Hong Kong variety show: I Am a Tycoon

Chapter 237 Foreigners Apply Pressure
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Baron Hewitt immediately got to the point: "Sir Chen, have you considered investing in the automotive and semiconductor industries in England? After all, England has a more mature industrial system."

"Investing in England?"

Chen Jiajun rubbed his furrowed brows and sighed inwardly.

What's meant to happen will happen eventually.

At this moment, he seemed to be able to understand the dilemma of the former head of Taiwan's semiconductor industry.

Setting down his wine glass, Chen Jiajun took a deep breath and said, "Baron He Wei, you should know very well that although England has a more mature industrial system, Hong Kong's cheap labor force is something England lacks."

"We can offer you an interest-free loan, plus several years of tax exemption..."

Baron Hewitt hadn't finished speaking.

Chen Jiajun interrupted, "Of course I understand, Baron He Wei. If I don't invest in England, then in the next ten years or so, England will use all means to suppress me and my group, won't it?"

"Sir Chen, what are you saying?"

"Sir Chen..."

Mai Lihao and Youde spoke up one after another, but Baron He Wei raised his hand to signal them to be quiet, and looked at Chen Jiajun with bright eyes.

Chen Jiajun chuckled and said, "For example, through legislation passed by the Hong Kong Legislative Council, more than half of the employees of Tesla Group and Guojun Semiconductor must not be Chinese."

"For example, through the concerted efforts of several departments of the Hong Kong government, the sale of some raw materials for automobile production in Hong Kong was disrupted."

"Of course, a more sophisticated approach would be to force Tesla Group and Guojun Semiconductor to go public, arrange for English investors to buy shares, dilute my shares, and finally suppress the group's stock price, and then arrange for English automotive groups to launch an acquisition."

At this point, Chen Jiajun downed the glass of red wine in one gulp:

"I know very well that I can't outmaneuver you guys with this."

"Therefore, I will invest in England. But I have conditions: firstly, our loan from HSBC must be extended to next year."

Secondly, you will provide interest-free loans for my investment in England, and you will also offer me preferential treatment in terms of land policies.

This is my bottom line. If you disagree, we can simply part ways.

Chen Jiajun was well aware that this condition was unacceptable to British Foreign Secretary Baron Howe.

The skill of negotiation lies in raising your starting point from the beginning. After making concessions, your position will definitely be much better than if you had started from a low point.

Since we've already invested in England, there's no way to avoid it now.

Chen Jiajun naturally wanted to get more benefits for himself.

However, even if Tesla Group and Guojun Semiconductor's production lines in Hong Kong were destroyed, Chen Jiajun was unwilling to relocate them to England.

Therefore, Chen Jiajun needs to buy himself time, and it would be best to prolong the negotiation process.

If we wait a year or two for negotiations, I'll have already run away with Tesla and Guojun Semiconductor.

Seeing Chen Jiajun adopt a negotiating stance of "better to die than live in dishonor," Baron He Wei, a mature and experienced politician, re-evaluated Chen Jiajun.

"Pour Sir Chen a drink."

Baron Hewitt eased the tension between the two sides and gestured for Youde to pour the wine.

He smiled and said, "It seems that Sir Chen still has a deep misunderstanding about England. However, since we both have a common understanding, we can discuss the relevant details later."

Little brat, as long as you're in Hong Kong, the British Empire has you completely under its thumb.

Of course, since you're so sensible, I can't push you too hard.

Yu De poured some red wine for Chen Jiajun, who breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Anyway, we have plenty of time to discuss this."

Baron Hewitt was very satisfied with Chen Jiajun's attitude and gave him a reward: "Sir Chen, as long as Tesla and Guojun Electronics Technology bring their most advanced production lines to England, I guarantee that your name will appear again on the list of honors for the New Year next year."

"After a year, you are being knighted again. Who else in the world has such an honor? This time, we will propose to the Queen that you be granted the title of KBE."

"Then thank you, Baron Hewitt."

