The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 287: Fell down

this day.

Liu Tao came to Hong Kong with his guards.

Ho Ying-Tong personally entertained the guests, and the surrounding security personnel were fully armed with live ammunition.

"Mr. Liu, this commotion is quite big. Can we really take them down?" Ho Ying-tung was a little hesitant and not very confident.

This time they mobilized a huge amount of funds, the amount of which is absolutely the largest in the whole of Hong Kong.

But you have to know that the four major central banks have been operating in Hong Kong for so long, and their influence has penetrated into every aspect.

Not all Chinese investors are united in their views. Now most of them choose to wait and see.

Although the struggle between Chinese capital and foreign companies has never stopped, the commotion has never been this big.

Ho Ying-tung was well aware of the strength of the four major trading companies.

In the whole of Hong Kong, there is no one who doesn’t know about the four major trading companies.

The four major trading companies are Jardine Matheson, Swire, Hutchison Whampoa and Wheelock!
Jardine Matheson & Co., the oldest and largest of the four major foreign companies, was founded in Guangzhou in 1932. At that time, it mainly engaged in general trade with China. Later, it replaced the East India Company to develop the opium trade and started out by selling opium. In 1941, it moved its headquarters from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. In the following century, it expanded its influence to major cities in China and became the main force of Britain's economic aggression against China.

Jardine Matheson was very powerful, and the other three major trading houses were not much behind.

They have a lot of funds, but there is still a big gap compared to the Big Four banks.

Liu Tao smiled and said, "Mr. Huo, Mrs. Thatcher's visit to China has already determined the overall situation. We should take this opportunity to do what needs to be done."

"Can we really reach an agreement?" Ho Ying-Tong's eyes lit up.

In the past two years, he has made a lot of money through cooperation and his strength has been greatly enhanced.

He is also trying to win over some people, but too many Chinese investors are waiting and watching.

Liu Tao nodded slightly, "The overall situation has been determined, there won't be any accidents. By then, these British investors will be in a panic. These assets are still very high-quality assets."

"The commotion this time will be far greater than that of Hutchison Whampoa!" Liu Tao said with certainty.

The battle for Wharf Holdings took place two years ago. The ship charter king came ashore and, through a battle for equity, managed to seize Wharf Holdings from Hong Kong Land Development, becoming the pride of countless Hong Kong people.

In the entire battle for "Wharf Holdings", the charter king spent a total of HK$22 billion.

But this time, the amount prepared alone was more than 40 billion Hong Kong dollars, in addition to 30 billion US dollars.

According to professional analysis, once the situation Liu Tao described occurs, the Hong Kong dollar will depreciate rapidly, and may even reach a situation where 1 US dollar is exchanged for 10 Hong Kong dollars.

That is, they will have a huge amount of funds of HK$340 billion.

The funds that can be leveraged may be a huge amount of 500 billion or even 600 billion Hong Kong dollars.

And he borrowed these 30 billion US dollars after persuading his superiors with great efforts.

This time he came to Hong Kong to calm some people's hearts.

Just in case, the security company has increased its staff to 3000 people in recent days, and has secretly transported some Type 78 heavy machine guns, heavy sniper rifles, rocket launchers and other powerful weapons.

Even 20 sets and 100 pieces of "Vanguard" air defense missiles were transported.

Once the most unfavorable situation occurs, as long as an order is given, it will be a huge and powerful force. "Mr. Huo, Hong Kong still relies mainly on you. I don't understand the specific operations." Liu Tao smiled and said, "Hong Kong still needs to be governed by Hong Kong people. British capital can be used, but it should not be the dominant force in Hong Kong."

This time, Liu Tao will not stay in Hong Kong for too long.

The goal this time is very clear, in terms of basic people's livelihood, such as Hong Kong Electric and banks. After all, the presence of banks will facilitate some transfer transactions in the future.

As for HSBC and others, he can't trust them.

Time passes.

Hong Kong's major media outlets reported extensively on Mrs. Thatcher's arrival in Beijing for her official visit to China; even the meals that Mrs. Thatcher had in Beijing were given special coverage by many newspapers.

On this day, around noon, some media accompanying the trip from Hong Kong brought back a piece of news that made many people restless.

It happened to be a Friday, and as soon as the stock market opened in the afternoon, the stocks of major companies plummeted rapidly.

Even the stock prices of well-known large companies have plummeted at this time.

The news that caused the stock market crash was that Mrs. Thatcher fell in Beijing.

The fall not only destroyed Britain's confidence, but also hurt the hearts of securities companies in Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

After Liu Tao received the news, he sighed in his heart that the inertia of history is really huge, and Mrs. Thatcher still fell.

At the same time, he was even more impressed by the fact that Britain's image as the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets" is still deeply rooted in the hearts of many people, making many people full of confidence in Britain even when the British Expeditionary Force suffered a major defeat in the Falkland Islands.

Even Ho Ying-tung was stunned. He did not expect that this fall would have such a huge impact.

40 billion Hong Kong dollars in cash with 10x leverage, a total of 400 billion Hong Kong dollars in short positions.

He was shocked by the profits generated from this.

The largest bank that took over their short orders this time was the Development Bank of Singapore, a state-owned bank in Singapore. This bank alone took up HK$120 billion, accounting for 30% of the short orders!

The second is Citibank, an old bank with a history of nearly a hundred years in Hong Kong. It has always been the largest financial institution in the United States. Many banking businesses in the United States and Hong Kong are operated through Citibank. This time, Citibank took over a short order of 100 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Other British banks, such as HSBC, took short orders worth HK$180 billion.

It can be said that this time these banks or forces will have to pay a huge price.

"This time, the stock market is just the first to react. This incident will be a chain reaction. The collapse of the stock market will lead to the collapse of the property market, and the collapse of the property market will lead to the collapse of many banks in Hong Kong. After the property market has problems, many banks will have large amounts of bad debts, which will directly crush many small and medium-sized banks." Liu Tao smiled lightly, "From now on, Hong Kong will rely on you, Mr. Huo."

Liu Tao is optimistic about Hong Kong because it is actually a window for China to the outside world. The rapid development of Hong Kong is not because of its greatness, but more because of its geographical advantages. It is a window for China to the outside world and also a window for overseas countries to China.

It is precisely this favorable combination of time, place and people that has led to Hong Kong's rapid development.

"We should control as many of the basic livelihood issues as possible, including banks! Hong Kong should not be dominated by HSBC alone. If possible, we can take this opportunity to acquire shares of HSBC or Standard Chartered Bank." Liu Tao said with a smile, "This will make it much easier for us to do business in the future."

Ho Ying-tung nodded. In fact, he already had a bank in his hands, but it was not a large bank, just a medium-sized bank.

The current situation is undoubtedly very beneficial to them.

As for whether they can achieve the goal, it depends on their specific operations.

(End of this chapter)