Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 72 Turmoil
The whole place was silent for a second, which was unbelievable in the public office.

But the next second, the quiet sound doubled and burst out.

"Are we going to fight again?"

"What? Requisition of supplies?"

"It's over."

Those who were slow to react were still sighing, while those who were quick turned and ran to the manual stock sales counter, waving the bills in their hands: "Sell! Sell all! Quick!"

"The Japanese are going to forcibly requisition supplies. Cotton yarn and grain are the hardest hit areas. Hurry, if you have these stocks, sell them!"

Even those who react slowly will come to their senses after being reminded.

In just a moment, the stagnant crowd all started running and swarmed towards the stock sales counter.

No one cares about the authenticity at this time. Just sell it first to keep the principal, and buy it back later at worst.

Even if there is just a chance that this is true, the consequence of not selling will be a stock price crash.

The movement on the stock side finally attracted the attention of futures traders. After hearing a few words about what happened, almost everyone's face changed.

Those who are bullish immediately run to the futures counter and shout, "Sell! Sell call contracts!"

"Close the position! Give me a bearish one, I want to close the position!"

If those who are bullish sell now, except for the possibility of losses for those who bought today, those who have held contracts for a long time will still make money with the profits of the past few days. Selling now is just locking in profits and there is no loss at all.

Those who were bearish and still held contracts burst into laughter, a laughter of great joy.

There were also some who were cautious and did not believe in superstition, and who could read Japanese, especially those led by Japan's own stock traders. They immediately stepped forward to identify it personally. After seeing it, their faces changed drastically and they ran to the counter, shouting to sell the contract.

As soon as they ran away, the entire bullish sentiment collapsed.

The scene became busy. With the frequent price changes, the sign showing the price on the trading blackboard was almost always filled with chalk. Someone else would come up and erase the words and write the latest quotation again.

The price changes every few seconds, and traders are so busy that they don't have a moment to spare.

A huge trading volume broke out, resulting in the collision of countless money. The sudden change in the market forced all the people in the big room upstairs to come out.

Originally, today was supposed to be just a steady rise, which was something that was easily predicted, so there were only a handful of people in the big investor room now. However, they were fortunate to be there, and when they heard what happened, they quickly joined the battlefield and began to close their contracts.

The remaining stock brokers immediately called their familiar contacts, told them what had happened here, and urged them to make a quick judgment.

Because every ten seconds of hesitation could cause the price to drop by a few dollars.

The relevant persons who received the call, if capable, would call senior Japanese officials to verify, while those who were not capable would take action immediately after receiving the call.

In the last twenty minutes, the entire trading market was extremely excited and the futures market fluctuated violently.

The price of a piece of cotton yarn was directly reduced from today's highest price of 173 yuan to 111 yuan.

Three o'clock, closing.

"impossible!"

In Fu Xiaoan's office.

Fu Xiaoan responded to the inquiring calls one after another with a mild mockery at first, "It's absolutely impossible that you would believe this kind of fake news. Don't believe it. Don't worry."

Later, he simply shouted angrily: "How could it be forced requisition! If the Japanese were forcibly requisitioning cotton yarn and food, wouldn't I know about it? What nonsense do you believe!"

"That's because the Japanese haven't implemented it yet. How could they possibly notify you before they implemented it? Would you have had time to throw it away by the time they informed you? The Japanese have personally verified that the secret order is genuine, not a forgery!"

Although everyone has formed an alliance, there is still a capital cost to push up the price, and the stock contracts that are taken over must be paid in cash.

Don’t think that the cotton yarn’s price of 120 or 130 seems to be much cheaper than the highest price, with a price difference of 40 or 50 yuan, but if the Japanese forced requisition is true.

The cotton yarn and grain were hot potatoes. Whoever kept them would be taken away by the Japanese for five or ten yuan.

One hundred and twenty or three yuan directly turned into ten or twenty yuan!
Yes, the Japanese did not dare to take action against foreign merchants, so their food was safe, but they could not resist the grain merchants in SH city and the grain merchants in Jiangsu, the producing area, who would sell their food.

If the stocks in Shanghai and Jiangsu were to be sold, it would be impossible for them to break even on the grain they had left. This was all the grain they had bought back at high prices!

