Rebirth of Hong Kong Island, I, the rice class leader

Chapter 257 Chapter 257: Shock!Miraculous MR.High

The glory of the British Empire is long gone, but Churchill is still trying his best to fix the leaks in this leaky house.

In order to maintain the dignity of the empire as much as possible, it held an "Iron Curtain" speech last year, with the main purpose of hoping to provoke the cooperative relationship established between the United States and the Soviet Union since the Yalta Conference.

It is hoped that the emerging global power America will form an alliance with it, ride on the east wind of the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, and suppress the wave of colonial independence. In fact, it is relying on the power of the United States to maintain an empire on the verge of collapse.

Churchill succeeded, but also failed, because this played into the hands of Amelican and Mao Xiong.

What happened next was that the two emerging hegemons joined forces to dismember the older generation of hegemons. Part of this was the wave of colonial independence.

British Westerners could no longer seal contracts over a few glasses of wine in their clubs, and the Chinese were beginning to break free and decide for themselves who to trade with.

The big time is coming!

No one was aware of this, but Gao Yao knew it. He could only say: "The world in the future will be a world of cooperation."

"Everyone."

"Even if there are labor pains, they are only temporary. The bright future belongs to us."

Yes, who would have thought that the powerful foreign companies now would collapse in a few decades as the process of globalization intensifies.

The power structure of Hong Kong Island has also changed to the Hong Kong government, HSBC, real estate, and the Jockey Club.

Everyone laughed and raised their glasses: "Drink to win."

The cocktail party in Mid-Levels was very lively, but the feeling of the foreign banks was not so good. Over the century since the port was opened, there were some foreign banks that went bankrupt, but there were never any foreign banks that were acquired by the Chinese.

Now the first one has appeared?And it’s still Lane Crawford in the top ten!

"In this way, those Chinese will pounce on it like hyenas seeing a fresh corpse."

"Clavard, you loser, you are a sinner of the Lord!"

What's the secret to success?It is to take root in a country, follow the progress of the times, and follow the trend.Most of the profits of these foreign companies on Hong Kong Island are generated in the East and surrounding areas.

Because it is so easy to make money, they even attribute it to the virtues of their ancestors.

There is only one person who can talk to Claward like this to his face, Keswick, the current head of Jardine, whose ancestor stepped on shit and married the sister of the first generation Jardine.

Then he started working at Jardine. When the first generation Jardine passed away, Keswick naturally got the shares, and then slowly squeezed into the board of directors with his own means, and then became the leader.

Claward sneered: "You Yihe is awesome, we can't compare."

"What's more, you are a thief, what qualifications do you have to talk to me?"

After the Keswick family entered Jardine's board of directors, they have been racking their brains to coerce and induce members of the Jardine family to hand over their shares. This kind of thing is known to all the upper-class Westerners.

However, the upper class society is like this. They only judge heroes based on success or failure. As long as Keswick can get shares, that's their skill. Everyone will only applaud but not ridicule.

If Keswick fails, then of course it's a different story.

"You!"

Keswick was angry. Young people nowadays are becoming more and more rude.

"Forget it."

Rowlands advised: "Everyone has his or her own future."

"Again."

Rowlands complained: "Klavard, even if you want to sell Lane Crawford, you can sell it to us. Why sell it to the Chinese?"

Yes, these old-line foreign banks are also gathering, Jardine, Kadoorie, Wheelock, Hutchison, Whampoa, Taikoo...

All of them are the backbone of Hong Kong's foreign companies.

Of course, this time it was a gathering with a purpose.

For example, Jardine Jardine from Jardine was not invited, and HSBC hired Guy Thayer, the chief executive, instead of Sandus, who was close to Gao Yao.

Claward said firmly: "I admire MR. Gao's quality. This is a noble man recognized by Her Majesty the Queen. What's the problem with selling to him?"

Normally, those who can be awarded honors by the Queen are naturally their own.

Unfortunately, everyone present knew that this Gao Yao was not one of our own, but a big crocodile with a bold and dark hand.

If you dare to acquire foreign banks now, you are a formidable enemy.

"in addition."

