We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Chapter 262 Confrontation between Hong Kong and Britain 1
Thatcher will tell you how much economic damage a fall can cause.

Originally, Far East Bank's rescue plan restored Hong Kong people's confidence in Hong Kong Island's economy, but the Iron Lady's fall showed signs of collapse again in the newly restored confidence.

The most direct reaction here was the Hang Seng Index and real estate stocks, and the leaders began to dive in headfirst.

Originally, the Hang Seng Index had already exceeded 1300 points and headed straight for 1400 points. However, this fall caused the Hang Seng Index to fall below the 1300 point mark on the same day. It reached the critical point of 1200 points the next day. It was only a matter of time before it fell below 1200 points. The problem.

Among all industry stocks, the real estate industry was the first to suffer the most severe decline.

Among them, Land Group fell the most, with a decline of more than 20%, far exceeding the 11% of the Hang Seng Index.

Land is the largest landowner on Hong Kong Island, and if something happens, the land cannot be taken away.

Coupled with the unhappiness between Jardine Matheson and Rabbit, Land and Land became the vanguard of this wave of stock market decline.

"Has Thatcher returned to England?"

"I'm back, but isn't it bad that you rejected her meeting so directly?"

Luo Nianzhong shook his head and said there was nothing wrong with it. Some things can swing around and some things must be firm.

"I'm from Hong Kong, and I'm even Chinese. The development of our Far East Group to its current scale is not due to the British Hong Kong authorities. There is no need for me to make her laugh. She is not qualified yet."

The purpose of Thatcher's meeting was clear to Luo Nianzhong, which was simply to get the Far East Group to cooperate in suppressing Hong Kong's economy.

Even if he doesn't cooperate, I still hope that Luo Nianzhong can be a bystander and stand aside.

“Hong Kong Island is the basic base of our Far East Group, and it is also the foundation of our Luo family. Once this place is stabilized, it can radiate throughout Southeast Asia and Asia.

The overall consumption level here may be lagging behind Europe and the United States now, but the potential is unlimited. I believe that Asia’s consumption level will catch up with Europe and the United States in just twenty years.

Therefore, Hong Kong Island is of vital importance to us and cannot be lost.

A more stable Hong Kong Island is what we need, and it is also one of the core policies of our group. It cannot be achieved by anyone."

Welch nodded and agreed with Luo Nianzhong's statement. He is the president of Far East Group. From the following internal data of major companies, it can be clearly seen that Luo Nianzhong's judgment is very accurate.

In terms of current consumption power, Asia only accounts for a quarter of Far East Group's revenue, while Europe and the United States account for more than 60%. But no one dares to ignore the Asian market, because this market is growing the fastest.

According to Far East's internal report evaluation, based on the current growth rate, Asia's revenue is expected to surpass Europe and the United States within 15 to 20 years, or even earlier.

Especially Rabbit, although its consumption power of high-end technology products is insufficient, its growth rate in fields such as food and home appliances is frighteningly high.

Every time Welch saw the latest data, he wondered whether the statistics were wrong and the growth rate was too fast.

Especially in the past two years, after Qingzhou Yingni began to jointly open cement plants with Rabbit everywhere, there has been a spurt of development.

Qingzhou Yingni President Charlieson, who was previously considered to have been abandoned by the group, now has more and more confidence to speak.

Even though cement’s profit margin is not high, its base is huge.

According to assessments, Rabbit’s annual cement industry market size now exceeds RMB 600 billion, and this number is still growing at a double-digit rate every year.

Nowadays, the demand for rabbits is obviously high, but the output is small. Cement production is in short supply. The main reason is equipment and technical problems.

These two problems are not a problem for Qingzhou Yingni. Technically speaking, Luo Nianzhong has spent money on technology development since he moved into Qingzhou Yingni.

Today's Qingzhou Ying Cement is not only unique in the world in cement production technology, but also one of the most advanced companies in the world.

The equipment is even better. This thing is not very high-tech and there is no control. You can just buy it with money.

It is precisely because of Qingzhou Yingni's investment method of delivering food to your mouth that joint ventures have established cement plants in several open places along the coast.

It doesn’t take much, as long as it can occupy 20% of the market share, the revenue and profit will be unimaginable.

In a dozen years, this will be an industry with an annual scale of trillions. Even if it accounts for 20% of the share and the profit rate is less than 10%, it can bring tens of billions of profits every year.

"It seems that we have to be prepared. This time the British side will definitely give orders to the Hong Kong government to correct some problems."

"Ha, it may be useful to other companies, but it's useless to us." Luo Nianzhong looked contemptuous.

Although Far East Group has invested a lot of money in Hong Kong Island, it can be said that it is the company with the largest investment in Hong Kong Island, but Luo Nianzhong is not afraid at all.

The reason is that the majority of the Far East Group's revenue and expenditure comes from overseas. Hong Kong Island now focuses more on investment and construction, and basically loses money.

