Mixed in 1980

Chapter 320 Soros, Stunned by the Blow

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in Hong Kong was stunned!

It's not that Chen Fan backed down and sided with Britain, investing a large sum of money in Britain. How come he suddenly turned around and is clamoring to short the pound?

Hong Kong people have a deep understanding of the currency crash. During the Hong Kong dollar crisis in 1983, the exchange rate against the US dollar fell to 9.6, and everyone's assets shrank accordingly.

In order to stabilize the exchange rate, the Hong Kong dollar had to be pegged to the US dollar again, forcibly setting the exchange rate at 7.8. Chen Fan made a profit of 1 million US dollars by playing a trick at the time.

Now Chen Fan is saying he wants to short the British pound?

Is this wishful thinking? One person going against a nation—this has never happened since the concept of finance was invented.

Listen to Chen Fan's slogan: "We will crash the exchange rate of the pound and turn it into worthless paper!"

is it possible?

Britain, once the British Empire on which the sun never sets, the hegemon of the earth, even a fallen camel is bigger than a horse, and a wrecked ship still has three thousand nails. Could it be brought down by one person?

In any case, to ordinary people, this is impossible; such a thing does not exist.

However, once Chen Fan spoke, everyone stopped cursing: "So Chen Fan wasn't really a coward, he was just looking for an opportunity to get revenge."

"To directly wage war against Britain, that's ruthless!"

"Whether you succeed or not is not important. Just because you dared to challenge the British, I support you!"

Of course, everyone's just watching the show.

The people who were truly moved were the wealthy attendees at the party last night. Chen Fan hadn't invited them to just go through the motions or watch the show.

These people all have some British pounds on them, more or less.

Last night I gave them a heads-up, but today I'm telling them directly, "I'm going to start shorting the British pound. Are you going to follow me or not?"

Let's get rich together!
If you don't follow suit, don't blame me if the pound depreciates and your assets shrink; I've already given you advance notice.

"What the hell? Has this kid gone mad?"

Li Ka-shing sat in front of the television, picked up an ashtray and smashed it. He had made considerable investments in Britain and had a lot of pounds on hand.

What should we do at this time?
They could either sell off their shares, betting on Chen Fan's success and making a quick buck, or hold onto their money, trusting the British and betting they could hold on.

"Unexpected troubles arise; can the British handle it?"

Li Ka-shing lit a cigarette and watched Chen Fan chattering incessantly on television. He frowned; this was a very formidable young man.

He was invincible in the financial market and had a very strategic vision in his investments. He had just planned to return to the mainland to invest in ports when he learned that Chen Fan had already invested in six important large ports.

The two investments totaled a total of US$150 billion.

This money was all harvested from the financial markets, so who would dare to underestimate it? Britain might be the next country to be exploited by it.

Other wealthy individuals share the same concerns.

The British have a penchant for making things difficult for Chen Fan. They've leaked a lot of information to cause trouble for him, to the point that many wealthy people in Hong Kong know about the wealth Chen Fan controls.

Before 1985, they harvested Hong Kong.

Today, he dominates Hong Kong's telecommunications, power, real estate, port, and retail sectors. Even the Flying Star pagers used by many people belong to Chen Fan.

After 1985, we will take over Japan!

In order to incite the robbers to target Chen Fan, the British deliberately revealed Chen Fan's profits in Japan, which were said to be no less than 400 billion US dollars in cash!
In the past two years, it has been reaping profits from the former Soviet Union, the specific gains of which are unknown, but are said to be substantial.

Britain may not be immune!

"Is it possible to render the pound sterling worthless?"

Zhou Xiaoying accompanied Zheng Shusen to Hong Kong again. Upon hearing about this matter, she came to her cousin's house to watch TV and find out more about the situation.

Looking at Chen Fan on TV, I couldn't help but gasp in amazement.

Zheng Shusen didn't understand any of this, so he could only turn his gaze to the other side: "Cousin, what do you think?"

"It is theoretically possible."

Zheng Shusen's cousin coughed lightly: "Currency devaluation is relative to another currency. Currently, it is generally pegged to the US dollar, and in Europe, it is also pegged to the German mark."

"When someone sells pounds, in order to maintain the exchange rate, the pounds must be bought back with US dollars and marks. If there is no money to buy them, the pounds will depreciate."

"In theory, as long as Chen Fan has enough pounds, more than the British foreign exchange reserves, the British will run out of money and can only devalue their currency."

"Chen Fan's money alone is more than the foreign exchange reserves of the entire United Kingdom?" Zheng Shusen was stunned, finding it hard to believe.

"He wasn't alone!"

Zheng Shusen's cousin shook his head: "Why did Chen Fan hold a press conference? It's to let everyone know the news, so that if the market fluctuates, everyone will sell off their shares."

Zhou Xiaoying asked again, "What good does this do for Chen Fan? The pounds belong to him. If they depreciate, won't he suffer a great loss too? Is it all just to vent his anger?"

"Who said the pound sterling belongs to him?"

Zheng Shusen's cousin took out a cigarette and lit it: "Shorting must be done with borrowed money. At the current exchange rate, 1 pound can be exchanged for 2 US dollars."