A cold smile crept across Chen Jiajun's face, but he remained outwardly composed.

The CBE was previously awarded only for business convenience and to whitewash his image; now, the knighthood granted by the Emperor holds no appeal for Chen Jiajun.

The four chatted for a while longer before leaving the small office and heading to the reception hall.

Everyone in the reception hall couldn't help but look at Chen Jiajun, the Iron Lady cabinet member and Foreign Secretary He Wei. What exactly did Chen Jiajun, the two governors of Hong Kong, talk about?
No one knows.

The Foreign Secretary and the two Governors of Hong Kong wore victorious smiles, while Chan Ka-Chun remained silent, his face ashen, and left the reception without uttering a word...

The answer is self-evident.

This delighted Chen Songqing of the Jianing Group, after all, he had a grudge against Chen Jiajun.

Watching Chen Jiajun leave, Foreign Secretary Baron Hewitt revealed a barely perceptible smile and said to Youde, "Youde, it's said that Sir Chen Jiajun owes HSBC several billion. Is that true?"

"That is indeed the case, but Foreign Secretary, Sir Chen is not someone to be trifled with. How about this, give me some time, and I will have a proper talk with him."

Yud immediately realized what Baron Hevy wanted to say and said somewhat embarrassedly.

Baron He Wei said, "Of course, as I just said, we need to talk to him slowly, but we also need to put some pressure on him. You should notify HSBC to put some pressure on Sir Chen to repay the loan."

After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Chan Ka-Chun made a phone call to Ho Kwok-Wing: "Ah-Wing, gather all the disbanded political corps brothers together. See you at Butterfly Bay in Tuen Mun tomorrow."

"Big brother, shall we begin our operation?"

Upon hearing Chen Jiajun's phone call, He Guorong knew what Chen Jiajun was up to.

Half a month ago, Chen Jiajun asked He Guorong to formulate an action plan regarding Brunei, and He Guorong was greatly shocked by his elder brother's astonishing strategy.

"Correct."

the next day.

In the conference room of the Kwok Chun Group building in Butterfly Bay, Tuen Mun, Chan Ka-Chun met with a full one hundred political department brothers.

These people were basically the elite among the elite agents of the Political Department. Chen Jiajun glanced over and saw Long Wu, Long Qi, and Long Jiu, whom he had met once before.

Long Wu, captain of the 19th Company of the South Vietnamese Special Forces, and former special agent of the Political Department.

Lung Kau, Lung Wu's younger sister, is a former senior inspector of the Political Department.

Long Qi, Long Wu's younger brother, was a former senior inspector in the Political Department.

The night before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was to take action against the Special Branch, Ho Kwok-wing, as the head of the Special Branch, handed over the Special Branch's underwater roster to Commissioner of Police Han Yi-li under the direction of Chan Ka-chun. At the same time, he secretly dismissed about a hundred people.

This group of people is now being used by Chen Jiajun.

At this moment, the dismissed political elites stared wide-eyed at Chen Jiajun as he walked in.

Many people showed excited expressions, after all, they were quite clear about Chen Jiajun's strength. He was one of the most powerful people in Hong Kong, the uncrowned king.

Working under such people means that their salaries are at least much higher than those in the political department.

"You see your older brother but don't even call out to him."

Seeing that his subordinates were just staring wide-eyed, He Guorong immediately shouted.

"Clatter!" All the former political department agents stood up and shouted in unison, "Big Brother!"

The voice was loud and clear, filled with a chilling aura.

"Please take a seat."

Chen Jiajun nodded in satisfaction.

After looking around, Chen Jiajun said loudly, "You are all clear about the operation in Bo Ni—Operation Shattered Sword, right?"

"This mission is not difficult, but it requires patience. Once you succeed, you will all be great contributors to Bohai Cement and to our Guojun Group."

After saying that, Chen Jiajun looked at He Guorong and said, "Arong, you can arrange the specific actions."

"Yes."

