1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 582: Combining kindness and severity is the right way!
Li Changhe was thinking. Director Lu and Mr. Liao did not speak either. Instead, they waited quietly for Li Changhe's answer.

After thinking for a moment, Li Changhe finally spoke.

"Actually, from my personal perspective, I don't have any approval or disapproval of him."

"In my eyes, he is a very speculative businessman. As long as he finds a business opportunity, he will boldly place a bet."

"But on the other hand, once they find that something is impossible to do, they will withdraw in time to minimize the losses, even if it means losing their own face."

"It can be said that he is a completely sophisticated egoist!"

"Well, keep talking!"

Mr. Liao nodded and said without comment.

Li Changhe continued, "But I think, from the perspective of our country, we should not give too much preferential treatment to people like Li Jiacheng."

"In Hong Kong Island, there are basically three types of businessmen. The first type is patriotic businessmen like the Fok family, the Cao family, and the Ho family of Macau Island. They have a high degree of recognition of the country and are willing to contribute to the country."

"The second type is the opponents, especially those comprador families who relied on Britain to make their fortunes and have always been hostile to us."

"The third type is the centrists, who neither clearly oppose nor support us, like Lee Ka-shing, Lee Chao-kee, and Zheng Yudong."

"I think these centrists are also the ones we should focus on winning over next time, right?"

Director Lu and Mr. Liao looked at each other, then smiled and nodded: "Well, Comrade Changhe, to be honest with you, we are planning to talk to the British about the problem over there."

"Now we just need a suitable opportunity. When the opportunity is found, we will talk to them. The return of sovereignty is inevitable. On this point, we have no other choice."

"And governance after the recovery is also a problem for us. The situation there is special, and we cannot completely copy the domestic model. So in this case, we need to win over people like Li Jiacheng."

"Because if we only rely on the He and Huo families, to be honest, we are still a little lacking in overall strength."

Director Lu took the initiative to speak.

Li Changhe nodded: "I know, but I think there is a problem here."

"For Li Jiacheng, or people like him, they are currently waiting for a price, waiting for offers from both sides."

"That is, we and the British side, and from the current point of view, the offer we can give is actually not as good as the British side."

"On the one hand, the British still have the newly acquired governance power. As the old saying goes, the county magistrate is not as good as the current one. The British can directly control their lifeline."

"Secondly, at the moment, the British side holds many more cards than we do."

"HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, the four major foreign banks, these almost involve all the high-quality resources in all aspects of Hong Kong Island. As long as they take out some of them at will, it will be attractive enough for Li Jiacheng and others."

"Like Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing had just made a public appearance with us and returned to Hong Kong Island, and HSBC agreed to sell Hutchison Whampoa to him at a low price, almost giving it away for free."

"This is also the reason why my boss Wei Li hated Li Jiacheng. He had just done a good job in Hutchison Whampoa when Li Jiacheng took advantage of our political confrontation with the British and took over Hutchison Whampoa."

"As far as I know, Li Jiacheng now has a close relationship with Shen Bi, and HSBC now strongly supports him in many aspects."

"To be honest, if it weren't for Bao Yugang's close relationship with HSBC, which made HSBC a little considerate, if it were someone else, HSBC might have come out to help Li Jiacheng a long time ago."

"On the other hand, we don't actually have many benefits to offer to Li Jiacheng and his team. Under such circumstances, I think Li Jiacheng and his team will be neutral in name only, but in reality they will lean towards the British side."

"After all, a bird in the hand is worth a thousand in the bush. We told him about the future, but the British gave him the present."

Li Changhe analyzed calmly.

Nowadays, there are really no benefits that can be offered to these Hong Kong businessmen in China.

Don’t talk about the population consumer market. The domestic system in the 1980s determined that there was no such thing as a consumer market in the 1980s.

Because the first thing that the consumer market needs is free consumption, and the second is that there must be a sufficient economic foundation and the people must have sufficient purchasing power.

However, these are not actually available in China.

"We understand what you said!"

"Friends make friends for profit, and when the profit is gone, they will disperse. Friends make friends for power, and when the power is gone, they will fall!"

"Hong Kong's special status means that Li Ka-shing and his ilk have the capital to sway the situation, and we are trying to win them over more."

