America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 531 Confrontation in the Capital Market

"We'll take it!" Chen Jianqiu made a decisive decision.

"Continue? The market is now like a patient with a slightly better illness. It can't stand the slightest fright." Silas shook his head, "The panic is spreading, and there will only be more and more people selling. It's going to collapse, is it appropriate for us to go in at this time?"

"You also said that the confidence of the market has just stabilized." Chen Jianqiu looked at Silas, "If the market really crashes, who will buy our gold bonds?"

"In this battle, the winner takes all, and the loser will die without a place to die." He said in a deep voice.

"But, but this market is not something we can handle!" Silas was a little anxious.

It seems that his big boss is overconfident in his own strength and financial situation.

Just sent more than 1000 million US dollars of gold to the Federal Ministry of Finance to fill the hole, and the remaining 2000 million plus Sanjiang Bank's money are all available funds.

The market collapsed, causing a stampede effect, just like a mountain collapsed, and it was simply a bottomless pit filled with money.

Going against the current, you are doing right with the entire market. What is that little money enough for?
A stud, the rest of the day is over?

"Trust me, answer!" Chen Jianqiu's voice was unquestionable, "You will be nailed there today, and if there is any situation, just call back."

Silas was helpless, ready to get up and go to the exchange.

But halfway through, he folded back again:

"Boss, you can't take all of them if you want, we don't have that much money."

"The stocks of the railway company, the Pacific Railway Company and several other western railway companies, as much as they sell, we will take as much!" Chen Jianqiu seemed to have set his sights on the target, and replied.

Silas fell into confusion again:

"Boss, let me remind you that since you left the Pacific Railway Company, Little Hopkins has been tossing around for a while. The company is in chaos, on the verge of bankruptcy, with no hope of profit, and the stock is worthless, garbage among garbage .”

Chen Jianqiu was happy:
"Trash is good, I like picking up trash."

He looked at Silas and said to him earnestly:
"The stock of railway companies accounts for a large proportion of the market, and it is also the main battlefield between us and those European guys. The railway assets of a country that covers an area of ​​more than 930 million square kilometers and is constantly developing will definitely not be bad assets. They just need to be managed and integrated."

Silas couldn't convince his boss.

He didn't insist on his opinion anymore. As an excellent executor, he decided to do his best to do the things at hand instead of arguing with the boss again.

On the other side, in the headquarters of Belmont Bank.

Belmont and its own European think tanks are also closely monitoring market trends.

They gathered in a big room.

Boards hung on the walls of the room, recording the latest information from the New York Stock Exchange.

Like Chen Jianqiu's "command center", seven or eight telephones are installed here, and each telephone is connected to the exchange.

Belmont's orders were conveyed along these telephone lines to the stockbrokers on the exchange side.

Belmont was standing in front of the blackboard at this moment, watching his subordinates stepping on stools to update the data.

He is very satisfied with the current battle situation.

Stock markets in New York were devastated after a morning sell-off.

At the end of the 19th century, European capital accounted for a huge proportion of the American market, especially the British.

As the largest capital exporting country in the world at that time, the British were very happy to invest in all parts of the world, especially a booming country like the United States that had a huge demand for funds.

And the American railway company is naturally also their heavy warehouse area.

This round of short selling was dispatched by the Rothschild Bank, with the goal of knocking down the slightly improving US market again.

"Where's Morgan? Why didn't I see him today." Belmont looked at the people around him, but found no sign of Morgan.

"It seems to be sick. It is said that there is too much cold wind at night and I have a bad cold." A follower said, "I just met the people from their bank this morning."

"Shall we wait for him?" asked an Englishman standing beside Belmont.

"I don't care about him, I'm here." Belmont put his hands behind his back, looked up at the board on the wall, and was extremely confident.

Suddenly, the phone behind him rang again.

The operator picked up the microphone:

"Huh? Oh, um, um, ok, got it"

Belmont turned his head and looked at the operator.

"Boss, I have a big order to take over." The operator put down the microphone and looked up to Belmont.

"Do you know who the buyer is?" asked the Englishman next to him.

"Um, I don't know." The operator shook his head, and he picked up the microphone again, "I'll ask."

"Which company's stock?" Belmont asked.

"The Pacific Railroad, and the Santa Fe Railroad and several other railroads. Somebody took the offer to hold the price," the operator replied.

"You don't need to ask." Belmont smiled, "It must be that country bumpkin surnamed Chen. This guy is a guy who doesn't know what to do."

He said to the British: "Let Simon and the others continue to sell, and the chips in Williams' hands are also released. Let me see how much money he has!"

"Isn't that cheap for him?" The British were a little puzzled.