He Guorong nodded readily.

The operation against Brunei is not something that can be easily accomplished by simply sending a few thousand well-equipped young demon slaves to wipe out the island's armed forces.

If Chen Jiajun really did occupy Brunei Island using such a simple and brutal method.

It's likely that before long, the relevant forces will land on Brunei Island and then, without any controversy, search the world for this criminal who has committed crimes against humanity.

Brunei is a country with a seat in the United Nations. The 20th century is not the Victorian era, and the issue of sovereignty is no joke.

A nation is not established by illegally occupying another country's territory.

That's called a pirate gang, or terrorists.

Therefore, the first step of Operation Shattered Sword was to infiltrate Brunei with former political department personnel to find suitable candidates on Brunei Island and support a puppet regime.

For a small country with a population of 5, the difficulty is not great.

After announcing the start of Operation Shattered Sword, Chen Jiajun immediately called several of the Lu family's great-grandfathers in Tuen Mun, the four great kings of Tuen Mun—Lu Jinqiang, Lu Yongfu, Lu Jianbo, and Lu Yongquan—as well as Luo Yongjiu and others in Sha Tin.

"Ah Jun, where did you take my daughter? She hasn't come back for a month or two. What are you guys up to?"

As soon as "Grandpa Lu" Lu Hantao entered the chairman's office, he shouted angrily.

At his age, most people are enjoying their retirement with children and grandchildren. He, however, is all alone.

The only daughter neglects her family; not only does she neglect her family, she also refuses to come home.

Not only does she not go home, but the key issue is that she has been living with Chen Jiajun for so long without having a child.

This made Lu Hantao feel ashamed in front of his friends.

If he weren't busy with Tuen Mun affairs and Luk family matters, he would have already taken his cane and beaten this bastard who had kidnapped his daughter to death.

"Brother Tao, children and grandchildren have their own blessings, why do you care so much?"

"That's right, Uncle Tao. Young people these days prioritize their careers."

"Uncle Tao, please sit down."

Lu Huangfa, Lu Yeqiang, Lu Jinqiang, Lu Yongbo and others spoke up one after another.

"Dad, I ran into some trouble in Hong Kong, so I haven't dared to let them come back to Hong Kong recently." Chen Jiajun was slightly guilty.

Chen Jiajun's call of "Dad" was so beautiful that it awakened the softest part of Lu Hantao's heart.

He stopped glaring and asked with concern, "Jun, what happened? What did that British Foreign Secretary say to you yesterday?"

"Jun, did you call us here today because of this?"

As the second-in-command of the Luk family, Luk Wong-fat, chairman of the New Territories Rural Council, also asked the question.

Chen Jiajun said in a deep voice, "Foreign Minister Baron Hewitt wants me to move the Tesla and Guojun Electronics factories to England. I'm stalling for time now, preparing to transfer these two factories to the Guojun Industrial Park in the mainland."

Chen Jiajun knew very well that Baron He Wei's talk of investing in England yesterday was just a pretext.

The ultimate goal is definitely to transfer all the production lines of these two factories to England.

For now, he has no choice but to relocate these two factories to the mainland.

Upon hearing this, Lu Hantao immediately flew into a rage, stood up abruptly, and exclaimed, "What? Those foreigners want to rob our Tuen Mun factory?"

Lu Huangfa put down his teacup, his face quite grim: "Ah Jun, are you kidding me?"

Both of them knew what this meant.

Today, there are approximately 20,000 workers in the New Territories working in Chan Ka-Chun's related industries, of which about 5,000 are in car factories and video game factories.

If Chen Jiajun relocates these two factories to the mainland, it means that more than 5,000 people will lose their jobs.

Chen Jiajun nodded and continued, "Don't worry, I will immediately free up the positions at Guojun Garment Factory and arrange jobs for the villagers in the New Territories first. As for the Hung Hing branch of Guojun Garment Factory, I will arrange for them to work in the mainland. The reason I called you all here today is for this matter."

