

"Cen Peipei."

"Yes, Cen Peipei, this guy has a good relationship with the Americans, and Xian Yaowen entered the country with an American passport. He is not afraid of what we can do to him."

"Aunt, Xian Yaowen came to Taiwan for investment. Wait until he invests the money." Kong Lingwei made a chopping motion. "Then he won't be able to decide whether to make it round or flat. We..."

"Stop." Soong Mei-ling stopped Kong Lingwei from continuing. "Xian Yaowen is a beacon for Taiwan to attract external investment. We can't make things difficult for him. If Xian Yaowen fails in Taiwan, no one from Hong Kong will come to Taiwan to do business."

"Aunt, Xian Yaowen doesn't give me any face. If I don't punish him, how can I do business in the future?"

"Xian Yaowen has been able to rise to prominence in such a short time, it's impossible that he doesn't know how to behave. Ling Wei, don't worry, let Jinji Trading Company handle the purchases in Hong Kong and follow the normal business process. We will wait and see patiently."

Xian Yaowen analyzed Kong Lingwei's past deeds and thought that if he offended Kong Lingwei, Kong Lingwei would most likely use a trick to intimidate him, so it was not surprising that several military police showed up today to take him away.

After breakfast, he changed into casual and comfortable clothes, sat on the first floor and read the newspaper, waiting for Kong Lingwei to make a move. He stroked a gold medal made by Jin Manfu in his hand, thinking about the gold price in Taiwan.

Due to the impact of the Korean War, which boosted safe-haven demand, the international gold price remains at $35 per ounce, but the black market price has increased slightly, about 50 cents per ounce more expensive. However, it is not easy to buy a large amount of gold at this price. If you want to buy a large amount, you basically have to add $1 to $1.5.

The price of gold in the Hong Kong market fluctuates around US$39 per ounce. This is the price that gold shops pay for gold. The price for export has passed the craziest period and now basically remains around US$71 per ounce, which is about US$2.28 per gram.

Of course, this price is only temporary. Du Weiping's "gold speculation" plan is still in the early preparation stage. Once launched, it is difficult to accurately estimate how much the gold price will rise.

In Taiwan, due to the previous practice of exchanging 40,000 old Taiwan dollars for one new Taiwan dollar, the situation was a bit ugly. The locals had complaints about the national government and had little confidence in the New Taiwan Dollar. They exchanged their idle funds for precious metals for value preservation.

As a result, Taiwan's inflation became increasingly serious. In order to curb inflation, the Bank of Taiwan sold gold bars and gold nuggets at a fixed price, trying to absorb excess New Taiwan dollars in the market.

At the beginning of this year, the Bank of Taiwan sold the tael at NT$1200, while the black market price fluctuated between NT$1800 and NT$2000. Now the Bank of Taiwan has adjusted its selling price to NT$1400, while the black market price has soared to over NT$2500.

Such a paradoxical situation arises because Taiwan banks adopt an allocation system, which requires approval before purchase. The amount of gold that each person can purchase is extremely limited. However, some powerful people have stepped out of the three realms and learned about the selling plan in advance, hoarding it at a low price and then reselling it on the black market.

Some officers stole and sold military supplies in exchange for gold, or used warships to smuggle gold. Some gangs also smuggled gold from Hong Kong and Japan into Taiwan via fishing boats, increasing the supply on the black market.

[One liang of gold in Taiwan is 37.5 grams, while in mainland China and Hong Kong it is 31.25 grams. After the liang reform in 1959, one liang in mainland China became 50 grams.]
If calculated at an exchange rate of 7.5, the black market gold price in Taiwan has exceeded US$276 per ounce. Even if calculated at an exchange rate of 15.5, it has exceeded US$133.7 per ounce, which is 3.82 times the international gold price.

Of course, in actual operation, it is not that easy to exchange Taiwan dollars into US dollars. It will incur a lot of "energy consumption", and about 20% needs to be budgeted. But even if it is reduced by 20%, the profit is still very considerable.

Gold Coast Industries has a lot of gold in its hands. Apart from limited supply to the Hong Kong market and Kothari, it has never been sold openly. However, Gold Coast Industries has actually established connections with the Taiwan black market. Some of the gold circulating on the black market comes from Gold Coast Industries.

Xian Yaowen was not unaware of the abnormal gold prices in Taiwan, but apart from the Hong Kong market, Gold Coast Industrial was positioned as a bulk gold supplier, which was both closely connected and isolated from the gold terminal market.

To put it bluntly, Gold Coast Industrial only earns limited but stable "wholesale" profits, while customers can earn three or four times the profits. Gold Coast Industrial only pursues stable sales.

