Mixed in 1980

Chapter 332 The attack begins

"Mr. Huo, what do you think Chen Fan's purpose is in hosting this banquet?" Peng Dingkang gently swirled his wine glass, facing the head of the Huo family.

Old Huo, puffing on his cigarette, smiled slightly: "Just like at the last cocktail party, who knew he would launch an attack on the pound before the very next day?"

Peng Dingkang narrowed his eyes slightly: "I heard that more than two months ago, Chen Fan suddenly came to Hong Kong to visit you and Mr. Dong."

After saying that, his gaze turned to Dong the Shipping King!
Dong, the shipping magnate, also took a drag on his cigarette and smiled slightly: "That's right. Chen Fan invested in a shipyard in the mainland and came to me to get orders."

“Last month, I went to inspect it in person. I must say, his shipyard is very large and his shipbuilding capabilities are very strong. I even took out a loan to order two 4000 TEU container ships.”

All orders are real!
On the one hand, it was to give Chen Fan face, and on the other hand, the price was indeed favorable. The same container ship would only cost one-third of what Japan did.

Old Huo also said, "Chen Fan's shipyard is really impressive. I placed an order for four large container ships directly, and I will add more orders later."

"Can China build large ships?" Peng Dingkang asked in surprise.

Old Huo narrowed his eyes slightly and said sarcastically, "The mainland is developing very rapidly. There are several manufacturers that can build large container ships. In the future, the Huo family will give priority to the mainland when ordering ships."

"Mr. Huo, what great courage you have!"

Peng Dingkang gritted his teeth inwardly. The Huo family was a tough nut to crack. Back in the early 1960s, when they were transporting supplies to the mainland, they had offended the British to no end.

They've been targeted all along in Hong Kong!

The suppression was far more severe than that against Chen Fan.

It's not that the British didn't want to intensify their efforts against Chen Fan; they simply had no choice. Back in the 1960s, when they targeted the Huo family, the British were powerful while the Huo family was still very weak.

Chen Fan was different. After arriving in Hong Kong, he quietly engaged in finance. By the time he truly revealed his fangs, he had become Hong Kong's largest land supplier, holding the lifeline of Britain in his hands.

Old Huo smiled slightly: "It has nothing to do with courage, the key is cheapness. In the mainland, you have to fight for orders. Even Chen Fan's own transportation company is short of ships."

"Mr. Huo, are you talking about me?"

Chen Fan walked over with Hua Sanshao, raised his wine glass, swirled it slightly, and nodded to everyone.

Old Huo gestured for him to sit down and talk: "We're talking about the shipyard. I'm also thinking about whether the shipyard should expand and let me invest in it."

Chen Fan also took out a cigarette and lit it: "Mr. Huo, it's really no problem for you to invest. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is planning to expand its third phase of construction."

"Really?" Old Huo asked in surprise.

"Of course it's true. The higher-ups also plan to bring in multiple shareholders to jointly promote the development of the shipyard."

Chen Fan wasn't talking nonsense. Introducing other shipping companies would be very beneficial to the shipyard's development, at least it would eliminate any worries about orders.

The shipbuilding industry today is not like it was in later years, where Japan and South Korea held a very obvious monopoly. For domestic shipyards to develop, the road ahead is long and arduous, and they need external orders.

Over the years, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has been investing continuously. Although it has made a profit, the profit is extremely low, which is barely enough for Chen Fan to make a living.

The higher-ups were worried that Chen Fan might have objections, so they suggested a profit-sharing arrangement. Chen Fan refused outright and continued to invest the funds in research and development, saying only: "Shipbuilding is in the future, not now."

"You can introduce me to someone later."

Old Huo became interested, and Dong, the shipping magnate, also said, "I'll invest in it later. I think the shipbuilding industry in the mainland has great potential."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "In that case, I'll make a call later and have the shipyard send someone over so we can all get together and have a good chat."

Old Huo and Ship King Dong nodded in agreement.

After they finished talking, Governor Peng Dingkang finally spoke up: "Mr. Chen, I heard there's another big operation coming up. Perhaps we can cooperate."

Chen Fan was speechless. Collaborate again?

They both wanted nothing less than to kill each other: "Governor, how can we cooperate? With Britain lifting its restrictions on Flying Star, there is still room for cooperation between us."

Peng Dingkang took out a cigar and lit it: "Feixing is just an isolated incident, which is related to the development of Britain. Putting this matter aside, there is still a lot of room for cooperation between us."

Chen Fan flicked his cigarette ash: "Governor, there really is a project that's particularly suitable. I wonder if your side would be interested?"

"You say?"

"Mr. Hu Yingxiang proposed a plan in 83 to build the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Why don't we cooperate and do it together?"

Upon hearing this, Peng Dingkang narrowed his eyes.

I really want to say, screw you! Your country wants to build infrastructure, and you expect us British to foot the bill? What a load of rubbish!

"Mr. Chen, as the largest port operator in Hong Kong, building a bridge would only bring you harm, not benefit, right?"

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Many of you here are in the shipping industry, so building such a large bridge is not a good thing for any of you."

"Benefits don't mean much to me. I just want to find a project to spend my money. Having too much money is exhausting," Chen Fan said with a smile.

Building a bridge is just asking for trouble. Before 1997, the British would never have agreed to it, and the technology for building a bridge is not yet mature.

Hu Yingxiang has been working on this matter for years, collecting technical data all over the world. The technical documents he has collected weigh two tons.

