money player

In a high-end apartment building on Elector Boulevard.

On the bedside table, the telephone hummed a tune tirelessly.

Oscar Schindler, who had heard but pretended not to, impatiently pushed away the woman who was lying on top of him, rubbed his temples, and hissed as he groaned for the chest hair that had been pulled.

Once his headache from the hangover had subsided, he took a cigarette from the bedside table, lit it, took two puffs, and picked up the microphone.

"Hey."

"Mr. Schindler, you need to come out at nine o'clock this morning to sign a contract."

"understood."

Schindler put down the microphone, picked up his watch from the bedside table, glanced at it, and saw it was 8:27. There was still plenty of time.

He put down his watch, glanced at the naked woman beside him, looked around, and found the suit jacket on the floor. He got out of bed, picked up the suit jacket, took out his wallet from the inside pocket, opened it, pulled out a wad of bills, and placed it on the bedside table next to the woman.

He straightened up, glanced at the woman, and his muddled mind began to ponder her number tag.

"37, or it could be 41."

He brought more than one woman home too many times, but it was impossible to be sure if he took care of them all.

"That's not important."

Schindler didn't get caught up in internal conflict; he hummed a tune as he walked toward the bathroom.

In another building on the same street, was the office of the West German branch of Max West.

Itzhak Stern adjusted his glasses, picked up his coffee, took a sip, and glanced at the documents.

Three days ago, the New York headquarters issued a new task: to acquire as much Bayer stock as possible from Bayer's workers. This task was assigned to him, but he didn't feel any pressure. He simply met up with some fellow Jewish people for afternoon tea, and the task was broken down, with stock certificates being collected one by one and placed in his hands.

This wasn't the first time he'd undertaken such a task; he was quite adept at it and it didn't stir his emotions. He was more curious about how high Bayer could go in the future.

Gently stroking the paper, he drifted off into thought, recalling the scene of meeting the big boss in Singapore and the words the big boss had said.

Since its inception, Max's West German branch has made a series of investments that reveal the ambition of its big boss—to take advantage of West Germany's economic downturn and invest in companies and even industries whose value is severely underestimated. Once West Germany's economy recovers, the value of the shares held by Max will be astronomical.

“Mr. Stern, information on Krupp’s land and property holdings in the Ruhr region.”

Just as Stern was deep in thought, Zhao Zhengang came up to him with a stack of folders.

Zhao Zhengang was a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich, sent by the Nationalist government in 1947. Due to the termination of his government funding, he could only make a living by doing odd jobs. Since joining Marx, he has finally had a stable income. Now he shares an old apartment on the same street with several other international students.

Stern looked up at Zhao Zhengang and said, "Put it down."

"Ok."

Zhao Zhengang nodded slightly and placed the folder on his desk.

Stern picked up the top document, glanced at it, and asked, "Where did you get this document?"

"Allied High Control Council".

Stern slowly looked up. "Zhao, you can drive?"

"meeting."

Stern nodded slightly. "Understood."

Zhao Zhengang bowed slightly. "Mr. Stern, if there's nothing else, I'll head back to my workstation."

Stern waved his hand slightly and continued reading the documents.

After leaving, Zhao Zhengang did not return to his workstation, but went to the corridor outside, lit a cigarette, and leaned out of the window to look at the Northeastern restaurant "Kate" downstairs.

Kate, a fairly common name in rural Germany, is equivalent to Cuihua in status.

Kate, Marx's third business, specializes in pork offal stew with vermicelli, pheasant stew with mushrooms, sauerkraut stew with pork head meat and vermicelli, braised pork ribs and chicken frames, Changbai Mountain stewed pork knuckle, and Harbin grilled sausage.

Zhao Zhengang sniffed, greedily inhaling the aroma of star anise and cinnamon.

"The sauce smells so good today. I'll order an extra chicken frame for lunch, and a pitcher of Lao Xue beer." Zhao Zhengang patted his empty wallet, thinking about how he would receive his weekly salary that afternoon, and couldn't help but feel hopeful.

Kate has the best seat, while Schindler is enjoying breakfast.

A Harbin roasted red sausage, half a whole wheat bread spread with apple sauce, a boiled egg, two slices of Jinhua ham, a cup of kvass, and a cigar resting on the ashtray.

After eating two slices of grilled red sausage, Schindler took a sip of kvass and let out a satisfying burp.

He picked up his cigar, took a couple of puffs, and shook the newspaper in his hand.

After reading half of the article, I picked up a slice of Jinhua ham with my fork and put it in my mouth. While chewing, I glanced at the watch on my left wrist and thought about what I needed to do today.

In the afternoon, he was to visit Berthold Beitz, the regent of Krupp, to extend a gesture of goodwill and, incidentally, mention the matter of providing a bridge loan.

Krupp was a privately owned company, solely owned by Alfred Krupp, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in the "Krupp Case" at the Nuremberg Follow-up Trials in 1948 for crimes including the use of slave labor and the plunder of industry in occupied countries during World War II.

