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

Chapter 639 The Struggle for the Throne!

"Ella, I'm planning to go on vacation soon and take a break for a while. I'll be back intermittently during that time, but my daily work will remain the same as before. You can take care of things for now."

"If there's an emergency, call this number and you can contact me!"

After Li Changhe finished dealing with things on Hong Kong Island, he summoned Ella and gave her his instructions.

He's going back, so naturally he needs to make some arrangements for the work here.

"Understood, Boss."

Ella and the others had become accustomed to Li Changhe's disappearance, since their boss rarely got involved in the management of the company, which was already the norm.

"Alright, you can go now."

After giving instructions to Ella, Li Changhe was about to leave when the phone on the table suddenly rang.

This is a phone number that goes directly to Li Changhe's office. Usually, only those closest to him can call in.

"Hey?"

As soon as Li Changhe answered the phone, a string of English came from the other end.

As soon as Li Changhe heard it, he knew who was calling.

"Hello, Your Highness."

The caller was Prince Tarak.

"Vic, I heard you're planning to have your team evacuate Kuwait, is that right?"

Tarak said urgently on the phone.

“That’s right. I think we’ve made enough profit in Kuwait, it’s time to withdraw.”

Li Changhe wasn't surprised by the call; he knew the other party would definitely call back.

"Vic, wait for me on Hong Kong Island. I'll probably arrive there this afternoon. We'll talk then!"

Tarak spoke quickly to Li Changhe over the phone.

Li Changhe was quite surprised. This guy actually wanted to come to Hong Kong Island?
Alright, let's talk about it when we meet.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, a Boeing 747 slowly landed on the runway at Kai Tak Airport. Then the cabin door opened, and Tarak, dressed in a white robe, stepped out.

Seeing this outfit, Li Changhe was a little surprised, because when Tarak was overseas, he was actually quite Western and would not wear the traditional white robes of his home country.

After that, apart from Tarak and a few of his entourage, no one else got off the plane.

Upon seeing this, Li Changhe immediately understood. This was a private jet converted from a Boeing 747 passenger plane. The huge passenger plane actually only had a few people, including Tarak, inside.

Besides its spacious interior, this type of commercial airliner also has the advantage of solving the problem of flight range. For example, the Boeing 747 series that Tarak and his crew own has a flight range of more than 13,000 kilometers. If the auxiliary fuel tank is included, it is easy to break through the 20,000-kilometer flight range.

"Hello, Your Highness."

"Hello, Vic!"

The two gave each other a warm hug, and then invited Tarak into the car.

In the car, the two exchanged a few pleasantries, but Tarak did not rush to discuss business with Li Changhe, waiting until they arrived at the hotel.

After arriving at the top-tier suite that Li Changhe had arranged for Tarak, Tarak dismissed everyone else around him and then sat down with Li Changhe.

"Vic, are you sure you want to evacuate people from Kuwait?"

After taking his seat, Tarak asked Li Changhe in a serious tone.

Li Changhe nodded: "Yes, Your Highness, I think our profits in Kuwait are already sufficient."

“In reality, if we continue like this, we won’t make much money.”

"The Kuwaiti stock market appears to be increasing in market capitalization, but its actual liquidity is decreasing. The value of those stocks is now largely propped up by forward checks."

"You should understand that post-dated checks are not US dollars. They have only become the main form of currency transactions in the stock market because of the special circumstances there."

"But for us, we don't need those; what we need is dollars."

"So, whether the stock market inflates to 50 billion or 100 billion US dollars, it has nothing to do with us, because this bubble is propped up by forward bad checks, not by US dollars."

“We have already absorbed a lot of the dollars flowing into the stock market, and I think that’s enough for us.”

Tarak sighed after hearing this.

“Vic, if it were a normal investment, your return would already be sufficient. We initially agreed on a 100% return, but now the return is almost 500%.”

"Logically speaking, this profit is already quite good."

"But Vic, things have changed now, we need more money!"