"Hey, he thinks he's got the bottom line, I'll let him know that there's another bottom line, and I'm going to break through their defenses!" Belmont's eyes were fierce.

"What about the gold bonds?"

"Same, I want to turn all the assets in their hands into rubbish!" Belmont gritted his teeth.

He couldn't stand the thought of Chen Jianqiu's insult to him that night.

Hillbillies, go back to your West!

There was a sense of panic in and out of the New York Stock Exchange that afternoon.

In the stock exchange hall.

Merchants and brokers huddled in front of the trading booths, scrambling for the windows, frantically waving the bills in their hands, and roaring at the top of their lungs.

The ground was extremely dirty, with all kinds of paper balls scattered in a mess.

The air was turbid, and various strange smells such as the smell of sweat were intertwined.

No one wants to sit back in their seats because their fortunes are evaporating, leaving them on pins and needles.

People are reminded again of the fear of being ruled by a stock crash.

And the bond trading hall next to it is also bleak.

Many people who were previously full of confidence are now afraid of gold bonds.

The second tranche of gold bonds went unnoticed.

34 Bell Street, afternoon, 4:[-].

In the command post of the big office, a group of people surrounded Chen Jianqiu with serious faces, looking at the big piece of paper on the table.

The most frustrated of them all was Silas.

At this moment, he was standing opposite Chen Jianqiu, holding the table with both hands, his tie was crooked, and his usually neat hair was messed up; beside him, Okafor, the general manager of Sanjiang Bank, was even more ashamed.

The New York Stock Exchange is closed.

There is no suspense, their resistance is a drop in the bucket, but only slightly delayed the breakdown of the stock prices of several railway companies.

It's another Black Friday.

Today, debt and stock double kill.

"The funds we can mobilize today are all in there now. Sanjiang Bank can no longer enter, and we still have to face a possible run down below." Silas said dejectedly, pulling his tie.

The tie now suffocates him.

This is something that rarely happens to Silas, an old gentleman.

"I'll see if I can get some more money." Little Astor scratched his hair aside.

This is the first time this rich young man feels that money is not enough.

"If only the Astra Hotel hadn't been built, I'd have enough cash on my hands to deal with these guys."

"Don't we still have $2000 million in gold on the way?" said the tall Okafor, "Maybe we can be more stable."

Silas shook his head: "That's not enough."

"That amount of gold, whether it is lent to the federal government as promised and put into the government's treasury; or going to gamble with the British in the stock market, is not enough."

He sighed:

"We are facing the Rothschild family. They have been planning for a long time, and they have too many chips in their hands."

"Or should we go to the federal government? See if there is any way to intervene." Lawyer Dylan said suddenly.

"Impossible. Under the current free economic policy, the federal government will never intervene in the market through administrative means. This is a creed that is regarded as the standard."

Chen Jianqiu, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.

The matter of overturning the table, if it can be done, the federal government will have done it long ago, and it will not be delayed until now.

He walked up to Silas and patted him on the shoulder:

"Everyone did a good job today, and things are not as bad as everyone imagined."

Chen Jianqiu looked at everyone with a smile.

"If the sky doesn't fall, I will hold it up when it falls."

"The market will be closed tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Everyone should have a good rest. You should eat and play. Life is not just about work."

Everyone looked at each other.

My boss has a really good mentality, he is so calm even though his pants are almost gone.

"It's off work, it's off work, I don't want to give you overtime wages." Chen Jianqiu took out his pocket watch to check the time, and then waved to everyone.

Since the boss said he was off work, there was no reason not to leave work.

The "command center" was soon empty, leaving only Chen Jianqiu and Little Astor.

The sky has darkened.

There were no lights in the large office and it was dimly lit.

Chen Jianqiu took out a cigar from the inner pocket of his clothes, took out a cigar cutter from his pocket, and cut off the tail.

"Why don't I go to my cousin to find a solution?" Little Astor came over and said in a low voice.

"No need." Chen Jianqiu lit up a cigarette slowly, "You think I don't know what your relationship with your cousin is, and you two will never communicate with each other, otherwise, who will see your Astra Hotel?"

Little Astor didn't know what to say, sighed, turned around and prepared to leave.

"But you have to do me a favor."

Chen Jianqiu's voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"Ah?" Little Astor quickly turned his head and found that Chen Jianqiu was looking at him.

The cigar flame was faintly visible in the darkness.

"I hope that at the weekend, you will help me organize a party and invite all the bankers on Wall Street who have not yet stood against us."

Little Astor nodded, but he hesitated for a moment:
"Is Morgan all right?"

"As long as it is not clearly on the side of the Europeans, it will be counted." Chen Jianqiu said.

