Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 71 Market
The next morning, Gu Yansheng called Lu Bowen.

He took out the box he had prepared, which contained $6000.

"The time is almost here. Use this money to short cotton yarn futures. Call me when you're done."

"This is too much, are you sure?"

The price of cotton yarn has been rising, and if you are not careful, the futures market can be very devastating.

"Sure." Since Gu Yansheng has decided to do it, he won't hesitate.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." At least Gu Yansheng's judgment since he came to Shanghai has never been wrong, and he is also the one who holds key information. Lu Bowen has no reason not to listen to him.

As soon as Lu Bowen left, Gu Yansheng picked up the phone and called Wen Yan.

Warehouse paper giving out food.

"These addresses are all warehouses. Go and verify them quietly. Once confirmed, wait for my news."

"Yes."

At noon, Gu Yansheng went to the French Concession to meet Bai Mei.

With the war approaching, he was not interested in appreciating women, but she was indeed very pretty, had a sweet smile, and sharp eyes.

There were actually quite a lot of people in the cafe at noon, but as soon as she walked in, she took a quick look, smiled, and walked over to sit opposite Gu Yansheng.

This has also made many men sad.

"I guess you are Mr. Gu?"

"How did you know that?" Gu Yansheng drank his coffee.

Bai Mei smiled and said, "Among the remaining bachelors in the cafe, you are the most elegant."

"Heh." Gu Yansheng put down his coffee cup. "Miss Bai is so good at praising people. No wonder she's so famous in Shanghai."

Bai Mei suddenly explained the real reason, "Actually, I read the newspaper and know Mr. Gu."

Gu Yansheng smiled slightly, not wanting to be provoked. "What would you like to drink?"

"Coffee bar, thank you."

Gu Yansheng ordered her a cup of coffee and said directly: "I invited Miss Bai here this time because I want to ask Miss Bai to do me a favor. You are in the ballroom tonight. Find an opportunity to help me spread a message.

Just say you seem to have heard that the Japanese are going to fight a big war, but winter is approaching and they don't have enough supplies, so they are preparing to forcibly requisition cotton yarn and grain in Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places.

As for the source of the information, I have already thought of it for Miss Bai. There are Japanese people among your audience, and I heard it from their conversation at the dinner table.

This is the news. How to steer the conversation in this direction at the ballroom table and spread the news should not be a problem for Miss Bai.

Bai Mei listened, thought for a moment, and nodded. "It's not difficult, but can I ask why you're spreading this news? Many of these customers are my friends. If my news causes them to suffer losses, I'd be committing a grave sin."

"Miss Bai is very smart. It seems she has guessed why I asked you to spread this news. But you have to understand that losses come in different sizes. If you tell them and they believe you, there is still time to sell. At the current price, the sooner you sell, the more you will earn.

If I were to confiscate your property, you would lose everything. You are actually helping them."

"That makes sense." Bai Mei rolled her eyes in thought, then nodded and smiled, "I'll definitely help you with this."

"Thank you."

In the afternoon, Lu Bowen called.

Now all of Shanghai is watching the price increase, and short orders for cotton yarn futures are being bought at will. Many people want to sell them, but no one is willing to take them.

"Those who held short futures contracts before this extreme market started are about to jump off buildings. They are losing money every second. The key is that they really can't sell. Even the dumbest person knows that holding on to the contracts means losing money."

He was willing to take over, it was like the God of Wealth had descended to the earth, and he bought a lot of it at once.

"Just buy it, and you can stay at the exchange. I'll treat you to a play this afternoon. By the way, what time does the exchange close here? So, you can't trade anymore?"

"Three o'clock in the afternoon."

"it is good."

Gu Yansheng hung up the phone and called Liang Youwei who had applied.

"Editor Liang, are you busy?"

"Then what's the difference? I won't be busy if it's good."

"Oh, the prices in Shanghai are a bit high. I'm planning to lower them. I need your help. Would you mind?"

"Of course I'm not busy! I can barely afford to eat!" Liang Youwei immediately perked up: "Director Gu, what do you want me to do?"

"Prices have been rising recently, and the stock market is very active. Have you heard?"

"Of course I heard about it. We report it every day."

As the largest newspaper, Shenbao has many sections, and the stock market is definitely an indispensable and important column.

"At 2:30 pm, find a reporter who speaks Japanese and go into the exchange to do some interviews. Just any interview, but in five minutes, something interesting will happen. Make sure to film it and include it in tomorrow's front page."

"It's okay to be mysterious, but the vegetable prices must be brought down."

"That depends on whether your writing skills are scary enough."

Gu Yansheng hung up the phone and called Wen Yan.

Hand him the secret order from the Ministry of the Army.

"You put it in a bag and send two strangers to the stock exchange to perform a double act, which is the Public Industry Association.

At 2:35 pm, your people found this bag. They found it but didn't know who it belonged to. So they opened it and took a look, found this piece of paper, and then accidentally read it out loud. Everyone who read it out loud knew it, and reporters came over and took pictures. Then you called the police and said you found a bag and handed it over to the police. "I understand, but what is this?" Wen Yan couldn't understand the Japanese writing on it.

Gu Yansheng smiled and said, "A bombshell! A secret document announcing the Japanese Army Ministry's decision to forcibly requisition cotton yarn and grain in Shanghai."

Wen Yan was quick-witted and laughed, "Sir, this is a great idea! How many businessmen will be scared to death by this?"