The young and energetic Claward would not look down on these old guys. He asked directly: "A multi-million deal!"

"Who can pick it up?"

"Even if you can afford it, you still have to do it in a big way and make people panic. Maybe it is compared to MR. Gao's methods?"

Speaking of this, Old Madden applauded and said: "This MR. Gao's method is really meticulous, and I was even concealed from it."

That's right, at that time, everyone only thought Gaoyuan was going to invest in Lane Crawford, and no one thought it was an acquisition.

It can only be said that today’s young people are really good at managing their lives.

"Everyone."

Claward has determined to leave Hong Kong Island. This is mainly due to the killings of the Japanese occupation period and the physical and mental trauma caused to him.

He really couldn't stay in Hong Kong Island anymore.

However, since we are all Westerners, and many of them are citizens of the British Empire, we might still meet them at a dance in London.

So Claward didn't want to be too presumptuous. He said kindly: "The Hong Kong people today are no longer the same group of Hong Kong people before."

"Nine out of ten people on Hong Kong Island today are the new generation of immigrants. They don't have any deep impressions or feelings about us."

"That's all."

Claward bowed: "Goodbye, gentlemen."

No one stopped him, and no one tried to stop him. The expressions of the group of people were a little gloomy, because Claward pointed out a cruel reality.

During the Japanese occupation, almost all the Hong Kong people who took root in Hong Kong Island were killed!
Yes, when the little devils occupied Hong Kong Island, they almost wiped out a generation of native Hong Kong people.

Hong Kong Island's economy relies on re-exports. After the fall, its economy came to a complete halt and living conditions were very poor.

Walking on the road at that time, you could see people dying of hunger every day.

But the most appalling thing is that the little devils systematically reduce the population and send away the "useless people", and these people often disappear without a trace.

Responsible for assisting this work was the "Returning Steering Committee" established by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the occupied territory government, which successfully reduced the population from 1941 million in 180 to 50.

Now the population of Hong Kong Island has returned to nearly 200 million, and nine out of ten of these people are new immigrants...

"Gentlemen, this is indeed a serious matter."

Before there was Xiangjiang, there was Yihe. As the head of Yihe, Keswick was the convener and chief messenger of this cocktail party.

"We should regroup and continue to hold power on Hong Kong Island," Keswick said.

Yes, they have felt the challenge of the new Chinese arrivals.

Before Gao Yao, the new generation of immigrants was already moving forward bravely, although they had not yet reached out to the old territory of the foreign companies.

But these people still felt a bit of pressure, especially after the emergence of high-ranking officials who dared and had the ability to acquire foreign banks, it was really stressful.

"I agree."

Rowlands was the first to agree.

Nonsense, the Kadoorie family didn't have much to drink when they came to Hong Kong. If they hadn't made their first pot of gold on the exchange, they might have left in despair with their tail between their legs.

Especially during the war, the Kadoorie family's industry suffered heavy losses. His current strength can almost be said to be at the bottom among everyone here.

Rowlands urgently needs the support of established foreign companies such as Jardine Matheson.

Others also responded, namely Old Madden and Guy who were ambiguous.

Old Madden did not take a stand because his company did not suffer too serious losses during the war, but instead made a profit by transporting supplies to the Allied forces.

Now returning to Hong Kong Island is his second entrepreneurial venture. With a lot of money in his hands, Madden is not in a hurry at all.

As for Guy, it's because HSBC's positioning is completely different from that of these foreign banks.

HSBC got off to a very poor start.

First, it was established too late.HSBC was founded in 1864, more than 30 years later than Jardine Matheson.

First, second, I followed the wrong big brother.At that time, the foreign banks had already formed a situation where the three big bosses, Yihe, Qichang and Baoshun, were standing together.

Second, HSBC was established because of the strong support of Laosan Baoshun.It happened that Baoshun and the boss Yihe were sworn enemies, and Baoshun went bankrupt not long after.

HSBC, which had only been established for a short time, had no choice but to keep its tail between its legs until it finally seized the opportunity to lend money to the Qing government.

Later, because HSBC was the first bank registered on Hong Kong Island and its business was outstanding, it was given the opportunity to manage the Hong Kong government's treasury.

