Mixed in 1980

Chapter 314 Setting Eyes on British Land

"Dad, hug!"

Yan Yin opened her arms, and Chen Fan immediately snapped out of his thoughts, picked up his little girl. The little girl looked more like her mother and also had little tiger teeth.

When she smiles, her eyes squint into a line.

Even their personalities are similar: lazy, a little absent-minded, likes to be held, usually easy to coax, but when they get angry, they can be very stubborn.

Holding his youngest daughter and holding his eldest daughter's hand, Chen Fan walked inside.

Miss Zhao and Xu Jinqiu also picked up their sons. Only one of them weighed six and a half pounds. Xu Jinqiu quickly reached out and took the little boy's hand.

"Dad, what are you busy with again?"

Once inside the courtyard, Chen Musheng once again employed his old skills, busily processing wood, while Sun Shaojie, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, assisted him on the side.

"Make wheelbarrows for the children."

Chen Musheng looked up at his son, then continued working: "The kids in that big courtyard play with this. Yanxi and Xiaorui kept asking for it. It's not much trouble."

"Then you go ahead with your work."

Chen Fan put his little girl down and looked at Sun Shaojie: "Senior brother, what's the matter now?"

Sun Shaojie stopped working, took a cigarette, and said, "What are you saying? Can't I come over for a visit if there's nothing wrong? I just brought Liu Jin and a half over to play today."

The little girl pounced on her again.

Chen Fan sat down and let his little girl sit on his lap: "Do you even believe what you're saying? You went out of your way to come to my house and wait around, so this must be something serious, right?"

Sun Shaojie stubbed out his cigarette and stomped on it: "There are indeed two issues. One is the former Soviet Union. Everything else is easy to handle, but it's the land issue."

"The land is mine!" Chen Fan emphasized.

Chen Fan has no intention of selling the land he acquired from the Soviet Union. Instead, he plans to establish an agricultural company to develop it, which was part of his previously established strategy.

This is a large-scale project, and it will involve a vast amount of things in the future.

Nobody's going to take your land.

Sun Shaojie was both amused and exasperated, and said irritably, "In our country, the food self-sufficiency rate has reached 100%, but the current dietary structure is changing."

"Increasing meat consumption requires more grain for livestock farming, and the demand for grain will continue to grow in the coming years."

"The higher-ups are planning to take a stake!"

"I knew you were up to no good. Do you think it's easy for me to get some land?" Chen Fan retorted.

"I won't let you suffer any losses."

Chen Fan believed this. After so many collaborations, the higher-ups were very trustworthy; they were straightforward and never tried to deceive him.

But joint ventures...

Seeing that Chen Fan remained silent, Sun Shaojie quickly added, "We can provide personnel, and they are all professionals, which is exactly what you urgently need right now, isn't it?"

After sending his little daughter away, Chen Fan asked him for a cigarette and lit it: "Investing is not out of the question, and we can even let you hold a controlling stake."

“But I made plans for this agricultural company a long time ago. The scope of its future operations and the land it occupies will be very large. If you want to follow up, you will need a lot of capital.”

“Unlike other businesses, farms don’t have high returns. After buying the land and building the infrastructure, you still need to buy equipment. It takes 5 to 10 years to break even.”

"The higher-ups need to have this idea. You know I'm not interested in small-scale operations. The Soviet Union's territory is just the beginning."

Upon hearing this, Sun Shaojie lit another cigarette.

"Who do you think you are? Although our economy is still quite backward, it is much better than it was a few years ago, and we can make some appropriate overseas investments."

"It's still possible to take some of what was taken from the Soviet Union for food security."

“Investing in land in any country will face political issues. Having higher-ups involved in the investment is also a good form of protection for you.”

Chen Fan nodded slightly: "Then there is no problem. We can give you 40% of the shares. The money raised will be used for equipment and infrastructure."

"readily!"

Sun Shaojie rubbed his hands together and chuckled, "As for funding, could it be..."

The plan was to pay Chen Fan in RMB, and then have him inject US dollars into the company.

Chen Fan paused slightly: "I must have had the worst luck in the world to have met a bastard like you. Do you guys need foreign exchange right now?"

"Of course we're lacking!"