As part of the judgment, all his personal property, including the entire Krupp Empire, was ordered to be confiscated. Therefore, in a legal sense, he was no longer the owner of the company.

The primary goal of the Allied forces after the war was to completely destroy Germany's war potential. Krupp, as the "arsenal of the Third Reich," was the core target of the Allied "decartelization" and dismantling.

Krupp's headquarters were located in Essen, within the British occupation zone, and the company was effectively controlled by the British military government. Their plan was not to run the company, but to break it down into several smaller companies and auction off its equipment as war reparations.

Krupp owns astronomical amounts of land and property in Essen and throughout the Ruhr region. The Allies are liquidating these assets to pay reparations and administration fees, and if they can leverage their connections within the British military government, they could acquire the land and property for less than a tenth of their book value.

Meanwhile, driven by the strategic needs of the Cold War—"the United States needed a strong West Germany as a bulwark against the Soviet Union"—John McCloy, the U.S. High Commissioner to Germany, signed an order at the beginning of the year pardoning several German war criminals, including Alfred Krupp.

More importantly, McCloy overturned the verdict to confiscate his property, and Alfred Krupp regained ownership of the company after his release from prison.

Although Krupp regained his freedom and assets, this was only nominal. The Allies required him to sign a harsh agreement. The specific details of the agreement had not yet been finalized, but the core content was that "Krupp must sell all of his core assets related to coal and steel production and shall never produce weapons again."

In conclusion, Krupp was at the most chaotic, humiliating, and dramatic turning point in its history. It was not a commercial entity, but an industrial ruin bound by the triple shackles of war crimes, Allied occupation, and Cold War politics.

Because of the complex situation of Krupp, Marx thought of taking a risk and first acquiring some high-quality assets at a low price, and then planning to become its shareholder.

Hong Kong.

Cheryl's office.

Zhao Lian opened a document and placed it on the executive desk. "Chairman, the West German branch of Max has sent a letter requesting a loan of 1200 million marks from the trading company."

Cheryl glanced through the documents, picked up a red folder from the table, and said, "The loan amount is too large; a board meeting must be held to discuss it."

She didn't see the new fax in the red folder, and Adam had given no instructions on the matter, which meant that Adam's attitude was purely business-oriented, and whether or not to lend the money depended on the price Marx was willing to pay.

"Representatives from the Marx Corporation will arrive in Hong Kong the day after tomorrow to discuss the loan."

Who is the representative?

"Robert Vanderbilt, Director of the European Business Division."

Cheryl thought for a moment and said, "You go and negotiate with them, and have Jiu Jiu Ge and Victor send representatives to the negotiation meeting."

“Okay.” Zhao Lian nodded. “What conditions should we offer?”

Cheryl picked up her pen and gently stroked it. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Let's negotiate at an annual interest rate of no less than 20%."

"clear."

What progress has the business made in East Germany in the past two weeks?

"Ten days ago, we opened a channel with the 2nd Guards Independent Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Soviet Army, which is under the Berlin Garrison. Its military police will provide military trucks to solve the transportation problem for the business to penetrate deep into East Germany. On the condition that, in addition to the normal profit sharing, the business must buy condoms issued by the Soviet Army at a high price and provide women regularly."

Cheryl frowned upon hearing this. "What woman? A prostitute?"

"The client's demands were very high, and ordinary prostitutes couldn't satisfy them."

Cheryl rubbed her temples. "Can things be resolved in Berlin?"

"Yes, but the cost will be a bit higher."

"Where are the condoms?"

Zhao Lian's face instantly turned ugly. "The Soviet army's logistics are terrible, and the quality of their condoms is very poor. They will probably be difficult to sell normally."

"No need to transport them out of East Germany, solve the problem locally."

"As an extra?"

Cheryl tapped her fingers on the table. "Aren't prostitutes who wear stockings more expensive?"

"I don't know."

"Investigate this."

"Okay, sell condoms to prostitutes near the military camp?"

"Buy stockings and get condoms free," Cheryl cursed. "That damn Ivan is insatiable."

Zhao Lian shrugged. "The Soviets are greedy, but they are also audacious. One pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes can be exchanged for several packs of White Canal cigarettes and Kazbek cigarettes. Just from cigarettes alone, the 50 troops stationed here can generate hundreds of millions of marks in revenue for the trading company every month."

"Tell Berlin to be careful; I don't want to see anyone from the trading company imprisoned in East Germany."

"Everyone has always been very careful in their work."

“OK.” Cheryl glanced at her watch. “I have a cocktail party to attend tonight, I need to go back and change.”

Taipei.

After leaving Taipei Main Station, Sin Yiu-man arrived at Lee Lai-chun's residence. After waiting for a while in the front yard, he saw Lee Lai-chun pushing her bicycle in. Her face was flushed, and her forehead and cheeks were covered with fine beads of sweat.

Seeing Li Lizhen park her bicycle, Xian Yaowen smiled at her and said, "You're back?" (End of this chapter)