Pay wages to civil servants, teachers, and medical staff on Hong Kong Island through deposits and withdrawals.

Participating in urban governance, he is a financial advisor to the Hong Kong government. HSBC’s chief executive is often a member of the Hong Kong Executive Council and the Legislative Council. In other words, HSBC is not only the first to know about any major decisions on Hong Kong Island, but also participates in the formulation.

As a result, HSBC opened a new chapter and determined its business model, which is to take deposits as the leading role and mainly earn interest differentials.

The key to making money from this model lies in HSBC’s special status in Hong Kong Island in Asia, which allows it to obtain low-cost funds through privileges.

HSBC has always only lent money to the real powerful and influential people. Even if the interest rate is lower, it is happy.Guy agrees with Sandus's point of view, and he has been participating in small group meetings of the Hong Kong government these days.

The new Governor of Hong Kong, His Excellency Grant Hung, has been emphasizing the point that in order to govern and develop Hong Kong Island, it is necessary to rely on the power of the Chinese.

He emphasized that everyone should focus on the future and look forward!
The will of the Governor of Hong Kong is the direction in which HSBC will move. Of course, HSBC, which relies on its privileges to exist, will not rebel against it.

So Guy is in no rush to make his point.

Disagreement was of course allowed in the discussion at the reception, and Keswick said: "Now our dear Mr. Rowlands has encountered a problem."

"Rolands, please tell everyone."

"Gao Yao opened a power plant in Kowloon."

Rowlands' problem is definitely an electricity problem. Originally, Hong Kong Island's electricity market was divided between HK Electric and CLP.

Everyone has been in peace all this time.

And because of the spread of some premeditated rumors, the outside world believed that the Hong Kong government had licensed two companies to operate, so no one was involved in the power transformation.

As a result, Gao Yao did not believe in evil and entered the power industry with a large amount of money.

Hong Kong Electric didn't matter, but CLP was in trouble. After some advice from caring people, Rowlands discovered that he might lose the power supply rights to Tsim Sha Tsui and Sham Shui Po after the Kowloon Power Plant was put into operation!

This is intolerable!
Rowlands said: "Gao Yao uses the Triads to control actual power on the ground, killing and intimidating at every turn. This is contrary to the democratic world."

Everyone was talking about it. In fact, these people didn't know about the Kowloon Power Plant. It was not their own business, so naturally no one paid attention to it.

Now after hearing what Rowlands said, someone reminded him: "Mr. Rowlands, MR. Gao is a recipient of the CBE Medal and an unofficial Justice of the Peace."

The man said meaningfully: "Unless you are deprived of your title, you must be responsible for what you say."

Money and honor are the status cards of the upper class.

Gao must be rich and have status. To be honest, few of the foreigners present can handle Gao one on one.

Or perhaps, not one.

Keswick reminded: "Don't say anything that doesn't matter."

The use of violent institutions to deal with matters is a necessary method for the upper class. Keswick saw that Rowlands was speaking so arrogantly that he seemed to be really driven into a hurry.

He said: "The only luck is that the Chinese don't like unity."

"I heard that they like to divide groups by region, such as Wuyi, Dongguan, Chaozhou and so on."

Everyone chuckled, as if this was not the case.

"But we also have to be vigilant."

Keswick said: "This fully shows that Gao Yao has already planned to extend his hands into our inherent areas."

He glanced at Old Madden: "I heard that Gaoyao's shipping fleet is quite large."

"There is such a thing."

Because of Lei Guantai, Old Madden has been paying attention to the Shipping Department. He said: "MR. Gao's fleet should be more than 10,000 tons."

"what?"

Everyone was stunned.

Speaking of this, Guy interrupted and affirmed: "Yes, no less than 12 tons, but I heard that a large part of his ships are still on their way back to port."

Everyone's expression suddenly changed, and they all looked at Keswick and Swire's Shi Huaiya.

Currently, the largest fleets on Hong Kong Island are those of Jardine Matheson and Swire.

Keswick said solemnly: "A little more than Yihe."

Shi Huaiya also shrugged: "It's a little more than Taikoo. Fortunately, his fleet seems to be all rented out."

