Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 68 Short Selling
The news was confirmed the next morning.

Three days have passed, and no chamber of commerce has paid the money or admitted defeat.

Even the small shipping companies didn’t pay!
Apparently, they formed an alliance behind the scenes.

In the newspaper of that day, the Concession Press responded to the issue of rising prices that residents have been concerned about in recent days with eloquent articles.

They said that after their investigation, they found that the new policy of the SH Municipal Government had triggered a sense of crisis in the freight industry. They felt that their goods might be detained, so they simply stopped purchasing goods.

British media interviewed merchants in the concession, who said: "Unless the city government is willing to abandon the new policy, we will not change our practices. We will firmly resist this new regulation."

The spearhead was directed at the new policy of the municipal government and Gu Yansheng's judicial department.

Regarding the shortage of rice, vegetables and other supplies transported by land, the Chamber of Commerce stated, "It's not that we don't want to import, but the situation is unstable and transportation is difficult. We are doing our best to resolve it, but we can't guarantee when supplies will be restored."

Both sides' statements appeared at the same time, and the central idea was just one sentence: supplies were in short supply and we were running out of food.

Once the news spread, it immediately caused panic among the citizens. It would have been fine if prices had just been rising day by day, at most they would have been a little more expensive, but now even if they had money they couldn't buy goods.

Impatient people have started lining up to buy rice, vegetables and other daily necessities, but the merchants don’t have much stock at all, and the weight is very strictly controlled, selling them per person, causing a large number of people to queue up, and the goods are sold out early.

Those who were not anxious originally became anxious after seeing this scene and joined the ranks of those who were stockpiling goods.

All the rice, vegetables, oil and sugar in the market were sold out, and even the rotten vegetable leaves on the ground in the vegetable market were picked up.

The market was cleared out within 30 minutes of opening and then closed immediately.

This out-of-stock situation further exacerbated panic, and the black market prices of daily necessities skyrocketed.

People who couldn't buy goods began to curse the Japanese and the policy. Public opinion began to shift. No one cared about the release of people a few days ago. Citizens were worried about their livelihoods tomorrow.

Only stock traders are happy because the prices of commodity futures have skyrocketed.

The price of cotton yarn rose another 50 percent to 150 yuan a bag.

As the mayor, Fu Xiaoan gave an interview that afternoon and responded to the media's statements about the concession.

"Regarding the recent rise in vegetable prices, the municipal government will certainly take measures to stabilize prices, so please don't worry too much.

I have also used my personal connections to urgently contact grain merchants, oil merchants, and vegetable merchants from other places, asking them to urgently allocate supplies to Shanghai. If it is fast, they will arrive tomorrow morning.

We will sell them to SH citizens at a fair price and limit the number of people who can buy them to ensure that more people can buy them. We will not make a single cent of profit. Please rest assured, we are working hard."

The next day, as expected, farmers came into the city pulling small wooden carts loaded with daily necessities. Radishes and cabbages were clearly visible in the bamboo baskets, and the leaves swayed with the movement of the carts. For Shanghai residents who were facing a shortage of vegetables in the city, just looking at them made their mouths water.

Just taking a closer look, it feels like some of the vegetables on the car are wilted, as if they have been waiting outside the city gate for a few days and have been dried up?

But for people in the city, it is good enough to have something to eat, and you can’t worry too much about other things.

There were 20 people in the convoy, one after another, a long convoy loaded with supplies, which aroused cheers from the citizens. The convoy slowly traveled a long distance from the city gate to the vegetable market, and then started selling.

When the residents lined up to buy, they found that there was a long queue in front of them, and all the products were sold out before it was their turn.

"All sold out, come back tomorrow."

The residents could only leave with their heads down.

In the Justice Department office, Gu Yansheng listened to spy Liu Xiaolou's report on his shopping experiences today and felt quite emotional.

"With this combination of punches, even the Japanese can't say Fu Xiaoan didn't do anything. Our Mayor Fu is a master at showmanship. 20 small wooden carts to supply all of Shanghai, are you kidding me?"

dong dong dong.

"Director."

Wen Yan came in to report, and Xiaolou took the initiative to leave.

"Sir, I've recruited 26 people so far, 14 of whom can shoot. If you need them, I'm ready to go at any time."

"Have you read the newspaper?" Gu Yansheng guessed that Wen Yan must have guessed the purpose of asking him to recruit people as soon as possible. It's three days, and this is only the second day.

Wen Yan nodded. "The vendors are hoarding goods at exorbitant prices. If we can find a few of their warehouses and seal them off, it should serve as a warning to others. Among the people I've recruited are former members of the Green Gang, who are familiar with the area. With some time, we should be able to find some hidden warehouses."