"Then go to my warehouse and see if my goods are still there!" Fu Xiaoan shouted angrily, "The secret order for war comes from the Army Ministry, but the war itself requires the deployment decision of the Expeditionary Force Headquarters. If Shanghai really wanted to be forcibly requisitioned, would I not know? Shut up, I don't want to hear you! Thirteen o'clock!"

Bang, Fu Xiaoan hung up the phone in anger.

Firstly, he was tired of being questioned, and secondly, the futures prices were plummeting, and any less profit meant a loss. The price difference for one order was more than 60 yuan, and he didn't know how much money he had lost today.

"Wu Mai Ding, investigate, find out who is behind this!"

"Yes," Wu Maiding, the secretary who was called in, responded first, then reminded, "Mayor, I think it's Gu Yansheng who's behind this. It makes the most sense for him to launch a counterattack now. He wants to create panic and force the food out."

"How could I not guess that?" Fu Xiaoan stood up and paced back and forth, saying loudly, "But we have to investigate whether it's those people in the concession who are behind this!

What if they are the ones playing tricks, secretly selling the contracts at today's high point, deliberately releasing news to drive the price down, and then buying it back tomorrow by pushing it down further. If I push the price up again tomorrow, wouldn't that be taking over their orders?
I can't be taken advantage of. Do you think these people are easy to deal with?"

"Yes, I'll check right away."

Fu Xiaoan breathed a sigh of relief. He was not afraid that it was Gu Yansheng who was behind this. It was just a piece of fake news, and he could clarify it by releasing a news release tomorrow. But if it was a group of people in the concession who joined forces to set him up, then if he fell into this trap, he would have to pay for it with everything he had.

In the business world, where are there true brothers?

Besides, they were not brothers at all, they were just using each other.

"Hello, connect me to the Military Police Headquarters." Fu Xiaoan picked up the phone to make a final verification. He was losing confidence due to the constant calls urging him to do so.

Normally, if something really happened, Commander Matsui of the expeditionary force would definitely send him a telegram, but if the order had just been issued, Commander Matsui might not have had time to give him the news.

Just ask the Military Police Headquarters.

"Hello, I'm Fu Xiao'an. There's a rumor going around the city that they're forcibly requisitioning cotton yarn and grain. Is that true? Oh, you haven't received any orders, right? I knew it was fake news. Thank you."

Fu Xiaoan sneered, it was indeed fake news.

Waiting patiently, dripping, dripping.

"Hey."

Wu Maiding's voice came over the phone, "Mayor, I asked the broker at the exchange to inquire. It turns out someone actually took a lot of short positions in cotton yarn futures today, before the news of the forced requisition. Almost all of them were taken at the peak, and the amount was quite large."

"I knew someone was up to something!" Fu Xiaoan slammed his fist on the table, veins popping out of his clenched fist. "You want to have it both ways? Great! Do you know who it is?"

Wu Maiding said, "I don't know. The people at the exchange said he's a stranger."

"He didn't dare let me know. He must be one of the foreigners in the concession."

Fu Xiaoan snorted coldly, "Let's leave it at that for now. Starting tomorrow, send two people to follow your friend at the stock exchange. Have your friend keep an eye on the short positions. Remember, you must keep an eye on the short positions, not the people. People can be replaced at any time, but short positions will be cashed in sooner or later. When they cash in, recognize him and follow him to see who he really is.

They caught the thief and took the stolen goods, and now they are setting me up behind my back. I want to see which bastard is behind this.”

"understood."

"Hahahaha, I'm making crazy money."

In the cafe in the French Concession, Lu Bowen was in a very good mood.

As for why he ran from the International Settlement to the French Concession, it was because he was afraid of getting beaten for laughing too loudly. Today, he is the person who made the most money in the entire market.

"I have a short position on 200 bales of cotton yarn. According to today's closing price, we have made 200 yuan today!
That's a full 60 yuan difference. Before the cotton yarn price went up, it was only selling for 70 yuan."

Gu Yansheng smiled and said, "Do you understand the power of insider information in stock trading?"

Lu Bowen nodded in agreement. "Anyway, I'll never touch futures again unless there's inside information. This has to become a family motto. Hey, what should I do tomorrow? Close the positions? I think I've made enough. Any more would be a bit conspicuous, and I'll have to pay them back when the time comes."

"It's almost done. Give me the order and I'll pass it on to the next person who makes money."

If you want Wu Sibao to make an effort to offend someone, you have to give him the motivation to make the effort.

(End of this chapter)