"Chen Fan borrowed £100 billion and sold it all. The British need to buy it all in order to stabilize the exchange rate, which will allow them to extract $200 billion."

“If others follow suit, the British won’t have the money to buy in, and the exchange rate will drop, for example, to 1 pound to 1 dollar. How much can Chen Fan earn then?”

“He extracted $200 billion. If he could just take out $100 billion to exchange for £100 billion to pay off the debt, the remaining $100 billion would be his profit.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaoying's mouth dropped open. For the first time, she realized her ignorance; she had no idea money could be made this way: "Why would the British lend him so much money?"

Zheng Shusen's cousin laughed and said, "Chen Fan previously backed down to the British, saying he would invest in Britain and offer his assets as collateral, so he was able to borrow money."

"Now it seems it was all an act!"

“I told you before, in Hong Kong, you can’t mess with Chen Fan. He’s like a venomous snake, and he’ll retaliate at any time.”

"The same applies to a country!"

"Can he succeed?" Zhou Xiaoying nodded.

The reporters at the scene had the same question, and one of them, a blond-haired, blue-eyed British reporter, asked the question in a strong accent.

"Mr. Chen, are you being too confident? One person facing a country's financial system is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot."

Chen Fan nodded slightly, gesturing for the reporter to sit down: "I can answer your question. The reason is simple: Britain simply has no ability to stabilize the exchange rate."

"The Hans family's economy is strong, while your economy is sluggish and inflation is high. You should cut interest rates and inject liquidity to stimulate the economy and devalue your currency."

"But in order to remain in the EU, you can only stubbornly maintain the exchange rate with the mark. In July, you couldn't hold on any longer. Seven countries joined together and asked the Hans country to lower interest rates and devalue their currencies so that yours could devalue along with them."

"Unfortunately, the Hans family won't agree!"

"Your exchange rates are being artificially propped up, and the value of the pound is also artificially inflated. Shorting the pound now is bound to succeed."

Upon hearing this, the female reporter immediately said, "Our Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have repeatedly emphasized that we have the ability to keep the pound within the European Exchange Rate Mechanism."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "It's just a bluff!"

The female reporter continued, "Mr. Chen, the British financial system is not something one person can manipulate. All you've done is waste interest."

"Who told you I was alone?"

Chen Fan shrugged and gestured for the person next to him to speak. Zeng Ali took the microphone and said, "We, Lululemon, hold 20 billion pounds and will start selling them today."

Ms. Zhao took the microphone again: "Luoshen holds £18 billion, and she will also sell it today."

Next are Hua Sanshao and Liu Jianxiong. Many of their assets are in the former Soviet Union, but they are mortgaged with assets in Hong Kong, so the amount is not very large.

Hua Sanshao holds 3 million, and Liu Jianxiong holds 2 million!
With just a few people present, the amount of pounds sold today reached a staggering £143 billion. Li Hongying, who was hiding behind the scenes, and the official authorities will also begin selling today.

But it's only nine o'clock in England, just the start of work!
It's too early to tell, but once it's launched, it will be an overwhelming force, considering that Britain's dollar reserves are only 340 billion.

In addition, there are mark reserves and assets that have not been converted into foreign currency.

The £143 billion they sold alone, at an exchange rate of 1 to 2, would consume almost half of Britain's foreign exchange reserves.

What about the others?

The press conference ended, and Hong Kong was in an uproar!

No one expected Chen Fan to be so reckless, launching an attack on a country's financial system in a fit of anger.

But the most bewildered person was not the people of Hong Kong, or even the British, but Soros.

His plan is lira first, then pounds!

September 12th was the day to strike at the lira. He had just ordered his men to start selling lira when news came that someone was also selling pounds on a large scale.

Did they steal this from us?

Britain's foreign exchange reserves are limited. Whoever converts pounds into dollars and marks first will earn more. Once others have sold off their reserves, they'll be left with nothing.

"Find out quickly, I need specific information."

Soros took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, but a moment later, his subordinates came to report that there was also a large-scale sell-off of lira in the Italian market.

"Who? I need to know who it is!"

Without a doubt, it was Chen Fan. Italy wasn't his main battlefield, but that didn't stop him from using Soros to target Italy.

"We've found the information!"

Chen Fan didn't hide it. It wasn't difficult to find out the information. His men quickly received the message: "It's a Hong Konger named Chen Fan."

"He holds a large amount of pounds and has gathered a group of people to start selling pounds today. The first sale amounted to £143 billion."

"How much?" Soros was taken aback.

"£143 billion. As for the seller of the lira, there is no specific information, but if nothing unexpected happens, it will be this Hong Konger."

Soros picked up the ashtray and threw it. The situation was clear: the hijacker had arrived, and the other party's plan was exactly the same as his own.

The difference is that the other side attacked from both sides simultaneously.

Even more ruthless than myself!
The amount of capital entering the market is also much larger. In the British theater, I only prepared 100 billion US dollars, equivalent to 50 billion pounds, while the opponent had almost three times that amount.

"Give the order to immediately sell off the pounds!"

Should we notify the others?

Soros is not acting alone; he has a large group of Wall Street speculators behind him, but he can't care about others now: "Sell first, then notify us in half a day."

Dead Taoist friend, immortal poor Taoist!

PS: First update!

(End of this chapter)