Gu Yansheng thought for a moment and hummed, "Okay, you can send people out to look for them, but don't take any action. You can only observe. Even if you have solid evidence, you can't take any action."

"Are you worried about offending people?" The judiciary is now at the center of controversy, and behind these warehouses are undisputed capitalists, some of whom are foreign-owned. If the matter gets out of hand and becomes an international dispute, firstly, Gu Yansheng will be denounced, and secondly, the Japanese may not necessarily stand on Gu Yansheng's side. Wen Yan has rich social experience and made such a guess.

Gu Yansheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, just do as I say. You'll have your chance to take action. We're new here, so just observe and practice to cultivate your temper."

Wen Yan said no more, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Gu Yansheng nodded and watched him leave.

Wen Yan is right, the warehouse is not easy to copy.

Judging from Fu Xiaoan's reaction, he was obviously prepared for a tug-of-war, aiming to wear him out until he was denounced and dismissed from office.

Copying warehouses is a job that offends people, so there is no need to add pressure on yourself.

Who says that when raiding a warehouse, you have to use your own people?

Besides, he didn't know which warehouse had cotton yarn, so he had to find someone who knew.

Gu Yansheng picked up the phone on the table and called Wu Sibao, and started cursing as soon as the call was connected.

"Wu Sibao, it's so difficult to ask you to give me some money, right? I don't care about my face with the British. You are dragging your feet on the 1000 yuan, can you do it? If you don't pay, don't say I won't play with you."

"Is that 1000 yuan? That's 1000 US dollars!" Wu Sibao still felt distressed. He really didn't treasure US dollars, but Gu Yansheng's phone was a rare item.

Immediately, he asked with a smile in a gentle tone, "Why, is there any way to make money?"

Gu Yansheng snorted, "I'm lucky enough to save you my share of 1000. You're so slow at work, and you still want me to help you get rich? I'm afraid you'll mess me up!"

"Stealing, stealing, don't rush me."

"Stealing what?"

"No, I mean the money is already being raised. I'm short of cash, right? Tell that Englishman to take it easy."

"If I don't see $1000 before I get off work, I won't take you with me this time."

Bang! After saying that, Gu Yansheng hung up the phone without giving him time to react.

Pick it up again, call Lu Bowen, and ask him to come over.

Fu Xiaoan teamed up with foreign businessmen to set up a scheme, hoarding goods and making money from the stock market. There was no reason why they were the only ones who could make money, as Gu Yansheng was also short of money.

"You know how to trade stocks, right?"

"Of course I do. Everyone knows how to trade stocks. It's just a matter of whether you're good at it or not." Lu Bowen laughed in surprise. "Why would you care about this?"

Gu Yansheng smiled, "So what do you think the cotton yarn futures market will look like in the next few days?"

"It will definitely go up." As an insider of this matter, how could Lu Bowen not guess this?
"Fu Xiaoan and foreign businessmen are now working together. As long as the material pressure in Shanghai does not ease, all futures prices will rise, not to mention cotton yarn, and will rise sharply.

If I hadn't been so broke, I'd have been thinking of buying some cotton yarn futures to make some money. With you here, this is considered insider information. Anyway, whenever you think the situation is manageable, I can sell it in advance. It feels like a sure win."

"Then I'll give you an inside tip, so you're ready to buy the dip."

"What? Buy the dip now? All of Shanghai is buying the rise." Lu Bowen stared in disbelief, but then he thought again and smiled tentatively, "Can you solve this problem?"

Gu Yansheng nodded: "We are short of cotton yarn and money. We have no choice but to beg from them. Who asked them to raise the price of cotton yarn so high?

They drive up the price of cotton yarn, and I can't afford it, so I have no choice but to find a way to bring it down. You make money by short selling, and then buy cotton yarn, using their money to help us buy goods."

"Is it reliable? These futures are controlled by big dealers. Now Fu Xiaoan and the others are teaming up to push prices up. If they don't come down, short sellers will lose a lot of money. Are the Japanese going to introduce some new policies?"

"There's no new policy, but I'm shorting with real money. Don't worry, I won't joke with my own money. I'll only make a move when I'm absolutely sure."

Gu Yansheng doesn’t understand stocks, nor does he need to. He just needs to understand the use of power.

"Come to my house tonight and I'll give you all my money. These few days you go to the exchange and look at the cotton yarn, and only the cotton yarn. I'll let you make a move, and then you make a move, and I'll seize the opportunity."

"Okay." Since Gu Yansheng was so sure and even took out his own money, Lu Bowen had no reason not to believe it.

(End of this chapter)