Sun Shaojie took a deep drag on his cigarette: "We got ripped off by the Soviet Union, and although we cashed out a lot of cash, we still made a profit." "The real big stuff is in corporate securities, minerals, and resources. It's impossible to cash out all of it in just a few years."

"Over the years, we have been spending money abroad with all our might, and our current foreign exchange reserves are only over 200 billion US dollars."

"With currency devaluation and rising prices over the years, in terms of actual purchasing power, it is not even as much as 80 billion US dollars in the 100s. We are still as poor as ever."

"Fine, let's change it!" Chen Fan said helplessly.

It doesn't really matter. The main battlefield in the future is in China. Having more "yuan" in hand will make future investments more convenient.

When domestic and foreign exchange reserves are sufficient, it won't be so easy for foreign currencies to enter the market.

"I knew you wouldn't refuse."

Sun Shaojie chuckled and said, "The second thing is, what were you thinking when you suddenly went to England to make a large-scale investment? You might as well have invested back in China."

"Who told you I went to invest in the UK?"

"The news is all over Hong Kong, who are you trying to hide it from? We have no shortage of projects in China, why not come back and invest here?"

"Have I invested little in mainland China?"

Back in 1989, when Chen Fan was looking for Sun Shaojie to acquire the property rights of the hutong, he promised to continue investing.

Before long, Sun Shaojie found a good project.

Still port projects, Chen Fan invested in the first and second phases of the original six major ports: Yantian Port, Modu Port, Jinmen Port, Ningbo Port, Lianyun Port, and Huizhou Port.

In 1989, another 10 billion US dollars was invested in the third phase of the project.

Chen Fan spared no effort in port investment projects, and the third phase of the project was much larger than the first two phases, with more funds invested by the government.

“We can’t have too many,” Sun Shaojie teased.

"Stop talking nonsense and find me a project."

Chen Fan kicked him and said irritably, "Even if you didn't ask about the British affair, I would have come to you anyway. This time, I'm planning to take over Britain."

He explained the reason: "Those British are really disgusting. If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll really think I'm easy to bully. Are you going to join us this time?"

Sun Shaojie rolled his eyes at him: "Look at what you're saying, as if I can make that decision? I'll report it to my superiors later."

"The higher-ups will probably support us, but the support will be limited. We'll need to use real assets as collateral, and we don't have many investments outside of our own borders."

"Based on my estimation, they will probably support you with shares in Xinghuo Real Estate."

Xinghuo Real Estate is already a behemoth.

Especially after entering the 1990s, development began to slow down, and houses were sold sparingly, leaving behind a very large amount of assets.

Chen Fan was already content with this: "I'll tell the higher-ups that I have another goal that I need their full support for. If we're lucky, we can all make another windfall."

"They're eyeing British assets again?"

"That's right, the land of the British."

"From Hong Kong?" Sun Shaojie squinted.

It's true that Chen Fan is the largest land supplier in Hong Kong, but the British are not far behind, holding a considerable amount of land and houses.

Banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered have them.

When HSBC's account manager leaked Chen Fan's investment information, as compensation, they sold Chen Fan a piece of land at a low price to gain his forgiveness.

"I don't care about houses in Hong Kong, but I want to acquire the land."

Taking a deep drag on his cigarette, Chen Fan slightly raised the corners of his mouth: "Before 1997, the British will definitely find a way to drive up the housing market again, and then cash out and leave."

"Instead of letting them make the money, we should take advantage of the fact that Hong Kong's property market has not yet reached its peak and buy back the land in advance, so that they can't take away too much."

"Can it work?" Sun Shaojie frowned.

Britain is Britain, and British capital is British capital. Even if Britain is destroyed, capitalists will not easily give up the profits they have gained.

Chen Fan sneered: "Taking them all is unrealistic, but taking over a portion is not a problem. Many companies are deeply tied to Britain. What if we can make the pound collapse?"

“If the pound can’t hold up, their assets in Britain will depreciate significantly, and that’s our bargaining chip.”

"The time frame for handling this matter is very short, perhaps only a few days. We must complete the negotiation and signing in the shortest possible time. I need support from above to intervene in the negotiations."

"This portion of the profits goes to Xinghuo Real Estate, and we both hold shares."

(End of this chapter)