Tarak said solemnly at this moment.

Li Changhe frowned slightly at this moment: "Isn't a billion dollars in revenue enough for the princes to spend?"

Tarak shook his head: "If it were just the initial expenses, then it would certainly be enough, but now we are facing a different problem."

“Vic, I can tell you the truth, the situation has changed, and it involves the throne. We need money.”

Tarak then began to reveal the inside story of Saudi Arabia to Li Changhe.

After listening, Li Changhe understood the reason.

Previously, because of his familiarity with the name Salman, Li Changhe decided to cooperate with Tarak and his faction, also known as the "Seven Brothers of Sudri".

The eldest of the Sudri brothers, Fahd, is now the Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.

In other words, if the current Saudi king dies, Fahd, the leader of Tarak's faction, will ascend the throne and become the new king of Saudi Arabia.

The reason Tarak and his men were so anxious was that the current King Khalid had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition, and according to the doctors, he had at most a year and a half to live.

In other words, within the next year or two, Tarak and his faction could ascend to the highest position in Saudi Arabia and become the rulers of the country.

"Isn't this a good thing?"

After listening to Tarak's description, Li Changhe asked with some surprise.

Wouldn't it be perfect if their faction came to power?

Tarak shook his head: "Vic, things aren't as simple as you think."

"It is naturally a good thing for us that Brother Fahd has come to power, but now there are other people in the country who oppose us, and the leading group is Abdullah's faction."

"The brothers in their faction are mainly younger. If they are ranked by age, they would not be in the position of crown prince, since there are many older brothers ahead of them."

"So they've united to fight us, and Abdullah now commands the army; he's the commander of the National Guard. If he's determined to confront us, it's hard to say we can suppress them."

"Actually, he's already the second deputy prime minister, which is practically a de facto crown prince." "So what? What does this have to do with the money? Are you trying to bribe him?"

Li Changhe asked curiously.

Tarak shook his head: "No, it's not about bribing Abdullah. We want to use money to buy off the other brothers."

“Brother Fahd has proposed an idea: he can appoint Abdullah as crown prince, but then Abdullah’s crown prince must be one of our people. That is to say, his crown prince must be chosen from among Brother Sultan or Brother Nayef.”

"This actually skips the order of succession to the throne, so we have to get the support of some of our other brothers."

Tarak explained it to Li Changhe in detail.

After listening, Li Changhe understood the intricacies of the matter.

Before this, the order of succession for Saudi kings was that of brothers succeeding each other. Simply put, if the eldest brother died, the second brother would succeed him; if the second brother died, the third brother would succeed him; and if the third brother died before the second brother, the fourth brother would take over.

Fahd, the eldest of the seven Sudri brothers, was actually quite high in the line of succession. He was the eighth of all the old king's sons, and is now the crown prince.

However, those who came after them, whether it was Abdullah or Sultan, were not in the top ranks, and the two factions were currently the most powerful. Therefore, Fahd and his group wanted to change the rules.

Fahd and his group's idea was to cooperate with Abdullah and then play the game of succession to the throne.

The two factions joined forces, with Fahd appointing Abdullah as crown prince. Once Abdullah came to power, he appointed one of the seven Sudri brothers as crown prince. The two factions took turns in this cycle, thus controlling the power in Saudi Arabia.

However, this operating model clearly eliminates the inheritance rights of some princes who are ranked lower but not too low, so Fahd and his men need to win over many brothers.

According to Tarak, this kind of courting cannot be done with official funds, since too many people are watching.

Ideally, they should use their own money, so the money that Li Changhe helped them earn became the main source of income.

“Vic, we’ve already checked. There are no signs of a stock market collapse in Kuwait. Based on the timeline, the stock market may not have any problems until at least the end of the year, or even next year.”

"Is it too early for us to retreat now?"

“You know, we make tens of millions of dollars a day over there, which adds up to several hundred million dollars a month. It would be such a waste for us to give it up.”