This is the only thing I can do right now. I, Chen Jiajun, don't want to be a dog for those foreigners.

"Jingle Bell."

Just then, the phone rang.

Chen Jiajun answered the phone. It was HSBC tycoon Sir Michael Sandberg calling. "Sir Chen, is there some misunderstanding between you and Foreign Secretary Baron Hereby?"

Chen Jiajun made a shushing gesture and pressed the speakerphone button: "Mr. Shen, what's wrong?"

"Sir Chen, the British Foreign Office has issued an order for HSBC to withdraw a 95 billion loan involving the Guojun Group. If you and He Wei have any misunderstandings, please clear them up as soon as possible, otherwise HSBC will have no choice but to withdraw the loan."

Shen Bi is now in a real bind.

"Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Shen. I have some things to attend to. I'll call you back later." With that, Chen Jiajun hung up the phone.

After downing his tea in one gulp, Chen Jiajun looked around and sighed, "Everyone, time is of the essence."

Lu Hantao roared like a furious tiger, "Ah Jun, don't worry, tens of thousands of people in Tuen Mun are your backing. Damn it, whoever makes Tuen Mun people lose their jobs is our enemy. He Wei, that foreigner, right? I, Lu Hantao, will risk my life to keep these two factories."

Lu Huangfa slammed his teacup on the table and said, "That's right. We Tuen Mun people, we New Territories people, will not bow down to foreigners."

"Everyone, I have already made a clean break about this matter," Chen Jiajun said, shaking his head.

Upon hearing this, Lu Hantao walked up to Chen Jiajun and shouted, "Jun, what do you mean? I'm asking you, everyone calls you the King of Hong Kong, have you become a nobody and decided to run away?"

Chen Jiajun sighed and said, "That's not what I meant. I just don't have the energy to get too involved with foreigners right now, and I don't want you guys to get involved either."

Lu Huangfa said, "What do you mean by not involving us? Tesla and Guojun Electronics are not just your factories, but also the pride of Tuen Mun."

The moment the foreigners started targeting those two factories, we were no longer able to remain uninvolved.

“Ah Jun, I know you have more important things to do. How about this, leave this to us old bones,” Lu Hantao said in a deep voice.

Lu Tiansheng patted his chest and said, "That's right, leave this matter to us old men. Anyone who tries to harm us will have to step over my dead body first."

“Uncle Tao, Uncle Fa, Uncle Jiu. We don’t need you old guys. We still have so many able-bodied young men in Tuen Mun. We’re not all dead yet.” Lu Jinqiang stood up.

"Yes, we're not all dead yet. We don't need you old guys standing in front of us. If the foreigners try to touch our factories, we'll fight them to the death."

"They smashed up the entire governor's mansion."

"Fight them."

Lu Yongfu, Lu Jianbo, Lu Yongquan, Lu Yeqiang and others stood up to express their opinions.

Chen Jiajun looked at everyone and was speechless for a moment.

On many occasions, when facing the behemoth that was British Hong Kong and England, Chan Ka-Chun knew very well that he could not involve Hung Hing.

Because once you get involved, things will change.

If the British Hong Kong government were to truly take drastic measures against a triad, Hung Hing would face utter ruin.

However, to his surprise, these seemingly uneducated villagers in Tuen Mun stood behind him without hesitation.

Chen Jiajun stood up and asked solemnly, "Are you sure?"

"Ah Jun, why are you being so fussy?" Old Master Lu said with a stern look.

“Ah Jun, how can you be so indecisive about something like this?” Lu Huangfa said firmly.

"it is good."

Chen Jiajun readily agreed. He slowly said, "Dad, Uncle Fa, besides the 5,000 employees in Tuen Mun, my car factory and video game machine factory also have several thousand villagers in various walled villages in the New Territories. You should communicate with the other walled villages and hold back for now. I'll go and meet with them for a while."

……

in the afternoon.

HSBC Group meeting room.