"After all, for now, we must first distinguish between the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction in Hong Kong Island. Li Jiacheng and his people's wavering position belongs to the secondary contradiction. The main contradiction is still the contradiction between us and the British side."

"In this case, it is necessary for us to win them over."

"But what you said, Comrade Changhe, did give me a heads up."

"That's right. We can't give them the right benefits now, so their attitude towards us is far less respectful than that towards the British."

"But what happened today does give us another idea."

"In theory, we should use both kindness and force on those people."

"But in recent years, due to our own special situation, we only have grace but no power, which has increased their options, which is not a good thing for us."

"But now it seems that Comrade Changhe's actions have achieved this by accident."

Mr. Liao spoke while thinking about it.

Director Lu nodded thoughtfully: "You mean carrot and stick? We only had carrots before, but now Changhe Enterprise has become a stick, right?"

Mr. Liao nodded: "Yes, that's what I mean."

"Before this, we can only try to win over Li Jiacheng and his people. Just like Changhe said, we have too few cards to play, and it is difficult to show them power."

"Those people under our command, whether it's China Resources, Xinhua News Agency, or those left-wing film companies, are actually open cards. These open cards cannot pose a threat to them because the British are watching them."

"But now Changhe's hidden card has given me an idea. With it, we can use it as a big stick to deal with these people. When they don't obey, we can give them a beating."

Mr. Liao said with a smile at this time.

Upon hearing this, Director Lu smiled and said, "So we're just going to ignore this matter? Let Comrade Changhe put pressure on him?"

At this time, Mr. Liao shook his head: "We still have to take care of him. We can't just watch him die!"

"But I think we can delay it for a while. Let Changhe hold the pressure for a while. When he can no longer bear it, we can make a move."

"Comrade Changhe, no matter what, I still say that he is useful to us now. We cannot defeat him completely. We still have to keep him alive."

Mr. Liao then spoke tactfully to Li Changhe.

Upon hearing this, Li Changhe immediately nodded and said, "Don't worry, Chief, I understand." Even if Mr. Liao didn't say it, Li Changhe would keep Li Jiacheng and would not kill him completely.

The reason is very simple. Hong Kong Island is a place that does not allow anyone to cover the sky with one hand, no matter which side it is.

Similarly, if Li Changhe goes too far, it will not be a good thing for many Chinese businessmen.

If Li Jiacheng were defeated, they would be grief-stricken and might unite to fight against Li Changhe or the entire Bao family.

If these Chinese businessmen were to unite with the British, it would not be a good thing for Li Changhe or the entire country.

"What do you think? If we don't take action first, will that force Li Jiacheng to go over to the British side?"

"Just like Comrade Changhe said just now, he has a close relationship with Shen Bi of HSBC. What if he completely surrenders to the other party?"

Director Lu thought about it again and said.

"Comrade Changhe, what do you think?"

Mr. Liao did not answer, but asked Li Changhe.

Li Changhe smiled and said, "In fact, in my opinion, Li Jiacheng has completely chosen the British in his heart, but on the surface, he will not."

"Although we don't have an advantage now, we do have power. After all, Hong Kong Island is right under our noses, but it is too far away from the British mainland. Now is not the era when the British navy dominates the four oceans."

"We don't have an economic advantage, but we undoubtedly have an advantage politically and militarily. Li Jiacheng or those centrists will not fail to see this."

"So under the general trend, as long as there is no core conflict of interest between the two sides, they will definitely maintain a double-sided attitude and not offend either side!"

"Secondly, Li Ka-shing will not fully turn to the British because in his eyes, turning to the British will not be a deterrent to me. Bao Yugang is at HSBC and his resources in the UK are much stronger than Li Ka-shing's."

"And now I'm openly on good terms with the financial groups and politicians in the United States, so from the perspective of Europe and the United States, he doesn't have the advantage over the Bao family. According to his logic, even if he turns to the United Kingdom, he is still the second choice of Great Britain, and the Bao family that Bao Yugang and I have joined forces with is the first choice of Europe and the United States."

"What's more, if he completely sides with the British side under my coercion, it will prove that he is inferior to me in terms of strength and ability. This will actually be a minus point for him and make him even less respected in the hearts of the British people."