As for the technology industry, it is not something that the Hong Kong government can control, and they dare not touch it.

What a wink. The Far East Group directly cut off the market with England in this industry. For now, England will suffer the most, and it will become an international laughing stock.

……

Welch's prediction was correct, and the Hong Kong government took action.

The first person to jump out was Financial Secretary Peng Lizhi. When he faced reporters, he said that the time for the merger of the four institutions may be extended. It may not be able to catch up with the merger on January 1 next year, and the specific time is uncertain.

what reason? Of course it's a technical reason.

As soon as his remarks were broadcast, Hong Kong stocks fell again.

Now everyone in Hong Kong knows that some companies of the Far East Group will be listed on the Hong Kong stock market after the merger of the four companies. How many investors are looking forward to this moment. Now you are telling me that it is not possible for the time being?

Anyone with a discerning eye can see what is going on here, and they are also guessing what the Far East Group will do in response.

Is it responding to the British Hong Kong authorities, or is it adhering to the Far East Group's consistent strategy of stabilizing the Hong Kong Island economy.

These people did not wait long. The Far East Group issued a statement the next day.

He expressed regret for the technical problems that occurred and said he would not list the product elsewhere and would wait no matter how long it took.

As soon as this statement came out, it was not the two sides that were anxious, but the United States and Wall Street.

The families of the Texas Consortium and the DuPont Consortium are all waiting for this wave of listings. Several securities institutions on Wall Street have also taken over most of the stocks, just to make money from the wave of listings. Now you are telling me that it has been postponed indefinitely?

They are not fools, they know the specific reasons.

If we talk about this for a few years, should I just wait?
So on this matter, before the media in Hong Kong and England did anything, the media in beautiful countries took the lead.

Overtly and covertly, it is a satire on the British financial industry and government.

The British side is under great pressure, and there are also different voices within.

This matter is not over yet, the second thing comes again.

That is because of funding problems, the Tsing Ma Bridge connecting Lantau Island built by the Hong Kong government may not be completed on time.

No matter how many boats there are, they are all prepared for early tourists. After the first phase of the entire Lantau Island project is planned to be developed, land transportation will be indispensable.

The number of tourists at that time was not comparable to that of today, and it was simply unrealistic to rely solely on water transportation.

Another point is the issue of the new airport. It is impossible to launch a new airport without a land connection. We can’t let passengers get off the plane and then take a slow ferry, right?
The delays of the new airport also involve airlines, the number of tourists coming to Hong Kong Island, etc. It can be said that a series of industries have been affected.

Among them, the Hong Kong government and the Far East Group have suffered the most losses. It can be said that this is a strategy of injuring the enemy by one thousand and damaging itself by eight hundred.

"The importance of the Tsing Ma Bridge to our industrial planning on Lantau Island is self-evident. The Hong Kong government has found a good entry point this time, which can be regarded as cutting off one of our arms."

After the Lantau project is completed, it is expected to attract about 1200 million tourists every year.

Don’t feel short of it, you have to know that the big tourist country has not yet risen, and this is the 1980s. The most important thing is that today's tourists are very rich, and their spending power is not comparable to that of various low-priced group tours later.

Just these 1200 million tourists can bring hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars in consumption to Lantau every year, and Far East Properties occupies the majority of this.

"An arm? That's right. But they think too highly of themselves. This world is not what the British officials say."

The reason why the ruling officials are trying every possible means to deal with the Far East Group is not to put pressure on Rabbit.

The specific point is to win the support of voters through strong performance and continue to be re-elected.

But Britain is not left to the discretion of these current officials. In the first dozen years before the Iron Lady came to power, it was dominated by the Labor Party.

Now that the Conservatives have offended all state-owned workers due to privatization reform, they must find a breakthrough elsewhere.

The previous victory over the Falklands gave the Conservative Party a sweet taste, so they want to repeat their same tactics on the Hong Kong Island issue.

However, Hong Kong Island is not the Falklands, and the two sides cannot treat it the same way.

“Telling Liang Botao to suspend the negotiations on the British side means that we have concerns about the current situation in London.

This is the right time for him to catch up on matters in Belgium."

Hearing Luo Nianzhong talk about things in Belgium, Welch said with admiration, "At first, I thought your idea was fantasy, but then the more I thought about it, the more I felt there was room for maneuver.

Once it turns out to be what you envision, then we will undoubtedly dominate an industry in the future.”

“No, we are with them, but we are the big ones.

Businessmen pursue profit, and as long as the profit is sufficient, they are willing to do anything.

But this is not easy. In my opinion, the chance of them agreeing to cooperate is not more than 30%.

If you don’t know how to cooperate, there is a way to play cooperatively, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t cooperate. This is not the only way for Rome.”

This is not Luo Nianzhong's own idea. It is the verification of history that tells him that he can do this.

"Well, you are right. Many people understand this simple truth, but there are really no one as bold as you."

Luo Nianzhong smiled, "I take it as your praise and admiration for me."

