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

Chapter 672 If you have a lot of money, go to Tokyo University!

“In fact, we have investigated Victor, but we have not made any progress. His security force is very strong, and those people are not ordinary people. Our tracking often comes to nothing.”

"In private, it is also difficult for us to send female intelligence agents to infiltrate his side, after all, this is something that countless wealthy socialites in Hong Kong have not been able to do."

"Your Excellency, I can reveal some information to you. According to our intelligence, after Victor forcibly acquired SJM Holdings, Stanley Ho wanted to send his daughter to Victor as his secretary, but so far he has not succeeded."

In the office, Redell said to MacLehose with a rather helpless expression.

MacLehose pondered for a moment and said, "Speaking of which, he is indeed very special. In Hong Kong Island, very few wealthy people would equip themselves with such a security team, but from the very beginning, he built a very tight security team and even started a security company."

"That security company was essentially training his private team."

"His line of thinking is really unique."

"Yes, we have also noticed this situation. We have investigated the people in his security company. Their backgrounds are very diverse. There are local fishermen, Vietnamese soldiers who have been defeated and refugees, and some of them seem to have been smuggled from the mainland."

"Many of them have received military training and are very skilled."

"That's when Redel said in a deep voice."

After hearing this, MacLehose's expression became slightly serious.

"What is his intention? Have you investigated this?"

Security companies can sometimes be considered a form of armed force, and MacLehose had a gut feeling that there might be something fishy going on.

“We have sent people infiltrated and obtained some intelligence. Most of these security personnel have been assigned to subsidiaries of the Bao family. Victor has a characteristic: he doesn’t care about those gang members, so his companies don’t pay protection money to the gangs.”

Redel said seriously that he had naturally collected this intelligence.

"Those triads wouldn't dare to collect protection money from him, would they? Why would he need to send security personnel?"

At this moment, MacLehose hesitated and said that he certainly knew about the Triads. Back then, he was the one who personally destroyed the Triads' backer.

"Of course, the Triads wouldn't dare to accept him, but some of them would harass his clients. For example, when Li Ka-shing was competing with him in business, he used similar methods."

"His security team is responsible for maintaining order and protecting these customers. I think he has extended the casino security model of SJM Holdings to all its subsidiaries."

"In addition, we also found the answer to those elite teams trained by the security company. They were all used by Victor to win over other wealthy Chinese groups in Southeast Asia."

"All we know is that they seem to be trying to create a club, similar to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, but the selection process is very strict, and these security teams are bodyguards that Victor provided at a friendly price."

"Governor, don't these routes seem familiar to you?"

After Redell finished speaking to MacLehose very seriously, MacLehose frowned.

"Is he building an organization like the Council on Foreign Relations? Only under the guise of a club."

As an official with a background in the Foreign Office, MacLehose was naturally familiar with the Council on Foreign Relations, because that was how things worked in Britain back then. The US Council on Foreign Relations was actually copied from the British one, and then Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission came into being.

"While it might be an exaggeration to say that he's creating a foreign relations committee or a trilateral committee, I think that this Victor is building his businesses according to the model of American conglomerates."

"This is the conclusion we reached after our Ministry of Economic Affairs conducted preliminary information gathering on him."

"Redell said softly."

"Is that all? Is there no deeper information?"

At this moment, MacLehose frowned and asked.

"Yes, that's all, Your Excellency. As you know, we're severely understaffed lately, and we can't afford to focus our efforts on Victor."

"As it stands, Victor has no intelligence value."

"Redell said seriously."

MI6's manpower on Hong Kong Island is also limited. Right now, their top priority is to collect intelligence from the mainland about Hong Kong. They are overwhelmed by the people sent from the mainland, including those from the business community, literary and art circles, newspapers, and so on.

In recent years, mainland delegations have visited Hong Kong Island one after another, making contact with people from all walks of life in the business, arts, and media sectors.

Redell and his team's goal was to identify those among these people who were weak-willed or easily manipulated, using them as their inside agents to extract more information about mainland China's policies towards Hong Kong.
This is also the most important task for Redell and his team at the moment. In comparison, the wealthy Victor is not a priority for them.

Moreover, they learned from their American counterparts that Victor wielded immense influence in the United States, which made them reluctant to easily offend this Hong Kong tycoon.

After all, Hong Kong Island is known as a spy capital and was once the front line of the CIA's work against China. Previously, the CIA used the "Swallow Mode" on many people from the mainland without restraint.

It was only after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States that the CIA became less aggressive in this area.

“Sir, if you want to investigate Victor thoroughly, we will have to allocate a lot of manpower to conduct a full investigation, and even then, we cannot guarantee that we will not alert him.”

"Compared to the intelligence value of the northern mainland now, I think this move is somewhat counterproductive."

"Redell said in a deep voice."

After listening, MacLehose slowly shook his head: "Alright, I understand. You can go now. I'll think about it some more."

Clearly, he sensed Redell's resistance; Redell seemed unwilling to conduct a more detailed investigation or closer surveillance of Victor.

Was he afraid of the other party's power, or did Redell possess some information that he was unaware of?

Although the Governor held absolute power on Hong Kong Island, the Special Branch was actually quite independent. They served the London headquarters, and while the Governor often had the right to know, he did not have jurisdiction.

Therefore, Raeder was not necessarily completely obedient to MacLehose's orders.

As Redell walked out of MacLehose's office, a slight smirk appeared on his lips, followed by a cold snort.

He'd be a fool to ask an outgoing Hong Kong governor to investigate a wealthy Chinese man with deep connections to the US president and numerous families in Europe and America.

Moreover, if Victor is alright, that's fine, but if something is found out, that would be a real hot potato.

After all, he knew that this Victor was actually the Rockefeller family's agent in East Asia.