"I think this is also the reason why he didn't ask Shen Bi to come forward, but instead entrusted us to come forward."

"Perhaps in his eyes, he has a close relationship with us, but I actually have no connection with us. Instead, I have a close relationship with the United States. He has an advantage in the domestic network of relationships."

"So he wants to use our power to force me to back down."

After hearing Li Changhe's analysis, Mr. Liao nodded approvingly, and Director Lu looked at Li Changhe with sudden enlightenment.

It's not that he didn't consider some things, but he was just too confused by the situation. He was now accustomed to considering issues from the domestic perspective, but ignored the identity dislocation that Li Changhe had made in Hong Kong Island.

"That's right. If he wants to find Shen Bi, he doesn't need to ask us to come forward."

"I think he essentially wants to use us to force Comrade Changhe to give in to him, and then we have no choice but to let him use us. This may be Li Jiacheng's mentality."

"So this time, we just won't let him have his way!"

"Old Lu, I think you can keep him hanging for now."

"Tell him that we can promise to help him get back on track, but we need time to get some information."

"Then let Changhe exert some more pressure. When he can no longer bear it, we will intervene."

Mr. Liao said with a smile.

Director Lu nodded: "I understand."

Li Changhe took the opportunity to speak up and said, "My two leaders, I think we can take this opportunity to ask for some benefits!"

"Benefit?"

After hearing what Li Changhe said, the two bosses looked at Li Changhe, quite confused.

"Since Li Jiacheng has entrusted China Resources with his help, I think he has to give something in return. You can't just give him this face for nothing."

"As far as I know, Li Jiacheng currently has a plan to use the land of Huangpu Dockyard to build real estate."

"The land is very large and in a very good location, right in Kowloon. The only problem is that if the land is changed, a lot of exchange money will need to be paid to the Hong Kong government."

"But I think there will be a sharp drop in Hong Kong Island real estate next, probably starting from the time when we start negotiations with the UK. Political factors will affect their real estate prices."

"The collapse of real estate prices is an opportunity for Huangpu Dockyard, because when land prices plummet, the amount of compensation for changing the land use will also plummet."

“I thought, why doesn’t China Resources take this opportunity to get involved?”

"Let China Resources set up a real estate company and then jointly develop the Whampoa Dockyard with Hutchison Whampoa. This will allow them to learn from Hong Kong Island's real estate experience and also get a piece of the pie in Hong Kong Island's real estate industry."

"And given the location of the Huangpu Dockyard, it is certain that the real estate there will make money. In my opinion, there will be a lot of money to be made there. If China Resources participates in it, it will definitely not lose money."

Li Changhe suggested with a smile.

Even if Lao Li finds Beijing, he will not let him off easily.

Whampoa Garden is definitely the biggest pot of gold that Li Ka-shing has earned from Hutchison Whampoa. The entire project provided Li with nearly 5 billion yuan in profit, and there are also large rental plazas and shops.

Li Changhe has no way to get a share of the pie now, but he can let others come in and share it.

Hearing Li Changhe's words, Mr. Liao and Director Lu looked at each other, and then Mr. Liao smiled and said, "Old Lu, you are in charge of China Resources now. Do you think it is possible for you to be involved in this matter?"

Director Lu thought for a moment and said, "I think we can talk to China Resources about this matter and see if they have any intention to do so."

“If this project is indeed a good one, you can take the opportunity to participate in it.”

"I also feel that if we simply provide assistance to others, they may not necessarily appreciate it, and may even think it's natural to use us."

"Like Changhe said, it would be good to let him get some benefits, so that he knows that we are not being used for nothing, and by the way, let China Resources get familiar with the real estate business model."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Liao nodded and said, "In that case, you can mention it to China Resources and ask them to research this project and see what the prospects are. Just treat it as an attempt."

"After all, China is also making some attempts at real estate commercialization, so it would be nice to have China Resources participate in Hong Kong Island at the same time."

Hearing the two big guys' affirmative intention, Li Changhe smiled slightly in his heart.

If you come to complain to him, don't blame him for taking action.

He wanted to see, without the profits from Whampoa Garden, how could Li Jiacheng grow bigger and stronger?

(End of this chapter)