However, studying the trend of Taiwan's gold price at this time, there are obvious signs of soaring. It is not impossible for the gold price to break through 3000 Taiwan dollars, but it is unlikely to go up further unless the horn of liberation is blown at home.

NT$3000, a 100% premium, is a barrier. If it is breached, chaos will occur. At that time, the government can suppress the black market price by cracking down on smuggling, raising the official price, and increasing the allocation quota, so that the gold market is in a healthy state of "the government has no worries and the powerful and wealthy have benefits."

If we get stuck at this checkpoint and ship 5 tons of gold to Taiwan to sell on the black market, we can get nearly NT$4 million. About 2.8% of this money should be distributed, leaving NT$ million. With a little operation, we can purchase products in Taiwan for export and make up for the % loss.

After the goods are shipped, the payment does not have to be recovered. Xian Yaowen may recognize any letter of credit, but the Bank of Taiwan may not. If the letter of credit cannot be exchanged for money, then there is only a lawsuit to be filed. After a lot of delays, the matter will be left unresolved after the storm has passed.

This is a low-cost way to get money out of Taiwan, but it can only be used once. If it happens again and again, the National Government will naturally be fed up and no longer have to tolerate it. "Fake foreign devils, you are taking advantage of us, right? Do you think we are idiots?"

Xian Yaowen was multitasking as he was reading the newspaper and thinking about gold. The shareholders of Gold Coast Industrial had already shown their dissatisfaction with the dividend amount, and it would be necessary to distribute a slightly larger dividend in the near future to stabilize them, otherwise they might demand a share of the gold reserves.

It is impossible to divide the gold. If his strength did not allow it, he would now want to start implementing the Xian family's gold strategic reserve plan. By adjusting the gold reserves as a way to deal with inflation, he would not only prevent his wealth from shrinking, but would make a profit from it.

After reading a stack of newspapers, Huang Jin pondered for a long time and looked at his watch. The hour hand was almost reaching ten o'clock, but the military police did not arrive. Xian Yaowen guessed that either Kong Lingwei was not as brainless as the outside world said, or Soong May-ling was more deeply involved in the business than imagined. What he had to face was not Kong Lingwei who had Soong May-ling as his backer, but Soong May-ling directly.

This has its pros and cons. Cooperating with smart people saves you trouble, but you have to give up more profits. Cooperating with stupid people is difficult, but the profits you give up can be less.

Whether it's more or less, if you want to make money in Taiwan, you can't avoid Song and Kong, you have to wade through this muddy water anyway.

I went upstairs to send a fax to Cen Peipei, informing her that the alarm had changed from red to orange.

Then, he took Fei Baoshu out to visit department stores and commercial streets. They spent the daytime shopping. After dinner, they gathered at Chen Changtong's house. Fei Baoqi, Fei Baoshu, Sun Shuying and Yuan Huixie played mahjong at a table, and the three men drank tea and chatted in the pavilion in the yard.

It was just a casual chat between men, from the international situation to what kind of shoe polish to use for leather shoes, they would talk about everything, but they only touched on matters between men and women and didn't go into depth. After all, the three of them didn't know each other well, and there were three different age groups, so there were some topics that they couldn't talk about.

However, just as the card game was over, Chen Changtong quietly told Xian Yaowen that the currency exchange would be processed in the next two days, and asked him to go to the Bank of Taiwan to process the letter of credit.

Xian Yaowen never told Chen Changtong about the letter of credit, which shows that Taiwan's financial system is "open and aboveboard" and has no secrets at all. This also made Xian Yaowen once again speculate who was the mastermind behind the currency exchange.

His relationship with Chen Changtong is not close enough to do dirty work together and share the spoils. Currency exchange is mostly a compliant operation that does not require anyone's secrets. To be able to turn operations that exploit financial loopholes into compliance requires a lot of energy, which is not something that ordinary people can do. Only people with the power to interpret the rules can do it. Perhaps no one in the government's financial system has this energy.

Coupled with Chen Changtong’s words “If you can avoid meeting, then do so. If you do, there will be trouble”, a name comes to mind - Chiang Ching-kuo.

"500 million US dollars x 13.5 = 6750 million New Taiwan dollars." This amount of money accounts for a large proportion of Taiwan's current total currency circulation of 12.5 billion New Taiwan dollars. If handled properly, it will be a great political achievement. In addition, there is the 65 US dollars in benefits he promised. It can be said that it takes into account both public and private interests. This is a rare good deal.

No matter from which angle we analyze it, if the person behind the scenes was Chiang Ching-kuo, the other party would have gained much more benefits than him.

He has probably been involved in the struggle for succession without anyone noticing! (End of this chapter)