The CIA, from top to bottom, received instructions from their former director, now Vice President Bush, to secretly protect Victor and ensure his safety as much as possible.

He'd have to be a fool to offend someone of that status.

Meanwhile, Li Changhe, who had already arrived in the United States, was enjoying drinks with Bush. He had no idea how much help his unexpected friendship with Bush would bring him.

In Los Angeles, at a grand party, Bush had shed his previous dejected state and stood in the center of the room, dressed in a suit and tie, skillfully introducing Li Changhe to many of his new friends.

“Vic, this is Mr. Kahn, the president of Texas Oil Corporation.”

“Mr. Kahn, this is my boss, Mr. Victor!”

Little Bush enthusiastically gave the introduction, while Li Changhe shook hands with Kahn. Many people may not be familiar with Texas Oil Company, but most people actually know its other name: the famous Texaco Oil Company.

"Hello, Mr. Kahn."

"Hello, Mr. Victor, I've long admired your reputation, you're a financial genius renowned throughout the United States."

Kahn then greeted Li Changhe warmly.

"Come on, let's talk over here."

Kahn then led Li Changhe and Xiao Bush to a booth at the party, where the three of them sat down.

"Is there something you want to discuss, Mr. Kahn?"

At this moment, Li Changhe asked Kahn curiously.

Kahn nodded: "Yes, that's right. I heard that Mr. Victor has registered a venture capital firm in New York. Texaco has some funds and wants to entrust them to Mr. Victor to manage. I wonder if Mr. Victor would be interested."

"Oh? I wonder how much it is?"

Li Changhe asked curiously at this moment.

He knew that these oil companies had made a fortune in the past two years.

Just like the royal families in the Middle East, these American oil companies are making a fortune.

Texaco, as one of the top five oil companies in the United States, and together with California Oil, controls a portion of the sales channels in the Middle East. It can be said that they have made a fortune in US dollars during the oil crisis of the past two years.

According to Li Changhe's speculation, Texaco was most likely a pawn planted by Rockefeller in Texas, originating from the breakup of the oil trusts, which is why they dared to ask Li Changhe for money.

Although the Luo family's money wasn't openly held by Li Changhe, David Rockefeller might have spoken with them privately. After all, Li Changhe's investment record was undeniable, and the Luo family had no reason to let him go.

"How about two billion US dollars? If there's a good opportunity, we can add more!"

Kahn then gave a rather conservative figure.

He was afraid that if he said anything more, Li Changhe wouldn't answer.

There's no way around it; Texaco has made so much money in the last two years that they can't possibly spend it all.

Historically, after acquiring so much cash, Texaco embarked on a frenzied acquisition spree. In 84, it spent a huge sum to acquire ExxonMobil's oil refining and sales channels in Europe, including 2800 gas stations across the continent.

Then, in 84, they spent another $120 billion to acquire another super oil company, Getty Oil.

By 85, Texaco's assets had reached a staggering $377 billion, making it an absolute world-class giant.

So for Kahn, two billion dollars is really nothing; the company has more money in its accounts than it can spend.

However, upon hearing this number, Li Changhe fell into deep thought.

To be honest, this amount of money is a bit too much.

Unlike the investment from Tarak, Texaco's money was a legitimate way of entrusting venture capital to operate, and Li Changhe's venture capital must also strictly follow the procedures to use the money and be subject to Texaco's supervision.

However, this reduces the number of suitable investments, since two billion US dollars is indeed a huge number these days.

This money certainly cannot enter the Japanese market now, since there is too much of it. The best way is to invest in the US stock market and companies.

But that's where the problem lies. The only companies Li Changhe knows well in this area are those from later generations, or perhaps the internet technology companies of the future.

But the current valuation of internet technology is not high, so two billion is simply not enough to spend.

Moreover, if all of Texaco's money is invested, what about the rest? In venture capital, the majority of the profits go to the investors.

Kahn was somewhat surprised to see Li Changhe remain silent.

"What's wrong, Mr. Victor? Do you think you have too much money?"

Kahn asked with a smile.

Li Changhe nodded: "Yes, Mr. Kahn, to be honest, this amount of money is indeed beyond my expectations."

"If I were given this money, my best approach would be to diversify it globally and look for suitable investment opportunities, but that would also carry significant risks."

"I cannot guarantee that Texaco will generate stable revenue."

"But I heard that Mr. Victor also made an investment with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which was also a billion dollars!"

Kahn asked curiously.

Li Changhe smiled and shook his head: "Mr. Kahn, that's because there happened to be a channel to enter Japan at that time. For the entire country of Japan, this amount of money is nothing."

“But now, with such a large sum of money, it’s difficult for me to bring it into Japan, since the financial system there is not very open.”

"Therefore, I can hardly guarantee that this fund will generate huge returns."

"Currently, I have two investment directions. One is the US stock market, but to be honest, your company's own investment institutions can handle that."

"The other direction is that big country in the East."

"Oh? You mean China?"

"Can you take this investment over there?"

Kahn looked at Li Changhe in surprise.

Li Changhe smiled and shook his head: "It's hard to say. I only know that there is a great need for investment over there. We can look for opportunities there."

"As far as I know, their country is importing chemical projects on a large scale, and these projects are exactly what Texaco is best at. I'm thinking, perhaps we could cooperate and invest there."

"After all, with their huge population, absorbing these dollars would be a piece of cake."

"This is my initial idea; otherwise, relying solely on the stock market and venture capital would be a huge waste of this money."

Li Changhe spoke earnestly to Kahn.

Regardless of whether Texaco is a subsidiary of the Luo family, since the other party has the right to operate independently, Li Changhe plans to pretend he doesn't know and deceive them first.

Since you have so much money, why not trick someone into going to Tokyo University? It would be a win-win situation!

(End of this chapter)