"If you follow Fu Xiaoan in hoarding goods and selling them at high prices, you must be prepared to go bankrupt. Who has the final say in Shanghai's judicial system? If they don't understand, then there's nothing I can do."

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the stock and futures markets and the various trade associations in the British and American concessions were bustling with activity.

The poor people of this era had no money to buy stocks, and the entertainment options for the rich were very limited, so stock trading was also a great pleasure during the day in Shanghai.

Ordinary people usually buy stocks, but few buy futures.

Because if the stock price falls, at least you still have the bill in hand. If you wait a while, maybe it will go back up. Most people will hold on to the stock at a loss, and there are people who will wait for ten or eight years.

Futures are different. They must be delivered regularly. For example, if you agree to deliver cotton yarn or money of equivalent value with a bill one month later, then the closing price of the cotton yarn futures one month later will be the final price of the futures delivery.

Those who were long thought that cotton yarn at 70 yuan was too cheap, so they bought long contracts. If the price rose to 120 yuan in one month, they would make a profit of 50 yuan.

Those who short sell think that cotton yarn at 120 is too expensive and will definitely fall, so they buy short contracts.

It is equivalent to not having any cotton yarn in hand, but borrowing a bag of cotton yarn from the exchange, selling it at a price that is currently considered high, and then waiting for the price to drop before buying it back and returning it to the exchange.

As a result, the price of cotton yarn continued to rise, reaching 150. After buying it and returning it, I lost 30.

If you take into account the double leverage, you only spent 60 yuan to buy a short contract for cotton yarn with an original price of 120 yuan. Therefore, the original 120 yuan can buy two contracts, which will double when the price rises and double when the price falls.

Then when the price of cotton yarn rises to 180, the short sellers' wealth will be wiped out.

When it rises to 200, it's time to jump into the Huangpu River.

This is also the reason why those who shorted the contract are now begging and gratefully handing over the shorting contract to Lu Bowen.

The futures market hitting zero isn't the end of the world. Unsold contracts mean you'll actually owe money to the futures company. So, is it easy to owe money to a futures company? You're completely wiped out before the delivery date, and future price fluctuations won't matter to you.

Now merchants and capital have joined forces to raise all prices. If Gu Yansheng does not take action, those who short sell will either run away or jump into the Huangpu River.

Outside the Public Industry Office, Gu Yansheng stayed in the car and Wen Yan was driving.

Gu Yansheng looked at his watch. It was 2:30. "It's almost time. Let's get started."

Wen Yan nodded, got out of the car and gave instructions to the car behind, then handed the bag to them.

Two new faces from the Inspection Department entered the stock exchange one after another. The exchange was crowded with people, all staring at the latest stock prices posted on the blackboard.

The reporters have already arrived and are interviewing several stock investors.

Stock investors are in a bad mood now, because the Zhongye Association was originally opened by the British, and the stocks that can be traded are foreign stocks. However, due to the new policies of the municipal government, the stocks of these foreign freight companies have basically fallen, and have been falling continuously.

"On the one hand, prices of goods are rising and vegetable prices are extremely high, and on the other hand, the stock market is falling. Life is simply unbearable." This is the complaint of a Shanghai aunt to the reporter.

On the other hand, those on the futures side were extremely happy, shouting "rise, rise, rise", while those on the sad side seemed to have lost their souls, their faces were pale and their whole bodies were shaking.

I'm losing money every day when I wake up.

At 2:35, the show begins.

The inspection team stood up from the benches at the back and shouted, "Whose bag is this? Whose bag fell?"

The people on the futures side were very excited and no one paid any attention to him, but the people on the stock side were very idle. They were losing money but didn't want to sell, so they all turned around to look.

"Whose bag was dropped? No one asked me to take it!" The members of the Inspection Department shouted a few more times to attract attention.

After shouting, someone in the crowd echoed, "Maybe it's just an empty shell. You can open it and see what's inside. If it's not an empty package, then you will be rich."

"Then I'll open it." So the team member who picked up the bag unzipped it.

The onlookers who were speculating in the stock market also wanted to see if there was any money in the bag and watch the fun.

The team member opened the bag and found a wallet. "Wow, there's some money there! It's in Japanese Yen."

"Oh my, we're rich." The onlookers who were speculating in stocks started to make a noise.

The team member continued to dig, and then took out the secret order. He turned it over and over, but couldn't understand it. "What is written on it? I can't understand the Japanese words?"

"I can." The reporter nearby raised his hand and squeezed forward.

"This seems to be a confidential document from Japan." The reporter recognized the logo on it, became interested, and read it immediately. After reading it, his face changed drastically.

The editor-in-chief just told him that he would come over today and there would be big news, but he didn't say what the big news was.

After reading it carefully, he panicked himself. This news was not just big, it was explosive!
"Tell me, what did you write?" The reporter, who was just joining in the fun, was extremely curious about the expression on his face.

Japanese secrets, that must be interesting.

It was especially interesting to see the reporters taking photos of the document.

"talk!"

"Yeah, tell me, stop filming."

"I can too. Let me see."

Another team member squeezed out of the crowd, snatched the document the reporter was taking a photo of, and began to read it.

"Order, commanding the Shanghai Military Police Headquarters to do its utmost to requisition all cotton yarn, grain, and other supplies from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and other places to support the battle on the front lines, Army Ministry."

(End of this chapter)