Given that Astor Jr.'s mother was at the top of New York's social circle, it was not difficult to hold a gathering of bankers.

However, due to panic on Friday, everyone seemed to be in a low mood.

Due to Mrs. Astor's face, most of them decided to come and participate.

The gathering was arranged at the same location as the previous charity gala.

There are no drinks or meals, only some simple coffee breaks.

It's more like a meeting than a party.

To everyone's surprise, Mr. John Pierpont Morgan, who announced that he had a bad cold, appeared on the scene.

He was wearing a black woolen coat and was sitting in the last row. He didn't have any signs of illness on his face, but he couldn't see any expression either.

He also dealt with the bankers who came forward to ask for their care and care about their family affairs very simply.

He was accompanied by his partner, George W. Perkins, at his side.

In addition to Morgan, the people present at the scene included First National Bank Chairman George Baker (George Baker) and National City Bank President James Stillman (James Stillman), all of whom are well-known Wall Street bankers.

Everyone was seated quickly.

And everyone's eyes quickly focused on the front table.

According to the usual practice, Mrs. Astor will appear first and give some welcome speeches, such as: Everyone eat and drink well today.

Although it is a cliché, after listening to it for a long time, everyone is used to it.

Today, however, Mrs. Astor did not appear.

Because little Astor did not tell his mother about the banquet, his mother became the caller of the party without knowing it.

Instead, there was a Chinese in his thirties.

He walked up to the stage and came to the round microphone.

Most people in the audience know him.

This person is Chen Jianqiu, the boss of Sanjiang Bank, and he is considered a rising star on Wall Street.

This person saved the U.S. Treasury with [-] tons of gold, issued gold bonds, and at the same time annoyed those European capitals, which led to yesterday's smash.

What is he going to say today?

But Chen Jianqiu was not in a hurry to speak.

He stood with his hands behind his back, glanced at the audience, and remained silent.

Silence is powerful.

Everyone in the audience was swept over by his eyes one by one, as if they had been pierced through their bodies, piercing their hearts.

Unusually, no one was whispering, and it was surprisingly quiet in the hall.

Everyone was waiting for the Chinese in front of him to speak.

Chen Jianqiu, speak.

"This morning, I went to the shoe store downstairs to buy a pair of shoes that fit my feet."

He lowered his head and pointed to the pair of leather shoes on his feet.

"Here, just this pair."

"But when I took out the banknotes to pay, the owner of the shoe store took out a scale and said to me: 'Sir, can you pay me directly in gold'?"

"I asked him strangely: 'Can't I pay in dollars?'"

"The shoe store owner laughed and told me, 'Sterling is fine, I'm already planning to take all my money out of the bank, and at least I won't lose everything in pounds.'"

Some people laughed, but some didn't.

They know that this story may be false, but if the dollar really collapses, no one on Wall Street will end well except short sellers like Belmont.

Chen Jianqiu continued his speech:

"More than 100 years ago, the founding fathers of the United States created this country and separated them from the control of the United Kingdom; 100 years later, another group of British people came, but this time, what they brought with them was invisible. butcher's knife."

"But America is not what it used to be."

"Five years ago, its steel output surpassed that of the UK; the total length of its railways was unmatched in the world; but their capital market, when faced with these 'butchers', was timid and did not dare Fight it."

Some of the bankers in the audience disapproved, some looked dignified, and some looked unhappy.

After all, not everyone has patriotic feelings.

It might convince some, but certainly not all.

Chen Jianqiu observed the expressions of these people in the audience.

He remained unmoved.

"Do you know why I chose to enter the market with funds yesterday?" Chen Jianqiu looked at the people in the audience.

"Because I still have 2000 million gold on the way, the Astor family decided to give me all the cash flow in their hands to buy these high-quality assets."

Chen Jianqiu said firmly.

"As far as I know, Mr. Rockefeller is also ready to enter at any time."

The bankers in the audience could no longer sit still.

The relationship between Aster and Chen Jianqiu is well known to passers-by, and it does not seem to be fake.

Is the Rockefeller story true?

If that's the case, wouldn't the richest people in the United States be ready to enter the market?
While the bankers were still guessing, Morgan, who was sitting in the last row, stood up.

He coughed slightly, then said:

"Mr. Chen is right. Mr. Rockefeller handed over half of the liquidity to me. Together with JPMorgan Bank itself, they are all ready to buy gold bonds and buy bottoms in the market."

"Together with Mr. Chen, we will do our best to stabilize the market and the dollar. We will not hand over the future of our country to others."

He looked around the crowd calmly.

This is the most authoritative banker on Wall Street. His words are full of majesty:
"So, what do you guys think?"

(End of this chapter)