Swire & Co. suffered heavy losses during the war. Later, when it was rebuilt, it received the government's care and obtained a shipping contract to transport supplies for the government.

In this way, Taikoo regained its vitality and obtained a loan from HSBC to reopen its sugar factory and shipyard.

It has only been 2 years now, so the size of its fleet is not large.

Everyone became distraught again. Hong Kong Island is dominated by entrepot trade. Whoever controls shipping will get the money printing press.

Although many shipowners currently have empty ships, they are offshore ships, and there is no shortage of business for large ships capable of going to oceans.

Someone asked in surprise: "The amazing MR. Gao is the number one shipping king?"

Old Madden shrugged and said, "Although we don't know where this boat was bought yet, it is true."

For a while, a needle could be heard.

Keswick broke his silence: "We have to be wary of this."

"The cunning Chinese are secretly encroaching on our territory through various means."

“Today it’s shipping and electricity, but what will it be tomorrow?”

"Everyone, I think it is necessary to put forward our opinions to the Hong Kong government."

"I think everyone should realize that there is only so much meat on the table. The Chinese eat more, and we eat less."

Keswick shrugged: "I don't think anyone wants to be like Claward, who sold his property and went back to London to live in an apartment."

……

The salon on this day was very satisfied with the Chinese businessmen and foreign companies. They all thought they got what they needed.

Especially Kadoorie, after receiving the guarantees from many foreign companies, he was confident and went to Etou Mountain to find Limin Ze to exchange suggestions.

"That's it?"

Limin cannot understand the thoughts of these ghosts at all. What is a business war?Of course, it is to chase the opponent in all directions, just like fighting. You must take away everything the opponent has so that the opponent has no chance to make a comeback.

Just like his father.

Back then, three bullets directly ended all disputes. Isn’t it more reliable than the law?
Kadoorie said: "With Jardine taking the lead, it will not be difficult to get the franchise. When the time comes, his power plant will have no choice but to merge with me and provide me with blood transfusions."

Of course, you won't make much money from the power connection. After all, the pricing power is in the hands of Kadoorie. Later, it is natural that the Kowloon Power Plant will be included in the CLP Power Plant.

Limin looked at Kadoorie with a look of hatred for steel, but he still asked: "That's it?"

It is true that summer insects cannot speak of ice, and rotten wood cannot be carved.

This was supposed to be a life-and-death war, but in the end, these ghost guys came up with such a thing?
Limin said helplessly: "Mr. Rowlands, are you too naive?"

He thought to himself that if these ghost guys were not favored by the Hong Kong government and had previously made abundant initial capital from the tobacco trade.

With the skills of these guys, they would have been killed long ago.

Limin reminded: "Since this year, anyone who has a problem with Gao will either die of drunkenness or be beaten to death."

"Do you think that if he knew you were messing with him like this, he wouldn't take action?"

"Don't think that because you are foreigners, he won't dare to touch you."

"NO, NO, NO."

Kadoorie shook his head: "Unless he is crazy."

"and."

Kadoorie smiled slyly, motioned for Limin to lower his head, and then said softly: "Don't worry."

"We're going to bankrupt him this time."

"Next year at the latest!"

Kadoorie was very certain about this. He said: "This is a perfect strategy. We just need to pretend to be a snake and wait quietly."

"And my friend, as your loyalty."

Kadoorie said: "You will also receive your reward in due time."

Limin frowned. This guy didn't seem to be joking. He asked in silence, "How much can I know?"

Kadoorie said only two words: "Telephone."

Telephone?

Benefiting the people was puzzled. Suddenly, he let out an ahhhh sound, and then his eyes widened,

"in this way?"

Kadoorie nodded solemnly and said: "On Hong Kong Island, no one can be above us."

"Dear MR. Leigh, can you rest assured now?"

Limin was indeed relieved. This was the ghost he knew. He was cunning and good at using various monopoly rules.

Without making a move, they can force Chinese people to cut their flesh and bleed them, and then take away the property they have accumulated over a lifetime of hard work.

Well, it's really good.

Limin applauded: "It's worth a drink."

(End of this chapter)