The Hong Kong government is making a fuss about the Tsing Ma Bridge, but Far East Group is not sitting still.

First, they stopped the negotiations in London and asked the old nobles to put pressure on the British government. Then they issued various reports.

At the press conference of Far East Group, Far East Bank released a report saying that the current decline in Hong Kong stocks has caused the stock prices of many companies to be lower than the market value of listed companies.

If the stock market continues to fall, Far East Bank will again acquire some shares in the market.

This press conference was also regarded as the second rescue of Far East Bank, which gave investors a lot of confidence.

At the same time, the media under Asia Media also began to take the lead, criticizing the Hong Kong government's delay in the Tsing Ma Bridge.

The Tsing Ma Bridge is related to the development of tourism on Hong Kong Island and the income of many Hong Kong residents, vendors and service industries. This is an irresponsible behavior of the Hong Kong government towards the people of Hong Kong Island.

"Those idiots in London, let me just say that the Far East Group is different from other companies and cannot be manipulated at will.

And why wasn’t I notified about the Tsing Ma Bridge? I am the current Governor of Hong Kong Island. Have I been sidelined? ".

MacLehose was furious since he learned in the morning that the media had been covering the Tsing Ma Bridge overwhelmingly, accusing the Hong Kong government of being incompetent, and even starting to organize demonstrations in some places.

As soon as he arrived at the Hong Kong government, he started to lose his temper. This was the first time that MacLehose had lost such a temper.

He knew the news yesterday but never said anything, pretending he didn't know anything.

If successful, he can sell Ying Lun a favor. He is the governor of Hong Kong and indispensable for his merits.

When something goes wrong, it's natural to find someone to take the blame. This is the art of being an official.

Now that Hong Kong people are outraged by the incited public sentiment, the Hong Kong government will naturally introduce someone to take the blame.

Then the last Financial Secretary who made remarks yesterday and the current Chief Secretary Xia Dingji is the best choice.

“More than half of the media in Hong Kong are now controlled by Asia Media, and most of the remaining media have business ties with them.

Xia Dingji, I want to know what you think? Tricking a tiger's beard on someone else's territory? Who else told you to make those remarks without my permission? "

"I am the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong Island, responsible for managing and coordinating all matters, including financial expenditures.

The Hong Kong government's funds are limited. Is there any problem in temporarily suspending some projects? ".

Xia Dingji acted very naturally, as if his decision was made for the future of Hong Kong Island.

"The funds are limited, so how do you explain the money on the books? Even if you are going to stumble, can you wipe your butt first?"

After speaking, MacLehose handed a newspaper to Xia Dingji. The text in the newspaper listed the Hong Kong government's accounts.

The above shows that the Hong Kong government’s fiscal expenditure this year is still close to HK$5 billion, and there will be no major spending projects this year.

As for why he has so much money, Luo Nian’s down payment for buying land in the New Territories accounted for a large proportion.

Because of the huge amount of money received, the Hong Kong government plans to use half of the down payment in the New Territories as a special budget for transportation construction.

However, the development of the New Territories requires the Transport Department to start planning a specific plan first, and plans to make a long-term plan to connect the transportation between Kowloon and the New Territories, so this money was saved before the overall plan was released.

Xia Dingji didn't read the newspaper or he had already read it. He had a big quarrel with Peng Zhizhi before MacLehose came.

However, Peng Zhizhi was not interested in the data leaked by the Financial Secretary, whom he accused, and firmly believed that it was leaked from the Chief Secretary and was not his Financial Secretary's problem.

"That money is easy to handle. Land reclamation in Central is very expensive. When the land can be sold for money, it will be equivalent to saving money.

Or just deposit the money and tell Hong Kong people that this is a special fund for the future Transport Department."

"Hmph, do you think your reason is tenable?".

If you don't build the Tsing Ma Bridge, which is a project that benefits the people at a low cost, why not build land from the sea? It's strange that such a useless reason can convince the public.

As for building roads, there is no need to spend so much money all at once. Hong Kong people can still distinguish between the Tsing Ma Bridge and the transportation connecting the New Territories.

"Why should we stand still? We are just looking for an excuse for the money and the suspension of the Tsing Ma Bridge. If those people are not satisfied, can we change it?"

Seeing that Xia Dingji's expression remained calm and composed, MacLehose really couldn't do anything to him.

Their appointment and dismissal need to be decided by London. Now that Xia Dingji is doing things for London without going through him, there is no way they will not protect him.

But ultra vires is ultra vires. According to the rules, any order issued by the Chief Secretary requires his consent.

So report it as you should. It would be best if Xia Dingji could be removed.

Although both of them had their hearts set on London, MacLehose would not allow or accept the sudden appearance of a factor beyond his control in his three-thirds of the land.

The partnership between the two of them for so many years was doomed from the moment Xia Dingji bypassed him and made his own decision. It was taboo to keep someone by your side who might stab you with a knife at any time.

(End of this chapter)