His words were so hurtful. What does "too much money" even mean?
Everyone here is one of Hong Kong's top tycoons, yet they act as if others are poor. But compared to Chen Fan, it seems like everyone is quite poor.

In a pound sterling exchange rate war, Chen Fan embezzled over 50 billion US dollars, and another 1000 billion US dollars from Italy, which is over 100 billion Hong Kong dollars!

This single sum is more than many people's assets.

He truly has the right to be arrogant!
Everyone knows that Chen Fan was just talking nonsense, trying to anger the British. The ban on Flying Star and the vandalism of the Chinatown supermarket are deep-seated grudges.

Knowing Chen Fan's personality, he always seeks revenge!
The British themselves know that Chen Fan will definitely launch a revenge attack starting tomorrow; they just don't know in what way.

However, even after the party ended, the British still couldn't figure it out; Chen Fan kept his mouth shut and didn't reveal any useful information.

After returning, they even held a small meeting to repeatedly study Chen Fan's purpose, but they still had no clue. Chen Fan's fangs had not yet been revealed.

The only certainty is that the Huo family and the shipping magnate Dong have entered the game, but both are hardliners who don't care about the British at all and just deal with them casually.

"Let's wait and see. Chen Fan said he would hold a press conference at 2 PM tomorrow. Everyone should be prepared and wait for the right opportunity!"

That night, the British were filled with unease!
After the last currency war, the British are now extremely wary, fearing that Chen Fan might launch another similar attack, which would result in incalculable losses.

Not only them, but also the wealthy in Hong Kong are not at ease. They must be prepared to deal with any big moves Chen Fan makes.

Just like the last currency war, some people made a fortune, some barely broke even, and some lost a lot of money.

Today, Chen Fan has the power to influence Hong Kong's economy.

As dawn breaks, many people get up early to buy newspapers, hoping to find useful information, and then turn on the TV to watch the morning news.

People in Britain were the first to receive the news after nine o'clock.

Spark Investment has officially taken action, starting to short HSBC, Standard Chartered and Hang Seng Bank's shares.

Short selling involves borrowing shares, selling them immediately, and then buying them back when the price drops to return them. The difference between the borrowed shares and the borrowed shares is the profit.

Spark Investment made significant moves, borrowing large amounts of shares in three banks from multiple stock exchanges and financial companies.

And it's not just Spark Investment.

The Li family of Li Hongying, the Li Zhaoji family, the Zhao family of Hua Sanshao, the Dong Chuanwang family, the Huo family, Da Liu... are all building positions to short sell.

Such a commotion could be kept secret from ordinary people, but not from the British, nor from Hong Kong's top wealthy circles.

Li Ka-shing was taken aback when he received the news.

Has Chen Fan gone mad? HSBC is the largest bank in Hong Kong, and Standard Chartered is not far behind; both are banks authorized to print Hong Kong dollars.

Is it possible to short these two banks?
Very difficult!
As long as banks are financially sound, they are invincible; attacking them is no less difficult than attacking the pound sterling exchange rate last time.

Li Ka-shing frowned. Should he go along with it?

The exchange rate of the pound has been driven down; if Chen Fan succeeds once, he can succeed a second time.

After a long pause, Li Ka-shing sighed, saying that as a member of HSBC's board of directors and with close ties to HSBC, it was clearly inappropriate for him to join in the short selling.

forget it!
Chen Fan and Xu Jinqiu were already at Xinghuo Investment Company. The employees were busy working, but Chen Fan didn't disturb them and just stayed in his office.

Every half hour, Yu Jing would come in to report on the current progress.

Meanwhile, the company's main conference room had been set up, and the TV station staff had arrived to set up their equipment, waiting for the live broadcast to begin at 2 PM.

Time passed second by second. It was 12 PM on December 19, 1992!

Governor-General Peng Dingkang, Ambassador Richard... many British people were glued to their television sets, watching Chen Fan on the screen, and they all frowned.

After World War II, the man who caused the most damage to Britain was this man!
Everyone was filled with hatred.

"Shorting three banks? I'm not afraid of your boldness, I'm just afraid your appetite isn't big enough!" Peng Dingkang took out a cigarette, took a deep drag, and slowly let out a sigh of relief.

Chen Fan chose the wrong target!
Leaving aside HSBC and Standard Chartered, even Hang Seng Bank is one of the top banks in Hong Kong, a behemoth that cannot be easily shaken.

On the television, Chen Fan smiled and slowly began to speak when asked by the host: "I believe everyone knows what kind of treatment we received in Britain."

"The British can ban the sale of Flying Star mobile phones and pagers with just one sentence: 'It endangers national security,' completely disregarding the principles of free trade."

“And our Chinatown supermarkets were vandalized and robbed in Britain, but the British police did nothing about it. This is an unreasonable suppression of our Hong Kong businesses.”

"Given these two incidents, I can no longer trust the UK and am very worried about the funds I have deposited with HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Hang Seng."

“I’m afraid that one day the British will find some excuse to confiscate my funds, which makes me feel completely insecure.”

"In light of the British people's actions, I have decided to withdraw all funds, including my personal assets and those held in the above three banks across all my businesses."

As soon as Chen Fan finished speaking, Peng Dingkang's expression changed drastically in front of the television. The cigarette in his hand was snapped in two and fell onto the carpet.

PS: The first update is here~
(End of this chapter)