At this moment, Tarak spoke earnestly to Li Changhe.

Li Changhe smiled upon hearing this.

"Your Highness, do you remember how you became the special envoy to the United States?"

"Does Your Highness still remember how the Saudi royal family lost all its money in the silver crisis?"

Li Changhe calmly countered with a question, while Tarak's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

"Your Highness, think back to that time, when they faced the skyrocketing price of silver every day, weren't they just as reluctant to part with it as you are now?"

“Every day I open my eyes, tens of millions of dollars come in, and in just a few days, my wealth increases by hundreds of millions.”

"Back then, were your ex and the Hunt brothers also cheering and jumping for joy as they watched their wealth figures grow every day?"

"Your Highness, do you think they didn't see the risk of a drop in silver prices at that time?"

“I believe they definitely see it, and not only them, but also their financial advisors are well aware of the risks that the decline in silver prices poses to them.”

"But when people are blinded by greed, those risks are ignored. Everyone only sees the fruits of success and not the abyss of failure."

"Your Highness, is your mindset now any different from theirs back then?"

Li Changhe's words struck Tarak like a heavy hammer, instantly snapping him out of his daze.

"Vic, you mean?"

“Your Highness, you can go back and tell Prince Fahd and the others that if they are indeed reluctant to give up the profits from the Kuwaiti stock market, then I can leave your funds behind and only withdraw my portion.”

“There should be quite a few European and American teams there now. You can find new traders to take over those stocks. As long as the stock market bubble doesn’t burst, profits will continue to grow wildly.”

There is an old saying in the East: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

"No matter how much wealth increases on our books, it's only when those green dollars are actually deposited into our bank accounts that we see real gains."

"The rest are just paper wealth to us. It can be countless dollars, or it can be a piece of useless waste paper."

"The bubble in Kuwait is essentially a redistribution of wealth brought about by soaring oil prices. Perhaps the Kuwaiti government tacitly approved of the stock market frenzy in order to distribute some benefits downwards."

"But what if one day oil prices drop and we can't sell it?"

"I think Your Highness, you have more professional people to make a judgment on this matter. Perhaps you could analyze it yourself."

"After all, Kuwait is no longer making money from oil, so they naturally can't afford such a large allocation of shares in the stock market. At that time, the stock market bubble will naturally burst."

"Your Highness can take my words back and tell Prince Fahd and the others that whatever choice you make, I will support you."

"But I will inevitably have to withdraw both manpower and funds."

Li Changhe smiled, but spoke with a firm tone.

He didn't know when Kuwait's stock market bubble would burst, but Li Changhe knew very well that oil prices had been declining steadily since 82.

This is partly due to the oversupply of oil in the past two years, and partly due to Rygen's efforts to suppress oil prices in order to contain the Soviet Union after he came to power.

However, there is no doubt that the plunge in oil prices will lead to a plunge in Kuwait's revenue.

With Kuwait's revenues declining, how could they possibly continue to support the stock market?

Tarak then fell into deep thought, realizing that Li Changhe was right.

Furthermore, his predecessor, the fool Raboi he mentioned, wasn't he also blinded by greed back then, ultimately leading to huge losses in the Silver Storm?

“Vic, come back to Riyadh with me!”

“I think it would be much more useful for you to come back with me in person than for me to be in the middle of things.”

"And at the latest next year, Brother Fahd will become king. I think it's time for you to go and meet them."

Tarak then looked at Li Changhe seriously and said earnestly.

After listening to Tarak's words, Li Changhe fell into deep thought.

Are you going to Saudi Arabia?

He wasn't in a hurry to go to Saudi Arabia, but according to Tarak, Fahd is very likely to ascend the throne next year, which means he will become the new king of Saudi Arabia.

Doesn't that mean that the firecracker deal in the 1980s happened during his tenure?

So, was the Prince Sultan who visited China the same Sultan of the seven Sudri brothers?

Li Changhe recalled some information from his past life and began to assess it in his mind.

(End of this chapter)