Chen Jiajun, along with Oyuns, the founder of Tianbo Law Firm, and Huang Dawen and others, met with senior executives of HSBC. Baron He Wei wanted to use drastic measures to force him to submit, but he could also use barbarians to control barbarians.

Therefore, Chen Jiajun brought several senior, top-notch lawyers with him right away.

Sir Michael Sandberg, accompanied by HSBC's General Manager, P.W. Smith, entered the meeting room with a helpless, wry smile.

"Mr. Shen, is HSBC determined to withdraw the loan?" Chen Jiajun looked at Shen Bi sitting opposite him, expressionless.

Sir Michael Sandberg shook his head and said with a wry smile, "I'm sorry, Sir Chen. Although the repayment deadline hasn't arrived according to the contract, the pressure from the British Foreign Office is imminent, and I can only try my best to delay it for you..."

"Alright, Mr. Shen, you don't need to say anything more."

Chen Jiajun waved his hand, puffed on his cigar, and said, "Since HSBC has made up its mind, then our Guojun Group can only act in accordance with the articles of association. We will entrust Tianbo Law Firm to discuss the relevant legal matters with your bank."

“Sir Chen, let’s talk things over. What I mean is that I will try my best to buy you time and give you time to raise the funds as soon as possible.”

Sir Michael Sandberg quickly waved his hand to explain that even a behemoth like HSBC would have to be wary of Tianbo Law Firm.

Owens's top barrister coughed and said, "Sham Phillips, my clients have loan contracts with HSBC. One is HK$9 billion, with a repayment deadline of September, so there are currently 4 months left. Another is HK$15 billion, with a repayment deadline of [month], so there are currently 6 months left. And there's another HK$30 billion..."

"A total of 95 billion."

"Our firm, Tianbo Law Firm, believes that both parties should try to reach an agreement privately to avoid unpleasantness in court."

"My client, Sir Chan, has a bottom line: he can repay the debt, but because HSBC defaulted first, he will not repay the related interest."

Shen Bi immediately felt a pang of heartache. He knew that the annual interest on the 50 billion loan was a staggering 7 million, while the interest on the 15 billion loan was 2.1 million, making it a total of 9.1 million.

He quickly said, "Sir Chen, we're all on the same side. Let's talk this out. Could you let me speak with Baron Hevy?"

"No need for further communication, Sir Michael Sandberg. This is my condition: since HSBC is withdrawing the loan, I will repay it as soon as possible to avoid being laughed at for defaulting on my debts. However, since HSBC breached the contract first, I will not pay the interest."

Chen Jiajun waved his hand domineeringly. The members of the Landlord Association had already transferred all the funds from the Japanese stock market. Since HSBC had defaulted, he could also renege on the interest payment.

"Alright, everyone, please have a seat. HSBC will hold a meeting immediately and give you a reply by this afternoon at the latest, how about that?" Sir Michael Sandberg sighed.

Chen Jiajun nodded: "Okay."

After seeing off Chen Jiajun and his entourage, Shen Bi immediately went to see Foreign Minister Baron Hewitt and explained the results of the morning's communication: "...Most importantly, this is a very serious blow to the reputation of HSBC."

"Heh, Shen Bi, you weren't intimidated by Sir Chen's bluff, were you?" Baron He Wei said, swirling his wine glass.

Shampi, puffing on his cigar, shook his head and said, "Baron Hevi, when it comes to banking matters, I believe I have more authority to speak than you."

Chen Jiajun is a man who never plays by the rules. Besides, he has friends like Fok Ying-nam of Wing Chung, Ho Sin of SJM Holdings, Lam Ming-chak of the Lam Hei-shen family, and Pau Yu-kong of Universal Music. What if these wealthy Chinese businessmen help him through a difficult time?

He dared not take the risk. Sir Michael Sandberg knew the spirit of mutual assistance among the Chinese. If Chen Jiajun really raised the funds to repay the loan, who would he complain to?
(End of this chapter)